Buy at Cabela's - Support VSSA

Friday, July 30, 2010

Griffith Has Some Work to Do

Last week WDBJ7 in Roanoke released the results of a Survey USA Poll showing incumbent congressman Tom Perriello trailing his challenger, State Senator Robert Hurt by 23 points in Virginia's 5th District. The next day, WDBJ released the results of a Survey USA Poll in the 9th District race between incumbent Rick Boucher and challenger Morgan Griffith. The results are reversed with Boucher holding a 13 point lead over Griffith.



Most observers knew this was going to be an uphill battle for Griffith. Boucher's lead is not insurmountable but Griffith has a lot of work to do between now and Election Day to make this a race.

Concealed Carry Reciprocity List App for IPhone

For those who have an IPhone, IPad or IPod Touch, you may already be aware of this but just in case, Blackleaf Software LLC, has an application called Concealed Handgun License State Reciprocity List, that will give you the information you need to know if your concealed carry permit is recognized where you may travel.

These are some of the features gun owners will have with this app:

  • The latest state reciprocity changes as of June, 2010 for all 50 states
  • Easy to use onscreen controls
  • Easy to read, color coded maps
  • Reverse reciprocity look up
  • Internet buttons to learn about handgun laws within each state
  • Read the second amendment right in the app
  • Supports portrait and landscape

Now if they only made the app for the Driod.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Complete Details on 2010 VSSA Annual Meeting

Details about the 2010 VSSA Annual Meeting are now posted on the web site. Enjoy an afternoon of shooting, learn a new shooting discipline, or simply get some range time with your family. You will also get a chance to see some of the trophies that the VSSA Highpower Rifle Team won at the first Eastern Armed Forces Memorial Match over Memorial Day Weekend. We are still working on a great dinner speaker that you won't want to miss. Following dinner and guest speaker, VSSA President Dave Myers will give a report on what VSSA has been doing for our members since the last annual meeting. Check out the VSSA web site for all of the details.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Tactical Twist to Favorite Deer Hunting Rifle

The North American Hunting Club had this article about a classic deer hunting load for the growing class of hunters using AR style rifles.

A lever-action .30-30 Winchester is an all-time classic deer rifle. But wouldn't it be cool if it shot farther, hit harder (without anymore recoil) and came as a semiautomatic? If you answered yes, then check out the .30 Remington AR. It's one of the first big-game cartridges specifically designed for AR-style rifles.
Hornady refined the .30-30 cartridge with their LEVERevolution® ammo several years ago and now Remington has gone to the next level.

Locality Sees Decline in Gun Sales and Carry Permits

The Virginia Gazette ran this story over the weekend about firearms sales levels and applications for concealed handgun permits (CHPs) leveling off somewhat in the Williamsburg area. The Sheriff and Circuit Court clerks office noted that in 2007 they processed 356 permits. Last year that number almost doubled, to 615. This year is trending more to just a little more than 500. The Sheriff noted that renewals are down this year too.

A local gun shop owner said it's not because the desire is not there:

But according to George Christy, who runs G&L Arms on Mooretown Road, the desire for guns and concealed carry permits hasn’t waned. “The fears are not gone, but the money is,” he said in an interview Friday.

He said gun rights advocates still believe the Obama administration wants to impose
additional gun laws, despite making no attempt to do that so far.

Christy also noted that as supplies have caught up to demand on sporting rifles, the prices have come back down to earth.

My sense is there is probably a little bit of what both the sheriff and Christy mentioned playing into current sales and CHP application numbers. Those that wanted them now have them (CHPs), and the economy is probably finally catching up to the firearms industry. At any rate, while sales may have come back down to a more "normal" number, normal is probably going to be defined by a higher number than in the past.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Democrats Look to Gun Owners to Keep Hold on Majority

A number of Democratic congressmen and senators will be looking to gun owners to help them keep their congressional majority this fall.



Will it work, or will gun voters look to other issues to help them make a final decision in those races when both candidates have equally good records on Second Amendment Issues?

Griffith, Hurt Make Underfunded 20 List

Over on National Review's web site, Jim Geraghty runs down 20 GOP challengers who are running in districts that Bush and McCain won but that are currently held by Democratic congressmen.

Rob Hurt, Virginia’s 5th district: A recent Survey USA poll offered the jaw-dropping result that Hurt is ahead of first-term Democrat Tom Perriello, 58 percent to 35 percent. But incumbency has its privileges and advantages, and Perriello is sitting on more than $1.7 million. Hurt’s most recent filing shows him with a bit over $215,000. In terms of advertising cost, this district is in the middle of the pack.

Morgan Griffith, Virginia’s 9th district: One would expect the majority leader in the Virginia house of delegates to have a solid fundraising base, and Griffith has raised a quite respectable $402,000. But he has only $297,000 left, and his opponent, incumbent Democrat Rick Boucher, has been stockpiling a massive fund to help in a tough year — he has more than $2 million on hand. Boucher is already running ads, and he’s represented the district since 1982.
As Geraghty notes, in 2006, a number of Democrats that took out incumbent GOP members were significantly underfunded, so it is not out of the realm of possibility that Hurt and Griffith can win. In fact, Hurt is positioned very well in his race, even if you don't believe the 23% spread that Survey USA gives him. Griffith's route to victory is a little trickier and he will need a significant infusion of cash to define himself and to avoid letting Boucher provide the narrative.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Disclose Act Resurrected?

It appears that the Disclose Act may be resurrected in the Senate. You can find the story here.

The "NRA Exemption" will be preserved, but it appears that the exemption for the unions (tucked in the bill by he House) is gone, which means they won't be happy.

As I've always said, it's not over until the gavel adjourning the session drops. Will RINOs Snowe or Collins be the vote that gets it to 60 to overcome the promised filibuster?

Hat tip to Sebastian.

Obama's Numbers Continue to Tank

Jim Geraghty's Morning Jolt email this morning discusses John Fund's Wall Street Journal article entitled Obama Girl is No Where to be Found. Geraghty's daily email is a light hearted look at the morning's headlines, or at least items that would likely be of interest to conservatives. The poll numbers indicate that Obama is losing support for every component of his job and Fund could not have provided a better lead in for Geraghty:

"Democrats will be gulping this morning at the Quinnipiac Poll's latest results. For the first time in the survey's history, Americans believe by a 48% to 40% margin that President Obama doesn't deserve re-election. Almost as stinging, a plurality believe the country would have been better off if John McCain had beaten Mr. Obama in 2008. The Quinnipiac Poll is pored over by political observers because it has a good predictive record and because its large sample size of nearly 2200 people implies a much smaller margin of error than most surveys -- around 2 percentage points."
Look at all of the things that Obama has wrought on this nation in the last 18 months (and it is quite a bit) and one can only come to the conclusion that Geraghty suggests, that the last era of totally liberal control (the early 90's) were the good ole days.

Another clip from Fund's break down of the Quinnipiac Poll:

Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, says the warning signs for Mr. Obama include the fact that voters now turn thumbs-down on him on all major aspects of his presidency. Only 39% rate him positively for his handling of the economy, only 43% on foreign policy, a mere 30% on his illegal immigration stance and only 41% like his Gulf oil spill policy. Even his pick of Elena Kagan for the Supreme Court is approved by voters by only 46% to 34%.

Obama knows what he is doing. He has said he would rather accomplish his agenda and be a one term president than get re-elected, and he knew that he would likely have only two years to do it. That is why the push for Obamacare the first year. He knows that once things like Obamacare and crap and tax are enacted that repealing them will be significantly difficult. That is what makes this year's election so important.

You can subscribe to Jim Geraghty's Morning Jolt here.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Cantor and the Tea Party Caucus

Virginia 7th District Rep. Eric Cantor has declined Congressman Michelle Bachmann's invitation to join the Congressional Tea Party Caucus.

"Part of what is so inspiring about the tea-party movement is that it is not structured like a political party and, instead, is a truly organic, grass-roots effort," Cantor said. "The movement was born outside of Washington and includes people of all political stripes -- Republicans, independents and Democrats -- who have come together out of frustration with their government in an effort to force it to change."

As expected, liberal pundits are charging that Cantor's decision shows while he voices support for tea party activists, he doesn't want to be politically associated with them because that brings political risks.

Cantor's reasoning makes sense. The last thing the Tea Party movement needs is to be taken over by a bunch of politicians. While the caucus is an opportunity for legislators to show they have common interests with the grassroots, a better indication is their voting record. There is little doubt, based on his long time legislative record, that Cantor will continue to fight for the principles articulated by the Tea Party activists.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Boucher Releases Ad, Griffith Says it Misleads Voters

The Roanoke Times notes today that Republican 9th District challenger Morgan Griffith says Rick Boucher's campaign ad released yesterday is not completely accurate when it comes to Cap and Trade.

The ad, which can be viewed here, touts Boucher's NRA endorsement, and goes on to claim he:


took on his own party to protect coal jobs in the energy bill.
Griffith pointed out that it is kind of hard to say you took on your party when you voted for a bill that:

will destroy the coal industry, raise electric bills and send more American
manufacturing jobs overseas to China.

The 9th district is another race that bears watching. While Boucher has been a long time fixture in the district, Griffith promises to give him the first real challenge. The current political climate may help Griffith if he is able to raise the money to respond on the airwaves to what is certain to be an advertising carpet bombing by Boucher.

Tom Perriello Underwater

Looks like Tom Perriello is going to be coming off of some of that $2 million war chest in the very near future if a new poll conducted by Survey USA for WDBJ-TV in Danville is correct.

In the poll of 800 registered voters in the district (591 considered to be likely voters), Republican State Senator Robert Hurt defeats incumbent Democrat Tom Perriello 58% to 35%. Disgruntled Republican turned independent Jeffery Clark registers only 4% and as of now, is not a factor.

Perriello only won the seat by 727 votes in 2008, at the same time John McCain was handily winning the district.

I generally take Survey USA polls with a grain of salt, preferring Mason Dixon which has been more accurate in the past. However, Survey USA was on the mark in last year's Governor's election (though it was difficult to be wrong in that campaign). Whether the numbers are as big as the poll indicates, it does show Hurt came out of his rough and tumble primary in good shape and all he has to do now is raise the money to get on TV in the district that sprawls from Charlottesville to the North Carolina border.

This race is going to be fun to watch.

Hat tip to Jim Geraghty.

York County Repeals Firearm Discharge Restrictions

After 21 speakers shared their views on the subject for almost two hours, a split board voted 3-2 to repeal the county's restrictions on discharging firearms in some 60 neighborhoods but decided to retain a restriction against discharging rifles larger than .22 caliber except for hunting or self defense, or target shooting on firing ranges.

According to the Daily Press, six residents spoke in favor of keeping the gun control rules, nine county residents spoke in favor of the proposal to repeal the discharge ordinance, and the remaining speakers were gun rights advocates who had traveled from around the Commonwealth to urge the repeal of the county's discharge ordinance. The Daily Press made sure to note that the non-county residents openly carried firearms.

There were two 3-2 votes that brought about the final result. In the first, supervisors Thomas Shepperd, Walt Zaremba and Sheila Noll succeeded in protecting the discharge restriction on all guns larger than .22 caliber from the original proposal. Then, in a second vote, supervisors Shepperd, George Hrichak and Don Wiggins voted to throw out the county's ordinance that restricted discharging a firearm in the designated neighborhoods.

A special thanks goes to York-Poquoson Sheriff Danny Diggs County Sheriff who told the board repeatedly that the county restrictions were redundant,unnecessary and hadn't been used.

A copy of the final proposal as passed will be posted as soon as it is available.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Endangered Democrats Hold Big Cash Leads in 2nd, 5th and 9th Districts

The money reports are out and the three Democrats facing the toughest challenges, Glenn Nye (D-VA2), Tom Perriello (D-VA5) and Rick Boucher (D-VA9) have huge campaign war chest leads over their challengers. It should be noted that both Republican candidates, Scott Rigell (VA2) and State Senator Robert Hurt (VA5) had to use resources to win primaries in June. Delegate Morgan Griffith, who is challenging Boucher in the 9th had to win a convention nominating contest in May.

Both Nye and Perriello have taken the few opportunities they have had to support gun rights while in their freshman year in congress. Boucher has a long record of supporting gun owner rights and received an unusually early endorsement from the NRA in February. Rigell has no voting record but says he supports the rights of gun owners and sportsmen. Hurt has a great voting record on our issue as both a member of the House of Delegates and the State Senate, earning an "A" rating from the NRA-PVF in the last senate elections. Griffith has an equally long record of supporting gun rights during his time in the House of Delegates and received an "A+" rating in last year's House of Delegates elections.

In the 2nd District, Glenn Nye ended the fund raising quarter with $1.27 million on hand. Rigell ended the quarter with $226,970 on hand. Kenneth Golden, the former Virginia Beach Republican Committee Chairman who is running as an independent, reported having $1,313 as of June 30. Rigell has deep pockets is can be counted on to pump his money into the campaign to catch up to Nye.

In the 5th District, Representative Tom Perriello raised more than $660,000 and had $1.7 million cash on hand as of June 30. Hurt had $212,000 on hand.

In the 9th District House of Delegates Majority Leader Morgan Griffith out raised Representative Rick Boucher bringing in $259,000 to Boucher’s $248,000 in Virginia's 9th District. Boucher however has a commanding lead in cash on hand with $2 million and went up on TV with his first commercial today. Griffith had $297,228 on hand as of June 30.

CQ Politics lists both the 2nd and 5th districts as toss-ups due to their normally Republican leanings. Perriello won the 5th in 2008 by less than 1/2% while John McCain handily won the district. Nye also won a close race but Obama barely carried the heavily military district. Boucher has held his seat for some 20 years and manages to win big even when his district is voting overwhelmingly for GOP candidates at the top of the ticket mainly because, as Bearing Drift notes, he takes care of his constituents. CQ Politics rates the 9th as Leans Democrat.

Griffith has the highest mountain to scale but even his task is not impossible. Boucher has some explaining to do for his support of Cap and Trade in his coal field district. Cap and Trade will decimate the workers in his district, one that is already the most depressed areas in the Commonwealth.

Incumbency brings money, and the GOP incumbents did as well as their Democrat counterparts. 1st District Representative Rob Wittman reported $519,586 on hand; 4th District Representative Randy Forbes reported $451,410 on hand; and, 7th District Representative Eric Cantor reported having $1.5 million cash on hand as of June 30. All three are good friends of gun owners and and have major party challengers but they are not well funded.

The 1st District challenger, Krystal Marie Ball, reported having $260,735 on hand as of June 30th. She is the only challenger to the incumbent Republicans that has close to six figures on hand.

The next reporting period will be the important test to see if the Republican challengers can cut in to the money leads of their opponents. For gun owners, the Virginia races in the 2nd, 5th, and 9th districts offer an opportunity to look at the total candidate as all (except Rigell) have records of support for our issue.

Monday, July 19, 2010

York County to Consider Repeal of Local Firearm Ordinances

You may recall that at its June 15th meeting, the York County Board of Supervisors considered restrictions on discharge of firearms in certain neighborhoods. The County Sheriff went on record prior to that meeting that he thought state law should govern and that York County should repeal its local ordinances. Because that was not on the agenda for consideration, the Board instructed the County Administrator to address the issue for a future meeting. The matter will come up for consideration at the July 20th (tomorrow) meeting.

You can see the proposed repeal here.

You can read the County Administrator's memo to the Board explaining the impact of the repeal here.

Gun owners are strongly encouraged to attend the meeting and let your voice be heard. If you cannot attend, please contact your member of the Board of Supervisors and let him or her know you support the repeal of the local discharge ordanances.

What: York County Board of Supervisors Meeting
Where: Board Room, York Hall
When: 6:00 PM (Public Hearing at 7:00 PM where firearm ordanance issue will be discussed)

Board Contacts:

Find your district here.

DISTRICT 1 - Walter C. Zaremba (757) 253-0477 (home), (757) 890-3328 (voice mail), zaremba@yorkcounty.gov

DISTRICT 2 - Sheila S. Noll (757) 877-7790 (home), (757) 890-3329 (voice mail), noll@yorkcounty.gov

DISTRICT 3 - Donald E. WigginsChairman (757) 890-2980 (home), (757) 890-3330 (voice mail), mailto:wiggins@yorkcounty.gov

DISTRICT 4 - George S. HrichakVice Chairman (757) 890-3331 (cell), hrichak@yorkcounty.gov

DISTRICT 5 - Thomas G. Shepperd, Jr., (757) 868-8591(home), (757) 890-3332 (voice mail), shepperd@yorkcounty.gov

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Brady Happy for Symbolism Over Substance

If one was looking for coverage of yesterday's "forum" on H.R. 2324, the Closing the Gun Show Loophole Act, they would have to look pretty hard because the only coverage I could find was on the Washington Post's Virginia Politics Blog, this UPI wire report and a couple of TV stations that had a very brief mention of the meeting. The UPI story was more a rehash of the Brady press release issued the day before. One TV station did do a report but as you will see in the video below, the reporter could not even get her facts straight, attributing the so-called loophole to state law. It is actually federal law that allows individuals who are not FFLs to sell one or more firearms from their personal collection without requiring a background check.



The fact the only extended coverage that can be found in the print media is on a newspaper blog shows just how far the gun ban lobby has fallen in recent years.

It was basically an opportunity for Brady to play videos you can see on their web site of their activists using Brady money to purchase firearms at gun shows from unwary private sellers, all in an attempt to show how easy it is for a criminal to buy at gun shows. For his part, Brady Campaign President Paul Helmke was happy to have a little symbolism to get attention to his group's rallying point:

But it was also as much about symbolism as lawmaking, because the gathering was a forum, and not a full-blown hearing. ..."We're just happy to have this," Helmke said during a break. "The fact that they're giving it this much attention is a positive step."

The "forum" was put together by Virginia Congressman Bobby Scott (D-VA3) and featured a number of the same folks that turn out at the Virginia General Assembly every year to push for the annual gun show bill.

Rep. Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (D-Va.) chaired the forum, and panelists included Gerald Massengill, former superintendent of the Virginia State Police, and Colin Goddard, a former Virginia Tech student who told of surviving four gunshots during the April 2007 mass shooting. Lori Haas, whose daughter also survived the Virginia Tech shooting, also attended.

Apparently only the anti-gun members of the committee attended. There were no reports of questions to the participants about the other side of the issue. Freddie Kunkle, who covered the forum and wrote the blog post, did offer this for the gun owners side however (likely based on his coverage of the General Assembly's gun show bills):

Gun-rights advocates who oppose requiring background checks at gun shows have argued that the checks are not necessary because only a tiny fraction of guns have been traced from crimes to private sales at gun shows. They also argue that there is no such loophole because non-dealers can still sell or transfer a firearm without conducting a background check on a stranger they met through a want ad or in some other way.

Above all, they fear that requiring such checks at gun shows would clear the way to requiring universal background checks for every firearms transfer, whether between friends or family -- and ultimately, to de facto registration.


I have spoken with Kunkle in the past on Virginia's gun rationing law. He seemed genuinely interested in giving both sides of the issue he is covering.

Update: This report was on a local Richmond TV station. Even these folks can't get it right. There must be a template for reporters to constantly repeat the term "unlicensed dealers."



At least this Tidewater station got it right when they correctly referred to private sellers instead of "dealers."



The video below is from the DC Fox TV station. It is an interview with Colin Goddard and Congressman Scott yesterday morning before the House Judiciary meeting was held. Scott refers to private individuals and "unregistered dealers." He even says you can buy "military assault weapons" at gun shows. His staff has done a good job of making sure he is sticking to the Brady talking points.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

How the Antis Examine an Issue "In Detail"

They load the panel with just one side of the argument. From Congressman Scott's web site announcing today's public forum on gun shows:

There are two systems for purchasing firearms in this country. One system involves those engaged in the business of selling firearms who obtain federal licenses and follow required procedures, including conducting background checks on firearms purchasers. The other system involves unlicensed individuals who claim not to sell guns as a business and who are, therefore, exempt from the procedures for licensees. Unlicensed individuals at gun shows can sell as many firearms as they wish without having to comply with the federal safeguards that apply to licensed firearms dealers and purchasers from them. They are not required to ask for identification, they cannot initiate a background check, there are no forms to fill out and no requirements to keep records of sales. This exemption of unlicensed sellers is called the "gun show loophole".

Democrats and Gun Rights

This Boston Globe story is good news for gun owners.

Democratic candidates in key states are embracing gun owners’ rights, winning favor from the National Rifle Association, a lobby that has long been the target of disdain from the party faithful.
It's good news because when gun owners don't have to worry about a candidate unfriendly to Second Amendment issues winning, then they can focus on other issues that may be important to them in the hope of getting the best candidate elected, not just the best candidate on gun rights.

Conservative gun owners who have expressed dismay that Harry Reid may receive the NRA endorsement should under stand that the NRA can disavow a candidate that has a good voting record. That is how much of their success has been achieved - having a rating system and endorsement that means something to candidates.

Senate majority leader Harry Reid, in a bruising campaign for reelection in Nevada, has conservative activists buzzing because the NRA is considering endorsing his reelection.
In the Nevada race, Sharron Angle also has a very good record on gun issues as a state legislator. With the gun issue settled, those working to unseat Reid can concentrate on convincing voters that while Reid may be good on the gun issue, he is horrible on other issues that are taking the country in the wrong direction.

The same can be said here in Virginia's 9th District. Incumbent Congressman Rick Boucher has already received the NRA endorsement. He is running against the equally good, Delegate Morgan Griffith, who as the Virginia House of Delegates Majority Leader, received an A+ rating in his last state house campaign. Gun owners don't have to be concerned about losing a good vote on our issue if they decide the Griffith is better on other issues.

“I think there’s been a change in the country as a whole,’’ said Jon Delano, an independent political analyst associated with Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. “Unless you’re from an urban area, where gun violence is so intense that there’s a feeling you need to control these weapons, the vast majority across the country do not support gun control.’’

When both parties respect freedom, gun owners win. While the leadership of the Democratic Party may not be pro-gun, individual candidates certainly are in many areas. That is a good thing for the Republic, and for gun owners.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Anti-gunners Holding Forum on Gun Shows

On Wednesday, July 14, at 2:00 PM, Congressman Robert “Bobby” Scott (D-VA), Congressman Mike Castle (R-DE), Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) and Congressman Mike Quigley (D-IL) will be hosting a forum on H.R. 2324, the "Gun Show Loophole Closing Act of 2009." The gun ban lobby, led by the Virginia Center for Public Safety and the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, is promoting this forum as open to the public. That means we need to have a good show of pro-gun folks in attendance to counter the antis that are certain to attend.

The usual suspects will be in attendance and scheduled to speak:

  • Mayor Larry Gilbert, Lewiston, Maine
  • Kenneth E. Barnes, Sr., MS, Founder/CEO ROOT (Reaching Out to Others Together), Inc.
  • Colonel Gerald Massengill, (Former Superintendent VA State Police, Chair of the Virginia Tech Review Panel, Sutherland, VA.
  • Michael J. Carroll, President, International Association of Chiefs of Police, Alexandria, VA
  • Daniel Webster, ScD, MPH, Professor and Co-Director, Center for Gun Policy and Research at John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore MD
  • Tom Mauser, father of Daniel Mauser who was killed at the Columbine School shooting, Littleton, CO
  • Gerry Nunziato, Youngstown, OH
  • Colin Goddard, survivor of the Virginia Tech shootings, Richmond, VA

VSSA has a large number of members in the northern Virginia area so if you can be in Washington on Wednesday, your attendance would be appreciated.

What: Anti-gun Forum Attacking Gun Shows
Where: 2141 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC
When: June 14, 2010, 2:00PM

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Barone on Justice Thomas and McDonald

Today's Washington Examiner has a great Op/Ed pinned by Michael Barone that discusses Justice Thomas's opinion in McDonald vs. Chicago. Thomas took the "priviliages and immunities" route in his opinion while the other four justices took the more traveled "due process" route in finding Chicago had violated the rights of Otis McDonald. Barone believes the opinion is on a par with Justice Lewis Powell's decision in the Bakke Case, an opinion that no other justice joined but that decided a case - and an argument that has now been embraced by a majority of the court.
Thomas, writing separately, declined to apply the due process clause. Rather he argued that the Second Amendment applied to the states because the right to keep
and bear arms under the 14th Amendment's command that "no state shall make or
enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.

Barone wrote that legal scholars have generally considered that the Supreme Court's decision in 1873 in the Slaughter-House Cases rendered the privileges and immunities clause null, but Thomas has a habit of declining to follow precedent he believes to be incorrect. In doing so, Barone (and Mark Levin on his radio program) said Thomas has argued persuasively that the privileges and immunities clause was the correct approach that adheres more closely to the intent of the founders. In his opinion, Thomas address the purposes of the original gun control laws - to keep freed blacks from owning guns.

As Thomas pointed out, the 14th Amendment was passed in 1868 to guarantee the rights of the newly freed slaves. The Slaughter-House Cases undercut that purpose and made possible the violent subjugation of American blacks that is one of the most regrettable episodes of our history.

And, as Thomas argues in vivid detail, one of the key rights black Americans were deprived of was the right to keep and bear arms. The wisdom of the Founders' inclusion of the Second Amendment in the Bill of Rights is clear from the efforts black Americans made to exercise that right and from the efforts of white racists to deprive them of it.

It's a great read. The more people talk about the Thomas opinion, hopefully the more weight it will receive.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Special McDonald Digital Edition of America's First Freedom

You can find a digital copy of a special McDonald Edition of the NRA's America's First Freedom Magazine here. There are articles as well as special video. The digital editions of the NRA magazines have a lot of special features so you may want to consider switching to the digital versions. I presume all members can access this special edition, not just members that subscribe to AFF.

Justice Kennedy to Stay Through End of Obama First Term

CQ Politics is shares this via the New York Daily News morning that Justice Kennedy, who is 74, plans to stay on the court at least another three years.


"That means Kennedy will be around to provide a fifth vote for the court's conservative bloc through the 2012 presidential election. If Obama loses, Kennedy could retire and expect a Republican President to choose a conservative justice."

Interesting that the NY Daily News headline was "Bad News for Obama: Conservative Justice Kennedy tells pals he's in no rush to leave Supreme Court."

Just one more sign pointing to the high stakes of the 2012 election. If you need a reminder, re-read Dave Kopel's article in last week's Washington Times.

Perhaps the most startling aspect of the Supreme Court opinions in McDonald v. Chicago was the dissenters' assault on District of Columbia v. Heller. Not only did Justice Stephen G. Breyer vote against extending the Second Amendment to state and local governments, he also argued forcefully and at length for overturning Heller and, therefore, for turning the Second Amendment into a practical nullity.

If ever there were a call to arms regarding what is at stake in the next presidential election, it is the make up of the Supreme Court and how a second Obama term could alter the current small originalist majority for a generation and almost overnight overturn the victories of the last three years.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Congressman Randy Forbes and the Second Amendment

Virginia 4th District Congressman Randy Forbes took the opportunity of Independence Day to email his record on Second Amendment issues. Congressman Forbes has been a steadfast supporter of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms from his days in the Virginia House of Delegates. If you live in the 4th Congressional District and would like to receive email updates from Congressman Forbes on pending gun related issue in Congress, you can download his flyer here or just go to his web site and sign up for email alerts.

Happy Independence Day

As we go about this most special and important day celebrating our freedom with cookouts, enjoying a ballgame and fireworks, or maybe enjoying time at the range, let us not forget what the brave men and women who stood up to tyranny sacrificed, so that they, and future generations, might live in freedom.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

NRA Opposes Kagan, Will Score Senators on Confirmation Vote

You can find the story here. I doubt it will make much difference to Senators Mark Warner and Jim Webb. They both voted for Sotomayor. But you should still contact them both and let them know your thoughts on the issue.

New Gun Laws Effective Today

July 1st is the day that new laws take effect and no other new law has been more anticipated than repeal of the ban on carrying concealed in restaurants like Applebees and Olive Garden, which serve alcohol in edition to food. VSSA has been working hard to repeal the ban for 16 years and the election of Governor Bob McDonnell finally helped make our hard work pay off. Remember if you do carry in a restaurant, you are not allowed to consume alcohol while carrying concealed.

Also taking effect today is the renewal of Concealed Handgun Permits (CHPs) by mail, repeal of a little used law that allowed localities to impose a license tax on persons engaged in the business of selling pistols and revolvers as well as the record keeping requirement for such persons, a law allowing local schools to offer firearm safety education modeled on the Eddie Eagle Gun Safe program, and a law that allows non-CHP holders to store their firearm in a private motor vehicle or boat if the handgun is secured in a container or compartment.

VSSA had a very successful lobbying effort this year. While we were disappointed that the State Senate created a killing field special sub-committee in violation of Senate rules that killed repeal of handgun rationing as well as the full committee killing Castle Doctrine legislation, we had many successes. Now that the restaurant ban is repealed, VSSA will focus on passing Castle Doctrine and repealing one gun-a-month. You can help in this effort by sharing the news with your fellow gun owners about what VSSA does to protect and expand their gun rights and urging them to join VSSA.

More on McDonald vs Chicago

The attorney hired by VSSA and the other state associations to write our amicus brief supporting McDonald, has provided some analysis of the ruling. Here are some of the high points that he shared.
  • It is a strong opinion in our favor.
  • An unequivocal opinion that the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms is incorporated as against the States. (Remember that this was the only question presented to the Supreme Court in this case.)
  • Vigorous reinforcement of the principle that individual self-defense is the central component of the Second Amendment right.
  • A holding that the Second Amendment right is "fully applicable to the States." Both the opponents at oral argument and the dissenters appeared to favor applying only a watered-down version of the Second Amendment right to the states. Instead, the Court reaffirmed that the Second Amendment right should be applied equally to both the States and the federal government.
  • The Court recognized that the Second Amendment right may be even more important to women than to men. We raised this issue on pages 17-19 of our brief, where we noted that it would be no more proper to effectively limit the fundamental right to self defense to young males with above-average strength and skills than it would be to effectively limit the right to vote to those who could timely complete a grueling obstacle course.
  • The dissenters appear to have lost their stomach for trumpeting the merits of Cruikshank and Presser. We devoted pages 4-9 of our brief to discussing the distasteful legacy of those early anti-rights cases. As you may recall, Justice Stevens extolled the virtues of those opinions at length in his dissent in Heller, and each of the other dissenters joined in that opinion. This time, Justice Stevens mentioned Cruikshank and Presser only in a single footnote. Further, he attempted to distance himself from those opinions (while still proclaiming that they "correctly resolved" the incorporation issue). Additionally, none of the other dissenters joined in his opinion this time around and they made no mention of either Cruikshank or Presser in their separate dissent.
  • None of the dissenters were able to rebut our discussion (on pages 14-16 of our brief) of previous Supreme Court cases affirming the right to self-defense, including the right to use a deadly weapon in self-defense. We cited four such cases in our brief, in addition to Heller. The dissenters never even acknowledged those cases, much less tried to explain them away. Plausible deniability on this subject is no longer viable.
  • All in all, this is a tremendous victory and vindication of fundamental rights for the citizens of the United States of America.

Addendum - Some opponents of the right to keep and bear arms may make doomsday proclamations regarding this opinion. Two excerpts from the Court's opinion may be useful in response.

First, the Court reaffirmed that the right to keep and bear arms is not "a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever, in any manner whatsoever, and for whatever purpose."

Second, the Court also reiterated that its holding does not cast doubt on such longstanding regulatory measures as "prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms.

There is a sobering point reinforced by comments Second Amendment Scholar Dave Kopel has made, both on NRANews.com and in this podcast talking about the ruling. That concern is that the minority opinion continued to express a strong view that Heller was wrongly decided. With that mindset being so ingrained in the four justice minority, we have to be very concerned about the real possibility a second Obama term could mean one of the justices in the majority that is over the age of 70 could retire and Obama would be able to reshape the court and open an opportunity that Heller could be overturned. Monday's victory was not the end of the war, but just the end of the beginning. Expect more court cases in the very near future.