The content of this newsletter is produced by the Second Amendment Project at the Independence Institute, a think tank in Golden, Colorado. The newsletter is electronically distributed by the Second Amendment Foundation in Bellevue, Washington. Thus, the Second Amendment Foundation will be given your e-mail address.
Archive of past issues.
Dave Kopel's Second Amendment Project is based at the
Independence Institute, a free-market think tank in
Golden, Colorado.
http://www.independenceinstitute.org
1. New from Kopel: Debate on National Public Radio,
Gun Shows, John Walker Lindh, the Fourth of July,
NRA Live.
2. Kopel comments from The Corner. How gun owners defeat terrorists, and how "gun free zones" encourage terrorists – in California, Israel, Zimbabwe, in the skies, and elsewhere.
3. Links: Politics & Polls; History; Terrorism (featuring a very frightening letter from John Farnam); Gun Groups; Law and Legislation; International; Culture; Gun Shows; Humor.
A. Gun Show Alert!
Senator McCain is pushing for a vote on his
gun show bill as soon as possible.
Gun Games.
Truth is a casualty of the anti-gun cause.
The Americans for Gun Safety radio ads against
gun shows include many incorrect statements.
National Review Online, May 21, 2002.
http://www.nationalreview.com/kopel/kopel052102.asp
Issue Paper:
Should Gun Shows Be Outlawed?
McCain Bill Does Much More than Impose Background Checks.
The McCain bill is loaded with poison pills allowing
bureaucrats to destroy gun shows. The Issue Paper
also examines bogus claims about terrorists and gun
shows, Columbine, and more.
http://www.davekopel.com/2A/IP/gunshows2.htm
===================
B. Dave Kopel debates Michael Beard on
National Public Radio
During the week of July 1, the NPR program "Justice Talking" will feature a radio debate between Dave Kopel and Michael Beard, of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence.
Many but not all public radio stations carry
the Justice Talking program. You can also listen
to the debate on the Internet, at your convenience,
by going to the Justice Talking website:
http://www.justicetalking.org/
At some point during the week of July 1, NPR's "Morning Edition" news program will play some highlights from the debate.
The debate was recorded before a live audience in San Antonio on June 10. I thought Michael Beard did a very good job representing his point of view. In general, the debate focused more on issues of law and culture than on criminology.
===================
C. Kopel columns for National Review Online
Lindh's Rights. Second Amendment does not apply.
Why John Walker Lindh and the gun prohibition
lobbies are wrong to claim that a meaningful
Second Amendment interferes with the prosecution
of the American Taliban.
National Review Online, May 27, 2002.
http://www.nationalreview.com/kopel/kopel052702.asp
Coming soon:
The Goose and Gander Amendment. Making gun laws
apply to the government, as well as the governed.
Fourth of July Toasts. Celebrating American heroes,
and defying the tyrants of every sort.
===================
D. New Kopel book, Gun Control & Gun Rights:
Coming soon on NRA Live:
Interview with Kopel about his new book
"Gun Control and Gun Rights"
http://www.nralive.org/index2.cfm
Website for the book:
http://www.davekopel.com/2A/GCGR.htm
===================
II. Kopel comments from The Corner weblog,
on National Review Online:
NOT SO SAFE
Mary Carpenter is the grandmother of two children who
were murdered by an insane man with a pitchfork in
Merced, California. In a letter to a state legislature
considering a trigger-lock mandate, Mrs. Carpenter
blames California's trigger-lock law for her grandchildren's
death. The killer attacked while the eldest child in the
family, a 14-year-old girl, was babysitting the younger
three. Because the family's guns were locked in a safe,
in accordance with California law, the teenager, who
was trained with firearms and a very good shot, was
unable to retrieve a gun to protect her siblings. As new
research by John Lott details, so-called "safe storage"
laws do in fact increase feelings of safety -- for violent
criminals; such laws lead to more murder, rape, robbery,
and assault.
http://www.aardvarknews.com/carpenter.htm
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=303471
MORE VIOLENCE IN ISRAEL
Early this morning [May 31] a Palestinian terrorist began
throwing grenades and firing an automatic Kalashnikov
rifle at a Jewish kindergarten and Jewish homes in a West
Bank settlement. A grocery-store owner named David Elbaz
used his own rifle to wound the terrorist twice, and eventually
kill him, according to Ha'aretz. The village where the attack
took place, Shavei-Shomron was the scene of a November
2001 drive-by shooting on a taxi, in which three people,
including the village's rabbi, were injured. In a June 18, 2001,
drive-by shooting, one man was killed and another wounded.
On June 12, Israeli soldiers near Shavei Shomron were shot at,
and one wounded. On June 11, someone planted a bomb on a
road leading to Shavei Shomron. On June 2, 2001, Yassir
Arafat had pretended to announce a cease-fire against Israel.
In April 2001, a Palestinian terrorist set off explosives in
booby-trapped car next to a school bus carrying for
Shavei-Shomron children, but the bomb failed to kill anyone.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=170617&contra%3cbr%20/%3essID=1&subContrassID=5&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y
http://www.ourjerusalem.com/news/story/news20011120a.html
http://www.adl.org/Israel/pal_militia.asp
http://www.zoa.org/pressrel/20010618a.htm
http://www.israelinsider.com/channels/security/articles/sec_0038.htm
2ND AMENDMENT VICTORY
A Utah petition drive for a ballot initiative to prohibit licensed
concealed handguns from grade schools, universities, and
churches has failed. Forty-five thousands Utah citizens have
concealed handgun permits. The proposal to mandate that
institutions of worship and education become safe zones for
terrorists, rapists, and other criminals gathered only about
half of the legally required signatures. Last year, a petition
drive to overturn Michigan's licensed handgun carry law was
abandoned.
http://www.sltrib.com/2002/may/05312002/utah/utah.htm
MUGABE UNPLUGGED
The New Yorker provides a detailed expose of the evil Mugabe
regime which is destroying Zimbabwe and perpetrating
state terrorism on a massive scale. Now wouldn't it be better
if the ordinary people of Zimbabwe, whites included,
owned plenty of firearms, with which to save their lives
from the Mugabe murderers?
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?020603fa_FACT1
Kopel's earlier report on disarmament in Zimbabwe:
http://www.nationalreview.com/kopel/kopel021301.shtml
THE FRONTLINES OF TERRORISM
An Israeli teacher and a school security guard teamed up Tuesday
night to shoot a pair of Al Aqsa terrorists who were attacking a
high school, and who had already killed three students. In America,
however, such an event would be much less likely to happen,
since the "Million" Mom March and other gun-prohibition groups
work hard for "gun-free school zones," thus ensuring that terrorists
attacking high schools will enjoy the same protection from "gun
violence" as do their colleagues on airplanes.
http://www.jpost.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/Full&cid=1021813261711
WE'LL WIN THIS
Brink Lindsey republishes the full text of Patrick Henry's greatest
speech,
warning against temporizing in the vain hope that if we retreat,
our enemies will demur:
"There is no retreat but in submission and slavery!
Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on
the plains of Boston!"
Two-and-a-quarter centuries after Henry spoke, the tyrants
who occupied our planes of Boston are infinitely more evil
than were the Redcoats, and they would impose on us the
tyranny and slaughter they have always imposed wherever
they can. We will cower and die from nuclear, chemical,
biological, and explosive attacks, or we will live and fight
"armed in the holy cause of liberty," knowing that America
will prevail because
"There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations."
http://www.brinklindsey.com/2002_05_19_brinklindsey_archive.html#76852190
MAYBE WE SHOULD VOTE ON SECURITY
Underperformin' Norman Minetta's recent announcement that
airline cockpits should remain safe zones for hijackers isn't likely
to improve public opinion about his miserable job performance.
A Wilson Research Associates poll of 1,000 American adults
asked, "Do you think the changes in airport security since
September 11th have made a significant improvement in
airport security, or do you think the most of the changes are
primarily window dressing more intended to make people
feel like security is tighter versus actually making airports
more secure?" Only 37% of adults believe that airports are
more secure since September 11, while 54% believe that
Minetta's program (confiscating knitting needles and
wand-raping grandmothers) was mere "window dressing."
Asked if pilots should be allowed to carry guns,
68% said yes, while 26% said no.
===========================
III. Links Section
A. Politics and Polls
Zogby Poll, commissioned by Second Amendment
Foundation, finds that most Americans believe
that 2d Amendment guarantees an individual right:
http://www.saf.org/pub/rkba/press-releases/Zogby1.htm
Breakdown data from poll shows broad 2d A.
support among all social groups:
http://www.law.ucla.edu/faculty/volokh/zogby.htm
America: It's Our Right to Bear Arms
ABCNEWS.com Poll Finds Most
Support Individuals' Right to Own Guns
http://more.abcnews.go.com/sections/us/dailynews/guns_poll020514.html
Democrats Distance Themselves from the Brady Bunch
Tanya K. Metaksa
FrontPageMagazine.com
June 4, 2002
http://www.frontpagemag.com/columnists/metaksa/2002/metaksa06-04-02.htm
"On Guns, Ed Rendell Can't Seem to Shoot Straight,"
John Lott, Jr.
Philadelphia Daily News
June 6, 2002,
http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/opinion/3410712.htm
Gun control drops off screen
By Eunice Moscoso
COX NEWS SERVICE
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20020610-22339626.htm
Republican television commercial in Illinois
Governor race accuses Democrat of supporting
unreasonable gun control
ANNOUNCER: Why is Rod Blagojevich trying to
hide the truth? Official records show Blagojevich
introduced a bill to raise the cost of a firearm owners
ID card from $5 to $500 -- and said he didn't understand
why the right to own a firearm is so important to citizens.
======================
B. History
Have journalists rushed to judgment about Michael Bellesiles?
Ralph Luker
History News Network
http://historynewsnetwork.org/articles/article.html?id=785
National Endowment for the Humanities.
Letter revoking NEH's affiliation with Bellesiles.
http://historynewsnetwork.org/articles/article.html?id=766
Scholarly shootout over guns
Ed Williams
June 13, 2002
Charlotte Observer
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/opinion/3458433.htm
The Cowards of Academe
Michael Bellesiles's rear-guard defenders.
David Skinner
The Weekly Standard
June 10, 2002
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/
Public/Articles/000/000/001/323pkmbz.asp
Fireable Offenses: Past cover-ups put officials in the hot seat now.
Kimberly A. Strassel
June 20, 2002
Wall Street Journal Editorial Page
http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/kstrassel/
==================
C. Terrorism
H.R. 4864.
Anti-Terrorism Explosives Act of 2002
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/C?c107:./temp/~c107glQXPS
Requires NICS-type background checks for purchasers
of explosives.
Approved by the House Judiciary Committee.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d107:HR04864:@@@X
Statistical information about federal counter-terrorism.
Syracuse University
http://tracfed.syr.edu
Imperial Transportation Bureaucrat Says
Yes To Lavish Offices, No To Armed Pilots.
Ron Paul's Texas Straight Talk
June 24, 2002
http://www.house.gov/paul/tst/tst2002/tst062402.htm
Pilots who favor guns in the cockpit
George Will
June 6, 2002
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/georgewill/gw20020606.shtml
Guns in the cockpit: A boon to security
Steve Chapman
May 27, 2002
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/stevechapman/sc20020527.shtml
United Airlines, Memo 2981-219
May 01, 2002
List of carry-on banned items. The list is reported updated every
28 days. Different airlines have different lists, and the
FAA has its own secret list.
Ammunition, Automatic weapons, Axes
Baseball bats, BB guns, Billy clubs, Blackjacks,
Blasting caps, Bows and arrows, Box cutters,
Brass knuckles, Bull whips
Cattle prods, Compressed air guns, Corkscrews,
Cricket bats, Crow bars,
Disabling chemicals or gases. Dog repellent spray,
Dynamite,
Fire extinguishers, Fishing Rods, Flare pistols
Golf clubs, Gun lighters, Gunpowder
Hammers, Hand grenades, Hatchets,
Hockey sticks, Hunting knives
Ice axe/Ice pick
Knives (any length)
Large, heavy tools (such as wrenches, pliers, plumbers
wrenches etc.)
Mace, Martial arts devices, Meat cleavers,
Metal scissors with pointed tips
Numchucks [sic, nunchaku]
Pellet guns, Pen knives, Pepper spray, Pistols
Plastic explosives, Pool cues, Portable power drills
Portable power saws
Razor blades (not in a cartridge), Religious knives,
Replica weapons, Revolvers, Rifles, Road flares
SCUBA Suits and Air Tanks, SCUBA knives,
Sabers, Screwdrivers, Shot guns, Ski poles
Spear guns, Starter pistols, Straight razors,
Stun guns/shocking devices, Swords
Tear gas, Throwing stars [or, apparently, things that
"security" dolts mistake for a throwing star, like
Gen. Joe Foss's Medal of Honor]
Toy transformer robots, Toy weapons
Vacuum cleaners
A forwarded e-mail originally from John Farnam,
of Defense Training International:
http://www.defense-training.com/
At this year's NTI, we were able to view a captured Al-Qaida training video and hear comments from several people on the current situation in the "War on Terror."
In the video, we saw Al-Qaida operatives training for terrorist "events." The training site was somewhere in Afghanistan. What first struck me was the high degree abject brutality, even in these "role playing" exercises. Roll players portraying hostages were heard to say, in English, "Please don't kill me." There is little doubt in my mind that these operatives were being trained to hear hostages say that and other English-language phases. That opinion was strengthened when we saw hostages being herded up to the roof of a building and then murdered (simulated) and their bodies thrown over the edge, one by one, in full view of crowds below and, of course, news media helicopters which would presumably be hovering above.
Operations portrayed involved raids on buildings, kidnappings, and murders of individuals in their own homes. Sites included golf courses, which caused all of us to believe these people were training for operations in America and Western Europe where the game of golf is popular.
All of it appeared to involve detailed planning and sizable groups of heavily armed operatives. RPGs were routinely used to initiate the operation. As mentioned above, bestial brutality and an utter lack of concern over human suffering were the common threads in all the scenarios.
In addition, most scenarios appeared to be suicidal in nature. There seemed to be no plan for the escape or extraction of terrorist operatives.
On the other side of the ledger, we had the opportunity to see the federal government's newly revised policy manual for local "first responders" to terrorist events. The theme can be summarized in one sentence: Seal off the area and don't take any action until federal authorities arrive! First responders are discouraged from doing anything on their own aside from establishing a perimeter, and they are also instructed to prevent anyone else from taking action.
In every "active shooter" incident we've experienced in the USA, all the murdering was completed within the first twenty minutes. That statistic alone, at least in theory, makes SWAT teams irrelevant. They can't possibly get organized and get to the scene that fast. If first responders fail to take immediate action on their own initiative, anything the SWAT team does, whenever it finally arrives, is unlikely to affect the final outcome in any significant way. A federal response team, arriving hours or even days later, is apt to be even more extraneous.
The message is clear: If you get caught in the middle of a terrorist event, you're on your own! You better be armed and make your move at the first opportunity. If you are taken hostage by one of these groups, there is no doubt that you will be murdered outright or ceremonially murdered later, and neither your gender nor you age will make any difference.
Rescue of individuals is NOT in the federal plan. Even after all the lip service paid to the heroic passengers of Flight 92, individual initiative is still being officially discouraged.
====================
D. Gun Groups
Illinois:
Handgun Giveaway Angering Chicago Law Enforcement
Sunday, May 26, 2002
Jeff Goldblatt
Foxnews.com
http://foxnews.com/story/0,2933,53677,00.html
Armed Females of America
http://www.armedfemalesofamerica.com
Second Amendment Sisters
Should your college have a chapter of Second Amendment Sisters on
it?
http://cf.townhall.com/rd.cfm?id=27225
E. Law
On behalf of the Gun Owners Action League,
Stephen Halbrook filed a petition for a writ of
certiorari challenging, on First Amendment grounds,
the Massachusetts ban on using a target with a
human image at a licensed shooting range.
http://www.stephenhalbrook.com/lawsuits/Petition.Cert.GOAL5.pdf
Trigger for a Test of D.C. Gun Laws?
Gene Healy
Cato Institute
June 17, 2002
http://www.cato.org/dailys/06-17-02.html
Challenge to D.C. handgun prohibition.
Background on D.C. handgun prohibition:
Stephen Halbrook,
"Second-Class Citizenship and the Second Amendment
in the District of Columbia," 5 George Mason University
Civil Rights Law Journal, Nos. 1 & 2, 105-178 (1995).
http://www.stephenhalbrook.com/law_review_articles/citizenship.PDF
HR 4642
"To repeal the law banning firearms in the District of Columbia."
By Rep. Kerns
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/C?c107:./temp/~c107mFbeMb
Triggering new debate over guns
Don B. Kates
June 16, 2002
Seattle PI.com
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/74350_focus16pro.shtml
California:
"Bullet tax clears Senate committee; opponents vow floor fight"
Don Thompson
Modesto Bee
June 5, 2002
http://www.modbee.com/state_wire/story/3128875p-4162510c.html
==========================
F. International
NEWS RELEASE
Canadian Member of Parliament
Garry Breitkruz
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT DOCUMENT SHOWS
70% OF THE OWNERS OF REGISTERED HANDGUNS
DON'T HAVE A VALID FIREARMS LICENCE
"Either it shows the most massive open defiance of the Criminal Code
in
Canadian history, or it's absolute proof that the Liberal's gun
registration
scheme can never work."
June 18, 2002
http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/breitkreuzgpress/GunControl67.htm
White Afrikaner Farmers Under Siege
Anthony C. LoBaido
June 9, 2002
World Net Daily.com
Families defending selves with firearms, martial arts
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=27892
Miss Universe, a Russian policewoman, loves sport shooting.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020530/ts_nm/leisure_universe_dc
=====================
G. Culture
Why Be An Armed Liberal?
http://armedliberal.blogspot.com/
2002_06_02_armedliberal_archive.html#77318482s
Administration probes 4-H Indian themes
Matthew Cella
The Washington Times
June 25, 2002
http://www.washingtontimes.com/metro/20020625-80822460.htm
Bush Administration Dept. of Agriculture begins
Investigation of youth group for violating political
correctness standards. BTW, the 4-H runs outstanding
youth programs for firearms safety and sport.
Signatures of the Gun Culture
Dr. Michael S. Brown
June 1, 2002
http://www.newsmax.com/commentarchive.shtml?a=2002/5/31/183751
The Political Intolerance of Academic Feminism
By MARY ZEISS STANGE
The Chronicle of Higher Education
June 21, 2002
http://chronicle.com/free/v48/i41/41b01601.htm
Another shooting caused by the availability of firearms to young
people:
Teen, 16, 'justified' in dad's shooting, man broke into home with
knife
Flint (Michigan) Journal
Bryn Mickle
June 6, 2002
http://www.mlive.com/news/fljournal/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/news-3/1023378624149360.xml
"A 16-year-old boy was justified when he shot and killed his
father Tuesday after the man burst through the front door at 3 a.m.
holding a knife and a baseball bat, Genesee County Prosecutor Arthur
A.
Busch says."
N.Y. Rampage Shows 'Failure of Gun Control'
Jason Pierce, CNSNews.com
June 19, 2002
Newsmax.com
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/6/18/151649.shtml
"A racist attack in a Manhattan bar illustrates the failure of
strict
anti-gun law"
===================
H. Gun Shows
The Gun Show Loophole
http://www.flashbunny.org/content/file.4
Excellent web graphics programs debunks
the gun show "loophole."
Gun Shows and Gun Control: McCain Is at It Again!
Miguel A. Faria Jr., M.D.
Newsmax.com
May 21, 2002
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/5/20/171553.shtml
===================
I. Humor from the Internet
A poster at my doctor's office said I should contact your organization with questions about firearms injury prevention. So, I went to your PSR [Physicians for Social Responsibility] website and found your contact info. Here are my questions:
1) Is it safe to shoot .44 Special rounds in a revolver chambered for the more modern .44 Remington Magnum cartridge, or would this combination of ammunition/revolver pose a hazard to the shooter?
2) Can a 38 Special cartridge be safely fired out of a gun chambered in .357 Magnum?
3) What is the maximum overall length a 7.62x51 cartridge can be loaded to?
I'm really glad that a group like Physicians for Social Responsibility is taking a keen interest in the safety of gun owners. Looking forward to your answers soon!
