VA-ALERT: VCDL Update 8/12/09

[zephyp]

Here's the latest VCDL alert. Some interesting articles. Definitely worth a read.

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VCDL web page: http://www.vcdl.org

VCDL Update 8/12/09 - Defending your right to defend yourself

1. VCDL picnic in Salem this Saturday
2. VCDL membership meeting in Richmond on Thursday, August 20
3. Re: Innsbrook Roundup protest - Eric Cantor townhall meeting Aug 17th
4. Va. Beach councilman seeks permit to sell guns from home
5. VA-ALERT reader: Deeds's record on hunter rights is smoke and mirrors
6. The gubernatorial debate is now available to watch on VirginiaTalks.com
7. LTE in RTD: Self-defense is the last defense
8. [FALSE] LTE: S.B. 2099 "IRS Gun Tax" [FALSE]
9. Mark Baker Foundation Seeking Help
10. LTE: Gun statistics can be misleading
11. Re: Online training
12. Gun prohibitionists' new strategy: demonize CCW holders
13. Switchblades and Customs and Boarder Protection (CBP)
14. ATF firearms trace data 2008
15. Lawsuit seeks right to carry guns in public
16. Who needs a gun in a gym?
17. More on L.A. Fitness shooting
18. USA Today on Concealed Carry
19. Demand for guns may be easing
20. Sotomayor's confirmation isn't a win for the White House
21. AARP Letter
22. Washington Times Editorial: Gun control on a roll?
23. John Burnett at it again
24. Gym shooter bought from sites that sold to college gunmen
25. FYI -- Canadian Gun Laws

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1. VCDL picnic in Salem this Saturday
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Final reminder:

VCDL will again have a pot luck picnic at LONGWOOD PARK, SALEM VA (same location as the last two). Eating to start at 11:00 a.m. till 3:00 p.m. Early birds and set up helpers will start at 10:00. VCDL will furnish paper plates, napkins, plastic ware, soft drinks and such. Please bring one of your favorite dishes, with enough extra to help feed our out of town members (so they don't have to worry about food and long rides also). Come on out to enjoy a family gathering!

Please RSVP so we have a good idea how many are coming so enough supplies will be on hand. Remember -- members, families and guests are invited!

Contact Al Steed, Jr., at SWVAgunshows@vcdl.org to RSVP.


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2. VCDL membership meeting in Richmond on Thursday, August 20
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VCDL is having another membership meeting in Richmond on the 20th! As with all VCDL meetings, they are open to the public, so bring friends, family, and co-workers. After the meeting, there will be continued fellowship at a local restaurant.

North Park Library
8508 Franconia Road
Henrico, VA 23227-1213
http://www.henricolibrary.org/Libs/np.html

Organization: Virginia Citizens Defense League
Room: NP Meeting Room (60)
Date: Thursday, August 20, 2009
Time: 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM, fellowship begins at 6:30 for those wishing to come a little early.

Contact North Park Library at 262-4876 if you have any questions.


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3. Re: Innsbrook Roundup protest - Eric Cantor townhall meeting Aug 17th
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Eric Cantor should be asked tough questions about Innsbrook's anti-gun policy and the Cantor's insistence at holding their "Republican Roundup" there. I will be there handing out GSL stickers.

EM Hal Macklin writes:

Now that the latest issue of 'The Defender' makes public the plans for a protest of Innsbrook and the Republican Roundup, let's be clear that the real purpose of the Roundup is a Fundraiser for Eric Cantor. Therefore, it is fair to believe that he is involved, and perhaps responsible, for the Innsbrook fiasco.

Well, Cantor will be holding an August Recess townhall meeting (he calls it a 'Cantor Advisory Council Meeting') at:

Sheraton Park South
9901 Midlothian Turnpike
Richmond, VA 23235

Monday, August 17, 2009

5:30PM - Drinks and Hors D'Oeuvres
6:00PM - General Meeting and Q&A

RSVP by Aug. 12:
(804) 358-6160
Cindy@CantorforCongress.com
(http://www.ericcantor.com/)


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4. Va. Beach councilman seeks permit to sell guns from home
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City councilman seeks permission to sell guns out of Great Neck home

http://tinyurl.com/mr5ufz

Va. Beach councilman seeks permit to sell guns from home

By Aaron Applegate
The Virginian-Pilot
VIRGINIA BEACH

Councilman Bill DeSteph has applied to the city for a permit to sell guns out of a Great Neck home he will be moving into later this summer.

DeSteph, a gun collector, said he wants to expand his hobby into a business.

If the City Council approves the permit, DeSteph said he will apply to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for a permit to be a licensed dealer.

"Once you're clear with city zoning, the federal requirements for dealers are the same out of your house or a storefront," ATF inspector Michael Adkins said.

Three people in Virginia Beach have city permits to sell guns from their homes, city records show.

DeSteph added a 17-by-10 foot concrete vault to the home to store firearms.

His targeted clientele listed in the permit application includes "elected officials, law enforcement, military and other dealers and collectors."

"We have other elected officials who collect guns," he said.

DeSteph wasn't sure how many guns he owns.

"Honestly, I'd have to count," he said.

He estimated he has close to 20, including pistols, shotguns, rifles and machine guns. Part of his collection is of machine guns manufactured before 1986, the year federal legislation banned civilians from owning machine guns manufactured after that date, he said. As a result, those guns tend to be valuable.

"The good thing is they appreciated on average 10 to 15 percent a year," DeSteph said. "They are a darn good investment. Some people collect art, I collect guns."

DeSteph's application will be evaluated mainly for zoning issues, such as land use, traffic, number of employees and signage, said Karen Lasley, the city's zoning administrator.

"You can't just hang out a shingle and have people walk off the street," she said. [PVC: Oh, no - certainly not! Why, the very thought!]


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5. VA-ALERT reader: Deeds's record on hunter rights is smoke and mirrors
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VA-ALERT reader Kirby Birch, who is head of a sportsman's political action committee, sent this email saying that the Washington Independent is wrong on Deeds's gun record. I have to agree with him. The current protection for hunting and fishing in the Constitution fails to protect them at all:

Philip in your discussion about the Guberatorial candidates you credit Deeds with "One of Deeds's signature pieces of legislation was a state constitutional amendment guaranteeing Virginians the right to hunt and fish." The devil is always in the details. That amendment reads "The people have a right to hunt, fish, and harvest game, subject to such regulations and restrictions as the General Assembly may prescribe by general law.

The amendment ratified November 7, 2000 and effective January 1, 2001

http://legis.state.va.us/Laws/search/Constitution.htm

The General Assmbly has delegated the right to regulate our right to hunt to a state agency. If you commend Deeds for that, might then he want to interpert the 2nd Amendment Rights in the same manner? The previous wording, while vague was defensible in court, unlike what we now have! It was simply a ploy to help Mark Warner defeat Mark Early in that election.

Here is what we are saying:

Prior to 2000, the Virginia Constitution stated "it shall be the Commonwealth's policy to protect its atmosphere, lands and waters from pollution, impairment or destruction, for the benefit , enjoyment and general welfare of the people of the Commonwealth."

Mr. Deeds co-patroned an amendment to the Virginia Constitution that stated "The people have a right to hunt, fish and harvest game, subject to such regulations and restrictions as the General Assembly may prescribe by general law." (Effective January 1, 2001). If your right to keep and bear arms in the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution were subject to the whim (regulation) of Congress as your right to hunt now is under the Virginia Constitution, how long would you have your guns? Mr. Deeds would have you believe the amendment gives protection to your right to hunt, fish and harvest game! The amendment, that he co-patroned, only gives more power to the politicians!

Kirby


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6. The gubernatorial debate is now available to watch on VirginiaTalks.com
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Senator Deeds admits wanting to close the 'gun show loophole,' McDonnell stands firm against interfering with private gun sales in this video of a recent debate:

http://tinyurl.com/nduka5

The question on "closing the 'gun show loophole'" starts at 55 minutes exactly into the video. Senator Deeds admits wanting to close the so called loophole based solely on emotion, to do "something" to make those who lost family members in the Virginia Tech slaughter feel better. Bob McDonnell stood strongly against legislation that would interfere with private gun sales.


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7. LTE in RTD: Self-defense is the last defense
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LTE rebutting RTD column lamenting self-defense shooting at Golden Foot Market

http://tinyurl.com/ny2f7t (fourth letter down)

Thanks to Roy B. Scherer for the link. Roy noted:

Philip -
Another well-done letter in the second lettersection of this morning's Times-Dispatch, in rebuttal of Michael Paul Williams.
""A society," Williams wrote, "in which citizens see themselves as the last line of defense already has lost the battle."

Come again? If the last sentence had been written to read " . . . first line of defense . . . " I would not have bothered writing this letter."


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8. [FALSE] LTE: S.B. 2099 "IRS Gun Tax" [FALSE]
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I've gotten a bunch of inquiries about Senate Bill 2099 and the IRS Gun Tax. This FALSE chain email targeting gun owners is still spreading panic and misinformation.

Thanks to Roy B. Scherer for pointing out the LTE http://tinyurl.com/ko2qfm in the RTD about "Senate Bill 2099 (the IRS gun tax)." FALSE!!

According to snopes.com, there is no such bill in the current Congress. It is a reference to a bill introduced by Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) in 2000 called "The Handgun Safety and Registration Act (S.B. 2099)." The bill would have amended the IRS code to require the registration of handguns, and also would have imposed a $50 tax per gun on firearm manufacturers, not individual gun owners, although this tax almost certainly would have been passed on to gun buyers in the form of higher gun prices. The bill never made it out of the Senate Finance Committee, where it didn't even have enough support to get a vote.

You can read the full snopes.com explanation here:

http://tinyurl.com/orbkw6


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9. Mark Baker Foundation Seeking Help
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Family of gun owner shot and paralyzed in robbery in Norfolk, VA seeking financial assistance

Mark Baker, who was shot and paralyzed from the neck down because of a robbery attempt that went bad in Norfolk, has been denied aid by his medical insurance company.

Turns out that his insurance (and maybe yours?) has an exclusion and it won't cover the costs involved in his care.

The fundraiser is being held at:

Knuckleheads Roadhouse
Mark Baker Run & Pig Roast
Witchduck Road next to Harley-Davidson

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Run starts at 9:30 AM and goes until 11:30 AM
Pig roast starts at 12:30 PM and goes to 6:00 PM

Live music, 50/50 raffle, and more.

For more information, call 757-461-3474 or visit

http://www.markbakerfoundation.com

The news video of the shooting is here:

http://www.wvec.com/video/?z=y&nvid=315004&she=1

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10. LTE: Gun statistics can be misleading
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Guns used to thwart more attacks than reported

http://tinyurl.com/mtpxgh

Published: August 2, 2009

Gun Statistics Can Be Misleading

Editor, Times-Dispatch: Michael Paul Williams, in his column, "Patron With Gun Won -- That Time," has succeeded in misrepresenting the number of instances of self-defense by citizens using a gun that occur in the U.S. He has done so by his failure to do basic research into the matter and then compounded his mistake by relying on the notorious gun-ban organization, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. Its statement that no more than 100 or 200 instances of self-defense by citizens occur in the U.S. each year (its Web site and various references to that statistic in public speeches by the Brady people vary according to its audience) is incorrect.

Several studies by reputable researchers have estimated that from 800,000 to more than 1 million assaults, rapes, robberies, carjackings, and other attempted violent crimes are ended by the presence of an armed citizen. While the Brady Campaign statistic refers to instances when the perpetrator is killed, what usually happens is that the intended victim of a violent predator merely lets the predator know that he or she is armed, which almost invariably ends the episode.

For Williams to rely on such obvious misinformation from only one side of this issue is a violation of journalistic integrity. The Brady Campaign from its inception was incorporated as the Brady Center to Ban Handguns but changed its name to reflect the softer, more reasonable-sounding Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. Make no mistake about it, though, the Brady bunch will misrepresent facts to suit its agenda. It will also use horrendous events like the Virginia Tech murders to advance its agenda. Every time there has been gun violence in this country the Brady bunch has been there with its call for draconian measures to strip citizens of their natural right to self-defense.

Williams should be ashamed of himself. Even in an opinion piece the writer should be aware of the facts available to him from all sides.

Matthew Shepard.
Mechanicsville.


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11. Re: Online training
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Self-defense is a right, regardless of training

Timothy Chandler sent me this email:

Mr. Van Cleave,

I read the latest VA-Alert and noticed the section from a concerned NRA instructor....

I'm as big an advocate for training as anyone you'll find. I've spent over 700 hours in formal firearms training funded on my own dime (Done with Larry Vickers, Ken Hackathorn, Blackwater USA/US Training Center, etc) and I make it a point to attend at least 40 hours of training per year. (I generally exceed that goal) However, the notion that people absolutely MUST attend a training course before they can be allowed to carry a gun to protect themselves is absurd.

What if they have a malfunction? Well....what if they encounter some scumbag during the time they are waiting to take the bloody class so they can actually get their permit? Seems to me that before a malfunction can get you killed in a gunfight you'd first need a gun. Given that the overwhelming majority of the time merely presenting a firearm is enough to ward off most scumbags it seems to me that the risks associated with being attacked while unarmed are much greater than the risk of being killed because your gun puked during the fight.

What will happen if one of the online students shoots themselves or somebody else? Well....what happens if they do that when their training was in a classroom? Is the argument that the online student will be more irresponsible than the student who sits in a classroom for X hours?

Many who take the online instruction won't seek out further training! Well....seems to me that most who get a permit don't seek out any more training than is absolutely necessary to get the permit anyway. I don't encounter large numbers of people who invest the time and money into training that I do...including a lot of NRA certified instructors. Does someone have less of a right to defend themselves because they don't train like I think they should?

Self defense is a right. Ready access to an effective means of personal defense is a part of that right. I'm not in favor of making people jump through a bunch of hoops just to be able to defend themselves from some violent scumbag who wants to hurt them. I'm FAR more worried about leaving good people helpless against criminals than I am about the average permit holder's chances of hurting themselves or an innocent.

Training is a fantastic thing and I think everybody should get as much of it as they can, but requiring it as a prerequisite to being able to defend yourself is nonsense. Those who make the choice to carry a firearm to protect themselves have a tremendous responsibility on their shoulders...and the record of permit holders in Virginia seems to indicate that the overwhelming majority of people with a permit recognize this responsibility and handle it well on a day to day basis. I don't often see stories in the press where a permit holder attempted to shoot a mugger and ended up plugging the lady ringing for the Salvation Army.

This whole argument seems to me to be a slightly less objectionable form of the lowest common denominator "Think of the children!!" stuff that the anti-gunners try to use to strip us of our right to self defense. "Someone might....!!!" is a damnably poor reason to treat everyone as if they will, in my opinion.

My 2 cents. No refunds.


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12. Gun prohibitionists' new strategy: Demonize CCW holders
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Antis paint CCW holders as threat to community. Gun prohibitionists are practicing a new form of social bigotry.

From VA-ALERT reader Dave Workman:

http://tinyurl.com/me38vf

New anti-gun strategy: Demonize CCW holders

August 7, 12:07 PM . Dave Workman - Seattle Gun Rights Examiner

Bigotry assumes many forms, hides behind many facades, but always it is the same; the social demonization of entire groups, classes or races of people in an effort to make them appear inferior and detrimental by their very existence.

In the wake of a nasty multiple shooting at a Pittsburgh, PA-area fitness club by a not-so-clearly psychotic man identified as George Sodini, America's gun prohibitionists - led by the Violence Policy Center and Freedom States Alliance - are clamoring for restrictions or repeal of concealed carry statutes.

In the case against legally-armed citizens, the VPC has even manufactured an innuendo-riddled "study" to support their prejudices. My colleague, Cleveland Gun Rights Examiner Daniel White, writes about the shooting here.

Their hardly subliminal argument appears to be that citizens licensed to carry concealed handguns for personal protection are a threat to the community. This contention is based on six shooting incidents over the past couple of years in which the gunman had, or apparently had, a carry permit.

A 39-year-old Ypsilanti man used his concealed weapon and his experience in the Lebanese army to stop an alleged bank robber.

Meanwhile, proponents of public disarmament haven't said a thing about the estimated five million other citizens who are licensed to carry, and haven't harmed anybody. There hasn't been a peep from the gun prohibition lobby about the armed citizen who shot a convenience store robber in Virginia recently, heading off a bloodbath.

Nor have the gun grabbers mentioned the incident a week ago in Topeka, KS in which a legally-armed store clerk fended off two robbers at closing time. Self-defense Examiner Eric Puryear wrote about that incident here.

And you never heard applause from the hoplophobes - about whom I wrote the other day - after an Ypsilanti, MI man named Nabil Fawzi last year intervened in a bank robbery, did you?

An employee with a concealed carry license used his handgun to defend himself and stop a pair of criminals who tried to rob his shop.

Instead, what we get from the gun prohibitionists is a steady diet of fear mongering with but one purpose: The stripping of a fundamental civil right to keep and bear arms so that we lose our ability to exercise that most basic of human rights, that of self-preservation.

Nowadays, about the only form of acceptable overt social bigotry is against gun owners. The gun bigots argue that when one person with a gun does something heinous, all gun owners are expected to bear responsibility, and surrender their rights as though it would undo the crime.

Before the armed citizen, it was the owners of .50-caliber rifles who were likened to terrorists and cop-killers. Next week or next month, who will the prohibitionists smear in their effort to promote public hatred of fellow citizens whose only "crime" is that they exercise a constitutionally-protected civil right?

The VPC and Freedom States crowd would have us all believe that every armed citizen is just like George Sodini, and that he is like all of us; a killer waiting to strike.

While they are loathe to admit it, there is really no difference between gun bigots and racial or religious bigots. One form of class hatred is no less divisive than another.


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13. Switchblades and Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
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Spring-assisted knives no longer classified as 'switchblades'

Thanks to VA-ALERT reader Clark Welsh for forwarding this letter he received from U.S. Senator Mark Warner (D-Va.). According to the letter, an amendment offered by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) to the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act on July 9, 2009, redefined the definition of 'switchblade' knife to *exclude* spring-assisted knives.

All, FYI, here is an update on the CBP / Assisted Opening Knife situation. It seems common sense has for once prevailed.

But really, even switchblades shouldn't be illegal to import or carry, either. There's nothing magical about them that makes them any more deadly than any other knife when used as a weapon. The switchblade got its bad rep from stuff like West Side Story, Rebel Without a Cause, and Night of the Hunter; whereupon legislators knee-jerked over something they saw in the movies or on stage. There's fact-based research for you! Never mind Rebel Without a Cause, this was Solution Without a Problem! Feh! - C.

"Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.." - Mark Twain

From: donotreply@warner.senate.gov
Subject: Responding to your message

Dear Mr. Welsh,

Thank you for contacting me regarding the importation of knives with spring-assisted opening mechanisms. I appreciate the benefit of your views on this issue.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), a component within the Department of Homeland Security, recently ruled that knives with spring- and release-assisted opening mechanisms are considered switchblades as defined by the Switchblade Knife Act, and therefore prohibited from importation. Following a comment period that ended on June 22, 2009, CBP planned to issue a final determination regarding the importation of spring-assisted knives within 30 days.

On July 9, 2009, Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) offered an amendment to the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act of 2010 that clarified the definition of switchblade knives to exclude spring-assisted knives. CBP did not oppose the clarification and the amendment passed the Senate by unanimous consent, supplanting the need for further CBP action. CBP will continue to enforce the Switchblade Knife Act with this new exception.

Again, thank you for writing. As we move forward in the 111th Congress, please continue to be in touch with your opinions and concerns.


Sincerely,
MARK R. WARNER
United States Senator


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14. ATF firearms trace data 2008
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Most guns in NY come from NY, not VA, NC, etc.

http://tinyurl.com/kk49y7

VA-ALERT reader Pat writes:

Does anyone besides me find it rather interesting that the predominant place
that guns traced in NY came from is NY and not VA, NC, etc. like Bloomberg
would have us believe? As a matter of fact, the total traced guns recovered
in NY (over 1660) that came from VA, NC, SC, and WV is still almost 25% less
(1283 combined from the 4 states) than the guns traced that originated in NY
itself! So maybe the dear mayor needs to clean his own house before he
talks about us!

Pat

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15. Lawsuit seeks right to carry guns in public
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Heller lawyer files new lawsuit to allow open and concealed carry in D.C.

http://tinyurl.com/m74xvd

Washington Times
Friday, August 7, 2009
Lawsuit seeks right to carry guns in public
Matthew Cella (Contact)
The man whose Supreme Court challenge secured the right of D.C. residents to keep guns in their homes is back in court, this time filing a lawsuit on behalf of a group seeking the right of registered gun owners to carry their guns in public.

Four individuals and a gun-rights advocacy group joined lawyer Alan Gura on Thursday in filing the lawsuit in U.S. District Court. It was an earlier lawsuit by Mr. Gura that forced the District to end its 30-year-old gun ban, the strictest in the United States.

The lawsuit argues that the District's "laws, customs, practices and policies generally banning the carrying of handguns in public violate the Second Amendment" of the U.S. Constitution. It asks that the District issue licenses to carry guns in public to legal gun owners in the city and to people with valid carry permits from outside the city.

"This lawsuit was inevitable in many ways," Mr. Gura said Thursday, adding that most jurisdictions in the country have carry laws. "This is not the end of all gun control."

Mr. Gura said the lawsuit does not take a position on whether the District should allow legal gun owners to carry weapons openly or in a concealed manner. That issue, he said, should be left to city officials to regulate.

The D.C. residents who brought the case are Tom G. Palmer, George Lyon and Amy McVey. The nonprofit Washington state-based Second Amendment Foundation is also named as a plaintiff.

The three D.C. residents, who are licensed gun owners in the District, had gun-registration applications rejected by the Metropolitan Police Department because they stated their intention was to carry the loaded guns on their person outside their homes.

"My right to self-defense shouldn't stop at my front door," said Mrs. McVey, 46, of Northwest Washington. Mrs. McVey in July became the first person to register a handgun in the District after the ban was lifted.

Asked where she might carry her gun, Mrs. McVey responded: "Everywhere it's legal."

Edward Raymond, a Navy veteran enrolled in law school in New Hampshire, is also listed as a plaintiff.

Mr. Raymond, who is not a D.C. resident, was stopped for speeding in the District in April 2007 while he was transporting a gun for which he had permits in Maryland and Florida. He was charged with carrying a pistol without a license and pleaded guilty to misdemeanor unregistered gun and unregistered ammunition charges.

He sought a license that would allow him to transport his gun through the District but was refused.

D.C. Council member Phil Mendelson, chairman of the Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary, had not seen the lawsuit but said he disagrees with the basic premise.

"Mr. Gura is treading uncharted ground claiming that the Second Amendment offers the right to carry," he said.

Mr. Mendelson said the District's role as home to the president, Congress and the diplomatic corps should be reason enough not to allow carrying.

"In the nation's capital, carrying is perhaps the greatest concern to law enforcement because it makes it very hard for law enforcement to distinguish between a person who is carrying a firearm legally and a potential assassin," he said.

The Supreme Court ruled in June 2008 that the city's near-total ban on handguns was unconstitutional and that residents should be allowed to keep guns in their homes for personal protection.

City officials began rewriting the laws immediately after the decision. The new laws still forbid semiautomatic and other high-powered weapons.

Mr. Gura filed another lawsuit in March, arguing that a roster of handguns deemed acceptable for registration was restrictive. The lawsuit was dropped when the D.C. government in June expanded its list of guns that residents could seek to register.


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16. Who needs a gun in a gym?
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Gunman kills 3, injures 9 at Pennsylvania health club

This is supposedly not a "gun-free zone." However, if you are somewhere where you can carry a gun and aren't, then you are only slightly better than being in a gun-free zone. (I say you are still better off because a criminal is more likely to strike in gun-free zones, where he feels more confident that everyone else is disarmed).

http://tinyurl.com/mhstqj

Gunman kills 3, wounds 9, before killing himself

By Michael Hasch and Andrew Conte
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, August 5, 2009

A gunman from Scott Township who investigators believe was nursing a grudge
against women walked into an aerobics room at a Collier fitness center last
night, turned out the lights and opened fire, killing three women and wounding
nine others before taking his own life.

Investigators identified the gunman as George Sodini, a 48-year-old member of
the LA Fitness center in the Great Southern Shopping Center where the shooting
occurred shortly after 8 p.m.

Allegheny County police Superintendent Charles Moffatt said the gunman may
have fired 50 shots at the 20 to 22 women inside the room at the time before
turning one of his guns on himself and taking his own life. There were perhaps
another 50 people in various other parts of the facility at the time.

The county Medical Examiner's office identified the three women who died as
Heidi Overmier, 46, of Collier; Elizabeth Gannon, 49, of Green Tree; and Jody
Billingsley, 38, of Mount Lebanon.

Moffatt said the gunman left a note inside his gym bag that indicated that he
expected to die in the carnage.

The superintendent did not reveal the contents of the note, but other
investigators said it appears that Sodini hated women and had made a couple of
trips to the fitness center earlier in the day before entering a final time
shortly before 8 p.m., armed with at least two handguns hidden inside his gym
bag.

"The big question is, why would he do something like this?" Moffatt said. "It
probably only lasted a minute or so."

Sodini had maintained a Web site that included his blog, describing what he
perceived as "lack of control over my life" and his inability to cultivate
relationships and friendships. It also details his plans to conduct a public
shooting, and describes an incident in which he "chickened out."

Moffatt, who said the guns were all registered to the gunman, said "there was
nothing anyone could have done" to prevent the slaughter.

"I don't believe anyone could have stopped him, to be quite honest," he said.

Moffatt said police and the Allegheny County Medical Examiner were still
trying to identify the three dead women, one of whom was found about 7 feet
from the gunman's body, the other about 12 feet away from him. The wounded
women have all been identified.

"Some of them are undergoing surgery, some of them are in critical condition,
others were treated and released," Moffatt said in a news briefing shortly
after 2 this morning.

"The scene was so chaotic that we felt it was more important to secure the
scene rather than send officers to the hospital," Moffatt said. "We're still
attempting to identify some of the deceased. As you can imagine, in a fitness
club they don't have their IDs on them, so we're having trouble."

"He kept firing and firing," said Dennis Curry, 28, of Scott, who said he was
working out on an elliptical machine upstairs when he heard the gunfire.
"There was chaos. I ran out the back door, saw a girl lying there with a
gunshot wound. I put a shirt on her to try and stop (the bleeding). There was
blood everywhere."

"All of a sudden there was a really loud noise," said Julia Zorzi, 27, of
Crafton, who was on a treadmill on the main floor when the gunfire began. "I
heard 40 to 50 shots, and I hit the deck. I saw people running out. I ran
outside and there were two girls lying outside."

"The shots came very fast," Zorzi said. "It sounded like he was using a
serious piece of machinery."

Richard Sieber, a spokesman for St. Clair Hospital in Mt. Lebanon, said one
woman died at the hospital. Another woman, shot in the leg, was in stable
condition. Another, shot in the shoulder, was released.

Five women were taken to UPMC Mercy, Uptown, with multiple gunshot wounds.
Three were in serious condition, two were critical, a spokeswoman said.

Two women, ages 22 and 27, arrived at Allegheny General Hospital, North Side,
about 9 p.m., spokesman Dan Laurent said. He had no information on their
conditions or injuries.

It's the fifth mass shooting in Allegheny County in 10 years.

Witnesses described a chaotic scene as people ran from the gunman, ducking
behind trees, running up hillsides and crouching behind parked cars.

Michael Hentosz, 21, of Collier said he carried from the building a woman who
had been shot once in the thigh.

"She kept saying she thought she was going to die," Hentosz said.

He waited with her until paramedics took her away.

He was using free weights when the shooting started. He had on headphones, and
first noticed people running.

"It was like thud after thud," Hentosz said. "I probably heard 20 shots, but I
had on headphones for about the first 10 shots."

"Latin Impact" was the gym's last class of the day, starting at 8 p.m. The
gym's Web site describes it as "A Latin influenced aerobic workout that will
leave you ready for more! Enjoy the dance styles of Salsa, Meranga and Cha Cha
Cha while getting fit."

Debi Wozniak, of Dormont, said she usually attends the Latin Impact class, but
did not last night. Her sister and niece were there, along with about 30 other
women, she said.

"She told me she was in class when a man came in through the glass doors,"
Wozniak said. "He put a duffel bag down. She said, 'The next thing I knew he
pulled two handguns out and starts firing. People were dropping.'"

Wozniak's sister said the instructor was hit.

Loretta Moss, 44, of McDonald described two waves of gunfire and confusion as
people tried to figure out when to run and when to take cover. She jumped off
her treadmill to run after the first wave. But after a pause of about five
seconds, everybody lay back down, and she tried to crawl under the man next to
her for protection, she said.

"I thought it was just tin cracking," Moss said about the first shots. "I
thought it was guys hitting a racquetball and they knocked something down."

After the second round stopped, the gym went quiet for a moment.

Somebody yelled, "Run!" and people ran down the steps and outside, she said.

"We just heard a lot of shots in the aerobics room, about eight or nine," said
Erma Torgent, of Carnegie, who was with her husband, Mike.

"After the first two I just ran. I was upstairs, I just heard a pop, then a
shout. There were a lot of shots. The lights in the aerobic room were off when
I ran out. Everybody ran down the stairs and out the door."

Desiree Conrad, 30, of Coraopolis was inside the gym when the shooting took
place. "It took everyone a while to figure out what was going on ... the
trainers figured out what it was before everyone else did," she said.

Jennifer Arienzo, 26, of Dormont could not believe she was hearing gunshots.

"We're in LA Fitness - who would be shooting in there?" she said.

"It took us a few shots to realize that, 'Jesus, there's a man in here with a
gun,'" Conrad said.

Ron Michaels of Collier, who runs the racquetball courts, said he heard 15 to
20 shots "and I knew there was a lot of trouble. If that guy comes out, there
were 10 people in the racquetball courts, two people in five courts, who could
not have got out."

Michaels and the racquetball players were next door to the shooter.

"There must have been 30 women working out in the aerobics room.

At first I thought it was a joke and then I realized this is not a prank,"
Michaels said. "It was unbelievable. We all ran out and made it up the
hillside."

"There was one guy running around looking for his wife or daughter. He was
hysterical. He was looking into every ambulance for them," Michaels said. "I
still can't believe it happened."

Richard Walker went to the gym to play basketball with a group of friends. Two
of them left carrying shooting victims, both women, over their shoulders,
Walker said.

They got 50 yards from the gym's side entrance, and took cover between cars as
soon as they reached the edge of the parking lot, he said two hours after the
shooting, the right side of his Oklahoma All-State T-shirt covered in dried
blood.

"They were like losing blood and almost freaking out," said Walker, 23, of
Carnegie, who recently moved from Tulsa. "I just knew you put pressure on the
wound."

Lisa Ross of Cecil was one of more than 20 people gathered outside Mercy
waiting for news and updates of loved ones. Her best friend's daughter-in-law
and niece were working out together when the shooting started. One of them was
shot in the shoulder, the other in her leg.

"People told us the guy turned out the lights and started shooting," Ross
said.

County Executive Dan Onorato was out of town, but released a statement saying,
"Our sincere condolences go out to the families of the victims, and we pray
for the recovery of those who were injured."

Staff writers Bobby Kerlik, Mike Wereschagin, Timothy Puko, Chris Togneri,
Jeremy Boren and Jeff Widmer contributed to this report.

***********

'We knew him, but obviously we did not really know him'

Homeowners gathered this morning outside their tidy brick homes in Scott with
one question in mind: Why did neighbor George Sodini kill three women in a
nearby gym and then himself?

"We will now all have to live with the fact that we knew him, but obviously we
did not really know him," said Candace Gettys, 58, of Orchard Spring Road, who
lived a few houses away for 12 years. She said the two would "chit-chat about
our lawns, things that were going on," when they saw each other.

"He was always very friendly, if not a bit reclusive," she said.

Starting about two years ago, she noticed changes in Sodini, 48, a systems
analyst at K&L Gates, a Downtown law firm and University of Pittsburgh
graduate.

"He was always a little off, but he became even more so," Gettys said. She
said she sometimes saw Sodini's mother visit and another woman she thought was
his sister, but those were the only visitors she ever saw - and they didn't
come often.

She hadn't seen him for weeks.

"His house was looking a little less tidy. The lawn was looking overgrown,"
she said. "To be honest, I assumed he was away on vacation."

Gettys was horrified after she turned on the television last night and saw
police searching a silver Nissan Altima, the car driven by Sodini.

"When I saw that car, granted there are a million Nissan Altimas around, it
was just a gut feeling," Gettys said. "He's been strange lately. There's
always been something not quite right, but when I saw that car, it clicked for
me and something just told me it was him, he's the one who did this."

Sodini kept an online blog (georgesodini.com) in which he talked about his
neighbors - and his plans to kill young women at LA Fitness Center in Collier,
where he worked out.

Bob Fox, 45, who moved across the street 14 years ago, was one subject. Sodini
wrote about Fox and young women visiting his house.

"I am so shocked. I cannot believe he was writing about us. That is so
creepy," Fox said. "It shows you never really know somebody."

The online diary begins in November, nine months before the massacre.

In December, Sodini said the women at the gym were just some of the 30 million
American women who rejected him.

"Many of the young girls here look so beautiful as to not be human, very
edible," he wrote.

Sodini complains about his inability to attract women, rails against his
family and details how he "chickened out" on Jan. 6 when he first planned to
execute "young girls" at the gym.

K&L Gates hired Sodini in 1999. He worked in the firm's finance department.

"Most people there are OK and I would never have a shoot 'em up there," Sodini
wrote. "They paid me for 10 years, so far!"

James Alan Fox, a professor of criminal justice at Northeastern University,
said some individuals reach a point in their lives where they're "so miserable
... there's little reason to live any more," he said. "Life is that unhappy.
But there's a desire first to get even with those who he holds responsible. It
wasn't an individual he holds responsible but, in a general sense, young,
active people in these clubs and the world in general that wouldn't give him
the time of day."

Sodini's blog states he has not had a girlfriend since 1984 or sex since 1990.

"Who knows why. I am not ugly or too weird," he wrote. "Did it maybe only
50-75 times in my life. Getting to think that a woman now would just, uh, get
in the way of things. Isolated."

On New Year's Eve, Sodini wrote that his "anger and rage" eased when he took
up weight lifting. "I guess strenuous exercise is necesary for a man."

Family members and others mentioned in the blog did not immediately return
telephone calls.

The day before the planned shooting, on Jan. 5, Sodini went to the gym and
found it to be crowded. "Tomorrow should be good," he wrote.

He added that a woman in the gym "gives me a certain look every time I am
there," but she left before he could approach her.

"Better that I do not get sidetracked from tomorrow's plan anyways. Life is
just playing games," he wrote. "Why should I continue another 20+ years alone?
I will just work, come home, eat, maybe do something, then go to bed (alone)
for the next day of the same thing."

On the day of the planned shooting, Sodini wrote what he thought would be his
final entry:

"I can do this. ... The future holds even less than what I have today. ... God
have mercy. I wish life could be better for all and the crazy world can
somehow run smoother. I wish I had answers. Bye."

Later, though, he wrote that he "chickened out."

"I brought the loaded guns, everything," he wrote. "Hell!"

Sodini did not post again for more than three-and-a-half months.

On May 4, he began to revisit his plan: "The problem is I feel too good now to
do this but too bad to enjoy life."

The next day, he wrote that alcohol might "take the edge off" and help him
pull off the plan. He had not had a drink since 1988, he wrote, but bought a
fifth of vodka and a bottle of Jack Daniels whiskey.

On May 18, Sodini went on a date but shared few details. "It was with a woman
I met on the bus in March. We got together at Two PPG Place for lunch."

Sodini wrote a short entry on May 29: "Another lonely Friday night, I'm done.
This is too much."

On Monday, Sodini wrote that he took time off from work to practice his
"routine." He wrote that he stopped drinking again because "total effort
needed."

"I need to work out every detail, there is only one shot. ... Tomorrow is the
big day."

His last blog entry read:

"Maybe soon, I will see God and Jesus. At least that is what I was told.
Eternal life does NOT depend on works. If it did, we will all be in hell.
Christ paid for EVERY sin, so how can I or you be judged BY GOD for a sin when
the penalty was ALREADY paid. People judge but that does not matter."

- By Jill King Greenwood, with contributions from Jason Cato and Chris
Togneri.


**************************************************
17. More on L.A. Fitness shooting
**************************************************

additional links to news coverage of the shooting

http://tinyurl.com/men5tx


**************************************************
18. USA Today on Concealed Carry
**************************************************

More seek concealed weapons permits

Interesting signage in the photo with the article!

http://tinyurl.com/ksn3gj

By Emily Bazar, USA TODAY
Gun owners are packing heat in record numbers, fearful of stricter gun control
under the Obama administration and higher crime in a sour economy.
Some states and counties report a surge in applications for concealed weapons
permits since the November election. All states but Illinois and Wisconsin
allow concealed weapons, but requirements differ.

Applications already have hit a record this year in Clay County, Mo., where
the sheriff's office received 888 through June, compared with 863 in all of
last year, says Sheriff Bob Boydston. The office recently hired two part-time
workers to deal with the rush.

In the past, applicants tended to be middle-aged men, he says, but recent
applicants include "grandmothers, older folks, young women, young men."

They tell him the bad economy will lead to more thefts and break-ins, he says,
but his statistics show violent crime related to the recession hasn't gone up.

They also say they fear gun control, he says. Last week, Boydston spoke with
an elderly couple seeking a permit. "They are positive the president is on the
verge of coming to our homes and taking our weapons," he says.

Statewide, the Missouri State Highway Patrol has processed 18,878 background
checks so far this year for the permits, the most since the agency began
keeping statistics in 2005, Lt. John Hotz says. It processed 18,466 checks
during all of last year.

In May, Obama signed a law that will allow guns in national parks. "The
president respects and supports the Second Amendment and the tradition of gun
ownership in this country," White House spokesman Ben LaBolt says.

Interest groups on both sides agree that demand for permits is up because of
economic uncertainty and concerns about a new president and a
Democrat-controlled Congress.

"People pay attention to politics. . They're afraid of another effort" to try
to enact more gun control, says Andrew Arulanandam, spokesman for the National
Rifle Association. "Part of the concern is spurred by the economic downturn
and fear that crime will go up."

Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, fears
that violent confrontations will increase as more people carry concealed guns.
"When someone's carrying a gun around and they're not fully trained,
oftentimes they'll use it just because it's there," he says.

Demand is also up in:

.Florida. The Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services hired 61
temporary workers in spring to tackle a backlog in applications, says
spokesman Terence McElroy. The department received 75,520 applications through
June, on pace to beat last year's record of 90,331.

.Caldwell County, N.C. Residents filed 358 applications for permits in the
first half of this year, compared with 135 for the same period last year, "a
bigger increase than we've ever seen in the past," says Sheriff's Detective
B.J. Fore. "People are worried about desperate times."

.Texas. The Department of Public Safety has seen "an unprecedented increase"
in applications since November, spokeswoman Lisa Block says.

.Utah. June ranked as the top month ever for applications, with 11,292
received, says Lt. Doug Anderson of the state Bureau of Criminal
Identification. This year also is record-setting, he says, with 49,499
applications in through June.

Craig Ball, manager of Impact Guns in Ogden, Utah, has offered more training
courses to meet demand.

"Last year, a typical class would be 15 to 20 people," he says. "Right after
the election, we had as many as 55 people."



**************************************************
19. Demand for guns may be easing
**************************************************

Gun and ammo sales may have peaked

Thanks to Board member Bruce Jackson for sending this story.

http://tinyurl.com/lpclpd

Demand for guns may be easing

Gun, ammo sales still strong, but may have peaked

BY CHELYEN DAVIS

Date published: 8/1/2009

Demand for guns and ammunition, which surged after President Barack
Obama's election, is still high but may be leveling off.

Two firearms companies that recently released earnings reports said
their backlog of orders is starting to fall back to normal levels.

"We may be seeing where it's starting to flatten out," said Philip Van
Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League. "We've got
to be close to peak now, if we've not already passed it."

After Democrats, who already controlled Congress, won the presidency
last fall, concerns that they would enact legislation to further
restrict guns fueled a boom in purchases of guns and ammunition.

Gun owners began complaining that it was impossible to find
ammunition. Those who found some bought more than they needed. Prices
for bullets and for some guns rose with the demand. Some companies
manufacturing firearms and ammunition wound up with a backlog of
orders.

The Virginia State Police saw a big jump in concealed-carry permit
applications after the election: a 19 percent increase last year, when
the typical increase is 3 percent, and a 60 percent increase in
November 2008 over November 2007.

But that seems to be tapering off. The number of applications for
concealed-carry permits has dropped each month since March.

In March 8,137 applications were received by the state police; in
July, as of the next-to-last day of the month, there were 4,635. A
state police spokeswoman said permits do typically decrease in the
summer.

Sturm, Ruger & Co. this week released a second-quarter earnings report
that showed a 94 percent increase in firearms sales over the second
quarter of 2008.

The company report said that about half of that was thanks to new
products, but about 25 percent of it was due to an "industry-wide
surge in demand."

At the same time, the report suggests that the surge is already on the
wane. Sturm Ruger's backlog of orders has dropped by 59 percent since
this year's first quarter, reflecting "a reduction in the
industry-wide surge in demand" that began last year.

Smith & Wesson reported last month that its fourth- quarter
sales--which ended in April--were 20 percent higher than sales for
that quarter a year ago. Like Ruger, Smith & Wesson reported a backlog
of demand for firearms, but also said that backlog had peaked in
April.

The Sturm Ruger report also notes that ammunition shortages have begun
to discourage firearms sales, something that Anthony Ball, owner of
B&B Pawn in Fredericksburg, also is seeing.

"A lot of people have told me they want to buy a gun from me, but if
they can't find ammo to shoot it, why buy it?" Ball said.

Ball, who has a whole wall of his pawnshop devoted to firearms, said
ammunition prices are still high, when you can get it at all. He used
to be able to order ammunition by the case; now he's lucky to get a
few boxes.

"I used to pay 7 bucks, 6 bucks for a box of 9 mm," Ball said. "I
would sell it for $11. Now I have to pay $11 to get a box of 9 mm. And
finding it is ridiculous."

Georgia Arms, a large ammunition-manufacturing company, has a big red
sign on its Web site warning customers of a five- to seven-week
backlog in orders, because bullet components are in short supply.

Van Cleave said hunting ammunition is easy to find, as is expensive
premium ammunition. But the kind of bullets most people use for, say,
target shooting is still scarce.

Van Cleave said the ammunition shortage is partly because the military
is using a lot of it.

But it's also because of a domino effect--a shortage prompts people to
buy more than they normally would, leading to more shortages.

"It basically starts a spiral going," Van Cleave said. "At some point
the spiral will stop, where people finally have enough ammunition that
they don't need to buy any more, and when you go to the shelves you'll
start to see ammo there, and that'll start a spiral the other way."

Chelyen Davis: 540/368-5028
Email: cdavis@freelancestar.com


**************************************************
20. Sotomayor's confirmation isn't a win for the White House
**************************************************

Sotomayor's narrow support among voters could cost the White House in 2010 and 2012

http://tinyurl.com/mfb2nk

Sotomayor's Confirmation Isn't a Win for the White House

Sonia Sotomayor is the Supreme Court's newest justice. And now the
fallout begins.

The confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court on
Thursday will impact this nation for decades, on issues ranging from
free speech to racial preferences to gun rights. It will also become a
major issue in the 2010 midterm elections and the 2012 presidential
election, an issue that more likely than not will backfire on Barack
Obama to the benefit of the Republican Party.

Barack Obama was looking for a big political win from the Sotomayor
confirmation. He chose a Hispanic woman with an interesting personal
story. His staff and congressional allies then tried to make this
nomination all about race and gender, playing identity politics and
openly declaring that Republicans would pay a price if they did not
vote for this nominee because of her gender and skin color.

But Thursday's vote was not a win for the White House. The latest
Zogby poll showed that Americans were tied 49% to 49% on whether
Sotomayor should be confirmed. That's worse than any Supreme Court
nominee in recent history except for Harriet Miers. Even Judge Robert
Bork had less opposition, with those favoring his confirmation
exceeding those who opposed him by a three-percent margin.

Even among Hispanics, the group Obama was targeting with this
nomination, a Gallup poll shows she lacks majority support, with 47%
in favor and 43% opposed. Moreover, Zogby shows that a majority of
independents oppose her, as do small business owners.

The final confirmation vote of 68 - 31, with poll numbers like these,
means that President Obama has not scored the big win that he wanted
with this nomination by playing racial politics. It's a mixed result
at best, and if her rulings from the bench show a clear liberal
philosophy then the end result will be negative for the White House
and Democrats.

President Obama chose to pick a fight by nominating a controversial
nominee. Sotomayor's speeches and court opinions on various issues
have been unpopular and contentious, such as her racial preference
case that the Supreme Court recently overturned in Ricci v. DeStefano.
Obama passed over other female judges and scholars who are considered
leading lights when it comes to liberal legal philosophy in naming
Sotomayor, but now will likely not reap any benefits from his choice.

Now the fallout begins. The president and his party, and especially
Senate Democrats from red states, will now have to answer for
Sotomayor if she proves true to expectations as a solidly-liberal
justice.

By far, Justice Sotomayor's most troubling issue is the Second
Amendment right to bear arms. Her two gun-rights decisions, one
holding that the right to bear arms does not apply in any way to
states and the other that the Second Amendment is not a fundamental
right, prompted gun-rights leaders to fiercely oppose her nomination
and even persuaded the National Rifle Association to come out against
her.

Next year the Supreme Court is almost certain to take up the question
of whether the Second Amendment applies to the states. It's likely
that the Court will not take Sotomayor's case from the Second Circuit,
Maloney v. Cuomo, because it's not a good case to present such an
important issue and doesn't even involve guns.

Instead the Court is likely to go with NRA v. Chicago from the Seventh
Circuit, a picture-perfect case challenging the Chicago gun ban from
Barack Obama's home town. This ban is every bit as severe as the D.C.
gun ban struck down by the Court in 2008 and is also one that
President Obama openly supports.

If the Court takes the Maloney case, then we might not know Justice
Sotomayor's true beliefs on the Second Amendment for years, because
she would likely recuse herself from having any part in that case. NRA
v. Chicago, by contrast, would prove once and for all what she really
thinks about the constitutional right to bear arms.

We will not have long to wait to see what kind of jurist Sonia
Sotomayor will be on the High Court. On Sept. 9, the Supreme Court
will consider a major free speech case in Citizens United v. FEC,
where America's most accomplished Supreme Court lawyer, former
Solicitor General Ted Olson, will take on the Obama Justice
Department. A decision in that case is expected before the Court's new
term starts on Oct. 5.

Sonia Sotomayor now becomes the newest justice on the Supreme Court.
The president and her supporters say she is a mainstream moderate,
while her opponents say she's a liberal activist. We'll know soon
enough, as this issue heats up for next year's election.

Ken Klukowski is a fellow and senior legal analyst with the American
Civil Rights Union.


**************************************************
21. AARP Letter
**************************************************

AARP gun policy favors restrictions on handguns and banning semi-automatic "assault" weapons.

AARP's politics is the reason I'd never consider joining them.
It goes beyond their firearms policies too.

Here's the AARP letter posted on the Second Amendment Sisters website:

http://tinyurl.com/n9sgmr


**************************************************
22. Washington Times Editorial: Gun control on a roll?
**************************************************

Dream on: Voters still oppose gun control, despite votes on Sotomayor and state reciprocity rules for concealed carry

http://tinyurl.com/mk5ahj

EDITORIAL: Gun control on a roll?
Americans are clinging to their arms more than ever
By | Friday, August 7, 2009

The Senate confirmed Judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court yesterday.
Gun-control groups are crowing that the 68-31 vote was a major defeat for the
National Rifle Association, which actively opposed the nomination. The gun
controllers are reading too much into this vote.

The NRA scored Judge Sotomayor's confirmation and ran ads to defeat her, but
the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence counted eight NRA-endorsed senators
who spurned the powerful gun-rights group to support her nomination. Some
Democratic senators, such as Virginia's Mark R. Warner, even took to lecturing
the NRA about being hijacked by extremists.

The Sotomayor vote and the successful filibuster of state reciprocity for
right-to-carry laws are being hailed as gun-control victories. The two votes
supposedly show that politicians "can vote against the NRA and still win, and
win in gun-friendly areas," as Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign,
phrased it.

But a new Zogby poll suggests that things are a little more complicated. Zogby
found that 52 percent of American voters would be against the re-election of
any senator simply because he supports confirming a Supreme Court nominee "who
does not believe in the right to keep and bear arms." Just 26 percent would
support that senator. Mr. Helmke is right to believe that Judge Sotomayor is
against gun ownership, and the Supreme Court is closely divided on the issue.
What the poll tells us is that senators who voted for her should worry when
their constituents find out about it.

The polls on concealed handguns confirm the pro-gun attitudes of most
Americans. Eighty-three percent support letting citizens carry concealed
handguns; only 11 percent oppose it. Even among Democratic voters, the support
is extremely high: Eighty percent of those who voted for Barack Obama for
president support the right to carry a handgun. This reality is not just what
voters tell pollsters. People are now packing heat in record numbers,
according to USA Today.

The positive results in the 39 states with right-to-carry laws have made a big
difference in the popularity of the concealed-carry movement. The pro-gun
views of the public suggest that the reciprocity bill for right-to-carry
laws -- which was shot down on July 22 -- will be brought up again. The 58-39
majority in the Senate in favor of reciprocity was just two votes short of
overcoming a Democratic filibuster. The NRA will have a chance to reload soon
enough.


**************************************************
23. John Burnett at it again
**************************************************

NPR reporter says U.S. 'weapons supermarkets' fueling Mexican drug violence

http://tinyurl.com/nexmr7

August 1, 2009

Crackdown On Smuggled Guns Hindered By U.S. Laws
by JOHN BURNETT

For years, Mexican drug traffickers have used gun stores and gun shows in the U.S. as their weapons supermarkets. The world's most murderous drug mafias operate on a border with a country that has the most permissive gun laws in the developed world.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon met with President Obama in April and asked the U.S. to do more to curb the flow of weapons smuggled into Mexico. The crackdown has begun, but it's hindered by the liberal U.S. gun laws.

Last November, law enforcement in Reynosa, Mexico, just across the Rio Grande from Hidalgo, Texas, made this astonishing find: "500,000 rounds of ammunition, 300 assault rifles -- mainly [AK-47s] and [AR-15s] -- two grenade launchers, and 287 grenades," says Victor Trevino, the Mexican consul in Brownsville, Texas. "That's just in a single seizure."

What's Reported

None of these weapons has been traced yet. But a report released last month by the Government Accountability Office, based on traces done by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on crime guns recovered in Mexico in 2008, states that nearly 90 percent originated in the U.S. The report acknowledges the data are incomplete because Mexico doesn't submit all its confiscated weapons for electronic tracing.

The report's authors criticized U.S. federal law enforcement for the lack of a coherent campaign against weapons trafficking.

The ATF is trying to do something about that now. Officials have created "gun-runner" task forces in Houston and south Texas dedicated to firearms trafficking. And they are targeting what's known as "straw purchases" -- when drug traffickers pay U.S. residents who don't have criminal records to buy the guns for them, then smuggle the weapons across the border to Mexico.

"We typically will see a straw purchaser go from gun shop to gun shop on the same day and be paid $50 a gun sometimes, buy 10 different guns, make $500 in one day," says Dewey Webb, the special agent in charge of the ATF field office in Houston.

Relaxed reporting requirements for arms purchases make it difficult for his agents. For instance, if you buy two handguns within five days, the dealer must report it to the ATF. But you can buy all the rifles you want, and the dealer doesn't have to report it.

Then there's ammunition. Ammo is not just untraceable, Webb says, it's virtually unregulated.

"You can go into any place that sells ammunition -- be it a gun store, or, I mean, even some gas stations and bait shops sell ammunition -- and you just buy as much as you want," Webb says.

In a 2006 case, two Mexican nationals walked into Kirkpatrick Guns and Ammo in Laredo, bought 12,570 rounds of assorted ammunition and got caught only when an off-duty ATF agent walked in and arrested them after he learned they were not U.S. citizens.

Gun Dealers: On The Defense

Gun dealers in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas are defensive about the idea that they're somehow contributing to the cartel war. Charles Fredien, a longtime gun dealer and gunsmith in Brownsville, says if he suspects a customer is buying a weapon for somebody else, he won't sell it to the person.

"We go through and check everything that's supposed to be done by the letter, and that's all we can do," Fredien says. "I don't have a crystal ball to look into and see if this guy's legitimate or not."

Second Amendment defenders like the National Rifle Association have seized on the ATF's incomplete Mexican tracing data and asserted that many illegal weapons seized in Mexico could be coming from the international arms market. Grenades and grenade launchers, for instance, are not sold by U.S. gun dealers, but they are available on the black market in Central America.

Ed Jones, a gunsmith in Fredien's store, says it seems the cartels have limitless resources.

"They have the money; they can buy weapons anywhere in the world," Jones says. "They don't have to buy them secondhand off the United States."

The ATF is using its additional agents in border states to investigate more gun trafficking cases and to make house calls on buyers of multiple weapons to see if they're legitimate.

Addressing Trafficking

But the problem, says Tom Diaz of the Violence Policy Center, a Washington gun control group, is that once the purchases are made, the horse is out of the barn.

"It's really asking a bit too much to ask ATF, through its resources, to stop a problem that really is a systemic problem springing from our wide-open civilian gun market," Diaz says.

Mexico has asked the U.S. not just to pursue gun traffickers on the border, but change the laws. But so far, the Obama administration has shown little interest in taking on the gun lobby.

**************************************************
24. Gym shooter bought from sites that sold to college gunmen
**************************************************

CNN blames Internet gun dealers for mass murders

The ignorance of the press on guns can be breathtaking. They are trying to find some kind of thread between gun sales over the internet and mass killings by bad guys. The best they could come up with is that Sodini bought some magazines and a magazine loader from a popular online firearms store.

But CNN is missing the real key. What I can concerned about, and what has me tossing and turning at night, is: WHERE did Sodini buy his SHOES?

Were they bought over the internet? If so, did any of the other mass killers buy their shoes over the internet from the same store?

Is there some shoe bizarre online that sells shoes to killers in order to make sure they can get to the scene of mass murders comfortably? Perhaps they sell some type of "assault shoe?"

What about shoe accessories? Could it be that the mass murderers all got shoehorns or shoestrings from the same internet store?

Surely the key to such murders MUST lie in accessories and shopping habits!

http://tinyurl.com/mldfqs

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25. FYI -- Canadian Gun Laws
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Overview of Canadian firearms laws for those of you who might be visiting there:

http://tinyurl.com/nspwzv





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VA-ALERT is a project of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc.
(VCDL). VCDL is an all-volunteer, non-partisan grassroots organization
dedicated to defending the human rights of all Virginians. The Right to
Keep and Bear Arms is a fundamental human right.

[OakRidgeStars]

Just a quick note about the latest VA-ALERT from the VCDL. In the last VA-ALERT, Philip Van Cleave asked for two volunteers to take over editing duties, thus giving Philip Levy and Paul Kent a much deserved break. Two members stepped up to the plate to keep this newsletter going. Beginning this week, Ben Piper and myself will be your humble co-editors of the weekly VA-ALERT.

This week, Ben has compiled and edited the alert above. Next week, it will be my turn. I hope I can do as good a job as Ben has done.

If you are not a VA-ALERT subscriber, what are you waiting for?. Go to http://www.vcdl.org/static/va-alert.html to sign up now.

[zephyp]

Way to go Jay!!! Thanks for your service. It is indeed appreciated. VCDL is a good friend for all of us. I'm sure you'll do a great job.