Supremes Reject Brady Lawsuit: The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed Beretta U.S.A. and the firearms industry another victory by rejecting the Brady Center's appeal of Adames v. Beretta U.S.A. Corporation challenging the constitutionality of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA). The PLCAA is the 2005 federal law passed by Congress in response to the flood of reckless lawsuits brought by the Brady Center on behalf of anti-gun mayors seeking to hold members of the firearms industry liable for the criminal or unlawful misuse of their products. This is now the third time this year the Supreme Court has denied a challenge to the PLCAA backed by the Brady Center. In March 2009, the Brady Center was also involved in the appeals of Lawson v. Beretta and City of New York v. Beretta, both of which the Supreme Court refused to hear. Monday's Supreme Court decision in the Adames case is another stinging setback to the Brady Center's failed anti-gun political agenda to destroy the individual right of Americans to keep and bear arms - a right the Supreme Court declared last year in Heller was protected by the Second Amendment... http://www.ammoland.com/2009/12/15/supreme-court-refuses-to-hear-case-against-gun-maker/ --- Guns and Suicide: Gun control proponents often claim that suicide rates are driven by firearms availability. For example, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence promotes the "guns cause suicide" hypothesis. They note that nearly 17,000 people kill themselves with firearms each year, concluding: "Without stronger, sensible gun laws, thousands upon thousands of people will continue to die and be injured needlessly each year. The Brady Campaign fights for sensible gun laws to protect you, your family, and your community."If guns cause suicide, international organizations must have some data proving this claim. Or do they? ...Countries with the lowest rates of civilian firearms ownership had the highest suicide rates. Countries with the highest firearms ownership rates had the second highest suicide rates, followed by countries with the second-lowest firearms ownership rates. This may suggest that firearms increase lethality of suicide attempts, but it is also clear that countries with the most restrictive gun laws also have the highest rates of suicide. Countries with moderate firearms ownership levels have the lowest suicide rates... The correlation between civilian firearms ownership and suicide rates is weak at best. While it remains possible that more suicides may have occurred were firearms available, there clearly are other factors driving the need to kill oneself than method. When it comes to suicide, sufficient intent leads to "successful" conclusion. http://www.examiner.com/x-2879-Austin-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m12d15-Guns-and-suicide-International-perspective --- L.A. Times vs. NRA: Gun control is one of those culture-wars issues on which liberals and conservatives often don't even seem to be speaking the same language, let alone coming to consensus. Gun owners - especially the hard-core enthusiasts who belong to the National Rifle Assn. - are often thought to oppose any restriction on their 2nd Amendment right to bear arms. Except that, according to a recent poll, they don't... Why are the NRA's leaders more absolutist than its members? At least in part because they have a financial incentive. It's a common practice by the NRA to send out mailers when a firearms-related bill is proposed that exaggerate its provisions and claim that lawmakers are out to grab guns from law-abiding citizens. Inciting hysteria is a surefire way of increasing contributions, but when NRA members learn that these efforts are really focused at keeping guns out of the hands of criminals, they tend to support them. Knowing this won't change the behavior of the NRA's leadership, but it should help give lawmakers the courage to stand up to the organization. By simply countering NRA propaganda with facts, they can persuade liberals and conservatives alike to back sensible gun-control measures. (Or the "progressive" media can deceive people into surrendering their rights under the guise of "keeping guns out of the hands of criminals," with measures that have never been successful in doing so anyway.) http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-guns16-2009dec16,0,641659.story --- Ban Guns, Reduce Healthcare Costs: ...The health care and economic costs of gun violence in the US are equally staggering. According to the Public Services Research Institute in 2008, firearm homicide and assault cost federal, state and local governments $4.7 billion annually including costs for medical care, mental health, emergency transport, police, criminal justice and lost taxes. They also state that when lost productivity, lost quality of life, and pain and suffering are added to medical costs, estimates of the annual cost of firearm violence range from $20 billion to $100 billion. According to the National Center for Disease Control, the cost of firearm fatalities is the highest of any injury-related death. In fact, the average cost of a gunshot related death is $33,000, while gun-related injuries total over $300,000 for each occurrence. Unlike car crash victims who are privately insured, roughly 80% of gunshot victims are uninsured. In the Journal of the American Medical Association (June 14, 1995), researchers found that private health insurance pays for the majority of the treatment of firearm-related injuries though it may cover only about one-fourth of the total injury victims. As a result taxpayers and insurance holders are unfairly burdened by the enormous and largely preventable health care cost associated with firearm violence... (Taxpayers are also unfairly burdened with the other costs of crime.) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-rosenthal/health-care-costs-and-gun_b_393054.html --- Definitely Not from the IACP: The shock of the Fort Hood Massacre is still sharp in the memory of most Americans but few have absorbed the lesson that this atrocity can teach us. Gun rights proponents like to call places where law-abiding citizens are not allowed to carry weapons "unarmed victim zones." And some of the nation's largest unarmed victim zones can be found on military bases. Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas, is the largest installation of the world's most powerful military. It has tanks, artillery, and thousands of rifles, pistols, and machine guns. It's even home to a brigade of military police. But on Nov. 5, it was as much an unarmed victim zone as a nursery school... The military currently doesn't permit its personnel to carry sidearms on base, not issued weapons, nor personal weapons. "As a matter of practice, we do not carry weapons on Fort Hood," Lt. Gen. Robert Cone told the press. With all due respect Gen. Cone, considering that 13 unarmed soldiers were killed and 30 more wounded on your base by a single bad guy, maybe somebody should start... http://www.policemag.com/Channel/Weapons/Articles/2009/12/Unarmed-Victim-Zones.aspx --- DC Police Sting Drug, Gun Smugglers: D.C. police ran a several-month undercover sting out of a fake auto body shop in Northeast Washington, recovering more than $1 million in narcotics and 123 illegal guns while disrupting an international heroin ring... Investigators took a former auto body shop in the Langdon Park neighborhood in Northeast Washington, installed hidden cameras, hung a sign made from materials purchased at Home Depot and used informants to put word on the street. They called the phony business E.B's Auto Shop, a name chosen by using a police lieutenant's initials, and said E.B.'s was in the market for drugs and black market guns... It's common for "fences," or places where stolen goods are bought, to work out of a businesses, Sutherland said. The police wanted to make the suspects feel comfortable and chose a business with a back entrance in an out-of-the-way industrial park in the Langdon Park neighborhood. With the suspects smuggling in AK-47s, the officers chose an auto body shop... (While journalists are notorious for misunderstanding firearms, this article seems to claim that real, select-fire AK-47's were smuggled into the country, much as they are into Mexico.) http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/crime/The-Body-Shop_-Sting-nets-100-plus-guns_-_1M-in-drugs-8659014-79360072.html --- Nevada Senate Candidates Ignore RKBA Questionnaire: Regular readers are familiar with the gun rights questionnaire, designed to elicit unequivocal answers from candidates about exactly where they stand on the right to keep and bear arms. It's proven a useful tool at separating those with the political courage to be leaders from those who would instead rely on meaningless platitudes, and those who think they deserve power without having to make an account of themselves to gun owners. We've used the questionnaire in a number of races throughout the Republic so far, but have given special focus to the 2010 Nevada contest for U.S. Senate. Why? Because polls show incumbent Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is vulnerable to challenge. It would be a major victory to demonstrate that one of the most powerful political figures in the country can be defeated by an unequivocal gun rights supporter... http://www.examiner.com/x-1417-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m12d15-Nevada-US-Senate-candidates-Amodei-Chachas-and-Kozack-ignore-gun-rights-questionnaire --- Bad Ruling in Georgia: Northern District of Georgia federal judge Thomas W. Thrash Jr. ruled today that carrying a firearm on MARTA justifies forcible detention by the police, in a federal civil rights lawsuit filed over the half hour long detention and disarmament of GeorgiaCarry.Org member Christopher Raissi. Christopher Raissi holds a Georgia firearms license and frequently carries a handgun concealed. On October 14, 2008, he was carrying concealed on MARTA. He did not know that a MARTA police officer observing the parking lot had seen him holstering and concealing his firearm while still at his car. Therefore, he was surprised when he was surrounded by police officers who yelled "Police!" and ordered him to stop. The officers then seized his firearm from his holster and began questioning him, asking, according to the court's written opinion, "[W]hat are you doing with a gun?" After seeing Raissi's firearms license and driver's license, the officers ran background checks on Raissi and held him, according to Raissi, for half an hour. The officers transported Raissi to a locked area out of the public eye before finally releasing him and returning his firearm and other property. In the ruling today, Judge Thrash held that merely carrying a concealed firearm justifies such detention and disarmament. He wrote in his opinion that "possession of a firearms license is an affirmative defense to, not an element of, the crimes of boarding [MARTA] with a concealed weapon and carrying a concealed weapon." ... http://www.examiner.com/x-5619-Atlanta-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m12d15-Federal-judge-rules-concealed-carry-is-probable-cause-of-criminal-activity?cid=exrss-Atlanta-Gun-Rights-Examiner --- California County Pulls Proposed Ordinances: Proposed restrictions on the locales of firearms and ammunition dealers, age restrictions for those entering the shops and requirements to report lost or stolen guns violate civil rights, are unfair to those old enough to vote and enlist in the military and will do nothing to curb crime and violence, opponents told the Board of Supervisors yesterday. Ordinance author Rose Jacobs Gibson pulled the twin ordinances from Tuesday morning's board agenda late Monday but with a number of interested parties in attendance, Board President Mark Church allowed them to speak... The National Rifle Association already announced plans to sue if the county moved forward. Jacobs Gibson did not directly mention the possible suit or the public opposition in her written announcement postponing the item. Instead, she said the move was to "afford the opportunity for greater dialogue about creating safer communities." Jacobs Gibson has not answered calls about the ordinance or the postponement but in a staff report said it is the result of her work as president of the Association of Bay Area Governments and its Youth Gun Violence Task Force. She said it will help curb gun violence, particularly that involving youth, by regulating access... http://www.smdailyjournal.com/article_preview.php?id=121264 http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_14007054?nclick_check=1 --- Sacramento Sides with Chicago on McDonald: ...Several cities have voted to join the lawsuit brought against the city of Chicago by a resident there. The cities have joined the suit as 'Amicus Curiae,' basically supporting the city's position that the Second Amendment, the right to bear arms, should not apply to local governments. Sacramento City Councilman Kevin McCarty, D-District 6, told KCRA 3 that if the lawsuit fails, it could impact several local laws that regulate gun and ammunition sales. He pointed to a recent double homicide, calling it a good example of why the Second Amendment should not apply locally. "We're afraid that if that court case goes the wrong direction, that could terminate what we are doing locally," McCarty said. "By stepping up and supporting this court case, we think it will continue these laws here that are working." Gun advocates said they believe the lawsuit erodes citizens' rights. "The City Council of Sacramento is misdirected," said Sam Paredes, director of Gun Owners of California... (Actually, Sacramento opposes the lawsuit because, unlike in Heller, where the District of Columbia as the plaintiff, in McDonald the city of Chicago is the defendant.) http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_14007054?nclick_check=1 http://www.sacramentopress.com/headline/19313/City_Council_votes_to_challenge_2nd_Amendment --- New Hampshire RKBA Activist Dies: Dick Riley passed away this past December 7th. I lost a friend...and so did every American gun owner. Beginning as a part-time gunsmith, he opened Riley's Sport Shop in 1953 in the town of Hooksett, New Hampshire. He quickly grew his business into the largest gun shop in the state, and one of the two largest in Northern New England. But he did much, much more than that. From the beginning, Dick Riley was actively involved in the fight for gun owners' civil rights. He - and later, his bright and lovely wife Doris - were both voted into the State House, where they set the tone for the largely pro-gun Legislature that serves the Granite State today. Dick was a founder and the first president of Gun Owners of New Hampshire, and saw GO-NH become a model of effective grass-roots activism for the rights of firearms owners. His efforts were just as vigorous at the national level. Dick served from 1990 to 1992 as the President of the National Rifle Association... http://backwoodshome.com/blogs/MassadAyoob/2009/12/14/a-giant-of-the-pro-gun-movement-passes/ --- California Prohibitionist Dies: Sol Price, a retail magnate who three decades ago altered both the American landscape and the American way of shopping by founding Price Club, the first nationwide members-only discount warehouse, died on Monday at his home in La Jolla, Calif. He was 93... Price Club merged with Costco in 1993. Afterward, Sol and Robert Price founded PriceSmart, which operates more than two dozen membership warehouse clubs in the Caribbean and Central America... (No mention is made of Price's substantial monetary contribution in support of California's 1982 Proposition 15, which, if passed, would have banned further sales of handguns to private citizens. Price was apparently highly regarded by Ralph Nader: http://reason.com/archives/2009/12/15/nader-shrugged.) http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/16/business/16price.html?_r=1&ref=obituaries --- Oops, Wrong House: Eyewitness News talked to a 62-year-old wheelchair-bound man who shot and killed a man who tried to force his way into his home. Gary Wroblewski says he was watching television in the Silver Springs Shores [FL] neighborhood off County Road 464 late Monday night when someone knocked on his door. Wroblewski slightly cracked open the door and found a man claiming he needed help with his broken down car. He says he was immediately suspicious of the man and his story. "So I went and got my gun. I held it behind the door and I opened the door," said Wroblewski. Wroblewski says he tried to send the man away and suggested he go to another house or call AAA. He says that is when another man, this one wearing a mask, appeared out of nowhere and forced his door open. Wroblewski was knocked out his wheelchair but was able to hold onto his gun and shot the masked invader... (All's well that ends well but why open your door to someone of whom you're suspicious? Offer to call 911 or AAA for them.) http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/crime/wheelchair-bound-marion-county-man-shoots-home-invader-121887.html --- Grant Would Open Police Range for Public Use: The Chino Valley Town Council has authorized the police department to apply for and accept a shooting range development grant up to $50,000 from the Arizona Game and Fish Commission to improve the safety and usability of the department's gun range. Chino Valley Police Cmdr. Chuck Wynn told the council Thursday the department's police officers have been trying to use its range on Old Home Manor near Perkinsville Road. They are presently shooting into a berm. He said the gun range currently is not totally enclosed allowing for the possibility of an accidentally discharged round leaving the range... The improvements at the range, Wynn said, would also enable the department to open it for public use. Now, the police use it and trainers hold special hunter safety classes. The police department uses the range three to four times a month so there would be plenty of time for the public to use it if the department is successful in getting the grant... (Chino Valley is in Yavapai County AZ, "firearm-instructor capital" of the US.) http://chinovalleyreview.com/Main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=51292 --- Hunters Who Feed the Hungry: During a recent deer hunt in Southern Maryland, Blaise Higgs killed a doe and then took it to a butcher shop for dressing. After setting aside several pounds of venison for his family, he donated the rest to an organization that helps feed the hungry... In the long-running dispute with animal rights advocates over the ethics of deer hunting, Higgs and other sportsmen have found what they believe to be the moral high ground: stocking food banks and soup kitchens with their kills... One day last week, about 50 people dined on venison chili at the Loaves & Fishes Soup Kitchen, which operates out of St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Leonardtown... The controversy over deer hunting has heated up in the Washington area in recent months, with several jurisdictions approving deer hunts in public parks as a way to control the herds. But groups including PETA and the Humane Society of the United States have expressed strong opposition to the hunts, calling them cruel to animals and dangerous for human beings... Higgs donated 20 doe last season, most of them shot with his compound bow and three-blade arrows. Told that animal rights activists consider bowhunting especially cruel, Higgs replied, "How many hungry people do they feed?" http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/15/AR2009121504770.html?hpid=voicesopinion Ohio deer hunters have so far donated more than 95,000 pounds of venison to local food banks this deer hunting season. According to the Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, the meat equals about 382,000 meals for Ohioans in need. This season to date, 1,910 deer have been donated, and there is still more time for hunters to donate. At this time last year, 671 deer, equaling 33,550 pounds of venison, had been collected. During last year's deer season, from September 2008 to February 2009, a total of 54,800 pounds of venison was collected from 1,096 deer... http://www.sacramentopress.com/headline/19313/City_Council_votes_to_challenge_2nd_Amendment --- The Gangsta Grip: As police chased Raymond "Ready" Martinez through Times Square on Thursday, the street hustler and aspiring rapper fired two shots, holding the gun sideways "like a character out of a rap video." According to the New York Post, Martinez's side grip caused the gun to jam, enabling police to shoot and kill the suspect. What's the point of holding a gun sideways? To look Hollywood, of course. Journalists and gun experts point to the 1993 Hughes brothers film Menace II Society, which depicts the side grip in its opening scene, as the movie that popularized the style. Although the directors claim to have witnessed a side grip robbery in Detroit in 1987, there are few reports of street gangs using the technique until after the movie came out. The Hughes brothers didn't invent the grip, though. In 1961's One-Eyed Jacks, Marlon Brando used it, as did Eli Wallach in 1966's The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly. Directors may prefer the style because it makes it easier to see both the weapon and the actor's face in a tight camera shot... (It may well be apocryphal but I was once told that one former gangbanger claimed that when he had been capering he never knew what gun he might pick up and whether the fit in his hand might cause the gun to shoot to the left or the right. By turning the gun sideways, he claimed that he converted any lateral deviation to vertical deviation, which meant he would still hit the opponent, perhaps higher or lower than he intended. The Hollywood theory sounds more plausible.) http://www.slate.com/toolbar.aspx?action=print&id=2238560 --- From AzCDL: Interested in volunteering? Volunteers who work at the AzCDL table for a few hours get into gun shows FREE! To volunteer for Phoenix gun shows, contact John: john.rosado@AzCDL.org . To volunteer for Tucson gun shows, contact Tom: tom.woodrow@AzCDL.org . The following gun shows are scheduled for January 2010: January 2 & 3, 2010 at the Mesa Centennial Hall (john.rosado@AzCDL.org). January 16 & 17, 2010 at the Pima County Fairgrounds, Tucson (tom.woodrow@AzCDL.org). January 23 & 34, 2010 at the Arizona State Fairgrounds, Phoenix (john.rosado@AzCDL.org). If you can spare a few hours we would deeply appreciate your help. AzCDL's phenomenal growth is primarily because of the hard work of our volunteers. Gun shows provide a great opportunity to educate other gun owners about our hard won successes: http://www.azcdl.org/html/accomplishments.html . If you are aware of any event (tea party rally, etc.) that you believe would present an opportunity for AzCDL to share our goals and accomplishments, please contact Duke: duke.schechter@AzCDL.org. If your AzCDL membership is coming up for renewal, you'll save $10 if you renew at a gun show! It's like getting paid to attend the show! Sustaining memberships also get a FREE AzCDL T-Shirt. Not a member? Not a problem! You can join AzCDL at these gun shows. The following is a list of 2010 gun shows in Arizona. Mark your calendars! January 2 & 3, 2010 - Mesa January 16 & 17, 2010 - Tucson January 23 & 24, 2010 - Phoenix February 20 & 21, 2010 - Tucson February 27 & 28, 2010 - Phoenix March 20 & 21, 2010 - Tucson March 27 & 28, 2010 - Tucson April 3 & 4, 2010 - Tombstone April 24 & 25, 2010 - Phoenix May 1 & 2, 2010 - Tucson June 26 & 27, 2010 - Mesa July 10 & 11, 2010 - Phoenix August 14 & 15, 2010 - Tombstone September 11 & 12, 2010 - Tucson September 18 & 19, 2010 - Tucson (Both McMann & Crossroads have shows in Tucson that weekend) September 25 & 26, 2010 - Mesa October 16 & 17, 2010 - Tombstone October 23 & 24, 2010 - Tucson November 6 & 7, 2010 - Tucson November 13 & 14, 2010 - Mesa December 3-5, 2010 - Phoenix (the "big" one) December 18 & 19, 2010 - Tucson These alerts are a project of the Arizona Citizens Defense League (AzCDL), an all volunteer, non-profit, non-partisan grassroots organization. Join 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. The tactics and skills to use a firearm in self-defense don't come naturally with the right to keep and bear arms. http://www.spw-duf.info .