To Those Who Have Expressed Concern: With my having turned 60 earlier this year, this year's annual physical resulted in more extensive poking and probing than usual. A couple of the ensuing procedures involved biopsies and, as of yesterday, all of the biopsy results have come back benign. Thanks for all of your favorable thoughts and prayers. --- Second Amendment Revolution: Here is a remarkable development. Just twenty-five years ago, there was a strong consensus, among judges and academics, that the Second Amendment did not create an individual right. No federal court had invalidated a restriction on guns on Second Amendment grounds (ever). As recently as 1992, Chief Justice Warren Burger, a conservative Republican appointee, rejected the individual rights view in public...In a short period, the consensus has shattered. There is a strong possibility that the Supreme Court will accept a view that seemed utterly implausible in the relatively recent past. Here is the question: What has happened? (Note the source!) http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/open_university/archive/2007/12/05/the-second-amendment-revolution.aspx --- Brady Bunch Brays On: Today I post the fifth and final installment of the Brady Center Legal Action Project's thorough criticism of the appeals court decision in the DC gun case. Titled, Wishful Thinking: How the Parker Court Twisted and Misrepresented the Holdings of Supreme Court and State Cases, it explains - in one case after another - how the many decisions that the lower-court opinion cites (including the infamous Dred Scott decision) offer little or no support for its mistaken conclusions. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-helmke/the-second-amendment-why_b_75532.html --- Missouri AG To Join In Heller Brief: Attorney General Jay Nixon announced today that he will work with attorneys general from other states to file a brief with the United States Supreme Court in support of an individual's right to keep and bear arms under the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution..."This case represents the first time in nearly 70 years that the Court will directly examine the Second Amendment," Nixon said. "We have an opportunity here to get a court decision solidifying what most Americans already believe: that the Second Amendment guarantees individuals the right to keep and bear arms." http://ago.mo.gov/newsreleases/2007/120407b.htm --- The RKBA Is Not About Hunting: Fred Thompson has made a point of visiting gun shops and gun shows while hitting the campaign trail in New Hampshire and South Carolina, usually with camera crews in tow. But Thompson said Wednesday he does not have a hunting license, nor has be been hunting recently. "It's been too long, it's been too long," Thompson told CNN Wednesday. Asked if he has a hunting license, Thompson said he currently does not. (While I took a Hunter Education course on my retrun to Arizona, I have never bought a hunting license.) http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/12/05/thompson-does-not-have-hunting-license/ --- Pennsylvania Black Caucus Threatens Boycott: Black lawmakers in the Pennsylvania House walked off the floor Wednesday to force action on gun-control legislation, and some threatened to boycott the remainder of the year's session. At least 12 of the 17 members of the Legislative Black Caucus, all Democrats, suddenly asked to be put on leave at the start of a debate over an open records bill. The walkout was a powerful gesture in a chamber where the two parties are separated by a single vote. http://cbs3.com/local/Lawmakers.Gun.Control.2.603246.html http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/shared-gen/ap/National/Gun_Control.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=1&cxcat=0 --- Mass Shooting Nebraska "No Guns" Zone: A man dressed in camouflage and armed with a rifle opened fire among holiday shoppers in an Omaha department store Wednesday, killing eight people, wounding at least five others and sending hundreds into terrified panic. The 19-year-old shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His body was found on the third floor of the Von Maur at Westroads Mall. http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10202217 Related Commentary: http://joemerchant24.blogspot.com/2007/12/omaha-mall-shooting.html --- Arizona Residents Arm Selves In Response To Crime: Jim Ross lifted his coat slightly behind the restaurant counter, revealing a 9mm Smith & Wesson pistol in a holster. "I'm not going to be a victim without somebody having a bullet in their (rear)," said the owner of Coyote Flats Cafe on U.S. 60. "We're going to take this town back." Jim and his wife, Dorene, are not the only folks packing heat in this backwater community 25 miles west of Wickenburg. http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/1206aguila1206.html --- Attention Arizonans: Would you like your opinion on legislation to be read at a committee hearing? Then RTS is for you! RTS is the Arizona Legislature's "Request To Speak" system. RTS users can state their position on legislation to the committee chairperson either via a kiosk at the Capitol or online. RTS is required to be used for those wishing to testify at a hearing, but can also be used by those who want to express their opinion on a bill but are not available to testify. Committee chairpersons have electronic access to listings of everyone signed up to speak or expressing their opinion via RTS. They will know in advance who is for or against a particular bill. RTS opinions are often read by the committee chairperson at a hearing and may also appear in summaries of bills as they progress through the Legislature. Imagine what the impact would be if all of you on the AzCDL Alerts list were using RTS to express their position on a bill! As a registered user, you can log into RTS from the comfort of your home: http://alistrack.azleg.state.az.us/rts/Login.asp However, the only way to become an RTS user is to sign-up using one of the many RTS kiosks at the Capitol. If you are interested in becoming an RTS user, send a message to president@AzCDL.org, and we'll do all we can to help you set up an RTS account. 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 .