GUN BANNING HAS NOW PLAINLY FAILED

"Paul Bucher, the district attorney for the Wisconsin county where a man opened fire in a church service last month, killing seven people and himself, has one answer to the deadly mass shootings around the country in recent weeks: more guns.

"The problems aren't the guns, it's the guns in the wrong hands," said Mr. Bucher, a Republican who recently announced his candidacy for Wisconsin attorney general. "We need to put more guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens. Whether having that would have changed what happened is all speculation, but it would level the playing field. If the person you're fighting has a gun and all you have is your fists, you lose."

Across the country, efforts to expand or establish laws allowing concealed handguns have been fueled by the horrifying shootings in the last month - of the family of a federal judge in Chicago, at the church service in Wisconsin, at courthouses in Atlanta and Tyler, Tex., and the nation's second-deadliest school shooting, on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in Minnesota.

In Texas and Illinois, the shootings prompted new legislation to allow judges and prosecutors to be armed. Legislators in Nebraska and Wisconsin, which were already considering allowing concealed weapons, say they think the shootings will help their cause..... after the recent shootings in Red Lake, N.R.A. officials proposed arming teachers."

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Sensenbrenner fails test: "In February, Aaron Zelman wrote a personal memo to Rep. James Sensenbrenner. The memo listed a number of abuses by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and called for Sensenbrenner to call hearings to publicize and curb the outrages committed by this out-of-control agency. Aaron emphasized how the BATFE targets the innocent and vulnerable and how it damages the U.S. firearms industry. ... James Sensenbrenner is the very powerful chairman of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee. Aaron Zelman lives in [his] district. ... So what was Sensenbrenner's response? Did this 'representative' of a gun-friendly district agree to call hearings? ... NO. Far from it. Instead, he responded with a form letter which not only assumed that the executive director of a well-known gun-rights group needed a basic primer on BATFE functions, but which also praised the rogue agency in glowing terms."



South Africa: Rush is on to dump "illegal" guns: "More people are expected to rush to police stations countrywide in the next two days to give up their illegal firearms and ammunition, said government news agency BuaNews on Tuesday. The deadline for the handing in of illegal weapons is March 31 -- Thursday. The agency reported that those who did not hand in illegal guns faced up to 25 years in jail. According to the police service, more than 20 000 illegal guns and ammunition have been handed in at police stations since the amnesty began in January."