NRA-ILA GRASSROOTS VOLUME 22, NUMBER 31
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| | | | On August 5th, U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) introduced S. 2002, a bill to protect the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens from continued bureaucratic abuse by the Obama Administration. As we reported on July 18th, Obama’s latest gun grabbing ploy was to forward all individuals receiving Social Security Administration (SSA) benefits through a representative payee to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) as “prohibited persons” under federal firearms law. This is estimated to impact over 4 million Americans.
But this approach is nothing new to Obama bureaucrats. In fact, stripping Second Amendment rights by administrative fiat has become Obama’s favored tactic in the face of Congress’ refusal to pass gun control. As we’ve previously reported, the Veterans Administration (VA) was the first to develop an administrative mechanism to forward records to NICS without due process protections in place. The VA is doing so for those veterans who have a fiduciary assigned to their account. This is being done without any adjudication or finding that such veterans pose a danger to the community, but simply because they need help managing their financial affairs.
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| | | | As we reported in June, the Obama Administration’s State Department (DOS) proposed a revision of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) on June 3 that would require anyone seeking to make certain types of information about firearms publicly available to first obtain government approval. Prior restraints of the sort contemplated by the proposal are among the most disfavored regulations of speech under First Amendment case law. Our original alert encouraged gunsmiths, manufacturers, reloaders, serious hobbyists, and others who rely on design, development, production or manufacturing information about firearms to file comments with the State Department opposing the rule and explaining its problems. |
| | | | This week the Education and Governance Committee of the Seattle City Council unanimously advanced legislation to implement a $25 tax on firearms and a $0.05 per round tax on ammunition sold at retail, and to force gun owners to report a lost or stolen firearm within 24 hours. The city council has moved forward with the proposal despite Washington’s strong firearms preemption statute that was intended to stop just these sorts of local restrictions. A final vote on the legislation will take place Monday, August 10th.
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| | | | A new study by the Congressional Research Service, by far the most thorough and comprehensive of its type to date, confirms that mass shootings continue to be rare in the United States. While Michael Bloomberg’s TheTrace.org website says that mass shootings happen “more often than they used to,” renown criminologist James Alan Fox, of Northeastern University, whose extensive analysis of mass shootings is discussed at length in the CRS study, says that the study shows “there is no solid trend” in the number of such crimes and “No matter how you cut it, there’s no epidemic.” |
| | | | Michael Bloomberg hasn’t said that he’s running for president, but an NRA TV ad campaign launched this week contends that the most aggressive gun control advocate in the country will, at the very least, attempt to use his vast wealth to influence the 2016 presidential election. |
| | | | NRA-ILA today announced its support for legislation that would protect the constitutional rights of millions of veterans and social security recipients. The Mental Health and Safe Communities Act, sponsored by U.S. Senator John Cornyn, contains provisions that would stop the Obama administration's efforts to deny millions of veterans and social security recipients their Second Amendment rights without due process. |
| | | | On Monday, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and United Airlines announced that they would no longer transport legally-harvested buffalo, elephant, leopard, lion or rhinoceros hunting trophies. The species, known as the African Big Five, can be legally hunted in Africa in accordance with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species and Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
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| | | In this News Minute from the NRA Institute for Legislative Action, Jennifer Zahrn reports that news fact checker Politifact got it wrong when they looked into the Obama Administration’s attempt to remove the gun rights of millions of Americans receiving Social Security and disability benefits. Their staff checked with Bloomberg and Snopes – but failed to consult the most important source of all – federal gun laws. |
| | | American gunsmiths have been responsible for some of the most historic technological advancements in firearm history. Meet a passionate gunsmith and learn about the raw skill behind his high-end work before traveling to Colorado and seeing where the next generation of gunsmiths are being trained. Later in the episode, we find out how professional BMX rider Morgan Wade turned his passion into a career and learn the important role firearms play in his life. |
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