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Agents Find Few Southbound Guns: …For the past five weeks, hundreds of
agents participating in a newly intensified $95 million outbound
inspection program have been stepping into southbound traffic lanes,
stopping suspicious-looking cars and trucks… The findings? Wads of
U.S. currency headed for Mexico, wedged into car doors, stuffed under
mattresses, taped onto torsos, were sniffed out by dogs, seized by
agents and locked away for possible investigations. No guns were found
as the reporters watched; they rarely are… According to CBP, between
March 12 and April 30 officers seized… Fifty-one pieces of
ammunition, weapons parts and guns, a minuscule fraction of the 2,000
weapons the Mexican government estimates are smuggled south every day…
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/116595.php
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Exporting the 90% Myth: …Hard numbers on seized firearms in Jamaica
have eluded me, so far, but I have little reason to expect those
numbers to be any more accurate with regard to Jamaica than has been
the case with Mexico. Note also that Engel could not resist
dismissing the Second Amendment as an obstacle to such a ban, because
of the supposed lack of a "sporting purpose" of the firearms in
question (as if 10% of the Bill of Rights was devoted to the
protection of sport)…
Do as I say, Not as I Do: What do guns have to do with credit cards?
Not much. Except they both share space on a bill that lawmakers want
to deliver to President Obama's desk by Memorial Day. In a surprising
move, the Senate voted 67-29 on Tuesday to attach a measure that would
allow guns in national parks to a bill that cracks down on credit card
fees… Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., saw an opportunity to grab on to a
comparatively fast-moving target, since lawmakers are under the gun to
finalize a credit card bill in the next 11 days. Keeping pressure on
Congress, President Obama held a town hall in New Mexico on Thursday
inviting consumers who had written or called the White House about
their credit card companies… (Amendments are just fine for the left if
they serve the left's purpose.)
http://money.cnn.com/2009/05/14/news/economy/creditcard_guns/?postversion=2009051416
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The Beat Goes On: Grab a phone book and call every gun shop across the
Valley. You will probably hear the same thing. It's been nearly
impossible to keep ammunition on their shelves. Some companies, like
Sportsman's Warehouse in Phoenix, have had to post signs letting
people know that handgun ammo and other popular rounds are sold out.
On Wednesday, the store started a new policy that customers can only
buy two boxes per day. Manger Mark Russell said no one could have ever
expected this level of demand. Jenni Rigs works the cast register and
said she was seeing people buying boxes of ammunition by the cart
full. Rigs thinks they are hoarding or stockpiling ammo…
Continuing a nationwide trend that began before November's
presidential election, area gun retailers are reporting an increase in
firearms sales. The result? Heightened demand has diminished
ammunition availability at retail locations throughout the U.S.
Although gun sales tend to go up during times of economic hardship,
retailers, gun owners and industry insiders credit rising sales and
declining supply to fear that President Barack Obama and a
Democratically controlled Congress will enact strict gun-control
measures. As shortages have grown, stores - including Wal-Marts in
Ashland, Mansfield and Wooster - have limited ammo purchases on
certain varieties to ensure availability to more customers.
Manufacturers have cranked up production in response to demand.
Winchester Ammunition has a notice on its Web site updating its
production status…
http://www.times-gazette.com/news/article/4587240
…At this point there wasn't really a shortage though, just an
imbalance. Industry sources say that the ammo was out there, but it
was in the wrong places. Still, the news of these regional shortfalls
spread and, even though manufacturers were ramping up their
production, demand continued to empty shelves. The perception of a
shortage became a self-fulfilling prophecy as consumers tried to beat
the shortage by buying all they could find whenever they could find
it. Some retailers actually began limiting purchases to no more than 4
or five boxes a day as a way to make sure more of their customers
could at least get some…
http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/node/6675
We are witnessing an amazing renewal of support for the Second
Amendment and the values it represents. All around the country, more
people are becoming gun owners for the first time. They're fed up with
politicians clamoring for more gun laws instead of cracking down on
violent crime. They're concerned that in these tough economic times,
more criminals will turn their attention on the innocent and
law-abiding citizens. These lawful Americans are making the choice to
exercise their Right to Keep and Bear Arms all across the country ...
even in New Jersey. In fact, New Jersey state police say applications
to own a gun have nearly doubled over the past five months. If every
one of those new gun owners joined the NRA and the Association of New
Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs, we could start to get rid of some of
the draconian laws designed to trip up legal gun owners while letting
violent criminals plea bargain their charges down to a slap on the
wrist…
http://www.nranews.com/blogarticle.aspx?blogPostId=519
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Unintended Consequences: We should all realize the common attitudes
and views of the various states' residents and voters can differ, and
this is becoming apparent as more states worry over the federal
government's attempts to place increasingly more restrictive laws on
firearm ownership by law-abiding citizens. On the heels of the
historic Supreme Court ruling last year that the Second Amendment
meant U.S. citizens of sound mind and clean records had the right to
own firearms, governments, both at state and federal levels, are
attempting to creatively circumvent that ruling. But in doing so, they
have seemingly opened a Pandora's Box of challenges and opposite
effects…
NRA versus Illinois CCW?: Mike and Valinda Rowe of rural Enfield have
been leading the charge toward Illinois residents gaining the right to
carry concealed firearms, like every other state in the Union except
Wisconsin. But they say their most recent effort with a better promise
of success is being impeded by, of all organizations, the National
Rifle Association. For nearly 15 years, license-to-carry bills have
been repeatedly introduced to the Illinois Legislature - and have
repeatedly failed. The Rowes blame opposition from the Chicago and
Cook County area legislators…
http://www.carmitimes.com/news/x1393577478/NRA-impeding-passage-of-concealed-carry
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Florida Legislature Taxes RKBA: …Because legislative budget officials
have refused to allow the Division of Licensing to use their own trust
fund money to hire necessary staff and upgrade equipment, the
Concealed Weapons and Firearms Licensing program is in crisis. It is a
crisis created by the legislature and anti-gun budget staffers. They
refused to allow gun owners' money to be used to administer the gun
owner program - as required by law - then confiscated gun owners'
money for their own political purposes. THEY CREATED A SECOND
AMENDMENT TAX. Right now, the concealed weapons and firearms licensing
program is backlogged and overloaded due in part to the refusal of
budget officials and the Legislature to allow the Division of
Licensing to use its own trust fund money to hire more employees and
expand/upgrade equipment…
http://www.opposingviews.com/articles/opinion-nra-fights-florida-tax-on-gun-owners
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A Gun Owner's Primer on Self-Defense: The gun salesman of the year,
a/k/a Barack Obama, has put guns into the hands of thousands of people
who never before owned them. Maybe that is you; maybe it's one of your
friends or co-workers; maybe you've owned guns for years but want to
get advanced level training. If you want basic or advanced handgun
training, the "Armed Self-Defense" series, over the next two weeks,
will provide you guidance on… (For years I have maintained a website
offering gun owners and potential gun owners what I believe to be
rational information to help them get beyond the training that comes
in the box with the gun and the hype in the gun magazines. I suspect
the I will have several differences with the recommendations in this
series but, as Grandpa Wenger used to say, "Differences in opinion are
what make horse races.)
Oops, Wrong House: When two men broke into her home, Wanda Bray
defended herself with what she had - a bowl of chili and some
household objects. "The woman fought them off," said Capt. David
Honeycutt of the Claiborne County [TN] Sheriff's Department, of the
58-year-old Bray. "She threw a bowl of homemade chili and got after
them with a broom." Authorities later arrested three men in connection
with the home-invasion robbery, and two of them were also charged with
a convenience store heist… (Mental preparedness is the second
priority. It includes the commitment to fight back with whatever is at
hand.)
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/may/14/bowl-of-chili-used-to-fend-off-robbers/
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Oops, Wrong Pizza Parlor, Follow-Up: Pizza shop owner Johnny Hayes not
only had a legal right to defend himself and his business with lethal
force, he felt an obligation to defend his staff and customers. Still,
life after this death has not been easy. Each day since has become an
emotional gut check over what can't be undone. Some police officers
work a whole career without firing their weapon, but after just two
years of owning a 9mm handgun, Hayes killed a man with it. "I live
thinking about it every day. I am still concerned for my well being
more so then ever, my employees and my family," Hayes said. "I shot
and killed a guy. I don't feel good about it." Last March Hayes was
filling an order when someone stepped through the front door…
http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=113587
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