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CCRKBA’s Gottlieb to Democrats on revised Disclose Act exemption: 'Pound sand'
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... "Late Thursday, in an effort to mollify smaller gun rights and other groups, the exemption threshold was lowered to include organizations with 500,000 members. By the oddest of coincidences – if one believes in such things – that move came in the hours after Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the [CCRKBA], issued a statement on the Disclose Act that mentioned his group has 650,000 members and supporters. ..."
"Advised of the change, an audibly disgusted Gottlieb reacted via telephone: 'Even though we may now be exempted, we still oppose the bill.' Desperate Democrats can, in his opinion, 'pound sand.' Lowering the bar to quell the firestorm, he indicated, was simply insult added to injury." ... |
Pelosi and Van Hollen Thwart American Values, says Gun Law Expert (video available)
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"'Congressman Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi undermine American values,' says gun rights expert John M. Snyder."
"'Hopefully, they'll be replaced as congressional leaders after the national mid-term elections ...' he added."
"Pelosi and Van Hollen are working to eviscerate freedom of speech by promoting legislation to reverse the Supreme Court decision in its January Citizens United ruling that upheld freedom of speech. ..."
"In addition, Snyder noted, 'Van Hollen and Pelosi also are working to undermine Americans' Second Amendment rights by their support for restrictive gun control proposals, such as reinstitution of the Clinton era's ban on certain semiautomatic firearms. ..." ... |
Point and Click: Getting Your Gun Online -- or Not
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"In this summer of 2010, a worldly person's fancy can turn to one thing only: guns."
"As seems inevitable in the competition for dwindling news consumers, the public debate is colored each year by the somber annual memorials of the Columbine and Virginia Tech massacres."
"Those of us involved in e-commerce pay particular attention when online sellers are involved, such as the report that the same e-seller sold a gun or accessories to two well-publicized killers ..." ...
"But while the Second Amendment cases concerning the right to bear arms may dominate the news, that law doesn't guarantee a right to buy arms online ..." ... |
Senior Citizens Slingin' Sixguns
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"One of my favorite stops on my teaching tour every year is the Sand Burr Gun Ranch in Rochester, Indiana. The facility is a shooting park with rustic classroom, five ranges, and a gun shop that makes you feel as if you’ve taken a time machine back to the 1950s. Founder Denny Reichard does his gunsmithing there, doing action smoothing work that’s as good as you’ll find anywhere in the world."
"The resident teaching crew, for the most part, are gun geezers, and they carry classic Smith & Wesson large caliber revolvers. Well, 'when in Rome…' For the first of the two classes I taught in June, I alternated between two Model 625 S&W revolvers, chambered for the .45 Auto ... Denny’s trademark gun is a 6" barrel S&W .44 Magnum ... |
Buz Mills Elected to the National Rifle Association Executive Committee
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"The National Rifle Association of America has recently elected Republican candidate for governor Buz Mills to its Executive Committee."
"Mills is a lifetime member of the NRA ... and has been a member of the NRA's 76-member Board of Directors since 2009. The Executive Committee is made up of 21 members from the Board of Directors and is responsible for the NRA's emergent issues arising between the regular sessions of the Board which meets just three times per year."
"Despite his board membership and lifetime of service, Mills will not receive the NRA’s endorsement in the Republican Primary for governor. Incumbents who meet the NRA’s criteria on Second Amendment issues are endorsed regardless of who else is in the race ..." ... |
Kagan Praised NRA Members In Clinton-Era Emails
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"In June 1998, Elena Kagan helped rework some talking points written by White House staffers for President Clinton about the National Rifle Association in order to soften his tone and praise the NRA's members."
"The comments were for a planned Clinton question-and-answer session with the NRA, one week after actor Charlton Heston took the helm of the massive organization. TPMDC is reviewing thousands of emails released today in advance of Kagan's Supreme Court confirmation hearings and a White House source pointed us to this section." ... |
Did Kagan Compare the NRA with the KKK
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"It has become clear that Elena Kagan, Obama's most recent Supreme Court nominee, is no friend of gun rights, to say the least. While clerking for Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall in 1987, she wrote the judge that she was 'not sympathetic' to a Second Amendment–based challenge to the D.C. gun ban. While serving in the Clinton administration, she wrote a memo that 'paved the way for an executive order banning dozens of semiautomatic weapons,' according to the L.A. Times."
"And National Review has learned that in 1996, Kagan apparently tied the NRA to the KKK — yes, the KKK — while debating the Clinton administration’s position on a bill." ... |
Elena Kagan, the NRA, and the KKK
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"The National Review Online reports that Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan seems to have placed the NRA in some very noxious company.""And National Review has learned that in 1996, Kagan apparently tied the NRA to the KKK — yes, the KKK — while debating the Clinton administration's position on a bill." "In handwriting that is almost certainly Kagan's ... concern is expressed that a bill under debate at the time would benefit 'bad guy orgs'--the NRA and the KKK."
"Some readers may have noted by now that I'm a frequent critic of the NRA (although I'm also a life member) ... [But t]o compare the organization to something as virulently evil as the KKK is inexcusable." ... |
DC: Families Lobby for Stronger DC Gun Laws
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"Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and Rep. Travis Childers (D-MS) are pushing a bill in Congress that would make it easier to carry guns on DC streets and would legalize the long-banned AK-47 assault rifles."
"Parents and families of the victims of the recent deadly DC mass shooting went to Capitol Hill Friday to deliver a message: No More Guns. They are demanding tougher gun laws in their neighborhoods. Not weaker ones."
"And they asked for help in fighting McCain's 'Second Amendment Enforcement Bill.'"
"That bill would repeal DC's gun registration law, allow guns to be carried in public, and repeal the assault weapons ban. ..." ... |
NRA and Freedom of Speech
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"A Firestorm was ignited this week when it was announced that House Democrats had carved out an exemption for the [NRA] in proposed new federal campaign law legislation and that NRA was no longer going to oppose the bill."
"The new campaign legislation is a response to the recent Supreme Court decision in Citizens United ... The proposed legislation ... would tightly regulate the political speech of any corporation (most non-profits and political organizations are corporations) and require extensive record-keeping and public disclosure of contributors names. Such disclosure is particularly hard on gun rights organizations as our members tend to be vehemently opposed to having their names put on lists ..." ... |
Ticked off at NRA
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"I am appalled with the National Rifle Association striking a deal with Congress which exempts it from legislation that will limit free speech for most other organizations. The association has sorely disappointed me through the years by its focus on only Second Amendment rights, at the expense of the rest of the Constitution. It is quickly becoming the AARP of the supporters of the Second Amendment."
"My regret is that I am a life member of the NRA and I can't threaten them with any cancellation of membership with financial consequences." ... |
NRA isn't the villain in the free-speech fight
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"Congressional Democrats, to avert a clash with the National Rifle Association, have crafted a blatantly unfair amendment to an already cynical and probably unconstitutional bill regulating political discourse. The amendment, crafted by Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., exempts a handful of the most powerful lobbies -- including the NRA -- from proposed burdensome disclosure requirements."
"It's a shameful moment for the House of Representatives -- especially the Democratic majority, and particularly Van Hollen. On the right, though, the ire is mostly aimed at the NRA for agreeing to drop its opposition to the bill because of the carveout."
"But the facts paint an ambiguous picture as far as the NRA's culpability." ... |
NRA Under Fire for Campaign-Finance Move
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"The National Rifle Association is taking fire from its conservative brethren for withdrawing its opposition to a campaign-finance bill in exchange for an exemption."
"The debate surrounds the Disclose Act, which would impose new reporting requirements on companies, unions and other groups involved in political campaigning. Democrats are pushing it in response to a controversial January Supreme Court ruling that unraveled much of the legal apparatus governing such politicking."
"Democrats, viewing the NRA's opposition as an obstacle to the bill's passage, agreed that certain large groups of long standing—the NRA prominent among them—would be exempt. Now the NRA is no longer fighting the measure." |
Conservatives Go to War Against National Rifle Association
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"Conservatives are balking at a deal cut between the National Rifle Association and Congressional Democrats, who crafted an exception for the NRA in planned campaign-finance reform legislation. The deal was meant to recruit the NRA into gathering Republicans into supporting the legislation. But conservative pundits are fuming that the NRA, one of the most powerful interest groups on the right, would get into bed with Democrats. Here's what they're saying." ... |
Loophole Backfires, Blows up DISCLOSE Act
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"In their attempt to mitigate negative election-year fallout from the Supreme Court's recent ruling in favor of rights of free speech for everyone in Citizens United, Democrats Senator Charles Schumer (New York) and Representative Chris Van Hollen (Maryland) proposed legislation entitled 'Democracy is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections,' or DISCLOSE."
"Schumer was very clear that DISCLOSE was carefully crafted to 'embarrass companies [inclined to get involved in the fall elections] out of exercising those rights,' according to Kim Strassel in the Wall Street Journal. The bill will make companies 'think twice', [Schumer] rejoiced. 'The deterrent effect should not be underestimated.' ..." [emphasis added] ...
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Submitter's Note: To all those who say that gun civil rights activists are wrong in asserting that a disdain for the Second Amendment indicates disdain for them all, here we have Chuckles Schumer explicitly writing legislation designed to discourage people from exercising their rights, and rejoicing in the fact! |
Did the NRA sell out other gun rights organizations? Not so fast...
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"Recent publicity has focused on H.R. 5175, the so-called DISCLOSE Act ..."
"In the findings portion of the bill, they note that in January of this year, the Supreme Court of the United States overturned legislation 'restricting the ability of corporations and labor unions to spend unlimited funds from their general treasury accounts to influence the outcome of elections.' This is their second attempt at it."
"Recently, news broke that the [NRA] was given an exemption from this bill, not by name but by a thinly-veiled description. The NRA released a statement that they were dropping their opposition from the bill, allegedly at the expense of smaller gun rights organizations. But is that was really happening?" ... |
Pelosi Force To Postpone Vote On The Outrageous DISCLOSE Act
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"I'm happy to report that we've scored an important, albeit temporary, victory."
"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had planned to force a vote on the outrageous DISCLOSE Act – which could silence the National Association for Gun Rights and hundreds of other conservative groups not protected by the NRA’s sellout — today."
"But over the last three days politicians and the NRA got a thumping from liberty-loving folks like you!"
"Now Politico.com is reporting that Pelosi has pulled the DISCLOSE Act off the calendar and there will not be a vote today."
"This is a sure sign that our grassroots pressure is working." ... |
How Dems' NRA loophole backfired
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"Hatched over the last few weeks by Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) with backing from House Democratic leaders and the White House, it was a legislative maneuver rich with the kind of irony that often goes unremarked in Washington — a classic backroom special interest deal to help pass a bill that would require heightened disclosure of special interest spending on campaign ads."
"The idea was to neutralize opposition to tough new campaign spending rules from one particularly powerful special interest group, the [NRA], by exempting it as well as the left-leaning Sierra Club ... from certain disclosure requirements in the bill. But while the maneuver was effective in getting the NRA to back down, the deal sparked a backlash ..." ... |
Far Over the Line
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"It's no surprise to political realists that once Sharron Angle secured the Republican nomination for the United States Senate in Nevada as a Tea Party insurgent, she would soften some of her most pugnacious stances. Sure enough, she is toning down her calls for abolishing the energy and education departments, phasing out Social Security and repealing the income tax."
"But Ms. Angle has shown no inclination to explain or alter her most alarming rhetoric — her repeated references to 'Second Amendment remedies' ... Her statements across the past six months — when she was winning national attention dishing right-wing polemics — were some of the most offensive and inciteful to be heard in this year’s welter of extremist alarums." ... |
The anger is real; the media picture isn't
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"Sharron Angle's Senate primary victory Tuesday in Nevada was the latest in a string of high-profile tea party movement victories. ..."
"Tea party voters helped Rand Paul defeat an establishment GOP Senate candidate in Kentucky last month, drove Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter out of GOP primary races ..."
"According to a Harris poll in late May, the tea party movement is growing in prominence. About 85 percent of Americans have heard of it, and almost 40 percent of Americans say they support it."
"Yet, the movement remains little understood by much of the media. Stories tend to focus on the movement's most colorful characters ... To readers, the message often is: These folks are weird." ... |
CO: 'War on Terror' a common theme of Republican Congressional candidates
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"Two Colorado Republicans are invoking the War on Terror as they carry on their campaigns for Congress."
"One, Senate candidate Jane Norton, has come under fire from Democrats for a web video in which she criticizes President Obama's 'retreatist tactics' in the War on Terror."
"House candidate Bob McConnell doesn't come under fire for his web ad on the Second Amendment. But he does open fire, literally, blasting away at the grinning mugshot of Osama bin Laden with a Heckler Koch .45 caliber handgun."
"Colorado Democrats called Norton's ad 'deeply offensive' and said they would circulate a petition calling on her to drop the video and return any contributions she gets because of it." ... |
CO: District 54 candidates debate gun rights, more
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"The two Republican candidates for House District 54 had their first opportunity to debate each other Friday."
"Speaking at a Mesa County Republican Party lunch, Bob Hislop and Ray Scott answered questions ranging from gun rights to illegal immigration."
"... they did differ when it came to a new Arizona law allowing residents to carry concealed weapons without the need of a permit."
"Hislop said that as a former law enforcement officer, he would be hard-pressed to agree to laws allowing anyone to carry a weapon if it meant mentally ill people could do so. He said gun owners should take classes to ensure they know the proper way to handle one."
"Scott said the U.S. Constitution is clear on the subject." ... |
NY: Microstamping A Grim Fairy Tale
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"Clearly New York City Mayor Bloomberg exhibits his unique brand of common sense when it comes to any reasonable objection to his gun ban front special interest group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns ('MAIG')."
"A reliable source informed me that NYC Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg commissioned a front company to file a patent application for microstamping firearms…, a procedure which cannot work. Hizzoner then gathered sponsors for his Assembly bill and its Senate Bill counterpart, S6005, on behalf of MAIG." ...
"What Bloomberg isn’t telling you is that S6005 would make legal guns suddenly illegal. Does this make 'Common Sense'?" ... |
IL: Chicago Considers Options Ahead of Court's Gun Decision
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"Chicago aldermen are considering what to do if the city's decades-old ban on handguns is overturned. The United States Supreme Court could rule on that case as soon as next week."
"The city's top lawyer, Mara Georges, told the City Council Police and Fire Committee that she's hopeful that the 28-year-old ban will not be ruled unconstitutional. But if it is, she says there are plenty of constitutionally-sound firearm regulations that the city could impose on would-be gun owners."
"GEORGES: ...like training, like insurance requirements, like ballistics testing - things that we have found in the ordinances of other municipalities which our current ordinance doesn't contain." ... |
Airline pilots concerned about guns accidentally triggered in cockpits
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"Handguns used by pilots to fight terrorism can accidentally go off inside cockpits -- that's despite a government report that first warned of the danger more than two years ago."
"The Federal Flight Deck Officer Program was launched in the wake of the 911 attacks and provides pilots who volunteer with extensive training -- at the pilot's expense."
"But we've learned there have been two incidents of handguns accidentally being discharged in the cockpit and a third during training." ...
"'There have been several accidental discharges related to the holster and procedures involved where a lock has caused the firearm to discharge,' said Sevier. 'Not the operator's finger or anything like that.'" ...
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H/t to David Codrea who notes "Sounds like deliberate indifference to me. They don't want pilots armed, so by God, they're going to make it as dangerous as possible. Unless you believe the bureaucrats are actually this lazy, unmotivated and stupid." |
TX: North Forest officer accused of abuse in traffic incident
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FULL TEXT BELOW:
A 43-year-old North Forest police officer was arrested Monday, accused of abuse of official capacity.
Bail was set at $1,000 for Cassandra Annette Dallas for the class A misdemeanor, according to court records.
Donna Hawkins, a spokeswoman for the Harris County District Attorney’s office said the allegations stem from a May 2009 traffic accident. Hawkins did not know further details.
Calls to the chief of the North Forest Independent School District police chief were not immediately returned. |
FL: Former Orlando TSA officer gets probation in sex-slave case
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"A former Orlando TSA security officer arrested for allegedly molesting a minor pleaded no contest to one charge today and was sentenced to 10 years' sex-offender probation."
"A victim told deputies Bennett asked her to be his sex slave and fondled her against her will."
"When Charles Henry Bennett was arrested last year, he was employed by the [TSA] ..."
"He was charged with a charge of lewd and lascivious molestation of a minor and another count of lewd and lascivious conduct."
"He pleaded no contest to the molestation charge, while prosecutors dropped the second count as part of the plea deal."
"Bennett, 58, could have received a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison for the felony." ... |
KY: Chief: Mistakes made in Southworth investigation
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"Lexington police Chief Ronnie Bastin admitted officers made mistakes in the Division of Police's response to a case involving a badly beaten woman who investigators thought was dead."
"Bastin, flanked by several high-ranking city officials, acknowledged the department's missteps and, in an effort to prevent future errors, announced a change in policy during a news conference Thursday afternoon at police headquarters."
"Investigators have been under fire for several days for their response after Umi Southworth, 44, was found behind her home on Meadowthorpe Avenue. Southworth, suffering from head and facial injuries, did not receive medical help for more than three hours after her body was found." ... |
RI: No 'weapons' policy: School ban of toy soldiers sets off uproar
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"Christan Morales says her son just wanted to honor American troops when he wore a hat to school decorated with an American flag and small plastic Army figures."
"But the hat ran afoul of the district's no-weapons policy because the toy soldiers were carrying tiny guns."
"'His teacher called and said it wasn't appropriate,' Morales said."
"Morales' 8-year-old son ... was assigned to make a hat for the day when his second-grade class would meet their pen pals from another school. She and her son came up with an idea to add patriotic decorations to a camouflage hat."
"Earlier this week, the Tiogue School in Coventry sent the cap home ... after concluding it violated a zero-tolerance policy for weapons." ... |
LA: Permit should OK gun anywhere
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"This is in response to The Advocate's 'Six-shooters in sanctuaries' opinion."
"Your statements comparing concealed carrying of firearms to the 'Wild West' are getting tiresome."
"How many years of concealed carrying of firearms, with somewhere around 1 percent of permit holders being involved in a felony, (not necessarily involving a gun) will it take till you and your 'head in the sand' liberal media buddies figure out that the 'Wild West' scenario has not and will not take place?"
"Y'all are quick to step up and support seat belts, child restraints and motorcycle helmets, but can't seem to figure out that guns are safety equipment as well and we hope we never have to experience the benefits of any of the above." ... |
IL: Weis Struggles to explain how the gun ban is working
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"Top city officials still aren't saying exactly what they think Chicago's handgun ban is accomplishing. I'm wondering whether they can't—or just won't ..." ...
"... [Police Superintendant Weis] obviously couldn't explain how the gun ban was stopping the flow of arms into the city. When a reporter asked him about the ban, he resorted to the company line. 'We're optimistic—we're hoping the Supreme Court will uphold the current ordinance,' he said." ...
"A reporter asked him how the number of shootings in 2010 compares with that for 2009."
"'I'd have to get back to you,' he said. ..."
"... through May there had been 661 aggravated batteries involving firearms—up 2.4 percent from last year."
"That's an average of more than four shootings a day." ... |
AR: Attorney General opinion in opposition of right to keep and bear arms
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... "As I have reported in previous articles, a large swath of northern Arkansas is now under the jurisdiction of AGFC gun regulations, not Arkansas state code. When traveling, hiking or camping in this vast area, visitors are under a virtual gun ban. ..."
"Attorney General Dustin McDaniel's opinion (which was issued today) now strengthens the AGFC's power over the Second Amendment in a large part of Arkansas. At any time, the AGFC can even choose to ban concealed carry and the legislature of Arkansas can do little about it, barring a state constitutional amendment." ... |
WI: Gun charge against Sheboygan Falls man dismissed again
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"For the second time, a Sheboygan County judge has dismissed a charge that a man openly carried two guns on his bicycle within 1,000 feet of a school."
"Gun rights advocates say the case shows why the restriction ... should be found unconstitutional ..."
"Matt Hubing, 23, drew concerns from residents ..."
"But after Hubing noted that the measurement point for the offense was on private property, which is exempt, Circuit Judge Terence Bourke dismissed the charge. ..."
"Police then took a new measurement [which] was 46 feet inside the 1,000-foot zone ..."
"But at a preliminary hearing Wednesday, Circuit Judge Terry Van Akkeren found no probable cause that Hubing knowingly violated the 1,000-foot zone." ... |
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TO REMEMBER |
| That the said Constitution shall never be construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the press or the rights of conscience; or to prevent the people of The United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms... — Samuel Adams, Debates and Proceedings in the Convention of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, at 86-87 (Pierce & Hale, eds., Boston, 1850). |
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