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Co-sponsor Wars – HR 308 v. HR 822

March 14, 2011 by

The two firearms-related bills before the current Congress that have the most co-sponsors are Carolyn McCarthy’s magazine ban bill, HR 308, and Cliff Stearns’ National Right-To-Carry Reciprocity bill, HR 822.

Currently, HR 308 has 97 co-sponsors and added four new co-sponsors last week.

Rep McNerney, Jerry [CA-11] – 3/10/2011
Rep Clarke, Yvette D. [NY-11] – 3/10/2011
Rep Hanabusa, Colleen W. [HI-1] – 3/10/2011
Rep Pastor, Ed [AZ-4] – 3/11/2011

By contrast, the number of co-sponsors for HR 822 stands at 66 which includes 23 co-sponsors added just last week. When I last reported on HR 822 last week, it had only 57 co-sponsors. Another nine were added on Thursday and Friday.

Rep Green, Gene [TX-29] – 3/10/2011
Rep Wittman, Robert J. [VA-1] – 3/10/2011
Rep Harris, Andy [MD-1] – 3/10/2011
Rep Jordan, Jim [OH-4] – 3/11/2011
Rep Costello, Jerry F. [IL-12] – 3/11/2011
Rep Fleming, John [LA-4] – 3/11/2011
Rep Ross, Dennis [FL-12] – 3/11/2011
Rep Rivera, David [FL-25] – 3/11/2011
Rep Bilirakis, Gus M. [FL-9] – 3/11/2011

The lists of co-sponsors are a study in contrasts. For example, every co-sponsor of HR 308 is a Democrat while HR 822 is a bi-partisan bill with 12 Democrats including the 3 NRA-endorsed Democrats in North Carolina as co-sponsors. Both lists of co-sponsors are also mutually exclusive – no co-sponsor of HR 308 is a co-sponsor of HR 822 and vice-versa.

Momentum seems to be with HR 822 as it is adding co-sponsors in double-digit amounts each week. It should continue to do so if we keep up the pressure on pro-gun Congressmen to sign on to this bill. There are almost 200 Republicans and the rest of the Blue Dog Democrats who could sign on as co-sponsors but haven’t as of Friday.

By contrast, after the initial flurry of co-sponsors to McCarthy’s bill in the immediate days after the Tucson shooting, its growth has slowed tremendously. With only 83 Democrats not committed one way or another and only a handful of Republicans that might sign on as a co-sponsor, I anticipate that HR 308 has or will soon hit its high watermark. And that is good news.

UPDATE:  On Monday, two more fellow travelers were added to HR 308. I imagine this might be due to Obama starting “a national conversation” on guns or something like that. This brings the total to 99. The two additions, John Larson and Xavier Becerra, are both Democrats. Larson is Chair of the House Democratic Caucus and Becerra is the Vice-Chair.

Rep Larson, John B. [CT-1] – 3/14/2011
Rep Becerra, Xavier [CA-31] – 3/14/2011

Also on Monday, four more co-sponsors signed on the HR 822, National Right-To-Carry Reciprocity. This brings that total to 70. As I have said earlier, start calling your representative if he or she isn’t a co-sponsor of HR 822 and ask why not.

Rep Latta, Robert E. [OH-5] – 3/14/2011
Rep Rogers, Mike J. [MI-8] – 3/14/2011
Rep Johnson, Sam [TX-3] – 3/14/2011
Rep Kinzinger, Adam [IL-11] – 3/14/2011

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Dancing On Graves

March 13, 2011 by 3 Comments

The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV) seeks “to secure freedom from gun violence through research, strategic engagement and effective policy advocacy” according to their self-description. There is a lot of things you can say about CSGV and their methods.

However, classy isn’t one of them.

Last Thursday, CSGV tweeted links to three stories on their Twitter feed. All three stories involved concealed carry holders or those training to obtain a CCW permit. Two of the stories involved a murder and the third involved a person dying in an accident.

 

The above comes from Bassett, Virginia. In the story in the Martinsville Bulletin, Rasheem Alonzo Penn of Bassett was murdered while he sat in his car. He had been having a conversation with Brandon Manns who had come up to his car. Manns, a convicted felon, is charged with shooting Penn twice in the head. So what did the CSGV focus on? It was this,

Inside the Expedition, officers found a fully loaded 9 mm handgun in the center console, (Henry County Sheriff’s investigator Corey) Reynolds testified. The console was closed, glass was on top of it, and it had no odor of a fired gun, all of which led Reynolds to conclude that that gun had not been fired, he testified.

Penn owned the gun and had a valid concealed carry permit, Reynolds testified.

From the description of the event by eyewitnesses, there was no loud argument and nothing that gave off any vibes that a shooting was about to happen. If this is correct, I doubt even the best trained person would have had time to react to prevent from being shot. The fact that Mr. Penn held a CCW is irrelevant in this situation – except to the grave dancers at CSGV.

The next two tweets involved a spousal murder and a training accident.

The spousal murder involved Thomas and Micah Rine Pate of Bartlett, TN. According to the story in the Memphis Commercial-Appeal, the Pates had a troubled marriage and were seeing a marriage counselor. Thomas Pate is accused of murdering his wife and then hiding her body by the Loosahatchie River near Lakeland, TN. If you look at the tweet pictured above, the most important thing about this case according to CSGV was the following.

The husband and wife both had gun permits and Pate said he accidentally shot his wife in the back of the head when she walked in front of him while they were target practicing near the river.

The fact that Thomas Pate may have been cheating on his wife, that they had marital problems, that she was upset by his anger, and that he may have been abusing drugs and alcohol is irrelevant according to their tweet.

The final tweet involved Glenn Seymour of Douglas County, Missouri. Mr. Seymour died from an accidental, self-inflicted gunshot to the chest while in a concealed carry permit training class. The class was being taught to shoot with their non-dominant hand. Mr. Seymour pointed the muzzle of the pistol towards himself while trying to manipulate the manual safety. As SayUncle has pointed out, Mr. Seymour violated two of the four rules of firearm safety. The accident involving Mr. Seymour was a training issue and a supervision issue. That it happened in a CCW class was incidental to these issues.

All three deaths involved concealed carry in only the most tangential manner. But if you went by the tweets from the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, you would have thought that the CCW was the central aspect of their deaths.

CSGV – grave dancers extraordinaire.

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Six-Peat

March 13, 2011 by 1 Comment

I don’t usually follow high school sports nor do I usually talk about them in this blog. Permit me to make an exception.

Congratulations to the Lady Villains of Bishop McGuinness Catholic High School of Kernersville, NC for winning their sixth consecutive NCHSAA Class 1-A girls basketball state championship. Their win in Chapel Hill tied North Carolina state records held by Hayesville High for most consecutive championships and for most championships.

The Lady Villains won the game 57-43 against Southwest Onslow High.

Megan Buckland, McGuinness’ only senior and far and away its top player, spent much of her time doing the dirty work and passing the ball to teammates because the Villains led by 23 less than 11 minutes into the game.

Coach Brian Robinson of McGuinness, humble until the end, called off the dogs and called on the matador defense in the second half, during which the Stallions outscored the Villains 30-21.

“As long as you have the game in hand, there is no use to press or trap,” Robinson said. “We just wanted to win the game. This is bigger than basketball. We had enough to win and we will never win by running the score up.”

Given the youth of the team – only one senior – it is quite possible that next year I will have a post entitled “Seven-Peat”. Great play, great coaching, and great sportsmanship will get them there.

Besides, Bishop McGuinness has one of the coolest team names going – Villains. The only other name that I think can compete is the University of Idaho with the Vandals.

And yes, I am an alumnus of Bishop McGuinness, Class of 1975, from when it was located in Winston-Salem.

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Clarification?

March 13, 2011 by 1 Comment

On Friday the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City released this.

Clarification

March 11, 2011 – Because of the attention given to this issue, the Embassy of the United States would like to issue the following clarification:

There is no contradiction between the statement of the Mexican government and the information provided by the United States concerning an operation that dismantled a major arms trafficking ring that has been called Fast and Furious. The operation took place on U.S. territory and arrested 20 defendants on January 25, 2011.

After the arrests on January 25, reports emerged alleging that the operation could have entailed a transfer of arms from the United States to Mexico. Attorney General Holder has called for an investigation. He has stated unequivocally that such actions, if true, “would not be acceptable.” He affirmed that he “made that clear to attorneys and agents in charge of ATF.”

The Mexican Government has stated that “it had no knowledge of an operation that might include the transgression or the controlled trafficking of arms to Mexican territory.” The briefings that took place between U.S. and Mexican law enforcement focused on operations on U.S. territory to crack down on trafficking operations. The alleged transfer of arms to Mexican territory at this point is exactly that – an allegation. Attorney General Holder has underscored that he takes “those allegations seriously.” He said “that is why I asked the IG (Inspector General) to report on it.”

The Government of Mexico has constructively “offered whatever support might be necessary in order to clearly establish the facts.” This type of mutual support is reflective of our common objectives to stop the illicit movement of arms, drugs and money that threaten both Mexican and U.S. citizens.

I think the proper term to describe this press release is not clarification but spin. This is especially true when you examine this map of recovered firearms for Operation Fast and Furious. It was released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona. It shows 372 firearms recovered in the United States and 195 firearms recovered in Mexico. So  if the U.S. Attorney’s Office says 195 firearms were recovered in Mexico, is this just “an allegation”?

I suggest the Press Attache’ in the U.S Embassy to Mexico check to make sure they won’t be immediately contradicted when they issue a press release in the future. As it is, they are the public face of the United States government in Mexico and this release is an embarrassment.

H/T CUATF.org

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Release Of FOID Card Holders Names On Hold

March 11, 2011 by 1 Comment

This was sent out about an hour ago by the Illinois State Rifle Association which was challenging the release of FOID card holders names to the AP.

STATE RIFLE ASSOCIATION SECURES TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER AGAINST RELEASE OF FIREARM OWNERS’ PERSONAL INFORMATION

PEORIA, IL – – The following was released today by the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA):

The ISRA is pleased to announce that it has secured a temporary restraining order against the release of personal information belonging to persons holding Illinois Firearm Owner Identification cards (FOID). The ISRA and four additional plaintiffs filed for the temporary restraining order after Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced that her office believes that release of FOID information to the public is proper under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act. The ISRA is very concerned that public release of personal information from the FOID database will jeopardize the safety of law-abiding firearm owners.

The temporary restraining order was granted by judge Scott Shore of the 10th Judicial District, Peoria County. Judge Shore has scheduled a status call for March 15th, at which time a date will be set for hearing arguments regarding the issuance of a preliminary injunction. With the temporary order in effect, your FOID information is safe, for now.

“Law-abiding Illinois firearm owners can breathe a little easier today,” commented ISRA Executive Director Richard Pearson. “Judge Shore’s order will prevent the Illinois State Police from releasing personal information on FOID holders to news organizations, gun control groups, gangs, and other criminals”.

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Another Raid In Columbus, New Mexico

March 11, 2011 by 4 Comments

The border town of Columbus, New Mexico just seems to attract raiders.

First it was Pancho Villa in 1916. That raid became the stuff of legend. It led to the Punitive Expedition commanded by General John J. Pershing which chased around Mexico after Villa for a couple of years without catching him.

Now it is the ATF (assisted by DEA) that has raided Columbus, New Mexico. Unlike the Pancho Villa raid, no one was killed. However, the mayor, police chief, one council member, and eight others were all arrested on drug and weapons charges. Firearms reportedly were crossing the border in an unmarked Columbus Police Department truck.

A copy of the 26-page indictment can be found here.

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NSSF Opposes Nominee Tied To Eliot Spitzer

March 10, 2011 by

The NSSF released this about an hour ago on their blog about Caitlin Halligan who is nominated as a Circuit Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is slated to vote later today on the nomination of Caitlin Halligan to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Ms. Halligan previously served as Solicitor General under then-New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer while he was suing members of the firearms industry. As New York’s Solicitor General, Halligan signed the brief in People of the State of New York v. Sturm, Ruger & Co, Inc., et al arguing that the lawful and highly regulated sale of firearms somehow created a ”public nuisance.” The New York appellate decision roundly rejected her arguments and upheld the dismissal of the case. Later, she filed an amicus brief in City of New York v. Beretta U.S.A. Corp. in support of the Giuliani/Bloomberg lawsuit against members of our industry arguing that the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) was unconstitutional. Every appellate court in the nation has rejected that argument and not a single federal court judge has ever agreed, not even Brooklyn, N.Y., federal court judge Jack B. Weinstein whose ruling Halligan was seeking to have overturned.

Her specious arguments as Solicitor General in support of baseless lawsuits designed to destroy America’s firearms industry raise important questions about whether Ms. Halligan is qualified to serve as a federal appellate court judge.

Unfortunately, the Senate Judiciary Committee has held the vote on Halligan and approved her nomination by a 10 to 8 vote. I am presuming it was along party lines. Of the votes taken during their business meeting, the vote on Halligan was the only one with a roll call vote. If her nomination is to be stopped, it will be on the floor of the Senate.