Man loses guns and gun license due to blog about Tucson shooting

ARLINGTON, Mass. (CBS) - A blog threatening members of Congress in the wake of the Tucson, Arizona shooting has prompted Arlington police to temporarily suspend the firearms license of an Arlington man.

It was the headline "1 down and 534 to go" that caught the attention. "One" refers to Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the head in the rampage, while 534 refers to the other members of the U.S. House and Senate.

Police are investigating the "suitability" of 39-year-old Travis Corcoran to have a firearms license.

(Full story)

GOP congressman wants to ban 2nd Amendment around government officials

(Huffington Post) - Rep. Peter King, a Republican from New York, is planning to introduce legislation that would make it illegal to bring a gun within 1,000 feet of a government official, according to a person familiar with the congressman's intentions.

King is chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. The proposed law follows the Saturday shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) and a federal judge that left six dead, including the judge, and 14 wounded.

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New Jersey man jailed for being a responsible gun owner

(Reason) - Sue Aitken called the police because she was worried about her son, Brian. She now lives with the guilt of knowing that her phone call is the reason Brian spent his 27th birthday in a New Jersey prison last month. If the state gets its way, he will be there for the next seven years.

Aitken was sentenced in August after he was convicted of felony possession of a handgun. Before his arrest, Aitken, an entrepreneur and owner of a media consulting business, had no criminal record, and it appears he made a good-faith effort to comply with New Jersey's stringent gun laws. Even the jurors who convicted him seem to have been looking for a reason to acquit him. But the judge gave them little choice. Aitken's best hope now is executive clemency. He is petitioning New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for a reprieve this week.

(Full story)

Defend your family, go to jail

Long Island resident George Grier feared for the safety of his family when a street gang gathered in his driveway and began yelling threats. In an effort to scare off the intruders he fired his rifle into the ground. (Full story)

Grier knew that the local police department used "ShotSpotter" technology and that the shooting would summon those who are supposed to protect and serve innocent civilians. So, naturally, Grier was later arrested and charged with reckless endangerment in the first degree, a class D felony. According to New York law, "A person is guilty of reckless endangerment in the first degree when, under circumstances evincing a depraved indifference to human life, he recklessly engages in conduct which creates a grave risk of death to another person."

Cops continually get away with reckless endangerment, assault, and even murder, and when they do happen to get in trouble for their actions they have every resource of the state running to their defense. Mundane civilians, on the other hand, are left to fend for themselves -- and even when they try to exercise their right of self-defense they invariably get punished.

Disarming of the military a preview of what's to come?

According to this document from a military source, U.S. soldiers will be forced to register all firearms, even those privately owned:

Requests to store privately owned firearms in family quarters or off-post must be submitted in writing to the assigned unit commander. ... Unit commanders must approve requests in writing. Requests will be kept on file in the unit arms room until sale or transfer of the firearm is provided to the unit commander.

The proposal also calls on the military to "account for and inventory the privately owned arms and ammunition by conducting inventories when inventorying Government arms and ammunition."

It's easy for Washington to justify forcing this kind of gun-control policy on active members of the military. But I can't help but suspect that this is just a preview of what's in store for the rest of us.

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7 states join suit over federal gun control

HELENA, Montana (AP) - The list of states joining the legal battle over federal gun control is growing.

A total of seven states filed "friend of the court" briefs by Monday's deadline to do so. And the Montana attorney general also is seeking to intervene in a lawsuit first filed by gun advocates in U.S. District Court in Missoula.

The legal fight is based on a law first passed in Montana that seeks to exempt guns made and sold within its borders from federal regulation.

(Full story)

Concealed-gun bill sent to Arizona governor

(Arizona Republic) - Within the next week, Arizona could become the first state with a large urban population to allow U.S. citizens 21 and older to carry a concealed firearm without a permit. Only Alaska and Vermont have similar allowances.

Senate Bill 1108, crafted by Sen. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, passed in the House of Representatives on Thursday with a vote of 36-19 and no comments from either side.

(Full story)

Arrested for collecting guns

NEW YORK (UPI) - Members of a New York family charged with stockpiling 30 guns and other weapons are antique collectors, not criminals, a friend says.

Thomas Siano, 57, Kathleen Siano, 58, and their son, Vincent Siano, 29, were charged with criminal possession of weapons.

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Militia probe included undercover agent

(WSJ) - The leader of a Michigan militia group charged this week with conspiring to kill law-enforcement officers was described Tuesday as a private, family-oriented man who nurtured a festering mistrust of governmental authority, according to people close to the family.

"On the inside of this man's brain, something evil lurks, and until you get to know him, you don't know it," said Andrea Harsh, who was engaged to David Brian Stone Sr. until the couple broke up last year.

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