• Use of illegal guns in Orange County making the news.
• Times Herald-Record has Pro gun articles about Middletown Gun Club and members.

NEW YORK STATE

•  
• NYC COPS BUST illegal gun ring.
• Geneice Hovak resigns from New York Second Amendment Sisters
• New York Firearms Owners PAC

• Michigan: Foes drop drive against gun law
  
• Gun saves 2 women from rape at hands of  middleweight boxer.
• Window on WRJ, Summer 2001
• ''Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture'' debunked by Boston Globe
• ATF  bust FFL in FL http://www.atf.treas.gov/press/fy01press/field/081501mia_sentenced.htm

    The illegal use of long guns and handguns in Orange County have been making the news over the summer.  It is a trend centered for the most part in Newburgh and Middletown and appears related many times to gang and drug activity.  Let us hope that the local police are able to control this outbreak before it impacts the legal gun owners of Orange County.

     The Times Herald Record has had several articles in the past few months that show the positive side of the shooting sports.  They have highlighted the Middletown Rifle and Pistol Club and 2 of its members.
     Despite age, Duncanson still on target, tells the story of one of MPRA's oldest and most noted shooters.
     Pallak at home on the range, tells the story of one of MPRA's women shooters and success.
     Club targets safer shooting, tells the story of the club and a shooting match and is a very good and long article that was printed with pictures.

    All of the articles were written by  By Marc Davis of The Times Herald-Record at  mdavis@th-record.comwho did a very good job.  Why not read the articles and give him an e-mail and thank him for writing the story.

COPS BUST BX. GUN-RUN GANG   By JESSIE GRAHAM, from NYPOST.COM
    August 30, 2001 -- A gun-selling ring that ran hundreds of firearms from Virginia to a Bronx housing project was busted after a five-month investigation, authorities said yesterday.
    "I really think this is one of the most gratifying things we've ever done," said Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson, whose investigators joined NYPD detectives in breaking up the operation.
     Authorities charged the alleged ringleaders, Shawn Pettaway, 30, and Phenroy Lafayette Day Jr., 25, both of Virginia, with multiple felony counts for peddling illegal firearms across state lines.
     Two other suspects were arrested on felony charges in The Bronx, and one was busted in Virginia and is expected to be charged in The Bronx.
  The haul, from a .22 caliber revolver to a Ruger Mini-14 assault rifle, constitutes the largest number of guns ever purchased in a single undercover operation in New York City, Johnson said.
   The DA said an undercover detective began the operation in April, building trust with Pettaway and buying $83,150 worth of weapons in 20 transactions in the following month.
    The detective met with the gun seller in dark parking lots and rented rooms at Bronx motels, buying several guns at a time at $700 to $900 apiece, authorities said.
     The gun dealers had been running their operation for four years, authorities said, selling mainly to gang members, drug dealers and thieves near the Gun Hill Houses.
     Detectives said Pettaway, who grew up in the housing project, used a network of people, including family members, to buy the weapons in Virginia, where it's legal for a person to buy one gun a month.
     He hired women or brought his family with him when he transported the guns across state lines, believing he was less likely to get stopped by a cop with women and children in his car.
      The undercover officer "did an outstanding job," said Sgt. Robert Delaney of the NYPD Firearms Investigation Unit.

I am grateful and blessed to have worked with some of you. You are what this fight needs and you have proven that we can make a difference. THANK YOU VERY MUCH, for working so hard to defend our civil right, The Second Amendment.

I plan on continuing my communication with NY SAS members and many who have asked to be on the mailing list that are not members.

I am starting up a discussion group called Liberty Line. All are welcome and will be invited to subscribe to this group. Liberty Line is not affiliated with SAS. It is not an organization. It will be a link in the long chain of people, which live in this state. I hope that Liberty Line will form a bond of communication with the citizens in the counties across NYS. This is for those that are like-minded in the Second Amendment, and to encourage participation on the political, social and brainstorming levels. The success of Liberty Line will depend on the honor of those that wish to participate.  You will become the fire tenders of activism, communication, and support for each other. This is the truest form of grassroots America. If we are to win the fight that lies ahead, we cannot let the fire go out.

For those that are interested in a women’s organization Diane McKeough is working with “Armed Females of America”, this is the female part of Keep and Bear Arms www.keepandbeararms.com/AFA/ The National Director is Carma Lewis. Read the introduction from Texas State Representative, Suzanna Gratia Hupp https://www.keepandbeararms.com/AFA/ Read the introduction of “Armed Females of America”, as requested by the Founders from Angel Shamaya, Founder/Executive Director, www.KeepAndBearArms.com

I will always help Diane, and perhaps Liberty Line and AFA can work together in some productive way.

**************************************************************** In my previous e-mail I mentioned;

“Armed Females of America” this is a national organization for women.  www.keepandbeararms.com/AFA/ " BEING POLITICALLY CORRECT, at the expense of the truth, is a weakness and has no place in a free society".
The National Director is Carma Lewis. She is very strong in her dedication to the Second Amendment.
For more information contact her at ArmedFemales@KeepAndBearArms.com
========================================================Announcement=======
I would like to also introduce you to another great national organization for women.  New on the seen is "Liberty Belles" www.liberty-belles.org  "Women must not depend upon the protection of man, but must be taught to protect herself".
Susan B. Anthony July, 1871

The National Directors are Jennifer and Joe, two very dedicated fighters for our Second Amendment rights and are the driving force behind this West coast based organization. For more information contact them at jennandjoe@liberty-belles.org

"Liberty Belles" is offering FREE MEMBERSHIP THROUGH AUGUST 31, 2001!  MEMBERSHIP IS AVAILABLE IN ALL 50 STATES
==============================================================
Remember that all organizations offer different levels and types of involvement. Being aware of them gives the individual the opportunity to
join the one that best suits your time and interest.  So shop around and by all means join the groups that best serve your needs, as free Americans.

Your Friend In Liberty And Truth, Geneice  e-mail at:  g5906@hovak.com

---

New York Firearms Owners PAC Subj:NYFO INFO
 Date:8/23/2001 5:42:39 PM Eastern Daylight Time
 From:    tcaller1@rochester.rr.com (Tim Callery)
 To:    al745@eznet.net (Al Dittman)

 To,
     Many of you have seen the sudden bursts of email about making donations to  the New York Firearms Owners. I would like to that everyone for the interest  however I must pass on some information to everyone but 1st a bit of  background.
     The NYFO was formed to provide the gun rights movement in NY with the very valuable tool of the ability to fund candidates and other gun rights activities in the state. Our primary source of revenues the 1st year was gun shows and various donations form individuals. The NYFO did support candidates financially in last years state legislature races and assisted many groups gun rights activities with donations. This year we did a mass mailing of 50,000 pcs to pistol permit holders in 3 counties Monroe, Dutchess, Westchester and also all the FFL holders in NY. The mailing costs exceeded 20,000 dollars with postage. The returns were dismal at best. 110 people donated 4200 dollars. The final tallying on the mailing was a loss of 16,000 dollars. There were many instances of gun owners taking the time to make calls, faxes and emails to threaten me and the company, one even went so far to call the police on us for fraud. I got to spend 3 hrs on the phone on a Saturday with a detective. All together 115 people did that.
     As the year continued we worked many gun shows. While we had some success's, gun owners in general were abusive to the volunteers and had little or no interest in supporting this cause.
     As head of the NYFO I got the wonderful job of going out and selling the corporation. I also spend many hours discussing campaign finance law with attorneys. I spent many hours on the phone and many weekends traveling around the state  and the reception I received was lukewarm at best and that was from gun rights activists. I was on more that one occasion accused of taking a salary or doing this for my own gain. That I can assure you is a very false accusation and one I take great offense to. . I am sure you are starting to get the picture of what has transpired.
     At the August Board of directors meeting the board voted and passed a resolution to close in Nov of 2001 after this years election. For those that supported us I thank you and want to assure you that ALL money you donated was and will be used to go to candidates right till the doors close. Gun rights activists and gun owners in general didn't support our efforts.
     I would suggest that any donations be given to the PAC that the R+P is forming.

 Tim Callery
 

Michigan: Foes drop drive against gun law

Gun saves 2 women from rape at hands of  middleweight boxer

AYALA PLEADS GUILTY TO LESSER CHARGE, 9/18/01
    Boxer Tony Ayala Jr. pleaded guilty to burglary yesterday in San Antonio in a deal that calls for 90 days in jail and 10 years' probation.
    The former junior middleweight contender also pleaded guilty to trying to commit aggravated assault, abruptly ending his week long trial, said defense lawyer Mike McCrumb.
    A more serious charge - burglary with intent to commit sexual assault - was dropped.  Formal sentencing was set for Oct. 8.
    Ayala, 38 was accused of breaking into a San Antonio home through a window in the early hours of Dec. 12, with the intent to rape.  Two women were in the house and one shot Ayala in the shoulder with a handgun.

Published by Women of Reform Judaism, The Federation of Temple Sisterhoods

Letters to the Editor:
Million Mom March
WRJ has been in the forefront of the campaign to seek an end to gun violence, and many Sisterhoods participated in the 2000 Million Mom March ( see Windows Spring 2000 and Winter 2000) and related events around the country .Our efforts and our programming continue.  At the same time, to represent the points of view of our membership, we are reprinting excerpts from the following two letters. Bear in mind that they are in disagreement with the stand on reasonable gun control taken by WRJ and, indeed, the entire Reform Movement.

I really take offense to your article [and] I don't agree with you at all. ...  The new laws being proposed will only make it more difficult and expensive for law-abiding citizens to own guns. ...I think that criminals who disobey the law should be punished to the full extent of the law. That might have an effect on gun violence.
Joyce Xxxx
Beth.El Sisterhood
George W. Rogero
Warwick, NY

I wish to take strong issue with your article...  Yes, you are accurate when you write that we Jews cannot be silent in the face of injustice. ..do you think that by disarming law-abiding citizens you will end gun violence? ...Make sure that the perpetrators, the criminals, are the ones who are suitably punished.
Audrey Carlan
Rancho Palos Verdes, CA

   1.Call upon every congregation to organize a gun control advocacy effort and urge every congregant to write to his or her representative and  senator demanding that effective gun control be enacted during the next congressional session;
   2.Provide every congregation with a copy of the Religious Action Center's legislative action guide to implement their strategy for addressing gun control advocacy;
   3.Urge our congregations to extend personal invitations to elected officials to appear in the congregation to explain their position on gun control; and
   4.Urge congregants to become involved in broader anti-violence coalitions in their local communities that press for effective gun control at all levels.

    Let's begin by simply telling the truth.
    There exists in the United States a powerful lobby that supports the right of any crook or any wife beater to buy almost any weapon at almost any time, no questions asked. It is, in effect, the criminals' lobby, and it goes by the name of the National Rifle Association. Our only hope to save children's lives is a take-no-prisoners, give-no-quarter campaign against the NRA. ...
    First and foremost, we need to see the control of guns not as a political problem but as a solemn religious obligation. Our gun-flooded society has turned weapons into idols, and the worship of idols must be recognized for what it is-blasphemy. The only appropriate religious response to idolatry is sustained moral outrage.

    The UAHC has long recognized the need for legislation “that would limit and control the sale and use of fire-arms” and has called on the United States government to “eliminate the manufacture, importation, advertising, sale, transfer and possession of handguns except for limited instances” (UAHC 1975). The UAHC takes a stand on a myriad of issues, but the Union has spoken out on gun control with particular passion, insisting that gun regulation is “a vital necessity.”

New doubts about gun historian, Research to receive hard critique todayBy David Mehegan, Globe Staff, 9/11/2001
The Article in part:
When Emory University historian Michael A. Bellesiles published his sweeping historical study of guns in Colonial America last fall, the reaction was electric.

His thesis that guns were relatively rare in Colonial households, and that the American ''gun culture'' didn't take hold until long after the Founding Fathers drafted the Second Amendment's ''right to bear arms,'' was immediately hailed by gun control advocates and by a host of historians impressed by his bold rewriting of conventional wisdom.

Today, at Harvard Law School, Bellesiles's most adamant critic, Northwestern University law professor James Lindgren, plans to detail evidence that Bellesiles may have stretched or distorted the historical record in trying to prove his claim.

The Boston Globe has reviewed substantial portions of records Lindgren will cite: 18th-century probate records in Vermont and Rhode Island. The Globe has also checked into Bellesiles's claim to have studied certain records in San Francisco, records county officials say were destroyed by fire in 1906. In each case, the records appear to support Lindgren's accusation and suggest a disturbing pattern of misuse of data by Bellesiles in his book and in an article defending his thesis which he published on his Web site.
Separately, in his review of Rhode Island records, Bellesiles writes in his book that of 186 estates of ''property-owning adult males'' in Colonial Providence, only 90 listed guns, and ''more than half of these guns are evaluated as old and of poor quality.''

Lindgren found that 17 of the estates were not of men but women. He also found that among 153 males whose estates included inventories, 94 mentions guns. But only nine of those are listed as old or in disrepair.

A Globe review of some of the Providence records, on file at Boston Athenaeum, appears to confirm Lindgren's findings. There were many estates of women among those Bellesiles cites, and few indicated guns in poor condition.

''There are many questions raised about his use of probate records and other materials,'' says Brandeis historian David Hackett Fischer, an authority on early America. ''They are very serious criticisms. It cuts to the very foundation of what he reports, and convincing answers are not coming from him.''

West Palm Beach, FL - On August 15, 2001 in U.S. District Court in Miami, Florida, Ted McLeod was sentenced to 30 months in Federal prison and fined $60,000 and Patrick Hayes was sentenced to 14 months in prison for their parts in a firearm-related conspiracy. McLeod and Hayes were the owner and manager of Trail Guns, a Federally licensed firearms dealer and pawnbroker located at 3170 South Military Trail in Lake Worth, Florida, touted as being Palm Beach Counties oldest and largest pawnbroker.

The sentences mark the end of a successful 7-month investigation into violations of various Federal firearm laws being committed by the owner and manager at Trail Guns. On January 26, 2000, Special Agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) served Federal search and arrest warrants at Trail Guns to collect evidence and arrest McLeod and Hayes. On March 26, 2001 they pled guilty to a firearm-related conspiracy charge.