Big Brother Not Likely to Get Gun Treaty Ratified: President Obama's call for the Senate to ratify a hemispheric small-firearms treaty dominated his last visit to Mexico, but in the four months since, both the treaty pledge and the drug violence that prompted it have dropped off the radar - a victim of Congress' full schedule and gun politics... And even though Mr. Obama and his administration have accepted that blame, prospects are dim for passage of the treaty, which calls on countries to license gun manufacturers and try to control illicit trafficking in firearms, ammunition and explosives. The chief U.S. negotiator for the 1997 treaty, known by its Spanish acronym of CIFTA, says it was written specifically to avoid forcing the U.S. to change its laws, and says it does not give any other country a say over what is legal or illegal in the U.S. - and that gun-rights groups were even involved in writing parts of the treaty. But the National Rifle Association now claims CIFTA could hurt hunters and says U.S. Second Amendment interests should not be controlled by an international treaty. Key senators such as Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat whose gun-rights credentials may be crucial to his winning re-election next year, was cool to Mr. Obama's call for ratification in April, and a spokesman said nothing has changed since... http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/aug/09/prospects-dim-for-firearms-treaty/?feat=home_headlines ... But perhaps Obama could also better use the resources he does have to stem the flow of firepower. His Administration has ordered new checkpoints with hundreds of Homeland Security Agents searching for guns heading south. However, such random stop tactics have had little impact on a border that stretches 2,000 miles from the Pacific to the Gulf of Mexico. Meanwhile, ATF agents who run the intelligence work that nets most convicted traffickers still complain about being overstretched. In the Phoenix area, for example, the ATF has only 20 dedicated firearms investigators for thousands of gun sellers; some shops don't get inspected for years. "The traffickers have very organized operations. Intelligence work and investigations are the best way to get at them," says Peter Forcelli, who runs the Phoenix firearms-trafficking group. A veteran of the New York Police Department, Forcelli says the scale of the problem in the southwest is overwhelming. "I seized more AK47s in my first week in Arizona than in 15 years in New York," he says... (This past weekend, I had the owner of a gun shop on the border describe to me the harassment he received from F Troop for selling ammunition to a Mexican police officer, despite an exemption in the law permitting such sales.) http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1915327,00.html --- Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics: The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, America's preeminent gun control organization, recently issued a report suggesting that states with "weak gun laws" are the nation's major sources of "crime guns." But as with other Brady reports, a deeper examination is in order before accepting their conclusions. Earlier this year, the Brady Campaign claimed that the Tiahrt Amendment restricted law enforcement from accessing ATF trace data... In this new press release, Brady uses "ATF crime gun trace data" as a reliable source upon which to base their conclusion that: Gun dealers in states with weak gun laws supply guns to criminals in other states at a rate more than five times higher than dealers in states with stronger gun laws, according to a Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence analysis of newly released ATF crime gun trace data. Apparently, the Brady Campaign has decided that law enforcement does have sufficient access to ATF trace data, and that this data helps Brady to "prevent gun violence" by citing it in their publications... http://www.examiner.com/x-2879-Austin-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m8d10-Brady-Campaign-misrepresents-ATF-data-to-promote-more-guns-more-crime-message --- The Beat Goes On: Florida gun owners are grabbing up concealed-weapon permits at a record pace. It might be concern for President Barack Obama's record on guns or fear that a bad economy will cause crime to rise, or reaction to last year's guns-at-work law. Or maybe a combination of all three is behind the rapid rise in applications for pistol-toting permits, state officials say. "We're still sitting on about 50,000 applications," said Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson. "We're getting in about 14,000 or 15,000 a month and whenever they get a good slug out, they're getting another 15,000 in." Bronson went to the Legislature last spring for authorization to hire 61 temporary employees - bringing the total to 202 - who have helped whittle down a backlog that then stood at 90,000 for all types of concealed-weapon permits. The backlog, alone, was roughly equal to all the applications received in 2008 - 90,331 - and the department received 75,520 applications in the first six months of this year... There were 607,977 active concealed-weapon permits as of July 31. Active permits jumped more than 16,000 in a single month... http://www.pnj.com/article/20090810/NEWS01/908100315/1006/NEWS01 http://www.wftv.com/news/20330312/detail.html While the national debate about the right to bear arms most likely won't be resolved anytime soon, one thing is certain: Livingston County [MI] residents believe in exercising their Second Amendment rights. The county has issued 1,200 gun permits - both new and renewed - since January, which is nearly triple the 445 issued for the same time period last year. "My guess is (the reason) is twofold: One, concerns with potential for gun restrictions and, two, partially due to the economy," Lt. Mike Kinaschuk of the Livingston County Sheriff's Department said. "People believe they have to protect themselves. There are fewer police officers on the street these days," he noted... In 2008, the number of gun permits issued in Livingston County averaged 78 per month. As of June 24, that number increased to 171 per month. Statewide, the number of active concealed weapons permits rose more than five times from 53,000 in 2002 to 291,380 in 2008, according to the Michigan State Police's concealed pistol licensure annual report. The CPL was once known as a "carrying a concealed weapons" permit or CCW... http://www.livingstondaily.com/article/20090809/NEWS01/908090328/-1/NEWSFRONT2 --- Preaching Past the Choir: "You know you're wrong for that poster, right?" The lady asked, eyeing Representative Bobby Rush's face under the prominent words "I Sold Out to White Politicians . . . ." It didn't surprise Illinois Carry representative "Dr. G" that she took offense; the poster is obviously meant to be too provocative to ignore. What's surprising, he says, is the number of people at a Chicago event who made a point of signing his petition for concealed carry reform. He wasn't at a gun show or a gun-rights rally, after all. For only the second year, Illinois gun rights groups including the ISRA, Illinois Carry, and the Second Amendment Sisters, joined by civil rights group CORE Chicago, had purchased space at the Black Women's Expo in Chicago... http://www.examiner.com/x-17034-Chicago-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m8d9-Gun-rights-activists-reach-out-at-Black-Womens-Expo-in-Chicago --- Guns on Campus, One Year Later: One year ago, David Thweatt made a decision so controversial and groundbreaking the story about it sped around the world. The superintendent of the isolated Harrold Independent School District, about 30 miles northwest of here, made history last August when he and his school board decided to allow select teachers and staff members at the 110-student school to carry guns on campus - a first for Texas and the nation... In the year since that historic decision, a gun was never brandished or fired at the school. There were no problems, Thweatt said. However, one week after school began, police busted a methamphetamine lab set up in an abandoned house that sat 50 feet from the school property. A deputy had peered inside and "saw something in the walls and windows and called for backup," Thweatt said. "They made it to the abandoned house in 15 minutes. We had figured it would take 18 to 20 minutes in a typical situation." Had that been an armed intruder at his school, response time would have been too slow. "We're the first responders. We have to be," Thweatt said. "We don't have 5 minutes. We don't have 10 minutes. We would have had 20 minutes of hell" if attackers had targeted the school... http://www.reporternews.com/news/2009/aug/06/packed-for-school/ --- Oregon Campus-Carry Lawsuit: Those of you who followed the case of Jeff Maxwell, a Marine Corps veteran who was arrested at Western Oregon University for exercising his Second Amendment rights, know how long we have been involved in our efforts to get justice for him. It has been a very long and complicated journey. Although we were able to quickly get the criminal charges against him dropped, getting the Oregon University system to comply with the law is another matter... So, after much consideration and discussion, with a lot of input from friends in many quarters, we chose another route that we believe will allow us to reach a conclusion to this matter and isolate Jeffery from any future potential liability. Jeffery has been involved on all stages of this process and is on board with this strategy. On August 7th, our attorneys filed a Petition for Judicial Determination of Validity of Rule. Since our Foundation is the plaintiff instead of Jeff Maxwell, he cannot be liable for any negative outcomes in the future. The law also requires that the plaintiff not be a party to any current dispute, so the Foundation becomes the perfect party to address this issue... http://oregonfirearms.org/alertspage/08.07.09%20alert.html http://www.oregonlive.com/education/index.ssf/2009/08/gun_rights_advocates_sue_over.html --- How to Purchase a Handgun Legally in DC: You can't find him unless you're looking for him. The man with a monopoly on transferring legal handguns to D.C. residents likes to keep a low profile. Charles W. Sykes Jr.'s business, CS Exchange Limited, does not advertise in the Yellow Pages. It does not have a Web site. It resides in an office on Good Hope Road in Southeast and has no identifying signs on its outside walls. The only way to get the company's phone number is to call the Metropolitan Police Department and ask for contact information for the Federal Firearms License (FFL) dealers in the District. The police department then hands over the number for the only one willing to deal with residents - Mr. Sykes.... Though Mr. Sykes is the man to see if you're a D.C. resident looking to purchase a handgun, he will never sell you one. Mr. Sykes is a middle man who charges a fee to be the pickup location of a firearm purchased from a different area... http://www.washtimes.com/news/2009/aug/09/dc-man-quietly-transfers-legal-handguns/ In Case You Missed It Friday...: The lawyer who won the battle to allow District residents to keep handguns in their homes is now fighting to allow residents and visitors to carry their weapons in public. Alan Gura filed a lawsuit Thursday in U.S. District Court on behalf of four people who want the right to carry and conceal weapons for self-defense. Gura filed the suit on behalf of three D.C. residents: Tom G. Palmer, George Lyon and Amy McVey. D.C. police rejected the gun registration applications of all three when they informed police that they intended to carry their loaded guns outside of their homes. Palmer and Lyon were also plaintiffs in the 2003 lawsuit. The lawsuit seeks to afford the right to carry a gun to non-District residents who have gun permits issued elsewhere. The fourth person in the complaint, Edward Raymond, a law school student who lives in New Hampshire, was arrested in the District in 2007 for carrying a loaded handgun in his car when he was stopped for speeding. Raymond had a permit to carry the gun in Maryland and Florida. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor unregistered gun... Also named as a plaintiff in the suit is the Second Amendment Foundation, a nonprofit gun-advocacy organization based in Bellevue, Wash... http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/07/AR2009080702997.html --- California Stumbles on Microstamping: Two years after California passed a novel law requiring the next generation of semiautomatic handguns to leave a microscopic identifying code on shell casings, the controversial technology appears no closer to being introduced here or anywhere else. California Attorney General Jerry Brown has not certified the law, which is required before it can take effect as scheduled on Jan. 1, and his aides could not say when that may happen. Other states expected to follow California's lead instead have pulled back, waiting in some cases to see what happens here. Similar federal legislation has failed to find any political traction. Gun manufacturers continue to question the readiness and potential cost of the technology, known as microstamping or ballistic tagging. Regardless, they say, other safety standards unique to California are stopping most companies from introducing handgun models here... http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/aug/10/1n10guncodes235322-casing-code-issues-snag-handgun/ --- Oops, Wrong Pizza Parlor: A pizza shop owner in Philadelphia fought back when a man tried to rob him at gunpoint. The attempted robbery happened inside Tony's Place pizza shop on the 2900 block of Frankford Avenue in the city's Port Richmond section. Police say an armed gunman walked into the pizza shop at 11:45 Saturday night demanding money, but the owner pulled out his own gun and shot the robber in the back. The would-be thief is now in critical condition at Temple University Hospital. (If the wounded guy used a gun, he is a robber, not a thief.) http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/take_action&id=6955910 http://www.examiner.com/x-18149-SelfDefense-Examiner~y2009m8d9-Pizza-shop-armed-robber-shot-in-self-defense --- Oops, Wrong Church: When a gunman stormed a Saturday morning church service at Ministerio Pentecostal Manantial De Vida, worshipers didn't turn the other cheek. They turned the tables on him. Normal services at the Spanish-language church were interrupted around 5 a.m. when a masked man burst in, pointed the gun at attendees and tried to rob them - in English... Instead of rolling over, some of the worshipers rushed the man, disarmed him and held him down until deputies could arrive, said Teri Barbera, spokeswoman for the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office. They arrested Ludesson Nestor, 18, of West Palm Beach, on charges of robbery with a firearm and aggravated assault with a firearm... http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/sfl-lake-worth-church-attempted-robbery-080809,0,777031.story --- Bringing a Can of Peas to a Gunfight: Toledo police are looking for a second suspect involved in a Tuesday morning home invasion. Witnesses say they heard someone beating on an apartment door at the Vistula Heritage Village on the corner of Erie and Locust Streets in north Toledo. When they looked out, they saw two masked men with guns barge into an apartment. The witnesses say Toyia Taylor, who was in the apartment, yelled she had been pistol-whipped and that she started beating one of the suspects, Gregory Banks, with a metal can. One of the suspects took off on foot. Banks was beaten so badly he had to be taken to the hospital... (Mental preparedness is the second priority. It included not only being prepared to use deadly force but being prepared to use whatever means are available, even if it's a can of peas.) http://www.wtol.com/Global/story.asp?S=10844926 --- That's One Way to Conceal a Handgun: A felony suspect who tipped the scale at more than 500 pounds carried an unloaded 9mm pistol into city and county jails beneath flabs of his skin even though law enforcement officers repeatedly searched him, authorities said Thursday... Police spokesman Victor Senties said Vera was searched three times by police personnel: once at the scene, again, more thoroughly, when he arrived at the city jail, and a final time before he was transferred to the Harris County Jail. Vera was subjected to an additional search at the county lockup. City and county law enforcement spokespeople said inmates at both the city and county jails are not required to pass through a metal detector or undergo wand searches. Vera's possession of the firearm came to light Monday when he approached a county guard during a shower break and admitted having smuggled the weapon, authorities said. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6562918.html --- Nevada Range Re-Evaluates Rules: Thousands of people sight in deer rifles, practice target shooting, compete in shooting sports and train for their careers every year at the Washoe County Regional Shooting Range. The range on the Pyramid Highway near Pyramid Lake may get a new direction and goals, as a new committee sets long-term goals and considers raising user fees and perhaps changes the way groups reserve the range for use. The seven-member Washoe County Shooting Facility Advisory Committee formed in July will make recommendations to the Washoe County Commission. The changes come as budget cuts have eliminated some money for the range - including the loss of seasonal staff and some equipment - and shooting groups that could find themselves able to use the range only while a paid park ranger is on duty... http://www.rgj.com/article/20090809/NEWS/90809027/1321 --- Tales from the Secret Service: ... Ronald Reagan received Secret Service protection for the first time when he ran unsuccessfully for the GOP presidential nomination in 1976. One day as he was preparing to drive from his Los Angeles home to his ranch near Santa Barbara, an agent noticed that he was wearing a gun and asked what it was for. "Well, just in case you guys can't do the job, I can help out," Reagan replied. Years later, he confided to an agent that on his first presidential trip to the Soviet Union in May 1988, he had carried a gun in his briefcase... (Often portrayed as a champion of the RKBA, Reagan actually signed several infringements into law while governor of California. I suspect that he may not have had a permit to be carrying that gun in 1976.) http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/reagan_secret_service/2009/08/09/245752.html --- From AzCDL: We still have about 2 months before all the bills that were passed in the 2009 legislative session become effective. Meanwhile the Legislature is tied up in a special session working on the budget. It will be January before the next regular session legislative begins and we engage in the next round of battles to restore and protect our rights. AzCDL is establishing a Political Action Committee (PAC)! When everything gets firmed up, we will announce the details. If your membership is coming up for renewal you can save $10 off the membership fee by renewing (or getting friends and family members to join) at any gun show where AzCDL has a presence. In August, AzCDL will be at the Tombstone gun show (August 8 & 9) and at the Prescott Valley gun show (August 15 & 16). We encourage you to attend AzCDL's annual meeting 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. 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 . These alerts are a project of the Arizona Citizens Defense League (AzCDL), an all volunteer, non-profit, non-partisan grassroots organization. Renew today! http://www.azcdl.org/html/join_us_.html . AzCDL - Protecting Your Freedom http://www.azcdl.org/html/accomplishments.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 .