Don't Use the Budget to Set Bad Gun Policies | Commentary

In its first vote on guns since the mass shooting in Charleston, S.C., the House Appropriations Committee retained a long-standing ban on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funding for research on gun violence.

Of course, this wasn’t the first time the House used the budget process to do the National Rifle Association’s bidding. Twice this month, the House tried to handcuff the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives as the agency works to prevent criminals from getting guns.

First, the House blocked an ATF proposal to close a loophole that allows criminals to buy or possess machine guns.

That’s right — machine guns. The loophole allows people to get them after they’ve formed a business entity such as a trust, through which they can avoid both the standard gun-sale background check and the required certification from local law enforcement. With “gun trust” applications skyrocketing — from fewer than 1,000 in 2000 to more than 40,000 in 2012 — the ATF is logically seeking to make the rules for buying and possessing machine guns the same for trusts as they are for individuals.

The House used a budget bill to block the ATF’s gun trust proposal — and it didn’t stop there. The House also moved to shut down an existing, effective ATF security program — one that’s helping break up gun-trafficking rings and better police the U.S.-Mexico border.

It’s called the “long-gun reporting program.” It’s modeled on a common-sense requirement, in place for 20 years, which requires licensed gun dealers to notify the ATF when someone buys multiple handguns within five business days. Such high-volume sales are typically associated with gun trafficking — not with self-protection, hunting, collecting or any other form of law-abiding gun ownership.

For two decades, the multiple-sales reporting requirement has produced “timely, actionable investigative leads” and helped the ATF identify and prosecute gun traffickers. Shotguns and rifles (or, “long guns”) were not subject to the reporting requirement until recently, when the ATF began requiring reports for certain powerful long guns bought from dealers in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas.

Why might the ATF want to continue requiring long-gun reports from dealers in the four states that border Mexico?

Because law enforcement and the border communities they protect are under attack.

Via: Roll Call

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Supreme Court Ruling On Gay Marriage May Pave Way For Expanded Gun Rights…

With the high court’s latest ruling on same-sex marriages, some contend the decision could lead to increased gun rights, specifically national CCW reciprocity, by using the same argument.

Friday the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the Fourteenth Amendment requires a state to license a marriage between two people of the same sex and recognize those sanctioned by other states.

“No longer may this liberty be denied,” Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote for the majority in the landmark decision that arguably made same sex marriage a reality in the 13 remaining states that continued to ban the practice.

With similar logic applied, gun rights advocates argue that the nation’s patchwork of firearms laws governing the concealed carry of handguns are now circumspect under the same guidelines. In short, they reason if marriage equality is guaranteed from state to state, then so should concealed carry rights.

“To paraphrase what Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy said about same-sex marriage,” noted Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Chairman Alan Gottlieb in a statement Friday, “no right is more profound than the right of self-preservation, and under the Constitution, all citizens should be able to exercise the right of self-defense anywhere in the country. It disparages their ability to do so, and diminishes their personhood to deny the right to bear arms they have in their home states when they are visiting other states.”

While every state has a framework to issue concealed carry permits, they are under no obligation to recognize those issued by other states and territories. For example, Illinois and Hawaii only recognize permits issued by their respective jurisdictions. In contrast, Ohio recognizes licenses from any other state regardless of whether Ohio has entered into a reciprocity agreement.

Via: Guns

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Colorado D.A. Confirms Shooting Of Three Thugs Was “Common Sense Self-Defense”

A trio of young thugs attempted to rob three men moving furniture into a condo in Aurora, Colorado Friday night. Two of the men accosted handed over their wallets. The third pulled his legally-concealed weapon and opened fire, hitting all three suspects:

One robbery suspect died on the way to the hospital. A second robbery suspect suffered serious injuries. A third fled, but walked into to Aurora South Medical Center where he was arrested.

The shooter had a concealed to carry weapons permit and put the gun down when he saw officers arriving.

Brauchler says Colorado’s self-defense law allows the use of deadly force.

“If you have a weapon on you and you are placed in imminent fear of serious bodily injury or death, you are entitled to defend yourself,” Brauchler said.

Brauchler noted it’s not a case of Make My Day because the shooting didn’t happen inside a residence.

“This is straight up regular common sense and statutorily codified self-defense,” he said.

All three suspects were shot as they stood in a 10′ x 6′ space between two doors.

Though the robbers have been described as “young people,” which is typically reserved for teens, the identities of the young men and their exact ages have not been discovered Aurora Police Chief Nick Metz said that they are looking for help in ascertaining who the three suspects are. The dead criminal obviously cannot speak, and the two surviving criminals either can’t speak, or think that by remaining silent they are somehow helping themselves.

Colorado Revised Statute § 18-3-102 is the state’s implementation of the felony murder rule, meaning that the two injured criminals can face first degree murder charges for the death of their compatriot.

Via: Bearing Arms

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Concealed Carrier Saves Friends From Three Armed Teens

Three Colorado teens were shot — one fatally — while trying to rob three men at gunpoint as they were moving into an Aurora apartment late Friday night.

Aurora police say that the three teenagers approached the three intended victims in the foyer of the apartment building and held them at gunpoint. The three movers were described as being in their 20s.

“Two of the movers started to hand over their money, the third mover who was in fear for his safety of his friends, pulled out his weapon,” Aurora Police Chief Nick Metz said at a press conference on Saturday.

The armed mover opened fire and hit all three of the teens, killing one, putting a second in critical condition, and slightly wounding another.

The three assailants have not been identified. The man who defended himself and his friends was questioned by police and released.

“I don’t think we would call this necessarily a make-my-day issue,” said Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler, referring to a state law similar to the “stand your ground” law on the books in other states. “This is a straight up regular common sense statutorily codified self defense,” Brauchler added.

Via: Daily Caller

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Mississippi hold-up ends when victim shoots, kills one of his robbers

The victim of a harrowing gunpoint robbery in Mississippi on Saturday grabbed a gun out of his truck and opened fire, killing one robber and sending the other fleeing.

Jackson Police said the victim turned the tables on a pair of robbers after he was robbed of his wallet and forced to drive to an ATM to get money,Mississippi News Now reported.

Police found the body of robbery suspect Edwin Robinson, 23, on Pinewood Drive, a residential street in northeast Jackson.  They said the shooting appeared justified.

“I heard about six gunshots at about 6:30 a.m., went to let one of my dogs out and heard some more gunshots,” a resident told the station. “We saw people standing around, and a body and a truck.”

The station said the victim of the stick-up was a doctor. He was not hurt.

Police told the station the doctor was in the driveway of his home when Robinson and another man surprised him. They had guns and announced a robbery.
Via: Fox News

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Misfire: Man Wearing Pro-2nd Amendment T-Shirt Stopped at Voting Station

A Texas man was stopped at a polling station during early voting Tuesday because of guns—namely, the ones referenced on his t-shirt.

Chris Driskill was on his way to the voting booth when, he said, “I heard a gentleman’s voice over my shoulder say ‘he can’t vote with that shirt on. You’ll have to either turn it inside out our you’ll have to leave.’”

Driskill at first thought that his shirt, which read “2nd Amendment: America’s Original Homeland Security,” had offended the polling workers’ politics. “I didn’t quite understand it at first,” he said. “I was thinking they just didn’t like something about the Second Amendment.”

RELATED: GOP Candidate Arrested for Assaulting Man Who Called Him ‘RINO’

But he had actually run afoul of a Texas law prohibiting electioneering with 100 feet of a polling place. With a proposition on the ballot about concealed carry, Driskill’s pro-Second Amendment shirt fit the bill.

Driskill was offered a coat by a local Republican candidate standing outside the voting station (one hopes more than 100 feet away) and returned to successfully complete his ballot. “I guess I can kind of see where their reaction came from,” he told KVUE. “If you have to turn around and go change shirts, you know, so be it. But get out and vote.”

Via: Mediaite.com

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California Gun Case Sets Stage for Second Amendment Showdown at Supreme Court

The overturning of a San Diego law restricting residents’ right to carry a firearm outside their homes for self-defense is a clear win for gun-rights advocates and sets up a showdown on the issue before the U.S. Supreme Court, a Heritage Foundation legal analyst says.

“This is the fifth federal appellate court to rule on the scope of the Second Amendment outside the home, and with a split among the federal courts, it looks like this issue may be heading to the Supreme Court,” Elizabeth Slattery, Heritage’s senior legal policy analyst, told The Foundry.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled yesterday that the city’s “good cause” requirement impermissibly infringes on the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.

“The Second Amendment clearly contemplates something beyond simply stowing firearms in the home,” Slattery said, “particularly since the right to self-defense would seem to follow the individual—‘whether in a back alley or on the back deck,’ as the Ninth Circuit panel noted.”

The U.S. Supreme Court has recognized that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s “right to keep and bear arms,” and self-defense is the central component of that right. But the high court’s most recent Second Amendment cases — District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v. Chicago — dealt with an individual’s ability to possess a handgun at home. It has yet to rule on the scope of the right to carry a firearm outside the home.

California law prohibits the open or concealed carry of handguns in public, but allows counties and cities to issue licenses for  persons to carry concealed weapons if they establish “good cause.” When San Diego County required applicants to show specific circumstances warranted their doing so and to demonstrate a “unique risk of harm,” a group of residents challenged the “good cause” requirement.

Via: The Foundry

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US sees 25 percent surge in women hunters since 2006

The number of American women spending time hunting has spiked 25 percent between 2006 and 2011.

According to Census Bureau statistics cited by National Geographic, while men still make up the majority of the 13.7 million hunters in the United States, 11 percent are women.

Many states, the magazine reports, are now hosting workshops, titled “Becoming An Outdoors-Woman” (BOW), which instruct participants in archery, shotgun and rifle shooting.

"There is definitely a high demand. We have over 3,000 women on our mailing list, and workshops fill up quickly," Patricia Handy, information and education program manager at the Department of Natural Resources in Maryland, told National Geographic.

Minnesota has followed the national trend; the state granted 72,000 hunting licenses to women last year, up from 50,000 in 2000, CBS Minnesota reports.

According to the station, the spike in women hunters also has led retailers to market smaller firearms and outdoor gear specifically to women.

Via: Fox News

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WTF, Nancy Pelosi gun collection discovered

A large collection of weapons were taken from a vacation home owned by Nancy Pelosi (D), a well known advocate of stricter gun laws.

The vacation home, located in the mountains sleepy town of Stoten CO, is in shock from the discovery, made by a local plumber after being called by the care taker of the house for minor flooding.

Local sheriff Rick Raoch said "We don't know how they got there or who put them there, but there's enough guns and ammo down there to start WWIII. No one needs that type of weaponry."

So far, calls to the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives have met with silence, but a response from her office is expected shortly.

Via: m4Carbine.com

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[VIDEO] NRA beat Bloomberg anti-gun group in 65 of 67 Va. delegate races

TOPICS: WASHINGTON SECRETS GUN CONTROL NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION KEN CUCCINELLI NEW YORK CITY CAMPAIGNS 2013 VIRGINIA GOVERNOR RACE MICHAEL BLOOMBERGNearly 10 percent of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s anti-gun group Mayors Against Illegal Guns retired from their job or were sacked in Tuesday’s elections, including the organization’s two leaders: Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino.

Some 95 key members of the group that targets and criticizes lawmakers backed by the National Rifle Association are losing their title of “mayor.” According to an election review of Bloomberg'smembership list of about 1,000, three quit the group, 69 retired from their jobs, and 23 were rejected by voters.

On the retirement list: Bloomberg and Menino.

Among the defeated members of Mayors Against Illegal Guns were the mayors of Annapolis, Md.; Omaha, Neb.; Atlantic City, N.J.; Rochester, N.Y.; and Seattle, Wash.

Guns and Bloomberg's group were issues in some of the campaigns where the incumbents were defeated. In Chambersburg, Pa., newly-elected Republican Mayor-elect Darren Brown declared that among his first moves will be unhooking the town from the anti-gun group.

"The very, very first thing I'd like to do is get Chambersburg off the Mayors Against Illegal Guns list," Brown said.

What's more, while Bloomberg's Independence USA PAC can claim a victory in its campaign and advertising against Virginia gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli, a review of all NRA-endorsed candidates in the state show that the mayor had virtually no impact.

For example, of the 67 NRA-endorsed candidates for the Virginia House of Delegates, 65 won their election on Tuesday.

What’s more, after the 2011 legislative elections in Virginia, there were 63 states delegates rated an "A" by the NRA and that number grew to 65 on Tuesday.

Via: Washington Examiner

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Oregon schools to teachers: Carry guns if you want

An Oregon school district will let teachers carry guns in the classroom if they have a permit.

District officials believe the policy is in the best interests of teachers and students, and would make schools safer, according to ABC News.

Marshall Porter, chairman of the St. Helens School Board in Oregon, said the new policy would give teachers the same rights as ordinary citizens.

“The current law in Oregon allows for anybody to concealed carry on school grounds,” he said in a statement. “To exclude our staff seems like they’re being punished. They should have a right to protect themselves if they so choose.”

Seven schools fall under the jurisdiction of the board.

The 4-1 vote to restore gun rights to teachers took place just a few days after a Nevada middle school student fatally shot himself and a math teacher.

Porter said he trusted teachers to do the right thing in a crisis, whether they were armed or not.

“If [staff members] were faced with a horrific choice, if they had to defend themselves against a kid — which has been the thing — I think it would be a hard decision for them, one that they would educate themselves on,” he said. “I do believe we’re talking about educators, people who have the interest of the children in mind.”

Via: Daily Caller

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CA REPUBLICAN: 'ASSAULT WEAPONS' BAN 'ERASES' SECOND AMENDMENT

California Assemblyman and gubernatorial candidate Tim Donnelly (R-33rd Dist.) says legislation awaiting Governor Jerry Brown's (D) signature not only bans "assault weapons" but "erases the Second Amendment."

Donnelly was referencing SB374--a bill which broadens the definition of an "assault weapon" and then bans all such weapons within the state. 

Donnelly talked to Breitbart News about the bill on October 7:

SB374 basically erases the Second Amendment. We have California-only fuel, California-only this and California-only that, and with SB374 we are pursuing a California-only version of the Constitution. It's a version that will not have a Second Amendment.

This bill takes rifles that are semi-automatic with a detachable magazine--rifles that were lawfully purchased and are lawfully owned--and it bans them, period. If you own a gun that is on the ban list you will have to register it and it becomes non-transferrable. Therefore, although the government will allow you to keep the gun in your possession until you die, once you die it will be confiscated and taken out of circulation. 

This means if you own the M1 Carbine that helped us win in the Pacific during WWII--a gun that shoots a small .30 caliber bullet--if you own one, you would not be able to pass it on to your children.

This is an illegal and egregious confiscation plan. 

Donnelly says the bill's straightforward attack on the Second Amendment "deprives Californians of their basic civil rights to self-defense and to defend themselves from tyranny."

SB374 is sitting on Gov. Brown's desk. He has until October 13 to sign it into law. 

Via: Breitbart

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2 GOP state senators sworn in after Colorado recalls

WASHINGTON –  Two Republicans were sworn in Thursday to replace the Colorado Senate Democrats they defeated in historic recalls over new gun restrictions.

Former Colorado Springs Councilman Bernie Herpin and retired Pueblo police officer George Rivera took the oath of office in front of a Senate packed with Republican lawmakers and other supporters in the gallery. They were greeted with loud cheers and applause.

Herpin said in his opening speech that he would "never forget the lesson of this summer."

"We serve at the pleasure of those we represent," he said.

The recalls last month marked the first time in state history legislators were ousted from office and reflected the continued debate over what gun restrictions, if any, are needed.

The wins boost the GOP's power in the Senate, narrowing the Democrats advantage in the chamber to an 18-17 margin. Democrats control the House 37-18.

Via: Fox Political News

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MARYLANDERS BUYING 1,000 GUNS A DAY BEFORE NEW GUN LAWS TAKE EFFECT

In anticipation of the implementation of new gun control laws next week, Marylanders have been scooping up 1,000 guns a day. 

According to the Baltimore Sun, 1,000 guns a day have been sold every day for the last two weeks and this week promises to be more of the same. 

Starting next week, bans will prohibit the sale of "assault rifles" and "fingerprints and a license" will be required to buy a handgun. 

State senator Nancy Jacobs (R-Dist. 34) says the new laws go too far and will only "make it...much more difficult for law-abiding citizens to get firearms without jumping through a million hoops."

Jacobs bought two handguns in time to beat the new laws too--and one of them has an "extended magazine."

Maryland State Police say background check requests for all the people trying to beat the sales ban and gun control laws have overwhelmed their system. This month alone background check requests are at "a pace roughly seven times that during the same time last year." 

Moreover, over "102,000 gun purchase applications have been submitted so far this year." A number which represents twice the applications that were coming in during 2011.

Via: Breitbart

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[CARTOON] Starbucks and Guns

Via: California Political Review

Obama calls for 'transformation' of nation's gun laws at Memorial Service

WASHINGTON -- President Obama called Sunday for a "transformation" of the nation's gun laws, saying last week's deadly shooting at the Washington Navy Yard echoes too many other killings across the United States.

"Our tears are not enough," Obama said during a memorial service for the victims and their families. "Our words and our prayers are not enough ... We are going to have to change."

Gun violence in America "ought to obsess us," Obama said.

Acknowledging that a gun control package he proposed earlier this year has stalled in Congress, Obama said the change won't come from Washington, but has to come from the American people themselves.

During a 21-minute eulogy delivered at the Marine Barracks Washington, Obama also warned that Americans must fight "a creeping resignation" about mass shootings, the notion "that this is somehow the new normal."

But "there is nothing normal about innocent men and women gunned down where they work," Obama said. "There is nothing normal about our children being gunned down in their classrooms."

Via: USA Today

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Personal Protection Does Indeed Stop Shootings

Remember this as Democrats keep banging that gun control drum to the point of deafness. Realize these are just the ones that are prominent and are in the form of what is considered ‘mass’ shootings and not personal protection of the home. Click on the link below for a great reminder.

H/T Buzzfeed

Via: The Right Scoop

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Journalism professor says he hopes for murder of NRA members' children

A journalism professor at the University of Kansas (KU) turned to Twitter on Monday to suggest he would like to see the murder of children of National Rifle Association (NRA) members at the hands of a deranged gunman.

A journalism professor has defended tweets he sent out which called for the death of NRA employees children.

“#NavyYardShooting The blood is on the hands of the #NRA,” tweeted David Guth, who is an associate professor of Journalism at the university’s William Allen White School of Journalism.

“Next time, let it be YOUR sons and daughters, he continued. “Shame on you. May God damn you.”

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Speaking with Campus Reform on Wednesday, Guth confirmed it was he who sent the controversial tweet.

“Hell no, hell no, I do not regret that Tweet,” he said. “I don't take it back one bit.”

Guth also doubled down on the statement when other Twitter users pressed him, suggesting it was was shameful to call for the death of children.

“God’s justice takes many forms,” he tweeted in response. 

And on Monday the associate journalism professor echoed those sentiments on his personal blog, called Snapping Turtle.

“I don't wish what happened today on anyone,” he wrote. “But if it does happen again — and it likely will — may it happen to those misguided miscreants who suggest that today's death toll at the Navy Yard would have been lower if the employees there were allowed to pack heat.”

Also in his interview with Campus Reform, he said that he wished “a pox on our Congress and a pox on the NRA” for not instituting gun control policies to prevent mass shootings.

“It absolutely appalls me that after Newtown, we could not have come to some kind of sane agreement on something as simple as the number of bullets in a magazine or the availability of assault weapons,” he said.

DC'S STRICT GUN CONTROL IMPOTENT TO STOP NAVY YARD SHOOTING

Although Washington DC has some of the strictest gun laws in the nation, the Navy Yard shooter proved once again that even this amount of gun control cannot stop a criminal intent on carrying out his crime.

While Breitbart News and The Wall Street Journal indicate Aaron Alexis legally purchased his shotgun in Virginia, he only did so late last week. Which means he did not have the time to go through the process to register the shotgun and obtain the firearm registration certificate necessary to possess and/or transport the firearm legally in DC.

According to the Washington DC Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) website, Alexis had a 48-hour window from the time of purchase in which to let the Firearms Registration Section of the MPD know he needed to register his shotgun. After that, he would be required to bring his shotgun--unloaded--to the Firearms Registration Section along with the eligibility and requirement forms "necessary to complete the registration process." 

After filling out the paper work, getting fingerprinted, etc., Alexis would then be required to leave his unloaded shotgun with the Firearms Registration Section until his registration application was approved. Once approved the Firearms Registration Section would have contacted him to come pick up his registration certificate or have it mailed to him. Only then would Alexis get his shotgun back and be able to legally possess it.

The approval process alone normally takes five days, so there is simply no way Alexis went through the process to legally possess and transport the firearm. And why would someone go through all this trouble to legally possess a gun they intended to use in an illegal fashion? 

The bottom line--Criminals are not hindered by gun control laws.

Via: Breitbart

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Starbucks Irks 2nd Amendment Supporting Customers

Anti-gun activists claim victory after liberal chain asks people not to bring guns into stores

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz’s decision to ask customers to no longer bring guns into his stores is causing a firestorm on social media, with many expressing their outrage and indicating they will no longer buy coffee at the popular chain.

A review of social media suggested Starbucks may lose customers as a result of its decision.

On the company’s Facebook page, hundreds of people said they would no longer frequent Starbucks.

Lynn Schneider wrote that she would now visit a local coffee house instead.

“Bye Bye Starbucks. I’ll support small business instead of your corporate dictatorship and take my money to the little locally owned coffee house where they know me by name,” she said in a Facebook post.

“Been an avid fan for years! I’m even a more avid fan of the constitution and the Second Amendment! I will no longer patronize your store! There will be hundreds of thousands right behind me!!!!” William S. Beck wrote.

Others said that they didn’t understand the company’s decision, considering criminals will not follow Starbuck’s new policy.

According to Kyle Hoffman, “Your refusal to allow law-abiding citizens to protect themselves has cost you my business along with many other people I know. Good luck getting criminals to follow your new policy.”

Richard Ney, who said he is a Starbucks Gold Card member and a veteran, is also taking his business elsewhere.

Via: WFB

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