Guns, Politics, And Freedom Radio

I was a guest yesterday on Episode 24 of the Guns, Freedom, and Politics radio show with Paul Valone. We discussed the failures of law enforcement at Marjory Stoneman Douglas H.S., President Trump's gun control proposals, the media narrative of events, and what would have worked.

Paul suggested everyone call the White House comment line at 202-456-1111 to let him know where you stand on his proposals regarding bump fire stocks, raising the age to purchase a long arm, and universal background checks. The key thing regarding bump fire stocks is not the stocks themselves but rather if it is interpreted to include anything that might accelerate the rate of fire such as a trigger job, Geissele or Timney triggers, or a different buffer weight.

Paul has made the recording available as a YouTube video. You may want to subscribe to his page so you don't miss future shows.

GRNC Urges NC Gun Owners To Contact Burr, Tillis, and McConnell

I spent part of Saturday morning working the Grass Roots North Carolina booth at the Asheville Gun and Knife Show. Paul Valone, President of GRNC, was also helping out at the booth and we had a chance to chat. He told me we needed to put pressure on Senators Richard Burr (R-NC) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) over Sen. Dianne Feinstein's moves to outlaw bump fire stocks. Paul said it was only a first step for Feinstein and having read her bill I agree. The bill itself contains what I consider a Trojan Horse as it would outlaw anything that accelerated a semi-automatic rifle.

The alert that Paul alluded to in our conversation was released late this afternoon. It asks gun rights supporters to call and email Senators Burr and Tillis as well as Majority Leader Mitch McConnell regarding Feinstein's ban bill.

The alert is below:

Do you want Washington deciding what should or shouldn't be your next gun accessory?

While our nation continues to mourn the senseless tragedy in Las Vegas, lawmakers in Washington are rushing to fix (i.e. exploit) an issue they barely understand. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California) is reportedly proposing legislation that will eliminate all after-market devices which increase the firing rate of legal guns. Of course, this would ban the now infamous "bump stocks". But, it would also make illegal many other accessories, such as systems that enthusiasts use to make semi-automatic versions of belt-fed machine guns. Even more troubling, this proposal would NOT grandfather any of these devices. This would potentially have the chilling effect of making tens of thousands of otherwise law-abiding citizens, criminals overnight -- just for owning the "wrong" accessory. If this dangerous proposal were to become law, nobody knows how far the government would go to make sure millions of gun owners have only the “politically correct” accessories. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has even said that she "certainly hopes" this is will be a slippery slope to more gun control. This is so much more than a Second Amendment issue -- this is an attack on our right to own private property, a freedom enshrined in the Fifth Amendment.

IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED!
Call AND email North Carolina Senators Tillis and Burr, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's office: Let them know that as a well-informed voting citizen you refuse to stand idly by while Congress debates how to strip millions of law-abiding Americans of their private property rights. Contact the NRA: Call them (at 800-672-3888) and email them and tell them to grow a spine. Make it clear you will not hesitate to resign your membership unless they ramp up the fight to protect our fundamental freedoms. Donate to GRNC: As an all-volunteer grassroots organization, we work hard to protect our American liberties. It takes a lot of resources to fight this rising tide of hysteria and disinformation, and every little bit helps to keep the torch of liberty burning. Please click here or go to https://www.grnc.org/join-grnc/contribute. CONTACT INFO Senator Richard Burr: email link, 202-224-3154 Senator Thom Tillis: email link, 202-224-6342 Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell: 202-224-2541
DELIVER THIS MESSAGE
Suggested Subject: "Oppose the Feinstein Gun Ban"   Dear Senator: I understand that California Senator Dianne Feinstein is currently proposing legislation that would ban all devices that increase the firing rate of legally owned firearms. This would have the chilling effect of turning tens of thousands of otherwise law-abiding citizens into criminals. It would also strip them of their private property rights, a right enshrined in the Fifth Amendment. Have the courage to stand up to Senator Feinstein and anyone else in Congress who believes it is their place to decide for millions of Americans the “correct” type of accessories they can own. Please advise me of your position on this proposal. I will be monitoring your actions via Grass Roots North Carolina legislative alerts. Respectfully,

While I Was Away - No. 1

We got back from our multi-family vacation to the beach on Saturday night. A good time was had by all. I will try to get back into the swing of things with a series of posts on thing I missed reporting on last week.

Paul Valone, President of Grass Roots North Carolina, is now be hosting a terrestrial radio show on WFBT, FM 106.7, out of Wilmington, NC. The show entitled "Guns, Politics, & Freedom" will air on Sundays at 5pm Eastern. The aim of the show is to give gun rights advocates new ammunition in our fight for these rights. Four episodes have broadcast and archived shows can be found here.

Paul has more details in his release about it below:

Drawing on 23 years as a leader in the gun rights movement, F. Paul Valone is hosting a new show entitled “Guns, Politics & Freedom” on Sundays at 5:00 PM Eastern as part of the “Sunday Night Political Power Block” on conservative talk station WFBT, 106.7 (Wilmington, NC), which streams live nationally at www.WilmingtonBigTalker.com

Recent shows have included interviews with self-defense legal expert Andrew Branca (“The Law of Self-Defense”) and constitutional law professor Greg Wallace (“The Second Amendment in the courts: What comes after Heller?”). Upcoming shows will feature internationally renowned defensive firearm guru John Farnam and widely published concealed handgun researcher Dr. John R. Lott of the Crime Prevention Research Center.

GRNC-PVF TweaksThe Blue Noses (Updated)

blue·nose

ˈblo͞onōz/

noun

informal

plural noun: blue-noses

1. 1.

   US

   a priggish or puritanical person.

   "the most restrictive, bluenose standards"
2. 2.

   a person from Nova Scotia.

 Grass Roots North Carolina - Political Victory Fund is holding a fund-raising raffle to support its efforts to defeat anti-gun candidates in the November election. The winner gets a Palmetto State Armory M-4 configured AR-15, 1,000 rounds of high quality ammunition, AND a free portrait of Hillary Clinton. Tickets are $10 each, 3/$25, 7/$50 or 15/$100.

GRNC-PVF says of the Clinton portrait, "Of course, we won’t tell you what to do with the photo, but when we ran a picture of Hillary on the front of our newsletter, we heard it was very popular at the range." They note that if Hillary is elected on November 8th, panic buying will go into full swing on November 9th.

As you can imagine, the blue noses in the media are wailing and gnashing their teeth over this raffle.

CBS News ran a short feature on the raffle.




As to NC Policy Watch, which bills itself as the "the progressive pulse" and who suggests North Carolina legislators should emulate the recent California "gunpocalypse", they said:

In the name of all that is decent in our country, the terribly troubled souls behind this need to take it down immediately and apologize as well. What’s more, Donald Trump, Gov. Pat McCrory, Senator Richard Burr, Sen. Buck Newton and all other conservative politicians who have attempted to make gun ownership an issue in their campaigns should disavow the group ASAP.

In an update, WRAL-TV Raleigh ran GRNC President Paul Valone's response as well as the response from the executive director of Americans for Responsible Solutions PAC.

Paul Valone, president of Grass Roots NC, tells WRAL News that ticket sales are coming in "briskly." He said attention the group has received over the past 24 hours from writers for national media outlets who perceive the fundraiser as an implicit threat against Clinton is unwarranted.

"No reasonable person with a basic understanding of the English language could possible construe any sort of threat or encouragement from that basic message," Valone said Thursday.

Meanwhile, Peter Ambler, executive director of Americans for Responsible Solutions PAC, which was formed by former Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, said the raffle is ill-conceived.

"This dangerous stunt just further degrades the debate on gun safety that our country needs," Ambler said in an email. "North Carolina voters and law-abiding gun owners everywhere deserve a lot better."

If I didn't know better I'd say Paul Valone has been reading Alinsky's Rules for Radicals. This raffle is right out of Rule No. 6 - “A good tactic is one your people enjoy." The hyperbole from the other side is right up there with the suggestion that Donald Trump wants Hillary Clinton assassinated because he suggested she go without armed protection like the average citizen.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some raffle tickets to buy.

UPDATE: It looks like this story is starting to go viral...as are ticket sales. According to Sean Sorrentino on Facebook, the GRNC server is in meltdown status from all the ticket orders.

The Demanding Mommies

Puffington Host

New York Post

(London) Daily Mail

Daily Beast

Talking Points Memo

Daily Kos (which calls GRNC a "Republican gun club" which they are not)

Sacramento Bee

News 1 Korea

International Business Times UK

NY Daily News

The Independent (UK)

Policy.MIC

Cue the outrage machine so GRNC-PVF can keep selling raffle tickets to defeat Deborah Ross, Roy Cooper, and Josh Stein.

Quote Of The Day

There was a column a couple of weeks ago in the Raleigh (NC) News & Observer. The columnist, Ned Barrett, blamed legal gun owners who had their guns stolen for fueling "criminal gunfire". The column said that legal gun owners who had their guns stolen were "the headwaters in the river of guns that flows to criminals."

Grass Roots North Carolina President Paul Valone did not let this lie go unchallenged. As Tom Gresham always says, "A lie left unchallenged becomes the truth."

Paul said:

Blaming gun owners for theft of guns lawfully locked into cars is like blaming rape victims for wearing their skirts too short; it faults victims, not perpetrators.

 Paul is absolutely correct. The victim should not be blamed. If anything, the blame lies with the so-called gun free zones that force people to lock their legally owned and carried firearms in their cars.

Grass Roots North Carolina Refutes The NY Times Hit Piece On NC CHP Holders

Michael Luo of the New York Times wrote an article that claimed more than 2,400 people holding Concealed Handgun Permits from the State of North Carolina had criminal convictions. He says he came up with this number by comparing the names on the state's database of CHP holders with criminal records.

Sean Sorrentino of An NC Gun Blog started an email dialog with Luo. If you have been reading Sean's blog for any amount of time, you know he has been tracking the growth of concealed handgun permits in North Carolina and he has been following the background of those arrested for criminal misuse of firearms. As such, he has as good a feel for this as anyone and Luo's article struck him as wrong. So he contacted Luo and asked for the data.

After much back and forth, Luo told Sean he'd give the data to either a legislator or to NC law enforcement officials. This was the opening Sean was looking for and he contacted Paul Valone of GRNC seeking a friendly legislator to call Luo's bluff. The bluff was called with the result you'd expect.

So what do you say to an author who refuses a State legislator the data needed to do his job? When that legislator asked for the data, with a mind to crafting new and better legislation along with demanding answers from the State Bureau of Investigation, Luo refused.

Paul Valone, President of GRNC, has now responded to Luo's accusations with a point by point rebuttal. Somehow I doubt the "paper of making it up" as SayUncle calls it will respond. They are good about making claims about gun owners but not so good about making corrections.