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Version: 7.1.375 / Virus Database: 267.15.2/253 - Release Date: 2/7/2006 Arizona House Votes To End CWP Renewal Training: Bill would end the requirement for what is now a two-hour-minimum course to apply to renew a Concealed Weapon Permit. http://www.azstarnet.com/news/114963 http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0208guns0208.html http://www.kgun9.com/story.php?id=1377 --- Maryland State Senator Seeks Voters To Register: Republican Alex Mooney says he and Robert Culver, of Burtonsville, will revive the Second Amendment Coalition - a group they established in 2004 that distributed voter registration forms and pro-voting bumper stickers at gun shows. http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0206/300724.html --- The Gun Vote: Ohio's Buckeye Firearms Association offers some insights into gun owners as a voting bloc. http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/article2954.html --- First Duty Is To Yourself: A columnist in Pittsburgh explains why the NRA and GOA are seeking an end to duty-to-retreat laws across the nation. http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/opinion/columnists/vassilaros/s_420318.html --- Thousands Take Advantage Of Missouri CCW: Article and video present favorable view of Missouri's success with licensed CCW. (Unfortunately, the video shows an example of poor muzzle control as one user inserts his handgun into a shoulder holster.) http://www.ky3.com/news/2266381.html?autovid=Y --- Crime And The Erosion Of The RKBA: John Longnecker continues his series on liberty and the right to carry firearms, http://mensnewsdaily.com/blog/2006/02/good-for-country-liberty-nuts-part-ii.htm --- Oops, Wrong House: A burglar in Illinois was found dead on the porch of a home whose phone lines he had cut and whose security bars he had removed from a porch window. The previously victimized 87-year-old female occupant of the home fired several shots through the door and was unaware if she had hit the burglar. (Rule Four: Be sure of your target and what's beyond it.) http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/metroeast/story/9DB79EBF400323848625710E006F5E3A?OpenDocument --- Ithaca Back In Business: An Ohio firm has purchased the rights to manufacture Ithaca shotguns and is promising a higher-quality version of the venerable Model 37. http://www.pressconnects.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060207/SPORTS/602070332&SearchID=73234925574921 --- Canadian Man's Guns Stolen: A 68-year-old man in a city in Ontario returned from a six-week hospital stay to find his home ransacked. Among the items taken were his lifelong collection of 40 pistols. In striking contrast to the case of the firearms instructor whose massive safe was burglarized, police are declining to file charges against the gun owner. http://www.durhamregion.com/dr/regions/oshawa/story/3304487p-3825730c.html --- From GOA: McCain Moves To Punish The American People And Grassroots Groups For Congress' New Round Of Controversy Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert 8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151 Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408 http://www.gunowners.org Tuesday, February 7, 2006 Sen. John McCain is at it again. The senior senator from Arizona has worked hard to earn an F-rating from Gun Owners of America. Once a presidential contender, Sen. McCain became the poster boy for the misnamed Americans for Gun Safety (AGS) several years ago and has sponsored several anti-gun bills and amendments. With such a record lurking in his closet, do you think Sen. McCain likes it when groups like Gun Owners of America point out his anti-gun antics? Of course not. So in 2002, Sen. McCain teamed up with anti-gun Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) to squelch the First Amendment rights of gun owners and other Americans. These two men successfully pushed the Incumbent Protection Act into law -- an act that stifles the ability of organizations like GOA to criticize elected officials before an election. This suits Sen. McCain just fine since he knows the media is going to give him a free ride in his upcoming bid for president in 2008. One can expect the mainstream media to ignore the big government tendencies of candidates like McCain, which is why it's imperative for watchdog organizations like Gun Owners of America to be able to freely communicate with the American people. Not content with the limitations in the Incumbent Protection Act, Sen. McCain has struck again. In an effort to reap political advantage from the current controversies in Congress, McCain has now introduced S. 2128 -- the so-called Lobbying Transparency and Accountability Act. In this bill, McCain targets his wrath on groups like GOA -- requiring them to register their "grassroots" communications with their members and to file twice as many frivolous reports. Sen. McCain would rather shine the spotlight on us and YOU, rather than shine the spotlight on himself -- remember, he was one of the original Keating Five senators and was the ONLY Republican in the Keating Five "team." Sen. McCain might try to dismiss the actions he took on behalf of one of his biggest contributors, Charles Keating, but as author Mark Levin notes, "In John McCain's America, any politician who accepts a large contribution or gift from a donor, and then takes steps consistent with the donor's interests -- even though there is no legal quid pro quo -- is corrupt. Well, then, by his own standard, McCain is corrupt." Once the Chief of Staff to the Attorney General in the Reagan administration, Mark Levin is now a contributing editor for National Review Online. He is also a talk show host and the head of the prestigious Landmark Legal Foundation in Washington, DC. Levin has never been accused of pulling punches, and his discussions over McCain's role in the Keating Five are no exception. "McCain was the only Republican implicated in the Keating Five scandal," Levin points out, "yet today he lectures his party and his president about 'the corrupting influence' of money in politics. He rails against the so-called 'wealthy special interests' and their ability to buy access to elected officials, yet this is precisely what the Keating Five scandal was all about. And, of course, under McCain's current standard, a politician who takes a principled position that may benefit a donor is corrupt, even if no law has been violated. "The John McCain of old should be thankful that his political fate wasn't determined by John McCain the reformer," Levin concludes. ACTION: Contact your senators and ask them to oppose S. 2128, John McCain's bill to scapegoat grassroots groups for his own moral shortcomings. You can visit the Gun Owners Legislative Action Center at http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm to send your Senators a pre-written e-mail message such as the one below. ----- Pre-written letter ----- Dear Senator: It should come as no surprise that Keating 5 Member John McCain is responding to recent inside-the-beltway controversies by attacking the First Amendment rights of grassroots groups. His most recent travesty masquerading as "reform" legislation is S. 2128. A true reform bill would focus the spotlight on members like John McCain. Instead, McCain targets his wrath on groups like GOA -- requiring them to register their "grassroots" communications with their members and to file twice as many frivolous reports. Perhaps congressional transgressors need to be punished for the Abramoff scandal. Perhaps Abramoff needs to be punished for the Abramoff scandal. But don't try to scapegoat legitimate law-abiding grassroots groups for the moral shortcomings of people like John McCain. The First Amendment says that, "Congress shall make no law...[abridging the right of the people] to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." This is a wonderful freedom that has been enshrined in our Constitution for more than 200 years. I hope you won't place even more restrictions on this precious right. Please oppose S. 2128 or any other "reform" bill that would scapegoat outside groups, through which American citizens are better able to petition their government and which serve as government watchdogs. Sincerely, **************************** -- Stephen P. Wenger Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .