Big Brother Reverses US Position on Arms Treaty: Reuters is reporting that the Obama administration has reversed U.S. policy and said it would back launching talks on a United Nations treaty to regulate arms sales, a move that is pro-gun activists warn is one giant leap toward side-stepping Congress and overturning the Second Amendment... Although President Obama is clearly doing their bidding, gun control extremists are still not happy, saying they are opposed to the proposed consensus rules because decisions on the treaty be made by consensus "could fatally weaken a final deal." ...The main opponent of the treaty in the past was the U.S. Bush administration, which said national controls were better. The change in policy is opposed by the National Rifle Association, as well as by conservative U.S. think tanks like the Heritage Foundation, which is quoted as saying the treaty will not restrict the access of "dictators and terrorists" to arms but would be used to reduce the ability of democracies such as Israel to defend their people... http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/node/6943 --- Not an Encouraging Turn: Federal prosecutors said Wednesday they have arrested a Massachusetts man in connection with terrorist plots that included attacks on U.S. shopping malls and on two White House officials. The suspect has been identified as Tarek Mehanna, 27, of Sudbury, Mass. He has been charged in connection with plotting with other terrorists from 2001 to May 2008 to carry out overseas and domestic terrorist attacks, which included killing shoppers and first responders at malls. However, none of the attacks was carried out because the conspirators could not obtain automatic weapons [emphasis added]... (Is the glass half empty or half full? On the one hand, this arrest argues for more citizens remaining armed in more locations. On the other, it's likely to provide fodder for those alleging to want to keep firearms out of the hands of terrorists.) http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/21/terrorist-suspect-arrested-massachusetts/ --- RKBA Attorney Counsels Patience: In the 1920s and 1930s, Jehovah's Witnesses were viewed by many with the same horror and loathing gun owners receive today. So the 1920s and 1930s saw widespread state and local legislation against Jehovah's Witnesses, and though the Bill of Rights guarantees freedom of speech and religion, it took 30 to 40 years of careful litigation - patiently piling up precedents to achieve the overthrow of those laws by the Supreme Court. The relevance of the Witnesses' experience to gun owners is that it will take at least that many years of patient, careful litigation to remove the morass of senseless anti-gun laws at all levels of government. Unfortunately, the gun movement is afflicted by multiple glory-seekers and fanatics disguised as lawyers - but without any real background in constitutional litigation - bringing lawsuits that are sure to lose and create disastrous precedents to adversely influence the development of Second Amendment law. The most ill-advised of all would be premature challenges to the "assault weapon" bans that now exist in several states... (I think it is fair to say that Don Kates represents the left side of the RKBA spectrum. It may also be fair to say that his view is conditioned by the fact that he is located in California.) http://www.handgunsmag.com/HG_pop_200911/ --- CCW Remains Issue in California County: Citizen gun owners who attended a hearing before the Orange County Board of Supervisors testified, stating their dissatisfaction with the Sheriff's policy and the fact that she was not elected to office. Many suggested that Sheriff Hutchens has her own agenda, is intending to impose the Los Angeles County policies on the citizens of Orange County and the Board of Supervisors should distance themselves from her policy. During the testimony, Sheriff Hutchens stood her ground refuting the citizen's interpretation of her new policy saying, "I do not see this as a Second Amendment Issue. The policy does not impact the right to have a gun at home or in a place of business." Bill Hunt, a former OC Sheriff's Lieutenant, who is expected to challenge Sheriff Hutchens in the 2010 election was critical of Sheriffs and other Police Chiefs who do not share the fundamental beliefs in values held in the communities which they serve... (Hutchens, formerly a division chief with LASD, whose highly restrictive CCW policy she confuses with state law, was appointed to fill the vacancy created when Mike Carona resigned after being charged with several felonies. Carona had made Orange County about as close to shall-issue as permitted under California law.) http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS96203+20-Oct-2009+PRN20091020 --- Florida School District Bans Parking-Lot Storage: School employees, students and visitors to schools will now need to make sure they leave their concealed weapons at home, even if they have a permit. The Georgetown County School District voted Tuesday to ban all concealed weapons from all district property, including parking lots. The move was in response to a plea from the Georgetown Police Department. A state law enacted in June made an exception to the state's ban on weapons on school property. The law allows those with permits to have a concealed weapon on school grounds if it is in a parked car in a locked compartment or if the individual is inside the vehicle... The law passed by the General Assembly in June was designed to protect people who have permits and keep guns in their cars when dropping their children off at school, and teachers who keep their guns in their cars for protection during their commute, said Sen. Shane Martin, R-Spartanburg, one of the sponsors of the legislation... As for a local policy counteracting state law, Dozier said there has been legal precedence [sic] when an employer is able to ban concealed weapons on their property. Employees who have concealed weapons permits and weapons can park off school grounds, Dozier pointed out... (As I recall, Florida also has a general protection for parking-lot storage although it contains some strange exceptions.) http://www.thesunnews.com/142/story/1126193.html? --- Dial 911 and Die?: Jorge Guzman locked himself in his bedroom, called 911, and waited for help while a home invader prowled around in his home. Armed with his handgun, the emergency operator told him repeatedly that help was on the way. As the minutes dragged on like hours to a frightened Guzman, he was told to put down his gun because the next person he saw would be a deputy. He almost complied, which may have drastically changed the outcome... The dispatcher is not on scene and doesn't know anybody's location. This places additional stress on both the homeowner and deputies: The homeowner didn't want to shoot a cop, and yet was considered an armed suspect until deputies made a positive identification and secured the crime scene. As a rightful defender, train smart and pay attention to the situation. You must also remain in control. Had Guzman placed all his trust in the dispatcher's words and put his gun down, he may have become a statistic... (As with officers, the quality of dispatchers can vary from incompetence and indifference to highly professional. If you fail to plan, plan to fail. My CWP students are instructed on how to interact with 911 operators and dispatchers. Use of a safe room is key to home defense. Avoid wandering out of it, particularly once officers arrive. Make sure that the dispatcher transmits your description and those of other people who belong in the home to the officers, to reduce the risk of mistaken-identity shootings, such as we recently saw in Phoenix. Dial 911 and Die is the title of a book published by JPFO [http://shop.jpfo.org/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=23].) http://www.examiner.com/x-2879-Austin-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m10d21-Selfdefense-and-911-reality --- Ohio Cases Demonstrate Need for Campus Carry: Another wave of armed robberies put Columbus college students at risk yet again due to the archaic ban on legal concealed carry on campus. As a result, students are easy pickings for criminals looking for a sure thing. In this case, one student from Capitol University in Bexley was robbed and two different students at Ohio State were targeted. One student was kidnapped from the OSU campus at gunpoint and taken to an ATM to get cash for his attackers. Luckily, none of the students were harmed. An employee at a UniPrint store on the OSU campus, however, wasn't so fortunate. Two armed suspects, both described as black males wearing ski masks, forcefully entered the store before it had opened (bypassing the "no-guns" signs prominently displayed on the front doors) and pistol-whipped the employee... http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/node/6931 --- Oops, Wrong House, Oregon Version: Police have arrested a man after a woman was sexually assaulted in her own home in Forest Grove, just west of the Portland suburb of Hillsboro... KATU's investigation has uncovered that Elliott is a 53-year-old transient. The woman was 23 years old, and was asleep in her home at the time. We're told that the woman grabbed a 22-caliber rifle, fired it in Elliott's general direction, and he ran off. Police arrested him not long after the incident in his van on Forest Grove's Fir Road. Police tell KATU that Elliott did not break in, as other media has reported. Police said the house was unlocked and the suspect let himself in. A burglary charge still applies, since he was not supposed to be there. Police said this is important to note so people in Forest Grove "aren't thinking some crazy guy is breaking into houses and trying to rape women." Police also told KATU that Elliot knew the victim's friends, and had gone out with them earlier that night. (All's well that ends well but, despite the believe in places and times where on can leave doors unlocked, it's not a safe practice.) http://www.katu.com/news/64650067.html http://www.examiner.com/x-18149-SelfDefense-Examiner~y2009m10d19-Armed-woman-fends-off-a-home-invading-rapist --- Oops, Wrong House, Texas Version: It took one shot for an East Texas senior to put an end to a would-be robber's crime spree. The story began around 2am Monday morning at Southside Bank in Hawkins. The branch is located inside Brookshire's, right off Highway 14. That is where police say 19-year-old David McWhorter was spotted, first. We spoke to the homeowner whose one shot landed the alleged burglar in the ER. "Just...put the gun up to the window, and he was standing there and I pulled the trigger," said the 78-year-old homeowner. One shot through the window was all it took. Our homeowner didn't mind an on camera interview, but asked his name not be released. He suffers from a hip injury and was sitting in his chair when the suspect broke into his screened porch. He says it is not the first time he has been broken into. Every window is now nailed shut and a baggie full of ammo for his 4-10 single-shot shotgun is always nearby... (All's well that ends well but maybe his neighbors will chip in to buy him something better for home-defense than a single-shot .410 [sic] shotgun.) http://www.kltv.com/Global/story.asp?S=11341726 Related Commentary: Several other recent accounts of armed self-defense by elderly victims are linked. http://www.examiner.com/x-18149-SelfDefense-Examiner~y2009m10d20-Armed-senior-citizen-stops-wouldbe-home-invader --- He's Still Alive so It's Not a Darwin Award: A Tulare man shot himself without the use of a gun, police said. Police said the 18-year-old man was holding a bullet with pliers when he smashed it with a hammer, setting it off and shooting himself in the foot. The injured man was taken to Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno, where he was treated and released. Tulare police Sgt. Darron Altermatt said the man won't face criminal charges stemming from the incident, reported at 11:10 p.m. Friday. The incident occurred at a home in the 400 block of North B Street. It was not known exactly why the man hammered the bullet. (Generally bullets that are fired in this manner don't attain much velocity as the cartridge is not supported and there is no barrel in which the burning powder can continue to accelerate the bullet. I guess we owe this "scientist" a vote of thanks for proving that such a bullet can penetrate flesh. I have seen a .22 round that cooked off in a trash fire fail to penetrate a friend's jeans but he was probably a few feet farther from the cartridge when it cooked off.) http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/article/20091020/NEWS01/910200320/1002/Crimeline--Tulare-man-hammers-bullet-into-foot --- Tory Media Tackles Oath Keepers: We've talked about Oath Keepers many times here on Gun Rights Examiner. Now the "mainstream media" is starting to take notice of them. And some are taking their cues from fabricated and hysterical Southern Poverty Law Center cries of "Witch!"...I mean "Hate group!" http://www.examiner.com/x-1417-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m10d20-Media-discovering-Oath-Keepers-part-one In part one, I refreshed readers on what Oath Keepers is and gave some background on Stewart Rhodes, the driving force behind the movement. Now that the "mainstream media" is in the process of discovering the group, it's important to ensure their message is heard amidst all the lying accusations feeding off the Southern Poverty Law Center's agenda-driven and calculated hysteria... http://www.examiner.com/x-1417-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m10d20-Media-discovering-Oath-Keepers-part-two ...My biggest question to the people who are alarmed by the Oath Keepers is this: if our men and women in uniform reaffirming their oath to refuse unconstitutional orders so bothers you, what unconstitutional orders do you expect them to receive, and want them to obey? Yesterday, I discussed the "cold, dead hands" promise--could the alarm about the Oath Keepers be linked to fear that there will not be enough troops and police officers to render those hands cold and dead? http://www.examiner.com/x-2581-St-Louis-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m10d20-Oath-Keepers-how-is-a-vow-to-uphold-the-Constitution-a-threat?cid=examiner-email --- Tangentially Related: ...Why was there less crime years ago? Because people were vigilant. They took action when persons came into their area who did not belong, and they knew who lived in their neighborhood and who did not. Today most people do not even know who their neighbor is, let alone if something is out of place. Toward the end of my career, I have taken reports where heinous crimes had been committed next door. The neighbor heard it and did not even bother to call police. They said it was none of their business. Or the neighbor was not home. Even if a neighbor calls the police, it would have made little difference in the life of the victim. However in each case had the victim been prepared, or a neighbor been prepared and cared enough to intervene as soon as the trouble started, things would have been different. Something to remember when you think the police protect you or that your neighbor will call the police if they hear something or intervene on your behalf. http://shilohtv.com/?p=1291#more-1291 --- An Army investigation found that soldiers should not have been sent to man traffic stops in a small Alabama town after 11 people were killed in March during a shooting spree. An Army report released to The Associated Press on Monday in response to a Freedom of Information Act request said the decision to dispatch military police to Samson from nearby Fort Rucker broke the law. But an Army spokesman said no charges have been filed following the Aug. 10 report... The report from the Department of Army Inspector General found the use of military personnel in Samson violated the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits federal troops from performing law enforcement actions. The names of those involved were redacted from the report... http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SOUTH_ALABAMA_SHOOTINGS?SITE=DCSAS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2009-10-19-21-40-35 --- From AzCDL: AzCDL October 2009 Newsletter available online The AzCDL Newsletter for October 2009 is available for viewing and downloading at: http://www.azcdl.org/html/newsletters.html . This edition of the newsletter contains a summary of the new laws in effect from the 2009 legislative session along with how your Representatives and Senator voted on key pro-rights bills. 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 .