Elk hunting requires planning

http://www.jamestownsun.com/event/article/id/126541/group/Outdoors/

(First of two parts) Elk hunting seasons are long over, but if you are thinking of hunting elk somewhere in 2011, now is the time to begin planning. The days are gone when you could decide last minute to go elk hunting in the fall, drive to a western state and buy a license across the counter. Colorado was the last state where you could do that.
By: Bernie Kuntz, Outdoors, The Jamestown Sun

 

(First of two parts)
Elk hunting seasons are long over, but if you are thinking of hunting elk somewhere in 2011, now is the time to begin planning. The days are gone when you could decide last minute to go elk hunting in the fall, drive to a western state and buy a license across the counter. Colorado was the last state where you could do that.
So what to do and where to go? There are lots of options. Just don’t make the mistake that some Midwesterners do and think you are going to drive to National Forest land in a western state, park your pickup, hike a quarter mile and shoot an elk. It seldom is that easy.
Do-it-on-your own hunters have their best success going in a group of experienced hunters who own all the required camping gear, and have a routine. Many such groups of hunters travel west every year with decent success. It’s always good to have partners. You might hunt alone in the field, but if you get an elk on the ground you probably are going to need help getting it back to the trailhead.
One of my fishing partners a couple years ago was a guy from Mohall, N.D., who had a magnificent bull elk head mounted in his trophy room that he shot sometime in the 1980s on the Beartooth Wildlife Management Area near Great Falls, Mont. He used his own horses, had a couple hunting partners, but no guide.
Hunters who do not have reliable partners might want to consider hiring an outfitter. This, of course, boosts the cost of the trip considerably but it also increases the hunter’s chances of success.
Next, the hunter needs to determine his expectations. Are you wishing for an elk hunting experience in the West and happy to take a cow elk or a young bull? If so, your chances of success are considerably higher than if you want nothing else but a bull large enough to mount on the wall. (Consider that, while the world is full of better elk hunters than me, I hunted elk on and off since the late 1970s, shot 16 elk, but have only one large enough that justified a full shoulder mount.)
So where to go? The absolute best elk hunting in the West is in special permit areas and also on private land where there is limited hunting pressure. Conversely, many of the general hunting districts get hunted hard. And in Montana and Idaho you also are competing with wolf packs preying on elk so your chances are not great of finding a mature bull. The special permit areas, unfortunately, are very difficult to draw. So you might spend $800 on a non-resident license, apply for the special elk permit, fail to draw, and be relegated to hunting a general area … along with hundreds of other hunters. I should add that an early winter in Montana in 2010 allowed more hunters than usual to take mature bull elk. How that will affect 2011 success is debatable.
My advice is to apply for a special permit somewhere like Utah, Nevada, Arizona or New Mexico. Of course, it might take years to draw the permit. It took me 11 years to draw a Nevada elk permit, for example. But I only saw a couple other hunters in five days of hunting and saw good numbers of elk. (If you remember, I managed to shoot under a modest bull at 340 yards. It was captured on national TV on The Outdoor Channel, and it seems that everyone I ever knew has seen the segment, including Vladimir Putin and Hillary Clinton.)
If I were hunting elk for the first time and was willing to spend $6,000 or $8,000, I might apply for a Wyoming elk license somewhere in the northwestern part of the state and take a classic horseback hunt by packtrain into wilderness area. Or I’d go to British Columbia where there is good, albeit expensive, elk hunting. Otherwise, I’d start building preference points in a couple or three states.
The main consideration to keep in mind is that no matter what physical shape you are in, elk hunting is a lot easier at age 30 than it is at age 60. So go when you can. As a friend of mine says, “You’re gonna run out of health before you run out of money!”
Next week: Elk rifles and cartridges.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (CGE) - The 5-2 ruling Wednesday by the Ohio Supreme Court affirmed the constitutionality of Ohio's firearms statutes and put another dent in the armor of Ohio's 98-year old Home Rule law, which cities have used for decades to take state law a step further when it suited their local needs.

Applauding the ruling, outgoing Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray said in a prepared statement, "This is an important victory for every gun owner in Ohio. Before 2006, Ohioans faced a confusing patchwork of local ordinances with different restrictions on gun ownership and possession. The General Assembly stepped in, enacting a comprehensive set of rights and responsibilities for every citizen seeking to exercise his or her Second Amendment liberties. We vigorously defended that law, and today the Court upheld it."

Background to the ruling is that the General Assembly, in 2006, extensively amended Ohio's gun laws defining who can purchase firearms, what types of firearms can be sold, where they can be possessed, where they can be discharged, and who can obtain a license to carry concealed firearms in public.

Taking a swipe at the accepted decades-old sanctity of Home Rule to go beyond state law, state lawmakers also prohibited cities and municipalities from enacting restrictions on gun ownership and possession above those specified in state and federal law.
In their ruling, the high court reversed a lower court ruling on a lawsuit brought by the city of Cleveland that argued state lawmakers could not prevent the city from enacting additional restrictions on gun ownership and possession, based on its "home rule" authority.

Writing for the Court, Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton said, "(Ohio's gun law) addresses the General Assembly's concern that absent a uniform law throughout the state, law abiding gun owners would face a confusing patchwork of licensing requirements, possession restrictions, and criminal penalties as they travel from one jurisdiction to another."

Moreover, her opinion said, "We hold that (the gun law) is a general law that displaces municipal firearm ordinances and does not unconstitutionally infringe on municipal home rule authority."

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal's Law Blog, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson criticized the ruling in a prepared statement, saying it puts urban populations at greater risk for gun violence. “Our inability to enforce [gun] laws that are right for our city flies in the face of home rule and takes power away the people at the local level.” Jackson said in a statement.

Chris Cox, head of the National Rifle Association's Institute for Legislative Action, praised the decision, the WSJLB reported. “If Cleveland, or any other city, wants to crack down on violence,” he said in a statement, “city leaders there should focus on prosecuting criminals, not enacting new gun laws that only serve to restrict law-abiding citizens.”

Cordray defended the law with help from the National Rifle Association, Ohioans for Concealed Carry, and the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

Ohio court gun ruling chips away at 98-year old Home Rule law

• December 30th, 2010 12:08 pm ET
• By John Michael Sp..., Columbus Government Examiner

http://www.examiner.com/government-in-columbus/ohio-court-gun-ruling-chips-away-at-98-year-old-home-rule-law

December 29, 2010

Ohio Court Limits Power of Localities on Gun Laws

By BOB DRIEHAUS

CINCINNATI — The Ohio Supreme Court has upheld a 2006 law that prohibits cities and other local governments from enforcing ordinances that are more restrictive than state gun laws.

The City of Cleveland had challenged the statute in order to continue enforcing ordinances that officials said were tailored to fight urban gun violence, including registration of handguns, restrictions on children’s access to firearms and prohibitions on the possession or sale of assault weapons. Banning such ordinances would violate the state’s home-rule laws, the city argued.

But in a decision released Wednesday, the court upheld the statute, 5 to 2.

“Law-abiding gun owners would face a confusing patchwork of licensing requirements, possession restrictions and criminal penalties as they travel from one jurisdiction to another” without a uniform statute, according to the ruling, written by Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton.

Justice Paul E. Pfeifer dissented, arguing that the statute “infringes upon municipalities’ constitutional home-rule rights by preventing them from tailoring ordinances concerning the regulation of guns to local conditions.”

Robert J. Triozzi, Cleveland’s law director, who led the city’s lawsuit, said that gun owners would now be able to walk through a public square with rifles, handguns and assault weapons, and that safety rules for possession of guns near children would also be removed, endangering residents. Ohio bans some assault weapons, like sawed-off shotguns, but Cleveland banned a broader array.

“The inability to control guns in Cleveland, where large numbers of people live, work and gather in close proximity to one another, limits proactive strategies for protecting our community and puts all of us at greater risk,” said Marty Flask, Cleveland’s public safety director.

Mr. Triozzi said the broader implication of the decision was a shift in power toward state legislators and away from city councils.

“All the Legislature has to do is to declare that a given issue is their turf, and there will be no ability for municipalities to enact any meaningful legislation to make their situation better,” he said.

The ruling was hailed by the National Rifle Association, Ohioans for Concealed Carry and the National Shooting Sports Foundation, as well as Attorney General Richard Cordray, a Democrat, who lost his re-election bid in November to Mike DeWine.

Mr. Cordray said revisions to state gun laws in 2006 provided a comprehensive set of rights and responsibilities applicable throughout the state. “This is an important victory for every gun owner in Ohio,” he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/30/us/30ohio.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print

Rostraver 'gun god' is collector and seller

By Jeff Pikulsky
VALLEY INDEPENDENT
Wednesday, December 22, 2010

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/valleyindependent/print_714908.html


Byron White has amassed a wealth of firearms knowledge.

And the 72-year-old Rostraver Township resident is always eager to share what he knows with those stopping in at his long-time business, The Gun Rack on Route 136.
"They call Byron the gun god," said his wife of 25 years and business partner, Barbara.
When White lost his job as a millwright after working at several Mid-Mon Valley steel mills, he decided to open a gun shop out of necessity.

"I just figured I've got to keep eating," he said.

Opened in 1985, the Gun Rack thrived, especially in the 1990s.

Although the number of customers since has fallen off along with the economy, there are still many who come to the shop in search of White's advice and competitive prices.
The Gun Rack is not all barrels and bullets, though.

One of White's display cases contains several of his World War II German military knives and Nazi-era items.

Nearby are two of his most rare and coveted pieces, a letter opener one of Hitler's SS units gave him as a gift and a round silver container lined with gold that Hitler received on his birthday in 1932 from August Wilhelm, the Prince of Prussia.

White said he used to scavenge local flea markets and military surplus stores looking for rare items.

"I collect World War II German daggers and swords," he said, adding that they are not for sale. "It's all genuine stuff. I've been collecting that stuff since I was a kid, when I was about 10 ... anything I could find."

There is a strong sense of camaraderie inside of The Gun Rack on a daily basis, Byron White said.

White suffered a series of strokes 10 years ago that paralyzed the left side of his body.

"I can't do the things I used to do. I used to go to gun shows and gun bashes and all that stuff," he said. "I enjoyed fooling around with the guns ... just minor things, mounting scopes and that kind of stuff."

White's wife and a devoted group of long-time friends/customers have pitched in to help White run the shop.

Friends and occasional customers like Buddy Ferris, of Fayette City, Ed "Smitty" Smith and Mark Smalich, both of West Newton, are regulars at The Gun Rack.

"(My husband) has such a wonderful group of friends that come every single day," Barbara White said. "Mark comes and makes the coffee. Smitty comes every day and brings in lunch. He will open and close our business. I work a steady night shift so they let me kind of sleep."

Byron White's stepson Mike Sorg, of Port Vue Borough, worked at the shop for about 17 years.

"I don't know if I could do what I do without so many of these people," Barbara White said.

The group of volunteers is what's left of what used to be a forum of friends who shared daily banter at the business.

"They would come every day at a certain time and have their coffee and their chew and their cigarette and go home," Barbara White said.

The shop mascot, "Handsome" Hogan, a 9-year-old long-haired dachshund, has also been a devoted supporter.

"He's here every day. If I don't bring him down, he jumps the fence, comes down here and barks at the front door," Byron White said.

Byron White said there have been many long-time customers at his shop.

Occasionally, some come in from out of state.

"People have known Byron 40 or 50 years as a collector," Barbara White said. "He has long-term memory like you can't believe."

Byron White has used his connections to help fellow collectors move items.

"Somebody will bring something in that is really a great item, and if I can't afford to buy it, I find somebody who will buy it," he said.

Although business has been slow lately, White is committed to staying at the helm.
"I'm just going to stay here as long as I can," he said.

The Gun Rack is open noon to 8 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays; noon to 6 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays.

It can be reached at (724) 872-7774.
Jeff Pikulsky can be reached at jpikulsky@tribweb.com or 724-684-2635.

Images and text copyright © 2010 by Trib Total Media, Inc.
Reproduction or reuse prohibited without written consent.

First Kentucky Black Bear Killed in Modern Hunting Era

http://www.isurfmuhlenberg.com/news/local-news/7682-first-kentucky-black-bear-killed-in-modern-hunting-era.html

Written by Amy Hourigan Tuesday, 28 December 2010 10:57

MUHLENBERG COUNTY, KY - The bear population in Kentucky has increased to the point that wildlife officials scheduled a two-day legal bear hunt. 

Last December was the first legal hunt in about a hundred years.  372 hunters bought permits, but a snow storm left several hunters stranded and no bears were reported taken.

The 2010 season was December 18 and 19.  The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife planned the hunt for late in the season, to limit harvesting of females.  According to wildlife officials, females typically den earlier than males.

On Saturday, December 18, Danny Smith, of Phelps, shot a 265 pound male, after hunting for about 5 hours. 

According to fish and wildlife, "The return of a hunting season for black bears in Kentucky is a wildlife management milestone. In the early 20th century, most big game animals had disappeared or were at historically low population levels. Today, all the state’s native big game species, except for bison, have increased to huntable population levels."

Kentucky's bear population was established by natural range expansion, not by planned restocking efforts.  Bears migrated from neighboring states, West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee.  Kentucky is reported to have two populations of bears, one in the Pine Mountain area and one in Big South Fork National River and Recreational area. 

The harvest quota for the 2010 season was 10 bears total - or five female bears - whichever limit hunters reach first.  Two bears were taken during the second legal bear hunt in the modern era.  Billy Joe Dixon, of Cumberland, took a 280-pound male on December 19.

Amy Hourigan
iSurf News

 

Tuesday, December 28, 2010, 09:30

 

Crowds turn out to cheer on traditional Boxing Day hunt

By Dan Martin

http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/news/Crowds-turn-cheer-traditional-Boxing-Day-hunt/article-3042910-detail/article.html

LEICESTERSHIRE COUNTY, UK - Thousands of people turned out to see Boxing Day hunts this year – but icy weather prevented the huntsmen and hounds from riding out.

The frozen ground made it too dangerous for riders from the Fernie, Atherstone and Quorn Hunts to carry out their planned trail hunting.

However, members did gather to exercise their packs and put on a spectacle for crowds who gathered to mark the most important day in the hunting calendar.

Riders from the Fernie Hunt met at The Green in Great Bowden near Market Harborough in front of more than 500 enthusiastic supporters.

Hunt joint master Chris Parker said the turnout demonstrated that five years on from the ban which made pursuing foxes with hounds illegal, hunting was still popular.

He said the hunting community of Leicestershire were still working to try to get the ban repealed.

He said: "We will do whatever it takes for as long as it takes. "We have maintained the infrastructure of hunting which is vital to the countryside for the day when the ban is overturned.

"It is a shame we cannot hunt today but the ground is iron hard and it would be too dangerous for the horses and the riders.

"The season so far has been severely curtailed by the weather but there is not much we can do about that.

"At least we were still able to come out and put on a show for the public who want to see us."

Lisa Logalbo, 30, from Lubenham brought her son Charlie, eight, to see the riders and hounds.

She said: "It's a Christmas tradition. Charlie loves playing with the hounds but I'm a bit worried he'll want to take one home with him."

Sarah Smith, 25, from Market Harborough, said: "If the ban lasts for another 100 years I think huge numbers of people will still come out on Boxing Day.

"You can't erase hundreds of years of tradition with one rubbish law."
The hounds and horses of Quorn Hunt assembled at Prestwold Hall near Loughborough in front of about 1,000 people.

Hunt spokesman and Countryside Alliance chief executive Alice Barnard said: "We are so grateful to everyone who ventured out in pretty horrible conditions to see the hunt."

Around 1,000 people also gathered in Market Bosworth for the Atherstone meet.

Helen Milner, spokeswoman for the Atherstone Hunt, said: "We've been defeated by the weather in terms of actual hunting but that has not prevented us having a fantastic day."

Some 300 hunt supporters also gathered in Oakham to support yesterday's Cottesmore meet.

The Belvoir hunt met in Grantham.

Louise Robertson from League Against Cruel Sports said: "The bad weather has proved an important point because the hunts have met and enjoyed their traditions but no fox has had to die.

"Given that, it is strange the hunt lobby are so desperate to get a repeal."

Elk herd thrives around Hanford

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2013775398_elk27m.html

About 670 elk continue to roam the Hanford nuclear reservation, including Rattlesnake Mountain, but they are doing less damage to nearby...

By Annette Cary

Tri-City Herald

 

About 670 elk continue to roam the Hanford nuclear reservation, including Rattlesnake Mountain, but they are doing less damage to nearby Tri-Cities farms than in the past.

"They are still receiving damage but not near as bad as it had been," said Don Hand, deer and elk conflict specialist for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

At peak population in 1999, the herd numbered about 838 animals, but that has dropped to an estimated 660 to 680 in most of the years since then.

The size of the herd has been managed, in part, by off-site hunting, and damage has been further controlled through a program to keep the elk off farmlands. Efforts include high fencing and hazing the animals on summer nights when they wander onto farmland.

Beginnings of the herd settled at Hanford in the winter of 1972-73, when a bad storm drove them out of the mountains early, said Mike Livingston, a state wildlife biologist.
The size of the herd slowly grew at first but then started to more rapidly grow in the mid-1980s. By the end of the decade, elk had started to move off Hanford.

"It's fascinating how the herd has not only survived but thrived in the desert," Livingston said. Common wisdom is that elk prefer green, lush forests.

But the Hanford elk have an exceptional rate of antler growth and have a large number of calves.

Mild winters likely have contributed to the herd's health, with some evidence that some animals actually gain fat over the winter, Livingston said.

They also are protected from hunting if they stay on Hanford and have little threat from other animals, other than coyotes that might take a few very young elk and the rare cougar that passes through.

The most dramatic drop in the size of the herd came when 205 elk were trapped and taken to the Selkirk and Blue mountains in 2000 and 2001.

The 2000 Hanford fire also drove animals onto private land to find food, and more were taken by hunters. The Department of Energy does not allow hunting on Hanford.

But the herd still is large enough that the animals spread off Hanford and cause damage to nearby wheat fields, orchards and vineyards.

From 1999 to 2003, the state paid $500,000 in damages. However, from 2006 to 2009 damage payments have dropped to $5,000 to $18,000 a year.

The state has established two hunting programs with private landowners. Landowners in the Black Rock area are more supportive of hunting, Hand said. Each landowner there receives eight elk permits to use, sell or trade and is required to allow access to four hunters with state permits. Some landowners do not use their permits, however, Hand said.

In the Corral Canyon area, where landowners would like fewer elk, each landowner gets three or four elk permits to use or issue to other hunters.

In addition, Hand oversees programs to limit damage on private lands near Hanford.
At the December meeting of the Rod and Gun Club in Kennewick, he showed photos of trails made through wheat fields by elk and trampled areas where elk had bedded down.

One field can have 100 beds, causing significant damage, Hand said. The elk prefer spring wheat to winter, and will trample the winter wheat, which has stronger roots, to reach it, he said.

On summer nights Hand will shoot off shotgun cracker shells to make noise and shine a spotlight to haze elk on private lands. He also has tried using an electronic amplifier with cougar sounds, wolf calls and shotgun blasts with some success. However, scent stations with cougar urine do not seem to faze the elk.

Fences paid for with a state and private cost-sharing program also have worked, but money is no longer available for that program. Those fences have posts about 11 feet high and wire about 8 feet high.

Editorial: A sensible move draws NRA fire

Published: Saturday, December 25, 2010

By DAN K. THOMASSON

http://www.trentonian.com/articles/2010/12/25/opinion/doc4d16b58d199d8786623539.txt

Once again the gun lobby has stepped up to oppose public safety, this time along the Southwest border where thousands upon thousands of Mexicans have died from battlefield weapons bought in the United States by drug cartel representatives and handed to assassins, some as young as 14.

In a move that should have been made much earlier but apparently was delayed for pure political considerations, the White House and the Justice Department have cleared a proposed policy that would require Southwestern gun dealers to report to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives multiple sales of high powered semi-automatic weapons.

Simply put, licensed retailers along that long stretch of bloody international border would have to immediately notify ATF when two or more AK47s or similar rifles above .22-caliber and with a detachable magazine were purchased by one person in a five-day period. These weapons are highly prized by the cartels.

It would not stop the sale, just allow authorities to immediately seek out the buyer and try to determine his motives. That sounds reasonable doesn’t it, considering that anyone making multiple buys of firearms of this caliber isn’t likely to be using them to hunt rabbits or engage in other “sportsman” activities?

But there is a weakness in the policy. A bulk buyer could go to 20 different stores, purchasing a weapon at each. The policy also would not cover gun shows where even normal transactions need not be reported, a loophole strenuously defended by the gun lobby.

Mexican authorities believe this would be a big step in helping them fight the vicious drug gangs that have killed some 30,000 men, women and children along the border in the last year.

But “reasonable” is not a word organizations like the National Rifle Association and the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which represents gun dealers and manufacturers, recognize.

When the plan to put the new policy into effect leaked before it could be published in the Federal Registry, the gunslingers went predictably nuts, accusing the administration of unnecessarily burdening the poor gun dealers — many of whom, by the way, have become rich peddling arms to the border drug gangs.

The gun lobby, of course, portrayed the simple move to disrupt drug cartel gun-trafficking as the first step toward registering firearms. The NRA then shamelessly reiterated its support of law and order despite the contradiction between what it professes and what it works against, which in reality is any disruption of its cash flow.

The policy is moving ahead, but the pervasive fear of the lobby’s influence almost scuttled it.

President Obama had promised Mexican President Filipe Calderon he would help disrupt the firearms traffic early last summer.

But the policy proposal got delayed by presidential advisers worried about the impact on Democratic election prospects. That turned out to be a futile gesture given the November results.

— Dan K. Thomasson is former editor of the Scripps Howard News Service. E-mail: thomassondan@aol.com.

 

Weapons as art at Shelburne Museum

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20101225/LIVING16/101225006/Weapons-as-art-at-Shelburne-Museum#pluckcomments

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Longtime firearms collector Terry Tyler recently donated his collection of historical Vermont firearms to the Shelburne Museum, which will put the weapons on display next year in an exhibit titled “Lock, Stock and Barrel: The Terry Tyler Collection of Vermont Firearms.”

The guns stand not only as a reflection of Vermont’s culture but of its creativity. Take a look at the evidence of craftsmanship and flourishes of artistic detail in the five firearms pictured on this page. The photos are accompanied by information provided by the Shelburne Museum and observations from Tyler, a former electrician and town constable from Dorset.

These guns and many others will be exhibited beginning May 15, 2011, and running through Oct. 30.

Pistol, Amasa Parker, Ludlow

Created in the 1850s, this pistol is made of brass, wood and steel. It is a .34 caliber underhammer pistol with a 1/3 octagon, 2/3 round barrel that is 11 ¾ inches long and marked P. & S. Remington.

Tyler says he acquired the gun from Dick Littlefield, a friend and gun dealer who has traveled to gun shows nationwide and is a member of the American Society of Arms Collectors.

“Its furniture is mostly brass,” Tyler said. “It’s bag-handle shape is not common in so large a pistol. Many small shop makers bought barrels from Remington but a good number did their own boring and drilling.”

Flintlock rifle, Adna Barrows, Castleton

Created in the mid-1800s, this rifle is made of brass, maple and wood. It is a .36 caliber flintlock rifle with maple stock and unique brass rectangular patch box.

“It’s a bit of an anachronism, as it was made long after the percussion action weapon came into general use,” Tyler said. “I would hazard a guess that it was specially ordered by a customer of Mr. Barrows. It’s the only flintlock I’ve seen him make.

The rectangular patch box is unusual, since most were round or oval, Tyler said.

Overall, “It’s craftmanship of the highest order.”

Revolver rifle, Elijah Jaquith, Brattleboro

Created in the 1830s, this revolver rifle is made of wood, brass and steel and is one of only seven known to survive, Tyler said. An early attempt to produce a repeater, it is a 7-shot underhammer rifle with plain sights, brass buttplate, loading lever and bayonet lug. It likely was carried by Jaquith when he served as a 3rd lieutenant officer in the 27th Regiment Vermont Militia.

Jaquith obtained a patent for this revolver rifle in 1938. “It is the only known revolver arm that has the cylinder access from where it pivots above the bore,” Tyler said. A semicircular detent allows the cylinder to be held in place, he said.

Target rifle, John Belknap, St. Johnsbury
This rifle is made of silver, steel, wood and ebony. It is a deluxe sidelock, half-stock target rifle, .40 caliber, 31 inches long.

“The Belknap rifle is one of the most beautifully crafted rifles that I have ever seen,” Tyler said. Belknap, who also built water wheels and water turbines, died tragically young when he was swept over the top of a dam, Tyler said. “He probably made less than a dozen rifles in his short life,” he said. “What a talent lost.”

Pistol, Robbins & Lawrence, Windsor

Created in the early 1850s, this pistol is made of steel, ivory and gold. It is a smaller model revolving hammer pepperbox repeating pistol with a five-barrel group .28 caliber, 3 ½ inches long. The frame, barrels, trigger and latch are engraved.

This pistol came in three distinct grades, Tyler said. One was sold in a cardboard box. Another came with accessories in polished cases. And a third, “presentation grade” pistol was heavily engraved, gold banded and came with an ivory grip, Tyler said.

This story appeared on page G1 of Saturday's Burlington Free Press

Moose hunt is on

http://www.uppermichiganssource.com/news/photos.aspx?id=559196

LANSING -- Governor Granholm has signed a law that will allow moose hunting in the Upper Peninsula.
A moose hunting advisory council will conduct a moose population study and make a recommendation on when the moose season will be, and how many licenses should be sold.
   
Earlier this week, a group of scientists tried to convince the governor that a moose hunting season in the U.P. would be a bad idea.
   
The bill cleared the legislature earlier this month.
   
It is estimated there are about eight-hundred to one-thousand moose in the U.P..

N.J. man goes from inmate to NRA celebrity as Gov. Christie commutes gun sentence

Published: Wednesday, December 22, 2010, 12:00 PM     Updated: Wednesday, December 22, 2010, 2:19 PM

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/12/nj_man_goes_from_inmate_to_nra.html

N.J. DOCBrian Aitken

TRENTON — No one told Brian Aitken why he was being removed from his prison tier on Monday night after dinner. He was transferred to the hospital wing and placed in a single cell by himself.

It wasn’t until the next morning that he found out Gov. Chris Christie had commuted his prison sentence for weapons charges. He was released from the Mid-State Correctional Facility Annex in Wrightstown after serving four months behind bars, far short of his full seven-year sentence.

"I’m home with my family now," Aitken said in a phone interview with New Jersey 101.5. "And it still hasn’t hit me."

Aitken, 27, became a cause celebre for gun advocates when he was arrested last year in Mount Laurel for possession of three handguns he legally purchased in Colorado but didn’t have a carry permit for in New Jersey.

Tuesday, the "Free Brian Aitken" Facebook page was overflowing with well-wishers. A radio host asked if he would write a book. And Aitken said he was looking forward to a "long-awaited date" with his fiance.

His release also drew national attention to Christie, who was widely praised by gun advocates.


"On behalf of the 4 million members of the National Rifle Association of America, I would like to thank Governor Christie for freeing Brian Aitken in time to spend the holiday with his family," Chris W. Cox, executive director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action, said in a statement.

Christie has not detailed his decision, saying Tuesday, "I felt that justice required a commutation of his sentence."

Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll (R-Morris), an opponent of strict gun laws, had written to Christie urging Aitken’s release.

"The law is designed to protect the people against the possibility of harm," he said Tuesday. "How are the people benefited by throwing Brian Aitken into prison?"

Aitken had his handguns locked and unloaded in the trunk of his car, as required by law, but didn’t have a carry permit. When his mother became concerned for his well-being on Jan. 2, 2009, she called the police, who searched his car and found the handguns. He was charged with unlawful handgun possession — which has a three-year minimum sentence — as well as possession of hollow-point bullets and a large-capacity magazine.

New Jersey gun owners do not need a carry permit if they’re transporting their handgun in a vehicle while hunting or moving, among other select purposes. During Aitken’s trial the judge rejected his lawyer’s argument that he was moving when the guns were found in his trunk, saying there wasn’t enough evidence of that. Aitken is still pushing an appeal to overturn his conviction.

During Aitken’s trial the judge rejected his lawyer’s argument that he was moving when the guns were found in his trunk, saying there wasn’t enough evidence of that. Aitken is still pushing an appeal to overturn his conviction.

A spokesman for the Burlington County prosecutor’s office, which prosecuted Aitken, declined comment.

Christie did not say whether New Jersey’s gun laws are too strict. But some are hoping to push through changes.

"There’s a big problem with New Jersey gun laws," said Frank Fiamingo of Manahawkin, president of the New Jersey Second Amendment Society. "It’s next to impossible to get a carry permit."

Bryan Miller, project director for the anti-gun violence group Ceasefire NJ, said only a "tiny majority" of people actually want to loosen the state’s gun laws. He hopes others don’t see the governor’s decision on Aitken as a precendent for "a get-out-of-jail free card for breaking our gun laws."

A Christie spokesman said the governor had no plans to speak directly to Aitken, but Aitken had a message for the governor.

"Gov. Christie, thank you," he said on New Jersey 101.5. "Thank you for making my family’s Christmas wish come true."

Even though he’s grateful to the governor, Aitken said he won’t be hanging around.
"I will be getting out of New Jersey today," he said. "I will be spending the night outside of New Jersey. I’m very excited about that."
Staff writer Ginger Gibson contributed to this

Native Americans Designed First ''Deer Drives''by J. Wayne Fears
posted December 22, 2010

http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_190978.asp


Driving deer is a popular method of hunting, especially in the late season. That's why I've included how to put on successful man-drives in my "How to Hunt Clear Cuts Successfully" and my "Deer Reference Guide" books, available at http://www.protoolindustries.net/categories/pocket-reference-guides. Although the early Europeans drove deer, I've often been asked how deer drives started in America. Much of what we use today in our tactical strategies to drive deer we have learned from the first Americans.

Native Americans designed their mass deer drives and tribal hunts around the terrain they were hunting. Most deer drives involved some kind of huge corral that enabled hunters to force the deer unsuspectingly down a gradually-narrowing passageway where other hunters awaited them. For instance, the Menomini tribe prepared for a deer drive by felling numerous trees to form a giant V, which ran for several miles through the woods. The men dropped the trees, so the trunks remained attached to the stumps but lay close to the ground, all extending in the same direction. When the drive began, a band of hunters concealed themselves at the apex of the V. Other hunters and sometimes the women and children gathered at the wide end of the V. Walking slowly and noisily forward, the hunters moved toward the bottleneck. The deer fled before them, but the drive had to be well-paced. If the hunters moved too fast, the deer became panicky and leapt over the fallen logs and out of the V. But when the hunters proceeded cautiously, the deer followed the line of least resistance inside the barricade and finally found themselves trapped.

The Iroquois tribe usually made their barricades with a brush fence 2- to 3-miles long. They started the drive by setting fire to the woods at the wide end of the corral. Parties of braves patrolled the sides of the V to prevent most of the deer from leaping over it. The deer were eventually driven to the apex, where other hunters took them.

Some western tribes did not use the long-corral system, however, but took advantage of the deer's fear of the smell of scorched buffalo hides. The day before such a drive, each member of the hunting party brought to the chief a piece of buffalo hide and a sharp stick on which to carry it. The chief scorched the skins. The next morning, he took the skins to a suitable spot about 5-miles windward (upwind) of the hunters' starting point. There he stuck each stick with its hide into the earth, in a line parallel to approaching braves before whom the deer were retreating. The chief, well-hidden from the deer, watched the deer come toward him. As the deer scented the scorched skins and turned to run away from them, the chief gave a signal and advanced. The hunters lay down, while the chief moved ahead, yelling and waving his arms. The frightened deer fled even more swiftly from this new danger, straight toward the hidden hunters, who raised to their knees and shot the deer with their bows and arrows as the deer came within range.

In some deer drives, the Native American hunters were fortunate enough to have a natural corral in their territory, such as a narrow gorge, into which they could drive the deer. If an area had a cliff with a projecting ledge a few feet below the brink of the cliff, a few braves wearing deerskins would stand on the end of the cliff, as other hunters drove the deer toward them. The fleeing deer, seeing what they thought were others of their kind in a safe place, raced for the cliff. The disguised hunters leapt to the ledge below, and the main body of deer charged toward the hunters dressed in deer skins, causing many of them to plunge over the cliff to their deaths.

Today we can't chop down large numbers of trees to create funnels and can't drive deer off cliffs or even want to do that. But I think our knowing how this hunting technique of man-drives has evolved is important. It's another part of the rich history of the sport of deer hunting.

Scientists challenge plans for U.P. moose hunt

By Todd A. Heywood | 12.21.10 | 8:57 am

 

http://michiganmessenger.com/44929/scientists-challenge-plans-for-u-p-moose-hunt

A group of biologists is asking Gov. Jennifer Granholm to veto legislation which would establish a commission to consider establishing a moose hunt in the state’s upper peninsula, according to an Associated Press report.

The plan was passed through both chambers of the legislature earlier this year with little debate. But a group of 14 scientists say the current moose population — estimated to be about 500 — is not able to handle a culling. They say the moose in the U.P. have a low birth rate and high mortality rate making the replenishment of the herd difficult.

Fifty-nine Moose were transplanted into the U.P. from Canada in the mid-80s. But because the U.P. weather conditions are at the very edge of the Moose’s preferable cold climate preferences, combined with an increase in white tail deer populations has made the herd growth very limited. Scientists say the white tail deer increase brings higher exposure for the moose to a brain worm which is fatal to the moose.
Granholm is expected to sign the legislation this week.

Does Michigan need a moose hunting season?

By ERIC SHARP
FREE PRESS OUTDOORS WRITER

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20101219/SPORTS10/12190574/1058/Does-Michigan-need-moose-season&template=fullarticle

1,000-2,000 moose live in the Upper Peninsula, so they passed a bill requiring Michigan to consider instituting a moose hunting season.

Those numbers are a surprise to Brian Roell, the state moose expert, who said the last count showed 420 in the western UP. No one knows how many live in the eastern UP because the Department of Natural Resources and Environment hasn't tried to count them, but it's nowhere near 500.

"I don't know where they're getting those numbers," said Roell, who works out of the DNRE's Marquette office. "Our last count in 2009 was about 420 moose in the western UP. We don't have a count for the eastern UP, but we estimated the total (UP) population at 500-600."

This latest bit of legislative inanity is why the people of Michigan passed Proposal G 15 years ago, to ensure that such decisions are made based on principles of scientific game management rather than the short-term interests of politicians -- or shortsighted hunters, for that matter.

The Legislature gets to decide which animals may be legally hunted in Michigan, which is what that body did last week when it added moose to the list. But the more important question -- if they should be hunted -- is left up to the Natural Resources Commission.
The NRC has shown a great deal of common sense and guts in dealing with thorny issues such as shutting down baiting in the Lower Peninsula and mandating antler-point restrictions in the UP. Those decisions weren't popular, but they were the right ones at the time.

The DNRE's original moose plan was "2,000 by 2000," and had the moose population reached the 2,000 mark by that year we'd probably have a limited lottery moose hunt today, much like the limited lottery elk hunt in the Lower Peninsula.

But moose numbers are lagging behind projections, perhaps because of wolf predation, perhaps because of habitat and disease problems, or maybe a combination of factors we don't understand yet.

Whatever the reason, there's no reason to hunt Michigan moose until they triple their numbers.

Too cold: I'm beginning to think this might be the first deer season in 20 years that ends without my putting venison in the freezer. A few years ago I began my own version of quality deer management by passing on smaller bucks, and so far this year the bucks I've had close enough to stick an arrow in didn't make the cut.
It might also end as a disappointing season for the DNRE. A week of brutal winter weather chased a lot of muzzleloader and archery hunters out of the woods, and with Christmas on the horizon it might be a tough time to get many to go back.

"I have a doe tag left, but if I'm going to fill it, it will have to be this week," Jerry Mille of Saginaw said as he shopped for broadheads at Jay's Sporting Goods store in Gaylord. "I can hunt through Saturday night, but we have family arriving on Monday and I promised my wife I'd be home Sunday to help her get ready."

New director: Because I've written about the DNRE for 21 years, several people called to ask what I knew about Rodney Stokes, the career bureaucrat who has been named director.

Mostly I remember that he allowed a policy change in 1993 that let energy producers hoodwink Michigan out of millions of dollars in royalties from oil and gas produced on state-owned land. And a Free Press story in 2005 named him among the highest-paid state employees who retired with government pensions and then were rehired to work for the same agency.

I put in a request for an interview with Stokes, but he left on vacation Friday and won't be back until after Jan. 1.

I'm convinced that Stokes' appointment is part of a well-thought-out plan by our new governor, Rick Snyder, to make it easier for businesses to get permits for things they might not have been able to do before.

In 1993, the Michigan Oil and Gas Association asked for changes in the way producers were allowed to deduct post-production costs from the royalty they paid to the state of Michigan.

Stokes, then head of the DNRE's real-estate division, accepted MOGA's proposal without protest or comment. Post-production costs that had run about 10% of the royalty suddenly increased to 45%. In some months, instead of getting a royalty check for a well that produced gas worth tens of thousands of dollars, the oil producers sent the state a bill (although those bills weren't paid).

Critics said the change cost the DNRE at least $10 million. Stokes later said that Gov. John Engler and DNRE director Rollie Harmes both approved the proposed changes in advance but used him as a fall guy.

But what he hasn't explained is why he agreed to something like that in the first place, no matter who wanted it done.

Contact Eric Sharp: 313-222-2511 or esharp@freepress.com . Read more in his outdoors blog at freep.com/outdoorsblog

Overhaul of deer regulations called a victory for elite hunters

By Brett Prettyman

The Salt Lake Tribune

Published: December 19, 2010 11:14PM
Updated: December 19, 2010 11:36PM

 

The moment, critics say, represents everything that’s wrong with the way Utah sets its wildlife management policy.

 

Byron Bateman, president of the powerful lobbying group Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, had just finished speaking before the Utah Wildlife Board as it pondered the state’s most dramatic changes to its deer-hunting laws in two decades. Bateman then walked up to Jim Karpowitz, director of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, and handed him a check for $391,000.

Later that day, the board passed the sweeping overhaul, regulations that were largely crafted and promoted by Bateman’s SFW. The changes, which go into effect in 2012, will reduce the number of deer-hunting permits by at least 13,000 annually and dramatically increase the cost of a general-season hunting tag in Utah.

Critics charge that opportunity for the average hunter is being lost at the expense of the well-heeled, who are more interested in trophy animals and believe these new laws are the best way to produce more. And everyone, beginning with the DWR’s top big-game biologist, agrees the changes do nothing to address the plight of the state’s dwindling deer herds.

The money Bateman paid Karpowitz was the state’s share of money that SFW collected auctioning conservation hunting tags, and groups commonly do present checks at Wildlife Board meetings. Nevertheless, for many hunters watching the handover, it was validation that special-interest groups have the Wildlife Board’s undivided attention and not always for the right reasons.

“That didn’t do much to help public perception,” acknowledged Rick Woodard, chairman of the Utah Wildlife Board. “But it was money due to the DWR and had nothing to do with the vote. It was done in poor judgment.”

“It doesn’t matter what the money was for,” said Bart Hansen, a representative of the group Utah Wildlife Cooperative, which opposed the changes SFW promoted. “The timing was intentional.”

The new regulations, which passed the board by a 4-to-2 vote, not only restrict the number of permits but change the way the state is divided for hunting from the five current regions into 29 smaller units. The buck-to-doe ratio that biologists target as they manage the herds was changed as well, from 15 per 100 to 18 per 100.

That means hunters may see more bucks, according to Anis Aoude, DWR’s big-game coordinator. “But it won’t help the population overall,” he said.

“We did what was best for the resource, for the deer,” Bateman said. “The DWR manages every aspect of the deer but the number of people hunting on each unit. We can’t expect the hunters to spread out evenly over five regions. This won’t fix the herds, but it could be a good start.”

Bateman is proud of the work SFW does on behalf of wildlife conservation and said he is unsure how the latest discussion became an opportunity-vs.-trophy debate.

“People always attack what we try to do,” he said, noting the check presentation was done to demonstrate SFW was fulfilling its commitment under the conservation permit program and, acknowledging the timing, said he had a flight to catch later.

“We are an easy group to target, and we get accused of a lot of things,” Bateman said. “We stand up for the resource; that is our mission.”

The Utah Wildlife Cooperative’s Hansen has a different take, saying the new regulations risk discouraging existing hunters and make it difficult for youth to get involved in the sport.

“There isn’t one anti-hunting group out there that could come up with a way to eliminate 13,000 permits like SFW just did,” Hansen said.

Dennis Austin, a retired 30-year DWR biologist and author of Mule Deer: A Handbook for Utah Hunters and Landowners, said the current system does indeed give special-interest groups a lot of power.

“The people who go to the meetings really want to say something, and they are often listened to,” he said.

And Karpowitz, the DWR director, agrees.

“The people who get involved and speak up are the ones that are heard, and decisions usually go their way. I have seen the board consistently try to do what they think the majority of the public wants,” Karpowitz said.

Karpowitz notes that, according to Utah law, the Wildlife Board’s job includes weighing the social and economic values of wildlife, not just managing the biology.

“Throughout this whole process I’ve been reminding the board and the public that how we hunt bucks in Utah is now very much a social issue,” he said. “Our job as the wildlife agency is easier when we only have to focus on the biology and science end of it.”

For Hansen, “social” means special interests. He wants to see the system changed and is willing to become the very thing he despises to make it happen.

The Utah Wildlife Cooperative “is going to set up as a nonprofit so we can be more involved in the political process of picking the wildlife board members and try and make some changes with the ... system,” he said. “There are too many hunters out there who disagree with SFW but aren’t involved enough to know what is going on. We need to speak for them.”

brettp@sltrib.com

—

Review • What is Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife?

R No group is more special interest when it comes to wildlife and, specifically, big game in Utah than SFW.

Founded in 1993, the group bills itself as a nonprofit wildlife conservation organization interested in preserving and increasing healthy, populations of wildlife throughout the western United States. If there is a meeting going on at the city, county, region or state level regarding big game, chances are there is an SFW representative in the room.

While the group has put wildlife interests on the political map, it has done so by attracting what can best be described as hard-core big game hunters who spend serious money and serious time chasing deer, elk, bighorn sheep, mountain goat, pronghorn and moose. One Utah elk permit was recently auctioned for $70,000 at an SFW event, according to the group’s website.

So-called “average hunters,”perhaps described as folks who just want to be able to hunt big game each year and couldn’t care less about bagging trophy bucks for the wall, are largely absent from the organization.

—

Results from a 2008 poll of deer hunters by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.

75 percent of respondents said “getting away from it all” was the main reason they hunt mule deer. “Being with friends” was second at 73 percent and “being close to nature” was third at 70 percent. “Harvesting a large buck” was 10th on the list at 53 percent, and “harvesting any buck” was 17th at 25 percent.

74 percent of the participants said they would be “willing to accept additional restrictions to manage for bigger bucks.”

49 percent of all respondents were “dissatisfied” with the number of bucks they were spotting in the woods.

51 percent were “dissatisfied” with the size of the bucks — more specifically their antlers — they saw.

55 percent were satisfied with the quality of the hunt.

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/50889688-76/wildlife-deer-percent-utah.html.csp?page=2

BATFE Requests “Emergency” Authority To Track Semi-Automatic Rifle Sales

Saturday, 18 December 2010 08:09 NRA-ILA

 

http://www.rightsidenews.com/2010121812370/us/homeland-security/batfe-requests-emergency-authority-to-track-semi-automatic-rifle-sales.html

 

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has proposed that it be given emergency authority for six months, beginning January 5, to require about 8,500 firearms dealers along the border with Mexico “to alert authorities when they sell within five consecutive business days two or more semiautomatic rifles greater than .22 caliber with detachable magazines.”  A Washington Post story reporting on the BATFE proposal described that definition as being applicable to “so-called assault weapons,” but it would also apply to many rifles that have never been labeled with that term.

The reporting requirement will apparently be imposed under the “authority” the BATFE has used in the past to demand reporting of other types of transactions from certain limited groups of dealers over the past 10 years, but the new proposal is far broader than any previous use of this authority.  Of course, there's no law today that prevents dealers from reporting suspicious transactions (or attempted transactions) to the BATFE, and dealers often do so. The BATFE is also free to inspect dealers' sales records—either for annual compliance inspections or during a criminal investigation.

NRA-ILA’s chief lobbyist, Chris Cox, denounced the attempt to establish a registry of Americans who purchase semi-automatic rifles that gun control supporters ultimately want to see banned. "This administration does not have the guts to build a wall, but they do have the audacity to blame and register gun owners for Mexico's problems," Cox told the Post. "NRA supports legitimate efforts to stop criminal activity, but we will not stand idle while our Second Amendment is sacrificed for politics."

The Post says “The plan by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives revives a proposal that has languished at the Justice Department and in the Obama administration for several months,” and that the gist of the plan was proposed by Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG) last year. It its August 2009 Blueprint for Federal Action on Guns, MAIG indeed proposed that “ATF should identify the long guns most linked to crime and require dealers to report multiple sales of such guns.”

The idea must have appealed to the BATFE, because in June of this year Congress’ Government Accountability Office released a report noting that BATFE officials had claimed that U.S. efforts to stop the smuggling of firearms to Mexico are hindered by “a lack of required background checks for private firearms sales, and limitations on reporting requirements for multiple sales.”

Curiously, in September, a draft of the Department of Justice’s Inspector General’s Office’s unfavorable review of BATFE’s Project Gunrunner, established to combat the trafficking of firearms to Mexico, didn’t mention multiple sales at all. But the final version of the review, released in November, mentions “multiple sales” 43 times and says “the lack of a reporting requirement for multiple sales of long guns – which have become the cartels’ weapons of choice – hinders ATF’s ability to disrupt the flow of illegal weapons into Mexico.”

Whether BATFE intends its plan as another expansion of its oft-criticized firearm sales record tracing empire, or to lay the groundwork for legislation or regulations restricting “assault weapon” sales, or to fatten the files the agency keeps at its National Tracing Center in West Virginia remains to be seen. And the legality of requiring sales reports on any long guns is also in doubt. When the Congress specifically imposed multiple sales reporting on handguns only, it implicitly stated its intention that the same requirement not apply to sales of long guns.

However, it is crystal clear that some in the Obama Administration agree with those who believe the answer to crime is always more gun control. In September, MAIG blamed crime in states that have “strong” gun laws, on states that don’t have the same laws. And ever since President Obama took office, gun control supporters have been blaming Mexico’s crime problem on America’s gun laws.

The fact that Mexico’s multi-billion dollar drug cartels have machine guns, rocket launchers, grenades, and other potent weaponry you cannot buy in the United States is, to gun control supporters, irrelevant. The fact that most of the cartels’ guns have never been on this side of the U.S. border is, as far as they are concerned, a trifling inconvenience. The fact that the cartels will never have enough “assault weapons” or any other guns from the U.S. to hand out to all the Mexican policemen, soldiers and politicians on their payrolls, is, in their view, an unimportant detail.  And the fact that the murder rate in the United States is at a 45-year low, while crime in Mexico is through the roof (the murder rate in Juarez is 115 times higher than in El Paso) is, they would certainly say, a contradiction best ignored.

To read the BATFE's Federal Register notice about the plan, and for information on how to send your comments, click here (http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/pdf/2010-31761.pdf).  Comments about the proposal will be accepted for two months; if you choose to comment, please state your firm but polite opposition to the plan.

Needless to say, the NRA will not only comment, but take whatever other action is appropriate to block this sweeping expansion of federal recordkeeping on gun owners.  Stay tuned

Copyright 2010, National Rifle Association of America, Institute for Legislative Action.
11250 Waples Mill Road, Fairfax, VA 22030    800-392-8683
Contact Us | Privacy & Security Policy

White House delayed rule on guns to Mexico
By Sari Horwitz and James V. Grimaldi
Saturday, December 18, 2010; A06

This spring, President Obama promised Mexican President Felipe Calderon that he would work to deter gunrunning south of the border. Behind the scenes, White House officials were putting the brakes on a proposal to require gun dealers to report bulk sales of the high-powered semiautomatic rifles favored by drug cartels.

Justice Department officials had asked for White House approval to require thousands of gun dealers along the border to report the purchases to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. ATF investigators expected to get leads on suspected arms traffickers.

Senior law enforcement sources said the proposal from the ATF was held up by the White House in early summer. The sources, who asked to be anonymous because they were discussing internal deliberations, said that the effort was shelved by then-White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, a veteran of battles with the gun lobby during the Clinton administration.

Ben LaBolt, a spokesman for Emanuel, who is running for mayor of Chicago, said Emanuel "did not stop the policy from being implemented." Emanuel "has never taken a back seat to anyone when it comes to standing up to the NRA to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous criminals," LaBolt said.

White House spokesman Reid Cherlin said, "We don't comment on interagency policy deliberations, but the president is committed to cracking down on violence on the Southwest border."

The plan - which officials knew would be strongly opposed by the National Rifle Association - was perceived as too volatile just before midterm elections, the sources said.

Last month, ATF Deputy Director Kenneth Melson asked the Justice Department to try again, law enforcement officials said.

"We appreciate the support of the Department of Justice and the administration as we seek to stem the flow of firearms to Mexico," ATF chief spokesman Scot Thomasson said.

On Friday, the ATF published the emergency proposal in the Federal Register. The proposal requires dealers to report to the bureau anytime they make two or more sales over a five-day period of semiautomatic rifles that have a caliber greater than .22 and a detachable magazine. It would be valid for six months.

Dealers have been required for decades to report the sales of multiple handguns to the ATF.

The gun lobby responded angrily to the emergency proposal.

"The timing of this announcement, following the midterm elections, has not gone unnoticed by industry," said Ted Novin, spokesman for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a group that represents gun dealers and manufacturers.

"We remain opposed to further burdening America's law-abiding firearms retailers with yet another onerous regulation that will do nothing to curb crime," Novin said.

"Furthermore, multiple sales reporting of long guns will actually make it more difficult for licensed retailers to help law enforcement as traffickers modify their illegal schemes to circumvent the reporting requirement."

In May, Obama assured Calderon that the administration would assist Mexico in curbing drug cartel violence, which has led to 30,000 deaths in Mexico.

LaBolt said that Emanuel recommended Andy Traver of Chicago to be nominated by Obama to be director of the ATF and was the "point man" in the Clinton administration when Congress passed an assault weapons ban and required background checks for gun sales. Clinton later blamed those bills for the GOP takeover of Congress in 1995.
horwitzs@washpost.com grimaldij@washpost.com

Research editor Alice Crites contributed to this report

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/17/AR2010121706912_pf.html

Gun regulators propose emergency plan

By James V. Grimaldi and Sari Horwitz

Friday, December 17, 2010

To stem the flow of guns to Mexico, federal firearms regulators are proposing an emergency requirement that certain gun dealers along the southwestern border report bulk sales of so-called assault weapons beginning as soon as January.

Dealers would be required to alert authorities when they sell within five consecutive business days two or more semiautomatic rifles greater than .22 caliber with detachable magazines, according to the draft obtained by The Washington Post. Semiautomatic rifles such as AK-47s and AR-15s are favored by drug-trafficking organizations fighting the Mexican government.

ATF chief spokesman Scot Thomasson declined to comment.

The plan by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives revives a proposal that has languished at the Justice Department and in the Obama administration for several months, according to people with knowledge of the proposal who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter before it becomes public.

The idea of such a requirement is so controversial to many gun owners that administration officials proceeded cautiously for fear of provoking the National Rifle Association, sources said.

The proposal could mark the gun lobby's first major showdown with the administration.

On Thursday, Chris W. Cox, the NRA's chief lobbyist, lambasted the plan as an attempt to create a national gun registry.

"This administration does not have the guts to build a wall, but they do have the audacity to blame and register gun owners for Mexico's problems," Cox said. "NRA supports legitimate efforts to stop criminal activity, but we will not stand idle while our Second Amendment is sacrificed for politics."

One of those pushing the administration to act was New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's office and his policy adviser, John Feinblatt, who first proposed such a requirement early in the administration. "Sixteen months ago, we called for it," Feinblatt said. "It's time to do it."

Under the plan, the ATF, which enforces federal gun laws and regulates firearm dealers, would send what is called a "demand letter" to dealers along the border asking them to report the multiple sales, ATF officials said.

Emergency approval would last six months, after which the requirement would end unless other action were taken, the draft states. Approval from the Office of Management and Budget "has been requested by Jan. 5, 2011," the document states.

The ATF is expected to publish in the Federal Register on Friday a notice about the plan, which would affect about 8,500 gun dealers. Although the ATF proposes that the rule would begin as early as January, comments about the proposed rule will be accepted for the next two months.

grimaldij@washpost.com horwitzs@washpost.com

Research editor Alice Crites contributed to this report.

Politics

Amtrak Begins Letting Firearms in Checked Bags on Some Trains

By Craig Schulz

Published December 15, 2010

| FoxNews.com

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/12/15/amtrak-begins-letting-firearms-checked-bags-trains/

Starting Thursday, Amtrak passengers traveling with firearms can once again bring their weapons on board certain trains. 

At the direction of Congress, the railroad set into motion a plan that allows passengers traveling to and from stations with checked luggage facilities to pack their firearms in locked, hard-sided containers. They had been banned following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. 

Like baggage checked at the airport, once the passenger drops the bag off he or she does not have access to it until it is picked up at the final destination.

Amtrak spent about $2 million over the past year developing the policy, training the workforce, reconfiguring cars and upgrading other equipment in preparation for this change. 

Following are important rules to keep in mind when traveling with a firearm on Amtrak:

-- Passengers must give Amtrak 24-hours notice that they will be checking firearms or ammunition.  Notice must be given by calling Amtrak (1-800-USA-RAIL). Online reservations are not accepted.

-- All firearms and/or ammunition must be checked at least 30 minutes prior to departure.  Some stations require baggage be checked earlier; 

-- Firearms and ammunition can only be transported on trains and at stations where checked baggage service is offered.  Not all stations or trains offer this service.

-- Firearms must be unloaded and in an approved, locked hard-sided container.  The passenger must have sole possession of the key or combination for the lock.  The container may not weigh more than 50 lbs.

-- Passengers must travel on the same train that is transporting the checked firearms/ammunition.

-- At check-in, passengers will be required to complete and sign a two-part declaration form;

-- BB guns and compressed air guns, including paintball markers. will be treated as firearms and must comply with the firearms/ammunition policy;

Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., wrote the provision requiring Amtrak to change its policy into an appropriations measure in December 2009. He says its an important step forward in allowing hunters and sportsmen the same travel options available to everyone else.

"While airlines offer an option to transport a properly stored gun, rail passengers have not had the same opportunity," Sen. Wicker said.  "I applaud Amtrak for its work for nearly a year to ensure firearms can be transported safely."

But anti-gun advocates at the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence aren't sure Amtrak's policy is the safest method for transporting guns safely, citing the lack of any hearings on the issue as a cause for concern.

"We're not opposed to the transporting of guns on Amtrak if it can be done in a way that's secure," said Daniel Vice, senior attorney with the Brady Center.  "Our concern is that this amendment was attached to a funding bill with virtually no hearings on the safety and security of the policy."