ThinkingAfield.org

BELLEVUE, WA – The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms today accused Congressional Democrats of “world-class hypocrisy” for pulling a voting rights bill for Washington, D.C. residents because Senate Republicans added an amendment that would strengthen their gun rights, as affirmed in the June 2008 Heller ruling by the Supreme Court.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said the bill – which would give the District an official vote in the House of Representatives, most likely a Democrat – would not be considered this week because of the Republican amendment. That amendment would repeal a ban on certain firearms in the District, even though last year’s high court ruling said outright bans of whole classes of firearms are unconstitutional. CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, co-author of These Dogs Don’t Hunt: The Democrats’ War on Guns, said House Democrats “are acting predictably, in a manner that belies everything they’ve said for the past decade about supporting gun rights.”

“Once again,” he said, “Democrats are revealing themselves as the party of restrictive gun control. If the citizens of Washington, D.C. have a right to full congressional representation, they also have a right to own the firearm of their choice. For Democrats to argue that one right is more important than another – especially after last year’s Supreme Court ruling on the Second Amendment – they are engaging in world-class hypocrisy.”

The bill would add a congressional seat in Utah, ostensibly to balance the District’s representative. But Democrats do not want to ease the highly restrictive gun regulations adopted by the District after the Supreme Court struck down the city’s decades-old handgun ban. Gottlieb said this stubbornness clearly demonstrates that the party’s so-called “support” for the Second Amendment is “just lip service.”

“Democrats argue that the right to representation is not related to the right to keep and bear arms,” Gottlieb said, “but that’s nonsense. This country was born because our founders were being taxed without representation, and because British troops tried to disarm the citizens. Those issues are just as equal today as they were 230 years ago, and Democrats on Capitol Hill need to understand that.”

The Supreme Court’s 2008 ruling in D.C. v. Heller was a constitutional earthquake, breathing life into the Second Amendment as a guarantee of an individual right to bear arms.

But the aftershock of that decision is beginning to transform the constitutional landscape well beyond gun rights, in ways that have liberals cheering and even joining hands with one-time adversaries like the National Rifle Association.

In a follow-on case pending before the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a progressive legal group and liberal law professors including Yale Law School’s Jack Balkin earlier this month joined gun-rights advocates in urging that the right established in Heller, which involved only the District of Columbia, be extended to apply against gun restrictions in the 50 states. The case is McDonald v. Chicago, a challenge to that city’s strict gun control law and, no matter what, the outcome is likely to be appealed to the Supreme Court.

Click on the title for an in-depth analysis of how the 14th Amendment may be applied to states.

NEWTOWN, Conn.

When a target shooter purchases a box of ammunition or a hunter a new deer rifle, wildlife in America benefits.

Every sportsman and woman contributes to a system that has been responsible for supporting healthy wildlife populations of both game and non-game species for the last 70 years.

The contributions, in the form excise taxes paid on sporting firearms, ammunition and archery equipment, benefit every state and have generated approximately $5.6 billion for wildlife conservation since 1939. The contribution for 2009 is a record — nearly $336 million, according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, which recently announced the Wildlife Restoration apportionment.

“We want all Americans to know about and value the support that hunters, recreational shooters and the firearms and ammunition industry make to wildlife conservation,” said Steve Sanetti, president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, trade association for the firearms and shooting sports industry. “With wildlife populations professionally managed and thriving, we can safely say that this is one investment guaranteed to not lose value.”

Species such as the white-tailed deer, Rocky Mountain elk, pronghorn, wild turkey and black bears have made significant population gains due to research and improved habitat funded by the Wildlife Restoration program.

In making the announcement, Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said, “These investments, which help create jobs while protecting our nation’s natural treasures, are particularly important in these tough economic times.”

Of the $336 million total, some $64.7 million benefits hunter education and firearms and archery range programs.

These contributions are the result of the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act, passed in 1937, which directs funds to states based on land area and paid hunting license holders, among other criteria. And while there is always a temptation for governments to redirect funds, legislative safeguards prevent these Wildlife Restoration monies from being diverted away from state wildlife agencies.

Both game and non-game species benefit as agencies use the money to manage wildlife populations, conduct research, acquire wildlife lands and public access and carry out surveys, among other uses. According to U.S. Fish & Wildlife, more than 62 percent of Wildlife Restoration funds are used to buy, maintain and operate wildlife management areas.

“The firearms and ammunition industry is proud to play a role in collecting, managing and contributing to these funds,” said Sanetti.

Sanetti hopes, however, that Congress will correct an inequity in the way the excise taxes are currently paid by industry, with the result that even more funds marked for conservation would be collected.

Legislation introduced earlier this year by Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wisconsin) will allow the industry to pay the firearms and ammunition excise tax (FAET) on a quarterly basis, the way other industries that support conservation do. Currently firearms and ammunition manufacturers must pay the FAET bi-weekly, a schedule that forces many manufacturers to borrow money to ensure on-time payment. Industry members spend thousands of man-hours administering the necessary paperwork to successfully complete the bi-weekly payments — monies that are due long before manufacturers are paid by their customers.

This legislation will not lower the amount of conservation dollars collected by the tax.

“Shifting to quarterly payments would allow manufacturers to invest in new equipment and product designs and enhance their marketing efforts,” said Sanetti. “This in turn could lead to greater participation in hunting and the shooting sports, providing even more funding for wildlife conservation and hunter education.”

Attorney General Holder has provided a little misdirection about Mexican gunrunning. Drug cartels have access to fully automatic military firearms and much more. Although it is essentially illegal for Mexicans to own guns, they all do. And, the lion’s share of its supply source may surprise you. It certainly isn’t justification for Holder’s comments in support of making certain guns in the U.S. illegal.

This from the NRA-ILA: On Wednesday, just over five weeks after Inauguration Day, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the Obama Administration will seek to reinstate the expired federal “assault weapon” ban and impose additional restrictions.

“As President Obama indicated during the campaign, there are just a few gun-related changes that we would like to make, and among them would be to reinstitute the ban on the sale of assault weapons,” Holder said. Based on Holder’s testimony during his confirmation hearings before the Senate, those other “changes” presumably include prohibiting private transfers of firearms and banning most center-fire rifle ammunition as “armor-piercing.”

Holder said that new gun control laws are needed because in Mexico, a country with a history of corruption and disregard for individual rights, there’s a shooting war going on between drug gangs and government troops, and some of the gangsters’ guns have been illegally purchased in the United States.

Click on the title for an eye-opening read.

The operators of a private cervid facility located in Kent County’s
Algoma Township have been charged with violation of the Michigan
Department of Agriculture’s (MDA) Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD)
Quarantine Order issued in August 2008 after a three-year old Kent
County female white-tailed deer tested positive for the disease.

James and Brian Schuiteman, owners of J & B Whitetails, were recently
arraigned in 63-1 District Court in Rockford and charged with violating
Michigan’s Animal Industry Act for movement of an animal in violation
of the quarantine placed on their facility by MDA. This is a felony
charge carrying a penalty of $1,000 to $5,000 in fines and imprisonment
of up to five years. The Schuitemans waived their right to a preliminary
exam in court today.

The charge stems from an incident on Aug. 23, the day after the
quarantine was issued by MDA. At approximately midnight, Department of
Natural Resources Conservation Officers David Rodgers and Michael Mshar
observed two persons enter the quarantined facility with flashlights and
a tranquilizer gun. The officers witnessed the subjects seek out a
specific deer, tranquilize it, and then remove the deer. The deer was
loaded into an enclosed trailer, and towed from the property, where
officers conducted a traffic stop to detain the suspects.

Officers determined a live male white-tailed deer was contained in the
trailer with identification tags removed. Upon questioning the suspects,
the officers learned it was their intent to release the buck into the
wild. Officers returned the animal to the facility where it was
euthanized and immediately transported to the Diagnostic Center for
Population and Animal Health at Michigan State University for testing.
The deer tested negative for CWD.

The DNR’s investigation of J & B Whitetails also resulted in the
review of records at Big Buck Taxidermy, located adjacent to the
enclosure. Investigators determined two free-ranging deer with intact
heads were imported into Michigan illegally and delivered to Big Buck
Taxidermy by customers. The deer were taken from known CWD-positive
areas in Wyoming and South Dakota.

For more information on CWD in Michigan, visit the Michigan Emerging
Diseases Web site at www.michigan.gov/emergingdiseases.

While on duty in a patrol car, two troopers poached a deer last November. They get hefty fines, jail time and community service. In addition, their firearm was seized and they lose their hunting priveleges. Click on the title for the full story.

The following information provided by Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners (MCRGO)

Feb 25, 2009

State Rep. Paul Opsommer (R-93) announced today a new bi-partisan package of resolutions that will assert Michigan’s right to bear arms under its Constitution, the supremacy of the Second Amendment over the Commerce Clause, and the will of the Michigan legislature to not recognize or enforce unconstitutional firearm restrictions placed upon its citizens.

Opsommer’s resolution, HCR 009, speaks directly to the many new federal firearm laws that are being introduced. “Even though I am only a State legislator, some of these federal proposals are so egregious that you really don’t have a choice but to get involved,” said Opsommer. “They would trample over our own Constitution and firearm laws, and I don’t think we can sit idly by to just wait and see if and when these bills become law”.

Opsommer said he will also be reintroducing his bill HB 6518 (2008) and expanding it so that it also addresses the new agenda Illinois Congressman Bobby Rush has added to his anti-firearm’s wish list. The bill was introduced last year in reaction to coercive attempts by Mayor Bloomberg to create new video surveillance databases of gun purchases with Wal-Mart.

“Congressman Rush’s legislation would also call for other biometric schemes that would include the fingerprinting of law abiding citizens and a new Attorney General approved picture ID card,” said Opsommer. “We were able to halt provisions last year that could have required a new and vague national ID card in order to buy firearms, and we will do so again whether it is to register firearms, ammunition, or handloading equipment.”

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Fairfax, Va. – The United States Senate has voted, with overwhelming bipartisan support, to adopt an amendment offered by Senator John Ensign (R-NV) that seeks to protect the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens in the District of Columbia. The amendment, attached to S.160, the D.C. Voting Rights Act, will repeal restrictive gun control laws passed by the District of Columbia’s (D.C.) city council after the landmark D.C. v. Heller Supreme Court decision. The vote margin was 62-36.

“Today’s vote brings us one step closer to restoring the Second Amendment freedom of law-abiding D.C. residents,” said NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris W. Cox. “It’s ludicrous that good people in our nation’s capital continue to be harassed as they try to defend themselves and their loved ones in their own homes. This vote reinforces the historic Heller ruling.”

After the Heller ruling, the D.C. city council passed a law requiring would-be gun owners to pay a registration fee, pass a 20-question multiple choice test, take a five-hour training course, undergo an invasive background check every six years, re-register any firearm every three years, and finally, submit all handguns for ballistics testing. Current D.C. law also bans an overwhelming majority of firearms commonly used for self-defense. This Ensign Amendment would also remedy that unjust practice.

“NRA would like to thank the lead sponsor, Sen. John Ensign for his efforts to reform D.C.’s gun laws and enable folks to protect their property and their loved ones,” concluded Cox. “It’s time for leaders in Washington to wake up to the fact that the Supreme Court decision is now the law of the land.”

NEWTOWN, Conn.

Responding to Attorney General Eric Holder’s comment yesterday that the Obama Administration will attempt to reinstate a ban against semi-automatic rifles, the National Shooting Sports Foundation reminded Congress and all Americans that such a ban would cause jobs to be lost in a difficult economy, have no effect on reducing crime and would deprive millions of law-abiding sportsmen and gun owners of their Constitutional right to own the firearm of their choice.

Holder made his comments in connection with criminals supplying illegal guns from the United States to drug dealers in Mexico.

“The problem of criminals breaking the law to acquire firearms and illegally smuggling them across the border is not remedied by legislation that would violate the rights of Americans to own semi-automatic firearms,” said Steve Sanetti, president of NSSF, the trade association of the firearms industry.

“These types of firearms, which are erroneously called ‘assault weapons,’ are used by millions of Americans for hunting, sporting and personal defense purposes,” Sanetti added. “We can only conclude that certain officials are waiting for any politically advantageous excuse to announce the intention to seek a new ban on sporting rifles, a ban that would break the president’s campaign promise to gun owners that ‘I’m not going to take away your guns.'”

The industry and firearms owners were understandably outraged by Holder’s comments yesterday, and today even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi backed away from the idea of a new gun ban. “On that score, I think we need to enforce the laws we have right now,” said Pelosi, surprisingly taking the position of pro-gun advocates.

Holder’s use of the inaccurate term “assault weapons” is one that is deliberately used by gun-ban advocates to create confusion between legally sold, semi-automatic rifles and look-a-like, fully automatic military versions. While the civilian version of these rifles may resemble their military counterparts, the civilian rifle fires only one round with each pull of the trigger. Additionally, these rifles fire ammunition calibers no more powerful than traditional-looking sporting arms. Civilian access to fully automatic machine guns has been severely restricted since 1934.

Studies show that the ban against sporting firearms, known as the Assault Weapons Ban, that was in place from 1994 to 2004 did not reduce crime. Furthermore, there has been no increase in crime involving these types of firearms since Congress allowed the ban to expire.

A ban on sporting firearms also would have a severe effect on jobs and the economy. Sales of semi-automatic rifles have been strong over the last several months — overall sales of firearms have increased as much as 42 percent — and have allowed companies in the firearms industry to withstand, to some extent, the downturn in the economy.

“These semi-automatic rifles are the most popular rifle in America today and they are largely behind the recent increase in firearms sales,” said Sanetti. “This is a bright spot in our economy and has helped save jobs in our industry.”

Since the election last November gun owners have feared the Obama Administration would seek legislation that would infringe on their Second Amendment rights. “It appears gun owners’ fears were well-founded given Attorney General Holder’s comment that the Obama Administration will seek new restrictions on gun owners. A new gun ban would fly in the face of last year’s Supreme Court decision in the Heller case that reaffirmed the Second Amendment right of all Americans to keep and bear arms,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF senior vice president and general counsel.

Rumor has it … HB 45 Slipped into Federal Stimulus Package?

Feb 18, 2009

Like you, we have heard the rumors about anti-gun legislation (HR 45) being slipped into the stimulus package President Obama just signed.

We have been monitoring this and can assure you this is not the case. To put your mind at ease, we’d like to summarize for you the confirmation we have received from NRA:”The only provision in the stimulus bill that has anything to do with firearms is the funding for BATFE’s “Project Gunrunner,” which (as we pointed out in Friday’s Grassroots Alert) is a program that enforces existing laws to reduce smuggling of firearms from the United States to Mexico. This program imposes no new restrictions on gun owners.

We have gone through the final 1,073-page bill, and its earlier House and Senate versions, both with computerized search terms and a page-by-page review to check the non-searchable handwritten notations.”For your convenience below are links to the bill:http://appropriations.house.gov/.

The name of the stimulus plan is “American Recovery and Reinvestment”http://www.house.gov/billtext/hr1_legtext_cr.pdf – link is very slow loading.http://www.house.gov/billtext/hr1_legtext_crb.pdf – link is very slow loading.

Carry on!
Chuck Perricone
Executive Director
Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners (MCRGO)