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Town Hall In Charlotte On Wednesday

April 1, 2019 by

Spectrum News is holding a town hall in Charlotte this coming Wednesday, April 3rd, to view a documentary entitled “Gun Violence and Gun Control in the Carolinas”. This will be followed by a discussion period with those attending the town hall. I think you can reasonably expect the gun prohibitionist lobby to be there in full force wearing their Bloomberg-provided red shirts.

Grass Roots North Carolina is reaching out to those who can be in Charlotte on Wednesday evening to attend. If you live in Charlotte, a surrounding county, or even in South Carolina, and you value your constitutional rights, it would be useful to attend.

GRNC released this alert on the event:

Attend Town Hall Mtg with GRNC’s President

ATTEND THE TOWN HALL MEETING!

Spectrum News is airing a
documentary on the “state of gun violence and gun control in the
Carolinas,” then hosting a town hall meeting immediately afterward…


Join GRNC’s President at a Town Hall 
F.
Paul Valone, GRNC’s President, will be one of the few (if not the only)
pro-gun-rights member of the panel at Spectrum’s town hall discussion.
Fortunately, audience members will have the opportunity to ask questions
of the panel. That’s where you come in. The gun rights
community needs you to be there to ask reasonable questions, those that
will not get asked if only the anti-gun crowd is in attendance.

Help End the Echo Chamber
If
you are in the Charlotte area (or can be) on Wednesday, April 3rd, at
7:30 pm, please join Paul Valone along with other GRNC supporters to
help make sure this town hall meeting is conducted in a fair-minded
fashion, and therefore, actually has a chance to be productive, and not
just an echo chamber for the anti-gun crowd.

Below you’ll find
details about the town hall meeting. Your attendance is needed, so
please do join us. If you are indeed going to be there, please email
GRNC’s Director of Development to let us know:  directorofdevelopment@grnc.org. 


IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED!

 

  • ATTEND THE SPECTRUM NEWS TOWN HALL MEETING ON GUN VIOLENCE/GUN CONTROL: 

    This
    Wednesday, April 3rd, this town hall meeting will immediately follow
    the 8:00 pm documentary on “Gun Violence and Gun Control in the
    Carolinas.” It’s best
    if you arrive in time to watch the documentary so you can secure a seat,
    and the program will surely offer context for the discussion. Arrive by
    7:30 if you can    .

    You ought to have the
    opportunity to ask questions of the panel. GRNC can provide you with
    appropriate questions, those that will mesh with the specifics discussed
    in the documentary, and particular topics to be discussed by the
    panel.

    Spectrum News has stated that they would like to “shine a
    light on feasible ways to prevent gun violence without infringing on
    Second Amendment rights or interfering with law-abiding citizens or
    hunters who would never use a gun to commit a crime.”

    The address for the meeting is below. If you can attend, please inform GRNC’s Director of Development as soon as possible so we know you’re coming. This will make it easier for us to touch base with you before or at the meeting. Use this email address: directorofdevelopment@grnc.org 

MEETING LOCATION:  Spectrum News Studios
316 East Morehead Street
Charlotte, NC  28202 
MEETING DATE/TIME: Wednesday, April 3, 2019
Please arrive by 7:30 pm 
Documentary at 8:00 pm
Town Hall immediately follows
TIPS:
 Email GRNC ahead of time (as soon as you can) to let us know you’re going to attend: directorofdevelopment@grnc.org. If you’d like, GRNC can provide you with questions to ask the panel.
Arrive early (7:30 or earlier) to allow for parking and to make sure you get a seat. 
Please dress for the press. Kindly dress professionally, with no inflammatory slogans or symbols on clothing.
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The Anti’s Are Getting Worried About A Supreme Court Case

March 29, 2019 by 4 Comments

The Supreme Court agreed to hear NY State Rifle and Pistol Association v. The City of New York in January. The case involves an absurd New York City regulation that forbids those with handgun permits from taking their legally owned handguns outside the city limits of New York. These permits only allow a person to keep the handgun in their residence or to practice at one of only seven firing ranges within the city limits. They cannot take their handguns to vacation homes, to ranges outside the city limits, or to competitions outside the city regardless of how it is stored.

Yesterday, Ladd Everitt, Director of One Pulse for America and formerly the communications director for Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (sic), had an op-ed in the New York Daily News urging the city to repeal its handgun transport ordinance. This is the same Ladd Everitt who delighted in portraying those of us in the gun culture as “insurrectionists” and leading demonstrations outside NRA headquarters that attracted about a dozen protesters.

From his op-ed:

A ruling in NYSRPA vs. NYC could overturn not only the city’s gun transport reg, but also “may-issue” laws governing concealed carry of firearms in public in New York and seven other states. Carry licenses are more difficult to obtain than premises licenses in NYC. Law enforcement officials have discretion to deny carry licenses to applicants with a history of violence. The NRA spent $1 million to get Kavanaugh confirmed to the Supreme Court because they believe he will provide the decisive fifth vote to eliminate such discretion by declaring a new, individual right to carry guns in public.


New York City leaders don’t have to fall into the trap the NRA is baiting for them. It is within the authority of NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill to revise or repeal the regulation at the center of NYSRPA vs. NYC. If he took this step (conceivably with the blessing of Mayor de Blasio) and cleared the way for premises licensees to transport secured firearms to locations outside the city, the plaintiffs’ stated grievance would be remedied. The Supreme Court might decide to drop the case before ruling on it.

Ladd may be an asshole but he isn’t dumb. He realizes the danger to the gun control lobby if the Supreme Court rules against New York City which they probably would in all likelihood. In addition to his concerns about may-issue concealed carry permits, the Supreme Court could finally clarify the standard to be used by lower courts in deciding Second Amendment cases. If they said it must be strict scrutiny and they backed this up by taking cases where courts applied intermediate scrutiny, it would open the door to a large round of 2A litigation.

Mayor Adrian Fenty of the District of Columbia was sure of the rightness of DC’s ban on handguns. He decided that DC would appeal their loss in the Court of Appeals in the Heller case to the Supreme Court. We know that turned into DC v. Heller and a recognition that the Second Amendment was an individual right.

Ladd concludes by saying:

It’s true that allowing New York City residents to transport guns outside the city would entail certain public safety risks, even if the practice was regulated. But with the gun violence epidemic increasing in the United States, our communities simply cannot withstand newfound constitutional protections for violent “good guys with a gun.” Now is the time for the NYPD to step up and protect all Americans by repealing NYC’s gun transport ordinance.

I love Ladd’s hyperbole even when he is way off base. The problem isn’t with honest citizens who own a firearm, perhaps have a carry permit, and who engage in armed self-defense. The problem is with violent criminal actors (to use Dr. William Aprill’s phrase). They view gun laws as something to be ignored just like they ignore the laws dealing with theft, assault, and homicide.

When you see a Michael Bloomberg, a Shannon Watts, or one of the Brady co-presidents calling for New York City to ditch this law and moot the NYSRPA case, then you will know the gun control lobby is really running scared. Coming as this op-ed does from the periphery of the gun control lobby, it is a sign that some are awakening. I just hope the rest continue along with their smug, elitist attitudes thinking that they can’t lose.

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Florida Carry Sues Miami Beach Police

March 28, 2019 by

Open carry is generally not legal in Florida. However, there are exceptions such as when one is fishing or hunting. Because of this, groups like Florida Carry organize “fishing trips” where their members legally open carry. The Miami Beach Police didn’t think much of this and disrupted, assaulted, and detained members of Florida Carry at one such event as shown in the video below.

As a result, the Miami Beach Police Department is now being sued by Florida Carry and the individuals illegally detained for violation of their civil rights under color of law.

From Florida Carry:

Miami Beach, FL – A lawsuit for deprivation of civil rights under color of law and violations of Florida firearms and fishing laws has been filed today against the City of Miami Beach and officers of its police department over an incident where the officers assaulted, battered, and detained law-abiding fishermen at a Florida Carry fishing meetup on the South Pointe Fishing Pier on June 24th 2018. The incident was captured on video.

Dubbed the “South Pointe Six”, six Florida Carry members and supporters were held by police for well over two hours without cause, while the police officers went on a fishing expedition of the own in an illegal attempt to find something… anything… the officers could use in order to charge the “South Pointe Six” with a crime before finally failing and releasing them.

Even after eventually releasing Florida Carry’s members, the Police Department forced the premature end of our First Amendment protected gathering by closing the public fishing pier until all known Florida Carry members and supporters left the area.

“Florida Carry will not allow our members to be abused, injured, held without cause, and have their civil rights violated without the strongest possible response to prevent these types of attacks on the good, law-abiding, citizens of our Great State.” Said Florida Carry Executive Director, Sean Caranna.

“Most police officers and deputies that we encounter are outstanding professionals who have an incredibly tough job to do, we respect that honor that. However, we’ve seen these types of abuses happen far too many times in cities and counties who do not respect the Right to Bear Arms. Every City and County in Florida should already know that proper training about the legal possession and carry of firearms is necessary. These types of abuses will not be tolerated – IT ENDS HERE.”

The plaintiffs are represented by Florida Carry General Counsel Eric Friday.

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They Should Have Done Like French Farmers

March 28, 2019 by 1 Comment

I was reading a press release on Monday from RW Arms of Fort Worth, Texas. They were a retailer of bump stocks. As I understand it, they had purchased the entire remaining inventory from Slide Fire last year. The press release said they were were surrendering their remaining 60,000 bump stock to BATFE for destruction.

Fort Worth based retailer, RW Arms, will turn in their entire inventory of bump stocks to the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) on Tuesday, March 26th, to be
destroyed, in compliance with the Bump Stock Ban. RW Arms will transfer 60,000 bump stocks
to American Shredder in Fort Worth, Texas, to be shredded and recycled under the supervision
of ATF agents.

 Subsequent stories in Texas newspapers shows them being crushed at the recycling plant.

Now I’m sure they turned them over like this because they want to stay in the good graces of the BATFE and the rest of the Deep State. However, I might have taken a page from the French farmers protesting what they considered injustices.

I would have loaded them up into this.

Driven them to this building which is the headquarters of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.

Donned my yellow vest. And then done this like French farmers have done in Paris.

Bearing in mind that French farmers have dumped more “odiferous” offerings, I think this would have been a more gentle protest of the perversion of the rule of law by the administrative state at the behest of politician than those French farmers might have conducted. I guess we will have to wait and see if the courts can grow a spine and actually stand up for the rule of law.

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Chief Justice Roberts Refuses To Issue Stay

March 26, 2019 by 1 Comment

The Firearms Policy Coalition and the Firearms Policy Foundation released this statement by Twitter concerning the refusal of Chief Justice John Roberts to issue an emergency stay of the bump stock ban rule.

Updates on the case will continue to be posted at www.bumpstockcase.com.

It should be remembered that the key issue is not really bump stocks. The key issue is whether or not any government agency can reinterpret the black letter law to outlaw something or some action that they had expressly said was legal earlier.

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DC Circuit Stays Bump Stock Rule (Updated)

March 25, 2019 by 4 Comments

The Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit has issued a stay on the enforcement of the BATFE’s bump stock ban. It is only temporary and is intended to give the judges on the Circuit Court the time needed to study the expedited appeal. It doesn’t go to the merits of the case but the judges acknowledged that the March 26th deadline was an issue.

From the court’s order:

BEFORE: Henderson, Millett, and Srinivasan, Circuit Judges


O R D E R


Plaintiffs in these three consolidated cases challenge a final agency rule banning
Bump-Stock-Type Devices, 83 Fed. Reg. 66514 (Dec. 26, 2018) (“Bump-Stock Rule”),
which is scheduled to take effect on March 26, 2019. On February 25, 2019, the district
court denied the plaintiffs’ joint request for a preliminary injunction staying the Bump-Stock
Rule’s effective date. On March 1, 2019, this court granted the Appellants’ joint motion for
expedition of this case, in which they sought resolution of the appeal on a highly expedited
basis before the March 26, 2019, effective date. Under that expedited schedule, this case
was argued on March 22, 2019. At oral argument, counsel for the government explained
that it was now its position that the Bump Stock Rule’s March 26, 2019 effective date
should be viewed as the date when the government will cease exercising its prosecutorial
discretion not to enforce federal law against those who possess or trade in bump-stockdevices covered by the Bump-Stock Rule. Oral Arg. 49:00-51:55. Following oral argument, the Firearms Policy Coalition, Inc. filed a voluntary motion to dismiss its appeal, or in the
alternative to stay its appeal, and advised that the government opposes the motion to
dismiss. In light of these representations, it is


ORDERED that the motion of the Firearms Policy Coalition, Inc., to dismiss its
appeal, No. 19-5043, be granted. Appeal No. 19-5043 is hereby dismissed. It is


FURTHER ORDERED, on the court’s own motion, that the effective date of the
Bump-Stock Rule, 83 Fed. Reg. 66514 (Dec. 26, 2018), be administratively stayed in its
application only as to the named Appellants in appeals Nos. 19-5042 and 19-5044, pending
further order of this Court. The purpose of this stay is exclusively to give the Court
sufficient opportunity to consider the disposition of this highly expedited appeal, and should
not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits of the appeal. See D.C. Circuit
Handbook of Practice and Internal Procedures 33 (2018).

 As I understand this, it only applies to the individuals and organizations named as plaintiffs in the cases.

UPDATE: The attorneys for the appellants have filed an Emergency Joint Motion to Modify the Stay Order. Since the government refuses to compromise, they are requesting either clarification from the Court saying the stay ” includes their respective members, supporters, and those similarly situated
members of the public” or to stay the Final Rule in its entirety until the DC Circuit has made a decision on the merits. They request either alternative be extended to 48 hours after the Court makes its final determination in order to appeal to the Supreme Court.

The motion can be found here.

UPDATE II: Please see the comment from Brandon Combs of the FPC/FPF below. FPC v. Whitaker was dismissed only insofar as its appeal goes. As Brandon notes, they plan to amend their filing in District Court now that AG William Barr has “ratified” the earlier decision.

UPDATE III: The DC Circuit Court has clarified their stay of the bump stock rule but will not extend the stay to all bump stocks. As a result, the plaintiffs in this case have filed an application for an emergency stay with Chief Justice John Roberts.

From the clarification, in part:

FURTHER ORDERED that the request for clarification be granted in part and be
denied in part. The administrative stay entered on March 23, 2019, applies only to the
named Appellants in appeals Nos. 19-5042 and 19-5044, including any current bona
fide members of the named membership associations.

Thus, if you are a member of the Madison Society Foundation, Florida Carry, or the Firearms Policy Foundation, the stay applies to you and you will not have to turn your bump stock in tomorrow or destroy it by then.

Here is what FPF says about membership:

 This morning the U.S. DOJ filed brief arguing that Members of Firearms Policy Foundation who own/possess bump-stock-type devices are currently protected by the D.C. Circuit’s administrative stay of the ATF’s bumpstock ban Final Rule. To become a member and Join FPF please donate $1 or more at FightATF.com or JoinFPF.org.

If you want to join the Madison Society Foundation, it is $30 for a lifetime family membership. Go here if you’d like to join them.

Finally, the membership page for Florida Carry can be found here.

I don’t have a bump stock but I did join the FPF because I appreciate the work they are doing.

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Upgrading My $1 Mossberg 500

March 24, 2019 by 4 Comments

Years ago I won a Mossberg 500A 12 gauge shotgun in a raffle held by a local police department auxiliary. The entry fee was $1 and I paid it with change in my pocket. The shotgun was in a woodland camo and came with both a 18.5″ improved cylinder barrel and a 20″ barrel with rifle sights. This shotgun sat in a box for years until just recently when I decided to upgrade it for a home defense shotgun.

My first step was taking it apart (thank you YouTube!) and giving it a deep cleaning. The barrel had a bit of rust on the outside of it so with a mix of sandpaper and rust remover I cleaned it up. I used Birchwood Casey’s Gun Scrubber Synthetic Safe Cleaner on all the parts to remove dirt, fouling, and old grease. I then scrubbed the bore of the barrel until it shone like a mirror.

My next steps were to decide if I wanted to replace the follower, to add a picatinny rail, to add a red dot sight, whether to make it compatible with mini-shells, and to upgrade the follower spring. Once I decided to upgrade the stock Mossberg follower I had a number of choices to make. Delrin plastic or aluminum? Lime green or any number of anodized options? It came down to the lime green Delrin  follower from S&J Hardware and the aluminum anodized one from NDZ Performance. I eventually decided on the S&J follower because it seemed “slicker”. If I was also going to replace the thumb safety, I might have gone with a NDZ combo package. However, the existing safety seems perfectly adequate.

S&J Hardware Delrin follower – picture from their website.

I had planned to replace the existing spring with a Wolff Extra Power magazine spring. Indeed, I actually bought one. However, it was so strong that it was near impossible to get it installed. I finally gave up and stayed with the stock spring. I may eventually switch but I think the stock spring will work for now.

The brass bead on the 18.5″ barrel would have been perfectly adequate. I had toyed with adding the XS Sights big dot sight but decided a red dot would work better in the long run. I got a UTG picatinny rail from Amazon along with a certified refurbished Bushnell TRS-25 red dot sight. I have used the Bushnell sight on a Ruger 10/22 and on an AR-15 pistol. I was concerned whether it would hold up to the shock of a shotgun round but was assured in an email from Bushnell that it would do fine with 2.75″ shells.

As I intend to give 1 3/4″ mini-shells a try, I bought an OPSol Miniclip 2.0 Flex directly from OPSol Texas. Every review, written and video, agreed that the OPSol Miniclip was the way to go. The Miniclip is a little rubber doo-dad that can be slipped in and out of the shotgun to let the mini-shells feed.

After going to all the trouble to update the internals of the Mossberg 500, it would have been a shame to ignore the exterior. Remember I had to sand some rust off the barrel. I went back and forth on a number of camo patterns and eventually settled on a modified tiger stripe. It would be easy to do using spray paint and blue painters tape.

I had planned to just use black and olive drab for the tiger stripe pattern. I decided to modify it a bit by using a light olive as an accent to the black stripes. These were done using a pair of fishnet pantry hose, more blue tape, and the lighter olive spray paint.

 As you can see in pictures below, I think it came out nicely. I did go over the finished paint job with two coats of a matte finish sealer.

And a closer detail picture of the modified tiger stripe camo.

The blue tape is, obviously, still on the safety and the pump rails. I want to let the sealer cure overnight before removing it.

All that is left to do is mount the picatinny rail and red dot as well as reassemble the internals of the shotgun. That and to take it to the range for testing!

This was a fun project that didn’t cost that much money. Everything all told was less than $100 and will make this old Mossberg 500 much improved.

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World Class Snark

March 21, 2019 by

I love snark. The tweet below is, in my opinion, world-class.

As most probably know, that Irish-American former congressman from Texas by the name of O’Rourke has decided to run for president. I’d wager that if he were forced to take an Ancestry DNA test, the only Spanish blood in his veins might have come from a survivor of the Spanish Armada that washed ashore in Ireland.

Cheer to entrepreneur and business advisor Carol Roth for giving us the proper pronunciation of O’Rourke’s first name.

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Give Thom A Call This Morning

March 18, 2019 by 1 Comment

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) has been equivocating on red flag laws in his letters to constituents (like me!). Tillis is also a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee which is holding hearings on red flag laws. Now is the time to send Thom a message regarding red flag law. Grass Roots North Carolina is asking for people to give his office a call this morning to let him know this ain’t OK.

Tillis, by the way, is up for reelection in 2020 so he is in that part of his term where he needs to play politician 100% of the time. We need to use that to our advantage.

From the GRNC alert:

STOP ‘RED FLAG’ LAWS:
CALL THOM TILLIS
On
Friday night, GRNC alerted supporters to the fact that US Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC)
looks to be capitulating to his
anti-gun colleagues in Washington. Tillis has telegraphed his support
for “Extreme Risk Protection Orders” (or “Red Flag” laws) by
supporting S. 7. This
bill would allow
the word of an accuser, voicing “concerns,” to strip a citizen of
several of the Constitutional protections guaranteed by the Bill of
Rights—without due process. Yet, in Senator Tillis’ recent
correspondence with concerned constituents, he did not address any
of the glaring and very serious problems with S. 7. Telling the “whole”
truth is to tell the truth. Omitting critical details on such an
important matter is, well… something else. This does not inspire voter
confidence in Tillis’ resolve to support the Bill of Rights.

Unfortunately, it looks like the
Judiciary Committee, of which Tillis is a member, will conduct a hearing on S. 7 on March 26. Human rights are non-negotiable, and
therefore, Tillis must not vote for this bill—but he seems poised to.

As part of
Friday’s alert, we asked gun owners and other supporters of the Bill of
Rights
to phone Thom Tillis’ DC office on Monday morning
(3/18/2019), and this alert is a friendly
reminder to do just that. Below, in the Immediate Action section, find
details on how to reach Tillis and demand that he stand for the 2nd,
4th, 5th
and 6th Amendments, not against them. 

To read more about “Red Flag” laws, and Thom Tillis’
willingness, to cozy up to them as a member of the powerful Senate
Judiciary Committee, click to read Friday’s
alert, and/or click to read a previous alert on
the topic.

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IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED!

  • PHONE SENATOR THOM TILLIS: On
    Monday morning     (3/18/2019), please phone Thom Tillis’s DC office at this number: (202) 224-6342.
    If you
    can’t call in the morning, please call as soon as you can after that.
    Deliver the following message to Tillis’ staff or his voice-mail.
     
Hello,
I am calling about the senator’s recent correspondence on the topic of
Senate Bill 7, “Extreme Risk Protection Orders,” sometimes called, “red
flag” laws. In this correspondence, he conspicuously
failed to address the severe Constitutional problems with red flag laws;
the establishment of ex parte hearings is just one of many examples. In
fact,
these laws threaten Second, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Amendment
protections—at least.

I am quite
troubled by Senator Tillis’ effort to dance around the major problems
with red flag laws and I expect him to be more candid, indeed more
honest, with me in the future. As a North Carolina voter and a gun
owner, I also
expect the senator to live up to his oath of office, to the Republican
Party’s platform, to the pro-Second Amendment statement on his own
website, and to do everything in his power to defeat this revolting,
un-American bill, and any other bill like it. Thank
you.