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Sarah Brady, widow of James Brady, dies at 73 Submitted by: Anonymous	There is 1 comment on this story Post Comments \| Read Comments
Sarah Brady, who with her husband, James Brady, pushed for stricter gun control laws, including the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, died Friday, her family said. Brady, 73, died of pneumonia, the family said.

CA: Court to review Orange County ruling on concealed weapons permit
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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The Orange County Sheriff's Department has issued about 5,000 concealed weapon permits. Ninety percent of those were issued in the last 13 months after a federal appeals court ruled it was unconstitutional for the department to require more justification for a permit beyond self-defense.

The ruling prompted the OCSD to relax its standards. Then last week, the court decided the policy needed to go before a full panel of judges.

With that decision, the original ruling was voided, and the sheriff's department returned to its old policy. The policy calls for applicants to provide "good cause," or a reason why they need to carry a weapon that goes beyond self-defense.

AR: Pro-Gun Legislation Receives Final Passage, Heads to Governor
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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Yesterday, Senate Bill 159 received final passage in the Arkansas House of Representatives by a 74 to 3 vote, after passing in the Arkansas Senate on March 24 by a 33 to 1 vote.

It was returned to the Senate, where it is expected to be transmitted to Governor Asa Hutchinson (R) for his consideration and signature. Introduced by Senator Linda Collins-Smith (R-19), SB 159 would remove the absolute prohibition on carrying a concealed firearm into a county courthouse for employees who have a concealed handgun license.

Protecting the 2nd Amendment
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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Some lands and water managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) are open for hunting, and there are a small number of authorized shooting ranges, but much of the millions of acres managed by the Corps are off limits to lawful possession of firearms.

Not only is this a violation of the intent of the Second Amendment, but also it is inconsistent with laws and regulations governing lands managed by other federal agencies.
This problem must be fixed to uphold Americans� Second Amendment rights.

CA: Case Challenges San Diego County Sheriff�s Policy on Issuance of Concealed Carry Permits
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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A federal appellate court�s decision to re-hear a controversial Second Amendment case has left California without any federal judicial constraints on its concealed firearm permit process. In voting last week to grant a re-hearing in Peruta v. San Diego County before a larger panel of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the judges said a previous ruling must not be used as case law. This applies to California and all the other states in the Ninth Circuit.

NRA National Sporting Arms Museum features 16 original works of sporting and wildlife art Submitted by: Mark A. Taff Website: http://www.marktaff.com	There are no comments on this story Post Comments \| Read Comments
Famous works of sporting and wildlife art and historical firearms on loan from Remington Outdoor Company are now on display at the NRA National Sporting Arms Museum. The 7,500-square-foot museum, which traces the evolution of hunting, conservation and freedom, is located at Bass Pro Shops flagship superstore in Springfield, Missouri.

2nd Amendment Now Vulnerable the Same Treatment as Religious Freedom in Indiana Submitted by: Mark A. Taff Website: http://www.marktaff.com	There are no comments on this story Post Comments \| Read Comments
Though the 2nd Amendment Patriots group is a gun rights oriented group there have been times over the past 16 years I would write about the importance of religion and the moral value as it relates to the Second Amendment. And generally I would get at least one response telling me to keep to gun rights and stay away from social issues.

FL: Campus Carry Stalled In Senate Committee, Attempt To Run Out The Clock on the Bill
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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The Judiciary Committee Chair, Senator Miguel Diaz de la Portilla refuses to calendar the campus carry bill.

The college campus carry bill, SB 176, is now stalled in the Senate Judiciary Committee. The committee is under bombardment by Bloomberg�s gun control groups generated propaganda including a new television ad, and the chair, Senator Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, Has not yet to put the bill on the committee calendar.

Its House companion bill, HB 4005, has completed all of its committee stops, having been reported favorably at each one with bipartisan support, and now awaits SB 176.

MA: Gun Owners Triumph Over AntiGun Billboard Campaign by Demanding Truth #billboardtruth
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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Today, the Gun Owners� Action League of Massachusetts, a grassroots organization of just over 17,000 members applauded the decision by Clear Channel, OutFront Media, Logan Communications, and Total Outdoor to remove misleading advertising which was originally donated to Stop Handgun Violence (SHV).

Stop Handgun Violence, with a long track history of running signs featuring outright lies, statistical manipulation and imagery designed to elicit an emotional response aimed at advancing anti-civil rights laws, was recently forced to find a new home for their false messaging.

Clement and Legal Team See Award Slashed in Gun Case
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
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Paul Clement, the former U.S. solicitor general who is now a partner at high-profile appellate firm Bancroft PLLC in Washington, D.C., had his hourly rates slashed by a Northern District judge from $1,100 to $300 in an attorney fee award.
Judge Mae D'Agostino last month chopped by 77 percent a total fee request of $238,871 to $54,306, in a case where Clement was among several attorneys representing Alfred Osterweil, who challenged the denial of his application for a handgun permit.

OR: Giffords: Oregonians Should Have To Pass Same Background Check My Attacker Passed Submitted by: Mark A. Taff Website: http://www.marktaff.com	There are no comments on this story Post Comments \| Read Comments
On March 27 215 Gabby Giffords backed Oregon Democrats in pushing all future Oregon gun purchasers to pass the same background check Jared Loughner passed to acquire the firearm with which he attacked Giffords and eighteen others in Tucson.

With Sarah Brady�s passing, a little candor from the press
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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With the passing today of longtime gun control advocate Sarah Brady, there is some honesty from the mainstream press about just exactly what she stood for the past three-plus decades.

Mrs. Brady passed away following a battle with pneumonia, according to published reports. Remarkably, NPR and the Washington Post accurately identified her as a gun control activist, where others would use the terms �gun safety� or �gun responsibility.� The Washington Post even recalled something she reportedly did in 1985, calling the National Rifle Association and threatening to make it her �life�s ambition to put you all out of business.�

Candor wasn�t entirely unanimous. USA Today described Brady as an �anti-violence activist.�

MN: Prosecutors: Duluth Death was Self-Defense Submitted by: Mark A. Taff Website: http://www.marktaff.com	There are no comments on this story Post Comments \| Read Comments
Prosecutors have determined the death of a man in January was the result of another man acting in self-defense. Dave Matthew Walker, 33, was found dead near 2nd Avenue West and 3rd Street in the Central Hillside Neighborhood on Jan. 17. He died of a head injury.

AZ: Speedy Arizona Legislature: Here's what got done Submitted by: Mark A. Taff Website: http://www.marktaff.com	There are no comments on this story Post Comments \| Read Comments
The Legislature flirted with controversy on gun-rights issues, but it didn't test Ducey's convictions on the Second Amendment. The Senate rejected House Bill 2320, the latest effort to allow concealed weapons in public buildings. By comparison, similar legislation got to former Gov. Jan Brewer's desk three times in four years, only to face her veto.

NJ: Sweeney: Recall committee can 'bring it on'
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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The recall campaign, announced last year but formalized with the notice, came to a head when Sweeney promised to keep a firearms bill requiring magazine limits off the Senate floor, then changed his mind after a 2013 meeting with parents of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims.

"He looked me in the eye and told me, as long as he was Senate President there would never be an anti-gun bill to hit the floor," recalled Dan Roberts, a Franklin Township Second Amendment advocate.

TN: Blount delegation debates guns in parks, Bible as state book
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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First and Second Amendment issues came to the fore this week in the Tennessee Legislature. Blount County�s legislative contingent faced questions concerning local control of guns in parks and whether the Bible should be named the official state book.
The Senate on Wednesday amended legislation that strips local governments of the power to prohibit carrying gun in parks to include what has been described as a �poison pill� � allowing guns at the Capitol complex. It passed by a 26-7 vote.

TX: Open, campus carry continue moving through Texas Legislature
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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Pro-gun measures continue making their way through the Republican-dominated Texas Legislature.

Senate Bill 17, which would allow concealed carry holders to now carry handguns openly, passed the Texas Senate in a vote along party lines in March.

Its companion bill in the House, HB 910, has since passed through the Texas House Committee on Homeland Security and Public Safety and been sent to the House Calendars Committee, where it will be placed on the calendar for the vote by the entire chamber.

IN: Gun store robbed once by thieves � then by ATF: Agents won�t return stolen firearms to owner Submitted by: Mark A. Taff Website: http://www.marktaff.com	There is 1 comment on this story Post Comments \| Read Comments
An Indiana gun store was robbed last year and its owner is attempting to get his inventory back. No, not from the original thieves, but from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents who had recovered his stolen merchandise. And when asking nicely doesn�t work, you turn to the courts.

NC: Bill lifts gun ban at NC State Fair, allows DAs to carry in courtrooms
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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Competing legislation in the General Assembly is aimed at guns at the North Carolina State Fair, one of which would ease restrictions on gun owners who hold concealed carry permits.

Last year, a Wake County judge declined to allow concealed carry permit holder to bring their guns to the State Fair after gun advocacy group Grass Roots North Carolina filed a restraining order saying state law allows permit holders to bring their handguns into paid venues.

IA: Iowa House Judiciary Committee Passes New Pro-Gun Bill 19-2
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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As we expected we�ve seen a lot of activity in the legislature Wednesday. Here�s the latest.

The House of Representatives has made SF427 (the bill the Senate passed yesterday that only legalizes suppressors) a priority. Today, with less than 24 hours notice the House Judiciary Committee took up SF427, added an amendment restoring the original Omnibus Gun Bill language, and promptly passed the bill 19 to 2 � yet another showing of this bill�s massive bi-partisan support.

KS: Kansas Joins Constitutional Carry States, Anti-Gun Columnist Loses His Mind
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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It is safe to say that with very rare exceptions, the majority of the print and broadcast mainstream media are very liberal, very anti-gun, are unfamiliar with firearms. Sadly, many are actually proud of their ignorance. This became readily apparent again when they covered the signing of Kansas� new �constitutional carry� bill into law by Gov. Sam Brownback.

Bryan Lowry�s news article covering the signing for the Kansas City Star was commendable for its balance.

App Lets Gun Enthusiasts Track Down Gun Control Advocates� Home Addresses
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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Ladd Everitt didn�t panic when friends and colleagues told him coordinates to his home address and details about where he worked had been leaked on an app that targeted anti-gun violence activists.

An app in the Google Play Store called �Gunfree Geo Marker� listed the first and last names, social media handles, work phone numbers or addresses, home addresses or name of living complex, as well as location coordinates for activists or people who promoted gun safety regulations, first reported by Fast Company last week.

FL: Gun rights group upset with university police chiefs opposed to campus gun legislation Submitted by: Mark A. Taff Website: http://www.marktaff.com	There are no comments on this story Post Comments \| Read Comments
A Florida gun-rights group says it has filed ethics complaints against 10 university police chiefs, including the University of North Florida�s Frank Mackesy, related to their willingness to testify against �guns on campus� legislation.

TN: What Better Place for an NRA Convention?
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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But that gun-rights agenda has its limits, even in Tennessee, which has a Republican supermajority in the General Assembly and a GOP governor.

While five years ago the restaurant industry was unable to stop guns-in-bars legislation, powerful interests such as law enforcement, school and university officials and business groups such as the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce have spoken out this year against legislation that would allow firearms in schools, parks and employee parking lots. In some cases, it has been enough to kill the bills.

NJ: Christie pardons Shaneen Allen, but egregious laws remain
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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While Second Amendment activists across the landscape are cheering yesterday�s pardon of Pennsylvania resident Shaneen Allen by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, the law that penalized the single mother for crossing the state line with her legally-licensed handgun remains on the books to snare other citizens.

Allen was arrested in October 2013 on a traffic stop after crossing from Pennsylvania to New Jersey with her pistol, for which she had a Pennsylvania license to carry. However, she was stopped in New Jersey where the permit does not apply, jailed for 40 days and prosecuted on the gun charge. Last September, she was allowed to enter a pre-trial intervention program after massive public outrage.

MI: Michigan Open Carrier Defeats Criminal Prosecution, Now Aims To Win Civil Case For Improper Arrest Submitted by: Mark A. Taff Website: http://www.marktaff.com	There are no comments on this story Post Comments \| Read Comments
When a police officer driving the opposite direction at night does a 180-degree turn and arrests a man for having a �concealed weapon,� any reasonable person is forced to ask, �if was �concealed,� how could you see it in the dark driving by in the first place?� A Michigan judge apparently had the same thought, and acquitted open carrier John David McMorris in a directed verdict:

DC: Carry Rights Are Here To Stay In DC Submitted by: Mark A. Taff Website: http://www.marktaff.com	There are no comments on this story Post Comments \| Read Comments
Last July, the Palmer v. DC case finally struck down the District of Columbia�s law prohibiting the carrying of firearms outside the home as unconstitutional. Now, it�s here to stay (via FoxDC):