comments in () by Stephen Wenger
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RKBA Amendment Could Scuttle DC Congressional Seat: The Senate
approved the D.C. Voting Rights Act on Thursday, though an amendment
that would scale back the city's tough anti-gun laws complicated its
outlook…The bill would add two seats to the House of Representatives -
one from the largely Democratic District and one from
Republican-leaning Utah, increasing the number in the House for the
first time since 1913. But the bill's ultimate success was thrown into
question by an amendment attached to the legislation that would peel
back some of the District's strict gun control laws. The amendment was
sponsored by Sen. John Ensign, Nevada Republican, and passed the
Senate with a 62-36 vote. The House is expected to vote next week. If
a bill is passed in the House that does not include the gun-rights
amendment, which is likely, the House and Senate versions would go to
conference committee, where members of both houses would iron out
differences…
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/27/senate-passes-voting-rights-bill-for-dc/
The gun amendment is similar to a sweeping measure approved by the
House last year that was fought by the D.C. government. It would
remove the city's gun-registration requirements, limit its authority
to restrict firearms and repeal the District's ban on semiautomatic
guns… Ensign's measure may signal that he is the new go-to senator for
gun rights groups such as the National Rifle Association. For years,
their champion was Larry Craig, who retired last month… Opponents of
the current bill said it violated the constitutional provision that
House representatives should be chosen by the "people of the several
states." Since the District is not a state, its inhabitants don't
qualify for representation, they said…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/26/AR2009022601678.html
…The measure is likely to end up in the courts, however, even if a
similar bill passes the House, as is expected next week. President
Obama has said he will sign the legislation. The gun amendment makes
the Senate measure significantly different from the bill in the House,
which could slow passage. However, some members of Congress said the
amendment was unlikely to survive the negotiations between the House
and Senate over a final version of the bill. The amendment was a major
victory for the pro-gun lobby, which has battled against the city's
tough gun laws…
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/us/politics/27district.html?ref=us
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Big Brother Lied, Rights Died: As a presidential candidate, Barack
Obama deliberately and repeatedly lied to America's 90 million gun
owners across the country when he insisted that he would not try to
take away anyone's firearms, the Citizens Committee for the Right to
Keep and Bear Arms said today. CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, reacting
to yesterday's remarks by Obama's Attorney General Eric Holder that
the president will seek to reinstate the ban on semi-automatic
firearms, said Obama "knew he was lying to the nation because his own
Web site touted his plan to revive the gun ban and make it permanent.
We warned America that Obama's 'support' for the Second Amendment was
empty rhetoric," he stated, "and now Holder's disclosure has confirmed
it. Obama was lying, and now gun rights may be dying." …
http://news.prnewswire.com/ViewContent.aspx?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/02-26-2009/0004979742&EDATE=
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The Mexican Excuse: Attorney General Eric Holder and President Obama
wish to reinstate the assault weapons ban, a ban of specific types of
semi-automatic weapons imposed on Americans during the Clinton
Administration. Oddly, the types of weapons that were forbidden were
seldom used in the commission of crimes. Despite President Obama's
campaign assertion that he is a supporter of the Second Amendment, the
new administration is predictably going after the freedoms law abiding
citizens are guaranteed in the constitution, using the excuse of
preventing violence. This time the violence is in Mexico, and the
excuse is that drug cartels are smuggling weapons from the US… While
guns are sometimes fraudulently purchased or stolen and smuggled
south, the cartels are not getting automatic weapons from the US.
Fully automatic M-16's and AK-47's (machine-guns) are against the law
here. The automatic weapons favored by the drug lords come from a
more immediate sources, one is the Mexican army itself, which provides
the foot soldiers to the cartels, fully trained and willing to fight
for the high pay the cartels promise. Fully automatic Kalashnikovs,
RPG's and grenades come from other places, like Venezuela, who has
recently received a production license for the new AK variant from
Russia and has smuggled weapons to Mexican rebel groups in the past.
International arms smugglers are also contributing to the volatile
mix… (Fully automatic M16's and AK-47's are not actually against the
law in the US – they are just restricted so severely that straw
purchasers cannot just walk into border-state gun shops and buy them.)
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/02/the_mexican_excuse_stealing_fr.html
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Ban Will Reduce Jobs, Not Crime: Responding to Attorney General Eric
Holder's comment yesterday that the Obama Administration will attempt
to reinstate a ban against semi-automatic rifles, the National
Shooting Sports Foundation reminded Congress and all Americans that
such a ban would cause jobs to be lost in a difficult economy, have no
effect on reducing crime and would deprive millions of law-abiding
sportsmen and gun owners of their Constitutional right to own the
firearm of their choice… Holder's use of the inaccurate term "assault
weapons" is one that is deliberately used by gun-ban advocates to
create confusion between legally sold, semi-automatic rifles and
look-a-like, fully automatic military versions. While the civilian
version of these rifles may resemble their military counterparts, the
civilian rifle fires only one round with each pull of the trigger.
Additionally, these rifles fire ammunition calibers no more powerful
than traditional-looking sporting arms. Civilian access to fully
automatic machine guns has been severely restricted since 1934…
http://news.prnewswire.com/ViewContent.aspx?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/02-26-2009/0004979721&EDATE=
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Pelosi Not Quite Ready: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tossed cold water
on the prospect of reinstating the assault weapons ban, highlighting
Democrats' reluctance to take on gun issues. Attorney General Eric
Holder raised the prospect Wednesday that the administration would
push to bring back the ban. But Pelosi (D-Calif.) indicated on
Thursday that he never talked to her. The Speaker gave a flat "no"
when asked if she had talked to administration officials about the
ban. "On that score, I think we need to enforce the laws we have right
now," Pelosi said at her weekly news conference. "I think it's clear
the Bush administration didn't do that." Outside of the dig at the
recent Republican president, that phrase is the stock line of those
who don't want to pass new gun control laws, such as the National
Rifle Association. The White House declined to comment on Holder's
remarks, referring reporters to the Department of Justice. The DoJ did
not respond to The Hill's request for comment.
Big Brother Boosts Firearm Stocks: The election of President Obama and
a Democratically controlled Congress has been a boon to U.S. handgun
makers, with sales of one pistol manufacturer climbing enough that an
analyst Wednesday upgraded its stock to "Strong Buy" from
"Accumulate." CL King & Assoc. analyst Jim Barrett upgraded shares of
Sturm, Ruger & Co. after the Southport, Conn.-based company reported
its firearm revenue soared 81 percent in the fourth quarter. "We are
raising our rating, recognizing that sales are benefiting from what is
clearly a one-time surge in gun sales due to the arrival of the new
Democratic administration," Barrett said. Since President Obama's Nov.
3, 2008, election, Sturm's shares have climbed more than 20 percent.
And shares of rival Smith & Wesson Holding Corp., based in
Springfield, Mass., have shot up about 40 percent…
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29389581/
Related Article:
http://personalmoneystore.com/moneyblog/2009/02/26/gun-sales-stocks-obama-fear/
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Russian Arms Industry on Verge of Bankruptcy: Not sure if it's good
news or bad. If you shoot the relatively cheap Wolf or Barnaul ammo
this could be bad. If you don't trust Russians (and I don't), this
could be good. Anyway, one thing is for sure: if the Russkies want to
jump start their dying firearms and ammunition industry, the best
thing they can do is to elect Obama as President next time around. One
third of Russian armament manufacturers are almost bankrupt and the
industry is trying to obtain financial credit from Western banks as
the loans from Russian banks are too expensive…
http://transsylvaniaphoenix.blogspot.com/2009/02/russian-armament-industry-only-inches.html
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Gillibrand Reverses Stance: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand made her
turnaround on a key gun-control issue official this week: She signed a
letter seeking repeal of the NRA-backed Tiahrt Amendments, even though
she sought to make them permanent just last June. The letter, made
public yesterday, asks Attorney General Eric Holder for his support
for the repeal of Tiahrt, an appropriations bill amendment that since
2003 has restricted use of federal gun-trace data. The letter was
written and circulated by Gillibrand's most outspoken critic: Rep.
Carolyn McCarthy (D-Mineola), a gun-control activist whose husband was
killed in 1993 by a gunman on the Long Island Rail Road. Gillibrand
acknowledged backing Tiahrt's repeal by signing the letter, an aide
said, but denied making a 180-degree turn on the measure. Gillibrand
said instead that Tiahrt needs to be "fixed…"
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-usgill266049715feb26,0,857834.story
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Pro-RKBA Bills in North Carolina: While gun rights advocates
nationwide assume a defensive stance in response to the election of
Barack Obama and the stranglehold on Congress by Democrats, some state
legislators and state-level groups like Grass Roots North Carolina are
out of the foxholes and fighting for legislation to enhance lawful
self-defense. Within the last week, no fewer than five pro-gun bills
have been introduced in the North Carolina General Assembly thanks to
pro-Second Amendment legislators like Representatives Mark Hilton,
George Cleveland, Justin Burr, Jim Gulley, Tim Moore, Fred Steen, and
Laura Wiley; and Senator Andrew Brock. More gun legislation can be
expected to be introduced prior to the bill introduction deadlines of
March 25 for the Senate and April 8 for the House…
Illinois Bill Would Restrict Private-Party Sales: Nearly 10 years
after former Northwestern University basketball coach Ricky Byrdsong
was shot and killed in Skokie, his widow championed legislation aimed
at making handguns harder to buy. The proposal pushed by Sherialyn
Byrdsong would require background checks of people buying a handgun
privately from another individual. The background check and
transaction would be performed by a licensed firearm dealer… The
legislation advanced to the full House Wednesday after a 6-4 committee
vote, but faces a tough road to becoming law, if history is any guide.
Osterman's legislation is among a bundle of gun bills this session,
with other measures pitched that would allow people to carry concealed
weapons. The gun issue is a regional and ideological topic that
crosses party lines in Illinois, with many Chicago area lawmakers
wanting stringent gun laws and most Downstate lawmakers fervently
supporting the right to bear arms…
The Idiocy of Smart Guns: One of the fondest wishes of the forcible
citizen disarmament lobby is a legal mandate that all guns (or at
least all handguns) for private citizens be fitted with so-called
"smart gun" technology. At this point, such technology has not yet
even been developed, but that was not enough to stop New Jersey from
passing a law requiring the use of such technology whenever it does
become available. That was in 2002… At this point, almost seven years
later, the technology still isn't available… Interestingly, one
exception to New Jersey's "smart gun" requirement, whenever it goes
into effect, will be police officers' guns. That seems a little odd,
when one considers that although it is quite rare for people to be
shot with their own guns, after being disarmed by a criminal, when it
does happen, police are among the most likely victims - remember Brian
Nichols? …
http://www.examiner.com/x-2581-St-Louis-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m2d26-The-idiocy-of-smart-guns
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New Hampshire Man Takes Permit Fight to Court: A year after he was
denied a license to carry a concealed weapon, Exeter resident Dan
Garand is taking his case to the state Supreme Court. His hired gun is
attorney Penny Dean, a Second Amendment specialist, NRA-certified
shooting instructor, hunting safety instructor and graduate of the
"Lethal Force Institute." "If you can lawfully own a gun, you should
be issued a license to carry," said Dean, who hopes to convince the
state's highest court that appeals of gun license denials should be
heard in superior courts. The case is scheduled for oral arguments
before the Court on March 17, when Dean and Exeter attorney Dan
Schwarz will each have ten minutes to make their arguments… (If memory
serves, Dean is the student who shot herself while reholstering during
an LFI-III course a few years back.)
http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20090226-NEWS-90226032
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Oops, Wrong Meat Market: Mohammed Abu Sayed was wiping Lotto-card
scratchings from the counter of his Friendly Meat and Grocery when two
men in ski masks and hoodies dashed through the front door. One
pointed a revolver to Sayed's head as the other headed to the cooler
for a six pack… It was the fourth attempted robbery of Sayed's
convenience store since it opened in May. This time, he was ready.
Sayed, 49, grabbed a .32-caliber pistol, crouched and aimed. The
robbers fled, firing behind them as they ran… "I didn't shoot them. I
didn't want to kill any people," he said. "But they wanted to kill
me." … (Pointing a gun you're not prepared to fire can be hazardous to
your health.)
http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/article979497.ece
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