Volume 7, No. 7                www.foac-pac.org                   July 7, 2007

 

Firearms Owners Against Crime

 

"On every question of construction carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed." -- Thomas Jefferson (letter to William Johnson, 12 June 1823)

 

 

E-Newsletter & FOAC Meeting Notice

July 8, 2007

 

Meeting Agenda-

 

Invited Guest Speakers:

·        None

7.0     Treasurers Report

7.1     Presentation of the past month’s report

8.0     Old Business

8.1              None

9.0 NEW BUSINESS

9.1              PA Primary Election Recap and Review

9.2              Harrisburg developments and legislative review

9.2.1        Crime legislation and the impact on the rights of citizens

9.2.2        HB 29 (Evans) & PA Legislative Black Caucus House Floor tantrum

9.2.3        HB 13 (Hunting-Landowner liability correction)

9.2.4        Caltagirone proposals

9.3              Pro-Gun Agenda Developments – (HB 1235 – Rep. Jesse White Legislation)

9.4              Federal issues:

9.4.1        HR 2640 & OSHA Regs on guns and components & Immigration Legislation

9.5              Educational efforts for new legislators

9.6              Membership committee developments

 

**Upcoming Gun Show:  September 13th & 14th Harmarville PA – Pennsylvania Gun Collectors Association

 

For more information on FOAC efforts to ‘Protect YOUR Rights’, THE MOST CURRENT VOTER’S GUIDES, donating to or becoming a member of FOAC please click on this link: http://www.foac-pac.org/

 

FOAC - 2007 Meeting Schedule

Jan 14, 2nd Sunday, Feb 11, 2nd Sunday, Mar 11, 2nd Sunday, Apr 15, 3rd Sunday, May 6, 1st Sunday, Jun 10, 2nd Sunday, Jul 8, 2nd Sunday, Aug 12, 2nd Sunday, Sep 9, 2nd Sunday, Oct 14, 2nd Sunday, Nov 4, 1st Sunday, Dec 9, 2nd Sunday

**Time of Meeting:  10:00 AM

**Location: Whitehall Borough Bldg (off Rt.51 – ask for directions)

****Coffee and Donuts will be provided

***Primary Election -- May 15 (Results Finalized)

***General Election -- Nov. 6

 

 

 

 

Reaction Divided on [HR 2640] NICS "Improvement" Bill

by Dave Workman Senior Editor

Even before they had seen any legislation, gun rights activists across the country were deluging Internet fo­rums and chat lists with criticism, contradiction and cau­tious optimism about a so-called agreement hammered out between Congressional Democrats and the National Rifle Association (NRA) aimed at improving the National Instant Check System (NICS).

But in a remarkably fast-track move, two days after the legislation was introduced in the House, it was-passed on a voice vote after suspension of the rules and sent to the Senate. HR-2640 requires states to automate the records they share with the FBI that are included in the NICS system database. It will provide $250 million an­nually to the states over the nest three years to imple­ment these updates, while penalizing states that do not update their systems by certain deadlines.

Quiet, behind-the-scenes negotiations on the legislation began shortly after the Apr. 16 Virginia Tech massacre that claimed 32 victims. If approved, this would be the first fed­eral gun control law since 1994, the year Democrats lost Congress because they rammed through the Brady Act and the Clinton crime bill that contained a ban on some semi­auto rifles and shotguns and full-capacity magazines.

Many in the gun rights movement were furious at the NRA, calling the agreement a "sellout." Others countered that without NRA participation in the negotiating process, a far worse measure would have been the result. According to The Washington Post, the NRA" drove a hard bargain" to produce an agreement that protects the rights of law-abid­ing gunowners, and actually contains some provisions that will remove thousands of people from the "disqualified" list.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) also endorsed the compromise bill.

Gun Owners of America (GOA) urged its members to pressure Congress to defeat the "compromise" measure, even before there was a compromise. On its website, GOA argued, "Congress can create as many redundant proce­dures for cleaning up these records as it wants, but the bottom line is, there is nothing that will force the FBI to scrub gunowners' names from the NICS system."

The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) said that the agreement did not go far enough to benefit gunowners. CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb argued that legislation should include a provi­sion to "fully restore the process through which citizens can get relief from disabilities (RFD) that prevent them from owning and buying firearms."

“Though the process remains on the books," Gottlieb noted, "there has been no implementing funding since 1991. People who have a mistake in their past, but have since been good citizens cannot get their rights restored. There should be a mechanism in place to allow funding of RFD investigations, even if the petitioner pays the costs himself."

CCRKBA Public Affairs Director John Snyder also sug­gested that while the agreement offers funding to states to update their NICS data, and withholds funding from states that do not, there should be additional pressure on colleges and universities that refuse to allow legally ­licensed faculty, students and administrators from car­rying handguns for self-defense on campus to prevent further tragedies like the one at Virginia Tech.

"This proposal is in response to Virginia Tech," Snyder noted, "and such tragedies might be stopped by legally armed students or professors. Schools that prohibit those citizens from defending themselves should have their federal funding withheld."

According to a summary of the agreement provided to Gun Week by NRA lobbyist Chuck Cunningham, the sub­stitute language in the new legislation would prevent federal "adjudications" based on medical diagnoses with­out a finding of dangerousness or mental incapacity.

In layman's terms, that means NICS could no longer ac­cept decisions from the Veterans' Adminis­tration (VA) that a veteran or other patient is an "adjudicated mental defective" when there has actually been no "adjudication" but only a mental diagnosis of a condition for the purpose of receiving disability benefits. Thousands of veterans apparently have had a financial incentive to agree to such a de­termination just so they could get their ben­efits, without realizing this could cost them their firearms rights.

About seven years ago, the VA dumped the names of some 83,000 veterans into the NICS system, and this agreement pro­vides that those veterans can petition to have their names expunged. Gottlieb con­tends that it should be the responsibility of the VA to remove those names, not the individual citizens.

Also under the agreement, which was in­tended as a substitute version of HR-297­the bill sponsored originally by anti-gun New York Rep. Carolyn McCarthy-gun ownership rights would only be lost as a result of a specific finding that a person is a danger to himself or others, or lacks the mental capacity to handle his own affairs, according to Cunningham's summary.

Further, the substitute language requires all federal agencies that impose mental health adjudications or commitments to provide a process for "relief from disabili­ties" (RFD). Under this scenario, a court could look at an RFD application on its own merits, rather than simply accept a deci­sion by some government agency.

Currently, a mental health disqualifier can never be removed. Under the agree­ment, "even if a person is inappropriately committed or declared incompetent by a federal agency, the person would have an opportunity to correct the error-either through the agency, or in court."

CCRKBAs position is that the individual should not have to pay for this process. CCRKBA also wants funding restored to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to conduct RFD investigations.

Under HR-2460, if a federal adjudica­tion or commitment has expired or been removed, it would no longer prevent a per­son from possessing or receiving a firearm under provisions of the Gun Control Act. Cunningham says this actually restores a person's rights, while deleting the record from NICS.

States would also need an RFD program for mental adjudications and commit­ments, and those programs would have to provide for de novo judicial review, same as the federal program.

"Many states have processes for tempo­rary emergency commitments that allow a short-term commitment based only on affidavits from police, doctors or family members, without opportunity for a hear­ing," according to Cunningham's analysis. "Because federal law prohibits gun posses­sion by a person who ‘has been’ commit­ted, a person committed under such a pro­cess can't possess a gun even after full re­lease from the temporary order. By requir­ing participating states to have a relief pro­gram that actually removes the disability, H.R. 297 would be a significant improve­ment over current law."

Not everyone agrees with that assess­ment. On gun rights forums like KeepAndBearArms.com (KABA) and TheHighRoad.org (THR), opinions were split to the extremes in most cases. On KABA es­pecially, activists there turned thumbs down almost unanimously, with many accusing NRA of "selling out" gunowners.

They kept up the crescendo for a second day when they learned that McCarthy would still be the sponsor of the substi­tute measure.

THR participants were a bit more circum­spect, and there was a better balance of pro and con, but it appeared that even on that forum, there were as many critics of the announced compromise as there were cau­tiously optimistic supporters. But the rheto­ric was hardly congenial or collegial with very little movement toward the proverbial "middle ground." One either hated the news of an agreement, or one hoped for the best.

While the NRA signed off on the com­promise, it should be noted that the orga­nization apparently agreed to support leg­islation only if it remained as agreed upon. That is, any attempt to tack on anti-gun amendments or back away from the agree­ment as it moves through the Senate will likely find the NRA pulling its support.

That is essentially what NRA's chief lob­byist, Chris Cox, told The Washington Post. The newspaper noted that Democrats des­perately want to demonstrate that they can put together a gun law that responds to what happened at Virginia Tech while not causing a backlash from average gunowners. That could become a very fine line that is easily crossed.

Some gun forum activists suggested above all that Democrats cannot be trusted on the gun issue, that they will find it im­possible to resist tacking on additional gun control restrictions. A handful worried that now that the NRA has endorsed a compro­mise, no matter how the resulting legisla­tion progresses and perhaps evolves, that initial support will be used against the 4­-million member association.

Democrats needed a win, so it remains to be seen how willing they are to control their traditional anti-gun impulses, and that would include the introduction of any other gun control legislation on the heels of HR-2640. The New GUN WEEK, July 1, 2007

 

Repeal of Second Amendment, Fascist Gun Plan Advanced

by Joseph P. Tartaro Executive Editor

The Virginia Tech shootings have brought out the extremists in the debate over the right to keep and bear arms.

For example, while admitting that the Second Amendment guarantees the right of an individual to own guns, a legal af­fairs analyst recently recommended that because it guarantees such a right it should be repealed.

"The Second Amendment is one of the clearest statements of right in the Consti­tution," said Benjamin Wittes, a guest scholar at the center-left Brookings Insti­tution, in a discussion held on June 11. "We've had decades of sort of intellectual gymnastics to try to make those words not mean what they say."

Wittes, who said he has "no particular enthusiasm for the idea of a gun culture," said that rather than try to limit gun own­ership through regulation that potentially violates the SecondAmendment, opponents of gun ownership should set their sights on repealing the amendment altogether.

"Rather than debating the meaning of the Second Amendment, I think the appro­priate debate is whether we want a Sec­ond Amendment," Wittes said. He con­ceded, however, that the political likeli­hood of getting the amendment repealed is "pretty limited."

According to CNSNews.com and other media outlets, Wittes said the Second Amendment guarantee of the right to bear arms meant more when it was crafted more than 200 years ago than it does to­day. Modern society is "much more ambiva­lent than they (the Founders) were about whether gun ownership really is funda­mental to liberty," he said.

But challenging the Second Amendment on the basis that society's circumstances have changed since the drafting 1would similarly open up to question all other con­stitutional rights, according to Georgetown University law professor Randy Barnett, who also participated in the same policy discussion.

"The techniques that are used to show that the Second Amendment really doesn't have any

contemporary relevance are ab­solutely available to anybody who wants to show that aspects of the First Amend­ment and the Fourth Amendment and the Fifth Amendment have no contemporary relevance," he said.

Barnett said that advocates of warrant­less searches could make an "appeal to changing circumstances," on the basis that the Fourth Amendment is "archaic (and) we don't need it anymore," he added.

But the Second Amendment isn't the only part of the Bill of Rights that contem­porary commentators would trash. Given the chances, they would gut the whole Bill of Rights to get rid of the guns.

An example of this thinking comes in a late April column by Dan Simpson of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Simpson's approach to getting rid of the hundreds of millions of guns in US hands is sort of a fascist's dream linked to the Nike slogan: "just do it."

"When people talk about doing some­thing about guns in America, one of the points that comes to the fore is, `How could America disarm even if it wanted to? There are so many guns out there,'" Simpson wrote. Then he focused on "how" to get the job done. But before proceeding, he offered his own gun credentials, as a youth and in his military service days.

Then Simpson lays out his plan.

"First of all, federal or state laws would need to make it a crime punishable by a $1,000 fine and one year in prison per weapon to possess a firearm. The popula­tion would then be given three months to turn in their guns, without penalty.

"Hunters would be able to deposit their hunting weapons in a centrally located arsenal, heavily guarded, from which they would be able to withdraw them each hunt­ing season upon presentation of a valid hunting license. The weapons would be required to be redeposited at the end of the season on pain of arrest. When hunt­ers submitted their request for their weap­ons, federal, state and local checks would be made to establish that they had not been convicted of a violent crime since the last time they withdrew their weapons. In the process, arsenal staff would take at least a quick look at each hunter to try to affirm that he was not obviously un­hinged," Simpson continued, apparently oblivious to the fact that anti-gun politi­cians such as then New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller had proposed a similar "arse­nal" plan back in the 1960s.

Simpson continued:

"All antique or interesting non-hunting weapons would be required to be delivered to a local or regional museum, also to be under strict 24-hour-a-day guard. There they would be on display, if the owner de­sired, as part of an interesting exhibit of antique American weapons, as family heir­looms from proud wars past or as part of collections.

"Gun dealers could continue their work, selling hunting and antique firearms. Dealers would be required to maintain very tight inventories. Any gun sold would be delivered immediately by the dealer to the nearest arsenal or the museum, not to the buyer.

"The disarmament process would begin after the initial three-month amnesty. Special squads of police would be formed and trained to carry out the work. Then, on a random basis to permit no advance warning, city blocks and stretches of sub­urban and rural areas would be cordoned off and searches carried out in every busi­ness, dwelling and empty building. Thor­oughness would be at the level of the sort of search that is carried out in Crime Scene Investigations. All firearms would be seized. The owners of weapons found in the searches would be prosecuted: $1,000 and one year in prison for each firearm.

"Clearly, since such sweeps could not take place all across a city, county, state or the country at the same time, guns would move. But fairly quickly there would begin to be gun-swept, gun-free areas where there should be no firearms. If there were, those carrying them would be subject to quick con­fiscation and prosecution. On the streets it would be a question of stopping and search­ing anyone, even Grandma with her walker, with the same penalties for `carrying.' "

Let's see: That's Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Amendments trampled in one jackbooted scheme. The New GUN WEEK, July 1, 2007

 

Maine AG Takes Over Probe Of Guns Missing from Police

The Maine Attorney General's Office has taken over the investigation into the miss­ing guns from the evidence locker at the Washington County Sheriff's Department, according to The Bangor Daily News.

"Brian McMaster, the lead investigator for the Attorney General's Office, came and he took all the inventory list that Chief Deputy Mike St. Louis had put together," Sheriff Donnie Smith said on June 11, ac­cording to The Daily News.

While McMaster is doing his part of the investigation, the publicity into the miss­ing guns has led to the return of five weap­ons to the Sheriff's Department. That in­formation also has been turned over to the AG's office, Smith said.

"(McMaster) asked me not to talk about the investigation until its completed," he said. Smith did not elaborate about the re­turned guns except to say that "two of them were guns we knew were missing, one was actually county property that was not out of the evidence locker, and another was turned back that we didn't have it logged."

Guns that were not part of the missing gun investigation have been returned to their owners. Smith recalled one incident. "(This man's) son is serving in either Iraq or Afghanistan, and his gun had been sto­len and recovered, and it was here. He asked his father to come get it ... so we turned it over,Y he said.

When first reported inApril, it was believed that 25 guns were unaccounted for. That num­ber later changed to 70; now it appears that about 45 guns are unaccounted for.

In April, Smith announced the guns were missing before he took over the job from former Sheriff Joseph Tibbetts. The guns were logged in between 1995 and 2006. Smith has never suggested the guns were stolen, but rather shoddy record keeping may be one of the reasons some of them are unaccounted for.

For weeks, St. Louis compared receipts with weapons. He discovered that al­though some of the guns may have been returned to their original owners, there

though some of the guns may have been returned to their original owners, there

was no record of that happening. St. Louis then compared the firearms still in the evidence locker with those that should have been there; those that were returned to the owner or designee; and those that were destroyed or swapped for ammuni­tion for the department. He came up with a bunch of missing or unaccounted for guns. Smith said the problem in the past was some guns were returned but never logged out of the evidence locker.

On Monday, a tour of the evidence locker located in a former jail cell at the Sheriff's Department revealed guns neatly stacked in racks against the wall, while handguns were individually categorized and sitting on shelves. There also was a section in the cell for computer crime cases. The front part of the cell housed other evidence col­lected as a result of a crime, including VCRs and household items.

Smith said he instituted a new evidence locker policy.

Now deputies are required to log the gun into a logbook they carry with them. After that the deputy and another officer log the weapon into the master logbook in the evi­dence locker. The new policy also requires that two officers log the weapon out when it is returned to its owner. There also is a pro­cedure in place for when a gun is returned to its owner once a case is closed. "The case officer then has to be the one who returns the weapon to the owner," the sheriff said.

The chief deputy also is responsible for regularly inventorying the evidence locker. St. Louis said under the new policy, guns will be held for seven years. "Once it has cleared in seven years, we will put it out in the newspaper that we have a weapon owned by so and so, and anybody who has any right to claim it to do so," he said. Unclaimed guns will be traded for equip­ment for the department. "With a letter of understanding. That's the way the new policy is," he said.

But right now, nothing will be done, St. Louis said, until the AG's office has com­pleted its investigation.

Louis said, until the AG's office has com­pleted its investigation. The New GUN WEEK, July 1, 2007

 

Ohio Legislature Considering "Stand-Your-Ground" Protection

by Dave Workman Senior Editor

Legislation introduced last month in Ohio would protect private citizens who defend themselves with lethal force from civil law­suits, and it quickly got the support of the Buckeye Firearms Association (BFA).

There are currently 17 states with such protections for armed citizens. The National Rifle Association (NRA) has pushed these laws, which reinforce so-called "right-to carry" statutes that have been adopted in 40 states over the past several years.

The legislation is sponsored by state Sen. Steve Buehrer (R-Delta). A compan­ion bill was introduced in the House by state Rep. Lynn Wachtmann (R-Napoleon). They are SB-184 and HB-264, respectively, and according to Associated Press, there are about 50 co-sponsors so far.

The BFA, on its website, admitted up front that anti-gunners will label the bill as "license to murder" legislation, and almost on sched­ule, Ohio's most vocal anti-gunner, Toby Hoover, said the proposal will allow citizens to "take the law into their own hands."

Hoover, executive director of the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence, was quoted by Associated Press as stating, "The big fear is that people with deadly weapons will now assume they are capable of making a decision of when that can be used, wherever they are."

But Ken Hanson, BFA legislative chair­man, fired back, "This bill accomplishes two important reforms. First, if someone is forcibly trespassing in your home or vio­lently and feloniously assaulting you, you are legally presumed to be acting in self-defense. Second, if you act properly in self-defense, you cannot be sued civilly. What is controversial about shifting the pre­sumption away from the victim and back against the bad guy?"

Anti-self-defense activists have tradi­tionally campaigned against passage of such laws, calling them "shoot first" stat­utes. They may have trouble stopping this legislation, however, because the legisla­ture is dominated by Republicans, and Democrat Gov. Ted Strickland reportedly supports the measure.

"This legislation is an important step toward making Ohioans feel safer in their homes, businesses and communities," Buehrer said. "People should have every right to defend themselves without fear of prosecution."

"We all learned in school that you are innocent until proven guilty," Wachtmann added. "Judges have twisted that around so that crime victims now must spend their own money to prove they are innocent. This bill will put the burden of proof back where it belongs."

Among the states where such legislation is now on the books are Ohio neighbors Michigan, Kentucky and Indiana.

"We know from decades of crime studies supported by the FBI Uniform Crime Reports that when someone breaks into your home, you are in immediate danger and it is rea­sonable to act upon that knowledge,” said BFA Chairman Jim Irvine. "This bill simply aligns Ohio law with that knowledge." The New GUN WEEK, July 1, 2007

 

West Virginia AG Announces CPL Reciprocity Agreements

West Virginia Attorney General Darrell McGraw (D) announced on June 8 concealed pistol license (CPL) reci­procity agreements with several other states.

"West Virginians with valid con­cealed handgun permits are allowed to carry concealed handguns in KY, VA, NC, OH, FL and SD pursuant to exist­ing and new reciprocity agreements. We are currently in active discussion with other states. We have received recog­nition by Michigan, Montana, Okla­homa, Tennessee, and Vermont, but we do not have a reciprocity agreement with the states," stated McGraw.

In conjunction with his announce­ment, McGraw said that in order to raise awareness of gun safety consum­ers in the state could receive a free gun lock from 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. at the state police detachments in Beckley, Elkins, Logan, Morgantown, Moundsville, Parkersburg, South Charleston, and Sutton. Consumers can also receive free gun locks from some of the local gun shops in these re­gions. These locations include Flat Top Arms Inc. in Beckley, B & J Pawn and Sport in Elkins, Marstiller's Gun Shop in Morgantown, Hartley's Gun Shop in Moundsville, Carl's Gun Shop in Parkersburg, and Mack & Dave's in Huntington.

"We have added a new section to our website detailing handgun reciprocity agreements with other states. This in­formation can be a reference guide to the West Virginia concealed handgun reciprocity agreements with other states for consumers, business owners and visitors. For more information log qn to www.wvago.gov or call the Con­4umer Protection Hotline at 1-800-368­8808," McGraw said.

During the 2007 legislative session HB-3074 was passed and signed into law by Gov. Joe Manchin III (D) in March, legislation that transferred the authority from the governor to attor­ney general to negotiate CPLs with other states.

In order to enter into concealed weapon reciprocity agreements with other states certain criteria must be met to ensure their licensing require­ments for their applicants are as strin­gent as West Virginia's. Additionally, the other state must have a database that is readily available 24/7 that can verify the continuing validity of a CPL, and the states having concealed hand­gun reciprocity agreements with West Virginia must notify the state if and when their state concealed handgun laws change.

Attorney General Darrell McGraws's staff has been researching and negoti­ating diligently with states over the last couple of months preparing for the reciprocity law to go into effect. "There are five different categories of states concerning reciprocity agreements. We have focused on the contiguous states first. There are states who match us and there are five or six states inter­ested in reciprocity with us, but ques­tions exist as to whether West Virginia's requirements meet theirs. There are about fifteen states that ap­pear to recognize any valid concealed weapons permit. Then there are states that don't meet our criteria. The last category of states are very strict about concealed weapons and do not have reciprocity laws with other states. These would include New York, Califor­nia and Illinois," stated Attorney Gen­eral Darrell McGraw.

"If West Virginia wants to maximize concealed weapon reciprocity with other states the scope of a background check needs to be clarified and updated. We hope to have recommendations for the legislature to consider at its next regular session. The database needs to cover the entire state and include all information about possible disabling behaviors. In the states where there is some type of statutory problem that prevents West Virginia from granting reciprocity, we are actively seeking West Virginia's recognition of concealed weapons in their state," McGraw said. The New GUN WEEK, July 1, 2007

 

Virginia MMMs Cancel Meeting Over Pro-Gun Video Cameras

by Dave Workman Senior Editor

An early June "gun violence prevention" meeting was cancelled by the "Million" Mom March (MMM) of Northern Virginia when gun rights activists showed up to vid­eotape the event, and apparently balked at an agreement not to distribute what they filmed.

According to a story that ran in the Con­nection Newspapers, the meeting had been scheduled at the Centreville Regional Li­brary June 4. But, when two men "associ­ated with" the Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL) showed up to videotape the session, there was something of a con­frontation.

Gun Week has viewed segments of vid­eotapes recorded by two different individu­als. There did not appear to be any attempt to disrupt the meeting, although it was in­timated that their mere presence with the cameras was disruptive.

VCDL President Philip Van Cleave noted in a bulletin he posted to the Internet, "Sorry, MMMs, but you disrupted your own meeting."

He also posed the question, "What were they going to say that they didn't want to be held accountable for?"

In an e-mail to Gun Week, Van Cleave said, "I don't understand the MMM's fear of a simple video camera at a `public' meet­ing. The bright white light of truth and facts caused them to scurry for cover in the shadows."

About 20 people showed up for the event, though it is not clear how many were gun rights activists. One of the intended speak­ers was gun control lobbyist Bob Ricker, currently associated with the American Hunting and Shooting Association, who can be seen in some of the video segments standing off to the side of the room.

Also in the room was a police officer. Activist Chris Rohland did sign the con­tract, according to the report, but later posted an image of that agreement on the Internet. His unidentified companion re­fused to sign, and the meeting was cancelled. What appeared on camera to be a hast­ily-written agreement read, "I agree that any photographic representations recorded at this meeting will be used solely by me for my private use and will not be copied, or made available to any other person or organization without the prior consent of the Northern Virginia Million Mom March." The agreement was written in long hand.

Rohland told a reporter that it was "a public meeting that was publicly adver­tised."

One of the organizers of the event, MMM Past President Terry Hartnett, offered this explanation to the newspaper: "We just want to have meetings without everything getting distorted and ending up on YouTube."

Reacting to that, Van Cleave told Gun Week in his e-mail, "Were they planning to take something out of context to benefit their agenda and were worried that-the gunowner's video could then be used to refute them?"

The contract would have limited the VCDL activists from using the videotape for anything except private use. Rohland confirmed he wanted to record the meeting to share it with other gun rights activists.

The newspaper report said the MMM group has about 100 members in Fairfax County, which has a population well over 1 million people, and it became more active in the wake of the Apr. 16 Virginia Tech shooting. Six of the vic­tims graduated from schools in Fairfax County.

Another MMM member identified as Dorothy Fonow reportedly claimed that the two VCDL activists were trying to "in­timidate people."

After the meeting was cancelled, a mem­ber of the audience, who did not appear on camera, uttered a vulgar remark about one of the activist cameramen that is clearly audible on the recording, which has been posted on YouTube.

This is not the first time the MMM and VCDL have clashed. At an earlier gun con­trol meeting held at the Burke Library, the newspaper said, "a handful of gun activ­ists attended openly carrying guns." VCDL promotes open carry.

Meanwhile, at a gun giveaway held to raise funds to help battle gun control ef­forts spearheaded by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, several people showed up to protest.

The MMM meeting at the Centreville Library was rescheduled to a private loca­tion, the newspaper said. The New GUN WEEK, July 1, 2007

 

NEWS BRIEFS:

MN Motorist Who Shot UC Cop Released

A Minnesota father who shot and wounded an undercover Robinsdale police officer during a traffic dispute was released without charges while the investigation into what officials and the Minnesota media are calling a "road rage incident" continued.

According to The Minneapolis Star Tri­bune, St. Paul Pioneer Press and Associ­ated Press, the June 7 incident left the uni­dentified cop wounded in the arm and both legs. It was not clear whether he actually fired his gun during the incident.

But Martin Treptow, 35, did fire in what he claims was self-defense. He has stated that the undercover officer never identified himself after driving erratically in traffic and exchanging shouts with Treptow. What ig­nited the beef has not been explained.

When Treptow's SUV came to a stop, the officer's car was alongside on the passen­ger side of Treptow's vehicle. Treptow's wife was in the passenger seat and their two young children were in the back seat.

According to Treptow's much-reported account, the unidentified officer aimed a gun at Mrs. Treptow. It was then that Treptow, who is a former security guard and is licensed to carry a concealed hand­gun, drew his pistol and fired, aiming through his wife's window.

Treptow then pulled away to a nearby gas station while his wife called police. When the cops arrived, they arrested the Treptows. His wife was released later that day and Treptow spent the night in jail be­fore being released the following afternoon. The incident happened in Coon Rapids. The New GUN WEEK, July 1, 2007

 

No Way to Cure Insomnia

From the "Only Cops Should Have Kevlar Pillows" file comes this story out of Albany, GA, where Sgt. Kinshishi Adams was re­portedly lying in bed June 10 with a gun under her pillow when it discharged, putting a bullet through her left wrist.

If sleeping with a gat under a pillow is supposed to make some­one sleep more soundly, in this case it failed.

Making matters worse, the gun in question was her service pis­tol, a .40-caliber semi-auto, according to Associated Press. Dougherty County Police Chief Don Cheek was quoted as call­ing it a "freak accident."

"She apparently sleeps with a weapon under her pillow," Cheek said, "and somehow it discharged."

The chief and Albany, GA, police both told a reporter that gun safety is paramount and indicated it would be stressed in the wake of the accident. An internal investigation is underway. The New GUN WEEK, July 15, 2007

 

Gun vs. Bat: Guess Who Loses

Here's something you don't see every day, primarily because it is often fatally stupid as the following story will illustrate.

Robert Wolfe, 49, will not be swinging a baseball bat anymore, having made the decision to try and clobber his ex-wife and her boyfriend with the one he had, only to discover that women can be good shots, even under stress.

According to The Sequoyah County 7imes, the Sallislaw, OK, man broke into the home of his ex, identified as Kimberly Wolfe, some­time between 1 and 1:35 a.m. on June 8, and found her and the boyfriend, Timothy Sizemore, asleep. He woke them up by whack­ing them with the baseball bat, at which point Kimberly reached for her gun and capped off three rounds, one of which put Robert out of the game permanently. The report indicated that he was hit in the forehead, right between the eyes.

Turns out that Robert evidently had some gruesome plans for his former bride, as investigators reportedly discovered a bag of butcher knives that he had apparently brought into the house. They believe his scheme involved torture before murder. No small wonder, then, why Kimberly had protective orders against her former hubby.

Investigators believe the shooting was in self-defense. The news­paper quoted Jon Loffi, assistant director with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, who said the shooting "had all the ap­pearances of a heat of passion type thing."

Sizemore was beaten pretty severely, suffering a shattered el­bow, broken hand and blows to the face and ribs. The New GUN WEEK, July 15, 2007

 

Big Gun Search Draws Blanks

More than two dozen law enforcement officers from several agen­cies conducted a massive search in Brockton, MA, in an effort to get guns off the streets before Summer began, WBZ, the Boston CBS affiliate reported on June 6.

Federal agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and police officers fanned out across Brockton and scoured 17 different locations, Agents had already conducted similar raids in neighboring Roxbury and New Bedford.

"A lot of the big cities have problems. We were in Boston about a month ago doing something simiiar," said ATF agent Jim McNally. Using dogs trained to sniff out weapons and explosives, they searched areas where weapons might be hidden.

WBZ reported that residents were overjoyed with the police presence. However, law enforcement did not find a single weapon during the search. The New GUN WEEK, July 15, 2007

 

Oh, Not in a Gun Free Zone!

Some people go through the proverbial motions of "robbing Pe­ter to pay Paul," and others just rob.

And so it went last month at the First Apostolic Church in Mon­roe, LA, when a gunman walked into the sanctuary on the evening of June 16 and robbed several people who were there, rehearsing for a Father's Day event. The lone gunman must not have realized that guns aren't allowed in churches.

According to Associated Press and Monroe News-Star, there were eight adults and seven children in the sanctuary when the crime went down, and they lost a total of four wallets and a couple of cell phones. The Rev. Simeon Strickland said nobody was hurt. The New GUN WEEK, July 15, 2007

 

Early Gunshot Victim Found

From the "Indiana Jones" file comes a report out of Peru, where archaeologists have found what may be the first known remains of a fatal gunshot victim in the Western Hemisphere, according to Associated Press (AP).

A skull found in a shallow grave near Lima in 2002 had an un­usual round hole in it, suggesting that the person died rather sud­denly. For the past couple of years, researchers have apparently been studying the skull and discovered fragments of what was a lead musket ball around the wound, the AP reported.

The archaeologist who found the skull was identified as Guillermo, Cock. It appears the skull may have belonged to an an­cient Inca, who died at the hands of Spanish Conquistadors as early as 1536, the story suggested. The New GUN WEEK, July 15, 2007

 

Whoa, Don't Hold the Sauce

From the "Hold Your Fire, Not The Sauce" file comes the story out of Miami, FL where a man described as a "disgruntled cus­tomer" shot a manager at a Wendy's restaurant over packets of chili sauce.

According to the Associated Press, the unidentified customer ordered a meal at the drive-through and when he picked it up, he asked for extra chili sauce. He wanted ten packets, and the restaurant supplies three with each meal. The man began argu­ing with a cashier, who gave him the extra sauce, but the man kept arguing. That's when the manager asked him to pull his car forward so they could have a chat.

The manager came out to tell this jerk the store policy, and instead, the guy pulled out a gun and shot the manager several times. The angry customer then drove away. At last report, he was still at large. The New GUN WEEK, July 1, 2007

 

A Story with Legs...Sort Of

Bellingham, WA, is not exactly a hotbed of foolishness, but some people have their moments, and the following story illus­trates one of them.

An unidentified woman called police May 24 to report that she had just seen a man walking into St. Joseph Hospital carrying what appeared to be an "assault rifle." A herd of cops from West­ern Washington University, Washington State Patrol, Whatcom County Sheriff's Department and even the Border Patrol re­sponded.

Lawmen dutifully "swept the building," checking each floor and each room looking for the alleged gunman, but when the dust settled (there was no smoke to clear), it turned out the rifle was a prosthetic leg. According to Associated Press, Bellingham's Deputy Police Chief David Doll made the announcement after the posse' turned up nothing other than this poor guy with a fake append­age. The New GUN WEEK, July 1, 2007

 

From Illinois with Love

From the "Shaken but not stirred" file comes this goofy re­port out of Illinois involving a high school student newspa­per called Kaneland Krier, and a Spring prom supplement in which students, trying to achieve a "James Bond theme" were photographed holding-are you sitting down?-water pistols.

But the newspaper at Kaneland High School in anti-gun Maple Park, IL, never was circulated in the community, as it normally is, because of concerns that it might not be appro­priate in the wake of the Virginia Tech massacre.

There are a couple of problems with this story, however, as detailed on a website belonging to the Student Press Law Center (SPLC). The newspaper was distributed to Kaneland students on Apr. 5, eleven days before the Apr. 16 Virginia Tech shooting. According to the website, the cover photo of the special prom section was to have been uploaded to the high school's website later that month, and remaining copies of the Krier would have been distributed to the community.

The questionable photo, according to the SPLC report, showed a male student in a tuxedo pointing a water pistol out of the page at the reader, and a female student holding another prop pistol. This was done against a martini glass backdrop.

But the newspaper staff reportedly decided to spike the paper's distribution to the community, an act of censorship that earned a good review from newspaper advisor Laurie Erdmann.

Apparently, this fiasco was ignited by a formal complaint from a parent identified as Heather Lyons. She reportedly thought the Bond photo of students with toy guns sent "the wrong message." An elementary school principal also com­plained about the cover photo.

Lyons was quoted by the SPLC, complaining that the news­paper was "glamorizing alcohol and firearms." Oh, perish the thought! The New GUN WEEK, July 1, 2007

 

‘Hey! Pick Up That Wrapper!’

A News of the WeirdTM item for June 3 cited an earlier Apence France Presse item about the costly and questionable expansion of remote surveillance as practiced in Great Britain.

Great Britain is now famously saturated with surveillance cam­eras (4.2 million of them) monitoring public spaces, creating alarm­ing privacy concerns. On top of that, in April, after a pilot project in Middlesbrough, the British government announced it will at­tach loudspeakers to the cameras in 20 districts so that officials who monitor the video can actually scold citizens who are spotted engaging in "antisocial" behavior.

Weird as this may sound, remember that several American cit­ies, including New York City and Chicago, are installing a variety of such surveillance systems, including those that can allegedly pinpoint the place where a gun shot is fired. The New GUN WEEK, July 1, 2007

 

News Links:

07/07/06 Hunting and fishing on decline, says Census Bureau survey Preliminary data released June 19 from the National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation, which was conducted for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, reported a 15 percent decline in hunting and fishing over the last 10 years. http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20070629/SPORTS/70629009

07/07/06 Cash for guns offered by police, Crime Stoppers A 75-year-old woman no longer sits on her front porch. A son no longer comes home to dinner. And a teenage girl won't start school next month. That's all because of guns in the wrong hands, said Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Chief Michael Berkow.