President Obama formally announced his bid for re-election this morning.
Given his record of SCOTUS nominations, his choice of Andrew Traver to head ATF and his recent statements, guns will be an issue in the 2012 campaign.
Legislative Report #7
Legislative Report #7 is now online.
No new action on microstamping bills in Albany, but the NSSF and industry reps. will be in Washington next week promoting federal legislation to study the feasibility of the technology as well as other issues.
They got nothing
Aside from a few crap editorials, the Brady Bunch got nothing from their anniversary celebration yesterday in Washington. I don’t see any evidence of new momentum in Congress for any of their issues.
On the plus side (for us), Chris Gibson and Bill Owens are co-sponsoring the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act of 2011, H.R. 822.
Still lobbying Grimm
The Brady’s are on the Hill today celebrating the 30th anniversary of the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan. It appears they’re still trying to get Congressman Michael Grimm to go along with their agenda as they have a meeting scheduled for this afternoon with him.
Special election results
With both races close, it appears we went 1 for 2 in yesterdays special elections. In Suffolk, Martin Haley appears to have lost 48% to 51% in the race for county legislature. In Rochester, antigunner Bill Johnson lost a 3-way race for Mayor 42% to 49% and 9%.
Domestic violence push
There’s a push for new domestic violence legislation in Albany. The problem here is the overly broad and somewhat vague definitions used in various bills including A-4488 which could be used against gun owners for minor things like flipping the bird to someone while driving. The issue bears watching to make sure gun rights don’t get trampled upon.
Admitting it
Going back to last weeks posting, the Miami Herald acknowledges the obvious, “30 years after Reagan shot, outlook dim for gun control“:
“Wednesday is the 30th anniversary of the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan. Gun-control advocates, including Reagan’s wounded press secretary, Jim Brady, will use the day to launch a renewed push for curbs on guns. Once again, chances are they won’t get very far … President Barack Obama, though he urged gun-control action in an essay March 13 in the Arizona Daily Star newspaper, hasn’t made a strong push. Congress is likely to remain preoccupied with budget battles, with lawmakers unlikely to tackle the divisive issue of guns …”
The antis are losing and it’s good to see at least some lamestream media outlets admitting it.
CoBIS: 10 years of FAIL
This month is the 10th anniversary of CoBIS, the ballistic imaging scheme Gov. Pataki gave us as part of his 5-point plan back in 2000. Here’s the stats:
- Number of shell casings collected = 311,859
- Money spent on the program = ~$40 million dollars
- Number of crimes solved because of it = 0
Here’s our press release on it.
Special elections Tuesday
There are special elections this Tuesday in Monroe and Suffolk counties that give us an opportunity to engage in political activity.
In Rochester, there is a 3-way race for Mayor between former Mayor Bill Johnson, Democrat nominee Tom Richards and Green Party candidate Alex White. Johnson is not our friend. Having lost the Democrat nomination to Richards he is running on the Independence and WFP lines. Normally not having major party backing would be enough to doom a campaign, however, Johnson has name recognition and at least some union support so it is conceivable that he could win as turnout is always very low for special elections. It is worth the effort for gunnies to show up and vote against Johnson.
In Suffolk, Martin Haley is running for county legislature in the Brookhaven district. He previously served in the county legislature from ’96 – ’03. During his tenure he helped to improve the pistol licensing process. For this reason he has NYSRPA’s endorsement.
As with all elections, vote early, vote often and vote gun rights.
Still not going anywhere
The antis are hoping to drum up support for the McCarthy magazine ban H.R. 308 with this story from The State Column, “Bill to Ban High-Capacity Ammo Magazines Reaches New Milestone“:
“Rep. Carolyn McCarthy’s (D-NY04) bill to ban high-capacity ammunition magazines has reached a new milestone, with 100 cosponsors now supporting the proposal … The 100 cosponsors hail from every part of the country, and represent a broad coalition of Congress members representing urban, suburban and rural areas …”
It’s not a broad coalition. It’s the same tired, old leftists kooks in the House making some noise. The Senate bill S-32 has 10 sponsors.
“… The rapid growth in support behind the bill – which was introduced on Jan. 18 – is the result of a two-pronged strategy being executed by Rep. McCarthy and a nationwide network of advocates …”
Their strategy is the the same tired, old plan whereby professional activist groups and their mouthpieces in Congress give talking points to big city, leftist newspapers who pen glowing op-eds touting whatever crackpot ideas the activists are pushing at the time. Real Americans don’t pay attention to the gobbledygook the New York Times puts on their op-ed page which is why, despite the headline, McCarthy’s bill hasn’t gone anywhere after being shoveled off to the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security last month.
“… On another level, groups like the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, States United to Prevent Gun Violence, the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, the Violence Policy Center, New Yorkers Against Gun Violence and the Citizens Crime Commission of NYC are working tirelessly with local partners across the country to speak to members of Congress and their constituents directly in their districts …”
These groups are little more than astroturf. They don’t have a real constituency like NRA does so there’s no way members of Congress are being bombed with demands from their constituents back home to sign onto this bill.
“… “The broad and steadily growing coalition of cosponsors for the bill to ban high-capacity magazines is a clear sign that millions of Americans support commonsense measures to address gun violence,” Rep. McCarthy said …”
You know who is missing from this growing coalition? President Obama. Even he knows McCarthy’s bill is a stinker and has not endorsed it.