Keep and Bear Arms - Gun Owners Home Page

Bush is letting assault weapons ban expire
Submitted by: Bruce W. Krafft
Website: http://home.comcast.net/~bruce.krafft/

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... "On Mother's Day 2004, the Million Mom March put out the call for another gathering, and 2,500 showed up. What happened to the gun control movement?"

"War, terrorism and jobs have pushed the gun issue off the political radar screen, which is where the Bush administration would like it to stay. But they're not going to get their wish."

"Assault rifles are about to become legal in September when the law banning assault weapons expires. These are the same weapons our troops are trying to take off the streets of Baghdad. In 2000, candidate George W. Bush said he supported the ban. Early in 2004, he said he'd sign an extension of the ban if it reached his desk. That's turned out to be a big if." ...
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And the rest

VA: 'Assault weapons' ban was a poor crime-fighting tool
Submitted by: Bruce W. Krafft
Website: http://home.comcast.net/~bruce.krafft/

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"You have it exactly backward on the federal 'assault-weapon' ban. You claim it is expiring on Sept. 13 due to 'political pressure' by its opponents ['Extend the ban,' Aug. 9]. To the contrary, federal law requires it to expire."

"The 'political pressure' being waged is by gun prohibitionists who want the ban renewed and expanded, as shown by your high-pressure editorial in which you compare semi-automatic firearms to 'bazookas' and describe people who oppose gun control as 'zealots.'"

"Despite the pressure, the ban isn't being renewed because most in Congress know that it imposed irrational restrictions on law-abiding Americans and did not affect criminals. In fact, the House of Representatives voted to repeal the ban in 1996." ...

Gun Control For the Children?
Submitted by: Bruce W. Krafft
Website: http://home.comcast.net/~bruce.krafft/

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"I am constantly amazed at the emotional highjacking and moral posturing of gun controllers. Gun controllers are lying when they say they have childrens interests at heart; they are merely using children to promote their own goal of civilian disarmament."

"Senator Barbara Boxer sent out an e-mail that I received entitled 'Protecting Our Children.' I have included the text, one paragraph at a time, to better understand the insanity and bigotry of a gun controllers mind." ...

"This gets to another part of the equation ignored by gun controllers: the cost of not owning a gun for self-defense. Citizens who avoid becoming crime victims often save not only their lives, but their businesses which represent significant contribution to our economy. By virtue of their age and 'occupation,' teenage criminals have contributed nothing. Armed citizens have saved our country billions of dollars in health care, insurance claims, and business infrastructure."

Assault-weapons ban is expiring: Don't let it
Submitted by: Bruce W. Krafft
Website: http://home.comcast.net/~bruce.krafft/

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"If you think streets awash in Uzis, AK-47s and other military-style firearms are just what the country needs, then you'll love the game that President George W. Bush and House Republican leaders are playing. They're about to let the 1994 assault-weapons ban slip into the dustbin of history without so much as a vote in the House."

"The law that prohibits the manufacture or distribution of 19 kinds of semiautomatic weapons will sunset on Sept. 13. It should be extended."

"If Bush and his cohorts really want restrictions to lapse on those weapons of war, they should stand up and be counted. ..."
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Again with the ignorance. These are semiauto rifles!

FL: 'I'm really scared . . . What should I do?'
Submitted by: JT Hayes

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"Four times in three days, Erin Belanger told authorities a group of people ransacked her grandmother's house, stole electronics, harassed her and terrified her dog."

"In calls to the Sheriff's Office, Belanger also described four or five girls screaming outside her house at 1 a.m. and then returning two hours later with at least one guy. They banged on her door, cursed and demanded she return clothes and other belongings."

"'I'm really scared,' she told the dispatcher on Aug. 1, five days before her murder. 'I still hear them yelling. They're specifically looking for me for whatever reason . . . What should I do?'" ...
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Unsuccessful attempts by victims in days prior to mass murder in Florida to get help. They did not purchase a firearm and take turns standing watch. They were killed at night by invaders with bats and knives after multiple pleas for help to police and family.

Kerry stalks hunters for votes with stand on gun rights
Submitted by: Bruce W. Krafft
Website: http://home.comcast.net/~bruce.krafft/

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"As John Kerry worked the rope line by a riverside war memorial in this small Mississippi River town, men and women thrust copies of the same 8x10 glossy into his hands. Dutifully, he scrawled his name with a Sharpie pen. Once, twice, three times. They kept coming."

"The photo wasn't the usual politician's pose. Taken last October at an Iowa farm, it showed Kerry in full hunting regalia with a 12-gauge shotgun in his hands. Among those clutching the pictures were Iowa prison guards, many of them wearing union T-shirts."

"America's political debate over guns is different this year."

"Four years ago, Democrats Al Gore and Bill Bradley argued the merits of licensing or registering gun owners and weapons, a debate that branded Gore as anti-gun." ...

MA: Police say too many guns, drugs on street, not enough officers
Submitted by: Bruce W. Krafft
Website: http://home.comcast.net/~bruce.krafft/

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"Police Chief Edward Cronin told top state officials Friday there's "a lot of gunplay right now" in Fitchburg, and described his department as ill-equipped to address the city's increasing heroin presence."

"Girls as young as 14 are addicted, and the trend is rising, Cronin told Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey. And he warned her that drugs and related crime is rising in Fitchburg and spilling into neighboring towns."

"'Right now we do not have manpower on the street to at least maintain a level of order,' Cronin told Healey, state Public Safety Secretary Ed Flynn and scores of regional law enforcement officials."

"Cronin noted the federal COPS program, well-funded in the 1990s, 'has disappeared, and we've been abandoned.'"
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And you've disarmed and de-balled your "citizens" to such an extent that they are incapable of helping. You made your bed, now you sleep in it!

American Gun [perpetuating the myths]
Submitted by: Bruce W. Krafft
Website: http://home.comcast.net/~bruce.krafft/

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"If Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine taught us nothing else, it's that American society is proliferated with guns like no other culture in the world. They're generally easy to obtain and a powerful gun lobby consistently keeps itself involved in politics to the point that passing any significant legislature regarding gun control is a virtual impossibility. At one point, school shootings were occurring so frequently that they seemed to be regular items on all the cable news channels."

"We proceed from documentary to fictional portraits of people affected by guns in their lives. American Gun presents a series of interconnected portraits of Americans and explores the way that gun culture has shaped the society that surrounds them. ..." ...

Assault-weapons ban has made America safer
Submitted by: Bruce W. Krafft
Website: http://home.comcast.net/~bruce.krafft/

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"As chief of the Los Angeles Police Department and a 28-year veteran of law enforcement, I have seen firsthand the death and destruction that can be brought by military-style assault weapons."

"These guns are not necessary for hunting or self-defense, but their light triggers and rapid-fire capability make them weapons of choice for criminals. Congress has only five working days to renew the federal ban on 19 different models of semiautomatic assault weapons. If they fail to do so, these killing machines will soon be rolling off the assembly lines at major gun manufacturers and flying off the shelves of your local gun shop."
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Then as Chief of LAPD perhaps you can answer this question: Why do your cops carry these "killing machines" which are not "necessary" for self-defense?

Unenforced gun laws
Submitted by: Bruce W. Krafft
Website: http://home.comcast.net/~bruce.krafft/

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"BOSTON'S RECENT shootings are a reminder that gun violence must be fought at many levels, including by the federal government. But two recent reports found that existing federal laws are not being thoroughly enforced."

"Gun laws are designed to stop people who are legally banned from buying firearms, such as convicted felons, domestic abusers, drug addicts, and others. In reality, the system is frayed and guns fall into the wrong hands."

"Issued last month by the inspector general of the Justice Department, the reports focused on two problems: inadequate inspection of gun dealers and flaws in checking gun buyers' backgrounds." ...

NC: GRNC-PVF Alert: Pro-Gun McHenry Battles Way Into 10th Congressional Runoff
Submitted by: Bruce W. Krafft
Website: http://home.comcast.net/~bruce.krafft/

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"Despite not being the Republican Partys anointed 'moderate' for Congress in the 10th Congressional District (Mitchell, Caldwell, Burke, Rutherford, Catawba, Cleveland, Gaston, Lincoln, Iredell), solid pro-gunner Patrick McHenry clawed his way to 2nd place in the 10th district race for the US House."

"McHenry has a 100% voting record and a distinguished history of gun rights leadership in the NC House. McHenry was largely responsible for the clean concealed handgun reciprocity law passed in the 2003 session. This is just the kind of leadership that Patrick McHenry will exert when he is in the US House as well. No matter which district you live in, a win for Patrick McHenry will also be a victory for you and your freedoms!" ...

MA: Crackdown takes guns off streets
Submitted by: Bruce W. Krafft
Website: http://home.comcast.net/~bruce.krafft/

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"In the past six days, Boston police officers have seized 15 weapons as part of the effort to stem the sudden surge of violence in the city. As they have been for 15 years, each of those weapons will get special treatment in a joint effort by police and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, authorities said yesterday."

"Once seized by police, the federal agency will begin the process of learning the weapon's history, starting with the gun maker and working through the chain of ownership in an attempt to learn the identity of the owner before it was used in a crime." ...
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Who says we don't have gun registration.

DE: Castle, Bradys endorse weapons ban
Submitted by: P. Jones

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"Sarah Brady gave a blunt warning to Delaware residents Friday: Assault weapons are coming back."

"A 10-year-old ban on 19 types of semiautomatic assault weapons expires next month and Rep. Mike Castle, R-Del., said there seems to be little will among congressional leaders to extend it. There's also little time left for Congress to act."

"So Castle, Brady and her husband, Jim, the former White House press secretary severely injured when an assassin targeted President Reagan in 1981, gathered to call attention to the issue. A bill passed during the Clinton administration that required waiting periods and background checks on handguns sold by licensed dealers was named in Brady's honor. About a dozen police officers and Wilmington Mayor James M. Baker joined Friday's gathering."

VA: Inmates take two officers hostage [and one is rescued by other inmates]
Submitted by: Bruce W. Krafft
Website: http://home.comcast.net/~bruce.krafft/

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Prisoners took two officers hostage early Saturday at the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail in a failed escape attempt. They released one hostage and two other inmates rescued the other guard, authorities said."

"The unruly prisoners took keys from the officers, unlocked four cell blocks and attempted to recruit collaborators in the escape effort, jail officials said. That plan backfired when two of the freed prisoners - described by one county police detective as 'very large individuals' - saved the last hostage while authorities were trying to negotiate his release." ...
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But men like these are the only ones professional enough to be trusted with guns!

OH: 11 yr.-old raped in 'hell'; otherwise known as a 'gun-free' Toledo city park
Submitted by: Bruce W. Krafft
Website: http://home.comcast.net/~bruce.krafft/

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"Toledo Police are searching for the man who raped an 11-year-old girl behind a South Toledo park."

"The crime happened in an area her father calls 'Hell'. Now he wants the city to clean it up."

"Toby Hansen spoke exclusively with NBC 24 yesterday. He says Danny Thomas Park looks quiet and safe from the front. But he says once you walk through the park it's a different story." ...

"COMMENTARY"

"They ask why anyone would want to carry a firearm in a park. They claim banning guns will keep our children safe."

The City of Toledo has some of the most restrictive gun control laws in the state, and it shows in the headlines, and on the obituary pages." ...

MA: Police See Surge In Gang Attacks Using Machetes
Submitted by: `scotty Doc

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"Police say they are seeing a surge in the number of gang-related attacks involving machetes, the huge knives that are a ubiquitous tool in rural Latin America, with blades as thick as an axe and nearly as long as a sword."

"The troubling trend has led some departments to crack down on machetes, Some suburban communities have also enacted new laws to ban the knives."

"Last month, during a sweep of gang members in Boston, Lynn, Revere, Chelsea, Everett and Somerville, police seized not just machetes, but more exotic weapons, including Chinese throwing stars and a Japanese metal chain whip."

"But machetes, which can be easily obtained at garden stores , are by far the most popular of the alternative weapons." ...

Philippines: Gunmen on motorbikes ambushed cop at red light stop
Submitted by: Bruce W. Krafft
Website: http://home.comcast.net/~bruce.krafft/

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"Five men on board two motorcycles ambushed shortly before noon Monday a policeman who had just come from a court hearing."

"In returning fire, Police Officer 3 Francisco Balansag Jr. accidentally shot a female bystander who was about to cross the street."

"A motorcycle-for-hire driver was arrested after police traced ownership of one of the motorcycles and Balansag identified him as among the assailants."

"Minutes after he was told of the incident, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeńa reiterated his stand on getting rid of policemen who dont know how to use their firearm, saying the police department doesnt need them." ...

FL: Former officer arrested
Submitted by: Bruce W. Krafft
Website: http://home.comcast.net/~bruce.krafft/

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"A former Miami-Dade police officer was arrested Thursday and charged with burglary, unlawful use of a police badge and impersonating a police officer."

"Yean Gonzalez, 28, was arrested at the Miami-Dade Hammocks District Station after police say he came to the station and used police credentials in an attempt to review police reports. A Little Havana jewelry store belonging to Gonzalez's father was burglarized Monday by thieves who rented space above the store and broke through the floor."

"Gonzalez's father was pistol-whipped after he confronted them. Apparently, police say, the younger Gonzalez was conducting his own investigation." ...

CT: Disgruntled worker returned to job with loaded gun
Submitted by: Bruce W. Krafft
Website: http://home.comcast.net/~bruce.krafft/

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FULL TEXT BELOW:

Police say a suspended electrician for Hartford Public Schools returned to offices and pulled out a rifle.

Fifty-three-year-old Gary Gauthier of Wethersfield is facing several charges.

School officials tell The Hartford Courant they discovered him drinking a beer and urinating behind a trash bin early yesterday morning. They say he had been suspended earlier in the week for drinking on the job.

They say he pleaded for his job back. That's when police say he pulled out a Colt A-R-15 semiautomatic assault rifle. The school workers say they tackled him and called police.

Police say the rifle was loaded with 30 rounds and he had more ammunition in his pocket and truck. He was jailed on $750,000 bond.
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KABA wonders if he was encouraged by the fact that he was guaranteed a gun-free shooting zone.

UK: Children of criminals to be 'targeted' and 'tracked'
Submitted by: John Fansler

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"Children of criminals are to be 'targeted' and 'tracked' from an early age by the Government to prevent them following their parents into a life of crime, as part of a campaign to tackle the next generation of offenders." ...
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Poster's Note: UK - Self defense is not allowed.
UK - Privacy is not allowed. Cameras are every where.
UK - Guilt by association.
UK - Not the land of the free.
Need we say more?

UK: Man robs grocery store [with banned gun]
Submitted by: Bruce W. Krafft
Website: http://home.comcast.net/~bruce.krafft/

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"Employees at an east London grocery store were surprised last night by an armed robber who held them up at gunpoint after closing time. 'He robbed the employees here as they were closing up for the night,' London police Staff Sgt. Bill Chantler said of the man. ..."

"A man with a handgun entered the store at Trafalgar Street and Highbury Avenue and robbed employees in an office near the front of the store, Chantler said."

"No one was hurt, but the man escaped with the money."

"Employees were visibly shaken by the incident."

"'I was inside and I had the gun pointed at me,' said one employee, who asked that her name not be published."
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When they say "gun-free" in the UK, it refers to the prey.

UK: Husband stabs burglary suspect
Submitted by: Bruce W. Krafft
Website: http://home.comcast.net/~bruce.krafft/

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"A suspected teenage burglar was in a serious condition last night after being stabbed by a man whose house he allegedly broke into."

"In a case echoing that of Tony Martin, Antonio Caeiro, 33, claimed yesterday that he was acting in self-defence when he fought the youth with a 12-inch bread knife after being woken by his wife's screams when she found him in their bedroom in the early hours."

"Mr Caeiro said the 19-year-old was touching his wife's legs at their Victorian terrace house in Great Yarmouth on Saturday. He said the intruder initially ran off, but when he returned to the house with an iron bar, he stabbed him. ..."

"Mr Caeiro was arrested on suspicion of assault but later released without charge. ..." ...
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And the very concept of self-defense has been so delegitimized that the homeowner accepted being arrested!

Philippines: Cop faces rap for killing of German
Submitted by: Bruce W. Krafft
Website: http://home.comcast.net/~bruce.krafft/

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"A policeman is facing criminal charges for allegedly killing a German and wounding the foreigner's live-in partner near their house in Barangay Booy last Aug. 7."

"SPO1 Joel Sabang of the Jagna town police station has been detained at Camp Dagohoy, headquarters of the Bohol Provincial Police Office, after charges of murder and frustrated murder were filed against him at the Tagbilaran City Prosecutor's Office on Wednesday." ...

"Sabang and another unidentified person were accused of killing Peter Leo Oskar Kernke, 68, a German who was a long-time Tagbilaran resident."
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But only cops and the military should have guns, right Sarah?

UK: Plastic pistol paper-boy could have been shot
Submitted by: Zed

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"Gourock teenager David Swan got the chilling warning after the dramatic operation on Tuesday when he was spotted with a toy firearm in his friend's car."

"Officers later told the 18-year-old they would have opened fire if he had pointed the 'gun' out of the window."

"'One policeman told me that if I had put the gun out of the window they would have opened fire.'" ...

"Our officers are highly trained and carry out a full risk assessment before they enter into any incident. They would not discharge their weapons unless it was absolutely necessary."
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If they are so "highly trained", why did they not immediately notice it was a toy?

UK: Armed police incidents treble as replica guns flood streets
Submitted by: Bruce W. Krafft
Website: http://home.comcast.net/~bruce.krafft/

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"THE number of incidents involving armed police has trebled in the past five years as replica guns flood on to the Capitals streets."

"New figures released by the Scottish Executive show a sharp increase in the number of police operations dealing with suspects who are believed to be armed."

"Lothian and Borders Police officers were issued with firearms 197 times during last 12 months, compared to just 66 incidents in 1999-2000. There were only 131 incidents in Glasgow in 2003-4, where the number of times Strathclyde officers were issued with firearms grew from 17 over the same period."

"The increase comes despite the fact that carrying a replica gun is now against the law and carries a minimum penalty of five years in prison. ..." ...

UK: Four people shot in social club
Submitted by: Bruce W. Krafft
Website: http://home.comcast.net/~bruce.krafft/

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"Four people have been injured, one of them seriously, in a shooting at a Manchester social club."

"Three men and a woman sustained head, chest, leg and arm injuries during the incident in Newall Green."

"Police were called at about 0050 BST on Saturday to Greenbrow Social Club, after reports gunshots were heard."

"The four victims are receiving treatment at Wythenshawe Hospital, where one man's condition is described as being serious."

"Greater Manchester Police said the four went to hospital shortly after the incident at the club in Greenbrow Road, with gun shot wounds." ...

UK: City's gang wars erupt in vendetta of death
Submitted by: Angel Shamaya

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Once again, the UK Guardian shows: British gun control only disarms the law-abiding.

Choice quotes from this eye-opening article:

... "As a result there were more shooting incidents in Nottingham in 2002 than in all the seven previous years combined and the situation rapidly appears to be getting out of hand." ...

"In June, a 21-year-old mother was shot in her living room three times as she sat holding her 13-month-old son." ...

"Another revenge attack took place in May when 50-year-old Rastafarian Derek Senior was shot four times in the chest, abdomen and legs outside his Nottingham home by a gunman who escaped with an accomplice on a motorbike." ...

etc.

Australia: Spear gun used in fatal stab attack
Submitted by: Bruce W. Krafft
Website: http://home.comcast.net/~bruce.krafft/

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"A MAN killed in a stabbing attack in Port Lincoln was believed to be in a relationship with his alleged attacker's former partner."

"The 27-year-old died after being attacked by a man armed with a knife and a spear gun in a Marine Ave house at 7.45am yesterday.

The woman - who was not hurt in the incident - called Port Lincoln police to the property."

"The incident was declared a major crime and Adelaide detectives and crime scene investigators flew to the Eyre Peninsula town about noon."

"Police detained a 23-year-old Port Lincoln man at the scene and he was placed under police guard at the Port Lincoln Hospital." ...
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Better ban spear guns!

New Zealand: Police investigate firearms incidents
Submitted by: Bruce W. Krafft
Website: http://home.comcast.net/~bruce.krafft/

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FULL TEXT BELOW:

Auckland police are investigating three firearms incidents yesterday which they believe may be linked.

In the most serious a 20-year-old man was shot in the leg in a drive-by shooting at Otara in south Auckland last night.

It is believed the incident may be gang-related.

Four people were arrested after a firearm was pointed at a group of people at Hunter's Corner in Papatoetoe.

A gun was also pointed at a man in the third incident, which took place in Preston Road at Papatoetoe.

LA: Newly passed laws go on the books today
Submitted by: Bruce W. Krafft
Website: http://home.comcast.net/~bruce.krafft/

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"Louisianians will awake today facing as many as 520 new laws governing their lives, most of them tinkering with existing statues but some major new initiatives." ...

"Also starting today, anyone sponsoring, participating in or breeding animals for 'hog-dog' rodeos in which dogs are turned loose to corner and attack hogs in enclosed areas could face up to six months in jail. And those who use guns to commit crimes within 1,000 feet of a parade route could get two years added to any sentence meted out for the crime itself." ... [emphasis added]
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Because guns are much more heinous than knives or baseball bats or fists, right?

AZ: Mexico, U.S. consult over pepper-ball guns
Submitted by: Bruce W. Krafft
Website: http://home.comcast.net/~bruce.krafft/

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"Mexican and U.S. diplomats held high-level meetings Friday over the use of so-called "pepper-ball" guns by U.S. Border Patrol agents, after an apparent linguistic confusion over the projectiles helped fuel tensions with Mexico."

"U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Roger Noriega met with Mexican Ambassador Carlos de Icaza in Washington on Friday, after Mexico demanded high-level diplomatic consultations on the issue, an official at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico confirmed."

"The Mexican government has faced severe criticism from local media and rights groups for not opposing more strongly the use of "balas de goma" -- literally, rubber bullets -- against undocumented migrants." ...