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A Slippery Slope on Guns
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Mark A. Taff
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More far-reaching and frightening is the Supreme Court’s decision to take up a case challenging the city’s ban on handgun ownership in the court’s new term, which begins this week.
The case is best considered a preview of coming attractions. The gun lobby, if it wins in the Supreme Court, is prepared to challenge every gun control law enacted at any level of government. It will usher in a scary season of assault on the common sense of citizens, law enforcement officials and others who believe that carrying today’s high-powered weapons in an urbanized, mobile—and angry—society is chillingly dangerous, and deadly. |
The Gun Issue is Back in the Supreme Court: What Does It Mean?
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Mark A. Taff
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Now that the other Second Amendment shoe has dropped, what are the potential repercussions? It is hard to stay calm whenever this Supreme Court - still with a conservative majority - gets its hands on a gun case. But there may be less here than first meets the eye. Although the Chicago case involves interesting constitutional issues, even if Chicago loses, such a ruling is unlikely to prove a serious threat to state and local gun regulation across-the-board.
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Indeed, said the Heller majority, "nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt" on a wide range of gun control laws, which the Court said remain "presumptively lawful" even under the newly-declared right. |
Why Skydivers Would Be Better Off Without Parachutes
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Mark A. Taff
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...researchers at the University of Pennsylvania find, possessing a gun is strongly associated with getting shot. Since "guns did not protect those who possessed them," they conclude, "people should rethink their possession of guns." This is like noting that possessing a parachute is strongly associated with being injured while jumping from a plane, then concluding that skydivers would be better off unemcumbered by safety equipment designed to slow their descent. "Can this study possibly be as stupid as it sounds?" asks Stewart Baker at Skating on Stilts. Having shelled out $30 for the privilege of reading the entire article, which appears in the November American Journal of Public Health, I can confirm that the answer is yes. |
OH: America's Right To Kill
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Mark A. Taff
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The U.S. Constitution does contain some admirable universal truths, such as "that all men are created equal," and it has guided our country for over two centuries. Few would argue that it is an amazing document. However, certain parts of the document were strongly influenced by the time and place in which it was written. Every aspect is not timeless, nor was it intended to be. Although heroic, the authors were most definitely human.
Ed.: Color me an idiot, but I'm fairly certain it is the preamble to the Declaration of Independence that mentions "all men are created equal." I could be wrong; it isn't like I'm a rocket scientist or anything, at least not quite yet. ;-) |
Only in the Bizarro World
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Mark A. Taff
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Where else but in Bizarro world would the Credit Card Act of 2009, an act designed to protect consumers against unscrupulous credit card practices, be coupled with amendment 1067, inserted by Senator Tom Coburn, R-Oklahoma, that allows concealed weapons to be carried into The National Park and National Wildlife Refuge system?
In true Bizarro logic, Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., stated, "The fact is American gun owners are simply citizens who want to exercise their Second Amendment rights without running into confusing red tape." The confusing red tape regarding credit card rules and rates was what the bill was supposed to be about. |
Justices to grapple with guns, crime
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Mark A. Taff
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Lawyers seeking to strike down Chicago's ban have filed a brief in the case, arguing that "the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees that fundamental individual rights may not be violated by any form of government throughout the United States."
"Accordingly, Chicago's handgun ban must meet the same fate as that which befell the District of Columbia's former law," says the brief submitted by lawyers David G. Sigale and lead counsel Alan Gura, who also argued against D.C.'s gun ban in the Heller case. |
10 Commandments of Concealed Carry
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Mark A. Taff
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Get The License!
You’ll hear some absolutists say, “No government has the right to permit me to carry a gun! I don’t need no stinking permit! The Second Amendment is my license to carry!”
That is the sound of someone asking to go to jail. Like it or not, the laws of the land require, in 46 of the 50 states, a license to carry. In two states, there is no legal provision for the ordinary citizen to carry at all. Realize that things are not as we wish they were; things are as they are. If things were as we wish they would be, we wouldn’t need to carry guns at all. |
TX: Northwest Houston, TX man shoots violent burglar in self defense
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Mark A. Taff
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A Houston, TX man used his shotgun to defend himself against a burglar who rushed at him after emerging from a bedroom closet.
Police say that Mark Brown returned to his home on the 8500 block of Norton at about 9:30 AM, and heard an unusual noise that sounded like a burglar. Brown is said to have grabbed a shotgun from his bedroom. The burglar reportedly then jumped out of a bedroom closet and rushed towards him, causing Brown to fear for his safety. Brown fired in self defense, fatally wounding the intruder and saving himself, police say. Brown, who has lived on the same street for the last 50 years, was unharmed and is not expected to face any charges. |
Supremes To Review Landmark Gun Control Case
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Although the lawsuit was filed in the immediate wake of ... Heller ... the actual question at the heart of the case has implications far beyond debates over gun control.
“This case is about more than guns—it is about whether the Supreme Court should interpret the Constitution as the powerful protection of liberty it was intended to be,” said Clark Neily, a senior attorney at the Institute for Justice (IJ), which filed a brief urging the Court to hear the case. “For more than a century, the Supreme Court has failed to give the 14th Amendment its intended meaning, and as a result has failed to protect important rights against overweening government power.” |
Supreme Court to Rule in Second Amendment Case
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Mark A. Taff
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The appeal ... in McDonald v. Chicago relies on the so-called “Equal Protection Class” in Section 1 of the 14th Amendment: “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” But the Supreme Court has thus far not ruled that the "right to keep and bear arms" is part of the liberty the 14th Amendment protects. The lawyers for the gun owners hope to win such a ruling, thereby prohibiting not only federal violations of the Second Amendment but violations by state and local governments as well. |
IL: Two juveniles held in Back of the Yards shooting
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Adam Peterson
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A juvenile boy has been charged and another one remains in custody after the gang-related shooting of two 18-year-old men Sunday night in the Back of the Yards neighborhood on the South Side.
According to police, as of 4:45 a.m. a juvenile boy who is 14 or 15 has been charged with aggravated battery while the other one remained in custody and had not been charged yet. |
NY City: Surveillance Will Expand To Midtown, Mayor Says
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Larry
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"Asked Sunday about criticism of the increased surveillance, Mr. Bloomberg said: “We live in a world where we have to have a balance. We can’t just say everybody can go everyplace and do anything they want.”
He added, “Do you really want to work in a building that doesn’t have security?”" |
TX: Case of Gun In Child's Backpack Going To Grand Jury
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A Tyler preschooler carried a loaded gun in her bag all day at school - that's what Tyler police say they're investigating. The incident happened at St. Gregory Catholic Elementary. The loaded gun wasn't even discovered until classes were dismissed Monday afternoon.
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NY: Politics drive up gun sales
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NYSRPA-PVF
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For many small business owners in New York, the current economic state has led to poor sales and dwindling profits. But that's not the case for Kordell Jackson, Charlie Morris and Chuck Sherwood, each of whom owns a gun store. All three have seen their sales skyrocket since last November. After the election last year of President Barack Obama, a Democrat, gun sales and pistol-permit applications have increased dramatically in New York and across the country, state records show and experts say. |
UT: 23 officers disciplined by council
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UTAHmilitia.com
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SALT LAKE CITY -- The Peace Officer Standards and Training Council disciplined almost two dozen law enforcement officers this week for a myriad of offenses.
The council held its quarterly meeting and reviewed charges against 23 officers -- ranging from lying on an application to driving under the influence of drugs, according to a report in the Deseret News.
Fourteen of the officers had their certifications revoked for their infractions. The rest were given suspensions.
Submitter's note: Clearly our employees were thinking: "We're the only ones qualified to carry firearms. We also expected to keep our jobs for life, and anointed status after these crimes. Oh well, on to another state or police agency." |
NSSF urges Supreme Court to support First Amendment use of sporting images
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NYSRPA-PVF
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With the U.S. Supreme Court slated to hear arguments Tuesday in the United States v. Stevens, No. 08-769, the National Shooting Sports Foundation encourages the court to support the First Amendment rights of all media to show images of hunting and fishing. The case centers around a 1999 federal statute used to prosecute a Virginia man on animal cruelty-related charges that because it is so broadly written could similarly be used to prosecute anyone who publishes images of hunting or to prosecute retailers for stocking and selling books, DVDs or art depicting hunting scenes. |
NY: Cops in a 'nick' of time
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Two NYPD commanders and six detectives working in a highly sensitive task force at the forefront of Mayor Bloomberg's anti-gun war are in hot water after an internal audit found the cops allegedly "stealing time" from the city, The Post has learned. Three of the disciplined officers in the federal Joint Firearms Task Force allegedly took as many as 20 days off without putting in for it or having it recorded in their payroll records, according to sources. "It's one thing if someone takes a day here or there and forgets to report it," said one source familiar with the case. "But taking, like, 20 days is serious stuff." |
Guns Are the New Abortion
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NYSRPA-PVF
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With an estimated 90 million firearms owners in America and a huge margin of popular support for a right to keep and bear arms, the gun rights community is a potent political force. But until recently, it had little reason to care about judges. That's all changed with the arrival of a new Supreme Court justice and the Obama administration. |
MT: Rehberg selected for Second Amendment Task Force
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Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-MT), has joined the bipartisan Second Amendment Task Force. Members of this group act as a unified and proactive force to promote legislation that protects the Second Amendment and to fight legislation that poses a threat to citizens’ Constitutional right to keep and bear arms. “Now, more than ever before, it will be necessary to maintain a vigilant eye against real efforts to disarm the American people,” said Rehberg, a member of the House Appropriations Committee and the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus. |
FL: Three People Injured in Florida Gun Range Mishap
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John, FL
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A Tampa couple and an Irish tourist were shot at a Lakeland gun range after a handgun accidentally fired.
Polk County sheriff's deputies say it's not entirely clear how many times Michael and Sherri Thourot's 9mm accidentally went off Saturday, or what caused the handgun to fire. The pistol was a Jennings make.
Submitter's note: Watch and see if this another one BATFE will sink their teeth into...Grrr |
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| QUOTES
TO REMEMBER |
| "Let us contemplate our forefathers, and posterity, and resolve to maintain the rights bequeathed to us from the former, for the sake of the latter. The necessity of the times, more than ever, calls for our utmost circumspection, deliberation, fortitude, and perseverance. Let us remember that `if we suffer tamely a lawless attack upon our liberty, we encourage it, and involve others in our doom.' It is a very serious consideration...that millions yet unborn may be the miserable sharers of the event." --Samuel Adams, speech in Boston, 1771 |
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