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Friday, August 29, 2008

McCain Picks Alaska Governor Palin as VP

While Obama went for an equally anti-gun VP choice in Joe Biden, McCain went for the strongly pro-gun Sarah Palin as his running mate. The pick stunned many observers who thought McCain might go with Romney or Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty. This is a "wow" pick that will surely energize conservatives and will likely reach out to disgruntled Hillary supporters who saw sexism in the way she was treated by the Obama forces. In the coming days you will read more about Governor Palin's record on 2nd Amendment and issues of interest to sportsmen.

Monday, August 25, 2008

More Virginians Applying for Concealed Handgun Permits

Virginia residents continue to file into circuit courts throughout the state at a record pace this year, according to statistics from more than 50 jurisdictions analyzed by the Harrisonburg Daily News-Record. According to the News-Record, in 2007, the number of concealed-weapon permits issued jumped roughly 60 percent from the previous year in Virginia. Numbers for the first six months of 2008, show that most jurisdictions are on pace to surpass those numbers.

My home county of Chesterfield, as well as Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties are all on pace to break records, according to local statistics. Fairfax County, a locality that has some very anti-gun elected officials (Ken Cuccinelli being the exception), 1,501 have been issued in the first six months of 2008; last year, 2,201 were issued; and, in 2006, 1,449.

Texas and other states have seen similar increases. While no one can say with certainly what is driving the increase, it is very possible that people have finally figured out that the job of the police is not to protect individuals; the job of self defense is the responsibility of the individual. High profile mass killings probably have also played a role in the increase. Finally, the uncertainty of this political year may also be playing a role in the uptick in applications. Vigilant gun owners know that the Supreme Court decision in D.C. vs Heller was razor thin. The next president may appoint as many as three new justices so it is critical that a pro-rights candidate win this year. The ticket of Barrack Obama and Joe Biden are no friends of gun owners and we must do all we can to see that they do not march into the White House on January 20, 2009.

The Obama campaign spokesman in Virginia is disputing that politics has anything to do with the increase in permit applications. Kevin Griffis, the Virginia communications director for the Obama campaign, told the News Record that there is no correlation between the increase in concealed-weapons permits and the presidential election, saying it’s “a Republican talking point.”

Griffs continued by calling the claim that Obama is anti-gun a “systematic smear effort by the NRA” and called the NRA “an arm of the Republican Party.” Citing the fact that 2007 was not a presidential election year, he said the NRA saying that Obama is anti-gun is ”just as absurd as the e-mails going around suggesting Barack is not Christian” and called the NRA claims in the advertisement false..

You can hear me discuss this article on NRANews' Daily News with Ginny Simone at 5:00PM today. The interview will likely replay on Cam and Company tonight around 9:40PM.

More on Senator Biden's Support For Gun Control

As promised, here is more on Senator Biden's support for gun control. Senator Biden has a long anti-gun record. Beginning in the late 1980s, he voted against the NRA position on most issues. He received an "F" rating from the NRA in 2002.

Sen. Biden was the lead sponsor of the Senate crime bill in the 103rd Congress (S. 1607), to which the Clinton Gun Ban amendment was attached. (The crime bill that eventually passed was the House version, but it still included the gun ban.)

Biden voted for the ban on a stand-alone vote in 1993 ( Feinstein amendment, vote no. 375, 11/17/93) and voted to extend the ban in 2004 as an amendment to the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (vote no. 24, 3/2/2004), and included a renewal of the ban in his crime bill last year along with gun show restrictions (S. 2237, title VI).

In the 101st Congress, 1990, Biden introduced two crime bills, S. 1970 and S. 1972. S. 1970 proposed banning the AR-15 and similar semi-automatic firearms, and provided that the Treasury Secretary and Attorney General could recommend to Congress any other firearms (regardless of type) to be designated as "additional assault weapons."S. 1972 proposed banning the purchase of the same guns unless the seller and buyer fill out and maintain copies of a 4473 or equivalent document, essentially just requiring private sellers to maintain records.

Biden reiterated his support for the ban (in fact, took credit for authoring it) in response to a question at the the CNN/YouTube debate this year (referenced in Saturday's post). He also campaigned on the issue, and used the other side's usual talking points in his campaign ads and letters to constituents in the '90s. Even before the Feinstein amendment, Biden introduced crime bills that contained semi-auto bans (see bottom).

Hat tip to my friends over at the Yahoo Gun Issues group.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Vacation's Over - Back to Work

After a week of vacation with the family it is time to get back to work to insure that Barrack Obama is not elected the 44th President of the United States. Several hours after returning home, Obama picked Delaware Senator Joseph Biden to be his running mate. Biden is as anti-gun as Obama. He admits to being the first to write an "Assault Weapons" ban.



One has to wonder what Obama's thought processes are. Most of yesterday was devoted to a little known Texas Democratic Congressman named Chet Edwards as a possible running mate for Obama. National Review's Campaign Spot did an excellent job of describing why this would have been a possibly disastrous choice for Obama.

But in the end, he picks Biden, someone who gives Obama "gravitas" on the foreign policy side of the coin but as the McCain campaign was quick to point out, said Obama was not ready to be president.



Look for more on Biden's anti-gun record in the coming days.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Poll on Gun Ownership in Richmond Times Dispatch

Go here and scroll down the page to vote in the poll.

Obama's America

My friend Cam Edwards (host of Cam & Company on NRANews.com) sometimes sits in for Mike Church on Sirius Patriot 144. The last time he sat in, Cam followed Church's tradition of doing a parody song. He came up with "Obama's America." Well, one of the listeners to Cam & Company has come up with a video to go along with it. For your enjoyment, I have embedded it below.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Congressional Sportsmen Foundation Poll Gives McCain Edge

The Politico reported yesterday that Barrack Obama is trailing John McCain among sportsmen but a surprising number say they’ll vote for him – far more than backed Al Gore or goose hunting John Kerry. According to a Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) poll to be released today, McCain leads Obama by a 45 to 31 percent. That’s only about half the 27-point edge respondents say they gave George W. Bush over Kerry four years ago and far short of the 65-to-15 percent margin gun owners gave to Bush over Gore in 2000. CSF polled 1,009 hunters and fishermen, between July 10 and July 24. The results could be a reflection of McCain’s up-and-down relationship with gun advocates and also suggests the he has not yet persuaded a core Republican constituency.

CSF Communication's Director Melinda Gable said, “I don’t think John McCain has really made his case to hunters and anglers. Things were very different in 2004. Everybody knew that George W. Bush was from Texas, he was a rancher and that he went hunting. We haven’t seen that from McCain yet—there’s the unknown—he really needs to come out as a sportsman. Neither candidate has talked a lot about the issues that are important to us.”

As I have written here on several occasions, McCain has a mostly pro-gun record in the Senate, opposing the Clinton Gun ban on certain semi-automatic firearms (misnamed assault weapons) and he supported the Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. However, he’s not an avid hunter (but that should be a little concern because only the media and the gun ban lobby believe the Second Amendment is not about hunting) and has battled the National Rifle Association over his support for background checks on private sale of firearms at gun shows and his crusade for campaign finance reform.

McCain has tried to soothe the bad feelings at each of his appearances before NRA members in the past year (at the Annual Meeting in Louisville in May of this year and at the Celebration of American Values in September of '07) by portraying the Democrats as a common enemy. In May, he told those attending the Annual Meeting, “They claim to support hunters and gun owners. If… Senator Obama is elected president, the rights of law-abiding gun owners will be at risk.”

The survey showed that hunters have no great affection for Obama. Obama's long history of favoring more restrictive gun control laws as a state legislator is likely to blame. The poll showed that about half of those polled say they like McCain and would love to go on a hunt with him – compared to 29 percent who feel the same way about Obama. National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) President Steve Sanetti told the Politico that “Sportsmen view John McCain as good company in the great outdoors. They’re just not sure how much fun Barack Obama would be in a duck blind.”Fishermen are a little more Obama friendly, but favor the Arizona senator by a 44-to-31 margin.

For those not familiar with CSF, the group advocates gun rights and expanded access to federal land for hunters in congress and is bipartisan. A number of congressmen and senator's are members of the foundations' Congressional Sportmen's Caucus (including Virginia's Sen. John Warner, Rep. Rick Boucher, Rep. Eric Cantor, Rep. Thelma Drake, Rep. Virgil Goode, Rep. Bob Goodlatte, Rep. Rob Wittman, and Rep. Frank Wolf).

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

I've said it once and I will say it again and again

Gun owners cannot afford and sit out this year's election. Barrack Obama has the worst record on our rights of any presidential candidate I can remember - including John Kerry.

Wayne LaPierre correctly pointed out in the last issue of America's First Freedom that the 2008 election will determine who controls:
  • U.S. participation in the anti-gun United Nations;
  • Appointments to the federal courts, including the critical U.S. Supreme Court;
  • The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives;
  • The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which the Brady Campaign now insists should ban firearms in every place of employment in America;
  • The Department of State, which could give credence and funding to the world gun-ban efforts of Rebecca Peters’ International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA). The State Department could negotiate a U.N. global gun-ban treaty that would violate American sovereignty;
  • The U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, which could force huge changes on hunters and gun owners;
  • The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which today is being petitioned to ban lead bullets for hunting, even in the ubiquitous .22 rimfire;
  • The Environmental Protection Agency, which could conceivably close down shooting ranges throughout the country.
I urge all gun owners to get active in this election. Yes, John McCain is not perfect but he is much better than Obama.



For more information go to www.nraila.org/obama for a flyer you can download and give to your fellow gun owners.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

First Students for Concealed Carry on Campus Conference a Success

The first SCCC National Conference was held in Washington DC last Friday. C-Span carried the conference live and if you did not have an opportunity to watch, you can see a reply online here (requires Real Player). Look for a full report on the conference in the next issue of the Bullet. Don't get the Bullet? Click here to join VSSA today and you will get the next issue of the Bullet plus add your voice to the thousands of Virginians that are already members. Hat tip to SCCC for the link to the conference video.