Keep and Bear Arms - Gun Owners Home Page

VA: The NRA, the VFW and Rep. Perriello
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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"To me, he�s for us," U.S. Navy veteran Kevin Cramton said at the VFW PAC�s annoucement this week. "He could have hid up in Washington, but he�s been here talking to us. � The most important thing to me is that we have an issue-sensitive person who can lead us into the future."

On another important local issue, the Second Amendment, Perriello has received the National Rifle Association�s endorsement. The NRA actually gave both Perriello and his Republican challenger, Sen. Robert Hurt, an "A" rating, but gave the endorsement to Perriello.

By stereotype, Democrats are supposed to be anti-gun and anti-veteran. Perriello hasn�t been either during his short political career.

NY: Guns in Bars: A Debate Over Safety
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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Even in the days of the Wild West, it was unambiguous saloon policy in several towns to check the guns at the door. I recently watched a rerun of �Gunsmoke� in which Marshal Matt Dillon and Miss Kitty, the barkeep, made sure there were no firearms allowed in Dodge City barrooms because they knew from practical experience that guns and alcohol just didn�t mix.

Of course, they didn�t have the National Rifle Association back then stirring up trouble by demanding that Second Amendment rights be extended to drunken, out-of-control customers in a bar.

Ed.: Um, you do know "Gunsmoke" is a work of fiction, right?

NJ: Don�t touch gun-carry permit law
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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Few public policy issues in this country � and in New Jersey � are as controversial and poorly understood as gun control.

Despite an endless stream of senseless and horrific gun crimes in our state, some still vehemently oppose New Jersey�s comprehensive handgun permitting scheme � and indeed any handgun regulation at all.

As professors at Seton Hall Law School who are distressed at the recent tragic shooting death of a Seton Hall college student, and as lawyers who defended Jersey City�s one-gun-a-month ordinance in our state�s Supreme Court, we applaud the New Jersey Legislature�s long-standing commitment to limiting the use of guns as much as possible in this state.

IL: Will marijuana become legal in Illinois?
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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The same goes for guns and weapons, said Justus, ..., which is allowed in Missouri but not Illinois.

"I've made no bones about that," Justus said. He feels a majority of his constituents want concealed-carry, though he's unsure how they feel about legalizing marijuana.

Justus said the state may see a change in the concealed-carry law this year, depending on who gets elected to succeed Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley.

McArthur also said he's for the Second Amendment.

"In every instance in any state that has had concealed carry, the instances of death, rape, burglary has gone down," McArthur said. "If a perp doesn't know who has a gun, it's going to make them think twice before committing a crime."

New Zealand: 'Someone will be shot': Fake guns fear
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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Replica firearms not covered by a law change coming into effect this week could just as easily cost a life if they appear real, police warn after incidents in Napier.

Napier Detective Sergeant Emmet Lynch and his colleagues have dealt with three firearms in the past week that were either replicas or looked like more powerful weapons.

One, a rifle that fires slug pellets, was used in a random drive-by shooting in which a man was shot in the stomach while ... with friends outside the Thirsty Whale Bar & Restaurant on West Quay in the suburb of Ahuriri, central Napier, about 2.30am yesterday.

AZ: Fun, guns will be ablazin' at Tombstone�s Helldorado
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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This Friday, Saturday and Sunday, �the town too tough to die� will bring its legendary past to life through its annual Helldorado celebration.

Every year, Helldorado transforms Tombstone into an action-packed, rip-roaring carnival of gunfight re-enactments and street performances. Now in its 81st year, the three-day event draws people back into the 1880s, to a time when the streets bustled with miners, drifters, gamblers, ladies of the evening and rugged cowmen.

NV: Tea Party extremism may backfire in Nevada
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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Nevada�s one million registered voters may never have been this divided. Polls show Mr. Reid and Ms. Angle in a dead heat. Predicting the outcome of the race has been made even more difficult by the presence of a Tea Party of Nevada candidate. While Scott Ashjian�s Donald-Trump-like demeanour has many questioning his grassroots authenticity � some think his newly formed party is a pro-Reid ruse � he could draw just enough votes from Ms. Angle to deprive her of victory.

Then there is the �none of the above� ballot option that Nevadans have enjoyed since 1974. Polls show more of them than ever may use it now.

...

A combination of Latino disaffection and Tea Party enthusiasm could make...Angle the biggest giant-killer of them all...

PA: Pa. House Votes To Extend Self-Defense Protections
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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The so-called �Castle Doctrine� - H.B. 40 - would expand current state law to allow individuals to use deadly force against an intruder, even if the intruder does not first threaten bodily harm to the individual. The bill passed with large bipartisan support, 158-39, and is headed to the state Senate for consideration.

�There is nothing more important than the basic right of law-abiding citizens to be able to defend themselves, their families and their property from the imminent threats of criminals who seek to cause devastating or fatal bodily harm,� said state Rep. Scott Perry, R-York, the sponsor of the bill.

Asked Wednesday if he would sign the bill, Gov. Ed Rendell said he would wait to see the final version...

FL: Florida Open Carry holds events across Central Florida
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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Open carry gun rights supporters met Saturday on public fishing piers in Tampa and Daytona Beach, FL for a morning of fishing and to exercise their right to bear arms. The Florida Open Carry movement started holding open carry & fishing events immediately after the United States Supreme Court clarified that the Second Amendment protects a fundamental right for the individual to keep and bear arms for self defense. The high court also held that the Second Amendment is incorporated to the states. This requires that state and local governments protect your right to own and carry firearms without undue restrictions. Much like the right to free speech, the right to bear arms has now been recognized as a civil right.

Right Wing Militias & NRA: 2nd Amendment Soulmates
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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[The] Time magazine cover story on "The Secret World of Extreme Militias" sounds an alarm that cannot be ignored. The threat of terrorism is real, but it does not originate with Al Qaeda alone. The danger of homegrown right wing political violence is just as real.

The Time article describes...the proliferation of heavily armed, right wing militias engaged in paramilitary training to resist the perceived �tyranny� of government authority. Time notes that although the groups and individuals of the violent right reflect a �complex web� of ideologies, �among the most common convictions is that the Second Amendment� the right to keep and bear arms � is the Constitution�s cornerstone, because only a well-armed populace can enforce its rights.�

MT: House District 25 opponents say creation of jobs is key
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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I'm running for the Legislature because I care about Great Falls and Montana's future. I grew up in Riverview. I have energy and values to ensure my neighborhood has a seat at the table.

I'm a fourth generation Montanan and value our hunting, fishing and outdoor heritage. I'll work to protect our Second Amendment rights and expand access to public lands. I'm a product of local schools and will work to make sure every kid has access to excellent education.

CO: Choose your weapon
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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The place was loaded.

The Tanner Gun Show, the oldest and largest of its kind in the state, opened Saturday at the Colorado State Fairgrounds.

The Agricultural Palace was wall-to-wall with every weapon imaginable � handguns, rifles, military surplus, knives, ammunition � all which will be on display again today.

The Tanner Gun Show in Denver features 700 tables of weapons and normally draws about 7,500 people. In Pueblo, with 500 tables of weapons on display, show co-owner Jeff Brown said they expect to see a crowd of about 5,000 this weekend.

TX: The facts support law on �campus carry�
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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As a civilized society, we naturally find the notion of allowing guns on college campuses to be counterintuitive. Guns are associated with irrational violence, and college campuses are associated with rational thought. Keeping the two separated seems like a matter of common sense.

But counterintuitive doesn't always equal wrong, and as Albert Einstein reportedly said, "Common sense is nothing more than a deposit of prejudices laid down by the mind before you reach 18." To resolve the debate over "campus carry," we must put aside our prejudices and look at the facts.

TN: In the hunt: Women are taking up guns and bows in growing numbers
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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Whitney Hoskins, a nursing student at the University of Memphis, plans her schedule around hunting season. She might get off from her part-time waitress job at 1 a.m., drive an hour into Arkansas, grab a quick snooze in a cabin bunk, then rise at 5 a.m. to boat out to a duck pit where she waits with her male hunting buddies in the pre-dawn cold for the first wave of squawking, flapping future gourmet dinners.

Hoskins, 30, is an enthusiastic invader of traditional male turf where the rules aren't always obvious. "The first thing I learned is that you don't say you're cold," she said. "If they hear it, you don't get to come back."

WI: Feingold finding maverick role of scant help against GOP tide
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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Yet the three-term senator who portrays himself as a principled maverick in a state where neither major party dominates trails political newcomer Ron Johnson, an Oshkosh businessman, by a significant margin in the polls. And with just over three weeks to go before the Nov. 2 midterm elections, many political analysts say the race now is the challenger's to lose.

"The problem that [Mr. Feingold] is facing this year is that voting against [the Wall Street bailout] and voting for guns is not going to be something that wins conservative voters for him," said Charles H. Franklin, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

WI: Gals with guns: These 'divas' are armed
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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When Judy Rhodes founded a group more than a decade ago to encourage women to shoot and hunt, her own outsized personality guaranteed that members would be a force to be reckoned with in the outdoors.

The group -- DIVA ... Women Outdoors Worldwide -- now counts more than 1,500 members around the world. Rhodes, the daughter of a Texas rancher who learned how to handle a BB gun at age 4, said that about half of the women who join also have strong outdoors backgrounds, while the other half haven't picked up a gun before.

"That was just second nature to me to see a shotgun or a rifle in the gun rack," said Rhodes, a feisty blonde with a Southern accent. "Whenever something slithers, crawls or hops, you've got to pop it."

VA: Floyd Bayne (Va-7) attends candidate forum at Tea Party Convention PART 1
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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Bayne started his two-minute opening statement with the greeting �Hello Patriots� to the Tea Party audience always receptive to such words telling them he was �the only conservative in this race.� He went on to say that he �sees himself as the Tea Party candidate because I believe in the principles of the Tea Party as you do.�

...

The first question was regarding gun control, an easy one for the candidate who is big on the Second Amendment: �Can you see the sticker?� he asked pointing to the bright orange �Guns Saves Lives� message on his suit jacket. �I believe the Second Amendment itself is our gun permit,� Floyd Bayne said after detailing his background and training with firearms...

IN: Guns took everything
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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Gun advocates say guns don't kill people, people do.

They won't get an argument from Gary's Lenore Johnson, who nevertheless cites four strong reasons why she believes guns should be banned.

Since 1993, all four of Johnson's children have been gunned down in separate shootings in Gary, finally leaving her childless at 57.

Johnson said she sent her 24-year-old son, Du-Shaun, to the store Dec. 8, 1993, to buy groceries.

He never came back.

NM: Susana Martinez works to prove she's ready for state's top job
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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When Donna Richmond called the Do�a Ana County District Attorney's Office in 1999 to get information about the possible parole of the man who had killed her police officer father in the line of duty several years before, she expected to get the government runaround.

Instead, a return phone call came quickly, with the district attorney herself on the line.

"She (Susana Martinez) called me back and gave me the information that I needed. To be treated with that type of dignity and respect, as the victim of a crime ... that was comforting," said Richmond, now a victim advocate in Do�a Ana County.

AZ: Stick to your guns
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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The very fact that Americans have had the right to keep and bear arms since our inception and (that right) is currently being called into question is a little disturbing. It says a lot about our current, so-called "leaders" and the rise of liberalism over the last few decades.

There is no doubt that violent criminals have exempted themselves from this inherent freedom, but law-abiding, tax-paying and responsible Americans who understand the great responsibility that comes with gun ownership should never be questioned about their right to own self-protection or recreational guns.

NV: Lie face-down and let yourself be cuffed?
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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Meantime, why is the public now informed that a license to carry a concealed weapon actually constitutes a license to be made to lie face down on the ground, to be handcuffed and disarmed until police are confident they have everything under control?

The main purpose of the Second and 14th amendments is to retain our power to resist government authority should it someday become excessive or oppressive -- a day which appears to approach ever closer. Where would we be today if George Washington et al. had agreed to be handcuffed and disarmed till the Redcoats had everything "sorted out" and decided whether to return the rebels' arms ... unloaded?

MT: Record shows Montanans satisfied with state Constitution
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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Certainly, the 1972 Constitution isn�t perfect. But as someone who served in the Legislature under both the 1889 and 1972 constitutions, I know the 1972 document is vastly superior. It�s practical, understandable, and more protective of human rights and liberties. It contains bold and sometimes contentious provisions such as an explicit right to privacy, to a clean and healthful environment, and to a clearly defined individual right to bear arms. Unique among state constitutions, ours recognizes the personal right to human dignity, and the special heritage of American Indians. It guarantees Montanans the opportunity, every 20 years, to decide whether to call a new constitutional convention.

What do Balinese dogs have to do with 'gun control'?
Submitted by: David Codrea
Website: http://www.davidcodrea.com

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"Aside from humans falling victims to rabid dogs, and to Sea Dogs engaged in rampant piracy throughout the region, we can also observe, not unexpectedly for those of us who warn against 'monopolies of violence,' tyrannical government abuse of its exclusive franchise."

The Dec. 2010 issue of GUNS Magazine is now online as a free download. In addition to my monthly "Rights Watch" column, this issue also has my review of the Neal Knox essay collection "The Gun Rights War."

Most Congressmen in monthly survey fail on Second Amendment Submitted by: David Codrea Website: http://www.davidcodrea.com	There are no comments on this story Post Comments \| Read Comments
"Every month, GUNS posts issues from the corresponding month from half a century before on its website, giving us a great window into a past some of us are old enough to remember (See 'Related Articles,' below). A free download of the October 1960 issue is now online."

Will posting comments here put YOU on the government's watch list?
Submitted by: David Codrea
Website: http://www.davidcodrea.com

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I was planning on doing just one post today on Gun Rights Examiner about the old GUNS Magazine issue, and then taking this beautiful Fall day off--but then a document fell in my lap that involves my blog, Mike Vanderboegh's novel "Absolved," my GRE column, and those of you who comment here, there and in similar venues. Tie this all together with the father in New Hampshire whose tenuous Oath Keepers affiliation was exploited by child protective services, along with the merger of DHS with SPLC, and we have a convergence I could not ignore.