Will 'Assault Weapons' Be Banned Again?

Obama to Seek Assault Weapons Ban
Previous Ban Expired in 2004 During Bush Years


By JASON RYAN


The Obama administration will seek to reinstate the assault weapons ban that expired in 2004 during the Bush administration, Attorney General Eric Holder said Thursday.

"As President Obama indicated during the campaign, there are just a few gun-related changes that we would like to make, and among them would be to reinstitute the ban on the sale of assault weapons," Holder told reporters.

Holder said that putting the ban back in place would not only be a positive move by the United States, it would help cut down on the flow of guns going across the border into Mexico, which is struggling with heavy violence among drug cartels along the border.

"I think that will have a positive impact in Mexico, at a minimum." Holder said at a news conference on the arrest of more than 700 people in a drug enforcement crackdown on Mexican drug cartels operating in the U.S.

Mexican government officials have complained that the availability of sophisticated guns from the United States have emboldened drug traffickers to fight over access routes into the U.S.
A State Department travel warning issued Feb. 20 reflected government concerns about the violence.

"Some recent Mexican army and police confrontations with drug cartels have resembled small-unit combat, with cartels employing automatic weapons and grenades," the warning said. "Large firefights have taken place in many towns and cities across Mexico, but most recently in northern Mexico, including Tijuana, Chihuahua City and Ciudad Juarez."

At the news conference today, Holder described his discussions with his Mexican counterpart about the recent spike in violence.

"I met yesterday with Attorney General Medina Mora of Mexico, and we discussed the unprecedented levels of violence his country is facing because of their enforcement efforts," he said.

Holder declined to offer any time frame for the reimplementation of the assault weapons ban, however. "It's something, as I said, that the president talked about during the campaign," he said. "There are obviously a number of things that are -- that have been taking up a substantial amount of his time, and so, I'm not sure exactly what the sequencing will be."

In a brief interview with ABC News, Wayne LaPierre, president of the National Rifle Association, said, "I think there are a lot of Democrats on Capitol Hill cringing at Eric Holder's comments right now."

During his confirmation hearing, Holder told the Senate Judiciary Committee about other gun control measures the Obama administration may consider. "I think closing the gun show loophole, the banning of cop-killer bullets and I also think that making the assault weapons ban permanent, would be something that would be permitted under Heller," Holder said, referring to the Supreme Court ruling in Washington, D.C. v. Heller, which asserted the Second Amendment as an individual's right to own a weapon.

The Assault Weapons Ban signed into law by President Clinton in 1994 banned 19 types of semi-automatic military-style guns and ammunition clips with more than 10 rounds.

"A semi-automatic is a quintessential self-defense firearm owned by American citizens in this country," LaPierre said. "I think it is clearly covered under Heller and it's clearly, I think, protected by the Constitution."

Obama Will Take ALL Our Guns

http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h45/show

Be aware of a new bill HR 45 introduced into the House. This is the Blair Holt Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act of 2009. We just learned yesterday about this on the Peter Boyles radio program. Even gun shop owners didn't know about this because it is flying under the radar.

Also: A massive land bill is scheduled before the full House. The good news is that opposition to the bill grew so loud that the leadership pulled it from the calendar so they would have more time to muster enough votes to pass it. This also gives you another chance to contact your own representative to tell him to OPPOSE the anti-Second Amendment Omnibus Land Act. The bill, S. 22, will be voted on this week. See http://john-jaybeach8.blogspot.com/2009/02/anti-gun-amendments-to-omnibus-bill.html

To find out about this - go to any government website and type in HR 45 or Google HR 45 Blair Holt Firearm Licensing & Record of Sales Act of 2009. You will get all the information.

Basically this would make it illegal to own a firearm - any rifle with a clip or ANY pistol unless:

·It is registered

·You are fingerprinted

·You supply a current Driver's License

·You supply your Social Security number

·You will submit to a physical and mental evaluation at any time of their choosing

·Each update - change or ownership through private or public sale must be reported and costs $25 - Failure to do so you automatically lose the right to own a firearm and are subject up to a year in jail.

·There is a child provision clause on page 16 section 305 stating a child-access provision. Gun must be locked and inaccessible to any child under 18.

They would have the right to come and inspect that you are storing your gun safely away from accessibility to children and fine is punishable for up to five years in prison.

If you think this is a joke - go to the website and take your pick of many options to read this. It is long and lengthy. But, more and more people are becoming aware of this. Pass the word along. Any hunters in your family - pass this along. Peter Boyles is on this and having guests. Listen to him on KHOW 630 a.m. in the morning.

He suggests the best way to fight this is to tell all your friends about it and "spring into action". Also he suggests we all join a pro-gun group like the Colorado Rifle Association, hunting associations, gun clubs and especially the NRA. This is just a "termite" approach to complete confiscation of guns and disarming of our society to the point we have no defense - chip away a little here and there until the goal is accomplished before anyone realizes it. This is one to act on whether you own a gun or not.

If you don't own one now, you should at the very least, always have the unencumbered
right to do so if and when you choose!If you take my gun, only the criminal will have one to use against me. HR 45 only makes me/us less safe. Ask any convict what they think of this bill and they'll tell you, if passed, it would make them happy and in less danger from their victims.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.45: http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h45/show http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-45 Please.. copy and send this out to EVERYONE in the USA More On Gun Grab HR 45 Here... http://news.%20google.com/%20news?oe=UTF-ned=&q=HR+45& btnG=Search+ News
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He's Anti-Gun and Trying to Fool Gun Owners

Don’t Believe Obama!

The presidential primary season is finally over, and it is now time for gun owners to take a careful look at just where apparent nominee Barack Obama stands on issues related to the Second Amendment. During the primaries, Obama tried to hide behind vague statements of support for “sportsmen” or unfounded claims of general support for the right to keep and bear arms.


But his real record, based on votes taken, political associations, and long standing positions, shows that Barack Obama is a serious threat to Second Amendment liberties. Don’t listen to his campaign rhetoric! Look instead to what he has said and done during his entire political career.

FACT: Barack Obama voted to allow reckless lawsuits designed to bankrupt the firearms industry.
FACT: Barack Obama wants to re-impose the failed and discredited Clinton Gun Ban.
FACT: Barack Obama voted to ban almost all rifle ammunition commonly used for hunting and sport shooting.
FACT: Barack Obama has endorsed a complete ban on handgun ownership.
FACT: Barack Obama supports local gun bans in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and other cities.
FACT: Barack Obama voted to uphold local gun bans and the criminal prosecution of people who use firearms in self-defense.
FACT: Barack Obama supports gun owner licensing and gun registration.
FACT: Barack Obama refused to sign a friend-of-the-court Brief in support of individual Second Amendment rights in the Heller case.
FACT: Barack Obama opposes Right to Carry laws.
FACT: Barack Obama was a member of the Board of Directors of the Joyce Foundation, the leading source of funds for anti-gun organizations and “research.”
FACT: Barack Obama supported a proposal to ban gun stores within 5 miles of a school or park, which would eliminate almost every gun store in America.
FACT: Barack Obama voted not to notify gun owners when the state of Illinois did records searches on them.
FACT: Barack Obama voted against a measure to lower the Firearms Owners Identification card age minimum from 21 to 18, a measure designed to assist young people in the military.
FACT: Barack Obama favors a ban on standard capacity magazines.
FACT: Barack Obama supports mandatory micro-stamping.
FACT: Barack Obama supports mandatory waiting periods.
FACT: Barack Obama supports repeal of the Tiahrt Amendment, which prohibits information on gun traces collected by the BATFE from being used in reckless lawsuits against firearm dealers and manufacturers.
FACT: Barack Obama supports one-gun-a-month sales restrictions.
FACT: Barack Obama supports a ban on inexpensive handguns.
FACT: Barack Obama supports a ban on the resale of police issued firearms, even if the money is going to police departments for replacement equipment.
FACT: Barack Obama supports mandatory firearm training requirements for all gun owners and a ban on gun ownership for persons under the age of 21.

Keeping Our Fingers Crossed

click to enlarge

No Dancing in the End Zone

ROUNDS: The ritual whereby a senior doctor goes from bed to bed seeing patients, trailed by a gaggle of students.
ROUNDSMANSHIP: The art of distinguishing oneself from the gaggle with relentless displays of erudition.


The roundsman is the guy who, with the class huddled at the bed of a patient who has developed a rash after taking penicillin, raises his hand to ask the professor -- obnoxious ingratiation is best expressed in the form of a question -- whether this might not instead be a case of Schmendrick's Syndrome reported in the latest issue of the Journal of Ridiculously Obscure Tropical Diseases.

None of the rest of us gathered around the bed has ever heard of Schmendrick's. But that's the point. The point is for the prof to remember this hyper-motivated stiff who stays up nights reading journals in preparation for rounds. That's the upside. The downside, which the roundsman, let's call him Oswald, ignores at his peril, is that this apple polishing does not endear him to his colleagues, a slovenly lot, mostly hung over from a terrific night at the Blue Parrot.

more Dancing

South African Crime Alarmingly Commonplace
By Michael Georgy

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - When an off-duty policeman pulled out a gun and opened fire on a gang robbing a Johannesburg pub, some patrons cheered the act as instant justice.
The robbers had forced customers to hand over their wallets and cellphones, until the policeman's girlfriend, also an off-duty officer, handed him her gun and he fired.
Newspapers quoted one patron as saying some laughed as three of the men died slowly at the dimly-lit pub that displays a sign "right of admission reserved" on a metal door with a buzzer.
The shooting may have given some people satisfaction but a senior police official warned crime-weary South Africans against taking the law into their own hands.
"People have a right to defend themselves but we don't want people to act like vigilantes and just shoot criminals," said Gauteng police director Govindsamy Mariemuthoo.
"They can call the police."
That may be wishful thinking in a country where underpaid and outgunned policemen are charged with fighting rampant crime.
Murders, rapes, carjackings and robberies are so common that a continental review board has warned they are a threat to South Africa's post-apartheid democracy.
South Africans were reminded of just how vulnerable they are this week when theatre icon Taliep Pietersen was shot in the neck and killed during a robbery at his Cape Town home, the latest high-profile victim of a crime wave that cuts down both rich and poor alike.
In October, Nobel prize-winning author Nadine Gordimer was robbed and assaulted in her home in a quiet Johannesburg suburb.
Fences packed with 80,000 volts of electricity and sophisticated motion alarms in Johannesburg's leafy suburbs create the impression of safety.
But some of the deadliest crimes are committed at people's electronic garage doors, where assailants await their victims.
"Security is a Catch 22 situation. Customers want electric garage door openers that work faster and from far away but that means burglars can quicky sneak in to their homes and wait for them," said Neil Wilson, who manages Home Security Centre.
WORLD CUP FOCUS
Crime is not new to South Africa, where the government often argues that it is difficult to extend post-apartheid law enforcement across an entire country when the police structure was originally set up only to protect whites.
The statistics arestaggering. In the 2005-2006 period there were 18,528 murders, 54,926 rapes, and 226,942 assaults with grievous bodily arm intended, according to the Department of Safety and Security.
But with the country scheduled to host the 2010 World Cup, security services have been forced to address the problem.
Last month the new U.S. ambassador to South Africa, Eric Bost, said few would want to come to the country for the finals if crime continued at current levels.
South African police plan to have 192,000 officers in the nation's streets by 2009 and 30,000 of those would be assigned exclusively to protect athletes, soccer fans and other tourists during the World Cup.
But South Africa's crime now comes in unpredictable waves and tougher gun laws make it more difficult for anyone who wants to buy a weapon for self defence.
It can take a year to get a license after first obtaining a training certificate.
Gun dealers say the odds are in favour of criminals because ordinary South Africans can only buy pistols while criminals buy AK-47 assault rifles on the black market in a land awash with guns since the end of apartheid.
"A lot of gun dealers have gone out of business. There were about 300 in Johannesburg. Now there are about 30," said Gareth Denysschen, who sells pistols and trains gun applicants.
"People buy expensive guns because if they need repairs they need to apply all over again. Others are going to the black market themselves," he said.
The incident at the Buck and Hog pub, near a lovely forest and dam where people enjoy kayakes and sailing, may have raised concerns about the psyche of a country where newspapers carry headlines like "Bang, Bang, Bang."
"This is what it has come to - while two would-be robbers lay dying in the street outside a Joburg restaurant this week, their potential victims looked on and laughed," said an editorial in The Star.