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Hearing In NC State Senate Tomorrow On Two Gun-Rights Bills

June 13, 2011 by

While much of the work of the North Carolina General Assembly is done for the session, those bills that made the crossover deadline are still being considered. On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary II Committee will hold hearings on HB 111 – concealed carry in restaurants and Park – and on HB 650 – various gun law amendments and the Castle Doctrine. The hearings on HB 111 will be for discussion only.

The committee’s announcement is below:

Corrected: HB 111 is for discussion only.

SENATE

NOTICE OF COMMITTEE MEETING
AND
BILL SPONSOR NOTICE

The Senate Committee on Judiciary II will meet at the following time:

Tuesday
June 14, 2011
10:00 AM
1124 LB

The following will be considered:

HB 113
Motorcycle Safety Act.
Representative Killian

HB 381
Checking Station Pattern Selection.
Representative Torbett

HB 659
Capital Procedure/Severe Mental Disability.
Representative McGrady
Representative Harrison
Representative Glazier
Representative Stevens

HB 650
Amend Various Gun Laws/Castle Doctrine.
Representative Cleveland
Representative Hastings
Representative Hilton
Representative LaRoque

HB 111
Handgun Permit Valid in Parks & Restaurants.
Representative Steen, II
Representative Barnhart
Representative Hastings
Representative Hilton

HB 111 is for discussion only.

Senator Austin M. Allran, Co-Chair
Senator Warren Daniel, Co-Chair
Senator E. S. (Buck) Newton, Co-Chair

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Blah, blah, blah

June 13, 2011 by 2 Comments

The statement of Brady Campaign head Paul Helmke on their new campaign featuring Plaxico Burress is below. This campaign is being done in conjunction with the National Urban League and is called the Urban League Celebrity Empowerment Challenge. Burress said he is “committing his time and talent to volunteering with National Urban League youth programs that emphasize health, education and anti-violence, and pledging to recruit other professional athletes to do the same.”

I realize that Burress is doing what he is told he must do by his advisors if he wants to be able to play in the NFL again. This is similar to the stuff that Michael Vick had to do with the Humane Society of the U.S. To be honest, it is all a charade at portraying “redemption” on the part of Burress and his handlers. I just have to say it pisses me off to see the anti-gun vultures using him.

Paul Helmke, President Of The Brady Center, Remarks At Urban League, Plaxico Burress News Conference

Jun 13, 2011

NEW YORK — The Brady Center has formed a partnership with Plaxico Burress to prevent gun violence. Plaxico contacted us a year ago and told us that when he was released from prison, he wanted to spend his time warning young people, especially, about the risks and dangers of guns.

He told us that his direct, and painful, experience with a gun in a nightclub in 2008 had taught him a lot of lessons. It had taught him, ultimately, that guns make everything worse. And as time unfolded behind bars, his experience helped him understand that once he was free, he would have an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of children, athletes, and the entire sports community.

We’re pleased to work with Plaxico on this life-saving issue. The Brady Center is the nation’s largest public interest organization dedicated to ending gun violence in America. As a non-profit, 501-c-3 organization, we work to bring justice to gun violence victims in the courts. We educate Americans about the risks and dangers of guns. We fight in the courts to make sure strong gun laws remain on the books.

We have joined forces with people from the faith community, Hollywood, law enforcement, the medical community, education, and other segments of society. Today we’re happy to add another voice for our movement.

Children 15 years and under in America are 12 times more likely to die from guns than children in the next 25 largest industrialized countries combined. African-American children and teens are almost five times as likely as their white peers to be killed by firearms. Community violence, including gun violence, has the equivalent emotional impact on children as war or natural disaster.

Gun violence in America is clearly a disastrous problem — but it’s one we can do more to prevent.

America needs more voices such as Plaxico’s speaking on behalf of sensible gun laws and sensible behavior around guns. America needs Plaxico, other athletes and sports professionals, to be active in campaigns against gun violence. Plaxico will occupy a new and important place in this conversation.

He has agreed to work with us to share:

·His life’s journey, including how his decision to use a gun illegally injured himself, endangered many, and led to his incarceration;

·The lessons he has learned about the consequences of misusing a gun and the illegal possession of a gun;

·The inherent risks and dangers of guns; and

·The importance of abiding by gun laws.

We will have more to tell you about this partnership in the coming weeks. But for now, we are eager to see this man who has proven he can be a giant in football become a giant in the cause of helping save lives from being lost to gun violence.

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Ex-Con Wants To Play In NFL Again; Will Say Anything To Win Job

June 13, 2011 by 5 Comments

Former NY Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress was released from the Oneida Correctional Facility this past Monday. He had served 20 months and 16 days in prison after being convicted of criminal possession of a firearm. The conviction stemmed from an incident where he had a negligent discharge of his Glock in a New York City nightclub. He was not carrying the pistol in a holster and shot himself in the leg when he grabbed for the pistol as it slipped in his pants.

Mr. Burress obviously would like to play in the NFL again. Tomorrow, he will appear at a news conference to make what is reported to be an attempt at redemption similar to his friend Michael Vick. According to Bill Ritter of New York’s EyewitnessNews 7:

The former Giants football star Plaxico Burress is campaigning for redemption – this after spending 20 months behind bars for carrying an illegal gun and then accidentally shooting himself in the leg outside a nightclub. He’s appearing with the Brady Center people – gun control advocates – for some big announcement on Monday. Also there: Tony Dungy, the former pro football head coach. You’ll recall that Dungy was also there when quarterback Michael Vick campaigned for redemption at a news conference with the Humane Society, after Vick emerged from prison for running an illegal dog fighting ring.

Obvious stunts or legitimate contriteness?

If it involves the Brady Campaign, my vote is for obvious stunt. Their press release is fairly restrained for them and just says:

NEW YORK — In his first public appearance since his release from prison, Plaxico Burress will make an important announcement Monday, June 13, at 11 a.m. EDT, at the offices of the National Urban League. He will be joined by National Urban League President Marc H. Morial, former Indianapolis Colts Coach Tony Dungy and Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

The announcement will be webcast on www.iamempowered.com and www.playmakersllc.com.

National Urban League President Marc Morial is best remembered within the gun community for filing the first city-backed lawsuit against firearms manufacturers for “damages” while mayor of New Orleans back in 1998. The Louisiana Supreme Court eventually dismissed the suit in 2001 after the State Legislature passed a bill forbidding cities from suing.

Given the participants in Monday’s event – Tony Dungy excepted – Mr. Burress probably associated with a more honest group of crooks while in prison than he’ll be sharing the stage with on Monday. Those crooks just wanted money or blow and not to take away other people’s civil rights.

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I Blame Soy Milk For This

June 12, 2011 by 9 Comments

The Outdoor Pressroom has a story today about decorating for the eco-conscious vegan man.

… we see items like this “green recycled cardboard” deer head, promoted as “taxidermy without the guilt.” Made for the “modern, eco-conscious vegetarian man” who wants to “use interior design to demonstrate his masculine, yet environmentally sensitive, attributes.”

The story has a link to the website GreenProphet.com which has a whole story about an Israeli company named Crembo making the cardboard deer head mounts.

Karen Chernick, the author of the Green Prophet article, writes:

In centuries past, mounted deer (or other animal) heads were considered a type of trophy – an item that illustrated the skills and capabilities of the hunter who killed the deer. If a man had a deer head on his wall, you would assume that he was virile, manly, capable of taking care of his little woman and kids, and probably a few other things as well. But what is the modern, eco-conscious vegetarian man to do when he too wants to use interior design to demonstrate his masculine, yet environmentally sensitive, attributes? Play on the classic mounted deer head and hang a “green” cardboard version.

Demonstrating masculine attributes by displaying a cardboard deer head? I’d call it faux deer for faux men.

As I said in the title, I blame all those estrogens in soy milk.

H/T Bitter

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Zombie Apocalypse In Madison

June 11, 2011 by 2 Comments

This week in Madison, Wisconsin a group of Special Olympians was honored by Gov. Scott Walker. It was to be a big deal for this wonderful athletes. They had Bucky Badger there for pictures, they had a pep band playing, and, unfortunately, they had Zombies from the United Council of University of Wisconsin Students who were protesting Gov. Walker.

Political protest is one thing, ruining an event for the mentally and developmentally challenged is another. It goes beyond the pale. What the hell are they learning in the classroom that would convince them that this sort of behavior is acceptable?

James Taranto in the Wall Street Journal sums it up well.

It’s not uncommon for political protesters to act like bullies, but it takes a special uncouthness to bully Special Olympians. It would be like holding an angry antiwar protest at the funeral of a fallen soldier–which, come to think of it, is just what the so-called Westboro Baptist Church does.

How obnoxious are the zombies of Wisconsin? So obnoxious that that they could use lessons in civility from the Westboro Baptist Church.

Remember, when dealing with the Living Dead or Zombies, it is head shots only.

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A New Addition To The Blog

June 10, 2011 by 2 Comments

You will notice a new addition to the blog. In the upper right corner is a banner ad for LuckyGunner.com.

I thought long and hard about adding any advertising to this site.For the past year, there has been no advertising on this blog. I am in the enviable position of not needing the blog to pay for itself. What little out-of-pocket expenses I incur are minimal and my chief expense is the time that I spend on the blog.

So why did I add a banner ad for LuckyGunner.com?

The simple answer is that it is a way for this blog to generate monies to help support the Second Amendment Foundation as they fight for our Second Amendment rights. Since the win in the Supreme Court in the McDonald case, SAF has filed lawsuit after lawsuit seeking to use that ruling to strategically expand our civil rights. Winning firearms freedom one lawsuit at a time is not cheap. Doing it multiple lawsuits at a time is even more expensive.

All the referral commissions generated by LuckyGunner when you buy ammo, reloading supplies, or other shooting items are sent directly to the Second Amendment Foundation. The fact that they will send the money directly to SAF was a big plus for me.

So I would ask you to consider clicking on the banner ad the next time you are thinking of buying ammo. They have good prices and, unlike Walmart, they are not kow-towing to Mayor Bloomberg and his Illegal Mayors. You will be getting fresh ammo at a good price and will be helping to preserve, protect, and expand our Second Amendment rights at the same time. That sounds like a win all around to me.

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Overview Of Project Gunwalker On CBS Early Show

June 10, 2011 by

Sharyl Attkisson had a report on this morning’s CBS Early Show in which she gave an overview of Project Gunwalker. The overview was to preview what will come out at the hearings before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee next week. It is one of the better summations of the scandal that I’ve seen.

The accompanying story can be found here.

If you have friends, family, or even anti-gun friends who don’t get it, have them watch this video report. They will understand after viewing it.

The only quibble I have is calling the semi-automatic firearms “assault rifles” when they were not full-auto firearms.

I agree with David Codrea about getting a kick out of hearing Chris Wragge refer to it as the “gunwalker scandal”. After a descriptive name is attached to a scandal, it sticks like mud. Sen. Sam J. Ervin (D-NC) officially headed the Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities. Everyone knows it as the Watergate Committee. I hope the same will happen here.

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Stay On The Trigger

June 10, 2011 by 2 Comments

Sheriff Jim talks about staying on the trigger after taking the shot. This is something Tom Givens emphasized in our defensive pistol class at the LuckyGunner Memorial Day Blogger Shoot. Instead of taking your finger off the trigger, you keep it on it and only allow it to go forward far enough to reset the trigger.

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I Respectfully Disagree

June 10, 2011 by 7 Comments

The NRA-ILA sent out a legislative alert for North Carolina this morning concerning S. 594. This bill would do away with North Carolina’s ban on possession on ammo and firearms off premises during a declared State of Emergency.

Thursday, June 09, 2011

Contact Your State Senator Immediately!

With time rapidly winding down on this year’s legislative session, many pro-gun reforms are in a position to advance. One critical reform has been bottled up, and could die if it is not acted on soon.

Senate Bill 594, an emergency powers bill introduced by state Senator Doug Berger (D-7), has been stalled since its introduction. This critical legislation would ensure that our Right to Keep and Bear Arms cannot be suspended during a declared state of emergency. The NRA has been told that the Senate Republicans are preventing this bill from being heard.

Please call AND e-mail your state Senator IMMEDIATELY and urge him or her to support adding the language in S 594 as an amendment to all pro-gun legislation.

Please also call AND e-mail Senate Republican Leadership and urge them to ensure the language in S 594 is amended to other pro-gun legislation.

I have written a great deal on North Carolina’s ban on firearms during declared states of emergency. I have called the Governor’s Office to inquire about the declared emergency at the start of dove season last year and was called a rumor mongerer. I have chastised Gov. Bev Perdue for misstating the law. I have written about the Senate Bill above. No one can say that I have ignored it and want the emergency ban to remain in place.

Normally, I’d be urging North Carolina readers to call or email the State Senate leadership to move this bill. That said, I disagree with the NRA-ILA on pushing to rush this bill through the State Senate. The reason I don’t want to see this bill passed right now is because of a conversation I had with a certain prominent attorney. All I will say about this attorney is that he has rock star status within the gun community.

He said that in strategic civil rights litigation you need the opinions and decisions so that you can build upon them to expand the right. For example, you had to have the Heller decision before you could get the McDonald decision which incorporated the Second Amendment to the states. If Mayor Adrian Fenty had not in his confident arrogance appealed to the Supreme Court from the Court of Appeals, you would not have had a Supreme Court decision in favor of Dick Anthony Heller.

Likewise here in North Carolina, if the General Assembly passed changes to the emergency powers, it will moot Bateman v. Perdue. At the heart of that case is the right to carry for self-defense outside of your residence. Bateman is fully briefed and is ready to go to oral arguments. It is a good case and despite the strong efforts of Attorney General Roy Cooper and his legal staff, I think we will win it.

There are many opportunities to get a bill passed or a law changed. There is only this one chance to win in the courts. Why blow it just because you are getting antsy? The strongest proponent for changes in this law has been Grass Roots North Carolina which is one of the plaintiffs in the case. With their Alerts going out almost daily as the General Assembly gets near the crossover date, you have not heard them pushing S. 594. Think about that. If the most hard-core, take no prisoners, gun rights group in North Carolina isn’t pushing it, doesn’t that say something? I think even GRNC realizes the value of letting the District Court finish the process that they started the day after the Supreme Court’s favorable ruling in the McDonald case.

UPDATE: S. 594 was not passed (or even considered) by the State Senate before the Crossover Deadline of 11:59pm on June 9th. As a result, it is dead for this session of the General Assembly despite the last minute efforts of the NRA-ILA.

Is this a bad thing that the General Assembly didn’t pass changes to the Emergency Powers statutes? The answer is no for two reasons. First, Bateman v. Perdue is moving along in the courts and as I said earlier, I think we have a good chance of winning it. And second, Governor Perdue herself has changed how she declares a State of Emergency. While she still retains the power to declare a statewide State of Emergency under Chapter 36A of the General Statutes which imposes the firearms restrictions, she has begun to use another section of the General Statutes, Chapter 166A,  that allows declaration of an emergency yet doesn’t impose firearms restrictions.

UPDATE II: I was correct about GRNC recognizing the value of letting the District Court finish the process. GRNC’s leadership sent out this message yesterday to Republican State Senators

To: GOP Senators
From: Grass Roots North Carolina
Re: SB 679, anti-gun effort by Sen. Doug Berger

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Grass Roots North Carolina has reason to believe that Sen. Doug Berger
will attempt to amend SB 679 (“Castle Doctrine/Amend Firearms Laws”) on Third
Reading by adding the contents of SB 594 (“Firearms/State of Emergency”).

I strongly urge you to oppose any such attempt by Sen. Doug Berger.

Although this bill appears to be a well-intentioned effort to repeal the
gun ban which applies during States of Emergency declared by the Governor or
local governments, in reality it is an effort to moot a lawsuit filed
against Gov. Perdue and others by Second Amendment lawyer Alan Gura.

As you may recall, Gura won DC v. Heller and McDonald v. Chicago, forcing
SCOTUS to recognize the Second Amendment as an individual right.

This lawsuit, Bateman et al. v. Perdue et al., is intended to expand the
definition of the Second Amendment by the United States Supreme Court. If
won, not only would the lawuit cause repeal of the State of Emergency law in
question, but it would further expand our rights under the Second Amendment.

Again, I strongly urge you to oppose any attempt by Sen. Doug Berger to
add State of Emergency language to SB 679.

Senate Bill 679 passed its 2nd and 3rd Reading yesterday without the Emergency Powers amendment. Sen. Doug Berger referred to in the letter is a pro-gun Democrat.