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Version: 7.1.375 / Virus Database: 268.2.1/277 - Release Date: 3/8/2006 Ohio House Passes Amended CCW-Reform Bill: HB 347 corrects several defects in Ohio's CCW law although it was amended to continue to allow press access to lists of licensees. http://peoplesrights.org/articletemplate.asp?id=138 --- Virginia Senate Approves Unlicensed Storage Of Guns In Vehicles: The Senate voted Monday to approve a bill that would allow individuals without a concealed weapon permit to store guns in a locked glove compartment or briefcase in their cars. http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/wb/xp-55656 --- A Step Backward For Pennsylvania?: A proposed state law would give municipalities authority to enact their own local gun laws, a state legislator accompanied by Philadelphia officials told a news conference. http://kyw.com/local/local_story_066093446.html --- Brady Bunch Issues 2005 "Report Cards": Thirty-two states received grades of D or F, indicating that they don't impose substantial infringements on the RKBA. http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=62005 --- FFL's Down 78% Since 1994: The Violence Policy Center crows that the number of federally licensed firearms dealers has dropped 78% since the Clinton administration attack on "kitchen-table FFL's" in 1994. http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/03-08-2006/0004316272&EDATE= --- Shooting Of "Ninja" Ruled Justifiable: An initial report of this shooting, in Healdsburg, north of San Francisco, was shared a few days ago. We now learn the motive of the attacker. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/03/06/MNG8MHJJLV4.DTL --- Oops, Wrong House: One of two men who had broken into a home through a back door died when the pair engaged the returning homeowner in a living-room shootout. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/3706875.html --- The Fatal Finger: A car-theft suspect who vowed not to be taken alive was fatally shot by a rookie Tucson PD officer after he pretended to draw a gun from his waistband and pointed his finger at officers. (One more lead Oscar) http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/119283 --- Another Dim Bulb: A "validated Muhammad gang member" in Fresno CA was shot five times in the chest, in self-defense, after he was released from police custody for threatening to kill a woman and her two children. http://www.cbs47.tv/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=9827F5BC-EF87-4A05-AD5D-BF96BB833C8C --- Rule Three Reminder: A Wood County sheriff's deputy who is a firearms instructor accidentally shot himself in the leg during a live firearms exercise at a police firing range. Deputy Jeff Hamric was returning his gun to its holster after firing it when the weapon discharged. (Rule Three: Keep your finger out of the trigger guard, up on the frame, until your sights are on the target and you're prepared to fire.) http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060308/ap_on_fe_st/shooting_range_mishap --- More Guts Than Knowledge?: An Ohio great-grandmother who drove two teenage burglars from her home with a .380 pistol said, "All I got to do is hold this trigger and it goes six times without stopping." (I didn't realize that full-auto .380 pistols were readily available in Ohio.) http://www.wkyc.com/news/regional/akron_article.aspx?storyid=48960 --- S&W Announces Record Revenues: "Our efforts to become a significant supplier of pistols to the federal government continued to yield results, and we recently won our fourth order in the last nine month period for Sigma 9VE pistols to be sold to the federal government for shipment to the Afghanistan Army." http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/03-08-2006/0004316495&EDATE= From AzCDL: Three critical bills were overwhelmingly approved by the full Senate on March 6, 2006. Two of these, SB 1145 and SCR 1001, stand out among the half dozen or so "castle doctrine" bills introduced this legislative session. The bills are essentially identical. Where SB 1145 proposes changes to Arizona statutory law, SCR 1001 creates a referendum for proposed changes to the Arizona Constitution. Information on the bills can be found here: http://www.azleg.gov/DocumentsForBill.asp?Bill_Number=SB1145 (SB 1145) http://www.azleg.gov/DocumentsForBill.asp?Bill_Number=SCR1001 (SCR 1001) Senators Dean Martin and Jack Harper introduced amendments to SB 1145 and SCR 1001 that would reestablish "innocent until proven guilty" in self-defense situations in Arizona. The amended versions of each bill can be found here: http://www.azleg.state.az.us/legtext/47leg/2r/bills/sb1145s.pdf (SB 1145) http://www.azleg.state.az.us/legtext/47leg/2r/bills/scr1001s.pdf (SCR 1001) The amended versions of SB 1145 and SCR 1001 represent a historic opportunity to reestablish "innocent until proven guilty" in Arizona law. From territorial days until 1997, Arizona properly treated self-defense as a case of innocent until proven guilty. In 1997 all that was changed with A.R.S. 13-103: http://tinyurl.com/bn5ks Since 1997, in self-defense cases, you are now in effect guilty unless you can prove your innocence. You must admit to the underlying criminal conduct and then demonstrate that the guilt you admitted is false, by proving you were justified. It is a prosecutor's dream and the public's worst nightmare. A criminal now has better legal protection than a person who claims self-defense after an attack. The good news is that the full Senate approved SB 1145 by a vote of 28-0 and SCR 1001 by a vote of 29-0. Both bills are headed to the House where they will be first heard in the House Judiciary committee. Prosecuting Attorneys and law enforcement organizations are pulling out all the stops to kill these bills. We must all work together to ensure their passage by the House. AzCDL is closely monitoring SB 1145 and SCR 1001 and will "alert" you when it's time to contact committee members and your Representatives. Another important bill passed by the Senate is SB 1425. http://www.azleg.gov/DocumentsForBill.asp?Bill_Number=SB1425 SB 1425 prevents the confiscation of firearms or ammunition from law-abiding citizens during a "state of emergency" declared by the governor. This would prevent the abuses we witnessed during Hurricane Katrina in and around New Orleans last year. At a time when violent criminals attacked citizens with impunity, law enforcement abused a statutory provision that allowed the government to "regulate" the use of firearms during a state of emergency in order to prohibit possession and confiscate privately owned firearms. They were depriving law-abiding citizens of their only means of defense against otherwise unrestrained violence. SB 1425 will ensure that Arizona's law-abiding gun owners are protected from any similar abuses during a state of emergency. The text of SB 1425 can be found here: http://www.azleg.state.az.us/legtext/47leg/2r/bills/sb1425s.pdf SB 1425 passed the Senate by a vote of 25-3 and is now headed to the House where it will be first heard in the House Judiciary committee. AzCDL is closely monitoring SB 1425 and will "alert" you when it's time to contact committee members and your Representatives. These alerts are a project of the Arizona Citizens Defense League (AzCDL), an all-volunteer, non-profit, non-partisan grassroots organization. Join today! AzCDL - Protecting Your Freedom http://www.azcdl.org/html/join_us_.html --- Attention New England Shooters: The Police Officers Safety Association will be producing the second annual Isabella deBethencourt Memorial Cops4Kids Match Against Cancer at the Harvard Sportsman's Club in Harvard, Massachusetts on Sunday, October 1, 2006. All proceeds benefit the pediatric cancer research of the Jimmy Fund in memory of Heather and Michael deBethencourt's infant daughter, Isabella, who died of cancer at 11 months of age a couple years ago. This is a pistol match run like an IDPA match, but with a very different, more street-like, set of rules, targets, and scoring. We need shooters and volunteers to help! The match is limited to 80 shooters. Last year's match was a sellout, and we expect slots to go fast this year. For more information and registration materials please visit the match website, www.posacops4kids.com. Note: To give LE officers first opportunity, we are restricting registration until July 15, 2006 to active and retired police officers, and those that work with them (investigators, CSIs, etc.) as well as non law enforcement officers who shot last yearâEUR^(TM)s match. Anyone can sign up after July 15. We have also increased the shooting fee this year, but have initiated a shooter sponsorship program, so that each shooter can cultivate people to sponsor him/her. There will be prizes for the top sponsor fund-raisers - see the website for details. Set-up day will be Friday, Sept. 29, and shoot-thru/debug day Saturday, Sept. 30. All volunteers will have the opportunity to shoot the stages on Sept 30. Shooters can register with the form by cutting and pasting the following link: www.posacops4kids.com/documents/C4KRegistrationForm.pdf To volunteer, please contact Bruce Klinger, the "boss of the volunteers," at baklinger65@msn.com If you have a lead on cash sponsors or product donations, please contact Heather deBethencourt at mjhj318@hotmail.com Other administrative issues and questions can be directed to Ralph Mroz, rmroz@posai.org Thank you and we are looking forward to seeing you at the match! Ralph and David -- Stephen P. Wenger Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .