Second Amendment: Local Law Enforcement Perspective and Challenges

Our speaker today was Commander Michael McCabe.

Commander McCabe has experience working in both the jail system and within the patrol division. He is the Clark County Sheriff’s Office community outreach sergeant for S.A.L.T., a cooperative effort of the Clark County Sheriff's Office, Camas Police Department and Senior Citizens of East Clark County. Seniors and Law Enforcement Together (S.A.L.T.) program in Clark County, strives to improve senior crime prevention and education. An Arizona native and a former employee of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office in Phoenix, Arizona, Sargeant McCabe moved his family to Vancouver and joined the Clark County Sheriff’s Office in 1994.

We viewed these clips, among others.


This piece by KATU highlights the open carry controversy in Vancouver:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_zg7H0e4sE



Should guns be allowed in public parks? Clark County Commissioners make policy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiDNavX8otw


This piece by KATU discusses the recent tragedy involving the death of an officer's child in Battle Ground, with references to the 2003 fatal shooting by another officer's child of the child's sibling. It includes a statement by Sheriff Gary Lucas:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5sXCEsEa3s&feature=related

Second Amendment: Do Guns Belong in Kindergarten?

Parents and children react with fear and shock to the shooting in Houston

In today's news:

Police look at how Houston kindergartner got gun

(click on title to open full article)

Houston police are trying to determine how a kindergartner got a loaded gun that he brought to an elementary.

I tried to find something on the NRA website in response to the shooting. A quick search of Houston school yielded this 2008 article about Texas Governor Perry and his view that - well let me just share the beginning quote:

Gov. Rick Perry said Monday that local school districts should be able to decide whether to allow concealed weapons on their campuses.

"I'm pretty much a fan that if you've been trained, if you are registered, then you ought to be able to carry a weapon," Perry said.

He's talking about adults, of course. Presumably he doesn't support kindergarteners bringing guns to school.

I couldn't readily find a statement by Perry to the recent shooting, though.

Read more here:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5951651.html

Second Amendment: NRA in the last Presidential Election

I found an interesting site created by the NRA related to Barack Obama's presidential race. Take a look and share your comments.

GunBaNObama

Second Amendment: Mama Politico Goes to the Gun Show

Wide selection to fit all budgets!

One of my favorite political bloggers, Mama Politico, recently shared an experience she had when she and some friends ventured forth into a gun show.

You can read the details by clicking here. Feel free to comment on her site, but I'd love to have your comments here as well.

Second Amendment: CDC

I call this one the
Curious Case of the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Can you guess why?

Check out this link and try to figure out what's missing on this page.

Hint: The writer uses different nouns to name various causes of violent deaths and injury (e.g. motor vehicle crashes, drug overdoses) but there is no mention of a word that begins with g and ends with n.

A search of the term "gun" on that site yields a whole bunch of hits for nail guns, BB guns, tattoo guns.....but recent pieces about, you know....GUNS are a little tough to find. I wondered why that was so I've contacted them to learn more.

Will let you know what I find out.

Second Amendment: Politics of the Matter

Hillary Clinton's campaign attacked Barack Obama when she was running against him for the Democratic nomination. Here's a look at the piece they mailed out. Double click on the image to enlarge.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0508/Clinton_mail_attacks_Obama_on_guns.html#

There were ads from the Republican National Committee against Obama regarding his stance on Second Amendment rights. You can view one by clicking here.

Obama talked about the issues during the campaign. Here's an excerpt from one of his speeches:

When he was elected, there was an upswing in gun sales because of fear that he would restrict gun sales. Click here for some stories about this.

Steve Chapman, a columnist and editorial writer for the Chicago Tribune, analyzes some of the recent politics of the Second Amendment in a piece from February 2010, Obama Spurns Gun Control: Why the anti-gun lobby is disappointed with Obama's first year

A guest writer at Floyd Reports claimed the President is waiting for an opportunity to take action against the Second Amendment in a piece published online at the end of last month, Obama's Gun Grab? It's a Matter of Time.

Now read Obama's own thoughts on the subject as President, in an opinion editorial he wrote published in the Arizona Daily Star in mid March: We Must Seek Agreement on Gun Reforms

Please comment on any of the pieces in this post.

Second Amendment: Brady Foundation Skype Session

This Monday, we'll be talking with Dennis Henigan, Vice President of the Brady Center and author of Lethal Logic: Exploding the Myths that Paralyze American Gun Policy. Take a moment to review some of this material and prepare questions for him.

Brady Center website
http://www.bradycenter.org/

Lethal Logic by Dennis Henigan
http://www.lethallogicthebook.com/

Gun Show Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baPgr_tw79Q&feature=channel

Dennis A. Henigan is the Vice President of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence and Founder of its Legal Action Project. He is the author of Lethal Logic: Exploding the Myths that Paralyze American Gun Policy (Potomac Books 2009).

For twenty years, he has been a leading advocate for stronger gun laws, appearing dozens of times on national television and radio shows, including 60 Minutes, The Today Show, Nightline, Larry King Live and Dateline. He also has written and spoken extensively on liability and constitutional issues relating to gun laws and gun violence, including testifying before several Congressional Committees.

Under his direction, Brady Center lawyers have recovered millions of dollars in damages for gun violence victims, as well as winning precedent-setting decisions on the liability of gun sellers. In 2004, he was named one of the top ten “Lawyers of the Year” by Lawyers’ Weekly magazine. His work as a public interest lawyer has been profiled in The New Yorker.

Henigan received his B.A. from Oberlin College in 1973 and his law degree in 1977 from the University of Virginia School of Law. Prior to joining the Brady Center in 1989, he was a partner in the law firm of Foley & Lardner.

Second Amendment: Legal Community Against Violence

LCAV's Work on Second Amendment Issues

As the nation's only organization devoted exclusively to providing legal assistance in support of gun violence prevention, LCAV is actively involved in supporting state and local governments' defense of Second Amendment litigation, educating courts, governments, and the public about the meaning of the Second Amendment, and developing common sense gun violence prevention legislation that complies with the Heller decision.

You can read more by clicking here.

Second Amendment: Conservative Satirist PJ O'Rourke

Here is a link to a lengthy discussion by Satirist PJ O'Rourke about a variety of American politics issues. He's speaking to the National Press Club of Australia. You can go directly to the 3 minute piece about Gun Control by scrolling down the menu to part 12 and click on that to play it in the video window.

Do you agree or disagree with what he says? Take a minute and post your reactions in the comments section.


You might want to spend some time checking out some of the other videos at the site, FORA.tv - I found a number of intriguing pieces on there.

Second Amendment: Various Viewpoints and Interpretations

There are a number of different websites put together by individuals who support the right to bear arms. It's often difficult to figure out who the actual writer is, and whether their facts are correct.

Still, I thought it would be valuable to share some of these with you to give a sense of what people believe.

GunCite



The Second Amendment Under Fire: The Uses of History and the Politics of Gun Control by Saul Cornell, Associate Professor, Department of History, The Ohio State University

Cornell explores A Well-Regulated Militia on C-SPAN


The Embarrassing Second Amendment by Sanford Levinson, University of Texas at Austin School of Law


After Tucson Shootings, NRA Again Shows Its Strength by NPR Staff - this includes an interview with Robert Spitzer, political science professor at SUNY Cortland, who has authored 13 books and hundreds of articles on American government and the Second Amendment.

Professor Cass Sunstein, University of Chicago Law School, explores the Second Amendment

Second Amendment: Library of Congress

One of my favorite places in Washington, DC is the Library of Congress. Since we can't easily travel there, let's take a peek at what they have online:

Primary Documents in American History


Here are just a couple of the items they have to share:

The James Madison Papers

The James Madison Papers consists of approximately 12,000 items that document the life of the man who came to be known as the “Father of the Constitution.” Includes an essay on Madison's role in the Constitutional Convention. Also contains Madison's original notes on debates in the Federal Convention of 1787, Part 1 and Part 2, as well as John C. Payne's copy of Madison's original notes.

Search this collection to locate additional documents related to the Constitution.

The Thomas Jefferson Papers at the Library of Congress

Thomas Jefferson received a copy of the Constitution in November, 1787, while living in France. Beginning on the second page of a letter to James Madison dated December 20, 1787, Jefferson expressed his opinions on the new Constitution, including his belief that a Bill of Rights was needed. This collection also contains Alexander Hamilton's proposals from the Constitutional Convention and Jefferson's notes on the Constitution from 1788.