The Isle of Wight Board of Supervisors will take up the possible repeal of a "useless" gun law at tonight's board meeting. In August of 2008, the Board adopted an ordinance that allows only "authorized personnel" to carry concealed firearms in the county's recreational facilities. The only problem is, the law is unenforceable because ordinances controlling the use, sale, possession or transportation of firearms can only be enacted by the General Assembly. Local hunting laws are the only exception
If the board approved the recommendation to repeal the ordinance, a public hearing could be scheduled for as soon as July 16.
I'll be on Cam and Company at 9:20 tonight to talk about this and other Virginia gun related news. You can hear Cam and Company on NRANews.com as well as Sirius Satellite Radio Patriot 144.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Free NRA-ILA Virginia Beach Volunteer Kick-off Meeting
From NRA-ILA Grassroots Division:
This November, Virginia's elections will be ground zero for the enemies of freedom to try and turn the tide against our gun rights in the Commonwealth, serving as a launching pad for their national gun ban crusade. Our opponents will be pulling out all the stops as a run-up to the 2010 elections. All eyes will be on us!
To ensure we are prepared to meet the challenges and opportunities we will face this election season, NRA-ILA is hosting a free volunteer kick-off meeting on Thursday, July 16, at 6:30 p.m.
At this meeting, we will lay out our plans for our grassroots election strategies in your area and show you how you can help. You will also get to meet and begin working with your NRA-ILA Campaign Field Representative -- an NRA-ILA staff person who will be living in your area, coordinating our volunteer activities right through Election Day, Nov. 3!
This meeting is absolutely free and beverages and light snacks will be provided. It will run only about 60-90 minutes. Please make plans to attend and encourage your fellow NRA members and Second Amendment supporters to attend as well.
Here are the details:
Thursday, July 166:30 p.m.
Double Tree Hotel Virginia Beach
Sequoia Room
1900 Pavilion DriveVirginia Beach
VA 23451
757-422-8900
FREE PARKING!!!
To register for this free event, please click here, or call the NRA-ILA Grassroots Division at (800) 392-VOTE (8683)
This November, Virginia's elections will be ground zero for the enemies of freedom to try and turn the tide against our gun rights in the Commonwealth, serving as a launching pad for their national gun ban crusade. Our opponents will be pulling out all the stops as a run-up to the 2010 elections. All eyes will be on us!
To ensure we are prepared to meet the challenges and opportunities we will face this election season, NRA-ILA is hosting a free volunteer kick-off meeting on Thursday, July 16, at 6:30 p.m.
At this meeting, we will lay out our plans for our grassroots election strategies in your area and show you how you can help. You will also get to meet and begin working with your NRA-ILA Campaign Field Representative -- an NRA-ILA staff person who will be living in your area, coordinating our volunteer activities right through Election Day, Nov. 3!
This meeting is absolutely free and beverages and light snacks will be provided. It will run only about 60-90 minutes. Please make plans to attend and encourage your fellow NRA members and Second Amendment supporters to attend as well.
Here are the details:
Thursday, July 166:30 p.m.
Double Tree Hotel Virginia Beach
Sequoia Room
1900 Pavilion DriveVirginia Beach
VA 23451
757-422-8900
FREE PARKING!!!
To register for this free event, please click here, or call the NRA-ILA Grassroots Division at (800) 392-VOTE (8683)
Tidewater Public Radio Station Features Program on Gun Laws
Hampton Roads public radio station WHRV ran a program on June 22nd where the topic was "Gun Laws." The show featured a discussion on gun laws in Virginia, the "gun trafficking" issue, and guns in the community. A BATFE agent was one of the guests on the show as well as Joseph Samaha, the father of Rema Samaha, a victim of the Virginia Tech shootings. Of course Samaha made a pitch for closing the non-existent "gun show loophole." Not sure where they got the number that 40% of all gun sales in Virginia are through private sales. Since there is no background check or registration of firearms in Virginia, I can't imagine how they came up with that number unless it was fed to them by the anti-rights crowd. The show host did also attribute some of the "trafficking" in firearms to those that are stolen.
A Lt. with the Kennesaw Police Department was also a guest on the show. Kennesaw is the locality in Georgia that in 1982 passed an ordinance that required every head of households to maintain at least one firearm in the home along with ammo. The Lt. said one reason for the ordinance was a response to Morton Grove, IL, banning handguns. Another reason was the fact that the population in the metro Atlanta are led the community to be concerned about the impact on crime. He also noted that when you compare the crime rate now to that prior to passage of the ordinance passed, the rate of crime is lower.
Over all it is worth the hour it takes to listen to the program.
Hat tip to VA-Alert.
A Lt. with the Kennesaw Police Department was also a guest on the show. Kennesaw is the locality in Georgia that in 1982 passed an ordinance that required every head of households to maintain at least one firearm in the home along with ammo. The Lt. said one reason for the ordinance was a response to Morton Grove, IL, banning handguns. Another reason was the fact that the population in the metro Atlanta are led the community to be concerned about the impact on crime. He also noted that when you compare the crime rate now to that prior to passage of the ordinance passed, the rate of crime is lower.
Over all it is worth the hour it takes to listen to the program.
Hat tip to VA-Alert.
Terrorist Watch List and Firearm Purchases
Last week, U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) reintroduced legislation targeting gun owners whose name may be on what is known as the "Terror Watch List." This is also known as the "No Fly List." Some very well known people have wound up on the list who have no ties to terrorism. People like U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy (terrorizing our wallets doesn't count) and Congressman John Lewis. Some military personnel have also somehow ended up on the list. All of these are known as "false positives" which occurs when a passenger who is not on the No Fly List has a name that matches or is similar to a name on the list.
No one except those who put names on the list know how a name ends up on it, nor can anyone explain how to get a name off the list. One does not have to be a terror suspect to be on the list. Once can simply live next door to a suspect. You don't even have to have been accused of doing anything to be on the list. And, Senator Frank Lautenberg thinks the estimated 1,000,000 people on the list should summarily have their 2nd Amendment Rights taken away from them without the due process guarantees in the Constitution.
But Lautenberg is not the only person who believes anyone on the terror watch list should be denied their 2nd Amendment rights. Someone very close to President Obama believes this, and as a congressman, he spoke at a Brady Campaign dinner where he said people on the watch list are "not part of the American family." That someone is none other than Rahm Emanuel.
As is usually the case, Cam Edwards of NRA News was talking about this before anyone else in the MSM and after Lautenberg introduced his bill, he did a segment on the subject, including re-running portions of Emanuel's speech to the Brady Campaign.
Some believe that at some point, President Obama, having dissed so many portions of his base, will have to throw a bone to some to keep them happy. Given the number of legislators who have gone on record that they will not support a renewal of the "assault weapons" ban, it is probably safe to say the assault weapons ban will not be that bone (though that does not mean we don't remain vigilant). However, the gun control movement works on emotion over logic. With buzz words like "terror watch list" and "no terrorist should be allowed to buy guns" this issue may be tailor made for Obama to twist arms as he did with the "Cap and Trade" bill last week. I am not saying it will happen, just that it could be the one gun control issue he thinks would be the best use of his political muscle. And to do this, he would likely want to do it as far out from the mid term elections as possible.
After taking on the economy, "climate change" and health care all before the fall, what's left?
No one except those who put names on the list know how a name ends up on it, nor can anyone explain how to get a name off the list. One does not have to be a terror suspect to be on the list. Once can simply live next door to a suspect. You don't even have to have been accused of doing anything to be on the list. And, Senator Frank Lautenberg thinks the estimated 1,000,000 people on the list should summarily have their 2nd Amendment Rights taken away from them without the due process guarantees in the Constitution.
But Lautenberg is not the only person who believes anyone on the terror watch list should be denied their 2nd Amendment rights. Someone very close to President Obama believes this, and as a congressman, he spoke at a Brady Campaign dinner where he said people on the watch list are "not part of the American family." That someone is none other than Rahm Emanuel.
As is usually the case, Cam Edwards of NRA News was talking about this before anyone else in the MSM and after Lautenberg introduced his bill, he did a segment on the subject, including re-running portions of Emanuel's speech to the Brady Campaign.
Some believe that at some point, President Obama, having dissed so many portions of his base, will have to throw a bone to some to keep them happy. Given the number of legislators who have gone on record that they will not support a renewal of the "assault weapons" ban, it is probably safe to say the assault weapons ban will not be that bone (though that does not mean we don't remain vigilant). However, the gun control movement works on emotion over logic. With buzz words like "terror watch list" and "no terrorist should be allowed to buy guns" this issue may be tailor made for Obama to twist arms as he did with the "Cap and Trade" bill last week. I am not saying it will happen, just that it could be the one gun control issue he thinks would be the best use of his political muscle. And to do this, he would likely want to do it as far out from the mid term elections as possible.
After taking on the economy, "climate change" and health care all before the fall, what's left?
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Gun Tax Rumors and Other Emails
Email rumors and Urban Legends are noting new, especially for pro-rights activists. At the beginning of the year emails circulated about Congressman Bobby Rush's HR45, a massive gun control bill that if enacted would put major restrictions on our right to keep and bear arms. While there was a bill introduced, it had no co-sponsors and will likely languish in committee as it has since the first time Congressman Rush introduced the bill. But that did not stop the emails from going around and numerous questions from being asked by concerned gun owners, leading NRANews.com host Cam Edwards to create a sign that said "No News on HR 45" to respond each night to the numerous "talkbacks" he would receive on the subject.
In the last few weeks, a new e-mail warning has made the rounds on the Internet, this one about “SB-2099,” a bill that would supposedly require you to report all your guns on your income tax return every April 15. I received this from some well meaning folks yesterday so I thought I would post on the subject and offer some suggestions on fact checking emails like this.
Like many rumors that circulate by email, there is a small grain of truth that is then blown completely out of proportion or in this case, a recycled email that wasn’t even correct when it was new. However, it seems plausible to the recipient given the current occupant of the White House. This new rumor has been circulating so much that NRA-ILA included a debunking of the myth in a recent Grassroots Alert.
According to that alert, the truth about S. 2099 is that it was introduced in 2000 by anti-gun Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), and it would have included handguns under the National Firearms Act’s tax and registration scheme. This however has nothing to do with anyone’s individual federal income tax return.
Fortunately, S. 2099 died in committee without any action by the Senate. If a bill is not passed and signed into law by the end of the last year of the session introduced (in this case 2000 was the last year of the 106th Congress), it dies and must be reintroduced in the next congressional session.
Email rumors like these act as a distraction and cause us to lose focus on the real threats we face. I have a friend who from time to time will run emails by me before forwarding to make sure they don't contribute to the stack of unnecessary emails in other people's inbox. I gladly assist with their fact checking.
There is a good source that gun owners can use to verify whether an email is factual or just a rumor and that is the Library of Congress' legislative information system known as Thomas. You can search for legislation and read for yourself to see if a bill exists, and if it does, if it does what the email claims. One way to tell if a bill is a real threat is how many co-sponsors the bill has. If it has none, chances are there are bigger threats that we have to worry about than that particular bill.
Of course the best source as to what threats are in our path is NRA-ILA. Every week they send a Grassroots Alert that provides a wealth of information legislatively both federal and at the state level. If you don't already subscribe to the Grassroots Alert, you can click here and receive them every Friday.
In the last few weeks, a new e-mail warning has made the rounds on the Internet, this one about “SB-2099,” a bill that would supposedly require you to report all your guns on your income tax return every April 15. I received this from some well meaning folks yesterday so I thought I would post on the subject and offer some suggestions on fact checking emails like this.
Like many rumors that circulate by email, there is a small grain of truth that is then blown completely out of proportion or in this case, a recycled email that wasn’t even correct when it was new. However, it seems plausible to the recipient given the current occupant of the White House. This new rumor has been circulating so much that NRA-ILA included a debunking of the myth in a recent Grassroots Alert.
According to that alert, the truth about S. 2099 is that it was introduced in 2000 by anti-gun Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), and it would have included handguns under the National Firearms Act’s tax and registration scheme. This however has nothing to do with anyone’s individual federal income tax return.
Fortunately, S. 2099 died in committee without any action by the Senate. If a bill is not passed and signed into law by the end of the last year of the session introduced (in this case 2000 was the last year of the 106th Congress), it dies and must be reintroduced in the next congressional session.
Email rumors like these act as a distraction and cause us to lose focus on the real threats we face. I have a friend who from time to time will run emails by me before forwarding to make sure they don't contribute to the stack of unnecessary emails in other people's inbox. I gladly assist with their fact checking.
There is a good source that gun owners can use to verify whether an email is factual or just a rumor and that is the Library of Congress' legislative information system known as Thomas. You can search for legislation and read for yourself to see if a bill exists, and if it does, if it does what the email claims. One way to tell if a bill is a real threat is how many co-sponsors the bill has. If it has none, chances are there are bigger threats that we have to worry about than that particular bill.
Of course the best source as to what threats are in our path is NRA-ILA. Every week they send a Grassroots Alert that provides a wealth of information legislatively both federal and at the state level. If you don't already subscribe to the Grassroots Alert, you can click here and receive them every Friday.
Obama Budget Supports Hunter and Angler Education
I found this piece of good news thanks to Bart Semcer at Diana's Rest.
The President's FY2010 budget is seeking an additional $28 million for the Department of the Interior to support hunter and angler education programs. The budget summary states:
These two actions on the part of the President Obama do not make up for his previous appointments of anti-rights folks like Hillary Clinton and Gil Kerlikowske (to name just two), who have a long history of wanting to ban firearms that are commonly used by sportsmen, nor his appointment of Cass Sunstein as the nation's regulatory czar, a "tireless advocate of extensive animal rights who advocates for the legal representation of animals, and the banning of hunting." Sunstein wrote in 2002:
Sunstein allows that hunting "might" be different if it could be justified as having "important functions" but read on in the paper later where he writes about "Eliminating Current Practices, Including Meat-Eating" and you quickly learn that hunting for food would likely not be allowed in Sunstein's perfect universe.
So, while we should applaud the President's reverence for hunting and fishing in his budget, he many appointments of people who oppose those things that sportsmen hold dear tells us more about his true goals than a few bones thrown to us every now and then.
As Leadership Institute founder and president, Morton Blackwell, says "People equal policy" and the people that President Obama has installed into places of power tells us a lot about his policy directions.
Hat tip to Bart Semcer.
The President's FY2010 budget is seeking an additional $28 million for the Department of the Interior to support hunter and angler education programs. The budget summary states:
Hunting and fishing have helped forge conservation values for years. This has led to a strong environmental ethic today. A number of changes, however, threaten our Nation’s hunting and fishing legacy. With Americans’ move to urban areas, loss of small family farms, and more indoor recreational pursuits, many of the Nation’s youth have lost touch with traditional outdoor recreational activities. There is a widening gap in knowledge about natural resources including the role of hunting and fishing in resource management and the importance of these activities in sustaining natural populations and keeping them in check. This knowledge gap poses a serious threat to the future of natural resource conservation.This good news is on top of the recent nomination of Sam Hamilton as U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service director. Hamilton's nomination is supported by the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
These two actions on the part of the President Obama do not make up for his previous appointments of anti-rights folks like Hillary Clinton and Gil Kerlikowske (to name just two), who have a long history of wanting to ban firearms that are commonly used by sportsmen, nor his appointment of Cass Sunstein as the nation's regulatory czar, a "tireless advocate of extensive animal rights who advocates for the legal representation of animals, and the banning of hunting." Sunstein wrote in 2002:
We might ban hunting altogether, at least if its sole purpose is human recreation. (Should animals be hunted and killed simply because people enjoy hunting and killing them? The issue might be different if hunting and killing could be justified as having important functions, such as control of populations or protection of human beings against animal violence.)
Sunstein allows that hunting "might" be different if it could be justified as having "important functions" but read on in the paper later where he writes about "Eliminating Current Practices, Including Meat-Eating" and you quickly learn that hunting for food would likely not be allowed in Sunstein's perfect universe.
So, while we should applaud the President's reverence for hunting and fishing in his budget, he many appointments of people who oppose those things that sportsmen hold dear tells us more about his true goals than a few bones thrown to us every now and then.
As Leadership Institute founder and president, Morton Blackwell, says "People equal policy" and the people that President Obama has installed into places of power tells us a lot about his policy directions.
Hat tip to Bart Semcer.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
VSSA Reloading Clinics
VSSA Reloading Clinics
The courses are designed to enable shooters with little or no prior experience in reloading to acquire the necessary knowledge, skills, and attitude to produce safe, consistent, and accurate reloaded ammunition.
The courses include lessons on:
•Reloading and Reloading Safety
•Components
•Reloading Manuals and Reloading Data
•Reloading Equipment
•The Reloading Process
•Basic Reloading Practical Exercise (Students will set up, operate reloading equipment, and reload ammunition.)
•Course Review and Examination
Dates:
Metallic Cartridge Reloading
September 12 – Winchester
September 19 - Spotsylvania
October 3 - Roanoke
November 7 - Richmond
Shotgun Shell Reloading
October 17 - Winchester
November 21 - Spotsylvania
December 5 - Richmond
December 12 - Roanoke
Courses will be conducted in the Lodge at each Gander Mountain store in the location listed above.
Tuition
$100 per course-VSSA Members
*$125 per course – non Members
*Includes a 1 year membership in VSSA
For more information contact: Dave Myers VSSA Vice President Lead Instructor dave.myers@myvssa.org
The courses are designed to enable shooters with little or no prior experience in reloading to acquire the necessary knowledge, skills, and attitude to produce safe, consistent, and accurate reloaded ammunition.
The courses include lessons on:
•Reloading and Reloading Safety
•Components
•Reloading Manuals and Reloading Data
•Reloading Equipment
•The Reloading Process
•Basic Reloading Practical Exercise (Students will set up, operate reloading equipment, and reload ammunition.)
•Course Review and Examination
Dates:
Metallic Cartridge Reloading
September 12 – Winchester
September 19 - Spotsylvania
October 3 - Roanoke
November 7 - Richmond
Shotgun Shell Reloading
October 17 - Winchester
November 21 - Spotsylvania
December 5 - Richmond
December 12 - Roanoke
Courses will be conducted in the Lodge at each Gander Mountain store in the location listed above.
Tuition
$100 per course-VSSA Members
*$125 per course – non Members
*Includes a 1 year membership in VSSA
For more information contact: Dave Myers VSSA Vice President Lead Instructor dave.myers@myvssa.org
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