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“Home owners and ‘have-a go-heroes’ have for the first time been given the legal right to defend themselves against burglars and muggers free from fear of prosecution. They will be able to use force against criminals who break into their homes or attack them in the street without worrying that ‘heat of the moment’ misjudgements could see them brought before the courts. Under new laws police and prosecutors will have to assess a person’s actions based on the person’s situation ‘as they saw it at the time’ even if in hindsight it could be seen as unreasonable.” (07/16/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/65dpcl | |
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“A Bainbridge man refused to be robbed when he was accosted around 5 a.m. Saturday morning. The complainant, a resident of Spruce Street, told BPS that he was sitting on his front porch smoking a cigar and drinking a cup of coffee. According to the resident, a man wearing a mask and carrying a large knife approached and demanded that he hand over his wallet. The citizen said he told the masked robber that he had to go inside the house to get the wallet. The homeowner returned, not with his wallet in hand, but instead wielding a pistol, which sent the robber off running.” (07/15/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/5tq22z | |
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“District residents can start registering their guns today. But at least one very high profile application was already rejected. Dick Heller is the man who brought the lawsuit against the District’s 32-year-old ban on handguns. He was among the first in line Thursday morning to apply for a handgun permit. But when he tried to register his semi-automatic weapon, he says he was rejected. He says his gun has seven bullet clip. Heller says the City Council legislation allows weapons with fewer than eleven bullets in the clip. A spokesman for the DC Police says the gun was a bottom-loading weapon, and according to their interpretation, all bottom-loading guns are outlawed because they are grouped with machine guns.” (07/17/08) Link: http://www.wusa9.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=74036&catid=158 | |
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“The doors opened Thursday to post-handgun ban era here, with gun rights advocates vowing another legal challenge to the city’s newly approved gun control law. Less than a month after the Supreme Court overturned the city’s 32-year-old handgun ban … the same litigant in the landmark case appeared at police headquarters and said he likely would wage a new fight. Dick Heller, whose legal challenge prompted the Supreme Court ruling, said he would challenge new city regulations that continue to ban District residents from owning semi-automatic weapons. ‘The city still does not yet understand the decision of the Supreme Court,’ Heller said from the steps of police headquarters. ‘We have been denied again.’” (07/17/08) Link: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-07-17-gun-ban_N.htm | |
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“A Park Heights man shot and killed a 45-year-old man who was attempting to burglarize his aunt’s home early Wednesday morning, a police spokeswoman said. … When officers arrived, they were told that a man had broken into a home. A man living in that house heard someone come into the basement, and he went upstairs to get a his .38-caliber handgun, police said. He was the registered owner of the gun, police said. The man, armed with the weapon, went to investigate and heard footsteps upstairs. He called out to his aunt to see whether she was walking around the house, Monroe said. Then he walked up to the first floor and saw the burglar running through the rear door of the kitchen and fired once, striking the burglar in the back, Monroe said. The burglar ran out the back door and collapsed near a shed, Monroe said. The man called 911, put his handgun on the kitchen table and waited for police to arrive.” (07/16/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/6o4p5z | |
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“A clerk at a local convenience store on North Kings Highway shot at a man who tried to rob the store last night, according to Myrtle Beach police officials. The incident happened around 6 p.m. Tuesday when a man walked into the store and demanded money. The clerk pulled out a handgun from under the counter, shot at the man, and missed, said Capt. David Knipes, Myrtle Beach Police’s public information officer. The bullet hit a wall, Knipes said. He said the man fled out the door.” (07/16/08) Link: http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/news/breaking_news/story/522047.html | |
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“Calling violence in Chicago ‘out of control,’ Gov. Blagojevich on Wednesday offered to lend state troopers and National Guard helicopters to the city to augment the Chicago Police. The governor is considering forming an ‘elite tactical team’ to help the Chicago Police fight gang problems, a source said, adding that the unit could later be sent across the state to deal with gang problems at any city’s request. ‘It’s fair to say that violent crime in Chicago is out of control. In certain communities in the city of Chicago, it is reaching epidemic proportions,’ Blagojevich told reporters at a [victim disarmament] bill-signing ceremony in Chicago.” (07/17/08) Link: http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1060701,CST-NWS-blago17.article | |
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“The city state’s attorney’s office is investigating the circumstances in which a west Baltimore man claims he shot and killed an intruder. According to police, a burglar broke into a home occupied by an 82-year-old woman and her nephew on the 3800 block of Hayward Street at about 1 a.m. Wednesday. Police said the nephew heard noises and shot the intruder, who died from a gunshot wound to the back. Police said they questioned and released the nephew and have forwarded facts surrounding the intruder’s death to the city state’s attorney’s office, who will determine if the shooter was defending his home while retreating out of fear for his life.” (07/16/08) Link: http://www.wbaltv.com/news/16902245/detail.html | |
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‘The District of Columbia Council planned to vote Tuesday on emergency legislation to allow handguns if they are used only for self-defense in the home and carry fewer than 12 rounds of ammunition. The legislation announced Monday comes as officials scramble to comply with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last month striking down the city’s 32-year-old ban. The proposal, which maintains some of the city’s strict gun ownership rules and adds more regulations, was immediately criticized by gun rights advocates threatening more legal action.” (07/15/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/5sqtl5 | |
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“A woman who told police her boyfriend shot her multiple times didn’t get a chance to give detectives an official statement before she died, putting her case in limbo as police try to determine whether those shots were fired in self-defense. Gloria Charles Ruth Alexander, 56, died Monday from injuries she received during an early-morning confrontation with her boyfriend on June 28. … When police arrived to the couple’s home, 3315 Ave. M 1/2, they saw Jones carrying an 8- to 10-inch knife by the blade that he claimed Alexander threatened to kill him with, police reports say. Alexander was shot at least four times with a rifle, said John Florence, a spokesman for the Galveston County Medical Examiner. Jones told police he was trying to sleep when Alexander came in their bedroom with a knife and told him she would kill him, reports say. Police reported that Jones said he got his rifle from the bedroom and shot her three times. Afterward, Jones gave the rifle to a neighbor and asked him to call police, Galveston police Lt. D.J. Alvarez said.” (07/15/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/6ejurz | |
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“Deputies said a man who was sleeping in a home he was remodeling shot and killed an intruder who woke him up early Tuesday morning. The shooting happened at 1/2 Stevens St. just off Watts Street around 12:30 a.m. Deputies said the man who is remodeling the home actually lives across the street, but had decided to sleep at the project home. Something woke the homeowner up and he found someone inside the home, deputies said. They said the man fired twice at the intruder, killing him. Deputies said the case appears to be self defense and that no charges will be filed.” (07/15/08) Link: http://www.foxcarolina.com/news/16886848/detail.html#- | |
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“The District of Columbia Council planned to vote Tuesday on emergency legislation to allow handguns, but only if they are used for self-defense in the home and carry fewer than 12 rounds of ammunition. The legislation announced Monday comes as officials try to comply with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last month striking down the city’s 32-year-old weapons ban.” (07/14/08) Link: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,382381,00.html | |
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“The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada has declared its support for an individual’s right to bear arms, apparently making it the first state affiliate to buck the national ACLU’s position on the Second Amendment. The state board of directors reached the decision following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the Second Amendment protects the rights of individuals to own handguns. The Nevada ACLU respects the individual’s right to bear arms subject to constitutionally permissible regulations,’ a statement on the organization’s Web site said. ‘The ACLU of Nevada will defend this right as it defends other constitutional rights.” (07/11/08) Link: http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_9853516 | |
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“The period for public comment on a controversial rule change that would allow loaded guns in national parks has been extended to August 8 after pressure from congressional leaders. … The comment period was scheduled to end on June 30, but the chairs of the Senate and House national park subcommittees sent a letter to the Secretary of the Interior days before the deadline requesting an extension … The letter … stated that ‘the Department’s proposal is ardently opposed by current and former park ranger professionals …’ The letter also mentioned that the public needed time to analyze the Supreme Court’s decision in support of an individual’s right to bear arms against a Washington D.C. gun ban.” (07/11/08) Link: http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200880711035 | |
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“Firing a .357-caliber handgun until it was empty, an Ocala woman chased two intruders from her home in the 3800 block of Southeast 68th Street on Wednesday morning. …. Shortly after 8 a.m. Wednesday, 29-year-old Jennifer Ann Hunley; her 27-year-old boyfriend, Michael Joseph Nash; and Hunley’s 11-year-old daughter were inside their home when two men entered through the garage door. Nash, who was coming out of a bathroom at the time, saw one of the intruders holding a nail gun near the television set in the living room. The man demanded money. At the same time Nash saw that the second suspect, armed with a handgun, was also in the living room. The one with the nail gun hit Nash on the head, and when he fell down both men began beating him. Hunley came into the living room, saw what was happening, returned to her bedroom for a .357-caliber handgun and fired a warning shot into the ceiling. The intruder with the nail gun ran outside, while the other one ran into a nearby bedroom. He then pointed his weapon, believed to be a small-caliber handgun, and fired at least one shot at Hunley. Then Hunley, who is 5-foot-3, emptied her handgun, firing four shots at the intruder. The gunman ran out the front door. Neither Hunley nor her daughter were hurt during the exchange of gunfire.” (07/10/08) Link: http://www.ocala.com/article/20080710/NEWS/216986732/0/VOZLATINA | |
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“A Prairie Creek resident shot and killed a neighbor who had kicked in his door Tuesday evening and tried to assault him, police said. Johnny Hawthorne shot Mekin Kantaphone with a handgun once in the head in self-defense inside Hawthorne’s home …. Kantaphone, 34, sent threatening text and voice messages to Hawthorne, 25, earlier in the day, he said. ‘He was threatening to beat him and kill him,’ Sydoriak said. … On Tuesday evening, Kantaphone and his brother, Ole Kantaphone, drove to Hawthorne’s home at 8549 Wild Cherry Drive. Ole Kantaphone tried to stop his brother from going to the door, but he wouldn’t listen, Sydoriak said. ‘He tried to reason with him and stop him, but he couldn’t hold him back,’ Sydoriak said.” (07/11/08) Link: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/230891/ | |
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Commentaries this week from Ted Dunlap, John Stossel, CCRKBA, Christine Smith, Fred Reed, Irvin Novick, Nathan Barton , Robert A. Levy and more … and a Review of Howard Nemerov’s “Four Hundred Years of Gun Control … Why Isn’t It Working?” Self defense stories from Texas (2) , Arizona(2) , Arkansas, Florida, Missouri … in other news, UK Pensioner arrested for chasing away youths with piece of wood, Philly residents required to report lost or stolen guns or be fined, Most guns seized at Canadian border are legit, Arizona gov vetoes bill affirming RKBA in cars, Disney employee suspended for bringing gun to work, UK Conservative pol wants to jail anyone with a knife, DC Officials weigh remaining victim disarmament options, Guns may be allowed at Texas colleges, and NY Federal Judge upholds unconstitutional victim disarmament law. Til next week Mary Lou Link: http://rationalreview.com/2am | |
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“Garland police say they do not plan to file charges against a 25-year-old man who fatally shot a suspected copper thief this morning. The incident happened shortly before 1:20 a.m. at Bargain Town — Variety & Furniture store in the 5700 block of Broadway Boulevard, police said. The business owner’s son had been guarding the roof after the store had been recently hit by copper thieves. The son said he confronted a man who had climbed on the roof. The son fired his gun, striking the man in the torso, police said. The man fled, climbing back down the building and collapsing on the ground. Paramedics arrived to find the man had died. Police said he had a small backpack with tools investigators believe were used to steal copper.” (07/10/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/5j8d7u | |
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“A pensioner who used a piece of wood to chase away a gang of teenagers who had been throwing stones at his home is facing a jail term after being arrested and charged with possessing an offensive weapon. … ‘This is Britain gone mad. Just what in the world is this country coming to when the police arrest people like me for protecting their own property?’” [editor’s note: Lessee, first ban guns, then knives, now wood - MLS] (07/08/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/6k54vw | |
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“Reporting a lost or stolen gun to police seems pretty logical to Mayor Michael Nutter. Not doing it in Philadelphia now comes with a cost — $1,900. Nutter and other city officials yesterday announced that the lost-or-stolen reporting requirement passed by City Council in April and upheld in court early last month will go into full effect Aug. 8. Nutter suggested residents take the next month to take inventory of their firearms in preparation of the new law and report any missing guns to police. ‘If you lose your piece, call police,’ he said at a press conference. ‘We are serious about aggressively enforcing public safety laws.’” (07/10/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/55d3db | |
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“Americans cherish their constitutional right to keep and bear arms, even when they come to Canada. Canada Border Services Agency officers regularly discover smuggled guns destined for the Canadian criminal underworld, but most firearms they turn up belong to otherwise law-abiding Americans, according to agency intelligence summaries. ‘Most of the firearms seized by CBSA at the land ports of entry are the personal firearms of legitimate U.S. travellers who neglected — intentionally or not — to declare their personal firearms,’ says the agency’s strategic intelligence analysis division in an undated report covering the period from 2004 to 2006.” (07/07/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/6enmlc | |
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“Arizonans without state permits will not be able to carry loaded guns under the seats of their cars. Gov. Janet Napolitano on Monday vetoed legislation that would have made cars and trucks the same as someone’s home, where you could have a gun anywhere, visible or not. The governor said the measure ‘would have added to the level of uncertainty and danger law enforcement officers who make traffic stops already face in the line of duty.’ But Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, said existing law already allows people to carry holstered weapons in places not visible to someone outside the car …. He said his measure would just have simplified the law so as not to make criminals out of otherwise law-abiding citizens.” (07/08/08) Link: http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/247283 | |
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“A new state law went on the books Tuesday saying people could bring guns to work if they kept them locked in their car. Disney, though, said it was exempt from the new law and its 62,000 employees needed to keep their guns at home. Friday, a worker who protested the park’s decision told Channel 9 he was suspended. The worker was well aware that he could end up losing his job when he took the gun to work Friday morning, but said that the principle at stake means enough to him that he was willing to take the risk, especially on the day we celebrate the country and our freedoms. … Disney told employees it is exempt from the new law that allows them to bring a gun to work, because it stores fireworks on site.” (07/04/08) Link: http://www.wftv.com/print/16792006/detail.html | |
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“Police arrived in the 3900 block of East Hampton Circle, near Val Vista Drive and U.S. 60, about 11 p.m., just as the shooting occurred. Officers found that the 29-year-old boyfriend of a neighborhood woman had been shot and killed by a 49-year-old homeowner who lives nearby. The homeowner had come outside after hearing the man and his girlfriend yelling at each other in the front yard. Although police have stopped short of using the term self-defense, they said the homeowner shot and killed the man because he was ‘going crazy’ with a billiards stick and charged at the homeowner. The man was found dead on the homeowner’s driveway. ‘As far as coming out with a gun, he was well within his rights,’ said Detective Chris Arvayo, Mesa police spokesman. ‘He was in his yard. He never left his property. He came out with a gun, which is his constitutional right.’” (07/07/08) Link: http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/120228 | |
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“A Corpus Christi man found three men looking into his car early Saturday morning and shot at them in fear for his own safety, according to a police report. Police responded to the 3700 block of Kingston Drive at 4:39 a.m., where a 50-year-old man told them he was awakened by noises in his driveway. After seeing the three men, the man grabbed his .40 Glock and confronted the men. The man told police he feared for his safety and fired off a round into the trunk of the suspect’s vehicle. They fled and have not been located.” (07/07/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/6zukg8 | |
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“An Avondale man shot at armed robbers Saturday night when they tried to take his infant during a robbery, according to a police report released Monday. The Avondale family had started to unload groceries at their home near Main Street and Litchfield Road when three men approached the car with guns and demanded money. When the victim, 52, said he didn’t have any cash, one robber said, ‘get the baby,’ according to Avondale Police Sergeant Memo Espinoza. The victim pulled out a handgun and the three robbers started shooting at the man and the house. The father shot back. The robbers ran away, and one was crawling on the ground as if he had been shot, according to Espinoza. The victim and baby were not hurt in the shootout.” (07/07/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/5s6c69 | |
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“A woman shot and killed her husband at their home outside of El Dorado, and the Union County sheriff says the slaying was in self-defense. Sheriff Ken Jones said the incident happened around 10:30 p.m. Saturday, when deputies found 47 year-old Roger Gates dead inside the home. Jones says 37 year-old Kimberly Gates told him that her husband had attacked her and that she was afraid for her life and her baby’s. Officials say she was able to get away from her husband, get a gun from the bathroom, and shoot him.” (07/07/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/5ktle9 | |
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“It was early Sunday, investigators say, when Mark Mazur snuck into a yard on San Luis and dug a tunnel under the fence. But his clandestine plan was thwarted by the homeowner’s dog. When he heard his dog barking, Robert Cash came outside — armed with a handgun — and ordered the intruder to stop. Mazur, armed with a blowtorch, started towards Cash. Investigators say Cash fired once and missed Mazur, but the shot was enough to convince him to stop and wait for police to arrive.” (07/07/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/67stgc | |
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“The Conservative Party leader [David Cameron] now says anyone found carrying a knife should be jailed. Last month the Prime Minister said everyone, from the age of 16 upwards, should be prosecuted for carrying a knife, but there was no mention of an automatic prison sentence. ‘I don’t believe that the Government’s ‘presumption to prosecute’ is enough. It doesn’t send a strong enough signal. We need a ‘presumption to prison.’ We have a real problem of epidemic proportions. Eighteen kids in London have been stabbed to death this year. If we don’t do something now it will go on and on.’” (07/07/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/5wy3n2 | |
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“The Supreme Court’s repeal of the ban on handguns in Washington, D.C., may be a boon for a segment of the firearms industry whose last major windfall might have been in the heyday of the Dirty Harry movies: those who make and sell revolvers. The court ruled that a blanket ban on handguns is unconstitutional, but D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty and other Washington officials want to keep in place a prohibition on semiautomatic handguns — those in which a bullet clip is inserted into the gun’s grip. Such a ban would continue to outlaw 9-mm and other popular pistols that are legal in most other places around the United States. And it would make the classic six-shooter the only legal handgun in the District.” (07/07/08) Link: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,377203,00.html | |
Commentary
jump to News Section | jump to Events and Movement News Section
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“Considerable attention has been paid to an argument made by Justice John Paul Stevens in his dissent to the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling on the Second Amendment, as though Stevens had identified precisely why the majority was all wet. ‘The Court,’ wrote a seemingly astonished Stevens, ‘would have us believe that over 200 years ago, the Framers made a choice to limit the tools available to elected officials wishing to regulate civilian uses of weapons!’ Well yeah! That is exactly what the Framers intended when they penned the Second Amendment, affirming the individual citizen’s right to keep and bear arms.” 907/12/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/5sol5v | |
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“There is a big difference between being Conservative and being Patriotic. Elephants and Donkeys can agree on many, many questions on how we run our country, come to the same conclusions and get a lot of business done. And a lot of Conservatives can drop the ball and refuse to see the citizen authority — lethal force connection they should be standing up for. This is one of the biggest complaints of constituents: for all the talk of Independence, the Conservatives won’t really take a position on how citizen authority in this country is backed by lethal force in the hands of the citizen first and always. It is this authority backed by force which shall not be infringed.” (07/17/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/69tg8e | |
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“Overall, D.C. vs. Heller is a mixed bag since, on the one hand, the court struck down the District of Columbia’s gun owners ship ban and trigger lock requirement but keeps its hands off the District’s gun license and registration laws and other regulatory schemes, like concealed carry permits. I am glad at the very least that D.C. vs. Heller affirms the right to bear arms as an individual right as outlined which was the intent of the people who drew up the Second Amendment.” (07/17/08) Link: http://www.freedomsphoenix.com/Editorial-Page.htm?InfoNo=035838 | |
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“Ultimately, the Court agreed with Heller that D.C.’s ban on all functional firearms in the home is unconstitutional ‘under any of the standards of scrutiny the Court has applied to enumerated constitutional rights.’ But the Court did not choose a specific standard, and may hereafter apply something less than the strict scrutiny standard Heller had suggested. On the other hand, the Court categorically rejected ‘rational basis’ scrutiny, which has been a rubber-stamp for virtually all legislative enactments. And the Court also rejected Justice Stephen Breyer’s ‘interest-balancing’ test, which is no more than a repeat of the process that legislatures undertake in crafting regulations. Something higher is demanded, said Scalia, when an express constitutional right is at issue. At a minimum, it appears that the Court will adopt some version of intermediate or heightened scrutiny, as urged by the Justice Department.” (07/14/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/59lcdm | |
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“The U.S. Supreme Court may have finally recognized the right to bear arms as protected by the Second Amendment, but the D.C. city government seems determined to put the concept of ‘constitutionally protected right’ to the test. Mayor Fenty’s wish-list of proposed regulations are certainly preferable to the outright ban on handguns the city imposed for 32 years, but they seem a bit more restrictive than you’d expect to be permissible for the exercise of a right rather than a privilege.” (07/15/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/6dwxla | |
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“Almost exactly one year ago, a carload of assailants took to the streets of Calgary and randomly slashed at five pedestrians, killing one of them. A few months later, a crazed man in New York violently attacked an elderly dog-walker and a restaurant worker, ‘chopping’ at them ‘like a sword’ before being killed by police. Only days later, a Salt Lake City man also went on a stabbing spree. On March 23, 2008, a Japanese man carrying two knives stabbed eight people in the city of Tsuchiura, simply because he ‘just wanted to kill anyone.’ And he did. At around the same time, an Alaska teenager butchered four people to death with a five-inch knife.” (07/14/08) Link: http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/68256 | |
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“The Director of the FBI has already started to live down to expectations. He is complaining that the Heller decision will make it more difficult to enforce the law. I also understand that from time to time under his leadership and that of his immediate predecessors the Bureau has had problems enforcing the law if: A. Required to get proper search warrants to put in wiretaps. B. Required to respect people’s right to have an attorney present when interrogated. C. Required to respect people’s rights not to testify against themselves.” (07/14/08) Link: http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2008/tle476-20080713-06.html | |
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“So says Matthew Miller, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health. ‘If you bought a gun today, I could tell you the risk of suicide to you and your family members is going to be two- to tenfold higher over the next 20 years,’ he told The Washington Post. Since the chance of a gun being used for suicide is so much higher than the chance of it being used to prevent a murder, we would all be better off with fewer firearms around. It’s a rich irony — as though smoke alarms were increasing fire fatalities. But the argument raises two questions: Is it true? And, when it comes to gun control policy, does it matter?” (07/13/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/5u43pf | |
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The Second Amendment, self-defense, and the meaning of “in the home”
Source: Frederick News-Post Author: Don Kornreich “For starters, to what does ‘in the home’ apply? It is clear that it applies to a person’s residence, whether a single family house or apartment. Would it apply to a room rented by a boarder in a dwelling occupied by other boarders and/or an owner and family? While ‘home’ presumably, applies to a second residence such as a vacation house; would it apply to a hotel or motel room? What about a cabin at a campsite; or a tent or sleeping bag at such site? Would it matter if the camp site were on federal, state, or private land? What about a motor home or similar vehicle used as a temporary or permanent residence?” (07/13/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/652nmo | |
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“Disarm Americans. Force every law-abiding citizen to surrender all firearms and America will at last be a safer place to live. Sounds absurd doesn’t it? But the anti-gun lobby, fueled by misinformation — and the FBI’s unprecedented political support of gun control — is effectively eroding Americans’ constitutional right to keep and bear arms.” (written 02/95; posted 07/14/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/5t5qrm | |
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“Bill of Rights” always was meant to protect rights of individuals
Source: Newark Advocate Author: A. Harding Gantz “The Supreme Court decision in District of Columbia v. Heller … vindicates the arguments of those of us who always have understood that the whole purpose of the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution … was to protect individual freedoms. This does not preclude some reasonable limitations, as also is true of First Amendment freedoms regarding religion, speech, press and peaceable assembly. The significance is the acknowledgment of the principle that the Second Amendment’s right to keep and bear arms … is an individual right; and that ‘a well regulated militia’ was understood by the framers as meaning all able-bodied, law-abiding citizens, having their own arms, capable of being ‘properly formed’ into local units.” (07/11/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/6g2s6o | |
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“For millions of Americans, the political highpoint of 2008 is now behind them. The precise day is forever inscribed in their hearts as one of glorious ratification of one of America’s core freedoms: on June 26 the U.S. Supreme Court for the first time affirmed, by a narrow majority of 5-4, the Second Amendment to the U.S, Constitution: ‘A well-regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.’ He went to the big armory in the sky a few years ago, but on the evening of June 26, 2008 here, in Petrolia, I could almost hear the joyful salvoes that my neighbor, Curly Wright, half a mile down Conklin Creek Road, would have loosed off into the hillside the other side of the Mattole.” (07/13/08) Link: http://counterpunch.org/cockburn07122008.html | |
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“Watch a cat kill a bird, sometime. If you intervene quickly enough, while the prey is still frantically struggling, you may still be able to set it free. But at some point the victim seems to pass into a kind of trance of resignation. At that point, even if rescued and set free, the bird seems past the point of resistance. It will often die even when its injuries appear non-life-threatening. I submit Western culture is entering a similarly strange and suicidal reverie. Eventually, loud and angry foreigners who have grown up hungry will arrive to kill us and take our stuff, as we sit chanting in self-satisfaction at how wise we were to revert to the imagined peaceful lifestyles of our pre-coal, pre-firearm, pre-industrial, short-lived toothless ancestors. I used to predict that our women (and young boys, I suppose) would at that point shriek and moan as they are carried off into slavery, asking what has become of the men with guns who were supposed to defend them.” (07/13/08) Link: http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/24905809.html | |
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Review: “Four Hundred Years of Gun Control … Why Isn’t It Working?”
Source: Buckeye Firearms Association Author: Chris Chumita
Link: http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/node/5803 | |
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“Many gun-rights advocates are celebrating the Supreme Court’s ruling against Washington DC’s current ban on personal firearms for self-defense. Unfortunately, the court has opened the door for more restrictions on self-defense and ruled against the people who would arm themselves against a tyrannical government … which was THE reason for the Second Amendment. In a ruling that a thoughtful, educated 12-year-old could have made correctly in a few sentences, nine post-retirement-aged authorities in black robes spent 157 pages of print to explain away our Constitutional right and cultural responsibility to be armed against an over-reaching government.” (06/28/08) Link: http://idaholiberty.com/?p=49 | |
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“‘Repeal the Second Amendment,’ the Chicago Tribune editorialized. ‘The Supreme Court on Thursday all but ensured that even more Americans will die,’ the New York Times said. ‘[T]he Second Amendment protects the right to bear arms only in relation to service in a state militia,’ added the Washington Post. Those are a few of many editorial expressions of disgust from the mainstream press over the Supreme Court’s ruling that when the Bill of Rights says that ‘the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed,’ it includes the right to possess guns for self-defense, and not merely a right to be armed as a member of the National Guard.” (07/09/08) Link: http://www.nysun.com/opinion/armed-to-save-lives/81470/ | |
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While Bloomberg frets about our guns, NYPD can’t keep track of theirs
Source: Liberty For All Author: CCRKBA staff “Anti-gun New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg should ‘mind his own store before telling others how to operate theirs,’ said the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, after an audit found that the New York Police Department lost track of dozens of guns in its own storage lockers. ‘While this guy has been bullying gun dealers around the country about so-called ’slip-shod’ operations,’ chuckled CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, ‘his own police department seems to be slipping quite a bit on its own.’” (07/09/08) Link: http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=1359 | |
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“In Florida they recently stripped companies of the right to restrict what happens in their own parking lots. A parking lot is private property. That is clear since entry is often restricted to customers, or employees only, or to those who pay a fee, for instance. But Republicans in Florida passed a law saying that the legislature, not the property owner, may determine whether or not a person can park their car with a firearm inside it, in those private lots. Some employers allowed it and some didn’t. … If it is socialistic for the Left to ban smoking on private property, then this Republican legislation is just as socialistic. Both violate property rights, and do so in exactly the same manner.” (07/08/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/5g2fsx | |
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“Most Americans entirely forget the reason for the 2nd Amendment, and they refuse to believe that the U.S. government is capable of using force against its own citizenry. When one speaks of the original intent behind the amendment, one is often met with scoff as so many Americans think it’s just paranoid to regard the government as a potential enemy. The excellent piece above details just what occurs when the citizens of a nation are unarmed, and it’s a story we’ve seen throughout history. Tyrannies haven’t any reason to stop at any length of oppression when a citizenry is powerless to defend itself.” (07/08/08) Link: http://www.nolanchart.com/article4198.html | |
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“Oh god. There is no hope. The other day I glanced at the web site of the Lake Chapala Society, a social club of sorts for expats around Mexico’s Lake Chapala, an hour south of Guadalajara (where I live). Clicking on ‘Safety,’ I found a long list of reasons why you should never, ever use a firearm to protect your home and family. No. See, you might miss, or be scared, or the intruders might take it away and shoot you, and they might be all mad and hurt you when all they wanted was your television. No, the best thing is to let them do what they want, and then maybe they won’t do anything bad to you.” (07/08/08) Link: http://fredoneverything.net/Smith.shtml | |
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“It has been one week since the US Supreme Court’s decision in District of Columbia v. Heller. While a few lawsuits have been filed, there has not been the tidal wave of suits predicted. What has occurred is that now that commentators have read the opinion and considered its implications, the vindication of this particular ‘privilege and immunity’ of US Citizenship was really vindicated because of the actions of supporters of civil rights. It should also likely call for calls in various quarters for a robust increase in fee awards in 42 USC 1983 action via amendments to 42 USC 1988. ” (07/07/08) Link: http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/2008/07/the_us_supreme.html | |
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“Last month, the Supreme Court was an equal-opportunity disappointer, handing down one decision that enraged conservatives and one that outraged liberals. Permit me to make myself even more unpopular than usual by suggesting that both decisions were correct. In District of Columbia v. Heller, the high court struck down the nation’s most restrictive gun law and finally settled the question whether the Second Amendment protects a personal or collective right — that is, whether the amendment’s authors were referring only to militias, or whether they were also protecting an individual right to gun ownership.” (07/07/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/6xom95 | |
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“Citizens in the District of Columbia had plenty of reason to celebrate over July 4th weekend. In addition to our nation’s birthday, countless barbeques, and a fabulous fireworks display, citizens of D.C. could finally enjoy their rights as set forth in the Bill of Rights. For more than thirty years, D.C. has robbed its citizens of their Second Amendment rights through a draconian handgun ban. And D.C.’s gun restrictions don’t stop at handguns. D.C. also requires shotguns and rifles to be bound by a trigger lock or kept unloaded and disassembled. So much for home protection.” (07/07/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/5m8brp | |
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“For years, anti-gunners have claimed that there’s a gun-related epidemic in our country, and for once, they’re right. It’s not gun-related crime though. An epidemic is something that is common and spreading rapidly; gun-related crime has been diminishing for 15 years. What is common and spreading now is a condition one could call ‘anti-gun anxiety,’ or AGA.” (07/07/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/6gjvl5 | |
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Meditations on the scripture and our right to defend ourselves
Source: The Price of Liberty Author: Nathan A. Barton “Throughout history, the builder has frequently also had to defend what they have built against those who do not want the building done. Sometimes it is a spiritual ‘building project,’ and sometimes it is a physical project with a spiritual aspect. Whether it was the Anasazi defending their cliff dwellings against nomadic raiders, a contractor protecting his equipment and job-site against eco-freak ‘monkeywrenchers,’ or an inner-city ministry defending their chapel against a street gang, they can all appreciate the situation in the rebuilding of Jerusalem 2500 years ago. Prayer is essential; it is a powerful weapon in the arsenal of the believer. But Nehemiah and his fellow builders in Jerusalem were careful to recognize that faith inspires works. As Nehemiah 4:15 records, they stood watch against their enemies ‘with their swords, spears, and bows.’” (07/07/08) Link: http://www.thepriceofliberty.org/08/07/07/nathan.htm | |
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“For progressives/neo-liberals, government’s power is understood not on the physical model (of unilateral, coercive, negative force), but on the economic model (of two-sided, exchange-of-goods, win-winning). The group with the greatest economic clout is the de facto government of a place. And so long as you see that group as ‘your’ government, rather than Sam Walton’s corporations, you’re going to view it as a potential partner, not a potential threat. The reason people would need to defend themselves with guns, therefore, is that their fellow citizens are threatening them. The only way government is a part of the problem is by its not spending enough money on programs to educate citizens not to threaten each other, or on programs to keep citizens busy working rather than taking out their economic frustrations on each other.” (07/03/08) Link: http://www.freeliberal.com/archives/003410.html | |
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“‘The right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.’ That’s the operative clause of the Second Amendment — nearly erased from the Constitution in 1939 by a muddled and confusing Supreme Court opinion in United States v. Miller. Last week, apparently embarrassed by seven decades without a coherent explanation of the right celebrated during the Framing era as ‘the true palladium of liberty,’ the court rediscovered the Second Amendment. More than five years after six Washington residents challenged the city’s 32-year-old ban on all functional firearms in the home, the court held in District of Columbia v. Heller that the gun ban is unconstitutional. Indeed it is.” (07/3/08) Link: http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9522 | |
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“So why am I concerned about the history of the ‘V’ sign? It’s just this. As gunnies, as members of the armed citizenry of the Republic of the united States, we too need a symbol. Something as short, sweet and powerful as the ‘v.’ Something that can be painted on the side of a building, or across the face of an anti-gun billboard or re-election sign of a gun grabbing politician. Something powerful. Something easy. Something even a bit scary to collectivists with frayed nerves so as to disturb their beauty sleep. Think of it as freedom gang sign.” (07/03/08) Link: http://chris-horton.blogspot.com/2008/07/v.html | |
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Chicago Tribune plea to repeal Second Amendment unconscionable
Source: Liberty For All Author: SAF staff “The Chicago Tribune’s call for repeal of the Second Amendment following the historic Heller Decision is an ‘unconscionable attack on the entire Bill of Rights and the freedoms it protects,’ the Second Amendment Foundation said today. In an editorial published on the day after the Supreme Court handed down its 5-4 ruling, the newspaper called the Second Amendment an ‘anachronism’ that should be repealed.” (07/05/08) Link: http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=1355 | |
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“How did I become so addicted to fireworks? The basic motives were love and pride. As the liberals might say, I did it for the children. Growing up near Atlanta, I was no more into cherry-bomb hooliganism than any other normal red-blooded American boy. My older brother Kirby was more of the fireworks buff in the family. He always had a supply of roman candles and rockets every Fourth of July and New Year’s Eve, and I usually just watched. Then, in 1997, I got a job in Washington and came north with my wife, our 8-year-old daughter and our twin sons. The boys were then 5 and learning to read, and as we headed rolled northward through Tennessee, the little geniuses quickly deciphered the word ‘fireworks’ beckoning from billboards alongside I-81.” (07/03/08) Link: http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=13472 | |
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So, what the Heller our friends at the ACLU going to do now?
Source: Concurring Opinions Author: Kaimipono Wenger “[T]his ambivalence is consistent with ACLU history — the ACLU has not been a second-amendment rights organization, historically. Instead, it’s taken a distinctly agnostic view. Interestingly, though, the ACLU has explicitly linked that agnostic approach to Miller. Thus, the stated grounds for the ACLU’s prior agnosticism no longer exist. Yep. One doesn’t have to be Mike O’Shea to notice that about the entire stated legal underpinning for ACLU neutrality has now been, um, blown to smithereens. Heller definitely protects something individual. (How that balances against government interest remains very fuzzy in a lot of places, as Mike notes, but there’s definitely an underlying, individual something.)” (0702/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/4sy4hc | |
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“Advocates of freedom dodged a bullet last week when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the right to keep and bear arms, the subject of the Second Amendment, is an individual, not a collective, right. Opponents of gun ownership have long maintained that the Amendment’s reference to the militia indicates that the right does not apply to private persons.” (07/02/08) Link: http://www.fff.org/comment/com0807a.asp | |
Events and Movement News
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Is the Second Amendment an Individual Right?
Source: Independent Institute Event Date(s): June 9,2008 Last year, a federal appeals court overturned the District of Columbia’s ban on handguns. Now the U.S. Supreme Court will decide the case after nearly seventy years of silence on the Second Amendment. Observers expect the Court to finally settle the legal question of whether the constitutional ‘right of the people to keep and bear arms’ is an individual right held by all, or a ‘collective right’ of the state governments to maintain militias. What did the Founders intend when they drafted the Second Amendment? Please join us as constitutional legal scholar and Independent Institute Research Fellow Stephen P. Halbrook and George Mason University Law School legal historian Joyce Lee Malcolm examine these issues. Wine & Cheese Reception 5:00 pmProgram 6:00-7:00 pmQ & A to follow The Independent Institute,1319 Eighteenth Street, N.W.Washington, D.C. (06/04/08) Link: http://www.independent.org/events/detail.asp?eventID=137 | |
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“A gunman has opened fire with a rifle in a shopping centre in the US state of Nebraska, killing eight people before fatally shooting himself, police say. A further five people were wounded — two critically — in the shooting at the Westroads Mall in Omaha. Police have identified the gunman as Robert Hawkins, 19, from Bellevue, close to Omaha. They said a suicide note had been recovered. Hawkins struck as the centre was crowded with Christmas shoppers. Witnesses spoke of shoppers screaming and scrambling to find safe shelter as the gunman struck.” [editor’s note: Naturally, no witnesses spoke of the armed citizen who put this animal down BEFORE he had time to shoot 13 people and himself. Why? Because there were almost certainly “no guns” signs posted at the entrances to the mall pursuant to the idiotic agenda of declaring such places to be free-fire zones for people who don’t obey such signs - TLK] (12/06/07) Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7129906.stm | |
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“On April 16, 2007, twenty-seven students and five faculty members at Virginia Tech lost their lives to a madman who possessed one distinct advantage over his victims — He was not concerned with following the rules. Undeterred by Virginia Tech’s status as a ‘gun free zone,’ this mentally unstable individual carried two handguns onto the university campus and indiscriminately opened fire. During the week of October 22-27, 2007, college students throughout America will attend classes wearing empty holsters, in protest of state laws and campus policies that stack the odds in favor of armed killers by disarming law abiding citizens who are licensed to carry concealed handguns virtually everywhere else.” (10/09/07) Link: http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/article3989.html | |
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“In honor of the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic ‘March on Washington’ for civil rights, The Firearms Coalition is joining with other gun rights groups to declare August 28 ‘National Exercise Your Rights Day.’ Reverend Jesse Jackson is calling on citizens to exercise their First Amendment rights by participating in anti-gun/anti-violence protest marches in 25 cities nationwide on that day. The Firearms Coalition echoes that call to supporters of the Second Amendment, encouraging them to exercise their rights by purchasing a firearm or ammunition on August 28.” (08/26/07) Link: http://tinyurl.com/2loz6f | |
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“It’s here at last — the long-awaited 85-minute DVD documentary exposing the irresponsible, malicious, and criminal actions of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE). After just the first few shocking minutes you’ll fully understand why we call it: The Gang. … DVDs are for sale NOW at www.thegangmovie.com (or through our online store at www.jpfo.org/store.htm ). Now it’s time for each of us to use The Gang. Really use it to rid ourselves, once and for all, of what can rightly be called an infamous criminal syndicate masquerading as a legitimate federal agency.” (05/28/07) Link: http://www.jpfo.org/alert20070528.htm | |
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“Openly armed firearms enthusiasts packed a normally sedate government building Thursday night, hoping to win a pistol or rifle and at the same time send a defiant message to gun-control advocates, especially New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The Virginia Citizens Defense League, a gun-rights group, organized the ‘Bloomberg Gun Giveaway’ in large part to thumb its nose at Bloomberg, who accuses some shops of allowing illegal purchases of firearms that later were used in crimes in his city.” (05/17/07) Link: http://tinyurl.com/2mtwfo | |
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“As students, parents and citizens we demand our State Legislatures recognize our right to defend ourselves on college campuses across the nation. School shootings and violence will never be stopped. As individuals and concerned citizens we deserve the right to defend ourselves even when we are on campus. We are licensed by our State Governments to carry handguns to protect ourselves but they tie our hands at school. We are adults who have taken on the responsibility to carry concealed weapons to defend ourselves. We are not criminals. We are not crazy. We are citizens who have proved that we are capable of being responsible carrying weapons in public.” (04/18/07) Link: http://concealedcampus.org/index.htm | |
