Stephen P. Wenger http://www.spw-duf.info
comments in () by Stephen P. Wenger
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SAF Sues on Behalf of Non-Resident Gun Owners: Gun rights advocates have filed a new lawsuit in D.C. federal court, this time seeking to make it possible for American expats to buy guns when they're back home in the United States. The suit, filed Friday at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, challenges a government requirement that forces gun buyers without a federal firearms license to fill out their state of residence on a special transaction form. It also targets a law that bar gun dealers from selling firearms to non-U.S. residents for anything other than hunting or sports purposes. The case is being brought by the Bellevue, Wash.-based Second Amendment Foundation, as well as two American citizens living in Canada and England. According to the complaint, the two individual plaintiffs have gun licenses from Arizona and Utah, but say they are unable to buy weapons while in the United States because they do not have a state of residence that they can use to fill out the required forms. They argue that the government's restrictions violate the Second Amendment and Fifth Amendment equal protection rights of U.S. citizens who live abroad…
http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2009/03/gun-lobby-files-new-suit-in-dc-over-federal-restrictions.html
The Second Amendment Foundation has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against Attorney General Eric Holder, seeking an injunction against enforcement of a federal law that makes it impossible for American citizens who reside outside the United States to purchase firearms while they are in this country… The lawsuit alleges that Holder, as attorney general, is enforcing unconstitutional laws that prevent citizens like Hodgkins and Dearth from exercising their Second Amendment rights. The complaint also asserts that enforcement of the federal gun laws that prevent such citizens from purchasing firearms when they visit the U.S. violates their right of equal protection under the Fifth Amendment. The plaintiffs are represented by Virginia attorney Alan Gura, who successfully argued the Heller case before the U.S. Supreme Court…
http://www.saf.org/viewpr-new.asp?id=290
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Ammunition as Propaganda?: An ammunition manufacturer and a non-profit group are teaming up in a unique venture to help address both the short supply of commercial ammo and the need to alert Americans about the threat of radical Islam. America's Truth Forum announced it is making available through its website .223 Remington (5.56) rounds suitable for all sporting and military-style rifles, including the AR-15 and Ruger Mini-14. "Like gold and silver, ammunition is coming into vogue as an affordable security investment – a multi-purpose asset that not only protects homes from violent attacks and citizens from tyrannical oppression but a tangible one that could be bartered as collateral during the most troubling economic times," says the president of America's Truth Forum, Jeff Epstein… (No mention is made of the manufacturer and the price seems to be about double what I paid the latter part of 2008.)
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=93357
---
That Mythical 90% Figure: … Which brings us to one "reporter" who does parrot talking points, Matthew Price of BBC News, who "authoritatively" tells his readers: It is estimated that at least 90% of the guns used by the Mexican drug trafficking organisations have come from the US." … I'd like to share with you a bit of testimony, from the Statement of David Ogden, Deputy Attorney General, United States Department of Justice, before the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs hearing entitled "Southern Border Violence: Homeland Security Threats, Vulnerabilities, and Responsibilities", presented March 25, 2009. Just a small bit, really, but a critical one, almost lost in the 20 pages of his statement: "According to ATF's Tracing Center, 90 percent of the firearms about which ATF receives information are traceable to the United States." Read it again, and compare it to what the antis are saying. It's very different, isn't it? …
http://www.examiner.com/x-1417-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m3d30-Do-90-of-Mexican-crime-guns-come-from-US
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The Beat Goes On: Ammunition was running out so fast at a gun show late last year in Richmond that one man tried to grab a big can of .223-caliber bullets just as another guy was trying to pay for it. There was an argument. "One guy's coming over his shoulder trying to grab" his can of 500 rounds of ammo, recalled Josh Golden, a gun and ammo dealer who was selling items at the Richmond Gun Show that day on Nov. 15. "They were his, and he was going to let him know that they were his." In November, firearms transactions spiked about 60 percent over November '07 in Virginia, and they're up so far this year, too, according to the number of state police background checks for firearm purchases. Also, dealers in Virginia and elsewhere say ammunition sales are soaring and it is difficult to keep certain items in stock…
http://www.godanriver.com/gdr/news/state_regional/article/virginians_stock_up_on_guns_ammunition/10070/
Like it or not, gun sales are, well, booming. There are a number of reasons, but the most prevalent is people are afraid the Obama administration, sooner or later, will get around to creating more-restrictive gun ownership laws and taxes. And those are not unfounded fears. So gun owners are stocking up on ammunition, handguns and semiautomatic rifles. Sales are up 50 percent since Barack Obama was elected. And gun-control advocates have taken notice… The two sides have not been able to reach any middle ground and are not likely to do so. Each is entrenched in its views. Gun owners see every new law or regulation as an incursion on their rights. Gun-control advocates see new laws as making us more safe. The decisions will be made in the Congress. And each side will make its arguments. In the meantime, there is nothing to prevent people from legally stocking up on guns and ammunition.
http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090328/OPINION01/303289980/-1/opinion
Fear has some people turning to guns for protection. "We're on track to selling twice as many as we sold last year," said Andre Chiasson of A-1 Pawn Shop in Seminole Heights. Some people are worried about the recession; others believe a new president will mean bans on weapons. Chiasson's store sold about 600 guns in 2008. During the first three months of this year, customers have bought 300. It's a trend statewide and beyond. Federal and local agencies don't track gun sales. One method of gauging the increase is by looking at new applications for concealed weapons permits. The Tampa Bay area is on pace this year to exceed permit applications from previous years, according to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services…
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/mar/30/gun-sales-shooting-tampa-bay-area/
Concealed carry licensing is becoming more popular with Oklahoma residents. According to reports from Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI), 8,799 self defense act licenses were approved in 2002. Five years later, OSBI issued 18,510 permits in 2008. Females licensed in the state last year numbered 4,237, while 14,273 men obtained their permits. The bureau issued 16,426 permits in 2007, 9,591 in 2006 and 10,450 in 2005. Sergeant Brent Crittenden of Pryor Police Department said he is getting a lot more calls from people interested in obtaining a concealed carry permit. He has been teaching the self-defense class for over five years. Crittenden said last year has been his busiest… Crittenden will be teaching a concealed carry class at Pryor Creek Community Church on Sunday, April 5. Pryor Assistant Police Chief Derek Melton, pastor of Pryor Creek Community Church, said his church wants to open the class to the community. "We want guns in the hands of the right people," he said…
http://www.pryordailytimes.com/local/local_story_089093926.html
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NYC – Shoot a Mugger, Get Sued: This pistol-packing granny, who shot a man she accused of mugging her in her wheelchair, wishes she had finished the job - because now, he's suing her for millions. "I'm a peaceful person. I wish that I had killed him," said Margaret Johnson, 59, whose grandfather, Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson, once ruled Harlem's underworld and was immortalized in several hit movies. "I didn't think you had to pay to get mugged in New York City," she added. Johnson and her landlord, the Lenox Terrace apartment complex, are being sued for $5 million by Deron Johnson, 48, a man with a lengthy rap sheet. Margaret Johnson, a retired city bus driver who has a dislocated hip and a ruptured disc, said that in September 2006, she was sitting in her motorized wheelchair at Lenox Avenue and 133rd Street when Johnson tried to snatch her purse and gold chain. She pulled out her licensed .357 Magnum and fired a round into his left elbow. Cops grabbed him moments later… (Killing an assailant does not guarantee that his heirs may not sue. That is the purpose of stand-your-ground laws and related laws that block such lawsuits.)
http://www.nypost.com/seven/03302009/news/regionalnews/thug_takes_hot_at_gun_granny_161998.htm
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Minnesota Considers Extending Castle Doctrine: …A bill awaiting Minnesota legislative action would legally protect people who use deadly force to defend themselves against criminals. The proposal would rewrite laws regulating the use of deadly force in self-defense, extending protection to cars and businesses. Current law only protects victims while inside the home… If a person enters a home without permission, then "there is a presumption that he is there to do you at least substantial bodily harm," Cornish said. "He ain't there to sell Girl Scout cookies." Sen. Pat Pariseau, R-Farmington, said some people get sued by criminals after they defend themselves. Pariseau said this is "not a license to go out and shoot people. We have to enable people to not be placed in a position of legal risk," Rep. Steve Drazkowski, R-Wabasha, said. "You shouldn't have to back down," Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen, R-Alexandria, said… (This section is about two-thirds of the way down the page.)
http://www.morrissuntribune.com/articles/index.cfm?id=16898
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Restaurant-Carry Bill Stalls in Tennessee: The guns-in-saloons bill has stalled in the state House tonight with lawmakers fighting over whether they should set a curfew for customers to surrender their weapons. The sponsor, Rep. Curry Todd, thinks handgun carriers should have to give up their guns at 11 p.m. "The NRA was OK with this," Todd told the House. The House voted 62-29 to add the curfew to the bill. But many Republicans objected even to this restriction on Second Amendment rights, and Rep. Brian Kelsey then offered an amendment to strip the provision. After Todd could muster only 32 votes to table that amendment, he withdrew the bill from the floor. He said he'd try again next Monday… He claimed his bill would curtail shootings presumably because criminals would quake in fear of all the licensed gunmen ready to spring into action. "I challenge anyone to tell me where they've had a shooting in a restaurant in any state that's passed this law," he said. (Note how a bill that is primarily oriented toward restaurants that serve alcohol has become the "guns-in-saloons bill.")
http://blogs.nashvillescene.com/pitw/2009/03/bar_gun_bill_stalls_in_house_i.php
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West Virginia Debates Reciprocity, Confidentiality: A renewed battle over the public's right to access permits to carry concealed weapons is playing out in both chambers of the West Virginia Legislature this week. A vote is planned at mid-week in the Senate on SB378 that is designed basically as a reciprocity pact, one that allows West Virginia and other states to recognize each other's concealed permits when residents travel to and from one another. Attached to that proposal, however, is a controversial provision that says the public has no right to pry into government records through a Freedom of Information Act request to see just who is allowed to pack a hidden firearm in public…
http://www.register-herald.com/local/local_story_089221857.html
---
Urban Coyote Attacks Rise: A coyote ambling into a Chicago sandwich shop or taking up residence in New York's Central Park understandably creates a stir. But even here on the high plains of Colorado, where the animals are part of the landscape and figure prominently in Western lore, people are being taken aback by rising coyote encounters. Thanks to suburban sprawl and a growth in numbers of both people and animals, a rash of coyote encounters has alarmed residents… Since December, four people in the Denver area have been nipped or bitten by coyotes. A fifth told police a coyote lunged at him. State wildlife officers have killed seven coyotes. An eighth was killed by a sharpshooter hired by Greenwood Village, in Denver's southern suburbs. "These are coyotes that were born and raised in the 'hood," said Liza Hunholz, an area manager with the Colorado Division of Wildlife…
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/COYOTES_IN_THE_HOOD?SITE=FLPAP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2009-03-29-15-42-23
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"Gun Control" at Heart of Old West Gunfight: Some might call it ironic that the most notorious, old west gunfight in Lampasas [TX] probably came about, indirectly at least, over an attempt at gun control in the Hill Country town. According to local historian Jeff Jackson, the 1873 shooting in a Lampasas saloon resulted in the death of four state police officers at the hands of the Horrell family and possibly their gang members during a shootout… As a result of pleas from Lampasas city officials, Gov. Edmund J. Davis issued a proclamation prohibiting sidearms in Lampasas County. Jackson said the governor sent state police to town to post the new proclamation in February, but they left soon after. In March, Jackson said, the adjutant general of the state dispatched another company of state police at the request of town officials to arrest men who continued to carry sidearms. But the officers had the deck stacked against them…
http://www.tdtnews.com/story/2009/3/29/56811
---
Rule One, Rule Two Reminder: A man accidently shot his brother in the leg on Interstate 80 Saturday morning. The two Elko, Nev. men, ages 21 and 22, were driving to Salt Lake City for a Jazz basketball game when they started talking about how to take apart the two different models of guns they had with them, said Tooele County Sheriff's deputy Eli Wayman. About 10 a.m., the 22-year-old passenger pulled back the slider [sic] on his Springfield XD 40-caliber pistol without realizing there was a bullet in the chamber, Wayman said. When he released the slider, the gun fired. The shot hit his brother in the calf a few inches below the knee and exited about four inches above the ankle. The man was taken to University of Utah hospital by medical helicopter in stable condition. (Rule One: All guns are always loaded. Rule Two: Don't let the muzzle cross anything you're not prepared to shoot.)
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_12024654?source=email
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From The Firearms Coalition: The Republican Party lost big in 2006 and lost even bigger in 2008. They didn't lose because of opposition to the war in Iraq. They didn't lose because of the floundering economy. They didn't even lose because of a "culture of corruption." Those were symptoms and side issues. The reason Republicans lost, and continue to lose, is because they have failed to keep their promises, live up to their stated beliefs, and they have provided little reason to their base to get excited about keeping them in office… Republicans sought out support from gunowners, promising to protect the Second Amendment, but in eight years of a nominally pro-gun Republican Administration and six years of a nominally pro-gun Republican Congress, the only pro-gun legislation to get to the President's desk was the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. Even as an opposition party the Republicans have shown little stomach for a fight. They didn't even offer token resistance to the appointment of virulent anti-rights extremist Eric Holder as Attorney General - the defender of the Constitution. Thankfully the Democrats have thrown our opposition, the anti-rights movement under the bus - at least for now. The Democrats still feel the sting from their losses in 1994 after they passed the Clinton "assault weapons" ban. What they learned from that mistake is that we GunVoters are only dangerous when we're really mad, as we were in 1994. We as a movement have demonstrated a lack of resolve when there is nothing to really fire us up and make us angry…
http://www.firearmscoalition.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=365&Itemid=37
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Tangentially Related: Judges should interpret the Constitution according to other nations' legal "norms." Sharia law could apply to disputes in US courts. The United States constitutes an "axis of disobedience" along with North Korea and Saddam-era Iraq. Those are the views of the man on track to become one of the US government's top lawyers: Harold Koh. President Obama has nominated Koh - until last week the dean of Yale Law School - to be the State Department's legal adviser. In that job, Koh would forge a wide range of international agreements on issues from trade to arms control, and help represent our country in such places as the United Nations and the International Court of Justice. It's a job where you want a strong defender of America's sovereignty. But that's not Koh. He's a fan of "transnational legal process," arguing that the distinctions between US and international law should vanish…
http://www.nypost.com/seven/03302009/postopinion/opedcolumnists/obamas_most_perilous_legal_pick_161961.htm
http://townhall.com/columnists/DavidLimbaugh/2009/03/31/another_day,_another_scary_nomination?page=full
Mexico will cooperate with the United States in sharing intelligence to fight drug trafficking but does not plan joint patrols with U.S. forces, President Felipe Calderon said Monday. "We do have to work together but that does not imply the joint participation in military operations or even a joint participation of law enforcement agents," Calderon said at a press conference during a state visit to London. The Mexican president said forces from both sides of the border should share information to try to stem the flow of illegal drugs and tackle the gangs who supply them. The United States has stepped up security on the border with Mexico after new President Barack Obama put Mexico's drug war high on his agenda… (Gee, with Mexico so concerned about an alleged 90% of the firearms used by its drug cartels coming in from the US, I wonder why they won't participate in what seems like a common-sense measure to me.)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090330/ts_nm/us_britain_mexico_usa
http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/eu_britain_mexico/2009/03/30/197540.html
http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2009/03/gun-lobby-files-new-suit-in-dc-over-federal-restrictions.html
The Second Amendment Foundation has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against Attorney General Eric Holder, seeking an injunction against enforcement of a federal law that makes it impossible for American citizens who reside outside the United States to purchase firearms while they are in this country… The lawsuit alleges that Holder, as attorney general, is enforcing unconstitutional laws that prevent citizens like Hodgkins and Dearth from exercising their Second Amendment rights. The complaint also asserts that enforcement of the federal gun laws that prevent such citizens from purchasing firearms when they visit the U.S. violates their right of equal protection under the Fifth Amendment. The plaintiffs are represented by Virginia attorney Alan Gura, who successfully argued the Heller case before the U.S. Supreme Court…
http://www.saf.org/viewpr-new.asp?id=290
---
Ammunition as Propaganda?: An ammunition manufacturer and a non-profit group are teaming up in a unique venture to help address both the short supply of commercial ammo and the need to alert Americans about the threat of radical Islam. America's Truth Forum announced it is making available through its website .223 Remington (5.56) rounds suitable for all sporting and military-style rifles, including the AR-15 and Ruger Mini-14. "Like gold and silver, ammunition is coming into vogue as an affordable security investment – a multi-purpose asset that not only protects homes from violent attacks and citizens from tyrannical oppression but a tangible one that could be bartered as collateral during the most troubling economic times," says the president of America's Truth Forum, Jeff Epstein… (No mention is made of the manufacturer and the price seems to be about double what I paid the latter part of 2008.)
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=93357
---
That Mythical 90% Figure: … Which brings us to one "reporter" who does parrot talking points, Matthew Price of BBC News, who "authoritatively" tells his readers: It is estimated that at least 90% of the guns used by the Mexican drug trafficking organisations have come from the US." … I'd like to share with you a bit of testimony, from the Statement of David Ogden, Deputy Attorney General, United States Department of Justice, before the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs hearing entitled "Southern Border Violence: Homeland Security Threats, Vulnerabilities, and Responsibilities", presented March 25, 2009. Just a small bit, really, but a critical one, almost lost in the 20 pages of his statement: "According to ATF's Tracing Center, 90 percent of the firearms about which ATF receives information are traceable to the United States." Read it again, and compare it to what the antis are saying. It's very different, isn't it? …
http://www.examiner.com/x-1417-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m3d30-Do-90-of-Mexican-crime-guns-come-from-US
---
The Beat Goes On: Ammunition was running out so fast at a gun show late last year in Richmond that one man tried to grab a big can of .223-caliber bullets just as another guy was trying to pay for it. There was an argument. "One guy's coming over his shoulder trying to grab" his can of 500 rounds of ammo, recalled Josh Golden, a gun and ammo dealer who was selling items at the Richmond Gun Show that day on Nov. 15. "They were his, and he was going to let him know that they were his." In November, firearms transactions spiked about 60 percent over November '07 in Virginia, and they're up so far this year, too, according to the number of state police background checks for firearm purchases. Also, dealers in Virginia and elsewhere say ammunition sales are soaring and it is difficult to keep certain items in stock…
http://www.godanriver.com/gdr/news/state_regional/article/virginians_stock_up_on_guns_ammunition/10070/
Like it or not, gun sales are, well, booming. There are a number of reasons, but the most prevalent is people are afraid the Obama administration, sooner or later, will get around to creating more-restrictive gun ownership laws and taxes. And those are not unfounded fears. So gun owners are stocking up on ammunition, handguns and semiautomatic rifles. Sales are up 50 percent since Barack Obama was elected. And gun-control advocates have taken notice… The two sides have not been able to reach any middle ground and are not likely to do so. Each is entrenched in its views. Gun owners see every new law or regulation as an incursion on their rights. Gun-control advocates see new laws as making us more safe. The decisions will be made in the Congress. And each side will make its arguments. In the meantime, there is nothing to prevent people from legally stocking up on guns and ammunition.
http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090328/OPINION01/303289980/-1/opinion
Fear has some people turning to guns for protection. "We're on track to selling twice as many as we sold last year," said Andre Chiasson of A-1 Pawn Shop in Seminole Heights. Some people are worried about the recession; others believe a new president will mean bans on weapons. Chiasson's store sold about 600 guns in 2008. During the first three months of this year, customers have bought 300. It's a trend statewide and beyond. Federal and local agencies don't track gun sales. One method of gauging the increase is by looking at new applications for concealed weapons permits. The Tampa Bay area is on pace this year to exceed permit applications from previous years, according to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services…
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/mar/30/gun-sales-shooting-tampa-bay-area/
Concealed carry licensing is becoming more popular with Oklahoma residents. According to reports from Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI), 8,799 self defense act licenses were approved in 2002. Five years later, OSBI issued 18,510 permits in 2008. Females licensed in the state last year numbered 4,237, while 14,273 men obtained their permits. The bureau issued 16,426 permits in 2007, 9,591 in 2006 and 10,450 in 2005. Sergeant Brent Crittenden of Pryor Police Department said he is getting a lot more calls from people interested in obtaining a concealed carry permit. He has been teaching the self-defense class for over five years. Crittenden said last year has been his busiest… Crittenden will be teaching a concealed carry class at Pryor Creek Community Church on Sunday, April 5. Pryor Assistant Police Chief Derek Melton, pastor of Pryor Creek Community Church, said his church wants to open the class to the community. "We want guns in the hands of the right people," he said…
http://www.pryordailytimes.com/local/local_story_089093926.html
---
NYC – Shoot a Mugger, Get Sued: This pistol-packing granny, who shot a man she accused of mugging her in her wheelchair, wishes she had finished the job - because now, he's suing her for millions. "I'm a peaceful person. I wish that I had killed him," said Margaret Johnson, 59, whose grandfather, Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson, once ruled Harlem's underworld and was immortalized in several hit movies. "I didn't think you had to pay to get mugged in New York City," she added. Johnson and her landlord, the Lenox Terrace apartment complex, are being sued for $5 million by Deron Johnson, 48, a man with a lengthy rap sheet. Margaret Johnson, a retired city bus driver who has a dislocated hip and a ruptured disc, said that in September 2006, she was sitting in her motorized wheelchair at Lenox Avenue and 133rd Street when Johnson tried to snatch her purse and gold chain. She pulled out her licensed .357 Magnum and fired a round into his left elbow. Cops grabbed him moments later… (Killing an assailant does not guarantee that his heirs may not sue. That is the purpose of stand-your-ground laws and related laws that block such lawsuits.)
http://www.nypost.com/seven/03302009/news/regionalnews/thug_takes_hot_at_gun_granny_161998.htm
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Minnesota Considers Extending Castle Doctrine: …A bill awaiting Minnesota legislative action would legally protect people who use deadly force to defend themselves against criminals. The proposal would rewrite laws regulating the use of deadly force in self-defense, extending protection to cars and businesses. Current law only protects victims while inside the home… If a person enters a home without permission, then "there is a presumption that he is there to do you at least substantial bodily harm," Cornish said. "He ain't there to sell Girl Scout cookies." Sen. Pat Pariseau, R-Farmington, said some people get sued by criminals after they defend themselves. Pariseau said this is "not a license to go out and shoot people. We have to enable people to not be placed in a position of legal risk," Rep. Steve Drazkowski, R-Wabasha, said. "You shouldn't have to back down," Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen, R-Alexandria, said… (This section is about two-thirds of the way down the page.)
http://www.morrissuntribune.com/articles/index.cfm?id=16898
---
Restaurant-Carry Bill Stalls in Tennessee: The guns-in-saloons bill has stalled in the state House tonight with lawmakers fighting over whether they should set a curfew for customers to surrender their weapons. The sponsor, Rep. Curry Todd, thinks handgun carriers should have to give up their guns at 11 p.m. "The NRA was OK with this," Todd told the House. The House voted 62-29 to add the curfew to the bill. But many Republicans objected even to this restriction on Second Amendment rights, and Rep. Brian Kelsey then offered an amendment to strip the provision. After Todd could muster only 32 votes to table that amendment, he withdrew the bill from the floor. He said he'd try again next Monday… He claimed his bill would curtail shootings presumably because criminals would quake in fear of all the licensed gunmen ready to spring into action. "I challenge anyone to tell me where they've had a shooting in a restaurant in any state that's passed this law," he said. (Note how a bill that is primarily oriented toward restaurants that serve alcohol has become the "guns-in-saloons bill.")
http://blogs.nashvillescene.com/pitw/2009/03/bar_gun_bill_stalls_in_house_i.php
---
West Virginia Debates Reciprocity, Confidentiality: A renewed battle over the public's right to access permits to carry concealed weapons is playing out in both chambers of the West Virginia Legislature this week. A vote is planned at mid-week in the Senate on SB378 that is designed basically as a reciprocity pact, one that allows West Virginia and other states to recognize each other's concealed permits when residents travel to and from one another. Attached to that proposal, however, is a controversial provision that says the public has no right to pry into government records through a Freedom of Information Act request to see just who is allowed to pack a hidden firearm in public…
http://www.register-herald.com/local/local_story_089221857.html
---
Urban Coyote Attacks Rise: A coyote ambling into a Chicago sandwich shop or taking up residence in New York's Central Park understandably creates a stir. But even here on the high plains of Colorado, where the animals are part of the landscape and figure prominently in Western lore, people are being taken aback by rising coyote encounters. Thanks to suburban sprawl and a growth in numbers of both people and animals, a rash of coyote encounters has alarmed residents… Since December, four people in the Denver area have been nipped or bitten by coyotes. A fifth told police a coyote lunged at him. State wildlife officers have killed seven coyotes. An eighth was killed by a sharpshooter hired by Greenwood Village, in Denver's southern suburbs. "These are coyotes that were born and raised in the 'hood," said Liza Hunholz, an area manager with the Colorado Division of Wildlife…
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/COYOTES_IN_THE_HOOD?SITE=FLPAP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2009-03-29-15-42-23
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"Gun Control" at Heart of Old West Gunfight: Some might call it ironic that the most notorious, old west gunfight in Lampasas [TX] probably came about, indirectly at least, over an attempt at gun control in the Hill Country town. According to local historian Jeff Jackson, the 1873 shooting in a Lampasas saloon resulted in the death of four state police officers at the hands of the Horrell family and possibly their gang members during a shootout… As a result of pleas from Lampasas city officials, Gov. Edmund J. Davis issued a proclamation prohibiting sidearms in Lampasas County. Jackson said the governor sent state police to town to post the new proclamation in February, but they left soon after. In March, Jackson said, the adjutant general of the state dispatched another company of state police at the request of town officials to arrest men who continued to carry sidearms. But the officers had the deck stacked against them…
http://www.tdtnews.com/story/2009/3/29/56811
---
Rule One, Rule Two Reminder: A man accidently shot his brother in the leg on Interstate 80 Saturday morning. The two Elko, Nev. men, ages 21 and 22, were driving to Salt Lake City for a Jazz basketball game when they started talking about how to take apart the two different models of guns they had with them, said Tooele County Sheriff's deputy Eli Wayman. About 10 a.m., the 22-year-old passenger pulled back the slider [sic] on his Springfield XD 40-caliber pistol without realizing there was a bullet in the chamber, Wayman said. When he released the slider, the gun fired. The shot hit his brother in the calf a few inches below the knee and exited about four inches above the ankle. The man was taken to University of Utah hospital by medical helicopter in stable condition. (Rule One: All guns are always loaded. Rule Two: Don't let the muzzle cross anything you're not prepared to shoot.)
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_12024654?source=email
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From The Firearms Coalition: The Republican Party lost big in 2006 and lost even bigger in 2008. They didn't lose because of opposition to the war in Iraq. They didn't lose because of the floundering economy. They didn't even lose because of a "culture of corruption." Those were symptoms and side issues. The reason Republicans lost, and continue to lose, is because they have failed to keep their promises, live up to their stated beliefs, and they have provided little reason to their base to get excited about keeping them in office… Republicans sought out support from gunowners, promising to protect the Second Amendment, but in eight years of a nominally pro-gun Republican Administration and six years of a nominally pro-gun Republican Congress, the only pro-gun legislation to get to the President's desk was the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. Even as an opposition party the Republicans have shown little stomach for a fight. They didn't even offer token resistance to the appointment of virulent anti-rights extremist Eric Holder as Attorney General - the defender of the Constitution. Thankfully the Democrats have thrown our opposition, the anti-rights movement under the bus - at least for now. The Democrats still feel the sting from their losses in 1994 after they passed the Clinton "assault weapons" ban. What they learned from that mistake is that we GunVoters are only dangerous when we're really mad, as we were in 1994. We as a movement have demonstrated a lack of resolve when there is nothing to really fire us up and make us angry…
http://www.firearmscoalition.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=365&Itemid=37
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Tangentially Related: Judges should interpret the Constitution according to other nations' legal "norms." Sharia law could apply to disputes in US courts. The United States constitutes an "axis of disobedience" along with North Korea and Saddam-era Iraq. Those are the views of the man on track to become one of the US government's top lawyers: Harold Koh. President Obama has nominated Koh - until last week the dean of Yale Law School - to be the State Department's legal adviser. In that job, Koh would forge a wide range of international agreements on issues from trade to arms control, and help represent our country in such places as the United Nations and the International Court of Justice. It's a job where you want a strong defender of America's sovereignty. But that's not Koh. He's a fan of "transnational legal process," arguing that the distinctions between US and international law should vanish…
http://www.nypost.com/seven/03302009/postopinion/opedcolumnists/obamas_most_perilous_legal_pick_161961.htm
http://townhall.com/columnists/DavidLimbaugh/2009/03/31/another_day,_another_scary_nomination?page=full
Mexico will cooperate with the United States in sharing intelligence to fight drug trafficking but does not plan joint patrols with U.S. forces, President Felipe Calderon said Monday. "We do have to work together but that does not imply the joint participation in military operations or even a joint participation of law enforcement agents," Calderon said at a press conference during a state visit to London. The Mexican president said forces from both sides of the border should share information to try to stem the flow of illegal drugs and tackle the gangs who supply them. The United States has stepped up security on the border with Mexico after new President Barack Obama put Mexico's drug war high on his agenda… (Gee, with Mexico so concerned about an alleged 90% of the firearms used by its drug cartels coming in from the US, I wonder why they won't participate in what seems like a common-sense measure to me.)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090330/ts_nm/us_britain_mexico_usa
http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/eu_britain_mexico/2009/03/30/197540.html
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