States Seek to Ban Toy Guns: Concerns that realistic-looking toy weapons are confusing police and threatening safety have led 15 states to try going beyond gun control and cracking down on fake firearms...Among those 15 states, seven bills limiting fake guns are pending this year and 21 have been enacted since 1990, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Some states have enacted or are considering multiple measures. They range from prohibiting imitation firearms in vehicles to banning the toys from convenience stores. Tennessee lawmakers are considering a proposal by state Rep. John Deberry to make it a misdemeanor to intentionally display or expose "an imitation firearm in a public place in a threatening manner." Exceptions include justifiable self defense, lawful hunting, and displays such as a museum collection. http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-05-03-fake-weapons_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip --- Gun Dealer Sued Over Utah Mall Shooting: The firearms dealer who illegally sold Sulejman Talovic a pistol-grip shotgun should have known the 18-year-old planned to use the weapon for murder, a survivor of the deadly Trolley Square shootings claims in a lawsuit. Stacy Hanson is suing Nevada-based Rocky Mountain Enterprises and a pawn shop chain it owns, Sportsman's Fastcash, for emotional and physical damages he and his wife incurred after the Feb. 12, 2007, shootings, according to documents filed in 3rd District Court on Thursday. "I think that people who sell firearms need to be held to a higher level of responsibility. Guns do one thing: They're made to kill things," said Hanson, reached at his home on Thursday evening. "I think I owe something to the people who died," he said of pursuing legal action against the gun sellers. "I made it out of there. I think this is one of those things that I can do to help their memories." http://www.sltrib.com/ci_9132140 --- NRA Prepares to Meet in Louisville: Louisville will host the annual National Rifle Association convention for the first time later this month. More than 70,000 gun enthusiasts are expected to attend and Mayor Jerry Abramson says the city and its hotels, restaurants and stores stand to get an economic boost of $15 million to $20 million from the gathering. While some NRA conventions have been disrupted by antigun protests, NRA leaders and local officials said they expect a peaceful session in Louisville. The agenda for the May 16-18 convention at the Kentucky Exposition Center includes a tribute to actor and former NRA president Charlton Heston, discussion about a pending U.S. Supreme Court case on gun ownership, and plenty of guns and gear. http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/394582.html --- Dress for Success: ...When he prepares for a day at work, he puts his handgun in a holster, clips his cellphone and radio on his belt, and tucks handcuffs into his waistband, letting one of the cuffs dangle outside where he can easily grab it. And then, in a well-worn tradition that has endured for more than a century, Detective Schroeder adds one more crucial piece of gear. He puts on a tailored suit jacket that has been cut with extra material around the waist. That way, there are no unsightly bulges from gun and gear... http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/nyregion/04detectives.html?ref=nyregion&pagewanted=all --- Oops, Wrong Store: Dwayne A. Curry of St. Paul had been sentenced on nine burglary and theft-related felonies since 1986. He died while trying to hold up Trail Liquors in Inver Grove Heights. The armed gunman who was shot and killed with his own gun after he tried to rob a liquor store in Inver Grove Heights was identified Friday as a St. Paul man with a long rap sheet. Dwayne A. Curry, 42, died a few hours after the liquor store manager shot him at Trail Liquors on Thursday morning. Curry demanded cash, the manager grabbed the gun and the two scuffled, authorities said. The manager, Matt Huerta, also was shot. He was reported in good condition Friday morning at Regions Hospital in St. Paul. (Sounds as though Mr. Huerta might have fared better if he had been carrying his own gun.) http://www.startribune.com/local/18493619.html --- Rule Four Reminder: A Northeastern Pennsylvania woman who mistook her husband for a bear and fatally shot him during a Canadian hunting trip has been charged with criminal negligence, but spared from more serious charges. Canadian police this week charged Mary Beth Harshbarger, 43, of Meshoppen, with criminal negligence causing death and careless use of a firearm in the Sept. 14, 2006, death of her husband, Mark. Harshbarger told authorities that she mistook her 42-year-old husband for a bear. A reenactment by police in central Newfoundland supports her account, her defense lawyer, Paul Ackourey, said. Ackourey and his client have not decided whether to fight extradition. (Always be sure of your target and what's beyond it.) http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/18543439.html --- US to Re-Arm Afghan Army with M16's: In a sharp break for a military with long experience wielding the battle-tested AK-47, the Afghan national army is set to replace its entire inventory of Kalashnikov rifles with the American-made M-16. By the end of the year, the U.S. military plans to ship about 55,000 used Marine Corps M-16A2 rifles to Afghanistan with the intent of outfitting every soldier in the Afghan army with one by the late spring of 2009. So far about 6,000 M16s, including Canadian C-7 variants, have been fielded to Afghan units and about 6,000 M-4 carbines have been in the hands of Afghan commandos since May 2007. (A similar project is under way in Iraq.) http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,166799,00.html --- From AzCDL: Like it says in our brochure, AzCDL is an "all volunteer" organization. We need volunteers to help us at the McMann's Roadrunner gun show on May 31 & June 1 at the Tucson Expo Center: http://www.mcmannsroadrunner.com/ . If you can spare a few hours we would deeply appreciate your help - the majority of our members join AzCDL at gun shows. Come on down and spend some time observing the other volunteers. When you feel ready, step on in. If proactive selling is not your forte, we still need volunteers to manage the table, help hand out flyers and brochures, and keep an eye on things. Volunteers who work the AzCDL table for a few hours will get into the gun show FREE! If your membership is coming up for renewal soon, stop by the table and renew. Sustaining memberships get a FREE AzCDL T-Shirt. Not a member? Not a problem! You can join AzCDL at the gun show! Interested? Drop a line to Treasurer@AzCdl.org. 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. --- From John Farnam: 29 Apr 08 Good observations on weapon modifications, from a colleague: "I am amazed at the number of students who show up at classes with 'modifications' to their rifles and shotguns, the same weapons they keep for serious purposes, but which they haven't tested since these modifications were made! Examples: >>A good shooter and 'amateur-gunsmith' showed up with his 'old-reliable' AR15, on which he'd installed a new barrel. He experienced monotonous malfunctions with every type of ammo and every magazine he had. The rifle had been 'converted' to little more than scrap metal! >>Another 'good shooter' mounted a bi-pod on the forend of his AR15. He couldn't figure out why he was unable to hit even easy targets with his rifle solidly resting on the bi-pod. When, in exasperation, he checked his rifle on paper, he unhappily discovered that the installation of the bi-pod had shifted his POI over a foot north and opened his groups from MOA to 'MOC" (Minute of County)! >>Yet another 'good shooter' mounted a Sidesaddle on his Remington 11-87 and, several weeks later, brought it to a class. He was astonished and dismayed to discover that the action wouldn't cycle at all, as mounting screws protruded too deeply into the receiver. This was his 'home-defense' shotgun, and had been resting in his closet in this inoperable state, unbeknownst to him. The foregoing are only a few examples. I've personally witnessed countless other rifles, shotguns, and pistols undergo similar, mysterious 'personality-changes' when their naive owners hung new equipment on them." Comment: The only way to be confident that your serious arms will genuinely function, on demand, is to run them regularly and under the conditions you expect to use them. Particularly now, when nearly all rifles and pistols come with rails. Well, when there is a rail on my gun, I have to hang something on it, don't I? Heaven forbid my gun would have a naked rail!" This, of course, includes shooting your rifles from a solid rest. When your support arm/hand is inoperable, you will probably have to rest the rifle on something solid in order to shoot. Knowing, in advance, what effect this will have on your POI will then become life-saving information! /John (A related issue is showing up for training with reloaded ammo, to save a few bucks. I learned this lesson many years ago when I experienced a case separation with commercially reloaded .223 rounds in the middle of a rifle course I was taking. I once had a student experience repeated malfunctions with an AR-15 because he was using reloads he had tailored for maximum velocity in a single-shot rifle. In the first case I had an M1 Carbine standing by and switched guns. In the second case another student had brought a spare case of ammo.) 29 Apr 08 Lasers on Pistols: I've been a non-fan on lasers on pistols, and have said so on a number of occasions, but my patient friends at Lasermax finally persuaded me to honestly evaluate a copy of their product on my SA/XD/40S&W that I'm currently carrying as my main-gun. Well, I gave the Lasermax a honest workout at a Pistol Course last weekend. I have to say, it is really fast, a good deal faster, with no compromise in accuracy, than without it! Here are my comments: >>A pulsating laser is superior to a "constant" laser, because your eye picks it up faster. Lasermax makes them both ways, but my preference is definitely for the pulsating variation. >>Concerns about durability have been largely eliminated. Lasermax's unit fits completely inside of the pistol. It comes as the laser unit itself and the captured recoil spring already assembled, and it is very rugged! >>Concerns about alignment have also been largely eliminated. The unit is pre-aligned, and my copy is dead on! >>The activation buttons are on both sides and are easily operated, yet are completely shielded as the pistol is holstered. >>When I use the laser, I don't used sights at all! Keeping both eyes open, I drive the dot to the target, looking over the sights, and immediately run the trigger. As I said, it is fast, and accuracy is superb at any range you can use it! >>The system is most useful in conjunction with typical indoor lighting conditions. Outdoors, it is most effective for a two-hour period at dawn and dusk. In bright sunlight, one cannot see the aiming point, and in darkness, the aiming point is visible, but one cannot tell what it is being projected upon. It is just a dancing, red dot! However, indoors once can nearly always see both the dot and the target, and there is sufficient ambient light to evaluate the target for threats. Outdoors, at dusk and dawn, and on heavily overcast days, one can do the same thing. When used in conjunction with a Surefire Weapon light or a Safariland RLS, the Lasermax is effective in even very low light, because there is now enough light to locate and evaluate the target, and the Operator can still see the laser aiming point within the corona of white light. I am starting to come around to lasers on pistols! I thought I'd never say that, and how I hate to admit I've been wrong, but my personal experience has been extremely favorable with the Lasermax product. Crimson Trace also makes an excellent unit, but I have not yet tested it extensively. We live and learn! /John (I remain concerned about how quickly you will transition to an "older" method of aiming when ambient conditions, a dead battery or some other malfunction prevent the red or green dot from appearing where you expect it.) -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .