NRA Annual Meeting This Week

NRA members by now are well aware that this week is the Annual Meeting of Members in Louisville, Ky. Part of the weekend long event includes a "Celebration of American Values" Forum, similar to the forum they held in Washington, DC, last year. The forum is Friday at 12:30 PM. Please be aware if you are planning to attend and have tickets to the forum that you will be required to go through Secret Service Security due to the scheduled appearance of Senator John McCain. By order of the Secret Service, no firearms will be allowed in Hall A of the Kentucky Exposition Center. Some 10,000 people are expected to attend the Forum based on tickets sales (part of that in an overflow room with closed circuit TV). So, if you are going to the forum, you might want to get in line early.

Virginia Crime Commission and the "Gun Show Loophole"

When the Virginia Senate Courts of Justice Committee defeated Governor Kaine's signature gun control legislation earlier this year - background checks on private sales at gun shows - it threw a bone to the gun ban lobby by forwarding the issue to Virginia's Crime Commission to study the issue. Last week, the Commission agreed to study the issue -- but also made clear it will not issue any legislative recommendations as a result of its findings.

You could have heard the howls of the gun ban lobby all the way to the offices of VSSA in Orange County. Their reaction assumes the study would reach the same conclusions they already have - that gun shows are a major source of guns used in crimes. An unbiased study might come to conclusions showing no need for tighter restrictions and might actually refute arguments for restrictions commonly sought by the gun ban lobby.

According to a Richmond Times Dispatch editorial this morning, the commission hopes to find out (a) how many guns sold at gun shows are sold by individuals who do not have a federal firearms license (private sales), and (b) how many of the guns from that pool are then used in crimes. The RTD asks, "What if it turns out that only a tiny fraction of them are? The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives reports, for instance, that 57 percent of the guns used in crimes are sold by 1 percent of gun dealerships."

A non-biased study might help clear up some common misconceptions. Del. David Albo, the chairman of the commission, said that he doesn't understand "why one person who sells guns has to be federally licensed and another person doesn't. And I imagine no one else in the House of Delegates does, either."

That's easy to answer "Delegate Dave" and you don't need a study for this one - Not all vendors at gun shows sell guns (some sell food and sauces, knives, books, gun safes, tasers, T-shirts, bumper stickers, and other paraphernalia). Just as not everyone that is a vendor at a show sells guns, not everyone who sells a firearm at a gun show is engaged in the business. Some people at gun shows bring a gun or two from their personal collection to sell or trade for a different gun. It is just as absurd to call these folks 'gun dealers' as it would be to require them to have a federal dealer's license to do so.

If there is still a question in the mind what really steams the gun ban crowd, Del. Kenneth Melvin of Portsmouth stated their complaint quite well when he whined, "It might as well be the public policy in Virginia that if you're not a convicted felon, we want you armed to the teeth."

The RTD editorial closes with a warning that should be heeded by every gun owner - "Open hostility to the self-defense rights of law-abiding citizens offers a bracing reminder that those who grow complacent about their liberty are printing a license for others to steal it."

Well said.

The Pot Calling the Kettle Black

Hillary Clinton has unleashed another series of attack mailers on Barrack Obama. One deals with Obama's record on gun rights. That's the ultimate example of the pot calling the kettle black. As the NRA's America's First Freedom magazine pointed out in February, Mrs. Clinton has spent most of her career as a proponent of stricter gun control. The Politico's Ben Smith reinforced that point this weekend. Smith also noted how the firearm on the mailer doesn't exist. In a gaffe typical of someone (or in the case of the campaign staff - people) with no clue about firearms or gun rights, they used a photo of a European made high dollar rifle, but then flipped the picture or used a mirror image of the firearm which made it appear to be a left handed model. The rifle pictured even has a double-set trigger, something popular in Europe but almost unheard of in the United States according to Val Forgett III, president of Navy Arms in Martinsburg, W.Va.


Problem is, with this particular model, The Mauser 66, it was never manufactured as a left hand model. Talk about elitist - Obama may think gun owners cling to guns because they are bitter but Clinton uses a photo of a $2000 European rifle, then uses a reverse view of the photo in the mailer and has no clue a mistake has been made.

Hat tip to the Politico.

National Park Service Announces Proposed Rule on Guns

The U.S. Department of Interior (DOI), through the National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, issued a proposed rule yesterday (April 29) to amend regulations prohibiting firearms in National Parks and Wildlife Refuges. The NRA has worked tirelessly behind the scences for the last several years to amend the existing policy regarding the carrying and transportation of firearms on these federal lands.

The proposed rule was filed today and will be published in the Federal Register tomorrow, and can be found online here. It provides sixty days for public comment.

These new regulations will provide uniformity across our nation’s federal lands and put an end to the patchwork of regulations that governed different lands managed by different federal agencies. In the past, only Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Forest Service lands allowed the carrying of firearms, while lands managed by DOI did not.



The public has basically been left defenseless when they entered DOI property which were virtually safety free zones. Now, if the proposed amendments are adopted, the public will have the ability to protect themselves from predators (mostly the two-legged kind) while they are in National Parks and Wildlife Refuges.

The current regulations on possession, carry or transportation of loaded or uncased firearms in national parks were proposed in 1982 and finalized in 1983. Similar restrictions apply in national wildlife refuges. Amendments to those regulations were needed to reflect the changed legal situations with respect to state laws on carrying firearms that have occurred over the last 15 - 20 years.

As of the end of 1982, only six states routinely allowed citizens to carry handguns for self-defense. Currently, 48 states have a process for issuing licenses or permits to allow law-abiding citizens to legally carry firearms for self-defense. Two states do not require permits, 38 states have a “shall-issue” permit process, and eight have a discretionary process for issuing permits.

This move will restore the rights of law-abiding gun owners who wish to transport and carry firearms for lawful purposes on most DOI lands, and will make federal law consistent with the state law in which these lands are located. Fifty-one U.S. Senators sent a bipartisan letter to the Department of Interior supporting the move to make state firearms laws applicable to National Park lands and refuges.

VSSA will keep Virginia gun owners informed on this process.

Obama and Clinton talk about Gun Control

Both Senators Clinton and Obama tried to portray themselves as friends of gun owners while campaigning in Pennsylvania. Thanks to our friends over at ABC, they were drawn out on the issue and you can hear their double talk for yourself. If you missed the debate a couple weeks ago, click the clip below.

Charles City Bans Rifles for Deer Hunting

Charles City County held a joint Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors Meeting on Tuesday (April 22nd). After a lengthy and contentious comment period, they imposed an outright ban on using rifles for deer hunting. Shotguns, muzzleloaders and bowhunting for deer are still allowed.

As noted here on March 22nd, the county allowed rifles for deer hunting for the first time, as long as hunters were in a stand at least 10 feet above ground. Prior to that, deer hunters were limited to shotguns, bows and muzzleloaders. When rifles were deemed legal, “Lots of people went out and spent thousands of dollars on new rifles, scopes, ammunition and tree stands,” said one county resident. “Now they don’t want to let us use them.”

Supporters of the ban voiced concerns about safety, despite the fact that in the two seasons when rifle hunting was allowed, not one documented accident occurred. Much of the county’s land is flat (hence the 10-foot above ground rule), and there was great concern that such terrain increases the potential for missed shots to strike unintended targets. The fundamental safety rule that all hunters know, “Be sure of your target, and what’s beyond,” addresses this very issue, but in the minds of the rifle-banners the rule doesn’t make a difference.

At meeting, Elbert Parker, who supported the ban, resorted to the dramatic by holding up a small cut-out section of plywood and aluminum siding and said, “This is all that stands between a bullet and your children.”

But various parties, including a representative of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, provided comment on how enviable Virginia’s hunter safety record is. And resident Chuck Schreiber pointed out that rifles are legal in neighboring Henrico County, which has 238 people per square mile. “But Charles City County only has 34,” Schreiber explained. “There are enough facts to prove this is not a safety issue,” he continued. “If it was, I’d be the first one to support it.”

Hardly mentioned in the debate was how the restriction might actually discourage people from continuing to hunt, and how that might affect control of the county’s deer population. In the three minutes I had to speak, I made these points to the Board and explained some of the consequences of too many deer. But the increased potential for crop damage, Lyme disease, deer-automobile collisions and habitat destruction fell on deaf ears.

In addition to the outright ban, the Board of Supervisors considered two somewhat less restrictive options. One would have allowed continued use of rifles, but not within 1,000 feet of a school, residence or county recreation area, without written permission. Opposing this option, Jim Reed told the board that there are seven homes within 1,000 feet of his land. “I don’t shoot in the direction of any of them,” Reed said, “but if even one of those homeowners doesn’t like me, he can prevent me from using my own property. That’s wrong.”

The other option would have allowed rifles, included the 1,000-foot restriction, and limited rifles to just one week of the general firearms deer season. A motion was made to adopt this rule, but the Board held out for the total rifle ban. Arguing hardest for the ban was Supervisor Sherri Bowman, who was elected last year and made a campaign promise to eliminate rifle hunting. In the end, the Board of Supervisors voted 2-1 in favor of the ban.

As a room full of angry citizens filed out of the auditorium, a gentleman was overhead saying “We’ll see you in November.”

The myth that shotguns are somehow safer or universally “less powerful” than rifles may be comforting to the uninformed, but studies show that ballistics of some modern shotgun slugs rival or even surpass those of some centerfire rifle bullets. Regardless of that, what makes hunting safe is the hunter. It does not matter what type of firearm is used. Nationwide, hunting accidents declined nearly 63 percent between 1995 and 2004.

VSSA members and hunters who hunt in Charles City County should contact members of the Board, especially, Ms. Bowman, and politely but firmly express your disappointment with their decision and that you will remember their vote the next time they are up for election.

Hat Tip to NRA Hunters Rights.
But it’s hunters who are making the county safe, not politicians.

Wayne LaPierre on Obama's Slippery Oratory on Gun Rights

From this month's Standing Guard Column in the NRA magazines.