What the ANTI'S are saying/doing

Josey1

Immediate Action Needed on Consumer Protection Bill
7/3/2002



Email

Print

Subscribe



Action Alert

Million Mom March
Greater Boston Chapter
P.O. Box 862
Natick, MA
Phone: 508-655-9724

Stop Handgun Violence
1 Bridge Street
Newton, MA 02458
Phone: 617-243-8145
www.stophandgunviolence.org

Call Your Representative NOW and Urge Him/Her to Oppose HB 5160

House Bill 5160: An Act Providing For Legislative Review of Consumer Protection, Environmental Protection, and Housing and Community Development Regulations

This bill would create new committees, new paperwork, and cost the taxpayer's money by forcing the Massachusetts Attorney General's office to send all proposed consumer regulations to a special legislative committee for review, with no time limits. Therefore, any Massachusetts's AG wanting to extend consumer safety laws to guns (or anything else for that matter) would run the risk of having all their powers significantly limited and subject to constant review by legislators, tying up proposed consumer safety laws for years or indefinitely.

This bill is designed to scare away other states that would like to follow the lead of MA in extending consumer safety laws to cover firearms.

If passed, HB 5160 would:

Disrupt the ability of the Attorney General to do his/her job,
Tie up in committees proposed consumer safety regulations indefinitely, and
Cost taxpayers money by forcing the creation of new legislative committees to conduct research, review and verify the findings of the AG's office.
This is a back door attempt by the gun lobby to limit the powers of our own AG's office, and scare away other states that are considering following Massachusett's lead in extending consumer safety laws to firearms.

This bill would have disastrous effects on the AG's office!

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Call your Representative today and tell them NO WAY on HB 5160!!
To reach the State House, call 617-727-7030 and ask to be connected to your state Representative.

To find out who your state Representative is, go to: capwiz.com/jointogether/dbq/officials. http://www.jointogether.org/gv/news/alerts/reader/0,2061,552364,00.html



"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878

Josey1

Group Applauds Wal-Mart Policy Change On Gun Sale Background Checks
7/3/2002



Email

Print

Subscribe



Press Release
Contact:
Matt Bennett
Americans for Gun Safety
Washington, DC
Phone: 202-775-0300
www.americansforgunsafety.com

Gun Group Letter Had Asked Retailers for "Don't Know, Don't Sell" Policy

Washington, DC - Americans for Gun Safety Foundation (AGSF) today applauded Wal-Mart for adopting the group's suggestion to institute a "don't know, don't sell" policy on guns.

In a letter last April to the CEOs of Wal-Mart, K-Mart and three other national firearms retailers, AGSF asked the companies to adopt a voluntary policy by which they would refuse to transfer firearms to prospective buyers until a criminal background check of the buyer is completed, even if the check takes longer than 3 days. The letter referenced a recent report by AGSF showing that over a 30-month period, 10,000 felons and others prohibited from owning a gun were able to obtain a firearm because the background check could not be completed within the three business days allotted by federal law.

"We are delighted that Wal-Mart responded so quickly and took this important action to make their gun sales safer and more responsible," said Matt Bennett, an AGSF spokesman. "We hope that other gun retailers will follow the lead of the world's largest corporation."

Wal-Mart is America's largest firearms retailer: it operates more than 2,600 stores and super-centers across the country, it is located in every state, and guns are sold in almost every store. Until the recent policy change, in most states Wal-Mart, like most other gun retailers, would transfer firearms after three days, regardless of whether the background check was completed.

"When a background check takes longer than three business days, it is because law enforcement is engaged in a frantic search to find out whether a person who was arrested for a felony crime was convicted of that crime," Bennett said. "We're grateful to Wal-Mart for showing the way that gun dealers can be responsible and end this game of beat the clock."

A few states have adopted laws prohibiting sales without completed background checks. AGSF requested that retailers institute the policy voluntarily in the states without legal requirements for completed background checks. http://www.jointogether.org/gv/news/alerts/reader/0,2061,552368,00.html



"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878

Josey1

U. Gets Help In Its FightTo Ban Guns
Wednesday, July 3, 2002


BY DAN HARRIE
THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE

The University of Utah hopes to get a little help from a lot of friends in convincing a court that it can legally ban concealed handguns on campus.
A half dozen religious organizations, seven higher education associations, the Utah Hospitals and Health Systems Association, two employer groups and two public-policy organizations filed friend-of-the-court briefs Tuesday in federal court supporting the U.'s gun prohibition.
The groups said they wanted to weigh in on the court battle between the U. and state government "to highlight the important public policy interests at stake in this case. College campuses, perhaps more than any other part of society, are designed to be the embodiment of a marketplace of ideas."
Guns would chill debate, inhibit diversity and create a "substantial risk of campus violence," according to the groups.
Joining in the religious coalition supporting the U. were the Calvary Baptist Church, the Episcopal Diocese of Utah, First Unitarian Church, Lutheran Campus Ministry, the Catholic Newman Center and the I.J. & Jeanne Wagner Jewish Community Center. Noticeable by its absence was Utah's predominant religion, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"As we looked into this matter it became clear if there was to be an expression from the Church, it would best come from Brigham Young University," said U. spokesman Fred Esplin.
Merrill Bateman, president of Mormon Church-owned BYU, filed an affidavit last week supporting the U.'s lawsuit.
Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, who is named as defendant in the lawsuit, has argued that the presence of licensed concealed weapons on campus will help deter crime and help ensure the safety of students, faculty and staff.
Shurtleff last year issued a legal opinion that the U.'s gun ban violates state law allowing people with concealed-weapons permits to pack guns "without restriction," except in designated secure facilities such as airports, jails, courts and mental institutions.
While Shurtleff agreed with U. President Bernie Machen that a "friendly lawsuit" could resolve the legality of the gun ban, he has asked U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball to dismiss the complaint on procedural grounds.
Shurtleff argued that the federal courts have no jurisdiction over what is essentially a matter of state law. He also said the U. failed to show it has been injured by Shurtleff's legal opinion.


http://www.sltrib.com/07032002/utah/750566.htm



"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878

Josey1

McCain Misses July 4 Deadline

---

Subject: McCain Misses July 4 Deadline
From: "Neal Knox Alerts List"
Date: Wed Jul 3 20:40:08 2002
List-archive:
List-help:
List-id: The Firearms Coalition Alerts List
List-post:
List-subscribe: ,
List-unsubscribe: ,

---

July 3 Neal Knox Update -- We got through June without Sen.
John McCain (R-Ariz.) having forced a vote on his and Sen. Joseph
Lieberman's gun show bill -- which all sides had been predicting
would be on the floor before the 4th of July.

The Defense Authorization bill, a must-pass measure on the
floor for a week, and finally passed Thursday, was the expected
"vehicle" for McCain's amendment.

Up until Congress recessed for Independence Day we saw a
series of "reports," "studies," polls, advertising and other
rhetorical artillery barrages designed to soften Congressional
opposition to the issue.

When Congress gets back next week it will have only seven
working weeks to ram through 13 appropriations bills, any one of
which McCain could choose as the vehicle for his amendment. So
keep pinging on your Senators.

---

I just got a call from friend Brad DeSaye of J&G Sales,
Prescott, Ariz. Brad had just received word from Bob Templeton of
this weekend's Crossroads of the West Gun Show in Phoenix that the
Arizona State Fire Marshall had restricted the number of rounds of
ammo at the show.

The Fire Marshal, who must be an anti-gun show friend of Sen.
McCain, based his order on the number of primers allowed by the
state's fire code, which follows the National Fire Protection
Uniform Code. He declared that every loaded round had a primer,
therefore the primer limit included loaded rounds -- never mind
that the code specifically excludes primers in loaded ammunition
(which does not offer the hazards of boxed primers).

The NFPC rules only applied to the amount that could be
stored, the Fire Marshal declared, not the amount offered for
retail sale. The Fire Marshal's duties apply to fire safety, not
restrictions on retail sales.

J&G alone takes around 300,000-400,000 rounds of loaded ammo
to the Phoenix show -- far more than the Fire Marshal says can be
allowed in the state fairgrounds show.

I suggested to Brad that he discuss with his attorney the
feasibility of bringing a civil action against the Fire Marshal
under Sec. 1983 of the U.S. Code, which allows state officials who
deny civil liberties -- such as restricting commerce -- to be
personally sued and held liable, with the state prohibited from
providing legal assistance or paying any judgements.

---

Last week's 5-4 Supreme Court ruling that judges, rather than
juries, could decide whether someone "used" a gun during commission
of a crime, should worry every civil libertarian, and every gun
owner.

In an unusual division, a majority of the justices upheld a
mandatory minimum seven-year prison sentence given William Joseph
Harris, who had pleaded guilty in 1999 to selling marijuana out of
his pawn shop in Albemarle, N.C. During the sale, he was wearing a
pistol in a hip holster -- which he routinely did as a security
measure.

Okay, so you don't like drug dealers, either. But it's a
stretch to say that gun had anything to do with the sale. The
possession of that gun was immaterial to his peddling pot.

What if the offense had been felony cheating on his income tax
-- and he had a couple of skeet guns in a glass-fronted rack in the
den where he prepared his tax return. What's the difference in the
mind of an anti-gun judge?

"Facts that trigger an increased mandatory minimum sentence
warrant constitutional safeguards," wrote conservative but
libertarian Justice Clarence Thomas in a dissent joined by liberal
Justices John Paul Stevens, David H. Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsburg
-- who almost never side with the inimitable Thomas.

Justice Stephen Breyer, who usually votes with the court's
liberals, joined the mostly conservative majority -- the staunch
law and order folks -- while salving his liberal conscience by
arguing against minimum sentences such as he was upholding.

Just two years ago, in Aprendi v. New Jersey, the same court
declared that enhanced punishments couldn't be levied by a judge,
but only by a jury which determined that the facts called for
enhanced punishment.

And on the same day as the Harris case, the High Court said
only a jury, not a judge, could order the death penalty -- which a
Washington Post editorial called a "Supreme Contradiction."

The only way to get more clear-thinkers like Justice Thomas on
the Court is to get Charles Schumer out of the Chairman's seat on
the Senate Courts Subcomittee -- which means electing a Republican
Senate majority this fall.

---

Move over "Soccer Moms," you've been displaced by "NASCAR
Dads" as the group to be wooed and won by Democrats in the 2002
elections.

Friend Ralph Z. Hallow, reported in Sunday's Washington Times
that Democrat pollster Celinda Lake says NASCAR fans, primarily
male, blue collar and Republican are the ones for candidates to
schmooze.

It should have been obvious that if all political polls showed
Republicans had a gender gap among suburban women, the "Soccer
Moms," then Democrats had a gender gap among while male men, the
now-identified "NASCAR Dads."

Ms. Lake thinks those men could rather easily be wooed back
into the Democrat ranks from which came. But the pro-gun,
pro-family values message those guys want to hear from
politicians wasn't what guys like Clinton and Gore had been dishing
up in 2000.

After being ignored for the last two elections -- until the
gun issue hammered Gore in the southern states where NASCAR and
guns are strong, it's nice for us white southern boys to be wanted.

To her credit, former NRA ILA Director Tanya Metaksa
recognized the importance of NASCAR fans -- who are known for
loyalty to car sponsors -- by sponsoring an NRA car. So did
Remington.

---

In my latest Hard Corps Report, I included an NRA Bylaw
petition sponsored by Dr. Bill Davis and myself, to honor former
NRA President, Founding Director of ILA, and former Executive Vice
President Harlon B. Carter.

A copy of my Shotgun News column for July 10 describing the
reason for the honor, and a copy of the petition -- which I hope
you'll download and sign -- will be on www.NealKnox.com as soon as
Chris returns from a family trip to California.

---

Have a Happy Independence Day.

It's truly a great day for gunowners. If Tom Jefferson hadn't
written the Declaration of Independence, and a brilliant group of
America's founders hadn't signed it -- and made it stick by putting
their fortunes, families and lives at risk -- we could own no
handguns, no repeating long guns, and no unregistered guns, just
like the Brits.

And we wouldn't be privileged to live in the most free,
longest-lived government in the world.

We like it that way. And we are determined to preserve the
rights our founders guaranteed. Including the Second Amendment.



http://www.nealknox.com/alerts/msg00105.html

---

Prev by Date: McCain Gun Show 'Vehicle' On Floor
Previous by thread: McCain Gun Show 'Vehicle' On Floor
Index(es):
Date
Thread
Home | Main Index

"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878

Josey1

Bradys sit out race for governor

June 17, 2002

BY STEVE NEAL SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST









Jim and Sarah Brady, whose political endorsements have had major impact in Illinois, aren't taking sides in what is expected to be a very close governor's race.

The Bradys, who have played major roles in the struggle to reduce gun violence, said that Republican Jim Ryan and Democrat Rod Blagojevich have been allies in this effort.

As a member of the U.S. House, Blagojevich has been a staunch supporter of gun control. Sarah Brady favored him in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, while Jim preferred his longtime friend and high school classmate, Roland Burris. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence recently honored Blagojevich for his efforts.

As Illinois attorney general, Jim Ryan has effectively pushed for laws to reduce gun violence and has strengthened existing gun laws. During a recent visit to Chicago, the Bradys conferred with Ryan and thanked him for his leadership in developing strategies to stop gun violence.

It has been 21 years since White House press secretary Jim Brady was shot by John Hinckley when he also fired a bullet that struck President Ronald Reagan. Brady was hit in the head and partially paralyzed.

In their campaign against gun violence, the Bradys gained national admiration. Mayor Daley, who lobbied Congress to enact the Brady Bill, has often referred to the Bradys as his personal heroes for their efforts.

The Bradys' endorsements helped Carol Moseley-Braun in 1992 and Richard J. Durbin in 1996 win election to the U.S. Senate from Illinois. In 1998, when there was a clear-cut difference between the Illinois gubernatorial candidates on gun control, the Bradys endorsed Republican George Ryan over Democrat Glenn Poshard. Ryan said later that the Bradys' endorsement was a key factor in his election.

Until their recent meeting with Jim Ryan, the Bradys had been leaning toward a Blagojevich endorsement. In the House, the Northwest Side Democrat has sponsored laws to require childproof locks on handguns, to ban semiautomatic sniper rifles, and to outlaw semiautomatic handguns known as "pocket rockets." Blagojevich also sponsored legislation to close the gun-show loophole.

Like Blagojevich, Jim Ryan has been active in seeking to reduce gun violence. In contrast with Blagojevich, he has gotten most of his initiatives enacted into law. To combat school violence, Jim Ryan got a law passed that requires school officials to report students caught with guns in schools and makes it possible for juveniles at least 15 years old to be tried as adults if they shoot another person on school property.

Jim Ryan, as the state's chief law-enforcement official, has protected the state's ban on concealed weapons. Blagojevich is also opposed to concealed weapons.

The Bradys were impressed that Jim Ryan has brought charges against dealers for illegal gun sales on the Internet and at gun shows.

In another initiative, Jim Ryan took the lead in asking retailers to quit selling ultra-violent video games to children. A bipartisan coalition of U.S. senators later joined him in this effort. Seven national store chains adopted a new policy to prevent youngster from purchasing the ultraviolent video games.

The Bradys told me that Illinois voters are fortunate to have a choice between gun-control advocates such as Jim Ryan and Blagojevich.

Like the Bradys, both candidates favor common-sense efforts to reduce gun violence but don't want to take guns away from sportsmen and law-abiding citizens.

On another level, the Bradys connected with Jim Ryan. Sarah Brady is battling cancer, which Ryan has fought three times in six years. The Bradys, who have coped with adversity for more than two decades, admire his strength and quiet resolve in fighting back.

During their Chicago visit, the Bradys presented awards to Gov. George Ryan and House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie (D-Chicago) for their longtime efforts to reduce gun violence. Among those also cited by the Bradys, though unable to attend because Congress was in session, were Durbin, Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), and Rep. Janice Schakowsky (D-Ill.).

Because of their independence, the Bradys are among the few political activists whose endorsements have an impact on ticket-splitting voters. Though Jim Ryan or Blagojevich would love to have their support, they would rather have the Bradys neutral than against them.


http://www.suntimes.com/output/neal/cst-edt-neal17.html






"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878