#gunvote

The National Shooting Sports Foundation has just released a 30-second public service ad reminding people just what is at stake in this election. They remind people that one vote is what made the difference in the Heller and McDonald cases and that the next President of the United States will likely nominate at least one new Supreme Court Justice.

I think it is an effective and well done adverstisement. The NSSF has a special section on their website devoted to the #gunvote campaign. It has news, lets people find where their polling station is located, and has a registration guide for all 50 states plus the District of Columbus.

A Politician Worthy Of Parody

California Democrat State Sen. Leland Yee introduced a bill, SB 249, that would have outlawed the "bullet button". This is the device that converts a detachable magazine to a fixed magazine so that a semi-automatic firearm remains in compliance with California's assault weapons (sic) ban. Sen. Yee has since amended his bill to only prohibit conversion kits such as the "Mag Magnet".

Yee was prompted to introduce the bill after seeing a breathless report on the evil bullet button by a San Francisco TV station. California gun groups such as the CalGuns Foundation are fighting back. They have set up a website, StopSB249.org, as well as starting an ad campaign to defeat the bill.

One of the more amusing push-backs against Sen. Yee and SB 249 by CalGuns is this parody mash-up seen below. They've taken a CBS 5 report produced last week and added their own special touch to it.

Sometimes ridicule is the best way to deal with pompous politicians such as Sen. Yee.

Rifle Shooting Techniques From Ryan Cleckner

The National Shooting Sports Foundation released this video with Ryan Cleckner today. In it, he goes over some of the basics for good rifle shooting such as sight alignment and trigger control.

Cleckner is the Director of Government Relations for the Freedom Group. He held a similar position with NSSF. He served as a sniper and sniper instructor with the 75th Ranger Regiment at an earlier time. I would say he knows a thing or two about shooting a rifle accurately.

That's A Good Question, Mitt!

Mitt Romney has been attacked recently by the Obama campaign for not releasing his 2011 tax returns. He appeared on Fox's Fox and Friends show this morning as part of his counter-attack. You can see the full interview here but this is the part that I found relevant.

Instead of asking why Romney hasn't released his tax returns, Romney said the question should be why hasn't the Obama Administration released the documents relating to Operation Fast and Furious. As one Tweet said elsewhere, Romney's tax returns never killed anyone.

Just Like A Bad Meal It Keeps Repeating

Just as a bad meal keeps repeating on you due to indigestion, so do the Democrats in the Senate keep bringing forth the DISCLOSE Act. After passing the House in the last Congress, it died in the Senate. It has been resurrected by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI). He introduced S.3369 this past Tuesday and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has scheduled it for a vote today. That is mighty fast action for a Senate that hasn't bothered to pass a budget for the past three years.

Unlike in 2009, the NRA is opposing this bill. In fact, they are making a record vote for future candidate evaluations.

Next week, the United States Senate will once again take up the latest version of the DISCLOSE Act, in yet another attempt to curtail the First Amendment rights of Americans. The bill, S. 3369, has been fast-tracked on the Senate calendar and is set for a vote on Monday, July 16.

NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris W. Cox sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), as well as all members of the Senate, expressing the NRA's steadfast opposition to the legislation.

"Due to the importance of the fundamental speech and associational rights of the National Rifle Association's four million members," Cox wrote, "and considering the blatant attack on those rights that S. 3369 represents, we strongly oppose the DISCLOSE Act and will consider votes on this legislation in future candidate evaluations."
You may read the full text of the letter here.
Provisions of the DISCLOSE Act that violate First Amendment rights include disclosure provisions that require organizations to turn membership and donor lists over to the government. In recent weeks, we have seen media attacks on political donors that illustrate the danger this legislation poses, and that expose its true intent: to stifle free speech.Also, the bill would create complicated regulation of political spending and campaign activity, creating immense costs to comply with the law and cause a severe chilling effect on free speech.

While the act would have minimal impact on some institutions, such as labor unions, its biggest impact would be limiting the ability of the American people to join together to make their voices heard on issues of every sort. It would also magnify the power of the mainstream media, severely limiting the information available to the American people and threatening the integrity of our electoral process.

Please contact your United States Senator before the Monday vote and urge him or her to vote against this assault on our First Amendment rights. You can find contact information for your U.S. Senators by using the "Write Your Representatives" tool at http://www.nraila.org/. You may also contact your Senators by phone at (202) 224-3121.

GOA or Gun Owners of America is also in strong opposition this bill. Leave it to the Democrats to find a way to unite the NRA and GOA. The GOA release is below:

Anti-gun Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (NV) really does not want gun owners’ voices to be heard in Washington, D.C.

Democrat leaders have scheduled a vote for Monday, July 16, on the so-called DISCLOSE Act.

You may recall that the DISCLOSE Act passed the House in 2010 but died in the Senate after an intense lobbying effort by Gun Owners of America and other groups.

The bill coming to the floor on Monday, S. 3369, sponsored by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, puts severe and unconstitutional limits on GOA's ability to hold individual congressmen accountable in the months leading up to an election.

Instead of protecting the most important type of speech protected by the First Amendment -- political speech -- this bill would force groups like GOA to "disclose" the names of donors in certain political advertisements.

Since Gun Owners of America is not willing to disclose its membership lists to the Federal Election Commission, we could be prohibited from running radio or TV ads exposing a federal candidate's voting record during the election season.

This is just another attempt by pathetic, anti-gun politicians like Harry Reid to save their jobs before the political earthquake in November strikes. Indeed, if GOA candidates are victorious in Senate races in November, Harry Reid will no longer be the Majority Leader.

And, as has been the case so often with Reid, there have been no committee hearings to debate the merits of the bill, thus the American people have no opportunity to see just how egregiously DISCLOSE violates the Constitution. In fact, the bill was introduces less than a week ago.

Please urge your Senators to protect ALL of the Bill of Rights. Remind them that your ability to protect the Second Amendment relies on the safeguards of the First Amendment.

ACTION: Contact your Senators and urge them to oppose the DISCLOSE Act. You can use the Gun Owners Legislative Action Center to send your Senators a pre-written e-mail message.

UPDATE: The Republicans actually hung together for once and prevented the Democrats from invoking cloture on the debate of the DISCLOSE Act. The vote was 51-44 and it needed 60 to pass. As to why the Democrats brought the bill forward at this time, the Daily Caller has this explanation.

Democrats revived the act during a presidential election campaign in which political action committees and nonprofit organizations, funded by deep-pocketed and largely anonymous contributors, are dominating the airwaves with largely negative political ads.

A Trip To The Gun Show

Yesterday, the Complementary Spouse and I went to the Land of the Sky Gun and Knife Show held at the WNC Ag Center. This was her first gun show and my first one in a couple of years.

Things have changed since the last one I attended. I saw more guns, ammo, and knives and less military surplus and Nazi militaria than in the past. In fact, I don't think I saw any of the Nazi stuff. The gun show had moved to a new building and this attracted more vendors. This was a welcome change in my opinion. I also didn't notice that many people selling personal guns like in the past. So much for the myth of the gun show loophole.

I asked the Complementary Spouse for her impressions of the show. She said there were a lot of families and a lot of baby strollers cruising the aisles. Of course, one of those strollers had five Yorkshire Terriers in it! The other thing she noticed that there were a lot of people buying stuff as evidenced the number of shopping bags.

I had a couple of things I wanted to do at the show and I accomplished both. First, I wanted to meet Mark Meadows who is running as a Republican in the 11th District of NC. He has received four stars from GRNC as well as their recommendation. He was the leader in the first primary but just missed the 40% threshhold to avoid a run-off.

The second thing I wanted to do was find .380 ammo at a reasonable price. I ended up getting a box each of ammo from American Eagle, Tula, PMC, and Sellier and Bellot for an average of $15 per box. I want to try them out in my new-to-me Sig P238 which I bought used last week.

Of course, going to a gun show is like going to WalMart - you always leave with more than just what was on your list. I ended up getting large and small pistol primers, some cleaning equipment, and even a leather pocket holster for the P238.

The Complementary Spouse got in the act as well. She ended up with a selection of exotics meats jerky for her son-in-law Jeremy as well as paracord in a variety of cool colors to use in crafting.

We had a good time and I think we'll be going back the next time they are in town.

Eggs, Caskets, Adoptions, Or Project Gunwalker?

Those are the four topics for the nominees in this year's Emmy Awards Outstanding Investigative Journalism in a Regularly Scheduled Broadcast category. Sharyl Attkisson of CBS News is one of the four nominees in this category for her series "Gunwalker: Fast and Furious".

I won't comment on the other stories except to say that Brian Ross of ABC always comes across as a little slimey.

Congratulations to Sharyl and her team for the nomination and to those who nominated her in the first place. It is well deserved. I do think a couple of names are missing, however, from her team: Mike Vanderboegh and David Codrea.

OUTSTANDING INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM IN A REGULARLY SCHEDULED NEWSCAST

CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley CBS
Dover Mortuary Scandal
Executive Producer
Patricia Shevlin
Senior Producer
Ward Sloane
Producers
Kate Rydell, Mary Walsh
Anchor and Managing Editor
Scott Pelley
Correspondent
David Martin

CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley CBS
Gunwalker: Fast and Furious
Executive Producers
Rick Kaplan, Patricia Shevlin
Senior Producer
Bill Piersol
Producer
Christopher Scholl
Anchor and Managing Editor
Scott Pelley
Correspondent
Sharyl Attkinson

CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley CBS
Kansas City Adoption Scam
Executive Producer
Rick Kaplan
Senior Producer
Keith Summa
Producers
Pat Milton, Michael Rey
Correspondent
Armen Keteyian

Good Morning America/ABC World News with Diane Sawyer ABC
Mc Donald's Eggs
Chief Investigative Correspondent
Brian Ross
Chief of Investigative Projects
Rhonda Schwartz
Executive Producers
Jeanmarie Condon, Michael Corn
Producers
Cynthia Galli, Momtaz Rym
Field Producer
Angela Hill
Digital Managing Editor
Mark Schone
Digital Producer
Lee Ferran

From Iain Harrison - Midnight 3-Gun Invitational 2012

Iain Harrison of Crimson Trace sent along this reminder about the first night-time 3-gun match that is being sponsored by Crimson Trace. One additional thing of interest is that footwear and sportswear giant Nike is going to be a sponsor which is a first.

Crimson Trace Kicks Off World’s First Night Time 3 Gun Match

The first and only event of its kind starts Monday with a full roster of shooters, full match schedule and full auto firearms! Shooting entirely at night in the high desert of central Oregon, the Crimson Trace Midnight 3 Gun Invitational is a unique addition to the shooting calendar, featuring night vision equipment, thermal imagers, IR lasers and belt-fed stage guns. When the sun sets on the range, shooters from all over the country will be making ready in anticipation of the eight, challenging stages and the chance to win the $10,000 first prize.

“We’re totally stoked at the response this match has generated,” said Kent Thomas, director of marketing. “Outside of the of military, no one that we’re aware of has put something like this on before and we’re really grateful that the shooting community has embraced it the way they have.” A large number of top-tier sponsors have also joined Crimson Trace in creating this one-of-a-kind competition. Companies based in the Pacific Northwest were quick to throw their hats into the ring, with FLIR, Danner, Leatherman, Leupold, Nosler, BladeTech and Warne providing products for shooters and Range Officers. Local sportswear powerhouse Nike also came on board, the first time they have ever sponsored a shooting event. FNH, Remington, ATK and PWS are providing guns and ammo for use in the exciting courses of fire, which will be covered by TV, print and online media.

The M3GI is open to spectators and is located at the COSSA range on Rte 20, east of Bend, OR.