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 Newsletter. October 30, 2002.
Dave Kopel's Second Amendment Project is based at the
Independence Institute, a free-market think tank in
Golden, Colorado.
http://www.independenceinstitute.org
Delivery of this newsletter comes courtesy of the
Second Amendment Foundation, in Bellevue, Washington
Please visit Dave Kopel's website, containing articles on
the Second Amendment and other freedom topics.
Table of Contents for this issue
1. New by Kopel: Three new articles on media bias. Also, ballistic
"fingerprinting"; political sleaze in New Jersey; and a Cato
Institute debate on the Posse Comitatus Act.
2. A fly on the wall report from Michael Moore's Hollywood party.
3. Ballistic Fingerprinting. The suppressed California Dept. of Justice
report , and much more.
4. State Report: California, Colorado, Maryland, Michigan.
5. International Report: UN, UK, Australia, Switzerland, Uganda. Guns
as the "next international right."
6. Terrorism. What Flight 93 revealed about American social structure.
7. History: Bellesiles resigns. Report released. Cramer vindicated.
8. Culture: National Ammo Day is November 19.
9. Law: Fifth Circuit rules that NRA bumpersticker on a car
is not per se incriminating. Briefs in the Bean case. Indiana
Court of appeals nixes anti-gun lawsuits.
1. New by Kopel
Fox 31 misleads on 'sniper' rifles.
Despite news segment's claims, it takes more than
mouse click to obtain firearms. Rocky Mountain News/Denver Post, October 27, 2002.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/
news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_1501128,00.html
"The Posse Comitatus Act: Venerable Safeguard—Or Old Hat?"
Cato Institute Policy Forum. Oct. 16, 2002.
Dave Kopel, Stephen Halbrook, and Paul Schott Stevens.
Moderated by Rep. Bob Barr.
Available in RealVideo and RealAudio.
http://www.cato.org/events/021016pf.html
Not So Fast.Ballistic fingerprinting.
National Review Online. Oct. 23, 2002.
With Paul H. Blackman.
http://www.nationalreview.com/kopel/kopel102302.asp
Anti-hunting propaganda on Showtime.
Review of "Bang Bang, You're Dead."
National Review Online. Oct. 16, 2002. With James Swan.
'Raines of Error' blights NY Times.
News, Post only make matters worse by
unquestioningly reprinting its stories.
Rocky Mountain News/Denver Post.
October 13, 2002.
http://www.nationalreview.com/kopel/kopel100702.asp
The Banana State. New Jersey Dems consider canceling the election.
National Review Online. Oct. 7, 2002.
http://www.nationalreview.com/kopel/kopel100702.asp
Dem Hopes?What the legal options are in New Jersey.
National Review Online. Oct. 1, 2002.
Why Torricelli can't (lawfully) be replaced on the ballot.
http://www.nationalreview.com/kopel/kopel100102.asp
2. A report from the recent gala at the Hollywood Athletic Club to
raise funds for the gun control (from a person present at the event):
The Brady Campaign put on an awards presentation with Michael
Moore as the main
speaker. There were between 150 and 200 people
there. Several Hollywood producers and directors received awards for
their
contributions.
Michael Moore said he went to Canada expecting it to be gun-free.
As he put it, he
was amazed to learn there were about 30 million
guns in Canada! How can this be, if there are only about 54 gun-related
deaths annually? Don't guns kill people? Why aren't there more
gun-related deaths in Canada?
Part of his answer, which absolutely stunned this audience of Hollywood
liberals: Canada has a much more homogeneous society than we do
Moore's first
reason -- that Americans are violent because of the failure
of capitalism and the evils of big corporations -- went over a lot better.
That got applause.
A member of the audience inquired if producer Bill D'Elia's
scripts were written to emphasize the need for gun control.
His reply was to the effect that if they weren't, he made sure
they got that way before shooting began.
[D'Elia has directed, produced, and written for many major programs,
including The West Wing, and Chicago Hope.
http://us.imdb.com/Name?D'Elia,+Bill ]
One speaker couldn't understand why "reasonable gun control"
can't be enacted, since polls show most Americans want it.
Nobody he knew was opposed to gun control and he thought
that was a good cross-section of the population.
3. John Muhammed and Ballistic "Fingerprinting"
California Dept. of Justice
"Technical evaluation: feasibility of a ballistics
imaging database for all new handgun sales"
May 13, 2002
http://www.nssf.org/PDF/CA_study.pdf
Calif. Attorney General Lockyer attempted to suppress this report,
and forbade the research team to disclose its findings.
Ballistic Imaging Fact Sheet
National Shooting Sports Foundation
http://www.nssf.org/releases/101602_BIFS.htm
How Reliable Is Ballistic Fingerprinting?
October 18, 2002
By Steven Milloy
Foxnews.com
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,66007,00.html
Alan Gottlieb
USA TODAY
Oct. 7, 2002
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2002-10-07-oppose_x.htm
The Truth About Ballistic Fingerprinting
Web slide show
Flashbunny
http://www.flashbunny.org/content/fingerprint.html
Snipers—Predictable Consequence of Gun Industry Marketing
Violence Policy
Center
http://www.vpc.org/press/0210snip.htm
Colorado Freedom Report
D.C.-Area Murderer
Faces Passive Civilians
http://www.co-freedom.com/2002/10/passive.html
Colorado Freedom Report
Commentary about the responsibility to bear arms
and ballistic
markings databases.
http://www.co-freedom.com/2002/10/senselesscrimes.html
Why worry about a national gun database?
by Jacob Sullum
Oct. 18
Reason
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/jacobsullum/js20021018.shtml
The sniper and the gun controllers
Wash. Times
Thomas Sowell
October 20, 2002
http://www.washingtontimes.com/commentary/20021020-96759442.htm
Exploiting Mass
Murder
Dr. Michael S. Brown
Oct. 20, 2002
Newxmax.com
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/10/19/230622.shtml
The gun control exploitation society
by David Limbaugh
Oct. 16
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/davidlimbaugh/dl20021016.shtml
Gun control opportunists have wasted no time exploiting the serial sniper
shootings as if on a mission to undermine those who insist they be taken
seriously.
Some useful
resources in countering the "ballistic fingerprinting" lies
By Jeff Chan
Collection of good links
http://www.sightm1911.com/lib/tech/fingerprint.htm
Kinetics & ballistics explained
http://matrix.dumpshock.com/raygun/basics/index.html
Bullets and Bunkum
By John R. Lott Jr.
National Review (print edition)
Nov. 11, 2002
Excerpt: "Since friction causes wear, a ballistic fingerprint is
less like a human fingerprint than it is like the tread on a car tire.
Moreover, ballistic fingerprinting can be thwarted by replacing
the gun's barrel — just as criminals can foil tire-matching by
simply replacing their tires. In theory, licensing and
registration could allow a gun to be traced back to its owner.
Police have probably spent hundreds of thousands of man-hours
administering these laws in Hawaii. But despite this massive
effort, there has not been a single case in which police claimed
that licensing and registration have been instrumental in identifying
a criminal. The reason is simple. First, criminals very rarely leave
their guns at a crime scene, and when they do, it is because the
criminals have been killed or seriously wounded. Second — and
more important for ballistic fingerprinting — would-be criminals
also virtually never get licenses. The guns that are recovered at the
scene are not registered."
4. Around the States
Gun Laws Under The Influence
Shotgun News
By Clayton Cramer
http://www.claytoncramer.com/GunLawsUnderTheInfluence.PDF
California's new
firearms product liability law and its threat to people
in other states.
SELF-DEFENSE GROUPS SUBJECT OF DENVER POLICE FILES
Colorado Freedom Report
BY ARI ARMSTRONG
Sept. 20, 2002.
http://www.co-freedom.com/2002/09/cofreefile.html
"At least I'm in good company. The Denver Police kept files on me and
the Colorado Freedom Report, Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, the Tyranny
Response Team, and the Libertarian Party."
Maryland's Gun Record Scandal
Washington Times
Editorial
Oct. 21, 2002
http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20021021-810627.htm
Md.Quit Conviction Checks For FBI
Lapse May Have Let Criminals Buy Guns
By Craig Whitlock
Washington Post
October 16, 2002; Page A15
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A32403-2002Oct15
Statistics on concealed carry in Michigan.
Michigan State
Police
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/CCWAnnualreportstats_45253_7.pdf
5. International
The Next
International Right
Glenn Harlan Reynolds
October 17, 2002
http://foxnews.com/story/0,2933,65889,00.html
Gun ownership prevents genocide
UN declares war on small arms
Asian Times Online
By Thalif Deen
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/DJ01Aa01.html
"Handguns should
be banned
by Christmas"
http://www.iansa.org/
28 October 2002
Australia's national government proposes prohibition.
Tough gun laws don't reduce crime
John Lott Jr
The Australian
October 23, 2002
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,5340827%255E7583,00.html
Sporting Shooters Association of Australia
Government sets its sights on gun law
Swissinfo
September 28, 2002
http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=111&sid=1363061
Pro-Tell
Swiss gun rights group.
England's gun-control experiment has backfired
By Bill Steigerwald
Oct. 11, 2002
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/1002/steigerwald101102.asp
Gun Control Network (U.K.)
http://www.gun-control-network.org/press.htm
Canadian Firearms Program Statistics
Canadian Firearms Centre
http://www.cfc-ccaf.gc.ca/en/general_public/program_statistics/default.asp
LIBERTE DES ARMES AU FEMININ
(Women's right to
arms.)
Site edited by Claire Joly
http://www.pierrelemieux.org/laf/help.html
In both French and English. Canadian perspective.
Claire Joly is a libertarian writer and RKBA advocate living in Montreal.
National body on small arms launched
24 Sep 2002
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=30058
"The Ugandan government has established a national body to combat the
proliferation of illicit small arms into the country."
6. Terrorism
The Giants of Flight 93
by Tom Holsinger
htpp://www.strategypage.com/strategypolitics/articles/20021017.asp
7. History
October 25, 2002
Robert A. Paul, Interim Dean of Emory College
http://www.emory.edu/central/NEWS/Releases/bellesiles1035563546.html
(Also contains links to the investigate committee's findings, and to Bellesiles's statement of resignation.)
Bellesiles is
Gone--The Problem Lingers
By John G. Fought
History News Network
http://hnn.us/articles/1073.html
Remaining
Questions Concerning Michael Bellesiles
History News Network
http://hnn.us/articles/1071.htm
IN DEFENSE OF BELLESILES
THE NATION
By Jon Wiener
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20021104&s=wiener
8. Culture
"National Ammo Day" is November 19
http://www.ammoday.com
"How can you participate?
As a law-abiding citizen (and allowed to buy ammunition in your state
or locale), we participate by purchasing ammunition on November 19…
What is a BUYcott?
BUYcott is the opposite of a BOYcott. In a BOYcott, people send a
message by refusing to purchase a particular good or service. With a
BUYcott, people intentionally buy something to make their support
of the company or product widely known."
Michael Moore, you are such an idiot
By Rachel Lucas
http://www.rachellucas.com/archives/000102.html#000102
A HANDGUN IS A GIRL'S BEST FRIEND
By
Dimitri Vassilaros
(Pittsburgh) TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/columnists/s_94655.html
ALPHECCA
Weblog by a self-described
"gay gun-nut from Vermont."
Hats off to
Kentucky schools
'On Target for Life' teaches archery
history, safety, technique, concentration,
self-improvement, with actual archery instruction
By James A. Swan, Ph.D.
http://espn.go.com/outdoors/general/columns/swan_james/1439389.html
Law
a. Scholarship
Note, William L. McCoskey,
The Right of the People to Keep and Bear Arms Shall Not Be Litigated Away: Constitutional Implications of Municipal Lawsuits Against the Gun Industry?
77 Indiana Law Journal 873 (Fall 2002).
http://www.law.indiana.edu/ilj/v77/no4/mccoskey.pdf
b. Federal Cases
Estep v. Dallas County
(5th Cir. (Tex.)).
2-1 decision.
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/5th/0110967p.pdf
"The presence of the NRA sticker in the vehicle should not have
raised the inference that Estep was dangerous and that he might
gain immediate control of a weapon…A police officer's inference
that danger is afoot because a citizen displays an NRA sticker in
his vehicle presents disturbing First and Fourth Amendment implications."
University of Utah et al.
v. Shurtleff
United
States District Court
District of Utah
Amicus brief argues that University's First Amendment right of academic
freedom allows it to prohibit licensed
handgun carry on campus, despite explicit state statute to the contrary.
http://www.nacua.org/documents/UniversityofUtah_v._Shurtleff_AmicusBrief.pdf
United States v. Bean.
United States Supreme Court
Go the items listed for Oct. 16, 2002, to read the briefs
on each side, and the Court of Appeals decision.
Also includes amicus brief from Second Amendment
Foundation
http://supreme.lp.findlaw.com/supreme_court/docket/2002/october.html
c. State Issues
City of Gary, Indiana v. Smith & Wesson Corp.
45A03-0105-CV-155
Indiana Court of Appeals
Sept. 20, 2002
http://www.in.gov/judiciary/opinions/archive/09200201.smb.html
Intermediate court affirms trial court's dismissal of public nuisance
and negligence claims against firearms manufacturers and
wholesalers. Appeals court reverses trial court decision dismissing
public nuisance claims against local retailers, based on evidence
that retailers knowingly engaged in straw transactions.
Al Qaeda delenda est!
