REDNECK RANTS

House Bill 571, which was introduced by Joe Uecker, 66th District Representative, and is co sponsored by 30 other representatives, would amend section 2923.126 of the Ohio Revised Code. The law would not allow private employers to prohibit a concealed carry permit holder from storing the employee's handgun in a locked motor vehicle on the employer's premises. Any current employer policy prohibiting such would have to be amended.

Hundreds of signs across Lee County that proclaim guns are banned at parks, beaches, along canals and at other areas are being changed to comply with state law. The state allows guns at these locations if the gun owner has a concealed carry permit.

Gun sales have been on the rise in Augusta, particularly to women. "Over the last year, it's been on pretty much a daily basis," said Eddie Walden, the owner of Waldens. "We'd see (women) before, but not on a daily basis."

Proposition 109, if approved in November, would preclude legislators from making changes in hunting laws, at least by themselves. Instead, they would have to put them on the ballot and ask voters to modify what Proposition 109 would make a state constitutional right to hunt.

Jack Layton has a plan for the gun registry a compromise all Canadians can live with. He wants to drop the criminal prohibition for first time non compliers, drop registration fees and respect native treaties and the privacy rights of all gun owners. Sadly for Layton, his plan is a fiction, a farce. His proposal to save the gun registry requires him to introduce a compromise bill, which will then need to be debated, read three times, approved by the Senate and then given Royal Assent ...all in the two days before the registry's fate will be decided. Of course, Layton an intelligent, seasoned politician knows his plan doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of working. But that's OK. Because he doesn't intend for it to succeed. It's just a political ploy. The ploy is aimed not at the government or even the other opposition parties, but at a third of his own caucus the 12 NDP MPs who voted against keeping the registry last time and who are expected to do the same this month. Layton knows that these 12 NDP members, representing rural ridings where the registry is despised, cannot support the registry as is and hope to be re elected.

Manitoba MP Candice Hoeppner's bill C 391, designed to eliminate the long gun registry, has become an extraordinary political football. Most, if not all, hunters and law abiding firearms owners ask the common sense question, "Does the long gun registry actually stop crime?" Those who support the registry often respond with emotion; "Well, if the many millions spent on the long gun registry just save one life it will be worth it." Common sense Canadians reason more lives would be saved if the funds spent on the long gun registry were put into dealing with the root causes of crime plus more effective policing.

The recent departure of three MPs from Parliament and the possible resignation of a fourth in the coming days could play a pivotal role in a vote this month on whether to scrap the federal gun registry. A squeaker result is expected on Sept. 22, with Tory backbencher Candice Hoeppner predicting that "one or two votes will make the difference" in the outcome of a move to kill the contentious database.

A cash saving proposal to stop home visits for some shotgun licence renewals has been slammed as 'horrendous' by anti gun campaigners. Plans to halt some home visits for the five yearly certificate renewals as part of the growing collaboration between Bedfordshire Police and Hertfordshire Constabulary will be put forward later this month.

Coroner David Crerar has recommended the Government review the Arms Act -- including revisiting a suggested ban on military style semi automatics -- as part of his findings into the deaths of Molenaar and Senior Constable Len Snee last May.

A lot of things have changed in the federal government since President Harry S. Truman put his famous "the buck stops here" sign on his desk.

This week, NRA's Freedom Action Foundation (NRA-FAF) launched the 2010 "Trigger the Vote" campaign, featuring its Honorary Chairman Chuck Norris in a new series of advertisements.

The Environmental Protection Agency issued a press release August 27th announcing that it had rejected a petition filed by radical environmental groups to have lead ammunition banned under the Toxic Substances Control Act.

In response to the escalation in gang-related shootings in Portland, Mayor Sam Adams is proposing actions that are typical of those with liberal leanings. Rather than blaming the criminals, he`s blaming the guns, and he`s proposing five ordinances, some of which will restrict the gun rights of law-abiding citizens and will also likely end up in court because they violate Oregon`s firearms pre-emption law.

Lifelong hunter Bill Haycraft of Kentucky sees his treasured outdoors heritage under siege and in need of constitutional protection from animal rights advocates. He`s one of many hunters backing a "right-to-hunt" amendment that`s expected to be on his state`s 2012 ballot.

Some rural and northern New Democrat MPs may stay away from the upcoming vote on the long-gun registry, a move that could save the controversial program, the Star has learned.

The South Korean government, in an effort to raise money for its military, wants to sell nearly a million antique M1 rifles that were used by U.S. soldiers in the Korean War to gun collectors in America. The Obama administration approved the sale of the American made rifles last year. But it reversed course and banned the sale in March -- a decision that went largely unnoticed at the time but that is now sparking opposition from gun rights advocates.

For the Assembly, the curtain fell at midnight Tuesday after a final hour marked by animosity that began with a partisan fight that ultimately killed legislation to ban the open display of unloaded guns in most public places.

Yakima County commissioners approved an ordinance Tuesday allowing gun owners to carry their weapons to county parks and festivals. KAPP TV reports the change was made because the county law was more restrictive that the state law on concealed weapons.