National Ammo Buycott: Seattle resident Chris Pierce had left Butch's Gun Shop on Sunday and was heading for the countryside in North Bend to fire rounds when he heard about National Ammo Day. "I think it's a great idea. It sends the message that firearms aren't going away," he said. "You can't take out one part of the Constitution without ruining all of it." The thought of Monday as National Ammo Day, a period dedicated to buying bullets to support the Second Amendment, might send shivers down the backs of some Seattle residents. But Second Amendment supporters are encouraging law-abiding gun owners to buy 100 rounds Monday to back manufacturers, gun stores and ranges. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/340173_guns19.html --- Making Sense Of The Second Amendment: ...The court should hear the case and strike down the laws. The Constitution clearly prohibits gun control of the kind the city has enacted, and there is no evidence that taking away the right to self-defense reduces crime. The Second Amendment reads, "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." To understand what this means, it's important to look closely at the Supreme Court's last explicit Second Amendment case, 1939's U.S. v. Miller...In short, the court did not hold that only militia members have Second Amendment rights, as some gun-control advocates have contended (Mr. Fenty's briefs even argue that as established precedent). Rather, it ruled that those rights only cover militia-related weapons, and the standard handguns that D.C. prohibits obviously meet that criteria... http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071119/EDITORIAL/111190001/1013 David Kopel Comments: In the next couple of weeks, the Supreme Court is likely to announce whether it will hear the Washington, D.C., handgun ban case. Handgun bans exist in only half a dozen U.S. cities, because although gun control is sometimes popular, gun prohibition is not...Millions of Americans own firearms and use them responsibly, and that right is guaranteed under the Second Amendment. The D.C. handgun ban is a very rare, extreme and unconstitutional prohibition. If the Supreme Court were to affirm the lower court's decision against the handgun ban, it would end the shame of our nation's capital city depriving its residents of a right that legislatures and courts have protected almost everywhere else in the United States. http://www.star-telegram.com/245/story/308993.html --- Nevada Leads In Firearm Ownership, Deaths: With more guns sold and registered per capita than anywhere in the U.S., Nevada is a gun state - always has been. It also is the gun-death state. According to the Center for Disease Control, since 2000, Nevada has led the nation with an average of 26 gun-related deaths per 100,000 people...Carson City Sheriff Kenny Furlong said both old and young can abuse guns, even noting the number of older (over-40) gun users arrested for illegal gun use. The one commonality he saw was with those who come to his office, register their weapons, pick up locks for them or apply for carry of concealed weapon permits; these "responsible" gun owners he said, "are usually not the ones who pose a problem." Furlong characterized most guns involved in crimes as unregistered guns used by untrained gun owners... http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20071118/NEWS/111180136 --- Meanwhile, In Pennsylvania...: Curbing criminal misuse of guns, not taking them from the hands of sportsmen, would end gun violence in the United States, a congressman and a National Rifle Association spokesman agreed Saturday in Pine Township. "Arm people with the facts," Chris Cox, an executive director for the NRA Institute for Legislative Action, told about a dozen people at the Grove City Sportsman Club on Centertown Road. Cox and U.S. Rep. Phil English of Erie, R-3rd District, held a meeting to discuss sportsmen's issues facing Congress. http://www.sharonherald.com/local/local_story_321214211.html While At The State Level...: Gun-control bills have tended to die obscurely in the halls of the Pennsylvania Capitol, rarely requiring a legislator to cast a recorded vote. The popularity of hunting in the state, and the lobbying power of the National Rifle Association, taught legislative leaders not to bother. This week, Gov. Rendell will force a public reckoning. In a highly unusual move, the governor plans to testify Tuesday before the House Judiciary Committee to urge passage of three bills, including one - to limit handgun purchases to one a month - that has languished for a year. The committee chairman, Thomas Caltagirone (D., Berks), agreed to schedule votes the same day - this after a call from the governor. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/20071118_Rendell_puts_gun_divide_to_the_test.html http://www.centredaily.com/sports/story/264709.html --- Ohio Clarifies Access To CCW Records: News reporters can memorize the names of concealed gun permit holders and publish those names, but reporters can't write down or record those names in any fashion, according to an Attorney General's opinion received Tuesday by Trumbull Prosecutor Dennis Watkins. Watkins asked Attorney General Marc Dann for the opinion in September after a new provision was installed in the state's open records law...Trumbull County Sheriff Thomas Altiere had asked Watkins how his office should proceed with releasing the names of concealed carry gun permit holders to journalists. http://tribune-chronicle.com/articles.asp?articleID=24814 --- Arkansas To Consider CCW For Hunters: Arkansas concealed weapons permit holders would be able to carry handguns on some hunts and other outdoor recreational activities under a proposal by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission staff. The proposal was made Thursday night at the commission's monthly meeting at the Forrest L. Wood Crowley's Ridge Nature Center in Jonesboro. Commissioners will consider the proposal at their December meeting. http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2007/11/17/News/344094.html --- Bringing A Stick To A Gunfight: A Brooklyn bodega owner turned the tables on an armed robber Saturday, pounding him with a wooden stick until the crook dropped his gun, cops said. The incident unfolded at the Sutter Grocery on Sutter Ave. in East New York when the bandit burst in, brandishing a firearm, and announced a holdup about 2:40 p.m., cops said. Police said an employee or shopper then rolled down the store's security gate, trapping the armed man and the brave owner inside. That's when the owner smacked the robber with the stick, according to cops. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2007/11/18/2007-11-18_brooklyn_shop_owner_beats_robber.html --- Rule Five Reminder: The two teenagers involved with the Friday morning fatal shooting were apparently burgling an unoccupied home when the incident happened, according to investigators with the Cochise County (AZ) Sheriff's Office...County investigators believe the 12-gauge shotgun was in the home the two boys had broken into, and they picked it up, Capas said. "According to Murphy it discharged, accidentally killing Josh Olson," she said. (Rule Five: Maintain control of your firearm. While the victim, in this case, turned out to be one of the burglars, it could have turned out worse.) http://www.svherald.com/articles/2007/10/23/news/doc471d9c787066d650124896.txt#blogcomments --- FBI To Help Identify Tainted Cases: Two umbrella groups for criminal defense lawyers announced yesterday that they will independently review cases nationwide where the FBI used a discredited bullet-matching science and will try to assist defendants who might have been wrongly convicted...The FBI decided late last week to begin its own nationwide review of cases over the last three decades in which its experts matched bullets by checking lead content. It has promised to alert prosecutors to any instance of misleading testimony. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/18/AR2007111800786.html?hpid=topnews Related Article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/18/AR2007111801539.html --- Interesting Photo, Considering The Source: ...Covered in camouflage and carrying an AR-10 assault rifle, night-vision goggles and enough ammo to outfit a small battalion, Paddock was wading through weedy bottomlands, eager to "get up on some hogs," as he excitedly put it...If a band of feral swine is laying waste to your land - an increasingly pervasive problem in the Lone Star State - The Dehoganator and his fellow riflemen will happily shoot 'em up to hog heaven, as long as you help cover the cost of the bullets. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-wildhogs19nov19,0,1343362,full.story?coll=la-home-center --- Ricochet: Confessions Of A Gun Lobbyist, A Critical Review: ... The bottom line is that the book smacks of sour grapes. Instead of a hard-hitting exposé, it comes off like a temper tantrum that Feldman wasn't acknowledged as the guru, and that he isn't NRA's EVP instead of Wayne LaPierre since "Richie knows best." http://www.thegunzone.com/software/ricochet2.html -- Canada To Reconsider End To Long-Gun Registry: The Harper government has for a second time introduced legislation to undo the controversial long gun registry. Repealing the registry for rifles and shotguns was one of the Conservatives' main election promises, but legislation to enact the change died in the House of Commons when Parliament was prorogued last fall. The new bill, introduced Friday by Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, would remove the requirement for owners of rifles and shotguns to register their weapons with the government. But the bill would still require gun retailers to record all sales transactions of long guns, as was the case before the creation of the long gun registry. http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=dfda8613-ee03-4e3f-9930-c87f0204535b&k=60453 --- Ontario AG Calls For Handgun Ban: Ontario's Attorney General Chris Bentley called on federal Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day to ban handguns, including through changes to the Criminal Code, at this week's meeting of federal and provincial justice ministers. "We need to get these dangerous weapons off our streets now - before they are used," Bentley said. "The federal government has accepted the McGuinty government's push for mandatory minimum sentences and reversing the onus for bail when it comes to gun crimes, but they need to go further. The time has come for a full handgun ban." http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/November2007/15/c8841.html -- Stephen P. Wenger Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .