NRA to Score Sotomayor Vote: As I noted in the last round of questioning of Sonia Sotomayor yesterday, Republican senators seemed increasingly focused on the Second Amendment. Sotomayor's evasiveness did not help her cause. Shortly after her questioning ended, the NRA announced it would officially oppose her confirmation. Some question then arose in conservative circles as to whether the vote would be "scored" - that is, count for the score which the NRA uses to rate incumbents on Second Amendment issues. In a close race it can make the difference, particularly in a Red state. I contacted the NRA last night. A spokesman promptly replied by email: "It's an important vote and it will count." What does that mean in practical terms? It may influence a shaky Republican or two who might think twice about "deferring" to the president's nominee. But the real impact is not with regard to Sotomayor, but in the 2010 senate races. For each Democrat who votes for her, there will be at least a small price -- a ding from the NRA. Might it be significant in races in Arkansas (Blanche Lincoln), Colorado (Michael Bennet), North Dakota (Byron Dorgan), and elsewhere? We'll know in 2010. But if nothing else, Sotomayor's evasive performance may cost some senators who vote for her some heartburn in 2010. http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/rubin/73571 Schoenke Shills Again: Last month, on behalf of my organization, the American Hunters and Shooters Association (AHSA), I sent a letter to Senator Leahy endorsing the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor. I maintained in the letter that "Some in the firearm community have leveled a number of charges against Judge Sotomayor that do not pass the truth test." Unfortunately, that's standard operating procedure for many in the entrenched pro-gun community. Everything is a knee-jerk reaction that somehow morphs into all of our guns being taken away. The bureaucrats in the old pro-gun lobby really need to grow up - and smarten up. As I've said before, the rhetoric from the NRA leadership and others tarnishes all gun owners, not just their frustrated members... http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/17/754592/-NRA-leaders-use-same-old,-tired-tactics-on-Sotomayor Left and Right Both Disappointed: Sonia Sotomayor's measured confirmation performance may have served her well, but it left the bases of both parties feeling that they've missed an opportunity. Liberals are concerned that Sotomayor's non-controversial approach - she largely declined to take positions on major issues, and seemed to side with conservatives on some constitutional matters - cost the Democratic party a critical opportunity to effectively express and advocate for its bedrock judicial philosophies. The question, to some, is: Why retreat now when the nomination was a sure bet since Democrats have a supermajority in the Senate, and Republicans haven't put up a united front of opposition? ...On the right, conservatives are asking: If Republicans won't fight tooth-and-nail to derail a Supreme Court nominee they find out of the mainstream, what will they fight over? ...Republicans had their own political pressures as well. With seven GOP men on the Judiciary Committee, they did not want to appear overly aggressive with Sotomayor, who would become just the third female justice. And given that they lack enough votes to sustain a filibuster, even if they wanted to, attempting to delay the seating of a nominee who will almost certainly be confirmed would likely cost them support from Latinos, a fast-growing constituency that is already voting heavily Democratic. As a result, they're backing down on earlier demands to delay a final vote until September... http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/25098.html McConnell to Oppose Sotomayor: "...Judge Sotomayor's record of written statements suggest an alarming lack of respect for the notion of equal justice, and therefore, in my view, an insufficient willingness to abide by the judicial oath. This is particularly important when considering someone for the Supreme Court since, if she were confirmed, there would be no higher court to deter or prevent her from injecting into the law the various disconcerting principles that recur throughout her public statements. For that reason, I will oppose her nomination..." (Mitch McConnell [R-KY] is the Minority Leader in the US Seante.) http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=32765 --- From GOA: A vote to protect your right to travel out-of-state with a firearm could come to a vote next week - even as early as Monday! Senators John Thune and David Vitter are the sponsors of S. 845 - a bill that will establish concealed carry reciprocity amongst the several states. Senators Thune and Vitter offered the bill as an amendment (#1618) to the Department of Defense authorization bill (H.R. 2647). This provision will use the constitutional authority allowing Congress to enforce "full faith and credit" across the country, so that each state respects the "public acts, records, and judicial proceedings" of every other state (Article IV). The benefit of the Thune/Vitter legislation is that - unlike other, competing measures - it would protect the right of any U.S. citizen to carry out of state (regardless of whether he possesses a permit), as long as he is authorized to carry in his home state. This is important because of states like Vermont and Alaska, where residents can carry concealed without prior approval or permission from the state... in other words, without a permit! ... (Both GOA and NRA appear to believe that the "full faith and credit" aspect of this approach does not open the door to eventual federal standards of issuance of carry permits. I'm not sure that this has been studied adequately.) http://gunowners.org/a071709.htm http://gunowners.org/activism.htm --- Well Regulated?: ...Well, before 1968 I had bought a nice "baby" Browning .25 semi-automatic pistol for $49.50. It got stolen from my glove compartment (don't ask). I had good insurance so they gave me the full $49.50 for the loss. I went to my favorite gun store and told "Robin" that I needed another Browning .25. He said, "I have a used one there in the display case for $249.50." I said, "That must not be the same thing; mine was $49.50, new." He said, "That was before the new gun control bill. We can't get any more new ones. It's a collectible now." Nowadays there is even more gun control, carry restriction and mailing/purchase red tape. The gun and knife magazines are chock full of disgusting references to the products' use in Iraq, Afghanistan, the drug war and in the "global war on terror", and of cop and soldier adulation and worship. Last year, I received a mail-order pocketknife. On the top of the box, in huge letters, it says, "FOR THOSE WHO SERVE" and "for professional use." Knives are hyper-regulated as to type, blade length, grind and opening mechanism. 50 states; 50 sets of rules... http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig10/hill-r1.html --- The Beat Goes On: ... The confluence of the recession and the election of Barack Obama have made for boom times in the firearms business. New Mexicans have always had a love affair with weaponry, but fear has driven them to add to their collections. It's not fear of crime but fear that big government is going to amend their Second Amendment rights by taking their guns away. Gun buyers are not afraid to spend big bucks for the big bang. Truisms about the gun business - guns don't wear out and their prices don't go down. Many are buying guns as collector's items. Some gun shops are running sales increases in the 50 percent range since last November's presidential election of Barack Obama and subsequent appointment of Attorney General Eric Holder... "When the stock market goes down, people put their money into things. People buy guns as an investment. We are selling Civil War era repeater rifles today for $20,000 that sold for between $10,000 and $12,000 10 years ago," Peterson said. Colt single action handguns now sell for $4,500, doubling in price over a decade. New guns don't go down in price and have kept up with the rate of inflation for the past 25 years... http://albuquerque.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/stories/2009/07/20/story2.html?b=1248062400^1862215 --- In New Jersey, Blame the Gun: ...Chief Comey, dressed for the televised news conference not in a suit but tieless in casual business clothes, described the pump-action 12-gauge shotgun used by the accused gunman, Hassan Hosendove, also known as Hassan Shakur, 32, as being "manufactured for nothing other than to hunt man." He swayed back and forth as he spoke, and at one point ignored the protocol of press events and walked away from the lectern and the clutch of microphones, his words inaudible as he gestured toward a picture of the shotgun... http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/nyregion/18chief.html?ref=nyregion ...The suspect, Hassan Hosendove, 32 - also known as Fuzz and Hassan Shakur and by other names - had at least eight arrests in South Carolina dating back 15 years, according to records on the state's Law Enforcement Division Web site. He had been convicted on charges including aggravated assault and resisting arrest. In 2002, he was arrested in Jersey City for weapons possession and served four years in prison. After his release in 2007, Mr. Hosendove was returned to South Carolina because he had violated parole, officials said... http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/nyregion/18jersey.html?ref=nyregion Jersey City's top cop angrily denounced the influx of illegal guns onto the streets of the city and even took rhetorical aim at the National Rifle Association after an early-morning shootout left five cops wounded, two critically. "We need help to stop these weapons from hitting the street," said Police Chief Thomas Comey. "This weapon is manufactured for nothing other than to hunt man." Police Chief Thomas Comey was angry that a suspect who had a prior weapons conviction had no trouble obtaining the Mossberg pump-action tactical shotgun... http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/local_news/new_jersey/090716_Jersey_City_Chief_Guns_NRA Related Commentary: http://www.examiner.com/x-1417-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m7d17-Jersey-City-police-chief-blames-pumpaction-shotguns --- Man Acquitted for Carrying Gun at Big Brother Rally: A western Pennsylvania man has been cleared of criminal charges after bringing his handgun to a campaign rally for President Barack Obama. John Noble, of Industry, wore the 9 mm on ]sic] a holster and carried a Bible to the August rally to protest Obama's remark that Americans who felt left out by the system clung to guns and religion. The rally was in Beaver, about 30 miles north of Pittsburgh. Police said the 51-year-old Noble wanted to be disruptive. They say he posted on the Internet that he was taking the gun to "test what would happen." Friday, a jury acquitted him of a disrupting a public meeting and a judge acquitted him of disorderly conduct, but called his actions foolish. Noble wasn't charged with gun offenses because he was legally carrying it. http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/state/pennsylvania/20090717_ap_wpamanacquittedincaseofgunatobamarally.html http://kdka.com/beaver/John.Noble.Gun.2.1089780.html http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/regional/s_634184.html --- Oops, Wrong Apartment: A ten-year-old boy left home alone with his sister used his mother's gun to shoot an intruder in the face, police said... Deputies say Dean Favron and Roderick Porter knocked several times on the apartment door. The two young children, a ten-year-old boy and eight-year-old girl, stood on the other side, terrified. "He told his sister to be quiet and seconds later, they started kicking on the door and finally kicked the door in," said Sheriff Mike Cazes. The two children ran to their mother's bedroom closet. In a panic, the ten-year-old grabbed his mother's gun for protection. "He did what I told him to do. I never told him to get the gun, but thank God he did," she said. Once the two suspects opened the door, threatening the kids, deputies say the boy fired a bullet into the lip of Roderick Porter. The two men were taken to the hospital by a third suspect, who is a 15-year-old juvenile. Once they got to the hospital, they were later arrested. "It's just hard. I don't understand why they would do that. I know they have little brothers and sisters and they wouldn't want anyone to break into their house," said the mother... (The federal prohibition on handgun possession by juveniles has a specific exemption for self-defense or defense of another, within the juvenile's home.) http://www.wafb.com/global/story.asp?s=10741492 --- Arrest in Sale of Murder-Suicide Gun: Federal agents have arrested a convicted murderer for allegedly providing the gun later used to kill ex-NFL quarterback Steve McNair... A criminal complaint unsealed Friday in Nashville says that Gilliam - who was convicted of murder and attempted armed robbery in 1993 in Florida - admitted he sold the gun to the woman who later shot McNair. McNair was shot to death on July 4 at his condo by his 20-year-old mistress, Sahel Kazemi, who then turned the gun on herself... Detectives traced the gun, a 9 mm Bryco/Jennings, to its 2002 sale at a pawn shop, according to the complaint. Gilliam eventually bought it from an individual for $100 about a year or year and a half ago. Investigators said Gilliam told them he bought the gun for protection after his home was burglarized, and police reports indicate he did report a burglary about the time of the gun purchase. According to court documents, Gilliam admitted to detectives he sold the gun to Kazemi for $100... (Conspicuously absent is any mention of a gun show.) http://www.fanhouse.com/news/nfl/felon-arrested-over-gun-in-steve-mcnair/576955?icid=main|aimzones|dl1|link4|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fanhouse.com%2Fnews%2Fnfl%2Ffelon-arrested-over-gun-in-steve-mcnair%2F576955 --- From AzCDL: The Arizona Citizens Defense League (AzCDL) cordially invites you to our Annual Meeting of Members on October 3, 2009 at the Beaudry Event Center, 3200 E. Irvington, in Tucson. As with all our Annual Meetings, the tasteful open carrying of firearms is appreciated. Prior to the meeting, a buffet luncheon will be served at 1:00 PM. Lunch will be catered by Port-A-Pit and will feature their Pit Chicken, Country-Style Pork Ribs and Tri-Tip. Side dishes include salads, beans and muffins. Desert is a mixed berry cobbler. Iced tea, water, lemonade and coffee are included. Vegetarian alternatives will also be available. Those having lunch will need to register and pre-pay by September 26, 2009. The fee for lunch is $25 per person. The price includes a FREE Basic Annual AzCDL membership! If you are a Life Member, or if you joined AzCDL or renewed your membership after June 30, 2009, you are eligible to attend the Annual Meeting luncheon for FREE, or at a steeply discounted rate, depending on the cost of your membership. Details can be found on the reservation form: http://www.azcdl.org/2009RSVP1d.pdf . The schedule of events is a follows: Noon - Registration and seating for lunch 1:00 PM - Lunch is served 2:00 PM - Annual Meeting begins 4:00 PM - Adjournment More details and a reservation form can be found at: http://www.azcdl.org/html/annual_mtg.html . Reservations must be received by Saturday, September 26, 2009. Pre-payment is required to reserve meals. All attendees will be eligible for our door prize drawing of a Front Sight Course Certificate, good for a 4-day Defensive Pistol, Tactical Shotgun or Practical Rifle class. The certificate also allows two people to attend a 2-day version of these classes. Information on these courses can be found here: http://www.frontsight.com/ . These alerts are a project of the Arizona Citizens Defense League (AzCDL), an all volunteer, non-profit, non-partisan grassroots organization. Renew today! AzCDL - Protecting Your Freedom http://www.azcdl.org/html/join_us_.html Copyright © 2009 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 .