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Kagan presents a test for the NRA as Senate confirmation assured
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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The Supreme Court nomination of Elena Kagan presents a political conundrum to the National Rifle Association (NRA), one of the nations most powerful grassroots lobbying groups.

Republicans lawmakers and conservative activists fear Kagan will emerge as a strong voice on the high court against gun-ownership rights.

But five Republican senators have pledged to vote for Kagan, making her a shoo-in for confirmation.

This puts the NRA in the tricky position of having to decide how much political capital to spend against Kagan.

WA: Armed rural homeowner fends off 2 armed and masked intruders
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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Police say that the husband and wife were at their rural home, near Sedro-Wooley, WA, when the wife saw two masked men, who were carrying guns, attempting to invade their home. She reportedly screamed for her husband, who grabbed his gun and fired in self defense, sending the men fleeing. Police arrived and located a gun that is believed to have been carried by one of the invaders, according to news reports. Two men, each suffering from a gunshot wound, were later found at local hospitals, and police are investigating whether these men are connected with this home invasion attempt, police say.

NV: Anti Gunner Harry Reids Destruction of America Continues
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is having a busy couple of weeks in Washington.

Last week, he attempted to pass the so-called DISCLOSE Act, which is intended to silence organizations like Gun Owners of America because we dare to disclose the voting records of Members of Congress.

Thankfully, that bill was defeated at least temporarily. Reid and the bills sponsor, Chuck Schumer (D-NY), have promised to bring DISCLOSE back to the floor for another vote after the August recess.

NRA Protects Second Amendment Rights Of Residents In Public Housing
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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Gun owners and sportsmen earned a victory this week as the House Financial Services Committee considered and adopted an amendment offered by Congressman Tom Price (R-Ga.) to protect the Second Amendment rights of public housing residents.

His amendment to H.R. 4868the Housing Preservation and Tenant Protection Actwas adopted by a voice vote on Tuesday evening. The measure would restore and protect the right to possess and lawfully use firearms for self-defense and other legitimate purposes in federally assisted housing, and would bar housing authorities from restricting residents legal ownership of guns. This amendment is very similar to the one that Congressman Price offered to H.R. 3045 last year.

AL: Police Call Weekend Shooting "Death Investigation"
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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"Its quiet and all that, but sometimes it gets a little bit rough, said Jeremy Thorton.

If these streets could talk, they would fill the cracks in a weekend shooting case.

"They had police cars.. Yellow tape and everything," said LaShay Thorton.

Police were called to Burgwyn road after they say Robert Brown was shot by a man neighbors know well.

With each question, the answers got more and more vague, but the story around the neighborhood is that Brown's death was a result of self-defense.

Looser gun laws don't mean tighter grasp on liberties
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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Since statehood 98 years ago, Arizonans have carried guns openly without mandatory classes, written tests, paperwork and fees. The same wasn't always true for carrying guns discreetly. Somewhere along the way, it was decided here and in many other cities and states that this method of carrying required special licensing.

When Arizona's CCW (carrying a concealed weapon) law took force in 1994, it called for all the requirements listed above and then some, including fingerprinting and entry into a criminal database.

This "right" even came with an expiration date.

AL: Man stabbed during break-in
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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An Andalusia man was stabbed Sunday after he allegedly broke into a home to assault his ex-wife and her boyfriend.

Sgt. Paul Dean with the Andalusia Police Depa-rtment said the incident occurred at approximately 4:30 p.m. at a residence on Dunson Street.

When officers arrived, they learned that a male identified as Theodore Demundray Taylor had entered the residence without permission and while inside, assaulted two occupants, Dean said.

During that assault, the female victim stabbed Taylor in the upper left shoulder with a small pocket knife, he said.

With Senate set to consider Kagan, Sen. Sessions blasts her 'expansive view' of federal power
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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Last month the nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on a mostly party-line vote, 13 to 6. Only one Republican -- South Carolina's Lindsey Graham -- gave Kagan his support.

"But, yes, she's liberal," Graham said of the solicitor general when the committee voted July 20. "Sort of expected that, actually."

One of the committee members voting against her was Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, and he forcefully outlined his objections to her in a letter to his Senate colleagues Monday, a day before the full Senate is expected to begin considering Kagan, President Obama's second nominee to the high court.

NRA Steps up Anti-Kagan Campaign
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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The National Rifle Association is stepping up it's campaign to shoot down the Supreme Court nomination of Elena Kagan in the face of a likely Senate confirmation this week as the Senate rushes to get finish its work and head off to a six-week summer break. [See a slide show of 10 Facts That Will Influence Kagan's Decisions.]

In a call to supporters to urge senators to vote no, the NRA compares Kagan to President Obama's last court pick, Sonia Sotomayor, who seemed to back the Second Amendment in confirmation hearings but who later voted against it in a test case.

MT: Baucus, Tester to Support Kagan for Supreme Court
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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U.S. Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester both said Monday they support confirming Elena Kagan as a Supreme Court justice.

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Baucus' office said Monday that the senator analyzed Kagan's personal integrity, professional competence and other issues.

The senator, who has fought hard for a top rating from the National Rifle Association, also closely reviewed Kagan's response on gun rights questions and decided to support her. Many gun rights advocates are opposing Kagan and consider her hostile to gun rights.

The NRA not only opposes Kagan but promises to punish senators who vote "yes" with its influential candidate ratings.

Wingnuts in Space
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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Now we have people who are so convinced they're not racists that they print up "Yup I'm a Racist" t-shirts listing 10 reasons "the government" calls them racist. Oh, I get it, they're being ironic! They think "we" on the left are so against the military, capitalism, safe borders, low taxes, free speech, guns, the bill of rights, and belief in Jesus Christ that we call them "racists" because we don't know how to refute their unassailable patriotic American and Christian convictions.

AL: $8 leads to fatal shooting
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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Police say the victim and a 28-year old male suspect were fighting but later parted ways.

When the suspect came back this morning to apologize, police say Brown attempted to attack him with an aluminum bat. That's when the suspect pulled out a gun and shot Brown in the chest.

Right now, police say they are looking for that 28-year old shooting suspect. There's no warrant out for him since the shooting could have happened in self defense.

Authorities say that they just want to ask him a few questions to find out more about what happened.

Police are treating this as a death investigation and not a murder case.

PA: Second Amendment not about hunting
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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I don't quite follow the logic of the man who wrote that he believes the Founding Fathers' intent was for the "well regulated militia" to all carry single-shot rifles or pistols, not modern assault weapons.

The single shot was the "assault weapon" of its day - it was all they had. But today it is primarily a hunting weapon, and the Second Amendment has nothing to do with hunting.

We have no inherent right to hunt. But that amendment does give us the inherent right to protect ourselves. And with that right also comes the obligation to protect our loved ones and property.

IL: Chicagos New Gun-control Regime Challenged in Court
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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Those favoring strict control measures like Chicagos claim that gun ownership leads to increases in crime. Empirical evidence suggests the opposite is true. After the Supreme Court struck down Washington, D.C.s draconian gun rules in 2008, the city experienced a 30-percent decrease in murder rates, explained John Lott, Jr., author of More Guns, Less Crime and one of the worlds foremost experts on the relationship between guns, gun control, and crime.

Because of the new restrictive rules, I assume that relatively few people are going to register handguns in Chicago and as such I think that the change in the law will have a relatively small impact on crime rates, Lott told The New American.

TX: A Victory For The Second Amendment
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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On June 28, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling that confirmed what Texans have long known: all law abiding Americans have a fundamental right to keep and bear arms - and cities cannot unconstitutionally limit that right.

The case stemmed from a legal challenge brought by Otis McDonald, a 76-year-old Army veteran who lives in a high-crime area of Chicago. McDonald wanted to be able to have a handgun at his home to protect his family from the drug dealers who threatened him with violence because of his efforts to clean up his crime-ridden neighborhood. But the city of Chicago had an ordinance that prohibited law-abiding citizens like McDonald from legally obtaining handguns.

CA: No, Congressman, government does have limits
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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Unfortunately, Stark's extreme views are common among the current congressional majority. Still, we have no doubt that those who wrote the Constitution would be astounded to hear such monarchical attitudes today since they were exactly what the American Revolution was fought to overcome.

...

Congress is subject to checks and balances by other branches of government, as well as to specific constitutional limits. The First Amendment, for example, says "Congress shall make no law" on freedom of religion, speech, assembly and petition. The Second Amendment protects "the right of the people to keep and bear arms."

Fears, Worries, Yada Yada Yada: The New York Times Quails Before the Gun-Crazed, Motley Carnivals of the Tea Party Movement
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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he New York Times sent Mattathias Schwartz to find out what was going on at Jack Daileys firearms training camps across the country and what he found apparently made the writer fear that America was going to the lily white, revolutionary, tea party dogs.

Schwartz went to learn about Jack Daileys Appleseed Project firearms marksmanship training camps and what he found were folks of uniformly white skin whose ideas were influenced by those motley carnivals of the Tea Party movement. And apparently Schwartz fears that they all want to institute a violent revolution in America. Yes, its all about those scary militias despite that the Appleseed Project has no connection to any.

Seized guns should be sold, not scrapped
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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Facing a budget crisis, why would anyone burn money?

That's a question worth asking the LA County Sheriff's Department, which recently destroyed 8,300 firearms allegedly confiscated from criminals; guns that could and should have been sold to licensed firearms dealers, or utilized by the agency as a means of raising money or saving it.

That's a lot of guns. Weren't any of them taken in through so-called "gun buy-back" programs?

According to the Los Angeles Times, which covered the event as though it were some sort of gala, Sheriff's Deputy Bill Brauberger thought the wasteful destruction was "a celebration" for the agency. It is nothing to celebrate when a valuable resource is destroyed in the name of political correctness.

Urge Your Senators to Oppose Elena Kagans Confirmation to U.S. Supreme Court
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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The NRA has announced our strong opposition to Ms. Kagan, due to her long record of antagonism toward the Second Amendment. Based on that record, it is very likely that as a Supreme Court Justice, Kagan would join the Courts minority that just last month issued dissenting opinions claiming the Second Amendment does not guarantee a fundamental right to keep and bear arms.

Elena Kagan represents the second time President Obama has nominated a person to the Court who aggressively opposes our right to keep and bear arms. ...

Every vote in the Senate is crucial on this issue. Please take a few minutes and contact your Senators at 202-224-3121 and respectfully ask them to filibuster and oppose Kagans confirmation.

IA: Pair charged in western Iowa gun shop theft
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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Two Minnesota men in federal custody on a bank robbery charge have now also been charged in western Iowa in the theft of more than 40 guns.

Crawford County authorities say 22-year-old Felix Mendez and 19-year-old Jose Osoria-Mendez of Worthington, Minn., have been charged with theft of firearms. They allegedly broke into a gun shop in Vail, Iowa, in May and took pistols and rifles.

Special Agent Steve Warfield of the Minneapolis office of the FBI says the men were arrested July 2 after a bank robbery in Rushmore, Minn. They were charged with bank robbery about two weeks later in federal court. They remained in federal custody Monday.

PA: Suspect in shooting death of Enola lawyer was arming rebel group, district attorney says
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The man charged in the death of an Enola lawyer told police he had been stealing guns for an unidentified organization in an effort to overthrow the U.S. government, according to the Cumberland County district attorney.
Raymond Franklin Peake, 64, of Hampden Township, refused to name the group but said he would kill to defend his country, authorities said. ...
Police also arrested Thomas Franklin Tuso, 34, of Duncannon ...
The men, who worked as corrections officers at the Camp Hill state prison, are to have preliminary hearings Aug. 9 before District Judge Paula Correal.

Harper's Magazine Cover Story on Liberal Gun Owners. Go Figure.
Submitted by: Anonymous

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The cover article in Harper's magazine's August issue is "Happiness is a worn gun: My concealed weapon and me" by Dan Baum.
Harper's does have a Web site, but you must subscribe to read the articles. Before you do so, or rush out to buy the paper copy on the newsstand, this review will give you a taste of what to expect:

Its official: gun ownership is trendy. When a prime exemplar of the liberal press publishes a Come to Jesus (Armed) feature, you know its only a matter of time before every state in the these here United becomes a shall issue state. Yes, even California, Rhode Island and New York.