gun control

The state of North Carolina is considering legislation that will lift the ban on concealed, loaded guns in bars, restaurants, and public parks. Sign a postcard here to tell the NC Legislature that Guns and Alcohol Don't Mix!

Bi-partisan, or bi-polar?

AN ACT to repeal the state law that requires a person to obtain a license or permit to purchase, sell, give away, receive, or otherwise transfer a pistol or crossbow.

I keep looking at my calendar to make sure it's not April 1st. It's not. It's strange enough that a cop would be a primary sponsor of this bill, but when I saw a recent candidate for NCDP Chair had co-sponsored this craziness, my brain just sort of slipped into neutral and revved for a few moments.

From the Des Moines Register:

A snafu during a legislative debate where a microphone was turned on captured banter between two Iowa GOP leaders, who also joked about a “give-a-handgun-to-a-schizophrenic bill.”

Republicans this week revived a proposal that would allow Iowans to carry weapons in public without permission from a sheriff, without background checks and without training requirements.

The legislation, House Study bill 219, is known as “Alaska carry,” which is law in Alaska, Arizona, Vermont and Wyoming. Rep. Erik Helland, R-Johnston, is listed as one of the three legislators on a subcommittee assigned the bill.

Behold.

Transcript after the jump.

Not a designation of which to be proud:

A Charlotte gun dealer ranked second in the nation in a list of stores selling guns later linked to crimes, according to data published Monday by The Washington Post.

More than 2,000 guns sold by Charlotte's Hyatt Coin and Gun, at 3332 Wilkinson Blvd., were classified as "crime guns" recovered by police since 2006, according to federal data.

Just the fact that these guns could be tracked back to the dealer probably pisses off the more extreme gun nuts, but here is the pat response from one of the GOLO crowd:

Justice Brady gets it right this time:

North Carolina's Supreme Court has upheld a state law that bars felons from possessing firearms, reining in a controversial ruling that made an exception for a nonviolent felon. The court ruled Friday that a 2004 state law barring convicted felons from having a gun did not unconstitutionally punish felons.

The high court ruled last year that the no-guns law could not be applied to a Wake County man convicted of felony drug possession in 1979. The man's right to own a gun had later been restored.

Here's the decision, which will give me something to read on my flight today.

The data is in, and it doesn't look good:

A study due to be released this week by a coalition called Mayors Against Illegal Guns uses previously unavailable federal gun data to identify what it says are the states that most often export guns used in crimes across state lines.

The study also seeks to draw a link between gun trafficking and gun control laws by analyzing gun restrictions in all 50 states in areas like background checks for gun purchases, policies on concealed weapons permits and state inspections of gun dealers. It finds that, across the board, those states with less restrictive gun laws exported guns used in crimes at significantly higher rates than states with more stringent laws.

Apparently Latinos look and act like deer, especially on the last day of the season:

North Carolina could issue a few words of advice on being more cautious to the hunter who shot and killed a man he mistook for a deer.

But the state can do nothing to keep him from going back into the woods with a gun, or even require additional training, officials said following the trial and acquittal of Kyle Keith.

New York (FNS)—In an effort to help dispel concerns of racism, Terri Stocke, President of the Second Amendment March, agreed to coordinate with members of the Reverend Al Sharpton’s National Action Network and the Reverend Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow/Push Coalition in an effort to encourage more members of the Black community to bear arms and to carry them publicly.

In return, members of the Black community have agreed to flood the 2nd Amendment March, scheduled for April 19, 2010, in Washington, DC, with hundreds of thousands of heavily armed residents of Chicago’s South Side and New York City’s Harlem and Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhoods.

It is disturbing to read that a cult militia sought to arm themselves with deadly weapons and to train its members to kill scores of people, including law enforcement officials, based on a sick and twisted interpretation of the Christian faith.

Their arrest is more proof that home-grown hate groups can easily arm themselves with some of the most deadly artillery available, such as military-style assault weapons, powerful handguns and other dangerous tools of mass destruction.

As an economic crisis drives fear and heat to a boiling pitch, we depend on sensible federal gun laws to prevent dangerous hate groups from possessing the deadly weapons they need to terrorize.

First the District of Columbia, now Chicago:

The justices will be deciding whether the right to possess guns guaranteed by the Second Amendment - like much of the rest of the Bill of Rights - applies to states as well as the federal government. It's widely believed they will say it does.

The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence is urging the court not to do anything that would prevent state and local governments "from enacting the reasonable laws they desire and need to protect their families and communities from gun violence."