Presidential Candidates On The Second Amendment: David Kopel summarizes the stands of various potential presidential candidates on the RKBA. "As much as possible, the ratings are based on actions while in government, rather than on current rhetoric." http://www.volokh.com/posts/1169537461.shtml --- Virginia Gun-Show Bill Dies In Committee: A Senate committee yesterday killed legislation to require private sellers at gun shows to obtain a criminal background check on buyers. The Courts of Justice Committee voted 9-4 to reject the measure, marking the fifth consecutive year that lawmakers have refused to close the so-called "gun-show loophole." http://www.washtimes.com/metro/20070124-104442-6944r.htm --- Virginia Library-Gun-Ban Bill Dies In Committee: A bill that would have allowed localities to ban firearms in public libraries was rejected by a Senate panel Tuesday. Newport News officials sought the measure after getting into a debate with a gun-rights group last year. http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/dp-37204sy0jan24,0,1055259.story?coll=dp-news-local-final --- Meanwhile, In Maryland...: Del. Roger P. Manno is pushing a bill that would allow the Montgomery County Council to enact gun laws that are stricter than the state's... The bill would not enact any particular gun measure and would apply only to Montgomery County. http://www.gazette.net/stories/012407/montcou221111_31999.shtml --- Georgia Bills Would Authorize Guns In Vehicles Parked At Work: Georgia lawmakers in both the House and Senate, backed by the National Rifle Association, are trying once again to pass a measure that would allow Georgians to leave registered guns in their vehicles while they are at work. http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/legis07/stories/2007/01/24/0124metlegguns.html --- Gun Shops Fight Back With "Bloomberg Gun Giveaway": Newsday and the Daily News take note of a firearm raffle organized by the Virginia Citizens Defense League to raise money for the legal fees of firearm dealers in Virginia who are fighting a lawsuit by NYC's Mayor Bloomberg. http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/am-guns0124,0,3713702.story http://www.nydailynews.com/01-24-2007/news/story/491342p-413884c.html --- Ohio Supremes Refuse Appeal In Park-Carry Case: On Wednesday the Ohio Supreme Court denied an appeal in Beatty v. Toledo, in which Ohioans For Concealed Carry had joined efforts with Mr. Beatty to pursue an appeal of the Sixth District's absurd decision. Many regular readers of our website will recall that the Sixth District Court of Appeals concluded in Beatty that Ohio's concealed carry law is "not a general law" due to the fact that HB12 permits a private property owner to choose if their property is prohibited or not. (Bruce Beatty challenged the Toldeo, OH ban on carrying firearms in a public park by holding a much publicized "birthday party" to celebrate the one year anniversary of the Ohio CHL law.) http://www.ohioccw.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3804&Itemid=83 --- Police In New York Scour Stores For Toy Guns: City police were dispatched to 40 local stores that may be selling imitation handguns yesterday after they said a 13-year-old boy was arrested a day earlier with a toy gun he used to robbed a Chinese restaurant. http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007701240395 --- No Charges But Killing Of Robber Not Justifiable: A district attorney in Pennsylvania has ruled that the killing of a man, shot in the back after he had just robbed a grocery store, was not justifiable. However, he cited conflicting accounts from witnesses and the inability of police to prove who fired the fatal shot in declining to file charges. http://www.readingeagle.com/re/news/1617947.asp --- Rule Three In Perspective: The 16-year-old son of an off-duty Philadelphia police officer was fatally shot in the neck as he struggled with his mother for her service pistol. (Rule Three mandates keeping the finger out of the trigger guard until the sights are on the target and the user is prepared to fire. This may be difficult to do in a struggle for the gun if the user is not trained in weapon-retention techniques, to quickly recover control of the gun.) http://cbs3.com/topstories/local_story_024072251.html http://www.nbc10.com/news/10828394/detail.html --- Would You Like Some Tartar Sauce With That?: In what will likely prove to be the fishiest story of the month, Suffolk County (NY) police report that one of their officers shot a suspect in the wrist and neither the officer nor the suspect realized it at the time. "Fitzpatrick said the shot may have gone unnoticed in part because the gun fired 'out of battery,' meaning the automatic weapon did not fully recoil and push a fresh round into the gun's chamber." (While Glocks will fire partially out of battery, that neither suppresses the sound nor keeps the slide from cycling.) http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-lichas215061333jan21,0,7467697.story?coll=ny-linews-headlines --- Kimber Faces Opposition To Plant Expansion: Panicked residents of Yonkers NY flooded City Hall with calls and e-mails yesterday after an anonymous flier warned neighbors they might be in danger of losing their homes because of the expansion plans of a local gun manufacturer. http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070124/NEWS02/701240373/1018 --- From AzCDL: HB 2469 is scheduled for a House Judiciary committee hearing TOMORROW (January 25, 2007) at 9:00 AM and needs YOUR immediate action. Information on HB 2469 can be found here: http://www.azleg.gov/DocumentsForBill.asp?Bill_Number=HB2469 HB 2469 reduces the penalty for a concealed weapon permit holder failing to have their permit in their possession while carrying concealed. Under current law (ARS 13-3112.D), a person is guilty of a class 2 misdemeanor offense if they fail to present a concealed weapons permit upon the request of a law enforcement officer. The language of the current law does not clarify that a person must be a concealed weapons permit holder or in possession of a weapon or even if a weapon must be concealed! However, if they produce a legible permit that was valid at the time of the violation when they go to court, "they shall not be convicted." Meanwhile, they have been subjected to possible arrest and confiscation of their weapon prior to appearing in court. Furthermore, their concealed weapon permit information was available to the arresting officer, via a records search, at the time of the encounter. The proposed language in HB 2469: · Restricts the application of the law to concealed weapons permit holders. · Reduces the penalty to a petty offense. · Clarifies that a permit holder can only be charged if they are carrying a concealed weapon when they fail to present their permit at the request of a law enforcement officer. We need you to send the following cut-and-paste message (or one of your own) to each of the House Judiciary committee members. Email addresses of the committee members are provided in both semi-colon and comma separation formats to work with your email software. The committee members: (semi-colon separation) efarnsworth@azleg.gov; adriggs@azleg.gov; kadams@azleg.gov; rcrandall@azleg.gov; sgallardo@azleg.gov; akirkpatrick@azleg.gov; bkonopnicki@azleg.gov; bmiranda@azleg.gov; ksinema@azleg.gov; syarbrough@azleg.gov (comma separation) efarnsworth@azleg.gov; adriggs@azleg.gov; kadams@azleg.gov; rcrandall@azleg.gov; sgallardo@azleg.gov; akirkpatrick@azleg.gov; bkonopnicki@azleg.gov; bmiranda@azleg.gov; ksinema@azleg.gov; syarbrough@azleg.gov Subject: Support HB 2469. The Arizona Citizens Defense League (AzCDL) has informed me that HB 2469 is being considered in the House Judiciary committee on January 25, 2007. I urge you to vote HB 2469 out of committee with a recommendation for passage by the full House. Under the current provisions of ARS 13-3112.D, I am subject to a class 2 misdemeanor if I am unable to present a concealed weapons permit upon the request of a law enforcement officer. The language of the current law does not clarify that I must even be a concealed weapons permit holder or in possession of a weapon or even if a weapon must be concealed. Furthermore, the law says I "shall not be convicted" if I produce a valid permit to the court. HB 2469 clarifies that ARS 13-3112.D applies only to concealed weapons permit holders who are in possession of a concealed weapon. The penalty is reduced to a petty offense while the "shall not convict" language is retained for those producing a valid permit to the court. This allows honest mistakes by law-abiding citizens to be handled quickly, allowing scarce law enforcement and court resources to be focused on more important issues. Again, I urge to vote HB 2469 out of committee with a recommendation for passage by the full House. Sincerely, (Your Name) (Street Address) (City, State, Zip) As legislation progresses or is introduced, we will keep you up to date via these Alerts: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AZCDL_Alerts/ 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 .