Don't Toss your Headphones in the European Union

I just bought a pair of earbud headphones that came with a warning written in 17 different languages that says if you live in the European Union you are not allowed to toss your headphones in the garbage. I'm not even kidding. As is often said, truth is stranger than fiction, and you can't make this stuff up!

"After the implementation of the European Directive 2002/96/EU in the national legal system, the following applies:
Electrical and electronic devices MAY NOT be disposed of with domestic waste.
Consumers are OBLIGED by LAW to return electrical and electronic devices at the end of their service lives to the PUBLIC collecting points set up for this purpose or point of sale. Details to this are defined by the national law of the respective country."

Not sure what in the world the EU would want to do with a pair of worthless broken earbud headphones but if the European Union wants mine when I'm done with them they'll have to come dig them out of the pile of refuse my garbage collection service delivers them to. I'm certainly not flying to Europe to dispose of them at a European Union public collection point.

AZCDL Legislative Update

From AZCDL:

Today (6/29/09) SB 1168, the Senate bill containing the “strike everything” amendment substituting the language of HB 2474, cleared the last hurdle in the Legislature by passing the Senate Final Read by a vote of 18-9 with 3 not voting. From here, SB 1168 will be transmitted to the Governor, probably within the next couple of days. SB 1168 prevents any private or public employer, property owner, etc., from banning any person from keeping a firearm in a locked vehicle in a parking area on the property, with specific limited exceptions. Since SB 1168 has passed the Legislature, HB 2474 is effectively dead. It passed in the House and made it through Senate committees but has not been scheduled for a Senate Committee of the Whole (COW) debate and vote.

Also today, SB 1113 (Restaurant Carry) and SB 1243 (Defensive Display) passed out of the House COW. Both need to pass a House Third Read vote (possible tonight). Since the language in SB 1243 has remained unchanged, after it passes the House Third Read it will be transmitted to the Senate where it will be sent to the Governor. Unfortunately, since SB 1113 was amended in the House, it will need concurrence votes and then a Final Read vote in the Senate.

HB 2439, the AzCDL-requested CCW training reform bill that now includes Petty Offense and Defensive Display language, is on the agenda for tonight’s Senate Third Read. It is unlikely that the Senate will finish their Third Read agenda tonight. Once HB 2439 passes out of the Senate Third Read it goes back to the house for concurrence and Final Read votes before being transmitted to the Governor.

Stay tuned! When critical legislation moves, we will notify you via these Alerts and Twitter.

These alerts are a project of the Arizona Citizens Defense League (AzCDL), an all volunteer, non-profit, non-partisan grassroots organization. Renew today!

AzCDL – Protecting Your Freedom
http://www.azcdl.org/html/join_us_.html

Copyright © 2009 Arizona Citizens Defense League, Inc., all rights reserved.

TacTrain Defensive Handgun Training

I spent the day today in George Dean's TacTrain 8 hour Level-I Battle Pistol 1st Dimension course (it ran from 8 Am to 5 PM with a 1 hour lunch break). It is the first course in a series of defensive handgun training courses TacTrain offers at the Ben Avery gun range here in Arizona. They also offer a series of defensive carbine courses as well as many other types of defensive training.

The Level-1 Battle Pistol training course I attended today was limited to 10 students so George Dean and an Assistant Instructor named Delson Alexander were able to offer all of us excellent individualized instruction throughout the day. They were very knowledgeable in the subject matter & were 100% safety conscious. There were several students in attendance today who were fairly new to shooting & by the end of the day had all made an incredible leap of improvement in their shooting skills. I'm not new to shooting myself but even I learned new things today & improved my method of drawing from the holster which I plan to build on through dry fire exercises at home.

At a mere $95 for a full day of hands on training this course was an incredible value. Myself & all of the students that I asked plan to continue their training by signing up for the next course in the series. That is the best vote of confidence any of us could offer. :)

AZ: House Judiciary Committee Hearing on SB 1243 Defensive Display & SB 1113 Restaurant Carry

SB 1243 Defensive Display & SB 1113 Restaurant Carry bills are scheduled to be heard in the House Judiciary Committee this Thursday June 25th. The Hearing will begin at 9 AM. You can watch it live on Thursday, or later in the video archive once it has been added there.

Be sure to contact your representatives & to submit your testimony in favor of the bills to the committee via the Arizona Request to Speak system: http://alistrack.azleg.state.az.us/rts/login.asp

Update 1: Both bills passed out of committee with a do pass recommendation. SB 1243 Defensive Display passed in a vote of 5 to 3. SB 1113 Restaurant Carry passed in a vote of 6 to 2.

Also heard today in the Senate Committee on Retirement & Rural Development were HB2474 - parking lot storage (passed in a vote of 4 to 2), and HCM2009 - opposing federal firearms legislation (passed in a vote of 4 to 2).

AZ Senate Judiciary Hearing on HB 2474 Parking Lot Bill

HB 2474 Parking Lot Storage Bill is scheduled to be heard by the Senate Judiciary Committee today (Monday June 22nd). You can watch the Senate Judiciary Committee live when it begins conducting business at 1:30 PM in Senate Hearing Room 1.

Be sure to submit your testimony in favor of HB 2474 via the Arizona Request to Speak system: http://alistrack.azleg.state.az.us/rts/login.asp

Update 1: HB 2474 was scheduled but was not heard. However, HB 2439 was heard. You can watch the archive video of the hearing. See related AZCDL legislative update below:

Today (6/22/09), at about 4:30 PM, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed HB 2439 out of committee by a 3-1 vote with 3 members not voting. The three members not voting were the committee’s Democrats who did not attend the hearing. The dissenting vote came from Republican John Huppenthal.

HB 2439, the AzCDL-requested CCW training reform bill, provides for an alternative 4 hour CCW course for first time permit applicants, dealing only in legal issues, mental conditioning, and judgmental shooting decisions, for qualified individuals who can show proof of prior firearms training, such as:
- Completion of an NRA pistol course.
- Completion of pistol related courses at the college level, or from private organizations like Front Sight, Gunsite, etc.
- Completion of certain law enforcement training.
- Current military service or an honorable discharge.
- A competitive rating or ranking in an organized shooting competition.
- A CCW permit from another jurisdiction that required training or testing to obtain.

An amendment was added in the committee to include the language from last year’s “Petty Offense” bill which passed in both chambers of the Legislature in 2008. Petty Offense is a step towards Constitutional Carry. It reduces the penalty for carrying a concealed weapon without a permit from the current misdemeanor to a petty offense unless the person is committing or attempting to commit a serious or violent crime. The amendment includes the language from SB 1270 exempting CCW permit holders from certain “public establishment or event” restrictions. It also would prevent the destruction of weapons seized by law enforcement.

Since HB 2439 has already been through House hearings and votes, if the full Senate votes on its passage, it will not be subject to any additional committee hearings in the House before receiving a “Final” House vote and being sent to the Governor.

We now have two similar bills working to further restore our right to keep and bear arms in Arizona. SB 1270 fully decriminalizes the lawful carrying of concealed weapons and is facing tough opposition in both chambers and the Governor’s office. SB 1270 will also have to survive more committee hearings and floor votes to get to the governor’s desk. Meanwhile, HB 2439, with less controversial language but still a major improvement over the current system, has a shorter path to travel to the Governor’s desk.

On the Senate Judiciary Committee’s agenda, but not heard today, was HB 2474 which stipulates that property owners, tenants, public or private employers, and business entities must not prohibit the transport or storage of legally owned firearms in locked and privately owned motor vehicles parked within parking lots, parking garages, and other designated parking areas. It exempts property owners, tenants, public or private employers, business entities, and their employees or agents from civil liability for damages resulting from or arising out of an act involving a legally owned firearm that is transported or stored within a locked and privately owned vehicle. It allows employers and business entities to prescribe policies mandating that owners keep firearms out of the plain view of the public when stored or transported in locked and privately owned vehicles. And, it specifies inapplicability stemming from state and federal prohibition, and motor vehicle ownership. HB 2474 is being transferred from Senate Commerce Economic and Development (CED) Committee where it is currently assigned.

Stay tuned! When critical legislation moves, we will notify you via these Alerts and Twitter.

These alerts are a project of the Arizona Citizens Defense League (AzCDL), an all volunteer, non-profit, non-partisan grassroots organization. Join today!

AzCDL – Protecting Your Freedom
http://www.azcdl.org/html/join_us_.html

Copyright © 2009 Arizona Citizens Defense League, Inc., all rights reserved.

Targets

Looking for targets anyone? In the past I've mentioned a place where you can get free downloads for use to print out your own 8 1/2" x 11" paper targets, but if you're looking for something larger & much more lifelike try out the targets available at badasstargets.com which are currently available for $1.50 ea plus shipping. They were kind enough to send me a sample set to try out and they're quite realistic.

My favorite target in their inventory has to be the cabin fever guy attacking you with a machete & a meat cleaver (see above). It was fun to fill that psycho up with lead. As I fired I shouted for him to drop his weapons which he failed to do so I just kept shooting until my third 15 round magazine was empty. I imagine that in real life it wouldn't take me 46 rounds of combined body & head shots to get a bad guy to drop his weapons but what can you expect from a paper target, even one that is realistic looking?

Thanks for the fun! :)

Safest place to eat dinner Sat Jul 11th 2009

Anyone want a bite to eat in the safest restaurant in town? Join members of ArizonaShooting.com & Arizona Gun Owners for dinner at the Scottsdale Hometown Buffet @ 6PM on Sat Jul 11th, 2009.

If you live in Southern AZ & wish to attend the Tucson OC Dinner please participate in the poll to pick the date & time. Poll runs until Wed Jul 01, 2009 12:48 pm.

Update 1: Eric Shelton of the Handgun Podcast will be attending the Tucson OC Dinner with us as well. :)

Update 2: Tucson time & location is set. Now you can help choose the place for the August dinner.

AZ AG Terry Goddard Opposes Constitutional Carry!

Standing in Opposition to Arizona Constitutional Carry SB 1270 which will be heard today by the Senate Judiciary Committee, Arizona AG Terry Goddard and a group of Police Chiefs have announced that they don't support the Arizona Constitution. At least not Article 2, Section 26 of the Arizona Constitution which says “The right of the individual citizen to bear arms in defense of himself or the state shall not be impaired . . ."

What part of impaired does Goddard fail to understand? Isn't Terry Goddard supposed to support the law? If so, perhaps he should READ IT.

I can understand the Police Chiefs who are political appointees who answer only to the anti-gun Mayors or University Presidents who appointed them, but Terry Goddard was elected by we the citizens to enforce our Constitution. Give AG Terry Goddard a call & ask him to support the human right of Self Defense and our Arizona State Constitution which PROTECTS IT!


Be sure to submit your testimony in favor of SB1270 via the Arizona Request to Speak system: http://alistrack.azleg.state.az.us/rts/login.asp

You can watch today's hearing on Constitutional Carry SB 1270 live today in Senate Hearing Room 1 (scheduled to take place this afternoon, Friday June 19th, whenever the Senate Committee of the Whole is Adjourned), or you can watch it sometime next week after the video becomes available in the video archive.

Update 1: I've been watching the live video feed of the Senate Hearing & SB 1270 Constitutional Carry along with a couple of proposed amendments were passed out of committee with a do pass recommendation in a 4 to 3 vote. Next steps for the bill will be Senate COW floor debate & the Senate 3rd Read floor vote.

Gary Marbut: Get the Federal Government on a Leash

I love this quote by Gary Marbut (President of Montana Shooting Sports Associateion) relating to States challenging the Federal Government's abuse of the Interstate Commerce Clause:

The federal government, said Mr. Marbut, "is a creation of the states, and the states need to get their creation on a leash."

AZ: AZCDL Legislative Update

AZCDL Legislative Update:

The Senate continues with its accelerated schedule and voted on SB 1113 (Restaurant Carry) and SB 1243 (Defensive Display) in today’s (June 15, 2009) Third Read after passing them out of the Senate Committee of the Whole (COW) just last Friday (June 12, 2009).

Unfortunately, SB 1113, which limited the carrying of concealed weapons in certain restaurants serving alcohol to CCW permit holders, providing signs are not posted forbidding firearms and the person possessing the firearm does not consume alcohol, failed by a tie vote of 14-14 with two Senators not voting. One of the Senators not voting was Republican Senator John Nelson, a supporter of SB 1113, who was unable to be at this session due to a family emergency. Unfortunately, a number of Senators who indicated to AzCDL that they supported SB 1113 voted against it on the Senate Floor. However, there is still hope for SB 1113. Senator Harper, the sponsor of SB 1113, seeing how the vote was going, switched his vote to "Nay" which will enable Senator Harper to ask for a reconsideration vote so that SB 1113 can be voted on again in an upcoming Third Read, probably tomorrow, June 16, 2009. You can see how each Senator voted here: http://tinyurl.com/SB1113Senate3rd .

SB 1243, the AzCDL-requested bill that clarifies when a defensive display is justified, sailed through today’s Senate Third Read by a vote of 21-7 with 2 not voting. Vote details are here: http://tinyurl.com/SB1243Senate3rd . From here, SB 1243 will be transmitted to the House where the process starts all over again.

Stay tuned! When critical legislation moves, we will notify you via these Alerts.

These alerts are a project of the Arizona Citizens Defense League (AzCDL), an all volunteer, non-profit, non-partisan grassroots organization.

AzCDL - Protecting Your Freedom
http://www.azcdl.org/html/join_us_.html

Copyright © 2009 Arizona Citizens Defense League, Inc., all rights reserved.

Update 1: SB 1113 passed on Tuesday June 16! Next step is the House.

Supreme Court Nominee Sotomeyer Unwilling

Senator Jim DeMint said that during a meeting he had with Judge Sotomeyer she was "unwilling to say the Second Amendment protects a fundamental right that applies to all Americans, which raises serious questions about her view of the Bill of Rights."

I have my doubts that Obama would ever nominate a defender of the right to keep & bear arms, so unfortunately this bad news does not surprise me.

AZ: Restaurant Carry & Defensive Display

SB 1243 Defensive Display & SB 1113 Restaurant Carry bills are scheduled to be heard in the Senate Judiciary Committee today at 1:30 PM. You can watch it live today, and video archive of it should become available within a few days. I'll update this post with the Senate Judiciary Committee results when they become available.

Be sure to submit your testimony in favor of the bills via the Arizona Request to Speak system: http://alistrack.azleg.state.az.us/rts/login.asp

Update 1: Both bills passed out of committee today with a do pass recommendation. SB 1243 Defensive Display passed out of committee by a vote of 5 in favor, 2 against. SB 1113 Restaurant Carry passed out of committee by a vote of 4 in favor, 3 against.

Update 2: Watch the archive video of the hearing, as well as archive video of the Senate Committee of the Whole debate from Friday June 12th where both bills passed - next step is Senate 3rd Read floor vote on Monday.

Update 3: Bill status update.

Update 4: Both bills have passed in the Senate during the 3rd read floor vote (SB 1243 passed on Monday June 15, SB 1113 passed on Tuesday June 16)! Next step is the House.

Update 5: Both bills are now scheduled to be heard by the House Judiciary Committee.

NRA News

If you have not been to the NRA News website lately (Radio Program hosted by Cam Edwards) you should check it out. We're now able to access specific episodes which is a nice feature. They also have an NRA News Podcast Feed you can use to subscribe via iTunes or your favorite Podcast listening device. Very nice.

Light on posting this week

I have not dropped off the face of the earth or anything crazy, but I am rather swamped this week in other projects. I should be able to resume posting sometime next week.

NRA-ILA Grassroots Alert

This week's NRA-ILA Grassroots Alert.

National Park Carry Amendment Passed by the House

The National Park Carry Coburn Amendment to the Credit Card bill was approved by the House yesterday.  Next stop will be the President's desk where Obama is expected to sign the bill, not because of the Amendment, but in spite of it.

The NRA, GOA, & CCRKBA have all issued related press releases.  The Brady folks are not happy - apparently they think law abiding citizens who already carry guns in rush hour traffic & crowded shopping malls without incident will suddenly loose their heads when the "self defense prohibited" signs are removed from our National Parks.

Patrick Johnson: Behind the Scene with pro-gun Bloggers

Christian Science Monitor author Patrick Johnson wrote an article titled: "A rifle in one hand, a laptop in the other. Behind the scene with pro-gun bloggers"

In the press box, bloggers outnumbered national reporters by a good margin. And officially, nearly 50 bloggers — compared to 100 mainstream print journalists — were accredited by the NRA press office to attend the 138th annual convention.

H/T to NSSF.

Saturday at the NRA Convention

Saturday was a lot of fun.  I took a couple of my boys along with me & we explored the NRA Exhibition floor which took most of the day, even though we only stopped to look more closely at the items of most interest to us.  I think we would have needed at least a week to get a detailed look at everything that caught our eye.

While there we found Cam Edwards at the NRANews.com booth & I introduced my boys to him.  Cam had a brief chat with both of them which they enjoyed greatly.  Thanks Cam!  We also wandered into a Cowboy Fast Draw booth being run by members of the Arizona Cowboy Shooters Association where we tried our hand at fast draw action which was loads of fun for the three of us.

Later in the day we took a break from the Exhibit floor to check out the NRA Air Rifle Range.  While we were there Pyramyd Air did a demo of the Shin Sung Dragon Slayer .50 Cal Air Rifle which was fun to watch.  They blew up some apples and a small 2x4 plank of wood.  After the demo my boys had a great time shooting air rifles - both were excellent shots.

Another high point in the day for us was heading over to the Tactical Solutions booth to get autographed copies of Trail Safe - Michael Bane's latest book.  My boys were very excited to meet Michael Bane in person & get his autographed book as they love watching his TV shows with me.

After heading home to rest a bit I went to watch John Stossel & Oliver North speak at the NRA American Values Banquet.  With about 6,300 people served dinner it was the largest dinner ever held anywhere in the State of Arizona.  While waiting for the speeches to begin I had a nice conversation with Mark Anderson who was there to report on the dinner for The American Free Press.  We talked about everything from the 2nd & 1st Amendments in the Bill of Rights to the shortcomings of the Lamestream Media.

John Stossel & Oliver North delivered excellent speeches.  You'll want to listen to them once they become available in the Archive of NRANews.com.  I was the only blogger who watched the event from the raised Media platform, so although I missed out on the food I did enjoy a great view of the entire room:

Overall it was another great day.  I'm looking forward to the next NRA Annual Meeting, hopefully I'll be able to go!

PS: I send out many thanks to Bitter for organizing the Blog Bash & to the NRA , Cam Edwards, and Michael Bane for catering to New Media!

Friday at the NRA Convention

I had a great time today at the 2009 NRA Annual Meeting here in Phoenix Arizona. I spent a lot of time today with Eric Shelton (of the Handgun Podcast) & Carl (of the Gun Dudes Podcast) which was a lot of fun in itself, both are great guys and were a lot of fun to hang around. As an extra bonus Eric even gave me a Handgun Podcast T-shirt which was great.

I started out the day at the NRA Grassroots Workshop, which set a new record turnout with over double the size of their workshop from last year. All the speakers were great, and we had surprise visits from Wayne LaPierre & Chris Cox which was really fun for me due to the fact that Eric & I were practically on the front row. If you don't believe me, I have photographic evidence.

Dave Kopp was at the table next to ours, and true to his word he gave Eric & I AZCDL pin's. If you're an AZCDL member & you run into any of the AZCDL leadership this weekend they will give you an AZCDL pin.

In the afternoon a group of us went to watch the NRA Celebration of American Values. There were a lot of good speeches given, but my favorites were given by Wayne LaPierre, Governor Haley Barbour, Ken Blackwell, John Bolton, Dick Morris, Michael Reagan, Mitt Romney, and Michael Steele. Once they're available in the NRA Archive I think you'd enjoy listening to them.

After the Celebration of American Values was over we headed over to the NRA Press Office to spend an hour with Cam Edwards of NRA News. He gave us the inside scoop on some of the exciting new changes that will be taking place on the NRA News website that will make it easier for us to search for & link to specific segments of his nightly gun rights news program. He also shared advice on how to plan audio interviews & podcast segments for the podcasters in our group. Thanks Cam!

We rounded up the day by hanging out with Michael Bane and his sponsors. What a fun evening. I enjoyed chatting with Michael Bane as well as representatives from Smith & Wesson, Tactical Solutions, and Insight Tech-Gear, not to mention lots of fellow bloggers. I even came away with some free T-shirts & hats, which are always a fun thing to get. While there I met Yamil Sued of HotGunShots.com & saw some of his action photos on his ipod. Amazing photography and a very friendly guy.

A fun packed day, and I have not even been onto the NRA Exhibit floor yet! Saturday morning the exhibit floor will be my first stop. I don't plan to leave the exhibit until I see everything there or they kick me out, whichever comes first.

As I find things of interest on the exhibit floor I'll be updating my twitter feed & will be uploading photos to my flickr stream & facebook. You can also follow other bloggers here at 2ablogbash.com. If you can't go there yourself, come along with me & enjoy the fun!