GOA Asks Government To Withdraw Heller Brief: A Second Amendment advocacy organization is asking the Bush administration to withdraw a legal brief that leaders fear could be used to support "any gun ban - no matter how sweeping," as long as some court somewhere determines it is "reasonable." The concern comes from Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America, whose group is pleading with the Bush administration to withdraw an anti-gun brief filed by the U.S. Solicitor General in a Supreme Court case regarding a District of Columbia ban on handguns. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59770 http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/01-18-2008/0004739045&EDATE= --- Is The Glass Actually Half Full?: Although some thoughtful lovers of liberty have lamented the half-empty aspects of the U.S. Solicitor General's recently-filed brief in the D.C. gun ban case (District of Columbia v. Heller), the portion that is full is legally far more significant in securing Second Amendment rights in the arena that counts most: the Supreme Court. On careful analysis, the brief's departures from sound principle are internally inconsistent and otherwise not particularly effective. Americans should recognize the importance of the government's concessions to individual liberty and ignore its predictable, bureaucratic attempt to defend existing federal laws. That is what the High Court is most likely to do. http://www.heritage.org/Research/LegalIssues/wm1775.cfm --- Mexico To Have Access To US Database: The US has said it will give Mexico access to an electronic database to trace weapons smuggled from the US to powerful drug gangs across the border...Speaking during his official visit to Mexico, Mr Mukasey said the e-Trace database would be installed at US consulates across Mexico to help local police track gun dealers back in the US. He said US officials would then be able to "target that dealer". http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7193487.stm --- Virginia Tech Relatives Fail In Gun-Show Lobbying: Families of those killed and wounded last year during a deranged gunman's rampage at Virginia Tech asked a legislative panel to close the loophole in state law that allows criminals and the mentally ill to buy firearms at gun shows. But the Republican-dominated committee voted 13-9 along party lines yesterday to defeat legislation requiring unlicensed sellers at gun shows to run criminal background checks on buyers. Such checks now are required only of federally licensed gun dealers. (Cho, like most criminals, did not his guns at gun shows.) http://www.washingtontimes.com/article/20080119/METRO/502634644/1004/metro http://hamptonroads.com/2008/01/despite-pleas-tech-families-va-panel-rejects-gun-bill http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/18/AR2008011801881.html --- Meanwhile, In Washington...: How do politicians capitalize on good news about crime statistics to attack gun rights? Just ask Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels and Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today. "Mayor Nickels announced that there were fewer murders and assaults involving firearms, yet he and Chief Kerlikowske want to close gun shows and further restrict the firearm civil rights of law-abiding Washington residents," observed CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. "There is no indication that any of the firearms involved in Seattle's homicides last year came from a gun show. It was the same story in 2006..." http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/01-18-2008/0004739071&EDATE= Related Article: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/347781_crime18.html --- Rule Five Reminder: A large police department in New Jersey is in nail biting mode. It has lost one of the deadliest weapons in its arsenal - a fully automatic submachine gun, and has no idea where it could be...The Wayne Police Department had three MP5 submachine guns. That is until last week, when one of them went missing...The Wayne Police Department and others hope the MP5 is still somewhere in the headquarters. (Rule Five: Maintain control of your firearm.) http://wcbstv.com/watercooler/submachine.gun.mp5.2.633364.html --- How Many Rules Were Violated?: A Tallahassee Community College student died Thursday night in what his roommate says was an accidental shooting, according to the Tallahassee Police Department...Police were called to the 600 block of Dixie Drive about 6 p.m., McCranie said. The roommate accidentally shot Stein in the torso their Frog Pond apartment, the roommate told police...Stein and his roommate liked shooting for sport, Zabielinsky said. The two, who were best friends, liked going to the shooting range or driving 45 minutes outside of Tallahassee to the forest. http://tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200880118014 The Rules: http://www.spw-duf.info/safety.html --- Should Citizens Be Able To Shoot Through Police Body Armor?: ...Allow me to put it more bluntly and succinctly - although it's an indication of how far we've fallen from the Founders' ideal that many people reading this will regard it as controversial, shocking, perhaps even illegal. When the government's minions arrived on your doorstep to take you away, to kidnap your children, to steal your house, to rustle your livestock, or to do anything else to you that struck their fancy, the Founders wanted you and your neighbors to be able to kill them... (As a practical matter, body armor designed to stop rifle bullets generally uses ceramic plates, not additional layers of Kevlar. Kevlar vests are usually used because they are relatively comfortable and concealable and are typically selected to protect against the most common handgun rounds.) http://www.jpfo.org/smith/smith-kevlar.htm --- Open-Carry Initiative In Wisconsin: ...In response to a question on concealed carry legislation, (Governor) Doyle said such laws don't make sense. "If you want to carry a gun in Wisconsin, wear it on your hip," Doyle said, patting his hip...I am proposing that citizens make a request to every Wisconsin county, to formally affirm the rights of law abiding citizens as protected by the Wisconsin constitution, by adopting a Resolution. This Resolution would also stipulate that open carry is lawful and prohibit anyone from restricting a citizens' lawful exercise of their constitutionally protected rights... (Click on the Wisconsin tab at the top of the page.) http://www.permittocarry.us/ --- Illinois County Weighs RKBA Resolution: Some La Salle County Board members are weighing whether local views on gun ownership need to be made clear to the state Legislature. But first they want to make sure they are on the right course, so citizen viewpoints are being sought. At Thursday's meeting of the County Board's Legislation and Rules Committee, members considered a resolution presented by Jack Leininger, R-Marseilles. The resolution says gun ownership is guaranteed by the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and opposes proposed state legislation that "would ban the possession and use of firearms now employed by individual citizens of La Salle County." http://mywebtimes.com/ottnews/archives/ottawa/display.php?id=351871 --- Arizona Passes On Lead-Bullet Ban, For Now: The Arizona Game and Fish Commission met today to discuss a number of issues related to the firearms and hunting community, but most importantly the impact that spent lead ammunition has on wildlife. According to NRA representatives who attended and testified before the Commission, the room was filled with NRA members and hunters who were there to make sure that that a California-style lead ammunition ban wasn't brought forward. The members of the commission made it clear that they had no plan for a ban and that they supported the voluntary compliance program currently followed in Arizona (a description of the program can be found on the AZ Game and Fish website at www.azgfd.gov website). http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Read.aspx?id=3383 --- NRA 2008 Membership Drive: A few months ago, the National Shooting Sports Foundation and many of America's firearms manufacturers announced plans to grow NRA membership before the 2008 presidential elections. These sporting goods manufacturers have united in a variety of projects to build the NRA family. For example, Ron Coburn of Savage Arms decided to offer free NRA memberships to all his employees. As you can imagine, there are now a lot of new NRA members in Massachusetts... (Well, let's see...the NRA has already signed up Mitt Romney as Life Member...) http://www.nranews.com/blogarticle.aspx?blogPostId=352 --- NRA-ILA Alerts: This week's Grassroots alert is posted on the NRA-ILA website. http://www.nraila.org/GrassrootsAlerts/read.aspx --- From AzCDL: The 2008 Legislative session is underway and the bills are rolling in. January 17th was the deadline for House members to "pre-file" bills. After that, each member is limited to 7 bills. As a result, a flood of new bills were filled late into the evening. As this Alert was being drafted, 856 bills have been filed. Expect more as the Senate deadline approaches. AzCDL has been busy culling the good, bad and ugly bills that we are monitoring. You can find the list at: http://www.azcdl.org/html/legislation.html Now for some really great news! Most of the bills on AzCDL's wish list have been filed. This wasn't by accident. We have been working with legislators on proposed legislation ever since the last session ended. Here are some of the key firearm related bills we are aggressively supporting (you can find the full list of bills we support on our website's Legislation page): HB 2222 - Clarifies the right to carry a concealed weapon, without needing a concealed weapons (CCW) permit, on property, or in vehicles, owned, leased or rented, along with common areas. HB 2389 - Removes the prohibitions on carrying a concealed weapon, without a permit, anywhere in a vehicle. HB 2536 - A public or private employer cannot prohibit a person from transporting or storing a firearm in a locked vehicle in a parking area (subject to certain exceptions). HB 2629 - Clarifies when a defensive display of a firearm is justified. Under current law, a defensive display can be categorized as "endangerment" (ARS 13-1201), "threatening and intimidation" (ARS 13-1202), "assault" (ARS 13-1203), or "aggravated assault" (ARS 13-1204). HB 2630 - Reduces the penalty for carrying a concealed weapon without a permit to a petty offense, except in the commission of a crime. The Governor vetoed this bill last year, but we're not going to roll over. This bill was filed with 21 co-sponsors. HB 2634 - Clarifies that a person with an expunged felony, or who has had their rights restored, may obtain a concealed weapons permit. Because the law has been silent in this area, DPS has refused to issue permits. HCR 2037 - Adds a right to hunt and fish to the Arizona Constitution. SB 1070 - CCW reform that clarifies that there are no date restrictions between when a person completes training and applies for a permit; removes the requirement that an instructor be part of a training organization; and allows that training can be conducted by NRA instructors. SB 1106 - Provides for an optional lifetime CCW permit and caps permit fees. Another bill that has been filed this year is "Restaurant Carry," SB 1132. It's very limited in scope but provides a first step towards addressing the Jim Crow "we don't serve your kind here" attitude prevalent in Arizona. But wait! There's more! Next week we're expecting a "Campus Carry" bill to be filed. We are also expecting a bill that would require establishments that prohibit weapons to assume liability for your safety. As you can see, a number of controversial bills have been filed. Many were filed at our request. How far they get through the process of committee hearings and floor votes depends largely on YOU and the pressure YOU put on the legislature through your emails, calls and letters. There are also a number of thoroughly evil bills, such as HB 2358, HB 2429, HB 2430, and HB 2431, which demonize gun owners and gun ownership. Bills identical to HB 2430 and 2431 have been introduced in every recent session, but don't get traction in this Republican controlled legislature. We need to make sure those abominations don't move during this session either. Think about what would happen if the current majority wasn't there. This is an election year. Things could be drastically different next year, unless YOU become involved in the political process. Stay tuned! As relevant legislation is introduced and progresses, we will keep you up to date via these Alerts: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AZCDL_Alerts/ (Feel free to share them with other pro-rights activists) 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 © 2008 Arizona Citizens Defense League, Inc., all rights reserved. (I regard SB 1132, as currently written, as a Trojan horse. It requires the restaurant owner to post signs in order to authorize the carry of firearms, as opposed to giving him the option of denying the right. Worse, it takes what is now a seldom enforced violation of the Liquor Code and additionally makes it a violation of ARS 13-3102, the Misconduct involving weapons statute in the Criminal Code. As to lifetime CWP's, remember that in order for a CWP to qualify the holder for exemption from the NICS background check on firearm purchases from licensed dealers, the permit must be valid for no longer than five years. Note that the lifetime permit would be optional.) -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .