The Beat Goes On: At the Owl's Nest Gun and Bow in Pohatcong Township, gun sales are up at least 20 percent over last year, which highlights a trend that's unfolding across the country. Owner Jim Heebner said sales began to spike at the Owl's Nest before the presidential election. Some buyers want firearms now because they are afraid President-elect Barack Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress soon will make it more difficult or expensive to buy guns or ammunition... Peter Hamm, a spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said the NRA argument is misleading, particularly when it comes to gun regulations affecting hunters... http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/warren-county/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1229317554137890.xml&coll=3 Related Articles: http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/626485.html http://www.wboy.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=48458 --- Trojan-Horse Group Counsels NFL on Guns: When I heard the news that the New York Giants' Plaxico Burress had shot himself in the leg in a New York City nightclub with an illegal gun, my heart sagged for him, for our country and for the league I still love. As a former lineman for the Washington Redskins and the current president of the American Hunters and Shooters Association, I know something about the cultures of guns and football - and I'm worried about the relationship between them... (Burress apparently bought his pistol legally, possibly in Florida, where he once held a CWFL. Only the draconian laws of New Jersey and New York made it "illegal." Perhaps the NFL should focus on firearm safety issues, such as not carrying Glocks in waistbands, without the use of a holster.) http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/dec/15/fair-play-right-side-of-gun-laws/ --- Oregon Court Infringes RKBA: An Oregon Appeals Court decision has found that your car is now considered a "public place." That means that possessing a loaded firearm in a vehicle may be considered a crime if the locality in which you are traveling has a ban on open loaded carry. This ruling is bizarre in light of how Oregon law defines "public place." ORS 161.015 defines public place this way... The case, Bryan Ward VS State of Oregon, dealt with an arrest, by a Portland Police officer, of a person who had an unconcealed handgun in his car... (New Mexico, by contrast, considers a vehicle to be an extension of your home.) http://oregonfirearms.org/alertspage/12.14.08%20alert.html --- Rule Three, Rule Five Reminder: A North Carolina man who was shot in the thigh Friday at first blamed his cat and then himself. Charlie Busick of Eden told sheriff's deputies that he had left his .45-caliber pistol on a love seat, the Greensboro News & Record reported. He said that the cat jumped on the seat and landed on the pistol, setting it off. But he later denied the cat was responsible. Instead, he said, that he put his hand down on the seat for balance while he was standing up, landing on the gun. Busick called a friend after the shooting to ask for a ride to the hospital. (Rule Three: Keep your finger out of the trigger guard, up on the frame, until your sights are on the target and you're prepared to fire. Rule Five: Maintain control of your firearm.) http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2008/12/12/Man_Cat_shot_me_by_mistake/UPI-14091229116961/ --- Happy Birthday, Bill of Rights: Most calendars don't denote today as a special one that requires some sort of observation or celebration. If anything, a quick look at the calendar serves only to remind most of us that Christmas is 10 days away. But Dec. 15 is a day of great importance to all of us. It is the day we observe as Bill of Rights Day, and today is the 217th anniversary of the day those rights officially became the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution and the law of the land... http://cjonline.com/stories/121508/opi_367673296.shtml --- The Second Amendment Book Bomb: December 15 marks America's Bill of Rights Day, the anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution. To commemorate this event, we have created the Second Amendment Book Bomb, a unique and powerful way to communicate the importance of the Bill of Rights' Second Amendment for the protection of liberty. With your help, we can launch constitutional rights to the top of national book bestseller lists, making a loud and clear statement that Second Amendment rights are inalienable! ...With your help, we can make Stephen Halbrook's book #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. To make this happen, please pledge to buy at least one copy of the book before or on the December 15th Second Amendment Book Bomb date (or even afterward, if this is your only option), and then spread the word to others. Let's make this the most amazing and explosive event ever on the right to bear arms, and declare in no uncertain terms that the Second Amendment will be around for a very long time to come. http://www.secondamendmentbook.com/ --- Soldiers Round Up Toy Guns in Iraq: Two boys approached a U.S. soldier, pulled out a pistol and handed it over. They got a smile and some candy in return. The gun was plastic, and the boys were following a local Iraqi military order to surrender all toy weapons - an effort to prevent children from being mistaken for insurgents. With more children on the streets now that violence is down, American soldiers have a new mission in this former "triangle of death" city south of Baghdad: clearing all toy guns from the bustling shopping area as they search for suspected insurgents and weapons caches. The toy gun ban shows how jittery the U.S. and Iraqi forces still are in a country where the enemy doesn't wear a uniform... http://www.thereporter.com/news/ci_11235904 -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .