Buckeye Firearms Association

HB203 (Restaurant Carry) scheduled for sponsor testimony in House committee

cbaus — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:10:00 -0500

House Bill 203, which seeks to "allow a concealed carry licensee who is not consuming liquor and is not under the influence to carry a concealed handgun in a retail food establishment or food service operation with any class liquor permit issued for the location," has been added to the House Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security agenda for sponsor testimony today, Thursday, November 5 at 9:30am in Statehouse Hearing Room 114.

The purpose for today's hearing is so that the committee may hear testimony on HB203 from the legislation's sponsors.

Buckeye Firearms Association will be on hand in support of this legislation.

For more information on HB203, see: Reps. Danny Bubp & Jarrod Martin introduce HB203: Restaurant Carry.

For a complete list of legislation which we are tracking in the 128th General Assembly, visit the Buckeye Firearms Association Legislation Guide.

Editorial: The feds take a shot at guns

cbaus — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:05:00 -0500

Obama administration caught "loading their guns" for a new round of anti-gun legislation

For a decade, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been forbidden by Congress from doing research on gun-control issues. Such piddling hurdles as federal law don't matter to the Obama administration.

With a wave of a hand, the CDC has simply redefined gun-control research so the ban no longer applies.

They're not researching guns; they're researching alcohol sales and their impact on gun violence, or researching how teens carrying guns affect the rates of non-gun injuries. "These particular grants do not address gun control; rather they deal with the surrounding web of circumstances," wrote National Institutes of Health (NIH) spokesman Don Ralbovsky.

Gun-control advocates claim that banning the CDC from examining gun control amounts to a gag order on science. After all, what can be wrong with further scientific inquiry? But the issue isn't about scientific inquiry. It is whether government resources should be used to promote an ideological agenda.

Take the Obama administration's justification for its new gun research. "Gun-related violence is a public health problem - it diverts considerable health care resources away from other problems and, therefore, is of interest to NIH," wrote the agency spokesman in an e-mail responding to questions from Republican members of Congress about new grants the CDC is giving out. The statement assumes the conclusion of the research before the first study is done.

...The CDC's brazen end run around restrictions on gun-control research is hardly surprising given that when President Obama served on the board of the Joyce Foundation, it was the largest private funder of gun-ban research in the country. Now he has the resources of the whole federal government.

First we'll get the half-baked studies followed by fawning press coverage. Then Democratic politicians and activists will pretend the gun restrictions they've always wanted were spurred by the new government research.

Click here to read the complete editorial from the Washington Times.

Sometimes Criminals Walk Among Us: Self-Enforcement is Key at Gun Shows

cbaus — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:10:00 -0500

By Gerard Valentino

The national establishment media is getting a lot of mileage from another of New York Mayor Bloomberg's dirty tricks. In this case, the Mayor sent private investigators to gun shows in several states to prove that illegal gun trafficking is taking place, and that criminals can easily buy firearms in unregulated private transactions.

Video collected at several guns shows showed private citizens selling guns, even though the prospective buyer claimed he could not pass the background check required to buy a gun through a licensed gun dealer.

Clearly, Mayor Bloomberg set up a situation to benefit his view that guns bought at gun shows are the cause of violent crime in New York. He also needed to show New Yorkers that the guns used in crimes in his city are coming from outside of New York, and that the situation is therefore out of his control.

This issue, however, is bigger than Mayor Bloomberg's crusade to end private gun ownership and show the gun violence in New York is not his fault.

Each time someone takes part in an illegal sale at a gun show, it puts the rights of law-abiding gun owners at risk because it plays into the hands of the anti-gun movement by giving credence to the existence of a "gun show loophole."

We can, as pro-gun advocates, rail on about enforcement, and about how Mayor Bloomberg's studies show a small percentage of the gun-buying public. However, that isn't as likely to work in this case, because the general public can clearly see people at gun shows appearing to be violating the law.

When that happens it puts all gun owners in jeopardy, and sheds a bad light on the gun culture.

With a notorious gun grabber in the White House, we can't afford to let a few bad actions derail gun shows, and the pro-gun culture that spawned them. Gun shows are a key component to furthering the shooting sports, and because of the reckless actions of a few criminals they are now at risk.

Luckily, in Ohio, where one of the Bloomberg's schemes took place, Governor Ted Strickland rightfully pointed out that illegal gun sales at guns shows are an enforcement issue, and that no new gun laws are needed. But, that viewpoint is incredibly rare in today's Democratic Party. When other politicians that don't understand the situation see such a damning video, it can change their view of guns and gun shows.

If gun advocates defend these illegal acts, it plays right into the hands of our adversaries. We know the gun community is largely made up of honest, law-abiding people who demand a lot of other gun owners. We expect people will be responsible with the rights so many have fought to protect over the years.

But defending criminals is not part of that pact, and all gun owners need to be outraged that criminals used gun shows to ply their trade.

If the gun community stands by idle, or defends those actions it can do damage to the movement out of all proportion to the act. That is what gun owners and liberty-minded people can't let happen. What we need to take away from this debacle is that sometimes criminals aren't always what they seem. Sometimes, they appear completely different than what we see in Hollywood, or on television.

There are times when the kindly-looking gentleman standing next to you at a gun show is a criminal, and it is our job to make sure people of that ilk are turned away at the door. The sentiment that the government has no place regulating private gun purchases is completely correct, and the fact that the Constitution affirms our right to bear arms can't be any plainer.

Therefore, our own enforcement on this issue is paramount, and if someone at a gun shows sees an illegal transaction, it has to be reported to the organizers, who in turn must notify authorities. That isn't the government injecting themselves into the situation, but instead is the private sector policing itself.

If, as gun advocates we do anything to try and mitigate the illegal actions of these criminals caught by Mayor Bloomberg, we play into the hands of our enemy. They will not only win the short-term battle, but by showing the general public that gun advocates will defend criminals, it proves all of their misguided claims that the gun culture is responsible for gun crime.

Refusing to defend criminal who illegally sell guns at gun shows is a message that has great value to the gun movement, since it not only helps the pro-gun cause, it has the added benefit of being morally and legally just.

Gerard Valentino is Buckeye Firearms Foundation Treasurer, and author of the Valentino Chronicles (paperback) now available through Amazon.com.

Prosecution as Punishment: The Troubling Case of Albert Kwan

cbaus — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:05:00 -0500

By Jeff Knox

People who "have nothing to hide" are often quite happy to answer any questions and consent to any intrusion a police officer might ask of them. They may even invite officers to "look around" if they want to. If you ask a good defense attorney how much you should cooperate with police, particularly when they are conducting an investigation in which you could possibly be a suspect, he will tell you "Not at all." Don't give them one word more than you must and never give them permission to search your car, look through your home, or examine any of your guns.

David Olofson took the "nothing to hide" approach. When the police confiscated one of his firearms from a friend he had loaned it to, Olofson freely chatted with police about how many guns he had, how many he has built, how he helps people to buy and assemble their own AR-platform rifles, and quite a bit more. David Olofson's loquacious ways probably helped to put him in prison for 30 months for illegally transferring an unregistered machine gun – that was actually just a malfunctioning semi-auto – and his case has set a very dangerous precedent which threatens all gun owners.

On the other side of the coin is Albert Kwan. A Seattle Class III firearms dealer and collector, Kwan followed the path of minimal cooperation. When agents asked him about a pair of Makarov barrels they thought he might have bought and asked to examine any Makarovs or Makarov parts he might have, Albert told them he had only purchased one barrel and that they should get a warrant if they wanted to examine it or anything else he owned. Kwan says he wasn't trying to hide anything; he just wanted to make sure his rights were respected and his privacy protected. Unfortunately, under-cooperating can be as problematic as over-cooperating.

Albert Kwan's lack of cooperation "raised red flags" with agents investigating a murder case – the murder of a federal prosecutor. Albert was never a suspect in the murder, but agents thought he might have sold the gun, or at least the barrel, that the murderer used and they wanted to know where that barrel had gone. When he refused to let agents look at his guns and take his Makarovs, agents were peeved and they began trying to force Kwan to tell them what they wanted to hear – something Kwan has consistently maintained that he is unable to do because he says he never had a second barrel.

The persecution of Albert Kwan escalated from agents knocking on his door and asking a few questions, to agents serving a search warrant on his home and business confiscating firearms, ammunition, computers, and business records, to his arrest as a "material witness" in a murder investigation, and his eventual prosecution on trumped-up violations of the National Firearms Act. The ATF claimed that a legal, "de-milled," semi-auto M14 was actually a machine gun, and that Kwan's possession of a detachable shoulder stock for one of his legally owned submachine guns made a semi-auto pistol he owned, which could also accept the detachable stock, an unregistered "short-barreled rifle." Both accusations blatantly disregarded ATF policy and established legal precedents.

When the jury learned that ATF had to extensively machine and add extra parts to Kwan's M14 to make it fire full-auto, they rejected that charge, but prosecutors were able to convince them on the short-barreled rifle charge. Then the judge discovered that ATF and prosecutors had misled him and the jury about the stock and its multiple applications so he took the unusual step of overturning the conviction. But the government still didn't want to let go of Albert Kwan so they appealed the reversal, but Kwan won the appeal in November of 2008. Since then Kwan has been going through legal channels trying to recover his property. The ordeal has cost him more than three years, his Army Reserve retirement, his firearms business, his commercial real estate business, his reputation, and tens of thousands of dollars above and beyond his life savings.

So, how much should one cooperate with the police? The principled answer remains the same – cooperate only as much as the law requires. But in a world where federal prosecutors are willing and able to use the system to retaliate against people who don't cooperate, the principled response carries its own set of risks. That shouldn't be the case in a nation based on laws. And it begs the question of just what kind of nation we are becoming.

Permission to reprint or post this article in its entirety is hereby granted provided this credit is included. Text is available at www.FirearmsCoalition.org.

REMINDER: VOTE TODAY!

cbaus — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:10:00 -0500

Polls will be open across the state of Ohio and around the nation today, and once again, pro-gun voters will have a disproportionate impact on the election outcome here in the Buckeye state.

Although there are 11 million voters in Ohio, about 4 million are ineligible to vote, either by age or lack of registering. And out of the 7 million registered voters, precedent suggests that only a little over 2 million (30%) will bother to drag themselves to the polls in an off-year election.

There are somewhere north of 400,000 people in Ohio who are licensed to hunt and/ or carry a concealed handgun. When one considers that, in the 2000 Presidential election, nine of 10 Ohio sportsmen of voting age went to the polls (a full 27% of the vote!), one can begin to see how much of an influence gun voters can have on elections that swing by just a few percentage points.

Click here to access the Buckeye Firearms Association 2009 endorsements.

Camp Perry Marksmanship Center a state-of-the-art facility for air rifle shooters

cbaus — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:05:00 -0500

An article from Cleveland Plain Dealer outdoor writer D'Arcy Egan recently allowed the newspaper to deviate from its usual modus operandi of negatively stereotyping gun ownership.

From the story:

President Theodore Roosevelt worried that Americans were miserable marksmen. The National Rifle and Pistol Matches were created and, a century later, the Civilian Marksmanship Program that Roosevelt helped to create is showing off its state-of-the-art Camp Perry Marksmanship Center.

The indoor air rifle range has 80 shooting stations with 10-meter
targets designed for Olympic-style shooting events. The stations are user-friendly, with the facility 's calendar filling rapidly with shooting events. The range is open to the public on Tuesday evenings.

Egan notes that since its opening a year ago, the Marksmanship Center has become the jewel of the CMP program.

"Our goal is to encourage young shooters," said CMP Director Gary Anderson, who won gold medals in rifle competition at the 1964 and 1968 Olympics in Tokyo and Mexico City. "They're the future of the shooting sports. We want get the kids to start shooting, and get involved in formal competition.

"We want to create life-long marksmen."

A joint project of the CMP and the Ohio National Guard, the $2.15
million facility is a stone's throw from the expansive outdoor ranges that host the National Rifle and Pistol Matches each summer.

"We have junior pistol and rifle matches in the Marksmanship Center throughout the National Matches, and all year round," said Anderson. The facility has competitions for all the service branches of the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC), 4-H shooting programs, National Junior Olympics competitions and the Daisy Air Gun Championships. On Jan. 15-17, it will again host the Camp Perry Open Air Gun Championships.

..."During competitions, the people back home can access the electronic targets on the internet to get live scoring during a match," said Anderson.

The story goes on to say the center also has a National Guard Engagement Skills Trainer, a marksmanship simulation tool. Combined with outdoor live fire training, soldiers can learn both marksmanship and tactical skills.

"The Camp Perry Marksmanship Center is considered the finest facility of its type in North America," said Anderson. "We've not only exceeded our expectations our the first year, but we're attracting new shooters. They're finding out that air rifles are fun and inexpensive to shoot."

Emperor Daley's Old New Clothes

cbaus — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:10:00 -0500

By Gerard Valentino

The media recently brought us news yet another senseless death took place on the killing fields of Chicago. Yet again, it was a high school age victim, and the altercation was gang related.

Unfortunately for Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, he won't be able to use this murder in his never-ending crusade to ban guns in the city. In this case, the young man who senselessly lost his life was beaten to death in a mass fight described as a "melee" by witnesses.

From the story:

No knives and no guns were used in Thursday's fight. Just fists, feet and boards. Derrion Albert, 16, was struck in the head by one of those boards.

Seconds later the honor student hit the pavement. That's when witnesses, who are other high school students, say gangbangers began stomping on and punching Albert.

There are so many ways in which this incident was a tragedy. First and foremost is the death of a 16 year-old young man who had his life in front of him. How such a loss damages society can't be quantified.

The sad fact is, commenting on how gang crime is destroying the fabric of one of the world's most vibrant cities is getting old for everyone concerned with stopping the violence. Mayor Daley's argument that the proliferation of guns in Chicago is responsible for the high crime rate, rather than the culture created in the city, takes a huge hit when young men are killed through other means. And it appears Daley and other anti-gun politicians know it.

Indeed, the Obama administration is receiving criticism from the gun ban lobby in the President's home state for only speaking out about violence in Chicago after an act of violence that did not include a firearm.

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder plan to appear at City Hall with Mayor Richard Daley in what the Obama administration described as a search for solutions to youth crime. They also will meet privately with students and parents.

Chicago's violence has long burdened Obama's political career, including the embarrassment of a missed vote as a state senator that hurt his 2000 bid for Congress. Duncan, 44, a Chicago native and Obama friend, admits to "total failure" in curbing violence during his seven years as chief of the nation's third-largest school system, which serves more than 400,000 students, 85 percent of them living below the poverty line.

Some gun-control advocates question the administration's timing as Duncan and Holder arrive after a highly publicized beating that didn't involve a gun.

"Where there have been opportunities for the president to speak out about the issue of firearm violence, he has missed any number of opportunities," said Thom Mannard, executive director of the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence.

Doing so in the Albert case "provides the cover" to address youth violence without confronting the gun lobby, said Mannard, whose group's board of directors included Duncan until he left for his current post.

Even Mayor Daley seems careful not speak out when young men are killed and the crime doesn't involve a gun. It's as if a murdered child is only worth exploiting if the young life is snuffed out through the pull of a trigger. If Mayor Daley spoke out under these circumstances, his long-held arguments that guns are the cause of crime, not criminals, would further expose him as the proverbial "emperor with no clothes." He can't admit that murders take place without a gun. It's just that simple in his mind.

In Daley's case, however, it's not a new occurrence for him to play the part of the hapless naked emperor. So, as usual, he requires his own classification and is truly the "emperor in old new clothes."

Basically, he's been naked for years and strutting around like he has the best clothing and the best appearance in his kingdom.

Standing in front of the media, or the citizens of Chicago, and stating that cultural deficiencies, a lack of workable social programs, or moral failings by the perpetrator are at the root of crime is the type of logical thinking that eludes Chicago's mayoral administration. Instead, they blame the proliferation of guns for all of Chicago's crime related ills. Even though there is a mountain of evidence to prove otherwise.

This tragic story does teach us, yet again, that one of the strictest bans on private ownership of firearms in the U.S. has failed. Not only did it fail to stop gun violence, but in this case honest, law-abiding citizens were forced to witness a brutal murder instead of having the means to stop the attackers.

Whether someone should have stepped in to save this young man is irrelevant. Thanks to the disarmament polices of the Daley administration, nobody had that option. They had to stand by idle while a young life was needlessly snuffed out.

Although Mayor Daley kept quiet about this murder, he will be standing in front of the media railing about the so-called scourge of guns in American before long.

And when he does, most likely he will be acting as the proverbial "emperor with no clothes."

Gerard Valentino is Buckeye Firearms Foundation Treasurer, and author of the Valentino Chronicles (paperback) now available through Amazon.com. His address is Gvalentino@Prodigy.net and he invites comments.

Congress Passes NRA-Backed Legislation Protecting Pocketknife Classification

cbaus — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:05:00 -0500

Back in June, we reported on a proposed U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) rule change that would have expanded the Switchblade Knife Act of 1958 to include spring-assisted or one-handed-opening knives, and would have directly targeted the importation of "assisted opening" folding knives. (Read the proposed rule here.) Assisted opening knives are frequently used by hunters, anglers, farmers, ranchers, firefighters, law enforcement and emergency personnel and anyone else who may need to open a knife with only one hand.

The proposed regulations would have designated all such knives as "switchblades" -- despite the fact they do not fall under the federal definition of "switchblades" -- and would have made them illegal for import into the United States.

Fortunately, in July, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed an amendment to the Federal Switchblade Act as part of the Homeland Security Appropriations Act of 2010. This NRA-supported amendment then headed to a House-Senate conference committee.

In mid-October, the U.S. House passed the amendment. We are happy to report that the following week, the U. S. Senate passed the measure as well.

This crucial legislation will protect pocketknives used by tens of millions of Americans. The amendment will keep pocketknives from being classified as illegal switchblades. U.S. Senators John Cornyn (R-Tex.), Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) authored the amendment and were instrumental in its passage through Congress. U.S. Representative Bob Latta (R-Ohio) and Walt Minnick (D-Idaho) also played vital roles in the amendment's passage in the House.

"This amendment was necessary to prevent commonly-used pocketknives from being branded as illegal switchblades," said NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris W. Cox. "The National Rifle Association is grateful to Senators Cornyn, Pryor and Hatch and Congressmen Latta and Minnick, whose leadership fixed a provision that would have criminalized tens of millions of law-abiding Americans including millions of hunters and sportsmen."

NRA also applauds the hard work of the American Knife and Tool Institute, Knife Rights, Inc., and the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation for their efforts to get this measure passed.

The measure now awaits President Obama's signature.

Gun Shows Need to be Proactive to Survive

cbaus — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:10:00 -0400

By Publius

Mayor Bloomberg's "investigation" of gun shows in Ohio presents an opportunity for gun owners in the Buckeye state - an opportunity that we must seize if gun shows are to survive.

The choice facing us is simple: Change how gun shows operate, or gun shows will be legislated/litigated out of business. The loss of gun shows would be a devastating blow to the First Amendment rights of gun owners. Yes, I said First Amendment.

Let's get something out of the way upfront so we can concentrate on our issues: Mayor Bloomberg is exceeding his authority, is wrong, has no business doing investigations in Ohio, his investigators are breaking the law, he released heavily edited versions of his tapes, all the conduct he complains of is already illegal and prohibited etc etc etc.

None of that matters. Now, can we concentrate on our own problems and administer some tough love?

Gun shows are currently facing legislation in the Congress. The House version of this legislation would end gun shows. There is no other way to read it. The restrictions and regulations placed on gun shows in that bill have nothing to do about "closing loopholes" and everything to do about making it impossible to operate gun shows. The Senate version is slightly better - but only slightly.

If Congressional legislation fails, then litigation will be the channel used to shut down gun shows. In 2006, when Bloomberg pulled his stunts with gun dealers and then sued them, every single dealer either 1.) went out of business, or 2.) agreed to submit to the control and oversight of Bloomberg to continue in operation. Why this result? Because the dealers cannot afford to fight through a multi-year civil suit, regardless of the ultimate merit or chance for success. However, Bloomberg was very careful in his press conference to say he has no interest in suing the dealers shown in the tapes.

And why would he? Far easier to sue the gun show promoters and venues renting to the gun show promoters. Sue maybe six promoters and maybe 6 venues, and gun shows are forever finished in Ohio. I am 100% certain that places like Hara, Vets and Westland are not going to go to court to fight for their ability to rent space to gun shows. Day 1, they get served with the nuisance suit, Day 2 they pick up the phone and call to ask, "If we agree not to rent space to gun shows, will you dismiss your suit?" If there is nowhere to host the shows, we're done. I am also 100% certain that the gun show promoters are not going to weather a civil lawsuit and/or criminal conspiracy/RICO cases and survive. New promoters might pop up to fill the void, but they are going to have to either adopt new, tougher standards, or just wait for the sting to hit their new shows.

So gun shows are facing extinction. We need to accept that as gun owners. There is a critical threat to gun shows that won't go away. We can either address the issues or await the coup de grace. For me, I don't think gun owners can afford to stand by and watch gun shows be shut down. In my mind, gun shows are only partially about buying/selling guns. Perhaps the most important part of gun shows is our right to meet and associate, to share information about campaigns, candidates, proposed legislation, to recruit volunteers and sign up members. Gun shows are as much, or more, about the First Amendment as the Second.

Even the antis know this. The statistics are overwhelming: crime guns don't come from gun shows. So why are they targeting gun shows for shut down if it isn't about crime? It drives them insane that the NRA signs up hundreds of members each gun show, that pro-gun candidates get to spend several hours in a cost-free campaign communication exercise, meeting gun owners in person, signing up volunteers and receiving donations in a "target rich environment." It is far too easy for groups like Buckeye Firearms Association to hand out literature attacking their favorite, anti-gun candidates for the mere cost of photocopies. Because clearly gun shows are pro-gun organizations' highest volume, lowest cost channel with which to do their work.

Antis don't have this. Candle light vigils just don't compare. Early in the antis' game plans they secured innumerable grants from liberals like Soros and Joyce, figuring they would out-spend, out-organize and out-communicate gun owners with professional, paid staffs and large budgets. Yet pro-gun organizations out-work them and out-smart them with volunteers using nearly-free methods and channels. It drives them insane, so they pass laws to try and exterminate talk radio (including NRA News) and try to shut down our gathering places.

THIS CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO HAPPEN. Unless gun owners support gun show promoters in making proactive changes, we are going to lose this critical venue.

Coming next – Part 2, Suggested Best Practices for Gun Show Promoters.

"Publius" is a time-honored pseudonym used most famously in the Federalist Papers. The use of the pen-name allows readers to consider the message without becoming distracted by any bias for or against the author, and also allows the author to communicate things that might harm the author personally or professionally.

Publishing frank discussions (not personal attacks) that deserve examination while maintaining anonymity to protect the livelihood of the author is a proud tradition, and Publius is welcome at buckeyefirearms.org.

The Uninvited Ombudsman Report, No. 73 - McDonald v. Chicago

cbaus — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:05:00 -0400

Taken from the most recent "Page Nine", Alan Korwin's "The Uninvited Ombudsman Report"

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1- 1,400 Arrest 46

The lamestream media told you:

Thomas Watkins, reporting for the AP, writes: "More than a thousand law-enforcement officers descended Tuesday on the homes of key members of a notorious street gang suspected of killing a sheriff's deputy and murdering rivals while defying authorities for decades. A federal indictment identified 88 suspects and detailed criminal activity spanning more than a decade... 1,100 police officers worked with nearly 300 federal agents to arrest 46 gang members (39 were already in custody)... Among them was Tammy Armstrong, a corrections officer accused of helping incarcerated gang members... gang members strafed L.A. police in Feb., 2008... off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff's Deputy Juan Escalante was shot dead in Aug., 2008 in front of his parents' home northeast of downtown." http://tinyurl.com/mw2k9a

The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that:

Unasked and unanswered questions include: Why were 1,400 people needed to make the 46 arrests? Why was this known illegal activity allowed to continue for a decade before making arrests? If gang members strafe police, is it considered timely to wait 1-1/2 years to nab suspects? Corrections officers are supposed to help inmates in addition to keeping them locked up, what sort of help did officer Armstrong provide?

While it's encouraging to hear the "news" media cheerleading for the capture of 79 desperados (nine are still at large), is L.A. now safer? How many gangbangers were still operating after the media promo ended?

Well... LAPD estimates that L.A. has 463 gangs, making the 79 individuals arrested seem small. Those gangs have an estimated 39,032 members http://tinyurl.com/yqotg8. No word yet on when the rest might be rounded up, or which of them will be promoted to fill the empty slots created by those detainees who don't get back on the streets soon. No followup "news" reports on that are expected, just the rah rah for the original collars.

Stepping out further, again using LAPD figures, L.A. County has 1,108 gangs, with 85,298 members, and no word on planned arrests for them either, or available jail space for the 85,219 known or suspected gang members still at large, probably for decades.

Note that L.A. gangs are notorious for rejecting diversity and multiculturalism, according to LAPD estimates. The most numerous gangs are Latino, with 22,309 non-diverse members, and blacks (Crips and Bloods), with 14,515 non-diverse members. Rumors that white, oriental and other gangs will be filing Title VII discrimination charges could not be confirmed at press time.

Anti-gun campaigns that focus on crime as a motivator overlook the fact, with the media's assistance, that crime is largely gang related and geographically isolated, leaving much of society untouched. It's also fueled in large measure by the government's feckless War on Some Drugs, making the murder rates war deaths, not gun deaths. See the maps: http://www.gunlaws.com/GunshotDemographics.htm. It's hard to remove the failed social policies that spawn the problem, because that's what justifies much of the law-enforcement community and its budgets and jobs. The 1,400 police involved in the 46 arrests (30 per detainee) are under administrative protection and could not be reached for comment. Thankfully, not one hardened criminal on the streets for more than a decade was killed. An estimated cost to provide public defenders for the former fugitives is unknown.

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6- Women Shooting More

The lamestream media told you:

Nothing.

The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that:

The National Shooting Sports Foundation's "First Shots" program has helped introduce thousands of first-timers to shooting at their local ranges. Nearly half of these participants have been female. The shooting sports are the #2 consumer sport in America, based on money spent, ahead of #3 golf by $100 million, but golf gets all the "news" coverage for reasons that were unclear at press time. http://www.firstshots.org

A new report from NSSF shows a snapshot of these new women shooters. For example, after attending a First Shots seminar at their local range, 47 percent of women have met their local requirements to purchase a sidearm, 26 percent said they have already purchased a sidearm and 58 percent said they are planning to purchase a sidearm in the future. When asked what their primary reason for purchasing a sidearm would be, 86 percent said personal protection, recognizing that when seconds count, the police are just minutes away. See the report, fascinating and data rich: http://www.firstshots.org/PDF/Female_Perspective.pdf

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8- McDonald v. Chicago

The lamestream media told you:

Chicago's 27-year-old ban on handguns is coming up for challenge at the U.S. Supreme Court, with a ruling likely due by June 2010, and an oral-argument date as early as February, expected to be set soon. It is the second major gun-rights case to reach the Court, following the 2008 landmark Heller case that overturned the Wash., D.C. strict ban on working guns at home. Alan Gura, lead counsel in the Heller case, is lead counsel in this case, and is quoted as saying, "State and local politicians should be on notice: the Second Amendment is a normal part of the Bill of Rights, and it is coming to your town." The case is being brought by the Second Amendment Foundation, the Illinois State Rifle Association, and four local plaintiffs.

The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that:

Although this is presented almost everywhere as a Second Amendment case, and it does and will affect 2A in profound ways, the real significance of this case is in its 14th Amendment implications.

The 14th Amendment is supposed to protect the "privileges and immunities" of all Americans. It was enacted soon after the War Between The States (1868), to prevent states from denying rights to freed slaves. The intent was to apply the Bill of Rights to people regardless of the state they were in.

This was completely eviscerated in the Slaughterhouse cases (1873), and has remained dormant since then, leaving only the due process and equal protection clauses in 14A to carry that water. You can google the elements of this situation so I don't have to bore you with the incredibly fascinating lengthy details here.

McDonald, using the Second Amendment, is a stage upon which the High Court can at last restore 14A to the prominence it deserves and is intended to have. The issue could have arisen in other contexts, but here we get a stunning two for one drama.

If 14A is restored, the benefits for liberty, limiting government, protecting states rights and civil rights, and slowing or stopping power-mad federal legislators and Congress as a whole are ginormous, with no way to adequately express in words how big that would be for your freedom -- an effect that will play out for decades to come.

So, sure, we want to see 2A "incorporated" against the states, and prevent states from flatly ignoring 2A and denying or infringing fundamental rights as they have been doing for decades. And sure, the gun-rights players and the hopelessly biased "news" media are highly focused on this important element of the case and Chicago's tyrannical gun ban for innocent people. But it is the 14A aspect that deserves at least equal attention, because it will affect the entire Bill of Rights, 90% of which could also use the help.

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Don't forget that Bill of Rights Day is coming up on Tuesday, Dec. 15 this year. Mark your calendar now for events in your area -- and organize one if there isn't one already. http://www.gunlaws.com/BOR-Day-2008-Report.htm. Do something good -- send that link to your email list.

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Contents:
(searchable by item number)

1- 1,400 Arrest 46
2- ACORN Still Funded
3- 9/12 Was Gigantic
4- Quarter Pounder Ignorance
5- Impossibly Longrange Predictions
6- Women Shooting More
7- Obama's Muslim Unsupporters
8- McDonald v. Chicago
9- Special Guest Columnist Craig Cantoni --
"No one gasped in shock when Obama said he was committed to the will of the people"

Page Nine is now a blog! You can sign up for automatic RSS feeds and find a wealth of interesting information at PageNine.org

Thanks for reading!
Alan Korwin
The Uninvited Ombudsman