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Bellevue's SAF sues in New York over 'good cause' requirement
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Bruce W. Krafft
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"At what point does a civil right become a highly-regulated privilege?"
"That question may be answered by a brand new lawsuit filed Thursday in federal district court in New York by the Bellevue, WA-based Second Amendment Foundation. It was their lawsuit – McDonald v. City of Chicago – that recently prevailed in the U.S. Supreme Court to incorporate the Second Amendment to the states. That is, the right to keep and bear arms protected by the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights now applies as a limit on state and local governments as it does on Congress." ... |
Post-McDonald Challenges to Gun Laws—From the Second Amendment Foundation and, Believe It or Not, the ACLU
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Bruce W. Krafft
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"New legal challenges to state and local laws restricting Second Amendment rights allowed by last month's decision in McDonald v. Chicago are rolling out."
"From the same team of lawyer Alan Gura and institutional plaintiff Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) that fought and won McDonald comes Kachalsky v. Cacase. ..." ...
"And from a far more unexpected place, the American Civil Liberties Union in Florida is suing the Broward County sheriff's office pro bono to help a man get his guns back. Details from the Sun-Sentinel (Full disclosure: I was a paperboy for the Sun-Sentinel when I was 12 years old.):" ... |
Gun control is using 2 hands
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Bruce W. Krafft
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"An English reader of my blog picked up a post from last November called 'Gun control is using two hands.' It depicted a series of posters explaining why the Second Amendment has practical safety applications for American citizens. This reader took exception to how enthusiastically Americans embrace our God-given right to defend our persons and our property from those who would do us harm. 'The American love affair with guns is indeed strange to an outsider,' she wrote. 'Though one can understand the historical imperative, some of the arguments used to justify gun ownership in the 21st century seem to border on the religious and can be just as irrational.'" ... |
Early colonists set precedent for Second Amendment
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Bruce W. Krafft
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"James Madison of Virginia, America's fourth president, drafted the Second Amendment for presentation to Congress. As a founder, he was aware of Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England, which describes the right to bear arms as '… for self-preservation and defence' and self-defense as '… the natural right of resistance and self-preservation, when the sanctions of society and laws are found insufficient to restrain the violence of oppression.' Madison also personally experienced the danger of the large British army quartered in America, which appropriated personal property, usurped the right of self-defense and seized colonial arms in order to control the colonies." ... |
Gun Control as Economic Stimulus
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Bruce W. Krafft
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... "Federal sin taxes had a good year last year in general. The bureau's annual report also noted that federal excise taxes on tobacco rose dramatically, mostly because Congress raised the tax rate on tobacco ..."
"Firearm and ammunition tax revenues skyrocketed for a different reason: These went up because people were simply buying more guns and ammunition, apparently because they feared Barack Obama would curb their access to deadly weapons upon taking office."
"'Retail sales analysis indicates that gun sales strongly correlate to changes in the political landscape in the United States,' the report says. ..." ... |
Obama lawsuit invites fortified state militia
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Bruce W. Krafft
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"Arizona has enacted a law that enables state and local police to support federal immigration enforcement ... This moderate statute is under vicious attack ... Yet Arizona and her sister states in the Southwest could take dramatically stronger actions to bring order to the border. And they would have both history and the Constitution on their side."
"History first. In 1916, criminal gangs rivaled the authority of the Mexican government. Led by Pancho Villa, they launched attacks against Americans on both sides of the border. ... President Woodrow Wilson dispatched 15,000 state militia to the border and sent Gen. John J. 'Black Jack' Pershing and thousands more soldiers into Mexico after Villa and his bandits. ..." ... |
NRA making deals while losing its soul
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Bruce W. Krafft
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"Many times in this space I've lauded National Rifle Association efforts to protect the Second Amendment, an important Constitutional guarantee of individual freedom and self-reliance against government oppression as well as outside enemies."
"That the Right to Bear Arms also provides a base of support for hunting has made the NRA a natural ally for outdoor enthusiasts and freedom lovers across this great nation."
"Those days of alliance have been tested for long-time supporters over the past few years as the NRA appears to be losing focus and overreaching on some issues, and selling its soul on others." ... |
The Odd Couple
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Bruce W. Krafft
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"During Elena Kagan's confirmation hearings, some Republican senators criticized Justice Thurgood Marshall, for whom the solicitor general served as a clerk. Predictably, this criticism prompted indignation from liberal commentators: How dare Republicans criticize Marshall, the first black justice and a civil-rights hero? (We noted one example on July 1.)"
"'Well,' writes National Review's Ed Whelan, 'it turns out that someone else who didn't think much of Marshall's performance on the Court . . . was Justice William J. Brennan Jr., Marshall's longtime liberal colleague.' As evidence, Whelan offers three passages from 'Justice Brennan: Liberal Champion,' a forthcoming biography by Seth Stern and Stephen Wermiel:" ... |
GOP Pushes For More Votes Against Kagan
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... "Levey says there not only will be fewer Republican senators supporting Kagan, but there may be some Democrats from Western and Southern states who oppose her, too. That's because some of these red-state Democrats prize a 100 percent rating from the [NRA], and the NRA, for only the second time in its history, is scoring a Supreme Court vote as a key vote on gun rights."
"The first time the NRA scored a Supreme Court vote was the Sotomayor nomination, and it did so reluctantly after Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell leaned on the organization. This time, the NRA is opposing Kagan with more vigor ..." ... |
How long will your stockpiles of ammunition last?
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david wolfe
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"It’s a question many of us must ask ourselves, and while some have stocked more than others, it’s impossible for any of us to know, definitively, how many days, weeks, or months our ammunition will last. That can be unsettling."
"There are many viable options for reusing, manufacturing, and otherwise prolonging your supply of ammunition, but I’d like you to consider another, often-overlooked option among them. It’s one of the oldest, most reliable weapons mankind has ever invented: The sword." ... |
Well, Which Is It?
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Bruce W. Krafft
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"I'm terribly confused. Is the GOP the Law and Order Anti-Terrorist Party, or the Protect Serial Killers and Let Any Random Maniac Buy a Gun Party?""Daytona Beach police have determined through forensic evidence that the same kind of weapon was used to kill three women ... so they have taken what could be considered a logical next step. They ... asked gun dealers located in the specific counties where the homicides took place if they could see their records during a specific period of time (2004 and 2005) ..." ... "This kind of steely opposition to helping the police stop violent crime is echoed in the Tiahrt Amendment, which makes it effectively impossible to identify crooked dealers who knowingly sell guns to criminals. ..." ... |
Gun rights still a court issue
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Bruce W. Krafft
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"Maintaining a firearm in one's own home seems assured under the latest Supreme Court ruling. But there may be some difficulty in using that rifle or handgun to threaten a recalcitrant neighbor who has refused to keep his crab grass from encroaching on your manicured lawn."
"Following the court's completely expected ruling ... Chicago Mayor Richard Daley fired back. He pushed a law through the Chicago City Council that would prohibit gun shops in the city and confine guns to inside one's house. Even the front porch would be off limits. Naturally, a lawsuit to block it already has been filed." ... |
New Court Ruling Throws Cold Water on 'Gun Rights' Celebration
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Bruce W. Krafft
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"For those in the extremist gun lobby and the libertarian right who view the Supreme Court's recent Second Amendment rulings as assault weapons ready to blow holes in America's gun laws, the Seventh Circuit's ruling this week in U.S. v. Skoien must be a bitter pill."
"Skoien is no doubt the most significant lower court ruling on the Second Amendment since the Supreme Court's decision in District of Columbia v. Heller ... The Seventh Circuit heard the case en banc ... and, by a vote of 10-1, upheld the conviction of Steven Skoien ... Skoien, like many other convicted gun criminals, saw Heller as a way to avoid punishment by seeking to strike down as unconstitutional the law he had violated." ... |
CA: No point to carrying guns at local beach cleanup
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Bruce W. Krafft
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FULL TEXT BELOW:
I didn't know whether to scream or laugh hysterically after reading about Richard Jack who brazenly toted an unconcealed, unloaded assault rifle through a residential neighborhood in Hermosa Beach ("Packing trash and packing heat," Sunday).
While I believe the Second Amendment grants[sic] an undeniable right, I was just curious as to whom he felt he needed to defend himself against on Eighth Street in Hermosa Beach - Osama bin Laden? Tourists? Girls in bikinis?
And if he did encounter some type of threat, what would he say to an approaching assailant? "Wait, stop while I load my gun?" Ridiculous.
- Toni Earle
Los Angeles
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Submitter's Note: Doubtless Toni would find Dr. King's marches and sit-ins pointless and risible as well. |
CA: Sheriff's dog shot in escape
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Bruce W. Krafft
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"A Siskiyou County Sheriff's dog was shot and killed early Tuesday after escaping from his pen to romp in a neighbor's yard."
"Gotto, a 12-year-old 80-pound Belgian Malinois shepherd, had worked eight years as a sheriff's dog. ..." ...
"An unidentified Montague man arriving home early Tuesday morning found Gotto in his yard. The neighbor’s own dog was in heat and he had sheep on his property, sheriff's Capt. Jim Betts said."
"The neighbor, who did not recognize Gotto as a police dog, tried to get him to leave. But the dog would not obey and became confrontational, Betts said."
"The neighbor felt threatened and shot Gotto, said Betts." ... |
NC: Man at ATM fires back at would-be armed robber
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Bruce W. Krafft
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FULL TEXT BELOW:
Police say a man shot a would-be robber Thursday night at an east Charlotte ATM.
According to police, the man was attempting to use a Cash Points ATM on Eastway Drive at North Tryon Street around 11 p.m. A suspect seemingly saw that as an opportunity and tried to rob the victim at gunpoint.
However, that victim was also armed. He shot the suspect twice in the leg. Police officials report that suspect suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
CMPD officials are no longer interviewing the shooter in the case, who they say did cooperate with detectives in their investigation. No charges are pending against him.
The suspected robber will face charges once that person is released from the hospital. |
Gun Sales Expected to Shoot Up
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Bruce W. Krafft
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"After a Supreme Court decision affirming the right to bear arms was handed down in June, the owners of Midwest Sporting Goods, just outside of Chicago, started noticed something any retailer would find encouraging – an increasing number of customers."
"With Chicago's 28-year ban on handgun ownership rendered unconstitutional, more people were coming into Midwest, in Lyons, Illinois, to exercise their Second Amendment rights, according to Noel, the store's owner. He asked that his last name not be published." .. |
NRA Supporting Chicago Residents New Suit Against Mayor Richard Daley and the City of Chicago
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Bruce W. Krafft
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"The National Rifle Association is supporting a lawsuit against Mayor Richard Daley and the City of Chicago's newly adopted gun control ordinance, which violates the U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in McDonald v. City of Chicago. Last Friday [July 2], the City Council rushed through passage of this ordinance in response to the Court's June 28th decision rendering Chicago's draconian handgun ban unconstitutional." ... |
Federal suit filed over Nevada gun ban in state parks
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Bruce W. Krafft
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"A Colorado legal foundation has filed a federal lawsuit challenging Nevada's law that generally bans the possession of loaded guns in state parks."
"Attorneys for the Mountain States Legal Foundation in Denver, along with Elko attorney Robert Salyer, filed suit in U.S. District Court for Nevada this week in behalf of Al Baker, an Idaho outdoorsman who said he was threatened with six months' jail time if he fired his gun in Nevada state parks -- even in self defense."
"'The Supreme Court's ruling that the Second Amendment applies to the states via the 14th Amendment makes it clear that the Nevada law is unconstitutional and must be stricken,' William Perry Pendley, president of the Mountain States Legal Foundation, said ..." ... |
Mayors try to circumvent high court gun decisions
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James A. Farmer
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"The City of Chicago, much like Washington, D.C., has found the recent Supreme Court decision overturning its ban on handguns contrary to its efforts at prohibiting the citizens from exercising their constitutional rights to arms. The court in 2008 declared in The District of Columbia v. Heller that an individual right exists to keep and bear arms. In MacDonald v. Chicago, the court overturned Chicago's ban on handguns for any reason."
"Mayor Fenty of D.C. gathered his forces ... and erected more barriers to firearms possession that essentially maintained the status quo ..."
"Mayor Daley, with the City of Chicago's aldermen firmly in his iron grasp, has also essentially spit in the eye of the Supreme Court ..." ... |
Finally Recognized, The 2nd Amendment
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Bruce W. Krafft
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"Californians who legally own firearms can be encouraged by last month's U.S. Supreme Court's ruling. In a landmark decision, the Court found that the constitutional right to bear arms applies not just to the federal government, but to state and local governments as well. In other words, owning a gun in the home for self defense is now officially recognized as a fundamental American right that cannot be violated by overzealous politicians on any level of government."
"This is a remarkable defense of our Second Amendment right. This specific issue came about because Chicago instituted a misguided city-wide ban on handguns, which ... restricted law-abiding residents from owning guns to protect themselves in their own homes. ..." ... |
A Letter to the Honorable Greg Walden
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James A. Farmer
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"As the House has sole Power of Impeachment, I am requesting that Supreme Court Justices Bryer, Ginsburg and Sotomayer be impeached. It is obvious that they are either incompetent or have grossly violated their oath of office. I cannot find any way that a competent person, let alone a highly educated one, cannot understand simple English, 'the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed'. What part of this statement are they incapable of understanding? The Constitution is the supreme law of the land and applies to all citizens and legal immigrants. No government, at any level can make a law that does not comply with the Constitution. ..." ... |
Democrats mistaken to think Supreme Court ruling took guns off the table in 2010 election
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Bruce W. Krafft
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"As the dust begins to settle on the historic McDonald v. Chicago Supreme Court ruling, the analysis of the political fallout has begun in earnest."
"One opinion piece, scurrilously mislabeled as a 'news article' by The Politico, deserves some attention."
"According to a June 29 article by Kasie Hunt, entitled 'Democrats quietly cheer high court gun ruling', Democrats 'won the day in politics' when the McDonald ruling was announced:" ... |
WY: Matt Mead for governor, plagued by anti-gun past
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Bruce W. Krafft
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"What does a politician like Matt Mead do when they want to cover-up their 'anti-gun' past?"
"Simple, just use the media. But let us shine the beacon of truth on the subject…"
"Facts--
1. Matt Mead as a U.S. Attorney fought on the side of the ATF in 'Wyoming VS. BATF'.
2. In this case the feds said the Wyoming legislature over-stepped their bounds.
3. Matt Mead welcomed a court brief from the Brady Campaign.
4. This case was both gun rights as well as state sovereignty."
"The Mead campaign claim is- he will 'Support efforts to limit federal control of guns', but his record says just the opposite." ... |
Quigley Co-Hosts Forum on Gun-Violence and Closing the Gun Show Loophole
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Bruce W. Krafft
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"U.S. Representative Mike Quigley (D-IL) co-hosted a Judiciary Committee forum on closing the gun show loophole. The discussion focused on The Gun Show Loophole Closing Act of 2009, which would eliminate a gap in federal law that allows private gun dealers to sell weapons to anyone—including terrorists, felons, and the mentally disabled—without performing background checks." ...
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Submitter's Note: Of course there is no such thing as a 'private gun dealer' and the GSLCA closes the 'loophole' by sending show organizers to prison if a single person who has not registered with the show as a dealer "exhibits, sells, offers for sale, transfers, or exchanges a firearm".
"So is that your carry piece?"
"Yep. A Smith and Browning PM-58. Nice shooter."
That conversation, if made with an informant, would make the S&B owner and all the show organizers felons. |
TN: Ramsey Campaigns at Firing Range as Handgun Permit Killer Faces Jury
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Bruce W. Krafft
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"Ron Ramsey, Prince of Shamelessness, is holding a campaign event today at a firing range in Memphis. In the governor's race, Ramsey has traveled the state boasting about his passage of the state's handgun permit law and claiming none of our proud Second Amendment superheroes ever have caused even the tiniest bit of trouble ..." ...
"As Ramsey speaks today, a criminal court jury only a few miles away is about to begin deliberating whether to send a handgun permit holder to prison for killing an unarmed man as his three children watched in horror during an argument over a parking space outside a restaurant."
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Submitter's Note: Well, where are the dozens and hundreds of other 'permit killers' you predicted? |
Cops and Cameras: The Future of Policing (videos available)
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Bruce W. Krafft
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... "... The recordings that prompt public outcry are sometimes 'gotcha' moments where the camera only captures the use of force with no context."
"Here is an example from Maryland ..."
"The real problem (besides the fact that the officer is misstating the law to prevent public accountability) is that the officer felt it necessary to stop the filming in the first place. This arrest was justified. The woman bleeding on the floor assaulted another patron, and when two officers responded to the incident, she assaulted them as well. This was a justified and necessary arrest. Whether the level of force was justified is another question, and one that is harder to assess because there is no recording of it." ... |
PA: 3 accused Phila. officers due in court
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jac
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FULL TEXT BELOW:
Three Philadelphia police officers will be in federal court following their arrests on corruption charges.
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey has said the officers accused -- Robert Snyder, James Venziale and Mark Williams -- would be fired.
The officers, along with Snyder's wife and two others, are accused in a 14 count indictment. They are charged with stealing 300 grams of heroin from a drug dealer, while in uniform and in a marked police car.
The indictment says the officers then tried to sell the drugs to an undercover federal agent.
The officers face a detention hearing. |
CA: State Supreme Court won't review Santa Cruz gun case
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Bruce W. Krafft
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"A Santa Cruz Mountains woman faces a 60-day jail sentence for a 2007 [pellet] gun-brandishing conviction after the state Supreme Court denied her petition for a new trial earlier this month." ...
"Four years ago, she was arrested during a dispute with neighbors and eventually convicted of carrying a pellet gun while shooing neighbors off her horse farm and shouting threats at them." ...
"This month, her attorney, Dennis Riordan, known for representing big-name clients including Barry Bonds, used a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that bolstered Second Amendment arguments to push for a new trial for Saldinger." ... |
CA: A slippery slope for the Second Amendment?
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Bruce W. Krafft
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"Our Facebook fans and friends respond to the Supreme Court ruling on guns in Chicago:"
"* David K. DeSilva, Reno: This is just sour grapes from the mayor who thinks he is omnipotent. The city of Chicago needs a dose of reality, not royalty! ..."
"Even in liberal Kalifornia, every law-abiding citizen has the RIGHT to carry an unloaded handgun OPENLY. We have that right here in Nevada, only we can have ours loaded. It's a great deterrent and if more law-abiding people did, then there would be less crime. ... there are 45 states where you can legally carry and in all of those states crime is far lower than in states where you can't." ... |
IL: Strict Chicago handgun law gets people in Quincy area talking about gun rights
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Bruce W. Krafft
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"Steve March, a gun buyer at Game Masters sporting goods store in Quincy, believes there is one good thing about a restrictive gun control ordinance that took effect in Chicago last Monday."
"'It's got people talking about it again. It does kind of bring to light the absurdity of what they're trying to do up there,' March said."
"On July 2, Chicago aldermen voted 45-0 for an ordinance that restricts the use, sale and transporting of handguns within the city. They instituted the restrictions only four days after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Chicago's previous rules prohibiting handgun ownership were unconstitutional." ... |
OH: Follow gun-safety rules
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Bruce W. Krafft
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"Whenever a child is involved in a fatal gun accident - either as shooter or victim - people will ask whether gun ownership should be limited or young people should be allowed to handle weapons. But in at least one of two recent deadly shootings, those are the wrong questions." ...
"You might ask whether 7 years old - or even 12 years old - is too young to learn to shoot, or whether stricter gun-control laws might have prevented either incident. A better question would be whether in these cases, gun-safety rules were followed strictly enough."
"Sadly, in the incident in Defiance, it appears that they weren't ..." ... |
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TO REMEMBER |
| By calling attention to a well-regulated militia for the security of the Nation, and the right of each citizen to keep and bear arms, our Founding Fathers recognized the essentially civilian nature of our economy. Although it is extremely unlikely that the fears of governmental tyranny, which gave rise to the second amendment, will ever be a major danger to our Nation, the amendment still remains an important declaration of our basic military-civilian relationships, in which every citizen must be ready to participate in the defense of the country. For that reason I believe the second amendment will always be important. --JOHN F. KENNEDY |
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