Election Is Key for Gun Owners: ... While the economy is dominating the news right now, it's critical that voters never lose sight of matters of long-term importance. Elections are about the future, and the future of many issues will be decided by who we elect as our next president... Gun rights are on entirely new footing in light of the Supreme Court's recent decision in District of Columbia v. Heller. In the Heller case, the Court found that the Second Amendment protects a individual right to keep and bear arms for private citizens, striking down the D.C. city law that banned all handguns and other readily-usable firearms. But the Heller decision was a 5-4 decision. Four justices voted that the Second Amendment includes no right whatsoever for private citizens, and therefore that the government can totally ban firearms at will. This would effectively erase the Second Amendment. So the next few years will be critical for gun rights, as the Court decides to expand the Heller decision by fleshing out what the Second Amendment means. The next president will likely appoint at least three Supreme Court justices. And two of the five justices who voted to uphold the Second Amendment in Heller are age 70 or older. So the Heller majority is a fragile one, and the next president may well create a Court that could overturn Heller... http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/nov/02/froman-election-key-gun-owners/ --- Stark Contrast on RKBA: On the Second Amendment, the presidential election presents a stark choice. John McCain has a very good, although not perfect, record on the Second Amendment. Barack Obama has a nearly perfect anti-gun record, and he is, appropriately, endorsed by the Brady Campaign. Yet the Obama campaign has the audacity to hope that it can deceive voters about Obama's record... http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_10882332 --- First My Tobacco, Next My Guns: Sen. Barack Obama said that he would be willing to impose a nationwide ban on smoking in public. Taken with other recent statements, this paints a picture of Mr. Obama believing in an extraordinarily powerful federal government, regulating even the minor details of your life. The American people should reject this radical big-government philosophy at the polls...This radical big-government philosophy eventually leads to taking away something you care about deeply. Maybe you don't smoke. For you it might be your home, your religion, your guns or your child's education. A federal government that can micromanage your life to say you cannot smoke can also tell you what you can and can't do on all those issues. First it's my tobacco, next it's my guns... http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/nov/03/first-my-tobacco-next-my-guns/ --- Tangentially Related: Americans can expect to see major changes "in issue after issue" in the Senate next year, said Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, at a meeting with reporters near the Capitol on Oct. 29... http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=38590 --- More Gun Sales, Permits in Florida: Consumers may be cutting back on going out to eat and buying new clothes, but at the Delray Shooting Center off Linton Boulevard, guns remain good as gold. "Business has gone up dramatically in the past year - the last couple months especially," owner Mike Caruso said. "I'm selling 15 guns a day. ... Let's just say business has been rocking." Although Florida does not keep records of gun sales, federal data show background checks needed to purchase a firearm are up sharply in the first nine months of this year. In Florida, concealed weapon permit applications in September jumped 52 percent compared with September 2007. And it's not just any gun. Handguns and semiautomatic weapons, not hunting rifles, appear to be leading the way. The reasons: a sour economy that some fear will increase crime, and worries about gun regulations if Sen. Barack Obama wins the White House... http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/business/epaper/2008/11/01/a1a_gun_sales_1102.html?imw=Y --- Oops, Wrong Rape Victim: An intended rape victim shot and killed her attacker this morning in Cape Girardeau when he broke into her home to rape her a second time, police said. The 57-year-old woman shot Ronnie W. Preyer, 47, a registered sex offender, in the chest with a shotgun when he broke through her locked basement door. The woman told police he was the same man who raped her several days earlier. Officials do not intend to seek charges against her... http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/laworder/story/9C58494B45470714862574F3006D0CA6?OpenDocument --- Oops, Wrong House: An armed man who allegedly forced his way into the home of a married couple is dead after he was fatally shot in what officials are saying was self defense, police said Sunday. Modesto police officials said they think the suspect who was fatally shot had a previous relationship with the remarried woman who lived at the home, which was located in the 1500 block of Victor Way... http://www.kcra.com/news/17869255/detail.html --- Oops, Wrong Shed: Taking the law into your own hands. That's what a local homeowner did when he caught a thief breaking into his storage shed. Armed with his shotgun, one shot was all it took and the burglary came to an abrupt end. "I woke up and heard the alarm and came out at 3:30 in the morning," Ivan Hurt said. Hurt lives alone in rural northern Gallia County. He has a shed full of equipment he values and fiercely protects it. That's why when two men broke into the building early Friday morning, Ivan was ready. "I saw him come, and he turned like this and he had a flashlight in one hand and something else in the other, so I shot," Hurt said... (When seconds count, the police are minutes away, or longer in a rural area.) http://www.wsaz.com/news/headlines/33637599.html --- Bringing a Boxing Stance to a Knife Fight: When Ramon Acevedo , a custodian at the University of Minnesota had finished his shift early Thursday morning, two teenagers approached him near Smith Hall. According to Acevedo, he was walking toward his moped, and the teenagers asked if it was his. When Acevedo said yes, one of the would-be thieves pulled out a knife and said, "This scooter's mine now." Although the police report stated Acevedo only took a fighting stance, the former golden glove boxer said he fought back. "I threw a couple punches," Acevedo said. "I was ready to dance a little bit." The teenagers then took off running, the 52-year-old Acevedo said. "I'm a little old, but I never forgot my stuff," he said... http://www.mndaily.com/2008/11/01/university-custodian-fights-robbers -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .