One Can Only Hope: Amid so much other news, a Senate vote last week to allow loaded guns in national parks slipped under the media radar. The vote shows how the political cause of gun control is as dead as a mounted moose... Congressional liberals are furious, and are threatening to hold up the credit-card bill, much as they have held up Washington, D.C. voting-rights legislation to which Republicans attached gun-owner protections. Holding up both bad bills forever would be fine with us, but in any case it's clear liberals have lost the gun control debate even within their own party. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124260178503028361.html#mod=djemEditorialPage This should be a time of great hope for supporters of stricter gun control laws. They've got a new president on their side, a Congress dominated by Democrats, even a terrible string of shootings this spring that should lend urgency to their cause. Instead they're facing discouraging signals from the White House, falling support for tighter regulation, spikes in gun sales and a resurgent National Rifle Association. Just the prospect of new federal limits on guns has sent enthusiasts rushing to buy guns and join the NRA... http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/05/18/jill-lawrences-nra-piece/ --- Not All Gun Owners Are Patriots: ...Do these Democrats approve of an armed America? Are they patriots? No and no - they take great pleasure in keeping their jobs and they know that the time is not ripe for any gun control nonsense. The Senate leader, Harry Reid, is from Nevada, and his rural constituency would hang him on high were he to support any such verdict on guns. Don't get me wrong - these cretins, who despise the self-sufficient, independent types who refuse to kowtow to despotic rule, will make the move to sweep across the plains and make America a gun-free, sitting-duck zone at first opportunity. After all, a disarmed America is an obedient, lifeless, submissive America. That's the kind of America that Obama, and the rest of the world, wants... http://lewrockwell.com/decoster/decoster152.html --- Opposition Mounts to Gun-Denial Bill: A bill designed to keep weapons out of the hands of terrorists is drawing fire from gun rights advocates who say it could infringe upon regular citizens' constitutional right to bear arms. The Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act of 2009 would authorize Attorney General Eric Holder to deny the sale or transfer of firearms to known or suspected terrorists - a list that could extend beyond groups such as radical Islamists and other groups connected to international terror organizations... Terrorist watch lists came under fire last month after a Department of Homeland Security report warned that right wing extremist groups may be expanding their membership in the midst of current economic upheaval. While the report stated that such groups were not believed to be planning any terrorist attacks, it went on to state they might do so in the name of issues like abortion, immigration and gun control... http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/05/13/critics-deride-designed-weapons-terrorists-hands/ http://www.opposingviews.com/articles/opinion-anti-gun-blacklist-bill-reaches-congress --- Opposition Mounts to National-Park Carry: Opponents say U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn's efforts to change decades-old rules for national parks could lead to loaded guns, even assault weapons, in some of the nation's most sacred sites. "This is a bad idea," said Scot McElveen, president of the Association of National Park Rangers. McElveen even took issue with the Oklahoma Republican's claims that his Senate-passed amendment would not apply to monuments. "That's not how I read it," he said, citing Coburn's own language that indicates his amendment, if it became law, would apply to all units of the National Park System. McElveen said that would include Southwest sites that are "very sacred" to some American Indians. "To have folks with firearms there would be very disturbing to them." ... (It will be interesting if Congress bows to such concerns at a time when the overall trend is to eliminate signs of our Judaeo-Christian traditions from the public square.) http://newsok.com/coburn-gun-measure-draws-fire-from-foes/article/3370160 --- Blogging the RKBA: ...In the process, gun bloggers are taking on issues like gun control preemption laws in Philadelphia and putting pressure on firearms firms for their choice of spokesmen. And while their reach can be argued, their rise appears to mirror polling data showing that Americans, sometimes by double-digit gains, increasingly favor more gun freedoms, not gun control. Gun control groups have roughly 150,000 members in the US while gun rights advocates number closer to 12 million, with perhaps as many as 80 million Americans owning some 200 million firearms. The Internet presence of gun rights advocates actually began in the early 1990s, making them early adopters of the Web as a social and information tool. They took the lead on issues like concealed carry laws which have now spread to nearly 40 states, says Mr. Patrick, the University of Toledo professor... http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/05/16/a-rifle-in-one-hand-a-laptop-in-the-other-behind-the-scene-with-pro-gun-bloggers/ --- The Beat Goes On: He came in search of ammunition. Walking the length of Sportsman's Warehouse on Friday, John Lewis found only empty shelves. Tiered displays at the end of each aisle, once overflowing with bullets - with even more in the back - now held black canvas bags instead. Orange signs limited purchases to two boxes of ammo per person, if even that many could be found. It's a shock for gun owners like Lewis, a 52-year-old former Marine looking to buy 9 mm rounds. "People are afraid," he said. "They're getting concerned." Sporting goods stores across Colorado Springs are reporting the same thing: ammunition sales are booming, in some cases leaving shelves drained and customers disappointed. This mirrors a national trend fueled in part by President Barack Obama's stance on gun control and the introduction of a gun-control bill in Congress... http://www.gazette.com/articles/length-54227-displays-warehouse.html --- F Troop Won't Divulge Reason for Raid: Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearm agents seized more than 200 firearms and ammunition from a local gun store and the owner's home, according to ATF officials. Agents arrived at Lock, Stock and Barrel in the 15000 block of Bear Valley Road and at store owner Steve Mitchell's home in the 9500 block of Bellview Avenue in Apple Valley on Friday morning, according to Michael Hoffman, spokesman for the ATF. Hoffman would not disclose the details or the reason behind the seizure... Mitchell's federal firearms license was not revoked, meaning the store could reopen, but Hoffman said Mitchell does not have any guns left in his inventory. He could sell accessories and other items, though," he said... (He doesn't need an FFL to sell "accessories and other items.") http://www.vvdailypress.com/news/nets-12340-raid-atf.html --- Meanwhile, in Connecticut: A usually quiet mobile home park was shaken Friday morning when about 15 officers from the U.S. bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and local police descended on one of their neighbor's homes with force. "They had their guns drawn and were surrounding the house," said Jennifer Monroe of Hosford Bridge Road. "These weren't small guns, they were machine guns. It wasn't normal." ...The family was told by ATF officers that the agency received a tip six weeks ago that a convicted felon was living at the home and had access to guns, Lynne Boynton said. Paul Boynton was arrested 34 years ago at the age of 17 with a friend who had forged a check. He hasn't been arrested since, he said... http://www.myrecordjournal.com/site/printerFriendly.cfm?brd=2755&dept_id=592709&newsid=20316296 http://www.examiner.com/x-1417-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m5d16-ATF-gun-raid-sends-us-all-a-message --- What's Left of the RKBA in Massachusetts: On a beautiful May morning I leave my house and walk a short distance to a shop advertising "sporting goods and firearms." As I approach the counter, a man asks if he can help. Trying not to stammer, I say I want to buy a gun. I have various stories prepared to explain my odd request but he simply asks, "Do you have a permit?" When I say no, he says that I need one from the police, which they will issue only after I have taken a gun safety course. This costs around $100. I leave the shop clutching not a deadly weapon but several phone numbers... I pass the multiple-choice quiz and my teacher issues me a certificate and wishes me luck. I am ready for the next stage: applying for a class "A" permit, which will allow me to carry a concealed weapon. I phone the Cambridge police and learn that this costs $100. Along with my certificate, I must provide proofs of residence and citizenship, and write a letter stating the purpose for which I want a firearm. The permit takes four to six weeks. As I am rapidly discovering, Massachusetts offers no quick route to legal gun ownership... http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/05/18/the_nation_of_the_armed/ --- RKBA Remains an Issue in L.A. City Attorney Race: Los Angeles city attorney candidate Jack Weiss aired a provocative new television ad last week that again attempted to brand opponent Carmen Trutanich with the gun clients represented by Trutanich's Long Beach law firm, Trutanich-Michel. But Trutanich's campaign has cried foul, saying a number of the claims in Weiss' ad take Trutanich's comments out of context. Here's a look at the claims and the candidates' positions... http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-weiss-ad18-2009may18,0,6593804.story --- Alabama to See Parking-Lot-Storage Bill Again: Bills to allow employees to store guns in their cars at the workplace were shot down this Legislative session, but a powerful state senator said he will reload and pursue similar legislation next year. The legislative session ended Friday without the House and Senate bills com­ing up for a vote. Time just ran out: amendments were tacked onto the Senate version late last week and there weren't enough days left in the session for the bill to work through committees and then both chambers... http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/article/20090517/NEWS0201/905170303/Legislators++Concealed+weapons+bill+will+return+next+session --- Bringing A Bat to a Gunfight: Federal authorities won't pursue charges against a 23-year-old Mescalero man who shot and killed two men on the reservation. FBI spokesman Stephan Marshall said prosecutors declined to bring charges against Wacey Chico, citing witness accounts of an April 15 altercation and evidence recovered at the scene. Marshall said authorities believe Chico acted in self-defense after two brothers started a fight with him. He identified the brothers as James Steward, 30, and Christian Steward, 23. 1 of the men was armed with an aluminum baseball bat and cornered Chico, who had a .22-caliber rifle. Marshall said the brothers continued to advance. He said Christian Steward was shot once and James Steward twice. http://www.kvia.com/Global/story.asp?S=10376410 -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .