Reid OKs Floor Vote On Gun Laws Measure

From Politico ~ Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is supposed to be the protector of the Senate’s skittish Democratic flock — the guy who soothes intraparty spats and shields his 60-member majority from dangerous, career-threatening votes.

Yet Reid — whose low approval ratings in Nevada make him a tempting GOP target in next year’s midterms — put many of his members in a sticky situation when he OK’d a floor vote on a controversial GOP amendment that could significantly alter the nation’s gun control laws.

Reid says the bill deserves a hearing and reflects his commitment to supporting gun rights in a state that sanctifies the Second Amendment. Other Democrats say he approved the vote out of personal political necessity — to avoid the ire of the National Rifle Association during the 2010 elections.

“Nobody’s angry at Harry, but it’s created a problem for us,” says a Democratic aide, speaking on condition of anonymity. “There’s a huge level of sympathy for him, because we don’t want to have another Daschle situation.”

That was, of course, a reference to Tom Daschle, the last Democratic majority leader who was knocked off in 2004, by Republican John Thune.

By astounding coincidence (not), Thune, now the No. 4 man in the Senate, just happens to be the guy who authored the current amendment to allow licensed gun owners to transport their weapons across state lines.

“This has nothing to do with electoral politics,” said Reid spokesman Jim Manley, who emphasized that the amendment has the support of many other Democrats besides Reid.

Two previous NRA-backed measures, one loosening D.C. handgun restrictions and another allowing guns in national parks, passed by comfortable 60-plus vote margins in the Senate earlier this year.

“Harry Reid has always supported gun rights and intends to do so in the future,” Manley added.

Still, Reid’s decision prompted a mini-uprising among two top lieutenants — Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) — who are considering a filibuster to kill the measure before it comes to a vote, as expected on Wednesday.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/25193.html#ixzz0LuVGO5YN.

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City Woman's Gunfire Sends Intruder Fleeing

KFOR-TV reports that an Oklahoma City woman, identified as being associated with the National Rifle Association, fired two shots at an intruder in her garage early today.

The television station reported the woman, who identified herself as NRA legislative liaison Heather Fitzgerald, was using her computer at a desk in her garage and had opened the garage door several feet to allow cool air into the garage. She looked up to see an intruder slide under the door. She grabbed her laser-equipped Glock 9mm semi-automatic pistol and fired twice. She said she fired not to hit him, but to scare him off. The intruder, apparently not hit by the bullets, fled. Police found a piece of electronic equipment in the front yard, apparently left by the intruder in his haste to flee.

Fitzgerald said she had her laser sighted on the intruder's back, but did not fire a third shot as he fled.

Fitzgerald said she is licensed to carry a concealed firearm and always takes her pistol with her when she is working at her computer in a part of the garage she uses as a home office.

Police said that under Oklahoma law, the woman was within her rights to use deadly force against the intruder. One officer on the scene congratulated her for her quick thinking.

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OSBI: Record Number Seek Firearms Permits

By Jay Marks/The Oklahoman ~ A record number of Oklahomans are seeking permits to carry concealed handguns.

More than 21,000 people applied for concealed-carry permits in 2008, the most since the program began in 1996, according to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.

There have been twice as many applications so far this year as the same point last year, said Felicia Jackson, who manages the permit registry.

"This is kind of a nationwide phenomenon,” Jackson said.

Read it all at www.newsok.com.

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Burglar Flees As Armed Homeowner Shows Firearm

Portsmouth, Maine ~ When Christopher Duhan kicked open the back door of a Seabrook residence to commit a Monday afternoon burglary, he was met by the lady of the house who chased him off with her handgun, according to police.

Duhan, 28, of 147 Ashworth Ave., Hampton Beach, was arraigned Tuesday in Portsmouth District Court on a felony count of burglary.

According to an affidavit by officer Scott Mendes, Seabrook patrol officers were dispatched to a B Street residence at 12:30 p.m. Monday, for an "active" daytime burglary. The homeowner told police she was about to take a shower when she heard "loud crashing," so she grabbed her pistol and came face-to-face with the intruder, who she recognized as Duhan, a drug-dependent friend of a family member, according to court documents.

Gun in hand, the homeowner told Duhan she was calling the police before he fled across Route 1, police allege.

Based on a clothing and vehicle description, Seabrook police arrested Duhan at a Hampton hotel where he has been residing, according to the affidavit.

While seeking high cash bail, Mendes told the court that Duhan was on bail for two counts of receiving stolen property and was just arraigned for a second-offense charge of driving while intoxicated when he attempted to burglarize the Seabrook home.

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Proper Gun Control

Credit: Firehand

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Buy More Guns! Buy More Ammo!

The gun-grabbing Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence released its annual scorecard today, ranking Oklahoma as tied for last among the 50 states. Oklahoma scored just two points out of a total of 100, along with Kentucky and Louisiana.

The Washington-based group, long on allegations but always short on facts to back up the allegations, claims Oklahoma's "weak gun laws help feed the illegal gun market, allow the sale of guns without background checks and put children at risk."

Meanwhile, an ad hoc group of Oklahomans (The McCarville Report Online, Red Stater, Fried Green Onions) formed Americans Tasked To Attack Brady's Outrageous Yelling (ATTABOY) and said its goal is to see Oklahoma dead last on Brady's list.

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Obama Election Spurs Gun Sales

MIDLOTHIAN, Virginia (AP) ~ When 10-year-old Austin Smith heard Barack Obama had been elected president, he had one question: Does this mean I won't get a new gun for Christmas? That brought his mother, the camouflage-clad Rachel Smith, to Bob Moates Sports Shop on Thursday, where she was picking out that special 20-gauge shotgun — one of at least five weapons she plans to buy before Obama takes office in January.

Like Smith, gun enthusiasts nationwide are stocking up on firearms out of fears that the combination of an Obama administration and a Democrat-dominated Congress will result in tough new gun laws.

"I think they're going to really try to crack down on guns and make it harder for people to try to purchase them," said Smith, 32, who taught all five of her children — ages 4 to 10 — to shoot because the family relies on game for food.

Last month, as an Obama win looked increasingly inevitable, there were more than 108,000 more background checks for gun purchases than in October 2007, a 15 percent increase. And they were up about 8 percent for the year as of Oct. 26, according to the FBI.

No data was available for gun purchases this week, but gun shops from suburban Virginia to the Rockies report record sales since Tuesday's election.

"They're scared to death of losing their rights," said David Hancock, manager of Bob Moates, where sales have nearly doubled in the past week and are up 15 percent for the year.

On Election Day, salespeople were called in on their day off because of the crowd.

Obama has said he respects Americans' Second Amendment right to bear arms, but that he favors "common sense" gun laws. Gun rights advocates interpret that as meaning he'll at least enact curbs on ownership of assault and concealed weapons. As a U.S. Senator, Obama voted to leave gun-makers and dealers open to lawsuits; and as an Illinois state legislator, he supported a ban on semiautomatic weapons and tighter restrictions on all firearms.

Gun advocates take some solace in the current makeup of the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled 5-4 this summer to strike down the District of Columbia's 32-year ban on handguns. For now, gun rights supporters hold a narrow edge on the court, but Obama could appoint justices who would swing it the other way.

Franklin Gun Shop outside Nashville, Tennessee, sold more than 70 guns on Tuesday, making it the biggest sales day since the shop opened eight years ago. Guns & Gear in Cheyenne, Wyoming, also set a one-day sales record on Tuesday, only to break that mark on Wednesday. Stewart Wallin, owner of Get Some Guns in the Salt Lake City suburb of Murray, Utah, said he sold nine assault weapons the day after Obama was elected. That same day, the gun store Cheaper Than Dirt! in Fort Worth, Texas, sold $101,000 worth of merchandise, shattering its single-day sales record, store owner DeWayne Irwin said.

[In Oklahoma City, H&H Gun Range owner Miles Hall told a local television station gun sales have soared this week.]

One Georgia gun shop advertised an "Obama sale" on an outdoor sign, but the owner took it down after people complained that the shop appeared to be issuing a call to violence against the country's first black leader.

The president of a Montana gun manufacturer stepped down last month after word that he supported Obama led to calls for a boycott of the company.

While Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, attributes some of the sales boom to the tanking economy, he thinks the Democratic sweep is the top reason why guns are suddenly a hot commodity. "I don't think he'll be able to stand up to that anti-Second Amendment wing of the Democratic party that's just been spoiling for a chance to ban America's guns," LaPierre said of Obama.

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Control Of Shotgun Saves Texas Couple

BLUE MOUND, Texas ~ When two gunmen smashed through the glass front door of her suburban Fort Worth home, Kellie Hoehn didn't think twice.

The 34-year-old mother of two grabbed a shotgun that had been pointed at her face early Wednesday, starting a struggle that ended with one intruder killed with his own weapon and another in the hospital.

"I wasn't going to let them get to my babies," she said, recalling the moment when she pushed up the muzzle of the shotgun, pointing it away from her children's rooms.

Although the intruders told her to keep quiet, she screamed for her husband. She told her 12-year-old son, who was awakened by the sound of the shattering glass front door, to get his 5-year-old sister and hide.

"It was like a horror movie," her husband, 32-year-old Keith Hoehn, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "I thought I was a dead man. We're fighting for our lives."

With Kellie Hoehn clinging to the weapon's muzzle, her husband tackled the man who held the shotgun. She knocked the intruder in the head with a jar candle, giving her husband a chance to wrest the shotgun.

By then the tussle had spilled out onto the front lawn. Keith Hoehn shot one of the men who had a pistol, police said. Wounded, that man ran away.
Then the intruder who initially had the shotgun charged Keith Hoehn.

Kellie Hoehn told The Dallas Morning News that she screamed at her husband, "Shoot him, shoot him, shoot him."

Her husband fired the shotgun and the man fell to the ground. Then the shot man lunged a second time.

"Well, I shot him again, and I guess that was it," Keith Hoehn said.

Dakota Scott Benoit, 20, of Richland Hills, was pronounced dead at a hospital. John Garland Pierson, 25, of Haltom City, was in critical condition and in police custody at the hospital.

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Cops: Gun Bans Don't Deter Crime

From The Martinsville (VA) Bulletin ~ Regardless of how the Supreme Court rules on the constitutionality of Washington, D.C.’s handgun ban, four local law enforcement officials do not think gun bans deter crime.

“I think it’s absolutely insane to think that we can take away a citizen’s right to (have guns) and that is somehow going to make this country a safer place to live,” said Martinsville Police Chief Mike Rogers. “We live in a very violent society with a lot of mean and crazy people who don’t mind robbing and killing people, whether it’s with their hands, a gun, a knife or a baseball bat.”

Rogers said “I hope and pray” the Supreme Court will strike down the district’s 32-year-old ban on handguns. The ban, which has been called the strictest in the nation, is being challenged by a Washington resident.

Supreme Court justices heard arguments in the case on Tuesday. It has drawn attention nationwide because the court has not conclusively interpreted the Second Amendment, which guarantees the right to bear arms, since it was ratified in 1791, The Associated Press has reported.

If the court upholds the ban, it could lead to more areas attempting to impose similar bans, said Martinsville Commonwealth’s Attorney Joan Ziglar.

Rogers said he opposes the ban because from his point of view, it only hurts law-abiding citizens who own handguns for protection or for sport shooting.

“Anyone who’s fighting to eliminate guns, I don’t care what kind they are, has obviously never experiened someone kicking down the front door of their home at 2 o’clock in the morning,” he said. “Ain’t no need getting out of bed and running to get the broom handle. If someone is breaking into your house, they don’t have water pistols with them.”

Outlawing handguns only makes things easier on criminals, Rogers said, because those who are intent on breaking the law won’t worry about whether a gun is legal or not.

Henry County Sheriff Lane Perry agreed that criminals will find ways to get guns.

“The people who are going to participate in crimes, they’re not going to worry about your restrictions for access,” Perry said. “They’re going to get what they want.”

He said that when localities begin doing things such as banning handguns, it makes it difficult for residents to know whether they are abiding by the law from one place to another. For instance, his office often receives calls from people wondering whether their concealed weapons are allowed in other areas, he said.

“It needs to be a consistent regulation across the board,” Perry said.

He added that whatever the court decides, he will continue to stress the importance of keeping guns safeguarded and out of reach of children.

Two local prosecutors said they expect the court to strike down the handgun ban.

“I think the court will be pro Second Amendment” and strike the ban, Ziglar said.

Randy Smith, assistant commonwealth’s attorney in Henry County, agreed that he expects the court will strike the handgun ban.

The court may say some regulation of handguns is possible, “but a total ban without exception is probably not going to stand up,” Smith said.

For instance, he said the First Amendment guarantees the right to free speech, but that doesn’t mean you can yell “Fire” in a crowded theater. “Also, there are restrictions on the First Amendment in terms of place, time” and other factors, he said.

In Virginia, localities cannot enact a ban such as that in Washington, D.C., Smith said. However, the state code bans certain weapons, such as some assault rifles, and it has more regulations on firearms than many people imagine, he said.

For instance, mufflers and silencers must be registered, illegal aliens and those who have been acquitted of a charge by reason of insanity cannot have firearms, machine guns must be registered and it is illegal to hunt when under the influence of drugs or alcohol, Smith said.

By banning guns, he said, it means “criminals have guns and good people don’t have guns.” He said Great Britain, which bans guns, has one of the highest rates of violent crimes in the world.
“Home invasions are commonplace” because criminals know residents are not armed to protect themselves, he added.

Ziglar said she is torn on the issue.

On one hand, “I believe in the Constitution’s Second Amendment right to bear arms. At the same time, I believe people who are property owners in neighborhoods bombarded by gunfire ... deserve to have a neighborhood that is safe to live in,” she said. “In an effort to have safe neighborhoods you have to have a balance in constitutional rights.”

If Washington, D.C., overstepped that balance with its ban, the court will advise it of that, she said.
Ziglar is not concerned about law-abiding people having guns.

“Most law-abiding citizens do have guns and don’t cause any problems with guns. They don’t shoot back when there are drive-by shootings and they shoot the wrong house. They run for cover,” she said.

But criminals are not going to follow the law, so making the law more strict will not affect the people it is designed to target, Ziglar added.

Both Rogers and Perry said they will be watching for the court’s decision.

“I think either way, it’s going to have an impact on citizen safety,” Rogers said.

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