The Legion

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/04/06/state-gop-lawmakers-working-to-roll-back-gun-restrictions-after-midterm-wins/?intcmp=latestnews     Conservatives emboldened by election victories are working to roll back gun restrictions in several states, while those on the other side of the debate are claiming success elsewhere in passing initiatives related to gun background checks. On the pro-gun spectrum, for example, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback last week signed a bill to allow Kansans to carry concealed weapons in the state without training or a permit. Second Amendment Foundation founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb told Fox News, "I think the voters spoke pretty loud and clear in November and elected a pretty pro-gun rights Congress as well as many statehouses across the country and we're seeing now lots of bills being sponsored...".  On the other side, Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, said her group is focused on initiatives it can win with voters, rather than legislators. "In 2013, we helped close the background check loophole in six states," Watts  said. "In 2014, we helped pass laws in red and blue states to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers." Watts also pointed to the overwhelming passage of Initiative 594 by voters in Washington state last fall. That law expands the federal background check requirement for gun sales to private dealers, such as those now found at gun shows. "The gun lobby has been so insidious in this country in taking away the responsibilities that go along with gun rights," Watts said. She added in an interview with Fox News that the National Rifle Association (NRA) has an annual budget of $350 million. The NRA said that while its operating budget is close to that figure, a "small fraction" -- approximately $20 million -- goes toward what it calls 'political activity,' with the bulk spent on safety and training programs. Moms Demand Action works with Everytown for Gun Safety, which is bankrolled by former New York City mayor and billionaire, Michael Bloomberg. Chris W. Cox, executive director of the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA), told Fox News, "Billionaire Michael Bloomberg's tactics may be new, but the fight is the same. The NRA and our five million members stand ready to defend the Second Amendment wherever the battlefield. The majority of Americans do not want more gun control and we will fight tooth and nail to expose Bloomberg's lies and defeat his extreme gun control agenda. " Prior to those comments, Watts explained her group's mission is about education." We're not anti-gun, we're not against the Second Amendment. We're about responsibilities that come along with gun rights and that includes things like background checks and keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people," she said. Gottleib, who lives in Washington state where the Second Amendment Foundation is based, acknowledged he is aware of Everytown's tactics for voter initiatives, adding "...our big concern is buying ballot measures." Part of the reason so much action is currently being seen at the state level is the sheer immobility on Capitol Hill. Currently, four national reciprocity bills, three in the House, one in the Senate, are before Congress. Passage of any of them would treat conceal carry permits much like driver's licenses - no matter the state in which it was issued, it would be valid nationwide. But the NRA says right now it is looking more toward 2016 than this year's congressional session. These pieces of legislation need to garner a veto-proof majority because, "We have a president that hates the Second Amendment", said Jennifer Baker, a spokeswoman for the NRA. Watts compared the battle over gun rights to a marathon, not a sprint. "We're not going to find a law to fix every single problem in this country, right. Not every law stops every crime. But what we can do is put more laws in place to ensure things like background checks are happening," she said. And as the NRA holds its annual meeting later this week in Nashville, where several presidential contenders are expected to speak, the opposition has its sights set on the future as well. "We're feeling a huge amount of momentum," Watts said. "Momentum around gun safety in this country and we believe that will continue into 2016 and beyond.”

Only in New York!!!   http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/03/19/gotham-gun-shop-appears-as-ruse-to-preach-anti-firearm-message/     A "gun shop" that suddenly appeared in the heart of Manhattan last week only to close its doors after two days was actually an elaborate ruse by a pro-gun control group that sought to lure potential customers in order to make their anti-firearms case. States United to Prevent Gun Violence set up the "Guns with History Gun Shop" on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, and pretended to offer for sale guns used in high-profile crimes. The phony sales pitches were really part of a "social experiment" -- pretexts for telling customers about the dangers of gun proliferation in unconsummated transactions recorded by hidden cameras, according to the group. In one such conversation, the bogus clerk shows a replica Bushmaster assault rifle like the one Connecticut State Police said Adam Lanza used in the Sandy Hook school massacre. “Collectors love this one," the actor states in a video the anti-gun group posted on YouTube. “Adam Lanza’s mom had this in her collection, too, until he took this and several other guns and killed her and then went down to Sandy Hook and killed 6 teachers and 20 innocent children. Twenty little kids…Gone like that.”   Pro-gun advocates called the effort a misleading stunt. “This is a tasteless PR stunt designed to further an anti-gun agenda, and it’s out of touch with reality," NRA spokeswoman Jennifer Baker told FoxNews.com. "As gun ownership has risen to an all-time high, violent crime has fallen to a 43-year low, and the firearm accident death rate has fallen to the lowest that it has been in over a hundred years. A clear majority of the American people support the use of firearms for protection and put more faith in gun ownership rights than in gun control." Another critic blasted the fake gun shop, calling it "the most disgusting and outrageous stunt" gun control "extremists" have cooked up to date. "These people won’t be happy until all law-abiding citizens are disarmed," added blogger Kimberly Morin in a post on TheFederalistPapers.org. The replica weapons displayed at the store bore tags linking them to specific crimes, while a sign in the front window beckoned passersby with a sign saying, “First-time gun buyer? We are here to help you.” Several purported customers were shocked when they learned of the stories behind each of the guns. “A very handy gun,” the clerk says in another segment as he shows a 9-mm. semiautomatic to another customer. “Easy to use. It’s a great gun to carry in your purse, like that gal from the Walmart, her 2-year-old son reaches into her pocketbook, pulls it out, shoots her.” Officials for SUPGV local New York office say that the stunt was cleared with the city, through the office of Mayor Bill de Blasio, and that they applied for filming permits. All the guns within the shop were props and no ammunition was on hand. Julia Wyman, executive director of States United to Prevent Gun Violence, said the effort was part of a campaign to educate prospective first-time gun buyers.  “Our aim is to ensure those looking to purchase a firearm are aware of the potential risks [and to promote responsible gun ownership],” Wyman said. “Often gun purchasers wrongly believe guns will keep them safe when, in fact, a gun in the home greatly increases the risk of homicide and suicide. This sets the record straight so consumers can make an informed choice to buy a firearm or not.” New York's city and state gun laws are among the nation's strictest. Residents of the five boroughs are required to apply for pistol licenses through the NYPD and must obtain special permission if they want to carry the weapon on their person. Rifles and shotguns also must be registered within city limits.

http://wreg.com/2015/03/12/shoot-dont-shoot-how-law-enforcement-decides/    Watch the video on the story.   SHELBY COUNTY, Tenn. — When faced with a life-threatening situation, law enforcement officers sometimes have to make split-second decisions. But when do they pull their gun and use deadly force? When is it justified? Calls have been pouring into the newsroom with viewers at home asking those very questions. WREG’s Katie Rufener went to investigate and show you what deputies are trained to do when lives are at stake. The Shelby County Sheriff’s office has a program that simulates a shooting scenario. So, we decided to test how Katie, as a citizen, would react, versus a seasoned, trained deputy. Officer Jay Jones is a 16-year veteran with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office. In one video simulation a biker refuses to do what Jones tells him. Then he puts his hand behind him and pulls out a gun. Jones shoots the biker. It can happen that quickly. “Sometimes we can’t see in a vehicle what he’s reaching for,” he explained. When responding to a dangerous situation, Jones said it can be difficult for law enforcement to determine when to pull the trigger. But if the person is ignoring repeated commands or makes sudden movements like the man drawing a gun in the simulator, they do what they have to to protect lives, including their own. WREG reporter Katie Rufener went through the same scenario as Officer Jones. Katie told the person to show their hands just like he did. She repeated that command ten times. He didn’t not listen, and when the man reached in his pocket, Katie shot. But this time, the man didn’t have a gun. “At that point, what he pulled out was a handkerchief,” Helms told Katie. “But did you feel threatened?” She answered, “I did.” Lieutenant Kevin Helms has had to make quick decisions like that several times over the years. “I’ve been involved in two shootings. I’ve been shot myself and had to shoot two people, myself,” he said. “If I could give those days back, I’d give them back in a heartbeat.” Every time there is an officer involved shooting, whether it is justified or not, Helms said it is investigated. But regardless of what some may think, he said killing someone is never easy for officers. “That’s the last thing an officer wants to do, is have to use their weapon. But, there are times when individuals give us no choice, and that’s what we have to revert to.” Deputies say the most important thing is for people to understand how critical it is to respond to commands as soon as they’re given. The sheriff’s office also has a team of deputies who are trained to handle situations involving those who are mentally ill.

http://fox59.com/2015/03/07/firearms-fashion-show-highlights-importance-of-gun-safety/     INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (March 7, 2105) – Indianapolis women got a first hand look Saturday at new fashionable ways to safely conceal guns. The Fashion and Firearms Concealed Carry Extravaganza is the first of it’s kind in Indianapolis. More than 300 women of all ages and walks of life attended the interactive event raising money to support local Well Armed Woman chapters. Models walked the runway, showing off trendy ways to carry a gun. Event organizers say the idea of the event is to make sure women have fashionable options while carrying. Indianapolis women got a first-hand look Saturday at new fashionable ways to safely conceal guns. The Fashion and Firearms Concealed Carry Extravaganza is the first of its kind in Indianapolis. More than 300 women of all ages and walks of life attended the interactive event raising money to support local Well Armed Woman chapters. Models walked the runway, showing off trendy ways to carry a gun. Event organizers say the idea of the event is to make sure women have fashionable options while carrying. “There are ways to carry, whether you’re wearing a cocktail dress, shorts and a tank top,” explains Cathy Brown, event co-chair. The focus of the event is on safety. Last month, a Michigan woman died when a gun she was carrying in a bra holster, misfired. “That’s why we’re doing this. It’s all about safety. There are four rules to gun safety and when all four rules are followed, accidents are very unlikely to happen,” says Brown. The four rules of gun safety are: Treat every gun as if it’s loaded. (Even if you know it’s not). Never point a gun at anyone or anything you’re not willing to destroy. Keep your finger off the trigger and out of the trigger guard until you’re ready to fire. Know your target and what’s behind it. The event is also about empowering women. Dawn Hillyer purchased a gun a few years ago because of a stalker she had for six years. “I never thought I would be a gun person. It’s about protection and women taking control and being your own hero and being able to protect yourself,” Hillyer says. She started her business, Hiding Hilda, to help other women become inspired to protect themselves. Her purse designs offer a special compartment for guns. Profits help sponsor scholarships for law enforcement on stalker training. Her case was the first in Indiana. She says it’s what prompted her to get a gun and since then, other women have followed her lead. “He gets out of prison in 2017 and I’m not going to live like that again. I’m not gonna run. I’m not gonna hide. I’m gonna stand right up,” Hillyer says.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/03/08/couple-denied-role-as-foster-parents-over-permits-to-carry-guns/     A Nevada couple were denied their request to serve as foster parents because they have permits to carry guns. Brian and Valerie Wilson, of Las Vegas, told “Fox & Friends” Sunday that they have always planned to become foster parents and eventually adopt, but have been denied permission to do so because of a state regulation that prohibits the carrying of loaded weapons with foster children. “I really want a family,” said Valerie Wilson. “It really is heartbreaking because these kids are in institutionalized homes; they aren’t getting the families that they deserve,” she told “Fox & Friends.” “It’s heartbreaking that they’re not getting the home they deserve,” she said.   “It just doesn’t make sense,” Brian Wilson added. “We’re talking about law-abiding people, people who have had background checks. “We’re not talking about leaving a firearm around the house,” he said. The Wilsons said they got the gun permits years ago after they were victims of an attempted home invasion. “We realized that bad things can happen to good people at any time and we need to be responsible,” Brian Wilson said. Now the Wilsons are fighting to get the law in Nevada changed. They testified last week before the state Assembly Judiciary Committee to ask lawmakers to approve Assembly Bill 167, which would allow residents to carry loaded weapons on their person or in a car and still serve as foster parents, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. Current rules reportedly require guns and ammunition to be stored separately in secure containers in homes with foster children. The Wilsons’ request for a variance to the current law was denied. Assemblywoman Olivia Diaz, a Democrat, said foster children are often traumatized. She asked if having them exposed to weapons would be appropriate. Jill Marano, deputy administrator of the state Division of Child and Family Services, said the agency has fears about the possibility that a child could gain access to a loaded weapon. She opposed the bill in its current form.

This is a video clip.   http://video.foxnews.com/v/4092808001001/kentucky-store-clerk-fights-off-and-shoots-robber/?intcmp=obnetwork#sp=show-clips

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2015/03/04/beretta-reveals-new-striker-fired-pistol/?intcmp=features Beretta revealed its first full-size striker fired pistol, the Beretta APX, at the IDEX (International Defence Exhibition & Conference) in Abu Dhabi last week. The Beretta APX joins Beretta’s handgun lineup - folks that converged in Abu Dhabi for IDEX had a chance to have a look at it before it is released in the United States. What about Beretta reveals that are more targeted to the U.S.? At the SHOT Show in Las Vegas earlier this year, Beretta featured a range of new weapons including the debut of the new M9A3 pistol. In December 2014, Beretta USA submitted to the U.S. Army the M9 Engineering Change Proposal that outlines their key advances to the M9 including enhanced reliability, durability, ergonomics and modularity. Pistol Performance IDEX is one of the first big fixtures on the defense tech calendar so many companies opt to unveil their latest and greatest to the international military customers there. Since 1915, Beretta has manufactured semi-automatic pistols and the company will now be one of the few major players that makes full-size polymer and metallic framed handguns in both hammer and now striker fired operating systems. The company has produced more than 600,000 of the M9 U.S. Armed Forces sidearm for the Department of Defense over the past 30 years. Their first full-size striker fired pistol, the APX, has also been designed with the needs of the military and law enforcement in mind. Beretta and Beretta Defense Technologies Vice President Carlo Ferlito explained, in a statement, that “Beretta waited to enter the striker fired market until we had a pistol we knew would meet the needs of the operator. The APX has been more than three years in development. We tested it extensively with professional end users and incorporated that feedback at every opportunity.” “The result is a pistol platform that delivers superior performance in durability, reliability, accuracy and ergonomics,” he said. The pistol can withstand a 45,000-round firing schedule with 5,000 rounds between stoppages, according to Beretta. That degree of success in exhaustive testing would suggest it is highly durable and reliable. It is still early days since the Army requirements have yet to be released, but Beretta does plan to enter the APX to compete for the eventual U.S. Army’s Modular Handgun System selection. In the meantime, the IDEX reveal began generating buzz in the market beyond the US military. The APX may have been tailored to meet the military and law enforcement client needs, but the company will also make a commercial version available later this year. The APX in a nutshell The full-size 7.55-inch-long APX is a striker fired pistol built on a chassis system. The just over 4.25 inch long barrel is cold-hammer forged and there is a nitriding surface treatment on all the steel parts. Beretta describes the operation as semi-auto, tilting barrel locking system using a non-pre-cocked striker block. The serialized stainless steel chassis is encased with a fiberglass reinforced polymer frame and this helps to reduce the weight. With an empty magazine loaded, the APX weighs about 26.8 ounces in the 9 mm versions and just over 26.8 ounces in the .40 S&W variant. To accommodate different hand sizes, there are three sizes of removable backstraps and grips. Each option provides a different palm swell and length of pull for the user. For those who may need to wear heavy gloves, the trigger guard opening is designed to make that possible. APX also features coarse slide serration making cocking with cumbersome gloves easier. The trigger, designed to be flatter and wider than others in the striker-fired pistol space, has a pull weight of about 6 pounds. The trigger travel is 6 mm, with reset at 3. For mounting accessories, the APX has the standard 1913 Picatinny rail. Keeping in mind the military customer, the APX sights will be a standard three-dot combat sight system with a unique mounting system. For one handed slide cycling, there’s a rear sight ninety-degree face. Fieldstripping and switching components should be super easy. Triggerless disassembly is one of the advantages of striker-fired pistols and the APX has enhanced safety with the ability to disassemble without pulling the trigger. There is a disconnector pin on the rear right side of the pistol under the breech. When will it hit U.S. shores? The company intends to submit a variant of the new APX pistol to the upcoming U.S. Army Modular Handgun System and a similar model tailored for the civilian consumer should be released later this year. Eventually, it will be available in 9x19 mm with 17 round magazine capacity, .40 S&W with 15 round magazine capacity and 9x21 mm IMI calibers with 15 round magazine capacity. The APX will not take M9/M92 magazines to the dismay of some. Beretta has yet to confirm a price point or release date in the United States. But you can follow this link to become one of the first to know when APX becomes commercially available in the U.S. IDEX is the only international defense exhibition and conference in the Middle East and North Africa that showcases tech that encompasses land, sea, and air defense. Held biennially, IDEX is conducted under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE and Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces. At this year's IDEX, more than 1,100 companies from around the world converged to showcase their wares covering 124,000 square meters of space. IDEX is touted as an opportunity to reach potential buyers in the Middle East and North Africa – as well as beyond.

That was my excite thought also.

This is an update on the Ammo Ban. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/02/28/lawmakers-wont-be-silenced-over-obama-administration-proposed-ammo-ban/       Lawmakers are firing back at a proposal by the Obama administration to ban one of the most common bullets used with the popular AR-15 rifle, with more than 100 members of Congress signing a letter opposing the move on ammo. Word of the  proposal by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to ban .223 M855 “green tip” ammunition came out on Thursday and prompted an immediate backlash from sportsmen. House members from both parties and some law enforcement officials were not far behind. “[The ban] will interfere with Second Amendment rights by disrupting the market for ammunition that law abiding Americans use for sporting and other legitimate purposes,” reads the letter signed by lawmakers and addressed to ATF director Todd Jones.   The bullets, which can pierce bulletproof vests used by law enforcement, had previously been approved by the ATF in 1986. The agency now says that because handguns have now been designed that can also fire the bullets, police officers are now more likely to encounter them and so they should be banned. However, the congressional letter notes that the ATF provides no evidence of the bullet’s danger to law enforcement. “ATF has not even alleged – much less offered evidence – that even one such round has ever been fired from a handgun at a police officer,” the letter reads. Many police organizations are also not in favor of the ban. “The notion that all of a sudden a new pistol requires banning what had long been perfectly legal ammunition doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense to many officers,” William Johnson, executive director of the National Association of Police Organizations, told FoxNews.com NAPO represents over 1,000 police units and associations and 241,000 law enforcement officers around the country. Johnson added that the bullets currently banned under the law deserve to stay banned. “Some bullets… such as ones coated with Teflon, really are specifically designed to defeat bullet proof vests, and we think they should remain illegal,” he said. But some law enforcement experts support the ban. “I am definitely for the banning of these rounds… officers worry about them all the time,” former NYPD detective Harry Houck told FoxNews.com, though he added that a ban might not actually keep criminals from getting the ammunition. Gun control groups support the ban. "We understand why law enforcement has always been concerned about the threat of armor-piercing bullets," Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, told FoxNews.com. Lawmakers warn that the regulation – especially as it follows on the heels of attempts to restrict lead bullets -- will “result in drastically reduced options for lawful ammunition users.” Already, the ammunition has been cleared from many store shelves by gun owners looking to stock up in anticipation of the ban. The proposed regulation would not prohibit owning the bullets, but it would stop anyone from manufacturing or importing them. Gun-rights groups also worry that the ban – if allowed to stand – won’t stop with this type of bullet. “Almost any hunting rifle bullet will go through body armor, so you could prohibit almost any rifle bullet with this. This is the administration redefining the law on its own,” Alan Gottlieb, of the Second Amendment Foundation, told FoxNews.com. The lawmakers also dispute the ATF’s legal authority to ban the bullets, saying that the proposed ban “does not comport with the letter or spirit of the law.” The law, which was passed in 1986, gives the agency authority to ban bullets that are “constructed entirely (excluding the presence of traces of other substances) from one or a combination of tungsten alloys, steel, iron, brass, bronze, beryllium copper or depleted uranium.” However, the congressmen say that the core of these bullets “contains a substantial amount of lead, raising questions about its classification as ‘armor piercing’ in the first place.” The congressmen also allege that the ATF violated government transparency requirements. “The Administrative Procedures Act… requires that ‘general notice of proposed rulemaking shall be published in the Federal Register…’ To date, [the proposed ban] has not been published in the Federal Register.” The ATF has announced that it is currently taking public comments on the regulation until March 16, when it will prepare to issue a final regulation. Comments can be sent to APAComments@atf.gov. An ATF spokesman emphasized that no final decision has been made yet. “No final determinations have been made and we won’t make any determinations until we’ve reviewed the comments submitted by industry, law enforcement and the public at large,” ATF spokesman Corey Ray told FoxNews.com. “The framework is… intended to protect law enforcement while respecting the interests of sportsmen and the industry,” he also noted.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102463548 The gun trade is expected to have a more favorable year—even though estimates on its size vary widely—after shooting blanks in 2014. Source: Ruger The Ruger Mark III Target Rimfire Pistol. One proxy for U.S. firearms demand is the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which posted an 8.4 percent year-over-year increase in activity in January. That figure was the second-highest January on record for the 16-year-old system and marked the fourth consecutive monthly increase of year-to-year growth in the FBI's numbers since September 2013. Read MoreThe hottest new guns at the 2015 SHOT show Globally, the legal small arms market is forecast to grow from $4.1 billion in 2014 to $5.3 billion in 2020, a compound annual growth rate of 4.2 percent, according to projections in a new industry report from MarketsandMarkets, a Dallas-based market researcher. The projections reflect sales of small arms in the hunting, sport shooting, self-defense, law enforcement and professional markets. (Products include pistols, rifles, machine guns and carbines.) According to M&M's forecast, five companies—Sturm Ruger, Alliant Techsystems, Smith & Wesson, Freedom Group and Colt Manufacturing—account for more than 40 percent of the total market. CRT Capital analyst Brian Ruttenbur, who follows the major gun makers, said the U.S. represents 41.2 percent of the legal global small arms business and is the world's leading exporter and importer of small arms. CRT Capital estimates U.S. gun sales were down about 15 percent in 2014 compared to the prior year. Read MoreGun laws vary state by state: CNBC Explains Ruttenbur also estimates that the current legal, U.S. small arms market stands at roughly $8 billion annually, when including new firearms sales but excluding accessory sales such as gun sights, cleaning supplies, and the like. Big share price gains after weak 2014 Shares of two leading gun manufacturers have shown big gains this year: Smith & Wesson is up about 40 percent, while Sturm Ruger has soared nearly 50 percent, although the stock was as much as 2 percent lower intraday on Friday. After the closing bell Wednesday, Sturm Ruger posted fourth-quarter earnings that beat analysts' estimates. The Southport, Connecticut-based company held its conference call Thursday, during which CEO Michael Fifer fielded questions about tough industry conditions in 2014, including channel inventory headwinds and aggressive discounting. Read MoreSenate panel recommends changes to contentious gun bill "We believe that the decline in consumer demand for firearms caused many retailers to buy fewer firearms in the third and fourth quarters of 2014 than they were actually selling, in an effort to reduce their inventories and generate cash," Fifer said during the call. "The decline in demand from the distributors was exacerbated by extensive discounting by our competitors, which, in particular, reduced our share of the large chain store Black Friday business." That said, Fifer also indicated there were improving conditions this year. "For 2015, we are starting to see some early indications that demand from retailers to distributors is improving. We think that demand in 2012 before the huge surge in demand in 2013 is a good starting point for comparison." Meanwhile, Smith & Wesson's fiscal third-quarter results are scheduled for Tuesday. The consensus of analysts' forecasts is for earnings for the quarter ended Jan. 31 to fall 69 percent, with sales down 15 percent, according to Thomson Reuters.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/02/17/gun-rights-groups-await-judge-ruling-on-california-microstamping-law/       California's gun laws are among the nation's strictest, but a looming decision in a federal lawsuit could effectively ban handguns altogether in the Golden State, according to plaintiffs who want a judge to toss out a state law requiring all new handguns to be equipped with technology that "stamps" each shell casing with a traceable mark.  The problem with the “microstamping” law, which was signed into law by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2007 but only took effect in 2013, is that it relies on an unworkable technology, according to gun manufacturers and attorneys for the Second Amendment Foundation and Calguns Foundation. If guns without the technology can't be sold in California, and gun manufacturers can't implement the technology, the law is, for practical purposes, a handgun ban that violates the Second Amendment, goes the argument. “This is about the state trying to eliminate the handgun market,” said Alan Gura, the lead attorney in Pena v. Lindley, filed on behalf of the Second Amendment Foundation and Calguns Foundation against the Chief of the California Department of Justice Bureau of Firearms. “The evidence submitted by the manufacturers shows this is science fiction and there is not a practical way to implement the law.   “At some point gun sales will cease,” he added. California Eastern District Judge Kimberly Mueller is considering Gura's request for her to enjoin the state from imposing a ban on the sale of new handguns based on lack of compliance with the microstamping law while the case, first filed in 2009, until the technological challenges are resolved. Although Mueller has not said when she will issue a decision, Second Amendment Foundation officials believe it could come any day. Since the law took effect in 2013, no manufacturer has made a new firearm that complies with the requirement.Two major manufacturers, Smith & Wesson and Sturm, Ruger & Co., announced last year they would stop selling new firearms in the California market, and blamed the microstamping law. The technology has been demonstrated, but gunmakers say requirements that each new model, or even modification, must be re-tested for compliance makes the entire scheme unworkable. The microstamping bill was introduced by the state lawmaker and current Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer, who insists the technology is not only workable, it will make it much easier to solve gun crimes. “When we know who bought the crime gun, that’s a significant lead for law enforcement,” said Feuer co-founder of Prosecutors Against Gun Violence. If the law were expanded throughout the country, Feuer believes the technology could help solve the approximately 45 percent of gun crimes in the country that go unsolved. Dr. Dallas Stout, president of the California Brady Chapters, also endorsed the law after pushing for its passage, saying it will “provide law enforcement with an important tool to track down armed criminals and help solve gun crimes.” Both ballistic identification and microstamping systems help law enforcement investigate gun crimes because cartridge cases are much more likely to be recovered at the scene of a shooting than the gun itself, the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence maintained. However, the theory that the law will actually help solve crimes remains untested. A spokesperson for Long Beach’s Police Forensic Sciences Services Division said the department has no such statistics because there are no firearms that actually use the technology yet. And even law enforcement authorities have wavered on whether it will work: The California Police Chiefs Association, which originally supported the legislation in 2007, changed its position in 2009. “Publicly available, peer-reviewed studies conducted by independent research organizations conclude that the technology does not function reliably and that criminals can remove the markings easily in mere seconds,” the California Police Chiefs Association said in a letter to then state Attorney General and current Gov. Jerry Brown. Feuer blames the gun lobby for the change in position, saying it “has engaged in an outrageous, last ditch effort to try and thwart a law broadly supported by law enforcement.” Without action by Mueller, there will be no way for a California resident to buy a new firearm until the case is ultimately decided, perhaps by the U.S. Supreme Court, said Gene Hoffman, co-founder of Calguns Foundation. “Any new semi-automatic gun that we want to carry for self defense or purchase as collectors will not be available to us at all,” Hoffman said. If new guns can't be purchased, older ones that are grandfathered in under the microstamping law will cost more, said John Lott, president of the Crime Prevention Research Center. That takes square aim at the Second Amendment rights of the poor, he said. “The problem is the people who need guns the most and benefit the most from owning gun, poor individuals in high crime areas, are priced out of the market,” Lott said. “Who do they think they are disarming as a result of the law? It is minorities in poor crime areas, not some wealthy guy who can afford to purchase the firearms at a higher cost.”

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/02/12/shoot-or-dont-shoot-police-scenarios-prove-eye-opening-for-civil-rights-leaders/     It was a split-second decision.     A distressed man with a baby in tow was pacing back and forth in a manic state and shouting incoherently. The responding police officer calmly addressed the man in an attempt to calm him down and defuse the situation, but the man suddenly pulled an object from his side and lunged toward the officer. Instinctively, the officer raised his Taser and squeezed the trigger. It turned out the man was armed with a knife, but the "officer," who was actually the firebrand African-American activist known as Quanell X, acknowledged he would have fired whether the assailant had a knife, a spoon or an empty hand. “I didn’t even see it,” said the leader of the Houston area Black Panther Party, who was taking part in a training scenario in an attempt to understand what police officers go through during high-pressure situations. “It could have been anything in his hand, and I still would have used force to stop him. “It all happened so fast," he added. "You don’t know what they could have in their hand.”   Quanell, a former Nation of Islam member, is one of at least two black activists to take the police training tests. Both he and Arizona activist the Rev. Jarrett Maupin came away from the experience with a newfound understanding of the pressure on police officers, not to mention a new message for black youth who come in contact with law enforcement officers. “I walked away with a few things,” Quanell said “Many of these officers do not have adequate training and they should not be patrolling by themselves. Having backup would stop them from being skittish and firing their weapon. “Also, we have to teach our community that, even if you disagree with the officer, do not try to litigate with them on the spot," he added. "Live to see another day. Don’t let our pride get in the way. Otherwise, you are setting yourself up.”   Quanell, who has been critical of police in Texas, as well as in Ferguson, Mo., where the shooting of an unarmed black man by a police officer last August touched off rioting around the nation, took the test with the police department in the Houston suburb of Missouri City. In four scenarios, he had to instantly decide whether to use a [paintball] gun, a Taser or hold his fire. In another scenario, Quannel fired at a man during a routine traffic stop in which the suspect moved toward him, ignored an order to halt and reached behind his back  “I actually fired six times,” Quanell recalled. “I always questioned why officers fired so many shots in these situations. After going through the training, I think it’s very hard for an officer to know how many shots they fired when they are in the moment.” Quannel said he submitted to the test because he “felt it was the right thing to do.”  The same sense of obligation prompted Maupin to go through a series of real-world scenarios in January with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, as reported on by Fox 10 Phoenix. Maupin led protests in Phoenix after an incident there in which officers shot an unarmed man who allegedly fought with them.   Maupin was also surprised by what he learned during the exercise. “It was tense,” Maupin told FoxNews.com. “They had eliminated backup as an option. I tried to navigate it as best I could.” In one scenario, Maupin responded to a call of two men fighting. “What’s going on today, gentlemen?" Maupin said to the suspects in the live-action scenario. "What are you doing?" Despite his respectful greeting, one of the suspects rushed him, prompting the preacher to draw his weapon and open fire. “I had no intention of shooting them,” Maupin said later. “I can see how these situations occur. There is a level of fear that exists and the people who are often afraid are often the ones who are armed.”   Maupin said stressful situations still don't justify excessive force by police. But obeying cops is "a matter of survival," he said. “I walked away with a renewed sense of compliance in any situation,” he said. “There’s no shame in it. “I encourage all civil right leaders to take this training,” he added. “I know there’s truth to the other side." Law enforcement officials credited both men for taking the simulations and putting themselves in the shoes of police officers.   “I think it’s great,” Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said to FoxNews.com. “The leaders of many of these groups, people in general, those that are high profile, are always criticizing the police. Maupin proves the point when he went through the training that you would get a good idea of what officers go through.” Arpaio said he has extended a standing invitation to Rev. Al Sharpton to come to Maricopa County to complete the exercises. “I’ve only heard from his people, who said, ‘We’ll look into it,’” he said.

In Memphis our local News Channel 5 did a story on park carry tonight.  Below is a link to the story.   http://www.wmcactionnews5.com/story/28061156/guns-in-parks-bill-returns-to-tn-legislature

http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/new-york-church-taking-walmart-to-court-over-gun-sales/ar-AA9aigc     Trinity Church sits in the shadow of lower Manhattan’s One World Trade Center, its brownstone Gothic Revival spire dwarfed by the Financial District’s surrounding skyscrapers. On 9/11, Trinity provided refuge from the plume of debris when the towers fell just three blocks north. The church survived without much damage. Today, it’s a landmark and site of remembrance as much as a place of worship. It’s also extravagantly wealthy, as far as Episcopalian churches go, thanks to the 215 acres England’s Queen Anne donated to the diocese in 1705, when the area was farmland. Trinity has sold most of that land over the years but remains one of Manhattan’s largest landowners. It estimates the value of its assets at over $2 billion. One of the smaller investments in Trinity’s diverse portfolio: about $2,000 worth of shares in Walmart. This spring, the church will face off against the big-box giant in a court case that could change the way public companies make business decisions. At issue, for Trinity: Walmart’s sale of guns with high-capacity magazines of the sort used in mass killings. The church’s rector, Rev. Dr. James Cooper, says he isn’t seeking a ban on the sale of assault weapons at Walmart. Rather, he’s fighting to force the world’s largest retailer to include a shareholder proposal in this April’s proxy materials, to be voted on at this summer’s annual meeting. Trinity’s proposal would require Walmart’s board to oversee the sale of “products that especially endanger public safety and well-being, risk impairing the company’s reputation, or offend the family and community values integral to the company’s brand,” as the document first filed with the Security and Exchange Commission last year reads. “Somebody is making decisions about what they sell,” Rev. Cooper told Forbes in an interview at the church’s well-appointed Wall Street offices, with views over the Hudson River. “Trinity doesn’t need to. We would just like them to tell us they have a system in place at the board level to protect the reputation of the company, its values, and protect the citizens who live in that community from extreme harm.” The church has singled out high-capacity assault rifles as the sort of product that should require board approval before hitting store shelves, questioning in its proposal “whether these guns are well suited to hunting or shooting sports” and recalling that such weapons “enabled many mass killings” in Newtown, Aurora, Tucson and elsewhere.    © Provided by Forbes Trinity Church rector Rev. James Cooper. Photo: Leo Sorel. It was the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. that proved the catalyst for Trinity’s legal action, says Rev. Cooper. He recalls having coffee hour chats with parishioners about ways to help, including shareholder activism. Months after the killings, Cooper and Trinity’s legal counsel Evan Davis took their concerns to Walmart head of investor relations Carol Schumacher. (Schumacher declined to be interviewed for this story.) Davis was keen to learn how the retailer decides, for instance, that it won’t sell CDs with Parental Advisory warning labels, but will sell assault rifles with the capacity for 30 rounds of ammunition. “If it were a video with somebody shooting up a school, or a rap song with somebody talking about shooting up a school, they wouldn’t sell it,” he said. “So why sell the gun? It doesn’t make sense.” During their discussions, Walmart assured Trinity it takes gun safety seriously, echoing those sentiments in a statement to Forbes. “In areas of the country where we sell firearms, we have a long standing commitment to do so safely and responsibly through trained associates and in compliance with our standards, which greatly exceed what is required by law,” said spokesperson Randy Hargrove. “For example, we do not sell handguns in the contiguous U.S., and we do not sell high capacity magazines as an accessory or any firearms at Walmart.com. We also conduct background checks, videotape sales of firearms at our stores and exceed the current legal requirements by requiring a ‘proceed’ response on a background check before we transfer a firearm.” Unable to get a satisfactory response from Walmart on board oversight, Trinity decided to submit a shareholder proposal in December 2013 for inclusion in the company’s 2014 proxy materials. The retail giant issued a preemptive strike, arguing to the Securities and Exchange Commission that Trinity’s proposal would interfere with the company’s day-to-day operations. The SEC sided with Walmart, issuing a no-action letter permitting the retailer to exclude the church’s submission from its 2014 annual filings. Davis and Cooper next took their case to Delaware’s federal courts. In November, following months of back-and-forth briefs from both sides, U.S. District Judge Leonard Stark decided in Trinity’s favor, ordering Walmart to let shareholders vote on the church’s proposal. In January, Walmart appealed. The big-box chain will now face Trinity in Philadelphia’s Third Circuit Court of Appeals in late February or early March. Bentonville, Ark.-based Walmart has hired Los Angeles lawyer Theodore Boutrous, who represented the company in decade-long class action gender discrimination case Dukes vs Walmart. The Supreme Court threw the case out in 2011. Walmart has support in the form of amicus briefs from, among others, the National Association of Manufacturers, the American Petroleum Institute, the Business Roundtable, the Society of Corporate Secretaries and Governance Professionals and the Retail Litigation Center. “We believe that the SEC staff was correct in finding that Walmart was allowed to exclude Trinity’s shareholder proposal from its 2014 annual meeting proxy materials,” said Walmart in a statement to Forbes. “The District Court’s ruling has far reaching implications for the entire retail industry, because it could force public companies to have a shareholder vote to make decisions on ordinary business matters, such as what products a retailer sells. The ruling reverses 40-year old SEC guidance allowing shareholder proposals to be excluded if they involved a company’s ordinary business operations.” “Trinity’s proposal would interfere with Walmart’s ordinary business operations by seeking to regulate Walmart’s daily decisions on the hundreds of thousands of products sold in our stores, wholesale warehouse clubs, and online. Trinity’s proposal would also be difficult to implement because it is vague and indefinite, refers to highly subjective and loosely defined categories of products and is unclear on which of the hundreds of thousands of different products sold in our stores, wholesale warehouse clubs, and online would be covered.” In the next few days, Cornell University Law School professor of corporate and business law Lynn Stout will file an amicus brief in support of Trinity Church on behalf of more than 20 of her fellow corporate law professors from various universities, all experts in corporate governance. “Trinity isn’t asking for an expansion of shareholder rights,” said Stout, author of The Shareholder Value Myth. “Walmart is asking for a restriction. It would be a dramatic new restriction in shareholder rights if the Third Circuit were to reverse the district court’s decision.” Rev. Cooper is set to retire as Trinity’s rector on February 15. He’s already briefed his successor, Rev. Dr. William Lupfer of Portland, Oregon’s Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, on the case. Legal counsel Evan Davis — also a church warden — plans to stick with it, even if the appeals process proves arduous. “Trinity has been here for 318 years,” Cooper said. “We have some things that we can keep doing for a pretty long period of this time and this will be one of them.”

Orlando, Florida is known for its world-class theme parks, but if hanging with Mickey Mouse isn’t really you’re speed, there's a new theme park that may give you more bang for your buck. At Machine Gun America, kids as young as 13 can shoot military-grade firearms at custom targets or in simulated experiences, no prior experience required. And it's only six miles from Disney World.   The park just opened in December --and it's already proving to be a hit with couples, singles, and yes, families.  Wes Doss, director of safety and training at Machine Gun America, says there’s also a big international draw. “We have folks from the U.K. and folks from New Zealand—and they’re thrilled because this is an activity this is often illegal or banned in their home country,” Doss told FoxNews.com. Visitors get to choose from a range of weapons, including MP5s, M4s, and Glock 17s, and can pick the experience they want. There's a zombie, Special Operations and even a "007" simulation.  Unlike a traditional gun range --no outside weapons are allowed.   You must be at least 13 years of age to enter Machine Gun America. Kids younger than 18 must be accompanies by an adult. All tots and tykes under 12 years of age are not allowed to enter the areas where guns are fired but the park maintains a play zone where children can play video games. After picking their weapon of choice, guests are joined by an National Rifle Association-certified range safety officer-- many of whom are military veterans --and are allowed to empty their clips at their target.  “A traditional bulls-eye is our most popular target followed by Osama bin Laden,” Dan Shalloway, one of the park’s owner told FoxNews.com. “We also have a bulls eye on a T-shirt that guests can shoot at and then take their shirt home to wear, which is a really fun option.” In addition to families, Machine Gun America sees more women than other gun parks. Shalloway estimates that about 40 percent of his clientele is female, compared to about 10 at similar attractions in Las Vegas. “The Diva Package is great for women who have little experience holding a gun,” Shalloway said. “It includes guns with very little recoil like Heckler and Koch MP5. My wife really loves it.” And if you’re looking to get the party started before heading the park—think twice. Machine Gun America safety officers are trained to recognize intoxicated individuals and have the right to turn away patrons who looks like they have a hard time handling a weapon. “We’ve been open only six weeks and have been very fortunate that we have yet to turn anybody away,” Shalloway said. Shooting simulation experiences start are $30 but tickets to shoot real weapons start at $99 and up depending the type of gun you choose to shoot.   http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2015/02/06/inside-orlandos-first-machine-gun-theme-park/?intcmp=features  

ST. LOUIS –  As police in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson seek alternatives to the sort of lethal force that led to Michael Brown's death, they're testing a new device that attaches to a handgun barrel and is designed to turn a bullet into a projectile intended to stun but not kill. Mayor James Knowles III said Wednesday that a few Ferguson officers will test the device, known as the Alternative, at a shooting range Thursday. But Knowles said the department is early in the evaluation stage and the city has not decided whether to purchase the device.   Brown, 18, was unarmed when he was fatally shot by Ferguson officer Darren Wilson in August, leading to widespread protests. The shooting also spurred a national discussion about police use of force. The Alternative is made by Poway, California-based Alternative Ballistics. The company's website says the bright orange device sits in a pouch that attaches to an officer's belt, and it can be attached to the top of a gun within a second. Then, if the officer fires, the bullet embeds itself into a new, round projectile the size of a ping pong ball. That decreases the velocity of the bullet, and, because the bullet is embedded inside a ball, the company says it is less likely to pierce a suspect and cause a fatal injury. Alternative Ballistics CEO Christian Ellis calls it "an air bag for a bullet." University of Missouri-St. Louis criminology professor Richard Rosenfeld applauded Ferguson for considering less-lethal types of force but questioned the value of the Alternative in a life-or-death situation. "It might be useful if the officer needs some degree of force, but not necessarily in a situation where the officer believes that he or someone else is being immediately threatened and has to respond very rapidly," Rosenfeld said. Knowles called it a "neat technology," but one that is unproven in the field. "That's one of the reasons were not rushing to deploy it," Knowles said. "It's not something that has been tried and true with law enforcement across the country." Ellis said Ferguson would be the first police department to use the device, though he has received information requests from departments in Mexico, Egypt and other countries.   http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2015/02/05/ferguson-police-testing-new-device-aimed-at-reducing-fatal-police-encounters/?intcmp=features

I have two CZ's at the moment and love them.  I have a CZ 75 SP01 Shadow Custom and a CZ 75 SP01 ACCU Shadow.  Both guns come with the Short-Reset Trigger from CZ Customs.  You will not be disappointed if you purchase a CZ.

In the five months since Jan Morgan banned Muslims from her gun range in Hot Springs, Ark., business has boomed and predictions of a lawsuit brought by federal civil rights enforcers have so far proved inaccurate. Morgan, who claims keeping Muslims out of her Gun Cave Indoor Firing Range is a matter of public safety and not a constitutional issue, says she made the decision in September after two customers she deemed suspicious visited. She said their furtive behavior and cellphone ringtones of “Allahu Akhbar” prompted her to revise her range’s policies.   “We are dealing in lethal firearms,” Morgan told FoxNews.com. “I’m not going to let a Nazi shoot in here, or a Ku Klux Klan member in here, either.” Morgan said she excludes those she believes to be Muslim based on their names. She says business is up, but she has gotten threats, which she brushed off. “I’m not going to let a Nazi shoot in here, or a Ku Klux Klan member in here either.” - Jan Morgan, gun range operator But Morgan’s “no Muslims” stance has her in the legal crosshairs of at least two groups. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) wrote to Attorney General Eric Holder seeking the Justice Department’s involvement. “Given the recent spike in anti-Muslim rhetoric, including Islamophobic statements by government officials, community leaders and media outlets, death threats, and other bias incidents targeting Muslims, I urge you to investigate this matter soon,” a letter sent by CAIR to Holder in October stated. “CAIR believes that systematically banning Muslims from a place of business is a violation of federal laws prohibiting racial and religious discrimination and will inevitably result in a hostile environment for ordinary Muslims in Arkansas,” the letter added. The Justice Department did not respond to requests for comment on the matter. CAIR’s letter was copied to Gov. Mike Beebe, whose term has since ended, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, and the ATF's Little Rock Field Office. CAIR’s litigation director told FoxNews.com none of the recipients has responded. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Arkansas also has petitioned federal authorities to do something about Morgan’s rules. Executive Director Rita Sklar told FoxNews.com Morgan’s claim the gun range was acting out of legitimate caution is a dog that doesn’t hunt. “It’s discrimination based on religion, or, in this case, perceived religion and is a violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act,” Sklar said. “It isn’t based on that person’s behavior or anything they could reliably use that could be used to bar the person from the premises.” Sklar also said that while the ACLU chapter has not heard back yet from the DOJ, her group would be “more than happy” to proceed with legal action should a client approach them. “We would be happy to talk to anyone who had been turned away because he or she is Muslim or perceived to be Muslim,” Sklar said. “We would be more than happy to take her to court to get her to do the American, moral thing.” While no Muslim plaintiffs have stepped forward, a father and son who say they are Hindu claim they were kicked out last week. "My dad and I just got kicked out of a Muslim-free gun range," read a tweet from the man claiming to have been booted. "I'm not Muslim, I'm just brown." Legal experts say Morgan may be within her rights if her gun range is deemed a private club. Federal law bars discrimination or segregation in places of public accommodation or those that affect interstate commerce. In a legal challenge, Morgan might have to prove that her business does not fall under federal civil rights regulation. "Federal law forbids religious discrimination by places of public accommodations," said Cornell University Law School Professor Michael Dorf. Arkansas has a state law that does the same thing. Under the federal case law, in order for an entity to count as a private club, it must have some sort of restricted membership and not be generally open to the public. "A gun range that is generally open to the public but excludes Muslims - or any other group based on a forbidden classification - could not fairly say that everyone is a member except Muslims," Dorf added. Mark Killenbeck, a Constitutional law professor at University of Arkansas School of Law, said if Morgan is sued, she could have a hard time showing her gun range is a privvate club and not subject to the federal statutory ban on discrimination of the basis of religion. "The Court has held that truly private entities can engage in such discrimination but requires that they are truly and demonstrably private and that the club and its members have a 'common expressive purpose,'” he said. "There are ways that the owner might be able to make that claim, but I am skeptical." In the meantime, Morgan is not budging. She likened offering target practice to potential terrorists to flight schools offering lessons on simulators to the 9/11 terrorists. And because firearms are involved, she said her case is not analogous to cases in which private businesses have been sanctioned for refusing to serve other groups, such as gays. “One mistake can cost another human being’s life,” she said. “There’s no room for mistakes when you’re handling firearms. We aren’t just refusing to make a wedding cake here.” Morgan claims business has “quadrupled” with people from out of state coming to the range and some even offering donations for what they predict will be a legal battle. She also said she has been threatened, which she responded to by posting her home address on the range website and daring those issuing threats to do so in person. “I am the infidel your Imam warned you about,” Morgan wrote under an image of her packing heat.   http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/01/28/gun-range-ban-on-muslims-draws-fire/

HBO "Real Sports" host Bryant Gumbel slammed the NRA, calling them a "curse upon the American landscape," in a new interview with Rolling Stone. Gumbel said he "hate[s]" the NRA and called them "pigs" who "don't care about human life" when asked by Rolling Stone about a recent segment he featured on the "Eat What You Kill" movement.     "There are a few things I hate more than the NRA," Gumbel said. "I mean truly. I think they're pigs. I think they don't care about human life. I think they are a curse upon the American landscape. So we got that on the record." The sports show host said his disdain for the gun rights group had no effect on his reporting. "That said, I'm willing to separate that this story had nothing to do with that. It's not a gun story," he said of the "Eat What You Kill" segment. "So I would like to think that I would have done it, but I don't know. Obviously, that was my first experience around killing and guns and hunting." A rep for the NRA was not made immediately available to FOX411 for comment.     http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2015/01/21/real-sports-host-bryant-gumbel-nra-is-curse-upon-american-landscape/?intcmp=features

Just two days before New Year’s, a 2-year-old accidentally shot and killed his mother at a Wal-Mart in rural Idaho. The victim was Veronica Rutledge, a 29-year-old concealed handgun permit holder. The child had reached into his mother’s purse. Massive news coverage ensued.  Tragedies like these make headlines. That’s understandable. But where was the news media on the previous day, when concealed handgun permit holders likely saved multiple lives?    — In Fargo, N.D., four people robbed a 36-year-old man and beat him unconscious. Fortunately, a permit holder stopped the attack. “The passer-by, who has a license to carry a concealed weapon, brandished his gun to end the robbery,” police reported. If Americans hear only about the bad things that happen with guns, they will be much more likely to support strict gun regulations. The unjustified fears may also disarm people and prevent them from saving lives.  — In Kissimmee, Fla., a church employee shot at a pastor after being fired from his job. The pastor had a permit and returned fire, wounding the attacker. Weren’t these stories equally newsworthy? To save a stranger, a permit holder stood up to four attackers. Without the pastor’s concealed handgun permit, there could have been a mass shooting in a crowded church. That would surely have gotten massive national news coverage, but the pastor stopping the attack wasn’t considered a story. The lopsided coverage gives Americans a skewed view of guns. The Associated Press at least tried to put the Rutledge case in some perspective. It noted that, a year ago, Idaho had more than 85,500 permit holders — about 7 percent of the adult population. Yet even this doesn’t do justice to the rarity of the tragedy.  I can’t find another similar case of a child accidentally firing a permit holder’s concealed handgun. For decades, there have been millions of permit holders. Today, there are 12 million. It will probably be a very long time before there’s another case like this. My research finds that states saw no increase in accidental handgun deaths after adopting concealed-carry laws. Even non-fatal accidental gunshots result in permits being revoked, and those are extremely rare.  Some in the media have used the tragedy to exaggerate the risks of concealed carry.  Others listed two cases where a child shot an adult to death, but again neither case involved a permitted concealed handgun. But even if one is looking at guns generally, not just permitted concealed handguns, accidental gun deaths are still very rare. There were 548 accidental gun deaths in 2012, the last year for which data are available. That sounds like a lot, but a new Gallup survey suggests that 134 million Americans have at least one gun in the home, meaning the accidental gun death rate is about 4.1 per million people living in a home with a gun.  Unfortunately, despite the family’s claim to the contrary, the extremely rare tragedy with Veronica Rutledge likely arose because she stored her gun improperly.  If she had a semi-automatic pistol, as some reports indicate, it would have been impossible for a two-year-old to have the strength to pull the slide back on the gun to chamber the first round. If she had a revolver or most pistols, it seems exceedingly unlikely that child would have switched off the safety.  Thus, she had either already chambered the first round in the gun herself and/or switched off the safety,  thus negating the gun’s safety features. Media bias isn’t just about how stories are covered. It’s also about which stories are covered. If Americans hear only about the bad things that happen with guns, they will be much more likely to support strict gun regulations. The unjustified fears may also disarm people and prevent them from saving lives.  Nevertheless, Americans overwhelmingly believe that guns increase safety both inside and outside the home.     http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2015/01/09/bias-against-guns-what-media-isnt-telling/

Mike Schuetz operates a small gun shop in northern Wisconsin called Hawkins Guns. In November, just before one of his peak selling times, his local credit union notified him his account needed to be closed.  "The bank manager said they made a mistake, and they were not supposed to open accounts for those people involved in high-risk industries, which the gun industry and ammunition industry is one of those," Schuetz said.      It turned out there was a list created by a Justice Department program called Operation Choke Point. The list equates legal gun sellers like Schuetz with escort services, Ponzi schemes, people who sell cable TV de-scramblers -- and at least 30 other industries.  The program, which is facing tough questions in Congress, intimidates banks with the threat of heightened scrutiny and increased audits if accounts are maintained in those industries.  Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis., said Operation Choke Point began as a means of combating fraudulent businesses -- but evolved into an arbitrary list of businesses targeted by bureaucrats in the DOJ and banking regulators purely on moral grounds, backed by no legislation  "What they've done is they put short-term lenders out of business, gun dealers out of business, ammunition manufacturers out of business. Because in America, if you can't bank, you can't do business," Duffy said.  In northern Wisconsin, Schuetz became suspicious that something strange was happening after his issue with the local credit union. So he concealed an audio recorder and visited his credit union.  A manager and then a regional manager told Schuetz the credit union wanted his business, but he had indeed been placed on a list of "high risk" industries.  "We're really not anti-gun as a company but our hands are tied, and I feel horrible about this. I didn't sleep last night," regional manager Troy Ewer said.  Fox News found several more businesses -- from payment processors to ammunition dealers to pawn shop owners to short-term lenders -- who all had their bank accounts closed. In response to an inquiry from Fox News, a spokesman for the DOJ wrote, "We do not target businesses operating within the bounds of the law, and we have no interest in pursuing or discouraging lawful conduct."  Duffy said, "That's a bald-faced lie."  Fox News was provided a DOJ memo in reference to short-term or payday lenders that seems to suggest an indifference to harming legal businesses. "Although we recognize the possibility that banks may have therefore decided to stop doing business with legitimate lenders, we do not believe that such decisions should alter our investigative plans," Michael Blume, director of the department's Consumer Protection Branch, wrote.  Brian Wise, with the U.S. Consumer Coalition, says there are hundreds and even thousands of businesses across the nation who have had bank accounts closed, and they may not even know their bank was intimidated by Operation Choke Point. "This is one of the greatest abuses of power that the country has never heard of," Wise said.  The businesses owners who spoke to Fox News say they have been able to find alternative bank accounts, even Mike Schuets. However, Duffy thinks those accounts will only stay open until federal investigators scrutinize the alternative banks.  "They might be able to get banked for a short time, but once that bank goes through its next examination, Hawkins Guns might find itself without a bank," he said.   Schuetz was told by his local credit union, after an overhaul, they may be able to accommodate his business in February. However, he says he would have lost his business if he didn't find somewhere to bank between November and February.   http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/01/15/doj-accused-blocking-legal-gun-shops-other-businesses-from-banking/

Action star Liam Neeson thinks its okay to have lots of guns in his movies, but not okay for U.S. citizens to have lots of guns. While promoting "Taken 3" in Dubai, Neeson told Gulf News “there’s too many [expletive] guns out there. Especially in America. I think the population is like, 320 million? There’s over 300 million guns. Privately owned, in America. I think it’s a [expletive] disgrace.”   Neeson, however, does a 180 when it comes to his attitude toward make believe guns, especially those in his popular “Taken” franchise. “A character like Bryan Mills going out with guns and taking revenge: it’s fantasy. It’s in the movies, you know?” he explained. “I think it can give people a great release from stresses in life and all the rest of it, you know what I mean? It doesn’t mean they’re all going to go out and go, ‘Yeah, let’s get a gun!”     http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2015/01/14/liam-neeson-number-guns-in-us-disgrace/?intcmp=obmod_ffo&intcmp=obnetwork

A decorated retired New York cop who served in the U.S. Navy is challenging New York’s tough new SAFE Act gun control law, claiming in a lawsuit that his guns were confiscated after he was mistakenly diagnosed as mentally unstable after he sought treatment for a sleeping problem. Donald Montgomery’s lawsuit contends that Gov. Andrew Cuomo and other state officials violated his Second Amendment rights when his guns were seized after a brief hospital stay for insomnia. Montgomery, a cop for 30 years and a U.S. Navy veteran, brought the lawsuit in Rochester Federal Court on Dec. 17, according to the Daily Caller.   The SAFE Act became law with little public debate after Cuomo convinced lawmakers that New York needed to do something after the mass shooting at the Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Conn. Montgomery was the owner of four guns -- a Colt .38 handgun, a Derringer .38, a Glock 26 9-mm. and a Smith & Wesson Bodyguard 380. His troubles started when he visited a Long Island hospital in May complaining of insomnia. He was discharged with a diagnosis of “depression, insomnia” and then returned a short time later for a 48-hour stay. The lawsuit says that during that visit, staff erroneously listed him as an “involuntary admission,” triggering the SAFE Act reporting provision. Those deemed at-risk for owning guns by mental health professionals have to be reported and their names entered into a database. The lawsuit claims Montgomery should not have been reported because he was not a threat to himself or others. The suit says a hospital psychiatrist told him “You don’t belong here” and “I don’t know why you were referred here.” The Daily Caller reports that on May 30, a week after his hospital stay, Suffolk County sheriff’s deputies confiscated Montgomery’s guns. His pistol license was then suspended in June and revoked three months later. Montgomery is demanding in his lawsuit that the state issue written notification to all individuals whose names have been collected in the SAFE Act database. Last month, the Syracuse Post-Standard found nearly 39,000 names in the database and that 278 of those were gun owners who were in danger of losing their firearms. The list of 278 included 16 in Suffolk, where Montgomery lived.   http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/01/04/retired-cop-sues-new-york-for-confiscating-guns-after-hospital-visit-for/

Withdrawing

An upstate New York school district has shot down a high school that said no to a senior’s yearbook photo because it shows her posing with a gun. Rebekah Rorick submitted the picture for inclusion in the 2015 Broadalbin-Perth High School yearbook only to have it rejected by a faculty member on the yearbook committee due to the weapon.   “And I was like, ‘Why?’ And they are like, ‘Because there’s a gun in it,’ And I’m like, ‘But it’s a hunting rifle. I’m wearing camo. I have my dog with me,’” Rorick told WTEN-TV. “I was ready to cry. I didn’t know what I was going to do. The only thing I thought to do was address it.” The photo shows a smiling Rebekah in a classic hunting pose. She is kneeling next to her dog as she holds a hunting rifle upright in her left hand. Accompanied by her father, Rorick appeared before the school board Monday evening to appeal the rejection. “We are in the foothills of the Adirondacks,” Michael Rorick told the school board, according to the Gloversville Leader Herald. He and his daughter also pointed out that a senior’s photo in the 2012 yearbook showed him with a rifle. After meeting behind closed doors, the school board ruled Rebekah’s photo appropriate for the yearbook. “There wasn’t any reason not to (allow it),” president Robert Becker told the newspaper. He said he understood the school’s initial reaction to the photo, saying it was due to what he called “heightened sensitivity” to firearms in schools. Superintendent Stephen Tomlinson told WTEN the photo does not violate the district’s policy against weapons. “She is not holding the gun in a malicious manner,” he said. “She is not pointing it anywhere. It’s to me, in my opinion, a nice photograph of a young lady in the Adirondack region that enjoys hunting.”   http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/12/20/new-york-high-school-senior-prevails-in-fight-to-pose-with-gun-in-yearbook/