Militia Defense To Be Used In Restricted-Firearms Trial: A lawyer whose client is on trial for having "militia" weaponry says he'll ask questions and raise arguments about the 2nd Amendment, and then let the judge rule whether or not the Bill of Rights can be discussed in a federal courtroom these days. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53649 --- Matt Lauer: Ten Years Of Anti-Gun Bias: ...Whenever the issue of gun control was hot in the news Lauer could be counted on to push his guests for the harshest restrictions on the Constitutional right to bear arms... http://newsbusters.org/node/9987 --- "Gun Control" Activists Resurrect Agenda: ...Now, in an apparent attempt to lull gun owners into a false sense of political security, some media personnel allege that gun owner fundraising efforts are ludicrous. They imply that gun rights groups do not need to raise funds because there no longer is a threat to the rights of gun owners. http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=18792 --- New Infringements Unlikely This Year In Washington State: Heading into the 2007 Legislature, leading lawmakers are reluctant to pass new gun-control measures despite last year's mass killing on Capitol Hill, a downtown office shooting and this week's gun slaying of a Tacoma high school student. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/298561_guns05.html --- Second Attempt For Montana Stand-Your-Ground Bill: ...Currently, Montanans can shoot an intruder or someone seriously threatening them. However, Wells said, the current standard is not clear, leaving the possibility that a person who shoots in self-defense could end up charged with a crime. http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/01/05/news/state/43-tax.txt --- VCDL vs. Bloomberg: Virginia gun owners are being asked to rally in Washington DC to fight back against NYC Mayor Bloomberg's attacks on Virginia firearm dealers. The rally will be held on January 23. http://www2.vcdl.org/webapps/vcdl/vadetail.html?RECID=1024962 OFCC Joins In: http://www.ohioccw.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3787&Itemid=83 --- NYPD Receives Accreditation: Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner Kelly announced that the NYPD Police Academy has received accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA). The NYPD is only the ninth police department in the world - and the first major U.S. police department - to receive this accreditation. (Note that the city has just contracted RAND Corporation to find out what's wrong with the department's firearm training program - http://www.nypost.com/seven/01052007/news/regionalnews/nypd_hired_gun_aims_at_shootings_regionalnews_murray_weiss__criminal_justice_editor.htm.) http://www.govtech.net/magazine/channel_story.php/103117 --- Rule Four Reminder: New Mexico DPS officers are investigating an incident in which a Santa Fe PD sergeant was wounded. Crossfire from fellow officers is being considered as police have been unable to locate any firearm used by the suspect. (Rule Four: Always be sure of your target and what's beyond it.) http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/54729.html --- Rule Four Reminder, Part 2: An Arkansas woman was fatally shot last month by a police officer who was engaged in a gunfight with a shotgun-armed suspect. Two officers involved in the gunfight have been cleared by the prosecutor's office and an internal investigation and have returned to work. The local paper blames the officer's gun for the woman's death. http://www.crimelibrary.com/news/ap/0107/0401_cops_gun_killed_bystander.html --- Rule Five Reminder: The three-year-old son of a Georgia police officer fatally shot himself with a firearm he found in his parent's bedroom closet. The boy is reported to have dreamed of becoming a police officer himself. (Rule Five: Maintain control of your firearm.) http://www.news4jax.com/news4georgia/10677841/detail.html --- Rule Five Reminder, Part 2: A pistol and nearly $5,000 of other police equipment was stolen from the personal vehicle of a Cincinnati police supervisor, parked outside his suburban home. "Kathy Harrell, Cincinnati police union president, said there is no policy that says officers can't leave their guns or equipment in cars. She said a gun could just as easily be stolen from a house as from a car." http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061229/NEWS01/312290021 --- Color Me Skeptical: Florida's Polk County Sheriff's Office "is upgrading its standard-issue handgun to a .40-caliber Glock pistol, which officials say is more accurate, highly durable and will reduce user error." (While there may be justification for going from a nine-round .45-caliber S&W to an 18-round .40-caliber Glock, I fail to see how the Glock will reduce user error.) http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070105/NEWS/701050354/1004 --- Soft Body Armor?: A Georgia woman, visiting Florida, credits the strap of her gold bra with limiting the penetration of a .45-caliber bullet that fell from the sky, apparently fired into the air to celebrate the new year. http://www.breitbart.com/news/2007/01/05/D8MFB7A02.html --- Putting Firearm-Related Deaths Into Perspective: Why is it that people get so upset over firearm associated deaths and yet are so accepting of the over half again as many deaths caused by motor vehicles? Both are unnecessary. Both are a senseless waste of life. Both are tragic in their consequences... http://mensnewsdaily.com/2007/01/06/keeping-the-numbers-in-perspective-firearm-related-deaths-in-america/ --- Armed Minutemen To Support National Guard On Border: Gun-carrying volunteer members of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps have launched patrols along the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona in support of National Guard troops who just 48 hours earlier were attacked by gunmen and had to retreat, according to officials. (The presence of troops on the border has apparently dissuaded many Mexicans from illegal entry. Personally, I believe that this attack was organized by alien smugglers and was intended to show their prospective clientele that the troops are unarmed "paper tigers.") http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53656 --- Texas Grand Jury Declines Murder Indictment: Manuel Garcia, 41, had been accused in the deaths of 16-year-old Victor Garcia, no relation, and 13-year-old Arturo Borrego. Police said the shooting stemmed from an earlier disagreement between the teens and Garcia's teenage son. The teens and some of their friends went to Garcia's house to confront him, police said. http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=state&id=4907806 --- L.A. Police Officer Shot In Thigh: One more reminder that poor shooters tend to push or jerk shots low and to the non-dominant side. This is an important caveat to my advice to place the first shot in the pelvis - if you shoot low and to the side, you may miss altogether. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-copshot6jan06,1,6097218.story?coll=la-headlines-california -- Stephen P. Wenger Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .