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E-mail Author Send to a Friend <% printurl = Request.ServerVariables("URL")%> Print Version September 13, 2004, 6:30 a.m. Assault-Weapons Ban, R.I.P.Good riddance. By Timothy Wheeler The 1994 federal assault-weapons ban officially dies tonight. It was a bad job from the beginning, a fraudulent piece of legislation pushed through by hard-line gun-control advocates during the glory days of the Clinton era. To get it through Congress, its backers had to agree to a ten-year sunset provision. The law passes quietly into history at midnight. Until the last minute, apologists for the ban have tried desperately to breathe life back into it,...

E-mail Author Author Archive Send to a Friend <% printurl = Request.ServerVariables("URL")%> Print Version September 13, 2004, 6:30 a.m. Bait-'n'-SwitchGun-prohibition lobbyists are after much more than AK-47s. At midnight tonight, the federal ban on so-called "assault weapons" expires. As a constitutional moment, the expiration is as significant for the Second Amendment as the March 3, 1801, expiration of the Alien and Sedition Acts was for the First Amendment. These federal laws were not found unconstitutional by any court, but the laws expired in disgrace because our political system, as expressed through congressional elections, determined them to be infringements on...

Published Friday, September 10, 2004, in Los Angeles Times With the federal assault weapons ban sunsetting on Monday at midnight, the gun-control movement has a lot to fear, but not what most people think. Despite claims that letting the 10-year-old ban on some semiautomatic weapons expire will result in a surge in gun crimes and police killings, the fact is that letting the law expire will probably just show the uselessness of gun-control regulations. A year from now it will be obvious to everyone that all the horror stories about the ban — a cornerstone of the gun-control movement —...

Gun Makers Already Market Assault Weapons Gun Manufacturers, Facing Federal Ban, Already Marketing Assault Weapons, Study Finds The Associated Press WASHINGTON Sept. 7, 2004 — With the federal ban on assault weapons set to expire next Monday, gun manufacturers are marketing military-style firearms and are ready to sell them as soon as Sept. 14, a consumer group said Tuesday. "The gun industry is champing at the bit for the ban to expire," said Susan Peschin, firearms project director at the Consumer Federation of America, a nonprofit association of 300 consumer groups that released the study. The consumer group interviewed gun...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 8 - Despite widespread popular support, the federal law banning the sale of 19 kinds of semiautomatic assault weapons is almost certain to expire on Monday, the result of intense lobbying by the National Rifle Association and the complicated election-year politics of Washington. While President Bush has expressed support for legislation extending the ban and has said he would sign it into law, he has not pressured lawmakers to act, leading critics to accuse him of trying to have it both ways. Efforts to renew the ban, which polls show is supported by at least two-thirds of Americans,...

The Washington Times www.washingtontimes.com Inside PoliticsBy Greg PiercePublished September 8, 2004 Kerry misfire?     "Was Dem presidential hopeful John Kerry seen this weekend waving a gun which would have been banned if legislation he co-sponsored became law?" Matt Drudge asks at his Web site (www.drudgereport.com).     "Kerry co-sponsored S. 1431 last year (The Assault Weapons Ban and Law Enforcement Protection Act of 2003), which would have banned a 'semiautomatic shotgun that has a pistol grip,' " Mr. Drudge said.     "Opponents of the bill successfully argued how nearly all guns have 'pistol grips,' including millions of Browning Auto-5 shotguns produced since 1903.     "Photos...

Morning Editor (CNSNews.com) - Gun control advocates are demanding that President Bush extend the ban on certain "military-style assault weapons" before the law expires on Monday. But Second Amendment groups say the so-called "ban" was pointless from the beginning, because it simply affected cosmetic features -- the way semi-automatic guns look, not the way they operate. "On Monday, September 13th, at midnight, the national ban on military-style assault weapons will expire, allowing these murderous weapons back on our streets," the liberal MoveOn.org said on its website. "Congress is feeling the heat and is prepared to renew the ban, if the...

www.gunowners.orgSep 2004 Just Five More Days Until the Semi-auto Ban Sunsets! -- But Brady Bunch making one last push on the House, Senate and Oval Office Gun Owners of America 8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102 Springfield, VA 22151 (703)321-8585 ACTION: 1. Ask President Bush to resist the efforts of police chiefs, who will be pressing him this week to reauthorize the Clinton semi-auto ban. A pre-written letter is provided below. 2. Celebrate the approaching sunset of the semi-auto ban by buying another gun. While the gun being auctioned below is not a semi-automatic firearm, it is the actual gun that...

Report: Makers Taking Orders Gun manufacturers are gearing up for the scheduled expiration next week of a 10-year-old federal ban on assault weapons and are taking orders for semiautomatic rifles and high-capacity ammunition magazines that may soon become legal again, according to a report released yesterday. The report by the Consumer Federation of America, which favors greater regulation of the gun industry, concludes that "assault weapons will be more lethal and less expensive" without the ban and argues that police "may be forced to adopt a more militaristic approach" as greater numbers of firearms flood the market. The report, based...

Published Friday, September 3, 2004, in Wall Street Journal Europe Worried that even showing a starting pistol in a car ad might encourage gun crime in Britain, the British communications regulator has banned a Ford Motor Co. television spot because in it a woman is pictured holding such a "weapon." According to a report by Bloomberg News, the ad was said by regulators to "normalize" the use of guns and "must not be shown again." What's next? Toy guns? Actually, the British government this year has been debating whether to ban toy guns. As a middle course, some unspecified number...

FOCUS: ASSAULT WEAPONS With the federal law banning assault weapons about to expire, advocates and opponents question its effectiveness WASHINGTON - A decade after Buffalo led the nation in crimes involving assault weapons - and with the city again plagued with gang-related violence - the federal law banning some of those guns expires Sept. 13. And while some gun-control advocates are up in arms, there's otherwise little outcry about the fact that Congress appears unwilling to renew the ban. Once touted as a sure-fire way to cut crime, the assault-weapons ban now looks like a loophole-ridden partial success even to...

www.gunowners.orgAug 2004 Special Alert Regarding The November Elections Gun Owners of America 8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102 Springfield, VA 22151 (703)321-8585 Friday, August 27, 2004 Dear gun rights supporter, Four years ago this November, the eyes of the world focused on a single state -- Florida -- as the course of American history was decided by a mere handful of votes. Whether or not you think it was a good thing that George W. Bush eventually emerged victorious, there is no doubt that our country would be markedly different had Al Gore been in the White House on September 11,...

Local candidates and gun owners have different views on the federal assault weapons ban. The ban is set to expire on Sept. 13 and prohibits the sale and possession by citizens of certain semi-automatic weapons. State Rep. Candidate Jeff Crites, R — Lafayette, said he is against having a ban on assault weapons. "The law is saying that we’re not smart enough to train ourselves," Crites said. An Air Force veteran who grew up owning a weapon, Crites said his father and Boy Scouts trained him to use it correctly. However, he did support laws banning those with criminal records...

The end may be near for controversial assault weapon ban. Just looking at the two rifles in David Conway's hands, it might seem easy to pick out the assault weapon banned by federal law for manufacture and sale in the United States. It's not. The ArmaLite M15A2 — a black, metal, military-style rifle with the pistol grip and detachable magazine — looks the part of an outlaw. But it is a legal weapon produced by gun makers today and bought and sold by citizens. The other weapon, a Springfield M1-A, is a more traditional wood-and-metal rifle that doesn't resemble the...

As The Dispatch’s July 26 editorial illustrates, the drumbeat has begun in the media to reauthorize the 1994 ban on assault weapons. Claims that these firearms are criminals’ weapons of choice are false. A congressionally mandated study confirms assault weapons were used in less than 1 percent of violent crime. Even a Washington Post editorial admitted, "Assault weapons play a part in only a small percentage of crime. The provision is mainly symbolic; its virtue will be if it turns out to be, as hoped, a steppingstone to broader gun control." Bill sponsor Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., told CBS’ 60...

You have it exactly backward on the federal "assault-weapon" ban. You claim it is expiring on Sept. 13 due to "political pressure" by its opponents ["Extend the ban," Aug. 9]. To the contrary, federal law requires it to expire. The "political pressure" being waged is by gun prohibitionists who want the ban renewed and expanded, as shown by your high-pressure editorial in which you compare semi-automatic firearms to "bazookas" and describe people who oppose gun control as "zealots." Despite the pressure, the ban isn't being renewed because most in Congress know that it imposed irrational restrictions on law-abiding Americans and...

Last week's column on Australian security guard Karen Brown had an effect. It made many Americans who read it online proud as hell, and relieved as hell, to be Americans. And since it was picked up as a link on the National Rifle Association website, Brown's story -- she's been charged with murder for fatally shooting a robber after he bashed in her face -- triggered a like-minded reaction from just about every state of the union. "Three cheers for Karen," wrote Jim Gallagher of Sacramento, Calif. "She demonstrated more than good marksmanship that day. She showed courage, determination and...

It happened in Australia last week. The robber waylaid Karen Brown in the carpark outside a Sydney hotel. Brown, a 42-year-old security guard, had just picked up a deposit bag containing the hotel take, something between $30,000 and $50,000. She was dressed in civilian clothes. The robber was wearing brass knuckles. Lifting Brown by the hair, he punched her repeatedly in the head and bashed her to the ground, fracturing her skull, an eye socket, her nose and left hand, and leaving her possibly brain damaged. Then the robber, a 25-year-old ex-con named William Aquilina, dragged Brown across the asphalt...

Boston, Mass.--"Our crime policy was to put more police on the streets," Bill Clinton told a cheering Democratic National Convention Monday evening, "and to take assault weapons off the streets." The former President vigorously contrasted his position and that of John Kerry on assault weapons with those of Congress and President Bush [who] are also about to allow the ten-year-old ban on assault weapons to expire. With those remarks, Clinton staked out a strong pro-gun control stance for his party and nominee Kerry this year--one that is sure to fuel pro-Bush activities by the National Rifle Association, the Gun Owners...

PIERRE - U.S. Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle and his Republican challenger, former U.S. Rep. John Thune, take opposite positions on whether Congress should extend the nation's ban on various types of semi-automatic assault rifles, shotguns, pistols and related weaponry. Daschle is the only supporter of the ban among South Dakota's congressional delegation and candidates. The 10-year-old ban, which is strongly opposed by the National Rifle Association but supported by law enforcement organizations, expires in September. President George W. Bush has said he will sign the extension into law if it gets to his desk. Daschle and other congressional observers...

BOSTON Democrats begin their national convention today united on many issues, but divided on how much to make of the Bush administration's refusal to push for an extension of the 10-year-old ban on assault weapons. The ban expires at midnight on Sept. 13, and Claire Buchan, a Bush spokeswoman, said he would sign an extension if Congress sends him one. But House GOP leaders said they won't schedule a vote unless Bush specifically asks. And they said that he hasn't done so. Sarah Brady of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence said polls continue to show that three-quarters of...

Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert 8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151 Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408 http://www.gunowners.org Friday, July 23, 2004 Thanks to your efforts, the Clinton semi-auto ban is about to expire. The ban on magazines and firearms -- passed in 1994 -- represents one of the most hated pieces of gun control ever enacted. But with less than two months to go (and Congress being in recess most of that time), the ban is scheduled to sunset on September 13, 2004. Anti-gun Senator Dianne Feinstein, however, is not giving up and is pushing hard to...

Letter to Members of Congress from Charles Cunningham, Director, NRA Federal Affairs Charles Cunningham, Director of NRA Federal Affairs, sent the following letter to Members of Congress in response to two "Dear Colleague" letters from Representatives Castle, Shays, Kirk and Ferguson seeking reauthorization of the Clinton Gun ban before its expiration on September 13.    July 21, 2004Dear Member of Congress:You may have recently received two letters signed by Representatives Michael Castle, Christopher Shays, Mark Kirk and Mike Ferguson, claiming that various disasters will occur after the federal "assault weapon" ban expires on September 13. To respond generally to the claims,...

SUMMARY: Doomsayers are firing wild bursts of worrisome predictions about the expiration of the ban on assault weapons. A cry of alarm is sounding around the country. In mid-September, the decade-old federal law banning a number of military-style "assault weapons" expires. To hear some of our colleagues in the news media talk, all hell is going to break loose starting Sept. 14. "Anyone seeking weapons of mass destruction inside the United States may find it considerably easier after Sept. 13" when the ban expires, warns the Washington Post. In "two months Š the federal assault weapons ban dissolves like a...

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Democrats Call For Extension Of Ban On Assault-Style Weapons WASHINGTON -- Democrats are confident they finally have a gun issue they can enthusiastically run with, thanks to the Republicans. The 10-year ban on semiautomatic, assault-style weapons ends Sept. 13, and because there is likely to be no congressional action before then to extend it, a presidential campaign issue is ready to ignite. Democrats can claim hypocrisy, because President Bush has said he supports extending the ban but has done little to follow up. They can run against the powerful National Rifle Association, which is aggressively opposing extension, and they can...

Virginians who exercise their right to carry guns in public have been criticized — even ridiculed — in recent days by critics on the both sides of the Potomac. But many gun rights advocates, state lawmakers and residents point out that it's much safer to shop, drive or walk along a street in Virginia than in the District, where handguns are banned and police just declared a "crime emergency." "Criminals don't want to come up against somebody who is willing to protect themselves," said Philip Van Cleave, president of the gun rights group Virginia Citizens Defense League. Mr. Van Cleave...

As security fears increase, police and sheriffs have issued 28% more permits for concealed weapons statewide since 2000. The number of California residents who can legally carry a gun has surged 28% since 2000, reaching the highest level in decades following a spike in applications after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, new state figures show. California sheriffs and police chiefs had issued more than 45,000 concealed weapon permits by the end of 2003, up about 10,000 in three years, including steep increases in Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura counties, according to the state Department of Justice. Of California's 58 counties,...

The latte grande at the Starbucks in Tysons Corner, Va., must have seemed extra steamy last month when two college students bellied up to the bar packing pistols on their hips, as casually as if they wore cellphones. Someone called the police, who confiscated the handguns and charged the students. But wait: the Catch-22 in Virginia's enfeebled gun control laws has kicked in. Sure there's a state law against carrying loaded firearms in public. But the lethal fine print defines "firearm" as a 20-round-plus assault rifle. So smaller weapons, like the .22-caliber and 9-millimeter pistols the students flaunted in their...

THE WORLD Ordinary citizens must register weapons, turn them in or face jail. Critics say the law will fail because criminals won't comply. RIO DE JANEIRO — To live in this city and other urban areas of Brazil is to hear the frequent rat-a-tat-tat of gunfire, a sound that even young children can recognize. As many as 20 million firearms are in circulation in this nation of 180 million people, who suffer from one of the highest rates of gun deaths in the world. Now, officials hope to stem that tide with an ambitious plan to disarm the populace. Under...

Few Americans favor a return to the day when military-style assault weapons like AK-47's, Uzis and Tec-9 pistols could be manufactured and sold in this country, making them readily available for use by gangs and drug traffickers engaged in violent crime. Yet President Bush has still not made any effort to stop the 10-year-old federal ban on assault weapons from expiring on Sept. 13. Seeking to prod the White House into action, two Democratic senators, Dianne Feinstein of California and Charles Schumer of New York, released a letter this week that was signed by Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Bill...

The first in a series of articles on the importance of the upcoming general election Does the Second Amendment guarantee a right to states rather than an individual right to choose to own firearms? One clue to the answer is looking at who supports each position. The few law-review articles supporting the states'-right view all come from advocates, most of them employed by or associated with anti-gun groups. The Verdict of Scholarship Yet, intellectual honesty compels many far more important scholars to accept the standard model of the Amendment as an individual's right despite personal anti-gun feelings. Famed constitutional lawyer...

Columbus, Ohio-- The Ohio supreme court on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit that opponents to the state's concealed weapons law had filed in an attempt to stop sheriffs from selling the permits. The court, unanimously and without comment, dismissed the suit filed by the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence. The legislature passed the law after nine years of debate, and Gov. Bob Taft signed it on January 7. It went into effect on April 8, and the coalition sued the sheriffs the next day. The law, which bars people who have been institutionalized against their will from obtaining permits, does not...

ALT="Support our Advertisers! Click Here!" BORDER="0"> href="http://www.reason.com/subscribe.html"> src="http://www.reason.com/ads/rsubadx.gif" alt="Subscribe to Reason" border="0">     Reason DailyRecent stories A Glorious Sunset (7/15) Ten Reasons to Fire George W. Bush (7/13) Lights, Camera, Election (7/12) Reason Daily archive July 15, 2004 A Glorious Sunset On assault weapons and laws that fade away Brian Doherty On September 13, according to a squad of concerned ex-presidents, the streets of America will return to a grim, bloody age of semi-automatic gun murder run amok—all because current President Bush and a feckless Congress seem on track to allow the sunsetting of 1994's Violent Crime Control...

<!-- <p> A.nav:link { text-decoration: none; } A.nav:visited { text-decoration: none; } A.nav:active { text-decoration: none; } <p> .cat { text-decoration: none; } <p> --> Gun Control: The Brady Campaign, White Lies, and Damn Lies Written by Howard Nemerov Thursday, July 15, 2004         When I began reconsidering my position on gun control, I needed to proceed in a structured manner.  Being a medical researcher by profession, I knew how to construct reasonable testing guidelines in order to arrive at a supportable conclusion.  Having determined that confiscation of civilian firearms in the United Kingdom and Australia had created no clear...

COURTS:A district judge says Minnesota's concealed-carry law shouldn't have been passed with an unrelated bill, but the impact is still being determined. ASSOCIATED PRESS ST. PAUL - Minnesota's concealed-carry law was declared unconstitutional Tuesday by a Ramsey County District judge in a lawsuit brought by several churches and other groups. Judge John Finley said the Legislature violated the state constitution last year by attaching the bill with a "totally unrelated bill relating to the Department of Natural Resources." The state constitution prohibits laws from embracing more than one subject. "Our state has prided itself in its openness in all areas...

www.gunowners.orgJul 2004 GOA Members Shoot Down Latest Effort to Extend Semi-auto Ban Gun Owners of America 8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102 Springfield, VA 22151 (703)321-8585 Monday, July 12, 2004 Congratulations! Through your efforts, you have succeeded in killing the best opportunity that anti-gunners had to extend the ban on roughly two hundred semiautomatic firearms. Liberals had intended to offer the semi-auto ban as a "killer amendment" to class action reform legislation which was considered by the Senate last week. At first, there was every indication that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist was going to allow anti-gunners like Sen. Feinstein to...

With time expiring on the decade-old assault weapons ban, gun control advocates are angry at President Bush for apparently doing nothing to extend it. In fact, the president never asked the House to continue the ban, which will expire in September, because he knew it was pointless, says Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.). In his 2000 campaign, Bush said he favored extending the 1994 ban on 19 semiautomatic assault weapons. But now, "time is running out, and President Bush's strategy is to remain silent," said Michael Barnes, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, in a recent statement....

Head of Gun Group Rebuked For Attack on Sierra Club SEATTLE, July 9 -- In a spat that could have implications for the presidential campaign, the National Rifle Association has angered a group of opinion makers among America's 50 million hunters and anglers. The president of the National Rifle Association warned a convention of outdoor writers last month that it should not be seduced by environmental organizations such as the Sierra Club, which promise to protect hunting habitat but actually are scheming to ban guns. "It's pretty hard to hunt without guns," Kayne B. Robinson, president of the NRA, told...

<p>Agrowing chorus of officials and citizens is calling on President Bush to actively lobby for renewal of the 10-year-old assault-weapons ban, due to expire Sept. 13. But the president, in spite of having campaigned on a pledge to renew the ban, has inexplicably and unacceptably refused to throw his weight behind its passage.</p>

Supporters cite First Amendment rights violations in federal papers to block controversial law SAN FRANCISCO -- Gun-rights supporters filed legal papers in federal court Tuesday seeking to block Contra Costa County from enforcing its controversial ban on the sale of .50-caliber rifles. Attorneys representing a coalition of gun enthusiasts, manufacturers, publishers and retailers will appear in U.S. District Court in San Francisco Aug. 12 requesting a preliminary injunction. A month ago, the groups sued the county in federal court, charging that the ordinance violates First Amendment free speech rights and is pre-empted by state law. On April 6, the Board...

MEXICO CITY, July 5 -- Armed Mexican soldiers interrupted the burial of a Mexican-born U.S. Marine killed in Iraq and briefly detained at least a dozen Marines participating in the ceremony Sunday. U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza said he was "outraged" over the July 4 incident, which involved a dispute over two ceremonial, non-working rifles carried at the cemetery by a Marine color guard. The incident occurred at the burial of Lance Cpl. Juan Lopez Rangel, 22, who was killed in an ambush in Ramadi on June 21. Lopez, a legal permanent resident of the United States who was granted citizenship...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Initially three, then later, four members of the Central Ohio Pink Pistols, a group promoting the safe handling of firearms in the GLBT community, were threatened by the Executive Director of Stonewall Columbus, who wielded a 2-foot club, and up to 30 volunteer security personnel at the Stonewall Columbus Pride Event on Saturday, June 26. The Pink Pistols were repeatedly ordered to surrender their legally-owned and carried firearms by a steadily-growing army of guards. Knowing the law was on their side, the Pink Pistols refused to surrender their property or knuckle under to illegal threats of violence,...

Small Arms Survey > Home About the project The Small Arms Survey is an independent research project located at the Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva, Switzerland. It serves as the principal international source of public information on all aspects of small arms, and as a resource centre for governments, policy makers, researchers, and activists. The project has an international staff with expertise in security studies, political science, international public policy, law, economics, development studies, conflict resolution, and sociology. The staff work closely with a worldwide network of researchers and partners.    more... UN Small Arms Conference Database Access...

On Tuesday, the Senate is scheduled to begin consideration of legislation to limit class action lawsuits -- a prime candidate for so-called liberal "killer amendments," including the Feinstein amendment to extend the ban on semiautomatic firearms and magazines. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) has threatened to offer her semi-auto ban to any "appropriate" legislative vehicle, and the class action bill is about as "appropriate" as any on the Senate's legislative schedule. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) has, at his disposal, a variety of parliamentary techniques to prevent Feinstein from offering the semiautomatic ban. Back in March, he chose NOT to...

Pushing for 'reasonable restrictions' is the key to getting the public's vote. Have the Democrats really changed on gun control? Would it matter whether Senator John Kerry or President George Bush won the election this year? Democrats have spent much time and effort trying to alter their anti-gun image. They seem to believe that the answers to gun questions really matter for the campaign. Out on the primary campaign trail, John Kerry talked about his boyhood hunting trips, and, before the Iowa caucus, Kerry even took time out to shoot a pheasant. Americans For Gun Safety, a gun-control organization, applauded...

The cost of being arrested with a gun in San Francisco is about to go up -- big time. Starting Thursday, Superior Court judges -- with a nudge from the district attorney's office -- will be doubling, tripling and even quadrupling bail for people arrested for weapons-related felonies. The bail for assault with a firearm, for instance, will jump from $35,000 to $75,000 -- far surpassing the $50,000 bail for the same crime in Marin, Contra Costa and San Mateo counties. Get arrested for possessing or selling a machine gun in San Francisco and bail will rocket from $25,000 to...

Presidential candidates recognize sportsmen as key voters With just two shots, Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry took two pheasants in Iowa earlier this year and attracted the attention of shotgun-shooting voters. Meanwhile, President Bush has reached out to conservation group leaders by catering to them at his Texas ranch. Now, with Election Day approaching, hunters and anglers are expected to receive even more attention from the presidential candidates, who are beginning to make strong campaign moves for valuable "hook and bullet" votes. According to a survey by the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, outdoorsmen and conservationists tend to be more politically active...

Our northern neighbors may try to cut gun freedoms here. Canada's two major parties — the long-ruling Liberals and the new Conservative Party of Canada — remained deadlocked after the polls closed last night. In all likelihood, that's bad news for gun ownership and public safety up north. The Liberals, who have gone from a 168-seat majority in the 308-seat House of Commons to a plurality of about 135 seats, will almost certainly form a coalition with the socialist New Democratic Party (NDP) to rule Canada. The NDP peddles a watered-down form of socialism that's heavy on interest-group politics but...

State senator's 2AM aims for arms-owners at polls; Politics are 'not their thing'; Sponsor of failed ban sees little need for more voices Maryland gun owners must unite as a potent political force to fend off left-wing attacks on their constitutional rights, a conservative state lawmaker says. That's why Sen. Alex X. Mooney of Frederick has helped form the Second Amendment Coalition, a pro-gun organization nicknamed the 2AM coalition, that aims to register gun owners to vote. Yesterday, the group launched a weekend voter registration drive at the Silverado Gun Show at the Frederick Fair Grounds. Many gun owners distance...