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The DC Personal Protection Reciprocity Act (Updated with text of bill)

June 16, 2017 by 12 Comments

There is nothing like an attack on themselves to spur Congress to action. The day after the shooting at the Republican baseball team practice, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) has introduced the DC Personal Protection Reciprocity Act. The act would grant carry reciprocity to anyone with a permit issued by their home state to carry legally in the District. While this is a good first effort, it would still mean that people from highly restrictive carry states like New Jersey, New York, and California (among others) would be screwed.

Looking over the list of co-sponsors of this bill, I see Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) who used to be my Congressman and who is now head of the Freedom Caucus. I also see Rep. Ted Budd (R-NC) who is or was the owner of ProShots indoor range and training facility in Winston-Salem before being elected to Congress. I also see Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) who was one of those under fire at that Alexandria baseball field.

HR 2909 has been referred to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Four of the sponsors of the bill sit on this committee.

Below is the press release on the bill from Rep. Massie:

Washington, D.C – Today, Congressman Thomas Massie, Chairman of the Congressional Second Amendment Caucus, introduced H.R 2909, the D.C Personal Protection Reciprocity Act. This legislation would allow individuals with a valid concealed carry permit issued from their home state to carry their firearms in the District of Columbia.

“After the horrific shooting at the Republican Congressional Baseball practice, there will likely be calls for special privileges to protect politicians,” Congressman Massie explained. “Our reaction should instead be to protect the right of all citizens guaranteed in the Constitution: the right to self-defense. I do not want to extend a special privilege to politicians, because the right to keep and bear arms is not a privilege, it is a God-given right protected by our Constitution.”

“If not for the heroic efforts of the United States Capitol Police at the ball field yesterday, things could have been much worse. What’s always evident in these situations is this: the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.

“To ensure public safety, we need to repeal laws that keep good guys from carrying guns, since not everyone has a personal police detail,” stated Congressman Massie. “The right to keep and bear arms is the common person’s first line of defense in these situations, and it should never be denied.”

Congress has the authority to legislate in this area pursuant to Article I, Section 8, Clause 17 of the U.S. Constitution, which gives Congress the authority to “exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever over such District as may become the Seat of the Government of the United States.”

Although Virginia extends reciprocity to concealed carry permit holders in many states, the members of Congress and accompanying staff traveled directly from D.C., and were traveling back to D.C after the practice was over. It was D.C.’s harsh gun control laws that prevented these law-abiding citizens from exercising their right to bear arms.

Original Cosponsors include Reps Trent Franks (R-AZ), Scott Perry (R-PA), Steve Chabot (R-OH), Jeff Duncan (R-SC), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Doug LaMalfa (R-CA), Ted Budd (R-NC), Barry Loudermilk (R-GA), Mark Meadows (R-NC), Jody Hice (R-GA), Justin Amash (R-MI), Mo Brooks (R- AL), Alex Mooney (R-WV), Rod Blum (R-IA), Ken Buck (R-CO), Todd Rokita (R-IN), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Keith Rothfus (R-PA) David Schweikert (R-AZ), Rick Allen (R-GA), Tedd Yoho (R-FL), Randy Weber (R-TX), and Bill Posey (R-FL).

Actual text of the bill has not yet been uploaded to Congress.gov. I have a request into Rep. Massie’s staff for a copy of the text.

UPDATE: I was able to get the text to HR 2909 thanks to Jennifer Krantz who works in Rep. Massie’s office. I have embedded it below:

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A Most Sensible Suggestion

June 15, 2017 by

Joe Huffman who blogs at The View from North Central Idaho and who is the man behind Boomershoot has made a most sensible suggestion given the events yesterday in Alexandria.

I would like to suggest that congress drop baseball as the annual sport competition between Democrats and Republicans. If this had been practice for a three-gun match or even a IPDA, USPSA, or steel match fewer innocent people would have been injured.

He’s correct, of course. If any of these members of Congress had been armed with even a pistol, it would have brought more force to bear on the shooter and ended things sooner.

Where I see problems arising is trying to get the sides to agree on what rifles are OK to use, how large a magazine is allowed, etc. For example, given how many Democrats are pushing for restrictions on standard capacity magazines, would there be an agreement that only California-compliant 10 round magazines could be used?

One way to get around would be to make it a NSSF Rimfire Challenge sort of event. Rimfire means no arguments on whether it is a “high powered assault rifle” or merely a rifle firing an intermediate cartridge with ugly cosmetics. It would by definition not be “high powered”. Moreover, the rulebook allows magazines to be restricted to 10-round capacity so that eliminates that argument. Finally, since from what I can tell, all the targets are steel plates of one non-human form or another, no one could bring “you’re a racist” accusations by saying that black human silhouette targets actually represent African-Americans.

Do I think congressional Democrats and Republicans will make the switch from baseball to action shooting? No but it is fun to speculate about it.

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In Gun News From The Sub-Polar Region To The North

June 15, 2017 by 5 Comments

The Canadian Firearms Blog is reporting that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s Director of Firearm Regulatory Services has decreed that 80% AR lowers are prohibited. The rationale given is that they can be converted into M16 lower receivers. This prohibition also extends to receiver flats for the AK-47/74 and AMD-63/65.

From the memo issued by Robert J. O’Reilly of the RCMP:

Receiver blanks are firearms since they are nearly completed receivers and fall within the adaptability clause of the firearms definition in Section 2 of the Criminal Code. In other words,
a receiver blank is considered a “barrelled weapon from which any shot, bullet or other projectile can be discharged and that is capable of causing serious bodily injury or death in a person,
and includes any frame or receiver of such a barrelled weapon and anything that can be adapted for use as a firearm”. As such, they are subject to the firearms-related regulatory and enforcement provisions of the Firearms Act and the Criminal Code, including licensing and registration.

Depending on their properties, receiver blanks can fall into any one of the three firearm classifications: non-restricted, restricted, or prohibited. 

The memo goes on to say that individuals have no legal authority “to possess or acquire prohibited receiver blanks”. The memo contains a table listing many of the most common receiver blanks and their classifications under Canadian firearms law. The only receiver blank that is listed as “non-restricted” are ones for the Ruger 10/22. The rest are either prohibited or restricted.

The Canadian Firearms Blog goes on to report some hearsay evidence behind the RCMP’s decision and the reaction within the Canadian firearms community.

A user on a popular Canadian firearms forum on Reddit, who wished to remain anonymous, has reportedly spoken with RCMP firearms techs in Ottawa, stating they had explained that their interpretation is “so long as the blank (in whatever state it may be in) can be ‘easily’ turned into a firearm, it’s a firearm, and since machining is ‘easy’ that any completion of the receiver is enough.”

This decision by the RCMP has drawn considerable criticism, with some expressing concern that, by the verbiage used in the memo, any unmilled piece of alunimium or polymer in the size or shape of an AR-15 receiver can be affected, and some fearing that this is the foundation to reclassify AR-15s as a whole.

I feel for our Canadian gunny friends. While I have neither the skill nor the inclination to complete an 80% lower, I understand the appeal especially if you live in either Canada or California.  I doubt that they are going to get any relief from these onerous regulations in the immediate future given their respective governing parties.

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The Hearing That Should Have Taken Place This Morning

June 14, 2017 by

The House Committee on Natural Resources’ Federal Lands Subcommittee was supposed to conduct a hearing this morning on the Sportman’s Heritage and Recreational Act aka SHARE Act. However, as most people know, a deranged Bernie Sanders supporter from Belleville, Illinois decided it would be a good idea to shoot at Congressional Republicans practicing for a baseball game. Thus, the hearing was canceled. It is unclear when it will be rescheduled.

Numerous parts of the SHARE Act had been passed in previous sessions of Congress but never made it to the President’s desk for signing. This included measures that would have allocated monies for target ranges, would have protected lead-based fishing tackle from lawsuits based on the Toxic Substances Control Act, and would have expanded fishing and hunting opportunities on Federal lands. There were, however, some major additions to the SHARE Act including rolling the Hearing Protection Act into it, replacing the sporting use test with an all lawful use test for non-NFA imports of firearms and ammunition, and prohibiting the BATFE from reclassifying popular rifle ammunition as armor piercing. Sebastian covers the addition of the Hearing Protection Act here and the hearing memo gives a good thumbnail outline of the details of the SHARE Act.

The lone opposition witness was to be former ATF Special Agent David Chipman who now works for Gabby Giffords’ American for Responsible Solutions. I’m sure his inclusion was aimed primarily at the Hearing Protection Act.

In support of the bill was to be Jeff Crane, President of the Congressional Sportsman’s Foundation; Rob Keck, Director of Conservation for Bass Pro Shops and former CEO of the National Wild Turkey Federation; and Jason Ouimet, Director of Federal Affairs for the NRA.

The Subcommittee staff prepared an interesting 38-page memo showing the changes in the legal language that would result from the passage of the SHARE Act as it now stands. The changes are color coded which makes for a quick way to see the addition and subtractions to the law. Additions are color-coded in yellow and deletions are in blue.

Passage of the SHARE Act in its entirety would be good for both Gun Culture 1.0 and 2.0. I’m sure the addition of the Hearing Protection Act and the replacement of the sporting use test are red flags for the gun prohibitionists but now is the time for the Republicans to step up and show they are worthy of the past support from the outdoor and shooting communities.

UPDATE: Sebastian wonders whether or not today’s shooting and the hearing cancellation will be the death of the SHARE Act. It’s a valid question but as one of those commenting noted the bill contains too much “red meat” for the hunting and fishing community to just ignore it.

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How I Spent My Weekend

June 12, 2017 by 2 Comments
While the Complementary Spouse spent the weekend playing with our granddaughter Olivia, I spent the weekend at Andrew Branca’s The Law of Self Defense Level 1 and Level 2 classes. They were held at the Triangle Shooting Academy in Raleigh, NC. 
I learn best by taking notes and I came home with pages and pages of notes. There was so much information presented that I will be digesting and processing what I learned for weeks. I plan to go through my handwritten notes and type them out so as to reinforce what I learned and to make sure I’ll be able to translate my semi-legible scribblings while it is still fresh in my mind.
Speaking generally, we think we know what legal self defense is but I’d wager even most criminal lawyers don’t know what it takes to be legitimate. Legally, self defense is composed of five parts and all must be present for it to be valid. If you are missing even one small part, then it all falls apart and you will be at the mercy of either prosecutorial discretion or 12 people who couldn’t get out of jury duty.
The five parts are:
  • Innocence
  • Imminence
  • Reasonableness
  • Avoidance
  • Proportionality

Another key thing to remember about the law of self defense is that it has developed out of not only the black letter law but appellate rulings involving people named Poo Poo who date drug addicts and 16-year old baby mamas out clubbing. These people are not the squeaky clean plaintiffs like a Dick Heller or an Otis McDonald or a Rhonda Ezell that you find in Second Amendment civil rights case brought by Alan Gura. They are what they are and the consequences of their actions impact us legally every day as we go about our daily lives and try to stay alive and out of trouble.

We discuss DGUs or defensive gun uses every episode of the Polite Society Podcast. It is always the most downloaded segment of each show. Knowing what I know now I will be looking at these DGUs with a much more critical eye.

I attended Andrew’s live classes. Both the Level 1 and Level 2 classes are available online. Given that each cost $249, you may not be able to afford that and I can understand that. Nonetheless, you should buy a copy of his book, The Law of Self Defense, 3rd Edition. I’d buy the paperback edition so that you can make notes in it and highlight passages. Better yet, get the paperback edition and then purchase the Kindle version which is only $2.99 if you have the paperback.

You hope you never are ever involved in any incident involving armed self defense. If you are, then you must, as Andrew continually pointed out in the class, win both the physical battle and the legal battle. The first you need to win to preserve your life and the second you need to win to preserve your freedom.

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Texas GOP Makes Brilliant Hire

June 9, 2017 by 1 Comment

The Texas GOP named my friend (and fellow co-host of the Polite Society Podcast) Rachel Malone as their new Operations Director. The announcement was made on Wednesday in the release below.

Texas GOP Statement on the Hiring of Rachel Malone as the Operations Director

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wednesday, June 7th, 2017

Austin- The Republican Party of Texas is proud to announce the hire of Rachel Malone to serve as the Operations Director. Rachel comes to the RPT after an extensive history as a grassroots activist in Texas, and has hosted countless legislative days at the Texas State Capitol and trained activists across the state on how to engage the legislature.

RPT Chairman James Dickey said this about the hiring of Rachel: “I could not be more proud to have brought Rachel on board. Her expertise in Party organization, legislative processes, and the RPT Platform will allow our Party to function at a high level within the grassroots, the backbone of our Party. Without question, Rachel is the perfect fit for the Party and we look forward to her contributions to the RPT.”

For those that don’t know, Rachel is a certified instructor for the Texas CHL, a Massad Ayoob Group certified instructor, the founder of Texas Firearms Freedom, and, last but not least, a professional musician. Rachel was also formerly a Shoot Boss for Project Appleseed. That someone who has been so intimately involved in the gun culture is now in a position of influence within the Texas Republican Party can mean nothing but good things for gun rights in Texas.

Congratulations to Rachel and congratulations to the Texas GOP for showing the intelligence to hire someone of Rachel’s caliber.

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Constitutional Carry Passes Vote In NC House But…..

June 8, 2017 by

House Bill 746, the Omnibus Gun Bill which contains a provision for permitless concealed carry, passed its first two votes on the floor of the North Carolina House yesterday. The bill will have its third and final vote on Thursday. It passed on a vote of 65 yea, 54 nay, and 1 not voting. All weakening amendments were either defeated or tabled.

This should be a moment of joy and celebration for gun rights supporters in North Carolina and the nation. It should be except it isn’t. The bill if it passes the North Carolina State Senate will almost certainly be vetoed by Gov. Roy Cooper (D-NC). For the bill to have been veto-proof it required 72 yea votes. In other words, the bill needed either a few Democrat supporters which was unlikely or fewer Republican defections.

Now the question that remains is whether those eight Republicans are anti-rights, have been bought off by Michael Bloomberg and his hired guns, or both. It is too soon to see if campaign contributions will be made by Bloomberg to any of these eight. Nonetheless, it appears that Bloomberg’s hiring of lobbyist Chris McClure was a smart tactical move given McClure’s Republican connections. As for their stand on gun rights, most of them were considered wobbly given their ratings by GRNC with only two having 3 stars or better ratings.

So the question remains as to whether any of the “Elite Eight” or “Elitest Eight” (as they are called by Grass Roots North Carolina) will change their vote Thursday.

In the meantime, here are the eight Republicans that voted against constitutional carry and against their own party’s platform. Links to their legislative webpage are in the captions below each picture.

Rep. Ted Davis (R-New Hanover)
Rep. John Faircloth (R-Guilford))
Rep. John Fraley (R-Iredell)
Rep. D. Craig Horn (R-Union)
Rep. Frank Iler (R-Brunswick)
Rep. Chuck McGrady (R-Henderson)
Rep. Samuel Watford (R-Davidson)
Rep. Linda Hunt Williams (R-Wake)

You can read GRNC’s alert on the defection of these eight Republicans here. It contains a pre-written email to send to them.

If these eight had voted against funding abortions or against free lunches for school kids you know the Democrats would be sending their minions to demonstrate in front of their homes and offices. The news media would run the story as the lead item on the local broadcast. I rarely see gun rights supporters adopting their Alinskyite tactics. The only exception I can think of is the demonstrations by activists from the New Jersey Second Amendment Society (NJ2AS) outside the home of Senate President Steve Sweeney after the death of Carol Bowne who was murdered while waiting for a carry permit. I can’t say whether or not these type of demonstrations would be effective in North Carolina but they certainly would get the media’s attention.

UPDATE: A reader who is active in North Carolina gun rights politics sent me this by email and he is 100% correct.

With respect to your article, I would add only that what matters is not how the eight voted today, but rather how they would vote on an override. Many who oppose the bill will vote for an override out of loyalty to their party.

HB 746 passed its Third Reading yesterday on a vote of 64-51. Rep. Craig Horn and Rep. Sam Watford who are mentioned above did not vote as they had excused absences. Speaker Tim Moore (R-Cleveland) did vote and he voted for passage.

The Omnibus Gun Bill has been ordered engrossed and will now be sent to the North Carolina State Senate for their consideration.

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The Best Shills A Billionaire’s Money Can Buy

June 7, 2017 by 1 Comment

HB 746 has been reported favorably out of both the House Judiciary IV and Finance Committees. Among other things, this bill would allow permitless concealed carry by anyone 18 and above who is legally entitled to possess a firearm. In other words, this bill would bring constitutional carry for concealed firearms to North Carolina.

As you can imagine, the usual suspects are lining up against it. The Raleigh News and Observer reports that the North Carolina chapter of the Moms Demand and Everytown, Americans for Responsible Solutions, and the leftist advocacy group Progress NC are joining forces to defeat HB 746. They have also commissioned “polls” which purport to show the majority of North Carolinians are against constitutional carry.

The mainstream media is doing its part by finding “hunters” and “gun owners” who oppose the bill as this tidbit from the N&O shows.

John “Curly” Brazelton of Havelock, a former Marine who belongs to a hunting club, said in an interview with The N&O last week that everyone in his hunting club opposes the idea of eliminating concealed-carry permits.

“We all have them,” Brazelton said. “We have the best law in the country right now.”

Of course the proposed law does not eliminate NC Concealed Handgun Permits. They will still be available for those who want to take advantage of reciprocity from those states that recognize the North Carolina permit.

However, all of this pales in comparison to the amount of money that Mike Bloomberg is spending on registered lobbyists. Not content with all the free support he is getting from the mainstream media and their efforts to find “gun owners” who oppose constitutional carry, he has hired a fleet of lobbyists from some of the leading North Carolina law and lobbying firms.

Knowing he has to convince just enough Republicans to side with the Democrats so that any anticipated veto of the bill by Gov. Roy Cooper (D-NC) cannot be overrode, one of Bloomberg’s primary hires is lobbyist Chris McClure. McClure is a native of Haywood County where I resided for many years and made his bones working for Mark Meadows and Patrick McHenry. He also served as Executive Director of the NC Republican Party. The North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research ranked McClure the 24th most effective lobbyist in 2013. I’m sure his effectiveness rating is now higher.

Grass Roots North Carolina has more info on the other shills – I mean lobbyists – hired by Bloomberg to curtail constitutional rights in the Tar Heel State. They also request that you help stiffen the spine of the Republicans to withstand this onslaught.

Is NC For Sale? Bloomberg Thinks So.

Yesterday
we broke the news that Michael Bloomberg and his collection of
astroturf gun grabbing organizations have purchased the service of
several registered North Carolina lobbyists in an attempt to bring their
dangerous
big-government, anti-freedom agenda to North Carolina. Despite their
staggering losses (constitution carry is now the law in 16 states), they
continue
to burn up the out-of-state millions that Bloomberg has pledged to
whittle away your freedoms, and they’re now bringing paid Bloomberg
mercenaries to
the table to do their legislative dirty work.

Worse yet, they’ve
been stoking media fears by making wild (and untrue) claims about Gun
Omnibus
Bill H746. Some of their wildest gesticulations are around allowing
law-abiding North Carolinians to carry a concealed handgun without a
permit.
Despite the usual fear-stoking and prognostications about blood in the
streets, the evidence from the other 13 states that now allow permitless
carry
suggests the opposite — that empowering people to defend themselves and
their families correlates to a reduction in violent crime.

As a supporter
of Grass Roots North Carolina, you value transparency and
accountability. You know how important it is to follow the law in letter
and spirit, and you
know that public officials need to be held accountable for all of their
actions. Because lobbyists are bought and paid for by special interests,
the
law requires that they be registered. In that spirit, we’d like to
introduce you to the bought-and-paid-for “Everytown” influencers
that are now working hard to further Michael Bloomberg’s agenda in North
Carolina. Go ahead and contact them if you’d like to, but if you do
make sure
you keep the tone polite, and if you call them, only call once. Be a role model of polite civility, and demonstrate that law-abiding gun
owners are model citizens.



Meet lobbyist Christopher McClure (chrismcclure@brookspierce.com, 919-882-2502) of the law firm Brooks Pierce.
Despite his long
history of voting in Republican primaries (why don’t you look up his
voter registration, which lists his home address as 223 Crisp St.,
Durham, NC),
Chris now finds himself with the unenviable task of convincing lawmakers
(many of whom proclaimed to be staunchly pro-second amendment) to do
Michael
Bloomberg’s bidding.

Meet Lobbyist Elizabeth Biser (ebiser@brookspierce.com, 919-882-2508), also the law firm Brooks Pierce.
Her long history of
voting in Democratic primaries (address withheld) is more in line with
what we’d expect from a paid freedom-grabbing Bloomberg shill.

Meet Brian Lewis (brian@newframellc.com, 919-413-2580). His company, New Frame LLC,
is on the Bloomberg
take. Like Elizabeth, Brian has a long history of voting in Democratic
primaries (his home address is listed in the voter rolls as 114
Southwold Dr.,
Cary, NC), suggesting that he, too, might be sympathetic to anti-freedom
causes.

Meet Skye David of New Frame LLC (skye@newframellc.com,
812-881-0200). It’s surprising that a person who claims to advocate for
victims of
domestic violence would align herself with a group that seeks to empower
domestic violence aggressors by disarming their victims. Skye’s voter
registration is recent (address withheld), but her alignment to
Bloomberg’s blood money make her politics plainly clear.

Meet Christy Jones (christy@newframellc.com, 336-905-0428), the third leg of the New Frame LLC Bloomberg anti-gun
lobbying tripod (address withheld).

IMMEDIATE
ACTION REQUIRED!

DELIVER THIS
MESSAGE
Suggested Subject: “Pass HB 746 Now; Represent the Voters, Not
Bloomberg’s Paid Lobbyists”  
Dear Representative:

I understand that a vote on the omnibus gun rights had to be
postponed last week due to late-night budget negotiations. That is
disappointing, but I also understand the bill will be brought to the
floor for a
vote this week. That’s good news.

I am writing today to ask you to
vote ‘Yes’ on this bill on the House floor, and to vote
‘No’ on any weakening amendments. The right to keep and bear arms is a
fundamental human right, and North Carolinians are finally making
headway in rolling back the oppressive erosion of this right that has
taken place in recent decades. Let’s keep that freedom trend going!

On
that same note, I would also remind you that strong support for
“constitutional carry” is an explicit part of the Republican Party’s
2016 platform (see page 12), just as gun rights in general are. With
this fact at the forefront, I can see no reason for any Republican to
shy away
from supporting this gun-rights legislation. In fact, among other
things, pro-Second Amendment policy is precisely what voters had in mind
when they
chose you as their representative.

We are aware of the
Bloomberg-funded lobbyists that are whispering in your ear. Do you
really want to align
yourself with Bloomberg’s carpetbagging mercenaries?Represent voters,
and not the big-money, anti-gun interests from New York City!

I’ll be
eagerly awaiting more news on this topic from Grass Roots North Carolina legislative alerts.

Respectfully
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D-Day Plus 73 Years

June 6, 2017 by

I can’t help but compare the young men – boys really – who stormed the beaches of Normandy with the young men of today. Those young men’s formative years were during the Great Depression. It didn’t matter if they were “Harvard men” or eighth grade drop-outs they had all lived through it and were impacted by it. There are some Millennials who are made of the same stern stuff as the infantrymen and combat engineers who came ashore that day but they are few and far between.

The men above had to wade ashore in chest high water wearing heavy, impregnated uniforms. They then had to make their way up across the wide beach and over the bluffs in the background. the Germans rained fired down upon them. If they survived that, then their battle to defeat the Germans and to establish a beachhead began.

To put their odds of making it off that beach into perspective, here are the casualty counts (killed, wounded, missing) by landing beach from West to East. This does not count the airborne and glider landings.

  •  Utah (US) – 589 
  • Omaha (US) – 3,686
  • Gold (British) – 1,023
  • Juno (Canadian) – 1,242
  • Sword (British) – 1,304
The casualty rates in the first waves ran as high as 50% The number of men killed on D-Day was traditionally given as about 2,500. However, more recent research by the US National D-Day Memorial Foundation puts the number as much higher. Their estimate derived by checking unit reports and names of individuals killed put the American number of deaths at 2,499 and other Allies at 1,915 for a total of 4,414.
I think it is important to remember the sacrifice of these men as so few of them are alive today. I would hate to see this fade from memory.