Innovations in Gun Safety

By Alan Prendergast - 8/27/2013

David Gunn knows he's stepping into the crossfire. He knows the gun-control folks are likely to view him as a crank while gun owners denounce him as the Antichrist. But the former gun shop owner is an inventor by inclination and has been a firearms buff ever since he was a kid, and he can't help tinkering. Let others rage on about gun violence and the Second Amendment; Gunn's busy working on a technological fix to the problem. And he thinks he has it -- a "firearms safety management system" both sides can embrace, once they understand it.

Growing up on a ranch near Granby, Gunn did his share of hunting and screwing around with guns; at fourteen he got shot in the heel when an untended .22 fell over and went off. In the 1970s, Gunn operated a gun-and-fishing-rod shop on Kipling. (Yes, it was called Gunn's Guns.) "We sold a lot of guns, including backup guns for cops," he recalls. "These days, nobody wants to deal in used guns, but we did."

US: Volent Crime Now at a 42-Year Low. . .More Guns, Less Crime

By NRA 9/27/2013
Last week, the FBI released its national crime report for 2012. By a slight margin, the nation's violent crime rate decreased in 2012--relative to 2011--making it the lowest it has been since 1970. Compared to 1991, when it hit an all-time high, violent crime is down by 49 percent. The nation's murder rate was unchanged in 2012; still lower than any time since 1963 and at nearly an all-time low.

Between 2011 and 2012, 24 states and the District of Columbia experienced decreases in their murder rates. There was no correlation of these trends with the severity of the states' or the District's gun control laws. Troubled Detroit, under Michigan's law requiring a permit to purchase a handgun, had the highest murder rate among large cities, followed by Baltimore, under Maryland's law imposing a seven-day waiting period on handgun purchases. But there was no relationship between other large cities' murder rates and their gun control laws.

Canada refuses to sign UN global arms trade treaty: Defending the right to bear arms

Joanna Slater and Steven - The Globe and Mail 9/25/2013

Pime Minister Stephen Harper continues to engage the United Nations on his own terms, refusing to sign a landmark UN treaty regulating the arms trade while pushing his maternal health agenda.

Canada is holding off signing the treaty, citing concern over how it affects firearm owners' even though the United States has now joined the global accord over the objections of that country's powerful gun lobby.

Canada's reluctance to join the multilateral effort on the arms trade is a tacit example of how Mr. Harper, far from the biggest fan of the UN, prefers to engage with the international body at arm's length. For the third year in a row, Mr. Harper declined to address the main body of the UN, the General Assembly. Instead, he stayed on the margins of the conclave, holding bilateral meetings and promoting Canada's maternal health efforts but steering clear of its highest-profile venue.

Did the US Senate website get the 2nd amendment wrong?

 

By Cheryl K. Chumley - The Washington Times 9/26/2013

The Senate's official website page on the Constitution says the Second Amendment right to bear arms could be a collective right, not an individual freedom.

The website explains the Second Amendment this way: Whether this provision protects the individual's right to own firearms or whether it deals only with the collective right of the people to arm and maintain a militia has long been debated.

The Bill of Rights, however, was the Founding Father's way of guaranteeing each and every individual their unalienable rights, as endowed by God. On top of that, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled at least twice in the past five years that the Second Amendment is an individual right, Breitbart reported.

In 2008, the court ruled on District of Columbia vs. Heller and found that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia.

And in 2010, Breitbart reported, the Supreme Court ruled the same held true in McDonald v. Chicago that the Heller case showed that individual self-defense is the central component of the Second Amendment rights, Associated Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. wrote in his opinion.

Is Defending the Second Amendment akin to Supporting Slavery?

Daniel J. Mitchell - 9/25/2013

The English are an interesting tribe. There is much to like about their country, including the fact that repeatedly elected Margaret Thatcher, one of the world's best leaders in my lifetime.

On the other hand, the United Kingdom has veered sharply to the left in recent decades, and Thatcher must have been very disappointed that her Conservative Party now is but a hollow shell, controlled by statists who actually think people should voluntarily pay extra tax to support wasteful and corrupt government.

And the politicians openly pursue Orwellian tax-collection tactics!

No wonder the country now faces a very grim future.

Armed Citizen Saved Lives in Kenya

By John Hayward - 9/24/2013
The UK Daily Mail recounts the astonishing deeds of a man who must remain nameless for security reasons: a British ex-marine who was having coffee at the Westgate Shopping Center when a gang of cowardly terrorist thugs attacked. He drew his gun, leaped into action, and never stopped leaping:

A former marine emerged as a hero of the Nairobi siege yesterday after he was credited with saving up to 100 lives.

US: Months to buy a gun legally - Minutes to buy one on the street

By: Raquel Okyay - 9/22/2013

One man's journey to obtain pistol permit from New York county police department finds him humiliated and dumbfounded that local government freely institutes an administrative prohibition on the Second Amendment.

The whole process is intimidating and mind-boggling, said Mark a Suffolk County resident who requested anonymity since his permit application is still being processed. I would hate to see anything happen that would prevent approval.

Having a population of about 1.5 million, Suffolk County is an affluent suburb approx. 80 miles East of New York City.

Mark said he submitted his initial two-page permit application with the Suffolk County Police Department Pistol License Bureau on Jan. 16 together with a $10 money order made payable to Suffolk County Police. The form is similar to the one needed to purchase a rifle in New York State.
However, in addition to requesting basic information such as; name, address, social security number, contact information, and criminal/mental health history, he said the application requires four reference letters  from mere acquaintances. The referral cannot be a blood relative, of a spousal relationship, or a member of law enforcement.

US President laments lack of gun control

By Charles Dharapak, AP

With a series of domestic and international crises coming to a head at once, President Obama made clear on Sunday that he won't be pouring a great deal of his own political capital into reigniting the debate on the country's gun laws.

During a memorial service, the president offered warm tributes to the 12 victims of last week's mass shooting at the Navy Yard.

But his tone also had an edge of frustration that was absent from his December remarks at the memorial honoring the victims of the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the site of the last major mass shooting in the U.S. where 20 young children and 6 adults were slain. There he choked back tears and set the goal -- which would prove to elude him -- of overhauling the nation's gun laws. In Sunday's memorial, he made clear that he's all but given up hope that he can persuade Congress.

Our military bases are largely disarmed!

By GOPUSA

National Rifle Association leader Wayne LaPierre said Sunday if more personnel had been armed, the Washington Navy Yard shooting would have ended sooner.

In an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press," LaPierre, NRA executive vice president, said "there weren't enough good guys with guns" to stop Aaron Alexis, the shooter who killed 12 people at the Navy Yard.

"When the good guys got there, it stopped," LaPierre said in his first televised interview since the rampage.

Starbucks caves to anti-gun patrons!

John Ransom - 9/19/2013

Starbucks really knows who its customers are. And if you're not one of them, I guess you just don't count. For many people besides the good folks at Starbucks.

I can't tell you how the whole Starbucks gun controversy started. I lack sufficient brain cells to waste them on minutiae, trivia and events long forgotten, yet reported to us at the time with breathless drama by pretty blond men and women on TV.

But I know now how the controversy is going to end.

Pushy liberals are going to special plead marginal cases  as they always do in order to try to curtail gun rights and laws established by federal, state and local governments.

US: Gun Control Failed in Congress - but it's Happening Anyway

In the face of a resounding defeat on gun control, President Obama takes 25 executive actions and there's little the NRA can do to stop them.

By Patrick Reis and Matt Vasilogambros - 9/17/2013

President Obama addressed the Navy Yard shooting before a speech on Monday from the White House. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Gun-control legislation failed loudly following the Newtown school shooting, but that has not stopped President Obama from leaving Congress behind to launch a broad gun-control campaign of his own.

Between the December 2012 massacre and the Navy Yard mass shooting Monday, Obama has taken 25 separate gun-control initiatives, all of which came from executive actions that did not require congressional authorization.

The president's highest-profile move was to nominate and get confirmed Todd Jones as director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, filling a seat that had sat empty for more than six years. But Obama has also initiated a series of quieter initiatives, including new rules to keep guns away from felons, better coordinate mental-illness screenings, and better preparing local law enforcement and schools to respond to shootings.

US: Women for guns, and guns for women

By Natalie Foster - 9/16/2013

Female gun ownership has surged over the past five years, and it's easy to understand why. Women who own guns consistently list the self-confidence and the sense of protection that having a firearm gives them, and the way it makes them feel in general: that rush of adrenaline, that inner strength, and perhaps even a little glamor. But nobody becomes a gun person overnight. There are many building blocks that go into making someone a gun enthusiast. For me, it was a combination of empowerment and education on the fronts of both feminism and firearms that eventually led to my passion for the Second Amendment.

As a child of the Eighties, I grew up on Wonder Woman and Supergirl and Charlie's Angels reruns. In school I was given role models like Sally Ride and Jane Goodall: women who were breaking down barriers and doing amazing things for humanity.

As for firearms, though I learned to shoot only as an adult, I cannot recall a period in my life in which my family did not have a gun in the home. The guns were always stored carefully, of course, and my parents were serious about safety, teaching my siblings and me the basic firearm rules. That exposure to guns from a young age left me unafraid: I respected their power, but never believed they had power over me.

US: "Machine Guns" for $400. . .and LEGAL

By JW Ross

Not-so-new firearm innovations are sweeping the nation of gun enthusiasts.

The innovations (mostly stock modifications) facilitate what is known as "Bump Firing".

Bump Firing is the act of using the recoil of a semi-automatic firearm to fire multiple shots in rapid succession, which very crudely simulates the discharge of a fully automatic firearm.

This process involves holding the foregrip with the non-trigger hand, releasing the grip on the firing hand (leaving the trigger finger in its normal position in front of the trigger), pushing the rifle forward in order to apply pressure on the trigger finger from the trigger, and keeping the trigger finger stationary.

During a shot, the firearm will recoil considerably ("bump" back) and the trigger will reset itself; then the non-trigger hand would naturally force the firearm back to the original position, pressing the trigger against a stationary finger again, thereby firing successive shots.

US: Colorado voters remove gun control lawmakers from office

 

Moderator's Comment: This is the first rejection of anti-gun proponents (elected officals) through the democratic process of "recall" in a western state. 

By Associated Press - 9/11/2013 DENVER - Voters ousted two Colorado Democratic lawmakers Tuesday in the state's first ever legislative recall launched over their support for stricter gun laws after last year's mass shootings.

Senate President John Morse and Sen. Angela Giron both lost their jobs in an election seen as a national measure of popular support for gun legislation.

Morse faced a tough election in the Republican stronghold of Colorado Springs, where he won re-election by just a few hundred votes in 2010. He lost by 343 votes, with 51 percent of voters backing the recall.

US: Colorado recall over gun control turns into national fight

 

By Martha T. Moore, USA TODAY - 9/9/2013
Supporters of the recall election to oust Senate President John Morse rally outside the Pioneer Museum in Colorado Springs on Sept. 4.(Photo: Michael Ciaglo, AP)

Correction: This story has been corrected to reflect that the outcome of the recall election in Colorado will not change partisan control of the state legislature. Democrats control the Colorado state Senate 20-15, and two Democrats are being challenged in the recall.

Million-dollar campaigns, saturation advertising and massive canvassing have become commonplace in U.S. elections, especially in a swing state such as Colorado. A campaign underway there has all of the above � in a recall vote for two state senators that has become a showdown over gun policy and political dominance in a changing state.

Democratic state Sens. Angela Giron and John Morse voted to require universal background checks for gun purchases and to ban large-capacity ammunition magazines. Colorado passed the restrictions in March, within a year of mass shootings in Aurora, Colo., and Newtown, Conn. Gun control opponents have mounted a campaign to kick them out of office; voting ends Tuesday.

US - Limiting gun ownership through taxes

By Chattanooga Times Free Press (TN) - 9/9/2013
A 50 percent federal tax on ammunition and a 20 percent federal tax on guns -- up from 11 percent on both now -- has been proposed by two Democratic lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Revenue from the steep new taxes in "The Gun Violence Prevention and Safe Communities Act of 2013," introduced by U.S. Reps. Danny K. Davis, D-Ill., and Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., would be earmarked to pay for such things as school resource officers and programs to reduce violence.

The bill likely won't make it out of the Republican-controlled U.S. House -- but it has caught the attention of local firearms enthusiasts.

Oklahoma: State House Overwhelmingly Approves Firearms Manufacturer Protection Bill

 

NRA - September 6, 2013

Yesterday, the Oklahoma House of Representatives voted 92-0 to approve House Bill 1004, authored by state Representative T.W. Shannon (R-62) and state Senators Brian Bingman (R-3) and Anthony Sykes (R-24). HB 1004 contains critical protections against attempts to bankrupt the American firearms industry through erroneous lawsuits that would threaten the availability of firearms to consumers.

Hired Guns: Armed Guards Latest Celeb Accessory

By Luchina Fisher - 7/292008

The scene is a sprawling estate in southern France. Two men dressed in camouflage slip onto the grounds carrying sophisticated recording equipment. The targets, actors Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, are unaware of the lurking menace, which is quickly dispatched by an elite security team who ambush the intruders.

That was no Hollywood script. It took place last week at the Brangelina home, where the most hunted celebrity couple in the world were relaxing with their six children, including newborn twins Vivienne Marcheline and Knox Leon.

The men in camo were paparazzi.

Staying safe in disasters: Beyond the gun

By Richard L. Johnson - 8/29/2013

Maybe you've heard the internet tough guy on the local gun forum talking about being prepared for when the big one hits. What the big one is in his mind is anyone's guess, but other than some really cool airsoft equipment this guy picked up on eBay, he isn't likely to be prepared for the reality of a true survival situation.

A disaster could mean any number of things from losing a job to a nuclear attack. For the purposes of this article, lets focus on the localized disaster where normal services will be interrupted for a few days to a few weeks. This could be a hurricane that hits south Florida, an earthquake in the San Francisco Bay area or a tornado in the Midwest.

In any of these events, you can expect to lose communications, access to stores and a loss of utilities. While the readers of this column are more likely than the general population to provide for their own protection, there are a number of other things to consider beyond looting and civil disorder.

US: Gun grabbers in full throated hysteria in Colorado

 

By Michelle Malkin - 9/4/2013

Out: The boy who cried wolf. In: The girl who cried birth control. Desperate Democrats are imposing false-alarm feminist politics on a high-stakes recall election in Colorado this month. It's a golden opportunity for independent-minded women to reject empty femme-a-goguery and tear up the Sandra Fluke card.

On September 10, Colorado Springs and Pueblo will decide whether to boot two top state Democrats (state Senate Majority Leader John Morse and state Sen. Angela Giron) over their support for radical gun- and ammo-control measures spearheaded by outside special interests. Left-wing billionaires Michael Bloomberg of New York City and Eli Broad of Detroit have poured $700,000 between them into defending the endangered Colorado Democrats.