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Lawsuit Filed In Colorado By 55 Sheriffs And Others

May 17, 2013 by

54 55 out of the 62 sheriffs in the state of Colorado filed suit in US District Court for the District of Colorado challenging the state’s recently enacted gun control laws. Joining the 54 55 sheriffs were the National Shooting Sports Foundation, Magpul, and a whole number of individuals, gun stores, and organizations.

From the NSSF release on the lawsuit:

NEWTOWN, Conn. — The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the trade association for the firearms industry, has joined with 54 county sheriffs, Magpul Industries, the Colorado Outfitters Association, several firearms retailers, disabled individuals and other parties in a federal lawsuit brought today in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado in what is a broad-based challenge to Colorado’s recently enacted gun-control laws.


“In addition to Constitutional infringements and unenforceable requirements regarding magazine capacity, as the sheriffs have pointed out, we believe it will be impossible for citizens to comply with mandated firearms ‘transfers’ through federally licensed retailers,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel. “Colorado’s federally-licensed firearms retailers are being asked to process these transfers as if they were selling from their own inventory and to monitor both seller and buyer through a state-administered check process that can take hours or even days. They will not be able to recoup the actual cost of providing the service, which is capped at $10, but they will be liable for paperwork errors and subject to license revocation. Not surprisingly, we expect few, if any licensed retailers will step forward to provide this service.”


“For this reason and the many others detailed in our joint action with our fellow plaintiffs, these laws need to be struck down,” Keane said.

 From the Independence Institute’s release published in The Outdoor Wire this morning:

Colorado Sheriffs to File Suit This Morning Against Colorado Anti-Gun Laws

Photo, Video, and Interview opportunities with plaintiffs, including Sheriffs, Disabled gun owners, Women gun owners
Legal challenge to Colorado’s new anti-gun laws begins in earnest tomorrow morning in Federal Court
Copies of the legal Complaint will be available

Contact Mary MacFarlane, 303-279-6536 x102, mary@i2i.org

Friday morning, May 17, at 10 a.m., Colorado Sheriffs and other plaintiffs will hold a press conference detailing the filing earlier that day of their federal civil rights lawsuit against House Bill 1224 (magazine ban) and 1229 (sales and temporary transfers of firearms).

The press conference will be held at the Independence Institute, 727 East 16th Ave., Denver.

The press conference will have broadcast live on KFKA radio, 1310 AM, Greeley, www.1310kfka.com

A full video will be uploaded to http://www.youtube.com/user/davekopel shortly after the conclusion of the press conference.

Sheriffs are coming from as far away as the Western Slope to participate in the press conference. Also at the press conference will be disabled citizens in wheelchairs, and representatives of Women for Concealed Carry.

After approximately 15 minutes of prepared statements by the Plaintiffs, the Plaintiffs, as well as Sheriffs’ attorney David Kopel, will take questions from the media. There will be photo and video opportunities. Plaintiffs will be available for interviews.

The complaint is not yet up on the District Court’s Pacer site. I’ll post a link when it is available.

Dave Workman has more here as does Michael Bane here.

UPDATE:  The complaint that has been filed US District Court for the District of Colorado can be found here. The case is 54 55 Sheriffs et al v. John W. Hickenlooper. The list of plaintiffs in the case runs for two pages!

The case is being brought on 2nd and 14 Amendment grounds as well as under the Americans with Disability Act. They are asking for declaratory and injunctive relief.

The press conference video is up on YouTube. I have embedded it below. Bitter at Shall Not Be Questioned has an earlier video of lead attorney Dave Kopel being interviewed about the case.

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Nothing Like A Little Blood Dancing On A Friday Afternoon

May 17, 2013 by 2 Comments

You have to hand it to the gun prohibitionists – they do love their blood dancing.

They are linking to a story about a negligent discharge by a woman in Colorado. It involved an intoxicated young woman who slipped and fell while returning to a party to show off her new AK. Unfortunately, the firearm was loaded, a round was chambered, and it seems obvious to me that she had her finger on the trigger. The end result was that she died.

While the Violence Policy Center is keying in on the “new assault rifle” (sic), the story in and of itself is a warning not to handle dangerous objects while intoxicated. It could have just as easily been a kitchen knife or an ice pick. We have all been warned to not run with scissors. This is just an extension of that old warning.

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Abandoned Property?

May 17, 2013 by

Privacy is a concern of mine so I found this Wall Street Journal report quite interesting. It is entitled, “How to Stop the FBI From Reading Your Email.” The FBI holds that any email that is greater than six months old and is still on a server is abandoned property. As such, they say they don’t need to obtain a warrant to read that email. According to report Jonnelle Marte, this stems from a law written in 1986. I wish she had been a bit more specific as to which law treats it as abandoned property.

The reporter suggests two things to prevent the FBI from snooping into your email. First, there is encryption but both the sender and receiver need to have the key. The second is actually much easier – delete older emails or download them from the server to your own harddrive.

For people using Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, or something similar for their email, this is a good reminder to clean out your in-box and archives. While I use Gmail for some things, I tend to use my older email account for more sensitive and personal stuff in combination with Mozilla Thunderbird. It downloads directly to my hard drive and doesn’t leave anything on their server.

UPDATE: The law in question is the Stored Communications Act of 1986. More on the law here. Thanks to Bill G. for the info.

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So Much For Pro-Gun Democrats In North Carolina

May 16, 2013 by 4 Comments

Last week, the North Carolina House of Representatives passed HB 937 by a margin of 78 to 42. This bill would amend various North Carolina gun laws. Included in this list of laws were provisions that clarified the General Assembly’s intentions with regard to park carry, that would permit concealed carry (but not alcohol consumption) in establishments that served alcohol, that would permit concealed carry at events that charged admission, and that would permit concealed carry holders to leave their firearms in a locked vehicle on university and community college campuses. Note on this last provision, a person would still be breaking the law if they carried on campus.

The margin of victory for this bill was provided by every single Republican and one lone Democrat voting to pass this bill. The lone Democrat was Rep. Paul Tine (D-Dare) who should be congratulated for breaking ranks with his fellow Democrats to vote for gun rights.

Strong efforts were made to derail this bill through amendments proposed by anti-gun Democrats. However, each and every amendment was tabled through the efforts of Speaker Tom Tillis (R-Mecklenburg) and Rules Committee Chairman Tim Moore (R-Cleveland). This precluded debates that would delay passage of the bill.

As to the amendments themselves, they were, for the most part, the same sort of anti-gun legislation seen in states like Colorado, New York, Maryland, and Connecticut. Five of the 12 total were introduced before the Second Reading vote and the rest before the Third and final Reading of the bill. I have listed the amendments in order below along with their purpose.

  1. Would provide for universal background checks on all private transfers. Uses the Bloomberg language on transfers. Introduced by Rep. Paul Luebke (D-Durham)
  2. Would have deleted the provision concerning firearms in locked vehicles on university and community college campuses. Introduced by Rep. Alma Adams (D-Guilford)
  3. Would increase the penalty for consumption of alcohol while carrying concealed. Includes a $1,000 minimum fine and five year revocation of NC CHP. It also increases it to a Class 1 misdemeanor from a Class 2 misdemeanor.  Introduced by Rep. Darren Jackson (D-Wake)
  4. Would ban magazines with a greater than 10 round capacity as well as shotgun tubes or magazines holding more than eight rounds. Introduced by Rep. Pricey Harrison (D-Guilford)
  5. Would require the safe storage of firearms. Introduced by Rep. Verla Insko (D-Orange)
  6. Would require that a person adjudicated mental incompetent or involuntarily committed and whose rights have been restored under GS 122C-54.1 wait a minimum of seven years after restoration before being allowed to have a CHP. Introduced by Rep. Dennis Riddell (R-Alamance)
  7. Would give universities and community colleges the option to ban concealed handguns on campus. This would also negate storage of a firearm in a locked vehicle on campus by concealed carry permit holders. Introduced by Rep. Rick Glazier (D-Cumberland) Tabled by unrecorded voice vote.
  8. A repeat of Amendment 5 introduced by Rep. Verla Insko (D-Orange)
  9. A repeat of Amendment 4 introduced by Rep. Pricey Harrison (D-Guilford)
  10. A repeat of Amendment 3 introduced by Rep. Darren Jackson (D-Wake)
  11. A repeat of Amendment 1 introduced by Rep. Paul Luebke (D-Durham)
  12. A repeat of Amendment 2 introduced by Rep. Alma Adams (D-Guilford)

While it might be argued that a vote against tabling the bill was a vote to have a broader debate on the merits of the amendment, nonetheless the amendments themselves were anti-gun measures. With the exception of Amendments 6 and 11, not one Democrat voted in favor of tabling these anti-gun amendments. Rep. Michael Wray (D-Halifax) voted to table Amendment 6 and Rep. William Brisson (D-Bladen) voted to table Amendment 11. The only amendment to gather more than 3 Republicans against its tabling was Amendment 6 which garnered 11 Republican “Nay” votes. That amendment was sponsored by Republican Dennis Riddell who ultimately voted for the full bill.

With the exception of the provision concerning storage of firearms in locked vehicles by concealed carry holders on university and community college campuses, this bill was not filled with controversial provisions. It should be remembered that restaurant carry and parks carry both passed the State House in the 2011-2012 session of the General Assembly. Both of those bills had significant support from Democrats.

Given the relatively non-controversial nature of this bill, it is disturbing to see Democrats who claim to be pro-gun and pro-Second Amendment not only vote against this bill but essentially in a favor of the more draconian gun control measures passed in states like New York and Colorado. There are five Democrats below who got a B- or better from the NRA as well as five Democrats who received at least one star from GRNC who traditionally is a hard grader. Not a damn one of them voted for the passage of HB 937.

I am equally saddened by the number of African-American legislators who voted against this bill. Twenty out of the 42 who voted against this bill are African-American. Additionally, Rep. Charles Graham (D-Robeson) is an enrolled member of the Lumbee Nation. Both African-Americans and the Lumbee Indians were targets of the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacists. Gun control laws in North Carolina were meant to keep blacks and other minorities disarmed in the face of these white supremacist groups such as the Klan. Indeed, the current pistol purchase permit requirement is a legacy of these Jim Crow laws.

I have listed below the Democrats who voted against HB 937 on the Third Reading. I have also included their email address and their 2012 ratings by both the NRA and GRNC. If one of these legislators is your representative, I’d write and express my displeasure at their vote.

Last
Name		 Email NRA GRNC
Adams Alma.Adams@ncleg.net F 0
Alexander Kelly.Alexander@ncleg.net B- 0
Baskerville Nathan.Baskerville@ncleg.net ? 0
Bell, L Larry.Bell@ncleg.net F 0
Brandon Marcus.Brandon@ncleg.net ? 0
Brisson William.Brisson@ncleg.net B+ 1*
Carney Becky.Carney@ncleg.net F 0
Cotham Tricia.Cotham@ncleg.net F 0
Cunningham Carla.Cunningham@ncleg.net ? 0
Farmer-Butterfield Jean.Farmer-Butterfield@ncleg.net D- 0
Fisher Susan.Fisher@ncleg.net F 0
Floyd Elmer.Floyd@ncleg.net D  0
Foushee Valerie.Foushee@ncleg.net ? 0
Gill Rosa.Gill@ncleg.net D 0
Glazier Rick.Glazier@ncleg.net D- 0
Goodman Ken.Goodman@ncleg.net D 0
Graham, C Charles.Graham@ncleg.net C 0
Hall, D Duane.Hall@ncleg.net ? 0
Hall, L Larry.Hall@ncleg.net F 0
Hamilton Susi.Hamilton@ncleg.net C- 0
Hanes Edward.Hanes@ncleg.net ? 0
Harrison Pricey.Harrison@ncleg.net F 0
Holley Yvonne.Holley@ncleg.net ? 0
Insko Verla.Insko@ncleg.net F 0
Jackson Darren.Jackson@ncleg.net D 0
Lucas Marvin.Lucas@ncleg.net B 2*
Luebke Paul.Luebke@ncleg.net F 0
McManus Deb.McManus@ncleg.net ? 0
Michaux Mickey.Michaux@ncleg.net F 0
Mobley Annie.Mobley@ncleg.net D- 0
Moore, R Rodney.Moore@ncleg.net D 0
Pierce Garland.Pierce@ncleg.net C- 0
Queen Joe.Queen@ncleg.net B 3*
Richardson Bobbie.Richardson@ncleg.net NR NR
Ross, D Deborah.Ross@ncleg.net F 0
Terry Evelyn.Terry@ncleg.net ? 0
Tolson Joe.Tolson@ncleg.net C+ 1*
Waddell Ken.Waddell@ncleg.net ? 0
Wilkens Winkie.Wilkins@ncleg.net C- 0
Wray Michael.Wray@ncleg.net B 1*
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Is This The New Colorado?

May 16, 2013 by 1 Comment

Let me get this straight. You are working as a park ranger in Trinidad Lake State Park – a law enforcement position – and you poach a trophy mule deer by jacklighting it after hours. Your penalty – a fine and a demotion but you still keep your job with Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

Rick Cables, director of Colorado Parks and Wildlife, told The Denver Post on Tuesday the punishment for the incident was adequate but acknowledged some employees who were unhappy the ranger wasn’t fired.

I with those unhappy employees. The guy violated his oath and his position.

Mr. Cables goes on to say that Travis McKay was stripped of his law enforcement status and demoted to a park technician at another state park.

“We changed this individual’s life with these actions,” Cables said. “We feel the actions were appropriate.”

While McKay made “a big mistake,” the ranger who stopped and investigated poaching did “everything right,” Cables said.

We changed this individual’s life?

I knew Colorado was aspiring to be the new Chicago with its gun laws but I didn’t think they’d be adopting the same attitude towards malfeasance by its employees as that of Chicago.

H/T Outdoor Pressroom

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Tactical Or Tacticool?

May 15, 2013 by 3 Comments

I had a chance to meet with Laura Burgess at the recent NRA Annual Meeting. We discussed the new releases from the American Gunsmithing Institute and I’ll have a review of their DVD on the FN-FAL up soon. One of the planned releases Laura mentioned was about customizing your AR-15. I got notice today that it had been released.

I’ve viewed a number of the AGI videos and they are all well done. The key thing about all their videos is that their instructors have been there and done that. They are gunsmiths and armorers first and foremost.

Below is the release on it along with an excerpt from YouTube.

NAPA, CA (May 2013) – The American Gunsmithing Institute, producers of the most authoritative instructional Gunsmithing DVD courses, and also the Nation’s Premier Gunsmithing School, today released a new course, AR15: Practical, Tactical or Tacti-Cool, hosted by Master Gunsmith Sgt. Mark Foster. Foster has over 30 years of gunsmithing experience and is a 20 year veteran of a California Sheriff’s Department where he is the Chief Armorer and Training Officer. In this course, the student will see many examples of triggers, grips, optics, lights, rails, barrels, stocks, muzzle brakes, compensators, flash-hiders, sights, hand guards, gas systems and more. For each category, Foster outlines what works well, tells the viewer what to avoid and explains why. His daily field experience combined with his armorer experience working on fellow officers’ weapons gives him practical knowledge regarding the reliability and functionality of each of these options.

After reviewing the accessories thoroughly, Foster builds a variety of “mission-oriented” ARs and reviews what he chose for each and why. For example, he tailors the AR for: CQB, general hunting, SWAT, 3-gun, varmint hunting, home defense, plinking and Zombie killing, just to name a few.

After watching this course, the viewer will be able to design and build his or her own ultimate AR. Foster also discusses and shows some of the tools needed for changing barrels and hand guards, but more importantly, demonstrates step-by-step how to change a barrel and install a free-floating hand guard.

The AGI AR15: Practical, Tactical or Tacti-Cool is a must have for any AR-15 enthusiast and is available at www.americangunsmith.com for only $79.95 (plus s/h) (Product ID#3464).

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Willing To Settle?

May 15, 2013 by 4 Comments

On the heels of the IRS being used to target enemies of the Obama Administration and on the heels of the Department of Justice examining the phone records of AP reporters, the gun prohibitionists say they are willing “to settle”  for certain restrictions.

I will admit to having the same visceral reaction to seeing that pusillanimous, pinch-faced Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) speak as I do to seeing Jay Carney make another sneering denial. I want to slap the shit out of them.

Monday, on the floor of the Senate, Reid repeated the lie that the shooter in Newtown had an automatic weapon when in fact he had a Connecticut-legal AR that he took from his mother after killing her. He goes on to say he admires Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Chris Murphy (D-CT) for continuing to push control.

Reid says he, the Sandy Hook families, and the gun prohibitionists will “settle” for prohibitions to prevent “crazy” people (aka people with mental disabilities) and criminals from buying guns.  Has no one ever told them that prohibitions already exist that make it illegal for felons, those convicted of misdemeanors involving domestic violence, and those adjudicated mentally defective or committed to a mental institution to buy a firearm? It is right there on the BATFE’s Form 4473!

Gun rights activists, the NRA, and the NSSF have been pushing for improvements to the NICS background check system. We also want to know why the DOJ and BATFE hasn’t gone after the felons who failed a NICS check while trying to buy a firearm. And what about straw buyers? What good does a new law do when they won’t even enforce existing laws that have teeth in them?

Harry Reid didn’t mention universal background checks but you know he is just biding his time. Given this administration’s blatant attempts to use the IRS to intimidate their political opponents, just think what they could do with a database of gun owners. Thanks but no thanks.

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Ruger’s Expansion

May 14, 2013 by 9 Comments

Mike Fifer, CEO of Sturm, Ruger, announced at their shareholders’ Annual Meeting on April 30th, that Ruger is actively searching for a third manufacturing facility. They are using a site selection consultant, Greyhill Advisors of Austin, TX, to help them narrow the search.

According to Mr. Fifer and the slides shown at the Annual Meeting, they have identified three “attractive sites” in the states of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas. Ruger is not planning to build a plant but rather is seeking a manufacturing facility of about a quarter million square feet that is not being used currently. Fifer says they are looking for something relatively new, that has “phenomenal electricity”, and good transportation  that is located in a community that is Second Amendment friendly. The community should also have a good existing workforce and a number of engineers.

This expansion is being driven by new product introductions and not unit volume or capacity driven. Ruger has found over the last few years that new product introductions have not cannibalized existing product lines as expected. The freeing up of existing machines dedicated to mature products just didn’t happen. Fifer said that customers would go to the gun store spurred on by interest in the new Ruger products and end up buying both the new guns and the older guns.f

The goal is to move a new product line to the plant, transfer some lead employees to help get it started, and to be off and running in the new plant.

The rationale behind the third manufacturing facility is that they have just plain run out of space at the existing plants in New Hampshire and Arizona. Since 2006, they have increased the workforce from 1,300 employees to 2,100 employees while producing approximately four times as many firearms. Fifer said their run rate in firearm sales has grown in the same time period from $140 million annually to over $600 million annually.

Now it just remains to be seen which of the three sites they pick. As a North Carolinian, I hope they pick the Tar Heel State. Our unemployment rate is higher than the other two states under consideration, we have a governor and legislature that is pro-Second Amendment and pro-business, we have a great transportation network, we have plenty of engineers, and we have better BBQ.

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High Capacity Cookware Ban

May 14, 2013 by 2 Comments

My friend Bob Mayne who produces the HandgunWorld Podcast has just put out a humorous YouTube which pokes fun at the gun banners. It uses all the same language that the gun prohibitionists’ spout daily but Bob applies it to stuff like high capacity pressure cookers and blenders. He even talks about the cooking show loophole.

While it may seem absurd when applied to cookware, is it really any more absurd than the gun prohibitionists’ arguments about guns and standard capacity magazines? I don’t think so.

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Chicago Hit Job On World Shooting And Recreational Center

May 14, 2013 by 6 Comments

You shoot trap or skeet. You live in the ‘burbs. You aspire to a Perazzi or Krieghoff custom shotgun to go with your Beemer. You don’t particularly care for the NRA as all they care about is protecting those mouth-breathing, knuckle-dragging Neanderthals and their evil black rifles. Besides, Mayor Bloomberg and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) have always said they are only after the illegal guns and that they respect American sporting traditions like trap and skeet.

Sorry to intrude on your dream world but you might want to think again.

Fox 32 News out of Chicago has just done a nice hit piece on the home of the Grand American – the World Shooting and Recreational Center in Sparta, Illinois. They are saying it is an expensive boondoggle that has cost and continues to cost Illinois taxpayers millions of dollars.

Chances are you’ve never heard of the World Shooting and Recreational
Complex; which is too bad, because you almost certainly paid for it. In
fact, Illinois taxpayers kicked in tens of millions of dollars for the
downstate tourist attraction. The problem is, it isn’t attracting a lot
of tourists and it continues to lose money.

And who is leading the charge to get rid of it? None other than Illinois State Senator Dan Kotowski (D-Park Ridge) who is one of the leading gun prohibitionists in the Illinois General Assembly.

“The state must live within its means. Fund what works. Get rid of what
doesn’t,” Kotowski says. “Should we be in the business of making sure
that we have sport shooting competitions, shooting competitions should
the state government be in that business whether it makes people feel
good or not? I think we should be in the business of educating our
children.”

Unfortunately, the World Shooting and Recreational Center is also being targeted by the free-market leaning Illinois Policy Institute. They have consistently called for the state’s spending on it to be cut. They call it a “giant white elephant” in the Fox 32 report which can be seen below.

It should be pointed out that the World Shooting and Recreational Center hosts more than the Grand American and skeet and trap shooting competitions. There are regular SASS, IDPA, and USPSA pistol competitions held there. You can also shoot trap, skeet, and sporting clays most days of the week when competitions are not being held.

Would the World Shooting and Recreational Center be better served by being in private hands? Maybe. That said, the attack on it now by Dan Kotowski and others is a backdoor attack on shooting in general. If they can limit places to shoot, they will make it harder to exercise our Second Amendment rights.

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