About once a month, Dave Kopel produces a free e-mail Newsletter containing short summaries and links to important new research and writing involving the Second Amendment and firearms policy. The newsletter also reports on Kopel's latest writing.
The content of this newsletter is produced by the Second Amendment Project at the Independence Institute, a think tank in Golden, Colorado. The newsletter is electronically distributed by the Second Amendment Foundation in Bellevue, Washington. Thus, the Second Amendment Foundation will be given your e-mail address.
Archive of past issues.
The Second Amendment Project is based at the Independence
Institute, a free-market think tank in Golden, Colorado.
http://i2i.org.
This newsletter is distributed by the Second Amendment
Foundation, in Bellevue, Washington,
http://www.saf.org
As most of you know, Jon Caldara is President of the Independence Institute.
On November 13, his daughter Parker Kelly Caldara died of brain
tumor,
just eight days before her first birthday.
State Senator John Andrews, the founder of the Independence
Institute
has
posted a very meaningful tribute to Jon, Mara and Parker on his
personal
website:
www.AndrewsAmerica.com.
The Caldaras' friend Paul Bailey also created a wonderful "Superparker"
website, at
http://parkercaldara.tripod.com/superparker/index.html.
The site has pictures of Parker from May, October, and November, as
well
as
a short video clips of Jon and his wife Mara bringing Parker home
from
the
hospital on Nov. 12.
The site also has a guest book where you can write a message for Jon
and
Mara.
Or you can send cards or messages to Jon and Mara at the
Independence
Institute, 14142 Denver West Pkwy., Suite 185 , Golden , Colorado
80401.
(303) 279-6536. Fax: (303) 279-4176.
http://i2i.org.
In lieu of flowers, we ask you to please consider making a
contribution
to
The Parker Kelly Caldara Fund.
The Fund is at First Republic Bank, 203 Forest Avenue, Palo Alto,
California
94301-9649; Attention: Michelle Eldridge, (650) 470-8808.
1. New Kopel articles: Imagining a world without guns. Gun rights
in
Italy.
The Warsaw ghetto uprising and America's new culture of heroism.
The Taliban and David Koresh: how evil leaders can inspire their
misguided
followers to fight to the death.
2. Links Extravaganza. Great new editorials. Madanna goes shootin'.
AGS billionaire violates his customers' privacy.
The Michael Bellesiles Hoax unravels some more. Arming to fight
terrorism.
International events. Legal news on Emerson and other cases.
3. Bill of Rights Day, Dec. 15.
A World Without Guns. Be forewarned: It's not a pretty picture.
National Review Online. Dec. 5, 2001.
With Paul Gallant and Joanne Eisen.
http://www.nationalreview.com/kopel/kopel120501.shtml
Gianni, Get Your Gun. The surprising emergence of gun rights in
Italy.
Chronicles. Dec. 2001. With Carlo Stagnaro.
http://www.davekopel.com/2A/Mags/Italy.htm
Up with the People. Reviewing NBC's Uprising.
National Review Online, weekend edition. Nov. 10-11, 2001.
With Glenn Harlan Reynolds.
http://www.nationalreview.com/weekend/television/television-kopel111001.shtml
Waco Lessons for War. What evil can do.
National Review Online. Nov. 6, 2001.
With Paul Blackman.
Note: The fact that David Koresh was Evil with a capital E and that
most
of his fanatical followers had good intentions, but were profoundly
misguided, does not excuse the various crimes that the BATF and FBI
committed
in the Waco disaster.
a. Selected Editorials:
Whose right on bearing arms? Second Amendment means what it says
By Glenn Harlan Reynolds
Boston Globe
Nov. 25, 2001.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/329/focus/Whose_right_on_bearing_arms_
Second_Amendment_means_what_it_says%2b.shtml
America Arms
Gun rights gain in the wake of Sept. 11.
By Pete Du Pont
Opinion Journal Online (Wall Street Journal)
December 5, 2001
http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pdupont/?id=95001554
Bummer For Sarah Brady:
It's been a great year for gun rights.
By Kimberly Strassel.
Opinion Journal Online (Well Street Journal).
Nov. 15, 2001.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/kstrassel/?id=95001467
New Perspectives on Gun Control
Dr. Michael S. Brown
Newsmax.com
Nov. 20, 2001
http://www.newsmax.com/commentarchive.shtml?a=2001/11/20/125258
Shooting Match: Does the anti-gun crowd think you're stupid?
(Analysis of Violence Policy Center study falsely claiming that
gun experts believe that most people are incapable of armed
self-defense.)
By Sam MacDonald
Reason Online
November 21, 2001
http://www.reason.com/hod/sm112101.shtml
There Ought to Be a Law
It's not just smoking and Santa - Montgomery County doesn't like
guns,
either.
By Jaime Sneider
National Review Online
November 29, 2001
http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-sneider112901.shtml
The Left Coast Report
by Dr. James Hirsen
NewsMax.com
November 28, 2001
MADONNA KILLS 'EM
"Getting away from Hollywood seems to have changed Madonna's point
of
view.
Reuters reports that, in a recent interview with BBC Radio One,
Madonna
describes her new pastime. She shoots pheasants.
'I eat birds. You have more of a respect for the things you eat when
you
go through or see the process of killing them,' Madonna says."
A Report on the Privacy Practices of Monster.com
The Privacy Foundation, Denver University.
September 5, 2001
The business run by billionaire founder of Americans for Gun Safety
trashes the privacy of its users, and fails to disclose when it is
doing.
No wonder that AGS is trying to eliminate privacy for gun owners
who buy firearms at gun shows.
http://www.privacyfoundation.org/privacywatch/report.asp?id=74&action=0
Disarming the Critics
By Michael A. Bellesiles
Organization of American Historians magazine.
Bellesiles was ordered by his department head to address the
allegations
of
academic fraud involving his book "Arming America."
This article by Bellesiles is the result.
http://www.oah.org/pubs/nl/2001nov/bellesiles.html
Disarming America, Part II
Why won't Michael Bellesiles seriously respond to his critics?
By Melissa Seckora
National Review Online
November 26, 2001
Points out that Bellesiles' "response" evades almost all the charges
against
him.
http://www.nationalreview.com/nr_comment/nr_comment112601.shtml
Bellesiles responds to critics of his book
By David Mehegan
Boston Globe
November 13, 2001.
Observes that Bellesiles fails to respond to fraud allegations
produced by the Boston Globe, and that he mischaracterizes what the
Globe
wrote.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/317/living/Bellesiles_responds_to_critics_of_his_bok+.shtml
Second Amendment Foundation
Web page with links to extensive resources about the Bellesiles
hoax.
http://www.saf.org/pub/rkba/general/GunsInEarlyAmerica.htm
Sen. Bob Smith: Pilots Will Have Guns In 2-3 Months
Manchester Union-Leader
Nov. 17, 2001.
http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_show.html?article=6760
Arm Yourselves, Americans
By Joseph Farah
WorldNetDaily.com
"The message is simple, Americans: Arm yourselves.
We as a nation have never had a more crystal-clear reason
for doing it - at least not since 1776. Our founders understood that
an
armed, vigilant, self-governing moral people was the best guarantee
of
preserving freedom."
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=25320
Israeli Homeland Security Tips
By John R. Lott, Jr.
New York Post
Nov. 12, 2001.
"We could learn something about responding to terrorism from Israel,
and encourage more ordinary, responsible citizens to carry guns."
http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/34127.htm
Gunman Ambushes Bus In Jerusalem, Killing Two - Stopped By Armed
Civilian.
FoxNews
Nov. 4 2001
"Witnesses said the gunman opened fire on the No. 25 city bus at an
intersection in the French Hill section of northeastern Jerusalem,
which
is
near several Palestinian villages and neighborhoods. He in turn was
shot
by
a civilian, a border guard and a soldier, police said."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,38014,00.html
i. Canada
Website for Professor Gary Mauser, Simon Fraser University.
A wealth of excellent articles and speeches.
http://www.sfu.ca/~mauser/
Subversive Liberty.
Website of Quebec professor Pierre Lemieux.
In English and French.
http://www.pierrelemieux.org.
Small Arms Firearms Education and Research Network
http://www.research.ryerson.ca/SAFER-Net/
ii. Cuba
Advance copies of Miguel A. Faria, Jr., M.D.'s new book,
Cuba In Revolution---Escape From A Lost Paradise are available for
shipping
$26.95 plus $3 shipping and handling. Written in English, this
hardcover,
450-page book contains illustrations, appendices, a selected
bibliography,
and an extensive index.
You can click here to order directly from:
http://www.haciendapub.com/cuba.html
or call toll free 1-800-757-9873 to order. Orders can also be faxed
to
1-478-757-9725
or mailed to Hacienda Publishing, Inc., P.O. Box 13648, Macon, GA
31208-3648.
And, be sure to let us know if you want your book autographed by the
author!
"The book reveals the untold story of the Cuban Revolution, an eyewitness account woven through a boy's intrepid escape via several Caribbean islands. And yet the book also sets the record straight regarding the alleged gains of the communist revolution.
Among the revolutionary myths that come crashing down:. . . What was the Revolutionary Directorate (RD), the 13th of March movement? Who were its leaders? Why wasn't the American media interested in these anticommunist rebels? In a pivotal speech after the triumph of the Revolution in 1959, why did Fidel Castro ask the RD and the Cuban people: Armas, para que? ('Guns, for what?') Shortly thereafter, why were the civilian population methodically disarmed and opponents of the regime sought out by State Security?"
iii. United Kingdom
http://guntrader.co.uk
New British site for sale of guns and accessories.
Proof that gun culture in the U.K. isn't extinct.
==========================
3f. Legal News:
i. Third Circuit Court of Appeals
Affirms dismissal of Camden, New Jersey's abusive lawsuit
against firearms manufacturers:
"Whatever the precise scope of public nuisance law in New
Jersey may be, no New Jersey court has ever allowed a
public nuisance claim to proceed against manufacturers for
lawful products that are lawfully placed in the stream of
commerce. On the contrary, the courts have enforced the
boundary between the well-developed body of product
liability law and public nuisance law. Otherwise, if public
nuisance law were permitted to encompass product
liability, nuisance law 'would become a monster that would
devour in one gulp the entire law of tort.' Tioga Public Sch.
Dist. v. U.S. Gypsum Co., 984 F.2d 915, 921 (8th Cir.
1993). If defective products are not a public nuisance as a
matter of law, then the non-defective, lawful products at
issue in this case cannot be a nuisance without straining
the law to absurdity."
http://laws.findlaw.com/3rd/011051.html
ii. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
-- Emerson's petition for panel rehearing and rehearing en banc were
denied
Nov. 30, 2001. This means that Emerson's only chance
of overturning the Fifth Circuit decision upholding the statute
under
which
he is being prosecuted is an appeal to the United States Supreme
Court.
-- U.S. v. Green and U.S. v. Watson.
Fifth Circuit reverses convictions for illegal gun possession
because the guns were found as result of violations of the Fifth
Amendment
(Green) and the Fourth Amendment (Watson).
http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/00/00-51241-cr0.htm
http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/00/00-20407-cr0.htm
iii. U.S. Supreme Court
Supreme Court Rejects Challenge to Assault Weapon Ban.
U.S. Supreme Court chooses not to consider case arguing
that N.J. "assault weapon" ban is unconstitutionally vague.
http://news.findlaw.com/politics/s/20011126/courtgunsdc.html
iv. U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
Montana State Shooting Association sues the Department of Interior.
MSSA is represented by the Mountain State's Legal Foundation.
The suit arises from the Bureau of Land Management's announced
closure
of 20,000 acres of public land in Phillips County to the "use and
discharge"
of firearms.
http://www.mountainstateslegal.com/legal_cases.cfm?legalcaseid=72
v. Federal District Court, Virginia.
Gun shop owner sues ATF over reports
By Tim Mcglone
The Virginian-Pilot
December 4, 2001
"In a suit filed Nov. 23 in U.S. District Court, just a block from
his
shop,
Marcus claims the government is trying to compile a database of gun
owners,
something Congress has strictly forbidden."
"In February 2000, the ATF's National Tracing Center sent Bob's gun
shop
a
letter demanding that the shop turn over the make, model, caliber
and
serial number of each used firearm bought and sold at the store in
1999."
http://www.pilotonline.com/news/nw1204bob.html
vi. Reports of the Death of the Second Amendment
Have Been Greatly Exaggerated: The Emerson Decision.
By Stephen Halbrook
The Independent Institute (which is not the same as the
Independence Institute, where Kopel works).
Nov. 19, 2001.
Stephen Halbrook responds to Columbia professor Dorf's criticism
of the Emerson decision.
http://www.independent.org/tii/news/011119Halbrook.html
