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Here is video today of Sen. Orrin Hatch questioning Supreme Court Nominee Sonia Sotomayor about her views of the 2nd Amendment right to "keep and bear arms." Sotomayor danced around the question, justifying some questionable rulings in her career as "based on precedent." It would seem from her past decisions and her words today that she does not hold that the right to "keep and bear arms" is a fundamental right. . . . . . (Watch Video)

Haven't seen this posted elsewhere. This morning, under questioning from a Repub senator, she was asked directly: "Do you believe I have the right to self-defense?" Sotomayor dropped right into her defense crouch, eyes averted (notice that she NEVER looks at anyone asking a tough question? The basis of being a bully is, of course, viciousness and cowardice). She then danced around the question for five minutes, refusing to answer it, but dragging-in states laws that "might apply in those locations or might not" because she "didn't have enough information to answer the question." Despite her being asked the same...

Libertarians take aim at Sotomayor’s anti-gun stanceNominee “can’t think” of a right of self-defense WASHINGTON -- America’s third largest party reiterated its opposition Wednesday to the Supreme Court nomination of federal judge Sonia Sotomayor after the nominee refused to give a firm answer on whether individuals have the right of self-defense. “Is there a constitutional right to self-defense?” Sotomayor asked when questioned by Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) whether or not the Constitution guaranteed him the right of self-defense. “ I can’t think of one. I could be wrong.” “Whether you agree with her position or not, Judge Sotomayor has had...

No issue scares Democrats more than gun control. Republican claims that then-President Clinton and his fellow Democrats would erode the 2nd Amendment led to big GOP gains in the 1994 midterm elections. That defeat made guns a third-rail issue for the next generation of Democrats. And into this briar patch walks Sonia Sotomayor. Early in her testimony, she tried to reassure senators that she would not take any "preconceived notions" about gun rights to the Supreme Court if confirmed as a justice. Her proof point? "One of my godchildren is a member of the NRA," Sotomayor said. "I have friends...

Second Amendment zealots are not letting the bad economy stop them from buying guns. According to a news article published on Saturday by The Telegraph/UK, gun shops across the U.S. are having a heyday selling rifles and pistols to those afraid President Barack Obama may take away their right to bear arms. The Telegraph’s article findings may have something to do with the rhetoric National Rifle Association leaders are using to fire up their members. The NRA is going around the country setting up meetings and urging members to fight for their guns at all costs. “Are you ready for...

Second Circuit Judge Sonia Sotomayor recently held that the Constitution does not protect the right to keep and bear arms against infringement by state and local governments. Her defenders maintain that she was merely applying settled precedent, which only the Supreme Court itself is authorized to reconsider. This is a half truth that conceals more than it reveals. Last year, the Supreme Court resolved a longstanding debate by holding that the Second Amendment's right to keep and bear arms includes the right of American citizens to have weapons for personal self defense. Accordingly, the Court struck down a D.C. statute...

There are no layoffs, no furloughs and no signs of a recession at gun stores such as Barnwood Arms in Ripon. A spike in sales that began after Barack Obama won November's presidential election continued throughout the spring, with the FBI reporting dramatic monthly increases in the number of background checks it performed on would-be gun buyers. Although the Obama administration hasn't taken a strong stand on gun laws, customers are betting that a Democrat in the White House and a Democratic-controlled Congress will translate into stricter gun-control laws and perhaps the revival of a national assault rifle ban that...

President Barack Obama may never have fired a gun but he is turning out to be one of the best firearms salesmen in American history. I've sold probably four times as much in the last six months as I have in 20 years combined," said Cliff Hunter, owner of Tommy Bronson Sporting Goods in Memphis. "Hand guns and the tactical weapons, they're absolutely off the charts." Most of his gun sales used to be for hunting, or personal protection in a city riddled with crime. But just before the November election, anxiety that Mr Obama would win and enact a...

The National Rifle Association has finally weighed in on Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, and while it doesn't come right out and oppose her, it does suggest that she's antigun. In a letter to the Senate from NRA Executive Director Chris Cox, the nation's largest gun-rights group mentions several court cases Sotomayor has reviewed that put limits on the Second Amendment. It even cites a footnote in one case where the court claimed that "the right to possess a gun is clearly not a fundamental right." Dear Chairman Leahy and Ranking Member Sessions:I am writing to express the National Rifle...

Rasmussen poll confirms Americans fear Obama gun control agenda By CCRKBA Thursday, July 2, 2009 BELLEVUE, WA – A new Rasmussen poll reveals that 57 percent of American citizens believe gun sales are up over the past several months because of widespread fears that the government will tighten restrictions on gun ownership. “The poll results confirm what we’ve been saying,” noted Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. “American citizens are fearful that the Obama administration and a Democrat-controlled Congress will pass new laws to further erode the individual right to own...

New Rasmussen poll released earlier this week reveals that 57 percent of Americans believe gun sales have skyrocketed in this country over the past several months because of fears that the government – now under control of the Obama administration and a Democrat Congress – will move to restrict gun rights. Since just before last November’s election that put Barack Obama in the White House and has now finally put Far Left Democrat Al Franken in the U.S. Senate from Minnesota – giving Democrats a 60-seat filibuster-proof majority in the upper house – American citizens have been flocking to gun...

-- All pro-gunners urged to join this critical fightMonday, June 29, 2009 Gun Owners of America applauds immediate past NRA President Sandy Froman, who stepped up to the plate last week with a call to arms for all NRA members to vigorously oppose the nomination of Judge Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. (See the article below). GOA has been calling on our members to oppose this nomination since it is clear that Sotomayor is anti-Second Amendment and wants to legislate from the bench. The official position from current NRA leadership is to take a "wait and see" approach to the...

The secret government “Terrorist Watch List,” reportedly already swelled to more than 1.1 million names, will have an addendum, if gun control advocates in Congress have their way. This new addendum — also to be cloaked in secrecy — would empower the U.S. Attorney General to deny a person the ability to exercise their Second Amendment rights to purchase a firearm. While it is not surprising that some members of Congress are again using fear of terrorism to implement a gun-control agenda, the openly unconstitutional legislative language proponents are employing is troubling. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) is leading the effort...

    Timing is everything, and a new book from Joshua Horwitz and Casey Anderson ties in well with recent “reports� from the Department of Homeland Security on “rightwing extremists� and the one from the Missouri Information Analysis Center on the “modern militia movement.�    Horwitz, executive director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, and Anderson, a Washington, D.C. attorney, call their book Guns, Democracy and the Insurrectionist Idea. So, in addition to being demonized as “rightwing extremists� and militia whackos, now gun rights activists – people who stand in defense of their fundamental civil right to keep and...

Washington, DC - -(AmmoLand.com)- Imagine that. The Senate confirmed this week, by a vote of 62-35, a gun banner who stays up at night thinking of ways to impose more gun control upon American citizens. Harold Koh is that gun grabber, and he was confirmed yesterday to be the Legal Adviser at the State Department. On Wednesday, Senate Republicans attempted to kill the Koh nomination with a filibuster — until eight of them crossed the aisle to help Democrats confirm Koh. The back-stabbing Senators are: Lamar Alexander (R-TN) Susan Collins (R-ME) Judd Gregg (R-NH) Orrin Hatch (R-UT) Richard Lugar (R-IN)...

Republicans say they will question the Supreme Court nominee on the divisive issue at her confirmation hearings in hopes of weakening her support among moderate Democrats. Reporting from Washington — Senate Republicans said Wednesday they would press Judge Sonia Sotomayor on gun rights, a politically divisive issue that they hope could weaken Democratic support for the Supreme Court nominee. Though Republicans are a pronounced minority in both the House and Senate, they have used the gun issue to their advantage to divert the legislative agenda, forcing Democrats from moderate and conservative states to take politically risky votes on gun provisions....

It can happen to anyone, and does all the time. It can happen to you: One day, if the world is falling apart around you, you are going to need to know how to protect yourself. And that’s why you might be thinking about obtaining a concealed weapons permit. read the Rest in the FreeTimes

Vote Coming to Confirm Anti-gun Radical -- "Guns Kill Civil Society," says State Department Nominee Tuesday, June 23, 2009 Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has scheduled a Wednesday vote on a State Department nominee who supports gun control on a global scale. While advocates of the Second Amendment have come to expect that appointees of President Barack Obama would be hostile to the rights of gun owners, the president's nominee for legal advisor to the State Department reaches a whole new level of anti-gun extremism. Harold Hongju Koh, who served at the State Department under the Clinton administration, is a...

I come to New York to talk about a familiar subject: gun control. But let me warn you: this may be a different kind of gun control lecture than you have heard before. It will not be about gun control in the streets of Manhattan or Columbine, or the Brady Bill, or gun registration, or even the Second Amendment, at least not until the lecture's end.... [guns are evil blah blah blah] What should we do about it? We have knowledge, we have networks, we have an emerging horizontal process to generate norms. We now need those emerging norms to...

Kissinger Tells President Medvedev... 'By September We’ll Have CONFISCATED ALL PRIVATELY OWNED GUNS...' (Updated May 25, 2009) Kremlin reports on the extraordinary meeting held today between President Medvedev and former United States Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger (under Nixon), James Baker (under Bush Sr.), Charles Shultz (under Regan), former United States Defense Secretary William Perry (under Clinton), and former US Senator and top defense expert Sam Nunn, are stating that the Americans are acknowledging for the first time their acceptance of a New Global Order... To such machinations being utilized by their supposed ‘leaders’ against them in order to pave...

"This classification could render millions of law-abiding knife owners in violation of the law and expose major market retailers, manufacturers, dealers and importers subject to possible federal felony charges, and could drive domestic manufacturers and importers out of business, potentially costing thousands of jobs..."

NEWS RELEASE Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms 12500 N.E. Tenth Place Bellevue, WA  98005 LAUTENBERG LEGISLATION CLOAKS GUN BAN AGENDA AS ANTI-TERROR TOOL For Immediate Release: June 22, 2009 BELLEVUE, WA – Legislation introduced today by veteran anti-gun New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg is designed to expand his gun prohibition agenda under the cloak of national security, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said. Sen. Lautenberg’s new “Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act of 2009� would place unprecedented authority in the hands of the Attorney General to...

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...

Gun Rulings Open Way to Supreme Court Review JOHN SCHWARTZ June 16, 2009 A year ago, the United States Supreme Court issued a landmark decision establishing the constitutional right of Americans to own guns. But the justices did not explain what the practical effect of that ruling would be on city and state gun laws. Could a city still ban handguns? The justices said the District of Columbia could not, but only because it is a special federal district. The question of the constitutionality of existing city and state gun laws was left unanswered. That left a large vacuum for...

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Not long after the November elections, orders spiked at Black Hills Ammunition in Rapid City, S.D. They haven't come down since. The election of a gun control friendly president and Congress has been kind to gun makers and ammo manufacturers. In the most recent quarter, Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. (SWHC) reported a 45% increase in handgun sales over 2008. Sturm, Ruger & Co. (RGR), another major gun manufacturer, reported a quadrupling from 2008 net income. And sales are said to be brisk at the smaller, privately held manufacturers that comprise the bulk of the industry. "The...

Please CLICK, DIGG, and REDDIT http://www.examiner.com/x-2782-DC-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m6d14-Why-have-we-stopped-talking-about-cars SNIP Yesterday Columnist Bill Moyers, a senior writer at PBS, wrote a commentary in the wake of last week's crazy man's attack on the Holocaust Museum here in Washington, DC entitled "Why have we stopped talking about guns?" Moyers mounts the tragedy as if it were a literary tree stand to blast pretty much every group or politician who is not taking action to curtail gun rights. . . . Right Mr. Moyers. Enough is enough.

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683   23 State Attorneys General To Attorney General Holder: "No Semi-Auto Ban"   Friday, June 12, 2009   On June 11, the top law enforcement officials of nearly half the states signed a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, expressing their opposition to reinstatement of the federal ban on semi-automatic firearms. "We share the Obama Administration's commitment to reducing illegal drugs and violent crime within the United States. We also share your deep concern about drug cartel violence in Mexico. However, we do not believe that restricting law-abiding Americans' access to certain...

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency is proposing a new definition that could be used to eliminate 8 of 10 legal pocketknives in the United States right now, according to activists who are gearing up to fight the plan. The federal bureaucracy is accepting comments – written only – that must be received by June 21 before its planned changes could become final, but Doug Ritter of KnifeRights.org, said the implications of the decision would be far-reaching, since many state and federal agencies depend on the agency's definitions to determine what is legal in the United States. For a...

With congressional Democrats divided on gun issues and the Obama administration steering clear of the topic, gun rights advocates have bagged new legislative trophies this year and are taking aim at additional targets. The National Rifle Association (NRA) and Gun Owners of America have an ambitious to-do list. They are preparing to: •Weigh in on Obama’s nomination of federal appellate court Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. •Advance a proposal by Sen. Richard M. Burr , R-N.C., to ensure that veterans are not wrongfully denied the right to bear arms. •Stave off attempts to close the so-called gun show...

Another major U.S. military base is requiring soldiers who live off the premises to provide descriptions, serial numbers, calibers, makes and models of any of the guns they own privately, and do not take onto the premises of the installation. According to a copy of a "Weapons Registration Form" submitted to WND by a soldier from Fort Bliss in Texas, the soldiers have to provide their own information including Social Security number, a physical description and addresses and telephone numbers, along with the serial number, type, action, make, caliber, finish, location stored, model, overall length and barrel description of each...

MONTEREY, Calif.- From gun stores to sheriff and police departments across the nation, there's a shortage of ammunition. It's no different on the Central Coast. Ammunition for handguns and rifles are hard to find. Keith Hennessy works at the Outdoor World Sporting Goods store in Monterey where it's simple economics that has kept many popular types of ammunition in short supply.

Despite Recent Violence, Gun Laws Are Softening Thirteen killed at an immigration center in New York. Eight at a nursing home in North Carolina. Five in a house in California. These were among the 57 people killed in mass shootings in a 30-day period this spring in the U.S. Meanwhile, new laws are easing restrictions on guns. Congress recently approved a bill to allow guns in national parks. Tennessee has passed similar measures for its state parks. In South Carolina, a bill under debate would allow weapons on school grounds. Texas may welcome guns into bars. In Montana, a new...

SAN ANGELO, Texas — The recession has hit a lot of people hard with job layoffs and home foreclosures across the country, but times are good in West Texas for sales of guns and ammunition. “In the nine years I’ve been here, we’ve had special orders, now we have waiting lists,” said Gary Hicks, a salesman at the Outdoorsman sporting goods shop in San Angelo. Prices have gone up and, in the case of ammunition, shortages are occurring, say people in law enforcement and firearm sales. “At first we thought it was the increase in the prices of metal,” Hicks...

Beware! That folding knife in your pocket may turn you into a criminal if the Obama administration gets its way. Although there has been a lot of fear and speculation that the new administration wants to take your guns, the most pressing threat now is actually to your pocket knives. With the changing of the guard at U.S. Customs, that agency has now embarked on redefining "switchblades" under federal law to include a wide variety of one hand opening knives that never were intended to be prohibited. In fact, many of the knives U.S. Customs now seek to prohibit under...

Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor has been called an "anti-gun radical" by some gun rights activists for joining an opinion this year that said the Second Amendment does not prevent state and local governments from restricting arms ownership. But yesterday a panel of conservative luminaries on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit reached the same conclusion. The unanimous ruling rejecting a challenge to Chicago's tough handgun law could complicate efforts to portray Sotomayor as a judicial activist trying to undermine the Supreme Court's landmark decision last year holding that the amendment protects the right to own a...

With its sleek lines and light weight, an AR-15-style weapon is considered desirable as a home protection tool because it’s maneuverable. It looks like a machine gun. But with models as light as six pounds, it can be leveled at an assailant without tiring the carrier. In the hands of an experienced marksmen, it’s highly reliable at hitting a target. Local firearms dealers said they haven’t been able to keep that type of firearm on the shelves for months. Scott Hoffman said that since November he hasn’t been able to immediately fill orders for items considered personal weapons. He’s back-ordered...

The National Rifle Association (NRA) is staying on the sidelines in the battle over Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, to the dismay of conservative activists who hoped that the gun-rights group would pressure conservative Democratic senators to oppose her. Republicans have repeatedly tried to draw the NRA into court fights over the years but with little success. The Bush administration, for example, tried to persuade the group to support a number of its nominees, as did Senate Republicans. But the NRA has often stayed aloof because few nominees have taken clear stands in favor of or opposed to the Second...

Gun-rights advocates are using Judge Sonia Sotomayor's involvement in two Second Amendment cases as ammunition to challenge her nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, threatening to draw the Obama administration into a debate over firearms laws that it has tried hard to avoid. The Gun Owners of America, an organization based in Springfield, Va., is telling its 300,000 members to let senators know they oppose Judge Sotomayor's appointment. "Our message will be to the senators [that] it doesn't matter how you voted" on other gun issues, said executive director Larry Pratt. The nomination "is the big one." ... The clash...

Unless you've taken a very long Memorial Day vacation, you've no doubt heard the big news. President Obama has picked an anti-gun radical to replace Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court. Obama's pick is Judge Sonia Sotomayor, who is currently on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second District. There she has racked up an anti-Second Amendment record and has displayed contempt for the rule of law under the Constitution. The Heller decision put the Supreme Court in support of the Constitutional protection of the individual right to keep and bear arms. Sotomayor, a politically correct lover of...

Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor ruled in January 2009 that states do not have to obey the Second Amendment’s commandment that the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. In Maloney v. Cuomo, Sotomayor signed an opinion of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit that said the Second Amendment does not protect individuals from having their right to keep and bear arms restricted by state governments. The opinion said that the Second Amendment only restricted the federal government from infringing on an individual's right to keep and bear arms. As justification for this position,...

Earlier this year, President Obama's Supreme Court nominee joined an opinion with the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that Second Amendment rights do not apply to the states.Judge Sonia Sotomayor could walk into a firestorm on Capitol Hill over her stance on gun rights, with conservatives beginning to question some controversial positions she's taken over the past several years on the Second Amendment. Earlier this year, President Obama's Supreme Court nominee joined an opinion with the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that Second Amendment rights do not apply to the states. A 2004 opinion she joined also cited...

(CNSNews.com) – Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor ruled in January 2009 that states do not have to obey the Second Amendment’s commandment that the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

President Barack Obama on Monday nominated Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court to fill the seat of retiring Justice David Souter. If confirmed, Sotomayor would become the first Hispanic and third woman to serve on the High Court. But who is Sotomayor? And what does she stand for? Will she uphold the Constitution? Or will she legislate from the bench? Is she the liberal choice many expected? Or will she defend the spirit of the Constitution? Ultimately, does Sotomayor change the face of the U.S. Supreme Court?

The nomination of Second Circuit Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor to replace retiring Justice David Souter on the U.S. Supreme Court is a slap at gun rights and the Second Amendment, the Second Amendment Foundation said today. Judge Sotomayor, a New York native, ruled on a Second Circuit Appeals Court panel that the Second Amendment is not a fundamental right and does not apply to the states in the case of Maloney v. Cuomo. This ruling is in direct conflict with a Ninth Circuit Court ruling in the Nordyke v. King case in California that the Second Amendment is incorporated through...

He uses two bullets for hunting, one for his elk and the other for his deer. The other 998 rounds he fires each year are for pleasure - and to become a better shooter. "I shoot over 1,000 rounds a year," said Pete Hinckley, an avid gun owner and a long-time member of the National Rifle Association. "We have the right to bear arms, but it depends on which administration is in power." Ever since President Obama took office, Montana gun retailers have seen a run on several products that include ammunition, gunpowder, semi-automatic rifles, and large-caliber pistols. As a...

There is one thing that can be said of President Obama with certainty -- his election has had a phenomenal effect on gun sales. Across the country, ammunition prices are soaring and many guns are in short supply as weapons fly off the shelves at stores. This is a telling economic indicator about consumer confidence as many Americans stock up for fear that the end is nigh. It's also a logical reaction to gun-owner fears that Democrats will implement far-reaching new gun controls. There is cause for concern. Leaders in the Obama administration and Congress have stated that they plan...

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer all but conceded Tuesday that Democrats have been beaten on the gun issue for now. Republicans have been increasingly using pro-gun amendments to throw a wrench into Democratic legislation, attaching amendments to seemingly unrelated bills allowing for expanded gun carrying privileges in national parks. The tactic seems to be working. "There clearly is a majority in both houses that the Second Amendment rights ... that relate to the national parks are too restricted," Hoyer told reporters Tuesday. "The reality is that a majority in both houses agree with that position.

* National Rifle Association targets Obama over gun curbs * Activists fired up for 2010 congressional elections * Political risk to Democrats wanes as Americans moderate PHOENIX, May 15 (Reuters) - Thousands of U.S. gun owners gathering in Phoenix for the National Rifle Association's convention have one target firmly in their sights: any attempt to curb gun rights by the new guys in Washington. "We as an association, but more importantly America's 80 million gun owners, are very concerned about what may be coming down the pike through the Obama administration," Glen Caroline, grassroots director for the NRA's lobbying arm....

This weekend, more than 50,000 peaceable gun owners are expected to descend upon Phoenix, Arizona to celebrate a unique freedom guaranteed by our Constitution: the right to keep and bear arms. The event is the annual meeting of the National Rifle Association, and among the throngs will be several thousand New Jerseyans. Though some anti-gun rights extremists pretend that gun owners represent a tiny minority, the fact is that there are more than 90 million firearms owners in this country, and lawful gun ownership is the mainstream in America today.Four different polls recently point to declining support for gun restrictions...

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing on the nomination of Harold Koh to be Legal Advisor to the State Department. One of the many concerns with Koh is his belief that international organizations should be empowered to regulate the Second Amendment right to own a firearm. In 2002, Koh gave a speech titled "A World Drowning in Guns" in which he mapped out his vision of global gun control. He supports the idea that the U.N. should be granted the power "to standardize national laws and procedures with regional organizations" and advocated a U.N.-governed regime to force the...