1. VCDL uses robo calls to help the restaurant ban repeal become law
2. VCDL PICNICs - Salem, VA 2 May and Newport News 6 June
3. VCDL volunteer acknowledged by gun show visitor
4. RT LTE: man thinks he knows what YOU need or don't need for sportshooting
5. Virginia Emergency Services anti-gun regulation averted
6. Two national cases last week highlight importance of grass rootsactivism
7. Man stabs one intruder, shoots another after home break-in -Woodbridge, VA
8. Federal judge blocks guns in national parks
9. Need citizen help to preserve National Forest shooting range nearHarrisonburg
10. Predictable call to reinstate weapons bans in wake of mass shooting
11. Pro-gun Democrats oppose new assault weapon ban
12. Latest threat to DC gun rights
13. Senate moves forward on wilderness bill
14. Geraldo misrepresents homeland defense rifles
15. Issue of gun rights still hot button in Congress
16. Why Americans aren't gung-ho for more gun control
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1. VCDL uses robo calls to help the restaurant ban repeal become law
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VCDL is getting the message out to gun owners across the Commonwealthto contact Governor Kaine about allowing the restaurant ban repeal, SB1035, to become law. That effort, using "robo" phone calls tomobilize gun owners, has resulted in a flooding of the Governor'sphone lines.
We are now preparing to robo call constituents of those Senators andDelegates who hypocritically supported retired police officerscarrying concealed in restaurants and drinking, while voting againstyou and I carrying in those same restaurants if we don't drink. Inthe event that the Governor should veto SB 1035, we are asking them tostand with us and vote to override any such veto.
Here is the list, in case one of these legislators is yours, alongwith his or her phone number:
Senators:
34 Sen Chap Petersen 703-349-3361
33 Sen Mark Herring 703-729-3300
29 Sen Charles Colgan 703-368-0300
03 Sen Tommy Norment 757-259-7810
14 Sen Harry Blevens 757-546-2435
Delegates:
93 Del Phillip Hamilton 757-249-2480
86 Del Thomas Rust 703-437-9400
85 Del Bob Tata 757-340-3510
42 Del Dave Albo 703-451-3555
33 Del Joe May 703-777-1191
Also, if you are in Senator Phillip Puckett's district, give him acall and ask him to stand with gun owners if the Governor vetoes SB1035. (Last year, he voted correctly for the restaurant ban repeal,but then voted against gun owners when it came to overriding theGovernor's veto.)
Senator Puckett's phone number is: 276-979-8181
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2. VCDL PICNICs - Salem, VA 2 May and Newport News 6 June
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Picnic 1: SW Virginia VCDL will again host a picnic/meeting for VCDLmembers and guests on SATURDAY, MAY 2, 2009, at LONGWOOD PARK, SalemVA, starting at 1100 and running until 1600 hours. This picnic willbe a POT LUCK event, with VCDL furnishing soft drinks, plates;napkins; silverware; ice; napkins and such---we are requesting allLOCAL members to bring a dish of their choice for the food table. (Outof towners--please just come!). SET UP time starts at 1000 for thosewho wish to assist. Please RSVP to the SW Virginia VCDL Coordinatorat al@vcdl.org --or-- 540-890-0970 with the numbers of folks who planon attending the SW VA picnic.
We will repeat this event on August 15, 2009--same format, same place,same time frame.
Several politicos are coming and invitations have been extended toothers. We trust all will give short, informative talks for ourmembers. (a list of featured guests will be available shortly beforethe picnic)
ALL VCDL MEMBERS and GUESTS are INVITED ! Come to beautiful SWVirginia and enjoy the company of some super folks !
RSVP to SWVA VCDL please at al@vcdl.org --or-- 540-890-0970 with thenumbers of folks who plan on attending the SW VA picnic.
Picnic 2: EM Ron Lilly has reserved the Riverview park in NewportNews for a VCDL picnic. The reservation is for Saturday, June 6. This is the same place that we had the picnic last year. We'relooking forward to another great day of food, fellowship, open carry,more food, etc.
RSVP to ron@vcdl.org.
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3. VCDL volunteer acknowledged by gun show visitor
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Executive members Ron and Jean Hyson, who have the important task ofcoordinating the VCDL table at gun shows down in the Virginia Beacharea, sent us the e-mail thread below. We are ever grateful to thoseof you who man the VCDL Table at the various gun shows across thestate. Most of you are relatively unheralded. Here is a case of agun show visitor taking the time to thank one of our VCDL volunteers,and we know that the good qualities she cites, are representative ofall our volunteers, who in turn, make VCDL such a powerful force forFreedom in the Commonwealth. THANK YOU!
Dear Ron & Jean,
I just wanted to send a BIG Thank You to one of your volunteers thatworked your show at the VA Beach Pavillion/Convention Center lastmonth. His name is Gary. I visited your table and needed help withunderstanding a KelTec .380 I was considering purchasing (which Idid). I was the red-headed lady who asked if someone could help mebecause I couldn't reach my brother and I needed someone I couldtrust. Gary stepped up to the plate and helped me by answering myquestions and explaining some of the details (pros & cons) about whatI was concerned. What a blessing he was! Please let him know howgrateful I am he was there that day. I hope that if anyone in hisfamily - his wife or child or mother should ever need help one day,that they will come across someone as nice and kind as he was to me. Thank you so much for having him as one of your team members andthanks for all that you do.
Sincerely, Rita
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4. RT LTE: man thinks he knows what YOU need or don't need for sportshooting
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This person may be an avid fisherman, hunter, hiker and paddler, buthe's clueless on semiautomatic rifles, which make fantastic sportingrifles. I know, I own some. Mr. Nelson clearly doesn't.
http://tinyurl.com/cj7j58 [seventh item down]
There's no "sport" in military weaponry
As someone who's been an avid fisherman, hunter, hiker and paddler inWestern Virginia for the last 30 or so years, I'd like to answer thequestion posed in Nick Reed's recent letter, "Taking the "sport" outof Obama support" (March 5).
Reed seems to think Attorney General Eric Holder's support of banningassault weapons is something that sportsmen and sportswomen shouldfear and for which we should blame Sens. Jim Webb and Mark Warner andPresident Obama.
In all my years of hunting, I never found any use for an assaultrifle, which is not merely "scary looking," as Reed mentions, buttruly is deadly. With horrors of the Virginia Tech shooting stillfresh in our memory, I and many others think assault rifles, bazookas,neutron bombs and other military weapons are better off not in thehands of the general public. Assault rifles are not part of thesporting tradition and their use should not be coddled as such.
On the other hand, outdoors enthusiasts -- and the wildlife they enjoy-- do need clean air, clean water and unspoiled open spaces. Thoseissues truly matter to me in deciding which representatives get mysupport.
SCOTT NELSON
BLACKSBURG
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5. Virginia Emergency Services anti-gun regulation averted
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Member and paramedic Alan Rose sent us this good news for EMSvolunteers around the state, many of which have a CHP:
--
Just wanted to let you know the draft EMS regulations have beenposted, and the section prohibiting firearms has officially beenstricken from the draft (see pages 60-61). I've scoured all 253 pagesof the document and can't find any other references to firearms.
There will be informational sessions on the proposed regulations andthe review and comment process at the following locations, soconcerned citizens may want to attend:
* April 04, 2009 - Virginia Association of Volunteer Rescue SquadsBoard of Governor's Meeting (Wytheville)
* April 13, 2009 - Henry County Public Safety, 1024 DuPont Road(Martinsville), 6:30 p.m.
* April 24, 2009 - Continuing Concepts in Pre-Hospital CareSymposium in Suffolk Virginia. (Hilton Garden Inn and SuffolkConference Center)
--
Here's the proposed regulations:
http://tinyurl.com/ddy7u6 [253 page PDF]
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6. Two national cases last week highlight importance of grass rootsactivism
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We anticipated an uphill road to defend our rights in an Obamaadministration, and two cases last week show how membership inorganizations such as VCDL is so critical to defending our SecondAmendment rights.
First, member Will Tynch sent us this notice that the Department ofDefense, which is the source of millions of once-fired cartridges,announced they would no longer provide their used brass, potentiallyseverely disrupting the supply of reasonably priced ammunition in .223and .308.
Second, the Obama administration floated a trial balloon suggestingthey would quietly end the program instituted following 9/11 allowingpilots to become certified to carry firearms.
http://www.govliquidation.com/index.html
This notice indicated alarm:
Dear Valued Customer:
Please take a moment to note important changes set forth by theDefense Logistics Agency:
Recently it has been determined that fired munitions of all calibers,shapes and sizes have been designated to be Demil code B. As a resultand in conjunction with DLA's current Demil code B policy, this noticewill serve as official notification which requires Scrap Venture (SV)to implement mutilation as a condition of sale for all sales of firedmunitions effective immediately. This notice also requires SV toimmediately cease delivery of any fired munitions that have beenrecently sold or on active term contracts, unless the material hasbeen mutilated prior to sale or SV personnel can attest to themutilation after delivery. A certificate of destruction is required ineither case.
Thank you,
DOD Surplus
15051 N Kierland Blvd # 300
Scottsdale, AZ 85254
*****
Activists alerted friendly politicians:
I just received a phone call from the office of U.S. Senator Tester ofMontana to inform me that at 5:15 (EST) today a letter cosigned bySenator Tester (D-MT) and Senator Baucus (D-MT) was faxed to theDepartment of Defense asking DoD to reverse its new policy requiringdestruction of fired military cartridge brass. At 5:30, I am told,Tester's office received a fax back from DoD saying that the brassdestruction policy IS reversed.
Others report to me that they are already seeing evidence of this onthe Websites of entities that liquidate surplus DoD commodities.
Our thanks go out to Senator Tester and Senator Baucus, and theirstaff, for getting on this problem promptly and making the reversalhappen
Staff for Tester and Baucus promise they will get me the documentationfor this reversal tomorrow morning. I'll forward that when I get it.
Best wishes,
Gary Marbut, president
Montana Shooting Sports Association
http://www.mtssa.org
*****
And the resolution (for now, this time):
http://georgia-arms.com/
"Thanks to the diligent and overwhelming effort of many thousands ofyou, calling, writing, and emailing our elected officials, DODSurplus, LLC, has rescinded its prior directive that ALL small armsspent casings be mutilated rather than recycled."
##########
http://tinyurl.com/c2hqgy
Guns on a plane Obama secretly ends program that let pilots carry guns
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
After the September 11 attacks, commercial airline pilots were allowedto carry guns if they completed a federal-safety program. No longerwould unarmed pilots be defenseless as remorseless hijackers seizedcontrol of aircraft and rammed them into buildings.
Now President Obama is quietly ending the federal firearms program,risking public safety on airlines in the name of an anti-gun ideology.
*****
http://tinyurl.com/ch94hb
Feds Deny Obama Will Take Guns Away from Pilots
Thursday, March 19, 2009
By: Jim Meyers
Federal officials and the airline pilots union are denying a reportthat the Obama administration is seeking to end a program that trainspilots to carry guns in jetliner cockpits.
An editorial published in the Washington Times on Tuesday stated that"President Obama is quietly ending the federal firearms program,risking public safety on airlines in the name of an anti-gun ideology."
About 12,000 pilots have been authorized to carry handguns whileflying aircraft as part of the Federal Flight Deck Officers (FFDO)program, and the Times article called the administration's move"completely unnecessary harassment of the pilots."
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7. Man stabs one intruder, shoots another after home break-in -Woodbridge, VA
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Still think you don't need to carry a gun at home?
http://tinyurl.com/ccutjx
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Published: March 17, 2009
WOODBRIDGE (AP) - Prince William County police say a Woodbridge manstabbed one intruder and shot another after the men broke into his home.
When the man investigated a noise in his home Sunday night, police sayhe found 28-year-old James Baumann Jr. armed with a knife.
Police say the resident stabbed Baumann in a struggle, leaving himwith life-threatening injuries, and then shot 32-year-old Jason Presley.
Baumann remained hospitalized Monday, but the resident, who had beencut in the struggle, and Presley were treated and released.
Presley and Baumann are charged with burglary while armed with theintent to commit larceny and Baumann was charged with maliciouswounding.
Prosecutors say there has been no ruling yet on whether the shootingwas justified.
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8. Federal judge blocks guns in national parks
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This case shows one can pretty much find a judge to agree with anyposition. The NRA has already filed the appeal, and we are watchingthis closely.
http://tinyurl.com/dyeveh
March 19, 2009
National Parks Examiner
Environmental studies on guns' impact were not completed.
In a ruling earlier today, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the U.S.District Court blocked a federal rule allowing people to carryconcealed, loaded guns in America's national parks.
This decision overturned the rule issued by the Bush administrationlast fall, allowing gun owners with concealed carry permits to carrytheir weapons into national parks in their home state. Since theearly 1980s, a rule adopted by the Reagan administration hadrestricted guns in parks, permitting them only if they were unloaded,dismantled and packed in the owner's vehicle.
The new Bush rule went into effect in mid-January 2009, but severalorganizations, including the National Parks Conservation Association,the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and others, protested therule change, saying that it could lead to increased danger forvisitors, rangers and other law enforcement agencies. Their protestcentered on the speed with which the new rule had gone into effect,without the necessary environmental impact research normally requiredof such rule changes.
"This ruling ... validates the concerns of Americans across thecountry, every living former director of the National Park Service,ranger organizations, and retired park superintendents -all of whomopposed this eleventh-hour change under the Bush Administration," saidBryan Faehner, associate director for park uses at the National ParksConservation Association. "This decision will help ensure nationalparks remain one of the safest places for American families andwildlife."
A statement on the National Rifle Association's website notes that theNRA will exercise its right to an immediate appeal.
"Just as we did not give up the fight to change the old, outdatedrule, we will not give up our fight in the courts to defend the rulechange," said NRA chief lobbyist Chris W. Cox. "We will pursue everylegal avenue to defend the American people's right to self-defense."
In the meantime, effective today, individuals cannot carry loaded,concealed firearms in national parks and wildlife refuges.
*****
http://tinyurl.com/cn29pv
By MATTHEW DALY 20 March 2009
Associated Press
NRA appeals ruling blocking guns in national parks
WASHINGTON (AP) - The National Rifle Association on Friday appealed afederal court ruling that blocked a Bush administration policyallowing people to carry concealed, loaded guns in national parks.
The decision, issued Thursday by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-
Kotelly, halted a regulation from the waning days of the Bushadministration. The rule, which took effect in January, allowedvisitors to carry a loaded gun into a park or wildlife refuge as longas the person had a permit for a concealed weapon and the state wherethe park or refuge was located allowed concealed firearms. Previously,guns in parks had been severely restricted.
Chris W. Cox, the NRA's chief lobbyist, said the group will pursue alllegal and legislative options. The NRA had pushed for the Bush rulechange and was granted legal standing in a lawsuit brought by gun-
control advocates and environmental groups.
"We didn't give up in the fight to change the old, outdated rule andwe are going to pursue every legal and legislative avenue to defendthe American people's right to self-defense," Cox said Friday.
In her 44-page ruling, Judge Kollar-Kotelly called the InteriorDepartment's rule-making process "astoundingly flawed" and saidofficials failed to evaluate the possible environmental impacts of therule change, as required by law. The judge set an April 20 deadlinefor the Interior Department to indicate its likely response to thepreliminary injunction she granted.
The Obama administration had said it was reviewing the Bush rule buthad defended it in court. A spokeswoman for Interior Secretary KenSalazar says the department is reviewing its options.
Sen. Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat who pushed for the Bush rulechange, said Friday he was not giving up.
"I'm an avid supporter of the Second Amendment, and I will continue tofight on behalf of gun owners," Baucus said. "I will continue to pushso that any law-abiding citizen, in accordance with state law, cancarry their guns in national parks."
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9. Need citizen help to preserve National Forest shooting range nearHarrisonburg
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I received this message from Eric Korn. I have also contacted JimMullens, my counterpart in the West Virginia Citizens Defense League,as the range is just across the state line in West Virginia:
--
Our rights to use firearms have come under fire during the pastseveral months, and so have the places we can legally practice thoserights. Many of you may be familiar with the Westside Shooting Range,a facility operated by the National Forest Service in Brandywine, WV. It is located on Rt. 33 west of Harrisonburg, just over the WestVirginia border.
The range has recently been vandalized and after speaking with thegentleman in charge of its care, I got the impression that the ForestService is at its wits end.
This is one of the very few places left within a short drive of thepeople of Harrisonburg to shoot, and is free of charge.
It is appropriate for us, the citizens who use the location, to lend asmall hand to show the Forest Service that it is valuable to us.
The individual I contacted mentioned that the most help that could beprovided would be in the form of a cleanup crew to come out with 30gallon trashbags and bag up the garbage left by individuals. The VCDLis experienced at marshalling its exceptionally active membership.
I would like to know if someone would lead the charge to help thiseffort. I am willing to help with grunt work but having just had ababy, can't commit the energy required to get it off the ground.
I can be contacted at 202 684 6138.
Thanks!
Eric Korn
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10. Predictable call to reinstate weapons bans in wake of mass shooting
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You don't need an "assault rifle" to kill innocents in numbers and aGerman massacre proves it.
http://tinyurl.com/c5vtcd
Reason Magazine
The Gunman and the Gun Ban
Does Michael McLendon's rampage demonstrate the need to prohibit"assault weapons"?
Jacob Sullum March 18, 2009
Less than a day after Michael McLendon fired his last shot, guncontrol groups issued press releases that cited his murderous rampagethrough three Alabama towns as an argument for reviving the federal"assault weapon" ban. The Obama administration also wants to bringback the ban, on the theory that outlawing the firearms supposedlyfavored by gangbangers and homicidal maniacs will reduce thecasualties they inflict. But there is little reason to believe suchlaws can deliver on that promise.
Last week Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent GunViolence, claimed McLendon "needed the firepower of assault weapons toexecute his plan of mass carnage." In a joint statement, five anti-gungroups demanded "an effective federal assault weapons ban," callingthe Alabama massacre the latest in "a string of preventable tragediescommitted with these military-style weapons." They identifiedMcLendon's weapons as "a Bushmaster AR-15-style assault rifle and anSKS assault rifle," which they described as "military-bred firearmsdeveloped for the specific purpose of killing human beings quickly andefficiently."
In truth, neither of these guns is an assault rifle, which bydefinition is capable of firing automatically. Both of McLendon'srifles, like all the guns covered by "assault weapon" bans, weresemiautomatic, firing once per trigger pull.
Gun control groups deliberately foster confusion between "assaultweapons," an arbitrary category based mainly on appearances, andmachine guns, which are already strictly regulated under federal law.The confusion was apparent in news coverage of McLendon's shootingspree, which erroneously called his guns "automatic weapons" and "highpowered assault rifles."
Furthermore, the standard version of the SKS, because it has a fixedmagazine, was not covered by the federal "assault weapon" ban. It'snot clear from press accounts whether McLendon's Bushmaster riflewould have been covered by the law; the company makes a "post-ban"version of the AR-15 that complies with state laws similar to thefederal "assault weapon" ban because it does not have a collapsiblestock or a bayonet mount.
As those modifications suggest, the definition of "assault weapons"has little to do with features that make a practical difference in thehands of criminals (who in any event rarely use these guns). Theaspect of the federal "assault weapon" law that had the mostfunctional significance was the ban on magazines holding more than 10rounds. But that provision is unlikely to make a difference in crimeslike McLendon's, since magazines can be switched in a few seconds andthe time can be shortened by taping them together (as McLendon did).Not to mention the fact that plenty of pre-ban large-capacitymagazines would be available to a determined killer.
In any case, the focus on the specific guns used in attacks like thisis misleading because murderers don't need much "firepower" whenthey're attacking defenseless victims at random. The day afterMcLendon, using a rifle that anti-gun activists called an "assaultweapon," killed 10 people in Alabama, a teenager used a 9mm Berettapistol to kill 15 people in Germany. The deadliest mass shooting inU.S. history was accomplished with two ordinary handguns; so was thesecond deadliest.
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11. Pro-gun Democrats oppose new assault weapon ban
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http://tinyurl.com/d7eu4m
By JIM ABRAMS Wed, Mar. 18, 2009
Associated Press Writer
Sixty-five House Democrats said Wednesday that they would oppose anyattempt by the Obama administration to revive a ban on military-styleweapons that President Bill Clinton signed into law in 1994 andPresident George W. Bush let expire.
The pro-gun Democrats, led by Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., wrote AttorneyGeneral Eric Holder that they would "actively oppose any effort toreinstate the 1994 ban, or to pass any similar law."
They urged the administration to avoid a "long and divisive fight overa gun control issue" at a time when Washington needs to concentrate onthe economic crisis.
The House letter came a day after Montana's two Democratic senators,Max Baucus and Jon Tester, wrote a similar letter to Holder saying theJustice Department should enforce existing laws before considering newgun ownership restrictions. "We will strongly oppose any legislationthat will infringe upon the rights of individual gun owners," they said.
The letters came after Holder, during a news conference to announcethe arrest of Mexican drug dealers, said the drug cartels wereobtaining high-powered weapons like the AK-47 from U.S. gun stores andsaid the Obama administration supported reinstituting the ban on thesale of assault-style weapons.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has said she plans to introducelegislation to bring back the weapons ban. Feinstein was an author ofthe 1994 bill, which banned 19 types of semiautomatic, military-styleguns. The law expired under the Bush administration in 2004. Anotherlong-term goal is requiring that all gun shows conduct backgroundchecks before selling firearms.
The National Rifle Association has said it is mobilizing to stop anyassault weapons ban, and the opposition of 65 House Democrats, manyfrom rural or conservative districts with strong pro-gun sentiments,probably would doom any legislative drive to restrict gun ownership.
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12. Latest threat to DC gun rights
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http://tinyurl.com/bsna5t
Mike Stollenwerk
DC Gun Rights Examiner
DC Attorney General Peter Nickels acts schizophrenic on constitutionalrights
March 14, 2009
On March 3, 2009, the Washington Times reported that District ofColumbia Attorney General Peter J. Nickels said that DC residentsowning certain legally registered long guns will be barred from re-
registering them in three years due to the DC City Council's quietlypassed December 2008 amendments to DC's gun control statutes. Thesechanges make it unlawful to register long guns if the guns havecertain features such as pistol grips even though long guns withpistol grips are in common use across the United States.
But on March 11, 2009, Attorney General Nickels ordered correctionsofficials to ignore a DC law that prohibits the release of prisonersfrom jail between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. because, said Nickels, "it isunconstitutional for authorities to jail someone overnight who islegally entitled to go free." Nickels did this despite DC CouncilmanPhil Mendelson's long standing view that the Attorney General has noauthority to "unilaterally" declare a DC law unconstitutional.
The irony of Nickel's actions is shocking. Having unilaterally seizedjudge-like powers to strike down DC statutes without so much as apublic hearing, Nickels chooses to safeguard prisoners' "rights" to beset loose on a residential community in the wee hours of the morning,but refuses to block enforcement of an arbitrary gun registrationscheme that makes residents of this same community give up theirlegally registered firearms they keep to defend their homes for somesilly reason like pistol grips.
And there's more - apparently DC residents' legally registeredhandguns are also at risk.
On Thursday March 12, 2009 I called Attorney General Nickels' officeto ask whether handguns now legally registered to DC residents would,like some registered long guns, become unregisterable in the future ifat the time of required re- registration these handguns were not onthe California Roster of Handguns Certified for Sale (another quietlyenacted requirement of the DC City Council last December is that noresident may register a handgun unless is it on this California Rosterat the time of registration). This is the same arbitrary roster ofhandguns which led last week to a federal lawsuit filed against DC byresidents who were turned away from the police station's registrationoffice because their commonly used handguns were not on thisCalifornia Roster, including one handgun model which is on the Roster,but alas, is not the right color.
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13. Senate moves forward on wilderness bill
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Here is more information on a bill that would take a lot of land inVirginia and ban guns on it:
http://tinyurl.com/dk874m
By MATTHEW DALY - 16 March 2009
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate is again moving forward on a stalled billto set aside more than 2 million acres in nine states as protectedwilderness.
Senators endorsed the bill Monday on a test vote, setting up a vote onfinal approval later this week. The 73-21 vote was 13 more than the 60votes needed to go forward with the bill.
The Senate approved the measure in January, but it was defeated lastweek in the House amid a partisan dispute over a plan to allowconcealed, loaded guns in national parks.
The legislation - a package of about 170 separate bills - would conferthe government's highest level of protection on land ranging fromCalifornia's Sierra Nevada mountain range and Oregon's Mount Hood toRocky Mountain National Park in Colorado and parts of the JeffersonNational Forest in Virginia.
Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., said he would do everything in his power tostop the bill or at least slow it down. He complained that Democraticleaders had not allowed lawmakers to amend the 1,200-page bill on theSenate floor.
Coburn called the bill an "anti-stimulus" that will erect new barriersto energy exploration and squander billions of taxpayer dollars onwhat he described as parochial programs and frivolous pet projects.
Supporters disputed that, calling the measure among the most importantconservation bills debated in Congress in many years.
The bill would authorize one of the largest expansions of wildernessprotection in 25 years, blocking more than 2 million acres fromdevelopment. Federal land in California, Colorado, Idaho, Michigan,New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia would windesignation as wilderness, and more than 1,000 miles of rivers innearly a dozen states would gain protections.
The bill also would let Alaska go forward with plans to construct aroad through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge as part of a landswap that would transfer more than 61,000 acres to the federalgovernment, much of it designated as wilderness, the government'shighest level of protection.
Monday's vote was largely procedural. Senators stripped out languagefrom a related bill passed in the House and substituted the Senatewilderness language. The bill includes an amendment by Rep. JasonAltmire, D-Pa., clarifying that it would not impose new restrictionson hunting, fishing or trapping on federal land.
The amendment, pushed by the National Rifle Association, was seen asattempt to win backing from gun rights supporters.
By approving a previously passed House bill, lawmakers said they wouldbe able to craft a rule in the House blocking amendments or othermotions to derail the bill. Republicans used the threat of anamendment to allow loaded guns in national parks to defeat thewilderness bill last week.
If approved by the Senate, as expected, the measure could go to theHouse for final legislative approval by the end of the week.
The bill is H.R. 146.
On the Net: Congress: http://thomas.loc.gov/
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14. Geraldo misrepresents homeland defense rifles
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I am just going to say that Geraldo apparently had no idea what he wasreporting on in this story (sloppy journalism), implying that the AWBwas all about machine guns.
Sigh - all we ask is a little research on your part, Geraldo.
Smuth Waters sent the following email to Fox News:
--
On March 16th, 2009 on his show At Large, which began at 10pm, GeraldoRivera agreed with a former presidential candidate from Arkansas thatwe should re-institute the ban on "assault" guns and that nobody needsfully automatic "machine guns".
Well Mr. Rivera, if you were the investigative reporter and formerlawyer you claim to be, you'd be able to do a little investigating andactually tell the truth on Fox News like your fellow Fox News Channelreporters do.
There was no machine gun ban, never was. Fully automatic guns areheavily regulated by the ATF and so are the explosives that you claimare both being gotten by Mexican drug cartels from the U.S.A..
I don't know of any legal means by which to get grenade launchers,rockets, grenades and such here in the United States. Furthermore,fully auto guns need a class 3 FFL to be bought new from a dealer.
The "Assault Weapons Ban" from the Clinton years did nothing toregulate fully auto guns. Read here and follow links from this page tothe U.S. government to get more info: http://keepandbeararms.com/AWBan/text.asp
None of the guns listed or any of the attributes listed have anythingto do with how the gun performs, much less being fully auto. If andwhen you get your facts straight, you'll see that you've beenspreading lies either intentionally or unintentionally and that thefacts are almost if not completely on the NRA's side.
"Nobody needs a machine gun"? Nobody needs a microphone to practicethe first amendment either but you seem to be abusing it pretty wellspreading lies and false notions while others respectfully andresponsibly use their tools for good even on your own channel. Isuggest you have an hour special next show about why you and other gungrabbers are wrong and have people like Wayne LaPierre and Chris Coxof the NRA, Guy Smith of GunFacts.Info, even fellow attorney StephenP. Halbrook who's testified in congress about guns and second amendment.
What the Mexican president SHOULD do is give the law abiding people ofMexico their own "second amendment" to be able to protect themselvesfrom the drug crime. We should allow them to come to the U.S. on atemporary Visa after being checked out by CIA, FBI, ATF, ICE, and allstates to go to our own self-defense-with-guns training camps such asFront Sight in Nevada.
I guarantee you that a few million armed and trained citizens couldreduce crime in that country in less than five years just by thenumbers of good guys having guns even if they don't have to use themmuch. The drug crimes down there don't just affect other drug dealersand users.
Users break into other peoples' homes, steal their cars and things,and even kidnap people for money to buy the illegal drugs andillegally acquired guns. Dealers kill the innocent and their familiesif you refuse to sell for them or try to get someone off drugs orreport them to the police, and that's if the corrupt police don't killyou first.
Don't send the National Guard to the border because they "have moreimportant things to do"? Who are you kidding? That is their very jobby definition. You sir, have some learning to do.
Here is the video:
http://tinyurl.com/dc9wv5
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15. Issue of gun rights still hot button in Congress
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http://tinyurl.com/c4c3gr
Issue of Gun Rights Still Holds Sway
By CARL HULSE The New York Times
March 15, 2009
Democrats have been exorcising some of their most stubborn politicaldemons of late.
In challenging former President George W. Bush over the war in Iraq,they showed they were overcoming their deep post-Vietnam fear of beingpainted as weak on defense when taking a strong anti-war stance. Now,exhibiting comfort with rolling back Bush-era tax cuts, Democrats seemto be losing their anxiety about the tax-and-spend label.
But there is one issue that retains the power to leave Democratsquivering: gun rights. Gun issues still persistently tie the party inknots and have been used by Republicans to stall two major bills thisyear, with more likely to come.
"It is a hot-button issue," said Representative Allen Boyd, Democratof Florida, a longtime hunter and one of the moderates who typicallysplit from the more liberal wing of the party to support the rights ofgun owners. "Some people around here know they can use it as a wedgeissue, and they try to do that."
It is a particularly hot-button topic with veteran CongressionalDemocrats who believe the party's strong support for a 1994 assaultweapons ban was the real reason they lost control of the House thatyear - not the House bank scandal, the failed health care initiative,the Contract with America or Newt Gingrich.
The power of that bad memory was unmistakable a few weeks ago in theimmediacy with which Speaker Nancy Pelosi shot down the suggestion bynew Attorney General Eric Holder that Congress might reinstitute theassault weapons ban.
"On that score, I think we need to enforce the laws we have rightnow," said Ms. Pelosi, echoing the position often taken by advocatesof gun rights.
Gun rights are probably equaled only by abortion rights in theirability to split Democrats and create political havoc.
Well aware of the Democratic sensitivity on guns and the reluctance ofsuburban and rural lawmakers to cast any vote that could be perceivedas anti-gun, Republicans see the issue as one of their most effectivepoison pills to sabotage legislation. They were able to add anexpansion of gun ownership in the District of Columbia to a long-
sought measure giving the district a full-voting seat in the House ofRepresentatives. Now the gun issue is an anchor on the bill in theHouse.
Democrats also came up just short of winning approval of a publiclands bill this week because of three Democratic holdouts. They wereinfluenced in part by concerns that the bill would upset gun ownerseven though the National Rifle Association had already signed offafter a promise that the bill would not curtail hunting on federal land.
Democratic leaders admit they are confounded by the mounting problemswith gun votes and are trying to find a way out of a situation that ispartly a product of their own success. The wider their majority, themore members Democrats have from swing districts where gun rights arelikely to be a prominent issue.
One of those members, Representative Travis Childers of Mississippi,last year was able to win House approval of his plan to let residentsof the District of Columbia buy and keep guns in their homes for self-
protection, a further retreat from the district's virtually universalban on legal handgun ownership that had already been relaxed by theSupreme Court.
"The Second Amendment right is a long-standing pillar in our system ofgovernment, and I believe law-abiding citizens should have the rightto defend their homes in the District of Columbia, just like they havethe ability to do so in the First Congressional District ofMississippi," said Mr. Childers, who persuaded 81 other Democrats toside with him.
Democratic leaders say that baseline of 80 or so Democrats hasundoubtedly grown, given gains in moderate districts last November,providing a solid House majority for gun rights when combined whenstrong support among Republicans. The cultural shift is pronounced -this week's mass shootings in Alabama and Germany stirred hardly aCongressional call for new gun restrictions, a contrast from pastepisodes.
Even with important legislation on the line, Ms. Pelosi and otherDemocratic leaders seem unwilling to demand that Democrats with arecord of backing gun rights relent when the issue is secondary, as isthe case with the District of Columbia voting-rights bill.
"Members come here to represent their districts, and I respect that,"Ms. Pelosi said.
And the fact is many conservative and moderate Democrats are notsimply acting out of worry of getting a black mark from the N.R.A -they are hunters and sportsmen and strongly believe in the right toown and bear arms.
But what some Democratic leaders fear is that Republicans are takingbetter advantage of the party divide on the subject and will step uptheir use of gun rights to derail other issues in the months ahead.
Mr. Boyd, the Florida lawmaker, said that Democrats cannot let thathappen.
"The truth is this administration and this Congress have some veryserious economic problems to deal with and we are going to get throughthem," he said. "Hopefully we will work around these distractions."
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16. Why Americans aren't gung-ho for more gun control
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Wow - Stephanie tells it like it is to her fellow Brits. Good for her!
http://tinyurl.com/bgbw5v
Stephanie Gutmann Mar 14, 2009
London Telegraph (UK)
A few days ago, in a post inspired by the Michael McLendon shootingrampage in Alabama which left 11 dead, the DT's Alex Spillius seemedmystified as to why Americans aren't pouring into the streets to pleadfor more restrictions on their (already pretty restricted) right tocarry arms.
I'm happy to shed some light for Brits who are apalled by our barbaricways.
Americans are too smart to grasp at inanimate objects and blame themfor tragedies like this.
As a case study let's look at the Virginia Tech massacre of 2007 inwhich a very, very disturbed 23-year-old man was able to wander hiscollege campus for hours, armed to the teeth, picking off victims atwill, until he had killed and wounded 47 people. I propose looking atVirginia Tech because we know a lot about that one. The general publichas been exposed to dossiers full of information on Cho Seung-Hui, theshooter, and the equivalent of pages of court testimony from peoplewho were close to him.
What did Americans learn in the months of study following VirginiaTech? That it was a sort of a perfect storm of modern malfunctions.Those dysfunctions were:
Moral relativism
Paralysis of common sense by law, regulation, and the fear of the lawsuit
As a distant third, gun control. (Yes, gun control. Spillius seemedshocked that "A pro-gun group even argued that if all students hadbeen allowed to carry guns on campus, Seung-hui Cho would have causedless carnage." But what about that argument?) [PVC: HMMMM - I wonderwho made that statement?
]In a saner society, someone like Cho would not have been allowed todrift like an unexploded grenade through a large anonymous statecollege system.
Cho's behavior had been worrying to friends and family since earlychildhood. Once he got to college, his behavior was terrifying tonearly everyone who encountered him. He sat in class for semesterafter semester wearing dark glasses, refusing to speak, and using hiscell-phone to take pictures of his teachers or classmates. When he didwrite things -- as he was supposed to as an English major -- they were"like something out of a nightmare," a classmate said. "The plays hadreally twisted, macabre violence that used weapons I wouldn't haveeven thought of."
Students transferred out of classes he was in; one teacher refused tohave him in her class. The head of the creative-writing departmentfound him so disturbing that she contacted police, but without an"explicit threat" (try defining that in a courtroom with lawyersdetermined to find violation of civil rights) the police could not doanything. One policeman later commented that rules designed to"protect our civil liberties become so imbalanced with oneanother...that their effect is to inhibit police from furtherinvestigation. They may even punish police criminally for makingfurther inquiries about the mental state of a person like the VirginiaTech shooter." On a education blog a college administrator said,"Colleges are sued when we attempt to remove students who have notexchanged in repeated disruptive behavior."
All the instructor was able to do was "encourage" Cho to go tocounseling, suggest that his "writing was unacceptable and he neededto write in another voice" and tutor him herself as a way of keepinghim out of class. She still felt it neccessary to keep a door openwhile he was in the room alone with her -- just in case.
On the morning of the shooting, after hearing that a killer was atlarge on their campus, Cho's classmates began talking with each other"with serious worry about whether he could be the school shooter."Considering the size of the Virginia Tech student body and thepossiblity that the shooter could have been one of hundreds ofemployees or even an outsider, this is significant.
The common thread that emerges is that everyone, in one way or another-- either by the catchisms of moral relativism, by lawsuit, or byregulation -- felt inhibited from doing anything.
Several years ago Philip K. Howard, the author of a book titled Lifewithout Lawyers analyzed the story of Charles Cullen, the male nursewho came to be known as "the most prolific serial killer in New Jerseyhistory."
"During his 16-year nursing career," Howard wrote, "Cullen was able tomove from one hospital to another ... because fear of litigationprevented those hospitals from giving him a bad reference. Co-workersobserved his strange behavior, and caught him in rooms of patientswith medications that weren't appropriate. But they didn't know he wasmurdering people, and couldn't prove that he was doing somethingillegal. So the hospitals would eventually let him go, and, when thenext hospital in line asked for a reference, merely gave the stockresponse of all employers nowadays: 'We confirm that he worked herefrom this to that date.'"
We don't know enough yet about the Mclendon case, but I have a feelingwe will find much the same syndrome in McClendon's life.
Incidentally, Cullen killed far more people than McClendon or Cho buthis weapon was a hypodermic needle filled with overdose-levels ofmedication. Doesn't that show that someone determined to kill otherswill find a way?
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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.
VCDL web page: http://www.vcdl.org
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"Not to worry, I got this !!! " "Stand your ground. Don't fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here." Captain John Parker