Democrats Pose as Pro-RKBA: Imagine an election race of Pat Robertson versus James Dobson, each of them appearing at organic grocery stores and Starbucks throughout Massachusetts, with each candidate insisting that he alone deserves the vote of gay-marriage advocates. An equally silly spectacle is taking place these days in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Indiana, West Virginia and Kentucky, as Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama compete for the pro-gun vote...A presidential candidate could of course swear devotion to the First Amendment, while declaring that the amendment's purpose is to protect sports reporting and book collecting. And that candidate could still support government lawsuits against publishers, local bans on newspapers, and draconian restrictions on political commentary... http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120839466717921537.html?mod=googlenews_wsj Related Article: http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics.asp?Page=/Politics/archive/200804/POL20080417c.html --- Waving the Bloody Shirt: One of the least attractive features of the anti-gun movement and its cheerleaders in the press is their ghoulish exploitation of murder to advance their own political ends. Amanda Ripley of Time is using the Virginia Tech dead as a platform upon which to stand and repeat her tired argument for truncating Americans' Second Amendment rights. It's an altogether unimpressive performance from the not-especially-talented Miss Ripley, and the worst of it is trotting out the myth that a magical "loophole" exempts firearms sales at gun shows from background checks and other restrictions... http://media.nationalreview.com/ --- Seventy-fifth Illinois County Passes RKBA Resolution: With little debate, the McHenry County Board Tuesday unanimously passed a measure telling the General Assembly the state has enough gun laws. "We need to enforce our present laws to show that illegal use of firearms will not be tolerated," said Jim Kennedy, D-5th, of Lake in the Hills. A vote on the resolution had been postponed from February in the wake of the shootings that killed five at Northern Illinois University. The resolution opposes any legislation that would "infringe upon the right of the people to keep and bear arms." http://www.pioneerlocal.com/algonquin/news/898118,al-boardgun-042408-s1.article --- Illinois Rejects One More Infringement: Despite a series of shooting deaths of Chicago public school students, a key piece of Mayor Richard Daley's gun package failed Wednesday in a House largely influenced by pro-gun lawmakers. The high-profile proposal, aimed at closing what Daley sees as a loophole on private handgun sales, fell only two votes short. The measure would have required people who sell guns privately to first get background checks of potential buyers through licensed dealers. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-daley-gun-bill-17apr17,1,4116304.story --- Hearing Today on Philadelphia Infringements: The National Rifle Association is prepared to go before a judge to try to block enforcement of Philadelphia's new gun-control laws. Common Pleas Judge Jane Cutler Greenspan has scheduled a hearing Thursday morning in City Hall. The NRA is asking for a temporary restraining order. The new ordinances include a requirement to report theft or loss of a gun within 24 hours, a ban on possession or sale of assault weapons, and a limit of one firearm purchase per month. City solicitor Shelley Smith says the laws can be defended if the city is sued. Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham argues that the laws are invalid. She says the state Supreme Court has ruled that a 1994 law specifically prevents municipalities from regulating guns. http://ydr.inyork.com/ci_8955541 --- RKBA Hot Topic in Wisconsin: From UW-Madison to presidential campaigns, guns are appearing as a leading issue in 2008, according to political observers. Eric Thompson, president of the gun supplier TGSCOM Inc., said he would donate hundreds of gun holsters to colleges around the country next week. The holsters will be used by Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, including the UW-Madison chapter, for events protesting a state ban on concealed weapons...He said support for concealed carry bills is increasing, though they would unlikely be signed by Gov. Jim Doyle. The governor vetoed concealed carry bills in 2003 and 2006, with Wisconsin as one of two states in the country with laws banning it... http://www.dailycardinal.com/article/2730 --- Alabama Students Press for Campus Carry: The University's chapter of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus hosted a meeting on Tuesday night to discuss their upcoming Empty Holster protest. Chad Haynie, a sophomore majoring in political science and the president of ASCCC, said the protest is being organized to show the campus that students' rights are being taken. "Students participating in the protest will wear empty gun holsters on their belts," Haynie said. "This signifies the fact that students' rights are being abridged by the University. Students should have the right to defend themselves." http://media.www.cw.ua.edu/media/storage/paper959/news/2008/04/16/News/Campus.Group.For.Carrying.Concealed.Weapons.Hosts.Meeting-3327631.shtml --- Why We Carry More Than One Handgun: A police officer shot and killed a 17-year-old high school student Wednesday after authorities said the teenager clubbed the officer with a baseball bat on the packed, urban campus. The officer fired at the student shortly before noon, after the Roosevelt High School sophomore allegedly came from behind and struck the officer in the head with a crude wooden baseball bat, Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said. The officer fell down dazed, and reached for the gun in his hip holster, but the clip fell out. As the student came at him a second time, the officer grabbed a secondary weapon - a semiautomatic handgun he carried as backup - from his ankle holster and fired one or two rounds, Dyer said. The student reportedly died within a few minutes. (I list access with either hand as the primary reason to carry more than one handgun.) http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,351502,00.html --- Oops, Wrong House: An early-morning break-in turned fatal when the homeowner shot the intruder, Mesa (AZ) police said. The homeowner, his wife and another person woke to the sound of someone breaking into their home shortly after 2:15 a.m., police said. The wife ran to a closet to call 911 while her husband confronted the armed intruder. Police said the husband struggled with the intruder and shot the burglar with his own gun. Rescue crews pronounced the burglar dead at the scene. Police said a second would-be intruder was waiting outside the home and was arrested. http://www.kpho.com/news/15898620/detail.html --- Oops, Wrong Bus Stop: A Palestinian Authority terrorist was shot dead late Monday afternoon as he attempted to stab two people at a bus stop near Shiloh, 20 miles north of Jerusalem. The armed civilian who put an end to the attack is a school principal from the town of Itamar. After 5:30 p.m. on Monday afternoon, an Arab man approached the Shiloh Junction bus stop and began talking to two people, an adult and a teenager, who were waiting there. In an interview with Arutz Sheva, the teenager, Hillel Maeir, described the events which followed: After a short conversation in broken English and Hebrew, which aroused the suspicion of the two, the 16-year-old young man decided to move away, behind a concrete barrier at the bus stop while the older man placed his hand on his personal weapon. At that point, the attacker suddenly pulled out a six-inch knife and tried to stab the adult Israeli. Because of his fear of getting entangled with the law for using his weapon, the would-be victim waited until the last second to draw his personal weapon. Hillel Maeir described that as the terrorist's knife was coming down toward the Jewish man, he managed to cock his pistol and shoot the terrorist all in the same motion of drawing his weapon. (Note the potentially fatal need to "cock" the handgun before firing. Israeli pistol doctrine calls for empty-chamber carry, which presumes the availability of a second hand to work the slide.) http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/125752 --- Cougars Moving East: "Go east, young cougar!" That approach seems to apply to a growing number of young male cougars striking out from the Black Hills of South Dakota in search of new territory. A cougar shot and killed Monday night by police in a bustling, trendy North Side Chicago neighborhood known more for its upscale meet markets than for 122-pound carnivores is probably such a case...Government protections on cougars (also called mountain lions and panthers) in the Upper Plains states have caused once-threatened populations to rebound to the point of saturation, forcing more of the big cats to migrate far afield... http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/16/AR2008041603124.html?hpid=sec-nation -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .