South Dakota Signs Law Allowing Teachers to Carry Guns in the Classroom

South Dakota Republican Gov. Dennis Daugaard on Friday signed into law a bill to allow teachers to carry guns in the classroom. The education community stiffly opposed the measure, according the Rapid City Journal. With it, school boards can decide whether to adopt “sentinel programs” to arm teachers or other school personnel with guns. Though some states have provisions in their gun laws allowing teachers to carry firearms in the classroom, South Dakota’s law is believed to be the first in the nation to specifically allow it, according to the New York Times. Calls came to arm teachers after the shooting massacre at a Connecticut elementary school in December, with supporters saying doing so could prevent future tragedies. South Dakota school administrators and teachers said arming personnel could lead to accidental shootings and put weapons in the hands of inadequately trained people, the Associated Press reported. The new law doesn’t force school districts to arm teachers or force teachers to carry guns, according to the AP, and local law enforcement agencies will have to sign off on a school’s sentinel program. Full Story Here

Lawmakers Propose New Taxes On Guns & Ammo

Lawmakers are frustrated as at every turn they are met with resistance against gun bans. Now they are seeking to regulate firearms and ammunition with taxation, a sin tax of sorts. According to Fox News, The proposals range from the modest — a proposed 5 percent tax in New Jersey — to the steep — a proposed 50 percent ammo tax in Maryland. The bills follow efforts to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and expand background checks, measures that have had mixed success at the state level. The taxes — much like so-called “sin taxes,” like those on cigarettes — serve a dual purpose. They can deter buyers, while using the extra revenue for favored programs. In this case, the sponsors want to direct the money toward mental health services, police training and victims’ treatment. Obviously this is punishing law abiding citizens and a gross abuse of the power of taxation. Senior vice president and general counsel for the National Shooting Sports Foundation Lawrence Keane said, “If anything, gun owners ought to be getting a tax rebate for helping reduce crime.” “We’re obviously extremely opposed to try to tax the lawful exercise of the Second Amendment rights by law-abiding Americans,” he said. "Lawmakers eye new taxes on guns, ammo in latest wave of legislation Read more:

Police are systematically performing raids on californian homes to confiscate their firearms

The California Senate approved a $24-million expenditure on Thursday to speed the confiscation of guns from people who have been disqualified from owning firearms because of criminal convictions or serious mental illness. Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) said budget cuts to the Department of Justice have hampered a program that targets people who purchased firearms legally but were later disqualified because of a subsequent conviction or determination of mental illness. As a result of the cuts, there is a backlog of 19,000 people who have improper possession of more than 40,000 guns, including 1,600 assault weapons, and the number is increasing faster than their firearms can be confiscated. full story here

SON USES FATHER’S GUN TO DEFEND PARENTS FROM ARMED HOME INTRUDERS

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/02/24/son-uses-fathers-gun-to-defend-parents-from-armed-home-intruders/ One suspect is dead after a quick-thinking 21-year-old man sprang into action and grabbed his father’s gun to fend off three armed intruders and protect his parents in Texas. The Houston-area young man and his parents were at home baking a cake Thursday night when there was a knock on the door, KHOU-TV reported. “I see a young boy and I think it is a friend of my son so I open it a little bit,” the father, who didn’t want to show his face or give his name on camera, told KHOU. “These guys push and out comes two more, they push me on the ground.” With the father down, the suspects went after the mother, telling her to get on the ground. She ran to her bedroom, where her son was already grabbing the gun from under the bed. “I just hear a couple of times, boom, boom, boom,” the father said.

Oakland Neighbors Policing Their Own Streets As They Lose Faith In Cops

OAKLAND (KPIX 5) – Oakland’s crime problems have gotten so bad that some people aren’t even bothering to call the cops anymore; instead, they’re trying to solve and prevent crimes themselves. http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2013/02/26/arcadia-park-residents-policing-their-streets-as-they-lose-faith-in-opd/

Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke Releases New Pro Gun Radio Ad, Calls Guns the Great Equalizer

http://www.inquisitr.com/551243/milwaukee-sheriff-david-clarke-releases-new-pro-gun-radio-ad-listen/#BmZohwm2F2yGuGXz.18 Milwaukee, WI — Sheriff David Clarke, who made national headlines with his controversial public service announcement about skipping 911 and getting a gun instead, has cut a new pro-gun radio ad. In the first ad, he recommended that Milwaukee County citizens take a firearms training course so that they can be prepared to defend themselves against intruders rather than hiding under the bed and waiting for the overworked cops to arrive. The new 30-second spot, which aired for the first time today, alludes to a gun in the hands of a law-abiding citizen as a “great equalizer.”

Federal court says concealed gun permits not protected by 2nd Amendment Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/02/23/appeals-court-upholds-concealed-weapons-ruling/#ixzz2MWA7ZFka

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/02/23/appeals-court-upholds-concealed-weapons-ruling/ DENVER – A federal appeals court has ruled that permits allowing people to carry concealed weapons are not protected by the Second Amendment. The ruling by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was issued Friday in a case involving Washington state resident Gray Peterson. A federal judge in 2011 tossed out Peterson’s lawsuit filed against Denver and the state’s Department of Public Safety. Peterson claims that being denied a concealed weapons permit because he was not a Colorado resident violated his Second Amendment rights to bear firearms.