NRA-ILA GRASSROOTS VOLUME 22, NUMBER 43
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| | | | On Wednesday, President Obama addressed the 122nd Annual Conference of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (a transcript is available at this link). The president aptly praised the work of America’s law enforcement community. He mentioned the “astonishing statistic” that “[o]ver the last 20 years, police have helped cut the violent crime rate and homicide rate in America by almost half.” He also noted that “over the past few years, the number of police officers shot and killed in the line of duty has fallen to their lowest levels in decades,” with 2013 seeing “the fewest cops shot and killed in the line of duty since 1887.” We’ll give credit where credit is due – one has to appreciate Obama’s honesty in admitting that crime rates have fallen to historic lows in a period where firearm sales have skyrocketed. |
| | | | In another hit to the prospects of gun controllers, this week the Washington Post published the findings of a recent survey conducted by the Post in conjunction with ABC News. The results show that Americans overwhelmingly understand high-profile shootings as pointing to a problem with the country’s mental health system, rather than a lack of gun control laws. The survey, carried out October 15-18, asked respondents, “Do you think that mass shootings in this country are more a reflection of (problems identifying and treating people with mental health problems) or (inadequate gun control laws)?” 63 percent of those questioned understood that these events are a result of improperly addressing those with mental illness. A mere 23 percent believed that a lack of gun control is the cause, while 10 percent answered that both were to blame. |
| | | | Elsewhere in today's alert, we note that President Obama insisted to a group of police chief it's “just a fact” that “young people” in various communities within the United States have more ready access to guns than to books or fresh vegetables. Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the firearm prohibition advocacy group Ceasefire Oregon released a 10-page gun control manifesto that makes the claim, “The plan respects the values and ideals held by responsible gun owners while remaining within the scope of the Second Amendment.” We’re sensing a trend. The newly emboldened gun prohibition lobby is feeling its oats. |
| | | | In 1995, Bob Dole said of Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), "[t]he most dangerous place is between him and a camera." Last Friday, Schumer publicly announced a plan to require bidders for a $580 million Department of Defense contract to supply the U.S. Army with handguns to submit to questioning regarding efforts to push a gun control agenda. The fact is, Schumer’s attempt to subject the vital fighting equipment of our nation's servicemen and women to petty politics is nothing more than a cynical attempt to indulge his lust for press coverage, and is a reckless and dangerous threat to the safety of our service men and women. The sole intent of the DOD procurement process should be to equip our fighting men and women with the best arms for their mission. To factor in the supplier’s willingness to kowtow to Schumer’s gun control demands alongside criteria such as accuracy and reliability risks supplying our troops with inferior equipment. Our soldier’s lives rely in part on the functional capability of their weapons, and to suggest that these soldiers should be used as a political pawn to enact gun control the Senator cannot achieve through our democratic process is reprehensible. |
| | | | A hallmark of NRA, and one of the reasons we garner significant support from Americans across the political spectrum, is our sole dedication to issues pertaining to the right to keep and bear arms. To be sure, there are plenty of facets to our mission (hunting, Right-to-Carry, self-defense laws), but it is all connected to the American peoples' right to possess and use arms. With this comes a measure of honesty; everyone knows just what NRA stands for. Michael Bloomberg's Everytown for Gun Safety on the other hand seems to think the merits of their anti-gun positions aren’t enough to win on, and in one Virginia Senate Race resorted to planning spurious attacks on their opponent that were wholly unrelated to the group's gun control mission. |
| | | | The national and local media bias against the Second Amendment reached bizarre heights this week when a newspaper headline proclaimed “Shooter kills 4; 30 injured.” The problem? Well, even a casual reader would note that the tragedy described in the article had nothing to do with a “shooter” but was about a individual who drove her car through a homecoming parade at Oklahoma State University. While the motives of the driver’s actions remain unclear, we find it simply incredible that a headline could be so abundantly off the mark. |
| | | | The National Rifle Association, the world’s leading firearm safety organization, will celebrate Halloween by educating children in your community on how to stay safe if they encounter a firearm. The Halloween GunSafe® promotion is a partnership with law enforcement agencies, schools and community organizations that teaches children what to do if they encounter a gun: STOP! Don’t touch, Run Away, Tell a Grown-up. Since 1988, the Eddie Eagle GunSafe® Program has reached more than 28 million children in all 50 states with the help of more than 26,000 schools teachers and law enforcement officers. |
| | TAKE ACTION LEGAL & LEGISLATION
Your Congressional Lawmakers Need to Hear From You | | Anti-gun politicians and their media counterparts continue to seek to exploit recent tragedy and loss to build momentum for a longstanding gun-ban agenda. We've recently seen President Obama call for confiscatory gun control, and Hillary Clinton echo Obama’s references to Australian and British style gun control. Hillary has gone so far as to make gun confiscation a central part of her presidential primary campaign. Yes, the agenda is being moved forward with a not-so-subtle shift in focus from pushing gun control, to discussing gun confiscation. |
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2015 "Firearms Law & The Second Amendment Symposium" a Resounding Success | | The 2015 "Firearms Law & The Second Amendment Symposium" was held on Saturday, October 24, 2015, in Hartford, Connecticut. Sponsored by The NRA Foundation and hosted by NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action, the annual symposium focused on recent developments in our nation's courts regarding the Second Amendment, as well as topics that covered the historical, academic, and practical application of firearm law. This year’s symposium featured various panels and speakers providing in-depth discussions on current national firearm-related litigation, as well as a local practitioners' panel addressing the successes and challenges of local litigation in Connecticut. Later panels and speakers addressed important new developments in state firearm law, nationwide, as well as critical updates on recent firearms cases of note. |
| | LEGAL & LEGISLATION TAKE ACTION
Attend Law Symposium on Protecting the Right to Bear Arms: History and Challenges | | On November 5, the Heritage Foundation, the Georgetown Center on the Constitution, and the Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy will host a one-day Law Symposium on Protecting the Right to Bear Arms: History and Challenges. The Symposium will consider the major current legal and public policy issues concerning the nature and vindication of Second Amendment rights. The Symposium will feature panels in which the nation’s top Second Amendment experts will debate this critically important topic. |
| | | | Wayne LaPierre says no organization has been louder or clearer on the urgent need to enforce the federal gun laws than the NRA. |
| | | In this News Minute from the NRA Institute for Legislative Action, Jennifer Zahrn reports that President Obama has called for more gun control as a way to reduce violent crime. |
| | | Benelli’s M4 has been in service with the U.S. military since 1999, after receiving the Joint Service Combat Shotgun Award and winning the contract to serve the U.S. Marine Corps. It is now used widely throughout the U.S. military, and has seen service in Afghanistan and Iraq. |
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