Page Nine

Gun law update: January 10, 2008

Anti-rights "NICS Improvement Act" Re-Written

Major Abuses Gone, President Signs HR 2640

Path to rights-restoration included

Without fanfare or advanced notice, the incredibly dangerous anti-rights gun law drafted by the Brady group and its allies, HR 2640, has been rewritten by attorneys coordinated by the NRA.

The new bill, though not perfect, is a giant leap ahead of the highly controversial first draft. The improved bill was passed by Congress in a surprise last-minute vote before Christmas recess, and signed into law yesterday (1/8/08) by president Bush.

Key points are summarized below. A complete plain-English description of the new bill is posted at gunlaws.com.

It makes sense for the NRA to attribute the exceptional improvements in HR 2640 to the brave and solitary stance of Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), along with NRA's "careful analysis" of the earlier bill. This is politically savvy, enhances credibility, and saves some face after an arduous and rancorous struggle to get the bill to this better place. Many gun-rights activists properly called the earlier draft horrendous.

Gun law update: December 11, 2007

Gun-Free-Zone Liability Act Re-Introduced

In the wake of recent public shootings, at least one state will again introduce the bill that says if you create a so-called “gun-free zone” you are liable for any harm it causes: http://www.gunlaws.com/GFZ/GFZ-BillReview.htm

The Gun-Free-Zone Liability Act of 2008 doesn’t prevent public places from posting signs that ban the civil right to keep and bear arms. The zones however are known to be dangerous, as recent shootings at Virginia Tech and an Omaha shopping mall have demonstrated. The proposed law only addresses the negligent nature of such zones, making those responsible for disarming innocent bystanders liable for damages. It has no direct cost to government.

According to leading experts, “gun-free zones” are fraudulent, because no alternate means of security is provided, and even FBI-certified firearms owners cannot enter. This leaves only the criminal element armed, and free to wreak havoc without a meaningful deterrent.

Concealed-weapon laws enacted in most states were designed to counteract random shootings, but are defeated by the recklessly created zones that are anything but gun free.

As if to demonstrate the bill’s value, a private citizen with a CCW permit in Colorado shot and killed a madman intent on wiping out a congregation at church. The news media, behaving in a now-familiar manner, played down the incident, referring to the woman as a security guard.

The Associated Press headline, “Megachurches expand use of security forces,” essentially hid what actually happened. The Uninvited Ombudsman, in a report due shortly, suggests a more descriptive headline of “CCW-Permit Holder Kills Murderer, Saves Lives.”

The bill language and background was mentioned and linked yesterday by Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit, and has increased interest in the bill, set to be introduced in Arizona in January. It was last introduced in Arizona in 2003, and Georgia also introduced a version of the personal-safety legislation.

You are encouraged to copy the model language at gunlaws.com and ask members of your state legislature to introduce this common-sense, life-saving bill.

Tags: Virginia Tech, The Gun-Free-Zone Liability Act of 2008

Gun law update: September 17, 2007

Texas Gets The Castle Doctrine

Complete Texas gun law updates are now posted at http://www.gunlaws.com/tgogup.htm

Criminals in Texas got a bad break, while citizens got a good one, with enactment of The Castle Doctrine in the Lone Star state, which went into effect on Sep. 1, 2007. In simplest terms, a criminal who forcibly and illegally breaks into your home, vehicle, or place of business or employment can be shot. It's a little more complex than that, but the bottom line is that the law has been shifted against violent aggressors and in favor of innocent homeowners and drivers. Don't want to be shot? Don't break in. It's just a simple, reasonable, common-sense gun law.

Technically, the law creates a presumption that, facing an illegal break-in or kidnap attempt, it is reasonable for you to believe that the use of force, including deadly force, is immediately necessary to protect yourself. The law also makes it explicit that you do not have to abandon your home or vehicle and run away ("retreat"), but can stand your ground in such a case. Be sure to read the actual wording of the law before taking any action (use our update link above).

For good measure, the law also makes it hard for criminal attackers, or their surviving kin if they're killed, to sue you for harming them while they were committing their crime. News reports generally railed against the changes, and in boring repetition, predicted blood in the streets -- ignoring the fact that the law only applies against illegal and forcible break-ins.

The public and the legislature were delighted and passed the new laws enthusiastically. No universities have announced plans to study the crime-deterrent effect of the new law.

Gun law update: June 29, 2007

HB 2640 Gun Ban Worse Than Originally Thought

Illegal Aliens Exempt If Amnesty Bill Passes

Rights Restoration Clause Died In 1992

Attorney General Would Get Arbitrary Control

Any Database Manager Can Issue "Procedures"

Undefined "Determination" Can Add You To The Ban List

Still time to fix it

Associated Press takes typical biased swipe at NRA



In a sensational national email alert, Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership (jpfo.org) incorrectly stated yesterday:

"Is the NRA just another 'gun control' group? Alan Korwin, author of 'Gun Laws of America' seems to think so." JPFO is using my name to promote a belief they hold that I do not.

The NRA is the most powerful gun-rights group in the world, even if other groups (like Jews for the Preservation and others) don't think so, or believe they outperform NRA in some fashion. Like Hillary Clinton or any big dog, the NRA must endure a certain level of attack from their own side, it comes with the territory.

I don't know why NRA is supporting the McCarthy NICS expansion bill as it is currently written, but it doesn't make them the enemy. I think they have misread certain passages, or hold mistaken beliefs about how BATFE and the Justice Dept. will perform under the bill if enacted.* Reasonable people will differ. There is still time for a fix.

This has prompted me to reexamine the bill, and unfortunately, it seems worse than I originally believed. To the NRA, media and others who disagree with my assessment of HB 2640:


1. Not Just Adjudications

Bill supporters have expressed that "adjudicated" mental incompetence, which implies action by a proper court of law, is a fair standard for gun denial, and with an appeals process in place is a reasonable line in the sand. I generally agree. But the bill says "adjudications" can come from any federal "department or agency," not just courts.

And HB 2640 isn't limited to adjudications. It speaks throughout of people with "adjudications, determinations and commitments," and not even "involuntary commitments." The word "determination" scares me most -- it isn't even defined. Who can make "a determination"? The law doesn't say. An agency with even a narrow view could read that to mean almost anything. You're comfortable with that? Does it subject people's rights to a bureaucrat's whim? Where are the controls on "a determination"? There aren't any apparent.

It's true that the adjudications, determinations and commitments must include a finding that the person is "a danger to himself or to others or that the person lacks the mental capacity to manage his own affairs." However, BATFE is already on record that any level of "danger" is enough, and it does not have to be imminent, or substantial. Name some sort of mental issue that doesn't have some sort of danger attached -- you can't. Call me a skeptic, go ahead, I can take it.

Gun law update: June 26, 2007

Many NRA Members "Confused" by Proposed Gun Bill

Five-fold increase in gun-ban list is "troubling"

Secretive passage rankles even hard core

Could be fast-tracked through the Senate this week

The swift passage of a gun-ban bill in the U.S. House, without committee hearings, floor debate or a recorded vote and possibly without even a quorum present, has NRA members nationwide asking what happened.

In a nationally released memo addressing the confusion, the NRA said this is "nothing unusual," further confusing their members. Swiftly adopting a gun-control measure on a voice vote has not occurred in at least fifteen years, if ever, according to Bloomfield Press, the largest publisher of gun-law books in the country.

The NRA, long considered a feared and powerful gun-rights lobby, allied itself with the most ardent anti-gun-rights forces in the House to quickly push through a bill that would massively increase the NICS Index -- the database of people who cannot pass an FBI background check for purchase of a firearm.

Psychiatrists and doctors would have an increased role in determining who gets on or off the list. The medical community has in the past exhibited pronounced anti-gun behaviors, bordering in some cases on hoplophobia, a morbid fear of weapons of any kind.

The action was taken during the morning "Suspension Calendar," normally reserved for "non-controversial" bills. Its use to slip through an expansion of gun control is highly irregular, with no similar action known in the past. The bill is HR 2640, "The NICS Improvement Act," posted here.

Gun law update: June 15, 2007

NEW FEDERAL GUN LAW COMING

Dept. of Homeland Security to join in NICS database

Rights restorations promised but fuzzy

The House of Representatives, with unusual backing from both the NRA and anti-gun activists in the Democrat party, just passed HR 2640 on an unrecorded voice vote. The "NICS Improvement Act" will greatly expand the list of people banned from buying or having firearms, and now goes to the Senate where it will likely be fast-tracked for approval.

Using "gun control" and murdered young students as a rallying cry, the federal government has moved another step closer to a national computerized system capable of screening the entire population.

If tied in to a national ID card being developed through linked state driver's licenses (the so-called "Real ID Act" passed in 2005), all significant activity in the nation could be monitored under the guise of crime control.

In typical fashion, the bill coerces states into cooperation with promises of grants and threats of withheld funding, depending on their degree of compliance. It is unlikely that states will be able to afford to resist, compromising any remaining sovereignty they have. The net effect will be to hasten centralized computerization of all relevant local court records in the nation. Many officials see this as a good thing.

Gun law update: April 18, 2007

CONTENTS

1- Foreword -- Virginia Tech
2- Author Begs Senator Webb -- Fix Bad Gun Laws
3- MIT Wins Handgun Tournament
4- Insider Details on NRA "Plan" to Overturn Parker Case
5- Don't Ask, Don't Tell

1- Foreword: Virginia Tech

The world is jumping on the latest homicidal atrocity with familiar, predictable results:

News-media feeding frenzy
Identical footage airing incessantly
Knowledge-free pundits mouthing off
Breathless reporters repeating themselves
Piles of combat cops too late doing nothing but looking tough
Camera angles of official body armor and unfired AR-15s
Blame making
Guns are bad
Excuses for homicidal maniacs
Justifications for psychopathology
Innocent helpless victims
Defenseless free-fire zones
Denial-of-rights issues
Calls for laws
The gun-free-school-zones charade
Recriminations
Politicians getting good face time
Violent video-culture hand wringing
Flashing lights, lots of flashing lights

You could predict the coverage without seeing any. If you need that garbage, just look anywhere, but I recommend against it. Remember, many more people died that day, and today, and will die tomorrow, from other horrible causes, many avoidable, and are all equally deserving of deepest sympathy, whether featured by news media or flatly ignored.

The Gun-Free-Zone Liability Law would let people create gun-free zones, but hold them responsible for any harm their zones facilitate: http://www.gunlaws.com/GFZ/index.htm

Desperate screams for gun registration schemes are answered here: http://www.gunlaws.com/gunreggie.htm

Gun law update: CORRECTIONS

Apologies friends and fans --
I must have been half asleep --
let me start with the easy errors,
and progress to the more involved issues:

WRONG:
"1- Second Circuit Court Ends D.C. Gun Ban"

RIGHT:
1- U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Ends D.C. Gun Ban

WRONG:
"By now you've probably heard that the federal 2nd Circuit Court has overturned..."

RIGHT:
By now you've probably hard that the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned... [the 2nd Circuit is up New England way.]

Gun law update: March 14, 2007

CONTENTS

1- Court Restores Gun Rights to D.C. (insider analysis)
2- News Media Non-plussed Over Restoration of Rights
3- "Supreme Court Gun Cases" Book Named to All-Time Top Ten List
4- Gun Sales Up, Gov't Tax Revenue Increases
5- Gun Ownership Up But Firearm Fatalities Hit Record Lows
6- "Sudden Jihadi Syndrome" Identified

1- Second Circuit Court Ends D.C. Gun Ban (insider analysis)

By now you've probably heard that the federal 2nd Circuit Court has overturned the firearms ban in Washington, D.C. It's a glorious decision, accurately reflects reality about the Second Amendment's Right to Keep and Bear Arms, and vigorously supports the individual right to arms enjoyed by Americans everywhere. It could hardly be better in the battle to defend firearm rights. Details on the court's decision are posted all over the web, try this one from the main sponsor in the case, The Cato Institute.

Or see the decision yourself.

And there was rejoicing throughout the land..., but how about a dose of reality, and what this landmark decision really means --

(1) This decision won't stop the antis.

Anti-rights activists will take heart in the lone dissent, just as you would. They will be no more deterred by this case than you would be if the decision said D.C. residents have no rights at all (as other courts in other areas have said). The ultimate battle for the right to arms will be fought in the court of public opinion, where the news media holds inordinate sway (and slant).

Gun law update: January 21, 2007

While the news media gushed about Democrats passing six bills in a mere 100 hours (without committee hearings, floor debate, markup or rules), they failed to mention the party introduced 658 resolutions for new laws they plan to enact.

Four new gun laws proposed:

"The NICS Improvement Act," H.R. 297. NICS is the national firearms background checks for the public required by the Brady law.

"The Child Gun Safety and Gun Access Prevention Act of 2007," H.R.256.

"The Gun Show Loophole Closing Act of 2007," H.R. 96.

A toy gun ban, H.R. 428, involving the Consumer Products Safety Commission.

Though the bills have been introduced and are presumably written and ready to go, the party has posted no information on them at this time. I'll be watching closely and will circulate details when they become available. Tell your friends to sign on to these reports if they want early news of the attack on gun rights now being planned. Send an email to alan@gunlaws.com and indicate if you're in Arizona for special local updates too.

The unethical travesty of focusing attention on six bills, while introducing hundreds of others, will be addressed in an upcoming Page Nine report from The Uninvited Ombudsman. Sign up for that the same way as above.

The previous and poorly named gun-show loophole act, sponsored by Sen. John McCain, was designed to close down gun shows completely. That bill was thoroughly examined at gunlaws.com.

Under the original draft, currently legal gun shows are outlawed without prior federal permission. Gun show promoters must agree to warrantless searches in order to operate, and may be arrested if private citizens talk at the show about gun sales they wish to complete away from the show. The right to assemble peaceably at a gun show or even plan for one, carries stiff prison terms unless federal licenses are issued in advance. I am not making this up.

Massive new bureaucracy is created because all shows and their exhibitors must be registered 30 days before the show, then again 72 hours before the show, and again five days after the show. That's in addition to registering anyone who walks in, plus "any other information" the Secretary of the Treasury decides, by regulation, is necessary on vendors, attendees, and the show itself.

Critics pointed out that none of this deals with the criminals, or background checks, and the rest of that bill just gets worse.

See the 658 bills your House of Representatives introduced and that the lamestream media failed to tell you about here, by clicking "110" and "All" and "House Bills Only."

Tags: Consumer Products Safety Commission, NICS, Congress, Brady law