Behind the UN Arms Treaty: ... Rare are the instances where Russia, China, and Israel have the same views on any international treaty; but they all oppose efforts in the United Nations to pass the global Arms Trade Treaty. Why the convergence on this issue? ... The Israelis face existential peril from the adversaries that surround it and dwarf it in size, wealth, and population. They have learned the peril of relying on the "kindness of strangers." Because weapon systems are expensive, Israel has tried to lower the average costs of its defense goods by developing a thriving arms export industry. Such sales are often used for diplomatic purposes; to strengthen ties between Israel and its customers (India is a major importer of Israeli arms; Israel and India enjoy strong ties-that is but just one example)... George Soros is a clever, wealthy man, and a fierce opponent of Israel. He has ties to many groups (Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, J Street, The international Crisis Group - and that is just a sampling) that have in common an anti-Israel agenda. Are his efforts to lodge control of the arms export trade in the United Nations (the epicenter of anti-Israel actions) just one more step towards his goal of weakening Israel? He knows how to use leverage: how to invest relatively small sums to bring about radical change. I warned about Soros and his ties to Barack Obama years ago... http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/11/soros_action_group_looking_to.html --- Feds Claim Increased Gun Seizures at Border: Stepped-up enforcement efforts have led to more seizures of illegal drugs, guns and cash flowing back and forth across the U.S.-Mexico border, officials from three federal agencies said yesterday. Gathered at a two-day summit in San Diego's Omni Hotel, officials from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives announced that officers assigned to the southern border intercepted more than $40 million in contraband cash between mid-March and the end of September. That is nearly twice the amount seized during the same period a year prior. The announcement comes after several months of intensive efforts to cut down on the southbound flow of U.S.-purchased weapons and drug profits to Mexico's drug cartels, with the hope of dampening drug violence along the border... From July through September, the agency's seizure of firearms along the southern border jumped by more than 65 percent over the previous three months. Weapons seizures by Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement also were up more than 50 percent during the last six months of fiscal year 2009, which ended Sept. 30, in comparison with the same period a year ago. (Okay, we have a numerical figure for the cash. However, If ICE and CBP had seized 20 firearms from April through June and 33 from July through September, the 65% increase wouldn't really mean very much.) http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2009/nov/04/feds-gun-cash-seizures-up-at-border/ --- Maryland Ruling Cites Heller Limits: I've written recently about how courts in New Jersey and Illinois have concluded that the Second Amendment poses no obstacle to local governments enacting stringent anti-gun laws. Now a Maryland appeals court has followed suit. A three-judge panel ruled last Thursday that the Second Amendment does not interfere with a Maryland law that generally restricts state residents from carrying handguns. That's not much of a surprise. What is remarkable is that Judge Albert Matricciani went out of his way to write that even if the Second Amendment applied to state laws, Maryland's statute would be perfectly constitutional in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court D.C. v. Heller decision last year to invalidate the District of Columbia's handgun ban... Translation: Your right to keep and bear arms applies only to your own home... (Unfortunately, due to the very narrow crafting of the Heller case, the ruling was more about keeping than bearing arms.) http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/11/04/taking_liberties/entry5517894.shtml --- From GOA: We have reached the point in the battle over ObamaCare which will decide whether we win or lose. The details of Speaker Nancy Pelosi's bill are in, and they can be seen at http://docs.house.gov/rules/health/111_ahcaa.pdf . The bill - which is still unnumbered - is 1,990 pages long and weighs over 20 pounds. And even though a search of the bill will not reveal the word "gun" or "firearm," that doesn't mean the bill is neutral in regard to your Second Amendment rights. For starters, this bill will - like all the ObamaCare versions before it - most likely result in all of your gun-related health data being dumped into a government database that was created in the stimulus bill. This includes any firearms-related information your doctor has gleaned... or any determination of PTSD, or something similar, that can preclude you from owning firearms... ACTION: Write your Representative. Tell him or her to oppose this bill. Don't be discouraged by reports in the liberal media which have tried to tell us - since January - that this battle is hopeless. We can win, and, with your help, we will win. (You can use the link to generate a letter or e-mail to your Congressman.) http://capwiz.com/gunowners/issues/alert/?alertid=14291726&PROCESS=Take+Action --- From CCRKBA: The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms today condemned Washington CeaseFire President Ralph Fascitelli for capitalizing on the murder of Seattle Police Officer Timothy Q. Brenton by announcing a plan to lobby for a ban on so-called "assault weapons" using Brenton's killing as a launch pad. "Over the years," said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, "I have watched as anti-gun extremists rushed to exploit violent crimes to push their agenda, but this case, as reported by Nina Shapiro in the Seattle Weekly, signals a despicable new low in behavior. Fascitelli is essentially dancing in Officer Brenton's blood, and he ought to be ashamed." According to the Seattle Weekly article, "Even though police say they have not yet determined what type of weapon was used, Ralph Fascitelli, president of Washington CeaseFire, says he plans to cite Brenton's murder when lobbying for the bill in the next legislative session." ... http://www.ccrkba.org/pub/rkba/press-releases/WA.CEASEFIRE.EXPLOIT.11-3-2009.htm http://www.examiner.com/x-4525-Seattle-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m11d3-Predictably-gun-banners-plan-to-exploit-murder-of-Seattle-police-officer?cid=exrss-Seattle-Gun-Rights-Examiner --- Washington County Welcomes Ammo Maker: We're not usually so fond of government spending, and have real concerns about the high level of stimulus spending in this country, but a recent action by the Lewis County Commissioners to attract a new company is well placed. On Monday, the county loaned $800,000 to the East County Public Development Authority to construct a new building at the Packwood Industrial Park. Last week the county also granted a $300,000 loan to the PDA to refurbish an existing 8,000-square-foot building at the industrial park. The new building will be a 12,000-square-foot structure with an underground test range. The money is a successful effort to bring in Modern Arms Inc., a company that makes ammunition, to Packwood. The company plans to hire about 50 employees, which is much needed in economically depressed East Lewis County. The loans are scheduled to be paid back in 20 years... http://www.chronline.com/articles/2009/11/03/opinion/our_views/doc4af0770e8fa19028927204.txt --- Milwaukee Lobbies for More Infringement: Milwaukee aldermen called Tuesday for the Legislature to toughen gun laws - including some changes aimed at a controversial gun shop just outside the city limits. The Common Council urged lawmakers to adopt legislation that would require felons to stay 1,000 feet from gun stores, shooting ranges and gun shows, and that would declare "straw buying" of guns to be a felony and failure to report stolen guns a crime... Flynn and Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm recently split with Barrett by recommending the package of gun crime legislation include legalization of carrying concealed weapons, with tough penalties for anyone carrying a concealed gun without a permit. Wisconsin and Illinois are the only states that prohibit concealed carry. But the package backed by the council does not include that measure and instead calls for elevating second and subsequent concealed-carry offenses from misdemeanors to felonies... http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/68884257.html --- Let's Wait and See on This One: The resident of a southwest Houston condominium unit shot and killed a possible intruder in his home this morning, then realized he knew the man afterward, police said. Houston police homicide detective W.L. Meeler said police were trying to learn more about how the shooter knew the victim. Around 3 a.m. at a gated condominium complex in the 2000 block of Augusta, west of the Galleria area, a man told police he heard banging noises outside his upstairs unit, Meeler said. The resident, who told authorities he had been victimized by multiple break-ins in the past, retrieved a shotgun as a man entered his room. The resident fired once, and the other man died at the scene, Meeler said. Afterward, the resident said he realized he knew the dead man and called 911. A car thought to belong to the dead man was outside the condo unit with its engine and radio on and door open. Authorities did not report any signs of forced entry but Meeler indicated the front door might not have locked properly. Also, Meeler said the resident indicated that he had been handling the 12-gauge shotgun earlier and accidentally fired a blast into the ceiling around 10 p.m. Tuesday. Police continue to investigate the circumstances of the shooting. No identities or any other details were released. (Rule Four: Always be sure of your target and what's beyond it.) http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6702332.html --- Thai Program Arms Legislators: About half of Thailand's national lawmakers are taking advantage of a new government plan allowing them to purchase guns at a discount and receive a license to carry them anywhere, an official said Monday. Election campaigns in Thailand's rural areas are sometimes violent, and most campaigns are marked by several deaths, usually of vote canvassers who buy votes for their candidates. The new program was arranged at the request of lawmakers, said Pranee Siridhammakun of the Interior Ministry's Provincial Administration Department. The offer was more popular with opposition politicians who cannot rely on police or soldiers for protection, lawmaker Sakda Khongphet of the opposition Puea Thai party was quoted saying by the Bangkok Post newspaper. Between 300 and 400 of the country's 630 legislators have applied under the program, Pranee said. Teachers in the country's deep south in recent years have also been allowed to obtain weapons under similar terms after becoming targets of Muslim separatist insurgents... http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iYZrOLwDWd3PiT5VHtPw1wTPc6qwD9BNDUMG7 --- Tangentially Related: The independent voters who powered President Obama and Democrats to victory in 2008 fled to Republicans in Tuesday's elections, helping the GOP romp to a ticketwide sweep in Virginia and a stunning victory over an incumbent Democratic governor in New Jersey. But the night wasn't a total loss for Democrats, as their candidate won a special election to fill an open congressional seat in upstate New York after a bitter civil war left Republicans divided between their party's nominee and a Conservative Party candidate. The seat had been in Republican hands for more than a century... In New York City, another independent, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, won his third term, though the race was unexpectedly tight. In Detroit, former basketball star and Washington native David Bing was re-elected to the mayoral post and in Boston, Thomas Menino won his fifth full term. Other big-city mayor's slots up for grabs included Atlanta, Miami and Houston... (Bloomerg and Menino are infamous for leading Mayors Against Illegal Guns.) http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/nov/04/independents-fuel-gop-victories/ ... With Republicans taking the two governorships up in New Jersey and Virginia , the only sad saga for conservatives last night was, of course, the special U.S. House election in New York's 23rd District. With liberal Republican nominee Dede Scozzafava abandoning her campaign Saturday and state and national GOPers rallying to Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman, small-c conservatives nationally had worked for and hoped for a win by the insurgent candidate... There is strong circumstantial evidence that ACORN was involved with Owens' campaign. When Republican Rep. John McHugh (R.-NY) resigned his seat to become secretary of the army and Republicans selected Scozzafava to run in the special election, angry conservatives pointed out that she had run for the Assembly several times with the ballot line of the Working Families Party - "a wholly-owned subsidiary of ACORN," according to Conservative Party State Chairman Mike Long. In the House race, however, the Working Families Party gave its ballot line to Owens... http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=34260 -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .