Mea Culpa: In Sunday's mailing I referred to the V-Line safes as having electronic locks. I have never handled one and assumed that the keypad meant that the locking mechanism was electronic. A list member has advised me that V-Line uses Simplex mechanical locks, which apparently are operated by a numerical keypad. --- With Friends Like These...: Richard Feldman, author of Ricochet: Confessions of a Gun Lobbyist, has chosen to use the pages of The Washington Post to launch a broadside at the NRA. While there is no doubt some merit to his claims, his choice of venue suggests that his book is not intended to strengthen the RKBA movement. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/14/AR2007121401328.html --- Does He Or Doesn't He?: "I would have supported the original assault weapon ban," Romney said. "I signed an assault weapon ban as Massachusetts governor because it provided for a relaxation of licensing requirements for gun owners in Massachusetts, which was a big plus. And so both the pro-gun and the anti-gun lobby came together with a bill, and I signed that. And if there is determined to be, from time to time, a weapon of such lethality that it poses a grave risk to our law enforcement personnel, that's something I would consider signing. There's nothing of that nature that's being proposed today in Washington." But Romney said he "would look at weapons that pose extraordinary lethality." (Romney bought a Life Membership in the NRA once he decided to run for president.) http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics.asp?Page=/Politics/archive/200712/POL20071217e.html --- Sociologist, Criminologist Clash Over Gun Ownership: ...But, thank God that just days after my speech a former law enforcement officer with a CCW was "able to attend" church in Colorado when an anti-Christian bigot came in opening fire while in possession of 1000 rounds of ammunition. In stark contrast to the cowardice of a sociologist who cannot attend lectures - or back up his letters that criticize the lectures he missed with relevant facts - she exhibited true courage. After asking her God for guidance, she drew her weapon and calmly felled a psychopath who then ended his own life in humiliation. In the process she certainly saved dozens of innocent lives... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/MikeSAdams/2007/12/17/alexander_the_mediocre?page=full&comments=true --- The Wisdom Of Bearing Arms: When the U.S. Supreme Court gets around to deciding what the Second Amendment means to Justice Anthony Kennedy - who, we are constantly reminded, is the guy who really matters - I hope it won't forget what happened in Colorado Springs. What started out as a perfect example of the dangers of allowing Americans to keep and bear arms - the fatal shooting of two teenage girls and the wounding of their father in a church parking lot - ended instead as a nearly perfect example of the wisdom of allowing Americans to keep and bear arms. http://www.statesman.com/opinion/content/editorial/stories/12/16/1216obrien_edit.html --- Gun-Free Zones Cost Lives: Police have identified Robert A. Hawkins, 19, as the assailant who killed eight people with a semi-automatic rifle (not an assault rifle) at the Westroads Mall in Omaha Dec. 5. Chalk up eight more deaths to "gun control." The shooting was at least the fourth at an American mall or shopping center so far this year, including one in February in Salt Lake City. Once again, the killer chose a "gun-free" zone... http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/12544531.html --- Witness Speaks In Favor Of Ohio Castle Doctrine: A 27-year-old northeast Ohio man told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Criminal Justice on Dec. 5 that, more than six years after a justified shooting in self-defense, he is still in court awaiting a civil trial filed by the man he shot..."My life is literally on hold and has been for seven years," he said. "I cannot own property, or establish a personal savings, as I fear for the consequences that lie ahead." http://www.thisweeknews.com/?story=sites/thisweeknews/121307/Clintonville/News/121307-News-466856.html&sec=home&tab=tab1 --- Arizona Town Relies On RKBA: ...Now, the tiny isolated town of Aguila, Arizona provides the latest evidence that the right to keep and bear arms remains critical. Even in today's Internet age. The unincorporated farming community of 1,064 along the outer edge of Maricopa County has found itself victim to a methamphetamine-related crime surge, with police protection almost nonexistent since a sheriff's substation 25 miles away closed. Today, the nearest substation is some 60 miles away in the distant Phoenix suburb of Sun City... http://www.cfif.org/htdocs/freedomline/current/in_our_opinion/Isolated-Arizona-Town-Resorts-Second-Amendment-to-Save-Itself.htm --- Oops, Wrong House: A Powell man coming to his grandson's rescue shot and killed a fleeing burglar Saturday, authorities said...Officers haven't filed any charges against Harry Smith, 58. Smith, who has a gun permit, shot Coffey once in the head with a revolver as Coffey ran from the house at 103 Copeland Road, Dooley said. Coffey didn't have a weapon at the time, she said. (Coincidentally, it was a 1972 case from Tennessee that set limits on police officers shooting at fleeing felons.) http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2007/dec/16/man-shoots-and-kills-fleeing-burglar/ --- Shotgun Range Under Scrutiny For Toxic Substances: A shooting range along the Passaic River is polluted with high levels of lead, arsenic and cancer-causing compounds that may be reaching the river and water supplies downstream, tests performed for The Record show...The Passaic Valley Water Commission taps the river several miles downstream to supply Paterson, Passaic and other towns. While the commission said there's no sign the water has been compromised, its director said last week that it would increase testing near the club in response to The Record's findings. (I'm not aware of arsenic and other carcinogens being present in lead shot; I don't know about clay pigeons.) http://northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk4NTMmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTcyMzQ1MDYmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXky Lead Bullets, Shot Pose Little Hazard: ...Professor James Craig, now retired, and Rimstidt looked first at lead corrosion and whether lead is leaching into the water table or streams. "Lead metal is unstable when it is in contact with air and water. It corrodes and forms hydrocerrussite, the white coating seen on old bullets in museums. That slows corrosion," Rimstidt said. However some lead escapes, he said. "But we learned that it is absorbed in the top few inches of soil and does not migrate beyond that," Rimstidt said. "Lead is not very mobile. It does not wash away in surface or ground water." http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/11/041104005801.htm --- National Park Rejects Licensed Hunting To Cull Elk Herd: The elk population that roams and sometimes rampages through the delicate landscape of Rocky Mountain National Park is out of control and will be reduced through a program that will use sharpshooters to cull the herd, park officials said last week...But arriving at a population-control solution has been a messy process. Public hearings last year about proposed alternatives, including reintroducing wolves and reintroducing hunting by humans, were fractious and divisive... http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/16/us/16elk.html?_r=2&ref=science&oref=slogin&oref=slogin --- Does The New York Times Support Hunting?: ...Maintaining the ability to cull semi-rural and suburban deer herds is just one of many struggles facing hunters today, along with battling land development on wintering grounds, limiting oil exploration in our last wilderness strongholds of Alaska and combating the introduction of livestock diseases into wild animal herds in the Midwest. But an emphasis on resort-based quail shooting and whack-'em lingo are not going to persuade the critics. Hunters need to push a new public image based on deeper traditions: we are stewards of the land, hunting on ground that we know and love, collecting indigenous, environmentally sustainable food for ourselves and our families. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/14/opinion/14rinella.html -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .