Commentary

As president of the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers' Institute, a Non-Governmental Organization member of the United Nations, Steve Sanetti addressed the U.N.'s  Open-Ended Working Group last week with the goal of explaining the legitimate uses of firearms and ammunition for sporting purposes and hunting by many millions of law-abiding persons worldwide, and urging that civilian firearms should be beyond the scope of any proposed U.N. consideration of fully automatic military firearms when its deliberations turn to small arms and light weapons as part of an International Arms Trade Treaty.

The Gun Owners of America reported last week that Senators John Thune and David Vitter have sponsored S. 845, a bill that will establish concealed carry reciprocity in several states.

Chad D. Baus, the Buckeye Firearms Association's vice chairman, has posted a great read on the BFA website: An extensive review of the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence's IRS tax records--which indicate the coalition probably never met the legal standard as a charitable organization.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Twenty-five of the nation's leading gun rights activists wrote Congress to oppose the confirmation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor as an associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

The ongoing confirmation hearings considering the fitness of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor to join the nation's highest court have generated a lot of commentary related to constitutional issues that gun-owners care about. Here's a sampling of law-profession comments about her judicial record as it relates to 2nd Amendment, 1st Amendment, and 4th Amendment issues:

The secret government 'Terrorist Watch List,' reportedly already swelled to more than 1.1 million names, will have an addendum, if gun control advocates in Congress have their way. This new addendum — also to be cloaked in secrecy — would empower the U.S. Attorney General to deny a person the ability to exercise their Second Amendment rights to purchase a firearm.

ARLINGTON, Va. -- The Public Affairs Director of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms blasted the Obama Administration for his shifting support of the 2nd Amendment at the Prince William County Tea Party in Woodbridge, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C.

With its editorial 'Death and American Guns in Mexico' on June 25, The Times misinformed its readers about a host of topics: federally licensed firearm retailers, the guns they sell, Mexican gun violence and the tracing of guns used in Mexican drug crimes.

The congregating arsenal was all perfectly legal as well as perfectly acceptable to the leaders of New Bethel, an Assemblies of God church in Louisville, Kentucky, that invited people to bring their unloaded guns to this first-ever event.

BELLEVUE, Wash. – Legislation introduced June 22 by veteran anti-gun New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg is designed to expand his gun prohibition agenda under the cloak of national security, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation (Nasdaq: SWHC), parent company of Smith & Wesson Corp., today announced financial results for the fiscal year and the fourth fiscal quarter ended April 30, 2009.

NEW YORK -- When the New York Times is unhappy about guns, gun owners are usually laughing. See the paper's editorial, 'Politics of the Gun.' The bleating from the paper's gun haters will make any CCL holder guffaw. In that editorial, the NYT said: