Colorado Police Chief Supports Extension Of Castle Doctrine: Not everyone is a fan of a pending bill to expand Colorado's "Make My Day" protections to businesses, but Montrose Police Chief Tom Chinn said he did not believe the measure's passage would necessarily increase violence. House Bill 1011, which passed the House judiciary committee Wednesday, would allow business owners to use deadly force against intruders, in certain circumstances, without fear of prosecution. A provision that would have extended the same protection to vehicles was dropped. http://www.montrosepress.com/articles/2007/02/03/local_news/3.txt --- Arizona Bill Could Reverse Trail-Shooting Conviction: State lawmakers are working to overturn one man's murder conviction and make it easier for a Tucson man facing similar charges to escape prosecution - all in the name of self-defense. The Senate Judiciary Committee is to consider legislation today to retroactively add language to a change in a self-defense law approved last year. The new wording would say last year's law applies to any case that had not yet gone to the jury. (See alert, below, from AzCDL.) http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/167709 --- New York County's Legislators Divided Over Pistol Licensing Proposal: Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano's proposal to take judges out of the handgun license process will face its first test this week when the plan comes up for a vote before a Westchester Board of Legislators committee. The committee appears deeply divided about the measure, which calls for county police to take control of the entire pistol-licensing process, from background checks on applicants to a final ruling on the paperwork. http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070204/NEWS02/702040348/1018 --- How They Think: "On New Year's Eve, my friend and rowing teammate was killed by a gun in Dunbar. Regardless of who pulled the trigger, I blame the gun...The constitutionality of possible gun abolition would be an issue with many Americans who are law-abiding gun owners. But it is the courts that interpret the Constitution, not the popular vote..." (The author of this opinion is an attorney.) http://wvgazette.com/section/Opinion/200702036 --- Hunter Education Evolves: In addition to firearm safety, students in West Virginia now learn how to avoid heart attacks and falls from tree stands. Since 1990, when state-sanctioned safety courses became mandatory for all first-time hunting-license buyers, shooting-related hunting accidents have declined. http://wvgazette.com/section/Woods+%26+Waters/2007020319 --- Canadians Still Await End To Firearm Registry: Canadian gun owners are losing patience with the federal government as it tries to move ahead with legislation to do away with a controversial registry. Hunters, collectors and other gun enthusiasts taking part in the Canadian Historical Arms Society's annual gun show, say despite a recent amnesty, the 10-year-old long-gun registry is taking too long to kill. http://calgarysun.canoe.ca/NewsStand/News/Alberta/2007/02/05/3531019-sun.html --- Gun Buybacks Spread To Argentina: An 82-year-old woman in Argentina thinks she is fighting both poverty and crime by buying up firearms from criminals - and Al Jazeera seems to think that's just great. http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/94E3397D-7173-4EF7-912B-C92388C3183C.htm --- From AzCDL: On Monday, February 5, 2007, the Senate Judiciary committee will vote on 3 important bills, SB 1250, SB 1301 and SB 1302. Information on these bills can be found at the AzCDL website: http://www.azcdl.org/html/legislation.html SB 1250 - Deletes the fingerprint requirement on CCW permit renewals. SB 1301 - Rewrites 13-3102.F to clarify that if any portion of a weapon or holster is visible, the weapon is openly carried. SB 1302 - Makes clear that the legislature intended to apply last session's "Castle Doctrine/Burden of Proof" legislation to all cases pending at the time it was signed. AzCDL strongly supports these three bills. Please take the time to drop a note to the committee members indicating that you support these bills and asking them to vote them out of committee with a recommendation for passage by the full Senate. The following are email lists of the Senate Judiciary committee members. One list uses semi-colon separation and one uses comma separation. Use the format that meets the requirements of your email software. (semi-colon separation) cgray@azleg.gov; rgould@azleg.gov; kcheuvront@azleg.gov; ahale@azleg.gov; kjohnson@azleg.gov; rmiranda@azleg.gov; jwaring@azleg.gov (comma separation) cgray@azleg.gov, rgould@azleg.gov, kcheuvront@azleg.gov, ahale@azleg.gov, kjohnson@azleg.gov, rmiranda@azleg.gov, jwaring@azleg.gov We will keep you up to date on the progress of these bills and other important legislation 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 .