Tuesday, October 13, 2009

10-13-09

by permission from Stephen P. Wenger <spwenger@spw-duf.info>
comments in () by the same
http://www.spw-duf.info


One More Time: A firearms tracking bill has many bloggers up in arms
over a federal requirement that would purportedly force gun owners to
list their firearms on federal income tax returns. But while the bill
implements sweeping gun-control measures – including one that would
prohibit citizens from owning a gun without a license – the income tax
provision doesn't exist. The Blair Holt Firearm Licensing and Record
of Sale Act, or H.R. 45, was introduced Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Il., on
Jan. 6. While the bill does not include stipulations about reporting
guns on tax forms, it does contain numerous gun-control proposals that
are drawing fierce criticism from gun-rights advocates… The bill has
been referred to the House Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism
and Homeland Security and does not have a single co-sponsor, leading
many to believe passage is highly unlikely [emphasis added]… (Since
the most crucial sentence, which I have italicized, is buried halfway
through the article, I'm no sure why World Net Daily even posted this
article at this time.)

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=112728
---

Is "Gun Control" Racist?: …The fact of the matter is this: Dating back
to the Antebellum South and beyond, the State has enacted laws
specifically designed to keep black folk unarmed. This is not
debatable, nor a matter of perspective. It is a matter of fact. The
jailing of Plaxico Burress should not be viewed as an isolated event,
simply the fallout of a careless high-profile citizen. It is the fruit
of a racist tree planted in 18th century America, a tree that
continues to bear fruit even in 2009. Consulting a paper on the racist
history of gun control in Georgia produced by GeorgiaCarry.org, one
finds this informative quote from Florida Supreme Court Justice Buford
commenting on the practice of developing seemingly race-neutral gun
control laws that – in reality – selectively applied only to blacks…

http://www.lewrockwell.com/alston/alston60.1.html
---

Bloomberg's Latest Sting – the Rest of the Story: A sting operation
was used by the city of New York to try and catch violations of
federal gun laws at multi-state gun shows. Even for an anti-gun
advocate like New York's Mayor Bloomberg, hiring a firm to go
undercover in states other than his own under the guise of stopping
the flow of guns into his city raises eyebrows, and some serious
questions. Over 40 investigators from Kroll Associates were hired to
go undercover, posing as gun buyers hoping to slide under the radar of
the background checks via a straw purchase or various other scenarios,
and visited seven gun shows in Nevada, Ohio, and Tennessee during the
summer. (A straw purchase is the term for when an accomplice of the
real gun purchaser signs the papers and receives the background check
- and then the goods, but with the actual purchaser not present and
not participating.) The undercover detectives attempted to buy guns
over and over in the hopes of catching gun dealers in illegal gun
sales… This excursion into other states cost the city over $1 million,
something the citizens themselves should be up in arms about.
Bloomberg has zero power over gun sales outside of New York. Certainly
there is plenty of real crime in New York City that he could attend
to, if he were serious about stopping crime… (Technically, it is only
a straw purchase if it is illegal for the next recipient of the
firearm to possess it.)

http://www.jbs.org/jbs-news-feed/5474-ny-mayor-bloomberg-goes-gun-hunting
---

Bill Would Promote New Shooting Ranges: The expansion of America's
urban and suburban areas has crowded out many shooting areas and made
it increasingly difficult to find a place to shoot. On September 24,
2009, Senators Mark Udall (D-Colo.) and James Risch (R-Idaho)
introduced S. 1702, a bill that would help remedy this problem by
promoting the construction and maintenance of target ranges on public
lands. The bill would amend the Pittman-Robertson Act, a 70-year-old
federal law that uses federal excise taxes on firearms and ammunition
to fund wildlife conservation programs and the construction of
shooting ranges. The bill's improvements to the Pittman-Robertson Act
would allow the states far greater ability to purchase land, build new
target ranges, and improve the ranges that currently exist. Currently,
Pittman-Robertson only allows the federal government to use these
funds to pay 75 percent of the cost of building or maintaining a
range. S. 1702 would change the funding requirements under
Pittman–Robertson to allow the federal government to finance up to 90
percent of target range construction and maintenance with Pittman
Robertson funds…

http://www.ammoland.com/2009/10/12/bill-promoting-target-shooting-ranges-s-1702/
---

Important Decision from South Carolina Supremes: The S.C. Supreme
Court on Monday overruled decisions on more than two-dozen murder and
assault cases dating to 1894 when it ordered a new trial for a
42-year-old man convicted of killing his cousin. In overturning the
2006 murder conviction of Johnny Rufus Belcher, the high court set a
precedent for cases involving weapons and self-defense arguments. The
jury could have chosen murder, voluntary manslaughter or self-defense.
The high court said the jury was inappropriately told it that could
infer that the killing involved malice because a gun was used. Defense
attorney Rauch Wise argued it's an unfair assumption when both people
are armed. The high court agreed, saying the malice inference should
no longer be used when the defense gives evidence that, if believed,
would justify the actions of someone charged with murder or assault
and battery with intent to kill.

http://www.thesunnews.com/news/local/story/1114175.html
---

Meanwhile, in Canada…: Saskatchewan's top court has shot down
arguments that Canadians have a constitutional right to bear arms for
self-defence - but the court didn't blow away the case completely.
Instead, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal implied it might reconsider
Edward Hudson's constitutional challenge if the gun rights activist
can muster expert and other evidence to bolster his contention that
the right to bear arms for self-defence is an inalienable natural
right, which supersedes the Criminal Code. The court's Sept. 21 ruling
apparently marks the first time appellate judges have specifically
addressed whether Canadians might have a right to bear arms for
self-defence…

http://www.lawyersweekly.ca/index.php?section=article&volume=29&number=22&article=5
---

Another Reason to Leave California: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today
signed into law a bill that requires buyers of handgun ammunition to
leave thumbprints and detailed personal information with registered
ammo sellers, as well as put restrictions on online bullet sales.
"Assembly Bill 962 reasonably regulates access to ammunition and
improves public safety without placing undue burdens on consumers,"
Schwarzenegger said in a letter explaining his decision. The new
restrictions will take effect Feb. 1, 2011. Authored by Assemblyman
Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, the bill bans direct shipping to
Californians who buy bullets via mail order or over the Internet.
Instead, any ammo they buy would need to be picked up at a licensed
handgun ammunition dealer, similar to the way guns are currently
bought and sold. The bill doesn't require a waiting period to pick up
ammunition as there is when purchasing firearms. All handgun
ammunition must be kept behind store counters. Ammunition that can be
used in both pistols and rifles — like the popular .22 caliber round
used by target shooters and small game hunters — fall under the new
restrictions. The bill also would require that those purchasing
ammunition provide photo ID and a thumbprint… (Unfortunately, the bill
probably does recognize the difference between "bullets" and
"cartridges.")

http://www.redding.com/news/2009/oct/12/gov-signs-ammunition-sales-bill/
http://www.news10.net/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=68596&catid=2

…If by improving public safety Arnold means making it lucrative for
criminal gangs to smuggle in more ammunition from out of state, he's
got a point. If he means it will provide more opportunities to harass
everyone who jumps through each new stupid, evil hoop the state of
California imposes on the "law-abiding," and further throttle a
revenue-generating segment of the economy at a time when the state is
issuing worthless IOUs, then no argument… The question now is, will
any manufacturers follow the principled lead of Ronnie Barrett? …
(Barrett, the maker of the best known .50-caliber rifle in the US,
announced his refusal to sell his product to California
law-enforcement agencies after the state banned its sale to private
citizens.)

http://www.examiner.com/x-1417-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m10d12-Schwarzenegger-signs-handgun-ammo-registration-bill
---

Prohibitionists Try to Make Hay of Shooting Death: It didn't take long
for anti-Second Amendment fascists to try to capitalize on the Oct. 7
murder of Meleanie Hain. Just as they tried to benefit from the
murders of the Chicago boys walking home from school - how that
becomes a call for gun control in a city that bans guns is a mystery -
they wasted little time in blaming responsible gun owners for Hain's
death. Take, for instance, Josh Sugarmann, the executive director of
the Violence Policy Center in Washington, D.C. On Oct. 9, he posted
the following tripe on huffingtonpost.com: "The Oct. 7 murder-suicide
involving Pennsylvania mother of three Meleanie Hain - who gained
national note and pro-gun fame as the result of a legal battle
stemming from the revocation of her permit to carry a concealed
handgun by local law enforcement after she openly carried a loaded
Glock 9mm pistol to her daughter's soccer game - is a macabre lesson
in easy irony. A woman who preached the National Rifle Association
gospel that guns make you safer and protect your family is shot dead
by her husband in a murder-suicide, her surviving family devastated."
…(The "macabre lesson in easy irony" that I see is that her murdering
husband was a sworn LEO, part of the small minority that Sugarmann and
his ilk are willing to trust with firearsm.)

http://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/gun-shots/2009/10/anti-2a-zealots-try-capitalize-gun-advocates-murder
---

A Failure of Ohio Law?: A shootout involving at least five people
occurred Thursday night in front of Route 66 Kitchen, a bar in Toledo
near the University of Toledo campus… Ohio law prohibits customers
from bringing firearms into any liquor establishment. regardless of
whether the person is drinking or even if they've jumped through the
state-mandated hoops to obtain a concealed handgun license (CHL).
Ohioans For Concealed Carry has introduced legislation to allow CHL
holders to carry into an establishment that serves liquor as long as
they are not drinking, but legislation like that has been introduced
in the past always with opponents arguing if it passed that there
would be shootouts at bars. Yet the law didn't stop hoodlums from
bringing their guns in. The law also didn't stop them from dealing
drugs, which started the fight. After a man was asked to leave by a
bar employee for allegedly attempting to sell marijuana, the
confrontation escalated into the initial fight. Criminals by
definition break laws. Allowing law abiding citizen the means to
defend themselves will not change the behavior of the lawless. Unless,
that is, the criminal targets someone who does have the means to fight
back.

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-2206-Cleveland-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m10d12-Ohio-law-fails-to-stop-bar-shootout
---

Oops, Wrong House: An 81-year-old man shot and killed a masked gunman
during a home invasion early this morning at a residence north of
Brewton, Escambia County [AL] Sheriff Grover Smith said. The sheriff
said the robber had been released from a Nebraska jail just two days
before he was killed. Smith declined to identify the homeowner, but
said the man and his wife were in bed in their home along U.S. 31
north of town about 3 a.m. when the intruder kicked in the door to the
home and entered their bedroom, demanding money. Smith said the
homeowner managed to retrieve a pistol from the bedside table and
pointed it at the robber, who told the homeowner to drop the weapon.
Instead, Smith said, the homeowner fired the gun, striking the
intruder in the forehead, killing him instantly… "The man was in his
home, in bed with his wife, and he acted in self-defense," Smith said.
"And as far as the wife, she had armed herself with a shotgun by the
time I got there." (Einstein defined insanity as repeatedly doing the
same thing and expecting different results. I have spent a week in
this general area of Alabama and know that it prides itself on a high
proportion of its law-abiding population being armed. Amazingly, the
criminals do not appear to have figured this out.)

http://blog.al.com/live/2009/10/81-year-old_man_shoots_home_in.html
---

Rule Three Reminder: A man suspected of robbing a south side pizza
place Monday apparently shot himself in the leg while committing the
crime, police said. John B. Catania, 31, suffered a non
life-threatening gunshot wound to his upper right leg, said Sgt.
Fabian, a Tucson Police Department spokesman. Just after 10 p.m.
Monday Tucson police received a 911 call from a woman saying her
boyfriend had been shot. When police responded to the 3500 block of
East Lee Street they found Catania, who said he had been shot for
unknown reasons by two men, Pacheco said. About a half-hour earlier,
Tucson police had also received a report of an armed robbery at the
Little Caesar's Restaurant, 1998 E. Irvington Road. Witnesses told
police the robber shot himself as he placed his handgun in the front
waistband of his pants, Pacheco said. He fled with an undetermined
amount of cash, police said… (Rule Three: Keep your finger [and
material such as shirt tails] of the trigger guard until your sights
are on the target and you're prepared to fire.)

http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/hourlyupdate/313046.php
---

Bringing a Harmonica to a Fistfight: A Broken Arrow [OK] man is facing
the music after being accused of beating his roommate on the head with
a harmonica. According to Decai Liu's arrest report, his roommate was
in the bathroom getting ready for work when Liu burst in and started
beating him with the instrument. Liu, 52, was charged Thursday with
assault with a dangerous weapon in the attack last Saturday in the
4500 block of West Norman Street in Broken Arrow, court records show.
When officers arrived about 9:30 a.m., the roommate was covered in
blood from cuts on his head and face. Medics took him to St. Francis
Hospital, the report states… In addition to the felony assault charge,
prosecutors also filed charges of resisting an officer and assaulting
an officer, according to court records. Liu is being held at the Tulsa
Jail in lieu of $6,500 bail. Officers took the harmonica as evidence

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=298&articleid=20091008_318_0_ABoero9452
---

Kahr Arms in the News: The Rev. Sun Myung Moon, now approaching 90 and
still one of the world's most controversial religious figures, is
handing over day-to-day control of his Unification Church to three
U.S.-educated sons… The youngest, 30-year-old Rev. Moon Hyung-jin, was
tapped last year to take over as the church's religious leader. Moon
Kook-jin, 39, is in charge of business ventures in South Korea, while
40-year-old Moon Hyun-jin oversees international operations. The
church said all the brothers have Harvard degrees… Moon Kook-jin, who
has headed the church's South Korean business operations since 2005,
praised his youngest brother. "I think he's doing a good job," he told
the AP. A Seoul businessman and owner of the New York-based gun
manufacturer Kahr Arms, Moon Kook-jin says he sees no contradiction in
owning a weapons factory. "To build a peaceful country, we need the
police and an army," he said, a black Kahr Arms baseball cap perched
on his head… (Moon Kook-jin is better known to American gun owners as
Justin Moon. While the Kahr Arms website does list a Blauvelt NY
address for Kahr's wholesale division, the primary address is listed
in Worcester MA, as is marked on their excellent short-stroke DAO
pistols.)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/12/AR2009101202354.html?hpid=sec-religion
---

Front Sight in the News: The radio network that broadcasts Rush
Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck balked at running ads for a
handgun training class that came with a free gun, unless the sponsor
called the firearms "free gifts." Dr. Ignatius Piazza, the founder and
director of the Front Sight Firearms Training Institute that provides
the course and is touting the gun giveaway, refused to make the change
and is calling on his fans to protest Premiere Radio Network's
decision… Gun Week reported that part of Front Sight's curriculum
included a "sales pitch" similar to those given by time share groups
in which students were encouraged to buy memberships to the facility,
some of which cost as much as $175,000. In return, those members would
be allowed to take classes for free and given a one-acre home site at
the shooting "resort," where Piazza said he planned to build a
residential development. The lawsuit alleged that Piazza had created a
Ponzi scheme in which he continued to sell the memberships knowing
that he was not raising enough money to ever "proceed with the plan as
presented." Piazza settled the lawsuit in 2007, but violated the terms
of the agreement and in May, a judge ordered the court to seize the
shooting facility and all assets, according to the Pahrump Valley
Times. Now a court-appointed administrator is in charge of all
financial transactions.

http://rawstory.com/2009/10/limbaughs-radio-network-yanks-ads-for-free-guns-unless-theyre-called-free-gifts/
---

Some Historical Perspective: Time has posted its March 24, 1941 report
on the Marine Corps testing of the "Garand Rifle." Seemingly, while
Marine headquarters went along with the Army decision to adopt
Garand's rifle as the M1, the Marine board in question preferred
retention of the 1903 Springfield for greater reliability after the
type of exposure a rifle would receive during an amphibious landing.
This is not too dissimilar from SOCOM dropping rifles that share the
M16's buffer tube in the stock because it can fill with water,
particularly when it accompanies "underwater swimmers," rendering it a
single-shot rifle when it hits the beach. The Marines, however,
suddenly developed a fondness for the M1 Rifle during their extended
service on Guadalcanal. This interested in the history of military
rifles will find this link worth clicking.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,884292-1,00.html
---

Tangentially Related: Boy Scouts are supposed to "Be Prepared." But
how could a New York Eagle Scout prepare himself to have his dreams
derailed by a school's imbalanced "zero tolerance" policy? Matthew
Whalen's plan to attend the U.S. Military Academy at West Point may be
in jeopardy because the high school senior had a 2-inch pocketknife
locked in his car. The Lansingburgh Central School District initially
suspended him for five days and later added another 15 days to his
sentence. The honor student, who became a soldier last summer and
completed Army Basic Training, including learning the safe use of
automatic weapons and a bayonet, kept the pocketknife in a side
compartment of his car as part of a survival kit along with a sleeping
bag and bottled water…

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/13/tarnishing-a-scouts-honor/

Finding character witnesses when you are 6 years old is not easy. But
there was Zachary Christie last week at a school disciplinary
committee hearing with his karate instructor and his mother's fiancé
by his side to vouch for him. Zachary's offense? Taking a camping
utensil that can serve as a knife, fork and spoon to school. He was so
excited about recently joining the Cub Scouts that he wanted to use it
at lunch. School officials concluded that he had violated their
zero-tolerance policy on weapons, and Zachary was suspended and now
faces 45 days in the [Newark DE] district's reform school. "It just
seems unfair," Zachary said, pausing as he practiced writing
lower-case letters with his mother, who is home-schooling him while
the family tries to overturn his punishment…

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/12/education/12discipline.html?_r=1

…Hundreds of people were expected to attend a school board meeting
Tuesday evening to object to the suspension of 6-year-old Zachary
Christie from Downes Elementary School for bringing the camping
utensil from home. The folding knife is banned as a dangerous
instrument under the Christina School District's zero-tolerance policy
in the student code of conduct, and officials said they have to act
regardless of his age or what he planned to do with the instrument…

http://townhall.com/news/us/2009/10/13/del_1st_grader_faces_reform_school_for_camp_tool

Have you, or a person you know, ever been falsely accused of domestic
violence? Targeted with a restraining order? Put in jail? Each year
more than 1 million Americans are hit with a false or trivial
accusation of partner abuse. It's now reached the point that domestic
violence laws represent the largest roll-back in Americans' civil
rights since the Jim Crow era! Our nation's domestic violence laws
have gone too far, harming innocent citizens and diverting scarce
resources away from the true victims… (Unfortunately, this article
fails to list the loss of the RKBA as a major consequence of these
arrests and restraining orders. Some recent studies suggest that a
significant proportion of domestic-violence situations are two-sided,
with many of the incidents being initiated by wives against their
presumptively guilty husbands.)

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20091013/OPINION03/710139998

No comments:

Post a Comment

Followers

Blog Archive