In Washington, D.C., CCRKBA
announced its opposition to H.R.
4292, by Rep. Jim Moran of Virginia,
and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton of
the District of Columbia, to ban the
commercial sale of .50-caliber rifles.
The anti-gun Violence Policy Center
(VPC) staged a so-called “press
event†last month to announce the
introduction of the measure. “With a
turnout that could fit under two
umbrellas,†reported the Fifty Caliber
Institute, “perennial gun control
hucksters stood shoulder to
shoulder with Moran†to make the
announcement. H.R. 4292 has been
referred to the House Judiciary
Committee and also to the House
Ways and Means Committee.
An airline employee found a
loaded 9mm handgun early last
month lodged between the seats of
a Continental Airlines flight after it
landed at Newark airport, reported
Brock N. Meeks, Chief Washington
Correspondent of MSNBC.com. The
plane departed from Reagan
National Airport in Washington, D.C.
The FBI was called in to investigate
and determined the firearm, a 9mm
Sig-Sauer, belonged to a U.S. Secret
Service agent, stated MSNBC.com.
The agent declared his carry-on gun
at Reagan before boarding and was
the only armed agent on board,
according to a federal security
employee Meeks said asked to
remain anonymous.
Utah Governor Olene Walker
should request the resignations of
the entire Board of Trustees at the
University of Utah for their continued
defiance of the Utah Legislature,
CCRKBA declared in late April. “It is
astonishing,†said CCRKBA
Executive Director Joe Waldron,
“that out of 10 people sitting on the
Board of Trustees, none of them
appears to have any reservations at
all about defying state law, by
continuing to enforce an antipersonal
protection policy on the
university campus.†CCRKBA’s call
for the trustee ouster followed
reports that the Board voted
unanimously to continue its policy
of prohibiting students, faculty and
staff from being armed on campus,
despite state laws that allow it.
In Maryland, groups promoting
so-called “animal rights†said they
will not donate $75,000 to the state’s
Department of Natural Resources
because the agency rejected their
condition of calling off a bear hunt.
The animal people offered the money
in mid-April and the agency accepted
it, but rejected the stipulation to
cancel the bear hunting season in
October for Allegheny and Garrett
counties. The increasing number of
black bears in the region have been
raiding trash cans and bird feeders
and scaring homeowners, reported
S. A. Miller of The Washington Times.
A survey released in mid-April
indicates a majority of Americans
are in favor of continuing the ban on
so-called “assault weapons,†and in
households with NRA members, the
numbers were about evenly split,
reports Brian DeBose of The
Washington Times. The University of
Pennsylvania’s National Annenberg
Election Survey, which interviewed
28,446 persons, shows 71 percent
of people in households without
guns support extending the law, as
do 64 percent of those in households
with guns. The survey says 46
percent of respondents in
households with NRA members
support continuing the 10-year-old
ban.
CCRKBA applauded Florida
Gov. Jeb Bush for signing legislation
that prevents police agencies from
keeping comprehensive lists of lawabiding
gun owners. “Florida’s new
law has sharp teeth to prevent law
enforcement agencies from
developing a database that amounts
to de facto gun registration,†said
CCRKBA Executive Director Joe
Waldron. “There is no sensible
reason for a police agency to
maintain a list of law-abiding firearms
owners, who have committed no
crime.†Under the law, police and
government agencies that keep
firearm owners’ lists could be fined
up to $5 million for the offense. There
is a an exemption for keeping a list if
it is part of a criminal investigation.
“This new state law will provide one
more layer of security for the privacy
of law-abiding gun owners,†Waldron
stated. “Henceforth, without
legitimate cause, the identities of
private citizens who exercise their
constitutional right to keep and bear
arms will not be available to police or
government bureaucrats who might
exploit that information for their own
political agendas.â€
