Month: March 2013

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For Those In Northern Illinois

March 9, 2013 by

The Illinois State Rifle Association put out an alert this morning about a county board meeting in Joliet that will vote on a concealed carry resolution. They are asking people to attend and make their views known.


URGENT ALERT – YOUR ACTION REQUIRED:
WILL COUNTY BOARD TO VOTE ON CONCEALED CARRY RESOLUTION

PLEASE BE THERE TO SUPPORT THIS IMPORTANT RESOLUTION

WHEN: Tuesday, March 12, 2013, 8:30 AM (please plan to be there by 8:00)
WHERE: Will County Office Building, County Board Room, 302 North Chicago Street, Joliet

Please pass this Alert along to your friends and relatives.

Please post this Alert to any and all Internet Blogs or Bulletin Boards to which you may belong.

You do not have to live in Will County to attend!

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GRNC On New Bills In NC General Assembly

March 9, 2013 by

Two new bills and a resolution proposing a constitutional amendment have been introduced before the North Carolina House of Representatives in the past few days. All three are great for gun rights and Grass Roots North Carolina is asking people to write their legislators to support them.

From GRNC’s Alert:



Constitutional amendment, campus carry, & more…

SB 190: ‘Gun on Ed. Prop./Stored in Locked Car’

Drafted with assistance from GRNC and sponsored by Sen. Bill Cook (R-Beaufort, Camden, Currituck, Dare, Gates, Hyde, Pasquotank, Perquimans, GRNC ****), SB 190 would allow concealed handgun permit-holders to keep firearms in locked motor vehicles on educational properties, further permitting their removal for defensive purposes. Although the bill is not the full campus carry bill which GRNC is shepherding (and which will soon be introduced), SB 190 would apply to all concealed handgun permit-holders, unlike other bills introduced to date. Beyond providing limited means for self-defense, it would prevent thousands of parents, taking children to school, from becoming accidental felons.

HB 246: ‘The Gun Rights Amendment’

First, let us note that the main mover behind the bill, Rep. Larry Pittman (R-Cabarrus, GRNC ****), is arguably the greatest patriot in the General Assembly. He is already being attacked for his patriotism, and we need to defend him.

HR 246 is admittedly a “hail Mary” pass. If passed, however, it would be the most comprehensive expansion of gun rights in North Carolina history. In addition to removing language from Section 30 of the North Carolina Constitution which says, “Nothing herein shall justify the practice of carrying concealed weapons, or prevent the General Assembly from enacting penal statutes against that practice”, it would expand concealed carry into restaurants, court buildings, assemblies for which admission is charged, and elsewhere.

HR 63: ‘Support Right to Bear Arms’

Sponsored by Rep. Michael Speciale (R-Beaufort, Craven, Pamlico, GRNC ****), HR 63 simply reaffirms the Second Amendment and North Carolina Constitution language on the individual right to keep and bear arms, notes that the Obama administration is proposing restrictions on that right, notes that gun control has not been found in studies to be effective, and passes on that purely symbolic reaffirmation to the North Carolina congressional delegation.

GRNC normally doesn’t expend resources on non-binding resolutions and, frankly, considered this so non-controversial we didn’t even issue an alert prior to its hearing in the House Rules Committee. But that was before North Carolinians “Against Gun Violence” rallied its radicals against the resolution, whining:

“Despite the rhetoric about ‘individual rights’ and gun laws being unconstitutional, five years of legal decisions show, legislators and activists should feel confident that a variety of smart laws are constitutional, desperately needed, and desired by the majority of North Carolinians!”

IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED!

For SB 190: ‘Gun on Ed. Prop./Stored in Locked Car’

Contact members of the Senate Rules Committee, to which the bill has been referred

Thank Sens. Bill Cook & Andrew Brock for their leadership on this issue

For HB 246: ‘The Gun Rights Amendment’

Contact members of the House Rules Committee and ask them for a committee hearing. Note: Please bear in mind that Rules Chair Tim Moore has been a consistent friend of gun owners. Please treat him accordingly

Thank Rep. Pittman for his patriotism

For HR 63: ‘Support Right to Bear Arms’

HR 63 passed the Rules Committee on Tuesday and is now headed to the House floor. To counter an organization so antithetical to freedom that it feels compelled to put the words “individual rights” in quotes, immediately contact your House rep and tell them to vote for HR 63.

DELIVER THIS MESSAGE

CONTACT INFORMATION FOR SB 190
Senate Rules Committee:

Chairman: Sen. Tom Apodaca

Vice Chairman: Sen. Peter S. Brunstetter

Members: Sen. Chad Barefoot, Sen. Dan Blue, Sen. Andrew C. Brock, Sen. Harry Brown, Sen. Ben Clark, Sen. Kathy Harrington, Sen. Ralph Hise, Sen. Brent Jackson, Sen. Clark Jenkins, Sen. Wesley Meredith, Sen. Martin L. Nesbitt, Jr., Sen. E. S. (Buck) Newton, Sen. Bill Rabon, Sen. Josh Stein

Copy and paste email list: Tom.Apodaca@ncleg.net, Peter.Brunstetter@ncleg.netChad.Barefoot@ncleg.net, Dan.Blue@ncleg.net, Andrew.Brock@ncleg.net, Harry.Brown@ncleg.net, Ben.Clark@ncleg.net, Kathy.Harrington@ncleg.net, Ralph.Hise@ncleg.net, Brent.Jackson@ncleg.net, Clark.Jenkins@ncleg.net, Wesley.Meredith@ncleg.net, Martin.Nesbitt@ncleg.net, Buck.Newton@ncleg.net, Bill.Rabon@ncleg.net, Josh.Stein@ncleg.net

Members of the Senate Rules Committee:

SB 190: “Gun on Ed. Prop./Stored in Locked Car” deserves a committee hearing. Often, bills referred to the Rules Committee are sentenced by leadership to death. However, SB 190 is reasonable and moderate legislation which will not only serve to deter violent predators but will protect thousands of parents, who keep firearms in their vehicles and take their kids to school, from the risk of being prosecuted as accidental felons.

I strongly urge you to either give SB 190 a hearing in the Rules Committee, or re-refer it to a Judiciary Committee. Please advise me of your position on this issue. I will be monitoring committee actions via Grass Roots North Carolina legislative alerts.

Respectfully,

CONTACT INFORMATION FOR HB 246
House Rules Committee

Chairman: Rep. T. Moore

Vice Chairman: Rep. Burr

Vice Chairman: Rep. Stam

Members: Rep. Blust, Rep. Boles, Rep. Brandon, Rep. Brisson, Rep. Carney, Rep. Daughtry, Rep. Farmer-Butterfield, Rep. Floyd, Rep. L. Hall, Rep. Hamilton, Rep. Hastings, Rep. Holloway, Rep. Jackson, Rep. Johnson, Rep. Lewis, Rep. Moffitt, Rep. Saine, Rep. Samuelson, Rep. Starnes, Rep. Stone, Rep. Torbett

Copy and paste email list: Tim.Moore@ncleg.net, Justin.Burr@ncleg.net, Paul.Stam@ncleg.net, John.Blust@ncleg.net, Jamie.Boles@ncleg.net, Marcus.Brandon@ncleg.net, William.Brisson@ncleg.net, Becky.Carney@ncleg.net, Leo.Daughtry@ncleg.net, Jean.Farmer-Butterfield@ncleg.net, Elmer.Floyd@ncleg.net, Larry.Hall@ncleg.net, Susi.Hamilton@ncleg.net, Kelly.Hastings@ncleg.net, Bryan.Holloway@ncleg.net, Darren.Jackson@ncleg.net, Linda.Johnson2@ncleg.net, David.Lewis@ncleg.net, Tim.Moffitt@ncleg.net, Jason.Saine@ncleg.net, Ruth.Samuelson@ncleg.net, Edgar.Starnes@ncleg.net, Michael.Stone@ncleg.net, John.Torbett@ncleg.net

Members of the House Rules Committee:

HB 246: “The Gun Rights Amendment” deserves a committee hearing. Often, bills referred to the Rules Committee are sentenced by leadership to death. But concealed handgun permit-holders have spent eighteen years proving themselves sane, sober and law-abiding. It is time for legislative leadership to stand up to the media and the anti-gun left by expanding concealed carry and making North Carolina a model for the nation.

Please advise me of your position on this issue. I will be monitoring committee actions via Grass Roots North Carolina legislative alerts.

Respectfully,

CONTACT INFORMATION FOR HR 63

Contact your House rep and tell them to vote for HR 63.

Find your NC House rep by going to: http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/representation/WhoRepresentsMe.aspx

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Rep. Mark Meadows On School Safety

March 8, 2013 by 2 Comments

Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC-11), my Congressman, was on Cam and Company yesterday to discuss his bill that would reallocate monies to the existing Cops in Schools Program. HR 751- Protect America’s Schools Act of 2013 – would shift $30 million to the Cops in Schools program by reallocating $30 million in unobligated balances from NOAA. In other words, it would increase school security without raising the deficit.

Meadows’ bill currently has 11 co-sponsors and has been referred to the House Appropriations Committee.

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Cartoon Puts It In Perspective

March 8, 2013 by 3 Comments

A cartoon that ran yesterday in the Denver Post’s The Spot blog really puts things in perspective about the political culture in Colorado.

Colorado voters approved private use of marijuana in the past election. This measure was opposed by Gov. John Hickenlooper. Now it appears Hickenlooper will support and sign HB 1224 which would result in magazine maker Mapgul to move out of state. Frankly, I think Hickenlooper has his priorities backwards.

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Noted “Insurrectionist” On IGOLD 2013

March 8, 2013 by

That noted insurrectionist Roy Kubicek aka Thirdpower has a post up with full coverage of the Illinois State Rifle Association’s IGOLD 2013 on his blog Days of Our Trailers. IGOLD stands for Illinois Gun Owner Lobbying Day.

Thirdpower has some great pictures of the march through Springfield as well as the speakers at the Prairie Capitol Convention Center. Of particular note is Mary Shepard who was the lead plaintiff in Shepard v. Madigan.

Picture by Thirdpower, Mary Shepard next to David & Colleen Lawson.

Roy, for those that don’t know, was singled out by Joshua Horwitz of CSGV for attention during Horwitz’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Of course, Horwitz used a severely edited and selective quote of Roy’s blog post. More on that here.

* I just noticed that this was my 3000th post. I’m glad to see it was on the efforts of the gun owners of Illinois to preserve and protect their Second Amendment rights.

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This Doesn’t Make Sense To Me

March 8, 2013 by 2 Comments

The Wall Street Journal is reporting this morning that Remington Arms is planning to invest $20 million in an upgrade to its Ilion, New York plant. The news comes from local politicians who had a meeting on Wednesday with the company.

Local media outlets report that three senators and three Assembly
members met with Remington officials on Wednesday to discuss what they
could do to ensure the company keeps its plant in the Herkimer County
village of Ilion, where Remington employs about 1,200 people.

The report goes on to say that Remington themselves has no comment on the news.

Local news station WKTV Utica has more on the story. The story of the meeting of the New York legislators with senior officials from Remington Arms was the lead story on their evening broadcast.

The senior officials involved were Otto Weigl, senior vice president government and legislative affairs,
Jonathan Sprole, general counsel, and Paul Merz, Ilion plant manager. This meeting is balanced out by a meeting between Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) and Freedom Group CEO George Kollitides in Austin, Texas. Perry tweeted a picture of himself with Kollitides while holding what appears to be a Remington Defense AR-15 and wearing a Remington jacket on March 1st.

As I said in the headline, it doesn’t make sense for Remington to invest money in plant and equipment upgrades to the Ilion plant given the NY SAFE law and the anti-gun fervor of New York’s Gov. Andrew Cuomo. That said, it could be used as a bargaining chip with the industrial and economic development teams of other states that are seeking to have the plant move to their state.

The reality is that it isn’t easy to relocate a plant of the size of the Remington plant in Ilion. While building a new plant in another state or moving the machinery wouldn’t be hard,  it would be hard to replicate the workforce. I could see Remington moving the AR, pistol, and semi-auto rifle production out of that plant and leaving the shotgun and bolt-action rifle manufacturing there. In a way that would make sense as the pistol production could be shifted to the Para USA plant in North Carolina and the AR and other semi-auto production could go to a new plant anywhere.

As with all of these things, we’ll see.

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Mixed Results From Today’s Judiciary Committee Meeting

March 8, 2013 by

There is both good news and bad news from today’s Senate Judiciary Committee business meeting. The meeting agenda had votes on six nominees for US District Court judgeships and four gun control bills.

First, five out of the six the judicial nominees were passed out of committee on voice votes. However, Kenneth John Gonzales, the US Attorney for New Mexico and a nominee for a District Court judgeship, was held over. This would appear to mean that according to Committee Rules at least one member of the Judiciary Committee requested that the vote on Gonzales be held over until the next committee meeting. As I mentioned yesterday, Gonzales and his office have been pursuing a vendetta against the Reese family of Deming, New Mexico. Check out the Tea Party of Luna County for complete info on the prosecution of the Reeses.

Second, three of the four gun control bills were held over. The bad news is that Chairman Patrick Leahy’s S. 54 – Stop Illegal Trafficking in Firearms Act of 2013 made it out of the committee. It passed on a 11 to 7 vote. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) was the only Republican to vote for the bill.

Grassley did have an amendment to the bill that would require the Attorney General, Deputy Attorney General, or Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division to personally review and approve any “Fast and Furious” type of operation. This amendment was adopted unanimously.

The full results of the business meeting with links to the amendments is below:


The Senate Judiciary Committee held an executive business meeting to consider pending nominations and legislation on March 7, 2013. The Committee was not able to complete action on pending matters and the meeting recessed subject to the call of the Chair.

Agenda

I. Nominations

Sheri Polster Chappell, to be United States District Judge for the Middle District of Florida
Ordered Reported by Voice Vote

Kenneth John Gonzales, to be United States District Judge for the District of New Mexico
Held Over

Michael J. McShane, to be United States District Judge for the District of Oregon
Ordered Reported by Voice Vote

Nitza I. Quinones Alejandro, to be United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
Ordered Reported by Voice Vote

Luis Felipe Restrepo, to be United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
Ordered Reported by Voice Vote

Jeffrey L. Schmehl, to be United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
Ordered Reported by Voice Vote

II. Legislation

S.150, Assault Weapons Ban of 2013 (Feinstein)
Held Over

Amendment ALB13141(Grassley)
As Amended, Adopted by Voice Vote

Second Degree Amendment ALB13196 (Coons)
Adopted by Unanimous Consent

Amendment ALB13190 (Grassley)
Failed by Roll Call Vote, 9-9

Amendment OLL13115 (Cornyn)
Failed by Roll Call Vote, 9-9

S.54, Stop Illegal Trafficking in Firearms Act of 2013 (Leahy)
Ordered Reported by Roll Call Vote, 11-7

Substitute Amendment HEN13250 (Leahy)
Adopted by Unanimous Consent

Amendment ALB13193 (Grassley)
Adopted by Unanimous Consent

S.374, Protecting Responsible Gun Sellers Act of 2013 (Schumer)
Held Over

S.146, School Safety Enhancements Act of 2013 (Boxer)
Held Over

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Free Webinar On Gun Control And The Second Amendment

March 7, 2013 by

Professor Jeffrey Welty of the UNC School of Government will be leading a free webinar on Wednesday, March 20th. The webinar is scheduled to run for 75 minutes. The topics include:

  • The Second Amendment
  • The right to bear arms under North Carolina’s state constitution
  • Existing federal and state gun laws
  • Proposed gun regulations, including the proposed federal assault weapons ban
  • City and county power to regulate guns
  • Whether state law enforcement officers may or must enforce federal gun laws
  • The legal status of “open carry”

 This webinar is open to the public. They have also applied to the State Bar for CLE credits for this webinar.

Equipment requirements are a high-speed Internet connection and Adobe Flash Media Player.

Pre-registration is required. Go here to pre-register. Instructions on how to register are here.

This sounds like a great opportunity if you can make it. I plan to clear my schedule so as to participate in it.

UPDATE: I just signed up. It takes about 3-5 minutes as you have to register for their store and set up a user ID/password. It was not a big deal.

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Open Carry In North Carolina

March 7, 2013 by 1 Comment

The topic of open carry made the Off The Record blog of the Greensboro News-Record on Tuesday. It isn’t often that you see a reasonable discussion of open carry in a newspaper without it being connected to some crime. In this case, it was an article by Jeff Welty of UNC’s School of Government in their North Carolina Criminal Law blog that led to the posting about open carry.

As to the question of whether you as a law-abiding citizen can legally carry openly in North Carolina, the answer is generally yes. That is thanks to a 1921 case decided by the North Carolina Supreme Court.

From the Off The Record blog:

The case originated in Kernersville, where its central figure, Orah W. Kerner, was a member of the namesake family. He was “president of American Hosiery Mills, senior member of the firm of Kerner Brothers, and a large tobacco planter,” according to his 1923 obituary.

According to the Supreme Court, Kerner “was walking along the streets of the town of Kernersville in Forsyth County carrying some packages, when he was accosted, for the purpose of engaging him in a fight, by one Matthews; that in the course of this altercation he set down his packages and went to his place of business and there procured a pistol, which he brought back with him unconcealed to the scene of the altercation. Sec. 3, ch. 317, Public-Local Laws 1919, prohibits the carrying of such weapons off his own premises by any one in Forsyth without a permit, even though it was not concealed. The court, being of the opinion that this statute was in conflict with the constitutional provision that “the right to bear arms shall not be infringed,” directed a verdict of not guilty, and the State appealed.”

The Supreme Court affirmed the trial court verdict, noting the distinction between the right to keep and bear arms and the right to carry concealed weapons.

“The former is a sacred right, based upon the experience of the ages in order that the people may be accustomed to bear arms and ready to use them for the protection of their liberties or their country when occasion serves. The provision against carrying them concealed was to prevent assassinations or advantages taken by the lawless, i. e., against the abuse of the privilege.”

Open carry in North Carolina is not without constraints. One of the more common issues that comes up is what is called “going armed to the terror of the people.” Professor Welty notes that it comes up when someone is intentionally trying to scare or terrorize others but “a person doesn’t commit this offense by carrying a weapon in a
non-threatening and orderly manner, such as going about one’s daily
business with a handgun in a hip holster.”

Professor Welty says that local government can regulate, to some extent, open carry in North Carolina. For example, they could prohibit open carry in public buildings and their parking lots. However, while NC GS 160A-189 and NC GS 153A-129 allows cities and counties to regulate the display of firearms on sidewalks, streets, and other public property, Professor Welty does not believe that they could use these laws to ban open carry.

But reading the power to “regulate the display of firearms” to allow
local governments to ban open carry in public is probably wrong for two
reasons. First, it would be unconstitutional under Kerner. As the
court noted, “[t]o exclude all pistols, however, is not a regulation,
but a prohibition, of arms which come under the designation of ‘arms’
which the people are entitled to bear.” Second, such a reading ignores
the fact that both statutes allow local governments to “regulate . . . or prohibit”
the discharge of firearms, but only to “regulate” the display of
firearms. The lack of parallelism appears to be intentional. Therefore,
although the precise extent of local government authority isn’t clear,
and a variety of local regulations might be permissible, a complete ban
on public open carry does not appear to be.

Given that Professor Welty works for the School of Government which has as part of its mission to educate local governments on the law, there is hope that this information will filter down to local law enforcement agencies.

H/T Ken Soderstrom

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The Next Round Of Federal Firearms Legislation

March 7, 2013 by

Since my last update, there have been three House bills dealing with firearms-related topics introduced and two in the Senate. The House bills probably aren’t going anywhere but the two Senate bills have the ability to gain some traction especially since they are the product of negotiations between Democrats and Republicans.

House

HR 848 – Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA)
Armed Prohibited Persons Act of 2013
To direct the Attorney General to make grants to States to develop systems to retrieve firearms from armed prohibited persons.
Co-Sponsors:

Rep. Speier, Jackie (D-CA)
Referred to the House Judiciary Committee

HR 955 – Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL)
Hadiya Pendleton and Nyasia Pryear-Yard Stop Illegal Trafficking in Firearms Act of 2013
To increase public safety by punishing and deterring firearms trafficking.
Co-Sponsors:
Rep. Kaptur, Marcy (D-OH)
Referred to the House Judiciary Committee

HR 965 – Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL)
To prohibit the possession or transfer of junk guns, also known as Saturday Night Specials.
Referred to the House Judiciary Committee

Senate

S. 443 – Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
Stop Illegal Trafficking in Firearms Act of 2013
To increase public safety by punishing and deterring firearms trafficking.
Co-Sponsors:
Sen Blumenthal, Richard [D-CT]
Sen Collins, Susan M. [R-ME]
Sen Durbin, Richard [D-IL]
Sen Franken, Al [D-MN]
Sen Gillibrand, Kirsten E. [D-NY]
Sen King, Angus S. Jr. [I-ME]
Sen Kirk, Mark Steven [R-IL]
Sen Klobuchar, Amy [D-MN]
Referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee

S. 480 – Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
The NICS Reporting Improvement Act of 2013
A bill to improve the effectiveness of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System by clarifying reporting requirements related to adjudications of mental incompetency, and for other purposes.
Co-Sponsors:
Sen Begich, Mark [D-AK]
Sen Flake, Jeff [R-AZ]
Sen Heller, Dean [R-NV]
Sen Pryor, Mark L. [D-AR]
Referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee
(The text of this bill is not yet available. However, from the press release put out by Sen. Graham, it seeks to clarify when a person loses his or her right to firearms due to mental illness. They do stress it has to come from an adjudicative body.)