Free Republic

FEINSTEIN INTRODUCES "ASSAULT WEAPONS" REAUTHORIZATION BILLNRA-ILAJune 4, 2004 Yesterday, vehemently anti-gun Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)introduced S. 2498, legislation that would reauthorize the Clinton gun ban. The bill is being held on the Senate floor and could come up at any time. This is the start of a sustained political battle we`ll be waging over the next few months. Our opponents will continue to work at every turn to try and accomplish their anti-gun goals, and we need to be prepared. Please visit NRA-ILA`s informative website-- www.ClintonGunBan.com --and learn the facts about this debate, which has too long been driven and...

Gunman shoots down 3 Sikhs PTI[ TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2004 03:37:32 PM ] WASHINGTON: A Sikh gunman opened fire on a group of elderly men of his community playing cards at a park in San Jose, killing three of them -- before the group turned on the attacker beating him to death, police said. The 43-year-old attacker walked up to the group of 15 men who were playing cards in the park on Sunday and hurled some abuses in Punjabi before opening fire on them. Two men died on the spot, and one died at San Jose Medical Center, San...

The first vote is to end the fillibuster. I'll post the other votes on this thread when they happen and when Thomas prints them. On this first vote, a YEA vote ends the fillibuster. Everything should happen in the next 30 hours since cloture was invoked. However, right now - Drunken swimmer Ted Kennedy is going on a very long rant. YEAs ---75 Alexander (R-TN) Allard (R-CO) Allen (R-VA) Baucus (D-MT) Bayh (D-IN) Bennett (R-UT) Biden (D-DE) Bingaman (D-NM) Bond (R-MO) Breaux (D-LA) Brownback (R-KS) Bunning (R-KY) Burns (R-MT) Byrd (D-WV) Campbell (R-CO) Carper (D-DE) Chafee (R-RI) Chambliss (R-GA) Cochran...

NEW YORK The State Legislature continues to consider the Executive Budget introduced last month by Governor George Pataki (R). Budget bills S. 6056/A. 9556 will require handgun licensees to pay a $100 "certification" fee to the state, institute a five-year expiration period for licenses (currently most jurisdictions issue lifetime licenses), and charge a fee of $25 for each handgun owned. Additionally, this proposal would remove the caps on local processing fees, which means fees can certainly be expected to climb, and in many jurisdictions could price gun owners, sportsmen, and collectors right out of the market. Instead of banning handguns,...

NRA calls the shotsGun lobby's success comes at law enforcement's expense Sarasota-Herald Tribune2/23/2004 So what does the National Rifle Association get when it sets up shop in the Oval Office, as a top NRA official promised during the 2000 presidential campaign? Apparently, whatever it wants, from the White House and from Congress. While the NRA hasn't actually installed a desk next to the president's, the gun lobby is enjoying great success in Washington -- even when its proposals might aid criminals and criminally negligent dealers. One NRA-backed measure was tacked onto an omnibus spending bill passed by Congress last month....

KABA Writer Investigated for Questioning Civil AuthorityPolice say Investigation "Ongoing"from Angel ShamayaDirector@KeepAndBearArms.comFebruary 19, 2004KeepAndBearArms.com -- Did you know that writing a rhetorical letter to the civil authorities in California challenging their hypocrisy results in a police investigation that includes not only calls from detectives but two black and white police cruisers coming to your home?That's what happened to longtime gun rights activist and professional writer David Codrea this week. What follows is a link to the investigation-inspiring letter, a detailed description of what transpired and a description of how trying to get our own answers from the investigators resulted in...

McCain-Reed Gun Show Bill: All Trick, No Treat NRA-ILA website11/4/2003 Introduced, appropriately enough, on Halloween, the McCain-Reed-DeWine-Lieberman gun show bill--S. 1807--masquerades as reform but imposes bureaucratic restrictions aimed at eliminating gun shows. It is based on the McCain-Lieberman bill (S. 890) from the 107th Congress, and like its parent, fails to address gun owners` most significant concerns and fails to fix real problems of the national instant check system. S. 1807 is not about closing a "gun show loophole"--there is no "gun show loophole." Existing laws apply at gun shows just the same as any other place guns are sold....

Protecting the wrong peopleNRA proposal could hamper police, help criminalsSarasota Herald-Tribune editorial 12/29/2003 The National Rifle Association is so obsessed with slippery-slope, Second Amendment theories that it's pushing for a change in state policy that inadvertently could assist criminals. Unfortunately, the NRA has the clout in Florida to get the policy change proposed as legislation. State Rep. Lindsay Harrington, R-Punta Gorda, is sponsoring a bill that would prohibit police departments from keeping permanent records of gun owners who sell or pawn their weapons at pawnshops. Police have long maintained databases of pawned items to make it easier to locate stolen...

A Deficit of $100 Million Is Confronting the N.R.A.By STEPHANIE STROMNew York TimesPublished: December 21, 2003 Costly legal, legislative and political battles in the last decade have left the National Rifle Association with a $100 million deficit, reopening a bitter debate within the group about how it manages its money. In the past decade the group's efforts have helped Republicans win the White House and Congress and led to laws in more than 30 states banning lawsuits against gun manufacturers. In the last year the N.R.A. helped pay for a losing legal battle against campaign finance legislation, which the Supreme...

<p>WASHINGTON — The director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is leaving his post next month to lead the recording industry's efforts to stop music piracy.</p> <p>Bradley A. Buckles, who served ATF for 30 years and was named director in 1999, will come head of the Anti-Piracy Unit of the Recording Industry Association of America, the trade group announced Tuesday.</p>

I live in Georgia. A lot of Yankees pass through my great State on their way to Florida. Their home States do not respect Georgia-issued CCW permits, and can and do fine, impound the property of, and imprison upstanding Georgians who dare to cross their borders while packing heat. A CCW is much like a drivers' licence, in that it certifies the bearer as being approved by his home state to own and operate a potentially dangerous piece of machinery in the course of his usual daily business. The several States have agreed to honor SDLs issued by other States....

BOCA RATON -- A 16-year-old boy killed during a seemingly innocent late-night prank was shot in the back, according to emergency room records. The medical reports were released Saturday by the attorney for the teen's parents, who said they show he posed no threat to the neighbor who shot him. Mark Andrew Drewes and a friend had been knocking on neighbors' doors and then running away Oct. 25. He was shot by neighbor Jay Steven Levin, 40, who told police he mistook the 6-foot-2 teen for a burglar. "It shows he was running away," said the Drewes' attorney, Robert Montgomery....

The Six Things Americans Should Know About the Second Amendment by Richard W. Stevens The text of the Second Amendment: 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. FIRST: The Second Amendment protects an individual right that existed before the creation of any government. The Declaration of Independence made clear that all human beings are endowed with certain unalienable rights, and that governments are created to protect those rights. A. The unalienable right to freedom from violent harm, and the right to...

A 12-year-old student who brought his unloaded gun to a firearms-safety course at his public school was met with a surprise when administrators and instructors intercepted him in enforcement of the district's new "zero-tolerance policy." Nick Ziegeweid had been told to bring his shotgun when he signed up for the class earlier this fall at Winona Middle School in Winona, Minn., the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported. But when he arrived on the first day of the Saturday morning course, Oct. 11, the officials reminded him the year-old policy bars students from carrying guns on school grounds, with no exceptions. The...

CARLTON - Federal firearms charges have been brought against Police Chief Lee Whalon and Sgt. Rick Noble, who make up two-thirds of the Carlton Police Department. They were arraigned Wednesday before a federal magistrate in Medford, then released from custody on their own recognizance pending an April 29 trial. Each pleaded not guilty to all counts of the indictments brought against them, and each remains on the job in Carlton. Whalon and Noble each stands charged with possession of an unregistered silencer, an unregistered sawed-off shotgun and unregistered semiautomatic rifles classified as machine guns under federal law. Each also was...

U. gun ban back in court Shurtleff says it's his duty to take case higher By Angie Welling Deseret Morning News The battle over guns on the University of Utah campus has returned to the courtroom. The Utah Attorney General's Office on Thursday filed a notice of appeal in the case, which was dismissed in late August following a state court judge's ruling that state law does not prohibit the U. from enforcing its own ban on on-campus firearms. "I believe that the decision was wrong, and I think I have a duty to appeal it to a higher court,"...

Gun crime in England and Wales is still rising according to Home Office figures released on Thursday. The number of crimes involving firearms increased by just under 3% in the 12 months to March 2003, to 10,250. It was well below the 35% rise in the previous year, when gun crime leapt from 7,362 firearms offences to 9,974. Home Office minister Hazel Blears said: "The risk of a fatal shooting in England and Wales is still one of the lowest in the world." She added: "But every crime involving a firearm is a serious concern and every life lost to...

Dear Leonard: I can well imagine that mine will not be the only response you get from gun owners regarding your piece today, and I also understand that attitudes as vociferously put forth as yours was are virtually impossible to change. Too bad; I'm going to say my piece anyway. You have a perfect right to hate guns...and I'll shoot the first person who tries to take that right away from you. What you DON'T have a right to do...at least a moral right...is spread falsehood to make your case - and yes, I know falsehood is spread like butter...

NEAL KNOX REPORT ‘Engaging’ Traps More Collectors By Neal Knox WASHINGTON, D.C. (Oct. 20) – Eight St. Louis area collectors were indicted Sept. 28 for “engaging in the gun business” without a Federal Firearms License. They are the latest victims in the 40-year battle over the fuzzy definition of who must have an FFL. Vaguely defined “unlicensed dealing” carries more severe punishment than some willful violations by licensed dealers – plus the potential forfeiture of every gun in a collection, and the loss of gun ownership rights, firearms hunting rights, and often even voting rights – for life. In addition...

Recently Mr. David Kopel published a two-part editorial [1] criticizing the case Silveira v. Lockyer.[2] The criticisms have been answered in part by more than a few people.[3] I would also like to respond, based upon my own experience in Washington, DC, interacting with the U.S. Supreme Court for over 40 years. I do not know Mr. Kopel well, but I know much about the Supreme Court and its Justices, going back to 1964, when Mr. Kopel was four years old. I know this from arguing cases, writing briefs, writing cert petitions, and reading biographies of the justices. I could,...