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NewsBits
Gun-Control Group, PAC Pay
$12K FEC Fine (5/5/05)
WASHINGTON - A gun-control group and its political action
committee have paid a $12,000 fine to settle a campaign finance
case from the 2000 election.
At issue were ads and endorsements by the Brady Campaign to
Prevent Gun Violence and its Brady Voter Education Fund
involving various Democratic candidates in 2000.
The American Conservative Union, in a complaint with the Federal
Election Commission, accused the Brady organizations of making
illegal corporate contributions to the Democrats' campaigns.
The FEC disclosed the outcome of the case Thursday.
The Brady Campaign is named after Jim Brady and his wife Sarah.
Jim Brady, press secretary to President Reagan, was shot during
a 1981 assassination attempt on Reagan. The Bradys later became
gun-control activists.
FEC Case Summary
Rice Says Gun Rights Are as Important
as Right to Free Speech and Religion (Associated Press,
5/11/05)
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, recalling how her father
took up arms to defend fellow blacks from racist whites in the
segregated South, said Wednesday the constitutional right of
Americans to own guns is as important as their rights to free
speech and religion.
In an interview on CNN's "Larry King Live," Rice said she came
to that view from personal experience. She said her father, a
black minister, and his friends armed themselves to defended the
black community in Birmingham, Ala., against the White Knight
Riders in 1962 and 1963. She said if local authorities had had
lists of registered weapons, she did not think her father and
other blacks would have been able to defend themselves.
Read more...
Panel urged to back limit on handgun sales (Associated
Press, 5/11/05)
(PA) Gun-control advocates on Wednesday urged a gubernatorial
advisory commission to endorse a proposal to limit handgun
purchases in Pennsylvania to one per month when the panel makes
recommendations next week.
"We must rid the community of so many guns, make them harder to
purchase and teach people other ways to settle their disputes,"
Diane Edbril of CeaseFirePA told a Capitol news conference.
State Rep. W. Curtis Thomas, who also participated in the news
conference, said the unlimited sale of handguns in Pennsylvania
feeds a voracious underground market for illegal weapons used to
commit crimes.
"This is about whether or not somebody should have the ability
to buy 25 guns a month who knowingly ... then put those 25 guns
in a stream of commerce in a way that they know is going to end
up in death or permanent injury," the Philadelphia Democrat
said.
Read more...
House OKs ban on some damage suits -
Makers, sellers of firearms couldn't be sued for damages
(Associated Press, 5/11/05)
(OR) Gun makers or sellers could not be sued for damages as a
result of illegal use of firearms under a bill easily approved
Tuesday by the House.
The measure went to the Senate on a 39-17 vote despite
opponents' claims that it is constitutionally flawed.
Backers of the bill said the gun industry is prone to harassment
by opponents who have brought lawsuits without merit around the
country in hopes of making a legitimate business liable for
criminals' acts.
Lawmakers need to protect the industry "from frivolous lawsuits
that intend to run it out of business," said Rep. Chuck Burley,
R-Bend.
Read more...
Proposal
stirs opposition
(Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star, 5/11/05)
(VA) Concerned hunters and other gun owners turned out in force
yesterday to voice their disapproval of a suggested Culpeper
County shooting ordinance.
Wearing blaze-orange caps and sporting National Rifle
Association insignias, more than 125 outdoorsmen skipped work to
form an overflow crowd at the Board of Supervisors' Rules
Committee meeting. And the exclamation heard over and over again
was a resounding, "This is not Fairfax County!"
The gun enthusiasts showed up to complain about a suggested
ordinance--a slightly reworked version of a Fairfax County
law--that would limit shooting to parcels of land 20 acres or
larger and outlaw rifles larger than a .22-caliber rimfire.
Read more...
Mo. court OKs questioning under gun
permit law (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 5/10/05)
The right to bear arms in Missouri does not free an applicant
for a concealed-carry permit from the obligation of answering
questions about past
crimes or military service, the Missouri Court of Appeals in St.
Louis ruled Tuesday.
The decision overturned an order by St. Charles County Circuit
Judge Ted House, who had sided with a man who demanded a permit
without answering Sheriff's Department questions about his past.
The applicant, Paul Heidbrink, insisted he had an absolute right
under the Missouri Constitution.
Informed of the decision Tuesday by a reporter, Heidbrink vowed
to appeal and said he might ask the National Rifle Association
for help.
Read more...
2nd
Circuit Upholds New York Handgun Limits (Law.com, 5/10/05)
New York state's handgun licensing scheme does not violate the
Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the 2nd U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals has ruled.
Upholding the dismissal of a suit brought by an out-of-state
resident barred from being allowed to carry a handgun under the
licensing scheme, the circuit also found in Bach v. Pataki,
03-9123, that the Privileges and Immunities Clause of Article IV
"cannot preclude New York's residency requirement in light of
the State's substantial interest in monitoring handgun
licenses."
Judge Richard Wesley wrote the opinion for the unanimous
three-judge panel.
The suit was brought by David D. Bach, a Virginia resident who
is licensed in that state to carry his Ruger P-85 9mm pistol.
Bach wanted to bring the weapon with him during regular visits
to his parents in upstate New York.
Read more...
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