CA: Kids told to remove tiny rifles from graduation caps: "Cornerstone Elementary School will review its zero-tolerance policy toward guns on campus this fall after fifth-graders were told to remove weapons from the hands of toy soldiers that festooned their graduation caps. 'We don't want to repeat mistakes or offend people,' Walker Williams, superintendent of the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District, told the Daily Breeze. 'We didn't intend to offend.' ... A lawyer for the National Rifle Association, Chuck Michel of Long Beach, suggested district officials had taken the policy to a ludicrous extreme."


WV: Substitute teacher acquitted in fatal shooting: "A man accused of killing a neighbor during a dispute over a dog has been acquitted following his six-day trial in Preston County Circuit Court. The seven-woman, five-man jury deliberated for nearly three hours Tuesday before returning the not guilty verdict against Ronald Schleger. Schleger, a 56-year-old substitute math teacher, was initially charged with murder, malicious assault and attempted murder. On May 12, 2006, both Schleger and Douglas Livengood, 43, called Preston County's 911 center to report that Schleger had run over and killed Livengood's dog. Authorities said Schleger later called 911 to report that he had shot Livengood. Livengood's wife was also shot but survived. Preston County Prosecuting Attorney Melvin C. Snyder III told the jury in closing arguments that the shooting had all the elements of malice, premeditation and intent. Schleger, however, maintained that he fired his gun in self-defense."


DC Handgun Ban: "Is banning handguns a 'reasonable regulation?' The District of Columbia certainly hopes that the Supreme Court thinks so. D.C. filed a brief last week asking the U.S. Supreme Court to let it keep its 1976 handgun ban, but how the city argued its case was what was most surprising. Instead of spending a lot of time arguing over what the constitution means, the city largely made a public policy argument. D.C. argues that whatever one thinks about the Second Amendment guaranteeing people a right to own guns, banning handguns should be allowed for public safety reasons. Claiming that the Second Amendment doesn't protect individual rights might be a tough sell, but the city's public safety argument will be at least as tough."