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MI: New rules now in effect for getting a concealed pistol license in Michigan
Submitted by: Corey Salo

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New rules are in effect for getting a concealed pistol permit in Michigan.

And one county clerk says the changes make it easier for people who may not have gotten a permit under the old rules to get one now.

"I think it certainly has a potential to become a sieve," said Genesee County Clerk-Registrar John Gleason. "Many more people can slide through than in the past."

Under the new law applications are to be processed within 45 days instead of the eight weeks in the past. In addition, if the paperwork isn't processed within the 45-day-period applicants can use their application receipts received by the clerk's office as proof of certification.

State police are required to develop an online permit renewal system by Oct 2018.

FL: STOP Prosecutors from Conspiring Against Your Self-Defense Rights
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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SB-344 Burden of Proof by Sen. Rob Bradley is scheduled to be heard in the Senate Rules Committee on Thursday, December 3, 2015, at 1:00PM

SB-344 Burden of Proof (current version) restores the Stand Your Ground law to the original intent of the Legislature by putting the burden of proof BACK ON THE STATE where it belongs.

Make no mistake, some of the Florida State�s Attorneys and prosecutors are conspiring against law-abiding citizens and your right of self-defense. Some prosecutors want make it as easy as possible to convict people or force them to plea-bargain � regardless of innocence.

AZ: Attorney: Sober toxicology report could help NAU shooter�s self-defense claim
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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�The defense now doesn�t really have to say, �Look, these other three people are lying,� they can just say, �Look, they were impaired by alcohol and marijuana. Not that they�re lying, they just didn�t perceive the event accurately,'� he said.

However, Jones still faces some obstacles in his self-defense case. Victor said there are two major issues in his defense, one of which is that Jones allegedly retrieved the gun from his car before opening fire.

MO: Fatal shooting of St. Louis teen may test self-defense law
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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It allows for the use of deadly force when people encounter intruders in homes and vehicles.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports prosecutors said Monday that they are reviewing the case. According to police, Martinez Smith-Payne and two other boys were stealing from an unlocked vehicle around 12:45 a.m. Sunday when a 60-year-old man confronted them and shot Martinez. The 13-year-old was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The man was arrested, but released after prosecutors did not charge him.

South Africa: Pistorius guilty of murder, appeals court rules Submitted by: Mark A. Taff Website: http://www.marktaff.com	There are no comments on this story Post Comments \| Read Comments
Under South African law, a person isn�t entitled to fire at an intruder in self-defense unless that intruder poses a direct threat, pointing a loaded weapon. Moreover, to mount a legal case of self-defense, an accused person must show that he or she intended to fire in self-defense: but Pistorius insisted in court that he never formed any intention to shoot.

CA: San Francisco Police Shoot and Kill Man in Shocking Instagram Video
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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At least eight San Francisco police officers were surrounding a man when several opened fire, shooting and killing the knife-wielding man in a hail of bullets earlier today.

Had it not been caught on Instagram video, this could easily have been reported as another case of a suspect �lunging� at the officers.

That, after all, is one of most commonly used words in police reports in cases where cops kill citizens carrying knives.

The video shows the man sauntering away from an enclosing group of cops with a witness yelling �drop it� before the camera is turned downwards, capturing the sounds of gunfire as horrified witnesses scream in shock.

Black Friday breaks record for gun background checks
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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Apparently Black Friday wasn�t just about smartphones and Star Wars Legos. It also may have been a record-breaking day for gun sales.

About two every second, that�s how many firearm background checks the FBI processed on November 27.

�Every year it�s been higher and higher and higher and higher, every year there is just more background checks run on Black Friday,� said Dale Rutherford, owner of First Street Firearms in Artesia.

CO: Southern Colorado sees increase in gun sales in line with national trend
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
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On Black Friday, the FBI processed 185,345 background checks. That's more than two per second, a record number for one day of sales.

"A significant number of firearm sales, and lots and lots of background checks," said Kim Shugart, the Marketing Director for Magnum Shooting Center. "Lots of ladies, in fact women are the fastest growing group in firearms, in the shooting sport."

Local shops say many people, especially women, are buying a gun for self defense. "A lot of women that come in the first time are buying a gun to protect themselves," said Lepp.

"Beginners, people who have never owned a gun in their lives, really are thinking I might want to be able to defend myself if I needed to do so," Shugart said.

How Ronald Reagan learned to love gun control
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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It's worth mentioning, of course, that times have changed: Modern gun-rights maximalism wasn't mainstream until about the time Reagan, a lifelong member of the NRA, became president. The NRA, for example, supported or even championed many gun control measures for most of its existence, until hardliner Harlon Carter became head of the organization in 1977, as UCLA law professor Adam Winkler detailed in The Atlantic. "Reagan's California," Winkler added, may have had "one of the strictest gun-control regimes in the nation," though Reagan's views "changed considerably" during the 1970s, too.

3 Types of Survival Knives Everyone Should Own Submitted by: Mark A. Taff Website: http://www.marktaff.com	There are no comments on this story Post Comments \| Read Comments
The frontiersmen may have used the same knife to skin game, eat dinner, and shave�but that doesn�t mean it�s a good idea to have just one blade. Sometimes you need a very specific tool to get the job done, and when that job is survival, you can�t afford to fail. Here are three essential survival knives that everyone should own.

Rep. Cicilline proposes reauthorizing 1994 federal assault-weapons ban Submitted by: Mark A. Taff Website: http://www.marktaff.com	There are no comments on this story Post Comments \| Read Comments
U.S. Congressman David N. Cicilline announced Wednesday that he plans to introduce legislation reauthorizing the assault weapons ban. As he spoke on the House floor, Cicilline referenced Friday's shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, the latest mass shooting in the United States this year.

What is it about us Americans? Submitted by: Mark A. Taff Website: http://www.marktaff.com	There are no comments on this story Post Comments \| Read Comments
Some of us buy firearms or take self-defense classes or hire more guards or move somewhere the violence seems less likely to roll in. Some of us call for tighter restrictions on guns or more mental health programs or what-have-you. And maybe we�ve done some good through those actions. But we still don�t understand our country, our culture, ourselves. What is it about us Americans?

KS: K-State professors: Repeal law opening colleges to concealed guns
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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Forty Kansas State University distinguished professors have signed a letter to the Legislature, seeking to halt the plan to allow concealed weapons on campus, the university reported Wednesday.

In their letter posted on K-State�s announcements page Wednesday morning, the professors projected that allowing students and others to carry weapons would not prevent intentional shootings but would probably lead to more suicide and accidental deaths.

Product Preview: LaserLyte Laser Color Guard Kit Submitted by: Mark A. Taff Website: http://www.marktaff.com	There are no comments on this story Post Comments \| Read Comments
Green and blue targets are designated as �enemy� targets, and a successful strike on one of those colors adds a point to the user�s score, while red and yellow targets represent non-threats, and shooting the target at that time will forfeit a point. The amount of time each color is presented changes at random, forcing users to quickly decide whether the situation calls for a shot or not.

Heller Case Debate Delivers Unexpected Insight
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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This was the perfect opportunity for O�Shea to show how the Second Amendment is just as necessary, valid, and essential in 2015 and beyond as it was in 1776 and before. This is where we are failing to effectively shut down the anti-gun movement�s talking points.

While they love to talk about how the Amendment is �outdated� and pervert the forefather�s intended definition of the word �militia�, we need to put our counter points into today�s headlines and current political landscape. Our Constitution was written as a timeless document designed to protect our God-given rights for all Americans throughout our country�s existence.

How the proposed EU gun directive ammendment might backfire
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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The European Commission proposed (18 November) an amendment to the European Firearms Directive (EFD) as a response to the recent wave of terrorist attacks in Europe.

While the commission aims to make firearms less accessible to terrorists and criminals alike, the outcome of the amendment, if passed, will surely be the opposite.

It is now known that the firearms the Paris terrorists used were illegal, being either smuggled in from active or past warzones, or illegally reconditioned from insufficiently decommissioned weapons.

Yet, the proposal doesn�t aim at these two sources of illegal firearms.

NY: Shootings necessitate greater gun control
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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Recently, America has struggled through too many instances of politically�motivated mass shootings, violence that would, if perpe�trated by a Muslim person, be defined as ter�rorism.

This summer, Charleston, S.C. mourned the losses of nine people, killed in a historically black church by a young white supremacist who had access to a gun. More recently, in Roseburg, Ore., students at Umpqua Community College began to rebuild their community after having lost nine of their own to an on�campus shoot�er. And now, in Colorado Springs, three people have been killed and 11 injured in a horrific turn of events at a local Planned Parenthood clinic.

VA: Virginia Bill Takes Unique First Step Toward Protecting the Second Amendment
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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A bill prefiled in the Virginia House of Delegates takes an interesting first step toward protecting the right to keep and bear arms from federal infringement by defining it in statute as an individual right unconnected with the militia.

Delegates Mark L. Cole and (R) Charles D. Poindexter (R) prefiled House Bill 49 (HB49) on Nov. 25. The short bill essentially codifies the Supreme Court opinion handed down in District of Columbia v. Heller.

NJ: Second Amendment Society Claims Police Departments Delaying and Denying Handgun Permits
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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�I had a female in here. She�s every bit of 5-foot and 80 pounds.� In a hidden-camera recording made by the New Jersey Second Amendment Society, an Orange Police Detective Sergeant appears to explain how he denied a handgun purchase permit to an applicant not based on New Jersey law but on the applicant�s size and gender. �I�m not going to say anyone can�t take a gun from me or, or you know. But, I�m just saying and I told her I�m going to be completely honest with you. In my opinion, I said, if I saw you and I saw you with a gun, especially here in Essex County, and the people we have here in this county. Um, I said yeah I�d be concerned with you having a firearm.�

Black Friday background checks set new record
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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Last Friday may have been the hottest single �Black Friday� for retail gun sales in the history of the National Instant Check System, as USA Today reported yesterday that the system processed 185,345 requests, but even more significant was the news Monday from the National Shooting Sports Foundation, though all those requests my not translate to actual transactions.

According to NSSF�s weekly �Bullet Points� bulletin for firearms industry members, �For the entire Nov. 26-29 2015 four-day Black Friday period 368,774 checks were completed, a 9.9 percent increase over the 335,555 checks conducted over the corresponding 2014 four-day period.�

Former GOP congressman flips on support for gun violence research
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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The former Republican congressman who pushed legislation nearly 20 years ago that effectively banned the federal government from funding research on gun violence is calling on Congress to reverse that law.

In a letter to the chair of House Democrats' task force on gun violence prevention, former Rep. Jay Dickey of Arkansas called for the government to fund research at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to examine the causes of gun violence in the U.S. and expressed "regrets" for his part in stopping that research.