by permission from Stephen P. Wenger
comments in () by the same
http://www.spw-duf.info
NRA Seeks Relevance: Derided in some quarters as Not Relevant Anymore, NRA is now offering its members NRA Freedom Times, "a bi-monthly e-letter that gives you top Second Amendment news stories from around the nation." If you click the link below you will be asked to enter your membership number in order to receive your free subscription.
https://www.nra.org/freedomtimessignup/Default.aspx
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Big Brother Supports the RKBA: The five female members of Texas Christian University's national championship rifle team were already beside themselves to be on the South Lawn of the White House on Monday evening at a celebration of all NCAA sports champions when President Barack Obama gave them the first shout-out. "We've got the sharpshooters from the TCU rifle squad. Where are they?" asked Obama as the team members, standing near the camera risers, screamed. "I think that they may be able to give the Secret Service a run for their money." … The TCU rifle team came in for some extra attention because it is the first all-female national rifle championship winner in NCAA history – the sport can have all-male, mixed gender and all-female teams… (Meanwhile, the State Department is blocking the import of historically valuable M1 Rifles and Carbines no longer need by the Republic of Korea.)
http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/09/13/2465524/obama-gives-tcu-rifle-team-a-warm.html
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Montana Senator Challenges Import Ban: Senator Jon Tester pushed the U.S. State Department to reconsider a decision denying the proposed sale of surplus firearms from South Korea to qualified buyers in the United States. According to a news report, the State Department rejected South Korea's proposal to sell its surplus of American-made M1 Carbines and M1 Garand rifles to the U.S. over concerns that they "could potentially be exploited by individuals seeking firearms for illicit purposes." Tester said that reasoning "doesn't add up." "I count myself among many gun rights advocates who fundamentally disagree with the State Department's reasoning," Tester wrote to Clinton. "Rejecting the responsible sale of legal firearms over hypothetical concerns that they could be used for 'illicit purposes' sets a dangerous precedent and it is contrary to the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans." …
http://www.kxlf.com/news/senator-tester-questions-state-dept-rejecting-sale-of-antique-guns/
---
An Exception to Prove the Rule?: When Marqus Hill was charged with attempted murder in 2005, Philadelphia police revoked his permit to carry a concealed weapon. So, Hill, 28, applied for and was granted a gun permit from Florida, which must be honored in Pennsylvania because of a concealed-carry agreement between the states, police said. On Sunday, Hill walked out of a house on Gale Street near B, in Olney, with a loaded gun - as he was licensed to do so with his Florida permit - after seeing some people break into his car, police said. He shot 18-year-old Irving Santana 13 times, killing him, police said. Santana, of Fisher Street near 9th, and two others had been breaking into cars in the area but weren't armed, police said. Cops charged Hill, of Marshall Street near Cayuga, with murder and related offenses. At a news conference yesterday, Deputy Police Commissioner William Blackburn blasted the loophole in state law that allowed Hill to legally carry a gun despite the Police Department's best attempts to stop him… (It would appear that Hill was never convicted of the 2005 charge or he never would have been issued his Florida CWFL. I guess Commissioner Blackburn believes [a] that his department should have greater power than the courts and [b] that lack of a valid permit would have prevented Hill from carrying his gun out to the street.)
http://www.philly.com/dailynews/local/20100916_Man_charged_in_slaying_had_Fla__gun_permit.html
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Sheriff Candidate Reverses Stance on Permit Database: The Republican candidate for Larimer County Sheriff says he changed his mind after hearing the "angst" of voters and will withdraw from a state database the names of people who hold concealed carry weapons permits if he's elected. Justin Smith's change of heart earned him the endorsement of the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners activist group, which had endorsed his primary-election opponent largely on that issue. Smith had initially said he would carry on the practice of incumbent Sheriff Jim Alderden of submitting the names to the database. About 70 percent of county sheriffs submit the names of CCW holders to the database, which is maintained by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Smith said he consulted with Weld County Sheriff John Cooke, who does not submit to the database, and concluded that withholding that information from CBI would not harm deputies. He said it would reassure CCW holders who fear the government is collecting a list of gun owners in violation of the Second Amendment…
http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2010100915011
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Illinois Gets Grant to Help Screen Gun Buyers: Illinois is getting a federal grant to improve its participation in a national system of background checks for would-be gun owners. The $1.2 million grant will help Illinois automate how it submits mental health records to a national background check system. The U.S. Justice Department awarded grants to Illinois and seven other states. Federal law bars gun ownership for people who've been judged dangerously mentally ill by a court and those who've been committed to a mental institution. Background checks allow the FBI to deny gun sales to people with disqualifying mental health histories. Paul Helmke of the nonpartisan Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence says states often fail to submit records of dangerously mentally ill persons to the national system. (That should really help reduce the rate of gang-related murders in Chicago. I don't recall seeing the Brady Bunch touted as non-partisan before.)
http://www.whbf.com/Global/story.asp?S=13158623
A Non-Partisan Statement from Brady: "America deserves better than to have its politics controlled by people who are far outside the mainstream on sensible gun laws. The Tea Party winners to this point are people who are wrong on the gun issue. In Delaware, New York, Nevada, Utah, Kentucky and Alaska, statewide candidates who reject common sense gun laws have won Republican primaries. Carl Paladino in New York wants to repeal the state's assault weapons law; Sharron Angle in Nevada seeks 'Second Amendment solutions' to problems; Joe Miller in Alaska wants people to carry guns in Wal-Marts; Mike Lee in Utah implies that since the Constitution doesn't specifically outlaw machine guns that we shouldn't be able to restrict them; Kentucky's Rand Paul wants to allow states to opt out of Federal gun laws like those requiring background checks and preventing felons from buying guns; and Christine O'Donnell in Delaware criticized Congressman Mike Castle's centrist position on guns. On the gun issue, these Tea Party Republicans are out of touch with the American people. Congressman Michael Castle has served his home state and his country with class for many years. The devotion he has given to victims of gun violence in America has been profoundly appreciated. As a fellow Republican who supports common sense gun laws, I have long respected his principled stand on an issue that should transcend politics, but instead is too often used as a wedge political tool. Jim and Sarah Brady and the Brady Campaign are extremely grateful for his service."
http://www.opposingviews.com/i/paul-helmke-key-tea-party-winners-extremists-on-guns
---
Kansans to Vote to Protect RKBA: On a recent morning, Patricia Stoneking aimed her Glock model 23, .40 caliber semi-automatic handgun at a paper target inside the Bullet Hole shooting range in Overland Park, Kansas."That's how you do it," she said as she wound the maimed figure (two holes inches from its center), back into the firing area. To Stoneking, who runs the Bullet Hole, owning firearms is not just a right but and obligation."People need to arm themselves," she told a reporter, and not just for protection against criminals. Stoneking, who also heads the Kansas State Rifle Association (KSRA), believes Americans must bear arms for protections against the government. "We have to put limits on our government, and that's what the [right to bear arms] does." Stoneking and the KSRA are now supporting a ballot initiative that would give state residents a perpetual right to bear arms in the Kansas Constitution. It's a measure Stoneking says is absolutely necessary. Gun control advocates are calling it absolutely redundant. "The U.S. Supreme Court," said an exasperated Paul Helmke, "in two different decisions over the last two years has determined that the 2nd amendment is applicable to the states." … (Helmke is not the person whose advice I would seek on this matter since he claims that McDonald still allows virtually every infringement short of an outright ban on the ownership of firearms in general. The Kansas Bill of Rights – enacted in 1859 – currently includes, "The people have the right to bear arms for their defense and security; but standing armies, in time of peace, are dangerous to liberty, and shall not be tolerated, and the military shall be in strict subordination to the civil power.")
http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/09/16/second-2nd-amendment-kansas-initiative-would-reaffirm-right-bear-arms?test=latestnews
---
Georgia Woman Sues over Gun-Related Firing: A MyFoxAtlanta.com story reports on a Lithia Springs, Ga., woman who was fired for taking a gun to work now suing her former employer. Jamie Lunsford, a registered gun owner, was terminated in April when her former employer – Iron Mountain Information Management – found out she kept a gun in her car while at work. Her attorney says she is allowed to since Lunsford is a licensed gun owner. (Video available. Georgia does not license its residents to own firearms but doe to carry them. Georgia does have a parking-lot-storage law.)
http://www.gunreports.com/news/news/fired-employee-sues-over-gun-in-car_2406-1.html?ET=gunreports:e808:183810a:&st=email
Related Commentary:
http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-national/can-companies-require-employees-to-disarm-on-company-business
---
Oregon DMV Bans Firearms: In the Old West, barkeepers asked cowpokes to check their six-guns at the door. Now the Oregon DMV is asking the same favor of everyone who comes in to renew driver's licenses or pick up new plates. For the past two weeks, the state Driver and Motor Vehicle Services has been distributing signs prohibiting firearms to all of its 64 field offices across Oregon. DMV officials said the signs are a reaction to a series of ugly incidents over the past few years, along with an apparent increase in the number of DMV customers entering field offices with weapons. The last straw apparently was an armed carjacking at a southern Oregon car dealership in February. A man arrived at Lithia Toyota of Medford and asked to test-drive a Ford Mustang. After a short demonstration, the car salesman pulled into a parking lot so the man could take his turn behind the wheel. Instead, the man pulled out a handgun and ordered the salesman to climb into the trunk. The salesman refused. In the ensuing struggle, he was shot in the abdomen. David House, Driver and Motor Vehicle Services spokesman, said DMV employees felt very vulnerable after hearing about the carjacking… (And the nexus between a car lot and a DMV office is that both involve automobiles? Unless Oregon DMV differs vastly from its counterparts in other states, its employees may be well served by being more attentive to customers rather than infringing their rights.)
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/09/dmv_offices_across_oregon_star.html
---
Oops, Wrong House: A Brooklyn [NY] homeowner awakened in the dead of night by the sound of prowlers grabbed his gun, walked downstairs and blasted one of the intruders, police said. One burglar got away, but the other was in critical condition with three bullet wounds after the botched burglary in Mill Basin on Wednesday, police said. "I'm all shaken up," said Larry Goldstein, 62, a school guidance counselor turned teacher. "I never expected to have a break-in, and I'm happy that nobody was hurt in my family." The burglars broke into the rear of Goldstein's E. 64th St. home and entered the basement around 2:30 a.m. Startled awake by the clatter, Goldstein went for his licensed .38-caliber revolver…
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2010/09/15/2010-09-15_brooklyn_man_wakes_to_find_intruders_in_home_fires_3_shots_to_halt_wouldbe_robbe.html
A homeowner in Brooklyn shot and seriously wounded a would-be burglar early this morning, police said. Larry Goldstein, 62, of Mill Basin was awoken shortly before 2 a.m. when he and his wife heard noise downstairs. He grabbed his licensed revolver and went to investigate when he saw two intruders brandishing guns, sources told The Post. Goldstein opened fire hitting one intruder three times while his accomplice fled. The wounded man, identified, as Alexander Manigat, of 371 E. 35th Street in Brooklyn, was taken to Brookdale Hospital in critical condition with two gunshot wounds to his torso and one time in the arm. Manigat was placed under arrest. Goldstein, a retired schoolteacher, has not been charged… (All's well that ends well but it might have been wiser to call 911 and wait in the bedroom. Note that the intruders had guns of their own.)
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/man_seriously_wounded_during_botched_hxD5IQ6m7iUWnqn5g5YnhL
---
Alaska Firm to Reintroduce Auto Mag Pistol: An Alaskan firm called the Auto Mag Company will introduce the Auto Mag Kodiak chambered in .44 Auto Mag in the first quarter of 2011. It's been about 20 years since a similar gun has been manufactured. Built to the same specs as the Model 180, the new Kodiak will be available in traditional stainless or standard Parkerized chrome-moly. A limited number of Kodiak pistols will be built in 2011. Stainless finish will run $5,600 and Parkerized $3,100. The Auto Mag was created by American businessman Harry Sanford during late 1960s. Sanford envisioned the semiautomatic pistol, similar in power to the very powerful Smith & Wesson .44 Magnum revolvers, but with less recoil and more round capacity. Prototype pistols were designed by Max Gera for Harry Sanford's Auto Mag Corporation in around 1970. (The greatest significance I attach to this is that Alaska is one of eight states that have enacted Firearms Freedom Acts. It will be interesting to see if Auto Mag Company intends to concentrate on in-state sales should Montana's FFA prevails in court.)
http://www.gunreports.com/news/news/2415-1.html?ET=gunreports:e808:183810a:&st=email
---
Gun Theft May Be Montana's Largest: Law enforcement officials say 133 firearms, most of them handguns, were stolen from a Billings shipping company in one of the largest such heists in the state's history. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on Wednesday offered a $10,000 reward for help in solving the case. The 113 handguns and 20 long guns were taken on Aug. 2 or Aug. 3 from Con-way Freight Company, which was shipping the firearms for owner MT Sports. ATF Montana Resident Agent in Charge Kenneth Bray says the suspect or suspects left other merchandise behind, suggesting they may have been looking for guns…
http://www.nbcmontana.com/news/25023679/detail.html
---
Tangentially Related: In his concurring opinion in the landmark gun rights case McDonald v. Chicago, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas offered a sweeping account of how the anti-slavery movement laid the foundations for the 14th Amendment, which declares, "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States." As Thomas explained, the authors and ratifiers of the 14th Amendment wanted the recently freed slaves to enjoy all of the rights they had long been denied, including the rights protected by the Second Amendment. The evidence he cited included the writings of the Massachusetts abolitionist Lysander Spooner (1808–1887), who argued that among its many crimes, slavery violated the "natural right of all men 'to keep and bear arms' for their personal defence." … (Article is actually about Spooner and his views on slavery and the Constitution.)
http://reason.com/archives/2010/09/16/clarence-thomas-favorite-anarc
https://www.nra.org/freedomtimessignup/Default.aspx
---
Big Brother Supports the RKBA: The five female members of Texas Christian University's national championship rifle team were already beside themselves to be on the South Lawn of the White House on Monday evening at a celebration of all NCAA sports champions when President Barack Obama gave them the first shout-out. "We've got the sharpshooters from the TCU rifle squad. Where are they?" asked Obama as the team members, standing near the camera risers, screamed. "I think that they may be able to give the Secret Service a run for their money." … The TCU rifle team came in for some extra attention because it is the first all-female national rifle championship winner in NCAA history – the sport can have all-male, mixed gender and all-female teams… (Meanwhile, the State Department is blocking the import of historically valuable M1 Rifles and Carbines no longer need by the Republic of Korea.)
http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/09/13/2465524/obama-gives-tcu-rifle-team-a-warm.html
---
Montana Senator Challenges Import Ban: Senator Jon Tester pushed the U.S. State Department to reconsider a decision denying the proposed sale of surplus firearms from South Korea to qualified buyers in the United States. According to a news report, the State Department rejected South Korea's proposal to sell its surplus of American-made M1 Carbines and M1 Garand rifles to the U.S. over concerns that they "could potentially be exploited by individuals seeking firearms for illicit purposes." Tester said that reasoning "doesn't add up." "I count myself among many gun rights advocates who fundamentally disagree with the State Department's reasoning," Tester wrote to Clinton. "Rejecting the responsible sale of legal firearms over hypothetical concerns that they could be used for 'illicit purposes' sets a dangerous precedent and it is contrary to the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans." …
http://www.kxlf.com/news/senator-tester-questions-state-dept-rejecting-sale-of-antique-guns/
---
An Exception to Prove the Rule?: When Marqus Hill was charged with attempted murder in 2005, Philadelphia police revoked his permit to carry a concealed weapon. So, Hill, 28, applied for and was granted a gun permit from Florida, which must be honored in Pennsylvania because of a concealed-carry agreement between the states, police said. On Sunday, Hill walked out of a house on Gale Street near B, in Olney, with a loaded gun - as he was licensed to do so with his Florida permit - after seeing some people break into his car, police said. He shot 18-year-old Irving Santana 13 times, killing him, police said. Santana, of Fisher Street near 9th, and two others had been breaking into cars in the area but weren't armed, police said. Cops charged Hill, of Marshall Street near Cayuga, with murder and related offenses. At a news conference yesterday, Deputy Police Commissioner William Blackburn blasted the loophole in state law that allowed Hill to legally carry a gun despite the Police Department's best attempts to stop him… (It would appear that Hill was never convicted of the 2005 charge or he never would have been issued his Florida CWFL. I guess Commissioner Blackburn believes [a] that his department should have greater power than the courts and [b] that lack of a valid permit would have prevented Hill from carrying his gun out to the street.)
http://www.philly.com/dailynews/local/20100916_Man_charged_in_slaying_had_Fla__gun_permit.html
---
Sheriff Candidate Reverses Stance on Permit Database: The Republican candidate for Larimer County Sheriff says he changed his mind after hearing the "angst" of voters and will withdraw from a state database the names of people who hold concealed carry weapons permits if he's elected. Justin Smith's change of heart earned him the endorsement of the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners activist group, which had endorsed his primary-election opponent largely on that issue. Smith had initially said he would carry on the practice of incumbent Sheriff Jim Alderden of submitting the names to the database. About 70 percent of county sheriffs submit the names of CCW holders to the database, which is maintained by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Smith said he consulted with Weld County Sheriff John Cooke, who does not submit to the database, and concluded that withholding that information from CBI would not harm deputies. He said it would reassure CCW holders who fear the government is collecting a list of gun owners in violation of the Second Amendment…
http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2010100915011
---
Illinois Gets Grant to Help Screen Gun Buyers: Illinois is getting a federal grant to improve its participation in a national system of background checks for would-be gun owners. The $1.2 million grant will help Illinois automate how it submits mental health records to a national background check system. The U.S. Justice Department awarded grants to Illinois and seven other states. Federal law bars gun ownership for people who've been judged dangerously mentally ill by a court and those who've been committed to a mental institution. Background checks allow the FBI to deny gun sales to people with disqualifying mental health histories. Paul Helmke of the nonpartisan Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence says states often fail to submit records of dangerously mentally ill persons to the national system. (That should really help reduce the rate of gang-related murders in Chicago. I don't recall seeing the Brady Bunch touted as non-partisan before.)
http://www.whbf.com/Global/story.asp?S=13158623
A Non-Partisan Statement from Brady: "America deserves better than to have its politics controlled by people who are far outside the mainstream on sensible gun laws. The Tea Party winners to this point are people who are wrong on the gun issue. In Delaware, New York, Nevada, Utah, Kentucky and Alaska, statewide candidates who reject common sense gun laws have won Republican primaries. Carl Paladino in New York wants to repeal the state's assault weapons law; Sharron Angle in Nevada seeks 'Second Amendment solutions' to problems; Joe Miller in Alaska wants people to carry guns in Wal-Marts; Mike Lee in Utah implies that since the Constitution doesn't specifically outlaw machine guns that we shouldn't be able to restrict them; Kentucky's Rand Paul wants to allow states to opt out of Federal gun laws like those requiring background checks and preventing felons from buying guns; and Christine O'Donnell in Delaware criticized Congressman Mike Castle's centrist position on guns. On the gun issue, these Tea Party Republicans are out of touch with the American people. Congressman Michael Castle has served his home state and his country with class for many years. The devotion he has given to victims of gun violence in America has been profoundly appreciated. As a fellow Republican who supports common sense gun laws, I have long respected his principled stand on an issue that should transcend politics, but instead is too often used as a wedge political tool. Jim and Sarah Brady and the Brady Campaign are extremely grateful for his service."
http://www.opposingviews.com/i/paul-helmke-key-tea-party-winners-extremists-on-guns
---
Kansans to Vote to Protect RKBA: On a recent morning, Patricia Stoneking aimed her Glock model 23, .40 caliber semi-automatic handgun at a paper target inside the Bullet Hole shooting range in Overland Park, Kansas."That's how you do it," she said as she wound the maimed figure (two holes inches from its center), back into the firing area. To Stoneking, who runs the Bullet Hole, owning firearms is not just a right but and obligation."People need to arm themselves," she told a reporter, and not just for protection against criminals. Stoneking, who also heads the Kansas State Rifle Association (KSRA), believes Americans must bear arms for protections against the government. "We have to put limits on our government, and that's what the [right to bear arms] does." Stoneking and the KSRA are now supporting a ballot initiative that would give state residents a perpetual right to bear arms in the Kansas Constitution. It's a measure Stoneking says is absolutely necessary. Gun control advocates are calling it absolutely redundant. "The U.S. Supreme Court," said an exasperated Paul Helmke, "in two different decisions over the last two years has determined that the 2nd amendment is applicable to the states." … (Helmke is not the person whose advice I would seek on this matter since he claims that McDonald still allows virtually every infringement short of an outright ban on the ownership of firearms in general. The Kansas Bill of Rights – enacted in 1859 – currently includes, "The people have the right to bear arms for their defense and security; but standing armies, in time of peace, are dangerous to liberty, and shall not be tolerated, and the military shall be in strict subordination to the civil power.")
http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/09/16/second-2nd-amendment-kansas-initiative-would-reaffirm-right-bear-arms?test=latestnews
---
Georgia Woman Sues over Gun-Related Firing: A MyFoxAtlanta.com story reports on a Lithia Springs, Ga., woman who was fired for taking a gun to work now suing her former employer. Jamie Lunsford, a registered gun owner, was terminated in April when her former employer – Iron Mountain Information Management – found out she kept a gun in her car while at work. Her attorney says she is allowed to since Lunsford is a licensed gun owner. (Video available. Georgia does not license its residents to own firearms but doe to carry them. Georgia does have a parking-lot-storage law.)
http://www.gunreports.com/news/news/fired-employee-sues-over-gun-in-car_2406-1.html?ET=gunreports:e808:183810a:&st=email
Related Commentary:
http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-national/can-companies-require-employees-to-disarm-on-company-business
---
Oregon DMV Bans Firearms: In the Old West, barkeepers asked cowpokes to check their six-guns at the door. Now the Oregon DMV is asking the same favor of everyone who comes in to renew driver's licenses or pick up new plates. For the past two weeks, the state Driver and Motor Vehicle Services has been distributing signs prohibiting firearms to all of its 64 field offices across Oregon. DMV officials said the signs are a reaction to a series of ugly incidents over the past few years, along with an apparent increase in the number of DMV customers entering field offices with weapons. The last straw apparently was an armed carjacking at a southern Oregon car dealership in February. A man arrived at Lithia Toyota of Medford and asked to test-drive a Ford Mustang. After a short demonstration, the car salesman pulled into a parking lot so the man could take his turn behind the wheel. Instead, the man pulled out a handgun and ordered the salesman to climb into the trunk. The salesman refused. In the ensuing struggle, he was shot in the abdomen. David House, Driver and Motor Vehicle Services spokesman, said DMV employees felt very vulnerable after hearing about the carjacking… (And the nexus between a car lot and a DMV office is that both involve automobiles? Unless Oregon DMV differs vastly from its counterparts in other states, its employees may be well served by being more attentive to customers rather than infringing their rights.)
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/09/dmv_offices_across_oregon_star.html
---
Oops, Wrong House: A Brooklyn [NY] homeowner awakened in the dead of night by the sound of prowlers grabbed his gun, walked downstairs and blasted one of the intruders, police said. One burglar got away, but the other was in critical condition with three bullet wounds after the botched burglary in Mill Basin on Wednesday, police said. "I'm all shaken up," said Larry Goldstein, 62, a school guidance counselor turned teacher. "I never expected to have a break-in, and I'm happy that nobody was hurt in my family." The burglars broke into the rear of Goldstein's E. 64th St. home and entered the basement around 2:30 a.m. Startled awake by the clatter, Goldstein went for his licensed .38-caliber revolver…
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2010/09/15/2010-09-15_brooklyn_man_wakes_to_find_intruders_in_home_fires_3_shots_to_halt_wouldbe_robbe.html
A homeowner in Brooklyn shot and seriously wounded a would-be burglar early this morning, police said. Larry Goldstein, 62, of Mill Basin was awoken shortly before 2 a.m. when he and his wife heard noise downstairs. He grabbed his licensed revolver and went to investigate when he saw two intruders brandishing guns, sources told The Post. Goldstein opened fire hitting one intruder three times while his accomplice fled. The wounded man, identified, as Alexander Manigat, of 371 E. 35th Street in Brooklyn, was taken to Brookdale Hospital in critical condition with two gunshot wounds to his torso and one time in the arm. Manigat was placed under arrest. Goldstein, a retired schoolteacher, has not been charged… (All's well that ends well but it might have been wiser to call 911 and wait in the bedroom. Note that the intruders had guns of their own.)
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/man_seriously_wounded_during_botched_hxD5IQ6m7iUWnqn5g5YnhL
---
Alaska Firm to Reintroduce Auto Mag Pistol: An Alaskan firm called the Auto Mag Company will introduce the Auto Mag Kodiak chambered in .44 Auto Mag in the first quarter of 2011. It's been about 20 years since a similar gun has been manufactured. Built to the same specs as the Model 180, the new Kodiak will be available in traditional stainless or standard Parkerized chrome-moly. A limited number of Kodiak pistols will be built in 2011. Stainless finish will run $5,600 and Parkerized $3,100. The Auto Mag was created by American businessman Harry Sanford during late 1960s. Sanford envisioned the semiautomatic pistol, similar in power to the very powerful Smith & Wesson .44 Magnum revolvers, but with less recoil and more round capacity. Prototype pistols were designed by Max Gera for Harry Sanford's Auto Mag Corporation in around 1970. (The greatest significance I attach to this is that Alaska is one of eight states that have enacted Firearms Freedom Acts. It will be interesting to see if Auto Mag Company intends to concentrate on in-state sales should Montana's FFA prevails in court.)
http://www.gunreports.com/news/news/2415-1.html?ET=gunreports:e808:183810a:&st=email
---
Gun Theft May Be Montana's Largest: Law enforcement officials say 133 firearms, most of them handguns, were stolen from a Billings shipping company in one of the largest such heists in the state's history. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on Wednesday offered a $10,000 reward for help in solving the case. The 113 handguns and 20 long guns were taken on Aug. 2 or Aug. 3 from Con-way Freight Company, which was shipping the firearms for owner MT Sports. ATF Montana Resident Agent in Charge Kenneth Bray says the suspect or suspects left other merchandise behind, suggesting they may have been looking for guns…
http://www.nbcmontana.com/news/25023679/detail.html
---
Tangentially Related: In his concurring opinion in the landmark gun rights case McDonald v. Chicago, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas offered a sweeping account of how the anti-slavery movement laid the foundations for the 14th Amendment, which declares, "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States." As Thomas explained, the authors and ratifiers of the 14th Amendment wanted the recently freed slaves to enjoy all of the rights they had long been denied, including the rights protected by the Second Amendment. The evidence he cited included the writings of the Massachusetts abolitionist Lysander Spooner (1808–1887), who argued that among its many crimes, slavery violated the "natural right of all men 'to keep and bear arms' for their personal defence." … (Article is actually about Spooner and his views on slavery and the Constitution.)
http://reason.com/archives/2010/09/16/clarence-thomas-favorite-anarc
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