Category: Gun Control

Dick’s to Remove Firearms

Continuing to pursue the tightened gun policies that initially drove its stock down, Dick’s Sporting Goods (NYSE: DKS) has announced it will remove hunting gear from about 125 stores. The change, expected to begin August 1, will affect about 17 percent of the company’s stores. The announcement, coupled with continuing declines in same-store sales since 2017, is being credited with a nearly 11 percent decline in stock price yesterday. Dick’s closed at $34.45 on the NYSE, down $4.28/share.

Dick’s CEO and major shareholder Ed Stack has told the Wall Tree Journal that if the 125-store move “goes well” the company may remove hunting gear from more stores next year. Last month, Stack was one of four CEOs to sign a letter supporting a gun control bill recently passed in the U.S. House of Representatives. He has also joined the business council of Everytown, the nonprofit organization founded by Michael Bloomberg that advocates for gun control.

Firearms, Gun Control

Federal District Court Dismisses Massachusetts AG’s Motion to Stay

Firearms Retailers, NSSF Federal Suit Against ‘Enforcement Notice’ Goes Forward

NEWTOWN, Conn. — The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts today denied Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey’s attempt to stay a federal lawsuit brought by four federally-licensed Bay State firearms retailers and the National Shooting Sports Foundation® (NSSF®). The lawsuit states that Healey in her 2016 “Enforcement Notice” redefining “assault weapons” had overstepped her legal authority and deprived the retailers of their due process protections guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution.

In 2018, a federal district court judge denied Healey’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit finding that the plaintiffs had asserted valid federal due process claims. In January 2019, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit dismissed Healey’s appeal of that decision, just hours after hearing oral argument.

The ruling today to deny a stay in this case, pending parallel litigation in a state court, is the third attempt by Attorney General Healey to stall a trial in federal court. “… the Enforcement Notice warrants constitutional review for vagueness without reaching the state law issue,” wrote District Judge Timothy S. Hillman. The parallel state court case filed by different retailers claims the enforcement notice is an invalid regulation that was improperly issued by the Attorney General in violation of the state’s administrative procedure act. Read more

Gun Control

CCRKBA, SAF Question Congressional Motives Behind NRA Investigations

BELLEVUE, WA – Reports that the National Rifle Association is being engulfed in what one publication described as “a rapidly expanding tangle of congressional investigations” raise an important question that nobody has been asking: Is this a deliberate effort by anti-gun-rights Congressional Democrats to overwhelm the organization’s leadership and prevent NRA from fulfilling its mission to protect the Second Amendment?

That’s what the Second Amendment Foundation and Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms are wondering as House Democrats are pressing their gun control agenda.

“According to The Trace, which is funded by anti-gun billionaire Michael Bloomberg, Congress has launched six investigations of the NRA,” noted SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb. “With Democrats in control of the House, promising to push a full slate of gun control measures, that seems just a little curious.”

Gottlieb, who also chairs the CCRKBA, said it is fair to question an avalanche of investigations involving the NRA at a time when its attention should be focused squarely on renewed efforts to erode the Second Amendment. Read more

Gun Control

CCRKBA: House Passage of Gun Control Measure Will Not Prevent Crime

BELLEVUE, WA – Passage of H.R. 8 today by the U.S. House of Representatives confirms that extremist gun control is more important to the anti-gun leadership than making meaningful efforts to reduce violent crime, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said.

“Eroding the rights of law-abiding citizens and treating them as criminals is not going to prevent a single violent crime,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “Passing this legislation, which President Donald Trump said he would veto, amounts to little more than a publicity stunt to appease the gun prohibition lobby. It’s all flash and no substance.”

The bill passed on a vote of 240-190. Gottlieb said he is disappointed that supporters of the bill believe this will make any difference in efforts to fight crime. Read more

Gun Control

Buckeye Firearms Foundation Wins Legal Battle over Bump Stock Ban

Additional Media Information

Buckeye Firearms Foundation Wins Legal Battle Against Cincinnati over Bump Stock Ban

Buckeye Firearms Foundation, in cooperation with Ohioans for Concealed Carry, has won a lawsuit against the City of Cincinnati over its “bump stock” ban.

On Friday morning, February 8, 2019, Judge Ruehlman of Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas granted a Motion for Summary Judgment and shall issue a permanent injunction. As a result, the City of Cincinnati is no longer permitted to enforce its illegal ordinance.

In May of 2018, Cincinnati City Council passed an ordinance making the possession of “trigger activators” illegal within city limits. The trigger activator ban included a number of devices, including “bump stocks” or “bump fire” stocks, which are legal everywhere else across Ohio.

“This ban was completely unjustified and a great concern for gun owners,” said Dean Rieck, Executive Director of Buckeye Firearms Foundation. “Under Ohio law, local municipalities are not permitted to enact firearms laws that conflict with state law. And clearly, outlawing guns or gun parts, is a clear violation of state law.”
Read more

Gun Control

Federal Appeals Court Dismisses Mass. AG’s Appeal

Firearms Retailers, NSSF Federal Suit Against ‘Enforcement Notice’ Goes Forward

NEWTOWN, Conn. — A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit on Wednesday, just hours after hearing oral argument, dismissed an appeal filed by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey in a federal lawsuit brought by four federally-licensed Massachusetts firearms retailers and the National Shooting Sports Foundation® (NSSF®), the trade association for the firearms and ammunition industry. The lawsuit challenging Healey’s 2016 “Enforcement Notice” will go forward unimpeded. In 2018, a federal district court judge in Worcester had denied Healey’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit finding that the plaintiffs had asserted valid federal due process claims.

“We are very pleased that the judges saw the total lack of merit in the appeal and, in a rare move, dismissed it the very same day they heard oral arguments, Attorney General Healey’s frivolous attempt to prevent part of this suit from moving ahead based on state law claims that were not even being made,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel.

The lawsuit states that Healey overstepped her legal authority and deprived the retailers of their due process protections guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution. The action seeks declaratory relief and a permanent injunction enjoining enforcement. Read more

Gun Control

Firearms Industry Opposes Assault Weapons Ban

NEWTOWN, Conn. — The National Shooting Sports Foundation® (NSSF®), the trade association for the firearms and ammunition, today announced that it opposes the Assault Weapons Ban of 2019 introduced in the U.S. Senate this week.

The legislation introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), like earlier versions, relies on wrongfully defining commonly-owned semi-automatic rifles based on certain cosmetic features. The new version of this legislation, however, expands ways to ban the most-popular center-fire rifle in America. Since the original Assault Weapons Ban expired in 2004, more than 16 million of these rifles have been legally purchased for lawful purposes.

“It is disappointing to see politicians continue to pursue a failed policy agenda that has proven ineffective in improving public safety and will deny law-abiding citizens their Constitutional right,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President of Government and Public Affairs and General Counsel. “Despite what proponents may say, the record shows that Sen. Feinstein’s original 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban had no demonstrable impact on reducing crime and this one would be equally ineffective.” Read more

Gun Control

USCCA: Reintroduce CCW Reciprocity Bill

GW:  Good luck with this legislation but my guess is that it’s too late now.  If it couldn’t be passed with the Republican majority of the past two years, I sure don’t know how anyone would really expect its passage now.  But, good luck, nonetheless.

Says Congress Must Act to Protect the Rights of Law-Abiding Americans

West Bend, WI – Tim Schmidt, the Founder and President of the United States Concealed Carry Association (USCCA), today offered his strong support for the reintroduction of national reciprocity for concealed carry on the first day of the 116th Congress and thanked U.S. Representative Richard Hudson (R-NC) for his continued leadership on this important issue. Hudson reintroduced the bill after it was passed by the House in December 2017 but was ultimately never approved by the Senate despite strong support from U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) and many others.

Schmidt acknowledged today that under an anti-Second Amendment House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, national reciprocity faces an uphill battle but said today that this issue is too important for Congress not to act.

 

“Law-abiding Americans should not lose their constitutional right to defend themselves, and risk arrest, simply for crossing state lines,” Schmidt said.“This legislation would not only protect law-abiding Americans from a patchwork of contradictory state laws, but it would also strengthen public safety by giving more Americans the ability to protect themselves and those around them. National concealed carry reciprocity has bipartisan support and Congress must act to protect the Constutitional rights of all law-abiding Americans. On behalf of the thousands of law-abiding members of the USCCA we thank Congressman Hudson and the many other Members of Congress in both parties who support this long overdue effort.” Read more

Firearms, Gun Control

SAF Seeks Supreme Court Review in Challenge of California Handgun Statute

BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation and Calguns Foundation have petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for a review of their challenge to California’s “Unsafe Handgun Act,” a part of that state’s penal code that violates the Second Amendment by banning handguns of the kind in common use for traditional lawful purposes.

SAF and Calguns are joined by private citizens Ivan Pena, Dona Croston, Roy Vargas and Brett Thomas. They are represented by attorneys Donald Kilmer of California and Alan Gura of Virginia. The case is known as Pena v. Horan.

“Our challenge of the California Unsafe Handgun Act (UHA), if the high court accepts it for review, could be a critical wake-up call to lower federal courts that continue to employ what they call an ‘interest-balancing approach’ to deciding gun control cases because that strategy is forbidden by the 2008 Heller decision,” noted SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “It is time to bring a halt to what is essentially a revolt by the lower courts against the landmark Heller opinion, and the Pena case could provide that vehicle.”

California’s Unsafe Handgun Act generally prohibits the manufacture, import or distribution of handguns that do not meet the state’s extremely restrictive design requirements under the state penal code. The result, as the plaintiffs contend in their petition for high court review, is that the state is gradually achieving a handgun ban because they cannot meet the impossible requirements, which include microstamping. That technology is not offered by any handgun manufacturer because it cannot be practically implemented, the petition notes. Read more

Gun Control, Self Defense

Tucson Council to Discuss Radical Change to Firearm Procurement

The Tucson City Council on Dec. 4 is expected to discuss a radical change to the city’s procurement process for the acquisition of firearms. If Ward 6 Councilman Steve Kozachik has his way, the city would be prohibited from doing business with any firearm retailer who sells “military-style” weapons to the public or isn’t deemed a “socially responsible dealer”. In his letter to Mayor Rothschild requesting discussion on the issue, Councilman Kozachik fails to define what constitutes a “military-style” weapon nor does explain what guns a “socially responsible gun dealer” would be permitted to sell.

Arizona law specifically prohibits local governments from enacting “any ordinance, rule or tax relating to the transportation, possession, carrying, sale, transfer, purchase, acquisition, gift, devise, storage, licensing, registration, discharge or use of firearms or ammunition.” Read more

Gun Control
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