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SC: Man acquitted after testifying shooting was self defense
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A man who tried to have the murder charge against him thrown out under South Carolina's so-called "stand your ground" law has been acquitted during a trial.

The Post and Courier of Charleston reports that a Charleston County jury acquitted 31-year-old Dustin Backman on Wednesday.

Backman had been charged with murder in the shooting death of 29-year-old Antwan Chaplin in North Charleston two years ago. Backman testified he shot in self-defense when Chaplin tried to forcibly pull him from his SUV.

NRA: Gun owners should �strongly oppose� Obama�s SCOTUS pick
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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The National Rifle Association�s legislative action wing says that President Barack Obama�s nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court is another attempt by the current administration to undo the 2nd Amendment.

According to the NRA�s Institute for Legislative Action, the DC Circuit Court judge�s judicial record shows clear contempt for 2nd Amendment rights.

�A basic analysis of Merrick Garland�s judicial record shows that he does not respect our fundamental, individual right to keep and bear arms for self-defense,� NRA-ILA director Chris Cox said.

One Company Got Tired Of The Anti-Gun Media And Took Matters Into Its Own Hands Submitted by: Mark A. Taff Website: http://www.marktaff.com	There are no comments on this story Post Comments \| Read Comments
Liftable Media, Inc., the parent company of Western Journalism, paid for its employees to go through a concealed carry certification course over the weekend. About half of the staff took the company up on the offer and participated in four hours of teaching by active and former police officers with Arizona Defensive Firearms Training.

ND: Burleigh sheriff hosts first gun auction
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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A standing room-only crowd of 100 arrived in downtown Bismarck on Wednesday night to bid on 22 guns � rifles, pistols, revolvers, shotguns and pellet guns.

This was not a gun show or private auction: It was an event hosted by the Burleigh County Sheriff�s Department, and it took place in Courtroom 301 � a place where people more often lose their right to carry a gun.

A new law requires the department to auction found, seized and forfeited guns to the public, unless they can be lawfully returned to their owners. So the department set up its first sale of crime guns and found firearms just upstairs from its offices.

Hillary Clinton vs. the NRA
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
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So Clinton is taking a different approach this time. She's endorsed the gun control measures sought in vain by Obama after the Sandy Hook massacre, including universal background checks. She's slammed Bernie Sanders for supporting legislation passed in 2005 giving firearms manufacturers protection from some lawsuits. Clinton's message to the gun lobby is: Bring it on.

That shift is notable particularly because of her husband's experience in the White House challenging the NRA. After winning passage of a federal ban on assault weapons, Bill Clinton saw his party wiped out in the 1994 elections, giving Republicans control of the House for the first time in 40 years.

ID: Permitless Concealed-Carry Gun Bill Clears Committee, Sent to Idaho House
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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Members of the Idaho House State Affairs Committee voted March 17 to send SB 1389, a bill that would allow Idaho citizens to carry concealed weapons without a permit within city limits, to the full House.

Quoting the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution, Rep. Pete Nielsen (R-Mountain Home) hailed the measure as a step toward gun rights as articulated by the nation's founders.

"This bill gets us a lot closer to not being 'infringed,'" he said.

Proponents of the bill said it would sync city and county rules concerning the concealed carry of guns. Meanwhile, its critics have said it undermines law enforcement and ignores cities' safety concerns.

WSJ Parrots Misleading Claims From Discredited Group In Urging Senate To Block Merrick Garland
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
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The Wall Street Journal editorial board is calling for the Senate to "refus[e] to hold hearings" on Judge Merrick Garland, President Obama's nominee to the Supreme Court, warning that Garland's record "demonstrates a reliable vote for progressive causes."

To make its case, The Journal repeatedly pointed to misleading claims that have been pushed by the Judicial Crisis Network (JCN), the discredited right-wing legal group leading the opposition against Garland's nomination. Following the March 16 nomination announcement, JCN released a series of "topline points" purporting to reveal Garland's leftist ideology, and it appears The Journal may have been reading from the same flimsy playbook.

IA: Iowa Senate PASSES Hearing Protection Act 46-4!
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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At approximately 9:30 Thursday morning the Iowa Senate passed House File 2279 by a vote of 46 to 4.

HF2279, the Hearing Protection Act, removes suppressors from Iowa�s list of so-called �offensive weapons.� If signed into law this would legalize the civilian ownership of firearm suppressors in the State of Iowa. For years the Iowa Senate has a literal dead-end for most every gun bill introduced in the Iowa legislature.

Conservative Leaders Back Senate Republicans� Stand on Supreme Court Seat
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
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Over 100 conservatives from 29 states and Washington, D.C., voiced their support for Senate Republicans in a memo commending them for their resistance to any Supreme Court nominee put forward by President Barack Obama.

�We applaud Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, for promising not to hold a hearing on any [Supreme Court] nominee,� the Conservative Action Project said in a memo released Tuesday.

MO: Mentally ill may own guns in many cases; background checks for gun purchases often weak
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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But Jeffery Frazier, who also suffers with a bipolar disorder, believes guns should be kept out of the hands of the mentally ill.

�It is not good to have a gun if you are not mentally stable,� he said.

�I never owned a gun, and I don�t want to own a gun,� said Frazier, who works at the Community Counseling Center.

Across the nation, there have been widely publicized cases of mass shootings in which the assailant had a history of mental illness.

MA: Winchester gun owners speak out
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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One out of every 19 Winchester residents is licensed to own a gun.

Does that number surprise you?

It might if you consider that in neighboring Arlington, one out of every 34 residents is licensed to own a gun. In Belmont, one out of every 42 residents holds a gun license. And in the city of Cambridge, one out of every 78 residents is licensed to own a gun, according to data collected by GateHouse Media New England editorial staff.

VA: Arlington Residents Don�t Want a Gun Shop. A Lawyer for the Store Doesn�t Understand Why
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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A new gun shop will open up in Arlington�s Lyon Park neighborhood next Saturday, and neighbors are upset about the shop�s presence in North Pershing Drive, half a mile away from an elementary school and across the street from a daycare center.

But Daniel Hawes, the attorney for Broadstone Security LLC, the entity that owns the store, NOVA Armory, through the management of Dennis R. Pratte, says he doesn�t quite understand the community�s concern.

MO: Missouri panel considers more gun access on college campuses
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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Missouri lawmakers during a March 14 House committee hearing weighed proposals that would expand gun access on college campuses by allowing people to carry concealed firearms.

The bills are among several introduced this year by state Republican lawmakers, who have argued that students should be allowed to carry firearms for self-defense and that armed, law-abiding citizens with proper training can save lives during attempted mass shootings.

"Why are we taking an individual's right away to protect themselves on campus?" said Nixa Republican Rep. Jered Taylor, who is sponsoring one of the bills.

Gun stance disqualifies Merrick Garland for Supreme Court
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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Although Garland has been praised as a �moderate� by Democrats and some Republicans, his stance on the Second Amendment most certainly is not. And that makes him unfit to serve on the Supreme Court.

Garland has a long history of supporting firearm registration, has argued semi-automatic rifle bans are constitutional and believes the right for an individual to own a handgun, specifically in Washington, D.C., doesn't exist.

In fact, in 2007 Garland voted to uphold District handgun bans, including bans on ownership inside private homes, despite a D.C. circuit court striking it down.

The NRA�s New Playbook for Making Gun-Grabbers Out of Democratic Nominees
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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When it comes to inveighing on the relative gun-rights qualifications of elected officials, the National Rifle Association rarely holds back. For decades, the NRA has graded politicians at both the state and federal level, a system that has served to establish the group as the most influential voice on gun rights in America.

But until very recently, the kind of broadside attack the group launched on Wednesday against Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama�s nominee to fill the vacant seat on the Supreme Court, simply wouldn�t have happened. That�s because the NRA respected the longstanding tradition that allowed Senators to �advise and consent� on judicial picks without fear of retribution.

It Can't Happen Here ... Can It?
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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So imagine this scenario for a moment: Donald Trump (or a future Trump-esque demagogue) announces that he�s convening a rally in a state where open-carry is permitted � say, in Dallas, at the Cowboys' AT&T Stadium � and adds that he wants his supporters to come armed. (Trump has loudly defended the NRA�s interpretation of the Second Amendment during the primary season and on his website there�s a plank called �Protecting Our Second Amendment Will Make America Great Again.�) Under Texas law, it would be perfectly legal for his supporters in the thousands to attend such a rally armed with semi-automatic weapons.

Ed.: Another gun-owners are fascists trope.

CO: Program Brings Firearms to School to Teach Gun Safety Submitted by: Mark A. Taff Website: http://www.marktaff.com	There is 1 comment on this story Post Comments \| Read Comments
A program overseen by Project Appleseed is bringing a plethora of firearms to a Colorado middle school to teach students about gun safety. The three-day program is being held at Carver Middle School in Colorado City, Colorado. According to Fox 31, Project Appleseed coordinator Jim Hathit said, �We�re teaching them about the firearms so they are familiar with them.�

Malcolm Gladwell: Gun Control Won't Work, So We Need More Gun Control
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
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Liberal advocate Malcolm Gladwell recently admitted that more gun control will not stop school shootings and then immediately suggested its ineffectiveness should not undermine the liberals� push for more of it.

Gladwell is an author and also writes for New Yorker magazine. According to Newsbusters, Gladwell was taking part in a New Yorker podcast when he was asked, �How big a problem is the availability of guns?�

UT: Domestic shooting may have been self-defense
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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Police are investigating whether a woman who shot a man in a domestic dispute Wednesday may have done so in self-defense.

Around 8 p.m. Wednesday, the woman allegedly shot the man she lives with at 1978 W. 12974 South. She was taken into custody that night for questioning, but officers decided not to arrest her, said Unified police detective Ken Hansen.

The woman, in her late 30s, gave police information that prompted detectives to "take a second look" at whether the shooting was committed in self-defense, Hansen said.

MA: Lexington gun proposal called an affront to liberty
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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Gun rights advocates spoke out last week against a proposal to ban certain types of semiautomatic weapons in Lexington, calling it an affront to the very principles on which the town and the nation were founded.

�The birthplace of American liberty is not going to be its gravesite,� said Michael Barg, a lifelong resident of Lexington. �This will accomplish nothing other than to glorify the proponents� phony dogma and misinformed political ideals.�

AZ: Arizona Gun Bills Could Make State More Gun Friendly
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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Arizona could become even more gun friendly by the end of this legislative session. More than half a dozen bills related to gun rights are pending right now.

One bill would prohibit schools from banning firearms on streets around campus. Another forbids state and local government from requiring a search of federal or state databases before a private sale, gift or transfer. A third would allow someone with a permit to bring a firearm into public places, like county buildings or libraries, unless security personnel and screening are present.

Networks Rush to Deem Garland a 'Moderate,' ABC, NBC Avoid Liberal Label
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
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The journalistic effort to stamp Garland as a �moderate� comes despite the judge�s past ruling against Second Amendment rights and a history of campaigning for Democratic presidential candidates. This conclusion also flies in the face of declarations of other outlets, including the liberal New York Times. The paper�s Upshot blog insisted that Garland is �substantially more liberal than Justice Scalia� and �is expected to be ideologically similar to Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama�s previous picks for the court.�

CA: Law enforcement, gun owners react to new firearm restrictions
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California Sheriffs are speaking out against a proposed gun control measure.

A new ballot initiative would further restrict registered gun owners in California. It deals with banning high-capacity firearms and registering ammunition sales, and California sheriffs are speaking out against it.

"Most registered gun owners are very responsible people. Most crimes that are happening are happening with unregistered firearms,� said Chance Wentworth, a registered gun owner in Butte County.

Wentworth�s opinion echoes that of butte county sheriff Kory Honea, who says the new initiative seems unnecessary. Honae was one of the majority of California Sheriff�s to publicly oppose the legislation.