Gun Rights Groups Criticize Ban on Gun Carry on DC Metro in Wake of Murder

Gun rights groups are criticizing part of the Washington, D.C., gun carry law that bans firearms on public transit within the city after a man was stabbed to death on a Metro train on Saturday.

The National Rifle Association (NRA), Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), and Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL) expressed their opposition to the ban in the wake of a 4th of July murder on the Metro’s red line. As the train approached the NoMa-Gallaudet station, Jasper Spires stabbed Kevin Joseph Sutherland as many as 40 times, killing him.

The NRA warned that the incident was likely to be repeated until D.C. removes the ban.

“With so many threats in the nation’s capital, the fact that the District of Columbia government continues to deny residents and visitors the right to protect themselves is a travesty,” NRA spokesman Lars Dalseide said. “We’ll continue to hear stories like this until the District of Columbia affords every law-abiding citizen their constitutional right to self protection.”

When asked if the city was reviewing its ban, a Metro Police Department spokesman referred the Free Beacon to D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D.).

Mendelson told the Free Beacon that the Council has no plans to change the law, and appeared to place the burden for that decision on the Metro system, known officially as the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA).

“There are no amendments to the law being considered at this time,” said Mendelson in an email. “The law, as revised last fall, gives property owners the right to prohibit carrying on their premises. WMATA contacted the Council prior to our action on the legislation last fall to ask that their premises be off-limits to carrying. WMATA (busses, rail, etc.) was then added to the list. If we were to act to remove WMATA from the list, the effect would be unaffected.”

Mendelson did not respond immediately to a request for clarification about how removing Metro from the list of officially prohibited locations in D.C. law would leave the legal status quo unaffected, as his e-mail seemed to suggest.

The Second Amendment Foundation, which brought the case that forced D.C. to allow gun carry, said the Metro ban is a symptom of a larger problem.

“Gun free zones like the District of Columbia’s public transit system are really victim disarmament zones and a magnet for violent criminals to prey on unarmed people who have no means of protecting themselves,” SAF founder Alan Gottlieb said.

The Virginia Citizen Defense League, a leading gun rights group with a number of members that commute into the city for work, said bans such as this one encourage killings.

“Anytime a law-abiding citizen is denied the right to self defense, as D.C. has done in this case, it creates an environment ripe for such tragedies, as well as encouraging future mass killings,” VCDL president Philip Van Cleave said. “Gun-free zones are never gun-free for the criminals, who respect no laws, but only for the good, decent people, who are then setup to become victims.”

Via: WFB

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O'Malley: A single life 'worth more than all the guns in the United States'

Democratic presidential candidate Martin O'Malley may not be doing well in the polls, but he's putting in a concerted effort to make his voice heard on gun violence in the wake of the recent Charleston massacres.

"A single American life is worth more than all the guns in the United States," O'Malley said while giving a speech at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in San Francisco. "How many senseless acts of violence do we have to endure as a people before we stand up to the congressional lobbyists of the National Rifle Association? How many more Americans have to die?"

While governor of Maryland, O'Malley instituted laws banning assault weapons and high capacity gun magazines that "exist only to inflict human casualty." He also implemented strict licensing rules cracking down on the gun-permitting process, to ensure maximum safety. Because of his actions, the National Rifle Association gave O'Malley an "F rating."

O'Malley recently told supporters that his legislation passed in Maryland is just his first step for his plan for the nation. If elected, he said he wants to enforce a national assault weapons ban, stricter background checks and increase efforts to reduce straw-buying of guns.

Via: Fox News

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O'Malley: 'I'm Pissed'

Democratic presidential candidate responds to the Charleston shooting with an email saying, "I'm pissed."

"I'm pissed that after an unthinkable tragedy like the one in South Carolina yesterday, instead of jumping to act, we sit back and wait for the appropriate moment to say what we're all thinking: that this is not the America we want to be living in," O'Malley writes.

I'm pissed that we’re actually asking ourselves the horrific question of, what will it take? How many senseless acts of violence in our streets or tragedies in our communities will it take to get our nation to stop caving to special interests like the NRA when people are dying?

I'm pissed that after working hard in the state of Maryland to pass real gun control—laws that banned high-magazine weapons, increased licensing standards, and required fingerprinting for handgun purchasers—Congress continues to drop the ball.

It's time we called this what it is: a national crisis.

I proudly hold an F rating from the NRA, and when I worked to pass gun control in Maryland, the NRA threatened me with legal action, but I never backed down.

So now, I'm doubling down, and I need your help. What we did in Maryland should be the first step of what we do as a nation. The NRA is already blaming the victims of yesterday's shooting for their own deaths, saying they too should have been armed. Let's put an end to this madness and finally stand up to them. Here are some steps we should be taking:

1. A national assault weapons ban.

2. Stricter background checks.

3. Efforts to reduce straw-buying, like fingerprint requirements.

Via: The Weekly Standard

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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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NRA TO SUE CALIFORNIA IF GOV. BROWN SIGNS 'ASSAULT WEAPONS' BAN

The NRA has announced it will sue the state of California if Governor Jerry Brown (D) signs an across-the-board ban on semi-automatic rifles with fixed or detachable magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds.

The bill bans "an entire class of weapons that includes most 'assault rifles.'" 

According to Fox News, the NRA Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) says the bill is "unconstitutional" and "would make unprecedented changes to California's already unjust and Byzantine 'assault weapon' law."

A statement from the NRA-ILA says, "Our right to keep and bear arms has never been as seriously threatened in California as it is today. After years of incrementally adopting gun control measures, this year the Legislature decided to propose new laws adopting everything on the gun ban lobby's wish list."

Gun Owners of California Executive Director Sam Paredes echoed this sentiment: "No question about it. The bill will make half of the rifles in existence 'assault weapons,' and make them illegal."

Assault weapons in California are already highly regulated--they "can only be used for limited purposes and owners are prohibited from transferring them to anyone else in the state." This bill would broaden the definition of an "assault weapon" and then ban each newly redefined weapon.

Gov. Brown has until October 13 to sign the bill.

Via: Breitbart

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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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'Disgraceful:' University suspends prof who hoped for murder of NRA children

Administrators at the University of Kansas have suspended the journalism professor who suggested on Monday he would like to see the murder of the children of National Rifle Association (NRA) members.

KU's chancellor, Bernadette Gray-Little, announced the suspension Friday morning, according to a local radio station, KMBZ.

Professor Guth has been placed on administrative leave.

"In order to prevent disruptions to the learning environment for students, the School of Journalism and the university, I have directed Provost Jeffrey Vitter to place Associate Professor Guth on indefinite administrative leave pending a review of the entire situation,” he said.

“Professor Guth’s classes will be taught by other faculty members," he added.

And on Thursday the school released a statement condemning Guth's tweet. 

“The contents of Professor Guth’s tweet were repugnant and in no way represent the views or opinions of the University of Kansas. "[I]t is truly disgraceful that these views were expressed in such a callous and uncaring way. We expect all members of the university community to engage in civil discourse and not make inflammatory and offensive comment

There is no word whether or not Guth will be paid throughout the suspension.

Guth turned to Twitter on Monday in response the a crazed gunman’s rampage at the Navy Yard in Washington D.C., in which 12 perished.

“#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.”

Via: Campus Reform

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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.

NRA supports ACLU lawsuit against NSA’s phone records program

The National Rifle Association filed an amicus brief on Wednesday supporting the American Civil Liberties Union’s lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the National Security Agency’s phone records collection program.

The NRA filed a brief of amicus curiae in U.S. District Court in support of the plaintiff in the ACLU’s lawsuit against key Obama administration officials, including director of national intelligence James Clapper, NSA director Keith Alexander, defense secretary Chuck Hagel, Attorney General Eric Holder and FBI director Robert Mueller.

The gun-rights group — often associated in the public consciousness with conservative politics — and the progressive-leaning civil rights advocacy organization might appear to be strange bedfellows, but the NRA claims that the two groups have common interests.

“The mass surveillance program threatens the First Amendment rights of the NRA and its members,” according to the NRA counsel’s argument in the amicus brief. “The mass surveillance program could allow identification of NRA members, supporters, potential members, and other persons with whom the NRA communicates, potentially chilling their willingness to communicate with the NRA.”

“If programs like those currently justified by the government’s interpretation are allowed to continue and grow unchecked, they could also contrary to clear congressional intent undo decades of legal protection for the privacy of Americans in general, and of gun owners in particular,” according to the NRA counsel’s conclusion.

The ACLU filed its lawsuit in June, following public revelations regarding what it called “the NSA’s unprecedented mass surve

Via: Daily Caller

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NBC/WSJ poll: NRA more popular than entertainment industry

As Washington prepares for a political battle over the Obama White House's proposals to curb gun violence after the Newtown, Conn., shootings, a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds that the National Rifle Association is more popular than the entertainment industry.

Forty-one percent of adults see the NRA -- the nation's top gun lobby -- in a positive light, while 34 percent view it in a negative light.

By comparison, just 24 percent have positive feelings about the entertainment industry, and 39 percent have negative ones.

The NRA's fav/unfav score is virtually unchanged from its 41 percent-to-29 percent rating in the Jan. 2011 NBC/WSJ poll, nearly two years before the Newtown shootings.

"That seems to me to be a pretty remarkably stable figure," says GOP pollster Bill McInturff, who conducted this survey with Democratic pollster Peter Hart.

But it's a substantial improvement from the 1990s, when the NRA's negative ratings outweighed its positive ones in the NBC/WSJ survey.

The current poll also shows a sharp divide between attitudes among gun owners and non-gun owners.

Among those who own a gun, 62 percent view the NRA favorably. But that percentage drops to just 25 percent among those who don't.

The full poll -- which was conducted Jan. 12-15 of 1,000 adults (including 300 cell phone-only respondents), and which has a margin of error of plus-minus 3.1 percentage points -- will be released at 6:30 pm ET.

Via: First Read

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