California Gun Advocates File Lawsuit
The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) have filed a lawsuit to prevent the California Department of Justice (DOJ) from destroying critical data that may show many sheriffs and police agencies have practiced blatant discrimination in the way they issue concealed pistol licenses to California citizens.
SAF and CCRKBA filed for a temporary restraining order against Att. Gen. Bill Lockyer and DOJ Director Randy Rossi and their agencies. The two organizations want to prevent destruction of records under the guidelines of a new law that allows the state to destroy permit applications.
"Normally," said SAF founder Alan Gottlieb, "we would fight to protect the privacy of gun owners, but this is not a normal situation. If those records are destroyed, it could prevent California gun owners from ever finding out whether they have been the victims of ethnic or gender discrimination in their attempts to secure concealed pistol licenses.
"This is an important issue," he added, "because there have already been indications of racial and gender imbalances in the issuance of concealed carry licenses."
CCRKBA Executive Director Joe Waldron said his organization joined in the lawsuit after having opposed the legislation for the very reasons Gottlieb stated. "California gun rights activists advised us months ago that there appears to be a pattern of discrimination against some permit applicants," Waldron said, "There may be an even larger pattern of entire communities, with high minority populations, having been completely 'red-lined' by local sheriffs for blanket non-issue of permits to anyone living in those communities.
"We're asking for a temporary restraining order to stop implementation of the law," Waldron explained, "while the court has an opportunity to review our request for a permanent order. Ultimately, we would like to see this law overturned in favor of a law protecting the equal rights of all California gun permit applicants, regardless of race or gender."
The lawsuit was filed in the Superior Court of Sacramento County. With more than 650,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is one of the nation's premier gun rights organizations. It is dedicated to preserving firearms freedoms through active lobbying of elected officials and facilitating grass-roots organization of gun rights activists in local communities throughout the United States.
The Second Amendment Foundation is the nation's oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing, and legal action group focusing on the constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms.
Founded in 1974, The foundation has grown to more than 600,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control. SAF has previously funded successful firearms-related suits against the cities of Los Angeles; New Haven, Conn.; and San Francisco on behalf of American gun owners.
For more information, visit their websites at: www.saf.org and www.ccrkba.org.
CATO Book Forum On Education Reform
The CATO Institute will host a book forum and luncheon at noon Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2004, spotlighting Education and Capitalism: How Overcoming Our Fear of Markets and Economics Can Improve America's Schools, featuring authors Herbert J. Walberg of the Hoover Institution and Joseph L. Bast, of the Heartland Institute-with comments by the Wall Street Journal's John Fund.
In spite of steady progress for the school choice movement over the last 20 years, relatively few children today are educated outside the government monopoly school system. Why hasn't school choice been implemented on a wider scale? authors Walberg and Bast say the reason is that people don't understand capitalism. Because people lack a basic understanding of how capitalism works, they mistrust it to educate children. The authors say that education will move from a government-operated enterprise to a privatized one only if people understand how and why markets can be trusted to do a better job of educating our children than government does.
For more information visit the CATO website: www.cato.org.
Fathers' Group Elects Scholar New President
The American Coalition for Fathers and Children (ACFC) selected Dr. Stephen Baskerville, professor of political science at Howard University, to be the new president of ACFC, January 5.
Dr. Baskerville is a widely known advocate for fathers' rights, who has written extensively for both academic and news publications, including HUMAN EVENTS The Washington Post, Washington Times, Insight Magazine, Crisis Magazine and National Review on the dismal state of family courts in America and the national tragedy of court-manufactured fatherless children.
"It's an honor to have been selected to serve as ACFC president," said Dr. Baskerville. "Family and marriage issues are now on the front pages every day, and we intend to make fathers a leading voice in that conversation. World wide we see growing recognition of the critical importance of fathers in the lives of their children and in society."
"Dr. Baskerville's joining ACFC as president represents a significant step forward for both the fathers and shared parenting movements," said Michael McCormick, executive director of ACFC.
Also joining the Coalition is John Maguire, the new director of communications, media and public relations. Mr. Maguire directed the science journalism program at Boston University, and has worked as a reporter at several daily newspapers, including the father-friendly Massachusetts News.
Outgoing ACFC President David Roberts will become chairman of the Board of ACFC. The American Coalition for Fathers and Children maintains offices in California, Washington, D.C., and affiliated organizations active in over 20 states.
For more information, visit the ACFC at: www.acfc.org or call 800-978-3237.
