Tom Gresham On The NRA And LaPierre

Tom Gresham, host of Gun Talk Radio, has called for Wayne LaPierre to step down. He addressed the troubles with the NRA this past Sunday on his radio show. To anyone who doubts his credentials in service to the Second Amendment, I'd remind them he is on the Board of Directors for the Second Amendment Foundation and on the Board of Governors of the National Shooting Sports Foundation plus his long running radio show.

His comments start at the 2:08 mark and end at 11:54. It is worth spending the 10 minutes to listen to Tom's entire commentary.

GRNC Alert - Federal Gun Control Vote This Week

Grass Roots North Carolina released an alert concerning votes on HR 8 and HR 1112 which may be coming this week. The first mandates universal background checks for all purchases and transfers while the second changes the procedure for a "hold" on NICS checks. Tom Gresham has written about this combination and the danger it poses. While a Democrat president might not use emergency powers to declare an emergency over "gun violence" (sic), it has been threatened by Speaker Nancy Pelosi. When you add the combination of these two bills to a declared emergency, you could have a perfect storm for the gun culture. That, of course, is the intent of all these type of bills - to make it so hard to purchase or own a firearm that most people will just give up.

FEDERAL GUN CONTROL VOTING THIS WEEK

As you know, Democrats in Washington are pushing dangerous gun control bills, and it appears the US House will be voting on these measures this week… After assuming power in the US House, the anti-gun party went right to work pushing heavy-duty gun control---two bills particularly. In brief, H.R. 8 (Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019) makes private firearms transfers a crime, while H.R. 1112 (Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2019) establishes a nationwide waiting period for gun purchases. Although bills such as these seem like “Democrat” bills that would never make it through the Republican-held Senate, don’t be so sure. As it stands, these bills are labeled “bi-partisan” because some less reliable Republican lawmakers (read: RINOs), have co-sponsored them. This allows for the following scenario: If these bills have bi-partisan support, they’ll likely pass the House easily, even if a few conservative Democrats vote against them. As it stands, no less than five Republicans have signed on to H.R. 8. So far, H.R. 1112 has only one Republican co-sponsor, but it can still be labeled bi-partisan, and is quite likely to pass the House. Other than the co-sponsors, it’s anyone’s guess how many other unreliable Republicans will vote for one or both of these bills. If there are Republicans in the House who sign on to these oppressive gun control laws, who’s to say that certain “moderate” Republicans in the Senate won’t do the same? While it’s true that we have a Republican executive, it’s also true that President Trump has dithered on questions of gun control. He has supported so-called “red flag” laws, which arbitrarily deny due process and strip citizens of their Second Amendment rights by bureaucratic whim. Also, by executive fiat the president recently banned bump stock devices. By these examples, you can see there is no guarantee that the president would veto a gun control bill, and there is even reason to believe that he would happily sign into law certain gun control measures. In the very possible scenario outlined above, one can see that there is real risk here, and things could start sliding the wrong direction this week! Clearly, it’s up to us, the people, to stop this. It appears that the US House will be voting on gun control measures this week... ... so please, as soon as possible, contact your representative and demand that he or she continue to recognize and vigorously defend guaranteed human rights. Below, see how you can easily email and phone your Republican US House Representative and demand these very things.  Support "Rights Watch International" Learn more about Rights Watch International You shop. Amazon Gives. (What is Amazon Smile?)

IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED!

PHONE AND EMAIL YOUR REPUBLICAN US HOUSE REPRESENTATIVE: If your House rep. is a Republican, inform him or her that you are well aware of the gun control bills being proposed in the US House (H.R. 8 and H.R. 1112). Insist that he or she oppose these bills, and by doing so, vigorously defend the Natural rights guaranteed by the Constitution.  Tell him or her that nothing short of unwavering resistance to these leftist gun control bills will be acceptable. Below is a phone number list and email form links for North Carolina Republicans in the US House. For the electronic message, use the copy/paste text provided under ‘Deliver This Message.’ If you don’t know who your representative is, click here to find that information. (On the right, toward the top, provide your zip code and then click LOOK UP). PHONE MINORITY LEADER KEVIN McCARTHY if your representative is not a Republican, or if you live in the 3rd or 9th district (currently unfilled seats). Tell Rep. McCarthy that you expect Republican leadership to live up to the party platform, and push all Republicans to stand firm on the Second Amendment (vote 'NO' on H.R. 8 and H.R. 1112). Contact information for Rep. McCarthy is also below. PLEASE CONTRIBUTE TO GRNC: Help us fight gun control while we promote Second Amendment principles. Please CLICK HERE to contribute. Also, bear in mind that GRNC is an all-volunteer organization, so you can be sure your donations are put to the best possible use. Any amount helps, and any amount is appreciated. CONTACT INFO Republican Rep. Name (District) Phone Number Contact Form Rep. George Holding (2)    (202) 225-3032 https://holding.house.gov/contact/ Rep. Virginia Foxx (5) (202) 225-2071 https://foxx.house.gov/connect/default.aspx Rep. Mark Walker (6) (202) 225-3065 https://walker.house.gov/contact/email Rep. David Rouzer (7) (202) 225-2731 https://rouzer.house.gov/contact/email Rep. Richard Hudson (8) (202) 225-3715 https://hudson.house.gov/email-me/ Rep. Patrick McHenry (10) (202) 225-2576 https://mchenry.house.gov/contact/ Rep. Mark Meadows (11) (202) 225-6401 https://meadows.house.gov/contact/ Rep. Ted Budd (13) (202) 225-4531 https://budd.house.gov/contact/ House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (202) 225-4000 Call if your district's seat is not held by a Republican or is currently unfilled (3rd & 9th).

DELIVER THIS MESSAGE

Suggested Subject (where applicable): "Oppose Gun Control Bills H.R. 8 and H.R. 1112"   Dear Representative: I am writing to express unequivocal opposition to the gun control bills recently introduced in the House of Representatives. In general, gun control is an affront to a free people and a violation of the human rights recognized and protected by the Constitution. Bills recently introduced, H.R. 8 and H.R. 1112, are no exception and are truly egregious examples. It’s discouraging to see that both bills carry bipartisan sponsorship, but I want to make it clear that I expect you to stand for what is right, not what seems most expedient due to the perceived zeitgeist, nor out of a belief that there is virtue in all compromise. While compromise has its place, there can be none when it comes to questions of Natural human rights, particularly Second Amendment rights. Oppose H.R. 8 and H.R. 1112. Oppose them publicly and vigorously. This is the only proper and acceptable path for a member of the Republican Party, a party that has documented its broad support for the Second Amendment in its party platform. As my representative, I expect you to live up to this. I will be monitoring your actions on this matter through alerts from Grass Roots North Carolina. Respectfully,

Prisoners Say Where They Got Guns -- And It Isn't At Gun Shows

The Bureau of Justice Statistics recently released a special report entitled Source and Use of Firearms Involved inCrimes: Survey of Prison Inmates, 2016. It reported that 20% of prisoners or 1 in 5 possessed or used a firearm while committing the crime for which they were imprisoned. The numbers go up when a violent crime was involved.

The report goes into great deal on the demographics of the criminal, the crimes involved, and so on. However, what really caught my eye was how they obtained the firearm(s) used in the commission of crime.

From the report:

Among prisoners who possessed a firearm when they committed the offense for which they were imprisoned and who reported the source from which they obtained it, the most common source (43%) was off-the-street or the underground market (table 5). 

The next most frequent source was "from a friend" at 25.3% followed by "other source" at 17.4% which could include found at the scene of the crime or brought by an accomplice.

Another approximately 10% obtained their firearms at a retail location which includes gun stores, pawn shops, flea markets, and gun shows. Breaking it down, the great majority of these were bought either under the prisoners's own name or an assumed name with a background check at gun stores and pawn shops. Both of these entities must hold Federal firearms licences.

But what about gun shows?

I hate to break to everyone railing on and on about the gun show loophole but gun shows accounted for only 0.8% of the firearms possessed by these criminals serving time.

Theft rounds out the list at 6.4%.

Tom Gresham made the suggestion on Twitter that you bookmark, copy, and print this report as ammo proving the "gun show loophole" is a fallacy. I agree.

Free Recoil

I had never heard of the concept of free recoil until I saw this video put up by Tom Gresham's Gun Talk Media. The gist of it is that you have the rifle steadied on a rest and you pull the trigger without the buttstock being locked into your shoulder. Indeed, it isn't even touching your shoulder.

I'll have to try this the next time I go to the range.

HR 38 Is Moving To A Floor Vote

The House Rules Committee will issue a rule for HR 38 - Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017 - on Tuesday, December 5th. This news was announced on Tom Gresham's Gun Talk Radio show by Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC) on Sunday.

It is expected that the bill will come before the House for debate and a vote starting on Wednesday.

However, as predicted by Rep. Tom Massie (R-KY) the Fixed NICS bill has been merged with concealed carry reciprocity. It is now Title II of HR 38. Massie goes on to say that when the bill hits the Senate, carry reciprocity will be dropped and only the Fix NICS portion approved. Then given different bills have passed the House and Senate it will go to a conference committee who will only report out the Fix NICS portion of the bill. Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV) has offered an amendment to the bill being considered in the Rules Committee that would drop the carry portion of the bill.

It should be noted that Massie, despite being chairman of the Second Amendment Caucus, has opposed HR 38 from the start according to Dave Cole who is both a constituent of Massie and a blogger at Black Man with a Gun.

I think it was to be expected that that bills would be combined in that they both dealt with guns and both came out of the House Judiciary Committee at the same time. The NSSF is supporting both parts of the bill including the Fix NICS portion.

HR 4477 - Fix NICS - as it passed the House Judiciary Committee includes a provision to require the Attorney General to provide a report on how often bump stocks had been used in crimes. This would be part of the combined bill. That said, I think the actual instances of a bump stock equipped carbine or rifle being used in a crime will be very few.

"Guns Kill. Diseases Kill. It's A Public Health Issue" - John Hockenberry

John Hockenberry, host of NPR's The Takeaway, interviewed Tom Gresham of Gun Talk last Thursday. The interview was polite if a bit contentious. The contentiousness came due to the closed mind of Hockenberry who, by the way, had interviewed Piers Morgan about guns the day before. Tom was asked to be on the show because he has the largest, nationally syndicated radio show devoted to guns in America.

Tom discussed his interview on Sunday's Gun Talk. He noted that he spoke with Hockenberry for approximately a half hour while what was aired was less than eight minutes.

During the interview the topic of the funding of "gun violence" (sic) research at the Centers for Disease Control came up. Tom said he wasn't opposed to funding research at the CDC if it wasn't done with a preconceived outcome. That is when Hockenberry equated guns with ebola. Tom responded, somewhat incredulously, "You are equating guns with ebola?" Hockenberry responded, "Guns kill. Diseases kill. It's a public health issue."

You can listen to the whole interview below:




It is interesting to note that some of Hockenberry's liberal listeners were not impressed with how Hockenberry handled things. There was this comment by "Jenny from Connecticut":

This is the most disappointing segment of this show I've ever heard, and it's one that will forever change how I feel about The Takeaway and John Hockenberry. He wasn't interested in having a real conversation with his guest; he treated Mr. Gresham like some ignorant bloodthirsty redneck and refused to engage in a conversation. (By the way. Mr. Hockenberry, studying ebola is NOT just like studying gun violence. Ebola is most definitely deadly and likely to result in one's death. Guns are not 100% guaranteed deadly; they have to be misused by a person to kill. Comparing gun violence to a highly virulent disease is just plain ignorant. You were so hell-bent on showing how superior you are to Mr. Gresham that you clearly couldn't think straight.)

I say all this by way of disappointment. I am a good, anti-gun liberal (who also grew up with people who used guns safely and sanely, and I do believe that is possible) but more and more I hear commentary like this: "Oh, I'm such a smart liberal who knows guns kill and you are some dumb hillbilly I can condescend to." It cheapens the debate and will never get us to a place of safety.

Another listener, "James from Philly" had this to say:

Really sounded like Mr. Hockenberry let too much of Piers "Musket" Morgan rub off on him before interviewing Mr. Gresham. That was an incredibly unprofessional interview on Hockenberry's part and rather than discuss the points Tom Gresham was making (and he was stating facts) he devolved into some strange passive-aggressive theme where he anthropomorphized firearms and mischaracterized Tom's statements, demonstrating the Mr. Hockenberry was more interested in peddling gun control laws for their own sake rather than weighing the real merits and seeing why such laws do nothing that they are promised to do. Journalistic integrity is becoming a rarity, even on NPR.

Hockenberry did have his supporters:

Tom LI: How can anyone seriously argue that the presence of a gun doesn't embolden certain personalities to use the device suddenly and emotionally..?

Mary from Nor Cal: THANK YOU!!!!! You are one of the only honest, forthright and outspoken journalists out there. Thank you for your show! Regarding guns - handguns need to be banned. We are the only covalized county that allows gun ownership and it is long past time to change that.

Moving beyond the show to Hockenberry himself, I find it interesting that for someone confined to a wheelchair since 1976 that he is so anti-gun and anti-self defense. I wonder what he would say to my friend Kurt Hofmann who, like Hockenberry, is a paraplegic confined to wheelchair. Kurt, gun blogger, the former St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner and current S.W.A.T. Magazine columnist, came to gun rights when he found that Illinois would not let him defend himself with a firearm outside the home. That would be an interesting conversation to say the least!

A Coalition Serves Freedom Of Information Request On Bloomberg

A coalition consisting of the Second Amendment Foundation, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, and Tom Gresham of Gun Talk have served a Freedom of Information Law request on the City of New York to provide all records concerning Mayor Bloomberg's Illegal Mayors and the use of city funds to support the group. It is an effort to smoke out just how much the citizens of the City of New York are paying for Bloomberg's pet project.

From the SAF release:

BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation today has filed a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request with the City of New York for all records relating to Michael Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns, after newspaper allegations that city resources have been used for MAIG’s gun control efforts.

SAF is being joined in the request by the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, and Tom Gresham, host of the nationally-syndicated “Gun Talk.”

“It was bad enough to learn via CBS News that the MAIG website was being hosted on a city-owned server, and administered by city employees,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb, “but it also appears that a special counselor in the mayor’s office was sent to lobby in Nevada on behalf of MAIG’s gun control agenda.”

The New York Post and Politico both published reports that Mayor Bloomberg sent Christopher Kocher to Nevada, and that in an apparent attempt to conceal who he worked for, Kocher “scrubbed his City Hall e-mail address from the state of Nevada lobbying-registration Web site early this month.”

“The public has a right to know what’s been going on between Bloomberg, the city and MAIG,” Gottlieb explained. “Gun control is Bloomberg’s pet peeve, and he’s been pushing an anti-gun agenda since sending so-called private investigators on a sting operation to gun shops all over the country, which got him in trouble with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.”

“There certainly appears to be a serious problem in Bloomberg’s administration,” Gresham added. “Evidently, the mayor and his staff have a gross misunderstanding of how the taxpayers’ money should be spent, and that should not include sending New York employees around the country to lobby for Bloomberg’s pet projects.”

The request was filed by SAF Special Projects Director Philip Watson, for the following information:

1. All electronic records related to Mayors Against Illegal Guns and the website MayorsAgainstIllegalGuns.org, including, but not limited to:

• a. All electronic files saved on city servers
• b. All Emails to or from users at the domain MayorsAgainstIllegalGuns.org
• c. All current and former employees, officials, outside contractors, and volunteers with access to the website MayorsAgainstIllegalGuns.org
• d. All current and former Email users and usernames that have had access to send or receive Email from @MayorsAgainstIllegalGuns.org

2. Any and all records related to Mayors Against Illegal Guns electronic files, including, but not limited to:

• a. Emails
• b. Any written documents
• c. Any records describing processes for cooperation with this group
• d. Any records describing how received communications with this group are processed
• e. All employee pay or overtime related to cooperation or time spent with this group
• f. Official names, titles, and contact information of all employees, officials, outside contractors, and volunteers involved with domain hosting, creation, maintenance, and communication for MayorsAgainstIllegalGuns.org
• g. All costs incurred by the City of New York for creation, maintenance, domain hosting, and communication for MayorsAgainstIllegalGuns.org

3. Any and all records of communication since January 1, 2002 between any city official, employee, or volunteer and any gun control advocacy organization, including, but not limited to:

• a. Mayors Against Illegal Guns
• b. Demand A Plan
• c. Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
• d. Center for Gun Policy and Research
• e. Ceasefire
• f. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
• g. Coalition to Stop Gun Violence
• h. Joyce Foundation
• i. Violence Policy Center
• j. Legal Community Against Violence
• k. Million Mom March

“The man is obsessed,” Gottlieb continued, “and if he’s spent so much as a dime of public money on what amounts to a private crusade, Mayor Bloomberg needs to be held accountable for that.”

Gottlieb has called on New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to launch a full-scale investigation into the mayor’s potential misuse of public resources for his own private war on gun owners. He renewed that call today.

“If Eric Schneiderman won't investigate Bloomberg for possible misuse of public funds,” Gottlieb said, “we will. The mayor has been acting increasingly like a self-appointed monarch, but this still the United States, not Bloomberg’s personal fiefdom."

Given that other states and cities have strong freedom of information laws and given that there are a number of cities with a mayor belonging to MAIG, I think this provides a nice template for a grass roots effort to smoke out the use of public funds to promote gun control efforts. These politicians are like cockroaches and hate to see the light of day shone on their activities.

This Is Incredible!

Tom Gresham, host of Gun Talk, arranged a deal with the NRA for Life Memberships at the reduced price of $300. The offer ran through the end of February and started in early January. The offer proved quite popular and the NRA had to set up a special toll-free number to handle the calls.

How successful was this offer? 16,630 new Life members successful! Or in dollar terms, $4,989,000 worth of membership dues.

To put this in perspective, the Brady Campaign has raised about the same amount of money since the Newtown shootings. However, it took their whole organization to raise the money as opposed to one guy who wanted to do something.

As a NRA Life Member, I say, thanks Tom!

Below is the announcement from Tom about the campaign's success:

Mandeville, LA – In less than two months, radio and TV host Tom Gresham delivered 16,630 new Lifetime Members to the National Rifle Association, amounting to more than $4.9 million dollars in membership dues. Gresham announced a special $300 Lifetime Membership deal with the NRA on Thursday, January 10th, via Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/Guntalk, complete with a special direct phone number. The deal ended last Thursday.

"It's incredible that we were able to send the NRA almost five million dollars in only seven weeks," said show host Tom Gresham. "America's gun owners obviously want to be part of the fight to not only protect, but to regain gun rights, and they are saying so with their hard-earned dollars. At a time when money is short and people are concerned about the economy, this massive response shows just how important Second Amendment rights are to the public."

What began with a tweet, the deal was announced on Tom Gresham’s Gun Talk Radio show each week, (http://www.guntalk.com), and went out to the 55,000-plus subscribers of the Truth Squad newsletter, (http://www.guntalk.com/truthsquad ), and to the Gun Talk Media Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/guntalkmedia). Word of the deal continued to spread through email, Twitter and Facebook and in gun shops, shooting clubs, and Internet forums all across the U.S..

In its 18th year of national syndication, Tom Gresham's Gun Talk Radio airs live on Sundays from 2PM-5PM Eastern, and runs on more than 137 stations, plus on XM (Ch. 165) Satellite Radio. All Gun Talk shows can be downloaded as podcasts at http://www.guntalk.libsyn.com and Apple iTunes, or through one of the available Apps: the Gun Talk iPhone App, the Blackberry Podcast App, and the Gun Talk App for Android on Amazon. The Gun Talk Minute on XM also airs on XM 165, 166, 168 and Fox Sports every day throughout the week. More information is available at http://www.guntalk.com.

A Good Reminder

Tom Gresham of GunTalk Radio tweeted a link to this video this morning. I think it is a vivid reminder of the harm caused by gun control laws. Dr. Suzanna Gratia Hupp obeyed the law and saw her parents murdered in front of her with no means to help protect them.

Ninety-Nine Judges

Tom Gresham devoted his entire three-hour show on Sunday to the elections and the impact that they will have on gun owners and gun rights. The guests ranged from the NRA's Wayne LaPierre and Chris Cox to SAF's Alan Gottlieb and NSSF's Larry Keane. In addition, he interviewed attorney Alan Gura. The one thing every guest said about this election and gun rights was the critical importance of judicial appointments to securing gun rights.

The interview that really peaked my interest was with Alan Gura. Tom asked Alan straight out what would have happened if there had been a 5-4 majority with a Sotomayor or Kagan in that majority, could he have won Heller or McDonald? Alan's response, "Probably not. I mean NO. There would be no way."

Alan went on to say that lower Federal Court nominees rarely make the news and are often confirmed on voice votes. Given that few cases make it to the Supreme Court much of the case law is made at the District and Circuit Court levels.

Alan pointed out that there are currently 65 District Court vacancies, 15 Appeals Court vacancies, and another 19 judges who have indicated that they plan to retire or more into senior status. This means the next president will get to nominate at least 99 judges and probably more like 150-200 over the next four years. This does not even take into consideration a probable one to three Supreme Court nominations.

Remember this - all Federal judges serve a lifetime appointment. This means that the next president will get to nominate at a minimum one-tenth of all District Court judges and one-tenth of all Court of Appeals judges. The impact will be felt for years and years.

This is what this election is about: the future direction of the Federal judiciary and with it our rights as gun owners and Americans.

If you haven't already voted, then you damn well better do it tomorrow. And when I say vote or voted, I sure as hell don't mean for Obama.

UPDATE: I forgot to add that if Obama is re-elected and gets to replace one of the "Heller Five" then  Second Amendment litigation will grind to a halt. At the recent Gun Rights Policy Conference, Gene Hoffman of the CalGuns Foundation emphasized this point and said the best thing to do in that situation is to shut down Second Amendment litigation. The reason is that you can't risk bringing a case that could end up before a decidedly unfriendly Supreme Court.

"It's Fun To Work At The BATF..Eeee!"

Tom Gresham of GunTalk posted a parody song that is his take on the Fast and Furious debacle. Set to the tune of the Village People's YMCA, it just skewers that BATFE.

I was driving to work this morning when I first listened to it and I about had a wreck I was laughing so hard. The refrain is "It's fun to work at the BATF...Eeee!". The lyrics include such things as "you can watch cartels smuggle guns" and "your friends at DOJ will protect you; It will be OK".

You can download it from iTunes or just listen to it here.

Don't be drinking anything while listening or you may need to buy a new keyboard. Now you can't say you haven't been warned.

"After My Election I Have More Flexibility" - Obama

Jake Tapper of ABC News is reporting on a comment made by President Obama to Russian President Demitri Medvedev today at the end of their 90 minute meeting in Seoul, South Korea. They were discussing issues of mutual concern but especially missile defense.

The exchange:

President Obama: On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this, this can be solved but it’s important for him to give me space.

President Medvedev: Yeah, I understand. I understand your message about space. Space for you…

President Obama: This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility.

President Medvedev: I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir.

While this comment was made in the context of missile defense, I think it is a harbinger of things to come if Obama is re-elected. While he has been somewhat restrained in his gun control efforts so far, I think most rational people would expect Obama to ramp up his efforts once he no longer has to worry about re-election. If you didn't think this presidential election and the concurrent congressional elections were not that important, think again.

A caller to Tom Gresham's GunTalk last week or the week before said he was setting aside money to buy more guns in case it looked like Obama would be re-elected. He called it his Obama Re-election Gun Buying Fund. Tom responded that instead of buying more guns he should invest the money in supporting pro-gun candidates so that he and everyone else would have their Second Amendment rights protected. Given Obama's comment, I think Tom made an eminently sensible suggestion and one that I'd like to second.

Cam And Tom Gresham On Project Gunwalker And Other Things

Cam Edwards interviewed Tom Gresham of GunTalk on the floor of the NRA Annual Meeting. Among other things, they discussed Project Gunwalker. That is in the latter half of the video.