Via AP:

NEW ORLEANS — City officials have agreed to return hundreds of firearms that police officers confiscated in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, part of a deal to resolve a lawsuit filed by gun lobbying groups.

 

The settlement agreement filed Tuesday in federal court calls for the National Rifle Association and Second Amendment Foundation to drop their case if the city follows a plan for returning guns to owners who had them seized by police after the Aug. 29, 2005, hurricane.

 

Both sides also are asking U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier to sign off on the pact and issue a permanent injunction barring the city from seizing lawfully possessed firearms. Barbier didn't immediately rule on the agreement, which doesn't involve a monetary award.

What is the American Hunters and Shooters Association (AHSA), and who is behind it?

Posted at NewWest.net:

Like many wives of gun owners [Nancy Schoenke] is an independent thinker and does not like guns. She took a seat on the board of the Brady Campaign but soon became frustrated with the group’s lack of progress. Ray told her that progress would not be made until gun owners were allowed to bring their common sense perspective to the table. As a result, Nancy closed the family checkbook, resigned from the Brady board, and encouraged Ray [Schoenke] to start AHSA...

 

John Rosenthal an AHSA founding board member was also the founder of Boston based Stop Handgun Violence, a gun violence prevention group that has advocated some of the nation’s strictest gun laws... Like Nancy Schoenke, he too served on the Brady board until frustration set in. John quit Brady and helped finance and build AHSA. In the spring of 2007, John resigned from the AHSA board over some fundamental policy issue differences and is now devoting his efforts to Stop Handgun Violence.

Many legal scholars answer "yes":

[T]he text of the [14th] amendment, the historical events leading to its adoption, the goals of its framers, and the statements of purpose made both by its supporters and by those who ratified it, all point in the exact same direction: The 14th Amendment was designed to nationalize the Bill of Rights and other fundamental rights.

The amendment's origins lie in the anti-slavery politics that gave rise to the Republican Party. After the Civil War, as the former Confederate states began passing Black Codes and other restrictions on the political, economic, and civil rights of African Americans and their white allies, the Radical Republicans of the 39th Congress responded with federal civil rights laws and a constitutional amendment to give them force. ..

 

[T]he phrase privileges and immunities has long been accepted as a legal term of art, employed by no less an authority than William Blackstone in his 1765 Commentaries on the Laws of England, where he defined it as a combination of civil rights and natural rights. Similarly, James Madison and other Founders used the words privileges and rights interchangeably...In any case, the overwhelming historical evidence submitted here is certain to be a major factor when the courts finally get around to restoring the Second Amendment to its rightful place among the Bill of Rights.

Posted at The Detroit News:

ANN ARBOR -- Gun shows don't contribute to increased homicide or suicide rates, according to results of a study announced Wednesday by the University of Michigan's Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.

 

The joint University of Michigan and University of Maryland examination of gun death data in the weeks surrounding more than 3,400 California and Texas gun shows concluded tighter regulation of the flea market-like operations did nothing to reduce firearms-related deaths in the following month...

 

"To the extent that 33 regulations such as those in place in California reduce any deleterious effects of gun shows, one might expect to detect a larger effect in a relatively unregulated state such as Texas. Our results, however, provide no evidence to suggest that gun shows lead to a substantial increase in the number of homicides or suicides in either California or Texas," said U-M professor Brian Jacob, head of the Ford School's Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy.

Via the New York Times:

PHILADELPHIA — A state court ruled Friday that Philadelphia was not entitled to set its own gun laws, invalidating five measures passed by the City Council last year and striking a blow against the city’s efforts to strengthen gun control...

 

“While we understand the terrible problems gun violence poses for the city and sympathize with its efforts to use its police powers to create a safe environment for its citizens,” the five-judge panel wrote in a 21-page opinion, “these practical considerations do not alter the clear pre-emption imposed by the legislature.” The decision was by a vote of 4 to 1.

Posted at FoxNews:

Brooks Jackson, who authored the FactCheck.org piece with D'Angelo Gore, was extremely upset about the NRA ads. Jackson told FOX News: “They are lying. This is what they do. This is how they make their money. Do these people have no shame? They are just making this up. I just wish that they would tell the truth.” He said that their ads were “one of the worst examples of lying” that he had “ever seen.”

 

But what are the facts? Were the NRA ads this bad? How accurate are the fact checkers? FactCheck.org, which is regularly relied on by FOX News, had the longest critical discussion of the ads. Here is a review of their most critical comments.

Via WBBM:

CHICAGO  -- Father Michael Pfleger said he succeeded in everything except getting arrested in an escalated anti-gun protest, this time inside the State of Illinois Thompson Center.

 

Father Pfleger said his weekly demonstrations outside the Thompson center had produced insufficient Springfield action on gun control...

So he and seven willing to be arrested blockaded the security checkpoint inside the building...

Father Pfleger proclaimed the sit-in successful although there were no arrests and promised to extend the protest to lawmakers homes throughout the state if necessary to get some gun control legislation.

Via the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

[T]wo conflicting views were aired when a Senate committee heard testimony on possible legislation to amend Georgia’s 138-year-old law banning firearms at places of “public gatherings.”

 

The committee’s chairman, Sen. Mitch Seabaugh (R-Sharpsburg), has written draft legislation that would allow Georgians with carry licenses to take weapons into most public places other than jails and courtrooms...

 

The move to weaken the current ban on guns at “public gatherings,” including churches and college campuses, comes on the heels of House Bill 89, which became law on July 1. That measure lets people with firearms licenses carry guns into state parks, restaurants that serve alcohol and on mass transit.

Via ABC News (Australia):

It does not take long to realise the customers nor the staff are fans of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

 

Mr Disney says middle Americans are typically freedom-loving people who take their constitutional rights seriously, and Senator Obama is a threat to those rights.

 

"Mr Obama is a threat to the second amendment and he's a threat to many things in terms of how we run our lives," he said.

 

People like Mr Disney have not forgotten that Senator Obama once said that when times are hard people cling to guns and religion.

 

So it is probably no surprise that nobody either on the shooting range or in the gun store is an Obama supporter.

 

One man browsing the store was wearing a t-shirt with a photo of both Senator Obama and Osama Bin Laden on it.

I'm actually pretty glad we got a low ranking with the Brady Campaign.  I still support Harrold ISD and am very glad Gov. Perry got behind them!

Now excuse me while I bitterly cling to my religion and guns.

Via the San-Antonio Express News:

In a state where lawmakers regularly expand gun rights, few issues more consistently push Texans toward Republicans in national elections. And the state isn't wary of innovation: This year, a school district near Dallas became the first in the nation to allow teachers and staff to carry guns for protection, a measure Gov. Rick Perry endorsed.

 

In turn, the Lone Star State logged just nine out of 100 points on a state scorecard compiled recently by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. The group cites numerous reasons, including the fact that legislators here have not limited assault weapons or required background checks on all purchases at gun shows, two issues seen as critical on both sides of the gun debate.

 

“It's usually part of the larger cultural advantage for Republicans. The Democrats are seen as anti-gun,” said Earl Black, a Rice University professor and co-author of “The Rise of Southern Republicans.”

Via the Philadelphia Inquirer:

READING - A regional coalition of mayors yesterday announced a joint effort to enact local gun legislation, following the lead of Philadelphia officials...

 

The mayors said they were following in the footsteps of Philadelphia, which passed legislation involving lost or stolen weapons in April.

 

"Are we going to sit there and wait for the state to give us the laws, or are we going to do something about it?" said Mayor Sal Panto of Easton. "Thankfully, Philadelphia has done something about it."...

 

C. Scott Shields, an attorney for the National Rifle Association, argued that the proposed legislation violates state law that prevents local governments from enacting their own gun legislation. Proposed legislation that would have empowered local governments to enact gun-control laws was defeated last year.

 

Shields said the NRA would likely sue the municipalities if they enacted what he termed "illegal gun laws."

Via AP:

WASHINGTON (AP) — The pro-gun majority in the House moved Wednesday to compel the nation's capital to broaden the rights of its residents to buy and own firearms, including semiautomatic weapons.

 

Critics, led by the District of Columbia's sole delegate to Congress, decried the action. They said the vote tramples on the district's right to govern itself and could endanger both residents and political dignitaries who often travel across the city.

 

But the National Rifle Association-backed bill passed easily, 266-152, with supporters saying they were determined to give D.C. residents the same Second Amendment right of self-defense that has been available to other Americans.

Posted at the Salt Lake Tribune:

    A pro-gun rights group wants to stop what it says are "petty bureaucrats" from banning guns in their local jurisdictions - an act they say is against state law.

    The independent gun rights network Gun Owners of Utah is calling on its members to look for signs at places such as airports, buses and local parks banning guns. After a list of such signs is compiled, members from GOUtah! will ask local leaders to take the signs down and revise their rules and ordinances.

    "What we want to do is help all the local and county agencies come into compliance with state law," said Charles Hardy, policy director for GOUtah!. "The first thing we've gotta do is find out who isn't in compliance."

    In the late 1990s, state lawmakers passed a statute declaring that the Legislature has sole authority to regulate guns in the state.