Commentary

…Southwick Associates has announced the brands and products that hunters and shooters preferred most in 2007. This list has been compiled from the 19,288 surveys that hunters and target shooters returned from HunterSurvey.com and TargetshootingSurvey.com last year.

The Houston Chronicle editorial board stepped in a pile of poo last Sunday when its members decided to publish an opinion piece by Marsha McCartney, of Dallas, state president of the Texas Chapters of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

Last week Gun Reports reported that a Manhattan-based federal appeals court ordered the dismissal of a lawsuit filed against firearms manufacturers by the City of New York that sought to hold the manufacturers responsible for the criminal misuse of firearms. The ruling is a major setback for gun-control groups, principally the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which pursued and funded many of the municipal lawsuits, including this New York City case, against the firearms industry. …

The firearms from the men and women of the Wild West are now on display at the National Rifle Association's National Firearms Museum. One of the main attractions is a firearm that may have belonged to Jesse James. The old, large-frame Smith & Wesson revolver arrived at the National Firearms Museum accompanied by a small, yellowed receipt that read, 'Received $39.00 from Mr. C.B. Parsons of Lexington, Kentucky for my son Jesse's [Jesse James] pistol, Smith…

Gov. Sonny Perdue is considering signing a bill that would allow Georgians to carry concealed handguns onto trains and buses and into restaurants that serve alcohol. The bill passed Georgia's General Assembly on the last day of the 2007-08 session. Under the bill, Georgians would not be allowed to carry concealed guns to athletic events, churches, political rallies or bars, but they could carry them onto trains and buses and into state parks, historic sites…

The U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance (USSA) has asked sportsmen to contact Meijer, a Michigan-based regional chain of retail superstores, and demand that it dissolve its partnership with the anti-hunting group, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), in an online pet photo contest. Meijer refused a U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance (USSA) request to abandon the partnership, said USSA senior vice president Rick Story. …

…Both candidates said they support and respect an individual's right to own guns, but the positions they endorsed -- an ‘assault weapons’ ban, expanded police access to federal gun-trace data, and keeping guns out of the ‘wrong hands’ -- are straight out of the gun-control play book.

…Barack Obama’s presidential campaign has worked to assure uneasy gun owners that he believes the Constitution protects their rights and that he doesn’t want to take away their guns.

…While Green Bay Packers fans continue to debate whether Brett Favre will ever come back to play, the iconic quarterback has just finished filming two new commercials that will debut nationally in a few months.

Volokh's compilation of state constitutional guarantees of gun rights is interesting reading – particularly Pennsylvania’s very clear language dating from 1776 and 1790.

…Are the two Democrat candidates misrepresenting their positions on gun rights to gain an edge in the Pennsylvania Democrat primary?

WASHINGTON -- As Moses, Charlton Heston thunderously rallied his people with the Ten Commandments in hand. The tablet of his political life was carved with something else - the Second Amendment.Heston was not just the public face of the gun-rights movement but a good deal of the fire in its belly during a transformational time in the decades-old debate. He lived to see Democrats running away from a cause they once embraced, scared…