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The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands is part of U.S. sovereign territory. It also (1) totally bans handguns, (2) bans carrying all guns, even in the home, (3) requires licenses for long guns, which are allegedly not granted for months on end, though theoretically they are supposed to be granted within 60 days, and (4) bans all ammunition except .22 cartridges, .223 cartridges, and .410 shotgun shells. Radich v. Guerrero (D.N.M.I. Sept. 5, 2014) argues this violates the Second Amendment, and surely that must be so; and before you go all Insular Cases on me, note that § 501...

-- IMAGE HERE -- Illinois Democratic Congresswoman Janice Schakowsky wants to make one thing very clear … the attempt to ban so-called ‘assault weapons’ is only the beginning of the planned attack on the Second Amendment. Schakowsky made these comments to a reporter at the One Billion Rising Women’s Rights Rally in February. Referring to the Sandy Hook tragedy as “a moment of opportunity,” Schakowsky went on to say that “everything [is] on the table … There’s no question about it. We’re on a roll now, and I think we’ve got to … push as hard as we can and...

Second Amendment: Chicago is deciding whether to prosecute a great-grandfather and Korean War veteran under its handgun ban. He refused to be a victim, and now there's one less armed thug roaming the streets. What's the problem? If the 80-year-old vet living on the city's West Side didn't have the gun the city said he shouldn't have, he and his 83-year-old wife and 12-year-old great-grandson might have joined those victims of gun violence about whom gun-control advocates constantly chirp. The vet obtained the gun in violation of the city's handgun ban after a prior incident in which the couple was...

Gun Rights: Not happy with interfering in our internal affairs by savaging Arizona's new immigration law, the president of Mexico wants to shred our Second Amendment too. And the mayor of Chicago wants to help. There stood Mexican President Felipe Calderon before Congress, blaming America for the violence on his side of the border and, among other things, the guns that fuel the Mexican drug war that has claimed more than 23,000 Mexican lives since he took office in 2006. Rather than taking responsibility himself, he shoved the blame on America. It would all stop, he implied, if America would...

Otis McDonald, 76, stands before the Supreme Court, which Tuesday heard arguments in his suit to overturn Chicago's handgun ban Gun Rights: Otis McDonald, 76, an Army vet who lives in a high-crime area of Chicago, thinks the Constitution gives him the right to bear arms to protect himself and his wife as he protected his country. We think so too. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard arguments on behalf of four Chicago residents led by homeowner McDonald, the Second Amendment Foundation and the Illinois State Rifle Association to overturn Chicago's three-decade-old ban on owning handguns. In a 5-4...

Irate with a reporter's question on the effectiveness of the city's handgun ban, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley offered to give a first-hand lesson following the shooting of an off-duty police officer. Oh, it's been very effective," Daley said, according to MyFoxChicago.com. "If I put this up your butt, you'll find out how effective it is. If I put a round up your … you'll know."

Remember CANDIDATE Barack Obama? The guy who “wasn’t going to take away our guns”? Well, guess what? Less than 100 days into his administration, he’s never met a gun he didn’t hate. A week ago, Obama went to Mexico, whined about the United States, and bemoaned (before the whole world) the fact that he didn’t have the political power to take away our semi-automatics. Nevertheless, that didn’t keep him from pushing additional restrictions on American gun owners. It’s called the Inter-American Convention Against Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives, and Other Related Materials. To be sure, this...

Since the Supreme Court upheld the individual right to own guns last summer, one municipality after another with handgun bans has faced reality. Washington, D.C., which lost the case, changed its law. Morton Grove, Ill., repealed its ban. So did neighboring Wilmette. Likewise for Evanston. Last week, Winnetka followed suit. Then there is Chicago, which is being sued for violating the Second Amendment but refuses to confront the possibility that what the Supreme Court said may apply on this side of the Appalachians. When it comes to firearms, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley is no slave to rationality. "Does this lead...

{Snip} The shootings, in a city where sporadic but horrific incidents of violent street crime rattle its culture of progressive cool, sent Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels on a mission: banning guns on city property, including at parks, sporting events and street fairs. Next month, he will hold a public hearing on his executive order. {Snip} After a Supreme Court ruling in June that the 2nd Amendment explicitly protects Americans' right to own guns for self-defense, gun rights advocates are gearing up for a new round of court cases in California, Chicago and elsewhere. The cases will determine how far the...

The California State Constitution does not contain a right to bear arms. So why was San Francisco’s handgun ban get struck down in State Court? (You’d go to federal court to argue about the second amendment in the U.S Constitution.) Because the State Constitution does contain a provision that local governments cannot pass laws that conflict with state laws. (Art. XI, sec. 7.) This is called “preemption” – which is a fancypants legal term for “if two laws conflict, the biggest government wins.” In 1982, the State Appeals Court held that state laws controlling licensing and registration of guns “preempt”...

Urban cowboy with holstered handgun arrested Updated: 06/02/07 11:06 AM A Best Street man was arrested late Friday on weapons possession charges after he was spotted by police wearing a holstered handgun in plain view. The incident happened just before midnight. Samuel Shannon, 23, was walking north on Myers Street with the revolver in a black holster on the right side of his waist, according to police, and he tried to conceal the weapon with his sweat shirt when he saw a marked police car. When police got out of the car, Shannon tried to remove the gun from the...

My friend, noted Quebec academic and author Pierre Lemieux, submitted his firearms licence-renewal application directly to the Prime Minister's office this week. "Mr. Prime Minister," he wrote in a covering letter enclosing his Form 979, "I would like to suggest that you should enforce your own "laws" yourself. You will note that, as a proud descendant of the disobedient French Canadian coureurs de bois, I have not answered one of the form's indiscreet and obscene questions. I answered that my love affairs are none of your business." (Form 979 asks, among other things, about recently ended romantic relationships.) Atta boy,...

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court on Friday overturned the District of Columbia's longstanding handgun ban, issuing a decision that will allow the city's citizens to have working firearms in their homes. In the ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rejected city officials' arguments that the Second Amendment right to bear arms only applied to state militias. District of Columbia Mayor Adrian Fenty told reporters Friday afternoon that the District will appeal the ruling.

The National Rifle Association pressed its case against San Francisco's voter-approved ban on firearm sales and handgun possession in court today, arguing that the ordinance flouts state law by requiring law-abiding residents to surrender their pistols. The city's lawyer countered that a local government is entitled to protect its residents from handgun violence. The hearing ended without Superior Court Judge James Warren ruling on the validity of Proposition H, which was approved by 58 percent of the voters Nov. 8 and was challenged by the NRA, three other organizations and seven gun owners the next day. Warren asked the city...

After a horrendous summer in Toronto, where more than three dozen people were shot to death on the streets, it was inevitable that gun control and gang violence would figure prominently in the current election campaign. Indeed, even before the campaign began, Prime Minister Paul Martin promised: "We're going to take handguns out of our communities." Now, with the election campaign in its second week, the prime minister has returned to the hard streets of the country's largest city and promised an outright ban on handguns "to make our communities safer." Nobody would disagree with the hope. But handguns and...

San Francisco voters Tuesday will weigh in on the national debate over gun control by deciding whether to make their city home to the toughest handgun ban in the country. And in a place known for its left-leaning politics, gun opponents would seem almost guaranteed a victory. Proposition H would make it illegal for city residents to possess handguns, and those who already own them would be required to turn the weapons in to police by April 1. The measure also would make it illegal to buy, sell, distribute and manufacture firearms and ammunition within city limits, though there is...

Hey folks, Earlier this week, I sent out the link to my SFGate column on the San Francisco handgun ban proposal. Well, it's doing quite well so far and has generated a lot of feedback. In fact, I've added several new people to this list--welcome! The article has been linked at the NRA site and some other pro-gun and conservative radio (KSFO) sites and blogs. And on Tuesday, I did an interview with Spencer Hughes of the Sonoma station KSRO, which went really well. Unfortunately, that station doesn't have online streaming audio, so I didn't send out the link. But...