Newslinks for 3/29/2010 Submit
MI: Official: Gun charges after FBI raids in Midwest
"I heard a yell, 'Get back inside!' and saw a squad member pointing a rifle at us," Ponce said. "They told us the bomb squad was going in, sweeping the house looking for bombs."
NY: Amherst resident fatally shoots man he claims was intruder
An Albany man visiting people in Amherst was shot to death overnight by a homeowner who claims the man was an intruder, police said today.
David W. Park, 31, was discovered inside a Millbrook Court residence shortly after 1 a.m. and was later pronounced dead at Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital.
Police said no charges have been filed against the homeowner, who they declined to identify, but said the investigation is continuing.
KY: 400 gun-lovers rally for rights at the Capitol
Firearms were plentiful on the Capitol grounds Saturday afternoon as about 400 rallied in a show of strength meant to send a message to politicians to protect gun rights.
Many had weapons at their sides or strapped across their backs. Second-defense was a common theme during the Kentucky State Second Amendment March.
Rex Bartley, state coordinator of the Second Amendment March and gun rights rally, quoted the late President Ronald Reagan, saying, �Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn�t pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected and handed on to them to do the same.�
OH: Man killed during Northeast Side break-in attempt
Columbus police yesterday identified the victim in a Friday night shooting on the Northeast Side as Charles R. Sprague, 35, of Columbus.
Sprague was shot while trying to break into an apartment at 5764 Cooper Rd., said detective James Day of the homicide squad. A man inside the apartment fired shots because he felt threatened by Sprague, Day said.
"It appeared that the victim in this incident was the aggressor and that the shooter was acting in self-defense," Day said. "He'd actually tried to force his way into the apartment at the back door when this occurred."
KS: New debate over Kan. concealed-carry
In Kansas, a new bill would change the rules for carrying a concealed weapon in college and government buildings. It's been prohibited, but if the bill passes, it would be allowed unless the buildings had "adequate security" -- namely, a metal detector at every entrance, plus personnel to run them. Opponents, even those who normally support CCW, say it's a bad idea because so many cities and schools are going through a budget crunch. Supporters say that people licensed to carry concealed aren't a threat.
CA: 'Open carry' gun advocates plan barbecue in Vallejo park
Vallejo's Washington Park is set to be the setting of an "open carry" gun rights gathering next weekend.
In what has become an increasingly familiar scene throughout the Bay Area, between 100 to 150 people will show up Saturday to expose the general public to gun rights, organizers say.
"We're just raising community awareness and kind of acclimating people to the idea (of carrying guns)," said Brad Huffman, a Martinez resident who is organizing the event in Vallejo.
Openly carrying guns on a belt holster is legal in California so long as the firearms remain unloaded and aren't near schools or government buildings.
MT: Second Amendment rally draws 200 gun-rights advocates to Capitol lawn
Esther Suhr stood on the Capitol lawn Saturday afternoon proudly displaying her .54-caliber black-powder rifle.
Suhr, who lives in the Townsend area, said she came to the rally to show her support for the constitutional right to bear arms. About 200 others also participated.
The event was a precursor to the national Second Amendment March, which will take place April 19 on the grounds of the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C.
Suhr and her husband, Bill Waldron, said they are hunters and sport shooters and also carry for protection. They both also have concealed weapons licenses.
A petition for redress by the citizens of the United States
Through the long course of human events that have transpired since the late Convention that formed this nation into a representative Republic and unified us as a loose federalist society of independent States and sovereign citizens and the prior Continental Congress that brought us together in unity against oppression, it has become necessary and proper to petition those in charge with our most general of welfare for redress of grievances perpetrated upon the citizenry of the United States by such persons. Such a petition is just and fair and rightfully the process by which all citizens of the United States must use to lay bear such objections to events and actions as have transpired to make such things transparent for all to see.
DC: Federal Judge Upholds DC's Latest Gun Laws
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., upheld the District of Columbia's latest set of gun regulations, crafted to "cure the constitutional deficits" identified by a landmark Supreme Court decision overturning the district's handgun ban.
The lead plaintiff challenging the restrictions is Dick Anthony Heller, the gun owner whose individual right to keep a gun in his home was restored by the Supreme Court in District of Columbia v. Heller.
Heller and three others argued that the post-Heller regulations still violated their Second Amendment rights and D.C. code. Specifically, they took aim at three provisions: the registration procedures, the assault weapons ban and the prohibition on large capacity ammunition feeding devices.
PA: Fire chief shoots female home invader in self defense
Robert Wilkins, Deputy Fire Chief of Philadelphia, reportedly shot a home invader in self defense.
Police say that just after Noon on Thursday, Wilkins was asleep in his home when he awoke to the sound of an intruder forcing open his front door. Wilkins reportedly grabbed his gun and went to investigate, where he found an unidentified female home invader and fired 3 shots in self defense. The intruder was transported to a local hospital, where she was listed in critical condition, according to police. The district attorney's office is said to be reviewing possible charges against the woman, and Wilkins was reportedly unharmed.
MD: Armed burglar fatally shot by armed homeowner
An armed burglar was reportedly shot in self defense by his would-be victim in Perry Hall, MD.
Police say that at approximately 5.45 AM, a burglar broke in to a home on the 4200 block of Chapel Road, armed with a gun. Fearing for his safety, the resident is said to have grabbed his own gun and fired in self defense, striking the intruder in chest. The burglar, whose name was not released, reportedly died from his wounds. The homeowner was unharmed.
IA: Concealed-carry law passes Iowa Senate
Iowa would become a �shall issue� state and sheriffs would lose much of their discretion in denying concealed weapons permits under legislation approved by the Senate Saturday.
Senate File 2379, adopted 44-4, would create uniform standards in all 99 counties for issuing permits to carry a concealed weapon in public. Under current law, sheriffs can issue or deny permits. There standards vary with some issuing permits to nearly everyone who applies and some denying nearly all applications. Nearly 35,000 Iowans have concealed carry permits, according to lawmakers.
Floor manager Sen. Keith Kreiman, D-Bloomfield, said the bill advances �the cause of the Second Amendment, the cause of public safety.�
MS: Gun control laws miss the mark
America�s Founding Fathers had their priorities in order when they framed up the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
They prioritized the most important amendments, putting the fundamental freedom of speech in the top position.
Right after it, the founding fathers put the right of the people to keep and bear arms in the Second Amendment.
In the decades since, from time to time, some citizens have questioned the logic in allowing common citizens to bear arms.
The Second Amendment, it seems, is almost constantly under fire by liberals who feel gun control would curb crime and limit accidental shootings.
Their approach, however, is misguided in that it�s only as effective as the people who abide by laws in the first place.
NM: The case of liberals who defend gun rights
More than one little old lady carries more than lipstick in her purse. I get tickled that they usually have boy-sounding names like Sammy or Johnnie or Toni but it is no laughing matter to be caught without an equalizer. I'll never forget what a counselor said after I was attacked. She said matter-of-factly, "Yes. Old women get raped, old men get murdered."
Rather than seeing gun rights through the narrow interpretation of a militia's right to bear arms, the brief filed by the Constitutional Accountability Center defends individual gun rights in McDonald vs. Chicago. The liberal CAC is beating the NRA drum in the name of bodily autonomy and it's about time. Gun rights are a mechanism to protect a body from attack.
CA: History, signs, shoulder shrugging and constitutional law
The reasons revolve around four terms. "Fundamental" and "non-fundamental" rights, and "strict scrutiny" versus "rational basis."
A fundamental right includes one of the many rights enshrined in the First Amendment and, more recently, the Second Amendment to the Constitution. A nonfundamental right includes obtaining a driver's license (a "privilege not a right," quoting Coach Anderson, my high school driving instructor).
Constitutional law history shows every law limiting a fundamental right ends up reversed when held up to strict scrutiny, or, in this case, the shrugging of the city attorney's shoulders.
Switzerland: Armed robbers raid Swiss casino
About 10 men armed with pistols and small machine guns raided a casino in Switzerland and made off into France with several hundred thousand Swiss francs in the early hours of Sunday morning, police said.
The men, dressed in black clothes and black ski masks, split into two groups during the raid on the Grand Casino Basel, Chief Inspector Peter Gill told CNN.
One group tried to break into the casino's vault on the lower level but could not get in, but they did rob the cashier of the money that was not secured, he said.
FL: Police shoot toddler in vehicle with bank robber
Submitted by: gemalo
Authorities say 2-year-old old Daniel Crichton was shot in the arm and upper torso on Friday after a suspected bank robber forced his way into the car in which the toddler was seated.
The child�s mother, Joann Cooper, was hit once in the foot. A 7-year-old girl also in the car was not injured.
The suspect was killed but has not been identified.
Five officers with the Jacksonville Sheriff�s Office fired a total of 42 rounds at the vehicle.
The gunman did not discharge his weapon.
Submitter's note: ...we're the ONLY ONES ......
NY: Parishville Gun Show Draws Big Attendance
Submitted by: New York State Rifle & Pistol Association
Website: http://www.nysrpa.org
As Steven P. Follett affectionately talked about the antique firearms, toy cap guns and knives displayed at his table at the Parishville Sportsmen's Club spring gun show Sunday, sadness crept into his voice. "For collectors like me and a lot of other guys, it's the end of an era," he said. "The majority of young people I come across aren't interested in this kind of thing. If it doesn't have a button they can push or they can't hook it up to the Internet, they're just not interested. When I was a kid, we played cowboys and Indians. Kids now just watch TV."
Technological advances allow NY state to hunt down new 'sources of taxation'
Anyone who crosses a state border for work � to make a sales call, say, or meet with a client or do a road show on Wall Street � probably owes income taxes in that state.
�The states are all hungry for revenue,� �We are certainly seeing states like NY & CT looking more and more for executives and everyday taxpayers who may be spending time across the border.�
better techniques for tracking tax deadbeats, not pressure to fill their budget holes, have prompted them to become more vigorous at enforcing the provision.
�We�re sort of getting into �1984� land here,� �A lot of the reason they went after athletes and entertainers is that they couldn�t find the other people. Now they�re able to get those people, too.�
Military brass destruction update
"Marbut has written a follow-up piece. His conclusion?"
"'ATK will need to do more than simply post a statement announcing that it now fully supports a congressional ban enacted last year to forbid military brass destruction.'"
Rumors of the Death of AR-15 Greatly Exaggerated by Anti-Gun Advocate
Josh Sugarmann, executive director of the Violence Policy Center, seems to have a simple job: find the hint of a fact, and abuse it to craft bizarre anti-gun fiction. Such was the case in �The Collapse of the AR-15 Assault Weapon Market,� Sugarmann�s recent Huffington Post article.
The article brought guffaws of laughter or outright mockery from gun bloggers, who found the closure of KBI/Charles Daly not to be evidence of a market in decline, but an example of a company with a questionable reputation for quality failing to survive even during a seller�s market.
MI: Ex-cop accused of bank heists
Memories of a 1996 bank robbery, high-speed chase and arrest of a Livonia police officer flooded back to Warren Lt. Michael Torey when he learned the former officer had been arrested again in East Lansing and was arraigned Friday.
"It was weird because he was a police officer when he was robbing banks," Torey said Friday about the 1996 saga of former Livonia cop Ronald Nelson, arrested Thursday as a suspect in a series of robberies in the East Lansing area. "It wasn't like he was fired or anything. He was still on the job. It was a weird feeling."
DC: Federal judge rules against 2nd Amendment, for DC 'gun control'
"So what 'core' of a right that specifically 'shall not be infringed' did Urbina decide he can 'permissibly regulate'?"
I have not one doubt, even if I am in agreement with the National Rifle Association, that that kind of record keeping procedure [gun registration] is the first step to eventual confiscation under one administration or another. �CHARLES MORGAN, DIRECTOR, WASHINGTON DC ACLU