McCain, Obama Differ on National-Park Carry: ... When asked about whether a general ban on carrying loaded guns in national parks should be eliminated, the answers were sharply different and somewhat predictable. McCain, who is against gun control, stated: "I believe the National Park Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service should remove their prohibitions against law-abiding citizens transporting and carrying firearms to lands managed by those agencies." Obama, who is against assault weapons and a gun show loophole that allows trading of weapons between private individuals, stated: "I believe in Second Amendment rights and the rights of hunters and sportsmen to bear arms and use them in a responsible way. But I am concerned about allowing loaded firearms into family-oriented spaces..." http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/outposts/2008/10/john-mccain-b-1.html Related Commentary: http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/node/6158 --- With Friends Like These...: Dan Cooper, a proud member of the National Rifle Association, has backed Republicans for most of his life. He's the chief executive of Cooper Arms, a small Montana company that makes hunting rifles. Cooper said he voted for George W. Bush in 2000, having voted in past elections for every Republican presidential nominee back to Richard Nixon. In October 1992, he presented a specially made rifle to the first President. Bush during a Billings campaign event. This year, Cooper has given $3,300 to the campaign of Democrat Barack Obama. That's on top of the $1,000 check he wrote to Obama's U.S. Senate campaign in 2004, after he was dazzled by Obama's speech at that year's Democratic National Convention... http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-10-27-prez-money_N.htm --- From CCRKBA: Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske, quoted by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer today claiming that more guns in the community does not deter crime should remember that his stolen gun is out there posing a greater threat to public safety than firearms belonging to typical law-abiding gun owners. So said Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, a Bellevue-based grassroots civil rights organization. CCRKBA still has a reward for the recovery of Kerlikowske's stolen 9mm Glock pistol, taken from his city-owned car that was parked on a downtown street almost four years ago... http://www.ccrkba.org/pub/rkba/press-releases/kerlikowske.gun.htm --- From SAF: ACORN, the publicly-funded national organization linked to voter fraud in several states is now actively interfering with the exercise of firearm civil rights in New Jersey, and the Second Amendment Foundation is calling for an immediate federal investigation. "ACORN has, since 1998, received an estimated $31 million in government funding," said SAF founder Alan Gottlieb. "Now they have intervened in a New Jersey gun rights case in defense of an illegal Jersey City one-gun-a-month ordinance that violates the state preemption statute... http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/ACORN-Uses-Public-Funds-Steal/story.aspx?guid={239A0F78-0111-48F9-9A6C-896E29D38602} --- Bloomberg Funds Anti-RKBA Ads: New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is financing a new group that will be active in five congressional races this week, supporting gun control and other measures, a spokeswoman said. The billionaire mayor's new group, Americans United for Safe Streets, is sending out mailings attacking three Republican congressmen who oppose most gun control, Tom Feeney of Florida (above), Steve Chabot of Ohio, and Joe Knollenberg of Michigan, for their votes against gun control measures, including tightening restrictions on sales at gun shows and the restrictions on gun dealers who have lost their licenses... http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1008/Bloomberg_527_attacks_backs_GOP_congressmen_on_guns.html http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2008/10/bloomberg-reloads.html --- Daley Calls for Complete Ban: The ISRA-PVF finds it disappointing, but not unexpected, that Chicago Mayor Richard Daley has once again exploited tragedy in an attempt to boost his gun control agenda. Commenting on the Hudson murder case during a Tuesday press briefing, Daley called for a total ban on civilian firearm ownership as a means of preventing such events from happening in the future. A closer examination of the facts shows that Daley's suggested solution to violent crime sorely misses the mark... http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Chicago-Mayor-Daleys-Call-Gun/story.aspx?guid={7BC1D675-F691-4EFE-AEAD-4B91C033ADA3} --- Philadelphia Council Members Appeal Preemption Ruling: Two City Council members appealed to the state Supreme Court yesterday in their case against the state legislature to allow Philadelphia to pass and enforce its own gun laws. Darrell L. Clarke and Donna Reed Miller asked the court to reconsider its landmark 1996 ruling, which appeared to leave local municipalities no leeway to regulate guns. Only the state had that power, the court ruled then. Council passed seven gun-control laws last year that included regulations to limit handgun purchases to one per month and to require the reporting of lost or stolen firearms. Recognizing the state's traditional control over gun laws, Council's bills required approval by the legislature before they could take effect... http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/20081029_Phila__gun-law_case_appealed_to_high_court.html --- Delaware State Police Discriminate in Handgun Purchases: Delaware State Police stopped Alvina Vansickle from purchasing a .22-caliber pistol for self-defense because she was too old and a woman, said Superintendent Col. Thomas MacLeish. The outrage that followed led to the revelation that Delaware State Police had been keeping lists of gun buyers for years; state law requires them to destroy these records after 60 days. Without so much as a traffic ticket, the 81-year-old Lewes resident should have sailed through the mandatory state police background check when she tried to buy a Taurus revolver from Charlie Steele's Lewes gun shop last August... http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20081028/NEWS01/810280392 --- Election Affects Ohio Gun Shop: NEWS9 learned Tuesday that a local gun store owner is attributing an increase in assault weapons sales to the approaching election. Shooters owner Bill Monahan said that many local gun owners are buying more assault weapons because they fear that Sen. Barack Obama will ban them if he wins the White House. "As soon as Obama looked like he was going to be the presidential candidate, that's when the sales started going up and they've been increasing every month," Monahan said. With only seven days until decision time, many locals admitted to NEWS9 that they're stocking up on assault weapons out of fear they'll lose the right. "I used to only buy one at a time, but the last time I bought them I bought seven in one day," David Gwynne said... http://www.wtov9.com/news/17824947/detail.html --- No Charges in Home-Defense Shooting: County prosecutors have decided not to file any criminal charges against the man who shot and killed another man who had broken into his home...According to state law, a person is justified in using deadly force "if the person reasonably believes himself or another person to be in imminent peril of death or serious physical injury and the person against who the physical force or deadly physical force is threatened or used was in the process of unlawfully or forcefully entering, or had unlawfully or forcefully entered a residential structure or occupied vehicle." Additionally, a person has no duty to retreat before using deadly force... (This decision probably wouldn't even be newsworthy in any Arizona city other than ultra-liberal Flagstaff. Flagstaff is the county seat of Coconino County, which wrongfully prosecuted and convicted Hal Fish for shooting a man who charged him, shouting threats, on a hiking trail.) http://www.azdailysun.com/articles/2008/10/28/news/20081028_front_184191.txt --- Priority One - Mental Awareness: As Nature and National Parks Protection Authority ranger Pini Birenbaum was making his rounds near the Mount of Olives on Sunday morning, it was his alertness and quick thinking, he said, that saved his life. Birenbaum, who patrols various Nature and Parks Authority sites throughout Jerusalem as part of his job, was making his way through the Jerusalem Trail in the Yad Avshalom neighborhood on Sunday, when a young man approached him and attempted to stab him with a knife. "I saw him coming towards me and at first I didn't think anything of it," Birenbaum told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday afternoon. "But as he got closer, I could see that he was hiding something in his right hand - it looked to me like some kind of a tool or even a knife..." (Note that even though Birenbaum was armed with a handgun, he was not able to draw it until he had dodged the initial attack.) http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1222017627306 --- "Warning Shot" Warning: A teenager was shot when he tried to steal a man's John McCain yard sign. Kyree Flowers, 17, was wounded in the arm when Ohio resident Kenneth Rowles, 50, defended his property with a .22-caliber rifle Saturday, the Associated Press reported. Warren Township police Lt. Don Bishop said the man only intended to fire warning shots, not hurt two teenagers who were attempting to steal his yard sign. But he managed to hit their van, and Flowers was taken to a local hospital to treat his arm wound. Now Rowles has pleaded guilty to felonious assault, and his hearing is scheduled for Election Day... ( I have to wonder how many well intentioned people had e-mailed Rowles the photo of the sign threatening the vandals who had defaced a McCain-Palin sign.) http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=79315 --- Officer Mistakenly Kills Man in Own Yard: An Anaheim police officer chasing burglary suspects shot and killed an innocent 20-year-old man who heard a commotion and emerged from his house early Tuesday holding what authorities said was either a broomstick or a shower rod. The officer encountered Julian Alexander on his front lawn and shot him twice in the chest about 1:30 a.m... (Over the years, one of the few points on which I have been challenged is that a holster should allow one-handed reholstering without needing to shift one's vision from the threat. The reason for this is so that one can quickly get one's handgun out of one's hands to avoid being shot by responding officers.) http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-officer29-2008oct29,0,4246006.story --- Tragic Shooting - Details Emerge: ...Police said Christopher Bizilj of Ashford, Conn., was pronounced dead at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Mass., on Sunday afternoon, shortly after firing a 9mm micro Uzi submachine gun at the Machine Gun Shoot and Firearms Expo at the Westfield Sportsman's Club, co-sponsored by C.O.P. Firearms & Training. The weapon was loaded and ready to fire," Westfield police Lt. Hipolito Nunez said. "The 8-year-old victim had the Uzi and as he was firing the weapon, the front end of the weapon went up with the backfire and he ended up receiving a round in his head..." http://news.aol.com/article/boy-8-killed-in-gun-show-accident/226339?icid=200100397x1211606880x1200730703 One list member comments: The boy was shooting a Micro Uzi. I owned one back in the late 80's to early 90's. Mine was a dealer sales sample, the one the boy fired is probably a transferable conversion. Most of the conversions do not have a stock on them. The cyclic rate is in excess of 1200 rounds per minute, and even when fired with the factory stock, the gun is hard to control. I believe he fired it and it simply turned in his hand upwards, shooting his head. (The Micro Uzi, with its factory stock, can be viewed at http://world.guns.ru/smg/smg17-e.htm. As I recall, a semiautomatic pistol version was sold in the US, without a stock, hence the reference to the conversions that lack a stock.) --- From AzCDL: In a recent flyer attacking a legislative candidate in a Phoenix West Valley district, the Arizona Democratic Party claims that the candidate "voted to put guns in the hands of illegal immigrants, violent criminals, and even sex offenders." Why would the AZ Democratic Party make such a claim? Because the candidate voted "Yes" on HCR2025 during the Third Read vote on the House floor on March 4, 2003. Exactly what did HCR2025 do that would cause the Arizona Democratic Party to say such things? It was, quite simply, a concurrent resolution recognizing that gun shows are a lawful, normal, and reasonable means for law-abiding gun owners to exercise their First and Second Amendment rights. It stated, in part ... "Be it resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of Arizona, the Senate concurring: 1. That the Members of the Legislature recognize that gun shows provide a safe, historical, valuable and indispensable community service for those citizens who choose to exercise their constitutional rights. 2. That such peaceable public assemblies should be protected from those who would further regulate, encumber or eliminate them through a campaign of misinformation." It appears from the flyer that Democrats believe that if YOU attend a gun shows you are a sex offender, violent criminal or illegal immigrant. What kind of support can we expect from legislators with a party like this behind them, backing and funding them? If you are as offended by this disgusting personal attack on Arizona's law-abiding gun owners and gun show attendees as we are, please make your voice heard! Contact the Arizona Democratic Party at: Arizona Democratic Party Headquarters 2910 North Central Avenue Phoenix, AZ 85012 (602) 298-4200 Toll Free: 1-877-298-6837 You can contact Maria Weeg, their Executive Director, at the following contact web page: http://www.azdem.org/?id=304 You can contact Emily DeRose, their Communications Director, at the following contact web page: http://www.azdem.org/?id=599 The following is a cut-and-paste template you can use when communicating with the above individuals. The Arizona Citizens Defense League has informed me that the Arizona Democratic Party recently distributed a flyer denigrating a legislative candidate's support of Arizona's Constitutional protection of law abiding citizens' right to keep and bear arms. I am deeply offended by your disgusting insinuation that only "illegal immigrants, violent criminals and sex offenders" attend gun shows. I am a gun owner. I attend gun shows. I am a law-abiding citizen. I demand a public retraction of your statement and a written personal apology from your organization for your outrageous attack against me. How do you expect to win elections when you ridicule and attack the voters you are asking to support your candidates? What kind of support can I, as a gun owner, expect from legislators with a party like yours behind them and funding them? Sincerely, You Name Street Address City, State zip-code 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. -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .