Bitter – Page 70 – Shall Not Be Questioned

New York Gun Control Proposals

Reading the gun control measures specifically cited in NY Governor Andrew Cuomo’s State of the State report, it reminds me so much of what happened to Massachusetts gun owners in the late `90s. If you were a legal gun owner who had your state-issued firearms identification card, it was good for life unless you were convicted of a disqualifying offense and it was revoked. Then, one day, the legislature told gun owners that “valid for life” really meant “valid until we want more money from you.”

In New York’s case, it’s the same for grandfathering. One day, gun owners were told that they could keep the regular capacity magazines they already owned for their guns. Now, they are being told that those magazines will no longer be legal:

Because magazines are not generally stamped with a serial number or other mark that would identify the date of manufacture, it is virtually impossible for law enforcement to determine whether a large capacity magazine was manufactured prior to 1994, and, as aresult, we effectively have no ban in New York State. In order to fix this problem, Governor Cuomo will propose tightening our assault weapons ban and eliminating large capacity magazines regardless of date of manufacture.

The same is being said for pistol licenses. “Good for life” will no longer mean what you think it means. It means constant renewal, even when you’re not convicted, arrested, or even accused of any disqualifying offense, which presumably also means more money for the government.

Currently, licenses for handguns are issued by the county in which the gun owner lives. With few exceptions, licenses are valid for life. As a result, while certain checksâ€”for example, checks against criminal convictions, involuntary commitment records,convictions for crimes of domestic violence, open orders of protectionâ€”are run at the time a license is issued, once a license is obtained, there is no subsequent check to determine whether the holder is still eligible to own a gun. Governor Cuomo will propose a single standard across the state to ensure that appropriate checks can be run to bar convicted felons and other prohibited people from possessing firearms.

There are other issues mentioned, but none in quite as much detail as the two above. I’ll let the folks who specialize in NY gun laws break down what the rest of the big push from the Governor will mean in practical terms.

Oh, and I should mention as a warning to New York gun owners: When Massachusetts converted their firearms identification cards from “good for life” to renewable, the state admits that they didn’t bother to tell thousands of gun owners. Even years after it changed, the state pro-gun group would get phone calls from guys who were just stopped with rounds of shotgun ammunition in the car or coming in from a day of hunting, and they were promptly charged with having an expired FID card – even though the card they held said it was good for life. Oh yes, innocent people who think they are following the law will be hurt by these changes if they go through.

So, New Yorkers, get involved with your state groups and try to get a repeat of Illinois.

Wal-Mart Switches Gears

The store chain initially said it would not attend White House meetings on gun control, but now they have changed their tune and plan to sit down with the Obama Administration to discuss these policies.

UPDATE: Thanks to UTLaw, we learn that Wal-Mart is taking calls on this issue. You will speak with a live customer service agent, and they claim that they are listening to customer input.

The phone number to call is: (479) 273-4000. Tell them you would like to offer input on their decision to meet with the White House on gun control. You will be passed off the some kind of priority customer service.

The Conservative Media Catches Up

It’s tough to know what to post about today since the big headlines that general rightwing folks are pushing are the upcoming announcement later today about what gun controls New York will push and the Iowa lawmaker who is advocating for confiscation of firearms. That’s the problem with following the issue pretty closely. We covered Rep. Dan Muhlbauer’s comments a week ago, and we already knew to look for extreme proposals out of New York.

In fact, right now I’m trying to put myself in the mindset of someone who is reading today’s Drudge headlines and tweets from conservatives as big “new” news. I’m helping Sebastian with his legislative report to his gun club meeting to make sure that all the relevant bases are covered. When lawmakers are just piling on, it’s hard to remember everything. Obviously, it won’t be about issues in New York or Iowa, but we’ve had our share of bad things promised in the last month here in Pennsylvania or from our federal representatives. Many of these folks will be hearing about these issues for the very first time tonight.

I Hope He’s Exaggerating

According to this article, freshman Rep. Tom Cotton from Arkansas’s 4th district is getting phone calls in about a 9-to-1 ratio calling for him to stand up against gun control.

You might wonder why I say that I hope he’s exaggerating since that sounds like winning. I hope he’s exaggerating downward. If you click through and look at that district, this guy should be seeing pro-Second Amendment phone calls and letters from constituents outnumber anti-gun supporters by at least 15-to-1.

For those who say we don’t need to worry because the GOP has the House of Representatives, well, the fact that any House office could be hearing from us in ratios that are lower than 9-to-1, that makes me nervous. If every person who walked into a gun show since the middle of December wrote to their Congressman, we’d be in a much better position.

The New Brady Competition – Americans for Responsible Solutions

It looks like Gabby Giffords’s husband, Mark Kelly, has decided that the other high profile tragedy-created gun control groups just aren’t cutting it since he launched a new PAC today that is jumping straight into the political battle on restrictions to our rights. The goal is to oppose what they refer to as “the gun lobby’s political contributions, advertising and lobbying.” In other words, it’s designed to oppose that pesky grassroots force that keeps calling lawmakers and donating to candidates with both time and money.

The big focus in the launch seems to center around magazines and background checks, but they do also plan to target some vague reference to “weapons designed for the battlefield.” Calling the defense of our rights by NRA as “defiant and unsympathetic,” Mark Kelly did make sure to give some free advertising to Bloomberg’s partner Wal-Mart by telling the press that it’s where he buys his guns. It makes me wonder if that was part of Kelly’s meeting with Bloomberg came with a request that he pitch Wal-Mart as the place to buy guns. Since we already know that crony capitalism is likely going to be on table for any gun control measures, it’s not out of the question.

An interesting question that I have is how this new PAC will work with Gabby PAC which Kelly & Giffords launched in September. That PAC only backs Democrats, so it seems like that could be the likely direction of this new effort.

The Brady Campaign Drinking Game Conference Call

For anyone who follows the Brady Campaign on social media sites, they know that the Brady camp has been pushing a conference call for supporters for several days now. As tempting as it was to make it a drinking game, I decided to instead tune in while I made dinner. Both Sebastian and I are happy with that decision since a) dinner smells delicious, and b) we’d both be drunk beyond comprehension if we took a shot each time that a Brady staffer repeated the slogan of “we are better than this.”*

That said, there were a few things to learn what the other side is focusing on at the moment. Here are the things I thought were worth reporting:

While they repeatedly discussed an effort to ban semi-automatic firearms and magazines, their real focus was clearly on background checks/gun show loophole/private sales bans. Every single Brady staffer & recruit mentioned this and made this the focus of their speech. I suspect that this means they are going to go the Illinois-style of trying to get everything they can possibly get, but will fall back on so-called background check legislation if they don’t get the gun bans they want.**
Anyone who said that just because Joe Biden is involved in the White House’s public relations effort meant that we could not take the White House threat seriously, you’re very shortsighted. Dan Gross told everyone that the point person at the White House is actually Valerie Jarrett. I think we’ve seen enough stories out the kinds of plans the White House has, so people shouldn’t be thinking that the mere mention of Biden means it’s all a big joke.
They are extremely concerned about acting now and acting quickly. They acknowledge that the farther they get away from the 24/7 media coverage of dead people, they lose start to lose support for blaming guns. They begged people to set up meetings in the district offices of their Congressmen and Senators who are back in the district right now. They told their supporters not to wait on any specific bills that might be moving forward, but just to write, call, and demand any form of gun control.

*They totally knew we were on the call since they said that NRA members were on it. Maybe they didn’t know that the bloggers were listening, but they definitely knew that many folks would be tuning in from the pro-gun side to see what they are up to.

**I call this so-called background check legislation because we have seen that their version of gun show loophole has very little to do with background checks, but seeks to shut down gun shows.

Who Needs to Panic Buy When You Have Friends of NRA?

My mother recently took the first steps to get involved in her (new) local Friends of NRA committee. As any regular reader knows, this is the side of NRA that focuses on training and safety programs that introduce new shooters to our sports. In other words, it’s about the culture of gun ownership and making sure new gun owners panic buying right now have resources available to learn how to safely use those firearms.

If you’re in or south of the Nashville area, you can support these programs and have a chance at picking up some new firearms without the panic buying markup. In fact, you can get a chance at them for just $20. What guns?

DPMS AP4 Carbine .223/5.56mm Nato
Diamond Back 9mm Pistol
Mossberg 500 12 Gauge Shotgun

They will only sell 200 tickets, and the winner gets all three guns according to a flyer that was sent to me. If anyone is in the area, they can pick up tickets at Lock, Stock & Barrel, 105 E. Parkway #106, Franklin, TN or this weekend’s gun show at the Williamson County Ag Expo Center. I don’t know if the FNRA committee will have a table at the show or if they will be at a table for Lock, Stock & Barrel, but the email sent to my mom said that tickets will be available at the event.

Before anyone asks, I know nothing about the committee’s willingness to arrange any kind of ticket sales online, so that’s why I addressed this to local folks. However, raffles and contests similar to this will likely be happening with committees across the country. Find your local Friends committee and inquire about any they might have going on this year. If your local committee isn’t doing a raffle, then check in with the regional field rep who will know if any other committees near your area are selling tickets to win guns. If you want tickets to a local Friends dinner, they should have a nice line up of firearms to win at each one.

Gun Shows Banned from Public Property in Pennsylvania?

Creating a story where there otherwise isn’t one, the AP reported that Gov. Tom Corbett is considering a ban on any gun shows on public property.

Considering that the Governor just recently made clear that gun bans are not on the table for the Commonwealth under his administration, this struck me as extremely odd. This seemed especially out-of-character because gun shows aren’t typically the target of anti-gun groups here in Pennsylvania, so it’s not an issue he is pressured on politically.

I listened to the recording of the radio program to see what on earth could have caused this story to pop up. Gov. Corbett was asked by a caller who identified himself as Brooks from Harrisburg about why Pennsylvania allows businesses engaged in gun sales to rent public buildings to host shows and whether he would push a ban on gun shows on all state-owned property and, if not, why not?

Corbett’s first reaction was to point out that no one else has ever complained about this issue before, that this guy Brooks was the first to ever bring it up. (In other words, he showed that this isn’t even in the mainstream of anti-gun thought at the moment.) His second response says that the state is open to pretty much all businesses who want to use the public property. (In other words, he shows that they won’t discriminate against a lawful industry.) He follows that up with he has never given a ban on gun sales on state property any thought at all. (In other words, this is not a priority, nor will it ever be.) Then, Corbett goes into the polite brush-off which is totally obvious in his tone when he says, “I’ll give thought to it.” (In other words, you’re technically a constituent, so I won’t tell you outright that I’m going to ignore you.) Then, Corbett follows up with the fact that gun show gun sales are checked through PICs just like going through a gun shop. This comment then paves the way for even the radio host to move on to more relevant topics.

Basically, the AP is really reaching to come to the conclusion that the Governor is pursuing or contemplating a ban on gun shows on public property. It was so obvious in the tone of the Governor that this was a polite brush-off, and it was also obvious in the radio host who was quick to move on to other topics that might be more interesting for listeners.

Former Teacher to Introduce Law for Arming School Personnel

Newly sworn-in PA State Rep. Greg Lucas announced that he’ll soon sponsor legislation allowing teachers and administrators to carry firearms. He is a former teacher married to a current public school teacher, and he was impacted when a friend died after being shot by a student at a school dance in 1998. He says that the body count would have been higher, but that incident was stopped by a citizen who was legally carrying his own firearm.

Reading from the co-sponsorship memo, it looks like Rep. Lucas adds slightly more conditions onto prospective school carry than simply having a concealed carry license:

In the upcoming session, I will be introducing legislation to allow school personnel to carry a gun to school if they have been licensed to carry a concealed firearm AND have a current and valid certification in the use and handling of firearms. The current and valid certification would have to be issued under one of the following:

(1) 53 Pa.C.S. Ch. 21 Subch. D (relating to municipal police education and training).
(2) The act of February 9, 1984 (P.L.3, No.2), known as the Deputy Sheriffs’ Education and Training Act.
(3) The act of October 10, 1974 (P.L.705, No.235), known as the Lethal Weapons Training Act.
(4) The act of December 13, 2005 (P.L. 432, No. 79), known as the Retired Law Enforcement Identification Act.
(5) Any other firearms program that has been determined by the Commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police to be of sufficient scope and duration as to provide the participant with basic training in the use and handling of firearms.

Based on this, it also appears to open up the option for districts to simply utilize retired law enforcement for school security.

Don’t Think Gun Bans Are Limited to Extreme Anti-Gun States

The chair of the Iowa House Democratic Rural Caucus is proposing a ban on every single semi-automatic firearm in the entire state of Iowa. No, I don’t mean that he’s mistakenly sweeping too much up in a so-called assault weapons ban, he told the press that he means “the semi-automatics and all of them.” (emphasis added)

If you think that you’re safe just because you got yours, well, think again. While I know that Iowa isn’t a solid red state or one where we haven’t had some fights on gun issues before, it’s hardly the state you think of when it comes to implementing Sen. Feinstein’s dream of “Mr. and Mrs. America, turn â€˜em all in,” yet that’s what the head of the rural caucus wants to do. He tells the press that he wants a full-scale confiscation effort on every single semi-automatic firearm.

Rep. Dan Muhlbauer says that he’s not afraid of Iowa’s gun owners and what they might try to do to him politically. He even says he’s willing to risk an election on his plan. I would suggest that gun owners in and around his district get on the task of recruiting a candidate to send him back to his farm with his two .22s and .410 shotgun that he considers to be all of the firepower Iowans could ever need or want.