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NC’s HB 562 Sent To Governor For Signature

July 28, 2015 by 1 Comment

The North Carolina Senate passed HB 562 last night in an evening session by a vote of 40 yea, 9 nay, and one absent. The bill will now be sent to Gov. Pat McCrory (R-NC) for his signature.

It passed with no new amendments and no drama. Both of those were reserved for the NC House where an unholy alliance of power-hungry sheriffs, gun control groups, Democrats, and some LEO worshiping Republicans conspired to strip the demise of the racist pistol purchase permit system from the bill. The medical privacy component of the bill which provided relatively weak protections to gun owners was also stripped from the bill in a closer vote at the behest of the North Carolina Medical Society.

The bill that was left did include some important gun rights provisions. These include a more standardized process for approving or denying both concealed handgun permits and pistol purchase permits, shooting range protections, expanded campus carry, and shall-issue CLEO sign-offs on NFA items. There are more and the full bill can be found here.

In the end, both gun rights supporters and gun prohibitionists will be able to claim victory. Mike Bloomberg, Shannon, and Gabby will claim victory because they got to keep the pistol purchase permit system. This was a system instituted in 1919 by white supremacist Democrats to keep handguns and other weapons out of the hands of African-Americans, union organizers, socialists, populists, and anyone else that they thought would be an opponent. Gun rights supporters will be able to claim a victory because of all the other stuff we got in the bill which, in the end, may prove to be much more important than the end of the pistol purchase permit system.

Here is the final vote breakdown in the Senate:

Total Votes: 49   Ayes: 40   Noes: 9   Not: 0   Exc. Absent: 1   Exc. Vote: 0
Democrat Republican
Ayes:    Senator(s): Clark; D. Davis; Ford; Lowe; Smith; Smith-Ingram; Stein Senator(s): Alexander; Apodaca; B. Jackson; Barefoot; Barringer; Berger; Bingham; Brock; Cook; Curtis; Daniel; Gunn; Harrington; Hartsell; Hise; J. Davis; Krawiec; Lee; McInnis; Meredith; Newton; Pate; Rabin; Rabon; Randleman; Rucho; Sanderson; Soucek; Tarte; Tillman; Tucker; Wade; Wells
Noes:    Senator(s): Blue; Bryant; Foushee; J. Jackson; McKissick; Robinson; Van Duyn; Waddell; Woodard Senator(s): None
Exc. Absence:    Senator(s): None Senator(s): Brown

One final note. It is interesting to notice the vote by the African-American senators on the bill. Five voted for the bill while six voted against it. Interesting.

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CRKT And Cold Steel Settle Their Differences

July 27, 2015 by 2 Comments

I got the following press release late this morning from Columbia River Knife & Tool:

Tualatin, Oregon, U.S.A.— July 27, 2015


CRKT today announced a settlement of a lawsuit filed in June 2015 in Los Angeles by Cold Steel relating to advertising by Columbia River Knife and Tool (CRKT). CRKT is satisfied with the terms of the settlement, which are confidential. The lawsuit will be dismissed. Neither party will make any further comment about the lawsuit or its resolution.

I had written about the lawsuit that Cold Steel brought against CRKT about a month and a half ago. I called it a misuse of the courts and I stand by that statement. While I had a request in to CRKT for a response to the lawsuit, they said they couldn’t talk about it.

As the press release makes clear the lawsuit will be dismissed and the terms of the settlement will be confidential. It should be interesting to see if there is a change in advertising or other behavior from either party in the near to mid-term future. That would be as clear an indication as any as to the terms of the settlement.

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HB 562 Comes Before The Entire NC Senate Tomorrow

July 27, 2015 by 2 Comments

HB 562, the Second Amendment Affirmation Act, comes before the North Carolina Senate tomorrow. The House version was approved without amendments by the Senate Judiciary II Committee on Thursday of this past week. The bill, even though weakened with amendments in the House, does give North Carolina gun owners some important wins. The alert below from GRNC spells out the good stuff and ask that gun owners contact the Republican members of the Senate to urge them to vote for the bill without any weakening amendments.

Pro-gun bill, HB 562, will be considered by the NC Senate
tomorrow (Monday, July 27). Please encourage Senate Republicans to support it …

Last week, thanks in large part to the
insistence of GRNC supporters like you, HB562 moved smoothly through the Senate Judiciary
II Committee. GRNC would like to thank Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger (R-Guilford, Rockingham) and Senator Tom Apodaca (R-Buncombe, Henderson,
Transylvania) for making sure this bill had a proper hearing. Fortunately, the committee did not weaken the bill, which still contains
some great gun-rights advancements, such as: 
  • Expanded
    campus carry (and giving an affirmative defense for defensive gun use on campus);

  • Reduced penalties for carriage onto posted premises;

  • Expanded sport shooting range protection;

  • Reductions in arbitrary permit denials for both concealed handgun permits and pistol purchase
    permits while reducing the number of disqualifying prior offenses for those permits;

  • A new cause of action against local governments which violate our statewide firearms preemption
    law;
  • A requirement for sheriffs to sign Form 4s for
    qualified Title II applicants;
  • A provision for legal
    resident aliens to get concealed handgun permits; and
  • Short-barreled rifle hunting in addition to the suppressor hunting we passed in 2013. 
Now,
it’s time for HB562 to be considered by the
full Senate. To insure its passage, the Republican members of the
NC Senate need to be reminded that you expect them to support this bill,
and to
pass it without weakening amendments.

Below,
you’ll find a
copy/paste message and a copy/paste email list that you can use to
encourage the Senate’s supermajority to act in accordance with their
campaign
promises by voting in favor of HB562.

IMMEDIATE
ACTION REQUIRED!

  • EMAIL SENATE
    REPUBLICANS    : use the copy/paste email address list, and the copy/paste email text under ‘Deliver This Message,’ below.

CONTACT INFO
Copy/paste email *list for Senate Republicans:

John.Alexander@ncleg.net;
Tom.Apodaca@ncleg.net;
Chad.Barefoot@ncleg.net; Tamara.Barringer@ncleg.net;
Phil.Berger@ncleg.net; Stan.Bingham@ncleg.net; Andrew.Brock@ncleg.net;
Harry.Brown@ncleg.net; Bill.Cook@ncleg.net; David.Curtis@ncleg.net;
Warren.Daniel@ncleg.net; Jim.Davis@ncleg.net; Rick.Gunn@ncleg.net;
Kathy.Harrington@ncleg.net; Fletcher.Hartsell@ncleg.net;
Ralph.Hise@ncleg.net; Brent.Jackson@ncleg.net; Joyce.Krawiec@ncleg.net;
Michael.Lee@ncleg.net; Tom.McInnis@ncleg.net; Wesley.Meredith@ncleg.net;
Buck.Newton@ncleg.net; Louis.Pate@ncleg.net; Ron.Rabin@ncleg.net;
Bill.Rabon@ncleg.net; Shirley.Randleman@ncleg.net; Bob.Rucho@ncleg.net;
Norman.Sanderson@ncleg.net; Dan.Soucek@ncleg.net; Jeff.Tarte@ncleg.net;
Jerry.Tillman@ncleg.net; Tommy.Tucker@ncleg.net; Trudy.Wade@ncleg.net;
Andy.Wells@ncleg.net
*Regarding the above
email list: some email programs may require that the semicolons be replaced with commas.

DELIVER THIS MESSAGE

Suggested Subject: “Please Support HB562”  
Dear Senator:

Last week, I was pleased to hear that HB562
moved seamlessly through the Judiciary II Committee, and I am writing to urge you to continue shepherding this pro-Second Amendment bill toward the governor’s desk without
weakening it.

HB562 will be a great step forward
for gun rights in our state. I strongly encourage you to back this bill,
and
to encourage your colleagues to do the same. Please vote for HB562 as it
is currently written, and please vote against any weakening amendments.

I
will be closely watching your actions on this subject through legislative alerts from Grass Roots North Carolina.

Respectfully,  
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Frustrated Is Good; Stymied Is Even Better

July 24, 2015 by 1 Comment

The BBC’s North America editor Jon Sopel was given an exclusive interview with President Obama. In that interview, Mr. Obama said:

“If you ask me where has been the one area where I feel that I’ve been most frustrated and most stymied, it is the fact that the United States of America is the one advanced nation on Earth in which, we do not have sufficient common-sense gun safety laws, even in the face of repeated mass killings,” Obama said. “If you look at the number of Americans killed since 9/11 by terrorism, it’s less than 100. If you look at the number that have been killed by gun violence, it’s in the tens of thousands.”

I am proud to say that I have supported organizations and legislators who have helped stymie his assault on the Second Amendment. I know Mr. Obama thinks nothing of abrogating the rights of Americans by using his “pen and a phone”. When he mentions in the video below that he has 18 months to work on “gun violence” (sic), I take him at his word and am willing to fight him every step of the way. Nothing he has proposed or will propose is “common sense”.

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MDA Claiming False Victories

July 23, 2015 by 4 Comments

Moms Demand Action has never been above claiming a victory where there is none. I came across the picture below yesterday. It seemingly shows Academy Sports and Outdoor stores changing their policy because of a push from the Demanding Mommies. As I mentioned last week, they are on a campaign to get Cabela’s to kow-tow to their demands regarding the erroneously named “incomplete checks.”

They also posted a similar photo regarding Dick’s. Now I don’t care really what Dick’s does because I think they live up to their name post-Newtown.

I checked the Academy Sports website to see if they had any press release regarding this. I came up empty. Likewise, I came up empty on the Everytown Facebook page. Now it gets me to wondering if they just contrived this out of thin air. So I went to that fount of all knowledge, AR15.com, and posted a message on the General Forum asking about it. Out of the 88 replies, I got this one that seems to indicate Academy policy has always been to only release a firearm when they got a definitive OK. Bear in mind that this is from a part-time employee and not a store manager.

I work at Academy part time. Its 21 for handguns and pistol grip shotguns. 18 for long guns, period. I can’s even show a handgun or pistol grip shotgun to anyone under 21. But if you’re 18, you can buy any long gun. Academy won’t sell a gun without a “Proceed” or a CCW (at least in MS). IDK about historical data as I have only been there about 2 months.

Other comments seem to indicate that this policy probably came down from their risk management department a long time ago.

So is Academy Sports and Outdoors kow-towing to the Demanding Mommies? Probably not. They had, and have, a policy in place regarding NICS checks that was more stringent than called for by law. It’s not a victory because nothing was changed when Shannon and her minions came calling. It is a policy they like but it wasn’t a win.

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About Damn Time!

July 21, 2015 by 1 Comment

The White House has finally ordered flags to be flown at half staff to honor the four Marines and one Sailor murdered in Chattanooga, Tennessee last Friday. I think the embarrassment of seeing the flag at half staff at the Capitol while flying at full staff at the White House may have finally prodded them into doing the correct thing.

From FoxNews

From FoxNews:

In a proclamation issued early Tuesday afternoon, Obama said of the Chattanooga victims, “We honor their service. We offer our gratitude to the police officers and first responders who stopped the rampage and saved lives. We draw strength from yet another American community that has come together with an unmistakable message to those who would try and do us harm: We do not give in to fear. You cannot divide us. And you will not change our way of life.”

He ordered flags flown at half-staff at the White House and “all public buildings and grounds,” as well as over military posts and naval stations and vessels — until July 25. Flags will be flown at half-staff at U.S. embassies and other overseas diplomatic offices.

The decision comes after congressional leaders ordered flags at the U.S. Capitol lowered to half-staff earlier in the day — that decision fueled questions over why the White House hadn’t yet done the same.

Gov. Pat McCrory (R-NC) had issued an order that flags in NC be lowered to half staff on Monday to honor these fallen service members. Staff Sgt. David Wyatt was born in Morganton, NC. Gov. Bill Haslam (R-TN) had previously issued a similar order in Tennessee ordering that flags be flown at half staff until Friday.

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SAF Rips Plan To Add Social Security Recipients To NICS Database

July 21, 2015 by 1 Comment

Alan Gottlieb and the Second Amendment Foundation didn’t mince words when they ripped into the proposal to include those who have trouble managing their Social Security checks in the NICS prohibited person database. They make an excellent point when they say that gun control supporters will see nothing wrong with this proposal.

From the SAF:

BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation today responded to published reports that the Obama administration is pushing to prevent citizens collecting Social Security benefits from owning guns if they have problems managing their own affairs as proof the president wants to strip as many people as possible of their Second Amendment rights while he remains in office.

“This could possibly disqualify millions of people from owning firearms and might prevent many others from seeking help,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb, himself a U.S. Army veteran. “It’s unconscionable that someone who might have problems balancing a checkbook or managing their finances would suddenly find himself or herself stripped of their right to keep and bear arms.”

The plan, according to the Los Angeles Times, “could potentially affect millions whose monthly disability payments are handled by others.” The report says this push “is intended to bring the Social Security Administration in line with laws that prevent gun sales to felons, drug addicts, immigrants in the United States illegally, and others.”

“So, let’s see,” Gottlieb observed. “The Obama administration wants to equate some Social Security recipients who own guns with felons, drug addicts and illegal immigrants. That’s not simply insulting, it’s insidious, because who knows where this could lead?

“What’s next,” he wondered. “Will they take away someone’s right to vote, claiming they’re not competent?”

Published reports estimated about 4.2 million adults are now receiving monthly Social Security benefits that are managed by someone else, designated as “representative payees.”

“What may seem reasonable to people who reflexively support any and all gun control is really just one more effort by the Obama White House to erode Second Amendment rights any way they can,” Gottlieb stated. “Taking away someone’s Second Amendment rights because they can’t manage their finances is wrongheaded and repugnant.”

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NRA Response To Social Security Proposal

July 21, 2015 by 4 Comments

The NRA-ILA issued an alert on Saturday after the story broke about the proposal to include 4.2 million Social Security recipients in the NICS database as prohibited persons. This proposal from the Social Security Administration has been traced back to a Presidential Memorandum issued in 2013. That memorandum, issued post-Newtown, ordered Federal agencies to improve the availability of relevant records for inclusion into the NICS database.

The alert does not explain why it took the SSA over two and a half years to come forward with this proposal. Moreover, the alert notes that other Federal agencies were named in the memorandum and might be expected to add even more names to the prohibited list.

There are links in the alert to communicate with your legislators.

From the NRA-ILA:

As the L.A. Times reported on July 18, the Social Security Administration (SSA) is currently developing a program to strip the Second Amendment Rights of over four million Americans currently receiving SSA benefits through a “representative payee.”  Not only would this amount to the largest gun grab in American history, but according to the published report, would take place without any due process protections for recipients, amounting to a nullification of Second Amendment rights for millions of Americans who don’t pose a threat to themselves or anyone else.
This new program appears to have been instigated by the SSA in response to a memorandum issued by Obama in January of 2013 which directed all federal agency executives to “improve the availability of records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).” This memorandum required all agency heads to submit to the Department of Justice (DOJ) a plan for “sharing all relevant Federal records” for submission to the NICS.

Take Action Now to Stop the Largest Gun Grab in American History

Are you a prohibited person? A new, unconstitutional Social Security Administration program will add over 4 million Americans to the prohibited persons list without due process. Contact your lawmakers today. Ask if you’re one of the 4 million.
Evidently, Obama’s SSA bureaucrats read “all relevant Federal records” to mean all Social Security recipients who have a “representative payee” assigned to their accounts to help them manage their payments and receipts. Obviously, many individuals swept up in this egregious case of bureaucratic over-reach would not otherwise be prohibited from owning, possessing, or acquiring firearms under federal law.
The federal prohibitions against acquiring or possessing firearms apply to those “adjudicated as a mental defective,” among others. The term “adjudication,” however, refers to a determination made after a judicial-type process that includes various due process protections. In no case does the federal law describe or contemplate the type of prohibition by bureaucratic fiat exercised by the SSA in developing its guidelines for those with “representative payees” assigned to their accounts.
But SSA is not alone in this directive. The memorandum names several agencies, including the Departments of Defense, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Transportation, and “such other agencies or offices as the Chair may designate.” Potentially, bureaucrats in all these agencies could be working hard to identify and forward “all relevant Federal records,” to the NICS pursuant to the Obama mandate.
In total, this program could easily grow to include many more millions of Americans who have any connection to the Federal government through the various agencies named in the memorandum.
Unfortunately, this fits a pattern of abuse within the Obama Administration which is clearly hell-bent on destroying the Second Amendment in any way possible. As we reported previously (here and here), the Veterans Administration (VA) has already implemented a similar program to designate veterans as “prohibited persons”  when they have a fiduciary assigned to administer their VA benefits. Like the SSA program described above, the VA procedures are also devoid of significant due process protections or any requirement that the beneficiary be found a danger to self or others. According to the L.A Times article, 177,000 vets have been swept into NICS with the bureaucratic short-cut.
The implications of this policy are too far reaching to fathom at present. Social Security is one of the more prolific and relied upon Federal programs in American history. That Obama’s directive could so easily be implemented within the SSA suggests that bureaucrats could effectively cloak such a program in any agency within the growing leviathan that is the federal government.
Please call or write your members of congress and demand that Obama’s attempts to implement the largest gun grab in American history be stopped in its tracks.  You can contact your U.S. Senators and Representatives at 202-225-3121. You can write your lawmakers by using our “Write Your Lawmakers” tool below.
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NC Sets 2015-16 Webless Migratory Bird Seasons

July 20, 2015 by

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission has set the dates for webless migratory bird hunting for 2015-2016. They also set the early seasons for Canada geese and teal.

A quick look shows that dove season starts on the traditional Saturday before Labor Day and that resident Canada geese inland from the coast must be getting to be a real problem. I say that last bit because the daily limit for geese during September is 15! Not only that but you can use an unplugged shotgun and electronic calls. I guess some golfers are upset about them pooping all over the manicured greens.

The other thing I noticed is that there must be some Biblical injunction about shooting birds on the Sabbath. The commission has said there shall be no migratory bird hunting on Sundays.

RALEIGH, N.C. (July 17, 2015) — The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission has approved the season dates for dove and other webless migratory game birds, as well as September seasons for Canada geese and teal.
Seasons and bag limits for most species are similar to last year. Shooting hours for all species are ½ hour before sunrise until sunset unless otherwise noted. Dove hunters should note that shooting hours for the entire season, including opening day, begin at ½ hour before sunrise. The change to opening day shooting hours for doves was implemented several years ago. 
Each year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service provide frameworks from which to select the seasons and the Wildlife Commission chooses the actual dates within these guidelines. The Wildlife Commission requested public input on the seasons throughout June on its website.
The 2015–16 seasons for webless migratory game birds and waterfowl early seasons are:  
Species
Season
Daily Bag
Mourning Dove & White-winged Dove1
September 5 – October 10,
November 23 – January 15
15
King & Clapper Rails1
October 23 – November 28
15
Sora & Virginia Rails1
September 1 – October 3,
October 23 – November 28
25
Gallinule & Moorhens1
September 1 – October 3,
October 23 – November 28
15
Woodcock
December 17 – January 30
3
Common Snipe
November 13 – February 27
8
1Daily bag limit is either singly or in aggregate.
·      Federal guidelines allow for shooting hours for all migratory game birds to be from ½ hour before sunrise to sunset.
·      Possession limit is three times the daily bag for all species. 
·      These listed seasons do not include Sundays.  There shall be no hunting of migratory game birds by any method on Sundays.
Species
Season
Daily Bag
Canada Goose
September 1 – 30 (statewide)
1.  extend shooting hours to ½ hour after sunset
2.  allow use of unplugged guns
3.  allow use of electronic calls
These expanded methods are only to be allowed west of U.S. 17.
15
September Teal
(blue-winged, green-winged and cinnamon teal)
September 12 – 30 (East of U.S. 17 only)
6
·      Federal guidelines allow for shooting hours for all migratory game birds to be from ½ hour before sunrise to sunset.
·      Possession limit is three times the daily bag for all species. 
·      These listed seasons do not include Sundays.  There shall be no hunting of migratory game birds by any method on Sundays.
The 2015–16 extended falconry seasons for webless migratory game birds are:
Species
Season
Mourning dove/White-winged dove
October 15 – October 31
Rails, Gallinule and Moorhens
December 5 – January 9
Woodcock
November 7 – December 5 &
February 1 – February 27
  • The falconry daily bag limit is 3 permitted migratory game birds, singly or in the aggregate.  The regular, i.e., gun season bag limits for individual species do not apply.
  • The falconry bag limit is not in addition to the gun bag limit.
  • These listed seasons do not include Sundays.  There shall be no hunting of migratory game birds by any method on Sundays.
For more information on migratory game bird hunting, visit Waterfowl and Migratory Game Birds in North Carolina. For more information on hunter safety, hunting regulations and the free Hunting Heritage Apprentice Permits, go to www.ncwildlife.org/hunting