Dec. 23, 2002, Second Amendment newsletter

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.

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Dave Kopel’s Second Amendment Newsletter. December 23, 2002.

Dave Kopel’s Second Amendment Project is based at the

Independence Institute, a free-market think tank in

Golden, Colorado.

http://www.independenceinstitute.org

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Delivery of this newsletter comes courtesy of the

Second Amendment Foundation, in Bellevue, Washington

http://www.saf.org

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Please visit Dave Kopel’s website, containing articles on

the Second Amendment and other freedom topics.

http://www.davekopel.org

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Back issues available at:

http://www.saf.org/KopelSAFnewsletter.htm

Thanks to the hard-working Dave LaCourse for managing the circulation

and distribution of this newsletter for the last year!!

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Table of Contents for this issue

1. New by Kopel: Canadian gun registration disaster. Disarming Ugandans.

Hanukkah and the Israeli militia.

2. International. Australia bans handguns. British government promotes

culture of victimization, record-setting victimization results.

Israelis buy guns en masse. U.S. State Dept. blocks lawful gun sales

to Jamaicans under siege by criminals.

3. Law: The Bean decision. Analysis of 9^th Circuit’s Silviera decision.

Fifth and Tenth Circuit cases. Trial courts in Ohio and Delaware rule

against municipal lawsuits against gun companies.

4. Children. Zero Tolerance gets even stupider.

5. History. Columbia rescinds Bancroft Prize given to Bellesiles.

Publisher Alfred A. Knopf criticized for continuing to sell

fraudulent book.

6. Culture: Inaccuracies in Michael Moore’s “documentary.”

7. Legal Scholarship. Volokh on the evolving Second Amendment.

Heath on the militia. Gun law disarms soldiers.

8. Politics. “Smart Guns” handgun ban passes in NJ.

New campaign against gun sales in classified ads.

9. Christmas Treats. James Swan on hunting.

Rachel Lucas on freedom.

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1. New by Kopel

Disaster Up North. Gun-control laws run amuck, with a billion dollar

cost overrun in the gun registry.

National Review Online. Dec. 12, 2002. With Gary Mauser.

http://www.nationalreview.com/kopel/kopel121202.asp

Disarming Uganda. The U.N. disarms the victims.

National Review Online. Dec. 11, 2002. With Paul Gallant & Joanne Eisen.

http://www.nationalreview.com/kopel/kopel121102.asp

A Rich Tradition. Jewish war lessons.

The Hanukkah story of how a people’s militia defeated an

evil empire.

National Review Online. Dec. 5, 2002.

http://www.nationalreview.com/kopel/kopel120502.asp

Coming soon, from the National Center for Policy Analysis:

Issue backgrounder on Ballistic Imaging. Co-authored with Sterling Burnett.

From National Review Online:

How anti-gun advocates use regulations to accomplish goals which

legislatures won’t support.

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2. International

a. Australia

Handgun confiscation in progress

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/12/06/1038950185452.html

Details from Sporting Shooters Association of Australia

http://www.ssaa.org.au/gunban2002/gunbanindex.htm

b. Columbia

"The Guns of Opa-Locka"

by Jake Bergman and Julia Reynolds

December 2, 2002

The Nation
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20021202&s=bergman

Argues that lax U.S. gun laws supply guns to foreign terrorists.

c. England

England has worst crime rate in world
By David Bamber

The Telegraph

Dec. 1.

New UN crime survey shows that England/Wales have the highest crime rate among

major developed nations.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;

$sessionid$3G0FU5MCAIUF1QFIQMFSFF4AVCBQ0IV0?xml=/news/2002/12/01/ncrime01.xml&sSheet=/

news/2002/12/01/ixhome.html&secureRefresh=true

We must be allowed to defend ourselves against burglars
By Alan Judd

The Telegraph
Dec. 2.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2002/12/02/do0201.xml&sSheet=/

opinion/2002/12/02/ixopinion.html

“Out of Sight is Safer”

British government responds to cellphone robbery by telling people

not to use cellphones in public.

http://www.samizdata.net/blog/archives/002560.html#002560

British Government warns Gloucester man that if he moves a car which

Someone illegally parked in his driveway, he will be prosecuted.

Government refuses to move the car itself.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2565109.stm

d. Israel

Up in Arms

Israelis Flock to Buy Guns, Pack Heat at Services

By Ian Urbina

Village Voice
November 27 - December 3, 2002
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0248/urbina.php

“What little anti-gun sentiment used to exist is virtually nonexistent now.”

“Bulk permits now allow for the circulation of unchecked numbers of

weapons as municipalities, schools, and hospitals are among the many

institutions that can apply for block licenses to arm their employees.”

e. Jamaica

Legal gun supplies dry up

Merchants, licensed firearm holders left hanging as State Department tightens control
BY T K Whyte

The Jamaican Observer

November 24

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20021123T230000\

0500_35669_OBS_LEGAL_GUN_SUPPLIES_DRY_UP.asp

U.S. State Department blocks sales of legal firearms to

licensed Jamaicans

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3. Law

Supreme Court decision in the Bean case

http://laws.findlaw.com/us/000/01-704.html

Silviera v. Lockyer

Ninth Circuit nullifies the Second Amendment.

http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/ca9/newopinions.nsf/

661116A4ECB1A7BE88256C8600544DCB/$file/0115098.pdf? openelement

Silviera analysis by:

Clayton Cramer

http://claytoncramer.com/weblog/2002_12_01_archive.html#85654955

By Pejman Yousefzadeh

http://www.techcentralstation.com/1051/

defensewrapper.jsp?PID=1051-350&CID=1051-121202D

U.S. v. Bayles

10th Circuit reiterates that Second Amendment case

does not belong to the people. Tells district court to sentence defendant

to a longer term.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?

navby=search&case=/data2/circs/10th/014092.html

US v. Herrera

5^th Circuit, en banc.

Upholds sentence for firearms owners who was “unlawful user”

of illegal drugs. 18 U.S. Code 922(g)(3).

Dissent by judges DeMoss and Smith urges strict scrutiny

review of this vague infringement of 2d Amendment rights.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/5th/0051177pv3.pdf

Delaware trial court issues summary judgment against

Wilmington’s abusive lawsuit against gun companies.

http://www.nssf.org/releases/PR_NSSF_Wilmington_120302.htm

Ohio trial court rules that Cincinnati cannot sue

gun companies or associations headquartered outside Ohio.

http://www.cincypost.com/2002/11/16/guns111602.html

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4. Children

Larry Elder

November 29, 2002

Kids, guns, and Dr. Phil
http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/elder120202.asp

Canadian school suspends students for boxing, while not on school property

http://www.canada.com/vancouver/news/

story.asp?id={BD373499-D5C2-41C7-8E0D-F9EC69F83EA9}

Third grader accidentally brings bullet to school in a

Big container full of crayons, is expelled

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0212100331dec10,0,3393697.story

4th-grader suspended for gun shell in pocket
World Net Daily
By Joe Kovacs

November 21, 2002

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=29729

Student suspended for carrying a stage prop firearm

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/news/111302_ns_studentsuspended.html

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5. History

Prized, No Longer
Columbia University rescinds Michael Bellesiles’s Bancroft Prize

By Melissa Seckora

National Review Online

http://www.nationalreview.com/seckora/seckora121702.asp

Debunks claims that Bancroft Committee did not have prior warning

of Bellesiles fraud.

What Is Knopf Waiting For?

By Jerome Sternstein

History News Network.

http://hnn.us/articles/1158.html

Publisher Alfred Knopf destroys its credibility by continuing to

defend Bellesiles hoax book.

Latest developments in Bellesiles Hoax

http://hnn.us/articles/691.html#latest

(Note also some very interesting messages in the

Discussion Threads that follow the text.)

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6. Culture

Gun Control myths: Part III

By Thomas Sowell
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell120202.asp

Michael Moore fact-check website

http://www.moorewatch.com/

Spinsanity list of falsehoods in “Bowling”

http://www.spinsanity.org/columns/20021119.html

Forbes list of frauds in “Bowling”

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2002/1209/059.html?_requestid=2372

Moore Bowls Gutter Balls in Columbine Film

By Ari Armstrong

Colorado Freedom Report
http://www.co-freedom.com/2002/11/bowling.html

The Pamela White Gun Challenge

By Ari Armstrong

Colorado Freedom Report
http://www.co-freedom.com/2002/12/gunchallenge.html

“Back in August, Pam White wrote an article for the Boulder Weekly
explaining why she doesn't want to use a gun for self-defense. I
argue she understands neither the moral nor the practical issues
involved, and I challenge her to take a firearms training class.”

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7. Legal Scholarship

"Exposing the Second Amendment: Federal Preemption of State Militia Legislation"

By Norman Heath

University of Detroit Mercy Law Review

http://www.guncite.com/journals/heath.html

By far the best comprehensive analysis of militia case law and its

implications for the Second Amendment.

Who’s Right on Second
By Eugene Volokh
http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-volohk120602.asp

Explains that examining the Second Amendment under “evolving

standards” of social norms makes the individual rights position even

stronger.