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Supporting Both The First And Second Amendments

April 20, 2018 by 1 Comment

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When it comes to gun rights organizations, we need both the large and the small. The large like the NRA because its mere size gets politicians attention on Capitol Hill. The small because unlike the NRA they can be and are more agile.

A case in point on why we need the smaller and more agile gun rights organizations was just made yesterday by the Firearms Policy Coalition and their 503(c)(3) counterpart the Firearms Policy Foundation. Kids in school are being pressured by their peers, by their teachers, by their administrators, and by the media to participate in classroom walkouts in support of gun control. But what about the kids who support the Constitution and all of the Bill of Rights and what about the parents who just want their kids to get an education and not be politicized? Who stands up for them?

The Firearms Policy Coalition and the Firearms Policy Foundation have started a website called K12speech.com and a 21-page guide for parents and students meant to protect pro-gun students. I’ve read the guide and it is very well done. It contains sample letters and emails, documentation including relevant court rulings, tips on how to make FOIA requests, and instructions on how to document your interaction with school officials. You can download the guide here. There is also a legal action hotline and dedicated email address in order to seek help.

Here is the release announcing the program:

SACRAMENTO, CA (April 19, 2018) — Responding to recent student “walkout” events and demonstrations that advocate for more gun control, like the “March For Our Lives” political operation, civil rights advocacy organizations Firearms Policy Foundation (FPF) and Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) have published a new guide to protect pro-gun students and their rights. The 21-page publication, available for free download at www.k12speech.com, is entitled “K-12 Schools, Free Speech, and the Fundamental, Individual Right to Keep and Bear Arms: A Guide to How Students Can Use Their First Amendment Rights to Defend and Promote Second Amendment Rights.”

In addition to providing information and tools that parents and students can use to make sure they are not forced into participating in speech or demonstrations they disagree with, the guide contains materials that may help them plan counter-speech to gun control advocacy events or organize pro-gun rights demonstrations or expressive conduct. It also includes sample letters that parents could edit and use to notify schools of a student’s disagreement with a gun control event’s viewpoint, request information and policies, and help ensure that school officials respect the rights of all students. Additionally, there are sections on how one might acquire public records or information to investigate the use of government assets or funds – like school facilities, equipment, supplies, staff time, and contractors – for gun control advocacy and demonstrations, like walkouts, a log that students can use to take notes and document gun control events at schools, and some relevant provisions of the United States Constitution for reference.

“It is more important than ever to make sure that all viewpoints are equally represented and respected in schools,” said FPF Chairman and FPC President Brandon Combs. “Many students and parents we’ve spoken with are deeply concerned that schools are hostile to pro-gun rights views and speech. We hope our new guide helps students and parents exercise their rights and make informed decisions. And if their rights are violated, we definitely want to hear about it. Our legal team would be delighted to help make sure that public schools, staff, and teachers respect the rights of their pro-Second Amendment students.”

Craig DeLuz, an FPC spokesperson and 13-year member of a public school district’s board of trustees, explained that schools can’t support one viewpoint and suppress others. “Schools and teachers cannot be allowed to allow or support speech and viewpoints they agree with while suppressing or prohibiting peaceful, non-disruptive speech and viewpoints they disagree with. Our public schools must not be in the business of picking winners and losers in the context of constitutionally-protected free speech.”

If a student or parent believes they were discriminated against, threatened or disciplined for peacefully expressing their views, punished for refusing to participate in a gun control walkout or demonstration, or threatened with law enforcement action for their pro-gun speech, they can submit a report to the FPF/FPC Legal Action Hotline at www.firearmpolicy.org/hotline or by calling (855) 252-4510.

Craig DeLuz, the media spokesperson for FPC and FPF, does a regular video broadcast called Coffee with Craig. The episode below goes into detail about the K12speech.com project.

This effort may seem a little counter-revolutionary but it is what is needed to fight the corporate gun control industry and their “Red Guard” of David Hogg and Emma Gonzalez.

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I Guess He’s Still Mad About Gettysburg

April 19, 2018 by 1 Comment

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro (D-PA) announced the completion of a review of concealed carry reciprocity agreements that the commonwealth has with other states. According to his release, Pennsylvania now recognizes the carry permits of 29 other states which is up one from before the review. Conversely, the number of states recognizing the Pennsylvania permit remains at 32.

Shapiro announced a tool on his website that allows you to check whether your permit is good in Pennsylvania or whether your Pennsylvania permit is good in other states. All you need to do is click on the outline of the state in question to find out the reciprocity status. I did this for all the states bordering Pennsylvania and it was quite interesting. The border states with the strictest gun control – Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York – have no reciprocity with Pennsylvania in either direction. However, both Ohio and West Virginia which are much more gun friendly have complete reciprocity with the commonwealth.

As I mentioned in the first paragraph, Pennsylvania now recognizes the carry permits of 29 states. From the release on the additions and one subtraction.

Pennsylvania has entered into updated reciprocity agreements with 13 states to guarantee uniformity and consistency with the Pennsylvania Uniform Firearms Act, the state law governing the process. The Commonwealth has added two recognized states – Idaho and Alabama – and will remove one state, Virginia, after 30-days’ written notice, because its background check requirements are weaker than Pennsylvania’s.

Shapiro, though a native of Missouri, must think it incumbent upon himself to keep armed Virginians out of Pennsylvania. I guess he’s still mad about what happened during those three days in July 1863 when Bobby Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia came to visit.

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We Forget The Lessons Of Lexington And Concord At Our Peril

April 19, 2018 by 1 Comment

Today marks the 243rd anniversary of the Battle of Lexington and Concord. The impetus for the battle was the attempt by the military governor of Massachusetts, Gen. Thomas Gage, to seize the arms and ammunition of the militia. Gage had been ordered by Lord Dartmouth, Secretary of State for the Colonies, to disarm the militia.

As I noted on the 242nd anniversary, the colonists were fighting to preserve the right to keep and bear arms that was one of their rights as Englishmen since at least 1689. Since the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, our right to keep and bear arms has been under continual attack. Moreover, some of these attacks have been led by our ostensible friends such as Gov. Phil Scott (R-VT) and Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL).

It doesn’t matter if it is raising the age to 21 to purchase a firearm, bump stock bans, restrictions on standard capacity magazines, extreme violence protection orders, universal background checks, or what not, these laws and regulations are intended to destroy our rights and to destroy the gun culture in America.

Ensign Robert Munroe, Issac Muzzy, Samuel Hadley, John Brown, Jonas Parker, Jonathan Harrington, Caleb Harrington, and Asahel Porter did not die on or near Lexington Green to see modern day Americans just toss their rights away.

Nor did John Robbins, Solomon Pierce, John Tidd, Joseph Comee, Ebenezer Munroe Jr., Thomas Winship, Nathaniel Farmer, Prince Estabrook, and Jedediah Munroe suffer grievous gunshot and bayonet wounds to have modern day American politicians push safety over freedom.

I imagine the men of Captain Parker’s Company of Militia were scared as they assembled on Lexington Green. There were only 80-some of them facing about 700 or so British regulars and Royal Marines. Nonetheless, they were willing to face off against the greatest army of its day. If we can’t stand up to a coterie of freedom-despising billionaires, their PR flacks, their media allies, and their trained-bear-act teens, it is a sad day for America.

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Early Voting Starts April 19th For NC Primary

April 19, 2018 by

Tomorrow is the first day of early voting for the May Primary in North Carolina. The number of locations in a county will vary by both date and county. For example, in Buncombe County (Asheville area), there will be only one site available for early voting until Saturday, April 28th, when it expands to six locations. You can go to the NC State Board of Elections to find the locations for one-stop early voting in your county.

In anticipation of the opening of the early voting period, Grass Roots North Carolina has released their Remember in November candidate evaluations. They have both a sort by district and a sort by name file. Personally, I find the sort by district to be more helpful. The candidate evaluations are only for the state legislature and for Congress.

As GRNC notes, these are evaluations and not endorsements.

GRNC’s “Remember in November” project estimates candidates’ views on “assault weapons,” concealed handguns, gun storage laws, gun rationing, other gun control and the Second Amendment. THE EVALUATIONS HEREIN ARE NOT ENDORSEMENTS. We issued surveys first to a control group of gun owners and then to candidates. Next, we measured how closely each candidate’s views and voting record (if available) agree with the control group. Pay more attention to voting records than survey results unless, of course, you believe politicians never lie.

Also as a reminder, just because a candidate has “R” after his or her name, it doesn’t mean he or she supports gun rights. I have seen a snippet of a debate between Michelle C. Lexo and Tom McInnis regarding firearm issues. They are running for the Republican nomination in the NC Senate 25th District (Anson, Moore, Richmond, and Scotland Counties). Ms. Lexo says we need to look at “high capacity magazines” because she isn’t sure “they are needed”. “Other than that”, she says she supports the Second Amendment. Her opponent, Sen. Tom McInnis, replied “when guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns”.  I’ll let you decide who you’d rather have defending your firearm rights.

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Witness Slips Need In Illinois – III

April 17, 2018 by

Illinois State Rifle Association issued this alert regarding the elimination of state preemption with regard to “assault weapons”.

To read the particular bill, click on the link SB2314 below, click on Full Text.
 
OPPOSE THE FOLLOWING BILLS :

Scheduled Date 4/17/2018 – 4:00 PM
SB2314    Julie A. Morrison    ASSAULT WEAPONS-MUNICIPALITY

Synopsis: Amends the Firearm Owners Identification Card Act. Provides that the regulation of the possession or ownership of assault weapons are exclusive powers and functions of each municipality (rather than this State) . Eliminates existing preemption provision concerning the regulation of assault weapons.  This provision would mean, if passed, that a person maybe fully legal in one municipality but if transporting a particular firearm to another municipality be in violation of that municipality’s law.  The ISRA’s view is that this should remain the purview of the State and NOT individual municipalities.

TO CREATE A WITNESS SLIP 
 

Click on the following link Create a WitnessSlip

 
I. IDENTIFICATION: Enter your personal information. Enter “NA” for the Firm/Business or Agency and Title fields unless you are officially representing an organization.
 
II. REPRESENTATION: Enter “Myself” unless representing an organization.
 
III. POSITION: Select Original Bill and choose Opponent.
 
IV. TESTIMONY: Select the “Record of Appearance Only” radio button.
 
If filing manually, complete the Captcha challenge and agree to the ILGA Terms of Agreement.
 
Then click Create Slip.

TO VIEW A WITNESS SLIP 

Click on the following link View a Witness Slip 

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Witness Slips Needed In Illinois – II

April 17, 2018 by

Illinois Carry issued a more extensive alert yesterday.

The Wolves Are at The Door
Witness Slips & Legislator Visits Needed!
Our last Call to Action asked your help opposing SB2561 Prepackage Explosive Component in Senate Committee. Unfortunately the bill passed out of the Senate and is now scheduled to be heard in the House Judiciary Committee on April 17. Your help is needed to prevent this once vetoed bill from reaching the Governor’s desk again. Join us in opposing Senator Morrison’s repeated attack on our rights.
Another, more venomous attack by Ms. Morrison is her SB2314 Assault Weapons – Municipality, an attempt to repeal the State’s sole authority to regulate “assault weapons”. This bill, when inserted into an earlier attempt to ban bump stocks, was described by a rabidly anti-gun House Member as a “poison pill” that killed his own work against us. We must fight an increasing patchwork of laws from one town to another.  Your witness slips opposing SB2314 will be the antidote to this legislative poison.
Also in the Senate, SB2247 Ban Bump Fire Stockrepresents the work of a bizarre, newly formed coalition of anti-gun legislators who once stood with us. Make no mistake, we oppose SB2247 as much as we oppose any proposals made on behalf of the gun control groups vying for control of this state. We ask that you do the same.
More critically, while your phone calls and witness slips are important, we must up the ante by making personal visits to our legislators’ offices. Groups who oppose our rights have been making headway with this approach – an approach we must ourselves adopt in order to neutralize their work.
Take the time to establish personal, face to face communications with your State Senators and Representatives. Together, we can counter the anti’s lies with our truths.
Join us in opposing these bills by filing witness slips today!
Remember to log in to your account first, if you have one!
File Witness Slips Now!
In order to avoid completing each field manually, at the top right  Log on  to your ILGA Dashboard or  Create a New Account  if you haven’t already created one, then return to this email and click on the links for each witness slip.
Witness slips can be tracked here:
Senate & House – Sustain the SB1657 Veto!
Continue to call your State Senators and State Representatives in their Springfield offices. Remind them that you oppose SB1657 Gun Dealer Licensing, described by the Chicago Tribune as “government overreach”.
Ask them to sustain Governor Rauner’s veto.
House – Oppose Concurrence Votes!
While speaking with your state representatives remind them to oppose the changes made in the Senate to HB772 Lethal Violence Order of Protection, HB1465 “Assault Weapon Age 21, and HB1467 Preemption Repeal.
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Witness Slips Needed In Illinois – I

April 17, 2018 by

Both Illinois Carry and the Illinois State Rifle Association have issued alerts for anti-gun bills that are coming up this week in the Illinois General Assembly.

From Illinois Carry:

Emergency Action Alert!
Witness Slips Needed!
Moments ago, HB1470 Criminal Law Tech was added to the House Judiciary – Criminal Committee Schedule for the April 17 hearing.  Amendment 1 (HFA1) prohibits transfers of more than one gun per month, and establishes penalties for possession with intent to transfer.
Please express your immediate disapproval of  this bill and amendment by filing witness slips opposing it.
Remember to log in to your account first, if you have one!
In order to avoid completing each field manually, at the top right  Log on  to your ILGA Dashboard or  Create a New Account  if you haven’t already created one, then return to this email and click on the links for each witness slip.
Witness slips can be tracked here:
Senate & House – Sustain the SB1657 Veto!
Continue to call your State Senators and State Representatives in their Springfield offices. Remind them that you oppose SB1657 Gun Dealer Licensing, described by the Chicago Tribune as “government overreach”.
Ask them to sustain Governor Rauner’s veto.
House – Oppose Concurrence Votes!
While speaking with your state representatives remind them to oppose the changes made in the Senate to HB772 Lethal Violence Order of Protection, HB1465 “Assault Weapon Age 21, and HB1467 Preemption Repeal.
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GRNC On Weekend Rallies

April 13, 2018 by 1 Comment

Grass Roots North Carolina sent out a press release this afternoon regarding the weekend gun rights rallies. They make the point that they are not affiliated with the event nor are sponsoring it. Their goal is not to discourage attendance but to make sure people are aware of the relevant state law in North Carolina about carrying on the grounds of the State Capitol.

GRNC not affiliated
with Saturday’s rally.  Warns supporters against
bringing guns to the State Capital Grounds
To gun rights
supporters: 


You may have heard about the nationwide
pro-gun
rally planned for this weekend. GRNC is not affiliated with this event,
but we have learned that some organizers in various states have
encouraged
attendees to bring firearms to their particular rally location.
While it’s true that they are only encouraging this in states where it is legal to do so, there should be some
concern that people unaware of their state and local laws could inadvertently ensnare themselves in serious legal trouble.

Although
GRNC is not affiliated with this event, we want to serve our supporters who may plan to attend with a helpful warning: it is absolutely illegal to
carry a gun on the State Capital grounds in North Carolina, unloaded or otherwise.

Carrying a gun at a protest in that
part of the city will most likely land you in
serious legal trouble, and may very well compromise your personal
safety. It would also be counterproductive to the gun rights movement.
GRNC does not
condone breaking any gun laws. 
Should you choose to attend this (non-GRNC) rally:
DO NOT BRING A FIREARM 

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Gun Rights Rallies This Weekend – Advocate But Stay Within The Law

April 13, 2018 by

A group calling itself the National Constitutional Coalition of Patriotic Americans is calling for gun rights rallies at state capitals across the nation. It is called National Support the Second Amendment Rally at the Capital.

This effort is not affiliated with gun rights groups like Grass Roots North Carolina, Georgia Carry, the NRA, or Gun Owners of America. They are not opposing it but they are not sponsoring it either.

In many states, people are being encouraged to open carry unloaded long guns. I can’t speak for other states but do not do it in North Carolina.

Open carry in North Carolina is a constitutional right that was affirmed by the NC Supreme Court in State v. Keener back in 1922. Notwithstanding that, there are places where carry of any firearm, loaded or unloaded, is forbidden. The grounds of the North Carolina State Capitol is one of those places. Interestingly, papers like the Charlotte Observer are running stories headlined “Gun rights supporters: Bring your unloaded rifle to rallies”. They conveniently forget to tell you that it is illegal in North Carolina.

DO NOT CARRY A FIREARM if you are attending the rally in Raleigh, North Carolina as it is ILLEGAL. You are asking to be arrested. Moreover, you will be giving aid and comfort to the enemies of the Second Amendment. Let me repeat that – if you carry a loaded or unloaded firearm on the State Capitol grounds in North Carolina you will be providing a photo op and talking point for every gun prohibitionist, anti-gun group and their media allies in the state and country.


Advocate for our rights but don’t be an idiot.