OSU Knife Attack Proves the Urgency of Passing HB48

GW:  This mission to end “gun-free zones” came to mind yesterday after the terrorists attack at Ohio State University.


COLUMBUS, OH – The attack at The Ohio State University today is yet another reminder that no-gun “victim zones” do not make anyone safer.According to The Columbus Dispatch, “Nine people were injured when a man ran into pedestrians with his car on the Ohio State University campus, then exited the vehicle with a butcher knife and started cutting victims.”

Fortunately, an OSU police officer was close by and able to shoot and kill the suspect to stop the attack. But even so, those being attacked were unable to defend themselves effectively because Ohio law forbids carrying a concealed handgun on school campuses, even if school authorities may be willing to allow it.

This is why it is vital that HB 48 is passed into law. This bill would eliminate many of Ohio’s no-gun victim zones, including schools and universities. Read more

NRA’s LaPierre Releases Commentary on Presidential Election

Transcript
On November 8, you—the 5 million men and women of the National Rifle Association of America, along with the tens of millions of gun owners all over this country who followed your lead—achieved a truly extraordinary, historic, even heroic, accomplishment. In northern Florida and Pennsylvania, throughout Ohio, Wisconsin and Michigan, in small towns and communities all across America, you were the special forces that swung this election and sent Donald Trump and Mike Pence to the White House.

You did this. Don’t let anybody else tell you otherwise.

In the wake of this historic event, the same disgraced group of so-called experts, talking heads, pundits and pollsters that got everything wrong before the election are trying to deceive you once again. So let me remove all doubt: gun owners made this election happen. Hillary Clinton made her hatred for the Second Amendment a central issue of this campaign and as a result of that fatal mistake, she’s on permanent political vacation. Read more

USCCA: Americans Voted To Protect the Second Amendment

In the wake of Tuesday’s election, pro-gun groups say voters sent a clear message once again that gun control is not a winning issue for politicians who seek to curb American’s Second Amendment freedoms.

The race between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton shined a spotlight on the Supreme Court ruling in District of Columbia v Heller (2008) in particular and the Second Amendment in general. Clinton promised universal background checks, an “assault weapons” ban, a “high capacity” magazine ban, and numerous other gun controls. Trump promised to save the Second Amendment from “people like Hillary Clinton.” And he voiced direct opposition to expanding background checks or instituting “assault weapon” or “high capacity” magazine bans. In the end, the people voted to protect Second Amendment – and the Heller decision – during a historic November 8 election. Read more

CCRKBA: Chicago’s Continued Bloodbath Proof of Gun Control Failure

BELLEVUE, WA – Following what the Chicago Tribune is calling the deadliest weekend so far this year, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms says the continued slaughter is proof that the city’s strict gun control laws are an abject failure.

At least 17 people died over the weekend, bringing the year’s death toll to at least 638 people. So far, more than 3,660 people have been shot in the Windy City, and two full months still remain.

“This continuing savagery in a city that stubbornly resists every attempt to reform its restrictive gun laws, which only discourage and disarm law-abiding citizens, is a testament to the failure of gun control,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. Read more

Judge Strikes Newtown Parents’ Suit Against Remington

A Connecticut Superior Court judge today decided in favor of the Remington Outdoor companies, Camfour Holding and Riverview Sales and struck the amended case brought by some families of the victims in the Sandy Hook School tragedy based on allegations of negligent entrustment.

In the decision, the judge said that the plaintiffs’ allegations did not meet the narrow exception for “negligent entrustment” allowed in the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) nor did it meet this standard under Connecticut law.

“The court ruled as it should in this case,” said NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel Larry Keane. “We are again reminded of the bulwark that the PLCAA provides the industry against unreasonable litigation of this type even as Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has repeatedly called for its repeal.”

You can read the 54-page decision at http://www.nssf.org/share/PDF/SOTO_v_Bushmaster_Order_Granting_Motion_to_Strike.pdf

CCRKBA Calls On Oregon Judge To Resign After Anti-Gun Remarks

GW: I heard this man, who has taken an oath to protect the Constitution, deny his responsibility to his oath of office. Throw the bum out!

BELLEVUE, WA – The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms today called on Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Kenneth Walker to step down from the bench after launching an anti-gun-rights tirade in court earlier this week in which he stated that firearms “are a scourge of this country and no one should have one as far as I’m concerned.”

“Judge Walker is entitled to his opinion,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, “but he should not use the bench as a bully pulpit to attack a constitutionally-protected civil right. Just because he had to sentence a criminal to prison for brutally murdering another man in 2014 is no excuse for this kind of rhetoric.”

Judge Walker’s comments came as he sentenced Marcell Lee Daniel Jr. to 17 ½ years in prison for the June 30, 2014 slaying of 24-year-old Andrew Coggins, Jr. on a North Portland sidewalk. Gottlieb said Walker’s remarks seemed to blame the gun, not the man who committed the crime.

The judge declared that if he could, he would “take all the guns in America, put them on big barges and go dump them in the ocean.” And he did not stop there, according to the Portland Oregonian and a YouTube video. He also said, “There’s no defense to guns. There’s just absolutely no reason to have them. But it is a right of people in this country to own and possess them, and I will not say anything to affect that right.” Read more

Shall Not Be Infringed: A Bullseye Book that Clarifies Gun Control Arguments

— James A. Swan, Ph.D
News media are bombarding us with more stories than ever before in human history. This could make us well-informed, but that isn’t happening because of media bias. Research shows that there’s now between 10 and 17 times more negative and sensational news than positive news, resulting in increasing anxiety about what the world is really like. As sociologist Barry Glassner has described in his award-winning book, The Culture of Fear, thanks to media bias we no longer live in “The Information Age,” we live in what has become “The Age of Anxiety”. Read more

Calif. Gov. Brown Vetoes Anti-Conceal Carry Measure

Gov. Brown Takes Action on Remaining Gun Bills, Including Two Vetoes Urged by Firearms Policy Coalition

SACRAMENTO – Earlier today, California Governor Jerry Brown took action on the remaining gun bills that were passed by the Legislature.

AB 450 – VETOED – McCarty (D-Sacramento)
AB 450 would have allowed local governments to radically increase the amount of fees they charge for handgun carry license (“CCW”) applications and license issuance. In FPC’s letter requesting a veto of the measure, we argued, among other things, that the “legislative process should not be used to settle local political scores.” Brown’s veto message mirrored FPC’s concerns, stating that the “bill was spurred by a local dispute in one county,” and that he was “unaware of a larger problem that merits a statewide change at this time.”

SB 1332 – VETOED – Mendoza (D-Los Angeles)
SB 1332 would have created hyper-technical new laws surrounding the loan and possession of firearms. In our letter requesting a veto, FPC argued, among other reasons, that “on the heels of SB 826….which moved the existing fund surplus over to a failed, unaccountable DOJ [APPS] program, [SB 1332] is the nail in the coffin for the account.” The Governor shared the same concerns, stating in his veto message that SB 1332 would create “millions of dollars in new and ongoing costs for the Department of Justice” and that he does not believe “that this additional burden and cost comes with a commensurate public safety benefit.”

AB 2510 – SIGNED – Linder (R-Corona)
Following months of FPC’s direct lobbying and significant grassroots pressure, AB 2510 was amended to provide for a modern, uniform carry license format.

AB 2165 – SIGNED – Bonta (D-Alameda)
AB 2165 amends California’s laws surrounding its “roster” of handguns deemed “not unsafe” by creating new exemptions for a number of law enforcement-related government employees. These exemptions allow more government employees to directly acquire from dealers thousands of handgun models that the State does not believe is “safe” enough for its law-abiding eligible residents to buy and use. AB 2165 was opposed by Firearms Policy Coalition.

Firearms Policy Coalition is still awaiting the Governor’s decision on Senate Bill 443, a civil asset reform measure FPC strongly urged Governor Brown to sign. SB 443 is also supported by such wide-ranging advocacy groups as the American Civil Liberties Union and Institute for Justice. Last week, Brown signed into law Assembly Bill 884, a measure to immediately repeal a law that criminalized the political use of Assembly video footage that followed FPC’s successful federal First Amendment free speech lawsuit FPCSADC, et al. v. Attorney General Kamala Harris.

Firearms Policy Coalition (www.firearmspolicy.org) is a 501(c)4 nonprofit organization. FPC’s mission is to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, especially the fundamental, individual Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.

Firearms Retailers, NSSF File Federal Suit Against Massachusetts AG

Firearms Retailers, NSSF File Federal Suit against Attorney General Healey’s Overreaching ‘Enforcement Notice’

NEWTOWN, Conn. – Four federally-licensed Massachusetts firearms retailers and the National Shooting Sports Foundation® (NSSF®), the trade association for the firearms and ammunition industry, today filed action in United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts to challenge on Constitutional grounds the “Enforcement Notice” issued by state Attorney General Maura Healey. The lawsuit states that her office overstepped its 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.

The retailers are Pullman Arms Inc. of Worcester; Guns and Gear, LLC of Agawam; Paper City Firearms of Holyoke; and Grrr Gear of Orange.

“Attorney General Maura Healey’s actions were unconstitutional. Firearms retailers in Massachusetts cannot determine the meaning or scope of the Attorney General’s Enforcement Notice and subsequent explanations,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel. “Because criminal penalties can result due to Attorney General Healey’s unilateral reinterpretation of a state statute done without administrative process or input from affected parties, her office exceeded its lawful authority and retailers were deprived of their due process protections under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments.”

“In addition, if the Attorney General’s Enforcement Notice is understood as applying to all semi-automatic firearms, it violates the Second and Fourteenth Amendments to keep and bear arms because it bans the manufacture, sale and possession of a broad range of firearms in common use by the citizens of Massachusetts,” Keane said. “Unfortunately, Attorney General Healy’s unconstitutional action has left us no other option than to seek relief from the courts.”

Representing NSSF and the retailers are the Boston-based law firm of Kenney and Sams, P.C., and Michael Sullivan of the Ashcroft Law Firm, who is a former United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts and former Acting Director, U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Read the Civil Action at: http://www.nssf.org/share/pdf/092216-Complaint_for_Declaratory_Relief_As_Filed.pdf. Read more

CCRKBA Rips Media For Coverage of Mall Hero


BELLEVUE, WA – The “mainstream press” is once again trying to spin away from positive coverage about armed citizens and the fallacy of so-called “gun-free zones” in its reports about the St. Cloud, Minnesota mall shooting and the hero shooter, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.

“There have been very few references to the fact that Jason Falconer owns and operates a private business in which he teaches firearms and self-defense skills to armed private citizens,” noted CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “He is a firearms instructor and competitive shooter, and his skill with firearms certainly paid off for the citizens of St. Cloud last Saturday.

“The media has made only passing reference to the fact that Mr. Falconer was out of his police jurisdiction, and off duty at the time of the shooting,” Gottlieb added. “In effect, he was essentially an armed citizen on a shopping trip to the mall who acted in defense of himself and others who were attacked by a dangerous man armed with a knife.”

Crossroads Center’s website lists a “code of conduct” that includes a prohibition on “firearms and illegal weapons.” Gottlieb said it was fortunate that Falconer was armed despite this prohibition, because having a gun stopped the carnage and may have saved lives.

“How many times must it be repeated before the public understands that ‘gun-free zones’ can be magnets for mayhem,” Gottlieb wondered. “It goes against all common sense that malls and other public venues would mandate disarming visitors, thus leaving them vulnerable to attack. Read more

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