Oct. 30, 2002, Second Amendment newsletter

About once a month, Dave Kopel produces a free e-mail Newsletter containing short summaries and links to important new research and writing involving the Second Amendment and firearms policy. The newsletter also reports on Kopel's latest writing.

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.

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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

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Delivery of this newsletter comes courtesy of the

Second Amendment Foundation, in Bellevue, Washington

http://www.saf.org

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Please visit Dave Kopel’s website, containing articles on

the Second Amendment and other freedom topics.

http://www.davekopel.org

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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.

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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

Shot Through the Heart.

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

System would fail

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.”

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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

http://www.ssaa.org.au/

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.

http://www.protell.ch/

England's gun-control experiment has backfired

By Bill Steigerwald

Oct. 11, 2002

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/1002/steigerwald101102.asp

CAMPAIGN FOR AIRGUN CONTROL

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.”

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6. Terrorism

The Giants of Flight 93
by Tom Holsinger

htpp://www.strategypage.com/strategypolitics/articles/20021017.asp

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7. History

Michael Bellesiles Resigns from Emory Faculty

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."

http://alphecca.com/

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