Bloomberg, Menino Speak For Their Coalition: The Washington Times lends space to mayors Bloomberg and Menino to argue for their campaign to restrict firearm sales in other states because of high crime rates in their cities, where most citizens cannot legally purchase or carry handguns. http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20070122-093343-4385r.htm --- Bloomberg Under Fire From Gun Groups: More than two dozen national and regional groups of American citizens over the weekend called for a federal investigation of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. (There's something about calling on BATFE to investigate Bloomberg that doesn't sit right with me - I'm not sure I like casting that agency in a friendly light.) http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=19063 http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=ind_focus.story&STORY=/www/story/01-22-2007/0004510282&EDATE=MON+Jan+22+2007,+11:16+AM --- Brady Bunch, Prohibitionist Mayors Head To Washington: Gun control advocates want their Democratic allies to pass legislation targeting gun dealers who send illegal guns onto the streets...On Monday, the day before the national summit of anti-gun mayors, the Brady Center unveiled a report called "Shady Dealings: Illegal Gun Trafficking from Licensed Gun Dealers." http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=/Nation/archive/200701/NAT20070122a.html --- Meanwhile, In California...: The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department is tracing the origins of firearms confiscated from gang members in Compton. According to The Los Angeles Times, it appears that most were acquired via straw purchases or "unregistered" sales ny private parties. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-compton23jan23,0,3336779,full.story?coll=la-home-headlines --- Democratic Presidential Contender Has "A" Rating From NRA: Bill Richardson, recently re-elected governor of New Mexico, who is one of the few members of his party to get an "A" rating from the National Rifle Association, said he thinks Democrats will warm to his candidacy once they get to know his issues, which include favoring a redeployment of American forces from Iraq. http://www.washtimes.com/national/20070122-123852-3041r.htm --- Even A Broken Clock Show The Right Time Twice A Day: A list member pointed out that, unlike Hillary Clinton, at least Barack Obama voted in favor of the bill to ban confiscation of privately owned firearms during declared emergencies (see page 2 of the article). http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/31/AR2006123101004.html --- Oops, Wrong House, Follow-Up: A Georgia man, who went to investigate a loud noise at the rear of his house was confronted by a man wearing a ski mask and armed with a small-caliber handgun. The would-be home-invader was killed by a single shot to the head after firing several shots at the homeowner. (This version offers more details than the one shared yesterday.) http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/news/stories/20070122/localnews/151446.shtml --- Case Worth Watching: A Las Vegas homeowner is awaiting the decision of prosecutors regarding his fatal shooting of a 15-year-old would-be burglar, who was part of a group that tried to break through a window in the home. Police say the homeowner fired a gun several times through the window. http://www.kvbc.com/Global/story.asp?S=5971966&nav=15MV --- New York Lacks Castle Doctrine: After the latest in a string of shootings of home-invaders in Schenectady NY, a local attorney cautions the only time you can use deadly physical force on someone who has invaded your home is if the intruder gives you solid reason to believe that they are going to hurt you. http://www.wnyt.com/x11705.xml?ag=x995&sb=x183 --- Florida Man Hopes Stand-Your-Ground Law Will Reverse His Conviction: Moses was convicted of second degree-murder in 2004. Eleven months later, the Legislature amended the state's Castle Doctrine, legalizing what he did - killing someone he believed was about to hurt or kill him, according to attorney Charles White. http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/nation/16520532.htm --- Interesting Account: A former police officer explains the trauma he experienced 23 years ago, when he fatally shot a man who resisted arrest. He cites lack of support, not guilt, for his eventual medical retirement. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-parsons23jan23,1,5893704.column?coll=la-headlines-california --- Gun Making As Art: The New York Times reports on the Colt display at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. Despite its title, the article focuses primarily on the history of Colt's work as a firearm inventor. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/21/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/21ctcolt.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin --- Arizona Legislator Claims Threats Over Bill: An Arizona lawmaker said Monday that she has received several sexually threatening e-mails in response to her bill that would classify armed civil patrols as domestic terrorism. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Phoenix, is an immigrant-rights advocate whose proposal targets the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps and other groups that patrol the border. (As pointed out by AzCDL, in yesterday's mailing, the Sinema bill would criminalize a lot of other armed citizens as well.) http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/165800 --- Canada Firearm Registry Still In Place: A year after the federal Conservatives won power promising to abolish the gun registry, the program is still running - and any hope of killing it before the next election appears to be fading. http://www.mytelus.com/news/article.do?pageID=canada_home&articleID=2521985 --- From AzCDL: The usual suspects are repeating their attempts to turn firearms owners into felons via "for the children" gun storage laws. Their intent is clear - the elimination of YOUR ownership of firearms. The "safe storage" bills this year are HB 2411 and HB 2412: http://www.azleg.gov/DocumentsForBill.asp?Bill_Number=HB2411 http://www.azleg.gov/DocumentsForBill.asp?Bill_Number=HB2412 Both bills make it a crime to "store or keep any loaded firearm on any premises under the person's control if the person knows or reasonably should know that a minor is likely to gain access...." That pretty much describes every firearm that is not unloaded, disassembled and locked away and rendered useless for self-defense. It gets worse: A person who fails to securely store or keep a loaded firearm is strictly liable for damages if a minor obtains the firearm and causes injury or death to themselves or others. And, it's a felony for the firearm owner if the minor injures or kills himself or another person. And, here's the kicker - Anyone convicted for not locking up their firearms will become a "Prohibited Possessor" and forbidden from owning or handling a gun for the rest of their life. The objective of these bills is to make you liable for the injury or death to any minor, or their victim, using your gun - even if they steal it. These bills have not yet been assigned to any committee. Virtually identical bills were introduced last year (HB 2526 & HB 2527) and were never heard in committee but that doesn't mean we should relax our guard. AzCDL will monitor HB 2411 and HB 2412 and alert you if their status changes. 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 Copyright © 2007 Arizona Citizens Defense League, Inc., all rights reserved. -- Stephen P. Wenger Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .