(We are pleased to post the following alert from Freedom States Alliance affiliate, the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence).

ICHV Insights by Father Michael Pfleger

July 1, 2009

Gun violence has always been an issue, but in the last ten years, I've watched it become more of an epidemic. It has grown to a new and frightening level. In some communities, murder and shooting of youth is to be expected.

Role of Gun Industry

Why is this happening? Well, the culture of violence has become acceptable in America. Violence has also been glorified by videos and music. It's also important to realize that the NRA has encouraged guns to be part of America's wardrobe in the name of fear. Anyone can get a gun.

When we take a closer look, we can see that the NRA is the lobbyist for gun manufacturers -- but not for gun owners. It's really about business. It's like the tobacco industry. Eventually, that industry started targeting younger and younger people.

The gun industry reaches an astounding number of illegal consumers -- and many of them are young. For example, I can go to any high school in the city and students will say they know where they can find a gun. Without a doubt, the gun industry has promoted the kind of easy access to guns that makes this possible.

Of course, the gun industry tries to paint this issue with a wide brush by saying that anyone who challenges it is criticizing the second amendment. What they don't tell you, though, is that you can be for the second amendment and still realize that the gun industry is pushing guns on us in a way that is hurting our neighborhoods and children.

Broad Effects of Gun Violence

What can we do? Some say that guns are not the problem -- you have to change people's behavior. I say that you have to teach children to make the right decisions -- but also focus on the very real gun problem that plagues our society.

We are not dealing with the broader effects of violence. A child gets killed, and everyone connected to that child is affected. What about the children? Who sits in the classroom where that child sat? And what about the children all around the neighborhood? Now, when you visit communities, our new historical landmarks are murder sites. Now, the prayer is not that children avoid illness -- but that they don't get killed. Children are afraid to go to school and afraid to come home from school; fear greets you in the morning, and in the afternoon.

We need to have a different approach to our schools. We teach about the health costs of smoking and disease; let's also teach children about the impact of guns and violence. We must also support conflict resolution programs and other efforts that can be effective.

It's also about resources. When a mother or father or school system sees a young person who is in a potentially violent state or situation, we must provide resources that help prevent what could happen. I have talked to so many principals who say "We saw it coming." I ask: "Then why didn't we try to help that child more?" They always say: "There's not enough resources."

Facing the Race Issue

Meanwhile, there is a context to this violence that far too few people are willing to talk about: the response and reaction of our society to violence is always affected by class and race. Why do you think there was a lack of response to Katrina, but a rapid response when homes were hit by wildfire in California? Earlier this year, we watched our nation authorize a billion for the development of a new swine flu vaccine. When will our country release funding and take the necessary legislative steps to deal with gun violence?

Violence against our children has become acceptable because the biggest number of children who are victims are black and brown. If 38 white children were the victims of gun violence, there would be a national response and outcry. How many shootings at a Virginia Tech, Columbine or Northern Illinois University have to happen in white rural and suburban communities before people care about the bigger picture?

Looking Ahead

Still, we are making some progress on this issue. We have partnerships with handgun groups, some faith leaders in the city and beyond, some legislators, parents who have lost their children to violence and, in Chicago, the mayor. We are seeing positive responses from many people in our neighborhoods. As we connect and organize people in our communities who are concerned about this issue, they don't feel alone. They feel empowered.

At the same time, there is a greater majority that is either silent or afraid, and until this majority becomes engaged on this issue, we will be like voices crying in the wilderness. I believe there are enough people out there to support laws that mandate universal background checks on guns, limit the number of guns people can purchase, and make sure other key gun control laws are passed. But we need to hear from them.

In the end, this is a comprehensive problem that demands a comprehensive response. Our neighbors, our legislators, our schools, our neighborhoods -- together we can make a difference. We can change the current of the river.

Father Michael Pfleger is the pastor of Saint Sabina Catholic Church in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood on Chicago's South Side. He is well-known for being a social activist on a range of issues, including gun violence.

(We are pleased to post the following press release from our Freedom States Alliance affiliate, the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence).

For Immediate Release

Contact: Toby Hoover, ocagv@yahoo.com

Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence Calls On Religious Leaders To Speak Out Over Gun Lobby’s Immoral Agenda

(Toledo, OH, June 29, 2009) – The Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence released the following statement in response to the Northwest Baptist Church’s gun rally in Toledo, OH scheduled for Monday night, June 29. The Northwest Baptist Church is falsely claiming that the Bible and Jesus Christ support Christians arming themselves with deadly firearms.

Toby Hoover, the Executive Director of the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence said in response:

“It is an embarrassment to people of faith that pray for peace and non-violence to have gun proponents use a house of worship to encourage the ownership and defend the use of weapons.

“Firearms are not sacred relics of worship. They are tools of violence- lethal products designed to kill and injure human beings, to destroy lives, and cause terror in our communities.

“Guns allow a person to decide who lives and who dies. It is absolutely immoral to suggest that the Bible supports violence. We need to reduce gun violence, not use fear to divide and distract us to the suffering caused by our gun culture.

“The gun lobby and gun industry like to disguise their radical and extremist agenda by hiding behind the flag, and now the Bible. People’s lives and safety should matter more than a radical and violent ideology purported by the gun lobby.

“The Northwest Baptist Church’s gun rally is an insult to all faiths, religions, and the human community to which we all belong. We call on all members of the faith community to speak out about this dangerous agenda. It is absolutely vital that we not allow the gun lobby to hijack our sacred spaces of worship as they have done to our public places. Our families and children are less safe because of the proliferation of deadly and loaded guns being carried in public, both openly and concealed.

“We need to honor our values by reducing the access to these tools of violence and not promote weapons and fear if we are ever to reclaim a peaceful and just society. “

For more information visit www.ohioceasefire.org

A Virginia murder-suicide was reported on June 29th:

Henry County, VA-- Investigators in Henry County are working a triple shooting death and arson case. Officers say around 12:17am Sunday, they were called to a home on Wilhaven Lane in Axton VA. in reference to a shooting.

Timothy Carter, age 22, of Radford University, told them his father had summoned him to the home. When he arrived he said his father, William Ronald Carter Sr., tricked him into coming to the basement of the home. As he was going down stairs his father shot him in the back. Carter told deputies his father shot him again as he tried to escape.

A neighbor, Deborah Akers, says Timothy banged on her door a little around midnight on Saturday. She says he was bleeding from the neck and back where his father shot him.

Akers says Timothy told her he played dead to trick his Dad, and then once he thought he could get away, he ran. That is when he was shot a second time. Akers says she held towels to Carter's wounds until emergency responders arrived.

When investigators arrived on the scene they found the house had been set on fire. The Axton Volunteer Fire Department responded to the scene along with Stone Ambulance Service, Axton Rescue Squad and the Virginia State Police. The fire is considered Arson and is being investigated by the Fire Marshal.

William Ronald Carter Senior, 56, his wife, Bonnie Williams Carter, 56, were found shot to death in the basement of the home. The body of their son, William Ronald Carter Junior, 29 of Danville VA, was also found shot to death in the basement.

The investigation has revealed William Ronald Carter shot his wife and sons. A combination rifle/shotgun was recovered from the scene.

Timothy Carter was transported to the Memorial Hospital of Martinsville and Henry County. He was transferred Baptist Hospital in Winston Salem North Carolina. He is listed in fair condition.

It is absolutely ridiculous that in the U.S. there are more restrictions on switchblades than on firearms, even though guns kill an estimated 30,000 people every year. Now the gun lobby is pushing its agenda to stop the Homeland Security Department from regulating knives.

According to Congressional Quarterly on June 29th:

The National Rifle Association strikes fear in politicians and bureaucrats who might be tempted to restrict gun sales.

Now it’s warning the Department of Homeland Security that it also won’t tolerate efforts to restrict knife imports.

The spat centers on a decision by Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection division last month to classify knives that can be opened with one hand as switchblades — even if they don’t open with the simple press of a button, the method best understood in popular culture. The sparsely worded announcement said the department was planning to revoke previous guidance to manufacturers that knives that open with the help of spring mechanisms are not switchblades.

Customs spokeswoman Jenny Burke said in a statement that the agency had in the past issued conflicting rules — some permitting spring-loaded knives, others forbidding them — and that the rule change would clarify the agency’s stance. “Health and public safety concerns” were an important consideration in banning the knives, she added.

But in an e-mail message sent to members earlier this month, the NRA warned that the proposal “could make hundreds of millions of knives, now in regular use, illegal” — and in so doing adversely affect hunters.

The American Knife and Tool Institute (AKTI), a trade group, and Knife Rights, which says it represents individual knife owners, are lobbying to block the proposal. The institute’s lobbyist, J. Nicole Bivens Collinson of Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, has pressed lawmakers to weigh in, and last week more than 80 House members, led by Republican Bob Latta of Ohio and Democrat Walt Minnick of Idaho, signed a letter asking Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to reconsider the proposal.

“We’re struggling to understand the rationale for this, because there’s been no rash of crime having to do with folding knives,” says David Kowalski, the AKTI spokesman. Nor, Kowalski says, is there any evidence that the knives pose a safety hazard. The institute claims that about four in five new knives sold in this country would fall under the switchblade definition, including such ubiquitous models as the Swiss Army knife.

Congress banned switchblade imports half a century ago, and the commonly accepted definition of “switchblade,” the institute says, is a knife that’s concealed in its handle but springs into view with the press of a button. The knives at the center of this dispute typically require the user to pull the blade 30 degrees away from the handle by hand before a spring takes over.

The knifemakers say the ruling promises to be especially galling in overturning guidance issued to one manufacturer just last summer indicating that its spring-loaded knife would be “permitted unrestricted entry into the United States.”

And while the Customs ruling, if finalized, would affect only imports, knifemakers fear the precedent could spread to the domestic knife market. That’s because, under the 1958 switchblade law, anyone who “knowingly introduces, or manufactures for introduction, into interstate commerce, or transports or distributes in interstate commerce, any switchblade knife,” shall be fined or imprisoned, or both.

(We are pleased to post the following press release from CeaseFire PA).

For Immediate Release

June 18, 2009

Contact: Joe Grace, joe.grace@ceasefirepa.org

Victory For Other PA Cities that Have Passed Lost Or Stolen Handgun Ordinances

HARRISBURG – A Pennsylvania appellate court today allowed Philadelphia’s lost or stolen handgun reporting ordinance to stand, rejecting a challenge by the gun lobby and giving new hope to a growing, statewide coalition of cities, mayors, City Councils and citizens who have taken action to pass this common sense reform into law.

By a 6-1 decision, the Commonwealth Court struck down two Philadelphia gun ordinances, one dealing with straw purchases, one dealing with assault weapons, ruling that these laws were pre-empted by state laws regulating firearms.

However, the Court also affirmed a lower Philadelphia court decision that had rejected a challenge brought by plaintiffs backed by the gun industry to three other Philadelphia ordinances. Those three laws dealt with lost or stolen handgun reporting; restricting access to guns where a protection from abuse order is involved; and restricting access to firearms where an individual is an imminent danger to themselves or others.

The Commonwealth Court ruled the gun industry-backed plaintiffs lacked any standing to challenge those three ordinances, and affirmed the lower court decision which allowed those ordinances to remain valid.

“This is a significant decision,” said Joe Grace, executive director of CeaseFirePA, the state’s largest gun violence prevention organization. “This decision means lost or stolen handgun reporting remains law in Philadelphia – and it means it remains law in seven other cities and towns across Pennsylvania that have passed similar ordinances. It’s a victory for common sense.”

Allentown, Reading, Pottsville, Pittsburgh, Lancaster, Harrisburg, and Wilkinsburg have all passed lost or stolen handgun reporting ordinances into law in recent months, and the movement by Mayors, City Councils, police chiefs and citizens across the Commonwealth in support of this reasonable reform is growing in intensity every day. These eight cities and towns passing lost or stolen handgun reporting laws collectively represent 2 million Pennsylvanians.

In its decision today, the Commonwealth Court cited earlier holdings which have held that “the regulation of firearms is a matter of concern in all of Pennsylvania, not merely in Philadelphia,” and that the state General Assembly is the “proper forum” for imposing gun regulations.

“We agree with the Commonwealth Court,” Grace said. “We’ve said all along that gun violence is a statewide problem – not a Philadelphia problem. And the issue of reporting lost or stolen handguns to the police is an issue that must be resolved by the Pennsylvania General Assembly. This decision today reaffirms our position. Our focus remains the same - to bring this growing, statewide coalition of cities, towns, Mayors, City Council members, police chiefs, faith leaders, citizens and others to the General Assembly to demand that they pass lost or stolen handgun reporting as a common sense reform to protect every Pennsylvanian.”

# ##

(We are pleased to post the following press release from our Freedom States Alliance affiliate, Ceasefire NJ).

For Immediate Release

June 26, 2009

Contact: Bryan Miller (856) 371-3038, cfnj@aol.com

Ceasefire NJ Applauds Action, Thanks Leadership, Sponsor, Governor, Mayors and City Councils

Trenton: The NJ Senate passed Senate bill S-1774, colloquially known as the One Handgun A Month bill, early this morning.

Tom Jardim, Board Chair of Ceasefire NJ, the Garden State’s leading organization devoted to reducing gun violence said: “At 12:15 this morning the Senate took an important step toward making the illegal trafficking of handguns in our state less likely. There can be no doubt that S-1774 is life-saving legislation, intended to reduce the movement of handguns from legal sale at New Jersey gun shops to illegal street sale. These illegal handguns are the ones that fuel gun crime and violence. It is illegal guns that are used to threaten, wound, maim and kill.”

“We especially commend Sponsor Sen Sandra Cunningham, Sen President Richard Codey and Law & Public Safety Chair Sen John Girgenti,” said Jardim, “for moving the bill in the face of withering gun lobby opposition. Governor Corzine and staff also worked hard for passage. And, One Handgun A Month originated with Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy, a tireless advocate for public safety. These fine public officials deserve the thanks of all New Jerseyans concerned about the safety or our homes, schools and communities.”

Ceasefire NJ was joined in support of S-1774 by Mayor Healy, Newark Mayor Cory Booker, the NJ County Prosecutors Association, the City Councils of Atlantic City, Jersey City, Camden, Paterson, Passaic and Newark, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the New Jersey Million Mom March

Bryan Miller, Executive Director of Ceasefire NJ said: “Leave it to sensible Garden State legislators to hold the NRA juggernaut at bay by promoting the public safety. The NRA put on quite a show this spring, bringing DC-based lobbyists who tried to confuse legislators and obfuscate the issue. One NRA lobbyist claimed to be a retired ATF supervisor and went so far as to testify in committee that shutting off bulk straw purchases that fuel the illegal handgun trade would somehow be a mistake and make law enforcement’s job more difficult. Imagine, a mistake to seek to reduce the flow of illegal handguns to our streets. More proof the gun lobby is willing to do or say anything, including lie, to seek to protect gun industry profits.”

Jardim asked: “Who needs to buy more than 13 handguns a year? The only people with such need are firearms collectors, exempted from the bill, and criminal entrepreneurs who arrange the movement of handguns from legal bulk sale at gun shops, including in New Jersey, to illegal street sale - to the very people all agree should not have guns. These street customers cannot pass background checks, so need traffickers to supply them illegal handguns. How else would they get guns? S-1774, by severely limiting numbers of handguns sold to individuals, will severely diminish intrastate gun trafficking, and save lives in the bargain.

“It came down to the Senate understanding its duty to mediate between the personal privilege of a tiny minority of NJ handgun extremists and the common good – public safety. Happily, it decided for the latter,” said Jardim. “We anticipate the Governor will sign this critical bill post haste.”

Read on...

(We are pleased to post the following joint press release from the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence and the Freedom States Alliance).

For Immediate Release

Contact: Thom Mannard (312) 341-0939
Scott Vogel (312) 243-8980, scott@freedomstatesalliance.org

On One-Year Anniversary of Supreme Court Heller Ruling that Stripped D.C. Of Its Handgun Ban, Pro-Gun Groups Want To Flood Chicago With Even More Deadly Weapons and Push for Carrying Hidden and Loaded Guns In Public

(June 26, 2009, Chicago) – The Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence sharply criticized the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA) and Illinois Carry for holding a public rally today calling for ending Chicago’s 27-year-old handgun ban only days after the tragic shooting of 9-year-old Chastity Turner who was gunned down while bathing her dog in front of her own home. Thirty-six Chicago Public School students were also killed during the ’09 school year in a continuing rash of gun violence.

Most troubling is the language, tone and materials that pro-gun groups are using to promote their rally in downtown Chicago. Ralph Connor, an African-American conservative who will speak at the rally, continues to preach a divisive message that “gun control is racist” and is eagerly promoting a film that features him, called "No Guns for Negroes.”

The ISRA finds itself in a hypocritical and difficult position playing the race card as an argument to removing the city’s life-saving measure and pushing for a carrying concealed weapons bill. Earlier this month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit upheld the constitutionality of the Chicago and Oak Park handgun bans by a 3-0 decision. U.S. Circuit Judge Frank Easterbrook, joined by Circuit Court Judges Richard Posner and William Bauer, said they were bound to follow the precedent of the U.S. Supreme Court in its ruling on the Second Amendment not applying to states. All three federal judges were GOP appointees.

Yet in response, Hal Turner, an avid racist and internet radio host from New Jersey was arrested for threatening to kill the three federal judges who upheld Chicago’s handgun ban. Turner said, “"Let me be the first to say this plainly; These judges deserve to be killed."

“The truth is that the gun lobby could care less about the impact that gun violence has on Chicago, much less the devastating effects on the African-American and Latino communities,” said Thom Mannard, Executive Director of the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence. “All the gun lobby cares about is their blind and extremist ideology that wants to force deadly and loaded guns into our communities, schools, parks, shopping centers, hospitals, and daycare centers. If the gun lobby really cared about stopping gun violence in our communities they would stop promoting an agenda that makes it all too easy for gangbangers to acquire guns that are used to kill innocent children like Chastity Turner.”

In addition, gun homicides plague the African-American community. According to the Violence Policy Center the annual study, “Black Homicide Victimization in the United States” found that there were 7,425 black homicide victims in the United States. The homicide rate for black victims in the United States was 20.27 per 100,000. In comparison, the overall national homicide rate was 5.38 per 100,000 and the national homicide rate for whites was 3.14 per 100,000.

“The truth is that the gun lobby are enablers of violence by stifling and stopping life-saving reforms to enact stronger gun laws,” said Scott Vogel, Communications Director for the Freedom States Alliance. “Gun extremists preach their limited, narrow and selfish view of ‘their rights’ without any regard to ‘our rights’ as members of a broad community that want to live peacefully and free from the fear of gun violence.”

Parents, victims and survivors of gun violence are focusing on solutions to save lives, instead of debating divisive racial politics with extremists who show no empathy for those killed by gun violence,

"As a parent who has suffered the devastating effects of gun violence in my family, I urge our lawmakers to gain the political will and moral capacity to support common sense gun regulations,” said Ron Holt, the founder and President of PurposeOverPain.org, and whose son Blair was shot and killed on a CTA bus by an armed teen. “If our lawmakers could hear, see, and feel the pain that we as parents who have lost a child to gun violence, then maybe they would understand that we need thoughtful solutions to our gun violence crisis.”

– END --

Our Freedom States Alliance affiliate, Ceasefire NJ, and one of the most remarkable gun violence prevention advocates, Bryan Miller, is celebrating a huge victory tonight in passing a one handgun per month law. The state senate vote was 21-15, and now goes to Gov. Corzine for his signature to become law.

(See this video profile of Bryan Miller).

According to Politicker NJ.com:

TRENTON – A measure sponsored by Senators Sandra Bolden Cunningham and Teresa Ruiz, which would prohibit the sale and purchase of more than one handgun per person, within a 30-day period was approved today by the full Senate by a vote of 21 to 15.

According to the sponsors, the bill is intended to prevent “straw purchasing,” or purchasing a firearm for someone who is not legally allowed to buy one.

“Gang violence has become a way of life in communities around the State,” said Senator Cunningham, D-Hudson. “Though we have gun laws on the books, more must be done to prevent straw purchases. It is my hope that other states will follow our lead and craft similar legislation to help protect residents from gun violence.”

“This legislation is about reducing gun violence and saving lives,” said Senator Ruiz, D-Essex and Union. “The effects of illegal gun violence and the wounds it causes are far-reaching in that they not only touch victims, but also families and communities as a whole. The passage of this bill would be a significant step in the right direction toward reducing the number of illegal, unlicensed guns on the streets and increasing safety for the people of this State.”

The Senators’ bill, S-1774, would ban the sale or purchase of more than one handgun per person, within a 30-day period. The bill would focus on straw purchasers and bulk sellers, who obtain multiple gun permits, buy the guns and then sell them on the black market to unlicensed buyers.

Under current law, no one may purchase, sell or transfer a firearm to another person unless he or she has the necessary permit or authorization. Each gun permit enables a buyer to purchase one gun, and subsequent permits are needed for additional guns. Authorized gun sellers are required to do FBI background checks on prospective purchasers before transferring a firearm.

Current law also specifies who is disqualified from securing a gun permit. This group includes convicted criminals, minors, or anyone who is drug or alcohol dependent or mentally ill.

Federal, state and local law enforcement officers and licensed gun dealers and retailers would not be subject to the 30-day limitation.

The Governor will also be signing an executive order, authorizing the creation of a nine-member task force to address the impact of the legislation on gun collectors, recreational gun users and competitive sportsmen. ....

Under the bill, a buyer or seller who violates the provisions of this bill would be guilty of a fourth degree crime, which carries penalties of 18 months in prison and fines of up to $10,000.

According to the Huffington Post on June 24th:

Hal Turner, New Jersey's top white-supremacist internet-radio show hosting lunatic is back in the news today, for pretty much the same reason he was in the news earlier this month: threatening public officials with bodily harm, and subsequently getting arrested for it!

This time out, Turner's calls to vigilantism ranged beyond the Tri-State area, all the way to Chicago.

WGN has the news:

Hal Turner, an occasional talk show host on internet radio and blogger, was arrested today by the FBI in his New Jersey home on charges he threatened to murder three federal appeals court judges in Chicago following their recent ruling upholding handgun bans.

According to the U.S. attorney's office, postings on Turner's web site included photos of the judges and addresses for them, with statements such as: "Let me be the first to say this plainly; These judges deserve to be killed."

Actually, Turner went even further. A day after Turner posted the original threat, urging readers that "it appears another lesson is needed," he posted an update with the names of the judges, along with photographs, phone numbers, and work addresses, right down to office numbers. In the update, Turner wrote: "Judges official public work addresses and a map of the area are below. Their home addresses and maps will follow soon. Behold these devils."

Well this is about to get REAL for Turner, because now he's run afoul of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. From the official complaint (which can be seen in its entirety, via PDF, here):

(We are posting the following "fact check" from the Senate Democratic Communications Center from Sen. Harry Reid's (NV) office.

Today, Republican senators continued their fear and smear campaign against Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor by attacking her record on Second Amendment cases. Judge Sotomayor faithfully follows the law in cases concerning the Second Amendment. She has shown judicial restraint and has closely followed precedent.

REPUBLICAN TALKING POINT: “I will be talking about … the question of this nominee's commitment to the Second Amendment, the right to keep and bear arms. The Constitution says the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” (Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jeff Sessions, Senate Floor, June 23, 2009)

FACT: Judge Sotomayor has participated in two Second Amendment cases – one decided prior to Heller, and one decided after Heller. In both cases, Judge Sotomayor and the other judges on those panels acted as Supreme Court precedent required.

In Villar, Judge Sotomayor joined a unanimous panel to reject a Second Amendment challenge; that decision clearly applied the pre-Heller Supreme Court precedent. In Maloney, a case decided after Heller, the Second Circuit followed Justice Scalia’s decision in Heller decision which expressly left unanswered whether the Second Amendment applies to the states and left in place the Supreme Court’s 123-year-old precedent.

The Second Circuit properly applied this precedent to uphold a state law restriction on arms. Two respected conservative judges Judge Richard Posner and Judge Frank Easterbrook cited the Second Circuit’s Maloney opinion with approval and agreed with that result.

REPUBLICAN TALKING POINT: “Last Thursday I raised three issues I will reiterate briefly with regard to Judge Sotomayor’s record. I would like to hear more from her on the scope of the Second Amendment to the Constitution and whether Americans can count on her to uphold one of the fundamental liberties enshrined in the Bill of Rights: the right to keep and bear arms.” (Senator John Cornyn, Senate Floor, June 23, 2009)

FACT: Judge Sotomayor has stated unequivocally that the Supreme Court’s decision in Heller is settled law. She has given no indication that she questions its holding that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms.

REPUBLICAN TALKING POINT: “Although the Supreme Court recently held that the Second Amendment is an individual right…there are many significant issues that remain unresolved…the Supreme Court, including whoever will be confirmed to replace Justice Souter, will have to decide whether the Second Amendment has any real force…” (Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jeff Sessions, Senate Floor, June 24, 2009)

FACT: The question of the Second Amendment’s application to the States is not only one that could come before the Court, it will come before the Court, because the Heller decision expressly left the question open.

Cert petitions are pending in the Supreme Court on this very issue. Just as Chief Justice Roberts repeatedly reminded the Senate that it would be inappropriate for him to comment on issues that could come before the Court, Judge Sotomayor should not be expected to comment on an issue pending before the Court to which she has been nominated. Expecting her to do so would be a double standard.

REPUBLICAN TALKING POINT: “These are some of the questions that need answers, issues that need clarification, and concerns that need to be satisfied as the Senate examines Judge Sotomayor’s record. Perhaps such answers, clarification, and satisfaction exist…I look forward to the hearing which these and many other matters no doubt will be raised. These are important issues…and Judge Sotomayor needs to answer some of these issues and questions that we are raising.” (Senator Orrin Hatch, Senate Floor, June 24, 2009)

BOTTOM LINE: Republican Senators have prepared many questions for Judge Sotomayor, and have raised several questions on the Senate Floor. The Judiciary Committee hearing on July 13 to consider her nomination will be an opportunity for them to ask their questions of the nominee.

'Little babies die in our community every day,' grandmother says after 9-year-old Chastity Turner is shot to death.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported on June 25th another tragedy that took the life of an innocent girl.

Chastity Turner felt unsafe Tuesday in her grandmother's South Side neighborhood, unnerved by a daytime shooting spree launched by youths on the block.

A day later, the 9-year-old was dead -- gunned down as she washed a family dog with her father in front of her grandmother's house.

"She said, 'I think I need to go home because it's not safe over here'," recalled her cousin, Ericka Johnson, 37.

Turner was shot in her neck in a 7 p.m. Wednesday attack in the 7400 block of South Stewart. Later, she was pronounced dead at a hospital.

"Little babies die in our community every day," said Chastity's grandmother, Tanya Turner. "It is a sad thing. It was just my baby today."

Chastity's father, Andre Turner, 31, and two other men -- ages 17 to early 30s -- also were shot. The three all had non-life-threatening wounds.

Chastity was visiting her father and grandmother when a green van came down Stewart and the shots rang out. One of the wounded men ran into Tanya Turner's home and collapsed, she said.

The van left the scene, and the shooter remained at large Wednesday.

A van was later found three blocks away, but it was unclear if it was the one involved in the shooting.

Neighbors have complained how shootings have plagued the neighborhood.

Tanya Turner said shots were fired on the block for about 20 straight minutes.

"They were acting like this was the O.K. Corral," Turner said.

At least two other people have been shot on the same block since March, including a ninth-grader.

Chastity, a student at James N. Thorp Elementary School, liked to dance and jumped rope, said her cousin, Ericka Johnson, 37.

CNN reported on June 24th, a troubling murder at an Iowa high school, where football coach Ed Thomas was gunned down by an adult in the school's gym.

(CNN) -- An Iowa high school football coach died Wednesday after he was shot inside the school as athletes were lifting weights, the district superintendent told CNN.
Ed Thomas had been with the school district for more than 30 years and was well-known in the region.

Ed Thomas died shortly after he arrived at Covenant Medical Center in Waterloo, Iowa, according to a hospital statement.

He was flown to a hospital after he was shot about 8:30 a.m.at Aplington-Parkersburg High School, said Holly Fokkena, Butler County auditor.

No students were injured, although about 50 students were present at the time of the shooting, she said.

One person, an adult, was taken into custody, Fokkena said.

Superintendent Jon Thompson of the Aplington-Parkersburg Community Schools said crisis counselors were on scene to assist students who witnessed the shooting.

Thompson declined to provide more details on the shooting, saying they were not clear.

Thomas had been with the school district for more than 30 years, Thompson said, and was a well-known football coach in the region.

The New York Times reported on June 23rd a story about how Mexico's violent drug cartels recruit young boys, as young as 12-years-old, to become assassins.

LAREDO, Tex. — When he was finally caught, Rosalio Reta told detectives here that he had felt a thrill each time he killed. It was like being Superman or James Bond, he said.

“I like what I do,” he told the police in a videotaped confession. “I don’t deny it.”

Mr. Reta was 13 when he was recruited by the Zetas, the infamous assassins of the Gulf Cartel, law enforcement officials say.

He was one of a group of American teenagers from the impoverished streets of Laredo who was lured into the drug wars across the Rio Grande in Mexico with promises of high pay, fancy cars and sexy women.

After a short apprenticeship, the young men lived in an expensive house in Texas, available to kill whenever called on. The Gulf Cartel was engaged in a turf war with the Sinaloa Cartel over the Interstate 35 corridor, the north-south highway that connects Laredo to Dallas and beyond, and is, according to law enforcement officials, one of the most important arteries for drug smuggling in the Americas.

The young men all paid a heavy price. Jesus Gonzalez III was beaten and knifed to death in a Mexican jail at 23. Mr. Reta, now 19, and his boyhood friend, Gabriel Cardona, 22, are serving what amounts to life sentences in prisons in the United States.

Other young Americans in their circle who the police say worked for the Zetas have also ended up in prison, have fled into hiding in Mexico or have disappeared in the permanent way that people wrapped up in the Mexican drug trade tend to go missing.

In the minds of many Americans, the Rio Grande divides Mexico, a corrupt land where drug cartels often seem to have the upper hand, from the United States, a nation of law and order, where the authorities try to keep criminal gangs in check.

But the reality on the border is much more complex. The Mexican drug cartels recruit young men from both countries and operate their smuggling and murder-for-hire rings on both sides of the divide, though under slightly different rules of engagement.

That complexity was reflected in the short but bloody careers of Mr. Reta, Mr. Gonzalez and Mr. Cardona, who are linked to crimes in both countries, according to trial transcripts, court documents and interviews with detectives and family members.

While working as hired guns in 2005 and 2006, the three Americans lived in a house rented by their employers on Hibiscus Street in Laredo, according to testimony at Mr. Reta’s trial. Another crew of three assassins, all from Mexico, were also camped out there, awaiting orders, law enforcement officials said.

The Mexican government has been trying to crack down on the drug cartels, an effort that has left more than 10,000 Mexicans dead in the last 18 months.

Some deaths are the result of shootouts between the cartels and the authorities, with both sides heavily armed. But the assassinations of drug dealers involved in turf battles and of police officers and army personnel who get in the way — the kind of work Mr. Reta, Mr. Gonzalez and Mr. Cardona did — also accounts for thousands of bodies.

The two teams of assassins took direction from Lucio Quintero, or El Viejon, a capo in the Zetas across the river, trial records show. They received $500 a week as a retainer and $10,000 to $50,000 for each assassination, and the triggerman was given two kilos of cocaine.

Detective Roberto A. Garcia Jr. of the Laredo Police Department said they all worked for Miguel Treviño, the leader of the Zetas in Nuevo Laredo, the Mexican city across the river from Laredo, who goes by the name El Cuarenta, which means Forty. (Many Zetas identify themselves by a number.)

In addition to their retainers, the assassins received perks. At one point, Mr. Reta was given a new $70,000 Mercedes, for a job well done. Family members described how the young men would go to parties hosted by cartel capos. To keep up morale, the drug leaders would raffle off automobiles, firearms and even dates with attractive women, the family members said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

In such an impoverished part of the world, without education, jobs, or opportunity, it's no wonder young men get caught up in the drug cartel's world -- which will lead to certain death, or if they're lucky, prison.

And the numbers of murders are simply staggering. The Times article continues:

If Mr. Cardona was the brains of the group, Mr. Reta was the keenest to become a professional assassin, Detective Garcia said. In July 2006, Mr. Reta told detectives in a videotaped confession that he had participated in at least 30 killings in Mexico, a statement that the authorities there could not confirm.

Mr. Reta told Detective Garcia that he was 13 the first time he killed a man.

He said he was asked to prove his loyalty by doing it in front of Mr. Treviño, and he told the detective that he had used a .38 Super pistol to shoot the man as he was being held down in a chair at a safe house in the state of Tamaulipas.

After that, killing became addictive, Mr. Reta told Detective Garcia, and he compared the feeling to the allure of candy to a small child. “There were others to do it, but I would volunteer,” Mr. Reta said in the taped interview with the police. “It was like a James Bond game.”

“Anyone can do it, but not everyone wants to,” he added. “Some are weak in the mind and cannot carry it in their conscience. Others sleep as peacefully as fish.”

Mr. Reta also told the police that he had attended a training camp in Mexico for six months, where he learned to shoot assault rifles and engage in hand-to-hand combat. One of his instructors, he said, was an Israeli mercenary. Mr. Reta was also proud of his marksmanship.

“If I cannot hit you in the forehead from a distance,” he boasted in his interview with the police, “I will kneel down in front of you and put my forehead against the muzzle of your gun. I will look you in the eyes while you kill me.”

Mr. Reta then called Detective Garcia’s cellphone, getting the number from the calling card the detective had left with the tattoo artist.

“He said ‘You better stop the investigation into these murders,’ ” Detective Garcia recalled. “He threatened me and my family.”

Read the complete New York Times story here.

Josh Sugarmann, the Executive Director for the Violence Policy Center, wrote a new blog entry for the Huffington Post.

(Also see our Freedom States Alliance editorial: The Smoking Gun! New Regulations On Tobacco Industry Show Why Gun Industry Should Be Regulated for Consumer Product Safety Standards).

President Obama's signing of a bill granting the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulatory authority over the tobacco industry now leaves the gun industry as the last American industry not regulated for health and safety.

Let me repeat. Guns are now the only consumer product manufactured in America not regulated by a federal agency for health and safety.

Household consumer products (except for guns and ammunition) are regulated by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

Airplanes? The Federal Aviation Adminstration (FAA).

Motor vehicles? The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Pesticides and toxic chemicals? The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Food, drugs--and now tobacco? The Food and Drug Administration.

Health and safety regulatory powers commonly include the authority to set design standards, recall dangerous or defective products, and require reporting from manufacturers.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the default "regulator" of guns in our nation, has no such powers. ATF is currently empowered only to oversee commerce in guns.

The bottom line is that under federal law, if you make a gun that is 50 caliber or less, is not fully automatic, and (in the case of long guns) meets specific barrel length requirements, manufacturers are free to make what sells--even if the market is U.S. street gangs or Mexican drug trafficking organizations.

If the gun happens to blow up in a consumer's hand or go off when you drop it (e.g., the Ruger Blackhawk) because of a manufacturing defect, don't count on ATF recalling it. They can't.

If a manufacturer develops a handgun for the civilian market that can pierce the bullet-resistent vests worn by law enforcement (e.g., the Smith & Wesson Model 500 50 caliber revolver) or down an aircraft on take-off or landing (e.g., the Barrett 50 BMG sniper rifle as seen below) there's nothing ATF can do about it.

When presented with guns' unique niche in the pantheon of consumer products, the industry and its cheerleaders like the National Rifle Association (NRA) and the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) go into a well-practiced spiel of how in fact they're actually the most regulated industry in America--citing dealer and manufacturer licensing, the minimal paperwork necessary to buy a gun under federal law, the Brady background check all buyers must go through to purchase a weapon from a licensed dealer, and the fact that ATF is allowed to check a dealer's sales records once a year (a privilege the agency has the manpower to employ on a far less frequent basis).

Yet these are sales standards, not product safety standards. ATF lacks any of the health and safety authority that is routinely granted--and usually expected by the American public--for other consumer products.

Imagine if there were no FAA and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to oversee air safety. Would the public tolerate it if 100 Boeing 777s crashed every year? Of course not. But that would result in the same loss of life as the 30,000 Americans who are killed year in and and year out by guns.

In fact, the arguments the gun industry makes today to fend off meaningful regulation mirror those made in the past made by another industry "regulated" by ATF--yes, the tobacco industry. If ATF authority over a given product equaled true health and safety regulation, there wouldn't have been a need for the bill signed today.

And as the gun industry continues to exploit its unique status with increasingly lethal military style weapons for the civilian market, this disparity can only become more evident.

The New York Times reported on June 22nd that the gun industry continues to play the "fear card" to drive up gun sales, especially using the election of Barack Obama as a cynical target.

BELLEVILLE, N.J. -- At the Bullet Hole, an Essex County gun store, and at Gun for Hire,across the street, where Anthony Colandro offers courses in firearm use, martial arts and personal safety, it’s the best of times and the worst of times.

Worst of times? Just ask Manny Cerca, who for the past 27 years has run the Bullet Hole, a family-owned shop and firing range about five miles from Newark. Inside, there are deer heads on the walls, more than 300 handguns for sale and the pop of pistols from the firing range. Outside is a patriotic and Second Amendment tableau — flags, Washington, Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt and pheasant hunters on the pebbled concrete exterior.

Mr. Cerca is less impressed with today’s Democrats.

“Their agenda is to toughen the gun laws to the point that it’s going to be nearly impossible for the average citizen to buy a gun for recreational target purposes or hunting or so on and so forth,” he said. “Whatever else they say is just sweetening their little ultimate agenda.”

Best of times? Well, the gun sales and the training business may be the only things still prospering. Last year, Mr. Colandro sold two gift certificates for Father’s Day. This year, he sold 17.

Gun dealers across the nation have reported robust sales since Barack Obama’s election. In New Jersey, applications for pistol permits have soared — to roughly double last year’s totals, according to The Star-Ledger of Newark. There’s a shortage of ammunition, and many types are almost unavailable. The Bullet Hole limits ammunition sales to two boxes a customer for the firing range and one if you’re taking it home.

“It’s the full spectrum — financial people who have come across the pond from Manhattan and people who pump gas for a living,” said Mr. Colandro, who tools around in a Dodge Ram pickup with his “Gun for Hire” logo, the lowercase “i” looking like a fallen figure with blood pooling around the dot.

“I don’t think it’s so much Obama,” he added. “It’s the economic meltdown that scared the heck out of people. You have Hillary Clinton in government, and people associate her with the assault-weapons ban. Look what happened after Katrina and the L.A. riots. So you’ve got ammunition shortages and a lot of people are buying because they’re worried about confiscation.”

THE shoppers at the Bullet Hole, which offers heavy-duty wares by Glock, Smith & Wesson and other gunmakers and fashionably pink 9-millimeter, .22 and .38 women’s specials, have varied motives.

Vito Garofalo, a 36-year-old longshoreman who works in Bayonne, recently moved to New Jersey from Staten Island, so he figured now was the time to get that 9-millimeter SIG Sauer pistol. He’s not worried about anyone confiscating guns, but thinks it might become tougher to purchase handguns, so he might as well get his now.

Michele Ingram of Lyndhurst, N.J., says she’s not expecting any massive crackdown on gun owners and thinks it’s fine if other states are forced to mandate tougher background checks like the ones in New Jersey.

“I think that’s a good thing. Same with banning AK-47 and those kind of terroristic weapons,” she said. “That’s what they should be concerned about. Someone knocking on my door saying, ‘We’re here for your pistol?’ I guess I’ll believe it when it happens.”