Backdoor Gun Bans, Part 3.: Part one of this series dealt with misdemeanor drug convictions that result in gun bans, and part two dealt with misdemeanor domestic violence convictions that have the same effect. Both were concerned with current bans, and present law. The subject of the present installment is somewhat more ominous, and probably more of an actual threat to our freedom than the first two subjects. The focus of this article is the repeated attempts to ban or restrict private ownership of firearms in the U.S. through the Courts, possibly using "International Law"... Given the efforts in the United Nations to ban the possession of guns by Americans through international treaties or agreements, how long will it be before the Second Amendment is attacked in the U.S. Supreme Court, using foreign law, international agreements, or by changing the plain meanings of words? Wayne LaPierre, Executive Director of the NRA, has written an excellent book on this subject, titled "The Global War on Your Guns: Inside the UN Plan to Destroy the Bill of Rights." See: http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A2E5OMXIK0AH1J/ref=cm_cr_pr_pdp... http://www.examiner.com/x-32781-Clarksburg-Conservative-Examiner~y2009m12d29-Gun-bans-through-the-back-door-part-three --- MAIG vs. RKBA: ... "Calgunlaws has obtained the Mayors Against Illegal Guns "Blueprint For Federal Action on Illegal Guns" through a FOIA request to the White House. Bloomberg's group had previously refused to disclose the report." ...Right at the start, I can't help but notice they're using the "enforce existing gun laws" mantra against us. You have to wonder why anyone thinks making concessions to the enemy is a good idea - it's not like they won't turn around and accuse us of being extremists who never compromise. Besides, if the Second Amendment means anything, the mantra ought to be "repeal existing gun laws." The other thing that's clear - there was insider ATF help with this - whether through retirees or with existing administrators is unclear. But because they will be beneficiaries of more power if this blueprint is followed, we deserve to know, and their involvement - including if on-the-clock personnel contributed to this - ought to be public knowledge. Don't look for the "mainstream government watchdog press" to help. This is a dangerous and insidious new way of attacking our right to keep and bear arms. It's incumbent on each of us to first read and understand the document, discuss it among ourselves, and come up with a way to defy and resist this. Hopefully, we'll see some ideas for a coordinated response coming from NRA, GOA, SAF, et al., within the next few days. http://www.examiner.com/x-1417-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m12d29-Bloomberg-antigun-blueprint-revealed If gun sales outside New York City are such a problem, as stated in a The New York Times article today, why is the city's homicide rate the lowest in 46 years? NSSF has previously commented on the gratifying crime statistics reported by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for the first half of 2009 that show violent crime having declined in all categories, with homicides down by 10 percent. In New York City, the FBI reports homicides are down 19 percent - an all-time low, lower even than when comprehensive statistics first began being kept by the NYPD in 1963. You would think this would be a cause for universal satisfaction. After all, the first half of 2009 also saw a record number of law-abiding citizens purchasing firearms, bringing the predictable gloom and doom of "more guns equal more crime" from gun control advocates. Clearly, more guns in the right hands do not result in more crime, as the FBI statistics incontrovertibly demonstrate. That didn't stop some in New York City Mayor Bloomberg's administration from making a sow's ear out of a silk purse, even misrepresenting other statistics in the process... http://www.opposingviews.com/articles/opinion-anti-gun-bloomberg-twists-good-news-about-dropping-murder-rate-r-1262107263 --- What Is "Common-Sense" Firearm Legislation?: Seattle Weekly writer/editor Nina Shapiro is at it again in her "Daily Weekly" blog, demanding that the Legislature do something in the wake of a sixth law enforcement death since Oct. 31. Five of those officers, including the only female police officer killed in the line of duty anywhere in the country during 2009, were murdered with handguns. The sixth, Seattle officer Timothy Brenton, was killed with a Kel Tec sport-utility rifle, fitted with an after-market magazine. That particular firearm does not fit any known description of an "assault rifle" except that somebody in the Seattle Police Department called it an "assault rifle" and anti-gunners, including Shapiro, landed on that like flies on horse puckey... Why is it that when the gun prohibitionist lobby invites gun owners to sit down and negotiate, they never bring anything to the table other than expectations that gun owners will give up some of their rights? ... White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel famously noted, "Never waste a good crisis." That has been repeated over the years by Bill and Hillary Clinton and others now in the Obama administration, all of them devout anti-gunners. I predicted some weeks ago in this space, following another Shapiro column, that Fascitelli would exploit these police killings to push his gun prohibitionist agenda. As Shapiro continually whines, he can't seem to get any traction in Olympia... http://www.examiner.com/x-4525-Seattle-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m12d29-What-is-commonsense-firearm-legislation --- More Guns, Less Crime in 09: Americans went on binges buying guns and ammunition in early 2009, worried that a radical leftist president and Democrat-dominated Congress would violate their Second-Amendment rights to keep and bear arms. The effects? Less murder, robbery, rape, and property crime, according to an FBI report released Monday. This gives the young president and Democrat Congress at least one proud but unintended accomplishment for which they'll never claim credit. Indeed, gun buyers were out in droves in late 2008 and early 2009. While it's easy to infer that increased gun ownership figures align precisely with the drop in crime in the same calendar period, you won't see that headline in the New York Times, despite their penchant for such inferences about increases in crime coinciding with increasing "guns on the street." ...More evidence of rampant gun-buying loads up in the states. Through June 2009, the Texas Department of Public Safety received a monthly average of 12,700 applications for concealed handgun licenses, up 46% from the average in 2007. Even the New York Times noted how gun sales were up in 2009; in a June story, it focused on its less sophisticated neighbors in New Jersey. Even in liberal Massachusetts, gun permits surged 15% over the last two years (after falling several years before that)... http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/12/more_guns_less_crime_in_09.html --- Women and Guns: The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence believes that keeping firearms in the home is dangerous for women. But recent research indicates that their conclusion has little factual support. On a page entitled "Facts, Studies and Reports," the Brady website references a 1997 study originally published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. This study surveyed just three counties across the country, which the authors called an "analysis of a large population." The authors' conclusion: "keeping a gun in the home is associated with increased risk of both suicide and homicide for women." According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the three counties studied had a total population of 4,066,269 in 2008, just 1.3% of the total U.S. population. In 2000, these counties' population was 1.4% of the total, indicating that this fraction was probably similar in 1997. The American Association for Public Opinion Research explains that "The margin of sampling error is the price you pay for not talking to everyone in your population group. It describes the range that the answer likely falls between if we had talked to everyone instead of just a sample." The price paid by authors who used a fraction of the U.S. population is presented below... http://www.examiner.com/x-2879-Austin-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m12d29-Guns-women-and-the-Brady-Campaign ...In almost thirty years of teaching female armed citizens, and longer than that teaching female cops, I've come to the conclusion that once you get past old-fashioned cultural predispositioning, women may actually be better and more decisive students of the gun... (One of my disagreements with Ayoob is the exaggerated lean encouraged for female shooters. This is what I regard as an example of "range mentality," a tool that helps in static "qualification" shooting but which limits mobility on the street. The article does make some good points about ergonomics, particularly the value of adjustable stocks on long guns.) http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/ayoob121.html --- Own a Gun - for the Children: I've heard of gun owners who decided to get rid of their guns when their children were born. Their theory was that the guns were a danger to the children, and the household was therefore better off without guns. I disagree. Getting rid of guns renders one's household more vulnerable to violent criminals, and a couple of simple steps can virtually eliminate the risk that a child will find and misuse a gun... A home without a gun is a home where criminals can leverage their superior strength, the element of surprise, and their own guns to harm their victims. All too often, criminals inflict unspeakable harms upon the children of such homes... On the other hand, statistical evidence and real-life examples make clear the fact that armed self defense works - even when the victim is seemingly at a disadvantage due to a surprise attack. Guns enable mothers to save their children from violent attackers. They enable pregnant women to protect themselves and their unborn children. Guns allow sons to protect their mothers from burglars, and fathers to save their children from harm. Guns make it possible for uncles to defend their nephews, and son-in-laws to protect their mother-in-laws. Guns allow individuals to defend themselves, sparing their loved ones from the pain of losing a relative to violent crime... (This article contains multiple links for the examples cited.) http://www.examiner.com/x-18149-SelfDefense-Examiner~y2009m12d29-Having-children-is-a-reason-to-own-guns--not-a-reason-to-get-rid-of-guns --- Reid Amendment - More Harm than Good?: Before Christmas, the U.S. Senate passed health care legislation which includes Senate Amendment 2786, the so-called "Reid Amendment," theoretically barring collection of data from and denial of insurance coverage to "lawful" gun owners. Shortly beforehand, National Gun Rights Examiner David Codrea rebutted John Cahill of the Nevada Outdoor Democratic Caucus, (NODC) who argued that the Reid Amendment renders the bill moot from a gun rights perspective. Ignoring for a moment the self-serving nature of NODC (which lists Senator Harry Reid as its first member), David correctly responded with concerns about what might be construed as "lawful" gun ownership, and how Reid's amendment, by specifically mentioning guns, contrasts with claims that Gun Owners of America was reading too much into the bill when it raised the specter of health care legislation being used to restrict gun ownership... The Reid Amendment is too little and too late, serving only to give political cover to politicians who will be quite happy to use "health care" legislation to restrict gun ownership. A vote for any version of this intrusion into privacy is a vote against gun rights. http://www.examiner.com/x-2698-Charlotte-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m12d29-Reid-Amendment-barring-gun-data-from-health-care-bill-likely-to--backfire-on-gun-owners Related Commentary: http://www.examiner.com/x-2581-St-Louis-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m12d29-Senate-health-care-bill-amended-in-attempt-to-allay-gun-owners-concerns?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Gun-Rights-Examiner --- Georgia Bill Would Relax Public-Gathering Restriction: ...Georgia is the only state in the nation with a "public gathering" law making it illegal to carry a firearm to or while at any public gathering. The term is undefined and leads to confusion among Georgia firearms license holders, police officers, lawyers, and judges alike. For a history of why Georgia has such a unique and confusing law, please read Mike Menkus's Disarm the Negroes article. Certain people are exempt from the public gathering law by another statute, O.C.G.A. 16-11-130, including police officers, jailers, persons in the military service of the state or United States, prosecuting attorneys, judges, including part-time city judges, court clerks, and more. Rep. Billy Horne's (R-71, Coweta County) bill, HB 819, proposes a simple change to Georgia law by adding a sixteenth exemption to the existing list. "Any person in possession of a valid license issued pursuant to Code Section 16-11-129" ... http://www.examiner.com/x-5619-Atlanta-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m12d29-GA-Bills-HB-819-A-bill-exempting-you-from-public-gatherings?cid=exrss-Atlanta-Gun-Rights-Examiner --- A Small Step for One Man...: [NY] Gov. David Paterson just announced a pardon for Osvaldo Hernandez, a "decorated Army veteran who has served his country in Afghanistan, so that Mr. Hernandez can fulfill his lifelong dream of pursuing a career in law enforcement." Hernandez, who was arrested in 2002 for carrying an unlicensed handgun, previously pursued legal avenues to clear the way for him to apply to become a police officer when his military service is completed... On November 22, 2002, Hernandez was arrested after an unlicensed loaded handgun was recovered from his car. At the time of his arrest, Hernandez was twenty years old and working as a private investigator while attending LaGuardia College. Hernandez accepted responsibility for his crime, pled guilty to Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Third Degree and was sentenced to a one year term in prison... (Not to diminish Hernandez's service but what of all the other New York City residents who have been convicted under this infringement?) http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/21124/paterson-pardons-soldier-on-7-year-old-gun-charge/ --- Manufacturers Expected to Ignore California Microstamping Mandate: California regulators have approved far fewer semi-automatic pistols for sale in the wake of a state law that required new safety devices in 2006 and 2007. Now, with a new bullet-stamping law scheduled to take effect in 2010, the gun industry predicts it will introduce even fewer new models in California rather than install a device necessary to trace individual casings to a statewide database. "California will become like Cuba with cars," said Lawrence Keane, senior counsel for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which represents the gun industry. "You will only be able to get very old models of guns." ...Beginning Jan. 1, the law requires that new semi-automatic handguns in California include an innovative firing pin that stamps microscopic characters onto cartridge cases. It was intended to ensure that every bullet casing at a crime scene has a license number on it, traceable to a statewide gun database. Whether that ever happens, though, depends on a few hurdles, not the least of which is how gun manufacturers respond... (If the other manufacturers would follow the lead of Robbie Barrett and refuse to sell firearms to California law-enforcement agencies that cannot be sold to California's private citizens, the situation would be resolved.) http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/2427189.html?storylink=omni_popular Roster of Handguns Certified for Sale in California: http://certguns.doj.ca.gov/ --- Harley Dealer Backs Indiana Permittees: In an effort to show its support for the Second Amendment, Harley-Davidson of Bloomington stepped up to the Herald-Times in disagreement with its new searchable database of concealed carry permit holders. In a press release issued December 10, the company stated that "Harley-Davidson of Bloomington believes in freedom and is a strong supporter of Second Amendment rights. Many of our staff members are gun owners and/or permit holders. We believe the decision of the Herald-Times, a valued business partner, to publish a searchable database of permit holders in the state of Indiana by street, is an unnecessary and dangerous practice." ... http://www.opposingviews.com/articles/opinion-harley-davidson-stands-up-for-gun-rights-in-indiana-r-1262101886 --- Tuna or Mackerel?: Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies expected heavy business Tuesday during its annual "gifts for guns" program in Compton. And sure enough, scores of people lined up to turn in various weapons in exchange for retail and supermarket gift cards. But they were surprised at the man who pulled up in a sport utility vehicle with 58 guns - mostly handguns but also some assault weapons. Dressed in a sweat shirt and jeans, the man offered his cache in a nonchalant fashion. As is the policy for such events, deputies asked no questions and eagerly took the guns. They don't know the man's name, and the donor declined to comment to The Times. After unloading his guns, the man received several thousand dollars in gift cards and drove away. "That should feed someone for a year or two," said Lt. Anthony Lucia. "There were a lot of the kind of weapons used in robberies. We don't know his identity. We don't know if he is a gun dealer or what." The Compton exchange Tuesday garnered 232 guns, all of which will be destroyed... ("Assault weapon" is a pretty broad term in California. I suspect that someone made a nice profit turning in "junk guns.") http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-guns30-2009dec30,0,7069673.story --- When Guns Are Outlawed...: UPDATE 2: A false report of a man wielding a machine gun near the Capitol led to a nearly one-hour lockdown of the sparsely populated complex on Tuesday afternoon, a highly placed law enforcement source tells POLITICO. The incident, which took place at around 3:25 p.m., began when a bus driver got in an argument with a rider and kicked him off a bus. A cell phone caller from inside the bus said the driver had a gun, the police source said. Metro Transit police then boarded the bus with assault rifles to clear it at the corner of Third Street S.W. and Independence Avenue. In what amounted to a dangerous game of phone tag, yet another caller stated that a black male was on the bus with an M16 rifle -- an apparent reference to the police responding to the initial call. At about 4:15 officers from all the responding agencies figured out what was going on and declared the situation "stabilized," sending out an "all clear" e-mail to staffers who had been confined to their offices on an otherwise sleepy Christmas recess Tuesday. UPDATE 1: Capitol Police have given the all clear after locking down the Capitol complex following a report of a man with a gun. The individual in question was reportedly an undercover officer with a valid carry permit who was approaching the Capitol, POLITICO's Lisa Lerer reports. (Other than a badge, I didn't know that there was any such thing as a carry permit in the District.) http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/1209/Capitol_lockdown_Report_of_person_with_a_gun.html --- Guns and Winter: ...Cold hands get numb, and numb hands get clumsy. Gloved hands can be warm, but warm gloves are thick enough to reduce the sense of feel and make gun-handling clumsy...a potentially dangerous thing. Snow, freezing rain, and even a rime of ice on the gun when you're outdoors with it long enough in inclement weather won't help, either. As to gloves, you want the one on the hand that works the trigger to come off quickly, smoothly, and silently when you need to shoot. I tried the old woodsman's trick of a thin, lengthwise knife slit on the trigger finger portion of the glove to let the warm index finger sneak out when it needed to work the trigger. Imperfect. Snow got into the glove and froze the finger as soon as you had to grab a snowy branch or catch yourself in a fall in the snow. Also, the palmar surface of the glove wants something rubbery for traction... (Many of us have come to believe that the best solution to the gloves-and-shooting quandary is simply to rip off the glove. Obviously, this is more suitable to a quick response with a handgun than to a sniper waiting for the "green light." It is usually accomplished by using the teeth to take hold of one or more fingertips on the glove and usually needs to only be done for the gun hand, not the support hand.) http://backwoodshome.com/blogs/MassadAyoob/2009/12/28/the-guns-of-winter/ --- Tangentially Related: They've been frantically trying to warn America for the past six years: Aviation security is a joke, and it's only a matter of time before terrorists destroy another airplane full of innocent passengers. The close call in Detroit on Christmas Day has vindicated a group of highly experienced experts - including former airline pilots, federal air marshals and Federal Aviation Administration inspectors - who were fired or demoted for pointing out obvious flaws in the nation's post-9/11 aviation security system to their chain of command. Even now, facing financial ruin after their careers were trashed and their families destroyed, courageous members of the Whistleblowing Airline Employees Association ( airline-whistleblowers.org) refuse to be silenced... Robert MacLean, hand-picked as one of the first federal air marshals, was fired for publicly criticizing the Transportation Security Administration's plan to remove marshals from nonstop, long-distance flights - in violation of the Aviation and Transportation Security Act of 2001 - because the agency didn't want to pay their hotel bills... The dirty and dangerous secret about airline security is that it's all just political theater designed to calm passengers' very real fears. If the system allows a young, radicalized Islamist known to U.S. authorities to board a plane with 80 grams of pentaerythritol tetranitrate sewn into his pants, nobody is safe. Meanwhile, your government is too busy bailing out failed banks and car companies and taking over the health care industry to provide for the common defense. Just don't say you weren't warned. http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/Whistleblowers-punished-for-warning-of-aviation-security-lapses-8693641-80219982.html ...There are multiple reasons why this Obama decision is so deeply disturbing. First, the Obama order reverses a 1983 Reagan administration decision in order to grant Interpol, the International Criminal Police Organization, two key privileges. First, Obama has granted Interpol the ability to operate within the territorial limits of the United States without being subject to the same constitutional restraints that apply to all domestic law enforcement agencies such as the FBI. Second, Obama has exempted Interpol's domestic facilities - including its office within the U.S. Department of Justice - from search and seizure by U.S. authorities and from disclosure of archived documents in response to Freedom of Information Act requests filed by U.S. citizens. Think very carefully about what you just read: Obama has given an international law enforcement organization that is accountable to no other national authority the ability to operate as it pleases within our own borders, and he has freed it from the most basic measure of official transparency and accountability, the FOIA... http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/Obama-gives-Interpol-free-hand-in-U_S_-8697583-80291137.html President Barack Obama has apparently issued a long-awaited executive order on classification that fulfills one of his campaign promises by setting up a National Declassification Center to oversee the release of historical documents. But the announcement, ironically, is shrouded in secrecy and confusion... (How's that for the most transparent administration in US history?) http://www.politico.com/blogs/joshgerstein/1209/Mystery_surrounds_new_Obama_order_on_classification.html -- 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 .