Hurdles Remain for DC Gun Purchasers: District residents who want to purchase a handgun and legally bring it into the city will have to wait at least several more weeks while a dealer gets his federal license renewed, officials said Friday...Because there are no gun shops in the city, residents seeking to buy a handgun have to travel elsewhere, such as Maryland or Virginia. Under federal law, people can arrange to purchase a gun out of state, but the weapon has to be shipped to a licensed dealer in their home jurisdiction, where the buyer can arrange to receive it. Charles Sykes Jr. is the only gun dealer in the District who has expressed interest so far in handling such transactions, said Mike Campbell, a spokesman for the D.C. field division of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. But Mr. Sykes does not have an active license because his business recently changed locations...Officer Geri Mack, a Metropolitan Police Department spokeswoman, said Friday that 195 people have picked up firearms application packets since the city began registering handguns last week. Three people have completed the registration process and 12 others are waiting for final approval. (I find this frighteningly reminiscent of the 1993 settlement that led the City of Los Angeles to issue a grand total of about 60 CWP's, most of which were not renewed when a new police chief took office.) http://www.washtimes.com/news/2008/jul/26/hurdles-remain-for-gun-owners/ --- Meanwhile, in Chicago...: Chicago Police will continue to enforce the city's handgun ban and firearm registration laws while lawyers fight the pro-gun lobby in federal court. The National Rifle Association and the Illinois State Rifle Association filed federal lawsuits to shoot down Chicago's gun laws after the U.S. Supreme Court voided the District of Columbia's handgun ban last month. City Corporation Counsel Mara Georges told a City Council committee Thursday that she's prepared to fight those lawsuits all the way to the Supreme Court... http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1074188,CST-NWS-guns25.article Scholars Predict Supremes Would Incorporate Second Amendment: ...Georges says the city is likely to argue that the court's decision applies only in Washington, a federal territory, and not to the states..."If I were making policy recommendations to the City of Chicago, it would be back off this real fast, and just get rid of it before it gets into court," says Harry Wilson, a political science professor at Roanoke College in Virginia, and author of Guns, Gun Control and Elections. Wilson says if the city followed that path, officials could replace the current comprehensive ban with limited gun restrictions that would pass muster in court...University of Chicago law professor Geoffrey Stone also says the city's argument may run into trouble. "It's more likely than not that the Court will end up saying that the Second Amendment governs the states," he says... http://www.chitowndailynews.org/Chicago_news/Chicago_lays_out_handgun_legal_strategy,15284 --- While in New York City...: ...In the city, owning a rifle in one's home requires a license costing over $234, six months of background checks and other bureaucratic hurdles. The licensing process has grown so burdensome that not only are would-be gun owners forgoing the process, but even the NYPD has decided to ignore the rifle/shotgun permit when training new recruits. No other United States locality has such a difficult process. Chicago, a notoriously anti-gun city, charges only $10 for a license issued within 30 days or less. The New York City pistol licensing process is more onerous. There are not enough pages in this newspaper to fully describe it...Lawsuits are being planned. These challenges, however, are not a threat to public safety. Overhauling the city's licensing scheme would allow and encourage New Yorkers to register their guns and create the accountability gun control advocates have long sought. After all, most of the illegal guns in the city are not owned by violent criminals, but honest citizens who do not have the time, money or legal expertise to navigate successfully through the city's firearm licensing process. http://www.yournabe.com/articles/2008/07/25/forest_hills_ledger/news/letters/forest_hills_ledger_news_letterscitysgunli07242008.txt ...Unlike Washington, DC, New York does not have a law banning the issue of permits for individuals to keep a handgun for use in their home or place of business. The city's dual permitting system allows for more stringent requirements and higher fees for individuals seeking to apply for a carry permit. At a recent police ceremony Commissioner Raymond Kelly stated that the NYPD's corporation counsel was currently proceeding with an interpretation and analysis of the decision before making any changes in crime prevention strategies...The number of concealed carry permits issued for New York City dropped nearly fifty percent between 2006 and 2004, though 2516 carry permits were issued in 2007. Six times as many permits (14,985) were issued to New Yorkers who keep guns in their homes. An NRA spokesman criticized the drop in gun permits in recent years due to higher fees, though Borough President Marty Markowitz applauded Mayor Michael Bloomberg's variety of strategies employed in reducing the number of illegal guns available on the borough's streets. http://www.yournabe.com/articles/2008/07/22/bay_ridge_courier/news/bay_ridge_courier_newslocalreact07172008.txt --- Open-Carry March in Michigan: Most of us probably don't know it, but Michigan is among the 44 states where it's legal to carry a gun in public without a permit. To make that point, about 40 gun advocates walked out of Richie's Koffee Shop Inc. late Thursday afternoon with handguns holstered at their sides, part of a small but growing national movement to stand up for the constitutional right to bear arms. They strolled down this tidy west Michigan town's main street, barely causing a stir among passing motorists and pedestrians...Organizers said they were defying Hastings Police Chief Jerry Sarver, whom they say wants to stifle their gun rights. Sarver, who's running for Barry County sheriff, denies that he wants to step on anyone's rights and acknowledged that Michigan law allows people to carry their handguns in a holster... http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080725/NEWS06/807250352/1008 --- Open-Carry Movement Grows in Texas: Imagine walking down the street and next to someone with a gun strapped to their hip. It's an image a group of Texans are hoping to turn into reality and they're gaining support by the thousands every day. "This is a basic right," said former state Legislator, Suzanna Hupp. In Texas you can fire a gun, you can buy a gun, and you can walk around with a gun, but only if you have a concealed carry permit and the gun is out of sight... Hupp helped pass the current concealed carry law in the mid 90's. "It wasn't blood and chaos in the streets when we enacted the concealed carry," said Hupp. Now she wants more. "We should allow people to carry. That means in their pocket, in their purse, on their forehead, on their hip. I don't care how they carry. If they can legally own a gun I think they should be able to carry it in public," said Hupp... http://www.kvue.com/news/top/stories/072408kvueopencarry-sb.8aaac2f3.html --- Oops, Wrong House, Alaska Version: A Juneau man shot and injured a bear who he says had entered his residence. Local police haven't identified him. They say the man shot the bear in the face with a .45 semiautomatic handgun. Officers have been unable to locate the injured bear. Sergeant Chris Burke says the man reported being woken up by a noise in his residence. The man told authorities that when he got out of bed the bear was about four feet into the home. The bear turned and ran back toward the porch. When the man yelled at the bear to encourage it to leave, the bear turned around and lunged and that's when the man shot it. Sergeant Burke says officers tracked a blood trail for the bear, but haven't found it. http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?S=8729227 --- Oops, Wrong Store, NYC Version: Some storeowners in Brooklyn who were fed up with thieves took matters into their own hands. The episode of vigilante justice was caught on tape, as two brothers used machetes and large knives to fend off three criminals, who also had weapons of their own. As the camera rolled, the lines between good and evil were drawn.... http://wcbstv.com/cbs2crew/vigilante.justice.nyc.2.779774.html --- Robberies in Gun-Free Zones: Two more businesses where legal concealed carry is banned were robbed last week in Ohio. A BMV office on the east side of Columbus (a victim zone by statute) was robbed on the same day as a branch of Fifth Third Bank, which is a "gun free" zone due to the company's private policy. Clearly, it doesn't matter why concealed carry is forbidden at a location, because the results are usually the same. Only the criminal will be armed despite the signs or laws that ban ownership of firearms to people with a felony conviction. In both of these cases the patrons were left at the whim of a street thug because honest people follow the law and criminals don't... (I assume that "BMV" is Bureau of Motor Vehicles.) http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/node/5849 --- Indiana Woman Indicted in Road-Rage Shooting: Yalanda Parrish, of Jeffersonville, was indicted Monday for her involvement in a June 17 road-rage incident. The grand jury charged the 39-year-old Parrish with aggravated battery, a class B felony, and criminal recklessness, a class C felony. Parrish admitted to shooting Wesley Mosier Jr., 52, of Corydon after he got off his motorcycle and approached her SUV at 10th Street and Allison Lane in Jeffersonville... http://www.newsandtribune.com/clarkcounty/local_story_204115204.html?keyword=topstory --- Chattanooga Police Get Bushmaster Rifles: ..."(Columbine) caused a dramatic shift in deployment of officers on active shootings," he said. "Officers are trained that, as soon as they get a sufficient number for an approach, they're to form a team, enter and engage those people." Officers cannot, however, respond to those scenes armed only with handguns, which are no match for shooters with high-powered weapons, Chief Rawlston said...To prepare for such situations, the Chattanooga department is outfitting each patrol officer and patrol sergeant with an urban assault rifle. "It allows us to get our officers on an even footing with the people they deal with on the streets," Chief Rawlston said. "I do not want to ask my officers to go into an active shooter situation and take on a person armed with an assault rifle and my officers have a handgun. I don't want my officers to be at a disadvantage." http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2008/jul/23/chattanooga-police-unveil-new-assault-rifles/?local http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2008/jul/24/chattanooga-police-officers-training-new-assault-r/?local --- Innovative Cleaning Method: Vietnam veteran Bob Rieser raised the rifle and fired three blank rounds into the air outside the Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Cape Coral. Then, he walked back inside. Before long, the place was surrounded by more than a dozen police cars...Rieser said he was loading seven rifles with blanks Tuesday. The rifles were to be used by an honor guard Wednesday during a funeral service for an Army veteran. The seventh rifle jammed, so he went outside and fired it to clear the chamber, Rieser said. "I've been doing the same thing for two years," he said...Rieser said police advised him to call them first before he again tries to fire blanks... http://news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080724/NEWS0101/807240352 --- NRA-ILA Alerts: Alerts for the week are posted on the NRA-ILA website. http://www.nraila.org/GrassrootsAlerts/read.aspx --- From AzCDL: As most of you have probably heard by now, Arizona has become the scene of yet another campus shooting. On Thursday, July 24, a 22 year old opened fire on the campus of South Mountain Community College in Phoenix, in what police are describing as a continuation of an argument with another person in a classroom on the campus. Thankfully, none were killed, although three people were wounded. Though firearms are banned on campuses throughout the state in accordance with the policies of the Arizona Board of Regents, in yet another stunning example of the obvious, only the law-abiding are adhering to these rules. During the last session of the legislature, AzCDL attempted to get SB 1214 to the Senate floor for a debate and vote. As you may recall, this was Sen. Karen Johnson's bill that would have allowed law-abiding citizens with CCW permits to carry concealed weapons on college and university campuses. Unfortunately, due to staunch opposition from anti-rights groups, certain law enforcement associations, and the administrative officers of several of the universities, all of the Democratic Senators, and several of the so-called "moderate" Republicans, lined up against the bill, so the Senate leadership refused to bring it to a vote. Had this bill successfully passed the legislature, and somehow avoided the veto pen of our Governor, perhaps there might have been some deterrent effect in place for a young man whose only apparent desire was to continue an argument. Unfortunately, given the existing situation, he was able to escalate that argument to an extreme level, largely because he knew that no one would be around who was able to properly resist him. Even had he not been deterred by the likelihood of armed resistance, at least someone with proper training might have been able fight back and subdue him. As it was, he escaped long before police arrived on the scene, and was only apprehended later. We believe that it's far past time to take our schools back. We wholeheartedly agree with the opponents of SB 1214 that our schools and universities should be safe havens, free from the scourge of violence and lawlessness. Where our views diverge is how to get there from here. Putting up a sign that says "Gun Free Zone" has had the perverse effect of increasing school shootings, which should surprise no one. After all, criminals don't obey laws. That's why we call them criminals. The sign may as well read "Disarmed Victim Zone". If the opponents of SB 1214 truly believe that removing guns from the hands of the law-abiding makes people safer, than we'll expect them to promote a bill that takes guns away from policemen. We won't be holding our breaths. Given these realities, we ask you to please stand ready to support our "school carry" initiative during the next legislative session. We told them last year that we weren't going away, and we meant it! 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. The Shooting: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,390984,00.html http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/91950.php http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2008/07/26/20080726shootingfolo0726.html -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .