Shotgun Shooting Legend Tom Knapp Passes Away

I just heard while listening to the podcast of yesterday's Gun Talk program that shotgun shooting legend Tom Knapp passed away Friday.  Knapp was a true gentleman and a great ambassador for the shooting sports.  I had the occasion to speak with Tom when we shared a flight a couple years ago when I was on work related travel and he was traveling on one of his many hunts for television.  I also had the chance to have a photo take with him last year at the NRA Annual Meeting.  Our thoughts and prayers are with the Knapp family and friends at this time of loss.

Democrats Push Gun Control, Recruit Pro-Gun Candidates

The Hill reports this morning that the National Senate Republican Campaign Committee is pointing out the hypocrisy of Democrat leaders who are pushing gun control at the national level while recruiting pro-rights candidates in states like Montana and South Dakota in the hope of retaining their senate majority:

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) posted a message on its online action center Friday calling for people to sign up to support Obama’s agenda of immigration reform, commonsense gun control and equal rights. But it’s eyeing candidates in Montana and South Dakota who are not likely to support Obama’s gun control initiatives.

Two of those being recruited are former Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-S.D.) and former Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D-MT).  Both have "A" ratings from the NRA as past office holders and were popular in their states.  Herseth Sandlin lost a close race for re-election in the wave election of 2010 and is considered the strongest candidate among Democrats to hold on to the seat.  It is unclear whether either candidate would vote with their party to criminalize private sales but a political science professor at Montana State University said it is unlikely that Schweitzer would go along with that proposal.  Max Baucus, the individual that Schweitzer would be running to replace, also voted against the Schumer, Manchin, Toomey amendment and it turned out he was not planning to run for re-election.

Contrast what Baucus did with Virginia's own Mark Warner, who likes to portray himself as a  "bipartisan moderate" Democrat that is above party allegiance.  Warner has never bucked the administration on any important vote from Obamacare to the budget.  And he did not disappoint Obama on "expanded background checks."  I'm not counting the vote on the ban on sporting rifles or standard capacity magazines because even Obama did not push either of those other than giving lip service.  The line in the sand was drawn on background checks and on that test, Mark Warner failed.

Gun owners need to question candidates in 2014 on the issue of where they stand on private transfers.  Don't let them weasel word the issue.  Make them be specific.

CNBC's Report on Popularity of AR-15

VSSA received promotional emails from CNBC prior to the airing of last night's premier of "America's Gun - Rise of the AR-15."  We did not promote the program as it's not our job to advertise for CNBC and since we sell ad space on the Blog and the VSSA web site, they were free to buy a banner and have it in the rotation. We have come to expect that most firearm related reports done by the "Big 3" networks is anything but unbiased and figured this would be the same.  Google the name of the program and you will find that was the basic feeling of many in the firearm rights community frequenting message boards and blogs, before the program aired.

Mid-afternoon yesterday, NBC Universal sent out another email addressing the negative perception pre-airing of the program:

We have previously reached out to you regarding the CNBC documentary about the AR-15. Some of the feedback we have seen amongst AR-15 owners and gun enthusiasts is suggesting that we will be choosing a side or going to take a negative look at the AR-15.  

Portraying the AR-15 negatively is not the objective of the documentary and we can reassure all owners and enthusiasts that we aren't choosing a side. Our team wanted to understand the AR-15's immense popularity on both sides of the debate and go beyond the clichés. Please feel free to share this information with your network in addition to this additional clip from the special.

If the program had been completely like the below, it might have been a little easier to believe it was not their objective to give a negative impression of the rifles because this clip goes right to what they said was the point of the program, to understand the popularity of the AR-15:

But then there is also this in the program:



The mainstream media's version of "unbiased" is to reinforce what is generally in the public domain (i.e. the second video) rather than present the other side of the story so the public has a complete picture.  When you have a doctor describing wounds as "battlefield type wounds," that kind of reinforces the sterotype that the AR-15 is a "battlefield weapon" as Obama and Biden inaccurately describe them.

I guess I should be thankful that the segment with the dentist and real estate agent presented the side that the "typical" AR-15 owners are professioanls and not "anti-government tea-party types" but frankly that message gets lost when you then have a segment with the shooting victim and the doctors who treated her.  What do you think was their underlying message? The victim, Farrah Soudani, for her part did not blame the guns, but said it is, stupid people who kill people. She called for "mandatory psychological evaluations" before anyone can purchase a fiream, "especially one with the AR-15's characteristics."

If you did not see last night's airing and are interested in seeing the program for yourself, it will re-air on CNBC on Sunday at 9:00 PM.

General Electric Cuts Lending Services to Firearm Retailers

Yesterday the Wall Street Journal reported that GE Capital is cutting off lending services to firearm retailers:

This month, Glenn Duncan, owner of Duncan's Outdoor Store in Bay City, Mich., said he received a letter from GE Capital Retail Bank in which the lender said it had made "the difficult decision" to stop providing financing services to his store. Other gun dealers have received similar notices.

This service was a financing option for customers who did business with firearm retailers, benefiting the buyer buy giving them options to finance large purchases, and the seller, by allowing them to make more sales of big ticket items to individual customers.  GE is ending the service for those retailers whose main business is firearms.

Daniel Johnson, a patrolman in the Bourbonnais Police Department in northern Illinois, said he got a loan to purchase a $2,250 Daniel Defense M4 Carbine, a sleek looking black rifle with plenty of "bells and whistles," after he was selected for the county SWAT team.

"It's kind of like, do you want to play basketball with Michael Jordan, or do you want to play with a local high school kid?" he said, explaining why he didn't use the standard-issue AR15 supplied by the force. Married with two kids and a mortgage, he found the three-year financing deal a "great help."

This is the latest move that began shortly after the Newtown shootings when Cerberus Capital Management LP said it would try to sell the gun company it owns—Freedom Group Inc.— which makes Remington, Bushmaster, Marlin and H&R branded firearms.  GE Capital is located in Conneticutt and according to the WSJ, many of the employees live around Newtown and have children in the Sandy Hook Elementary School.  The Journal also reported that the father of the Sandy Hook shooter is an executive with GE Capital.  GE Capital responded:

"Industry changes, new legislation and tragic events" led GE Capital to reexamine its policies on financing firearms, spokesman Russell Wilkerson said.

It remains to be seen how the change will affect gun owners and the industry but the message that it sends is what should concern us.

Former Goochland Supervisor William E. Quarles, Jr to Challenge Lee Ware for 65th House Seat

Former Goochland Supervisor member William "Bill" Quarles, Jr, has announced he will challenge pro-rights member of the House of Delegates, Lee Ware in this year's election.

Quarles was one of the major impediments to the approval of Orapax Hunting Preserve's application to open a sporting clays range on their nearly 700 acre property in Goochland County.  He was defeated for a third term in 2011 by Manuel Alvarez.  Alvarez voted in favor of Orapax's recent application on January 2nd.

The 65th House of Delegates District includes all of Powhatan County and parts of Chesterfield, Fluvanna and Goochland counties.  Gun owners should remember that Quarles was not a friend during his tenure on the Goochland BOS and the Delegate Ware has always been with us on issues of importance to gun owners and sportsmen.

Toomey: We Don't Have the Votes, Yet.

It appears that rounding up the necessary 60 votes to pass the Manchin-Toomey-Schumer background check amendment is proving to be as difficult as the task of finding the "A" rated GOP Senator to try and sell the issue.  From The Hill:

Republican lawmakers who were considered possible “yes” votes have backed away. GOP Sens. Johnny Isakson (Ga.), Saxby Chambliss (Ga.), Bob Corker (Tenn.), Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), John Hoeven (N.D.), Dan Coats (Ind.) and Roger Wicker (Miss.) have said they will vote against a compromise to expand background checks to cover sales at gun shows and over the Internet.

Isakson, Chambliss, Corker and Alexander were the targets of a new television ad launched Friday by the group Mayors Against Illegal Guns to pressure senators to vote for the background-check legislation sponsored by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.).

 

Toomey on Monday said he doesn’t have the votes: “Not yet, but we’re working on it.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid played the CCRKBA card in a floor speech yesterday.  It is still unclear whether support for the amendment from the self-described "2nd Largest Gun Rights Orgainization" in the country will help get the needed votes. 

I posted yesteday about CCRKBA's support, using audio of Gottlieb talking to Gun Talk Radio host Tom Gresham so that readers would have the message straight from the messenger, and then laid out some of the analysis that contradicted Gottlieb's claims, most notably from Dave Kopel.  Others, like National Gun Rights Examiner David Codrea went further.  Codera started with the first "goodie" about a fifteen-year prison sentence for creating a gun registry noting, asking "are we to expect Eric Holder to enforce that?"  Codrea concluded:

But really, all this is just arguing over dancing angels and heads of pins -- the only acceptable answer for hard core gun owners is going to be “No,” and arguments about “goodies” and “Christmas tree ornaments” are hardly going to be persuasive to men and women who take their Bill of Rights seriously, because they know it was secured with powder, lead, steel and blood.

Put simply, while NRA is correct that the Manchin-Toomey bill is “misguided,” those who are the force behind citizen disarmament are flat-out fascist evil, and this is just one more incremental step in their quest for more control. You just don’t give such an enemy a beachhead from which to launch the next assault. And when circled by starving jackals, you don’t throw them a scrap of flesh and think that will induce them not to devour you.

What CCRKBA has done is make your job and my job harder.  It creates a mixed message.  Now when we call Mark Warner he can do like Harry Reid and say "But CCRBA supports it so it can't be anti-gun."  Like Codrea, I don't believe Gottlieb or CCRKBA is a sell out.  I also don't believe he is naive.  He was just too cute by half in my opinion.  Given the comments on a number of 2A blogs that covered this over the last couple of days, it should be interesting at this NRA Annual Meeting booth depending on how this all turns out.

Will Manchin/Toomey/Schumer Pass or Will It Fail

Apparently depends on who you ask according to NPR:

It all sound much like what we wrote one week ago: "Blocked Or Breaking Through? Mixed Signals On Gun Bills." That was followed by the Manchin-Toomey "break through."

The only way to make sure it fails is to keep up the phone calls.  Obama's Organizing for America  (OFA) plans to flood (or at least that is the plan) Senate offices tomorrow with phone calls.  We need to counter that.  If you can't get through to the D.C. office, try the district offices.  They keep track of phone calls too.  You can find out all of your senator's contact information at www.senate.gov.

A Split in the Community

Over the weekend a split emerged in the pro-rights community on the Manchin/Toomey/Schumer background check amendment.  Alan Gottlieb announced that the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms not only was supporting Manchin/Toomey/Schumer, but that they had a hand writing it and making the claim that the amendment has far more goodies for gun owners than bad measures.  Bitter at Shall Not Be Questioned posted about this yesterday complete with video of Gottlieb talking about CCRKBA's role in the "compromise."  Shortly after her post, Gottlieb appeared on Tom Gresham's Gun Talk Radio program to discuss it further.  You can hear that discussion below.

In short, Gottlieb claims that we are only giving up private checks at gun shows and those advertized over the internet, but we are getting all these pro-rights pieces including:

• Interstate sales of handguns, 
• Veteran gun rights restoration, 
• Travel with firearms protection, 
• Divil and criminal immunity lawsuit protection, 
• The guarantee that people, including federal officers, will go to federal prison for up to 15 years if they attempt to use any gun sales records to set up a gun registry.”

Dave Kopel address the travel with firearms and gun registry here:

The Attorney General may not create a registry from the records of “a person with a valid, current license under this chapter.” In other words, the AG may not harvest the records of persons who currently hold a Federal Firearms License (FFL). Thus, pursuant to inclusio unius, the AG may centralize and consolidate the records of FFLs who have retired from their business.

Under current law, retired FFLs must send their sales records to BATFE. 18 USC 923(g)(4); 27 CFR 478.127. During the Clinton administration, a program was begun to put these records into a consolidated gun registry. The program was controversial and (as far as we know) was eventually stopped. Manchin-Toomey provides it with legal legitimacy.

Then Kopel address the travel provision that Gottlieb promotes:

But notice part (2) of the new definition: a new exclusion for any firearms crime punishable by more than year of imprisonment. In some states, such a crime includes merely not having a state-issued gun permit. So now let’s suppose that the Pennsylvanian is going to Maine. On the way, he travels through Massachusetts. Under current law, FOPA protects him. Under Manchin-Toomey, Massachusetts can arrest and imprison him, and he will have no federal defense. In Massachusetts, possession of a firearm without a state permit is punishable by imprisonment up to to 2 years. Possession outside one’s home or business is a sentence of 2.5 to 5 years, with a mandatory minimum of 18 months. New Jersey and New York City also have penalties of over one year for simple possession without a local permit.

Maybe the Pennsylvanian might qualify for some exemption under the laws of Mass., NYC, or NJ. Or perhaps not. What we know for sure is that today the Pennsylvanian is protected by FOPA, and if Manchin-Toomey passes, he will not be.

On a related note, Larry Keene addressed the issue on Bill Bennett's program this morning. As the trade association for manufacturers and retailers, he is looking at Manchin-Toomey from that perspective and sees a lot to not like in it.

Finally, the editors of National Review had this to say about the "compromise" amendment:

The provision would create new hurdles for law-abiding gun owners, requiring two private parties to seek out — and pay — a federally licensed intermediary before they could carry out a simple transaction. Worse, the vagueness of the legislative language would make it difficult for private sellers to determine if a given sale requires a check. The new regime would make even the most innocently intentioned of firearms transfers significantly more risky for the average American.

In addition to being difficult to comply with, the provision is likely to prove difficult to enforce. Because it would exclude a broad class of transfers, unscrupulous sellers would quickly establish methods of advertising their wares that hid in the lacunae of the legislative language, and adequate enforcement of the law would require police and prosecutors to devote considerable resources to the parsing of close cases and the ferreting out of intent. This mess would likely lead to the reappraisal of today’s legitimate and noncontroversial exclusions as tomorrow’s unacceptable loopholes. Indeed, the very same “gun-show loophole” Toomey/Manchin attempts to close was once a perfectly respectable member of the class of private sales the bill makes a show of protecting.

VSSA stands firm in opposition to Manchin/Toomey/Schumer.

Don't Fall For This

As you can imagine, there are folks trying to use the attack on our rights to their own ends. There is an email floating around claiming that for three dollars they will mail a letter to the White House and tell them not to trample on our rights. The web site domain is registered by some outfit called DomainsbyProxy.com in Scottsdale, AZ.

You can send your own letter for .45. Don't be fooled by folks like this. Our rights are too important. Spread the word.

Hat tip Shall Not Be Questioned.

Blogging Will Be Light Today

I'm accompanying my daughter on a school trip today so blogging may be very light. But I can easily share information on the VSSA Facebook Page so be sure to check it out if you are not already following it.

VSSA Stands With NRA in Opposing Schumer/Manchin/Toomey Background Check Deal

While we have not seen the final language, we do know the framework of the agreement announced yesterday by Senator's Toomey and Manchin. And it's telling that Toomey's support was premised on him not having to appear with Chucky Schumer.  With that framework, the NRA made their position clear to senators yesterday:

"In addition, the NRA will oppose any amendments offered to S. 649 that restrict fundamental Second Amendment freedoms; including, but not limited to, proposals that would ban commonly and lawfully owned firearms and magazines or criminalize the private transfer of firearms through an expansion of background checks," Cox writes. "This includes the misguided 'compromise' proposal drafted by Senators Joe Manchin, Pat Toomey and Chuck Schumer."

VSSA stands with NRA in opposing S.649, including the Schumer/Manchin/Toomey background check amendment.  As Charles Cook noted on National Review Online yesterday, even if we take them at their word that the "compromise " includes supposed "exemptions" for in-person private transfers and that it “lets” family members lend or gift one of there their firearms without inviting felonious consequences, and that it doesn't make us felons for allowing our friends to shoot our guns on our private property, today's exemption is tomorrow's loophole:

Alas, there is peril ahead. Why? Because today’s “exemption” is tomorrow’s “loophole.” No sooner will the glorious presidential ink have dried on that abject page, than those provisions that were sold a few days earlier as commonsense exemptions — the product of “bipartisan compromise” and other media-tested platitudes — will become structural problems, ripe for “standardizing.” Sure, Congress wouldn’t be so gauche as to include A or B or C in their bill today. But have no doubt: Within a few weeks of the bill’s passage, the eerie progressive silence that has marked this tortured process will be broken, and when it is, legions of prominent gun controllers will take to their feet in order to argue that it makes “no sense” for there to be “exemptions” to the almost universal background-check system.

And Heritage had this to say:

Americans are tired of backroom deals.  Legislation drafted behind closed doors and rushed to the Senate floor has no place in our political system.  We expect this type of deal making from Joe Manchin and also from Chuck Schumer, who supports the “universal registration” of firearms.  However, we expect more from Pat Toomey and, more importantly, so do his constituents.

The debate begins today and may last for weeks.  Keep up the contact with Warner and Kaine, but especially Warner.  We will now see if he was truely with us, or if it was just a marriage of convenience on his part based on the fact that when he was Governor, the General Assembly never gave him an anti-rights bill that he could have signed, nor a pro-rights bill that was so pro-rights that he simply could not approve it.

Kaine Calls NRA Influence Overrated

Senator Tim Kaine charges in a Virginia Pilot editorial that the NRA's influence is over rated:

There are those who believe the National Rifle Association and its allies are so powerful that no legislation will pass. But the power of the organization's leadership is vastly overrated. I've run three statewide races in the NRA's home state. Its leadership campaigned vigorously against me each time, spending nearly $800,000 against me in my 2012 Senate race. I won all my races anyway.

The NRA leadership's track record in other statewide races is equally lackluster because poll after poll shows that Americans believe in reasonable gun safety rules. When even an overwhelming majority of NRA members supports universal background checks, it shows just how out of touch the organization's leadership has become.

There is a little more to the story.  Mr. Kaine ran against two week candidates - one for Lt. Governor (Jay Katzen who still almost pulled off a win), and  for Governor, Jerry Kilgore (who thought he could coast because Kaine was too liberal and took his bas for granted).  Kaine defeated former Governor and U.S. Senator George Allen in the last election.  Allen never really overcame the "Maccaca Moment" from 2006 and likely was an equally weak candidate.  Let's take a look at those other statewide races to wich Kaine refers:

• Allen for Governor -1993 - NRA endorsed Allen and Allen won
• Gilmore for Governor - 1997 - NRA endorsed Gilmore and Gilmore won
• Allen for U.S. Senate - 2000 - NRA endorsed Allen and Allen won
• 2001 Governor's election - NRA did not endorse
• Kilgore for Governor - 2005 - NRA endorsed Kilgore and Kaine won
• Allen for U.S. Senate - 2006 - NRA endorsed Allen and Jim Webb Won (I'd call this one a wash as Webb voted pro-rights)
• McDonnell for Governor -2009 - NRA endorsed McDonnell and McDonnell won
• Allen for Senate - 2012 - NRA endorsed Allen and Kaine won

By my count, that's 4-2 in favor of the NRA with one being a wash (Webb had an "A" rating based on his questionnaire).  And in the end, it's not the NRA's leadership that votes, but the members.  In 2012, Mitt Romney turned out less voters than John McCain did in 2008.  That likely had some impact on down ticket races like Allen. In short, their base did not turn out.

Gun Control Groups Emboldened by Collapsing Filibuster

As reports surface that a filibuster of Senator Harry Reid's gun control legislation is falling apart, The Hill reports that gun ban groups are becoming emboldened and telling Democrats to stop trying to find compromise on the issue of so-called "universal background checks."

Instead, the groups say Democrats should hold their ground and force Republicans to vote on the language drafted by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), currently in the bill, which would dramatically expand background checks and require record-keeping to accompany them.

“If we can break the filibuster with the Schumer language, that changes the whole dynamic of the negotiations,” said Josh Horwitz, executive director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. “I say let’s go vote on it because I don’t think they can vote no on it. I think it’s a very, very difficult vote for people to vote no.”

What CSGV has not calculated is whether people like Manchin can vote for Schumer's "Fix Gun Checks Act" language.  We know that even though Lindsey Graham has said he does not support a filibuster, he also does not support the Schumer language on transfers.

And that is an important distinction.  As you contact your Senators, don't use their language.  The "Fix Gun Checks Act" is not about background checks but about transfers.  What constitutes a transfer that will wind up making you a felon if you violate it?

• If you left town for more than 7 days, and left your gay partner, or unrelated roommate at home with the guns, you’d be committing a felony. This should be called the “denying gun rights to gays act.” Remember that the federal government does not recognize gay marriage, even if you’re state does, thanks to DOMA. 5 years in prison.
• Actually, even married couples are questionably legal, because the exemption between family only applies to gifts, not to temporary transfers. The 7 day implication is if you leave your spouse at home for more than 7 days, it’s an unlawful transfer, and you’re a 5 year felon. I suppose you could gift them to your spouse, or related co-habitant, and then have them gift them back when you arrive back home. Maybe the Attorney General will decide to create a form for that.
• It would be illegal to lend a gun to a friend to take shooting. That would be a transfer. 5 years in federal prison.
• Steals the livelihood of gun dealers by setting a fixed fee to conduct transfers. The fee is fixed by the Attorney General. What’s to prevent him from setting it at $1000?
• Enacts defacto universal gun registration, because of record keeping requirements.
• All lost and stolen guns must be reported to the federal and local government. This means everyone will have to fill out the theft/loss form, and not just FFLs. You only have 24 hours to comply. If you lose a gun on a hunting trip deep in the woods, and can’t get back home to fill out the form in 24 hours, you’re a felon and will spend 5 years in federal prison.
• Want to lend a gun to a friend to go hunting? It’s a 5 year in prison felony.
• No exception for state permits. All transfers must go through a dealer or 5 years in federal prison.
• UPDATE: Teaching someone to shoot on your own land is a felony, 5 years, if you hand them the gun. Not an exempted transfer.

Gun control groups are crowing that they have clogged up Mark Warner's phone lines. Senator Pat Toomey may have indeed stabbed us in the back as one person has said, just when it looked like everything was dead.  I know I sound like a broken record, but now is not the time to let up.  The battle begins as Reid has signaled he will bring the bill to the floor on Thursday.  Will you Stand and Fight?

Bloomberg to Grade Law Makers on Gun Control

The NRA has done it in great detail for years.  Now, Bloomberg's Mayor's Against Illegal Guns continues its attempt to be a counterweight to the NRA.  From the Washington Post:

Mayors Against Illegal Guns, the nonprofit group financed by Bloomberg (I), will unveil a scoring system Tuesday to award lawmakers grades of A through F, much like the National Rifle Association, which has derived much of its power by deploying letter rankings against politicians at election time. The group’s strategists briefed The Washington Post on the plans ahead of Tuesday’s announcement.

The article also notes that Bloomberg began running more ads yesterday that feature Neil Heslin, whose son, Jesse Lewis, was killed in December’s elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn:

The group is targeting Sens. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), Daniel Coats (R-Ind.), Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.), Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), Kay Hagan (D-N.C.), Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), Dean Heller (R-Nev.), Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) and Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.).

Sebastian at Shall Not Be Questioned noted yesterday the difficult possition that Toomey is in in Pennyslyvania.  Reports that are now centering around Toomey as the key vote to get so-called "universal background checks" through the Senate may be just the latest in a long list of the "Key Vote of the Day" as we don't get real substance in the reports.  And, as Sebastian wrote yesterday, Toomey is in a reliably blue state in which he will have to run for re-election in a presidential year when turn-out among Democrats will be much higher.  That doesn't mean we excuse them for not supporting our rights, we just need to make sure we do all we can to support them when they support.

Now is the Time

Roll Call reports that President Obama said during his campaign event in Connecticut yesterday:

“If you’re an American who wants to do something to prevent more families from knowing the immeasurable anguish that these families know, now is the time to act,” Obama said. “Now is the time to make your voice heard from every statehouse to the corridors of Congress.”

So, let me say, if you're and American who wants to protect your liberty and your rights from restrictions that will do nothing to prevent mass shootings or prevent crime, now is the time to make your voice heard in the corridors of Congress, and if you live in a state other than Virginia that has a legislature still in session, make your voice heard in the statehouse too!

While Claiming It Isn't About Politics, Obama Uses Politics in Last Ditch Push for Gun Control

The Hill reports that Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell has said he will fillabuster S.649, Senator Reid's gun control bill that includes Schumer's so-called "Fix Gun Checks Act" that would make every gun owner a felon for simply lending their firearm to a friend.

“Sen. McConnell opposes the Reid bill (S. 649),” said Don Stewart, McConnell’s spokesman. “While nobody knows yet what Sen. Reid’s plan is for the gun bill, if he chooses to file cloture on the motion to proceed to the Reid bill, Sen. McConnell will oppose cloture on proceeding to that bill.”

In the meantime, Obama continues on his campaign style rallies to try and "shame" congress into passing federal gun control.  He, and others, continue to use and exploit the families of the 20 children and staff killed at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in December.

Obama accused some of using “political stunts” to prevent a vote on gun control legislation.

“Think about that,” he said. “They’re not just saying they’ll vote ‘no’ on ideas that almost all Americans support. They’re saying they won’t allow any votes on them at all. They’re saying your opinion doesn’t matter. And that’s not right.”

“We want a vote!” We want a vote!” the crowd chanted, which the president then repeated back.

“This is not about politics!” he said twice, as the crowd stood and applauded. Passing legislation, he said, “shouldn’t be a heavy lift.”

So, at the same time that he accuses opponents of using politics to stop what they say "most Americans" support, Obama uses the same political theater to advance his agenda.  So yes, it is about politics.  Obama just does not like that he may be losing this one.

Reid Between Rock and Hard Place on Gun Control Bill

Roll Call noted yesterday that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is between a rock and a hard place when it comes to bringing up the gun control legislation reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee.  If he doesn't bring it up, he sidelines one of Obama's legacy building proposals.  But if he allows it to come to the floor without a significant show of bipartisan support, at least on the so-called "universal background check" piece, he risks putting his more vulnerable members who are up for re-election in 2014 in a tough spot.

The trouble for Reid is the new process — established in January through modest filibuster rules changes — may have a fatal flaw in practice when the Nevada Democrat actually wants the bill involved to become law.

The new rules allow Reid to bring any bill to the floor without having to produce a filibuster-proof majority if he gives at least two amendment votes to each party, but those rules do not prevent senators from blocking a bill from passing once it’s up for debate. In the case of the background check bill, using the maneuver would almost certainly be a sign that Democrats do not have the 60 votes to beat back a filibuster of the bill before it reaches final passage. And waiting until a bill is on the floor to forge a compromise is a risky bet.

Because of this, it is no longer clear whether Reid will bring up the bill this week as originally scheduled.  And it also explains why you keep seeing stories in the media announcing that this Republican senator or that Republican senator is the "key" to any agreement on criminalizing private sales.

It appears that Obama is less interested in what happens to vulnerable Democrat senators and is more interested in his legacy.  He continues his campaign style tour pushing gun control with a trip to Connecticut today and Michelle Obama will make a trip to Chicago on Wednesday.

Don't let up on the pressure.  The reason they don't have an agreement on criminalizing private sales is because of your phone calls, emails, and letters to senators and congressmen.

Toomey is Media's Latest "Key" Senator of the Day on Background Checks

Pennsylvania pro-rights Senator Pat Toomey has become the latest "key" to passing "universal background checks."  Earlier in the week it was Arizona Senator John McCain.  So I guess since Toomey has now surfaced, McCain may not have been the key after all? This from Philly.com

Gun-control advocates believe they need a credible conservative voice, preferably from a state with a strong gun culture, to sign on to a background-check bill in order to rally enough support and overcome fears - stoked by the National Rifle Association - that broader checks will lead to a national gun registry or allow for seizure of firearms. An endorsement from a gun-rights Republican could add critical momentum for President Obama's last, best hope for significant gun legislation.

Toomey would fill the bill. The NRA endorsed his 2010 Senate run, and the group's lobbying arm features one of his speeches on its website.

For their part, activists in the Keystone State are not taking any chances.

Reports are that @sentoomey may be working on a gun control bill. ow.ly/jNdm2 Call him & tell him to stand with us! 610-434-1444
— PA Gun Rights (@PAGunRights) April 5, 2013

Friday Was Full of Good Information on the Failings of "Universal Background Checks"

First, this from the Heritage Foundation:

Addington, head of Heritage’s Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, lays out some of the dangers in Reid’s proposal:

• It effectively puts a new tax on selling or giving away a firearm.
• It could help criminals figure out where it is easiest to buy guns.
• It allows for the beginnings of a national gun registry.
• It makes a missing firearm a ticket to five years in prison.

And this one from Dave Kopel on National Review Online that explains how Chuck Schumer's "Fix Gun Checks Act" is based on "model language" that the Bloomberg gun-ban lobby is pushing all over the country:

To see how the Bloomberg bill makes felons of people who do not sell guns, consider a woman who buys a rifle when she is 25 years old. She keeps the rifle her entire life. Yet over her lifetime, she — like most gun owners — engages in dozens of firearms “transfers.” She brings the unloaded rifle to a friend’s house, for instance, because the friend is thinking of buying a gun and wants to learn more about guns. The friend handles the rifle for a few minutes before handing it back. Another time, the woman lends the gun to her niece, who takes it on a camping trip for the weekend.

While the woman is out of town on a business trip for two weeks, she gives the gun to her husband or her sister. If the woman lives on a farm, she allows all her relatives to take the rifle into the fields for pest and predator control — and sometimes, when friends are visiting, she takes them to a safe place on the farm where they spend an hour or two target shooting, passing her gun back and forth. At other times, she and her friends go target shooting in open spaces of land owned by the National Forest Service or the Bureau of Land Management.

Or perhaps the woman is in a same-sex civil union, and she allows her partner to take her gun to a target range one afternoon. Another time, she allows her cousin to borrow the gun for an afternoon of target shooting. If the woman is in the Army Reserve and she is called up for an overseas deployment, she gives the gun to her sister for temporary safekeeping.

One time, she learns that her neighbor is being threatened by an abusive ex-boyfriend, and she lets this woman borrow a gun for several days until she can buy her own gun. And if the woman becomes a firearms-safety instructor, she regularly teaches classes at office parks, in school buildings at nights and on weekends, at gun stores, and so on. Following the standard curriculum of gun-safety classes (such as NRA safety courses), the woman will bring some unloaded guns to the classroom, and under her supervision, students will learn the first steps in how to handle the guns, including how to load and unload them (using dummy ammunition). During the class, the firearms will be “transferred” dozens of times, since students must practice how to hand a gun to someone else safely. As a Boy Scout den mother or 4-H leader, the woman may also transfer her gun to young people dozens of times while instructing them in gun safety.

Under S. 649, every one of the above activities would be a federal felony, subject to precisely the same punishment a person would receive if he had knowingly sold a firearm to a convicted violent felon. S. 649, like other Bloomberg-model bills, has a few exceptions to the ban on transfers, but none of them apply to the situations described above.

And finally, talk show host Mark Levin spent a great deal of time on his program in each hour talking about the background check issue and the 2nd Amendment in general.  It is worth the hour and fifty two minutes to listen to the podcast.

Wall Street Journal Notes The Problem with the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty

Today's Wall Street Journal Editorial Page notes the main problem with the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty - the worlds thugs will not comply:

Sadly, most of the world's constitutions contain no individual right to bear arms. Which brings us to one of the more alarming aspects of the treaty: While it affirms states' rights to self-defense, the text makes no mention of civilians' rights to defend themselves. The result is to strengthen the grip of governments on the international flow of arms.

No wonder strongmen across Africa were among the treaty's loudest cheerleaders. Take Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe: His representatives have stressed the need for "stringent import and export control systems that deal with all aspects of diversion of the arms into the hands of non-state actors." Other African leaders claim they need the treaty to check arms trafficking among terrorist and organized criminal groups.

Yet the likelihood that al Qaeda in the Maghreb or Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda are going to find themselves starved of weapons thanks to the treaty's reporting requirements is zero. What the treaty will do is commit its signatories to establish a "national control system" to monitor, track and regulate everything from tanks to gunships to small arms—and their parts.

And also note, that line in the treaty that the Journal mentions that supposedly protects the 2nd Amendment rights of Americans, is in the preamble of the treaty, which is no protection at all.  Therefore, the individual right to keep and bear arms is not protected.

National Journal's Jill Lawrence One of Few In Media Giving Obama Gun Agenda a Chance

Which is why we should not let up. From today's National Journal afternoon email The Edge:

THE TAKE
Window for New Gun Laws Is Still Open

“Think about it,” President Obama said this week in Colorado. “How often do 90 percent of Americans agree on anything?” The reference to universal background checks for prospective gun buyers was meant as a joke, and people laughed. But believe it: After Tucson, Aurora, Oak Creek, and Newtown, Obama has never been more serious about anything in his presidency.

New polls this week from Quinnipiac University and Morning Joe-Marist show that support for tighter gun laws remains high, weakening the argument that the window for action after Newtown has closed. A remarkably consistent nine in 10 people continue to support expanded background checks, and nearly six in 10 back bans on both assault weapons and magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition.

Several Republican senators are vowing to use what Obama calls “obscure procedural stunts” to block votes in the Senate on gun measures. His efforts to shame them probably will fail. Perhaps the American public, which has made its views on background checks crystal clear, will have better luck.

I wrote yesterday that I am suspicious of polls showing 90% agreement on background checks.  Make sure Lawrence is wrong. Make your voice heard. Keep calling your senators!

Gun Ban Lobby Worrying that Schumer, Manchin Watering Down Gun Control Bill

From The Hill:

Shortly before the Easter Recess, Schumer and Manchiin proposed that such transactions be subject to background checks but exempt from the record-keeping rules.

I don't they you have to worry about Schumer giving up anything.  He's a snake and has something up his sleeve.  Keep calling your Senators and tell them to oppose S.649. 

NRA Working to Lessen Unintended Consequences of Straw Purchasing Provisions

The Hill reports:

If a person buys a gun and sells it to another person, who in turn sells it to yet another person, the bill’s language could be used to punish the initial buyer of the gun, the NRA says.

“It potentially holds people liable for the intention of parties far down the chain of possession,” NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam wrote in an email to The Hill.

The NRA is working to make sure that law enforcement has proof that that someone who purchases a firearm and later sells it to someone else, had the intent to knowingly sell it to a prohibited person before they can be charged with making and straw purchase.

Even Without Ratification, UN Arms Trade Treaty May Still Impact U.S.

The New York Times notes:

Proponents said that if enough countries ratify the treaty, it will effectively become the international norm. If major sellers like the United States and Russia choose to sit on the sidelines while the rest of the world negotiates what weapons can be traded globally, they will still be affected by the outcome, activists said.

This Has Ramifications for Gun Owners

The Political Wire notes that Obama is working hard to shift the U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C. to a more statist tilt:

"The effort reflects a new White House effort to tilt in its favor the conservative-dominated U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which is one notch below the Supreme Court and considers many challenges to executive actions."

This is the appeals court that the Heller case went to before it landed at the Supreme Court.

A Gun Tax?

On my commute home yesterday I noticed something on Twitter or Drudge (I forget which) about Senator Harry Reid proposing a "gun tax" as part of the Senate gun control bill.  I saw more details when I opened up my email this morning.  From The Heritage Foundation via Red State:

Title I of the Reid gun control bill purports to “fix gun checks.” The proposed “fix” in section 122 of S. 649 is to take away an individual’s right to sell or give away a firearm to another individual unless, in most cases, the individual (1) uses a licensed importer, dealer, or manufacturer to make the transfer of the firearm and (2) pays a fee to that importer, dealer, or manufacturer to make the transfer.

The individual transferring the firearm is not actually receiving a service; the federal government is receiving the service. The service the government gets is a background check on the intended recipient of the firearm, because the law requires the importer, dealer, or manufacturer to run the recipient through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.

Forcing the individual to pay for the government-mandated service, which is in fact a service to the government, is in essence a federal tax on the individual. And the amount the individual pays as a fee is not limited by the legislation; section 122(a)(4) of the Reid bill enacts a new section 922(t)(4)(B)(i) of title 18 of the U.S. Code to grant to Attorney General Eric Holder the power to set the maximum fee by regulation.

One of the reasons VSSA has opposed in the Virginia General Assembly so-called "universal background" check proposals that require private sellers to go through licensed firearm retailers to sell their personal property is because it would most certainly involve a fee (if for no other reason to be fair to a retailer who is taking time from trying to sell his own stock to complete a sale for a private seller).  Open ended fees like the one above make it harder for those who most need a firearm for self defense to get them - the poor and the antis will price gun ownership right out of existance for a large segment of the population.

Why We Can't Take Anything For Granted

From yesterday's National Journal daily email The Edge where NJ poses the question Shooting Holes in the Gun Bill?:

But Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill agree that the Filibuster Five are largely interested in headlines. If Democrats and Republicans can reach a compromise on background checks, there will be plenty of votes to end a filibuster. And if no deal is reached, Democrats will try to put something on the floor that Republicans will be hard-pressed not to support."

Don't Let Up Now Because This is Just the Beginning

The Washington Post reports this morning that the Senate's gun control bill is whitering under fierce lobbying from "firearms advocates" even one proposal that most thought was destined to become law:

Gun-control measures that seemed destined to become law after the school shootings in Newtown, Conn., are in jeopardy amid a fierce lobbying campaign by firearms advocates.

Despite months of negotiations, key senators have been unable to find a workable plan for near-universal background checks on gun purchases — an idea that polls show nine in 10 Americans support.

I really would like to see the question that is being asked to come up with the "9 out of 10" statistic.  I'm betting they simply being asked if "all gun sales" should all be subject to a background check without explaining what the process is now, or what is considered a sale or "transfer" under the proposal currently part of the Senate gun control bill, that statistic would change dramatically.  Further, it is possible that some of these are "push polls" that give leading information, like the discredited "40% of gun purchases don't go through a background check" before asking the polling question.

The article also notes that the gun ban lobby is stepping up it's lobbying efforts, but some are finding that they aren't the first to discuss the issue with targeted legislators:

Gun-control advocates are trying to match the NRA’s lobbying firepower. Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a group that sprung up in the days after the Newtown shootings, has been tweeting to lawmakers and visiting their offices to press their case.

Jennifer Fiore, the group’s vice president, recalled that a recent meeting between a mother and an unnamed senior aide to a Senate Republican prompted a sharp, emotional exchange after the staff member repeatedly referred to the recordkeeping provisions in the background-check bill as akin to a national gun registry — a frequent NRA talking point.

“The mom in this office who listened to him talking about registries versus recordkeeping was so fed up with that kind of talk that she got pretty real with him, and at the end of that process I could tell he was listening to us,” Fiore recalled. “Our job is to pop the bubbles that they’re living in and remind them who their constituents are.”

But the exchange also illuminated for Fiore the extent of the NRA’s reach. “They made it into somebody’s office before I got there,” she said.

Let's make sure that the gun ban lobby finds that they have been beaten to the punch in every office, not by a member of NRA Federal Affairs, but by hundreds of thousands of gun owning constituients through our letters, emails, and phone calls.  Feel free to use this information as background for your phone calls and letters.  Besure to reference that the information came from President Obama's own research experts at the National Institute of Justice.

One other thing, now that we have a specific piece of legislation, ask your Senator to tell you specifically where they stand on S.649 and to please do you the courtesy of not replying with boilerplate language.

Finally, remember, this is only round one.  Even if we beat back this attempt, Joe Biden has already confirmed "this is just the beginning."  So we can't go back to our lives as if everything has gone back to normal.  They will be back, and next time, they may try an end around run to get what they want.

Delegate Morrissey Compares Apples to Oranges In Opposition to CHP Privacy

As he did on the floor of the General Assembly when SB1335 was being considered, Delegate Joe Morrissey (D-Richmond) writes in today's Richmond Times Dispatch that like permits to assemble or building permits, concealed handgun permit (CHP) information should be open to the public.  SB1335 protects the personal information of concealed handgun permit holders and beginning July 1, will no longer be available upon request from the local office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court.

For more than 220 years, the circuit courts in our commonwealth have adhered to one unbending, inflexible tenet: All public records are presumed to be opened to the public for scrutiny. Indeed, the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, set forth in Section 2.2-3700 of the Virginia Code, states as much and guarantees that citizens of the commonwealth as well as representatives of the media shall have full access to all public records held by public bodies, public officials and public employees — including circuit court clerks’ offices.

Now, for the first time in the history of the commonwealth, an otherwise public document — a concealed gun permit — shall be sealed and unavailable to the citizenry and representatives of the media. This development should cause all advocates of open government to cringe.

Morrissey laments that the proponents of the bill claimed that unlike building permits, CHPs involve a "fundamental right."  He still compares apples to oranges when he says that the fundamental right to free sometimes involve permits to assemble on public property and those are open to the public.

The difference Mr. Morrissey, those permits likely do not contain the personally identifying information (PII) of individuals who have protectives orders against ex-spouses or boyfriends, or the PII of individuals who have escaped their abusers and don't want to be found by them.

Why Morton Kondracke is Right and Wrong about Wayne LaPierre and Michael Bloomberg

Over the weekend, columnist Morton Kondracke wrote two posts on Roll Call's Pennsylvania Avenue blog, one titled  Why Wayne LaPierre is Right and Michael Bloomberg is Wrong, and the second was reversed, Why Michael Bloomberg is Right and Wayne LaPierre is Wrong.  When you get past the unnecessary name calling  in the first:

Wayne LaPierre and the National Rifle Association are obnoxious, paranoid and intimidationist...

And the second post:

The National Rifle Association is paranoid... 

Kondracke seems to find more to like about what Wayne LaPierre has said than Michael Bloomberg. From the post about why Wayne LaPierre is right:

Specifically, LaPierre was right to say that the best response to horrors like the Newtown school massacre would be to increase the presence of armed guards at schools. There already are armed guards and metal detectors at many inner-city schools prone to violence — not to mention, at airports, the U.S. Capitol and every other federal building in Washington. Why not at schools?

And this was Kondracke's most suprising (and refreshing) admission:

I’d go even further in LaPierre’s direction: Encourage every school to have at least one staff member (teacher, assistant principal or cop) who’s armed and trained to use a gun to respond to an attack. The guns should be well-secured, for sure, but it certainly would be a deterrent to a would-be killer to know he’s not hitting a completely “soft” target.

Kondracke is a moderate to liberal (though I would not call him a full fledged liberal) commentator.  The fact that he has stated LaPierre (and by extension the NRA) is right to suggest that school personnel should have the option of being armed is quite a move in our direction considering he is in favor of most of the gun control proposals floating around.

So let's take a look at that second post.  Even in that one, he found more common ground with the NRA than with Bloomberg.  For instance, citing columnist David Brooks:

“Past efforts to control guns have not dramatically reduced violence,” he added. “The Gun Control Act of 1968 and the Brady Act of 1993 and the Assault Weapons Ban of 1994 all failed to reduce homicides significantly.” He cited studies from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Arizona State University and the University of Cincinnati.

Where he does agree with Bloomberg (other than on criminalizing private sales on firearms and ammunition magazine bans) was on the Mayor's controversial "Stop and Frisk" policy.  Citing Manhattan Institute Fellow Heather McDonald, he writes how the policy has saved the lives of minorities in New York, who make up the vast majority of homicides in the city.

If Kondracke really understood the issue, he would know that those magazines holding more than ten rounds are quite standard in a number of handgun models as well as a number of semi-automatic rifle models. As for those background checks on private sales - it's is not parinoid to oppose the creation of a national gun registry which Obama's DOJ says would be required to make it effective.  The only thing that a list is good for is to assist with collecting banned firearms, as it has been used for in states that have required registration of certain firearms, then later banned those very same firearms.