WASHINGTON - The Senate dealt an election-year defeat Wednesday to a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, rejecting pleas from President Bush and fellow conservatives that the measure was needed to safeguard an institution that has flourished for thousands of years.

WASHINGTON - The narrow defeat of a proposal to ban flag desecration marks the second time in a month Senate Republicans have lost bids to amend the Constitution in ways designed to inspire social conservatives to vote in the midterm elections.

So the President released his list of executive orders and suggested legislation last week — nothing surprising there, given the President’s previous comments. None of them will stop a madman from killing. Even the President recognizes that. But they might diminish the amount of carnage the madman can inflict. And if we’re lucky, might even prevent him from carrying out his murders.

A year has passed. The outrage has subsided. The public outcry for change has faded. But the slain are still deceased; the wounded are still trying to recover and lives and families have been damaged forever.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court appeared willing Tuesday to say that the Constitution's right to possess guns limits state and local regulation of firearms. But the justices also suggested that some gun control measures might not be affected.

A year has passed. The outrage has subsided. The public outcry for change has faded. But the slain are still deceased; the wounded are still trying to recover and lives and families have been damaged forever.

WASHINGTON - Rep. Elton Gallegly has argued for nearly 20 years that one way to fight illegal immigration would be to deny citizenship to U.S.-born children of people who enter the country illegally.

Gov. Jan Brewer said Wednesday she is open to the idea of denying automatic citizenship to children of illegal immigrants even though she conceded that's not what she was taught in school.

Despite some contemporary opinion, there is no historical evidence, except for a bit of Thomas Jefferson’s political writings, that the Second Amendment to the Constitution was designed to ensure that Americans could, if necessary, rise to remove a tyrannical government.

It has been reported Senators Adam Driggs and John McComish are preventing SB1112, The 2nd Amendment Preservation Bill, from consideration by the full Senate.

Let’s face it, the nation’s founders didn’t create the Second Amendment to allow people to kill defenseless, unarmed school children.

Prepared text of Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer's State of the State speech:

Arizona’s monument to the Ten Commandments likely will remain near the state Capitol in Phoenix after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that a similar Texas display doesn’t endorse a religion.

Arizona’s monument to the Ten Commandments likely will remain near the state Capitol in Phoenix after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that a similar Texas display doesn’t endorse a religion.

February 2, 2005

PHOENIX -- A Senate panel set the stage Wednesday for a confrontation between state and federal law enforcement over gun laws.

The fate of free health care for 250,000 Arizonans likely will be settled by the state Supreme Court.

In reply to John K. Walker’s letter concerning the Second Amendment.

Ever wondered why citizens are gunned down in droves in Mexico every day? Citizens are not permitted to possess weapons to protect themselves there. They are unarmed sitting ducks because they have no second amendment right to do so. And yet, they are being murdered constantly by other citizens. Other citizens who are also not permitted by law to possess weapons. It’s not hard to connect those dots and predict what would happen in America if we were not protected by the second amendment, is it? So, why is even one American citizen willing to throw away the right to bear arms — much less a majority of Americans (if we can believe the percentages being reported as anti-gun nuts, that is) being willing to become helpless victims?

In the Bill of Rights, the 2nd Amendment states “Being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” Here we learn that we have a constitutional right to own and carry guns, but with this right comes a big responsibility.

So, Arizonans will have a second opportunity this November to insert a definition in the state constitution that would deny some couples a government license to marry.

About Will Durst’s mistaken column about gun control and Senator Diane Feinstein’s rants about assault rifles — what does the 2nd Amendment have to do with hunting or target shooting? Nothing. What does it have to do with citizens defending themselves against a government-controlled militia? EVERYTHING! Just ask the successful Viet Cong, the Cambodian Khmer Rouge, the Taliban, and lots of other grassroots insurgencies. The Founding Fathers knew that, and so do a high percentage of US voters.

You got the money, buddy? I got the guns.

I find it quite shameful that the Arizona Tea Party would hold a rally at our state Capitol and call it “.223 Second Amendment Rally.” To have a rally named after one of the guns used in the Sandy Hook Massacre is shameful.