LaPierre Knocks Obama, Clinton: ...LaPierre, speaking to about 200 people at an event organized by the Tennessee Conservative Political Action Committee, claimed Obama's remark was a peek into how "the elites" think about people. "It was and sounded like an arrogant statement from an out-of-touch elitist," LaPierre said. "Senator Obama opposes people having guns in their homes for self-defense while he and his family enjoy armed professional security around the clock." The other Democratic presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, is just as bad as Obama, but "she's been bad a whole lot longer," LaPierre charged. "No matter how much she tries to tell her story right now ... Hillary Clinton was the most anti-gun first lady in the most anti-Second Amendment administration in American history," said LaPierre... http://www.timesnews.net/article.php?id=9006024 --- Tennessee Students Wear Empty Holsters: If you notice students sporting empty holsters on the University of Tennessee campus today, it's likely the sign of a protest, not a lost handgun. The students wearing the empty holsters are protesting state laws and campus policies that prohibit concealed handgun carry license holders from carrying on campus, said Nathan Robinson, a UT senior. The protest is a peaceful, nationwide protest by a nonpartisan organization called Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, he said. http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/apr/21/ut-students-protesting-gun-laws/ --- While in Texas...: ...This week, the UT chapter of the Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, along with campus chapters nationwide, will be observing the National Collegiate Empty Holster Protest to bring to light the fact that outright prohibition of the legal carrying of firearms on school grounds does little to prevent criminals from breaking such rules and killing their fellow defenseless students. There are many who believe that allowing qualified students and faculty to be able to protect themselves by conceal-carrying a handgun is a bad idea, and understandably so. The maxim "people fear what they do not understand" is applicable to this situation. Most opponents probably do not own a gun or have never experienced positive gun culture in their lifetime and therefore have gained insight on the gun control issue only from the media's frequent reports of firearms-related crime. Naturally, such a negative experience tends to sway many toward favoring gun control... http://media.www.dailytexanonline.com/media/storage/paper410/news/2008/04/21/Opinion/The-Right.To.Be.Protected-3337819.shtml --- It's the Guns, Not the Gangs: Gun violence made it a deadly weekend on some of Chicago's streets. Police Superintendent Jody Weis places the blame on too many guns and gangs. The victims have ranged in age from 12 to 65... Sunday, Chicago Police Superintendent Jody Weis called for more common sense gun legislation to help control the violence...Although the number of murders in Chicago have declined in recent years, based on population, the murder rate is higher in Chicago than in New York City or L.A. New York had 496 murders in 2007. Los Angeles had 349. Both L.A. and New York have significantly larger populations. So, proportionally speaking, Chicago has a homicide rate 3 times higher than New York and nearly 70 percent higher than L.A. (Chicago has the most restrictive handgun ban in the US after Washington DC.) http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=6091849 --- Virginia Judge Criticized for Permit Denials: Bill Hubble's military discharge papers from 1947 did not pass muster for demonstrating competency with a handgun, a Smyth County circuit court judge ruled in November 2006. It was not the first time that Judge Isaac St.C. Freeman had denied a concealed handgun permit to an honorably discharged veteran, even though such status qualifies an applicant for a permit under Virginia law. In the last year, two of Freeman's rulings on concealed weapons permits have been repudiated by a higher court and by legislators who last month passed a bill clarifying the state code. One lawmaker lodged a formal complaint with the Virginia Supreme Court about Freeman's demeanor and rulings... http://www.tricities.com/tristate/tri/news.apx.-content-articles-TRI-2008-04-21-0011.html --- Principal Fired for Rifles in Vehicle: A Wirt County Middle School principal who left two hunting rifles in a vehicle parked on school property has been terminated. The county school board voted 3-2 late Wednesday to dismiss James D. Hoover. Superintendent Daniel Metz declined to comment on the decision. Hoover was charged in October with two counts of unlawfully and feloniously possessing deadly weapons on educational facilities. But Wirt County Circuit Court Judge Robert Waters later dismissed the charges, saying the case fell under an exception in state law involving unloaded weapons in locked vehicles. Hoover told Division of Natural Resources officials investigating a hunting accident that a friend asked him to retrieve the weapons from the woods. Hoover wasn't involved in the accident. http://www.newsandsentinel.com/page/content.detail/id/504523.html?nav=5061 http://www.wsaz.com/news/headlines/17917369.html --- Lead-Shot Ban Withdrawn in Minnesota: A proposal to ban the use of lead shot by small-game hunters on public lands in Minnesota's agricultural region was shot down last week - by the bill's chief author. Four days after meeting with officials from Federal Cartridge Corp. and the National Rifle Association - which opposed the restrictions - Sen. Satveer Chaudhary, DFL-Fridley, killed the provision. The restriction, proposed by the DNR, would have been phased in beginning in 2011. Chaudhary said more study is needed on the effects of lead shot on specific upland species such as pheasants, grouse and rabbits. http://www.startribune.com/sports/outdoors/17931134.html --- Colt's M4 Contract Under Scrutiny: No weapon is more important to tens of thousands of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan than the carbine rifle. And for well over a decade, the military has relied on one company, Colt Defense of Hartford, Conn., to make the M4s they trust with their lives. Now, as Congress considers spending millions more on the guns, this exclusive arrangement is being criticized as a bad deal for American forces as well as taxpayers, according to interviews and research conducted by The Associated Press...Colt's exclusive production agreement ends in June 2009. At that point, the Army, in its role as the military's principal buyer of firearms, may have other gunmakers compete along with Colt for continued M4 production. Or, it might begin looking for a totally new weapon... http://www.newsmax.com/us/the_gun_wars/2008/04/20/89506.html --- Rule Five Reminder?: An off-duty New York City police detective's gun accidentally went off yesterday inside Peekskill Middle School and the bullet shattered, with a tiny piece striking a woman by the pool. The detective and the woman were among about 30 adults and children attending Saturday swimming lessons at the pool. She was treated at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla for a wound in her right leg and released, Peekskill Police Chief Eugene Tumulo said last night. "When (the detective) went to pick up his stuff to leave, the gun was on the bench," Tumulo said. "It fell and discharged. It looks like this was an accidental discharge." (Modern handguns should not discharge when dropped. Rule Five: Maintain control of your firearm. Rule Three: Keep your finger out of the trigger guard, up on the frame, until your sights are on the target and you're prepared to fire.) http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080420/NEWS02/804200382/1018/NEWS02 -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .