A federal appeals court dealt a blow to the gun lobby on Tuesday by upholding two San Francisco gun laws requiring owners to securely store their weapons and regulating ammunition dealers.

Handgun owners in San Francisco currently must use trigger locks or secure weapons in a safe inside their homes when they are not carrying them. The restriction aims to prevent unauthorized users and children from accessing guns. Additionally, the city forbids licensed ammunition dealers from selling hollow-point bullets, which expand upon impact and can cause massive damage to the human body.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, defended the two separate pieces of legislation this week as reasonable attempts to increase public safety without destroying residents’ Second Amendment rights.

The National Rifle Association (NRA) and several other gun supporters objected to both laws with the belief that gun locks burden Second Amendment rights. The NRA did not respond to msnbc’s request for comment.

http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/court-upholds-strict-san-francisco-gun-laws

WASHINGTON (AP) — People convicted of minor domestic violence offenses can be barred from possessing guns even in states where no proof of physical violence is required to support the domestic violence charge, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

The ruling was a victory for the Obama administration, gun control groups and advocates for victims of domestic abusers who say the gun ban is critical in preventing the escalation of domestic violence.

The justices unanimously rejected the argument put forth by gun rights groups and a Tennessee man who pleaded guilty to misdemeanor domestic assault against the mother of his child in 2001. The man, James Castleman, was then charged in 2009 with illegal possession of a firearm after he and his wife were accused of buying guns and selling them on the black market.

Federal law bars a person convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence involving the use of physical force or a deadly weapon from possessing a firearm. But Castleman said he should not have to face the gun charges because the Tennessee law doesn’t specify that his domestic violence crime had to include physical force.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/2014/03/26/high-court-bolsters-domestic-violence-gun-ban-law/9aTiYcEKTCGpFkrXhOW47H/story.html

A workbook used by students at Grant Middle School that has generated controversy among gun-rights supporters has no political agenda and won't be removed from the classroom, Springfield interim Superintendent Bob Hill said Monday.

Since the controversy surfaced online last week, Hill said, he's received a handful of calls and more than a dozen emails.

Gun-rights supporters claim students at Grant Middle School, 1800 W. Monroe St., are being taught that the Second Amendment permits only strictly regulated, registered gun ownership.

The concerns are based on a picture posted by a Grant parent on the “Illinois Gun Owners Rights” Facebook page about a workbook his child brought home. The posting was picked up by a number of websites and shared thousands of times online.

http://www.sj-r.com/article/20140324/News/140329660#ixzz2wyDuJSST

Seth Gunar moved in the fall of 2012 from an apartment in Mahwah to a three-bedroom house in Ringwood. He had to haul his things — including a gun and rifle collection — a mere half-dozen miles. But in retrospect, the fate of two lives may well have hung on that short journey across the Bergen/Passaic county line.

Gunar’s questionable behavior had already provided law enforcement authorities with many red flags. More than a year before he fatally shot a houseguest, Chris Coogan, then himself in early February, the police in Mahwah had moved to seize Gunar’s legal gun collection, believing that he presented a threat to himself and others.

But the move from Mahwah to Ringwood by Gunar, 43, a disbarred lawyer, brought a halt to the effort to obtain a court order to remove his weapons. In the weeks since the shootings, local and county law-enforcement officials have engaged in finger pointing over how a man who drank heavily, had a history of belligerent encounters and owned at least five or six guns and rifles had been allowed to retain them.

After Gunar moved to Passaic County, the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office closed the case it had initiated to seize his weapons, anticipating that the Ringwood police would take up the matter. Mahwah police officials notified the Ringwood police about their concerns over Gunar’s drinking and his brushes with the law. But the Ringwood police did not act because they assumed the legal case had been transferred by the Bergen prosecutors to their counterparts in Passaic County. It had not.

http://www.northjersey.com/news/shooter-in-ringwood-murder-suicide-slipped-through-cracks-1.749987

California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein is circulating a letter on Capitol Hill calling once again for a ban on semi-automatic rifles and asking for President Barack Obama to keep his State of the Union promise to make 2014 a “year of action.”

Citing the Gun Control Act of 1968, Feinstein states, “In recent years… importers of firearms have taken advantage of ATF’s interpretation of the ‘sporting purposes’ test to evade the import ban.”

The phrase contained in The Gun Control Act of 1968 Feinstein is referencing prohibits the importation of firearms that are not “generally recognized as particularly suitable for or readily adaptable to sporting purposes.” She claims that in recent years firearms importers have taken advantage of ATF’s interpretation of “sporting purposes” to circumvent the ban.

Although Feinstein recognizes that the firearms are designed for civilian use and never manufactured or used by any standing army, she maintained that “many semiautomatic firearms on the market today do not have a military origin but are modeled closely after military firearms.”

http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/20/dianne-feinstein-pushes-for-semi-automatic-rifle-import-ban-based-on-45-year-old-law/

As the Florida Legislature considers tweaks to the state’s controversial “Stand Your Ground” law, legislators have added a provision that would stop journalists from gaining access to court records in cases involving self-defense.

The change has already gained public support of the NRA’s Marion Hammer—the most influential pro-gun lobbyist in Tallahassee.

The Times/Herald reports, “Hammer said she had no hand in writing the amendment, but agrees with Gaetz that it is necessary.”

This could become a contentious issue considering the state’s history with self-defense cases.

http://fcir.org/2014/03/24/proposed-changes-to-stand-your-ground-could-limit-journalists-access-to-court-records/

Are the food and service any good at the Backstreets Pub and Deli in Clemson, South Carolina? I don't know. But I do know this: The bar's owner has big brass ones and no qualms about tussling with Second Amendment nuts.

At some point on St. Patrick's Day, one of the bar's clientele snapped a photo of the printed sign above in its window, and it subsequently went viral among offended gun-lovers. Here's the full version:

[center][/center]

Before this morning, Backstreets had three Yelp reviews that averaged three out of five stars. Today, it got nearly 300 reviews from pro-gun nuts who either ventured cross-country to try the wings in Clemson, vomited, found the place unsafe and were driven to comment on Yelp for the very first time... or simply made some shit up to justify driving the joint's rating down to one star.

"Food sucks, over priced. Owners a blatant liberal idiot that uses the eatablishment as a cover for his meth lab in the back," one classy guy who apparently trekked all the way from Oregon writes. "I hope this business fails and the owner commits suicide."

http://gawker.com/pub-gets-crap-for-banning-guns-calling-pistol-packers-1546550250

According to the arrest affidavit obtained by 7NEWS, Shank's mother told police that her son admitted he was drinking too much alcohol and needed help dealing with anxiety.

Deborah Shank said Jonathan "watches YouTube all day long at work and then comes home and watches YouTube and the news."

She said, "He worries constantly about what the government is doing and believes the government is diminishing rights and the world is on a downward spiral."

According to the affidavit, Shank's mother told police that "Jonathan believes stringently in the right to bear arms and was closely following a gun rights rally to be held in Washington D.C. She said it "apparently weighed on his mind more than she realized."

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/man-who-shot-up-police-cruiser-with-assault-rifle-pleads-guilty-to-four-criminal-charges03212014?autoplay=true

The Chicago Police Department has seized more than 1,000 illegally possessed guns so far this year, according to a department news release Wednesday.

The mayor's office used the milestone to underscore the value of stricter gun laws, reiterating its call for three-year sentences for illegal gun possession. During a press conference Wednesday, Mayor Emanuel and Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy also called for a gun-transfer reporting requirement, a federal universal background check, a federal ban on assault weapons and a federal ban on high-capacity magazines.

http://articles.redeyechicago.com/2014-03-19/news/48375583_1_illegal-guns-cpd-proper-licensing

A bill that drew national scrutiny allows handguns in Georgia churches only if church leaders allow it, and lets hunters use silencers.

The bill received final passage by a House vote of 112-58 Thursday night and now goes to Gov. Nathan Deal’s desk. The approval came despite national efforts by opponents to defeat what they dubbed the “guns everywhere” bill, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The final version would legalize the use of silencers for hunting and says guns remain banned in houses of worship unless church leaders allow them.

According to language added by the Senate, someone caught with a gun in a church that didn’t allow it would face a misdemeanor charged and a $100 fine.

http://dacula.patch.com/groups/politics-and-elections/p/do-guns-belong-in-church-patch-readers-debate-issue