Their foot-dragging and obstructionist approach to adopting rational firearms ordinances that allow carrying firearms for personal protection has already gotten officials in the District of Columbia sued by the Bellevue-based Second Amendment Foundation, and the National Rifle Association.
SAF and NRA are currently fighting the City of Seattle over its illegal gun ban in city parks, which was nullified by a King County Superior Court judge earlier this year, and is now on appeal.
The SAF lawsuit forced the city to “amend” its original handgun law, originally limited to allow only revolvers in private ownership but now open to the registration of semiautomatics as well. At every step, D.C. officials have had to be dragged along, kicking and screaming.
It would also bar city officials from enacting laws that would prohibit guns from being carried in public places (whether concealed or openly brandished), that would diminish the authority of the city's police chief to deny concealed-carry licenses, or that would prohibit city leaders from preventing guns from being taken into city buildings.--Washington Times
Some people on Capitol Hill have had enough. On Tuesday, Senators Jon Tester (D-MT) and John McCain (R-AZ) introduced the Second Amendment Enforcement Act. Companion legislation was unveiled in the House by Reps. Travis Childers (D-MS) and Mark Souder (R-IN). This measure, if passed, would undo onerous registration requirements, prevent the city council from adopting other "designed-to-discourage-ownership" gun laws, and prevent the police chief from denying carry permits essentially on a whim.
The Bellevue-based Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms – SAF’s sister organization – quickly supported the Tester-McCain measure. Tester and McCain, the latter facing a heated primary campaign challenge by conservative former Congressman-turned-radio-host J.D. Hayworth, say their measure is designed to force the District to live up to comply with the 2008 Heller ruling by the Supreme Court.
District officials have stubbornly refused to adopt rational gun regulations that include the right-to-carry for self-defense”—Alan Gottlieb
McCain needs his name on this measure to bolster his credentials in the Arizona race, and even if Congress passes the bill (not likely, since the House of Representatives last week killed the District of Columbia Voting Rights Act because it contained this bill’s pro-gun provisions) it probably would never survive Barack Obama’s veto pen. So the legislation essentially will provide platforms for pro- and anti-gun interests to snipe at one another.
CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb correctly suggested that District officials have been childishly stubborn and that “it is time for grown-ups in Congress to stop this nonsense.”
Chicago Mayor Daley wants to sue gun makers
Chicago’s Mayor Richard Daley, who is also being sued by Bellevue’s SAF, has now extended his anti-gun efforts to the international stage, calling upon officials in other countries to sue American firearms manufacturers in the World Court.
He made the announcement during a press conference with other mayors, including Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, who declared, “I love the Second Amendment. I think I have a First Amendment right not to be shot.”
Nutter may need to explain where that is spelled out in the First Amendment, which reads, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
“I love the Second Amendment. I think I have a First Amendment right not to be shot.”—Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter
Seattle cop sues over S.D. bar shooting aftermath
Lastly – but hardly the last we will hear about this – Seattle police detective Ronald Smith has reportedly filed a lawsuit against the City of Seattle, claiming he was maligned by his own department management after he shot a Hells Angel in August 2008 at a South Dakota bar.
Smith was initially charged with various crimes in relation to the shooting, which left Hells Angel Joseph McGuire wounded. But those charges were later dropped (I wrote about this incident in Gun Week). Smith alleges that former Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske said some unkind things about him in the aftermath of the incident, according to the on-line Seattle Post-Intelligencer. He is also upset that it was initially reported by police investigators that he was armed with an SPD-issued pistol, which was incorrect.
A state's attorney said video of the attack showed Smith was "defending himself from a violent premeditated attack, and he responded in a manner which was neither excessive nor unreasonable."—Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The fight between Smith, a member of the Iron Pigs motorcycle club consisting of police officers and firefighters, and McGuire occurred at the Loud American Roadhouse while Smith and several companions were attending the annual Sturgis motorcycle gathering.
Smith’s account of the events and claim that he acted in self-defense was backed by video of the incident.
Kerlikowske is now the Obama administration’s drug czar, and his stolen 9mm Glock pistol – taken from his department car on a downtown street on Dec. 26, 2004 – remains unaccounted for.
For more info: Second Amendment Foundation. Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. National Rifle Association.
More from Gun Rights Examiners
Atlanta: Ed Stone | Austin: Howard Nemerov | Boston: Ron Bokleman | Charlotte: Paul Valone | Cheyenne: Anthony Bouchard | Chicago: Don Gwinn | Cleveland: Daniel White | DC: Mike Stollenwerk | Denver: Dan Bidstrup | Detroit: Rob Reed | Fort Smith: Steve D. Jones | Knoxville: Liston Matthews | Los Angeles: John Longenecker | Minneapolis: John Pierce | National: David Codrea | Seattle: Dave Workman | St. Louis: Kurt Hofmann | Tucson: Chris Woodard
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Comments
Data point. JD Hayworth was a sportscaster before his initial stint in congress.
The Washington Times uses the term "openly brandished"? Is that what police officers all over the country do every day when they walk down the streets? Openly brandish their guns before the public?
If Daley wins in the "World Court", who's going to enforce their ruling? I think the gun manufacturers would tell Daley and the world court to take a hike.
The American-made automatic weapons being shipped to Mexico are being shipped by the US Government to the Mexican military. No matter how many times the lie about gun-show guns going to Mexico, the number is low.
So the Mayor's position is that the US should go to the World Court to sue the gun makers that sold the guns to the US which it then shipped to Mexico.
Novel approach, that....sue yourself!
Since the "Second Amendment Enforcement Act" is unlikely to see the light of day, I am not going to research it. I applaud the concept, but how does the congress constitutionally override laws and ordinances passed within a state?
riverworld, why do liberals write letters asking questions? How about doing your you own research before commenting?
Det. Smith forgot several important principles: #1 The FIRST law of self defense: Don't be there. (that is, any place where trouble or danger is probable), as Sturgis most certainly is. And closely linked to #1 is: #2 The best gun fight is the one you DON'T go to. And then: #3 You sink to the level of the company you keep. In short, it's hard to have much sympathy for cops who form a biker gang and then go to a bar in Sturgis, where they surely will encounter folks like Hell's Angels. Oh, I know, "It was all in good fun." you say. Phooey! His trouble in Sturgis proves that wrong. His act of self defense may be justified, but he should be fired for stupidity in my opinion. Then he'd be free to be what he apparently wants to be, a thug biker.
Hey Stupid (my,what an accurate cognomen),
#1 ANYWHERE a human can go in the USA, Canada, and the rest of the world, is a PLACE where a gun battle can take place: restaurants, convenience stores, gas stations, Chuck E. Cheese, Walmart, Sears, the local Mall, etc.
#2 Gun fights are, in civilian terms, RARELY pre-supposed and 'pre-evident': in other words, you don't know it's gonna happen until it actually happens most of the time.
#3 "Sink to the level.."? Now you're not being just Stupid, you're also being an abject idiot. A motorcycle CLUB of cops and firefighters is just that, a CLUB, like the chess club, the old time radio club, etc.
A Biker Gang is an entity which sells drugs, guns, slaves, etc.
Just because someone rides a Harley doesn't make them a 'Biker thug' you moron (my apologies to born morons the world over for the comparison), it merely means they like American Iron.
More in my next......
CONT.
4. Your further lack of sanity, common sense, logic, and grasp on reality is seen in your comment about bars in general, bars specifically in Sturgis, and being in any city for that matter.
The logical outcome of your statement concernng Sturgis is that it is somehow a 'evil' town by either its location, its nature, or the fact that is sponsors the largest MC get together in the world.
Again, you're using a Social Progressive mindless paradigm: motorcylces, like guns, are inherently evil, anyone associating/coming in contact with them automatically becomes evil and wants to do evil/unlawful things to others.
Stupid: reject the roach being handed to you and step away from the Bong.
Motorcycles nor guns are evil: nor are the law abiding citizens who use them.
Criminals engage in evil actions: like Biker GANGS, ie, the Hell's Angels.
So....to make sure you're NEVER in a gun fight, using your own 'logic'......
More in my final
Stupid..
....to make sure you're never in a gun fight:
1. Never go into a restaurant
2. Never go into a Mall
3. Never go into a gas station
4. Never go into a convenience store
5. Never go into a bar
6. Never go into a cafe
7. Never go into a doughnut shop
8. Never go into any store
9. Never go into any public building
10. Never ever, ever, ever, go to any place where other people are present.
The above list covers the places where gun fights have occurred, further, they are places where fist fights have occurred, shouting matches have occurred, knife fights have occurred, and in general, where dirty looks are prevalent, discourteous actions are rife, where people are down right rude.....and hence, where strife does and may continue to occur.
Stupid....you most assuredly need to grab the next unmanned space shuttle for the Big Deep and Blackness of Space....cause that's the only place you'll find without humans......uh oh, beware the little green men...they have gu
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