Keep and Bear Arms - Gun Owners Home Page

Can Washington DC Legally Stop Residents from Owning a Handgun? (Supreme Court Brief)
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff

There are no comments on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments

The central question is whether the Second Amendment protects a private right to keep handguns and other firearms, independent of an individual’s membership in a state-regulated militia. As a problem for constitutional historians, the question can be elaborated and restated in this way: Did the framers and ratifiers of the Amendment believe they were constitutionally entrenching an individual right to keep arms for personal protection? Or did they conceive the Amendment to achieve a different end, by affirming that a “well-regulated militia” of citizen-soldiers would preserve “the security of a free state,” principally by lessening the need for a republican government to depend on a standing army?

KY: Allow institutions to regulate rules regarding firearms
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff

There are no comments on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments

A bill to allow guns to be kept in cars on college campuses, introduced to the state legislature by Rep. Bob Damron, D-Nicholasville, threatens the autonomy of universities and does not deserve to pass.

This legislation, House Bill 114, would be a departure from a current state law that allows universities to make their own policies regarding firearms on university property.

Damron correctly stated in a Kernel article on Wednesday that this is an important subject and that those in opposition to his proposal should not take it lightly.

VA: Instant record checks are no threat
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff

There are no comments on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments

It is my hope that the bills will pass and that instant record checks will be required. I believe that a significant majority of Virginians agree -- at least 68 percent of us feel it is a high priority, according to a recent Christopher Newport University poll.

It is interesting to note that instant record checks are now required at gun shows if the seller is a licensed firearms dealer. Passage of these bills would level the playing field and the private seller would likewise be required to secure the check. The bills establish a procedure that would permit the checks with a minimum of inconvenience to both the seller and the purchaser.

NY: Slain White Plains officer appears to have been victim of friendly fire Submitted by: Dennis	There are no comments on this story Post Comments \| Read Comments
An off-duty police officer who was shot to death in downtown White Plains early Friday evening appears to have been a victim of friendly fire. Mount Vernon Officer Christopher Ridley, 23, was trying to make an arrest outside a Westchester County government complex when officers from a different department spotted him, and, under circumstances that remain unclear, opened fire and killed him.

215 convicted killers were set free in Spitzer's first year as governor Submitted by: Dennis	There are no comments on this story Post Comments \| Read Comments
They've murdered children, set deadly fires and destroyed lives in moments of rage. They went to prison and could have spent the rest of their lives behind bars. Instead, they are free. Dozens of cold-blooded killers who repeatedly begged to be released have in the last year gotten their wish in record numbers.

NY: Officers� Arrests Put Spotlight on Police Use of Informants
Submitted by: Anonymous

There are no comments on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments

It is sometimes said that snitches are the lifeblood of police work. The question is: Are they also a poison?
Formally known as C.I.�s, for confidential informants, they are a detective�s best friend. They act as eyes and ears. They serve as secret tipsters. They take the police, by proxy, to the dangerous and privileged places where badges cannot go.
At the same time, they present problems of administration � and sometimes of temptation � to those who uphold the law. Petty crime is often tolerated in exchange for information. Detectives can be duped by an informant�s agenda. While cases of corruption are rare, it is fairly common to have more �give� in this delicate give-and-take.

MA: Who's Afraid of the NRA?
Submitted by: RPA-PAC
Website: http://www.rpa-pac.org

There are no comments on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has spent the past few months denying that his recent, highly publicized departure from the Republican Party stemmed from presidential aspirations, claiming that the nation would never elect a �short, divorced Jewish billionaire� into its highest office. Yet whatever drawbacks his stature and marital status may present, they have not held him back from a similarly daunting quest: Taking on the illegal gun trade in America.

In More Cases, Combat Trauma Is Taking the Stand
Submitted by: Anonymous

There are no comments on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments

When it came time to sentence James Allen Gregg for his conviction on murder charges, the judge in South Dakota took a moment to reflect on the defendant as an Iraq combat veteran who suffered from severe post-traumatic stress disorder.
�This is a terrible case, as all here have observed,� said Judge Charles B. Kornmann of United States District Court. �Obviously not all the casualties coming home from Iraq or Afghanistan come home in body bags.�
Judge Kornmann noted that Mr. Gregg, a fresh-faced young man who grew up on a cattle ranch, led �an exemplary life until that day, that terrible morning.�

AZ: Legislation to remove ban on CCW weapons in schools
Submitted by: Dustin
Website: http://dustinsgunblog.blogspot.com/2008/01/az-legislation-to-remove-ban-on-ccw.html

There are no comments on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments

New legislation has been proposed in Arizona to exempt CCW permit holders from the existing Arizona ban on having a weapon in public establishments, polling places, and schools. Currently in Arizona anyone who gets caught bringing a weapon onto school grounds who is not a Police officer will go to jail. This is of course a violation of the 2nd Amendment to infringe on the rights of citizens to bear arms, as well as a violation of our God given right to self protection wherever we are legally allowed to be . . .

You should check out the discussion taking place related to these bills. It is rather heated.

ID: Gunning for safety
Submitted by: ChareltonHest
Website: http://atfabuse.com

There are no comments on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments

The state of California has added more than 200,000 records since 2007, but nationally only 20 percent of about 2.6 million criminal mental health records have been added to the system.

Rich Ohnsman, ISP spokesman, said the state is examining the current records system to learn just how mental health records will be released.

Ohnsman said personal medical records are protected by law and will not be released, but mental health records on people who are involuntarily committed will be compiled in the system by the Bureau of Criminal Identification.

Bush orders NSA to snoop on US agencies
Submitted by: Anonymous

There are no comments on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments

Not content with spying on other countries, the NSA (National Security Agency) will now turn on the US's own government agencies thanks to a fresh directive from president George Bush.

Under the new guidelines, the NSA and other intelligence agencies can bore into the internet networks of all their peers. The Bush administration pulled off this spy expansion by pointing to an increase in the number of cyber attacks directed against the US, possibly from foreign nations. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) will spearhead the effort around identifying the source of these attacks, while the Department of Homeland Security and Pentagon will concentrate on retaliation.

NY: Skeet shooting puts teen right on target
Submitted by: RPA-PAC
Website: http://www.rpa-pac.org

There are no comments on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments

To think that it all started with a shy yet curious 13-year-old playing a game with a relative. Four years ago, Alik Miller went to watch his grandfather, Art Miller, practice his skeet shooting skills. Skeet, an Olympic sport since 1968, is a recreational and competitive activity in which participants attempt to break clay disks flung into the air at speeds upward of 43 mph from a variety of angles. Alik watched in awe as his grandfather continued to break disks time after time. Alik turned and asked if he could learn. That small exchange ignited a desire that this year culminated in Alik winning the Junior World Skeet Championship in Massachusetts.

NJ: Hunt Aims to Curb New Jersey Deer Population
Submitted by: Anonymous

There are no comments on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments

Sharpshooters will take to the trees next week in northern New Jersey's South Mountain Reservation to deal with a problem that has become the scourge of many suburban communities: too many deer.
Proponents of the 10-day hunt say it is necessary to thin the number of white-tailed deer because they are destroying the vegetation and becoming a hazard for motorists.
``I don't own a gun. I'm not a hunter. It's not something that I want to do, but it's something I have to do,' said Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo Jr., who pushed for the hunt.
--------
COMMENT: A limited bow hunt would have accomplished the same thing for much less taxpayer money. But then this is New Jersey.

The Second Amendment, gun control and the right of privacy
Submitted by: RPA-PAC
Website: http://www.rpa-pac.org

There are no comments on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments

The Second Amendment reads: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." The Supreme Court recently agreed to hear a case (District of Columbia v. Heller) that held unconstitutional the District's sweeping ban on handgun possession. The crux of the lower court's ruling is that the Second Amendment means the right of an individual to possess a gun, not a collective right of a state militia or the modern-day National Guard to do so.

A Proclamation, "rendered so by a Body of armed Men", Nov. 16, [1775]
Submitted by: GunShowOnTheNet.com
Website: http://GunShowOnTheNet.com/

There are no comments on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments

"...A PROCLAMATION.

"AS I have ever entertained Hopes that an Accommodation might have taken Place between Great Britain and this Colony, without being compelled, by my Duty, to this most disagreeable, but now absolutely necessary Step, rendered so by a Body of armed Men, unlawfully assembled, firing on his Majesty's Tenders, and the Formation of an Army, and that Army now on their March to attack his Majesty's Troops . . . I do, in Virtue of the Power and Authority to me given, but his Majesty, determine to execute martial Law..."

To the Senators and Representatives of the United States of America, "but the sons of men call on you for natural rights", Jan. 30, 1817
Submitted by: GunShowOnTheNet.com
Website: http://GunShowOnTheNet.com/

There are no comments on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments

"...IT IS MUCH EASIER TO PREVENT AN INJURY THAN TO CORRECT IT!

"The eyes of the world are upon you. Every word that escapes you has in it the seeds of life or death. Let me conjure you to think, and weigh well each sentence before it be uttered; for sixteen millions of men are now in the suspended balance of happiness or misery. If you throw into the scale of misery the power you have derived from the Most High, and endeavor to rivet the chains with which your brethren of the south have so long been shackled, Hell will leap with joy; for slavery, ignorance and crime are in unison! ..."

"...the immortal Washington . . . . but his firm soul was unmoved, when he was tempted to invade the rights of the people...."

Freemen and Soldiers of Kentucky, "arm and equip yourselves. Let not too great a partiality for any particular weapon prevail--all are alike useful in the hands of the brave--all are useless in those of the coward.", Nov. 17, 1808
Submitted by: GunShowOnTheNet.com
Website: http://GunShowOnTheNet.com/

There are no comments on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments

"...YOUR Country again calls upon you to rally round her standard. Menaced from abroad by the enemies of our liberty and our independence; our country has but the alternative of submitting to become the humble slaves of their will, or stand firm upon our own dear bought soil of freedom;--prepared to meet and repel with our lives, their aggressions on our rights..."

"...The citizens of Kentucky, except a few who preferred a life of indolence to one of freedom with danger, did not wait to be drafted..."

"...arm and equip yourselves. Let not too great a partiality for any particular weapon prevail--all are alike useful in the hands of the brave--all are useless in those of the coward..."

Thomas Gage, Esq; Governor, and commander in chief, "a number of armed persons, to the amount of many thousands assembled", June 12, 1775
Submitted by: GunShowOnTheNet.com
Website: http://GunShowOnTheNet.com/

There are no comments on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments

"...The minds of men have been thus gradually prepared for the worst extremities; a number of armed persons, to the amount of many thousands assembled on the 19th of April last, and from behind walls, and lurking holes, attacked a detachment of the King's troops..."

"...pardon in all who shall forthwith lay down their arms . . . excepting only from the benefit of such pardon, Samuel Adams..."

"...all and every person, and persons of what class, denomination or description soever, who have appeared in arms . . . all such as shall so take arms after the date hereof, or who shall in any-wise protects or conceal such offenders, or assist them with money, provision, cattle, arms, ammunition..."

Southern Excitement, "we can only say, with the Spartans, when THEIR ARMS were demanded, come and take them", [1825]
Submitted by: GunShowOnTheNet.com
Website: http://GunShowOnTheNet.com/

There are no comments on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments

"...This is the advice of WASHINGTON. Who is the American that will fail to obey it? ..."

"...as we desire and insist that individual freedom should not be interfered with or in any manner restrained..."

"...Is it not an issue of life and death--of liberty and slavery? Turn not to our own revolution, for it must shame you; but look back to the history of all past ages, and tell me where and when did that people ever live, possessed of the least pretensions to civilized liberty, who have been goaded by such insults and such wrongs, and did not spring to THE CANNON'S MATCH and THE MUSKETS to redress them." ..."

"...we can only say, with the Spartans, when THEIR ARMS were demanded, come and take them." ..."

Declaration of Causes and Necessity for Taking Up Arms, July 6, 1775
Submitted by: GunShowOnTheNet.com
Website: http://GunShowOnTheNet.com/

There are no comments on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments

"...From thence the Troops proceeded in warlike Array . . . until compelled to retreat by the Country People suddenly assembled to repel this cruel Aggression..."

"...the said Inhabitants having deposited their Arms with their own Magistrates, should have Liberty to depart, taking with them their other Effects. They accordingly delivered up their Arms..."

"...We have counted the Cost of this Contest, and find nothing so dreadful as voluntary Slavery.--Honor, Justice and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that Freedom which we received from our gallant Ancestors, and which our innocent Posterity have a Right to receive from us...."

Quartermaster's Department, "to furnish the means of protection and defence to all who may be destitute of them", Oct. 19, 1857
Submitted by: GunShowOnTheNet.com
Website: http://GunShowOnTheNet.com/

There are no comments on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments

"...The knowledge that an outraged people had at length banded themselves together, almost to a man, for the protection of the most sacred rights of freemen, and were ready to die in their defence, has most manifestly deterred an organized invasion. Voting-lists ready manufactured, and false returns have been made to supply its place; against this, the organization could afford no protection..."

"...In view of possible contingencies, this Department hereby announces that it will still continue its exertions to furnish the means of protection and defence to all who may be destitute of them; and in all cases first to supply those localities most exposed to invasion and attack..."

The Constitution gone!!, "and renders the citizen liable to be deprived of his arms and his money", [1806]
Submitted by: GunShowOnTheNet.com
Website: http://GunShowOnTheNet.com/

There are no comments on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments

"..."An Act to suspend the Rights of the People, and to create an absolute Dictator for an indefinite period." ..."

"...7.--It subjects every man's most secret and confidential papers to seizure and examination, by military officers, and renders the citizen liable to be deprived of his arms and his money, under the pretext of suspicion by a host of mercenary spies and hirelings, who are bribed by an offer of plunder, to exercise their licentious cupidity...."

"...and also of preventing any armed or riotous assemblage of persons resisting the officers of the United States..."

The Lesson Not Learned, "and permit him to be armed for his own defence and for the defence of his country", March 25, 1868
Submitted by: GunShowOnTheNet.com
Website: http://GunShowOnTheNet.com/

There are no comments on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments

"...Such gloomy forebodings produce, as I am well aware, little other effect than derision. Derision was the answer to the many years of faithful warning before the War. The argument, in those years, that slavery was too great a crime and too heavy an oppression to be endured much longer, and that, unless speedily put away by peaceable means, it would call out violence and end in blood, was, almost universally, met with incredulity, ridicule and scorn.

"...but the nation would not repent of that injustice to the negro, which had provoked the War. The War had gone on for years--and not yet was the nation willing to emancipate the slave, and permit him to be armed for his own defence and for the defence of his country..."

To the Governors of the Loyal States, "Let every Union man provide himself with fire arms, and with at least one hundred rounds of ammunition", Jan. 26, 1876
Submitted by: GunShowOnTheNet.com
Website: http://GunShowOnTheNet.com/

There are no comments on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments

"...Do not rely upon your army and navy, for I tell you that they will mostly go with their Commander-in-chief; but rather rely upon the "bone and sinew" of the country--its true and loyal defenders--and lose not a single day in getting them ready for action. Guard well your State armories, and within a few days from this time let a strong guard be placed around the vaults of every bank, for the enemy must first have the sinews of war to carry it on successfully. Let every Union man provide himself with fire arms, and with at least one hundred rounds of ammunition, and then be prepared to use them whenever occasion requires..."

NJ: South Jersey Officer Arrested On Sex Charges Submitted by: jac	There are no comments on this story Post Comments \| Read Comments
In South Jersey, a police officer was arrested on sex charges, authorities said. Walter Krych, 53, is accused of assaulting a child. He is an officer with Middle Township police in Cape May County. He faces two counts of sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child.

AZ: Proposed bill OKs guns in schools
Submitted by: bigcuz

There are no comments on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments

"Individuals with a concealed-weapons permit would be allowed to bring their guns onto school grounds under a measure introduced Friday at the Arizona Legislature."

"The proposal, Senate Bill 1214, would exempt concealed-carry permit holders from a state law that bars individuals from knowingly carrying deadly weapons onto school property. If it becomes law, the measure would allow teachers and anyone else with a valid permit to carry their weapon onto the grounds of any public or private K-12 school, college or university in the state."

"Supporters say the measure would provide an additional ring of security on campuses hit with a string of shootings in recent years. ..." ...

NY: Guns on display Submitted by: RPA-PAC Website: http://www.rpa-pac.org	There are no comments on this story Post Comments \| Read Comments
More than 400 gun exhibits and displays took hold of the Empire State Plaza Convention Center in Albany this weekend. Dealers from all over the US and Canada showed off their collectable firearms and memorabilia in what has become one of the largest gun shows in the nation. The display draws in both novices and veterans alike.