Obama's Judgment: ...Just look at a couple of the things Obama has proposed: a 500 percent increase on excise taxes for guns and ammunition, and a ban on gun stores within five miles of a school or a park. Those two measures wouldn't just decimate the firearms industry, they would kill it. That, in turn, would have a drastic effect on our military, because the same companies that sell guns to civilians are also the ones selling guns to the government. I wonder how Obama would feel about a multi-billion dollar bailout of the firearms industry, because that's what just two of his proposals would require. That's not hype or hyperbole. It's just the truth, and the truth is Obama's judgment is as bad as his Second Amendment record. http://www.nranews.com/blogarticle.aspx?blogPostId=464 --- Obama Cited in South Carolina CWP Surge: New concealed-weapon permit applications in South Carolina increased nearly 55 percent through the end of August, compared with the same period last year. New requests totaled 11,777, a sizable jump from the eight-month period last year, when 7,618 applications were made to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. To Gerald Stoudemire, the reason is clear. The president of Gun Owners of South Carolina says many people are concerned Barack Obama will erode Second Amendment rights if he wins the presidency... http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/110208/met_481914.shtml --- SAF, NRA Sue Washington State: The Second Amendment Foundation, joined by the National Rifle Association, today filed a lawsuit in federal court against the State of Washington, seeking to overturn a state law that discriminates against legal resident aliens who own firearms by violating their Second Amendment rights under the equal protections affirmed by the 14th Amendment. The SAF/NRA suit is joined by three legal resident aliens who face loss of jobs and firearms collections, and possible prosecution for owning a gun for self-defense when their current Alien Firearms Licenses (AFL) expire. Under a statute unique to Washington State, aliens must possess an AFL to legally possess firearms..."Forty-nine other states feel no compulsion to require such alien licenses," Gottlieb stated. "Washington State should be no different. This discriminatory law must not be allowed to stand..." http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/SAF-NRA-Sue-Washington-State/story.aspx?guid={789EE96A-C17B-49D8-8F6C-8B2D62CCCCAE} --- More on Delaware 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...Lawson said what Nefosky told him revealed there was a much larger problem in the firearms approval unit than keeping a small-caliber revolver out of the hands of an 81-year-old woman. Lawson said Nefosky told him he searched seven years of firearms transaction records to see if Vansickle had ever bought a gun before...Lawson also knew the gun records should have been destroyed. In an interview with The News Journal, MacLeish claimed all paper firearms records are destroyed every 60 days. The electronic records, however, are another story... (Does anyone believe that the records of NICS inquiries are actually being destroyed?) http://www.delmarvanow.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081104/NEWS01/811040337 --- A Well Crafted Ordinance?: ...Consider the case of Haynes v US. Cliffs Notes version: A criminal appealed his conviction for illegally having a short-barreled shotgun. His reasoning was that since he was a convicted felon, prohibited by law from possessing a firearm, to require him to register it would equate to forcing him to incriminate himself. Conversely, prosecuting him for not registering it created a Catch-22. Bottom line, he argued, his Fifth Amendment right not to "be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself" had been violated. And the Supreme Court agreed, big time, by 8 to 1. OK, interesting, but the point? What does this have to do with Cleveland's stolen gun reporting requirement? ... http://www.examiner.com/x-1417-Cleveland-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2008m11d4-A-well-crafted-ordinance --- Oops, Wrong House, Oklahoma Version: A 19-year-old man was shot several times by a homeowner Saturday night after he reportedly broke into the home, police said. The victim [?], Stephen Richardson, was taken to an area hospital, where his condition was not immediately available. Authorities said officers were dispatched at 9:40 p.m. to the home in the 3100 block of West Norman Circle. Officers said Richardson reportedly was drunk when he entered the house, where the homeowner shot him. Maj. Mark Irwin said Richardson "thought he was breaking into his (own) house." He said he wasn't sure whether Richardson lived in the vicinity. Officers attempted to interview Richardson, but he was too drunk to be coherent, Irwin said. Police are investigating the shooting. http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20081102_318_BROK002744 Alcohol-Related Update from Pennsylvania: An investigation is underway in Pennsylvania after police say a 75-year-old granny shot a man who allegedly broke into her home. The woman was sleeping upstairs, when an intoxicated man entered her home. She first asked him politely to leave, but when he proceeded up the stairs she grabbed her 38 caliber revolver and shot the man in the groin. Turns out the man lives nearby and accidentally walked into the wrong house. Police are investigating the case, but so far no charges have been filed. (Yesterday's account gave the woman's age as 77.) http://www.wtvynews4.com/news/headlines/33726024.html --- Oops, Wrong House, Wisconsin Version: A man shot by his neighbor while he allegedly was vandalizing her home is charged with criminal damage to property - and the neighbor isn't expected to face any charges. The criminal complaint filed in Crawford County Circuit Court said 53-year-old Harvey Townsend used a metal fence post to smash 16 windows and a storm door of the neighbor's house in Steuben Oct. 20. According to Sheriff Jerry Moran, the neighbor, a 54-year-old woman, said she fired warning rounds from a pistol but didn't intend to hit Townsend, who fled and was located by a police dog in a nearby woods with a wound to the abdomen... (The woman is lucky not to face charges if she stated that she did not intend to shoot the vandal. Don't fire "warning shots.") http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=221386 --- Rule Four Reminder: A stray bullet that injured a NASCAR fan in her motor home at Texas Motor Speedway may have been from a rifle of a target shooter, police said Tuesday. A 49-year-old man contacted police after being told of news reports that a woman was hit in the arm Sunday morning by a bullet piercing through the roof of her recreational vehicle camped at the speedway, according to Fort Worth police. The man told detectives Tuesday that he fired five or six rounds from a .50 caliber Vulcan single-shot rifle near a rifle range about five miles from the speedway from about 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., police said... (Rule Four: Always be sure of your target and what's beyond it.) http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/nationworld/101640.php --- Ruger Sees the Light?: Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc announces an "Inaugural Special" for Mini-14 20-round magazines that runs from Election Day to Inauguration Day. From November 4, 2008 to January 20, 2009, fans of the Ruger Mini-14 Target Rifles and Mini-14 Ranch Rifles, both chambered for .223 Remington, can purchase Ruger manufactured 20-round magazines (regularly priced at $39.95) for only $29.95. This special offer is only available through the Ruger On-line Store. Please note that these magazines are not available where state or local regulations limit magazine capacity to less than 20 rounds... (For years Ruger would only sell the 20-round magazines to law enforcement. In fact, the late Bill Ruger once proposed a federal ban on private ownership of magazines with a capacity greater than 15 rounds [http://www.thegunzone.com/rkba/papabill.html].) http://www.rifleshootermag.com/ST_mini14promotion_112008WO/ --- UN Approves Arms-Trade Restrictions: The U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly endorsed the idea of an unprecedented treaty regulating the global arms trade Friday, despite opposition from the United States. Of the U.N.'s 192 member nations, 147 voted in favor of drafting the treaty. Only the U.S. and Zimbabwe voted against it, with the other nations absent or abstaining. Proponents say they hope to adopt a treaty within five years imposing controls on an international arms trade that contributes to the death of over a 1,000 people every day. It would apply only to arms sales among nations, not commercial sales to individuals... (Will we be able to count on an Obama administration standing up to the UN when it calls on limits to "commercial sales to individuals"?) http://www.pr-inside.com/un-members-give-go-ahead-on-proposal-r892742.htm --- Attention, Phoenix Area: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is hosting a cleanup event off of Table Mesa Road, north of Phoenix. This area receives a tremendous amount of recreation, including target shooting. This alert is being sent to encourage NRA members who recreate in the Table Mesa area, or live in that part of the state, to volunteer for this event. It is being held in collaboration with the Arizona Game and Fish Department and the Arizona Off-Highway Vehicle Ambassadors, with support by the Arizona Virtual Jeep Club, Arizona Off Highway Vehicle Coalition, Arizona ATV Riders, Arizona Rock Rats, Absolute Offroad, and other volunteers. NRA knows that its members understand the importance of keeping public lands open to the public by helping to clean up what the careless and thoughtless leave behind... http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Read.aspx?id=4224 --- Tangentially Related: Big Democratic gains in Tuesday's congressional races could produce a new House of Representatives in which both the Republican and Democratic caucuses are more conservative than in the current Congress. With Republican moderates such as Reps. Thomas M. Davis III of Virginia and Christopher Shays of Connecticut either retiring or facing tough races, forecasters expect the reduced Republican caucus to be even more heavily tilted toward conservatives from safe districts where Democrats do not pose a challenge. And with moderate Democratic challengers running strong in races across the South, Midwest and West, the expanded Democratic majority could become, on average, more conservative on fiscal, social and security issues than the current 235-Democratic House cohort, and considerably to the right of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and other House leaders... http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/nov/04/house-may-tilt-right-with-democratic-wins/ -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .