DID YOU KNOW: In 1903, Congress enacted and President Theodore Roosevelt signed a law to provide federal funding for a program intended to increase civilian proficiency with military service firearms for national defense purposes. The law established the Civilian Marksmanship Program.

KEEP UP TO DATE, WITH THE LATEST NEWS THAT CONCERNS GUN OWNERS!

UPDATED NEWS — JANUARY 29TH Wednesday, January 28, 2009 All-Out Attack Waged on Shooting Ranges in Connecticut! Please Stand-Up and Make Your Voices Heard! First-in-the-nation proposed legislation that has the potential to shut down shooting ranges in the state of Connecticut was introduced in Hartford this week. The proposal seeks to require registration for owner/operators with the Department of Public Safety (DPS) and would allow the Commissioner to promulgate new regulations at any time, meaning that any shooting range could be forced to close at the whim of the DPS. Regardless of any new regulations, the Commissioner can shut down a facility without cause simply by deeming it “unsafe.” If the future implications of this proposal aren’t bad enough, it would also put almost every range out of business immediately for non-compliance under the standards set forth by this proposal. Make no mistake; the intent of this proposed legislation is to force the closure of these facilities and to end the possible establishment of any new ranges. As you know, shooting ranges provide a valuable community service by allowing law-abiding citizens a place to train with firearms and a safe place to shoot recreationally. Under this proposal, ranges used exclusively by law enforcement would be exempt from the regulations. If this is truly about safety, why should the standards for law enforcement and civilians be any different? It is imperative that you contact your lawmakers today and respectfully tell them that you will not stand for this! As the Department of Public Safety serves at the pleasure of Governor Jodi Rell (R), it is also critical that you call her TODAY and urge her administration not to support this direct attack on law-abiding gun owners and recreational shooters. CLICK BELOW FOR MORE INFO! http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Read.aspx?ID=4343 Tuesday, January 27, 2009 Here's a copy of the "gun offender registry" bill. It's from Councilman Casey, not Calsolaro. [DOWNLOAD A COPY OF THIS BILL] albany-ord031209.pdf Friday, January 23, 2009 Gillibrand is official, and so is her opposition New York Gov. David Paterson (D) officially announced the selection of Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand (D) as the state?s next senator on Friday, but both might be getting more than they bargained for. Paterson seemed to acknowledge the unrest with Gillibrand?s pick, repeatedly calling her the ?best candidate? for the job at the announcement press conference. ?I believe that I have found the best candidate to be the next United States senator from New York,? Paterson said. Anti-gun groups have denounced the pick and suggested they will be closely eyeing Gillibrand?s transition from a congresswoman in a gun-toting upstate district to a senator representing one of the most anti-gun cities in America, where she will need support to win the Democratic nomination in 2010. http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/gillibrand-is-official-and-so-is-her-opposition-2009-01-23.html Thursday, January 15, 2009 An open community forum set for Jan. 26 will allow City of Poughkeepsie residents to speak out on gun violence and suggest ways to prevent it. Mayor John Tkazyik announced the forum date Wednesday. The session will come three weeks after he convened a closed-door, invitation-only summit of community leaders to develop recommendations to reduce gun violence. Tkazyik said city staff and elected officials will be on hand Jan. 26 to hear suggestions and concerns. "We encourage members of the public to come out and speak," Tkazyik said. "We'll be there to listen and to learn." The summit and community forum come following an escalation in city shootings. The number of people in Poughkeepsie shot by assailants last year nearly tripled from the eight shootings reported in 2007. In fact, the city tallied more shootings last year than the combined figures compiled for Beacon, Newburgh and Kingston during the same period. Tkazyik said many of the 40 community leaders who attended his Jan. 5 summit will be at the upcoming forum. That 40-member group will reconvene in the days after the forum and recommend ways city leaders can attempt to curtail the violence. The mayor said he hopes to have those recommendations next month. Meanwhile, the mayor said police have increased foot patrols along the 400 block of Main Street and around Academy Street, where three people were shot to death and two others wounded in shooting incidents last year. Ionie Ellis, who owns a small business along Main near Academy, praised the mayor's decision to hold the open forum. "It's very, very scary," Ellis said of recent shootings. "You can't be walking out there right now. A stray bullet can catch me or somebody else." http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20090115/NEWS01/901150336/1006 Thursday, January 15, 2009 Excerpt from Mayor Bloomberg's State of the City Speech "Saving more lives is why we've taken on an issue that the skeptics say is a national problem that cities can't affect: illegal guns. Well, let me tell you: they couldn't be more wrong -and we're proving it. "By winning passage in Albany of the toughest law in the country against illegal possession of a loaded gun, more criminals are spending at least a year in prison. By suing the out-of-state gun dealers we caught breaking the law, we've reduced the flow of guns entering our city from those states. And those dealers are now under court-appointed monitors to shape up, or pay up. "Last year, our bi-partisan coalition of Mayors Against Illegal Guns won another major victory: a 'Responsible Firearms Retailer Partnership' with the nation's largest seller of firearms: Wal-Mart. It establishes ten basic practices that will reduce the likelihood that guns will be sold to illegal traffickers. This year, we'll work with Speaker Quinn and the Council to require the city's own gun dealers to follow similar practices. And I'll a sign an Executive Order directing all City agencies to submit mental health records to the Justice Department's background check system on gun sales - so the next Virginia Tech massacre doesn't happen here. "We'll also ask the State Legislature to require all guns sold in New York to include micro-stamping technology, which helps police connect crime scenes to guns, and to require gun dealers to conduct background checks on everyone they hire. Would you let a convicted drug dealer work in a drug store? Not a chance. It's just common sense. http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/01/full_text_of_mayor_bloombergs.html Friday, January 09, 2009 New Rules On Right-To-Carry In Our National Parks Take Effect In early December, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), through the National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, announced the final amended version of a change to rules on carrying firearms in national parks and wildlife refuges. The change will restore the right of law-abiding gun owners to transport and carry concealed firearms for lawful purposes on most DOI lands, according to the laws of the states in which these public lands are located. The new rule, which takes effect today, allows Right-to-Carry permit holders to carry concealed firearms in national parks and wildlife refuges in states that recognize their permits. The new rule will also put an end to the patchwork of regulations that governed different lands managed by different federal agencies. In the past, Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service lands allowed the carrying of firearms, while lands managed by DOI did not. The change was obviously necessary, given the passage of Right-to-Carry laws in so many states over the past two decades. As expected, of course, anti-gun activists are adamantly opposed to the new rule, and are already seeking to block the right of law-abiding citizens to protect themselves and their families while on DOI lands. Not surprisingly, the first to jump on the "banned" wagon was the anti-gun Brady Campaign, in a lawsuit filed against the DOI in federal court, seeking to have the new rule struck down. The National Parks Conservation Association and the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees have also filed a similar suit. Brady contends that people have a right to visit parks without fear of permit-holders carrying guns. The contention is ludicrous, of course, since to get to a park requires people to travel through places where permit-holders abound, without posing any threat whatsoever. Using the same hyperbolic rhetoric and fear-mongering claims that are the mainstay of their anti-Right-to-Carry crusades, the Brady Campaign alleges that Right-to-Carry equals danger and violence, when countless studies and reams of data have repeatedly and consistently proved otherwise. Remember, the new rule will extend only to law-abiding citizens who have met the strict safety and background check requirements necessary to acquire a carry permit, and who are legally allowed to carry in the state in which the park is located. Rest assured that NRA will do everything within its power to keep this important change on the books. January 7, 2009 20:37:03.628 GMT Weapons stolen from police cars (9 out of 10 Gun Owners lock their guns in a safe, not their cars!) MARTINEZ, Calif., Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Three AR-15 assault rifles and two shotguns were stolen from squad cars parked in Contra Costa County sheriff's lots, California police said Wednesday. The thefts at sheriff's stations in Richmond and Martinez on San Francisco Bay occurred sometime between Monday night and Wednesday morning, the San Francisco Chronicle said. A similar break-in occurred in mid-December at a California Highway Patrol office in Martinez. Jimmy Lee, a spokesman for the sheriff, said that the AR-15s and one of the shotguns were taken from cars in a lot at the headquarters in Martinez. The lot, in back of the station, was locked. Police have no suspects, Lee said. He described the thefts as a "high priority" for the sheriff. On Dec. 16, an AR-15 and ammunition were stolen after someone broke into several cruisers at the CHP office. At least two other police agencies have reported thefts of weapons in the past six months in Contra Costa County. January 7, 2009 9:28 a.m. Well it should come as no surprise now that BHO II is going to be the Anti-Gunners Death Angel… and attempt to Disarm American Citizens by any means possible. Ammunition Accountability Legislation The bill that is being pushed in 18 states (including Illinois and Indiana ) requires all ammunition to be encoded by the manufacture a data base of all ammunition sales. So they will know how much you buy and what calibers. Nobody can sell any ammunition after June 30, 2009 unless the ammunition is coded. Any privately held uncoded ammunition must be destroyed by July 1, 2011. (Including hand loaded ammo.) They will also charge a .05 cent tax on every round so every box of ammo you buy will go up at least $2.50 or more! If they can deprive you of ammo they do not need to take your gun! This legislation is currently pending in 18 states: Alabama, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Washington. Send to your friends in these states AND fight to dissolve this BILL!! To find more about the anti-gun group that is sponsoring this legislation and the specific legislation for each state, go to: http://ammunitionaccountability.org/Legislation.htm December 12, 2008 9:28 a.m. More on the Closing of the Reynolds Game Farm Please Stand-Up and Voice Your Opposition to the Closing! As we have reported, Governor David Paterson (D) and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Chairman Pete Grannis bamboozle sportsmen and taxpayers: Claiming across-the-board spending cuts, the DEC has decided to shutdown the Reynolds Game Farm, a last-of-its-kind preserve in New York where pheasants have been bred and released for hunting since 1927. Governor Paterson took the dishonesty up a notch yesterday when his office put out a press release claiming to have done something heroic, as the remaining pheasants from the shuttered preserve were donated to feed the poor. The fact is, most hunters do so to feed themselves or they donate the birds to ongoing programs, like "Hunters for the Hungry." Stealing from the poor to feed the poor. Should we call him Governor Robin Hood? We think not. It has a price tag of $750,000-per-year and is entirely funded by Pittman-Robertson monies (millions of dollars in excise taxes collected on all firearm and ammunition purchases), not money from the General Fund. Hunters will continue to pay the excise taxes when they purchase firearms and/or ammunition, but unless they are willing to fund a private preserve, hunters will now be unable to hunt close to home. What a slap in the face! As if that’s not enough, Governor Paterson has ordered the facility to be shut down by the end of the year, even though the money to operate the facility was already budgeted for 2009. While we understand many programs are being cut in this difficult economy, this program should not be one of them. Not only will this closure sharply affect pheasant hunting in New York by driving pheasant hunters to other states in order to participate in this popular, time-honored type of bird hunting, it raises serious questions about where the Pittman-Robertson monies are being spent. Please contact Governor Paterson at (518) 474-8390 and DEC Chairman Grannis at (518) 402-8540 and respectfully ask them what they plan to do with the money, if not spend it on operating this farm. • New York: Maybe we'd better take this [Ammunition Accountability] bill seriously That's why the fact that the Assembly has bought into a national crusade known as the Ammunition Accountability Act is suddenly a legitimate threat. New York, Pennsylvania and 16 other states have already enacted legislation that would mandate the engraving of a unique serial number on the base of each handgun and “assault weapon” bullet, and an identical number on the cartridge's case. The act calls for dealers of this “encoded ammunition” to record the purchaser's name, birthdate, drivers license number, etc. Read About It:The Ithaca Journal (NY) — Posted: 12/12/2008 9:28:57 AM December 8, 2008 5:32 a.m. Sunday UNEXPECTED WELCOME Two would-be burglars chose the wrong house to invade when they broke into an Inwood home early yesterday morning. They were greeted by the resident, who opened fire on them with his AK-47-style assault rifle, Nassau police said. It was 5:32 a.m. Sunday when the male resident, 36, "heard suspicious noises coming from the front door of his home, and armed himself with a Romanian SAR-1 rifle," a variant of the Soviet AK-47 assault weapon, a police report said. The two men "broke through the front door and were confronted by the victim, who shot four times toward the subjects," the police report said. The burglars ran off, apparently uninjured, and four rifle shell casings were later found at the house, police said. One of the men appeared to have been carrying a knife, the resident reported. Fourth Squad detectives are investigating. December 8, 2008 Back in September, DefenseReview published an article on the Barrett M98B .338 Lapua Magnum bolt-action anti-materiel/sniper rifle. Well, it looks like Barrett may have some competition in the form of the Sniper Weapon System (SWS) .338 Lapua Magnum bolt-action rifle made by H-S Precision, Inc. The SWS became the "very first American-designed and manufactured .338 Lapua sniper rifle adopted by any military in the world," when it was adopted by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) a.k.a. Israeli Defense Forces last year, according to gunwriter Charles Karwan a.k.a Chuck Karwan, who reviewed the rifle for Tactical Weapons. The IDF SWS is basically a modified/enhanced, militarized H-S Precision Pro-Series 2000 semi-custom bolt-action rifle, a military/tactical-config version of the Pro-Series 2000 .338 Lapua Magnum, if you will. The SWS' action is marked "Pro-Series 2000 LA", and... • Torrey Pines Logic Mirage-1200 and Myth-350 Handheld Sniper Detection Systems By David Crane defrev at gmail dot com December 8, 2008 If executive protection/PSD ops are your game, Torrey Pines Logic, Inc. (TPL) may be the name when it comes to sniper detection systems a.k.a. anti-sniper systems, video surveillance detection, and photographic surveillance detection. First up is the Mirage-1200 handheld electro-optical detector (optic detector), which is designed to detect long-range optical systems targeting you at ranges up to 1200 meters away. If someone's scoping you with a rifle, you can detect them lurking out there in the proverbial ether quickly and efficiently, hopefully before they can take the shot. Or, if they're just surveilling you with a video camera, still camera, binoculars, etc., you can detect them and go grab them up and hold them for questioning before they escape. In other words, you may not be able to see the bad guys before they see you, but you can see them very quickly after they see you. So, how does it work? The TPL Mirage 1200... • Anti-Terrorism Shmanti-Terrorism: The Inherent Counterterrorism Reality By David Crane defrev at gmail dot com December 2, 2008 As the world reels from the Mumbai, India terrorist attack(s), a lot of questions are being asked and answered, and accusations are being made. But none that DefenseReview has read, save one (thank you CrimeFileNews.com), get to the core of the problem and discuss why these attacks will likely continue, perhaps even here in the United States. Even if a country has the most sophisticated and capable anti-terrorism and counterterrorism forces and infrastructure in place--and India doesn't have anything even close to either of these--they will... • UAE Caracal Pistol Series (Caracal F and Caracal C): Where are they? By David Crane