comments in () by Stephen P. Wenger
http://www.spw-duf.info
Just a Reminder: Americans have been gravely misled about foreign gun
ownership and the severity and effectiveness of foreign gun bans. It
simply is not true to state that "the U.S. has more gun availability
and far less restriction than any other modern industrial nation."
That honor goes to Israel where, nevertheless, murder "rates are much
lower than in the United States despite ... [Israel`s] greater
availability of guns to law-abiding civilians," writes Israeli judge
Abraham Tennenbaum (formerly an official with the Israeli National
Police and then a professor of criminology). Equally erroneous is the
impression that Europe is uniformly anti-gun. Laws vary. Luxembourg
totally bans all guns from civilian ownership. France, Belgium and
Germany allow citizens to own handguns but these countries are more
restrictive than most U.S. states. In Austria, every law-abiding
citizen has a legal right to buy handguns, and roughly ten per cent of
Austrians have done so (compared to 16 per cent of U.S. citizens)…
Homicide rates are quite low in all the nations mentioned above.
However, the homicide rate in handgun-banning Luxembourg is much
higher than in the others: 2.1 per 100,000 population, versus 1.2 and
1.1 per 100,000 for "handgun-ridden" Israel and Switzerland--which
have the lowest homicide rates of all. (The accompanying table
provides the references for homicide and suicide rate comparisons
discussed in this article.) Western Europe, in fact, has always had
very low homicide rates as compared to the U.S. This is not something
caused by strict anti-gun laws, because this low homicide rate existed
before such laws were adopted, and the low rate occurs also in
Switzerland and Austria which have no such strict anti-gun laws…
http://www.nraila.org/Issues/Articles/Read.aspx?ID=72
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Another Reminder: More than 700 gun rights activists from across the
country will gather with the nation's leading Second Amendment
advocates this weekend at the Airport Renaissance Hotel in St. Louis,
MO for the 24(th) annual Gun Rights Policy Conference… Hosted by the
Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and Citizens Committee for the Right
to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA), this annual conference provides an
opportunity for firearms owners to meet and discuss important issues
pending at the local and national levels. Speakers will include CCRKBA
Chairman Alan Gottlieb, SAF President Joseph Tartaro, plus attorney
Alan Gura, winner of the landmark Second Amendment Heller case;
Charles Cunningham, director of federal affairs, NRA Institute for
Legislative Action; Tim Oliver, vice president, Missouri Concealed
Carry; Kansas State Sen. Phillip Journey, Tennessee State Sen. Doug
Jackson; Richard Pearson, executive director of the Illinois State
Rifle Association; Jake McGuigan, director of governmental affairs for
the National Shooting Sports Foundation, and many others…
The conference is supported by NRA, the National Shooting Sports
Foundation and other groups and individuals. Attendance is free.
Additional information is available at: www.saf.org
Counting Illegal Aliens Could Make Congress More Pro-RKBA: …Section 2
of the Fourteenth Amendment, passed after the Civil War, modified the
enumeration to include "the whole number of persons in each State,"
and not just free persons. And because the upcoming 2010 census will
count illegal aliens (residing lopsidedly in the South as compared to
the rest of the nation) who cannot legally vote as most other "free
persons," the southern states are again going to garner a larger
Congressional delegation than if the census only counted persons
authorized to vote. According to the Population Reference Bureau, the
following states will likely gain or lose seats in the US House of
Representatives as a result of the 2010 census… In sum, one impact of
the illegal alien population in the United States is that the House of
Representatives is likely to be even more pro-gun after the 2010
census. And that's great news for the gun rights movement, buoyed by
Congress' recent legalization of gun carry in National Parks (to take
effect in February, 2010) and now aiming to get Congress to pull the
trigger on more pro-gun legislation, such as repealing the District of
Columbia's onerous gun registration scheme and encouraging the several
states to accept each other's handgun carry permits just like they
already do for driver's licenses. (If this proves to be the case and
the illegal aliens don't get fast-tracked into citizenship, this could
be one of the more intriguing unintended consequences of "progressive"
policy,)
Speaking of 2010…: 2010 is coming. Specifically, November 4th, 2010
is coming. That is election day, and a day much may change. The Gun
Rights Examiners have asked you to write your congressmen and women
many times about various legislation, but now we have a very powerful
tool for getting more done. The National Rifle Association has
launched Trigger the Vote, a website to facilitate voter registration
for those folks who are inclined to support the Second Amendment.
Like Rock the Vote and the many similar sites instituted before other
elections, Trigger the Vote seeks to increase voter registration among
a specific interest group…
http://www.examiner.com/x-2944-Denver-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m9d19-Its-never-too-early-to-prepare
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Ninth Circuit Prepares to Re-Hear Crucial Case: A hard-fought firearms
case is coming to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for en banc
arguments Thursday, with the usual gun groups weighing in as amici on
the usual sides. Though the case arose in Alameda County, Calif., home
to California Attorney General Jerry Brown, he hasn't submitted
briefs. But in another case across the country, involving the same
issue, Brown filed an amicus that has gun control advocates shaking
their heads… The legal issue took shape after the U.S. Supreme Court
in District of Columbia v. Heller struck down the capital's handgun
ban as unconstitutional. However, justices left unanswered whether
their ruling should apply more broadly. Now appellate courts are
grappling with the question. In a case revolving around a gun show at
the Alameda County fairgrounds, a 9th Circuit panel earlier this year
reached the opposite conclusion than did the 7th. But the full 9th
Circuit decided to hear the case en banc… En banc arguments are
scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday in San Francisco. The Supreme Court has
not yet announced whether it will hear the 7th Circuit case.
Big Surprise, Bloomberg Lies: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg,
head of Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG) isn't happy that the Senate
recently told Amtrak to either let gun owners check guns onto their
train or lose federal funding. "This has nothing to do with the right
to bear arms, and everything to do with keeping our country safe from
terrorists," Bloomberg said at Penn Station… Bloomberg claimed that
"Amtrak security was already pretty lax," but didn't explain why
trains haven't been hijacked, considering that four airplanes were
hijacked - sans guns - on September 11, 2001, despite airports'
superior security measures. Bloomberg also stated: "if the new bill
passes, there wouldn't be anything keeping someone from carrying
multiple assault weapons in their baggage." Perhaps Bloomberg doesn't
realize that if "lax security" hasn't already resulted in "multiple
assault weapons" being brought aboard, the idea that additional
check-in procedures would make this more likely is illogical… (Why
hijack trains when you can do more damage by derailing them?)
Last week, the U.S. Senate approved an amendment to a transportation
and housing bill that would require Amtrak to once again permit
passengers to transport unloaded firearms in their checked baggage, or
lose its $1.6 billion annual federal funding. Before the September
11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and the subsequent Madrid train bombing,
transporting locked, unloaded firearms in one's checked baggage on
Amtrak was uncontroversial. It was only after guns were not used to
kill thousands of people in those two atrocities that the current
total ban of firearms was put in place…
The Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG) claims to support the Second
Amendment right of individuals to keep and bear arms, but simply seeks
to prevent "criminals from illegally obtaining guns and using them."
he Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence claims it is not a "gun ban"
organization: "Brady believes that a safer America can be achieved
without banning guns." They simply want to "keep dangerous weapons out
of the wrong hands, including criminals and children." Both
organizations support similar goals, as noted in the table below…
NRA Targets Massachusetts Mayors: Holyoke Mayor Michael J. Sullivan
has taken heat for some of his decisions, but he didn't know what is
was like to draw fire until he crossed the sights of the National
Rifle Association. "I've hired a police chief from the outside,"
Sullivan said. "I've closed schools. I've never gotten more calls than
I've gotten about this." The powerful association of gun-rights
advocates has targeted Sullivan and other local mayors who belong to
the group Mayors Against Illegal Guns. Over the past few weeks, the
association has sent mailings to its members denouncing the group and
urging citizens to pressure their mayors to dissociate themselves from
the organization. In Easthampton, Mayor Michael A. Tautznik said he
received eight to 10 responses because of the mailing, enough to
convince him with withdraw from Mayors Against Illegal Guns. Tautznik,
who is facing a four-way race for his job in November, said he feared
the emotions stirred up by the National Rifle Association's letter
would polarize the political atmosphere and distract voters from the
real issues…
http://www.masslive.com/springfield/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-24/1253607991120040.xml&coll=1
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The Beat Goes On: The Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray (D) has
released the concealed handgun license (CHL) statistics for the second
quarter of 2009. There has been great demand for firearms and
concealed carry licenses and the trend clearly continued through the
last quarter. Concealed carry continues to be something both old and
new gun owners are interested in. If you buy a gun for self defense,
it makes sense to get the license needed to carry it with you. The
second quarter in 2009 marks the third quarter in a row where demand
more than doubled from the same period a year prior. The 17,921
regular licenses issues was a 106% increase over the same period last
year. (see chart) There were an additional 4,825 licenses renewed
during the quarter, which is approximately 68% of the licenses
expiring during the period. To date almost 70% of all expiring CHL's
have been renewed. There were 22 Temporary Emergency Licenses (TELs)
issued, bringing the total number of licenses issued by Ohio Sheriffs
to a whopping 22,768 for the period April through June of 2009…
http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/node/6898
Ed Yenick of Reno usually keeps an adequate supply of ammunition at
home, but noticed some shortages this year… Yenick isn't alone, as the
Reno-area recovers from what some call an unprecedented shortage of
ammunition, mostly for handguns but also some rifle calibers. Gun
dealers say the worst seems to be over… The crunch seems to be easing,
said Bill Foster, hunting manager at the Sportsman's Warehouse. But as
big game hunting season approaches, some rifle calibers may have
limited selection of ammunition. "We've seen more in this shipment on
hunting ammo than we've seen in the last couple of months, but even at
that we've got bare spots on our shelves," Foster said. "It is getting
better, but we're just not up to the volume distribution yet." Why the
shortage? …After Barack Obama won the election and Democrats held
majorities in both houses of Congress, some gun owners feared
restrictions were coming on guns or ammunition. Clement said there is
also speculation that the shortage also was due a need to create
ammunition for the U.S. military. But the National Shooting Sports
Foundation, an organization representing ammunition manufacturers,
said military ammunition has little to do with the consumer shortage…
http://www.rgj.com/article/20090922/NEWS/909220395/1321/NEWS
---
F Troop Does Real Police Work (Sometimes): A new effort to combat a
rash of home invasion-style robberies in Phoenix by teaming federal
agents with the police has resulted in the arrest of 70 people since
May and crimped the operations of several groups behind the crimes,
the authorities said Tuesday. Home invasion robberies and kidnappings,
largely tied to the smuggling of drugs and people across the Mexican
border, have been persistent problems in Phoenix and other cities near
the border. Officials with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives said a "unique" unit of federal agents has
worked with Phoenix detectives to break the robbery crews, which have
included attackers dressed in dark uniforms and masks similar to
police tactical units…
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/23/us/23phoenix.html?_r=2&ref=world
They started slowly, infiltrating the vast Phoenix drug market with a
team of all-stars, handpicked from around the nation. The federal
agents came to Phoenix prepared to take on the rising tide of
drug-related violence, where armed criminals are ready to kick in
doors, rob armed drug-runners and shoot anyone who gets in the way.
Their plan: Go undercover, lure in the violent crooks by soliciting
them to rob drug dealers, then take them down. In the end, Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents arrested 70 people,
seized about $39,000 and took dozens of guns and other weapons off the
street, authorities said Tuesday. The arrests were only a dent in the
problem, they said. What surprised them most was the number of people
they found ready to join complete strangers for robbery and murder in
Phoenix's drug underworld…
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2009/09/23/20090923atfagents0923.html
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Twisted Logic: Many gun owners spend a lot of time polishing their
weapons, stocking ammunition - whether for hunting or home protection
- and logging target practice hours. But if their guns were lost or
stolen, many of those people would have a hard time getting them back
for one minor reason: They have no record of the weapons' serial
numbers. Lincoln County [MS] Sheriff Steve Rushing said registering a
weapon with the county can be a good way to log the gun's
identification for future reference. "It's a great way to keep up with
the serial number," Rushing said. "When people get them stolen or lost
and don't have them, we can enter them on (the National Crime
Information Center) and everywhere else as stolen. It's a good
proactive way to keep up with your guns." Rushing said the process,
which is free, is more of a public service his office provides than an
information system. He said while the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms does have other ways of tracking down a particular gun, the
sheriff's office database is almost exclusively for the public…
(Wouldn't it be wiser just to keep your own record of the serial
numbers and descriptions of your firearms and report them in event of
loss or theft? History has shown that registration is a prelude to
confiscation.)
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20372048&BRD=1377&PAG=461&dept_id=172922&rfi=6
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Burress Begins Two-Year Sentence for Gun Possession: One-time Super
Bowl hero Plaxico Burress was sentenced to two years in prison Tuesday
for violating New York's stringent gun laws and was immediately taken
into custody following his hearing. Burress agreed to a plea deal last
month and pleaded guilty to a lesser firearms charge. The charges
stemmed from an incident late last fall, in which Burress accidentally
shot himself in the thigh at a Manhattan nightclub with a gun that had
not been licensed in New York. He is expected to serve about 20 months
with credit for good behavior - meaning he could be released as early
as the spring of 2011 - followed by two years of probation…
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4493887&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/23/nyregion/23plaxico.html?ref=nyregion
---
Oops, Wrong House, Illinois Version: Police say an eastern Illinois
man shot two people to death after they forced their way into his home
and tried to rob him. Vermilion County Sheriff Pat Hartshorn says the
two masked men held the homeowner on the floor at gunpoint Monday
night and choked him while demanding money. The sheriff says the
alleged robbers were 22 and 17 but didn't identify them or the
homeowner. Hartshorn says the men let the homeowner go when his wife
said she had expensive jewelry upstairs. While the men focused on a
jewelry box, the homeowner grabbed a handgun and shot them. Hartshorn
says another 17-year-old waited in a pickup outside. He drove away but
was arrested a short time later. Indianola is about 10 miles southwest
of Danville. (All's well that ends well but this is one more incident
that shows that it's best to keep the gun on your person, even inside
your home.)
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-il-homeinvasion-shoo,0,6215832.story
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Oops, Wrong House, Michigan Version: An allegedly drunken man who
entered a Traverse City home in the middle of the night found himself
at gunpoint. Aaron TwoCrow, 24, of Suttons Bay, allegedly entered a
home on the 800 block of Fern Street at about 4:20 a.m. Saturday,
police said. A female homeowner was up rocking her 15-month-old child
in the living room when she heard her kitchen door open and saw a
stranger in the home. "She's just sitting there in the dead of night
... and this guy comes in and scares the crap out of her," Traverse
City Police Capt. Steve Morgan said. The woman ran into her bedroom
and told her sleeping husband, who retrieved a handgun and confronted
TwoCrow. He ran from the house and was arrested without incident as he
walked along nearby Hannah Avenue. TwoCrow allegedly was intoxicated,
Morgan said…
http://www.record-eagle.com/local/local_story_265072625.html
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Oops, Wrong House, Pennsylvania Version: Police said three men who
forced their way into a Washington County home were greeted by a
homeowner with a shotgun. "It's not a very nice thing to happen in
McDonald, because McDonald is a very quiet town," said neighbor, Don
Feigley. Police said the homeowner, Joseph Tokarksi, who was one of
several people in the house, came down the steps with the weapon in
his hand. "I'm prepared to do what I have to do to protect my home and
my family," said Toarski. "I'm all for that. I think anybody should be
allowed to defend themselves in their homes and defend their
neighbors, if they want to," said Feigley. Police later caught two
suspects whom they indentified as 19-year-old David Carlisle, of
Cannonsburg, and 20-year-old Jermell McCullough, of Mt. Pleasant. Both
are being held in the Washington County Jail, each on $50,000 bond.
McDonald police are still looking for the third suspect. (As John
Farnam quotes, "when you least expect it, you're elected," even if you
live in a very quiet town.)
http://www.wpxi.com/news/20993608/detail.html
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Oops, Wrong Shed: …The homeowner was awakened when he heard noises
coming from his outside utility shed, Amerson said. The 64-year-old
man told deputies he went to investigate and saw Roberts coming out of
the shed carrying a grass trimmer and a chain saw. "The two men got
into a struggle, and then Roberts went to his car to try and get away,
but the car wouldn't start," Amerson said. "He then got out of the car
and told the homeowner he was going to shoot him." Amerson said the
homeowner went inside the house, and Roberts yelled from the yard that
he was going to shoot him. The homeowner then got a 20-gauge shotgun
and shot Roberts in the chest, Amerson said…The homeowner acted within
his rights, said District Attorney Randall Houston. "The bad people
need to realize that folks in Elmore County [AL] have guns and aren't
afraid to use them," Houston said. "A man has the right to protect his
life and his property, and all the evidence gathered in this case
shows that's just what happened." Houston said his office will present
the case to a future session of the Elmore County grand jury, but he
didn't expect any charges would be filed against the homeowner.
Oops, Wrong Driveway: Deputies with the Knox County [TN] Sheriff's
Office responded to a shooting at 837 Lester Road, shortly before 11
p.m. Friday night. Jonathan and Kara Stevens told investigators they
were at home when they heard their pit bulls barking. They armed
themselves with a pistol and flashlight as they went outside to
investigate. The couple told detectives a teenager jumped out from
behind a car in their driveway and pointed gun a 12 gauge shotgun at
them. Jonathan Stevens said he shot the 15 year old twice and believes
the teenager shot at them twice before they ran back into their home.
Neighbors say the suspect collapsed in their driveway after the
shooting. Deputies found the teenager laying in the road with two gun
shot wounds in his upper torso. Rural Metro took the suspect to UT
Medical Center. The homeowners were not hurt…
http://www.wbir.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=99462&provider=top
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This May Be Your Chance: Korea will sell outdated M1 and carbine
rifles used during the Korean War and the Vietnam War to the U.S. gun
enthusiasts. They have long lost their value as firearms, except that
reserve forces sometime use them. The Defense Ministry's "green"
logistics planning division said it decided to sell about 87,000 M1
and some 35,000 carbine rifles to the U.S. by the end of the year.
"Importers are very interested in them as many Americans want to buy
them as curios for their collections." The ministry estimated their
expected sale prices at US$220 per M1 and more than $140 per carbine.
Korea could earn more than $20 million from the first shipment of
those rifles. In fact, the old M1 or carbine rifle is traded at more
than $1,000 in some cases in the U.S., a military officer said. (As I
recall, some of the earlier Korean imports were not in the best
condition. However, they may be good sources for parts.)
http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2009/09/23/2009092300791.html
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Completely Unrelated: Jay Luger hasn't seen so much attention focused
on this eastern Arizona hamlet since the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service reintroduced Mexican gray wolves in 1998, sparking complaints
from local ranchers. "But that was a different kind of attention,"
Luger said. The Christmas tree that will stand in front of the U.S.
Capitol will come from the forest near here, and people in Alpine and
up the road in Springerville and Eagar say they are excited to show
the nation that Arizona offers more than just deserts and cactuses…
(Springerville is about a 50-mile drive from my front door and Alpine
about 75 miles. As the article says, Arizona offers more than just
deserts and cactuses.)
http://www.wmicentral.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20370793&BRD=2264&PAG=461&dept_id=505965&rfi=6
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