In Bellevue, Washington,
CCRKBA hailed an announcement
by the government in Saudi Arabia
that foreigners who feel threatened
by a wave of militant violence can
carry guns for their personal
protection. “This sensible move by
the Saudi government should send
a signal to other nations around the
world, where citizens have been
essentially disarmed and left to the
mercy of a growing criminal
element,†said CCRKBA Chairman
Alan M. Gottlieb. “For example,
Great Britain, Canada and Australia
have all imposed horribly restrictive
gun laws on their citizens, and look
what’s happened. Violent crime has
soared, and the public is
defenseless.â€
In Boston, Massachusetts,
Governor Mitt Romney signed into
law a bill making permanent the
state’s ban on the sale or importation
of certain semiautomatic firearms.
Supporters of the measure designed
it to guarantee that the state
prohibition will remain in effect even
if Congress does not reenact a similar
federal ban set to expire next month.
Prior to enactment of the new Bay
State statute, the state ban had been
tied to the federal ban and
automatically would have expired if
Congress did not renew it. The ban
covers certain semiautomatic
firearms made after September 13,
1994.
In the District of Columbia, which
has one of the most, if not the most,
restrictive gun control laws in the
United States, anti-gun Metropolitan
Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey said
seizing more firearms is one of his
top priorities, reported The
Washington Post. “We’re getting
more guns off the street, and that is
a very good thing,†Ramsey said. “It
cuts down on the number of guns
that are being used for violent acts.
The more we can get off the street,
the better off we are.†So far this
year, D.C. police have seized over
1,000 guns. They took in 1,982 last
year. In 1966, they seized 2,950
and, in the early 1990s, 3,500 to
4,000 per year. When D.C. police
scour city neighborhoods for people
committing traffic violations or minor
offenses, they use this as an excuse
to try to find illegally-held firearms,
according to the Post article.
In Cleveland, Ohio, attorney
Stephen Miller has filed a lawsuit
challenging the constitutionality of
part of Ohio’s new law allowing
qualified individuals to carry
concealed firearms. His objection is
that the law does not allow guns to
be concealed on a person when
seated in an automobile. The law
requires that the gun in the car be
holstered in plain sight. Miller
believes a holstered gun, even if not
covered by clothing or other
obstruction, can be hard for a person
outside a vehicle to see on someone
in the driver’s seat. He thinks that,
without a clear definition of “in plain
sight,†an otherwise legally armed
motorist who gets pulled over by
police is at the whim of the officer’s
interpretation, thus leaving the
motorist without the equal protection
of the law guaranteed for the 14th
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
In Washington, D.C., Congress
passed H.R. 218/S. 253, the Law
Enforcement Officers Safety Act, a
proposal initiated by Rep. Randy
“Duke†Cunningham of California,
to allow qualified off-duty and retired
law enforcement officers to carry
their firearms concealed in all 50
states. President George W. Bush
has indicated his strong support for
the measure, and observers expect
him to sign it into law.
In Jacksonville, Arkansas, a
home invasion was thwarted by an
armed citizen in late June, reported
the Jacksonville Patriot. When a
man knocked on the back door of a
woman’s home, she went to answer
the knock and the man forced his
way into her residence. He refused
to leave and told her to stay put.
When he went into another room,
she grabbed her keys and fled to her
van. She met with the man she had
thought was knocking at her door
and told him what had happened.
He took a gun out of his truck, went
to the woman’s house, grabbed the
intruder by the shirt, and pointed his
gun at him, basically taking control
of the situation. Police later said the
intruder faces a burglary charge
stemming from the incident.
