Viewpoints

The AP has reported that in Atlanta, gun-rights advocates are saying a new Georgia state law allows visitors to carry firearms at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. City officials in charge of the airport declared it a 'gun free zone' when the new law took effect Tuesday. Gun rights supporters, including a state legislator who helped pass the law, quickly filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the designation. …

The Washington Post has reported that gun shops in suburban Maryland and Virginia felt an immediate impact from the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling Thursday that the District's handgun ban is unconstitutional. City leaders said it would take about three weeks to iron out which kinds of guns will be legal and how the registration process will work.

The National Rifle Association lost no time challenging the Illinois' city of Evanston's handgun ban in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's June 26 decision upholding individual rights of gun owners.

…Here's a sampling of reactions to the D.C. V. Heller decision handed down Thursday.

More than five years after six Washington, D.C. residents challenged the city's 32-year-old ban on all functional firearms in the home, the Supreme Court held in District of Columbia v. Heller that the law is unconstitutional.

I read with great interest your review of three .380 caliber pistols, in particular your critique of the Walther PPK. In the May 2008 issue, you positively gushed over the Walther PPK 32 ACP. After reading your May 2008 issue I ran (not walked) to my local gun store and bought a Walther PPK/S chambered in .380 instead of the 32 ACP because I wanted more power in a concealable. My brother has the 32 ACP PPK/S model. Everything we both read was that the 32 and 380 were 'virtually indistinguishable' except for the caliber. Imagine my surprise when the June 2008 issue was far less complimentary about the 380 than the 32 despite their being nearly physically identical. True, my right hand-thumb metacarpal ached (see photo at right) from the recoil as you describe in the June 2008 review. I also had to adjust my typical 45 ACP 'Ayoob' grip by lowering my hand and hooking my pinky finger under the thumbrest on the magazine to avoid two things: (1) my right thumb interfering with the decocker; (2) 'biting' me between the thumb and forefinger. On the other hand (no pun intended), I find this classic pistol to be as accurate as you describe and have already pumped over 500 rounds through it using three different Walther original magazines (note to users: break in the magazines, they tend to 'double feed' when new). I appreciate the craftsmanship and fit/finish probably more than your testers do. I am aware of the serrations on the decocker, but mine aren’t nearly as abrasive as the ones you describe on the PPK.

I read with great interest your review of three .380 caliber pistols, in particular your critique of the Walther PPK. In the May 2008 issue, you positively gushed over the Walther PPK 32 ACP. After reading your May 2008 issue I ran (not walked) to my local gun store and bought a Walther PPK/S chambered in .380 instead of the 32 ACP because I wanted more power in a concealable. My brother has the 32 ACP PPK/S model. Everything we both read was that the 32 and 380 were 'virtually indistinguishable' except for the caliber. Imagine my surprise when the June 2008 issue was far less complimentary about the 380 than the 32 despite their being nearly physically identical. True, my right hand-thumb metacarpal ached (see photo at right) from the recoil as you describe in the June 2008 review. I also had to adjust my typical 45 ACP 'Ayoob' grip by lowering my hand and hooking my pinky finger under the thumbrest on the magazine to avoid two things: (1) my right thumb interfering with the decocker; (2) 'biting' me between the thumb and forefinger. On the other hand (no pun intended), I find this classic pistol to be as accurate as you describe and have already pumped over 500 rounds through it using three different Walther original magazines (note to users: break in the magazines, they tend to 'double feed' when new). I appreciate the craftsmanship and fit/finish probably more than your testers do. I am aware of the serrations on the decocker, but mine aren’t nearly as abrasive as the ones you describe on the PPK.

Florida’s 'guns at work' law is set to take effect July 1 unless a suit by the Florida Chamber of Commerce and the Florida Retail Federation stops the legislation, which allows Floridians to keep a gun in their locked cars on work premises if they have a concealed weapons permit.

Writing in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, gun-rights advocates Alan Gottlieb and Joe Waldron wrote that “Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, behaving like the would-be ruler of a ‘city state,’ has decided to ignore Washington's longstanding firearms statute regarding the legal carry of concealed handguns by licensed private citizens on city property.”

As the Supreme Court considers the constitutionality of Washington, D.C.’s ban on handguns, a majority of Americans (59%) say they would oppose a law that banned the sale of handguns, according to the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, which conducted the survey April 23-27 among 1,502 Americans. Public attitudes about gun control and a handgun ban are divided along political, gender and racial lines. Nearly three-quarters of Republicans (73%) oppose a ban on handgun sales, a view shared by 59% of independents and just half of Democrats. Democrats differ over a law to ban handgun sales. A majority of the party’s conservatives and moderates (53%) oppose such a ban; among liberal Democrats, 43% are opposed, while half favor a ban on handgun sales.

As the Supreme Court considers the constitutionality of Washington, D.C.’s ban on handguns, a majority of Americans (59%) say they would oppose a law that banned the sale of handguns, according to the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, which conducted the survey April 23-27 among 1,502 Americans. Public attitudes about gun control and a handgun ban are divided along political, gender and racial lines. Nearly three-quarters of Republicans (73%) oppose a ban on handgun sales, a view shared by 59% of independents and just half of Democrats. Democrats differ over a law to ban handgun sales. A majority of the party’s conservatives and moderates (53%) oppose such a ban; among liberal Democrats, 43% are opposed, while half favor a ban on handgun sales.

…Last week, the New Jersey Assembly Judiciary Committee approved legislation that would ban the purchase, transfer, and inheritance of many popular hunting guns, historical American firearms, and large-bore target firearms