CCRKBA just before the elections
last month called on the Federal
Election Commission to investigate
whether the Brady Campaign
to Prevent Gun Violence violated
FEC regulations and Federal Election
Campaign laws by advocating
the election of federal candidates
in communications to the general
public. “For at least the past two
weeks,” noted CCRKBA Chairman
Alan M. Gottlieb in early November,
“the Brady Campaign has been
sending out endorsements over
the U.S. Newswire for public consumption.
Each one of the Brady
Campaign’s news releases had
to be paid for, and this amounts
to the organization promoting the
election of candidates to federal office
through paid advertising…We
haven’t forgotten that in 2003 the
Brady Campaign was fined $23,000
by the FEC for failing to report
$200,000 in expenditures on mailings
during 2000 that opposed the
reelection of two Republican House
candidates.”
Lake County, Indiana Superior
Court Judge Robert Pete ruled
in late October that the city of
Gary may proceed with its lawsuit
against 16 gun manufacturers and
six Indiana gun dealers, according
to a Cybercast News Service
(CNSNews.com) report. The case,
which dates back to 1999, stems
from a police sting of six Indiana
gun dealers accused of selling
firearms to undercover officers
posing as straw purchasers. The
city of Gary also sued major gun
manufacturers that sold handguns
through the dealerships, accusing
them of profiting from the diversion
of guns to criminals. Some
claimed the decision contravened
the Protection of Lawful Commerce
in Arms Act, enacted to protect the
gun industry from harassing lawsuits
stemming from the criminal
misuse of their products. Pete let
the case proceed to trial because
he felt it fell within an exception
to the law. Lawrence G. Keane,
Senior Vice President and General
Counsel of the National Shooting
Sports Foundation, said NSSF will
appeal Pete’s decision.
“Self-defense isn’t a privilege,”
declared CCRKBA Chairman Alan
M. Gottlieb, “it’s a right!” Gottlieb
was responding to a suggestion by
anti-gun New York Mayor Michael
Bloomberg that citizens in his city
don’t “need” gun permits. “There
goes Mikey again,” said Gottlieb.
“He still thinks there’s a ‘Bill of
Needs’ instead of a Bill of Rights.
Where did he get the arrogant notion
that people need to ask him
to exercise their rights, especially
the right of self-defense…Gun
owners across the country should
remember that this is what Mikey
has in mind for the entire nation.
He would have every law-abiding
armed citizen give up their firearms
for no other reason than the fact
that he doesn’t think people need
guns for personal protection. I
thought the Mayor lives in New York
City, but I was wrong. He lives in
La-La Land.”
An armed Tennessee business
owner who decided to stay
at his establishment overnight
one evening in late October had
an unwelcome visitor early in the
morning, reported the Tri-Cities
Times News. According to the Sullivan
County Sheriff’s Department,
Kenneth Harville, owner of Kenny’s
Bait and Tackle on Highway 75,
was awakened by the sound of
breaking glass at about 3 A.M. He
reached the front of his store as a
white male was climbing through
a broken window near the cash
register. The burglar then started
yelling to someone outside the
business that someone was in the
store. As the suspect crawled out
the window, Harville fired one round
towards him. According to police,
the unknown white male got into a
light colored vehicle that someone
else was driving and fled towards
Blountville.
Hollywood couple Ashton
Kutcher and Demi Moore keeps
guns in their Idaho home to protect
themselves and the actress’ three
daughters, according to a World
Entertainment News Network report.
Kutcher owns a Springfield
handgun while Moore has been
trained in the use of a semiautomatic
Glock handgun. The guns
are locked away at the couple’s
home in Hailey, Idaho, but are kept
within easy reach in case intruders
should appear on the scene.