anti-gun Sen. Charles Schumer’s
staff, working for the Democratic
Senatorial Campaign Committee,
who fraudulently obtained credit information
on Maryland’s Republican
lieutenant governor, demonstrates
why Schumer’s anti-gun invasive gun
control schemes cannot be trusted,
says CCRKBA. “Schumer has denied
any knowledge about the activities of
his research director Katie Barge and
staffer Laura Weiner, who reportedly
used the social security number of Lt.
Gov. Michael Steele in an attempt to
find something politically damaging
to him,†noted CCRKBA Chairman
Alan M. Gottlieb. “Schumer should
be held to the same standard of accountability
for the acts of his underlings
as was President Richard Nixon
more than 30 years ago. The story
reveals how irresponsible Schumer’s
people would be with the kind of
information the New York senator
has wanted to amass of gun owners
over the years through his invasive
gun control schemes.â€
In Washington, D.C., the United
States Supreme Court is refusing to
block a lawsuit against gun manufacturers
over firearm violence in
the Nation’s Capital. The justices
are not interfering with an appeals
court ruling that the D.C. government
and individual shooting victims can
sue gun companies. The suit was
filed under a D.C. law providing that
gun makers can be held accountable
for certain acts perpetrated by
third parties with the use of so-called
“assault weapons.†This is one of a
number of cases underscoring the
importance of the proposed Protection
of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act
since that proposal would eliminate
harassing third party lawsuits against
the firearms industry. The measure
passed overwhelmingly in the Senate
last summer but as of this writing
still awaited action by the House of
Representatives.
A Native-American professor
from the University of Oklahoma
defended the Second Amendment
during a recent speech at Ohio
University. “Owning a weapon is a
precious freedom,†declared David
Yeagley, a member of the Comanche
Nation. The Ohio University Second
Amendment Club and Young
America’s Foundation sponsored
Yeagley’s speech, entitled “He Who
Takes My Weapon Is My Enemy:
An American Indian’s View of the
Second Amendment.†The multidegreed
professor said that, “giving
up your gun to someone else
on demand is called surrender. It
means that you have given up your
ability to protect yourself to a power
that is greater than you.â€
Violent and property crime rates
in 2004 remained at their lowest
levels since the Bureau of Justice
Statistics started keeping track in
1973, the U.S. Department of Justice
recently announced. Although no
significant declines were measured
between 2003 and 2004, the rate
of every major violent and property
crime measured by the survey (rape/
sexual assault, robbery, aggravated
assault, simple assault, burglary,
theft, and motor vehicle theft) fell
significantly between 1993 and
2004, the Bureau of Justice Statistics
said. The report also said the use
of firearms in crimes has declined
substantially over the last 10 years.
Only six percent of violent incidents
in 2004 involved the use of a firearm
in the commission of a crime, down
from 11 percent in 1993. The number
of violent crimes involving a firearm
was 34 percent lower in 2004 that it
was in 2000 and 73 percent lower
in 2004 than in 1993. Preliminary
2004 murder estimates from the FBI
indicate that the number of murders
decreased 3.6 percent from 2003.
