Pelosi Opposes DC Gun Bill: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she personally opposes a bill loosening the District of Columbia's gun laws, but that does not mean she will block it from coming to the floor. "I want to see the particulars," Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday. "Then we'll see what comes to the floor or doesn't come to the floor." The bill, designed to head off a showdown between the National Rifle Association and conservative House Democrats, was introduced Thursday, with roughly 50 Democratic co-sponsors, according to congressional sources...The bill, to be numbered H.R. 6691, would repeal the district's ban on semi-automatic pistols, the requirement that handguns be registered, and allow District residents from traveling to Virginia or Maryland to buy guns. The District currently forbids importing guns, and there are no registered gun dealers with shops in Washington... http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/pelosi-opposes-gun-bill-but-may-allow-vote-2008-07-31.html --- Summary Judgment Sought in Chicago Lawsuit: ...But for the laws challenged in this action, plaintiffs would possess handguns in their homes. And while plaintiffs do not contest the constitutionality of gun registration per se, they seek to bring Chicago's gun registration program into compliance with constitutional standards. The facts of this case are not subject to dispute. Nor can the challenged laws be thought compatible with the right to keep and bear arms. The only significant legal issue before the Court is whether the Second Amendment is binding upon state and local governmental entities through application of the Fourteenth Amendment. Plaintiffs submit that under any theory of Fourteenth Amendment incorporation, Chicago is bound to respect their rights under the Second Amendment. Plaintiffs are thus entitled to a summary judgment granting them injunctive relief... http://www.chicagoguncase.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/chicago_summary_judgment_brief.pdf --- Man Shoots Pit Bull That Attacked His Boxer: In a vicious case of dog-on-dog violence, a pit bull busted out of its fence Friday morning and dashed into a neighbor's yard, where it clamped its jaws onto the neck of a boxer. Then the owners got involved and it really got violent, with fists, guns and even a satellite dish used as weapons...The aggressor dog, three-year-old Nikita, refused to loosen its grip on the boxer's neck. I'm getting my gun, said Dippolito. And he did, rushing into his house and returning with a Colt .45. He aimed the weapon and blasted the pit bull in the ribs. Now the pit bull let go. Down but not out, the pit bull managed to walk home with Farris, leaving a trail of bloody paw prints in their wake... http://www.miamiherald.com/news/broward/breaking-news/story/625839.html --- Details Emerge in Bomb, Weapons Case: Montgomery County detectives yesterday charged a second teenager in an ongoing bombmaking investigation, saying the youth worked at one of their precincts and stole department letterhead paper to help obtain products restricted to law enforcement officers...They would not say what products were obtained with the police department letterhead paper... http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/01/AR2008080103143.html?hpid%3Dsec-metro&sub=AR --- What Sort of Holster?: Merrimack, New Hampshire police say a Merrimack District Court officer has accidentally shot himself in the foot. Police said the unidentified officer accidentally fired his holstered weapon and hit his foot. Police said he wasn't trying to draw the .25-caliber gun in a "police action," and he wasn't dealing with a prisoner or engaged in any other enforcement activity. The bullet lodged in the floor of the courthouse, and no one else was injured. The officer was treated at St. Joseph's Hospital in Nashua for his injury, which was not life-threatening. Police said the incident was being investigated by the Merrimack Police Department. (A modern holster should prevent access to the trigger while the gun is still holstered. However, since the gun was a .25 Auto, I suppose it's possible that it was in some sort of wallet holster that allows the gun to be fired without unholstering. Such holsters require NFA registration as "any other weapon," as I recall.) http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?articleid=1110321&srvc=rss --- California Stores Unprepared with Lead-Free Ammo: The A-zone deer hunting season kicks off Saturday, Aug. 9, and most sporting good stores throughout Southern California have dismal supplies of newly-required non-lead big game hunting ammunition. "Availability is a serious issue," said Glenn Tessers with the California Deer Association. "It irks me when I hear that no one can get non-lead ammunition." Most bigger Southern California dealers knew this train was coming down the tracks over a year ago, but they still didn't take steps to make sure they had adequate supplies of non-lead ammunition. In quick checks with selected stores in the region - Turner's Outdoorsman, a chain of 13 stores in Southern California, Fowler's Gun Room in Orange, Bass Pro Shops in Rancho Cucamonga, and Second Amendment Sports in Bakersfield - they all had scanty supplies of non-lead deer ammunition available, even in common calibers. For example, Second Amendment Sports was out of even .30-06 and .270 Winchester ammunition, while Fowler's didn't have .243 non-lead. Turner's and Bass Pro Shops only had limited supplies of 30 caliber magnum rounds... http://www.dailybulletin.com/ci_10063059 --- From JPFO: August 1 and 2 mark the sixty-second anniversary of the Battle of Athens, Tennessee, and we here at Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership intend to observe it. And we're asking you to join us. On those dates in 1946, residents of McMinn County, most of them recently-returned veterans of World War II, took guns in hand and rose up against a corrupt and brutal administration they'd been trying to get the state's authorities to do something about for years - to no avail. Voting didn't help because the county elections - and ballot boxes - were controlled by the very criminals they were trying to dislodge. What followed was a prime example of the reason America's Founding Fathers sought to protect the right of the individual to own and carry weapons. Without their guns, the citizens would have been nothing but helpless peasants, serfs, peons - just like most of humanity over the last six thousand years - ground under the thumbs of well-armed local racketeers... http://www.jpfo.org/alerts02/alert20080801.htm --- Off Topic but Interesting: Arguably a historical artifact, San Francisco's unique Patrol Special Police appear to be engaged in a battle for survival with the San Francisco Police Department. http://sfweekly.com/2008-06-04/news/to-serve-collect/1 -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .