Americans for Responsible Solutions

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Too Slick By Half

December 6, 2017 by 2 Comments

The (anti-gun) cult of personality known as Giffords has produced a Concealed Carry Reciprocity Toolkit for all their uninformed followers. It provides talking points, phone scripts, email templates, pre-written tweets, ready-to-use graphics, and loaded (pun intended) town hall questions.

Here are some of their talking points:

TALKING POINTS

  • This bill would make it legal for dangerous and untrained people to carry loaded, hidden guns in more public places. If this bill passes, people who are prohibited from getting a concealed carry permit in a state with strong gun laws will be allowed to apply for a permit in a state with weaker laws. This includes convicted stalkers, domestic abusers, people convicted of violent crimes, and people with no training or experience firing a gun.

  • This bill fails to create a national standard for who should be allowed to carry a concealed weapon and undermines states rights by forcing states with strong concealed carry laws to honor permits from states with weak or non-existent concealed carry laws. Right now, states have the right to choose which states’ concealed carry permits they recognize, which is important because the requirement to carry hidden, loaded guns in public vary drastically from state to state. If this bill passes, that will no longer be the case.
  • Concealed carry reciprocity will make it nearly impossible for law enforcement officers to quickly and easily verify that people carrying a hidden, loaded weapon are doing so legally. Nearly every major law enforcement association OPPOSES this bill because of its disastrous consequences for public safety.
  • Concealed carry reciprocity will threaten the safety of victims of domestic violence, dating violence and stalking by enabling domestic violence offenders to follow their victims across state lines with loaded, concealed firearms. Preliminary data from the National Domestic Violence Hotline shows that 23% of victims reported that their abuser crossed state lines in an attempt to further assault their victims.
  • Weakening gun laws will increase violent crime in our communities. Recent research found that violent crime increased in states that loosened concealed carry laws, with 10% more murders and up to 14% more violent crime.

You can examine the entire document here.

What I think this illustrates is just how much of a top-down, Astro-turf organization that the group formerly known as Americans for Responsible Solutions really is. This was obviously created for them by public relations and media professionals. It assumes that the Know Nothings who feel that “something has to be done” are too uninformed to write their own letters or say something more than “I’m against this” when calling Congressional offices.

I find it highly ironic that a group so closely associated with the Democrats would go full “states’ rights” in their opposition to carry reciprocity. While it is now the rallying cry of the progressives on this issue, it was the rallying cry for racist Democrats in the 1950s and 60s in their opposition to integration and civil rights.

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Proud Gabby – With Apologies To John Fogarty

October 10, 2017 by

I’m reading yet another email asking for money from Americans for Responsible Solutions. They are criticizing the NRA for being respectfully quiet following the Las Vegas mass casualty event. As I continued to read, a jingle started playing in my head to the tune of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Proud Mary. All I could hear was “rollin’ in the blood”.

This led me to rewrite a bit of the first few stanzas of Proud Mary.

Left a good job in the Congress
Workin’ for the Left ev’ry night and day
And I never lost one minute of sleepin’
Worryin’ ’bout the way things should have been


Big money keep on commin’
Proud Gabby keep on beggin’
Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’ in the blood


Cleared a lot of checks in the District
Pumped a lot of hands down in Tucson
But I never saw the good side of the city
‘Til I hitched a ride as the anti-gun queen


Big money keep on commin’
Proud Gabby keep on beggin’
Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’ in the blood

 This is probably not the most respectful thing to say about a former member of Congress and I am truly sorry that she got shot by a mentally disturbed young man who had passed all background checks. Nonetheless, I get sick and tired of how the gun prohibitionists roll in the blood of the victims before the blood is even dry.

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Giffords’ Group Says Moderate Republicans Wavering On The SHARE Act

September 21, 2017 by 2 Comments

I received an email from Robin Lloyd of Americans for Responsible Solutions (sic) today. She lists herself as the Director of Government Affairs which I assume to mean head lobbyist. The email is below and I’ve highlighted sections. As many readers know, this group has had a real hard-on about the Hearing Protection Act since the beginning. The HPA was rolled into HR 3668 – the Sportsmen’s Heritage And Recreational Enhancement Act or the “SHARE Act”. The House Committee on Natural Resources reported it out on Monday, September 18th.

John –

I wanted to write with a quick, but promising, update on the gun lobby’s efforts to pass legislation deregulating the sale of firearm silencers.

After last week’s committee hearing and vote, it looked like the vote on final passage before the entire House was going to happen before the end of the month.


But the grassroots pushback is working, and some moderate Republicans in the House are hesitant about voting on this as they consider their own re-election prospects.


Can you imagine what a sea change it would be for the future of the gun debate if the House of Representatives, with an overwhelming Republican majority, was afraid to vote on and pass this bill? It would totally and completely reshape the future of this debate. So we have to keep up the pressure:


Chip in $3 to help Gabby, Mark, and Americans for Responsible Solutions stop legislation that would deregulate the sale of firearm silencers from ever becoming law.

Gosh, John, it wasn’t long ago that the shoe was completely on the other foot — that the gun lobby’s allies used to try and force people who generally opposed commonsense solutions to reduce gun violence to take “tough, pro-gun” votes.


We are winning. The future is ours on this issue. But only if we all continue to make our voices heard.

All my best,

Robin Lloyd

Director of Government Affairs
Americans for Responsible Solutions

We are in a war for our firearm civil rights. We know it and they know it. Propaganda is part and parcel of war and the email above may just be that. Shocking as it may seem, gun prohibitionists have been known to lie and this well could be another of their big lies. They have been lying about suppressors since Day 1 so why should this be any different. Even the Washington Post awarded them 3 or 4 Pinocchios for their claims about suppressors.

It could also be just an effort to rally their base and bring in more dollars. There is nary an email from this group that doesn’t ask for money.

Nonetheless, despite having a history of being lying b@$%@rds, they could actually be correct about some moderate Republicans (aka RINOs) wavering on this bill due to the pro-gun rights elements contained within it. While the bill is on the Union Calendar, that doesn’t say when it is scheduled to be brought to the floor of the House for a vote. Thus, we need to keep calling our representatives and demand that they vote for this bill. If you are represented by a RINO, put it to them hard.

Find your representative here.

We also need to put pressure on the Republican leadership to stand firm and to bring the bill forward.

Contact Speaker Paul Ryan’s office here and urge him to bring the bill forward.

Both sets of links will also give you phone numbers — use them!

One final suggestion:  if you’ve bought a suppressor or filed a Form 1 since 2015, you will get your $200 back. You might hint to the congressional office that you are looking for a place to spend that money or even, cough, cough, donate it.

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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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Ideologues Versus Science

March 31, 2017 by 2 Comments

There is currently a battle going on between anti-science ideologues and those committed to a health-related change in the laws based upon science. You have doctors, public health advocates, and civil rights advocates on one side and you have the New York Times and anti-health prohibitionists on the other side. I am talking about the battle between those for and opposed to the Hearing Protection Act of 2017.

The New York Times weighed in the battle with an absurd editorial entitled “Echoes of Gunfire Hurt Tender N.R.A. Ears”. As per their usual, they conflated the number of deaths attributed to the use of a firearm to include intentional deaths (suicides), they misrepresented the intent of Congress for adding suppressors to the National Firearms Act, and they created a strawman by insisting the public would be at risk because “ShotSpotters” would not be able to hear gunfire.

The annual tally of 30,000-plus gun deaths accounts for just a tiny fraction of the total shots fired, most of which miss their targets but terrorize neighborhoods. Amid the lethal cacophony, the police in more than 90 cities here and abroad seek to reach the scene of the latest gun troubles more quickly by using an audio detection system called ShotSpotter, which triangulates the sound of gunfire onto computer maps. Police officers in major cities hail these precise early alarms of where the latest shooting is.

Yet despite these advances, the National Rifle Association argues, self-servingly, that noisy guns are a public health hazard. With the help of supporters like President Trump’s son Donald Jr., a gun hobbyist, it wants to roll back an 80-year-old federal law that tightly controls the sale of firearm silencers. Immune to irony, the N.R.A.’s congressional friends have introduced a measure called the Hearing Protection Act, which contends that the sound of gunfire is hard on the ears of gun owners.

“What about the rest of us?” the nation’s unarmed majority might well ask. When it comes to public health, the noisier a gun is, the better the chances for innocent bystanders to hit the ground and for police officers to apprehend the shooter.

I guess reading the Washington Post is beneath the editorial board of the New York Times. The Post reported only four days earlier that the CEO of ShotSpotter said their devices had detected suppressed gunfire in the past and would be able to detect it in the future with some fine-tuning.

Then there is Mark Kelly aka Mr. Gabby Giffords of Americans for Responsible Solutions (sic) who has been leading the charge against suppressors.

From a fundraising email:

One of those bills would lift restrictions on the sale of firearm silencers.

Now, I don’t want to give the impression that firearm silencers work like you see them in the movies — where someone fires a gun and it wouldn’t wake a person sleeping in the same room.

But silencers do suppress sound and light when a weapon is discharged, and that makes them attractive accessories for criminals who want to conceal their crimes.

Attractive accessories for criminals? Really? Actually, criminals want to scare the shit out of you with the noise of a firearm report because it tends to make victims more compliant.

You would think someone who had been around jet engines like Kelly would have an appreciation for the damage that loud noises do to hearing. I know I do because every day for me is like a hot summer night in Mississippi where the crickets, cicadas, and tree frogs keep up an incessant noise. That is what tinnitus sounds like to sufferers like me.

On the rational, scientific side of this debate are groups like Doctors for Responsible Gun Ownership. They have just released a position paper in favor of suppressors to prevent hearing loss. The four primary authors of the paper are all board-certified physicians specializing in otolaryngology or ear, nose, and throat issues. The following is from their executive summary of the paper:

Noise Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL) is a real public health problem:

The causal relationship between loud noise exposure and irreversible hearing loss has long been
recognized by medicine and the U.S. government.

NIHL is permanent and untreatable. Prevention is the only possible intervention.


Demonstrable need:

NIHL is the most prevalent service-connected disability among Veterans.

Per the CDC, 15% of adults aged 18 and over (or nearly 38 million American) have hearing problems.

Over 100 million Americans who own guns are at risk for gunshot-induced NIHL. Auditory injuries are
sustained by bystanders the same as by shooters.

Nearly all gunshots exceed the noise threshold for instant damage to the hearing cells of the inner ear.
And their explosive blast generates 1,000 times the force on the eardrum than the noise itself.


Benefit of suppressors:

Muzzle blast sound levels from most firearms range from 140 to over 170 decibels. 120 decibels is
considered the maximum safe level for short exposures (the intensity of a car horn 3 feet away). Ear
plugs and/or ear muffs only reduce noise by 20-30 decibels.

Evidence supporting the need for greater use of firearms suppressors comes from the Occupational Safety
and Health Administration, the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communicative Disorders, the
Centers for Disease Control, as well as academic and military research.

Muzzle-mounted suppressors are vastly superior to ear protectors, providing 50% greater noise reduction.
Only suppressors can make most modern firearms safe for hearing, as noise at gun ranges routinely
reaches 160 decibels.

I would urge readers to study the position paper issued by Doctors for Responsible Gun Ownership. It provides great graphics and is extensively sourced. Moreover, unlike most doctor’s handwriting, it is both readable and understandable!

Our first suppressor arrived this week after a wait of over three-fourths of a year. As I said in that post, can you think of any other consumer product for the health and safety of both the purchaser and the general public for which you have to ask the government for permission to take possession of it on top of paying $200 for the privilege? It is time for Congress to act on the established science of hearing loss and pass the Hearing Protection Act.

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Is This The Best They Can Do?

January 18, 2017 by 3 Comments

Now that the Hearing Protection Act has been introduced in both the House and the Senate the wailing and gnashing of teeth is beginning to be heard from the gun prohibitionists. Just today I received the following in my email from the Space Cowboy aka Mr. Gabby Giffords aka Mark Kelly of the Americans for Responsible Solutions.

John –

With Donald Trump set to take office in just three days, the gun lobby
and their allies in Congress have set their sights on a pair of bills
that will make our communities far less safe from gun violence.
One of those bills would lift restrictions on the sale of firearm silencers.
Now, I don’t want to give the impression that firearm silencers work
like you see them in the movies — where someone fires a gun and it
wouldn’t wake a person sleeping in the same room.
But silencers do suppress sound and light when a weapon is
discharged, and that makes them attractive accessories for criminals who
want to conceal their crimes.
Before Trump takes office, it’s important we lay down a marker on this issue.
The gun lobby will tell you that this legislation is designed to
protect people’s hearing, but the truth is that it’s a massive financial
giveaway to the corporations who manufacture and sell firearm
silencers. The safety of our communities is more important than the
manufacturers’ bottom lines.
Thank you for adding your name.
Mark Kelly
Americans for Responsible Solutions PAC

You want to say, “Really, Mark? Is this the best you can come up with?” A suppressor suppresses sound and light and thus make them attractive accessories for criminals. Flash suppressors for rifles are legal in most states and do not require any license, permit, fee, or registration.

The same could be said for common items like bed pillows, oil filters, 2-liter Coke bottles, and potatoes. All of these common items could be used by thugs, murderers, and criminals to muffle the sound of the firearm and possibly reduce its flash.

Having reported on hundreds of defensive gun uses on the Polite Society Podcast I have yet to come across mention of a criminal having a suppressor in his or her possession while committing an assault, robbery, home invasion, or murder. Indeed, more often than not, these miscreants use the loud sound of a firearm discharge to attempt to cow their victims. They aren’t worried about the police because most times they anticipate being gone by the time the police arrive.

What Kelly is not saying is that treating silencers and suppressors like ordinary firearms still requires a NICS check as they are going to be transferred by FFLs. You would still have to fill out a Form 4473 and felons, drug abusers, those convicted of domestic violence, etc. would still be prohibited from purchasing and possessing a suppressor. While I might want a suppressor to be sold like replacement mufflers for a lawnmower at Ace Hardware, these bills are a good first step in an effort to reduce noise pollution and protect the hearing of hunters and shooters.

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Hyperbole And Lies

April 7, 2016 by 6 Comments

We have come to expect both hyperbole and lies from the gun prohibitionists. The email I received today from Mr. Gabby Giffords (aka Capt. Mark Kelly, USN (Ret)) of Americans for Responsible Solutions contained both. The letter was advocating the addition of people on the so-called terrorist watch list to the NICS banned list.

Kelly’s lie was particularly egregious but not surprising.

Just a few years ago, al-Qaeda encouraged potential terrorists to to take advantage of loopholes in our laws, saying “America is absolutely awash with easily obtainable firearms. You can go down to a gun show at the local convention center and come away with a fully automatic assault rifle, without a background check, and most likely without having to show an identification card. So what are you waiting for?”

While this is a quote attributed to al-Qaeda, no effort was made to correct it. Just as I learned in catechism classes, there are sins of commission and sins of omission. This was a sin of omission as he knew full well that fully automatic firearms are covered under the National Firearms Act, that they are highly regulated, and that the supply of new firearms is constrained by the Hughes Act.

By repeating the lies of terrorists, he was trying to sow fear in the minds of the uninformed. He then blames the evil “gun lobby” for blocking efforts to expand the NICS banned list which conflates those of us who oppose using the terrorist watch list with terrorist themselves.

The reason Mark Kelly has to use lies and hyperbole is that his argument is weak. If he had a good argument, he could just state the facts. Since he doesn’t, he can’t.

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Something To Hang Around The Necks Of North Carolina House RINOs

July 29, 2015 by

Amber Goodwin is the State Legislative Director for Americans for Responsible Solutions. In that role, she is Gabby and Space Cowboy’s hired gun charged with killing pro-gun rights bills in the states. She sent out this missive late last night.

We’ve emailed you quite a few times about the gun lobby’s efforts to repeal background checks in North Carolina.

I have a very important update to share with you today:

Earlier today, the State Legislature passed HB 562 and IT DID NOT contain language to repeal North Carolina’s background checks law — a great victory for our movement.

Time and time again, Americans for Responsible Solutions supporters made their voices heard through phone calls and letters to state legislators, and contributions that helped us place ads on television and the internet.

That collective effort made this victory possible — and lives will be saved because of that work.

 Now anybody who knows anything about the North Carolina General Assembly knows that the pistol purchase permit system is still around due to the efforts of the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association and their power and money hungry members. While the gun prohibitionists may have had some impact on some Democrats, I can’t think of any Republican that was swayed by Mike, Gabby, Shannon, and a bunch of nanny-staters clad in felon orange tees.

Nonetheless, when it comes time to primary those Republican representatives who threw gun rights under the bus at the behest of the sheriffs, I think we should hang this around their scrawny RINO necks. Let them try to explain how their votes to keep the pistol purchase permit system did not please the gun prohibitionists. The answer is that no matter how they try to spin it, their vote to keep that racist system did please those who oppose gun rights.

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Billionaires Aren’t The Only Ones Pumping Money Into Washington State

October 21, 2014 by 4 Comments

I did a post last month detailing all the money being pumped into Washington State in support of the gun control initiative I-594. At that time, five billionaires and one very rich woman from an “old Seattle family” had cumulatively put in almost 75% of the monies in support of the initiative. Since then, Michael Bloomberg, through his Everytown Moms for Illegal Mayors, has pumped another $950,000 into the effort along with at least $350,000 from the coterie of billionaires.

It looks like Gabby Giffords and the Space Cowboy (aka Mark Kelly) have gotten involved as well. Through their Americans for Responsible Solutions (sic), they have donated $229,091 for in-kind direct mail services. It is the largest in-kind donation of the campaign. The majority of the other in-kind services is coming from the Win/Win Network (a coalition of unions and left-wing groups) and the True Patriot Network which is run by billionaire Nick Hanauer.

I have to give Washington State kudos for their Public Disclosure Commission reporting system. It is much more up-to-date on contributions that the Federal Election Commission system.

From the Federal Election Commission

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Messing With The Gun Prohibitionists

May 12, 2013 by 18 Comments

I like nothing better than to use the gun prohibitionist’s own resources to send a pro-gun message to Congress. The Giffords-Kelly organization, Americans for Responsible Solutions, is now providing one such opportunity. They have a letter going out asking Congressmen to support the House version of Manchin-Toomey – HR 1565. This bill is sponsored by Rep. Peter King (Rino-NY) and Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA).

The “suggested” letter from Americans for Responsible Solutions uses the subject line, “Please support King-Thompson (H.R. 1565) to reduce gun violence.” Their text is below:

As you know, over 90% of Americans support expanding background checks for gun purchases – Republicans and Democrats, gun owners and everyone else.

There’s a bill in the House of Representatives that I believe you should co-sponsor today. H.R. 1565, the Public Safety and Second Amendment Right Protection Act, is a bipartisan bill that would reduce gun violence and protect gun rights by expanding background checks to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the dangerously mentally ill. The bill is IDENTICAL to the Manchin-Toomey bill in the Senate that enjoys overwhelming public support.

It already has over 150 co-sponsors, and I hope you’ll add your name to theirs today.

As a constituent of yours, I look forward to keeping track of your commitment to this issue.

Here is how I re-wrote their letter. I changed the subject line to read, “Please oppose King-Thompson (HR 1565).” Feel free to use it or make changes as you see fit.

As you know, the claim that over 90% of Americans support expanding background checks for gun purchases is a myth. This hasn’t stopped the gun prohibitionists from the White House on down from repeating it as if it were the Gospel truth.

Rep. Peter King and Rep. Mike Thompson have co-sponsored H.R. 1565, the Public Safety and Second Amendment Right Protection Act. The bill is IDENTICAL to the Manchin-Toomey bill in the Senate. Just like that bill, it would have done NOTHING to stop the recent mass murders in Newtown, CT and Aurora, CO. In both cases, the firearms were legally purchased with NICS background checks.

I am asking that you oppose HR 1565. It will do nothing to prevent gun-related crime yet would infringe upon the Second Amendment rights of all Americans. As Professor David Kopel has pointed out, the so-called “pro-gun” provisions of the bill are a bonanza of gun control.

As a constituent of yours, I look forward to keeping track of your commitment to this issue.

You can link to their tool here. You just need to put in your ZIP+4 and it will pull up your Congressman or woman.

Like I said, I love it when they make it easy for us to use their own resources to get out a pro-gun message. The Brady Campaign and MAIG have gotten smart about these things. Obviously, being newcomers, Americans for Responsible Solutions still has a bit to learn which is just fine by me. I think we need to take advantage of their naivete while we can.

UPDATE:  If you go to the link above, it will automatically load the anti-gun subject line and letter. Make sure you change it before sending or you could inadvertently suggest support for the bill. Thanks to Don in SC for this warning.