Goals for 2008?

[The Real Gun Guy]

I was wondering what goals everyone thinks are important to push for
at the state and federal level this year?

I know this year in WA we're going to have to re-defeat the "gun show
loophole" bill (5197) that thanks to others like me, never got out of
committee. The safe storage law last year died before it was ever
heard on the floor.

How about national reciprocity or the abolition of "gun free zones"?
ATF reform?

Others?

[searan...@gmail.com]

Funny you should ask. I've been thinking about the earlier discussion
where we were considering how to move forward in our battle against
the anti-self-defense crowd. I just finished an obscenely long post
( http://www.searandhammer.com/2008/01/some-common-sense-discussion-on-self.html
) that ends up with some general guidelines on ways to move forward on
three different fronts. Maybe it will spark some ideas. Or at least
some ways that we can move ahead with ideas others already have.

Some suggestions:

Perhaps a good plate to start would be to introduce a national
protection for victims of violent crime who have lawfully exercised
self-defense. If they are not guilty of murder they should not be
liable in civil court for killing their attacker. Something like a
national "castle doctrine" law. It's simple. It's already proven in
the states. It's an easy win for the politicians to implement since
they can say they are protecting victim's rights.

Following that I would be looking for court cases where individuals
have been denied the natural right to self-defense through oppressive
gun-control laws. The more attention that can be drawn to the
suffering of victims due to unjust laws the more hollow the anti-self-
defense campaigns will sound.

Finally, we need to continually brand the anti-gun groups as anti-self-
defense. They want us to completely rely on the government for our
safety. Highlighting the individual suffering caused by such policies
will help clarify the issue: self-defense v. a nanny state.

[Kurt Hofmann]

On the federal level, I thin ATF reform is probably the most promising.    On the defensive side, fighting the push to close the mythical "gun show loophole," on both the state and federal levels, is what I expect to be the most urgent.

I don't really see this working on the federal level, but I think some of the more pro-gun states should forget the NRA's "parking lot" bills, and efforts should instead be put into some kind of " Gun-free Zone Criminal Liability" law.

Sear and Hammer's idea regarding nationwide civil liability immunity for self-defense sounds like an idea with merit.