Boston Globe: SPRINGFIELD, Mass.—Smith & Wesson is manufacturing a commemorative revolver in honor of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling that backed the right of individuals to own guns for self-defense.
The Springfield-based gun maker announced Monday it would present engraved Model 442 revolvers to the six plaintiffs in the lawsuit that led to the high court's June 26 decision striking down a handgun ban in the District of Columbia.
The commemorative revolvers, made in partnership with the Second Amendment Foundation, will be sold in the fall, with a portion of sales going to the pro-gun legal group.
Smith & Wesson said the gun's right-side plate will be engraved with the words "D.C. vs. Heller" on a scale of justice, which is tipped toward Heller. "Second Amendment" and "The right to keep and bear arms" will appear below the scale.
read more »
Boston Herald: OAK BLUFFS - Several tourists circled a table set up in Post Office Square to protest the annual shark hunt that makes its home here.
They were glancing at the huge posters, smaller blue shark magnets and buttons when one closed in and grabbed a magnet, picking it up by just a corner.
“Would you like to sign our petition to stop the shark hunt?” said Katheryn Krullberg, a campaign manager with
The Humane Society of the United States. “Let’s hope this is the last year.”
Despite the name, the animal rights organization is not affiliated with dog and cat shelters or spaying and neutering programs, but works instead to advance animal rights causes such as reducing consumption of eggs, beef, chicken and pork in order to save animals.
And the whack jobs at HSUS are it again....
read more »
Boston Globe: Police arrested 10 people and seized weapons ranging from a MAC-11 machine pistol to semiautomatic handguns as well as bags of marijuana and $69,500 in cash during a series of gang raids Friday in Lowell.
Now tell us again how illegal possession of drugs and illegal possession of firearms aren't nearly always related with one another? When any High School student can purchase any drug they want - we've lost the war on drugs. We've lost the war because people are too afraid to report these purchases and continue to live in fear in their own neighborhoods. It's nice to see a small victory every once in awhile however.
read more »
It shouldn't have come as any surprise that the District of Columbia decided that it can and will continue to all but completely disarm its law-abiding citizens -- not even when it's less than three weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled otherwise.
After all, this is the same D.C. that was home to the most restrictive firearms laws in the country -- until the Court struck them down. The same D.C. that banned its law-abiding citizens from possessing any handgun. The same D.C. that forced its law-abiding citizens to keep the few firearms they could possess both unloaded and disassembled or locked at all times. In other words, the same D.C. that has disarmed its law-abiding citizens for decades despite achieving the title of "murder capital of the United States" and other dangerously dubious distinctions.
Nevertheless, it's disheartening -- actually downright disgusting -- that the Mayor, the City Council and the Attorney General of our nation's capital would flagrantly flout a constitutional decision from the highest court in the land -- not to mention bragging about it to the media. But that's exactly what happened earlier this week.
More on this story here...
read more »
The Boston Globe and one of its columnists, James Carroll, have sunk to a new low. In a screed against open carry, Carroll makes the claim that our sense of shame comes from our earliest ancestors and their use of weapons for hunting. Carroll claims the earliest exercise of religion was the result of this shame, which in his words, "spawned post-hunt rituals of sacrificial atonement, the genesis of religion." Gun owners, he argues, "forgo the primordial shame the weapon still generates." I've gotta tell you, I've seen a lot of columnists blame law-abiding gun owners for almost every one of society's ills, but this is the first time I've ever seen original sin laid squarely at our feet.
The truth is, of course, that there is no shame in hunting, and our ancestors knew that. Without the hunt, humans would not have survived. I'm not an anthropologist, but I'd be shocked if the post-hunt rituals of the earliest humans were based on atonement, rather than thanksgiving.
There's no shame in being a gun owner, either. James Carroll might not be a writer for an independent Boston newspaper if it weren't for a ragtag band of citizens who took on the British. I suggest that Carroll take a drive out to Bunker Hill, Lexington and Concord to think about history. Our Founding Fathers didn't relish having to use arms to gain their freedom, but they certainly weren't ashamed of the guns they owned and used.
It's another pathetic attempt to demonize gun owners, and I'm sure we'll see many more now that the Heller decision has been released. After all, we know the gun control crowd can be pretty shameless themselves.
read more »
Sun Chronicle
As if golf was not frustrating enough, imagine walking toward your next shot with the ball placed neatly in the middle of the fairway only to have it snatched up and taken away by a coyote.
read more »
State Representative George Peterson has file a joint resolution (House & Senate) on behalf of Gun Owners' Action League to recognize and acknowledge the June 26, 2008 Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruling on the Second Amendment.(See SCOTUS Heller Case Decision)
"This Resolution is a very important step in beginning to reverse the long history of the persecution and ill-treatment of lawful gun owners in the Commonwealth," said Jim Wallace Executive Director of GOAL. "Correcting over three decades of discrimination and abuse won't happen overnight, but at least we seem to be on that path now."
GOAL is urging all of our members to contact their state senators and representatives and ask them to sign onto this resolution. They may do so by contacting Rep. George Peterson's office (617-722-2100) before 5:00 pm Wednesday, July 16, 2008 and request that their name be attached to the resolution.
Whereas, On Thursday, June 26, 2008 the Supreme Court of the United States affirmed that the Second Amendment to the Constitution protects an individual's civil right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia; and
Whereas, On Thursday, June 26, 2008 the Supreme Court of the United States affirmed that the Second Amendment to the Constitution protects an individual civil right to use arms for traditionally lawful purposes; and
Whereas, On Thursday, June 26, 2008 the Supreme Court of the United States affirmed that the Second Amendment to the Constitution protects the lawful use of arms for self-defense within the home; and
Whereas, On Thursday, June 26, 2008 the Supreme Court of the United States affirmed that the core lawful purpose of the Second Amendment is self defense; and
Whereas, The term firearm used in this resolution is a generic term not specific to
read more »
Sun Chronicle
NORTH ATTLEBORO - A hitchhiker turned a gun on a man who gave him a ride and robbed him in the parking lot of a Route 1 motel over the holiday weekend.
The robber escaped with a small amount of cash he took from the victim in the 8:30 a.m. robbery Saturday, Detective Lt. David Dawes said.
Dawes said police have identified a suspect and have notified surrounding police departments.
The robber approached the victim at a Bank of America automatic teller machine near McDonald's on Route 1 and asked the victim for a ride to the Super 8 Motel.
When the victim pulled into the parking lot, Dawes said, the robber pulled out a gun and put it to the side of the victim and demanded money. The robbery is under investigation by Detective Daniel Arrighi.
[Apparently the driver didn't learn what his Parents should have taught him: Rule #1 never pick up a hitchhiker or give anyone unknown to you to provide a "ride". This is just asking for trouble.
Rule #2, Criminals will always find a way to have a gun - illegally - no matter what laws the Massachuetss Legislature pass. They buy them off the black market just like drugs and we all know how successful the drug war has been.]
read more »
Today is, July 4, 2008, Independence Day in the United States. An important holiday, it's a time for citizens to enjoy their families in the outdoors. There will be cookouts, guns, fireworks, and get-togethers. In point of fact, our second President, John Adams, would have approved! "I believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival," he wrote his wife, Abigail. "It ought to be celebrated by pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other..."
It's also a time to reflect on aspects of American Culture that differentiate us from citizens-subjects of other nations. One of those aspects was examined by the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS), the findings of which were reported on Thursday, June 26, 2008. The case, for those who may have been hiding under a rock, was District of Columbia v. Heller.
The decision struck down D.C.'s handgun ban and reinforced the individual's right - by saying that the Second Amendment was an enumerated right. In a twisted argument, the minority stated that the Second only gave the states a right to have a militia and to prevent federal authorities from disarming state militias.
Where in history is it reported that there was a fear of the danger of federal supremacy extending to disarming local authorities? That is unreported. What the legislative surrogates of the minority have declared in the aftermath of Heller is more instructive. That is, the unsupported and fiercely held belief, in spite of relevant research to the contrary, “that gun laws make us safer," that safety is only available from government resources, and that safety is more important than individual liberty.
It is a group fantasy or group
read more »
KATHRYN GRAMMER, West Falmouth
I DO not like guns, but I like less a government denying me or any citizen the right "to keep and bear arms." While some may argue that the Second Amendment grants citizens this right for the purpose of forming "well-regulated" state militias, that is not what the amendment says. Just as the First Amendment addresses the rights of free speech, peaceable assembly, freedom to worship, etc., as those accorded to individuals, so, too, does the Second Amendment address the right "to keep and bear arms" as an individual's right and not the right of the state over the individual.
Whether at the state or national level, government in this country rules by the consent of the governed. We the people are the masters of government, not the other way around. When a government is allowed to disarm the people or to make it illegal to keep arms, that government is on a slippery slope toward tyranny.
Ironically, the 30-year ban on guns in Washington, D.C., has resulted in a rise in gun-related crimes. Law-abiding citizens, when deprived of their constitutional right to own guns, fall prey to those who have not qualms about acquiring illegal firearms. I am grateful that the justices have not so politicized the Supreme Court that they would surrender to public pressure and disregard the intent of the first 10 amendments of the US Constitution. The Second Amendment, like all the others comprising the Bill of Rights, was written specifically to safeguard our rights as individuals.
read more »
