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http://www.spw-duf.info
Anti-RKBA OSHA Nominee Advances: The U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee today approved without question and without comment the nomination of David Michaels, the chief of a George-Soros-funded Project on Scientific Knowledge and Public Policy, as the next head of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. As WND reported, Second Amendment advocates sounded an alarm over Michaels, warning the most significant attack on gun rights in years soon could come in the form of workplace "safety" regulations…
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=116459
"The HELP Committee voted on Michaels despite failing to hold a confirmation hearing." So much for new openness and transparency in government. DC SCOTUS Examiner Hans Bader notes this is a departure from past practice: "The vote occurred with no discussion, and no hearing was even held on his nomination, although hearings have consistently been held on nominees in the past, even for far less controversial picks." So the fix was in. Republicans Tom Coburn (OK) and Richard Burr (NC) were the two "No" votes… Next up will be a vote in the full Senate, and I'll post again when I know the date. I urge concerned gun owners to contact your senators and register your objections. I don't know that it will do any good, but at least you'll know you did what you could….
http://www.examiner.com/x-1417-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m11d18-AntiGun-OSHA-nominee-Michaels-approved-by-Senate-committee
http://www.examiner.com/x-7812-DC-SCOTUS-Examiner~y2009m11d18-Senate-committee-approves-antigun-ideologue-to-head-OSHA-Nominee-backs-junk-science-too
(The OSHA angle was cited by a federal district judge, who blocked Oklahoma's law that allows workers in that state to store firearms in vehicles on company parking lots. My recollection is that he was overturned by the Court of Appeals but such a ruling would only apply, at this time, in the Tenth Circuit.)
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Interesting Seventh Circuit Ruling: The Seventh Circuit last week vacated a man's conviction for possession of a firearm after having been convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence. However, the court did not strike the statute down as unconstitutional, but remanded the case to the district court to give the government the opportunity to "establish a reasonable fit" between the "statute's means and its end." …The government's argument, and the district court's denial of Skoien's motion to dismiss, were both based on the following statement in the U.S. Supreme Court's 2008 opinion in District of Columbia v. Heller, 128 S.Ct. 2783: "[N]othing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places, such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms." …The court also noted that the ban on firearms possession by domestic-violence misdemeanants (the "Lautenberg Amendment") is not longstanding, but "quite new" – it was enacted in 1996…
http://www.wislawjournal.com/article.cfm/2009/11/23/Federal-firearms-conviction-vacated-State-statute-may-violate-Second-Amendment
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Response to VPC CCW Campaign: …If you divide the total number of gun homicides in 2006 (12,800) by the entire adult population of the U.S., you get 0.00006, which suggests that permit holders commit homicide at a rate far below average (not terribly surprising, since people with criminal records can't get carry permits). The other major problem with the VPC's list is that it includes crimes where having a permit to carry a handgun did not make a difference, such as Michael McLendon's shooting spree in Alabama last March. McLendon used rifles to kill 10 people, not a handgun, let alone one for which he had a carry permit. Even when mass murderers use handguns, the notion that they would not dare take them out in public without a carry permit is risible. So it's incorrect to say, as Sugarmann does, that "concealed handgun systems are arming cop-killers, mass shooters, and other murderers." All a permit does is make it possible to legally carry a handgun in public; when that ability does not matter - whether because the crime does not involve a handgun, does not occur in public, or is committed by someone who leaves home intent on murder - it hardly makes sense to blame the permit. The VPC list also includes an on-duty shooting by a security guard, a murder committed in the killer's home, and a murder by strangulation. If VPC's aim is to show that allowing people to carry handguns in public is a bad policy because it creates new hazards, such examples (unlike, say, a public argument involving a permit holder that ends in a deadly shooting) are irrelevant. (Note the photograph – not only does carry in this position put the spine and spinal cord at risk in the event of a fall or similar blow, carrying butt forward almost guarantees that the muzzle will cross the user's body in a hurried draw.)
http://www.opposingviews.com/articles/opinion-report-on-killings-concealed-gun-permits-is-flawed
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The Grey Lady and the Maersk Alabama: Yesterday, Somali pirates attacked the commercial cargo ship Maersk Alabama. This time, however, an armed security team successfully thwarted the attackers. Last April, Somali pirates successfully attacked the Alabama, kidnapping ship's Captain Phillips and holding him hostage until Navy SEAL snipers killed the captors. In 2008, Vice Admiral Bill Gortney, commander of the U.S. Navy's fleet in that area, specifically warned that the Navy "can't be everywhere" and that "shipping companies have to take responsibility for their own ships." It appears that after the last near-tragedy, Maersk took the warning seriously. But the story also highlights media bias against self-defense. The New York Times downplayed the fact that guns were aboard the Alabama, hiding it within one paragraph among other methods employed in the ship's defense: "But a security team on board the Maersk Alabama responded with small-arms fire, long-range acoustical devices painful to the human ear and evasive maneuvers to thwart the attack, the Navy said in a statement." This 34-word paragraph (out of 739 words total) contains the only mention of why the Alabama successfully defended itself. The article's first paragraph makes passing mention to the attack, without noting the outcome, while the second paragraph goes off-topic, covering another hijacked ship whose captain "died of gunshot wounds" during a successful pirate attack…
http://www.examiner.com/x-2879-Austin-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m11d19-Somali-pirates-attack-Maersk-Alabama-again-defeated-by-armed-security
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Schumer Pulls the Hunter Scam: Sen. Charles E. Schumer, who made his early career as a New York City congressman by fighting for gun control, has finally fired a gun himself - on his first hunting trip. "I got three pheasants," Mr. Schumer, D-N.Y., told New York reporters in a conference call Wednesday, recounting a weekend outing in Nebraska with Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., as he touted a bill he introduced Wednesday to encourage hunters to donate animals to charity. Mr. Schumer's hunting trip and legislation are part of his transformation to a gun stance more in keeping with his statewide constituency. He bragged Wednesday that Field and Stream magazine named him its person of the year for pushing legislation making more privately owned land available for hunting. The senator's latest effort would allow hunters and meat processing plants to claim a tax deduction for the value of deer donated to food programs. It also would apply to other hunted animals such as turkey, Mr. Schumer said…
http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20091119/NEWS02/311199965
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Speaking of Scams…: …"Kalifornia is seeing a new run for Governor in Meg Whitman. She sounds like she has experience at real-life performance in business, the accountability of office, she articulates values well and not the bookkeeping fantasies of liberal theory. Would Whitman change how crime is met and survived?" I'll answer that, John. No. And her business experience was being CEO of anti-gun eBay, which, despite their excuse-making could service the gun owner community if they wanted to. Just ask GunBroker.com. From the San Francisco Chronicle story headlined "Meg Whitman makes case on how she's different": "Whitman said she...believes tough gun laws like assault weapon bans and handgun control are appropriate for California." There's no "difference" here. If she wins, it'll be yet another case of "Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss." California gun owners accepted Arnold Schwarzenegger, who also made his anti-gun positions known in advance, and look what it got them…
http://www.examiner.com/x-1417-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m11d18-Why-should-California-gun-owners-care-about-Meg-Whitman
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Seattle Weekly versus Alan Gottlieb: The Seattle Weekly apparently doesn't care much for Alan Gottlieb, founder and executive vice president of the Second Amendment Foundation and chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. Several days ago, the Weekly's Nina Shapiro took a shot at Gottlieb in her "Daily Weekly" blog about a press release Gottlieb had issued revealing the plan by an anti-gun lobbyist to use the recent murder of a Seattle police officer to push a legislative agenda seeking a ban on so-called "assault rifles" when it had not yet been established what kind of gun had been used in the crime. (It turned out that the suspected murder weapon was a .223-caliber semiautomatic Kel-Tec rifle, which is hardly an "assault rifle" but Nina doesn't know the difference and neither, apparently, did the Seattle police when somebody apparently used the term. I wrote about that here.) She identified Gottlieb as a "gun rights zealot." Last week, veteran Seattle Weekly reporter Rick Anderson published a lengthy article about Gottlieb that, at least according to a letter Gottlieb quickly wrote to Seattle Weekly Editor Mark Fefer (see entire text below), Shapiro and Anderson, was filled with "inaccuracies and false impressions." The most egregious of these errors, according to Gottlieb, is that he had referred to anti-gun New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg as a "Zionist…gun hater." …
http://www.examiner.com/x-4525-Seattle-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m11d18-Whats-with-Seattle-Weeklys-war-on-Alan-Gottlieb?cid=exrss-Seattle-Gun-Rights-Examiner
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South Carolina Offers Tax Holiday: S.C. South Carolina shoppers will get a second chance to buy tax-free guns. The state Revenue Department sent out a reminder Wednesday of the upcoming "Second Amendment Weekend." The 48-hour tax break begins just after midnight the Friday after Thanksgiving. Shoppers will pay no state or local sales taxes on handguns, rifles and shotguns, which can tally 9 percent. Taxes still apply to ammunition and accessories. South Carolina had the nation's first tax holiday on guns last year, after legislators tacked it on to a tax break on energy-efficient appliances. But the state Supreme Court threw out that law in May because of an unrelated energy amendment. Lawmakers restored the tax break as a one-time event in the budget this year. Louisiana followed this year with its own sales tax holiday for hunters in September. That break went further, applying to any item that can be used for hunting or fishing, including off-road vehicles, airboats, animal feed and ear plugs…
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/233/story/1062973.html
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Open Carry in California: In a report highlighting the "open carry" gun movement, KTVU's Lloyd LaCuesta interviewed locals who are hanging out in public, packing heat and exerting their Second Amendment right for all the world to see. Advocates across the country are picnicking together, going to zoos, going to church and picking up trash. Most notably, supporters protested Obama this past summer. In the Bay area, David Julian, 27, and others are hanging out at a Cupertino Starbucks, sipping their Venti coffees with guns holstered to their hips. Supporters, who appear to come from all backgrounds, also say they're toting firearms to educate others about guns and their constitutional right. They're doing it protect themselves. And they can do it legally, as Julian demonstrated in his YouTube video below, which shows two Santa Clara deputies checking Julian's gun… (The open-carry movement in California is somewhat analogous to that in Wisconsin. Wisconsin, thanks to repeated vetoes, has no statutory provision for private citizens to carry concealed firearms lawfully. In California, thanks to a discretionary-issue statute, permits are generally not issued in urban counties. Further, in California, absent a CWP or licensure as a security officer, it is also illegal to carry a loaded firearm in a public place, which definition includes inside the limits of an incorporated city.)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/scavenger/detail?entry_id=51902
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Oops, Wrong House: An accused robber is behind bars after a Central Indiana homeowner fights back. 22 year-old Jorge Barrera now faces burglary charges. According to police, Barrera entered the home on the southwest side of Indianapolis late last night armed with a screw driver. When Barrera began looking around the house with a flashlight the homeowner grabbed his gun and fired a shot, striking a glass door. When police arrived, they found the homeowner holding Barrerra at gunpoint. (It sounds as though some range sessions might be in order. The headline for this report errs in claiming that the homeowner held the burglar hostage; a hostage is a person taken by force to secure the taker's demands.)
http://www.fox59.com/news/wxin-homeowner-holds-burglar-hostage-111709,0,5452339.story
http://www.examiner.com/x-18149-SelfDefense-Examiner~y2009m11d17-Indianapolis-IN-home-invader-held-at-gunpoint-until-police-arrive
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Oops, Wrong Store, Maryland Version: By store owner John Jang's account, there was no choice at all. A would-be robber was crawling through the opening in the bulletproof-glass window separating customer from clerk at a Food Zone convenience store in Fort Washington on Tuesday night. The robber's gun was on the floor at Jang's feet. "He came inside, and I picked up the gun, and I shot him," Jang said in an interview Wednesday. "I don't have choice." Authorities agreed. On Wednesday, Prince George's County police said they were investigating the fatal shooting as a justifiable homicide. A police spokesman called Jang "definitely a hero" the night of the shooting… Jang and police said the incident began about 9:30 p.m., 30 minutes before closing time, when two armed and masked men entered the store in the 12500 block of Livingston Road. One approached the counter, and the other stood peering out the front door, apparently serving as a lookout, Jang said. No customers were in the store, just another employee, he said. The man at the counter said two words - "Don't move" - and shoved his gun through a two-foot-wide opening in the bulletproof glass, Jang said. Jang said he retreated to a corner. That's when the man tried to climb through the opening, Jang said. Jang said he grabbed the gunman's arm and slapped down on it, causing the gun to fall to the floor. He squatted to pick it up, and as the man came over the counter, he pulled the trigger. The bullet appeared to hit the man in the chest, Jang said… (As I have said before, private citizens are very rarely disarmed and shot with their own firearms but it happens to criminals may times each year.)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/18/AR2009111803878.html?hpid=dynamiclead
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Oops, Wrong Store, Pennsylvania Version: A liquor store clerk shot and killed a masked gunman who tried to rob him Tuesday night, according to Wilmington police. Two gunmen came into Favor's Liquor Store on S. Walnut Street around 9:30 p.m. and ordered the clerk to give them the money in the register. When the gunmen came around the counter to try to get the money themselves, the clerk opened fire, hitting one of the masked men, police said. The man who was shot staggered out of the store and collapsed on the sidewalk. He died at the hospital. Police were using dogs to try to track down the second gunman, who fled.
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local-beat/Clerk-Kills-Robber-Police-70354572.html
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Rule Five Reminder: A longtime teacher's aide was put on administrative leave Wednesday after she allegedly brought a handgun into the Riverton Community School. School officials said the woman may have brought the gun into the elementary school unintentionally, but parents of students were still shocked when they learned about the incident from an automated telephone message Wednesday evening. Superintendent James Morse said several students saw the gun in a bag belonging to the school employee and drew attention to it. The woman immediately removed the bag containing the gun from the school, put it in her car and reported the incident to Principal Nancy Kopack. "It was never (brandished) about or handled by anyone," Morse said. "Given her immediate response, it appears that it may have been unintentional." … (Rule Five: Maintain control of your firearm. This is not an endorsement of gun-free schools but it appears that the woman [a] did not realize where her gun was and [b] was carrying or storing it carelessly enough that it was seen by several students.)
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=297094&ac=PHnws
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Interesting Discussion: This thread begins with a summary of a report from someone who purports to be a "forensic anthropologist" and offers post mortem observations on gunshot wounds. The thread goes on to include similar observations and comments, to which I would add one: While there is a hint that calibers that begin with "4" may be more damaging to bone, I have observed that people who are comfortable shooting those rounds in a conventional range setting my no longer feel as comfortable with them in some of the one-handed, close-quarter drills I teach. If they work for you, fine. However, a good hot beats a poor miss.
http://www.stoppingpower.net/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=17809
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Were Bolt-Action Rifles Once Assault Rifles?: …It is a fact that the either totally ignorant or Second Amendment subversives in the television news media refer to just about anything that goes bang as an assault weapon. Well folks let's turn back the clock look back to the Spanish American War and Theodore Roosevelt. He was fighting a war with rifles inferior to those of the enemy. The enemy was using Mauser, bolt action rifles, which were the state of the art rifle of the time and made in Germany. In spite of that the good guys, that's the good old USA, won. When Roosevelt became president he instructed the Springfield Arsenal to develop a rifle as good as the Mauser rifle. They did as instructed and came out with the Springfield Model 1903 and it was so close in design to the Model 98 Mauser that the United States ended up paying $200, 000 to the Mauser company in Germany for copying their clip feed system and locking action… (I think we err in defending firearms on the basis of their suitability for sporting use. The term "assault rifle" is a translation of the German sturmgewehr, coined in WWII. It refers to a shoulder-fired weapon, capable of full-auto, that uses a cartridge intermediate between the full-power cartridges of traditional battle rifles, such as the Mausers and M1903 Springfield, and the pistol-caliber cartridges used in submachine guns. The term "assault weapon," on the other hand, is a recent invention of the prohibitionist movement and essentially means "it looks like a firearm and it looks menacing.")
http://www.hcnonline.com/articles/2009/11/17/conroe_courier/sports/leblanc_1118.txt
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The NSSF Video: "For more than 200 years a unique industry in America has made products that have been part of our country's great tradition of freedom, self-reliance and enjoyment of the outdoors." So begins a new video produced by the National Shooting Sports Foundation called "Lock, Stock and Barrel: Understanding the Firearms Industry" and that is now available as a DVD free of charge or to view online at www.nssf.org. Designed to educate anyone who wants to know more about the history, operation and regulation of the firearms industry, the video is particularly helpful to those who hold misconceptions about the industry. By illustrating how the manufacture and sale of firearms are regulated by the federal government and how a mandatory FBI background check must be conducted for each retail purchaser of a firearm, "Lock, Stock and Barrel" corrects common misconceptions about the industry…
http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/node/6977
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FN Announces New Products: …The new FNX 9 and FNX 40 pistols have new ergonomic polymer frames with a low-bore axis, deep checkered grip panels, four interchangeable backstrap inserts, and profiled stainless steel slides with cocking serrations front and rear… The Five-SeveN pistol now comes with the option of adjustable target sights or fixed three-dot sights. It is available in olive drab green, matte black or flat dark earth finishes. It fires the low recoil 5.7x28mm cartridge… This [SCAR16S] semi-auto version of the U.S. Special Operations Command's newest service rifle is now available in matte black with all the same features as the flat dark earth model. It can be purchased with 10- or 30-round magazines… The SCAR 17S is now available for civilian purchase. Chambered in 7.62x51mm NATO (308 Win.) and slightly heavier than the SCAR 16S, the SCAR 17S has ambidextrous operating controls, a free-floating cold hammer-forged Mil-Spec barrel with hard-chromed bore; and a receiver-integrated Mil-Std 1913 optical rail plus three accessory rails for mounting scopes, electronic sights, lights, or lasers… (I'm sure that the timing of this announcement is mere coincidence with the Fort Hood shootings but I notice that FN is emphasizing the low recoil of the 5.7x28mm round.)
http://www.gunreports.com/news/news/FNH-USA-new-products-FNX-9-40-FNP-45-FN-Five-SeveN-SCAR-16S_1656-1.html?ET=gunreports:e572:183810a:&st=email
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When Guns Are Outlawed…: Rural blacksmiths in Africa and South Asia are increasingly producing guns as a profitable addition to their usual farm implements and spare parts for vehicles and machines. These areas have been producing iron implements for over two thousand years, but in the last decade the production of cheap pistols and shotguns has mushroomed. These weapons compete on price with more sophisticated factory made guns. In rural areas, the weapons are handy for hunting, or just keeping the local predators at bay. In urban areas, these weapons have produced growing incidents of armed robbery. Criminals have found that a firearm is much more effective than a knife for this sort of thing. Blacksmiths, especially those out in the countryside, have found police attention rare, and customers (often from urban areas) abundant. These crude guns are the highest profit items these smiths can produce…
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htun/articles/20091119.aspx
What Future Will She Have in Britain?: A feisty five-year-old girl confronted a knife-wielding burglar in her home by shouting: 'Put my Daddy's car keys down'. Chloe Edwards heard noises at 2am and ventured downstairs to see who was in the kitchen of her Middlesbrough home. It was then that she came across Dean Affleck, 18, who pointed a meat cleaver at her and told her to go back to bed. Chloe's parents, Mark and Rachel, had already begun making their way downstairs after they'd heard the burglar accidentally smash a glass. It was then that they heard Chloe tell Affleck: 'Put my Daddy's car keys down.' … (I can see this girl having problems trying to get through school with this attitude.)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1228889/Chloe-Edwards-tells-confronted-meat-cleaver-wielding-burglar.html
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Tangentially Related: Seven different indicators suggest that 2010 will be a very tough year for the Obama Administration's plans to turn America into a Socialist People's Republic. If some of these indicators pointed one way and others pointed the other way, projections might be murkier. But all the winds seem to be blowing in the same direction and the result may be for Republicans the Perfect Storm. What are these seven different indicators? …
http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/11/will_2010_be_the_perfect_storm.html
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=116459
"The HELP Committee voted on Michaels despite failing to hold a confirmation hearing." So much for new openness and transparency in government. DC SCOTUS Examiner Hans Bader notes this is a departure from past practice: "The vote occurred with no discussion, and no hearing was even held on his nomination, although hearings have consistently been held on nominees in the past, even for far less controversial picks." So the fix was in. Republicans Tom Coburn (OK) and Richard Burr (NC) were the two "No" votes… Next up will be a vote in the full Senate, and I'll post again when I know the date. I urge concerned gun owners to contact your senators and register your objections. I don't know that it will do any good, but at least you'll know you did what you could….
http://www.examiner.com/x-1417-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m11d18-AntiGun-OSHA-nominee-Michaels-approved-by-Senate-committee
http://www.examiner.com/x-7812-DC-SCOTUS-Examiner~y2009m11d18-Senate-committee-approves-antigun-ideologue-to-head-OSHA-Nominee-backs-junk-science-too
(The OSHA angle was cited by a federal district judge, who blocked Oklahoma's law that allows workers in that state to store firearms in vehicles on company parking lots. My recollection is that he was overturned by the Court of Appeals but such a ruling would only apply, at this time, in the Tenth Circuit.)
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Interesting Seventh Circuit Ruling: The Seventh Circuit last week vacated a man's conviction for possession of a firearm after having been convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence. However, the court did not strike the statute down as unconstitutional, but remanded the case to the district court to give the government the opportunity to "establish a reasonable fit" between the "statute's means and its end." …The government's argument, and the district court's denial of Skoien's motion to dismiss, were both based on the following statement in the U.S. Supreme Court's 2008 opinion in District of Columbia v. Heller, 128 S.Ct. 2783: "[N]othing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places, such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms." …The court also noted that the ban on firearms possession by domestic-violence misdemeanants (the "Lautenberg Amendment") is not longstanding, but "quite new" – it was enacted in 1996…
http://www.wislawjournal.com/article.cfm/2009/11/23/Federal-firearms-conviction-vacated-State-statute-may-violate-Second-Amendment
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Response to VPC CCW Campaign: …If you divide the total number of gun homicides in 2006 (12,800) by the entire adult population of the U.S., you get 0.00006, which suggests that permit holders commit homicide at a rate far below average (not terribly surprising, since people with criminal records can't get carry permits). The other major problem with the VPC's list is that it includes crimes where having a permit to carry a handgun did not make a difference, such as Michael McLendon's shooting spree in Alabama last March. McLendon used rifles to kill 10 people, not a handgun, let alone one for which he had a carry permit. Even when mass murderers use handguns, the notion that they would not dare take them out in public without a carry permit is risible. So it's incorrect to say, as Sugarmann does, that "concealed handgun systems are arming cop-killers, mass shooters, and other murderers." All a permit does is make it possible to legally carry a handgun in public; when that ability does not matter - whether because the crime does not involve a handgun, does not occur in public, or is committed by someone who leaves home intent on murder - it hardly makes sense to blame the permit. The VPC list also includes an on-duty shooting by a security guard, a murder committed in the killer's home, and a murder by strangulation. If VPC's aim is to show that allowing people to carry handguns in public is a bad policy because it creates new hazards, such examples (unlike, say, a public argument involving a permit holder that ends in a deadly shooting) are irrelevant. (Note the photograph – not only does carry in this position put the spine and spinal cord at risk in the event of a fall or similar blow, carrying butt forward almost guarantees that the muzzle will cross the user's body in a hurried draw.)
http://www.opposingviews.com/articles/opinion-report-on-killings-concealed-gun-permits-is-flawed
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The Grey Lady and the Maersk Alabama: Yesterday, Somali pirates attacked the commercial cargo ship Maersk Alabama. This time, however, an armed security team successfully thwarted the attackers. Last April, Somali pirates successfully attacked the Alabama, kidnapping ship's Captain Phillips and holding him hostage until Navy SEAL snipers killed the captors. In 2008, Vice Admiral Bill Gortney, commander of the U.S. Navy's fleet in that area, specifically warned that the Navy "can't be everywhere" and that "shipping companies have to take responsibility for their own ships." It appears that after the last near-tragedy, Maersk took the warning seriously. But the story also highlights media bias against self-defense. The New York Times downplayed the fact that guns were aboard the Alabama, hiding it within one paragraph among other methods employed in the ship's defense: "But a security team on board the Maersk Alabama responded with small-arms fire, long-range acoustical devices painful to the human ear and evasive maneuvers to thwart the attack, the Navy said in a statement." This 34-word paragraph (out of 739 words total) contains the only mention of why the Alabama successfully defended itself. The article's first paragraph makes passing mention to the attack, without noting the outcome, while the second paragraph goes off-topic, covering another hijacked ship whose captain "died of gunshot wounds" during a successful pirate attack…
http://www.examiner.com/x-2879-Austin-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m11d19-Somali-pirates-attack-Maersk-Alabama-again-defeated-by-armed-security
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Schumer Pulls the Hunter Scam: Sen. Charles E. Schumer, who made his early career as a New York City congressman by fighting for gun control, has finally fired a gun himself - on his first hunting trip. "I got three pheasants," Mr. Schumer, D-N.Y., told New York reporters in a conference call Wednesday, recounting a weekend outing in Nebraska with Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., as he touted a bill he introduced Wednesday to encourage hunters to donate animals to charity. Mr. Schumer's hunting trip and legislation are part of his transformation to a gun stance more in keeping with his statewide constituency. He bragged Wednesday that Field and Stream magazine named him its person of the year for pushing legislation making more privately owned land available for hunting. The senator's latest effort would allow hunters and meat processing plants to claim a tax deduction for the value of deer donated to food programs. It also would apply to other hunted animals such as turkey, Mr. Schumer said…
http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20091119/NEWS02/311199965
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Speaking of Scams…: …"Kalifornia is seeing a new run for Governor in Meg Whitman. She sounds like she has experience at real-life performance in business, the accountability of office, she articulates values well and not the bookkeeping fantasies of liberal theory. Would Whitman change how crime is met and survived?" I'll answer that, John. No. And her business experience was being CEO of anti-gun eBay, which, despite their excuse-making could service the gun owner community if they wanted to. Just ask GunBroker.com. From the San Francisco Chronicle story headlined "Meg Whitman makes case on how she's different": "Whitman said she...believes tough gun laws like assault weapon bans and handgun control are appropriate for California." There's no "difference" here. If she wins, it'll be yet another case of "Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss." California gun owners accepted Arnold Schwarzenegger, who also made his anti-gun positions known in advance, and look what it got them…
http://www.examiner.com/x-1417-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m11d18-Why-should-California-gun-owners-care-about-Meg-Whitman
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Seattle Weekly versus Alan Gottlieb: The Seattle Weekly apparently doesn't care much for Alan Gottlieb, founder and executive vice president of the Second Amendment Foundation and chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. Several days ago, the Weekly's Nina Shapiro took a shot at Gottlieb in her "Daily Weekly" blog about a press release Gottlieb had issued revealing the plan by an anti-gun lobbyist to use the recent murder of a Seattle police officer to push a legislative agenda seeking a ban on so-called "assault rifles" when it had not yet been established what kind of gun had been used in the crime. (It turned out that the suspected murder weapon was a .223-caliber semiautomatic Kel-Tec rifle, which is hardly an "assault rifle" but Nina doesn't know the difference and neither, apparently, did the Seattle police when somebody apparently used the term. I wrote about that here.) She identified Gottlieb as a "gun rights zealot." Last week, veteran Seattle Weekly reporter Rick Anderson published a lengthy article about Gottlieb that, at least according to a letter Gottlieb quickly wrote to Seattle Weekly Editor Mark Fefer (see entire text below), Shapiro and Anderson, was filled with "inaccuracies and false impressions." The most egregious of these errors, according to Gottlieb, is that he had referred to anti-gun New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg as a "Zionist…gun hater." …
http://www.examiner.com/x-4525-Seattle-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m11d18-Whats-with-Seattle-Weeklys-war-on-Alan-Gottlieb?cid=exrss-Seattle-Gun-Rights-Examiner
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South Carolina Offers Tax Holiday: S.C. South Carolina shoppers will get a second chance to buy tax-free guns. The state Revenue Department sent out a reminder Wednesday of the upcoming "Second Amendment Weekend." The 48-hour tax break begins just after midnight the Friday after Thanksgiving. Shoppers will pay no state or local sales taxes on handguns, rifles and shotguns, which can tally 9 percent. Taxes still apply to ammunition and accessories. South Carolina had the nation's first tax holiday on guns last year, after legislators tacked it on to a tax break on energy-efficient appliances. But the state Supreme Court threw out that law in May because of an unrelated energy amendment. Lawmakers restored the tax break as a one-time event in the budget this year. Louisiana followed this year with its own sales tax holiday for hunters in September. That break went further, applying to any item that can be used for hunting or fishing, including off-road vehicles, airboats, animal feed and ear plugs…
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/233/story/1062973.html
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Open Carry in California: In a report highlighting the "open carry" gun movement, KTVU's Lloyd LaCuesta interviewed locals who are hanging out in public, packing heat and exerting their Second Amendment right for all the world to see. Advocates across the country are picnicking together, going to zoos, going to church and picking up trash. Most notably, supporters protested Obama this past summer. In the Bay area, David Julian, 27, and others are hanging out at a Cupertino Starbucks, sipping their Venti coffees with guns holstered to their hips. Supporters, who appear to come from all backgrounds, also say they're toting firearms to educate others about guns and their constitutional right. They're doing it protect themselves. And they can do it legally, as Julian demonstrated in his YouTube video below, which shows two Santa Clara deputies checking Julian's gun… (The open-carry movement in California is somewhat analogous to that in Wisconsin. Wisconsin, thanks to repeated vetoes, has no statutory provision for private citizens to carry concealed firearms lawfully. In California, thanks to a discretionary-issue statute, permits are generally not issued in urban counties. Further, in California, absent a CWP or licensure as a security officer, it is also illegal to carry a loaded firearm in a public place, which definition includes inside the limits of an incorporated city.)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/scavenger/detail?entry_id=51902
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Oops, Wrong House: An accused robber is behind bars after a Central Indiana homeowner fights back. 22 year-old Jorge Barrera now faces burglary charges. According to police, Barrera entered the home on the southwest side of Indianapolis late last night armed with a screw driver. When Barrera began looking around the house with a flashlight the homeowner grabbed his gun and fired a shot, striking a glass door. When police arrived, they found the homeowner holding Barrerra at gunpoint. (It sounds as though some range sessions might be in order. The headline for this report errs in claiming that the homeowner held the burglar hostage; a hostage is a person taken by force to secure the taker's demands.)
http://www.fox59.com/news/wxin-homeowner-holds-burglar-hostage-111709,0,5452339.story
http://www.examiner.com/x-18149-SelfDefense-Examiner~y2009m11d17-Indianapolis-IN-home-invader-held-at-gunpoint-until-police-arrive
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Oops, Wrong Store, Maryland Version: By store owner John Jang's account, there was no choice at all. A would-be robber was crawling through the opening in the bulletproof-glass window separating customer from clerk at a Food Zone convenience store in Fort Washington on Tuesday night. The robber's gun was on the floor at Jang's feet. "He came inside, and I picked up the gun, and I shot him," Jang said in an interview Wednesday. "I don't have choice." Authorities agreed. On Wednesday, Prince George's County police said they were investigating the fatal shooting as a justifiable homicide. A police spokesman called Jang "definitely a hero" the night of the shooting… Jang and police said the incident began about 9:30 p.m., 30 minutes before closing time, when two armed and masked men entered the store in the 12500 block of Livingston Road. One approached the counter, and the other stood peering out the front door, apparently serving as a lookout, Jang said. No customers were in the store, just another employee, he said. The man at the counter said two words - "Don't move" - and shoved his gun through a two-foot-wide opening in the bulletproof glass, Jang said. Jang said he retreated to a corner. That's when the man tried to climb through the opening, Jang said. Jang said he grabbed the gunman's arm and slapped down on it, causing the gun to fall to the floor. He squatted to pick it up, and as the man came over the counter, he pulled the trigger. The bullet appeared to hit the man in the chest, Jang said… (As I have said before, private citizens are very rarely disarmed and shot with their own firearms but it happens to criminals may times each year.)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/18/AR2009111803878.html?hpid=dynamiclead
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Oops, Wrong Store, Pennsylvania Version: A liquor store clerk shot and killed a masked gunman who tried to rob him Tuesday night, according to Wilmington police. Two gunmen came into Favor's Liquor Store on S. Walnut Street around 9:30 p.m. and ordered the clerk to give them the money in the register. When the gunmen came around the counter to try to get the money themselves, the clerk opened fire, hitting one of the masked men, police said. The man who was shot staggered out of the store and collapsed on the sidewalk. He died at the hospital. Police were using dogs to try to track down the second gunman, who fled.
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local-beat/Clerk-Kills-Robber-Police-70354572.html
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Rule Five Reminder: A longtime teacher's aide was put on administrative leave Wednesday after she allegedly brought a handgun into the Riverton Community School. School officials said the woman may have brought the gun into the elementary school unintentionally, but parents of students were still shocked when they learned about the incident from an automated telephone message Wednesday evening. Superintendent James Morse said several students saw the gun in a bag belonging to the school employee and drew attention to it. The woman immediately removed the bag containing the gun from the school, put it in her car and reported the incident to Principal Nancy Kopack. "It was never (brandished) about or handled by anyone," Morse said. "Given her immediate response, it appears that it may have been unintentional." … (Rule Five: Maintain control of your firearm. This is not an endorsement of gun-free schools but it appears that the woman [a] did not realize where her gun was and [b] was carrying or storing it carelessly enough that it was seen by several students.)
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=297094&ac=PHnws
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Interesting Discussion: This thread begins with a summary of a report from someone who purports to be a "forensic anthropologist" and offers post mortem observations on gunshot wounds. The thread goes on to include similar observations and comments, to which I would add one: While there is a hint that calibers that begin with "4" may be more damaging to bone, I have observed that people who are comfortable shooting those rounds in a conventional range setting my no longer feel as comfortable with them in some of the one-handed, close-quarter drills I teach. If they work for you, fine. However, a good hot beats a poor miss.
http://www.stoppingpower.net/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=17809
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Were Bolt-Action Rifles Once Assault Rifles?: …It is a fact that the either totally ignorant or Second Amendment subversives in the television news media refer to just about anything that goes bang as an assault weapon. Well folks let's turn back the clock look back to the Spanish American War and Theodore Roosevelt. He was fighting a war with rifles inferior to those of the enemy. The enemy was using Mauser, bolt action rifles, which were the state of the art rifle of the time and made in Germany. In spite of that the good guys, that's the good old USA, won. When Roosevelt became president he instructed the Springfield Arsenal to develop a rifle as good as the Mauser rifle. They did as instructed and came out with the Springfield Model 1903 and it was so close in design to the Model 98 Mauser that the United States ended up paying $200, 000 to the Mauser company in Germany for copying their clip feed system and locking action… (I think we err in defending firearms on the basis of their suitability for sporting use. The term "assault rifle" is a translation of the German sturmgewehr, coined in WWII. It refers to a shoulder-fired weapon, capable of full-auto, that uses a cartridge intermediate between the full-power cartridges of traditional battle rifles, such as the Mausers and M1903 Springfield, and the pistol-caliber cartridges used in submachine guns. The term "assault weapon," on the other hand, is a recent invention of the prohibitionist movement and essentially means "it looks like a firearm and it looks menacing.")
http://www.hcnonline.com/articles/2009/11/17/conroe_courier/sports/leblanc_1118.txt
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The NSSF Video: "For more than 200 years a unique industry in America has made products that have been part of our country's great tradition of freedom, self-reliance and enjoyment of the outdoors." So begins a new video produced by the National Shooting Sports Foundation called "Lock, Stock and Barrel: Understanding the Firearms Industry" and that is now available as a DVD free of charge or to view online at www.nssf.org. Designed to educate anyone who wants to know more about the history, operation and regulation of the firearms industry, the video is particularly helpful to those who hold misconceptions about the industry. By illustrating how the manufacture and sale of firearms are regulated by the federal government and how a mandatory FBI background check must be conducted for each retail purchaser of a firearm, "Lock, Stock and Barrel" corrects common misconceptions about the industry…
http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/node/6977
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FN Announces New Products: …The new FNX 9 and FNX 40 pistols have new ergonomic polymer frames with a low-bore axis, deep checkered grip panels, four interchangeable backstrap inserts, and profiled stainless steel slides with cocking serrations front and rear… The Five-SeveN pistol now comes with the option of adjustable target sights or fixed three-dot sights. It is available in olive drab green, matte black or flat dark earth finishes. It fires the low recoil 5.7x28mm cartridge… This [SCAR16S] semi-auto version of the U.S. Special Operations Command's newest service rifle is now available in matte black with all the same features as the flat dark earth model. It can be purchased with 10- or 30-round magazines… The SCAR 17S is now available for civilian purchase. Chambered in 7.62x51mm NATO (308 Win.) and slightly heavier than the SCAR 16S, the SCAR 17S has ambidextrous operating controls, a free-floating cold hammer-forged Mil-Spec barrel with hard-chromed bore; and a receiver-integrated Mil-Std 1913 optical rail plus three accessory rails for mounting scopes, electronic sights, lights, or lasers… (I'm sure that the timing of this announcement is mere coincidence with the Fort Hood shootings but I notice that FN is emphasizing the low recoil of the 5.7x28mm round.)
http://www.gunreports.com/news/news/FNH-USA-new-products-FNX-9-40-FNP-45-FN-Five-SeveN-SCAR-16S_1656-1.html?ET=gunreports:e572:183810a:&st=email
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When Guns Are Outlawed…: Rural blacksmiths in Africa and South Asia are increasingly producing guns as a profitable addition to their usual farm implements and spare parts for vehicles and machines. These areas have been producing iron implements for over two thousand years, but in the last decade the production of cheap pistols and shotguns has mushroomed. These weapons compete on price with more sophisticated factory made guns. In rural areas, the weapons are handy for hunting, or just keeping the local predators at bay. In urban areas, these weapons have produced growing incidents of armed robbery. Criminals have found that a firearm is much more effective than a knife for this sort of thing. Blacksmiths, especially those out in the countryside, have found police attention rare, and customers (often from urban areas) abundant. These crude guns are the highest profit items these smiths can produce…
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htun/articles/20091119.aspx
What Future Will She Have in Britain?: A feisty five-year-old girl confronted a knife-wielding burglar in her home by shouting: 'Put my Daddy's car keys down'. Chloe Edwards heard noises at 2am and ventured downstairs to see who was in the kitchen of her Middlesbrough home. It was then that she came across Dean Affleck, 18, who pointed a meat cleaver at her and told her to go back to bed. Chloe's parents, Mark and Rachel, had already begun making their way downstairs after they'd heard the burglar accidentally smash a glass. It was then that they heard Chloe tell Affleck: 'Put my Daddy's car keys down.' … (I can see this girl having problems trying to get through school with this attitude.)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1228889/Chloe-Edwards-tells-confronted-meat-cleaver-wielding-burglar.html
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Tangentially Related: Seven different indicators suggest that 2010 will be a very tough year for the Obama Administration's plans to turn America into a Socialist People's Republic. If some of these indicators pointed one way and others pointed the other way, projections might be murkier. But all the winds seem to be blowing in the same direction and the result may be for Republicans the Perfect Storm. What are these seven different indicators? …
http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/11/will_2010_be_the_perfect_storm.html
