Tucked into the "Stimulus" Bill...: The stimulus bill Congress approved late Friday provides $10 million for the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Bureau to stop guns flowing from the U.S. to Mexico. The $787 billion stimulus bill Democrats pushed through also provides money to build and renovate border ports of entry and for technology at the Southwest border. But it does not require contractors who receive stimulus money to participate in a program designed to make sure U.S. employees are working legally. The money allotted to the ATF is designated for salaries and expenses of Project Gunrunner, which targets gun trafficking networks in the U.S. An estimated 90 percent of weapons seized in Mexico are from sources within the U.S., according to the ATF. Many of the weapons are found in drug-related crimes... http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6263314.html --- Big Brother Ignores 80% of the Problem: Did you know that 80 percent of the crime in this country is committed by less than 1 percent of the population? The FBI says the one million gang members in this country are responsible for four out of five crimes, yet the Obama administration seems to ignore this fact to focus on gun control that has nothing to do with breaking the back of criminal gang violence. For example: The Obama administration only mentions gangs in the "Urban Policy" portion of its agenda, not in crime and law enforcement. Yet the FBI tells us "Gang migration from urban communities to suburban and rural locations, which began more than two decades ago, is a significant and growing problem in most areas of the country." ... http://www.nranews.com/blogarticle.aspx?blogPostId=497 --- Gillibrand Waffles on Guns: New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who argues her pro-gun stance aims to protect hunters' rights and the Second Amendment, last week said she and her husband, Jonathan, keep two rifles under their bed to protect their upstate home... It drew headshaking from Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, who expressed concern about storing guns under beds, where children can find them and where burglars typically look first... After meeting with a gun victim's parents in Brooklyn last week Gillibrand said she would work for after-school programs as an alternative to gangs and to write "the first anti-trafficking bill" to halt the flow of illegal guns into New York. "That's not an example of position change," she said. "It's an example of me broadening my focus on an issue to make sure I can be a leader in areas that I think are essential as a New York senator to protect our communities." ... (I believe that this is the first time I have agreed with Helmke - even a broken clock tells the right time twice a day.) http://www.newsday.com/news/local/politics/ny-usgill1612462761feb16,0,1520070.story --- The Beat Goes On: ... Holtz was once a police officer in Oregon and has owned and operated Frontier Arms for nine years. Last month the man who has been a gunsmith since 1962 applied for a concealed weapon permit. It is the first in his life. In recent months permit applications have skyrocketed in Wyoming, and it has been well reported across the country that gun sales increased both before and after the November 2008 elections. The increase doesn't surprise Holtz, and he knows why it's happening. "It's because of our leader that got elected," he said, referring to President Barack Obama. Holtz will join the roughly 2.8 percent of Wyoming residents who are permitted to carry a concealed gun... http://www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2009/02/15/featured_story/01top_02-15-09.txt --- Texas Gun Owners Oppose HR 45: Visitors and vendors at a Longview gun show Saturday were in unison against a federal bill aimed to restrict gun ownership... On Jan. 6, U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush of Illinois introduced federal legislation aimed at increasing license requirements and ownership restrictions for firearms. House Resolution 45, also known as Blair Holt's Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act of 2009, is named for a Chicago high school student killed on a public bus in May 2007 when another young man boarded and started shooting, Rush said. Holt used his body to shield a girl from the line of fire and was shot in the abdomen. Rush's legislation seeks to prohibit owning or selling a gun without a license issued by the U.S. attorney general's office. The bill also would make it illegal to keep a loaded firearm or an unloaded firearm and its ammunition where there are children younger than 18, according to the bill's text... http://www.news-journal.com/news/content/news/stories/2009/02/15/02152009_gun_show.html http://thefacts.com/story.lasso?ewcd=6a95102800318312 --- Montana Debates Expanded-Rights Bill: At a marathon hearing Thursday, backers and opponents of a bill to expand gun rights in Montana painted distinctly different pictures of the state and its gun laws. Proponents of House Bill 228 said gun owners in Montana are now held captive by gray areas in Montana statute that could lead to them being prosecuted for defending themselves with their firearm, or even displaying a pistol to deter would-be attackers. But opponents said the laws already on the books work, and that the expanded gun-rights bill would hamper law enforcement's ability to prosecute people whom they believe had wrongly used a gun... http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2009/01/23/news/20hb228.txt --- Montana House Tells Feds to Back Off: Montana lawmakers fired another shot in battles for states' rights as they supported letting some Montana gun owners and dealers skip reporting their transactions to the federal government. Under House Bill 246, firearms made in Montana and used in Montana would be exempt from federal regulation. The same would be true for firearm accessories and ammunition made and sold in the state... "Firearms are inextricably linked to the history and culture of Montana, and I'd like to support that," Boniek said. "But I want to point out that the issue here is not about firearms. It's about state rights." The House voted 64-36 for the bill on Saturday. If it clears a final vote, the measure will go to the Senate. House Republicans were joined by 14 Democrats in passing the measure... The Montana bill follows fears here and elsewhere that the election of Barack Obama as president will trigger more gun regulation. In the months before Obama's inauguration, Montanans rushed to stock up on guns, pushing gun sales beyond normal benchmarks despite the recession... http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2009/02/15/bnews/br26.txt http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MT_XGR_INTERSTATE_COMMERCE_FIREARMS_MTOL-?SITE=MTKAL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2009-02-14-16-34-52 --- Tennessee Newspaper Defends Posting Permit List: ...The newspaper did edit the state's publicly available list. We removed street addresses and birth dates from the information to lessen any chance that somebody might use information on the list for identify theft. As a result, our posted list of permit holders for concealed weapons has less information about individuals than the phone book, your voter registration form or the credit card you use to buy dinner at a restaurant... A mom might now check the list to see if the parents at her kid's sleep-over next door had a concealed weapon permit. If so, maybe it would be worth talking to them to make sure the gun is locked up. A school official, concerned about whether teachers were bringing guns onto school grounds, might check the list to see whether anyone on the staff has a permit to carry, and then have a discussion about it... (This is exactly where it becomes an invasion of privacy and why many states, such as Arizona, keep their lists confidential. With any luck, this action by The Commercial Appeal will result in a similar privacy law in Tennessee.) http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2009/feb/15/inside-the-newsroom-case-for-gun-permit-listings/?partner=RSS Related Commentary: http://boortz.com/nealz_nuze/2009/02/gun-owners-outed-by-newspaper.html --- Arkansas Clergy Split over Church-Carry Bill: "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition" could take on new meaning if a measure passed this week in the Arkansas House gains Senate approval and Gov. Mike Beebe's signature. House Bill 1237 would allow people licensed to carry concealed handguns to carry them in church and on church property. The possibility of armed members in the congregation received a mixed reaction among some Twin Lakes Area ministers. Dave Gadbaw, pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Mountain Home, said he thinks the proposed bill is "not a bad idea" in light of church shootings across the country. "I find the idea of carrying a handgun to church very disturbing," said Pastor Ron Rector of First Christian Church of Mountain Home... (It intrigues me that some clergy are so reluctant to tell their flocks openly that they can only rely on prayer for protection if they wish to enter their church.) http://www.baxterbulletin.com/article/20090214/NEWS01/90214001/1002 http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=770177 --- Texas Parking-Lot-Storage Bill Supported: State Sen. Glenn Hegar has introduced Senate Bill 730, which would allow employees with concealed handgun permits to keep weapons and ammunition secured in their vehicles at work. Unfortunately, the Texas Association of Business is against SB 730. The TAB's fears are unfounded. Every statistic bears out the fact that individuals with concealed handgun permits are among the most law-abiding citizens in Texas, and that states with concealed handgun permits experience reductions in crime. TAB should research the facts rather than allowing ideology to influence stands on issues. It's the non-permit holders with guns illegally concealed in their vehicles in company parking lots the TAB should be concerned about, not those individuals who have taken a very good course on the use of, dangers associated with and the laws regulating the carrying of concealed handguns... http://www.leader-news.com/news/2009/0214/viewpoint/017.html --- West Virginia Bill Would Allow Guns at Capitol: Bringing a gun or other weapons to the State Capitol Complex isn't allowed. But, one Senator believes the ban on weapons is too broad. Preston County Senator Dave Sypolt brought Bill 147 before the Senate last week. It proposes repealing the prohibition on bringing deadly weapons onto the State Capitol Complex... What the Senator wants is for certified gun owners to at least have the right to keep their weapons in their vehicles while doing business at the capitol... Senator Sypolt even suggests giving gun owners the option of handing over their weapons to a guard. He says having a lock box at the entrance gates would allow them to hand over their weapons and then get them back on their way out... http://www.wsaz.com/home/headlines/39645147.html --- The Arizona Connection: Freshman legislator Rep. Mike Ritze of Broken Arrow has introduced legislation that would allow the carrying of handguns and other firearms. Ritze's idea, which he said is identical to an Arizona law, is being considered by the House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee. If passed, Ritze's bill would remove the requirement of a license to openly carry a handgun, rifle or shotgun as long as the weapon is in a holster, scabbard or case and wholly or partially visible... (The problem with using the Arizona law as a model is that it specifies that the holster be a belt holster and that the holster be wholly or partially visible. There has been an unsuccessful attempt to amend the Arizona law to allow the holster or the handgun to be partially visible.) http://baledger.com/articles/2009/02/15/news/doc49957fc8bbd1a485540994.txt --- California Gun Owners Sweat Local, State Laws: ... In California, new, sweeping federal anti-gun laws are not the main concern for gun owners. It's rather local ordinances that could spread, along with new state laws. In Sacramento and Los Angeles, for instance, you have to fill out a form and leave a thumbprint to purchase center-fire ammunition for a rifle or handgun. In the western foothills of the central and southern Sierra, state law does not permit lead ammunition because this area has been classified as historical condor habitat, even though there are no condors there. You cannot use a lead .22 bullet to shoot rats, for instance. In the past, proposed laws have tried to add taxes on ammunition sales in California. "In the last five years in California, we've killed three ammo tax bills," Gaines said. "One proposal wanted to add a tax of 10 cents per bullet. For a brick of .22 shells, 500 rounds, that would add 50 bucks to the cost just to go target shooting. Right now, that brick costs us about 10 bucks. These kinds of laws chip away at us, making firearms and ammunition more difficult to get." He said such proposals widen the divide between urban and rural... http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/15/SPAV15SC2J.DTL --- Enough Already in New Jersey: I do not own any guns. I do not like guns. I am afraid of guns, even in the right hands. I even think that some people take this Second Amendment stuff too far. Just to make myself real clear, I am not a "gun nut." But sometimes, I've got to agree with the "pro-gun" crowd. This comes to mind in the wake of last week's news that Gov. Jon Corzine has signed yet another gun-control law. In this latest piece of legislation, lawmakers stiffened the penalties for unlawful possession of prohibited assault rifles or machine guns. Violators could get up to 10 years behind bars... But still, I'm somewhat troubled by this, yet another law controlling weapons, for several reasons... http://blog.nj.com/njv_george_berkin/2009/02/gun_control.html --- Incrementalism - Which Caliber to Ban Next?: After so-called "assault weapons," the second most popular target of the gun prohibitionists would probably be .50 caliber rifles. The ostensible "logic" (being generous here) is that such rifles are "too powerful" to be entrusted to private citizens. Nightmare scenarios of airliners being shot down, or tanks of dangerous chemicals being breached, are breathlessly trotted out in efforts to frighten the public. One thing never mentioned in discussions of these potential disasters is an account of anything like that ever happening, anywhere in the world. The very simple reason for that is that nothing like that ever has happened... http://www.examiner.com/x-2581-St-Louis-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m2d16-Whats-nexta-499-caliber-ban --- Then Again, Just Ban Ammo: Gun owners are alarmed over what they're witnessing in Washington, DC and state legislatures across the country. Realizing they could not succeed in disarming American citizens, Liberal organizations and their political representatives have decided to allow armed citizens to possess all the guns they wish. The hitch is, according to political strategist Mike Baker, the so-called gun-grabbers have decided to track ammunition for those guns by encoding the cartridges and maintaining a database. Ammo control laws will also stipulate that uncoded ammunition will be confiscated either voluntarily or through coercive means, according to Baker... http://www.newswithviews.com/NWV-News/news126.htm --- The Sky Is Falling: On Thursday Rick Kipper of Charlotte County [FL] found out a co-worker's 10-year-old son and two other boys got in trouble at Neil Armstrong Elementary School. "His son had been suspended from school for bringing a gun, or actually a whole cache of guns to school in his backpack," explains Kipper. He says the "cache of guns" were action figure guns that can fit in your palm. "I think this is over-zealous, it's over-stepping. It's ridiculous," insists Kipper. He wants to know: "What is zero tolerance? Where do you draw the line?" ... http://www.fox4now.com/global/story.asp?s=9843564 --- Meanwhile, in Colorado: Marie Morrow is heading back to class after the superintendent of the Cherry Creek School District decided the student had been disciplined enough for bringing fake rifles used for a drill team to school. But the issue has brought Colorado's dangerous-gun laws into the cross hairs while districts wrestle with when and how to enforce the law and when to use common sense... Morrow, 17, was suspended for up to 10 days on Feb. 5 after a student saw the fake rifles in her vehicle and notified school officials. She faced expulsion, but officials decided Friday that the amount of school she already missed was enough of a punishment. Morrow leads the drill team of the Douglas County Young Marines, which teaches leadership and life skills. Morrow said she didn't realize she had the nonworking props in her vehicle... http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_11706871 --- Oops, Wrong House: A suspected home invasion suspect has been shot and killed following an armed confrontation with a homeowner. Palm Beach County Sheriff's spokesman Pete Palenzuela says PBSO received a phone call early Monday morning at approximately 1:50 a.m., saying an armed man had broken into the residence, located at 1382 White Pine Drive. Investigators say their preliminary investigation shows the deceased black male suspect, who was wearing all black clothing and a black mask, was an armed intruder. Nobody else inside the house was injured. One of the residents is described as a local teacher. Palenzuela says the residents' two dogs alerted the family when the suspect tried to get in through a sliding door in the back of the home. (This account points out the value of dogs and the relative ease of forcing open sliding doors.) http://www.wptv.com/mostpopular/story/Wellington-home-invasion-suspect-killed/iezi_xbSlUCMC68-6q0pkA.cspx --- Oops, Wrong Estranged Wife: A man was killed last Tuesday, Feb. 3, resulting from an altercation with his alienated wife and her male friend. Boderick Horne, 31 of Milledgeville, was found dead with several gunshot wounds in the home of his alienated wife, Lakeisha Horne, 28, in her duplex apartment located in River's Edge Subdivision. Officials said that Boderick Horne had forcefully entered his estranged wife's home confronting Lakeisha Horne and her male friend, Keeno Weaver, a GCSU Employee. Authorities say that the males got into an argument taking the confrontation into the kitchen when Weaver shot Boderick Horne several times resulting in his death... http://media.www.gcsunade.com/media/storage/paper299/news/2009/02/13/CampusNews/Employee.Shoots.Man.In.SelfDefense-3628580.shtml --- Oops, Wrong Coin Store: An armed man attempting to rob a North Park coin shop Friday morning was killed after he and at least one of the store's employees exchanged gunfire, police said. The man and an accomplice went into the Old Coin Shop on El Cajon Boulevard, just east of Texas Street, at 9:16 a.m. and confronted two employees who were both armed with handguns, said San Diego police homicide Lt. Terry McManus. About the same time police received a 911 call about the robbery and while en route, shots were fired inside the business, McManus said... (When seconds count, the police are only minutes away.) http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/feb/13/bn12shot214195-robber-shot/ --- Lots of Company, Advice for Newbies: ...So what should a new gun buyer know? I ask D.H. "Gunny" Schmidbauer, a retired Marine gunnery sergeant and firearms instructor, what gun he would recommend. Gunny says that depends on the buyer's experience. So I create a composite customer: a lifelong Democrat who has never owned a gun, shot his friend's .22-caliber rifle years ago in college but now is getting worried about the break-ins on his street. Gunny nods approvingly. Gun people love liberal converts. He quickly answers: "A steel-framed .357. Maybe a Ruger or Smith & Wesson Model 60." Why? Lots of wallop. The steel frame cuts down on the kick. You can cut down on it even more with .38-caliber ammunition. And the instructions are simple: Put bullets in gun. Aim. Fire... (Good advice, so long as you have the hand size and strength to work the double-action trigger. I once had a student for whom a revolver did not point as well as a Kahr pistol, which she decided to purchase. However, there is plenty of room to "adjust" a revolver with aftermarket grip stocks.) http://www.orlandosentinel.com/community/news/apopka/orl-miket1509feb15,0,6358416.column --- British Snipers in Afghanistan: British Army snipers call it 'the Silent Assassin' and it is the weapon the Taliban fear the most. It is the British-made L115A3 Long Range Rifle which, in recent weeks, has killed scores of enemy fighters in Afghanistan. In a new initiative on the front line, the Army is using sniper platoons to target the Taliban and 'The Long', as the snipers call it, can take out insurgents from a mile away... The L115A3 Long Range Sniper Rifle - based on a weapon used by the British Olympic shooting team - weighs 15lbs, fires 8.59mm rounds and has a range of 1,100-1,500 yards. (Curiously, the weight of the rifle is given in pounds but the caliber is given in millimeters, which translate to 0.338 inches. This would appear to be the Lapua .338 Magnum, an outstanding choice for long-range precision work. Notice how it is the rifle, not the operators, which is credited with eliminating the talibs.) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1145667/Pictured-The-supergun-kills-mile--camouflaged-crackshots-using-Taliban.html# --- How about Armed Citizens?: With three Afghan government ministries in Kabul hit by simultaneous suicide attacks this week, by a total of just eight terrorists, it seems that a new "Mumbai model" of swarming, smaller-scale terrorist violence is emerging... This pattern suggests that Americans should brace for a coming swarm. Right now, most of our cities would be as hard-pressed as Mumbai was to deal with several simultaneous attacks. Our elite federal and military counterterrorist units would most likely find their responses slowed, to varying degrees, by distance and the need to clarify jurisdiction... So how are swarms to be countered? The simplest way is to create many more units able to respond to simultaneous, small-scale attacks and spread them around the country. This means jettisoning the idea of overwhelming force in favor of small units that are not "elite" but rather "good enough" to tangle with terrorist teams. In dealing with swarms, economizing on force is essential... http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/opinion/15arquilla.html?_r=2 Related Article: ...After the three-day assault in Mumbai on luxury hotels, a Jewish center and other sites in November left 164 people dead, the NYPD dispatched investigators to India to see if there were any security lessons for New York. They were struck how the 10 shooters calmly caused so much mayhem by relying on cell-phone communication and Chinese knockoff AK-47s. The local police and security officers, they said, were clearly overwhelmed. "Their weapons were not sufficiently powerful and they were not trained for that type of conflict," Kelly said. "It took more than 12 hours for properly armed Indian commandos to arrive." ... (The photos I recall of the Mumbai incident showed police officers armed with SMLE bolt-action rifles. I believe that this Indian version is chambered in 7.62x51mm [.308 Winchester], a substantially more powerful round than the 5.56x45mm [.223 Remington] of the M4 and Ruger Mini-14. MG Merritt Edson, USMC, is reported to have said, "One hundred rounds do not constitute fire power. One hit constitutes fire power." The salient point about Mumbai is that the police officers did not even attempt to use their rifles.) http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/nypd_mumbai_attacks/2009/02/15/182232.html --- Tangentially Related: Reporting from Washington - Slowly over the last few weeks, some of Barack Obama's most fervent supporters have come to an unhappy realization: The candidate who they thought was squarely on their side in policy fights is now a president who needs cajoling and persuading... (Curiously absent from this account are the pleas of the Brady Bunch and its brethren. Do they know something that the other far-left constituencies don't or does the Los Angeles Times simply not want to rock that particular boat at this time?) http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/washingtondc/la-na-obama-anxiety16-2009feb16,0,3787339,full.story -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .