“Unalienable rights are not up for negotiation”

WASHINGTON, DC — Firearms Policy Coalition issued the following statement in response to the U.S. Senate’s release of the “Bipartisan Safer Communities Act”:

In closed-door Senate gun control negotiations, and after-hours release of text, the United States Senate has failed the People yet again in both their cowardly process and on the merits of the measure, which seeks to abrogate the fundamental rights of the People. The two-party system has fallen miserably short of protecting the rights of the People since its inception and this tradition of treachery continues today.

The proposal seeks to chill the right to keep and bear arms by incentivizing local disarmament proceedings, of which many states currently employ secret ex-parte hearings, massive penalties and enhancements reminiscent of the mass incarceration of the so-called war on drugs, naked discrimination against young adults, and an aggressive assault on peacable conduct.

This proposal is an act of violence against the fundamental rights of the People. Should this package be adopted, it will result in the imprisonment, injury, and death of peaceable people. Those who vote in opposition to human liberty terrorize the People who must chose to be disarmed or take the risk of incarceration, locked in a cage and separated from their families, their career and their agency–for peaceably keeping and bearing arms–which is their unalienable right. Read more

Providence, RI — Firearms Policy Coalition issued the following statement in response to Rhode Island Gov. Daniel McKee’s signing of three gun control bills:

Last week the Rhode Island legislature passed several pieces of anti-rights legislation over a wave of objections by the people. Those bills ban standard capacity magazines (House Bill 6614), a discriminatory law–the type of which we’ve defeated before–prohibiting adults under the age of 21 from purchasing and possessing firearms and ammunition (House Bill 7457), and ban the open carrying of loaded long guns in many public places (House Bill 7358). Today, Gov. McKee signed these measures into law, with fanfare, celebrating the abrogation of the natural rights of his constituents.

Governor McKee has spectacularly failed the people of Rhode Island. These draconian measures run roughshod over the most fundamental rights of the people. By denying Rhode Islanders standard magazines–which became standard because of their immense utility in defending and preserving human life–restricting the ability to bear arms, and wholesale eliminating the rights of legal adults, these laws do nothing but make clear the naked contempt the government of Rhode Island has for the security and well-being of its people. Read more

From Jim Shepherd…

CHICAGO – Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) and FPC Action Foundation (FPCAF) today announced that they have filed an important brief with the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Atkinson v. Garland, a case challenging the federal lifetime ban on gun ownership as applied to a 1998 non-violent felony conviction for mail fraud, urging the Court to reverse a misguided decision of the trial court. The brief, authored by FPCAF director of constitutional studies and Second Amendment scholar Joseph Greenlee, can be found at FPCLaw.org.

24 years ago, Patrick Atkinson pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 134, a non-violent crime. As a result of his felony conviction, under federal law, he is prohibited for his entire life from exercising his fundamental Second Amendment right to possess firearms and ammunition. But, the brief argues, that lifetime ban is unconstitutional.

“There is no tradition of disarming peaceable citizens. Nor is there any tradition of limiting the Second Amendment to ‘virtuous’ citizens. Historically, nonviolent criminals who demonstrated no violent propensity—such as someone convicted of mail fraud—retained their right to keep and bear arms. Indeed, several laws expressly allowed them to keep arms[,]” wrote Greenlee in the brief. Thus, FPC and FPCAF say, “The decision below should be reversed, and the ban should be held unconstitutional as applied to Atkinson.”

“Mr. Atkinson is forever prohibited from possessing firearms due to a nonviolent mail fraud conviction nearly a quarter-century ago,” said Greenlee. “The Supreme Court has held that the Second Amendment maintains its original scope, and, as our brief demonstrates, America’s founders never intended for peaceable persons to be denied Second Amendment rights. The government’s prohibition should therefore be held unconstitutional, and Mr. Atkinson’s Second Amendment rights should be restored.” Read more

Now on A1F.com: While reporting from war-torn Ukraine, this correspondent saw just how important the Second Amendment is and why we must fight to protect it. While witnessing civilian volunteers getting basic firearm training and then using that knowledge to protect and defend their freedom and country, many Ukrainians actually talked to her about our Second Amendment! This again shows why we must not allow anti-gun politicians to chip away at our constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms.

Find this and other stories related to your right to keep and bear arms at A1F.com.

Contact: Brook Chiasson

bchiasson@nrahq.org

(703) 267-1327

Congress has no power to negotiate away the fundamental rights of its constituents

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) sent a letter today to the United States Senate demanding that the Senators engaged in closed-door gun control negotiations recall their sworn duty to protect and defend the rights of the People, and reverse course in their attempts to destroy our fundamental right to keep and bear arms.

“The Senate is projecting that it can be a moderating force in the negotiations to abrogate the fundamental human liberties of its constituents. This approach ignores that the Senate has no power to negotiate inalienable rights,” reads the letter authored by FPC policy counsel Matthew Larosiere. “As the legislative assault on our fundamental rights–our very humanity–continues, respect for the institutions that craft these policies will erode in tandem. As the People suffer these abuses, facing an increasing threat of state violence and long stints in a government cage, their willingness to comply will also diminish.”

FPC’s letter spotlights the dangerous immorality of attempts to “negotiate” fundamental rights away from the People.

FPC’s full letter to the United States Senate can be read here. Join the FPC Grassroots Army in opposing this egregious assault on our rights at firearmspolicy.org. Read more

— Today, the Firearms Policy Coalition released a statement regarding ongoing bi-partisan negotiations on gun-control in the United States Congress:

“The rights of the People are not negotiable.” Read more

The NRA is made up of millions of law-abiding men and women. We are parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters, whose hearts break every time a crime is committed or tragedy occurs. We grieve with all of America, regardless of party or political affiliation because these are human tragedies, not political opportunities.

The National Rifle Association of America supports substantive policies and real solutions that will make a difference. Policies that will not only address these tragic and evil acts that dominate the headlines, but also the catastrophic loss of life that happens too often as a direct consequence of the current crime epidemic that plagues our nation.

The NRA has long supported securing our schools so that our teachers and children will be safe. We support strict enforcement of all our nation’s laws that target violent criminals. We support prosecution and punishment of criminals who break these laws. Indeed, the NRA supports the arrest, prosecution and punishment of any violent criminal or other dangerous prohibited person who tries to purchase or possess a firearm.

We support fully funding law-enforcement agencies. And, we wholeheartedly support the right of any law-abiding American to defend themselves and their loved ones. Even though it’s rarely reported, more than a million law abiding Americans use firearms in self-defense every year – most without ever firing a shot. What we don’t support are senseless policies like no-cash bail that create a revolving door justice system that only endangers good citizens. And, we will fight any proposal that will disarm law-abiding Americans.

And, America does have a critical mental health crisis. Many are sick, too few people are able to recognize their illness, and even less get help. The sad reality is there are too few resources for those who need it. Over the last 60 years, the number of beds available at psychiatric hospitals in America has dropped by 96 percent. In 1955, there were an estimated 340 beds per 100,000 people with mental health illnesses. In 2016, that number fell to 11.7 beds per 100,000 people. We must find a way to reach these people before they hurt themselves or others. And, we must fund places for these people to find refuge and treatment.

But, instead of acting on functional measures and real solutions that when implemented will reduce crime and will help those with dangerous behavioral health issues, all that the President repeatedly proposes will only infringe on the rights of those law-abiding who have never, and will never, commit a crime. This isn’t a real solution, it isn’t true leadership, and it isn’t what America needs.

And, that’s a shame.