The U.S. government is opposing Korea’s bid to sell thousands of aging U.S. combat rifles to American gun collectors.
By Jung Sung-ki
The U.S. government opposed South Korea’s bid to sell hundreds of thousands of aging U.S. combat rifles to American gun collectors, a senior government official said Thursday.
The ministry announced the plan last September as part of efforts to boost its defense budget, saying the export of the M1 Garand and carbine rifles would start by the end of 2009.
The U.S. administration put the brakes on the plan, citing “problems” that could be caused by the importation of the rifles.
The problems the U.S. government cited were somewhat ambiguous, said an official at the Ministry of National Defense on condition of anonymity.
“The U.S. insisted that imports of the aging rifles could cause problems such as firearm accidents. It was also worried the weapons could be smuggled to terrorists, gangs or other people with bad intentions,” the official told The Korea Times.
“We’re still looking into the reason why the U.S. administration is objecting to the sale of the rifles and seeking ways to resolve the problems raised,” he said.
Critics say the ministry pushed to sell the firearms in a hasty manner without enough consultation with the U.S. beforehand, as calls were growing to increase defense expenditure.
The Seoul government sought to sell the outdated U.S guns back to the United States.
A total of 86,000 M1 rifles and another 22,000 carbines were to be sold, as the weapons have been mothballed for about five decades in military warehouses. The per-unit price of the M1 rifle is about $220 and the carbine is more than $140, according to the ministry.
M1s were made first in 1926 and used in World War II and the 1954-1975 Vietnam War. The carbines were first produced in 1941 and used during the 1950-1953 Korean War.
Posted by ShaunKranish on Tuesday, August 24, 2010 @ 21:18:46 EDT (57 reads)
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By Annie Sweeney, Jeremy Gorner and Joe Germuska
Tribune staff
The bullets flew in neighborhoods from Roseland to Rogers Park, hitting victims ranging in age from 72 to just 1. The overwhelming majority of them were young men. The bullets nicked eyebrows and ankles. They also pierced whole communities, such as historic Woodlawn.
More than 300 people were shot in Chicago last month. At least 33 of them have died.
Some victims made headlines, like 13-year-old Robert Freeman Jr., who was fatally shot on his block while hanging out with friends. The city paused when two Chicago police officers — Michael Bailey and Thor Soderberg — were gunned down in uniform within weeks of each other.
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But many more victims of shootings in July — historically among the city's most dangerous months — suffered unnoticed by the rest of the city.
Crime has been holding steady in Chicago in recent years. Through July, there have been 1,089 shootings in the city, a 2.4 percent decrease over last year. This July, police counted 221 shooting incidents, compared with 229 in July 2009. A review of seven years worth of shootings showed similar numbers.
In other words, this was a typical July.
The Chicago Police Department declined to provide the number of shooting victims in July or comment about the month's shooting tally. But a Tribune analysis of reported shootings, based on logs kept by police and reporting by the Tribune, counted 303 people who were injured in shootings last month.
The Tribune's analysis showed that shootings occurred in predictable places — the Far South Side and West Side, for instance, where violence has been a pervasive problem for decades. It also showed how a bullet — even one that doesn't kill — pierced a path of destruction in victims, families and the neighborhoods where they live.
ICarry commentary: If you asked Mayor Daley what the problem was - he would blame the inanimate objects that people are using - guns. We might as well blame spears, stones, knives, and clubs as well. Despite Chicago's strictest-in-the-nation laws regulating the ownership and possession of guns, shootings are happening every day.
These shootings aren't with legally-owned and registered long guns. The criminals aren't using pistols, which after nearly 30 years people in Chicago can finally own (after all the paperwork, waiting, training outside of the city, purchasing outside of the city, money, etc). The criminals don't have FOID cards either!!!
Isn't it time Daley stopped blaming guns and started blaming criminals? Isn't it time he left gun owners and the Second Amendment alone? Isn't it time Chicago did something real to stop crime - like lock the gangbangers away and throw away the key? Instead, we're focused on arrested firemen who have guns.
Time to change, Chicago, your gun laws are only HELPING criminals prey on their victims. The people of Chicago have the right to keep AND bear arms, it's a fundamental right, the Supreme Court of the United States told you this, and you've still ignored it.
ICarry.org was the first to file suit after Daley's new gun ordinance was rubber-stamped through city council.
29-Year Veteran Chicago Police Woman Supports Right-to-Carry for Illinois!!!
I grew up around guns. My dad, a farmer by trade, was also an auxiliary deputy with the local sheriff’s department so he owned a pistol or two. My cousins were hunters, and we always had a shotgun in the house that my father could get to if he needed to eliminate an errant raccoon in the garden or a family of moles tearing up our front yard. I was neither fascinated nor frightened by firearms, they were just a part of our lives in the rural Midwest.
When I graduated from the police academy in 1981, I was pretty excited about my “right to bear arms” both on and off duty. Although I was a patrol officer, I invested in a couple of concealed holsters for my big Smith & Wesson model 59 (completely the wrong handgun for a girl with the hands of an 8 year old, but that’s another article). I pretty much carried my gun everywhere. Young, single, and new to the “big city,” I spent lots of time in and around the Chicago area, enjoying the museums, the sports teams, the shopping, and of course, the nightlife. I never gave my safety much thought because (a) I was armed, and (b) I was usually in the company of other (armed) off duty cops. Life was good.
I’ve always enjoyed lively political discussions so I was happy to enter into debates about the Second Amendment and whether or not ordinary citizens really had a “right to keep and bear arms” as I continued to gain some patrol experience. At the time, I really didn’t understand what the big deal was. I was fine with people who were hunters, or enjoyed shooting sports, and even wanted to keep a “home protection” gun in their bedroom, but as a young cop, I was pretty sure I didn’t want ordinary, untrained people walking around “my” streets carrying concealed handguns. I mean, if everyone had a gun, how could we tell the good guys from the bad? If everyone was armed, wouldn’t people be shooting each other over parking spaces and other petty issues? Besides, I secretly (and selfishly) enjoyed the feeling of superiority in knowing that I was one of the few people allowed by Illinois law to carry around a loaded gun. Boy, did I have a lot to learn.
In 1989 I was invited to travel with the University of Illinois’ “Fighting Illini” men’s basketball team to the Final Four in Seattle, Washington. My uncle was the head coach so my dad and I were going to fly on the team plane. What a blast! Unfortunately, this was about the same time that serial killer Ted Bundy was all over the news, the “Green River Killer” investigation was in full swing, and I was obsessed with reading Seattle-based author Ann Rule’s true crime books. Not exactly a great time for me to be heading for Washington State. But hey, I was cop! I got to take my gun to Seattle, carry it everywhere, and feel safe and secure. Great for me, but it got me thinking about all those young female murder victims; many of them close to my age. What if one of them had been armed? Could she have saved herself and ultimately, many others? And back in Illinois we had our own famous serial killer, John Wayne Gacy, still in the news. He killed 33 young men and boys before he was arrested. Hadn’t they deserved the legal right to able to try and protect themselves to the best of their ability?
Two and a half years later, on October 16, 1991, the infamous Luby’s Cafeteria shooting occurred in Killeen, Texas. In what we would now call an “active shooter” situation, George Hennard drove his pick up truck through the front of the restaurant and was able to stalk, shoot, and terrorize the 80 lunchtime patrons, killing 23 and wounding another 20 before police cornered him and he turned a gun on himself. He’d been able to reload several times before police could arrive, and there were no armed citizens to challenge him. I was now a patrol sergeant and really starting to really re-evaluate my stance on citizen carry, and frankly, the Luby’s incident scared the heck out of me. After all, just like my state, the law in Texas at the time forbade citizens from carrying handguns. The Texas “serious crime” rate was 38 % above the nation average. After the post-Luby’s passage of the CCW law, serious crime in Texas has dropped 50% faster than the United States as a whole. Illinois, however, continued to prohibit CCW.
The whole citizen carry issue, often mixed in with the broader debate over “gun control” in general, has been terribly politicized and the debate rages on to this day. Yes, the United States is the leader in “per capita gun deaths among industrial nations,” a statistic that gun control advocates love to throw around. However, as most cops will tell you, the issue is a whole lot more complicated. One of the best resources out there is John Lott’srecently updated book “More Guns, Less Crime.” Basically, Lott concluded in an 18 year study that states who allowed citizens to carry concealed weapons saw violent crime goes down. Pretty logical stuff; the more law abiding citizens who train and arm themselves, the less victims we have. He has continued to study this issue objectively but passionately; every crimefighter should read his work.
My adopted home town, the city of Chicago, is a perfect example of Lott’s conclusions. We’re averaging 20 – 40 shootings a weekend, three Chicago cops have been killed this year, off duty, since May, and yet Chicago has some of the strictest gun laws in the nation! Who’s got the guns? The cops and the bad guys; and frankly, the cops tend to be out-numbered and often out-gunned. All the gun laws in the world aren’t going to keep thugs from owning, carrying and using firearms, so all the City of Chicago is doing is keeping law abiding citizens from legally obtaining personal protection firearms.
I’m retired now, but as I travel throughout the United States, training with and filming law enforcement personnel, I take advantage of HR 218; I am always armed, and I’m grateful for the privilege. I am now a firm advocate of well-trained, well-armed civilians, and this is an issue that police officers must get more involved in. With layoffs, cutbacks, workplace violence and the raging “war on cops” in the United States, we may have to depend on our citizens to step up, jump in, and help out in an armed encounter. After all, you don’t have to have a badge to wear a white hat and be one of the good guys. Stay safe!
Posted by ShaunKranish on Wednesday, August 11, 2010 @ 00:10:29 EDT (144 reads)
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I Love Gun People!
Posted by ShaunKranish on Friday, July 30, 2010 @ 16:57:58 EDT (117 reads)
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Charge Against ICarry.org Founder Shaun Kranish Dismissed in Court July 30th
In a major victory for common-sense in Illinois gun laws, Winnebago County States Attorney Joe Bruscato has dismissed a felony charge lodged against prominent firearms rights advocate – founder of ICarry.org Shaun Kranish. Kranish was arrested in May of 2006 for carrying an unloaded pistol in a container/case in accordance with Illinois state law. However, former states attorney Paul A. Logli went ahead with prosecution.
Despite no allegations of wrongdoing, Kranish had to mount a defense against the felony charge for over four years. The Honorable Judge Steven Vecchio courageously dismissed the charge in 2007 based on the fact Shaun had followed the law – unloaded, in a container, with a valid Firearms Owner Identification (FOID) card.
The dismissal was appealed by the state, reversed on a legal procedural technicality, and sent back to Rockford for trial in mid August 2010. Represented by attorney Walter Maksym of Chicago – who is also representing ICarry.org and Second Amendment Arms in a lawsuit challenging Chicago’s new post-McDonald gun ban scheme – Kranish and countless firearms owners then asked Joe Bruscato to dismiss the charge brought against Shaun by his predecessor.
Mr. Kranish’s related Second Amendment civil rights case filed by Mr. Maksym in 2008 against the Village of Cherry Valley, six of its police officers, and two CherryVale Mall security guards that was upheld by U.S. District Court Judge Frederick J. Kapala (Rockford), has been recently settled on confidential, mutually satisfactory terms.
Kranish and his attorney applaud Mr. Bruscato for his responsible and sensible action taken in the interests of justice by dismissing the charge rather than bowing to the political pressure that has kept Illinois the last and only state in the country to completely prohibit its citizens from carrying a loaded pistol for self-defense – a constitutionally-protected right the US Supreme Court has described as “fundamental.”
Posted by ShaunKranish on Friday, July 30, 2010 @ 13:54:36 EDT (175 reads)
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ICarry Member Catches Convicted Child Sex Offender Wanted for Alleged Abduction,
Update: The man ICarry members led authorities to catch, according to the Daily Herald, "Wisconsin Department of Corrections records show Gallatin is a convicted child sex offender. He was convicted of first-degree sexual assault of a child in Kenosha County in July 2003."
I was writing this email to tell you that ICarry is launching a new membership program - full membership into our group!!! On July 4th, 2010, we celebrate freedom and the birth of our great country - the Declaration of Independence from tyrannical rule and the recognition of human rights such as life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. (The right to life means there's a right to protect it to - and our Second Amendment protects that right!)
As Illinois and Wisconsin take the final steps to join the 48 other states with concealed carry, on the heels of the Supreme Court ruling AGAINST Chicago's gun ban, we join together to be the final tipping point - the flash point - to once and for all see common-sense self-defense laws.
So get ready for fast changes! July 4th, 2010 is the day it begins. You don't have to wait if you don't want to, however, read below to see what we mean! I wish I could go into everything more, as there is way too much to tell, but this story just broke that you ABSOLUTELY COULD NOT MISS!!!
All I can say is WOW!! I don't have words for how pleased and proud I am at this moment. One of our members, who wishes to remain anonymous, became aware of this man through a forums post by one of our Founders Club members.
The wanted man, a Richard R Gallatin, is accused of ABDUCTING, ROBBING, and RAPING a woman in the Gurnee Mills parking lot in Gurnee, Illinois. When our new member read the story in our discussion forum and saw the picture of the suspect - he couldn't believe it - he and his family knew the man!!!!
Here is the story from ICarry.org's President and Lake County Coordinator, Joe Franzese:
A new Lake County member of ICarry.org, whom I know personally, and wants to stay anonymous, is being credited by F.B.I. and local agencies for the capture of Richard R Gallatin, accused of abducting, robbing and raping a woman in the Gurnee Mills parking lot in Gurnee Illinois.
Our member became aware of Mr. Gallatin while fishing at Zion State Park. During this time our member and his family thought of him as a charity case, seeing he was unemployed and living in a tent. The family bought him boots, pants and a cheap old cell phone to get employment. When our member saw the post by another member, it was the same guy!!!
A quick call and meeting with the F.B.I, our member was asked to be a decoy and call the offender to go fishing Wednesday night. He agreed to call and meet the man. After a short conversation, undercover Agents converged on the area.
It all worked out , our member is safe and the criminal is now in custody.
I've grown very used to the forum as a place for tons of Illinois and Wisconsin citizens to interact who share values such as freedom, defending the Constitution, and the personal, family, and community responsibility of self- defense and stopping crime by resisting violent attack.
Our forums have been a fantastic place for us to discuss the kinds of things that our kind of people appreciate: inside-the-waistband or IWB holsters, flashlights, shoot/no-shoot scenarios, and the list goes on. We're a family, and today we celebrate members of our family leading the authorities to capture a man accused of very heinous crimes.
I was looking forward to telling everyone about our membership launch, but I'm so honored to bring this even better news!!! If you want to become a leader in the ICarry family and support our ongoing efforts, and get a behind-the-scenes look at what's going on, then check out the Founders Club and join today as many others have. Show everyone how much you support the right to self-defense that doesn't end on your property line!!!
Posted by ShaunKranish on Thursday, July 01, 2010 @ 03:57:24 EDT (259 reads)
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The Second Amendment Wins in US Supreme Court!!!
A historic United States Supreme Court ruling just came down today!!! The Supreme Court has ruled that the Second Amendment does apply - also known as incorporation - to state and local governments. The right to keep and bear arms is a FUNDAMENTAL right and Chicago and other cities cannot ban the ownership of handguns!!!
If you live in Chicago, go out and buy yourself a handgun today because the ban has been lifted. Daley will surely put new restrictions in place, but as of right now his ban has been lifted!!!
ICarry.org will keep you informed as more information becomes available, and we will be releasing our own analysis of the decision which applies the Heller decision to all 50 states.
Today we celebrate victory in the highest court.
Posted by ShaunKranish on Monday, June 28, 2010 @ 11:53:35 EDT (254 reads)
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I'm honored and pleased to announce that we have elected our first President of the organization. Joe Franzese joined us last year, and ICarry has seen some great changes since then. Joe is very passionate about the rights enshrined in the Second Amendment, and his self-motivation and resourcefulness matches that passion to make him a great leader.
The Founders Club just finished voting him in today. I think I can speak for everyone when I say we're very glad to have him on board!
If you haven't joined the Founders Club yet, now is a great time as we're undergoing a lot of changes. The Founders Club is the best way to get involved and have the biggest impact in ICarry's direction. Being a Founders member is being a leader, and leaders are really needed right now. Usually the saying is too many chiefs, not enough Indians, but I think it's the opposite here. We need more chiefs!
Posted by ShaunKranish on Sunday, June 27, 2010 @ 15:55:53 EDT (189 reads)
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Brazen home invasion robberies stir Jupiter Farms residents into action
JoeFranzese writes:
JUPITER FARMS — A trio of would-be robbers who shuffled up a front yard on Alexander Run with a pump-action shotgun last week had the misfortune of confronting an armed homeowner in the driveway. He stared them down until they ran off.
But if they had tried one of the neighbors instead in the rural Jupiter Farms enclave, they might not have had much better luck. In the house next door lives a Vietnam veteran with heavy firepower in his bedroom. At the two houses across the street, the homeowners were packing heat too.
It's no secret that much of an unincorporated swath of pine tree-studded acre lots, elegant mini-mansions, rugged ranch homes and rural individualism - is heavily armed. And after two brazen home-invasion robberies and one attempt earlier this month, some residents are buying new bullets and brushing up on Florida's self-defense laws.
"If they get inside my house they'll die," vowed Joe Melchiosse, a Vietnam vet and air-conditioning repair worker who lives next-door to the site of the attempted robbery. "At least they'll get hurt."
At a Jupiter Farms homeowners association meeting Thursday night, more than 400 packed in to listen to Palm Beach County Sheriff's officials describe their investigation into the robberies, in which masked gunmen stormed into occupied, unlocked homes and in one case stole several weapons.
Deputies advised residents to lock their doors, trim oversized shrubs and be vigilant. Many residents grilled deputies about the state's Castle Doctrine law, which declares people's right to use lethal force to defend themselves on their property.
Deputies told attendees that if someone comes into their house unwelcomed, it is presumed they mean them harm. But they warned that the decision to shoot and potentially kill someone is not an easy one.
"It is a life changing moment that will affect the rest of your life," one sheriff's official told the crowd.
But it was clear many were in no mood to negotiate with trespassers. The crowd burst into applause and cheers when a Jupiter Farms resident stood and advised the other residents to gun down intruders.
"We all have guns in our house," the man said. "If you have an armed intruder in your house, shoot him."
For decades, residents say Jupiter Farms has remained a safe, low-key place to live, a place where people raise horses, chickens and even cattle and until recent years even main roads weren't paved. Most people's idea of crime, as one resident put it, was teens taking a baseball bat to a mailbox.
To many, the recent spate of home invasions have served as one more reminder that the county is growing.
"I think Jupiter is just not as small as it used to be," said Trent Bongard, co-owner of Bongard Nursery in Jupiter Farms, where a theft of several plants last week was first crime at the nursery since it opened seven years ago.
But some residents are concerned about excessive vigilantism. What happens, they wonder, if someone innocent gets hurt?
"I don't want our own community, our own residents to hurt themselves," said Albert Rabadan, vice president of the Jupiter Farms Homeowners Association. "I just hope there's no tragedies."
Whether or not the armed robbers are caught, many say the days of leaving front doors and car doors open in Jupiter Farms may soon be a thing of the past.
And at one Jupiter Farms gun store, where the owner asked not to be named, sales this week were up.
Posted by ShaunKranish on Sunday, June 20, 2010 @ 13:52:02 EDT (273 reads)
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What size T-shirt do you wear?
We're ordering our first batch of t-shirts and would like to get an idea of sizes. If you might be interested in a shirt, please take a quick second to let us know your size by going here:
MOSS POINT, MISSISSIPPI — Charles and Annetta Ray had just returned home from church when a New Orleans man looking for cash or a ride to a bus station tried to force his way inside their home Sunday, resulting in an exchange of gunfire that ended the man’s life, authorities and witnesses said.
Cornelious Ferrande, 23, died Sunday of a single gunshot wound outside the home in the 3800 block of Wembley Avenue, Jackson County Coroner Vicki Broadus said.
“At this time, I believe it was a possible justifiable homicide,” Moss Point Police detective J.D. Savage said Monday. “We will present the findings to a grand jury for them to make the final determination.”
Moss Point police and other first responders spent several hours Sunday at this home on Wembley Avenue, where a couple was wounded when a man reportedly tried to get inside their home. The unidentified man died and Charles and Rita Ray were injured.
Several witnesses reported seeing Ferrande turned away from several homes before he wrapped a part of his shirt around one of his fingers and rang the front doorbell at the Ray’s home. Then, a witness said, Ferrande ran around the back of the house, and gunfire soon erupted.
Donald and Wanda Hamm are neighbors and longtime friends of the Ray family. They got a firsthand account of what happened from the family.
Charles Ray, they said, answered the back door when Ferrande came around asking him to call a bus for him, When Ray, a retired shipyard worker, refused the request, Donald Hamm said, Ferrande told him to get his wife to call for a ride.
By that time, Hamm said, Annetta Ray already had realized they were in danger and brought her husband’s pistol to him at the back door. She was hidden by a curtain on the back door window, Hamm said, when she snuck the gun to Charles Ray.
By then, Ferrande, with his foot already wedged in the back door, was forcing his way inside the Ray’s home.
“He (Ferrande) had a .22-caliber pistol,” Hamm said. “He shot her in the neck and blew her jaw all to pieces. He sprayed the whole kitchen with bullets.”
Charles Ray was shot, among other places, in the chin, Hamm said, and knocked to the floor. His wife was shot in the face, Hamm said.
Ferrande was about to shoot Charles Ray again, Hamm said, when Ray pulled out his pistol and fired.
“The guy wobbled out the back door and fell under the carport,” Hamm said. “If she (Annetta Ray) hadn’t gone and got that pistol, he’d have killed both of them. I hate that someone got killed, but in this case, the right one died.”
Charles Ray suffered multiple wounds, but was treated at an area hospital Sunday and released. Annetta Ray, a retired school teacher, was airlifted to the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, where she remained hospitalized Monday.
Sunday’s shooting has left many neighborhood residents shaken and scared.
Not long after the Sunday shooting, police responded to a report of a home burglary, also on Wembley Avenue.
“It’s scary,” said Donald and Wanda Hamm’s daughter-in-law, Susie Hamm, also a Wembley Avenue resident. “I don’t really want to go out in the yard anymore.”
Posted by ShaunKranish on Wednesday, May 26, 2010 @ 10:29:17 EDT (439 reads)
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They are law-abiding citizens in Chicago, but they are so worried about their own safety, they say they might have to break the law.
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The last straw was the death of Chicago Police officer Thomas Wortham IV last week.
That has some African-American families in Chicago considering doing something they never would have done before: carry a pistol.
CBS 2's Jim Williams reports he grew up among those families and he's never anything like it.
Many Chicagoans have been upset for some time about violence here, but Wortham's murder has touched a raw nerve in the black community.
Now some want to do more than simply call 911 or march for peace in the streets. They want their own gun.
Mike Robinson, who runs basketball camps, is hearing it.
"I've heard parents in my basketball camps express that very fervently, just over the weekend, that they want the right to protect themselves," Robinson said.
Estella Jernigan, works at a seniors center in Chatham, talked to an older man here who's taking a job for one reason.
"He said he was going to apply for a security guard so he would be armed." Jernigan said. "So he could carry a gun."
South Side resident and local school council member Shawn Gowder said, "I'm hearing that all over town - South Side, West Side."
Gowder, who said his mother had always been in favor of gun control, has now changed her mind.
"My mother, who is in 60s, now feels she needs to have a gun and she needs to take lessons so that she will be qualified in case somebody kicks in her door," said Gowder.
In middle class black neighborhoods like Chatham, people have voted overwhelmingly for Democratic politicians who have overwhelmingly supported gun control.
But now many are scared and angry over the killing of Officer Wortham, late Wednesday night in Chatham.
"I would say the most recent incident here in Chatham has such a profound impact on people's consciousness about violence, about crime in the streets, that people who would not normally want to own a gun, are considering that," said Robinson.
In that neighborhood, many residents have told CS 2 News off camera that they are willing to begin carrying a gun to protect themselves, even if it means breaking the ban on handguns.
Coy Pugh, a former state representative and lobbyist for the Illinois Rifle Association, said he knows why even law-abiding citizens might arm themselves.
"In the community that I grew up in, they say it's better for the police to catch me with it than the robber to catch me without it," said Pugh.
And that concerns people like Linda Williams, who believes more guns in the community will make matter worse.
"All the other industrialized nations do not have the gun laws that we have and they don't have nearly the amount of killing and injury we do," she said. "So, no, I don't believe that more guns is better."
Those in favor of gun control point out that even though Wortham had a weapon and so did his father, a retired police sergeant, the young officer still ended up shot and killed.
But those on the other side of the argument believe criminals are less likely to approach someone in the first place, or break into a home, if they think the would-be victim might be carrying a gun.
Meantime, the U.S Supreme Court is expected to rule by the end of June on whether Chicago's handgun ban is constitutional. It is widely expected the court will strike down the city's ban, given the court struck down a similar ban in Washington, D.C., in 2008.
Posted by ShaunKranish on Wednesday, May 26, 2010 @ 10:20:50 EDT (386 reads)
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WIFR TV News Coverage of Open Carry Event in Rockford
Dozens came out to the Bullet Stop Gun Shop with pistols in their holsters. The open carry event was hosted by ICarry.org, which is trying to sway lawmakers to give gun owners more rights. Since the gun shop is private property, organizers say they are not breaking the law because in Illinois, open carry is illegal, as is wearing a concealed weapon. In fact, Illinois is the only state in the nation to not have either of these laws.
"Self defense is a human right and is not limited to your bare hands. And self defense is a right, and if you take away that right or limit that right, you're actually encouraging crime and criminals to violently attack people because they know they can't defend themselves," says ICarry.org Executive Director Shaun Kranish.
ICarry.org held a similar event in Beloit in March. It was at a park, and participants were able to wear pistols openly since open carry is legal in Wisconsin.
Posted by ShaunKranish on Monday, May 24, 2010 @ 20:44:33 EDT (357 reads)
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How the Swiss do it
Not a new video, but a good one nonetheless. See why no one invades the Swiss - everyone is a member of the militia and provided a rifle (full auto) by the state. The state even has shooting competitions and provides free ammo!
Posted by ShaunKranish on Thursday, May 20, 2010 @ 13:33:25 EDT (330 reads)
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Anti-Gun ObamaPet Nominated to Supreme Court
Anti-Gun ObamaPet Nominated to the Supreme Court -- The nomination IS stoppable IF Americans let their voices be heard
Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408 http://www.gunowners.org
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
The next justice of the Supreme Court could well cast the deciding vote on the constitutionality of ObamaCare. And that justice will almost certainly preside, during the next thirty years, over dozens of cases which could very well chip away at the DC v. Heller decision, telling us which gun laws the court views as "constitutional" and which "unconstitutional."
So it is more than a little interesting that Barack Qbama has reached into his closet of political leftists to bring out Elena Kagan -- a woman whose legal views have been shaped by the most extreme socialist voices in Washington.
Kagan doesn't have a record of judicial opinions. She hasn't been a judge. So the crafty Obama figures that, without a paper trail, we won't know of the ways she is moving American jurisprudence to the left until it's too late.
But Kagan's views on the Second Amendment are no mystery. According to columnist James Oliphant, Kagan was part of "a small group of staffers work[ing] behind the scenes to pursue an aggressive policy agenda" during President Bill Clinton's second term.
Oliphant writes: "According to records at the William J. Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Ark., [Kagan] drafted an executive order restricting the importation of certain semiautomatic assault rifles. She also helped prepare a question-and-answer document advocating the campaign-reform legislation then proposed by Sens. Russ Feingold and John McCain."
Kagan was also part of the Clinton team that pushed the firearms industry to include gun locks with all gun purchases and was in the Clinton administration when the president pushed legislation that would close down gun shows.
President Obama has made it very clear that he expects Kagan's "powers of persuasion" to make her and Justice Anthony Kennedy the swing votes to uphold his anti-gun ObamaCare legislation.
Kagan's opinion of the "greatest lawyer" of her lifetime was her former boss -- the consistently left-wing Justice Thurgood Marshall.
Bloomberg News reported on May 13 that while working for Justice Marshall, Kagan urged him to vote against hearing a gun owner's claim that his constitutional rights were violated.
Kagan wrote that she was "not sympathetic" toward the gun rights claim that was made in Sandidge v. United States -- an amazing statement for a woman who is being heralded for supposedly showing a "special solicitude" for the interests of certain groups.
Alas, it seems that gun owners are not a part of those groups for whom she would like to show special concern.
After the Heller case was handed down, Kagan did concede that the Second Amendment was an "individual right." But that makes her no different than the talking heads at the Brady Campaign.
Kagan, like the President who nominated her, is an extreme leftist. According to WeeklyStandard.com (May 6, 2009), she is so far to the left she has lamented that socialism has "never attained the status of a major political force" in our country.
And according to Politico.com (March 20, 2009), she says that foreign law can be used to interpret the U.S. Constitution in "some circumstances." Considering that most of the world does not respect the freedoms that are protected in our Second Amendment, this is a bad sign.
While every Senator needs to hear from us, there are seven Republican Senators in particular who need to hear from their constituents. These seven Republicans voted for Elena Kagan last year when she was confirmed as Obama's Solicitor General:
ACTION: Contact your Senators and urge them to vote NO on Elena Kagan -- and tell him or her that you want Kagan's nomination filibustered and defeated. As Kagan could be the deciding vote on the constitutionality of ObamaCare and many other gun cases, it is imperative that Republicans stick together and filibuster every anti-gun nomination from the President.
