DAILY ALERT FOR Friday, May 01, 2015
LEGAL & LEGISLATION
Your Help Needed on Pending National Right-to-Carry Legislation
Thanks to your continued calls and emails, NRA supported National Right-to-Carry bills have seen increases in cosponsorships this past week. Please continue to contact your elected officials and urge them to cosponsor and support these important bills:
HUNTING GUN LAWS NEWS
Good News for American Hunters and Sport Shooters as NRA Thwarts Obama Administration Policy
Thanks to diligent work by your NRA, an Obama administration policy that would have essentially stopped American hunters and sport shooters from traveling internationally with their personal firearms and ammunition has been suspended. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has announced that it is returning to its previous system of facilitating the international transport of personal firearms and ammunition, after meeting with representatives from the NRA, firearms industry and sportsmen's groups, and key members of Congress.
LEGAL & LEGISLATION
Passage of H.R. 2028 Includes Right-to-Carry on Army Corps Land Provision
On Friday, May 1, 2015, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 2028 the "Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016," by a bipartisan vote of 240-177. This bill is designed to protect the rights of gun owners on lands owned or managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps). This legislation would help end the patchwork of firearm laws and regulations that govern different federal lands managed by different federal agencies.
NEWS
Anti-Gunner Repeats Silly "NRA Insurrection" Smear
If Josh Horwitz, of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence were a comedian--and we aren't saying he isn't one--it would be high time for someone to tell him to "get some new material." Last week, for the umpteenth time, Horwitz portrayed NRA as the nation's leading advocate of "insurrection." Even at cursory glance, the tiresome Horwitz allegation should raise the eyebrow of anyone familiar with the gun control debate. After all, the NRA is widely recognized as supporting an armed citizenry--otherwise known as the well-regulated militia--the purposes of which, as the Supreme Court noted in District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), include "suppressing insurrections," not encouraging them.
NEWS
Anti-gun Researchers Discover Northeastern Police Chiefs Crave Power, Contend for Nobel Prize in "Well, Duh"
The big brains over at the Harvard Injury Control Research Center outdid themselves last month by sharing the penetrating insight that people who have power want to keep it. A survey conducted by anti-gun researcher David Hemenway and former Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association President James G. Hicks, the results of which were published in the Journal of Public Health Policy, found that 90 percent of Massachusetts police chiefs favor keeping in place the current may-issue concealed carry permitting regime that gives them discretionary control over the issuance of permits. Sources claim (although we cannot yet confirm) that an unrelated Harvard survey of grade-schoolers will indicate that they approve of eating ice cream for dinner.
GUN LAWS LEGAL & LEGISLATION
Gun Ban Upheld, Federal Appellate Court Uses "Feelings" to Justify It
The U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision on Monday allowing a Chicago-area gun and magazine ban to stand. Such bans are justifiable, according to the court, merely on the basis that they "may increase the public's sense of safety." The case, Friedman v. Highland Park, was filed in 2013, and sought to invalidate a city ordinance that banned "assault weapons or large capacity magazines (those that can accept more than ten rounds)." Highland Park was one of several Chicago suburbs that hastily enacted municipal ordinances regulating or banning the possession of "assault weapons" before the state's 2013 concealed carry law preempted home-rule authority to do so.
NEWS
Clinton Hires Anti-Gun Astroturfer for her "Grassroots" Campaign
Despite already amassing an anti-gun track record that would make Michael Bloomberg proud, Democratic presidential nominee candidate Hillary Clinton appears intent on adding to it whenever possible. Last week brought the news that Clinton has hired gun control advocate Scott Hogan to run her "grassroots" campaign in Minnesota. Hogan formerly served as the Minnesota Director and Campaign Manager for Everytown for Gun Safety. Hogan and his new employer clearly have a shared interest in restricting gun rights. However, in some ways Hogan is an odd choice to run a grassroots operation for the supposedly sophisticated Clinton campaign. The Bloomberg bank-rolled Everytown group is the epitome of political astroturf; and a rather transparent one at that.
LEGAL & LEGISLATION
Tennessee: Pro-Gun Bills Signed into Law
Your NRA-ILA is glad to report that multiple pro-gun bills have recently become law. The following pro-gun measures passed the Tennessee legislature and have been signed into law by Governor Bill Haslam (R)
LEGAL & LEGISLATION
North Carolina: Currituck County to Consider Shooting Range Permit
This upcoming Tuesday, May 5, the Currituck County Board of Commissioners will meet to consider a use permit proposal to allow the Currituck Shooting Club Inc. to operate.
LEGAL & LEGISLATION
Virginia: Rights Restoration Bill Signed Into Law Today in Richmond
House Bill 2286 was signed into law today, stripped of the anti-gun amendment that was originally attached to the amendatory veto. As previously reported, HB 2286 will now make it possible for individuals who had their rights fully restored in other states to possess firearms in Virginia.
LEGAL & LEGISLATION
Indiana: Pro-Gun Bill Signed Into Law by Governor
On Wednesday, Senate Bill 433 was signed into law by Governor Mike Pence. SB 433 will repeal the section of the Indiana statute that prohibits the possession, sale, receipt, or use of short-barreled shotguns.
LEGAL & LEGISLATION
Minnesota: Pro-Gun Legislation continues to Move Forward!
On Tuesday, April 28, House File 849 passed the Minnesota House of Representatives by an overwhelming 115-19 vote with NRA-backed provisions included.
LEGAL & LEGISLATION
North Carolina: NRA-Backed Omnibus Bill Before Appropriations Committee Next Week
The NRA-backed Second Amendment Affirmation Act,House Bill 562, is scheduled to be heard by the House Committee on Appropriations on Wednesday, May 6, at 8:30 AM.
LEGAL & LEGISLATION
New York: Pair of Anti-Gun Bills Defeated in Senate Codes Committee
On Tuesday, the Senate Codes Committee defeated two measures that would have taken yet another swipe at the Second Amendment in the Empire State. Both measures were defeated with a 9 to 7 vote. Despite the widespread opposition to the deeply flawed SAFE Act, anti-gun lawmakers in Albany have not stopped their attempts to infringe on the constitutional rights of New Yorkers.
LEGAL & LEGISLATION
Vermont: Another Victory in the Green Mountain State This Week
Fresh off defeating Gun Sense Vermont's "universal" background check legislation (S.31), three other anti-gun bills were neutralized in Montpelier this week. On Tuesday, the House Government Operations Committee voted down the Burlington Charter change bills on a 7 to 1 vote, with a few members absent.
HUNTING LEGAL & LEGISLATION
Maine: Firearm Suppressor Legislation Before Committee Next Week
Next Tuesday, May 5, at 2:00 pm - RM 206 COB, the Committee on Inland Fisheries and Wildlife will potentially vote on Legislative Document 942, "An Act To Permit the Use of Firearm Noise Suppression Devices in Hunting and To Provide for Chief Law Enforcement Officer's Certification for Certain Firearms."
NEWS LEGAL & LEGISLATION
California: Two Firearm-Related Bills Expected to be heard on Monday, May 4
Anti-gun bill, SB 347, and pro-gun bill, AB 499, are expected to be heard on Monday, May 4. Action is needed! Please contact the members of the Senate Committee on Appropriations urging them to OPPOSE SB 347 AND contact your state Assembly Member urging him or her to SUPPORT AB 499.
LEGAL & LEGISLATION NEWS
California: Help Stop San Diego from Imposing Illegal and Unjust Fees on Licensed Firearm Dealers
The San Diego Budget Review Committee is set to consider again increasing the City's fees for Firearm Dealer licenses and Firearm Dealer Employee licenses. The proposal would increase the annual cost for a firearm retailer to obtain a license from the already outrageous fee of $1,755 per license to $1,857—four times the amount most other California cities charge. And even though California law prohibits cities from imposing fees for additional firearm employee background checks, San Diego is also considering quadrupling the city's annual Firearms Dealer Employee License fee from $45 to a whopping $254 per employee license! Beyond further burdening an already heavily regulated and fee-riddled industry, these extreme fee increases will be passed on to the consumer at best and force firearm businesses to stagnate, downsize, or move out of San Diego at worst.
HUNTING
California Fish and Game Commission Approves Early Implementation of Regulations Governing Lead Ammunition Ban for Hunting in California
A set of laws adopted in 2013 known as "AB 711" drastically expanded California's ban on the use of lead ammunition for taking larger animals within the "California condor zone" to the taking of all animals throughout the entire state. It also required that the California Fish and Game Commission adopt regulations by July 1, 2015 that implement the expanded lead ammunition ban by July 1, 2019, or anytime sooner if "practicable."
THE BURLINGTON FREE PRESS
Vermont: Burlington gun control proposals fail
The laws, which a large majority of Burlington voters approved in March 2014, sought to impose safe storage of firearms, prohibit their possession in venues that serve alcohol; and allow police to confiscate weapons that pose imminent risk to domestic abuse victims.Those rules, which stray from Vermont's relatively lenient gun laws, require approval by the Legislature in the form of a charter change.
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Michael Bloomberg gun group's research director refuses on-air debate with longtime researcher
The research director for Everytown for Gun Safety, the gun control advocacy group co-founded by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, recently refused to appear for an on-air debate with longtime gun law researcher John Lott on C-SPAN's "Washington Journal."
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Oregon House passes concealed carry license reciprocity bill
House lawmakers have passed a bill allowing people with concealed handgun licenses from other states to use them in Oregon.Under the bill approved Thursday, the same protections offered to Oregon concealed carry permit holders, such as the ability carry a firearm into certain public buildings, would be offered to out-of-state permit holders.
THE STAR-TELEGRAM
Texas Senate OK's sales tax holiday for guns and ammo
The Texas Senate on Thursday passed state Sen. Brandon Creighton's "Second Amendment Sales Tax Holiday Act" to let Texans have a tax-free weekend of shopping for guns, ammo and hunting supplies.
LEGAL & LEGISLATION
Your Help Needed on Pending National Right-to-Carry Legislation
Thanks to your continued calls and emails, NRA supported National Right-to-Carry bills have seen increases in cosponsorships this past week. Please continue to contact your elected officials and urge them to cosponsor and support these important bills:
HUNTING GUN LAWS NEWS
Good News for American Hunters and Sport Shooters as NRA Thwarts Obama Administration Policy
Thanks to diligent work by your NRA, an Obama administration policy that would have essentially stopped American hunters and sport shooters from traveling internationally with their personal firearms and ammunition has been suspended. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has announced that it is returning to its previous system of facilitating the international transport of personal firearms and ammunition, after meeting with representatives from the NRA, firearms industry and sportsmen's groups, and key members of Congress.
LEGAL & LEGISLATION
Passage of H.R. 2028 Includes Right-to-Carry on Army Corps Land Provision
On Friday, May 1, 2015, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 2028 the "Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016," by a bipartisan vote of 240-177. This bill is designed to protect the rights of gun owners on lands owned or managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps). This legislation would help end the patchwork of firearm laws and regulations that govern different federal lands managed by different federal agencies.
NEWS
Anti-Gunner Repeats Silly "NRA Insurrection" Smear
If Josh Horwitz, of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence were a comedian--and we aren't saying he isn't one--it would be high time for someone to tell him to "get some new material." Last week, for the umpteenth time, Horwitz portrayed NRA as the nation's leading advocate of "insurrection." Even at cursory glance, the tiresome Horwitz allegation should raise the eyebrow of anyone familiar with the gun control debate. After all, the NRA is widely recognized as supporting an armed citizenry--otherwise known as the well-regulated militia--the purposes of which, as the Supreme Court noted in District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), include "suppressing insurrections," not encouraging them.
NEWS
Anti-gun Researchers Discover Northeastern Police Chiefs Crave Power, Contend for Nobel Prize in "Well, Duh"
The big brains over at the Harvard Injury Control Research Center outdid themselves last month by sharing the penetrating insight that people who have power want to keep it. A survey conducted by anti-gun researcher David Hemenway and former Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association President James G. Hicks, the results of which were published in the Journal of Public Health Policy, found that 90 percent of Massachusetts police chiefs favor keeping in place the current may-issue concealed carry permitting regime that gives them discretionary control over the issuance of permits. Sources claim (although we cannot yet confirm) that an unrelated Harvard survey of grade-schoolers will indicate that they approve of eating ice cream for dinner.
GUN LAWS LEGAL & LEGISLATION
Gun Ban Upheld, Federal Appellate Court Uses "Feelings" to Justify It
The U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision on Monday allowing a Chicago-area gun and magazine ban to stand. Such bans are justifiable, according to the court, merely on the basis that they "may increase the public's sense of safety." The case, Friedman v. Highland Park, was filed in 2013, and sought to invalidate a city ordinance that banned "assault weapons or large capacity magazines (those that can accept more than ten rounds)." Highland Park was one of several Chicago suburbs that hastily enacted municipal ordinances regulating or banning the possession of "assault weapons" before the state's 2013 concealed carry law preempted home-rule authority to do so.
NEWS
Clinton Hires Anti-Gun Astroturfer for her "Grassroots" Campaign
Despite already amassing an anti-gun track record that would make Michael Bloomberg proud, Democratic presidential nominee candidate Hillary Clinton appears intent on adding to it whenever possible. Last week brought the news that Clinton has hired gun control advocate Scott Hogan to run her "grassroots" campaign in Minnesota. Hogan formerly served as the Minnesota Director and Campaign Manager for Everytown for Gun Safety. Hogan and his new employer clearly have a shared interest in restricting gun rights. However, in some ways Hogan is an odd choice to run a grassroots operation for the supposedly sophisticated Clinton campaign. The Bloomberg bank-rolled Everytown group is the epitome of political astroturf; and a rather transparent one at that.
LEGAL & LEGISLATION
Tennessee: Pro-Gun Bills Signed into Law
Your NRA-ILA is glad to report that multiple pro-gun bills have recently become law. The following pro-gun measures passed the Tennessee legislature and have been signed into law by Governor Bill Haslam (R)
LEGAL & LEGISLATION
North Carolina: Currituck County to Consider Shooting Range Permit
This upcoming Tuesday, May 5, the Currituck County Board of Commissioners will meet to consider a use permit proposal to allow the Currituck Shooting Club Inc. to operate.
LEGAL & LEGISLATION
Virginia: Rights Restoration Bill Signed Into Law Today in Richmond
House Bill 2286 was signed into law today, stripped of the anti-gun amendment that was originally attached to the amendatory veto. As previously reported, HB 2286 will now make it possible for individuals who had their rights fully restored in other states to possess firearms in Virginia.
LEGAL & LEGISLATION
Indiana: Pro-Gun Bill Signed Into Law by Governor
On Wednesday, Senate Bill 433 was signed into law by Governor Mike Pence. SB 433 will repeal the section of the Indiana statute that prohibits the possession, sale, receipt, or use of short-barreled shotguns.
LEGAL & LEGISLATION
Minnesota: Pro-Gun Legislation continues to Move Forward!
On Tuesday, April 28, House File 849 passed the Minnesota House of Representatives by an overwhelming 115-19 vote with NRA-backed provisions included.
LEGAL & LEGISLATION
North Carolina: NRA-Backed Omnibus Bill Before Appropriations Committee Next Week
The NRA-backed Second Amendment Affirmation Act,House Bill 562, is scheduled to be heard by the House Committee on Appropriations on Wednesday, May 6, at 8:30 AM.
LEGAL & LEGISLATION
New York: Pair of Anti-Gun Bills Defeated in Senate Codes Committee
On Tuesday, the Senate Codes Committee defeated two measures that would have taken yet another swipe at the Second Amendment in the Empire State. Both measures were defeated with a 9 to 7 vote. Despite the widespread opposition to the deeply flawed SAFE Act, anti-gun lawmakers in Albany have not stopped their attempts to infringe on the constitutional rights of New Yorkers.
LEGAL & LEGISLATION
Vermont: Another Victory in the Green Mountain State This Week
Fresh off defeating Gun Sense Vermont's "universal" background check legislation (S.31), three other anti-gun bills were neutralized in Montpelier this week. On Tuesday, the House Government Operations Committee voted down the Burlington Charter change bills on a 7 to 1 vote, with a few members absent.
HUNTING LEGAL & LEGISLATION
Maine: Firearm Suppressor Legislation Before Committee Next Week
Next Tuesday, May 5, at 2:00 pm - RM 206 COB, the Committee on Inland Fisheries and Wildlife will potentially vote on Legislative Document 942, "An Act To Permit the Use of Firearm Noise Suppression Devices in Hunting and To Provide for Chief Law Enforcement Officer's Certification for Certain Firearms."
NEWS LEGAL & LEGISLATION
California: Two Firearm-Related Bills Expected to be heard on Monday, May 4
Anti-gun bill, SB 347, and pro-gun bill, AB 499, are expected to be heard on Monday, May 4. Action is needed! Please contact the members of the Senate Committee on Appropriations urging them to OPPOSE SB 347 AND contact your state Assembly Member urging him or her to SUPPORT AB 499.
LEGAL & LEGISLATION NEWS
California: Help Stop San Diego from Imposing Illegal and Unjust Fees on Licensed Firearm Dealers
The San Diego Budget Review Committee is set to consider again increasing the City's fees for Firearm Dealer licenses and Firearm Dealer Employee licenses. The proposal would increase the annual cost for a firearm retailer to obtain a license from the already outrageous fee of $1,755 per license to $1,857—four times the amount most other California cities charge. And even though California law prohibits cities from imposing fees for additional firearm employee background checks, San Diego is also considering quadrupling the city's annual Firearms Dealer Employee License fee from $45 to a whopping $254 per employee license! Beyond further burdening an already heavily regulated and fee-riddled industry, these extreme fee increases will be passed on to the consumer at best and force firearm businesses to stagnate, downsize, or move out of San Diego at worst.
HUNTING
California Fish and Game Commission Approves Early Implementation of Regulations Governing Lead Ammunition Ban for Hunting in California
A set of laws adopted in 2013 known as "AB 711" drastically expanded California's ban on the use of lead ammunition for taking larger animals within the "California condor zone" to the taking of all animals throughout the entire state. It also required that the California Fish and Game Commission adopt regulations by July 1, 2015 that implement the expanded lead ammunition ban by July 1, 2019, or anytime sooner if "practicable."
THE BURLINGTON FREE PRESS
Vermont: Burlington gun control proposals fail
The laws, which a large majority of Burlington voters approved in March 2014, sought to impose safe storage of firearms, prohibit their possession in venues that serve alcohol; and allow police to confiscate weapons that pose imminent risk to domestic abuse victims.Those rules, which stray from Vermont's relatively lenient gun laws, require approval by the Legislature in the form of a charter change.
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Michael Bloomberg gun group's research director refuses on-air debate with longtime researcher
The research director for Everytown for Gun Safety, the gun control advocacy group co-founded by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, recently refused to appear for an on-air debate with longtime gun law researcher John Lott on C-SPAN's "Washington Journal."
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Oregon House passes concealed carry license reciprocity bill
House lawmakers have passed a bill allowing people with concealed handgun licenses from other states to use them in Oregon.Under the bill approved Thursday, the same protections offered to Oregon concealed carry permit holders, such as the ability carry a firearm into certain public buildings, would be offered to out-of-state permit holders.
THE STAR-TELEGRAM
Texas Senate OK's sales tax holiday for guns and ammo
The Texas Senate on Thursday passed state Sen. Brandon Creighton's "Second Amendment Sales Tax Holiday Act" to let Texans have a tax-free weekend of shopping for guns, ammo and hunting supplies.
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