DC Blinks?: D.C. officials, coping with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that threw out the city's handgun ban, have drafted legislation that would do away with several remaining firearms restrictions, including safe-storage requirements and a provision that bars ownership of semiautomatic pistols. The legislation could come up for a vote in the D.C. Council as early as Tuesday - the same day the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote on a bill that would virtually end local handgun control in the District...The council proposal does not give residents blanket approval to own semiautomatic pistols, which have become the most popular kinds of handguns. It would ban magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds. It also would repeal a regulation barring a gun owner from registering more than one pistol. In addition, the legislation would do away with the requirement that handgun registrants submit their weapons to D.C. police for ballistics testing... http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/12/AR2008091203642.html --- A Little Reason About HR 6691: ...I'm not sure where to begin. The only provision of the bill that deals with carrying weapons applies in the gun owner's "dwelling house or place of business or on other land possessed by that person." There's nothing about carrying loaded guns in public. AK-47s and all other "automatic firearms" would remain prohibited in any case. The two assassinated presidents to whom Norton refers are Abraham Lincoln, who was killed with a single-shot derringer, and James Garfield, who was killed with a revolver. (John Hinckley also used a revolver when he tried to kill Ronald Reagan.) Both are types of weapons that would remain legal in Washington no matter what Congress does... http://reason.com/blog/show/128765.html --- This Commentary Got Published in Texas?: It begins to appear that the National Rifle Association and the rest of the guns-first crowd won't be satisfied until something approaching the whole American nation is armed against itself. Washington, D.C. is the latest example. Washington's ordinance outlawing handguns was the vehicle that led to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling this year that the Second Amendment is an individual right and thus forbids any such blanket ban. The district's City Council has scrambled into compliance with a temporary ordinance and is working toward a permanent one. The council is inclined toward enacting some safety controls that the NRA would abominate - maybe trigger locks, registration, restrictions on semiautomatics: it is so far unclear just what... http://www.wacotrib.com/opin/content/shared/news/stories/2008/09/TEEPEN_COLUMN_0912_COX.html --- On the Other Hand...: September 17 is Constitution Day, when Americans celebrate the birthday of our government and the 39 brave souls who signed the document that altered history. As a Texas jurist, and a concealed handgun license-holder, I know that my fellow Texans love freedom ... and firearms. So no surprise when the Lone Star State combined the two and led a successful 31-state charge in the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the District of Columbia's gun ban. The Court's landmark Heller decision last June agreed 5-4 with Texas that "the District of Columbia's categorical gun ban is markedly out of step with the judgment of the legislatures of the fifty States, all of which protect the right of private citizens to own handguns..." http://www.statesman.com/opinion/content/editorial/stories/09/0915willett_edit.html --- Hypocrisy from Philadelphia's Police Chief: ...It wasn't the attack or the lack of response that left me dumbfounded. After all, I don't need to tell our readers that the world is an unpredictable oft times dangerous place. This is why I and others have chosen to carry a handgun for lawful self-defense. What left me dumbfounded was the response of both the reporter and their guest, the Philadelphia Police Chief Charles Ramsey. They both were simply amazed by the lack of bystander response to intervene or to call for help...I found myself slack-jawed. For years law enforcement official such as Chief Ramsey have drilled the premise that we (the people) should "leave these matters to the police and other trained authorities". We have been told to comply with the attackers instructions, don't confront them, don't take matters into your own hands, don't look them in the face or antagonize them in any way. Children are taught this from the time they enter into our schools via official "lock down procedures". Why then would the Chief expect them to behave any other way? After years of training to become victims how can you be surprised when they exhibit the behaviors they have been taught and championed by law enforcement? When you raise a nation of sheep, you cannot be surprised when the sheep don't fight back... http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/node/5991 --- Be Careful Whom You Ignore: If failed Republican candidate Brad Galinson had answered a questionnaire from a state gun rights group, he might have received a favorable rating that would have won him a spot on the November ballot. Galinson, of Amherst, believes a pair of mailings - one from the New Hampshire Firearms Coalition - might have cost him a win in the primary election Tuesday. The gun group's flier lists the replies to its questions for each candidate. It shows a question mark next to Galinson's name, as it does for all of the candidates on the Democratic primary ballot. Galinson said he didn't remember getting the questionnaire; it was either never received or sent or accidentally tossed out... http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080912/NEWS01/309129928/-1/ARTSANDLIVING --- The "Gun-Show Loophole": ...Gun-control advocates frequently toss around alarmist numbers such as this one: One-third of vendors at gun shows do not have a federal firearms license. They don't bother to mention that many of those vendors do not sell guns - they sell T-shirts, bumper stickers, books, backpacks, military insignia, and so on. What's more, many of those who do sell guns are private individuals who want to get rid of an old varmint gun or antique firearm, and are no more gun dealers than a person who sells a rocking chair at a yard sale is a furniture dealer. The gun-show loophole is far smaller than gun-control advocates imply... http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/opinion.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-09-12-0015.html --- NRA-ILA Alerts: Alerts for the week are posted on the NRA-ILA website. http://www.nraila.org/GrassrootsAlerts/read.aspx --- From SAF: Democrats to gun owners: 'The party is over' By Alan Gottlieb and Dave Workman Breaking up is so hard to do. Judging from the Democratic Party platform, remarks from presidential nominee Barack Obama and his selection of anti-gun Sen. Joseph Biden as a running mate, the long, transparent courtship of gun owners by Democrats is over and instead of a goodbye kiss, there was a slap in the face; the political approximation of a domestic assault. It was inevitable. After Democrats lost Congress in 1994 because their actions brought legions of angry gun owners to the polls, the party re-packaged its rhetoric and tried to sell itself as a friend of the Second Amendment. American gun owners, who are increasingly becoming gun rights activists, are not the fools Democrats think they are. As we note in our new book These Dogs Don't Hunt: The Democrats' War On Guns, Democrats earned their reputation as being the party of gun control. Instead of rhetoric, they need to repudiate their long-standing animosity toward gun owner rights. The party platform tries to patronize gun owners by claiming to "recognize that the right to bear arms is an important part of the American tradition, and we will preserve Americans' continued Second Amendment right to own and use firearms." But then the document quickly reveals that Democrats have changed their tune but not their agenda: "We can work together to enact and enforce common-sense laws and improvements, like closing the gun show loophole, improving our background check system and reinstating the assault weapons ban..." Gun owners know that the ten-year "ban" on so-called "assault weapons" - which included more than 200 types of commonly-owned firearms - had no measurable impact on violent crime, and that reinstating it is all about symbolism rather than substance. They know that gun shows are the source of less than one percent of guns used by violent criminals. They know anti-gunners believe "common-sense laws" include licensing, registration and a surrender of the "right to carry" to the discretionary whims of police chiefs and sheriffs. The party chose Obama as its standard-bearer. He once served on the board of the vehemently anti-firearms civil rights Joyce Foundation. During his first run for public office he supported a ban on the manufacture, sale and possession of handguns and semi-automatic rifles. He supports mandatory waiting periods on all gun purchases. He told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review in April that "I am not in favor of concealed weapons," insulting millions of armed citizens who care about self-defense in the process. Gun owners know Biden as an anti-gun extremist. He consistently earns "F" ratings from gun rights organizations. He claimed credit for writing the original legislation to ban semiautomatic sport-utility rifles that are owned by millions of Americans who have harmed nobody. The proverbial last straw for the firearms community was Obama's remark during his acceptance speech that "The reality of gun ownership may be different for hunters in rural Ohio than for those plagued by gang-violence in Cleveland, but don't tell me we can't uphold the Second Amendment while keeping AK-47s out of the hands of criminals." The "reality" is that gun rights are the same for everyone, no matter where they live. And gun owners know from experience that Democrats falsely believe that the only way to keep guns away from criminals is to oppressively regulate gun ownership for everyone. Mr. Obama told his faithful that Sen. McCain "doesn't get it." Actually, Democrats "don't get it." You do not woo people by treating them like criminals, and you cannot "support" someone's civil right at the same time you regulate it to irrelevancy. It is now clear to gun owners that Democrats only asked them to the dance just to get through the door. Alan Gottlieb is founder of the Second Amendment Foundation (saf.org) and Dave Workman is senior editor of Gun Week (gunweek.com). They are co-authors of These Dogs Don't Hunt: The Democrats' War On Guns. -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .