DOJ Defends National-Park Carry Rule: The Obama administration is legally defending a last-minute rule enacted by President George W. Bush that allows concealed firearms in national parks, even as it is internally reviewing whether the measure meets environmental muster. In a response Friday to a lawsuit by gun-control and environmental groups, the Justice Department sought to block a preliminary injunction of the controversial rule. The regulation, which took effect Jan. 9, allows visitors to bring concealed, loaded guns into national parks and wildlife refuges; for more than two decades they were allowed in such areas only if they were unloaded or stored and dismantled... In its reply, the Justice Department wrote that the new rule "does not alter the environmental status quo, and will not have any significant impacts on public health and safety." But Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has asked for an internal assessment of whether the measure has any environmental impacts the government needs to take into account, Interior spokesman Matt Lee-Ashley said yesterday... (While the rule change occurred on Bush's watch, I think it's a stretch to say that he enacted it.) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/16/AR2009021601151.html --- Congressional Democrats Urge Big Brother to Ban Imports: Congressman Eliot Engel, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, wrote a letter signed by 53 Members of Congress urging President Obama to "return to enforcement of the law banning imports of assault weapons, which was previously enforced during the administrations of Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton." The letter was also led by Congressman Michael Castle (R-DE) and Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY). "The alarming prevalence of imported assault weapons in the US has put our nation's police officers at risk. Returning to the Bush 41/Clinton enforcement of the ban on imported assault weapons will protect our brave police forces and all people throughout New York and the United States," said Rep. Engel. Engel added that returning to enforcement of the imported assault weapons ban is "a no-brainer that would require no legislative action." ... (Most American police officers who are killed by gunfire are killed with handguns. The "law" banning importation of certain cosmetically impaired firearms consists of two executive orders, to my knowledge.) http://www.jpfo.org/articles-assd/engel-imports.htm --- Oops, Wrong House: A homeowner fatally shot a burglary suspect Sunday afternoon at his northeast valley residence, Las Vegas police said. Homicide Lt. Lew Roberts said that about 4:15 p.m., police responded to a shooting at a residence at the 4600 block of Crystal Peak Drive, near Cheyenne Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard. Roberts said the homeowner reported returning home and finding the suspect inside. Police did not identify the suspect, who died at the scene, or the homeowner. Roberts said the deceased appeared to be in his 30s. He did not know whether the suspect was armed. Roberts said it appears the homeowner would not be charged but emphasized that the investigation was in its early stages. Roberts added the homeowner's gun appeared to be registered. (Unlike the rest of Nevada, Clark County requires registration of handguns.) http://www.lvrj.com/news/39656762.html --- Florida Home-Defense Shooting - More Details: A popular middle school band teacher shot and killed a masked gunman who broke into his house and forced him into a gunfight early Monday, sheriff's officials said. Heath Miller, 34, leveled a .38-caliber pistol and shot Robert Rashard Tomlin, 22, at about 2 a.m. in a duplex Miller rents at 1382 White Pine Drive in Wellington, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office. Neither Miller, a music teacher at H.L. Watkins Middle School in Palm Beach Gardens, nor his wife, Mirelle, was hurt in the attack... Tomlin lived a few doors down from Miller and had roots in Pahokee, according to sheriff's officials and family members. Detectives said they had yet to pinpoint why Tomlin, who was dressed in black and wielded a .40-caliber handgun, targeted Miller's duplex... http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2009/02/16/0216invader.html --- Rule Five Reminder: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) has moved the two rifles that she kept under the bed to protect her upstate New York home, her spokesman said Monday. "Given that the location of the guns has been disclosed, they have been moved for security reasons," Gillibrand's spokesman Matt Canter said. She relocated the guns over the weekend while upstate to endorse Democrat Scott Murphy in the March 31 election to replace her in the 20th District, he said. He also said Gillibrand, mother of a 5-year-old and an infant, kept the ammunition separate from the empty guns, and then later called to add that the rifles were locked in a case while stored under the bed. She had refused to describe her gun safety measures... (Rule Five: Maintain control of your firearm. In retrospect, this sounds like a case of "talisman effect," where mere ownership of a firearm is thought to ward off evil. I believe that Gillibrand ran off at the mouth, in order to maintain her gun-owner image. Firearms are of little use in self-defense if kept unloaded with the ammunition stored separately.) http://www.newsday.com/news/local/politics/ny-usgill0217,0,903835.story --- Texas Veterans Home Includes Range: Firing rifles and pistols at the new outdoor shooting range is one of the latest activities for residents of the Ambrosio Guillen State Veterans Home in Northeast El Paso. On Friday, the scheduled day for shooting, a handful of Army veterans take turns shooting at targets, while recalling their days in the service... Willie Brown, activities coordinator at the home, loaded the rifles and pistol with ammo, and reminded the shooters to keep the weapons pointed down range. The weapons fire only .22- and .177-caliber pellets. "We started this about five months ago, and some of the residents really look forward to this," Brown said. "This is probably the only nursing home in Texas with a shooting range." Brown said active duty soldiers from the 1-56th Air Defense Artillery Battalion at Fort Bliss set up the wooden frames with metal targets for the mini range located on a desert patch behind the home... http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_11713469 --- From Gun Week: 9th Circuit Court hears arguments in Nordyke case by Joseph P. Tartaro Executive Editor A long-running challenge to Alameda County, California's ban on gun shows at the annual county fair in Pleasanton was back before a federal appeals court in San Francisco in mid-January, perhaps with a better roadmap than previous such court appearances. Gun show promoters Russell and Sallie Nordyke, of Willows in Glenn County, claim the ban violates their constitutional First Amendment right of free speech and their Second Amendment right to bear arms. Their lawyer, Donald Kilmer, told the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals during oral arguments, "We are asking to be allowed to hold the traditionally law-abiding gun shows held in the country fair for 10 years." A three-judge panel took the case under submission after hearing an hour of arguments and will issue a written ruling at a later date. The case has important national implications since the Supreme Court's 2008 decision in the District of Columbia v. Heller appeal. The high court's 5-4 ruling that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess arms for personal protection appears to trump earlier decisions by appellate courts, especially the 9th Circuit, which had previously ruled that it only protected a state's right to arm a militia. If the Nordykes win their current appeal, the court could move the individual right interpretation toward incorporation to all of the states, giving the historic Heller ruling even greater impact on the rights of the citizens in every state. The fairgrounds ban was passed by the Alameda County Board of Supervisors in 1999, in the wake of a shooting at the 1998 fair in which eight people were injured. The ordinance prohibits most gun possession on county property, with certain exceptions including possession by peace officers. The Nordykes say the effect of the law is to ban gun shows at the fair. The Nordykes sued the county in federal court in San Francisco in 1999 and are currently appealing trial court rulings that upheld the law. The case has already been to the California Supreme Court, which ruled in 2002 that the county measure was not pre-empted by state law, and to the 9th Circuit in an earlier round of arguments in 2003. That year, the 9th Circuit said the ban didn't violate the Second Amendment, because, according to the court, the amendment protected only a collective state right and not an individual right to bear arms. But the 9th Circuit's reasoning has since been rejected by the Heller Decision, which means the Alameda County law could also be overturned. But Peter Pierce, a lawyer for the county, argued that the Supreme Court ruling left room for local regulations of county property and for gun bans in "sensitive places" such as the fairground, according to The San Francisco Chronicle. The Nordykes, whose gun show company is called TS Trade Shows, began presenting shows at the Alameda County fair in 1991. This article is provided free by GunWeek.com. For more great gun news, subscribe to our print edition. -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .