Illogic In DC: "It is eminently reasonable to permit private ownership of other types of weapons, including shotguns and rifles, but ban the easily concealed and uniquely dangerous modern handgun....Whatever right the Second Amendment guarantees, it does not require the District to stand by while its citizens die." There are two problems with this argument. First, D.C. not only bans handgun ownership by anyone who isn't a current or former law enforcement officer; it also requires that long guns be kept locked or unloaded and disassembled, which makes using them against home invaders impractical. The law effectively prohibits armed self-defense, which is hard to reconcile with "the right to keep and bear arms." http://reason.com/blog/show/122363.html --- NYC "Time To Crime" For Guns Rises To 12 Years: Ilegal weapons are getting harder to come by - taking longer to land on New York streets and be used to commit crimes, according to the latest federal statistics. Guns traced last year took 12 years to go from a gun store to a crime scene in the city, according to a survey released yesterday by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. In 2002, it took nine years for guns to make the same deadly trek. ATF officials said the increase - or "time-to-crime index" - showed it was more difficult to acquire illegal weapons. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime_file/2007/09/07/2007-09-07_federal_statistics_show_illegal_weapons_.html --- We're From The Government. We're Here To Help You: BATFE presents an amazing set of online documents to provide guidance for those seeking to comply with federal laws and regulations regarding firearms. http://www.atf.gov/atf-gd.htm --- Handgun Sales Surge In Missouri After New Law: A new Missouri law that eliminated a time-consuming permit process has fueled a surge in handgun sales across the St. Louis area. Gun shop owners and salespeople say business is up at least 20 percent since the Aug. 28 change. No longer do buyers have to seek permission from their county sheriff before buying a handgun. Also gone is the $10 fee paid for each permit. http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/business/stories.nsf/story/D199787657A6109C8625734E000715E2?OpenDocument --- Pennsylvania Gun-Purchase Pause Shorter Than Expected: ...He said his store wasn't even open Sunday or Monday, so he didn't lose any sales when the Pennsylvania Instant Check System, a computerized system of criminal conviction data, went offline Sunday at 6 p.m. It was down all day Monday, but because of unexpectedly quick work by state police and their computer operator it was back in operation at 8 a.m. yesterday...Originally state police thought it would be necessary to shut the system down for nearly five days, from Sunday evening until Thursday noon, but police and their computer experts worked faster than expected. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07248/814621-85.stm --- Rule Five Reminder: Lowell MA police are asking for the public's help in locating a missing - and most likely unloaded - .40-caliber Beretta after a veteran officer apparently misplaced the handgun over the weekend...The officer last saw his weapon after he finished working a private detail last Friday. The officer did not work a regular shift that day. (Rule Five: Maintain Control of your firearm.) http://www.lowellsun.com/front/ci_6807087 --- Mixing Gunpowder And Alcohol: A Massachusetts woman was sitting in a lounge chair in the living room of her Oak Street home, watching television, when the round ripped through a screen on an open bathroom window, rattling off walls and doors and hitting about 4 feet over her head, showering her with pieces of plasterboard as she ducked in fear...Police say those shots came from a nearby house, at 800 Main St., where two law-enforcement officers were allegedly drinking. http://www.lowellsun.com//ci_6698282?IADID=Search-www.lowellsun.com-www.lowellsun.com --- Oops, Wrong Victim: A 49-year-old retired police officer shot a man who he said tried to rob him early yesterday as he was out walking, police said. The retired California Highway Patrol officer was near Country Club Lane and Capistrano Glen about 1:50 a.m. when someone pointed a gun at him and demanded money, police Lt. Bob Benton said. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/northcounty/20070906-9999-1mi6excop.html --- Kentucky Students Seek Campus CCW: Steven Davis owns a gun, and he has a permit to carry a concealed weapon. But when he steps onto Eastern's campus, he has to leave his gun behind. Davis and about 30 other people at Eastern want to change that. Davis is a member of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, an anti-gun-control group at Eastern that advocates allowing people with concealed carry permits to bring their guns on campus with them. http://media.www.easternprogress.com/media/storage/paper419/news/2007/09/06/News/Guns-Friends.Of.Foes-2953274.shtml --- Irresponsibly Gun Shy: ...So the Virginia Tech panel's report to the governor, months after the rampage, is a necessary step, a document that state lawmakers should be able to look to for advice...But regarding guns, the panel shirked its responsibilities. The report pronounces on policies that had nothing to do with the massacre, wildly speculates about what would have happened had given factors been different, and ignores entire bodies of evidence. http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=11984 --- Common Sense From Britain: Despite the recent spate of shootings on our streets, we pride ourselves on our strict gun laws. Every time an American gunman goes on a killing spree, we shake our heads in righteous disbelief at our poor benighted colonial cousins. Why is it, even after the Virginia Tech massacre, that Americans still resist calls for more gun controls? The short answer is that "gun controls" do not work: they are indeed generally perverse in their effects. Virginia Tech, where 32 students were shot in April, had a strict gun ban policy and only last year successfully resisted a legal challenge that would have allowed the carrying of licensed defensive weapons on campus... http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article2409817.ece --- From SAF: Yesterday's release of aggregate gun trace data in the New York City region by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) once again puts the lie to long-standing claims by Mayor Michael Bloomberg that this data is not available to law enforcement, the Second Amendment Foundation said today. http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/09-07-2007/0004658643&EDATE= --- From CCRKBA: The arrests Thursday of 11 public officials, including state lawmakers, mayors and city councilmen, in communities across New Jersey shows why anti-gun politicians in the Garden State don't want citizens to have firearms rights, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today. http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/09-07-2007/0004658614&EDATE= --- Also From CCRKBA: URGENT ACTION: TELL GOV. SCHWARZENEGGER TO VETO A.B. 821 California gun owners should immediately call Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office and urge him to veto Assembly Bill 821, which would ban the use of lead in ammunition in areas identified as California condor habitat. The bill has been sent to the governor after amendments were approved by the Assembly earlier this week. If signed, this legislation could literally ban hunting and recreational shooting in large areas of the state. Likewise, gun owners should also respectfully urge Gov. Schwarzenegger to veto Assembly Bill 1471, the so-called "Micro-stamping" bill. This legislation would require handguns sold after a certain date in California to be microstamped with identifying information so that this micro-stamp is transferred to the surface of a cartridge case when it is fired. To contact Gov. Schwarzenegger, call (916) 445-2841, or fax him a message at (916) 445-4633. You may also reach his office via e-mail at: http://gov.ca.gov/interact#email. --- From GOA: Senator David Vitter (R-LA) pushed a pro-gun amendment through the U.S. Senate last night on an 81-10 vote. GOA worked closely with Vitter in getting the language just right, as Senate rules make it difficult to attach certain amendments to spending bills. The Vitter provision stipulates that no U.S. funds can be used by the United Nations - or organizations affiliated with the UN - to restrict or tax our gun rights. Hence, the amendment would give a mildly pro-gun administration the excuse to stop sending US taxpayer funds to the United Nations as soon as they adopt any policy to restrict the Second Amendment rights of Americans. (The Vitter amendment was added to HR 2764, the Department of State appropriations bill.) http://www.gunowners.org/a090707.htm --- NRA-ILA Alerts: Alerts for the various states are posted on the NRA-ILA website. http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/State/ -- Stephen P. Wenger Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info