Threatening a poor gun-rights grade for politicians who don't toe the line, the National Rifle Association is demanding that Tennessee legislators force a vote on a bill that would block employers from banning firearms in company parking lots, reports the Chattanooga Times Free Press. The NRA said the failure of state House and Senate Republican leaders to bring the issue to the legislative floor is a “perversion of the representative democracy.” In a letter distributed to all 99 House members Thursday, the politically powerful gun-rights group said it will grade lawmakers on whether they get behind the efforts to bring the bill to the legislative floor.
The effort appears to be an attempt to get the House to suspend its rules, bypass its Calendar and Rules Committee and bring the bills directly to the floor if necessary. It takes 66 votes, or two-thirds of the House membership, to suspend rules. But the proposal pins Republicans between two of their most powerful constituencies — the NRA and business groups — which are at each others’ throats over the legislation. Business groups and individual companies, including Volkswagen in Chattanooga and Memphis-based FedEx, charge that the two bills violate their property rights and pose safety threats. The NRA and other advocates say the “Safe Commute Act” will ensure gun owners’ safety to and from work. One bill strips businesses, schools and colleges of the right to ban weapons, while the other bars employers from discriminating against workers who bring guns.
Read full entry »Convicted felons forfeit their right to bear arms under federal law. Every year, thousands of felons across the U.S. have their rights reinstated, often with little or no review, reports the New York Times. In several states, they include people convicted of violent crimes, including first-degree murder and manslaughter. Congress started allowing states to dictate these reinstatements in the 1980s as part of an overhaul of federal gun laws orchestrated by the National Rifle Association. The restoration movement has gathered force as gun rights advocates have sought to capitalize on the 2008 Supreme Court ruling that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to bear arms.
This gradual pulling back of what many have assumed was a blanket prohibition has drawn relatively little public notice. Indeed, state law enforcement agencies have scant information, if any, on which felons are getting their gun rights back, let alone how many have gone on to commit new crimes. The Times examined hundreds of restoration cases in several states,
Read full entry »In a swift and unexpected decision, the Environmental Protection Agency has rejected a petition from environmental groups to ban the use of lead in bullets and shotgun shells, claiming it doesn't have jurisdiction to weigh on the controversial Second Amendment issue. U.S. News & World Report said the decision came just hours after the Drudge Report posted stories about how gun groups were fighting the lead bullet ban. The EPA had planned to solicit public responses to the petition for two months, but on Friday issued a statement rejecting a 100-page request from the Center for Biological Diversity, the American Bird Conservancy, and three other groups for a ban on lead bullets, shot, and fishing sinkers. The agency is still considering what to do about sinkers.
The decision was a huge victory for the National Rifle Association, which just seven days ago asked that the EPA reject the petition, suggesting that it was a back door attempt to limit hunting and impose gun control. It also was a politically savvy move to take gun control off the table as the Democrats ready for a very difficult midterm election. The NRA has spent two years tracking down rumors that the Obama administration wants to impose gun and ammo bans on the public, but hasn't found anything credible.
Read full entry »Six former officials of the agency have joined the chorus calling for President Obama to name a new director for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The agency has not had a permanent director since 2006. Its current leader, Ken Melson, was downgraded in title to deputy director when his tenure exhausted the statutory limit for an acting director because Obama did not nominate him for permanent status. In a letter to the White House, the former ATF officials said, "It is critical that ATF have a leader who will marshal ATF’s resources to aggressively combat America’s gun violence epidemic."
The signers of the letter were former directors Stephen Higgins and John Magaw and former senior agents Joseph Vince, William Vizzard, Gerald Nunziato and Julius Wachtel. They wrote, "Americans need an ATF director who will aggressively enforce the law, shut down corrupt gun dealers, and fight gun trafficking. Every day that passes with a
leaderless ATF, the consequences grow deadlier." The ATF is the primary federal agency for enforcing gun laws, and many see politics at play in the delay. Writing recently on the Huffington Post, Dennis Henigan, vice president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said, "A headless ATF is but the latest symptom of a paralyzing disease -- the Obama Administration's fear of the gun lobby." Main Justice reported last week that Andrew Traver, a 20-year ATF veteran in charge of the Chicago office, is a leading candidate for the directorship.
Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, comments on the Huffington Post about what is being called the "NRA exemption" to the campaign finance disclosure bill. He writes that the NRA has pressured the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives to exempt it from proposed legislation that would require corporations, unions, and advocacy and lobbying groups to reveal donations used to support political campaigns. Under H.R. 5175, every other group or corporation would have to report the names of people who donate at least $600 to expenditures directed at or available for election activities.
He writes, "It seems there is a new condition that must be met before almost any federal legislation is allowed to proceed: Make sure the legislation doesn't upset the gun lobby bosses. What this deal ultimately would do is create a two-tier system for political speech -- one for the NRA fat cats and the other for everyone else. I strongly urge House members to reflect deeply upon whom it is they are supposed to represent and protect, and oppose this tarnished legislation. I urge every American who wishes to be heard on the most important issues of our time to contact congressional leaders and urge them to stop this proposal."
Read full entry »Paul Helmke and Kathy Patterson will be among lonely voices when 70,000 members of the National Rifle Association gather at the Charlotte Convention Center this week, reports the city's Observer. Helmke is president of the Washington-based Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. Patterson is a mother of two who helped organize a group to limit gun use in her neighborhood outside Charlotte. Each will play a role in events aimed at offering another side to gun issues in North Carolina and across the country.
The NRA gathering, Charlotte's largest convention ever, begins today. Helmke will debate Alan Gura, the lawyer who in 2008 won a landmark gun rights case in the U.S. Supreme Court and is lead counsel in another case challenging local gun-control laws. The Brady Center released a poll Wednesday showing that a narrow majority of Americans - and a larger majority of women - oppose people carrying loaded guns openly in public, a policy supported by the NRA. Helmke called the NRA leadership "increasingly out of touch." On Saturday morning, Kathy Patterson will join a forum on preventing gun violence at St. Peter Catholic Church, across the street from the convention. "I don't think any of us are anti-gun," said Patterson, 47. "But there's a safe way and a safe time and place to use guns."
An Indiana congressman used theatrics to voice his opposition to a proposed new law ensuring the right of citizens to take guns their guns to work, reports the Evansville Courier and Post. Donning an NRA cap and holding a toy pistol, Rep. Vernon Smith, a Gary Democrat, stood in the house chambers and fired the fake pistol, saying, "Bang, bang, shoot 'em up!" He added, "This is indeed an NRA state. I pledge allegiance, not to the flag, but to the NRA."
The bill passed nonetheless. Under House Bill 1065, as long as the guns stay locked in their cars, no employer could tell its workers that they must leave their weapons at home. It would also eliminate the possibility for law enforcement to take citizens' guns in an emergency, such as what happened during Hurricane Katrina. Rep. Mike Murphy, R-Indianapolis, called this bill a "real victory" for those with a dangerous commute or job.
Read full entry »Writing in the Washington Post, columnist E.J. Dionne Jr. says gun-owners are more willing to accept sensible gun laws than politicians and the National Rifle Association apparently believe. He cites a new survey that found that 82 percent of NRA members supported "prohibiting people on the terrorist watch lists from purchasing guns." Sixty-nine percent favored "requiring all gun sellers at gun shows to conduct criminal background checks of the people buying guns," and 78 percent backed "requiring gun owners to alert police if their guns are lost or stolen."
Dionne writes, "It's true that these gun owners, including NRA members, don't buy broader forms of gun control. For example, 59 percent of NRA members opposed 'requiring every gun owner to register each gun he or she owns as part of a national gun registry,' though I was surprised that 30 percent supported this." He continues, "Still, those surveyed stood behind the core idea that gun regulations and gun rights complement each other. The poll offered this statement: 'We can do more to stop criminals from getting guns while also protecting the rights of citizens to freely own them.' Among all gun owners and NRA members, 86 percent agreed.
Read full entry »The National Rifle Association is pushing legislation in Florida to ban adoption agencies from asking potential parents if they have guns and ammunition in the home, reports the Miami Herald. An NRA lobbyist said adoption agencies are violating gun-owners' rights by asking about firearms in an adoption form. She said any request about gun ownership from an agency connected with government was tantamount to establishing a gun registry.
The issue flared up in Brevard County where a gun-owning couple took umbrage at a request from the Children's Home Society that they disclose if they had firearms before adopting a child. The couple complained to a lawyer, who called the NRA. A spokeswoman for the adoption agency said it asks about guns because it is required to by the Department of Children & Families.
Read full entry »The National Rifle Association has been successful at defining gun control as a "cultural issue" and blocking significant new curbs on guns on the argument that they would be steps on the way toward government confiscation of firearms, Dennis Henigan of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence writes on the Huffington Post. Henigan, author of a new book, "Lethal Logic: Exploding the Myths that Paralyze American Gun Policy," maintains that gun control advocates should "fight the phony 'cultural' framing of the gun issue at every turn."
Henigan notes that, "Gun owner fears of an Obama-inspired gun ban are spiking gun sales, even though Obama gives no hint of leadership toward even modest reforms." Henigan says that more than 80 percent of gun owners support extending Brady Act background checks to private sales at gun show and that most self-identified NRA members support handgun registration and mandatory safety training.
Read full entry »A coalition of Pennsylvania mayors is at odds with the National Rifle Association after they urged municipalities to enact their own gun-control ordinances, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer. Frustrated by state legislators' failure to enact what they described as "commonsense gun laws," the mayors pledged to follow Philadelphia and push for local laws requiring owners to report lost or stolen guns.
On Tuesday, Lancaster became the eighth municipality to pass such an ordinance, joining Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Reading, Easton, Pottsville, and Wilkinsburg. The NRA has followed through on its vow to sue Pennsylvania cities that approve what it called illegal gun laws. The law, which can vary by community, aims to curb illegal gun sales, or so-called straw purchases, by not allowing legal buyers who sell guns to felons to claim that their guns were lost or stolen when the firearms turn up at crime scenes.
Read full entry »Blogging on The Daily Beast website, political daughter and NRA member Meghan McCain writes of her affection for weapons in a piece headlined, "Why I Love Guns." She writes, "The shooting range is one place I'm Republican through-and-through. I find it empowering, especially as a woman, to fire off a few rounds. In the days after my dad lost the election, my brothers and I went to shoot rounds at the local shooting range. Partly because—as anyone who knows how to use a rifle and can do so safely understands—doing so is hugely stress-relieving, and partly because, we half-joked, it might mark the beginning of the end of our Second Amendment rights under the Obama administration."
She continues, "The right to bear arms, and specifically the idea of it being taken away from me, is one of my biggest concerns. So it is only fitting that the 138th National Rifle Association Convention, which kicked off this morning, is being held in my own hometown: Phoenix. If you are a law-abiding citizen who is trained to and skilled at using a firearm, then you are entitled to protect yourself and your family."
Read full entry »The National Rifle Association and big-city mayors have found something they may both support: the Obama administration’s call for full law-enforcement access to data from traces of guns used in crimes, reports Politico.com. The rare, and somewhat vague, consensus between the NRA and the mayors appears likely to increase the chances that Congress will pass the reform.
The administration is proposing a partial rollback of a 2003 amendment named for Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.). Under the changes, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives would be able to share gun-tracing information with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, and prosecutors would be privy to the information. Supporters say the change would help law enforcement target the source of guns used in crimes and would help prevent illegal drug trafficking.
Read full entry »
More and more, reports the St. Petersburg Times, assault weapons made for the battlefield are turning up in the wrong hands--the kind of hands that police say aimed two AR-15 semi-automatic rifles at a home where an 8-year-old girl slept Sunday. Paris Whitehead-Hamilton was killed by three of the more than 50 bullets that pierced her Bartlett Park home, police say, losing her life to an escalating cycle of gang retaliation. Days later, St. Petersburg police Chief Chuck Harmon said, "Assault weapons are good for one purpose only, and that's to kill other human beings. They don't belong on any city street in America." (Photo by Burned Leg)
The problem, many in law enforcement say, is that is exactly where they are. Hours after the murder, detectives arrested their first suspect and seized a cache of weapons at his apartment complex. Police recovered a bulletproof vest, two pistol grip 12-gauge shotguns, a .308-caliber hunting rifle with a scope, a .22-caliber revolver — and two semi-automatic AR-15 rifles. They recovered a clip and ammunition for the rifles. They also found two loaded clips for an AK-47 assault rifle, but not the weapon itself. The AR-15s are now in a Florida Department of Law Enforcement laboratory for testing.
Read full entry »Social conservatives find themselves playing defense on gun and gay rights issues, Martin Kady II writes at Politico.com. He writes, "Just look at the headlines of the past few weeks — gay marriage is gaining ground with landmark rulings in Vermont and Iowa; the Obama administration is putting immigration back on the front burner; gun control is on the table again in the wake of several mass shootings; and, as POLITICO reported this week, the vague prospect that the Senate will ratify the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child has some conservatives talking about a constitutional amendment to guarantee the rights of parents."
He continues, "Any of these issues used to be enough to ignite the social conservatives and rally their leadership in Washington. But there is no longer a sympathetic evangelical ear in the White House. There is no Tom DeLay calling divisive yet base-pleasing votes on the House floor. Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), who was able to force Senate debate on gay marriage and flag burning in 2006, is long gone from the chamber. That leaves social conservatives with minority-party amendments, obscure procedural maneuvers and Internet ad campaigns. 'Being powerless forces you to do things differently,' said Maggie Gallagher, president of the National Organization for Marriage."
Read full entry »
