This week the House is supposed to take up the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. It was originially to be taken up in September, but the House schedule became a casualty of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Because the target adjournment date was over 2 weeks ago (September 30), the House is going to consider the Senate version, S.397.

We know that alot of sites are making stink about the armor piercing ammunition amendment to S.397 (SA1645). In reality, the admendment only calls for a study of the feasibiliity of studying armor piercing ammunition. It does not empower the Attorney General to outlaw any forms of ammunition. In fact, the only power the AG has with respect to APA is to declare ammunition to be NOT APA based upon certain conditions (18 USC 921(a)17).  The bottom line is that nothing can happen with armor piercing ammunition until more legislation is proposed and passed. Proposals of those bills have already been proposed twice by Sen. Kennedy and they have repeatedly failed.

I see no use in repeating what others are already saying, so I will just point to some of what I find interesting today.

Check them out and have a good weekend.

First, let's get one thing straight. Governments, state or federal, do not have rights. People have rights; governments have powers. Those powers are granted by the people.

The conflict between state and federal powers is a conflict that dates back to the start of the country. The Civil War was, in a simplistic sense, a rebellion of states against the federal government attempting to impose its will on states that allowed slavery. Before the ratification of the Constitution, what we refer to now as states could each be seen as a sovereign nation.

For your consideration we offer this map provided by the NRA. Now, consider what it would have looked like 20 years ago. Who says things can't get better?

In our current poll (on the right) national recognition of CCW permits leads the legislative priorities by 2:1. House Bill 1243 addresses this need, but seems to be stuck. We would suggest it is time to contact your legislators.

The Court of Appeals Restructuring and Modernization Act or CARMA (S. 1845) was introduced by Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and John Ensign (R-Nev.). The bill would split the 9th Circuit and create a 12th Circuit court. Read more at Bill Would Split Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

This bill does not address gun control issues, so we will not be following here. But we thought you would find this of interest.