From GOA: ... The Thune-Vitter amendment was hotly debated on the Senate floor Wednesday. Senator Thune pointed out that, while 48 states have some form of concealed carry law, his measure would simply "extend that constitutional right across State lines," recognizing that the right to bear arms and defend oneself "does not end at State borders or State lines." One of the more comical arguments made by some Democrat Senators - Chuck Schumer (NY), Frank Lautenberg (NJ) and Dianne Feinstein (CA) - is that this provision would compromise "states rights." Of course, these Senators have shown they care little about "states rights," as evidenced by federal gun control laws that bear their names: the ban on semi-automatic firearms (the so-called Feinstein assault weapons ban) and the lifetime gun ban on people who engage in pushing-and-shoving incidents in the home (the Lautenberg misdemeanor gun ban). And where was their adherence to states rights when they voted for the Brady bill, the Gun Free School Zones Ban and the Veterans Disarmament Act? Republican Senator Tom Coburn (OK) pointed out their hypocrisy when he said: "We had a vote in terms of honoring States rights in terms of the national park bill on guns. Twenty-nine of my colleagues, thirteen of whom now are 'defending States rights,' stepped all over States rights with their vote against the Coburn amendment when it came to allowing people to have supreme their State law in terms of national parks." ... http://gunowners.org/a072409.htm The Sky Could Still Fall in New Jersey: In our nation's capital, no bad idea ever seems to die for good. So we can expect the crackpot gun law that was blocked in the U.S. Senate this week to rise again any day now. This is the bill that would take New Jersey's strict limits on carrying concealed firearms and blow a hole in them big enough for a truck driver, or anyone else with a permit from another state, to bring guns through. The effort to attach it as an amendment to the Defense Appropriations Act was defeated, but only because that required 60 votes in the Senate. The vote was 58 in favor of the carry-across-state-lines, local-laws-be-damned measure, 39 against. National Rifle Association executive vice president Wayne LaPierre declared the vote "an important step forward" and expressed confidence he can get two more votes next time. And he promised there will be a next time. So watch out - we haven't seen the end of this fight. http://blog.nj.com/njv_editorial_page/2009/07/in_our_nations_capital_no.html Meanwhile, in West Virginia...: Gun rights advocates are turning their attention to the state level after this week's defeat of a bill in the U.S. Senate. The West Virginia Citizens Defense League issued a press release pushing the state Legislature to reform its concealed weapon reciprocity law. The group views the state law as restrictive with unnecessary legal impediments to establishing reciprocity with other states. Reciprocity agreements allow state residents to carry their concealed weapons into other states. West Virginia permits are currently recognized in 23 states, including each of its neighbors except Maryland... The Defense League's release states West Virginia is one of only three states that require other states to have a centralized computer database for the purpose of providing instantaneous license verification to law-enforcement officers 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The group said other state reciprocity laws take out-of-state licenses at face value. The Defense League also criticized West Virginia for being one of two states whose reciprocity law requires other states to enter into a formal, written reciprocity agreement as a condition of that state's licenses being recognized, the release states. http://www.herald-dispatch.com/news/x1532883386/Gun-rights-advocates-turn-attention-toward-states Thune-Vitter CCW Reciprocity Amendment Is Really A Win: The headline is somewhat misleading. Let's not forget that the amendment did pass, 58 to 39. It just did not have the votes to overcome the threat of a veto. 48 states already have concealed carry permit issue. No less than 40 of them are mandatory issue, meaning if you pass the background check and the course, the permit must be issued. Most of the concealed carry states already have reciprocity with most other such states... Nationwide, licensed concealed carry is coming, and it's going to be OK, really it will. The sky will not fall, nor will the old West reappear, and blood will not run in our streets. We don't have to guess about the outcome. There are 40 states that already have mandatory issue for CCW licenses, and there are 8 more states that have discretionary licensing. Together, 48 States have demonstrated in the last decade that licensed, concealed carry works, that public safety and security is enhanced, and that as a public policy, it measurably suppresses violent crime. (Again, the question remains, if it takes federal legislation to implement nationwide recognition, what's to stop that law from being amended, at a later date, to establish federal standards for permit issuance?) http://www.ammoland.com/2009/07/24/thune-vitter-ccw-reciprocity-amendment-is-really-a-win/ --- NRA's Timing Questioned: Would South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham have announced his support for the confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor if the National Rifle Association had announced a week ago its determination to rate the confirmation vote? That's the question some conservative leaders and activists are asking themselves today, as they ponder stories with headlines like "Graham takes on conservatives." Graham, after all, has always scored exceedingly well on the NRA's important congressional ratings... Let's back up two months. When Sotomayor was first nominated, the NRA stayed silent - not because there was any doubt in anyone's mind that she was opposed to the Second Amendment rights the NRA steadfastly defend but because there was a question in the minds of the men and women who run the NRA as to whether or not the organization's influence and power, and perception thereof, would be enhanced or diminished by taking a position on a nominee likely to be confirmed no matter what position the NRA took... http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/in_the_right/2009/07/graham-sotomayor-and-the-nra-t.html --- Make Politicians Prove Support of RKBA: I'm sick of politicians. Democrats and Republicans continually prove themselves to be thinly-disguised collectivist sell-outs, and third parties haven't managed to make a dent in the status quo... So when a friend in Texas wrote that he'd found a candidate for Congress who looked pretty good on guns, I checked out the campaign website. It was pretty much "I strongly support the Second Amendment" boilerplate interspersed with assurances that the candidate comes from a hunting family. If you think about it, that's pretty much what John Kerry told us... Long story short: A few years back, I developed a political questionnaire to help pin down the double-speak and weasel words that are the norm. It's past time for people who would presume to represent us to show us they understand what our rights are. I expect them to consider the right to keep and bear arms not as an embarrassing lip service requirement, but as an enshrined unalienable right. I don't want them just to defend it, I want them to know how and why to proudly champion it... http://www.examiner.com/x-1417-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m7d24-Make-politicians-prove-they-support-the-Second-Amendment --- Mixed Results in Georgia Open-Carry Case: Georgia resident Luke Woodard ended up in the Paulding County jail for purchasing lottery tickets while carrying a handgun openly. He was charged with carrying a concealed weapon, even though he was carrying openly, and disorderly conduct. As reported in these pages previously, Luke Woodard sued the two Paulding County Sheriff's Deputies involved. Federal Judge Harold Murphy, Northern District of Georgia, recently ruled that the officers had no probable cause to arrest Mr. Woodard on either charge, and that therefore, his arrest was illegal... The lesson from this case is probably not to "fidget" with your gun or check it when people are watching... (I have always said that if you must or choose to carry openly, do so in a holster that provides some level of security against a gun-grab. If I correctly infer that Woodard was carrying in the small of the back, not only does that risk a spinal injury in a fall or if slammed into a wall, it also places the gun in a very difficult location to defend and, apparently, to verify that it is till there.) http://www.examiner.com/x-5619-Atlanta-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m7d24-Federal-court-rules-no-probable-cause-in-arrest-for-openly-carried-firearm --- Should You Own a Gun?: It has been a particularly discouraging week during which two women in South Park were brutally stabbed - one fatally - as they slept, one teen fatally shot another in the Leschi neighborhood and two people in the Green Lake neighborhood were robbed of a gun and electronics. So, let us consider for a moment: Should you own a firearm? Take a good look in the mirror, size up that person you see, and ask whether you think that man or woman has the skill, temperament, and backbone to use a gun properly, should the occasion arise? In the Green Lake neighborhood early Friday, three thugs, one armed with a gun, burst in to confront the two people living in a residence. One of the residents grabbed his own gun but, according to this account in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on-line, "dropped his firearm and complied with the suspects" because he was in fear for his life. This one left veteran gun owners mystified, asking, "Instead of dropping his gun, why didn't the guy just shoot the other guy?" ... http://www.examiner.com/x-4525-Seattle-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m7d24-Thought-for-the-weekend-Should-you-own-a-gun --- Rule One, Rule Two, Rule Three Reminder: The apparent accidental shooting death of a man at the unsupervised Rampart Range Saturday gives critics more of a reason to demand that the range be closed. However, many gun owners Sunday say the gun user - and not the lack of supervision - should be the issue. Owners of the Dragon Man Shooting Range and Whistling Pines Gun Club - managed, supervised facilities - agree the tragedy could have been avoided had the gun user followed basic safety procedures. Authorities say the user may have been cleaning his gun when it discharged, killing Otis Freison, 25, of Aurora. Shooting range owners say you should not try to clean a gun until you have first unloaded it and made certain a round is not in the chamber. Also, you should never load a gun; point it at someone; or finger the trigger unless you are ready to use it... (I can recall two suicides with rental guns on one presumably supervised indoor range where I used to shoot. The Rules - http://www.spw-duf.info/safety.html.) http://www.krdotv.com/Global/story.asp?S=10751501 --- Well Informed Leadership: Raids in Los Angeles this week that uncovered an extraordinary cache of illegal assault weapons were prompted in part by an increased use of high-powered weapons in San Fernando Valley shootings, police said. Two men and one woman were arrested this week after authorities raided a downtown warehouse and several Los Angeles homes and seized 32 firearms, including semiautomatic rifles, high-caliber guns and ammunition for AK-47s. "We knew the firearms were out there and we wanted to get them off the street," said Michael Hoffman, a special agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. "Firearms are the tools of the trade for gang members and drug dealers." Authorities have noticed an increase in high-caliber weapons in Los Angeles. One of the most startling incidents was when a Fabrique National 57, an assault pistol used to kill big game, was found in a victim's car by detectives investigating a double-homicide last year in North Hollywood. "You use it on large lions, tigers and bears," said LAPD Deputy Chief Michel Moore, commander of the Valley Bureau... (The FN Five-seveN [sic] pistol fires a .22-caliber bullet. Law-enforcement agencies can purchase an armor-piercing version of the ammunition, which is not sold to private citizens. Perhaps if the nation's "police executives" would all go on safari with the Five-seveN, Brady Bunch and VPC would lose their shills from that quarter.) http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_12060413 --- Scary Stuff: While not getting much publicity in the Oklahoma or national media, next week, between July 27-31, there will be a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) event taking place in the Sooner State and surrounding states called National Level Exercise 2009 or simply NLE 09. According to an official press release released at FEMA.gov, "NLE 09 will focus on intelligence and information sharing among intelligence and law enforcement communities, and between international, federal, regional, state, tribal, local and private sector participants." And where Oklahoma comes in is that this year, NLE 09 is focusing on FEMA Region VI, of which Oklahoma is a part of. The other states in the participating FEMA region include: Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas and New Mexico... And what is interesting about NLE 09 is what is not highlighted by FEMA and OKOHS. As reported in April by Kurt Nimmo at PrisonPlanet.com "NLE 09 will also include exercises designed to round up and intern suspected terrorists." Nimmo's report speculates that NLE 09 "represents the next phase of preparations to implement martial law in America under the guise of fighting loosely defined terrorists." And this is not simply a national exercise with Americans involved. Representatives from Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and Mexico are expected to participate as well. What the roles these foreigners will play, particularly the Mexican officials, is not entirely clear... http://www.prisonplanet.com/questions-about-nle-09-exercise.html --- From AzCDL: AzCDL will have a table at the Tombstone gun show on August 8-9, 2009. The show will be held at the old High School Gymnasium on 6th & Allen Streets. If you can spare a few hours while visiting historic Tombstone, we would deeply appreciate your help. AzCDL's phenomenal growth is primarily because of the hard work of our gun show volunteers all over Arizona. Gun shows provide a great opportunity to educate fellow gun owners about our goals and hard won successes. Come on down and spend some time observing the other volunteers. When you feel ready, step on in. If pro-active interactions are not your forte, we still need volunteers to manage the table, help hand out flyers and brochures, and keep an eye on things. Volunteers who work the AzCDL table for a few hours get into gun shows FREE! If your membership is coming up for renewal soon, stop by the table and renew at the "gun show special" rate ($10 off!). Sustaining memberships get a FREE AzCDL T-Shirt. Not a member? Not a problem! You can join AzCDL at the gun show! Interested? Send an email to Tom: tom.woodrow@AzCDL.org 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 .