Packing heat on the hill: "The freshman congressman's enthusiasm for firearms might always have stood out in the Democratic Party, but Boren now finds himself among an even more endangered species: Democrats willing to discuss guns at all. 'When we as Democrats are trying to reach out and speak to voters in the center of the country, I don't think that we can support gun control,' he explains. After seeing Democrats hammered at the polls for voting to regulate guns, many of his colleagues seem to agree. As a result, a number of pro-gun measures moving through Congress will most likely face little opposition, as advocates of gun control increasingly find themselves marginalized and ignored."


PA: Pols set victim disarmament session: "Anti-gun lawmakers will get a shot this fall to advance new gun laws in a rare, one-day House session. Rep. Dwight Evans, D-Philadelphia, brokered a deal with House Republican leaders to hold the session on crime and violence Sept. 26. The House will convene in a Committee of the Whole, which allows House members to debate and take unofficial 'straw votes' meant to show how much support exists for proposals. House Majority Leader Sam Smith, R-Jefferson, agreed to the session last week as a vote neared on the state budget. Several Democrats were eyeing procedural maneuvers on bottled-up gun bills that threatened to delay the budget, and the one-day session in September appeased both sides. Key bills that Evans and his allies want to move include a 'one-gun-a-month' proposal, which would limit handgun buyers to one purchase per month, and a measure that would give Philadelphia power to enact its own gun laws."