Over U.S. objections from the
Bush Administration, the UN gun
grabbers continued its attacks on
the right to keep and bear arms. The
organization’s General Assembly last
month approved a resolution that
could lead to the first international
treaty for controlling the trade in socalled
“assault rifles†and other “small
arms.†The nonbinding resolution
asks the Secretary General to seek
the views of the 92-member General
Assembly on the feasibility of a
comprehensive treaty “establishing
common international standards
for the import, export and transfer
of conventional arms.†The resolution
asks the Secretary General to
report in the next General Assembly
session, which begins in September
of this year. It also asks the Secretary
General to establish a group of
government experts to examine the
feasibility of a treaty based on the
report.
In Cherry Tree, Pennsylvania,
Councilman Henry Statkowski, a 59-
year old retired Army master sergeant
and Vietnam veteran, has proposed
a Civil Protection Ordinance recommending
that all households keep
firearms and ammunition to ward
off would-be burglars and prevent
crime from creeping into the area.
Statkowski maintains the proposed
ordinance would keep crime down
– “way down†– in Cherry Tree, a
quiet village where streets are marked
with wooden signs. “This is rural
America,†Statkowski told the Associated
Press. “You want to break into
someone’s house here, you might not
like the consequences.†He says the
police “can’t be everywhere. When
you need help, you need it now.â€
He says he was inspired by similar
steps taken recently in Greenleaf,
Idaho.
“Despite increased security at
courthouses following shootings in
Chicago and Atlanta about a year
ago,†wrote Amanda Bronstad last
month in The National Law Journal,
“many judges are bringing their
own guns into their courtrooms for
protection.†She reported that, “in
Nevada, Oklahoma and Texas, incidences
of violence in the last year
have prompted new laws or solidified
rules allowing judges to bring
guns into courtrooms. ‘Judges in
our courthouses have been carrying
guns almost all the time,’ said Cynthia
Stevens Kent, a Texas judge in
the 14th District Court, where a man
in a family law case killed his ex-wife
and son last year on the steps of a
Tyler courthouse. ‘We feel strongly
about providing adequate security,
but it comes down to personal responsibility,
and you’ve got to take
responsibility for your own safety,’
Kent said.â€
Anti-gun New York City Mayor
Michael R. Bloomberg said last
month that the city had reached
agreements with six out-of-state
gun dealers, who agreed to let court
officials monitor their operations to
prevent illegal gun sales, reported
The New York Times. Bloomberg
said that New York had contacted
a number of additional gun stores
to demand similar oversight. The
agreements let a court-appointed
special master scour the gun dealers’
financial records, put up video
cameras, and require that employees
take part in training sessions
on when gun sales are prohibited.
The city also may send undercover
investigators into the stores at any
time, to make sure that all relevant
gun laws are being followed. Larry
Mickalis, owner of Mickalis Pawn
Shop in Summerville, South Carolina,
said that he was suing the City
of New York because he did not trust
New York’s ability to trace firearms
to his store.
In Ohio last month, CCRKBA Chairman
Alan M. Gottlieb and CCRKBA
Executive Director Joe Waldron
congratulated the State House of
Representatives and the State Senate
for their respective 71-21 and
21-12 votes to override Gov. Bob
Taft’s veto of concealed carry reform
legislation. Gottlieb said, “We’re
proud of the lawmakers in taking
this sensible, courageous vote. This
reform measure effectively overrides
local gun bans in such places as
parks and it will also nullify local bans
on certain firearms.†Waldron noted
that, “this reform measure abolishes
the absurd requirement that Ohio
citizens who are licensed to carry
concealed must have their guns in
the open while driving.
