The The Denver Post is reporting that Democrats have blocked legislation that would have allowed business owners the same rights as home owners in defending their property as well as recognition of out of state concealed pistol licenses.

The Senate State Affairs Committee, known unofficially as a graveyard for bills that leadership wants killed, shot down a proposal Monday to expand Colorado’s “make my day” law.

The three Democrats on the five-member committee rejected legislation that would have allowed business owners to shoot threatening intruders, as homeowners are already permitted to do.

The bill’s demise came three days after Senate Democrats thwarted attempts by Republicans to hijack a Democrat-sponsored bill that would tighten restrictions on concealed weapons.

Republicans tried to amend the bill to say Coloradans could use concealed-gun permits from any other state. Instead, the legislation from Sen. John Morse, D-Colorado Springs, squeaked through as he originally wrote it - a ban on mail-order and other out-of-state permits for people who want to pack concealed handguns.

As is usual in these cases the Democrats resorted to scare tactics to support their side, saying:

Sen. Peter Groff, a Denver Democrat who chairs the committee, said a shopkeeper could end up shooting a straight-A student in baggy pants “listening to Snoop Doggy Dog” on his iPod just because he looked threatening.

They always trot out the ‘blood will run in the streets’ and ‘wild west’ arguments against pro-gun legislation, but when it finally passes these scenarios never come true. Look at all the states that now have concealed carry? Their crime rates have dropped as a result. But that’s a Democrat for you, they don’t even trust themselves with a gun.

Hat tip to Alphecca

February 22nd is George Washington’s birthday. We used to celebrate that in this country, but no longer. His birthday has been lost in the generic ‘Presidents Day’ non-holiday. We have a day for Martin Luther King Jr., whose deeds were great, but nowhere in the ballpark of our 1st President. Why can’t we have a day of celebration for the man who saved the Revolution and served as the 1st President of these United States? The man who refused to become an American King and who voluntarily served only 2 terms. He set an example tho no future President has been able to live up to, especially in recent years.

(from the Wikipedia article)
Congressman Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee, a Revolutionary War comrade and father of the Civil War general Robert E. Lee, famously eulogized Washington as:

First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen, he was second to none in humble and enduring scenes of private life. Pious, just, humane, temperate, and sincere; uniform, dignified, and commanding; his example was as edifying to all around him as were the effects of that example lasting. . . . Correct throughout, vice shuddered in his presence and virtue always felt his fostering hand. The purity of his private character gave effulgence to his public virtues. . . . Such was the man for whom our nation mourns.

From CCRKBA:

For Immediate Release: February 16, 2007

BELLEVUE, WA – For more than two months, a damning report on a five-year study by the Federal Bureau of Investigation about how cop-killing criminals ignore gun laws and where they get their guns has languished in the shadows, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms revealed today.

“The public has a right to know the contents of this report, which was revealed to the International Association of Chiefs of Police last year,” said CCRKBA Executive Director Joe Waldron. “According to the Force Science News, research focused on 40 incidents involving assaults or deadly attacks on police officers, in which all but one of the guns involved had been obtained illegally, and none were obtained from gun shows.”

The study is called “Violent Encounters: A Study of Felonious Assaults on Our Nation’s Law Enforcement Officers.” Waldron called it a “smoking gun” in terms of revelations about the sources of crime guns. Anti-gun politicians and police chiefs do not want the public to know as they campaign against the so-called “gun show loophole,” he said.

(Continued)

The Columbia Missourian reports that the house has approved a ‘Castle Doctorine’ bill similar to that passed in several other states.

Rep. Kenny Jones, R-California, Mo., said the proposal clarifies common sense.

“A man’s home is his castle, and he has a right to defend it,” Jones said.

Rep. Jeff Roorda, D-Hillsboro, said that the bill essentially “takes the castle doctrine on the road” and allows drivers to defend their cars just as people in their homes can defend their residences.

The bill still needs another vote before moving on to the Senate for consideration.

Several sources in Texas are ‘covering’ thier version of the ‘Castle Doctorine’, including KWSO News, KWTX News and the Houston Chronicle. I notice that all 3 are using an AP story as their source, but only 2 give credit and only 1, the Chronicle, appears to print the story in full.

“I believe Texans who are attacked in their homes, their businesses, their vehicles or Texas already has some of the broadest self-defense laws in the country, Wentworth says his bill would expand the legal rights of crime victims to protect themselves, their relatives and their property from intruders in their home, occupied vehicles or business.anywhere else have a right to defend themselves from attack without fear of being prosecuted and face possible civil suits alleging wrongful injury or death,” Wentworth said.

This report comes from Interested-Participant. Another thug has flunked the victim selection process, he and 2 friends attemped an home invasion robbery on an armed citizen and lost.

PONTIAC — A 21-year-old Pontiac man who was shot by an armed homeowner when he allegedly forced his way into a home with two other men last month died early Tuesday from a gunshot wound to the chest.

Herbert McDaniels died in Pontiac Osteopathic Hospital. Police said McDaniels was named in a criminal warrant as one of three men who forced their way into a house on Cloverlawn Street at about 4 a.m. on Jan. 29.

The 33-year-old homeowner told police he armed himself after hearing a loud noise when the men kicked in a door. The man shouted for the three to leave and when they ignored him and continued advancing into the house, he fired off two shots.

Pay attention all you bad guys! Guns are used more often to defend the good guys than they are in committing a crime. Find a new line of work.

From NRA-ILA:

Washington: Anti-Gun Measure Set for Senate
Committee Hearing Thursday!
Please Contact Your State Senator Today!

Senate Bill 5197 will be up for a hearing in the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee on Thursday, February 8 at 3:30 P.M. in the John A. Cherberg Building, Hearing Room #4.

SB 5197 is a measure aimed directly at private firearm sales, which would mandate that all firearms sold at gun shows be transferred through a federally licensed dealer, thereby imposing dealer restrictions on private individuals who are not dealers. This will establish a gun tax on firearms, expand the growing government database of law-abiding handgun owners, and effectively halt handgun sales at gun shows.

Your attendance at this hearing is critical. Washington Ceasefire is planning on packing the hearing with supporters of the gun show/gun registration bill, so it’s vital that NRA-supporters show a strong turnout as well. Attendees should plan on being at the Capitol by noon. Please visit your legislators, even if they are not on the Committee.

If you are unable to attend, please contact your State Senator at (800) 562-6000 and respectfully ask that he or she oppose this ill-conceived and restrictive measure.

Please make plans to attend this vital meeting, and also be sure to alert your grassroots networks and fellow gun owners to attend the meeting this coming Thursday!

LibertyNews will be present for the hearing and will bring you a full report Thursday evening. I encourage everyone who can to attend. It is time for gun owners to stand up and be heard by those who would like to remove our rights from the Constitution.

Read on for my report
(Continued)

BELLEVUE, WA – Five months after the Second Amendment Foundation called on U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to investigate New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg for obstruction of justice relating to Bloomberg’s rogue “sting” operation against gun retailers in five states, the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has confirmed in a letter that an investigation is underway.

SAF founder Alan M. Gottlieb said today that a letter he received from W. Larry Ford, Assistant ATF Director for Public and Governmental Affairs, confirms that the agency “is investigating the matter in order to determine if violations of federal firearms laws occurred.” Ford could not offer details in his letter, explaining to Gottlieb that the agency cannot comment on “an open investigation.”
(Continued)

Tacoma, WA - Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Don’t blame gun shows for killers’ access to weapons

DAVE WORKMAN
Last updated: February 7th, 2007 01:31 AM (PST)
One Seattle newspaper edito­rialized recently that, with Democrats firmly in control of the Washington Legislature, “this is the year … to get rid of the gun-show loophole.” But nobody has explained how attacking gun shows will keep firearms out of the hands of criminals.

Yet lawmakers are considering Senate Bill 5197, the so-called “gun show loophole” bill, which, even if had been law, would not have prevented the Jan. 3 murder of Samnang Kok in the hallway at Tacoma’s Henry Foss High School, nor stopped cop-killer Raymond Porter from getting his hands on a pistol, and the proponents know it. The 9 mm pistol used in the Kok slaying and the gun Porter used to kill King County Sheriff’s deputy Steve Cox – and was used in another slaying just hours before – were both stolen in burglaries. Either gun could just as easily have been Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske’s 9 mm Glock, stolen from his unattended car on a downtown Seattle street.

Teenage murder suspect Douglas S. Chanthabouly could not have legally purchased a handgun, even at a gun show. Porter could not have legally purchased a firearm anywhere, thanks to a lengthy criminal history.

SB 5197, supported by Washington CeaseFire, would not have prevented the July 2006 attack at Seattle’s Jewish Federation office or the March 2006 mayhem on Capitol Hill. Neither accused Federation gunman Naveed Haq nor deceased Capitol Hill gunman Kyle Huff bought their firearms at gun shows.

Haq legally purchased his guns, following background checks, from dealers in the Tri-Cities area. Huff brought his firearms from Montana, where they were bought legally from gun shops. Yet editorials, some state legislators and Washington CeaseFire insist that closing some mythical gun show loophole is “reasonable.”

What is “reasonable” about attacking a problem that doesn’t exist when it would not prevent criminals from getting their hands on guns? In fact, not a single firearm involved in any of the high-profile shootings now being exploited to push this “gun show loophole” legislation came from a gun show.

A study done for the Department of Justice (NCJ-189369) found that “During the offense that brought them to prison, 15 percent of state inmates and 13 percent of federal inmates carried a handgun, and about 2 percent, a military-style semiautomatic gun.” Notice how few of these criminals used so-called “assault rifles.”

The most damning statistic from the DOJ report is that fewer than 1 percent of these thugs (0.7 percent) got their guns from gun shows.
Another 1 percent got theirs from flea markets. A staggering 78.8 percent got their guns from friends, relatives, on the street or by other illegal means.

The solution to violent crime in this state won’t be found in laws that target gun shows, sport-utility rifles or law-abiding gun owners. Yet
“close the gun show loophole” is the broken-record mantra that clearly proves CeaseFire and its friends in Olympia have an agenda that has nothing to do with crime prevention or punishing criminals.

They want to put gun shows out of business by holding gun show operators and patrons liable for crimes they did not commit.

Dave Workman is senior editor of Gun Week (www.gunweek.com) in Bellevue, and author of Washington State Gun Rights and Responsibilities.

Originally published: February 7th, 2007 01:00 AM (PST)

Keith Henson, an outspoken critic of Scientology, has reportedly been arrested for jokingly referring to ‘Tom Cruise Missiles’ in a USENET discussion several years ago. Bloggers are just starting to pick up on the news, with postings asymptotia, freekeithhenson, Instapundit, MondoGlobo and Weblogsky.

Looks like another example of the so called Church of Scientology throwing their weighty lawyers at a problem. Their insistence on secrecy and censorship doesn’t lend much credibility to their religious claims.

Learn how to be a good citizen…

This is something to think about for anyone who runs a website with user content (ie. blog, forum, ar15.com).

On Jan. 24 GoDaddy pulled the registration of www.seclists.org with 52 seconds notice to the owner. The reason? One of the mailing lists he archives had a list of MySpace users and passwords posted to it. They didn’t warn him, they didn’t ask him to remove them, they just pulled the registration. They aren’t even the hosting provider for the domain.

In an interview with CNet publication news.com they report:

When asked if GoDaddy would remove the registration for a news site like CNET News.com, if a reader posted illegal information in a discussion forum and editors could not be immediately reached over a holiday, Jones replied: “I don’t know…It’s a case-by-case basis.”

Why should you care? With the popularity of blogs and forums on todays internet it is simple for anyone to post information that a overly-reactive registrar could use as grounds for shutting down a site. A malicious user could easily post credit card numbers, private information, or the same MySpace password list and get your site shut down.

Me? I’m moving all my domains over to www.namecheap.com, who have this clause in their EULA:

You also agree that Namecheap shall have the right in its sole discretion to suspend, cancel, transfer or otherwise modify a domain name registration upon seven (7) calendar days prior written notice, or at such time as Namecheap receives a properly authenticated order from a court of competent jurisdiction, or arbitration award, requiring the suspension, cancellation transfer or modification of the domain name
registration.