Issue 097
January, 2003

NINTH CIRCUIT RULING RAISES HACKLES

A three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has stirred up a hornet’s nest of controversy with its recent ruling that the Second Amendment does not, in fact, protect an individual right.

Remember this is the same Appeals Court that declared the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional for use in public schools because it contains the words, “under God.” Even Sen. Tom Daschle (D-SD) labelled that ruling “plain nuts.”

Their Second Amendment ruling is another “plain nuts” case. More than a dozen major newspapers published editorials trashing the Court’s Second Amendment ruling and ridiculing the Ninth Circuit for being so out of step with the American people.

The Denver Post even questioned the motives of the Court, noting that the case before it dealt with a technical issue, and did not require any discussion of the Second Amendment’s meaning at all.

The question before the Court was an appeal by gun-rights supporters who had unsuccessfully challenged the validity of California’s 1999 “assault-weapons” ban. They were kicked out of lower courts because they didn’t have standing to bring their lawsuit.

Why not? Because the Ninth Circuit had previously held that the Second Amendment didn’t confer an individual right to own arms, and therefore the plaintiffs’ claims were without merit. So there was no need to revisit that issue at all.

Then why did the Ninth Circuit waste dozens of pages on its lengthy lecture about the Second Amendment not meaning what it says?
As the Denver Post wrote, “The answer seems to be that at least two members of the panel were upset by a 2001 Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals opinion that found the Second Amendment does confer an individual right to keep and bear arms.”

So it was a Ninth Circuit spite fight against other appeals court judges.

The Court’s opinion was written by Judge STEPHEN REINHARDT, asserting that the Fifth Circuit was wrong. “The historical record makes it plain that the amendment was not adopted in order to afford rights to individuals with respect to private gun ownership or possession.” It’s Judge REINHARDT who’s wrong.

The Ninth Circuit relied on “historical” material by Prof. MICHAEL BELLESILES, now discredited as falsified. BELLESILES claimed that early Americans did not own many guns and those they did own were under strict government control. An independent panel investigating BELLESILES work found “prima facie evidence of scholarly misconduct,” prompting his resignation from Emory University.

The Bancroft Prize Bellesiles won has been revoked. (See story on Page 2)

Despite these flaws, the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence predictably praised the Ninth Circuit’s ruling. The Violence Policy Center also cheered: “The Second Amendment does not guarantee an individual right to keep and bear arms,” spokesman MATT NOSANCHUK said. “It’s not a constitutional right.”

Their goal is clearly disarmament of citizens, not violence control.

The case may be headed for the U.S. Supreme Court, which frequently overturns rulings of the Ninth Circuit.

Bellesiles’ prize for anti-gun book revoked

Columbia University’s Board of Trustees has voted to rescind the 2001 Bancroft Prize awarded to anti-gun Professor MICHAEL A. BELLESILES, formerly of Emory University, for his book Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture, citing accusations of scholarly misconduct.

The trustees have also asked that the $4,000 prize money be returned, university spokeswoman EILEEN MURPHY said. This is the first revocation of a Bancroft Prize since it was first awarded in 1948.

The book argued that only a small percentage of people owned firearms in colonial America. It was hailed as a groundbreaking work upon its publication.

But gun rights defenders saw it as a sneaky attempt to discredit the Second Amendment as not applying to individuals. Then professional historians tried to replicate the research and couldn’t find some of BELLESILES’ source documents.

Soon historians began to make accusations of errors and possible misconduct. They didn’t say fraud, but that was what they pointed to.
Emory University became alarmed at the allegations and convened a panel of scholars to examine the book and its sources. Many materials Bellesiles claimed to have used could not be located by the panel’s highly qualified scholars.

The panel issued a long report that strongly criticized BELLESILES and his conduct. Their report accused him of “unprofessional and misleading work” and said that at times it moved “into the realm of falsification.” Strong words.

Bellesiles acknowledged errors and apologized. But he wrote, “I have never fabricated evidence of any kind nor knowingly evaded my responsibilities as a scholar.”

His denial notwithstanding, BELLESILES resigned from Emory University in October, 2002, some say in order to avoid being fired.

The Columbia trustees reached their decision after reviewing other scholars’ assessments, and concluded that BELLESILES “had violated basic norms of scholarship and the high standards expected of Bancroft Prize winners.”

The Columbia trustees issued a statement saying, “The Bancroft Prize, which was first offered in 1948, is to be awarded for works in American history of ‘distinguished merit and distinction.’ The selection criteria for the Prize specify that it ‘should honor only books of enduring worth and impeccable scholarship that make a major contribution to our understanding of the American past.’”

BELLESILES’ book was judged to meet those criteria at first, but lost credibility in the ensuing debate. The Columbia trustees emphasized that their decision was based solely upon the evaluation of the questionable scholarship of the work, and had nothing to do with the book’s content or the author’s point of view.

Today, Arming America is totally discredited.

But back in April, 2001, when Arming America won the Bancroft Prize, MICHAEL BARNES, President of Handgun Control and the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence, wrote, “This award is well-earned...Professor Bellesiles has produced a work of unquestionable historical and societal merit. The National Rifle Association and its allies rely on a mythology about guns and the Second Amendment because they have few legitimate, rational arguments. By exposing the truth about gun ownership in early America, Michael Bellesiles has removed one more weapon in the gun lobby’s arsenal of fallacies against common-sense gun laws.”

Open mouth, insert foot. Well, Mr. Barnes, can gun owners say that Arming America’s disgrace has removed one more weapon in the gun
control lobby’s arsenal?

CALIFORNIA COVERING UP STUDY ON “BULLET FINGERPRINT” STUDY

Actually, it’s a coverup of a coverup. The ballistics imaging computer database proposal introduced this legislative session in California prompted a feasibility study by the state’s Department of Justice.

The DOJ study was very pessimistic about the ability of ballistics imaging, hyped by the media as “bullet fingerprinting,” to help law enforcement by identifying crime weapons.

DOJ experts found that computer bullet sample database matching failed 38 to 62 percent of the time.

State Attorney General BILL LOCKYER didn’t like the results and gagged his own DOJ experts from expressing their professional opinions publicly.

Now a SECOND study is being suppressed because it probably confirms the first. Written by expert JAN DE KINDER in Belgium for LOCKYER, it addressed the DOJ report, but the A.G. won’t let it out, even when media outlets demand it under public records act requests.

NEW JERSEY HAS NEW “SMART GUN” LAW BUT NO WAY TO ENFORCE IT

New Jersey’s first-in-the-nation “smart gun” law requires that handguns eventually use technology that would allow only their owners to fire them.

The catch is that the technology - which includes fingerprint recognition, gun sensors and magnetic coding - doesn’t exist yet.

In fact, the law won’t take effect until three years after the state attorney general deems the technology ready for commercial distribution.

Passing such a law years ahead of reality is transparent political posturing for the gun control crowd, which applauded Gov. JAMES E. McGREEVEY at the State House bill signing in Trenton. “It’s a smart law,” Gov. McGREEVEY said.

MARYLAND’S DE FACTO HANDGUN BAN IN EFFECT

As of the first of this month, all handguns sold in Maryland are required to contain an “integrated mechanical safety device,” able to prevent the firearm from being discharged unless deactivated. Handguns without such devices are now banned from sale. Only handguns are affected by this new law, not rifles and shotguns.

The problem is that major handgun makers are not compliant and consumers will be surprised to find they cannot buy their preferred firearm, according to the Maryland Licensed Firearms Dealers Association. It will be a de facto gun ban.

Maryland’s Handgun Roster Board has approved the following systems: Taurus International; Springfield Armory; Heckler & Koch; Saf-T-Trigger; Ghost Block (for Glock); and Aldo Uberti (1 model).

The impact of the new law will not be felt for several months as current dealer inventories run out.

TOLEDO CITY COUNCIL EXTENDS BAN ON SMALL HANDGUNS

The ban on low-cost self-defense handguns was extended by the Toledo, Ohio City Council in a close vote.
The council was tied 6 to 6 and Mayor JACK FORD broke the tie to repeal a sunset provision that would have allowed the city’s handgun ban to expire Jan. 27, 2003. The ordinance has resulted in only one arrest since 2000.

FORD said he may propose changes to the ordinance passed in 1999, especially to allow smaller self-defense guns in homes “for folks with some impairment.” Handguns that meet Toledo’s current legal requirements tend to be large and heavy.

WILMINGTON MAYOR VETOES GUN REGISTRATION LAW

JAMES M. BAKER, Mayor of Wilmington, Delaware, has vetoed a bill to require city residents to register their guns. The City Council passed the measure 9-3.

Bill sponsor, Councilman Norman M. Oliver, couldn’t get enough votes, and said he will not ask the council to override Baker’s veto, so there will be no efforts to register guns in the city anytime soon.

The bill would have required handguns, rifles and shotguns to be registered.

In The Courts:

SAF URGES DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA TO DROP GUN BAN AFTER COURT TROUNCING

Now that a federal judge has dismissed Washington, D.C.’s lawsuit against the firearms industry, the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) is urging the city to do away with its ban on handguns.

The city’s suit against Beretta USA, Smith & Wesson and others alleged that gun makers posed a “public nuisance” and sought reimbursement for police work, Medicaid costs and other crime expenses.

D.C. Superior Court Judge Cheryl Long recently ruled that the lawsuit was so fundamentally flawed and unpersuasive that it failed to meet standards for further action.

SAF pointed out that the District has the toughest gun control laws in America, yet it still ranks at or near the top for violent crime. Getting rid of the gun ban would allow people to defend themselves and cut crime, says SAF.

WILMINGTON LAWSUIT AGAINST FIREARMS MAKERS DISMISSED

Superior Court Judge Fred S. Silverman has dismissed Wilmington, Delaware’s lawsuit against the firearm industry. His decision said, “Handgun violence is a scourge. But as much as the court would support efforts to reduce the problem, the court will not twist a jury trial involving municipal costs into a wildly expensive referendum on handgun control. The Mayor and the City must find another means to their ends.”

Wilmington Mayor JAMES M. BAKER then announced that officials will not appeal the dismissal and instead wrote to the former defendants asking for cooperation instead of litigation in eliminating criminal possession and use of firearms.

LAWRENCE G. KEANE, vice president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, and a defendant in the case, praised the city’s decision and said he would accept BAKER’s invitation. This is one to watch.

ANTI-GUN LAWSUIT FINANCIER FOUND GUILTY OF INSIDER TRADING

The Financial Times has reported that a French court found international investor and the money man behind the anti-gun FREDDIE HAMILTON lawsuit, GEORGE SOROS, guilty of insider trading during a takeover battle for one of France’s largest banks.

SOROS helped fund FREDDIE HAMILTON’s lawsuit in New York. HAMILTON’s son was killed by a bullet intended for another person, and the shooter was acquitted at a criminal trial. HAMILTON then claimed gun manufacturers were negligent in distributing a dangerous product.

HAMILTON won when United States District Court Judge JACK B. WEINSTEIN rendered a judgment against gun manufacturers. Subsequently, the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sent the case to the New York Court of Appeals, which overturned Judge WEINSTEIN’s ruling.

Financial guru SOROS will have to pay a €2.2 million ($2.3 million) fine, the amount that he earned from his insider knowledge regarding an attempt to take over the private French bank Société Général 14 years ago.

U.S. SUPREME COURT BLOCKS FELON GUN RIGHTS RESTORATION

Felons cannot go straight to court to get their gun rights restored, according to a recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Justices didn’t get into the constitutional arguments, but ruled unanimously that courts can intervene only after the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has rejected a request.

However, Congress has barred the BATF from considering such requests, and the high court’s message to appellant THOMAS BEAN was: too bad.

BEAN became a convicted felon in Mexico by possessing 200 rounds of ammunition in his car during a dinner trip across the border four years ago.

BEAN’s only recourse now is to return to lower courts to argue that the Mexican conviction does not classify him as a felon in the United States.

Felons may not own guns, but can ask the government for exceptions.

Canada Goes Ballistic

GUN REGISTRATION PROTESTERS ARRESTED IN OTTAWA PROTES

At Canada’s Parliament Hill Peace Tower, a 200-strong demonstration against mandatory gun registration came to a rowdy end on New Year’s day when police arrested JIM TURNBULL, who organized the protest. He was arrested when someone brought him part of a gun, known as a receiver.

TURNBULL is head of the Canadian Unregistered Firearms Owners Association. Mounties arrested him and another man for having a firearm in a public place or gathering, a Criminal Code offense punishable by up to six months imprisonment and a $2,000 fine. As police pushed TURNBULL into a cruiser, dozens of supporters crowded in and taunted police with cries of “Shame, Shame.”

Gun-control opponent ED HUDSON, of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, was charged with the same offense after turning himself in at the police station. TURNBULL and HUDSON were later released.

Demonstrators said the fact the RCMP didn’t charge TURNBULL and HUDSON under the Firearms Act for not registering their guns was a moral victory and proved the registry is ineffective.

The arrest capped off a protest in front of Ottawa’s eternal flame, where a handful of the 200 demonstrators flouted the law by setting ablaze their gun registration forms, gun licenses, and Bill C-68 — the contentious piece of legislation requiring gun owners to register all rifles and shotguns.

ALLISTER MUIR, a deer hunter from Stellarton, Nova Scotia, was one of the first protesters to step up to the plate and burn his registration form as the Peace Tower chimed at 12:30 p.m.

“There are questions on this that violate my constitutional right to privacy and I can’t in good conscience fill this out,” declared the 46-year-old pizzeria owner.

At the demonstration, protesters marched to the locked front door of Parliament’s Centre Block and deposited a declaration to Prime Minister JEAN CHRETIEN serving notice that they will break the law. Among other things, the declaration denounced the registry as a “colossal waste” that does not make Canadians safer.

The Canadian Firearms Centre says 1.4 million firearms owners had registered 5.7 million weapons. There are believed to be at least eight million firearms in the country.

Gun owners were recently given ammunition against the registry when Auditor General SHEILA FRASER reported the registry faces a staggering cost overrun of nearly $1 billion. Original estimates in the mid-1990s pegged the cost of the registry at about $2 million. Critics are claiming the actual amount will be $1.5 to $2 billion.

Fraser’s damning report prompted Justice Minister MARTIN CAUCHON to temporarily freeze all additional funding.

Canada has never seen civil disobedience on such a massive scale. More than 200,000 otherwise law-abiding Canadians are now officially criminals.

The non-compliance rate with the new gun registration law is stunning:

Licensing non-compliance, 70%.

Registration non-compliance, 80% +.

70% of licensed handgun owners have not registered their handguns.

530,000 licensed gun owners have not registered their long guns.

Previously, gun owners had to get a separate license by the start of 2001, and 1.9 million out of an estimated 2.3 million total complied,
according to the Canadian Firearms Centre that runs the program. That’s probably optimistic.

A 1989 shooting that killed 14 women at a Montreal engineering school was the catalyst for the lobbying campaign that led to adoption of the program.

Opponents say it targets law-abiding hunters and other gun owners while failing to reduce the availability of guns for criminals.

Gun control advocates say more time is needed to determine if the system works despite the strong evidence it’s a total failure.

Around The World

UNITED KINGDOM TRYING FIREARMS AMNESTY AND STIFF PENALTIES

A gun turn-in amnesty is part of the latest British effort to cope with a record number of gun crimes in a country that already bans most guns.
In addition, new laws have outlawed carrying replica firearms and imposed a minimum five-year jail sentence for being caught with a gun.
A national guns database and tracing agency are also to be set up.

The effectiveness of a gun amnesty is questionable, since a previous amnesty netted only 60,000 guns handed over to police and left unknown hundreds of thousands in circulation.

JAPANESE MAN HOLDS HOSTAGES AT GUNPOINT

A man upset by his bank’s refusal to forgive a large loan held four bank employees hostage for 17 hours at gunpoint in the city of Kyoto.
The man, aged about 60, whose named was not released by police, surrendered after persistent efforts to give himself up. He had been a director of a real estate firm that went bankrupt in 1991 with a debt to the bank of about $7.59 million. He was angry that the Kyoto Chuo Shinkin Bank would not forgive the debt.

Japan has a total ban on handguns, and yet this man was able to stage an armed standoff for 17 hours with four hostages, indicating that gun bans don’t work.

HANDGUN IMPORTS CURTAILED BY AUSTRALIA

Australian Justice Minister Chris Ellison recently reported that new government regulations have been implemented to restrict certain handguns and handgun parts to sports shooters.

The new regulations allow the importation of handguns of a caliber less than .38, a barrel length of greater than 120mm for a semi-automatic handgun and 100mm for a revolver or single shot handgun and handguns with a capacity of less than 10 rounds.

The new regulations were agreed to at a recent Council of Australian Governments meeting, which amended the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations 1956.

UGANDA BEING DISARMED BY UNITED NATIONS

The Ugandan government is making it impossible for their citizens to own guns in order to fulfill the U.N. “Nairobi Declaration” to reduce “the demand and supply of illegal firearms.” The Ugandan National Focal Point agency, which handles international agreements, has responsibility for the task.

The problem is that the action promotes genocide: the Karamojong, a pastoral cattle herding people, make up only three percent of Uganda’s population, and are traditionally under constant attack by well-armed neighboring cattle rustlers. The new rules will virtually guarantee the death of the Karamojong, since Uganda has no strong central government to protect them and they will have no weapons for self-defense.

The new regulations were announced by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

ARGENTINE STORE-OWNERS STOCKED UP ON GUNS FOR CHRISTMAS

Some Argentine supermarket owners stocked something new this Christmas season: guns, in case their stores were overrun by hungry looters like they were Christmas in 2001.

The looting and riots then killed 27 people and toppled the government of President Fernando De la Rua and threw the formerly prosperous nation further down into its worst financial crisis ever.

Christmas 2002 had its protest demonstrations and angry marchers demanding the ouster of the new government. But protests remained mostly peaceful.

Part of it was a stabilizing economy. But perhaps looters also knew that some of their targets might be fighting back this time.

GUN NEWS TICKER - QUICK TAKES ON THE NEWS

Indiana: Newly elected Lake County Sheriff Roy Dominguez wants to melt down the infamous Colt Thompson submachine gun John Dillinger stole after a brazen 1934 jail escape. Dominguez is no fan of Dillinger because he killed a cop. “Giving it notoriety continues the glorification of John Dillinger, which I think is wrong,” said the Sheriff. “I would consider melting it down or find another way to properly dispose of it.”

New York: 69-year-old comic Joan Rivers allegedly threw a marker pen at a female Dollar Rent A Car clerk during a recent incident. Detectives said a videotape showed Rivers “flicking” the marker toward 38-year-old Griselda Santana, who was treated for an eyelid contusion, but hasn’t decided whether to file charges. If Rivers is arrested, her famous permit to carry guns - with two firearms registered in her married name, Joan Rosenberg - the license will be suspended. Sources quoted Rivers as saying “Don’t you know who the f--- I am? How could you let me wait on line?” Rivers may soon be Gunless Joan.

Rio de Janiero, Brazil: Jane Selma Soares was shot in the chest in crossfire between police and drug dealers, but her silicone breast implants saved her life. A doctor who treated her at the emergency hospital said she would have been fatally injured without the breast implants. A plastic surgeon called to repair the damage took the opportunity to increase the size of Mrs. Soares’ breasts with more silicone. She said, “I’m twice happy, first because my prosthesis saved my life and also because now I look even more beautiful.”

Sydney, Australia: Justice Minister Chris Ellison announced that armed Australian air marshals will soon patrol Qantas flights to and from Indonesia after successful negotiations to allow undercover air marshals to fly in foreign skies. The program began on domestic Australian flights almost a year ago, after the Bali nightclub bombing that killed mostly Australian tourists, but agreement was held up until now by arguments over the use of firearms on foreign soil.

Spokane, Washington: Thirty high school students recently went to a shooting range where they learned gun safety under instruction from Spokane County Sheriff’s Deputies. It was part of the “Venturing Program” run by the Boy Scouts of America, which places the teens in camping adventures, winter survival lessons and ski trips. They learned gun safety and also came away with a greater respect for law enforcement.

Panama City, Florida: 17-year-old Kristofer Mark Walker was arrested recently, and now faced a charge of possession of a firearm on school grounds after a School Resource Deputy found a Remington 12-gauge shotgun in his truck on the Rutherford High campus. Walker says he forgot about it after a weekend hunting trip. “A third degree felony for leaving a gun in a truck, forgetting about it, ’cause you went hunting the day before, that’s a little bit steep,” says Anthony Grainger, a longtime hunter from Washington County. “He’s a 17-year-old kid, cut him a little slack.” Walker has been suspended from school for 10 days and recommended for expulsion.

Scranton, Pennsylvania: Lackawanna County Judge Vito Geroulo has granted the motion of Patrol Officer Ted Schmidt to withdraw a 6-year-old guilty plea that threatened his career because it involved domestic violence. A month after Officer Schmidt admitted simple assault in an incident with his girlfriend, a federal law took effect banning anyone who commits domestic violence from having a gun. The law was retroactive. Officer Schmidt was given desk jobs, including reconstructing traffic accidents. A police officers’ certification committee pressured for Schmidt’s firing, but waited until the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on whether it was legal to make the domestic-violence law retroactive. It was. Subsequently, Officer Schmidt’s girlfriend changed her story, claiming she was mentally ill during the earlier incident and lied. The two are living together again, so the District Attorney’s office cannot prosecute for lack of a complainant.

SELF-DEFENSE STORIES FLOOD THE MEDIA

A 66-year-old homeowner in Southern California pulled a gun on two armed men who broke into his home, shooting one to death and injuring the other early Christmas morning.

When San Bernardino County Sheriff’s deputies arrived the scene, they found Antonio Guerra, 23, of Barstow, dead from a gunshot wound to the head. Guerra was armed with a handgun. Guerra’s alleged accomplice, Jesse Tafoya, 24, also of Barstow, sought medical attention for a gunshot wound at Barstow Community Hospital about an hour after the attempted burglary.

The Sheriff’s Department withhold the name of the homeowner for his protection, and will not prosecute him because he acted in self defense.

In Houston, Texas, a would-be robber pulled a gun on a convenience store owner and his victim fought back. The clerk had a gun in his pocket and he shot first, hitting the suspect twice in the chest. Doctors expect the suspect to survive.

Police indicated they would not press charges against the clerk because he acted in self defense.

In Memphis, Tennessee, a robber waited in line to be served at a Subway sandwich shop, got his sandwich, then pointed a long-barreled gun at the proprietor and robbed the cash register.

As the robber fled out the door the proprietor following him with a gun and fired several shots. The robber dropped his sandwich, collapsed to the ground about 30 feet from the door, and died.

Detectives consulting with the District Attorney General’s Office said that it is unlikely any charges will be filed against the Subway shop proprietor.

In New York City, Ronald Dixon, 27, a navy veteran, woke one early morning to find a man going through drawers in Dixon’s baby son’s bedroom.

Dixon grabbed a pistol from his closet and then confronted the man, who resisted. Dixon then shot the man, identified by police as Ivan Thompson, once in the chest and once in the groin.

Thompson was in critical but stable condition at Brookdale University Medical Center. He was arrested on a burglary charge.
However, Dixon was arrested on criminal possession of a weapon because his gun was not registered in New York.

Clearly, no crime victim in New York will go unpunished.