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David Hardy notes that in addition to mandating a trigger lock design that was almost certain to result in negligent discharge over time, TSA rules also mandated its use multiple times during a flight.
Link: Of Arms and the Law: Did TSA rules cause the cockpit pistol discharge?.
Link: News: Sad reaction to guns column | gun, comments, think, law, defensive - OCRegister.com.
My column last week about the defensive use of guns prompted a lot of comments from readers. And in a way it was sort of sad. What was sad was how many people were surprised – and even grateful – to see a pro-gun story appear in the so-called "mainstream" news media.
I think from various news reports we have the impression that just about all schools have zero tolerance with respect to any child bringing any photo of a gun to school, and I would guess that Catholic schools would not be much better than government schools on this point. Indeed, our daughter was in a Catholic school last year that seemed to have this extreme prejudice against guns.
So I was pleasantly surprised that my daughter's new Catholic school here in South Orange County, Serra Catholic School, took no adverse action when my daughter presented the pictures below in an album to her first grade class, along with a spirited recitation of Eddie Eagle's four admonitions:
Did Ayn's teacher make any derisive comments about guns? No--she actually recalled before the class her own positive experience, as a little girl, shooting with her father!
All of the kids' albums were reviewed the following week by faculty and administration from other area schools, private and governmental, and we have had no negative feedback.
The picture of Ayn marching with Eddie Eagle below is from the recent St. Patrick's Day Parade in Hermosa Beach. The picture of Ayn (wearing her Kalashnikitty T-Shirt) flanked by Marines is from her participation with NRA in last year's Memorial Day Parade. The shooting pictures are from NRA's Family Fun Shoot last December benefitting Marines. It was her first time shooting any rifle, she had a GREAT time. She just got one of these (Henry .22 Mini Bolt Action Youth, with an orange stock) for her seventh birthday.
[FYI, video here. Yes, I'm proud.]
Here are some of the pictures from her album:
I just found John Longenecker's website site, "Good For The Country," due to his (much appreciated) request to be added to the "Catholic Guns" blogroll (right, sidebar) which I administer. Now that I've seen his site, I recall seeing his work elsewhere.
Mr. Longenecker, one of the first paramedics in LA, articulate advocate of RTC and radio guest, now has a book out making the case for nationwide concealed carry. The book is called Transfer of Wealth, a title I find interesting given my professional work as attorney and financial planner.
From the main page of Good For The Country is this reminder:
"Law enforcement agencies and personnel have no duty to protect individuals from the criminal acts of others; instead, their duty is to preserve the peace and arrest lawbreakers for the protection of the general public." - Lynch v. N.C. Dept. of Justice, 376 S.E. 2nd 247 (N.C. App 1989)
The idea that police can be relied on to protect everyone everywhere at all times (or at least, that there is no better solution than relying on police for such protection) is the primary example of what I call "blue helicopter thinking." Thank you, Mr. Longenecker, for your efforts at countering this type of thinking.
Link: John R. Lott Jr. on Women & Guns on National Review Online.
In my own research, I examine county crime rates for the entire U.S. from 1977 to 1998. Murder rates decline when either sex carries a concealed handgun, but the effect is particularly pronounced for women. An additional woman carrying a concealed handgun reduces the murder rate for women by three to four times more than an additional armed man reduces the murder rate for men.
Maybe this empty holster phenomenon will spread to other GunFreeZones? Link: New group rallies for concealed carry on campus - Top Local Stories - News : KHAS-TV.
They are crimes some say are becoming all too common: shootings on college campuses. Just Thursday in Texas police say a gunman shot 2 students near an off–campus dorm. Now, a new group popping up at schools across the country says it wants to take action and prevent these tragedies. The group is called "Students for Concealed Carry on Campus" or SCCC. You can find members at over 200 colleges...
This must be the third such case I've heard of recently. Link: Update: Arrest made in pizza shooting | DesMoinesRegister.com | The Des Moines Register.
A pizza deliveryman told Des Moines police that he shot a man who robbed him at gunpoint when he delivered a pie late Thursday to a south-side address.
Good news for Chapman Law (source of my LL.M). It has now risen to Tier 3 in the USNWR ranking. UC Hastings (source of my JD) seems to have fallen a bit since I went there but is still in Tier 1.
Link: Search - Law - Best Graduate Schools - Education - USNews.
If I was in Idaho, he'd get my vote. Link: Clayton Cramer for Idaho State Senate (District 22).
I'm running for Idaho State Senate seat 22 against the Republican incumbent, who I don't see as conservative enough for our district. This was something of a last minute decision for me, and it was not an easy one. As this web page demonstrates, I am not spending money on campaign consultants and web developers. Please look around, and if you think I am a bit more what you think your representative in the upper house of the Idaho legislature should be, please vote for me in the May primary.
Link: John Lott's Website: VIN SUPRYNOWICZ gives Alan Gura a hard time on DC Gun Ban Case.
I understand the sensitivity over the issue of machine guns before the Supreme Court. It was clearly a strategic decision. That decision is easier than some of the other statements that were made before the court. Personally, however, I would have said that there are no such things as plastic guns. Personally, when questions were raised about accidental gun deaths involving kids, I would have talked about the small number involved and that most of those involve adult male criminals where gun locks are irrelevant. Personally, I wouldn't have advocated that people use a gun safe (this last one I think was a real mistake). All that said, it is hard being up in front of the Supreme Court for the first time. I think that DC's lawyer actually did a good job given how hard of a case he had to make. The gun lock issue in particular makes me worried that we may win the battle over the individual rights issue, but lose the war regarding either the DC gun ban or the standard involved. If we lose it because of the gun lock question, I will be extremely disappointed. Again, all that said, at this point it doesn't make much sense to spend a lot of time worrying about things. We will know soon enough.
These concerns might also have application to excessive requirements by numerous employers and business establishments to require loading/unloading of guns, locking them in cars, etc., by CCW holders.
Link: John Lott's Website: Airline Pilots Security Alliance releases press release on accidental shooting.
Putting a lock on a trigger involves this exact type of risk unless you are also going to require the pilots to load and unload the gun once they get on the plane. Indeed, it is precisely because of this concern that trigger lock makers warn people not to put these locks on a loaded gun.
UK has long had a low murder rate. Until recently, it had a low violent crime rate. The relevant statistic is that rates of both murder and violent crime have increased sharply in UK since gun control. The UK violent crime rate is now much higher than the US rate. (There is now even talk of knife control in Britain.)
There is an excellent book on the murder rate in England over the last thousand years by Joyce Lee Malcolm entitled Guns and Violence. England has long had a low murder and violent crime rate, but that rate either stopped going down or went up after the gun control laws were passed. During 1900, before England had any gun control laws, London had something like three gun murders. Robberies with guns were similarly rare. By the way, for multiple reasons, while the murder rate in England is still significantly lower than the US rate, the violent crime rate in England is now much higher than the US.
Link: Public Believes Americans Have Right to Own Guns.
PRINCETON, NJ -- A solid majority of the U.S. public, 73%, believes the Second Amendment to the Constitution guarantees the rights of Americans to own guns. Twenty percent believe the amendment only guarantees the rights of state militia members to own guns.
Link: Kyiv Post. Spring forward.
Ukraine’s daylight savings time (DST) takes effect Sunday, March 30, when clocks will move forward from 4:00 to 5:00.
Время сбережения дневного света Украины (DST) принимает влияние воскресенье, 30 -го март, когда часы двинут вперед от 4:00 к 5:00.
Kiev is already a gem. This will polish it. Link: Kyiv Post. Government unveils $10 billion Kyiv beltway project.
Ukrainian government officials revealed on March 20 plans to construct a 213-kilometer beltway to encircle Kyiv and its satellite neighborhoods to relieve traffic congestion in the city’s central districts and foster economic growth. The “Velyka Okruzhna,” planned by foreign developers in conjunction with Ukrainian national and oblast government officials, would be the most expensive development project ever pursued in Ukraine, costing an estimated $10 billion. “The highway will change the oblast picture for the better, linking suburban neighborhoods to the capital, thereby attracting further investment into the whole region,” said Vira Ulianchenko, head of the Kyiv State Oblast Administration. If implemented, the beltway should steer traffic away from the center, boost real estate values and ignite a development and population boom, changing the character of Ukraine’s capital.
Link: Bernanke: Federal Reserve caused Great Depression.
Although economists have pontificated over the decades about this or that cause of the Great Depression, even the current Fed chairman Ben S. Bernanke, agrees with Friedman's assessment that the Fed caused the Great Depression.
Link: Making Parks Safer.
In the coming weeks, the U.S. Department of the Interior will announce proposed changes to the rules that bar the carrying and transporting of firearms in national parks. This comes after nearly five years of efforts by NRA-ILA and others to get rid of the rules that prevent law-abiding Right-to-Carry holders and gun owners from having to disarm and store their firearms in an inaccessible part of their vehicle. Some opponents of the change say that you don't need access to a firearm in a national park. But these people ignore the fact that park rangers are wearing protective vests and carry semi-automatic rifles for self-defense from predators of the two- and four-legged variety. Heck, back in 2003 the media quoted David Barma, the chief spokesman for the National Park System, as saying, "The most [visitors] used to worry about is running into a grizzly bear. Now there is the specter of violence by a masked alien toting an AK-47." But now the media ignores the recent up-tick in violent crime in our national parks. And they ignore the fact that many parts of the national park system are, by their very nature, remote and rugged wilderness areas, where help isn't just a phone call away.
This baby lived for several hours after the emergency C-section, before dying of asphyxiation. Link: Emergency C-section at 8½ months delivers 'non-person'.
A Colorado judge has dismissed charges against a man who caused a fatal car crash because the victim, at 8½ months of a pregnancy, had only been scheduled for a C-section to be born and that had not yet happened at the time of the crash.
Link: Of Arms and the Law: Comment on clarity of the 2A.
I think the meaning of the 2A is only ambiguous if a reader assumes (as did the Court in Miller) that the two clauses must somehow interrelate at a substantive level. If one recognizes (as I suggested in a 1985 law review article, see the left sidebar for it, The Second Amendment and the Historiography of the Bill of Rights) that the two clauses had different constituencies, ancestry, and purposes, the meaning becomes much more clear. The Framers had to please two groups, one of which wanted praise of the militia system, the other of which wanted a guarantee of a right to bear arms. (And some, like Geo. Mason in 1788, wanted both). The two clauses got put in one amendment because they had a common subject, arms, not because one controlled the other. Just as the intellectual rights -- press, speech, assembly, petition, and religion -- all got stuck together in the 1A.
Link: Vote for Sarah's Law - California November 2008 Election.
The Solution Sarah's Law will require that a physician notify a parent (or, in the case of an abusive parent, an adult family member, such as an Aunt or Grandparent, can be notified) at least 48 hours before performing an abortion on a minor girl under the age of 18.
Link: Of Arms and the Law: Ebay?.
Ebay won't let a person use it to sell a firearm (and I've heard of them giving people trouble about selling even dummy ammunition, but apparently it's happy to sell switchblades. The interstate shipment of which happens to be a federal offense...
In Florida, an atheist became incensed over the preparation of Easter
and Passover holidays. He decided to contact his lawyer about the
discrimination inflicted on atheists by the constant celebrations
afforded to Christians and Jews with all their holidays while atheists
had no holiday to celebrate.
The case was brought before a judge. After listening to the long
passionate presentation by the lawyer, the Judge banged his gavel and
declared, 'Case dismissed!'
The lawyer immediately stood and objected to the ruling and said, 'Your
honor, how can you possibly dismiss this case? The Christians have
Christmas, Easter and many other observances. Jews have Passover, Yom
Kippur and Hanukkah...yet my client and all other atheists have no such
holiday!'
The judge leaned forward in his chair and simply said, 'Obviously your
client is too confused to even know about, much less celebrate his own
atheists' holiday!'
The lawyer pompously said, 'Your Honor, we are unaware of any such
holiday for atheists. Just when might that holiday be, your Honor?'
The judge said, 'Well it comes every year on exactly the same
date---April 1st! Since our calendar sets April 1st as 'April Fools
Day,' consider that Psalm 14:1 states, 'The fool says in his heart,
there is no God.' Thus, in my opinion, if your client says there is no
God, then by scripture, he is a fool, and April 1st is his holiday! Now
have a good day and get out of my courtroom!!
--Author Unknown
US falls to #22 in UN study ranking stability of nations. Reason: proliferation of "small arms." Britain, descending into violence due partly to its banning of guns, gets spot #7.
Link: Britain is world's 7th most stable and prosperous nation - Times Online.
Mr Le Mière said that the US had fallen down the scale, although it still scored an average of 93 out of 100, partly because of the proliferation of small arms owned by Americans and the threat to the population posed by the flow of drugs from across the Mexican border.
HICKORY, N.C. - Police say two suspects are dead after an attempted home invasion.
Hello NRANews.com!
Link: Justice Dept Approves XM-Sirius Deal.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Justice Department approved Sirius Satellite Radio's $5 billion buyout of rival XM Satellite Radio on Monday, saying the deal was unlikely to hurt competition or consumers.
Drudge link describes Kmiec as "conservative" but his endorsement of Harriet Miers (also here) leaves some question about that, and bloggers wonder (also here), and I doubt he is representative of truly conservative Catholics.
Link: Conservative lawyer endorse Obama - UPI.com.
LOS ANGELES, March 23 (UPI) -- Douglas Kmiec, a leading conservative Republican lawyer Sunday endorsed Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., for U.S. president.
....
Kmiec noted that as a Republican and as a Catholic, he supports preserving traditional marriage and believes that "life begins at conception" -- and he acknowledged that Obama may differ with him on those issues. However, he said he is convinced that Obama "is not closed to understanding opposing points of view, and … will respect and accommodate them."
The 30-year-old mother of three jumped from her disabled SUV following a chase, holding a gun to her head to keep police back. Officers fired a stun gun but the nonlethal weapon was foiled by her heavy coat.
Link: News: Gun statistics you seldom see | gun, homeowner, year, police, irvine - OCRegister.com.
It was the sort of incident that never makes it into the official crime statistics – that is, an incident in which a crime may have been prevented by a firearm. It happened earlier this month in Irvine. Police were looking for a man suspected of raping an 18-year-old woman in her home. As the cops searched, the fleeing suspect, a 27-year-old L.A. gang member, tried to hide by breaking into another home. Inside, the homeowner, a man who had recently undergone defensive firearms training, heard the commotion, grabbed a handgun and confronted the suspect.
....
Yes, the rape will be added to the grim numbers of that despicable crime, and the successful arrest will appear in the Irvine Police Department's annual statistics. And ironically, if the homeowner had justifiably shot and killed the intruder it still would have been listed in the overall statistics as a gun-related homicide – the same statistics that anti-gun activists use to promote stricter so-called "gun control" laws to keep firearms out of the hands of law-abiding citizens.
| Right-To-Carry |
| Right-to-Carry 2007 |
Only two states—Wisconsin and Illinois—prohibit carrying firearms for protection
• Nebraska is the most recent RTC state. In 2006, Nebraska’s RTC law was signed by Gov. Dave Heineman (R), Kansas’ Senate and House overrode Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ (D) veto of an RTC bill by votes of 30-10 and 91-33, respectively, and the Ohio Senate and House overrode then-Gov. Bob Taft’s (R) veto of a bill that improves the state’s 2004 RTC law, by votes of 21-12 and 71-21, respectively. • Other recent RTC initiatives. In January 2006, Wisconsin’s Senate voted 23-10 to override Gov. Jim Doyle’s (D) veto of RTC; the Assembly fell two votes short, voting 64-34. In Jan. 2004, Ohio then-Gov. Bob Taft (R) signed RTC into law and New Mexico’s Supreme Court upheld a 2003 RTC law. Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri adopted RTC in 2003, the latter by overriding Gov. Bob Holden’s (D) veto. • Types of RTC laws. There are 40 RTC states: 36 have “shall issue” laws, which require that carry permits be issued to applicants who meet uniform standards established by the state legislature. Alabama, Connecticut and Iowa have fairly-administered “discretionary-issue” carry permit systems. Vermont respects the right to carry without a permit. (Alaska, which has a shall-issue provision for purposes of permit-reciprocity with other states, adopted a no-permit-required law in 2003.) Of the 10 non-RTC states, eight have restrictively-administered discretionary-issue systems; two prohibit carrying altogether.
Click on map for larger graphic. • The right to self-defense is a fundamental right. The U.S. constitution, the constitutions of 44 states, common law, and the laws of all 50 states recognize the right to use arms in self-defense. RTC laws respect the right to self-defense by allowing individual citizens to carry firearms for protection. • More RTC, less crime. Violent crime rates in 2004-2005 were lower than anytime since 1976.1 (Crime victim surveys indicate that violent crime is at a 31-year low.2) Since 1991, 23 states have adopted RTC, the number of privately-owned guns has risen by nearly 70 million,3 and violent crime is down 38%. In 2005 RTC states had lower violent crime rates, on average, compared to the rest of the country (total violent crime by 22%; murder, 30%; robbery, 46%; and aggravated assault, 12%) and included the seven states with the lowest total violent crime rates, and 11 of the 12 states with the lowest murder rates.4 • RTC and crime trends. Studying crime trends in every county in the U.S., John Lott and David Mustard found, “allowing citizens to carry concealed weapons deters violent crimes and it appears to produce no increase in accidental deaths. If those states which did not have Right to Carry concealed gun provisions had adopted them in 1992, approximately 1,570 murders; 4,177 rapes; and over 60,000 aggravated assaults would have been avoided yearly....[W]hen state concealed handgun laws went into effect in a county, murders fell by 8.5 percent, and rapes and aggravated assaults fell by 5 and 7 percent.”5 • False predictions. Dave Kopel has written, “Whenever a state legislature first considers a concealed carry bill, opponents typically warn of horrible consequences....But within a year of passage, the issue usually drops off the news media’s radar screen, while gun-control advocates in the legislature conclude that the law wasn’t so bad after all.”6 A article related to Michigan’s RTC law said, “Concerns that permit holders would lose their tempers in traffic accidents have been unfounded. Worries about risks to police officers have also proved unfounded....National surveys of police show they support concealed handgun laws by a 3-1 margin....There is also not a single academic study that claims Right to Carry laws have increased state crime rates. The debate among academics has been over how large the benefits have been.”7 • RTC permit-holders are more law-abiding than the rest of the public. For example, Florida, which has issued more carry permits than any state (due to its large population and having had an RTC law since 1987) has issued over 1.2 million permits, but revoked only 157 (0.01%) due to gun crimes by permit-holders.8 Background. Before 1987, there were 10 RTC states. Indiana, Maine, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota and Washington had “shall issue” permit laws. Alabama and Connecticut had fairly-administered discretionary-issue systems. Georgia’s “shall issue” law was interpreted as discretionary in some jurisdictions. Vermont allowed carrying without a permit. Other states had restrictively-administered discretionary-issue carry permit systems or prohibited carrying altogether. These laws remain in effect. In 1987, Florida enacted a “shall issue” law that has since become the model for other states. Anti-gun groups, politicians and news media interests predicted vigilante justice and “Wild West” shootouts on every corner. The predictions proved false. Through 1992, Florida’s murder rate decreased 23%, while the U.S. rate rose 9%; thereafter, murder decreased both nationally and in Florida.9 Then-Florida Licensing Division Director, John Russi, noted that “Florida’s concealed weapon law has been very successful. All major law enforcement groups supported the original legislation....[S]ome of the opponents of concealed weapon legislation in 1987 now admit the program has not created the problems many predicted.”10 In a 1995 letter to state officials, Dept. of Law Enforcement Commissioner James T. Moore wrote, “From a law enforcement perspective, the licensing process has not resulted in problems.”
• 29 new RTC states since 1987. Of these, 21 previously prohibited carrying; nine (indicated with an asterisk, below) had restrictively-administered discretionary-issue systems. 1989: Oregon, Penna. (Phila. included in 1995), and West Virginia (in Georgia a judicial ruling enforced “shall issue” statewide); 1990: Idaho and Mississippi; 1991: Montana; 1994: Alaska, Arizona, Tennessee and Wyoming; 1995: Arkansas, Nevada*, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah* and Virginia*; 1996: Kentucky, Louisiana* and South Carolina*; 2001: Michigan*; 2003: Colorado*; Iowa* (by fairly administering its discretionary-issue system), New Mexico, Minnesota* and Missouri; 2004: Ohio; 2006: Kansas, Nebraska. Citizens can defend themselves. Analyzing National Crime Victimization Survey data, criminologist Gary Kleck found, “robbery and assault victims who used a gun to resist were less likely to be attacked or to suffer an injury than those who used any other methods of self-protection or those who did not resist at all.”11 In the 1990s, Kleck and Marc Gertz found that guns were used for self-protection about 2.5 million times annually.12 The late Marvin E. Wolfgang, self-described as “as strong a gun-control advocate as can be found among the criminologists in this country,” who wanted to “eliminate all guns from the civilian population and maybe even from the police,” said, “The methodological soundness of the current Kleck and Gertz study is clear. I cannot further debate it. . . . I cannot fault their methodology.”13 A study for the Dept. of Justice found that 34% of felons had been “scared off, shot at, wounded or captured by an armed victim,” and 40% of felons have not committed crimes, fearing potential victims were armed.14 The right to self-defense has been recognized for centuries. Cicero said 2,000 years ago, “If our lives are endangered by plots or violence or armed robbers or enemies, any and every method of protecting ourselves is morally right;” English jurist Sir William Blackstone observed that the English Bill of Rights recognized “the right of having and using arms for self-preservation and defense” as intended “to protect and maintain inviolate the three great and primary rights,” the first of which is “personal security.”15 Sir Michael Foster, judge of the Court of King’s Bench, wrote in the 18th century, “The right of self-defense. . . is founded in the law of nature, and is not, nor can be, superseded by any law of society.”16 The Supreme Court, in U.S. v. Cruikshank (1876), recognized that the right to arms is an individual right, stating that it “is not a right granted by the Constitution. Neither is it in any manner dependent upon that instrument for its existence.” In Beard v. U.S. (1895), the court approved the common-law rule that a person “may repel force by force” in self-defense, and concluded that when attacked a person “was entitled to stand his ground and meet any attack made upon him with a deadly weapon, in such a way and with such force” as needed to prevent “great bodily injury or death.” The laws of all states and the constitutions of 44 states recognize the right to armed self-defense. In the Gun Control Act (1968) and Firearms Owners’ Protection Act (1986), Congress stated that it did not intend to “place any undue or unnecessary Federal restrictions or burdens on law-abiding citizens with respect to the acquisition, possession, or use of firearms appropriate to . . . personal protection, or any other lawful activity.” Police aren’t required to protect you. In Warren v. District of Columbia (1981), the D.C. Court of Appeals ruled, “official police personnel and the government employing them are not generally liable to victims of criminal acts for failure to provide adequate police protection. . . a government and its agents are under no general duty to provide public services, such as police protection, to any particular citizen.” In Bowers v. DeVito (1982), the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled, “[T]here is no constitutional right to be protected by the state against being murdered by criminals or madmen.” National RTC reciprocity. H.R. 4547, by Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), proposes a federal law stating that any person with a valid state-issued carry permit may carry in any other state, as follows: In a state that issues carry permits, its laws would apply. In a state that does not issue permits, a federal standard would permit carrying in places other than police stations; courthouses; public polling places; meetings of state, county, or municipal governing bodies; schools; passenger areas of airports; and certain other locations. Nonsense from Brady Campaign (formerly Handgun Control, Inc.). Sarah Brady: “the only reason for guns in civilian hands is for sporting purposes;” former HCI Chair, the late Pete Shields: “[If attacked] put up no defense - give them what they want;” Brady Center’s Dennis Henigan: self-defense is “not a federally guaranteed constitutional right.”17 In Jan. 1999, HCI claimed that between 1992-1997 violent crime rates declined less in RTC states than in other states.18 (HCI previously claimed RTC caused crime to rise.) HCI erred in categorizing states as RTC states based upon their having RTC laws in 1997, since only 17 of those 31 states had RTC in 1992. HCI calculated crime trends from 1992 to underrepresent the impact of RTC laws; by 1992 many states had RTC for many years and already experienced decreases in crime. HCI misclassified Alabama and Connecticut as “restrictive” states, doing so presumably because both states had decreases in crime. HCI also credited restrictive laws for crime decreasing in some states. But states that have restrictive carry laws have had them for many years, and crime did not begin declining in those states until the 1990s, and did so due to factors unrelated to guns. Nonsense from Violence Policy Center: In 1995, VPC claimed Florida’s RTC law “puts guns into the hands of criminals.”19 The claim was false, since the law permits a person to carry, not acquire, a firearm. VPC claimed “criminals do apply for concealed carry licenses,” without noting that such applications are rejected. Contradicting itself, VPC noted that criminals had requested that their rejected applications be reconsidered. “To set the record straight,” Florida Secy. of State, Sandra B. Mortham, said, “As of November 30, 1995, the Department had denied 723 applications due to criminal history. The fact that these 723 individuals did not receive a license clearly indicates that the process is working.” She added, “the majority of concealed weapon or firearm licensees are honest, law-abiding citizens exercising their right to be armed for the purpose of lawful self-defense.”20 In 2001, VPC claimed there are more women murdered with handguns than criminals killed by in self-defense.21 The value of handguns for self-defense is not measured by how many criminals are killed, however. More important is how often people use handguns to prevent crimes and how often criminals do not attack for fear the potential victim is armed. Also, VPC undercounted the number of criminals killed in self-defense by counting only those noted in police reports, thus excluding defensive homicides later determined to have been appropriate. McDowell math: In March 1995, anti-gun researcher David McDowell claimed that gun homicide rates increased in Miami, Jacksonville and Tampa after Florida’s 1987 RTC law.22 But homicide rates fell 10%, 18% and 20%, respectively, in those metro areas from 1987 until 1993, the most recent data at the time.23 To show an increase, McDowell calculated Jacksonville and Tampa trends from the early 1970s, when rates were lower than in 1993, but calculated Miami’s from 1983, since rates before 1983 were higher and their inclusion would show that the rate had decreased. None of McDowell’s homicides was committed by a license holder, and he did not indicate which homicides had occurred in situations where a permit would have been required to carry a gun. McDowell has also claimed that D.C.’s murder rate decreased after its 1977 handgun ban. In fact, the rate tripled after the ban.24 The 43:1 claim: Based upon a small study of King’s County (Seattle), Washington, gun control supporters claim a gun in the home is “43 times more likely” to be used to kill a family member than a criminal.25 To reach that ratio, self-defense firearms uses are grossly undercounted by counting only cases in which criminals were killed. Most often, when guns are used to defend against criminals, the criminals are only scared off, captured or wounded. Kleck has called the 43:1 ratio and its variants “the most nonsensical statistic in the gun control debate.”26
1. BJS (http://bjsdata.ojp.usdoj.gov/dataonline/) and FBI (http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/05cius/offenses/violent_crime/index.html). 2. BJS, “Criminal Victimization 2005” (http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov./bjs/pub/pdf/cv05.pdf). 3. BATF, “Firearms Commerce in the United States 2001/2002” (www.atf.gov/pub/index.htm#Firearms). 4. Note 1, FBI. 5. Lott, “Crime, Deterrence, and Right To Carry Concealed Handguns,” 1996. 6. David Kopel, “The Untold Triumph of Concealed-Carry Permits,” Policy Review, July-Aug. 1996, p. 9. 7. “Should Michigan keep new concealed weapon law? Don’t believe gun foe scare tactics,” Detroit News, 1/14/01. 8. Florida Division of Licensing, Monthly Statistical Report (http://licgweb.doacs.state.fl.us/stats/cw_monthly.html) 9. Note 1, BJS. 10. Testimony before the Michigan House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, 12/5/95 11. Targeting Guns, Aldine de Gruyter, 1997, p. 171. 12. “Armed Resistance to Crime: The Prevalence and Nature of Self-Defense With a Gun,” Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Fall 1995, pp. 150-187. 13. “A Tribute to a View That I Have Opposed,” Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Fall 1995, pp. 188-192. 14. J. Wright and P. Rossi, Armed and Considered Dangerous: A Survey of Felons and Their Firearms, 1986, p. 155. 15. Stephen P. Halbrook, That Every Man Be Armed, The Independent Institute, 1994, pp. 17, 54. 16. Dowlut, Knoop, “State Constitutions and The Right to Keep and Bear Arms,” Okla. City Univ. Law Review, 1982, p. 183. 17. Brady: Tom Jackson, “Keeping the battle alive,” Tampa Tribune, 10/21/93; Shields, Guns Don’t Die - People Do, N.Y.: Arbor House, 1981; Henigan: USA Today, 11/20/91. 18. Handgun Control, Inc., “Concealed Truth” (http://www.bradycampaign.org/facts/research/?page=conctruth&menu=gvr) 19. “Concealed Carry: The Criminal’s Companion.” 20. St. Petersburg Times, 1/11/96. 21. “A Deadly Myth: Women, Handguns, and Self-Defense.” 22. “Easing Concealed Firearm Laws: Effects on Homicide in Three States.” 23. Note 1, BJS, and FBI, annual Crime in the United States reports. 24. Ibid 25. A. L. Kellermann, “Protection or Peril?: An Analysis of Firearm-Related Deaths in the Home,” New England Journal of Medicine, 1986. 26. Note 11, pp. 177-178. |
| Posted: 1/16/2007 12:00:00 AM at NRA-ILA.org here |
Same area we patrolled in 2005.
Link: Deported MS-13 member busted at U.S. border -- Newsday.com.
The man jumped the fence at the U.S.-Mexico border at around 6:30 a.m. at a border station near a mountainous region about 35 miles east of San Diego, Endicott said. The border crossing is situated north of Tecate in the Baja California region of Mexico.
Link: 200 surveillance cameras at Van Dyke houses fail to stop rape suspect.
Once again a rapist was caught on videotape, and once again cops failed to see him, police sources said Thursday. A 19-year-old woman was raped at knifepoint inside the Van Dyke houses in Brooklyn early Thursday - a housing complex with more than 200 cameras supposedly monitored around the clock by the NYPD. Sources told the Daily News that at least one video camera recorded the rapist grabbing the young woman and pulling her into an elevator.
Link: Girl, 6, Dies From Swimming Pool Injury.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A 6-year-old girl whose intestines were partially sucked out by a swimming pool drain, leading to tougher safety legislation, has died, her family's attorney said Friday.
Link: Calif. Woman Slain While Calling 911.
WEST COVINA, Calif. (AP) - A woman made a 911 call from her suburban mansion to report an attempted break-in, but her pleas were interrupted by gunshots, then silence: She had been shot to death. The woman told the dispatcher late Wednesday morning that someone was trying to break into her home in upscale West Covina, Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Dan Rosenberg said. "Deputies heard gunshots followed by silence and an open phone line," he said.
Bush will meet with Tymoshenko as well as Yushchenko. Link: Kyiv Post. Bush to make first state visit.
US President George W. Bush will make his first official state visit to Kyiv on April 1, the White House confirmed.
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“It is not a question of whether; it is a question of when,” said US Ambassador to NATO Victoria Nuland about Ukraine’s membership.
Richardson has received high ratings from gun groups for endorsing CCW, a reminder perhaps that pro-CCW is not necessarily pro-gun rights.
CCW can turn out to be merely registration and ultimately, confiscation.
__________________________________
NEWS ALERT
from The Wall Street Journal
March 21, 2008
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson is endorsing Sen. Barack Obama for president, calling him a "once-in-a-lifetime leader" who can unite the nation and restore America's international leadership, according to the Associated Press.
The governor's endorsement comes as Sen. Obama continues to build momentum in the contest for superdelegates against Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, even as national public opinion polling shows Sen. Clinton pulling ahead of the Illinois senator amid controversy over statements by his former pastor. As a Democratic superdelegate, Gov. Richardson plays a part in the tight race for nominating votes and could bring other superdelegates to Sen. Obama's side. He also has been mentioned as a potential running mate for either candidate.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, please see: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120608338455654529.html?mod=djemalertNEWS
Link: DOWN RANGE TV Supreme Court Hears “The Threshold Question”.
At that point, a reporter interjected: “the Mayor (DC Mayor Adrian M. Fenty) says the handgun ban and his initiatives have significantly lowered violent crime in the District. How do you answer that, Mr. Heller?” The initial answer certainly wasn’t expected – Dick Heller laughed. Ruefully. Pointing at the Mayor who was making his way across the plaza, surrounded by at least six DC police officers, Heller said, “the Mayor doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” “He doesn’t walk on the street like an average citizen. Look at him; he travels with an army of police officers as bodyguards – to keep him safe. But he says that I don’t have the right to be a force of one to protect myself. Does he look like he thinks the streets are safe?” There was no follow-up question.
Link: Kyiv Post. Tymoshenko wins battles in gas war.
Ukraine’s Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko succeeded in preventing a stiff price increase for natural gas imports this year, and convinced Moscow to eliminate controversial intermediaries from the multibillion dollar energy trade business between Ukraine, Russia and Central Asian producers.
Link: Kyiv Post. Parliament approves election to oust Kyiv mayor.
Ukraine’s parliament voted March 18 to hold preterm elections for Kyiv’s unpopular mayor and city council in early June, an effort led by Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in her quest to control the Ukrainian capital.
Link: Of Arms and the Law: Transcript of Heller argument.
I think EVERYONE associated with this case who knows anything about appellate argument -- and I've talked to many in that class -- agreed that if you cannot come up with a 2nd Amendment test that lets the government do a lot of things with full autos, you lose. That's bottom line. You can have a second amendment for things other than full auto, or you can have no second amendment. Take your pick, there is no third alternative. Life isn't fair. I was very relieved when the Court showed signs of taking the view that Heller is asking to own a .38, not a Thompson, so we can deal with the full auto issue if and when someone brings a case (which I hope will be about ten years down the road).
Link: Kyiv Post. Ukraine optimistic on NATO bid ahead of Bush visit.
US President George W. Bush will visit Ukraine on the eve of next month's NATO summit, which will decide whether the former Soviet republic can move toward membership, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said Thursday.
New Disney ride blends American tradition and high-tech to create new shooting adventure in CA and FL parks. No spud gun indoctrine likely since Mr. Potato Head is carney, but addition of this latest shooting adventure certainly runs counter to the zero tolerance nonsense in schools. At our local Anaheim park in the 1990s, I was disappointed when they removed an interactive old-west style video game (politics, I suspected) so this new trend (based on market research at fairs apparently according to the article) is welcome--first Buzz Lightyear, now this new one also based on Toy Story. Link: News: Shoot 'em Disney ride gets sneak peek | ride, games, disney, game, story - OCRegister.com.
The ride is due to open in late June at the Anaheim theme park in the same spot where midway games used to be in the boardwalk area underneath the California Screamin' roller coaster. Disney officials gave reporters a sneak peek at the technology at the company's Concept Lab in Glendale and showed the entrance to the Anaheim ride; the attraction is now largely constructed. The same ride will begin in Walt Disney World in Florida in May.
Link: John Lott's Website: Scientists puzzled that Ocean is getting colder.
This headline from NPR is so amusing, "The Mystery of Global Warming's Missing Heat." Well, one unconsidered option is that there is no global warming.
Don't know if this is actually gun-free zone, but in California even with a CCW it's often inconvenient to carry regularly at work. (Thank you D.K. for sending me this link.) Link: 4 killed in Calif. workplace shooting - Yahoo! News.
SANTA MARIA, Calif. - Police detained a man suspected of fatally shooting four men at an auto wrecking yard as onlookers watched, authorities said.
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Macagni called the shootings "very deliberate," and police said the shooter likely reloaded at least once during the attacks. "There were probably a dozen people here when we arrived that had witnessed the shootings," Lt. Dan Ast told KCOY television. None of the bystanders was injured, police said.
Fairfax, Va.-Today, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in District of Columbia v. Heller, a case the Court has stated is "limited to the following question: Whether Washington, D.C.'s bans [on handguns, on having guns in operable condition in the home and on carrying guns within the home] violate the Second Amendment rights of individuals who are not affiliated with any state-regulated militia, but who wish to keep handguns and other firearms for private use in their homes."
The case came before the Supreme Court on appeal by the District of Columbia, after a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit declared the city's gun bans unconstitutional. The panel's decision was upheld by the full Court of Appeals.
The Court of Appeals decision--consistent with the views of the Framers of the Bill of Rights, respected legal commentators of the 19th century, the Supreme Court's ruling in U.S. v. Cruikshank (1876), numerous court decisions of the 19th century, the Supreme Court's ruling in U.S. v. Miller (1939), the position of the U.S. Department of Justice, and the vast majority of Second Amendment scholars today-concluded that "the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms. That right existed prior to the formation of the new government under the Constitution and was premised on the private use of arms for activities such as hunting and self-defense, the latter being understood as resistance to either private lawlessness or the depredations of a tyrannical government (or a threat from abroad)."
In today's argument, the Justices aggressively questioned advocates for all sides, including Walter Dellinger for the District, Solicitor General Paul Clement for the Department of Justice, and Alan Gura for the plaintiffs challenging D.C.'s law.
While it would be a mistake to predict the outcome of a case from questions at oral argument, some justices' questions clearly suggested where they stand-as when Chief Justice John Roberts, questioning the District's Dellinger, scoffed at the idea that a citizen awakened by an intruder in the middle of the night could "turn on the lamp . pick up [his] reading glasses," and disengage a trigger lock. Dellinger back-pedaled from D.C.'s longstanding position that its laws prohibit self-defense, claiming that D.C. actually supports citizens having functional firearms for defense.
Justices extensively questioned all three attorneys on the meaning and effect of the Second Amendment's "militia clause," with Dellinger taking the extreme position that unless a state "had attributes of [a state] militia contrary to a Federal law," the Second Amendment would have no effect as a restraint on legislation. Several justices seemed to disagree strongly with that view, with Justice Antonin Scalia noting that even if the militia clause describes the purpose of the Second Amendment, it's not unusual for a law to be written more broadly than necessary for its main purpose.
Justice Anthony Kennedy questioned the attorneys very actively, especially on the importance of self-defense in the Founding era. Justice Kennedy suggested that even the Supreme Court's 1939 Miller decision-which gun control advocates have often wrongly cited as protecting only a "collective" right-was "deficient" and may not have addressed the "interests that must have been foremost in the Framers' minds when they were concerned about guns being taken away from the people who needed them for their defense."
Plaintiffs' attorney Gura-in addition to responding to many hypothetical questions-noted that the Second Amendment was clearly derived from common law rights described by Blackstone and other 18th Century commentators. Although the militia clause "gives us some guide post as to how we look at the Second Amendment," Gura said, "it's not the exclusive purpose of the Second Amendment."
NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre and NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris Cox (who both attended the arguments) commented, "Washington, D.C.'s ban on keeping handguns and functional firearms in the home for self-defense is unreasonable and unconstitutional under any standard. We remain hopeful that the Supreme Court will agree with the overwhelming majority of the American people, more than 300 members of Congress, 31 state attorneys general and the NRA that the Second Amendment protects the fundamental, individual right to keep and bear arms, and that Washington, D.C.'s bans on handguns and functional firearms in the home for self-defense should be struck down."
Amicus briefs filed with the Supreme Court in support of the Court of Appeals' decision included those by the National Rifle Association and the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund; Vice-President Dick Cheney (in his capacity as President of the Senate) and Members of Congress; the state attorneys general; and noted Second Amendment scholars. All the briefs in the case are available at www.nraila.org/heller.
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