From ANJRPC, here are the bills that are currently up in the NJ Senate:
S2723(Throws out existing FID cards & replaces with driver license endorsement or other form of ID; suspends Second Amendment rights without proof of firearms training, including for all current handgun owners; imposes 7-day waiting period for handgun purchases; ends all private sales; effectively creates a registry of ammunition purchases and long gun sales; additional impacts).
Here in Pennsylvania, our governor is just terrible. I mean terrible. His administration directed publicly funded colleges to review their rules and regulations and–gasp–make sure they are all constitutional! Oh, the horror of making sure that government agencies/departments/institutions aren’t violating the state constitution!
The directive that prompted Kutztown University to allow people to carry guns on campus came from Gov. Tom Corbett’s administration.
Corbett’s office of General Counsel directed all 14 state-owned universities to review their policies restricting guns on campus to determine whether the policies would withstand constitutional muster, said Kutztown University spokesman Matt Santos.
If I see an attack ad on this issue next year, I’m going to probably hit my head against a desk. I don’t care what side of the aisle you’re on, you should support a directive to make sure that the government isn’t violating rights. If anything, from a liberal perspective, it makes it less likely that these institutions will be sued.
From ANJRPC. I’m forced to swipe their whole release because they don’t provide links:
NJ SENATORS’ TRUE VIEW OF GUN OWNERS REVEALED BY HOT MICROPHONE FOLLOWING YESTERDAY’S HEARING
Call the Senate Majority Office Immediately to Express Your Outrage
And Demand That Monday’s Bill Package be Held
An astute person listening to the official audio recording of yesterday’s Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee hearing noticed that the official recording continued following conclusion of the hearing. The discussion that was caught, apparently among several senators and staff, is outrageous, and reveals legislators’ true view of gun owners.
A YouTube video with an excerpt of that recording has been posted here. The following lines can be heard in the recording:
“We needed a bill that was going to confiscate, confiscate, confiscate.”
“They [gun owners] want to keep the guns out of the hands of the bad guys, but they don’t have any regulations to do it.”
“They don’t care about the bad guys. All they want to do is have their little guns and do whatever they want with them.”
This discussion can also clearly be heard at the end of the official audio recording, beginning at 1:52:30, currently available here (find Thursday, May 9 from the menu, then click “listen”). It is possible that the official recording will be sanitized following release of this alert, and the official YouTube video could be deleted, so be sure to listen to it promptly.
The discussion reveals absolute contempt for the Second Amendment and those who exercise it, as well as complete ignorance of the fact that gun rights organizations like ANJRPC have long advocated for clear and specific legislation punishing criminals who misuse firearms, instead of misguided legislation (like the bills currently being pushed by Senate Democrats) that demonizes hardware. Senator Loretta Weinberg is the chief proponent of the anti-gun legislation being moved through the Senate.
In advance of Monday’s full Senate floor vote, please immediately call AND fax the Senate Majority Office, tell them you are outraged by the misguided, disparaging, and clueless comments of those pushing the anti-gun bill package, and demand that Senate Democratic leadership hold the entire package of anti-gun bills currently scheduled for consideration by the full Senate on Monday, May 13.
SENATE MAJORITY OFFICE
Phone: 609-847-3700
Fax: 609-633-7254
You know what would help prevent gun owners from always being paranoid that gun control activists and politicians were after their guns? Not actually being after our guns. Just because your paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you.
This is a great example of why states need preemption laws. Morrisville, PA has an ordinance that bans possession of firearms in their public parks unless a distinct permit has been issued.
The activities listed below shall not be permitted in any park or playground unless a permit has been secured for such activity from the Borough Council, or its agent, the Borough Manager. No permit shall be issued unless an application therefor shall have been made at least 24 hours before the time of the activity. In the case of seasonal activities, a permit may be issued for the entire season.
(a) Groups or parties in excess of 12 persons.
(b) Placements of placards, advertisements or public notices.
(c) Fires, other than in a fireplace or other equipment provided for cooking purposes, or for a bonfire or campfire as part of an authorized event.
(d) Firearms or the discharge of firearms or other weapons.
(e) Soliciting of alms or subscriptions.
(f) Selling or exposing for sale any articles.
The language that “firearms” “shall not be permitted” “unless a permit has been secured for such activity from the Borough Council, or its agent, the Borough Manager” that must be submitted “at least 24 hours before the time of the activity” seems to make it pretty clear that they issue their own permits to possess firearms in parks at least 24 hours in advance of your planned time to be in the park. I wanted to know more about this little gem of an ordinance.
In trying to find out more about that permit, I called the borough, found myself transferred to three different people in Borough Hall in my first call, put on hold for nearly 10 minutes, and still couldn’t tell you anything about the process. I was then told to contact the Police Department for the permit information, including cost, but the Police Department said that any and all permitting in regards to parks happens through Borough Hall and sent me back to the third woman with whom I spoke. She eventually transfered me to a gentleman who said that the Borough doesn’t actually issue permits, but they require that state licenses to carry in order to possess firearms in any way in public parks. I very specifically asked if that applied to open carry as well, and he said that all carry in parks required the state license to carry. (This is illegal for them to demand.)
What’s interesting is that this borough has already been warned off of violating Pennsylvania’s preemption law in a letter sent by firearms attorney Joshua Prince just four days ago. It would appear that instead of requiring you to notify them at least 24 hours in advance of any trips to the park and securing a permit at an unknown price with, what I was told, an application that apparently never existed, they are continuing to violate state law by demanding licenses to carry concealed for any possession at all – concealed or not.
This why we need preemption with some teeth. A good start is Sen. Rich Alloway’s SB 876. It does at least makes local governments pay for the cost of challenging their abuses of power. It would certainly improve the situation in Morrisville since, in all likelihood, the problem ordinance never would have been passed in the first place. Even if it was on the books, the borough itself would be on the financial hook for their illegal ordinance and certainly wouldn’t feel like it is acceptable for their leaders to give out illegal advice without consequence.
There’s a fine line between being seen or heard and shoving your politics so much in someone’s face that they get utterly turned off and it works against you. Make your voice heard doesn’t mean piss off everyone around you. That doesn’t help a cause.
This editorial doesn’t just condemn a rinky-dink anti-gun group. The speakers at the event they say should have been canceled are a former governor and a current state lawmaker. Good for the media for calling out the appropriate party for their desire to get up in everyone’s faces where it is rather inappropriate.
I don’t think it’s too much to ask, but apparently it is for Mayor Healey of Jersey City, New Jersey, a founding member of MAIG. This was a controversy back in the 2004 race, when a photo of him naked on his porch surfaced. He said he got a little too drunk, and didn’t remember how he got on his porch. Apparently now the story is changing:
Healy gave a fresh, and notably more bizarre, account in an interview with the Star-Ledger in which he claimed he had actually been drawn outside that night by a group of noisy Hispanic girls — who proceeded to rip off the towel he was wearing and do “filthy” things.
Well, OK then. It could probably be argued Healy’s problems are really nothing new, and that he is likely, as a founding member of MAIG, to be the original illegal mayor. But I thought this bizarre new twist on how he ended up naked on his porch was worth a mention.
With media rumors going around that Jeff Flake was going to switch his vote and support gun control, he is speaking out on the issue:
It was reported by some media outlets today that I am changing my vote on Manchin-Toomey, and that I am somehow linking this vote to a vote on the internet sales tax.
Neither is true. I am not changing my vote on Manchin-Toomey (I voted against it). I voted against the internet sales tax as well. There is no connection between these two votes.
Arizona gun owners should definitely let his office know that they appreciate his stance. (h/t Great Satan, Inc.)
CSGV must be absolutely giddy for tomorrow. They are on the short list of groups selected by the President’s organization to present OFA’s gun control petitions to the Senate & House along with MAIG & Protect Minnesota. This is almost relevancy!
I think it’s quite funny that OFA spent quite a bit of time on their conference call with supporters tonight highlighting how many pieces of paper they plan to print and how many cars they plan to fill with these dead trees to drive in their pollution-generating cars to Capitol Hill to be delivered to all of those Senators who voted against them. Yet, CNN highlights how it is all a silly PR stunt.
Rules prevent the boxes of paper from being delivered directly to lawmakers, so names will be sent digitally…
According to the call leaders, their target states are New Hampshire, Arizona, and Nevada. They also touted the 1.4 million button clicks for the online petition were “unprecedented,” but oddly enough, didn’t let their supporters know that NRA now has 5 million dues-paying-members.
OFA’s only meetings that they announced for tomorrow are with California Democrats – Nancy Pelosi and Mike Thompson. But, you know, bipartisanship. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want Republicans to take their calls, but I do think it makes their claims about being bipartisan just a tad false–a pretty common theme in tonight’s phone call.
OFA is claiming that Sen. Ayotte is a success story of their gun control push because she is supposedly being hit on the issue from both the left and the right. Do any New Hampshire readers have any evidence of the right attacking Ayotte for her gun control vote? I think that may be an outright lie. They also claim that Ayotte has changed her mind on the vote, which is not at all what I have seen.
In the greater scheme of things, their leading topic tonight was immigration. The other big topic was climate change. The first two questions were also about those issues. The single question on gun control was best paraphrased as, “Does all this organizing on gun control actually work or are we wasting our time?”
If you’re a New Hampshire gun owner, the last few weeks and even coming weeks have been a great time to write letters to the editor of local newspapers. It’s a huge help when locals stand up for their own lawmakers supporting their rights.
NRA has gone to air in at least one $25,000 ad buy on WMUR with this ad in defense of Ayotte:
But supplemental letters always help. There’s still time to make a thank you phone call to her offices, too.
I am on OFA’s mailing list, and it’s amazing how much they enjoy scolding people for not supporting Obama’s agenda.
The first email I received yesterday reminded me that they would consider it to be a huge shame if I did not sign their petition. They said that yesterday, “The gun lobby is pretty happy with itself.” Yup, I have to admit that the many, many individual Americans who were at the NRA convention were happy that 86,228 members showed up to stand up for our rights.
Shortly after that email landed in my inbox, they sent another reminding me that I haven’t signed their petition yet.
I do find it interesting to see the kind of language that OFA supporters appear to respond to when it comes to action. As over-the-top as NRA can sometimes be in order to motivate some on our side of the issue, I can’t fathom that this style of language would encourage our base to act.
