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Latest Gun Rights News

Read the latest news from the frontlines of the battle to protect our right to keep and bear arms.

4/17/2008 - Brady Campaign wants more gun control faster

On the first anniversary of the Virginia Tech shooting rampage, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence says it's still too easy for criminals to get guns.

Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign, says not enough has changed since the worst campus shootings in the nation's history when 32 people, including the gunman died.

``Much more needs to be done. The bottom line is we make it too easy for dangerous people to get guns in this country. There really aren't very many restrictions on people's ability to get guns," Helmke said.

``A lot of times, folks think that any restriction is somehow a threat to their Second Amendment rights. People should support closing the gun show loophole, people should support having a more complete background check system."

Arizona has done a poor job of keeping guns out of the hands of criminals, Helmke said, ``particularly at the gun shows in Arizona, for the gangs and the violent individuals in Mexico."

Read the full story here.

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4/15/2008 - Wal-Mart plans to video tape and log all gun owners

Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest seller of firearms, announced Monday it will toughen rules for gun sales, from storing video of purchases to creating an internal log of which guns they sell that are later used in crimes.

J.P. Suarez, the chief compliance officer for Wal-Mart Stores Inc., appeared with outspoken gun control advocate Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York to announce the changes at a gathering of Bloomberg’s group Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

Changes to come at about 1,100 Wal-Mart stores selling guns include:

Creating a record and alert system to record when a gun sold at Wal-Mart is later used in a crime. If the purchaser of that gun later tries to buy another gun at Wal-Mart, the system would alert the sales clerk of the prior buy and could refuse to make the sale.

Retaining the recorded images of gun sales in case law enforcement wants to view them later as part of an investigation.

Expanding background checks of employees who handle guns and expanding inventory controls.

Suarez said the tougher standards will come with some additional cost to the company.

Read the full MSNBC story here.
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4/7/2008 - Anti-Gun BATFE has spent over $3 million to stop ID gun store

The anti-gun Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) has spent over $3 million in taxpayers funds to try and bankrupt Red's Trading Post. Red's is an Idaho gun store that has been family owned since 1936.

Ryan Horsley seems confident that he will triumph over a government shakedown that has cost his family business about $200,000 in legal fees, as he fights to keep Red’s Trading Post, a fourth-generation firearms store, in operation.

Red’s is Idaho’s oldest surviving firearms dealership. Sometime this summer, federal judge Ed Lodge, who’s best known for presiding over the dramatic Randy Weaver case, will decide if the federal government is right in claiming that Red’s “willfully” violated the law by making a relatively small number of clerical mistakes in its firearms sales records.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (BATFE), a relic of the prohibition days whose modern-day legitimacy is an open question, has been poring through the store’s sales records since at least 2005, looking for such “willful” clerical violations.

Although Horsley at first thought that the BATFE would not push the matter into court, in order to avoid any bad publicity that may accompany a ruling contrary to the government’s position, the matter did go to court on March 3-4, 2008 in Boise—about a year to the day since the battle heated up.

Read the full story here.

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4/1/2008 - KS newspaper opposes legal right to arms

In a typical display of liberal hand wringing, the Topeka Capitol-Journal's editorial board claims that the streets of Kansas will run red with blood if ordinary citizens are allowed to own fully automatic weapons. They simply ignore the fact that there is no documented evidence that a legal machine gun (under the 1934 National Fire Arms Act) has ever been used in the comission of a crime.

What this state needs is more fully automatic weapons on our city streets.

We’re being sarcastic, but the idea had the support of enough legislators to merit a hearing last week in the House Federal and State Affairs Committee on a bill that would allow manufacturers and dealers to sell the weapons to private citizens.

The measure primarily was introduced to clear up a conflict over a federal law allowing gun manufacturers and dealers to sell machine guns to law enforcement officials.

In December, then-Attorney General Paul Morrison issued an opinion saying Kansas law doesn’t allow those sales.

The bill would make it clear machine guns can be sold in Kansas to law enforcement authorities.

That part is fine. But in going a step further and allowing sales to private citizens, the measure raises concerns ...

Predictably, the measure has stirred a debate over the right to keep and bear arms. We’ll only say we don’t think it’s a good idea to make fully automatic weapons available to the bad guys, who always like to stay at least as well-armed as the men and women wearing badges ...

Read the full Topeka Capitol-Journal editorial here.

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3/31/2008 - Liberal PA Republican's sell out constitution, gun rights

Nine Pennsylvania Republican-In-Name-Only state law makers have agreed to sell out their constituent's constitutional rights by supporting handgun control legislation.

Nine Philadelphia-area Republicans signaled last week they would break ranks with their caucus today and support handgun-control legislation when the state House of Representatives resumes debate on a controversial proposal.

The measure, which would require reporting handguns that are lost or stolen, has been vigorously pushed by Democrats in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh as a "common sense" restriction that would reduce gun violence.

Through a legislative maneuver this month, gun-control proponents attached the proposal as an amendment to a separate weapons bill, setting up a possible historic full House vote on a substantive gun-control bill.

That would force lawmakers of both parties to make their positions known at a time when polls show a majority of Pennsylvanians support some form of gun control and a noticeable shift is occurring among Republican lawmakers who represent the Philadelphia suburbs.

To see the full list of anti-gun Pennsylvania Republicans, read the full Philadelphia Inquirer article here.
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3/28/2008 - Mayor Bloomberg's anti-gun crusade expands to include painting kits

In a typical display of hoplophobia, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has expanded his crusade against gun to include kits used to paint guns.

"I applaud Nassau County for taking steps to implement a ban on gun coloration kits that is similar to the ban New York City put in place two years ago. Police officers have a hard enough job as it is without having to worry about whether a person with a pink gun is carrying a toy or a deadly weapon. Putting our officers in that position is beneath any self-respecting business owner - and make no mistake, it could lead to terrible tragedies. I thank County Executive Suozzi and Police Commissioner Mulvey for taking this important step to protect the safety of their officers - and of all residents."

Read the full story at NYC.gov.
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3/26/2008 - D.C. residents resist "voluntary" police gun searches

A crackdown on guns is meeting some resistance in the District.

Police are asking residents to submit to voluntary searches in exchange for amnesty under the District's gun ban. They passed out fliers requesting cooperation on Monday.

The program will begin in a couple of weeks in the Washington Highlands neighborhood of southeast Washington and will later expand to other neighborhoods. Officers will go door to door asking residents for permission to search their homes.

Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said the "safe homes initiative" is aimed at residents who want to cooperate with police. She gave the example of parents or grandparents who know or suspect their children have guns in the home.

Community leaders went door to door in Ward 8 Monday to advise residents not to invite police into their homes to search for weapons.

"Bad idea," said D.C. School Board member William Lockridge. "I think the people should not open your doors under any circumstances, don't even crack your door, unless someone has a warrant for your arrest."

Read the full NBC 4 article here.
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3/25/2008 - D.C. Mayor continues support of gun ban

Despite having the one of the highest crime rates in the county, District of Columbia mayor Adrian Fenty still believes in ignoring the constitutional rights of D.C. residents. Fenty also continues to spew Sarah Brady's talking points about gun related violence.

Although Supreme Court justices appear to be leaning against upholding D.C.’s ban on handguns, Mayor Adrian Fenty says it’s critical that the city maintain its ability to outlaw firearms.

"Make no mistake about it, this is a public safety case," Fenty said. "The reason the city council enacted the gun ban in the 1970s because crime was getting out of control and guns were the cause of a disproportionate number of fatalities. When the gun ban became law, violent crime dropped significantly in the city and has steadily gone down since then."

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court held oral arguments on the case. Judging from their questions, a majority of the justices seemed to indicate that the Second Amendment permits individuals to possess firearms.

Read the full article here.
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3/17/2008 - Heller lawyers summarize their arguments in Legal Times

Two hundred years ago, the rights secured by the first 10 amendments were so widely accepted that many of the Framers considered a Bill of Rights unnecessary. Yet the Anti-Federalists wisely insisted on a Bill of Rights, fearing that fundamental tenets of individual liberty might later be deemed inconvenient, impractical, or even dangerous.

The Constitution’s words have since weathered constant assaults from miscreants who would suppress speech, control our private lives, or deny due process — usually in the name of public safety and the greater good.

The prohibitionist attack on Second Amendment rights is thus familiar, even if the arguments against the right to keep and bear arms are demonstrably false. In District of Columbia v. Heller — a case in which we will present oral argument on Tuesday, March 18 — the Supreme Court should recognize some basic truths.

Read the full Legal Times article by Heller lawyers Alan Gura and Robert A. Levy here.
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3/17/2008 - In anticipation of court hearing, D.C. Cops work overtime to confiscate guns

With oral arguments for the Heller case just a few short hours away, District of Columbia police have been frantically trying to confiscate as many guns as possible. They have even go so far as to use the implied threat of "consent searches" to gain access to citizens homes to illegally search and seize guns.

D.C. police are so eager to get guns out of the city that they're offering amnesty to people who allow officers to come into their homes and get the weapons.

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier announced yesterday the Safe Homes Initiative, aimed at parents and guardians who know or suspect that their children or other relatives have guns. Under the deal, police target areas hit by violence and seek adults who let them search their homes for guns, with no risk of arrest. The offer also applies to drugs that turn up during the searches, police said.

Read the full Washington Post story here.
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3/16/2008 - D.C. Gun Ban to be heard in Court Tuesday

On Tuesday the United States Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the Heller v. D.C. case -- also known as the "D.C. Gun Ban" case. The case has the potential the drastically affect the "legal interpretation" of our constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms.

Despite mountains of scholarly research, enough books to fill a library shelf and decades of political battles about gun control, the Supreme Court will have an opportunity this week that is almost unique for a modern court when it examines whether the District's handgun ban violates the Second Amendment.

The nine justices, none of whom has ever ruled directly on the amendment's meaning, will consider a part of the Bill of Rights that has existed without a definitive interpretation for more than 200 years.

"This may be one of the only cases in our lifetime when the Supreme Court is going to be interpreting the meaning of an important provision of the Constitution unencumbered by precedent,'' said Randy E. Barnett, a constitutional scholar at the Georgetown University Law Center. "And that's why there's so much discussion on the original meaning of the Second Amendment.''

The outcome could roil the 2008 political campaigns, send a national message about what kinds of gun control are constitutional and finally settle the question of whether the 27-word amendment, with its odd structure and antiquated punctuation, provides an individual right to gun ownership or simply pertains to militia service.

"The case has been structured so that they have to confront the threshold question," said Robert A. Levy, the wealthy libertarian lawyer who has spent five years and his own money to bring District of Columbia v. Heller to the Supreme Court. "I think they have to come to grips with that."

The stakes are obviously high for the District, which passed the nation's strictest gun-control law in 1976, just after residents were granted the authority to govern themselves. It virtually bans the private possession of handguns, and requires that rifles and shotguns in the home be kept unloaded and disassembled or outfitted with a trigger lock.

Read the full Washington Post Story here.
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3/12/2008 - PA student suspended for pro-gun, pro-military t-shirt

The anti-gun forces of Political Correctness have stuck again. A boy went to school wearing a t-shirt in honor of his uncle severing in Iraq and was suspended because the shirt bore a picture of a gun.

One day in December, Donald Miller III wore a gun to school. As you might imagine, it got him in trouble.

But the gun wasn't loaded; indeed, it wasn't a real gun at all. It was the image of a gun, printed on the front and back of a T-shirt — a shirt the Penn Manor freshman wore to honor his uncle, a soldier in the U.S. Army fighting in Iraq.

On the front pocket, in addition to the picture of the military sidearm, were the words: "Volunteer Homeland Security." On the back, superimposed over another image of the weapon, the words "Special issue — Resident — Lifetime License — United States Terrorist Hunting Permit — Permit No. 91101 Gun Owner — No Bag Limit."

They are, said Miller, 14, patriotic sentiments in a time of war. He feels pretty strongly about these things.

So do officials at the Penn Manor School District, who wanted him to turn his shirt inside out. When Miller refused, he got two days of detention.

Read the full article here.
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