NC School Safety Committee's First Meeting

The North Carolina Joint Legislative Committee on School Safety will have its first meeting this Wednesday in Raleigh. Here are some of the details:

What:   The School Safety Committee’s first meeting

Where:   Room 643 of the Legislative Office Building in Raleigh.

When:   Wednesday, March 21st at 9am to Noon, lunch then resume at 2pm

I can assure you that those opposed to allowing teachers to make the choice to be armed will be there.

The Bloomberg-funded North Carolinians Against Gun Violence (sic) is organizing its volunteers to be there. While there is no mention of a pre-hearing preparation session, I wouldn't be surprised if one is planned so as to coordinate their arguments for making children less safe in the name of safety. You can also be assured that they will fill the room with people wearing orange or red t-shirts with their slogans on it.

The NEA's NC affiliate, North Carolina Association of Educators, has come out against allowing teachers to be armed according to ABC Channel 11 Raleigh. I fully expect their lobbyists to be there.

The North Carolina Association of Educators argues teachers want to be armed with books and technology, not guns.

"It's a dangerous prospect to put out there and we would surely hope that the General Assembly would not even entertain that idea of arming teachers in North Carolina, but we will fight back if it does come forward," said NCAE President Mark Jewell.

As Tom Gresham made clear on this past Sunday's Gun Talk Radio, sitting back is no longer a viable option. We need to show up - in shirts and ties - and make the case for allowing teachers who choose to be to be armed. If we don't, our children and grandchildren will continue to be at risk in their officially gun-free zones. Those who oppose allowing teachers and administrators being armed will be there with emotional arguments, extraneous examples, and their orange/red t-shirts.

We may have the better solutions and arguments but they are better at packing hearings with their supporters. They understand optics better than we do. They and their media allies will run with that.

So, if you can be in Raleigh this coming Wednesday, please attend this meeting. To steal an argument from the gun prohibitionists, do it for the children!

AR-15 Podcast "Loose Rounds"

I was a guest on the AR-15 Podcast's Loose Rounds 004 episode. Reed, Mike, and I discussed the events in Parkland, Florida and the aftermath. We discussed some of the common arguments being put forth such as regulating "weapons of war", raising the age to buy a firearm to 21, and "rate increasing devices".  Reed is a practicing attorney in Texas so he added a good deal of the legal perspective to our conversation.

I had a great time discussing the issues with Reed and Mike. I'm sorry J.D. couldn't join us.

You can listen to the episode here or download it on iTunes

If you like AR-15 rifles, carbines, and pistols, you should put this podcast on your list of "must listen" podcasts. In addition to the Loose Rounds episodes, they have interviews with those in the industry as well as great advice on how to build or modify your own AR. Thanks to them I discovered Aero Precision which I have used for a couple of builds so far.

Declining "Gun Violence" Tax Revenue In Seattle

Who'd a thunk it? Collections of the Seattle, WA "gun violence" (sic) tax are down again. Did any of the politicians on the Seattle City Council not figure out that buyers could vote with their feet and buy their ammo and guns outside the city limits?

I guess not given their original estimates of annual revenue was expected to be in the $300-500,000 range and actual 2017 collections were $92,220.74. We only know these real numbers thanks to the efforts of Dave Workman and the Second Amendment Foundation who had to sue to force the original disclosure of the 2016 numbers.

The Second Amendment Foundation released this statement regarding the tax collections:

BELLEVUE, WA. – Seattle’s “gun violence tax” revenue has once again failed to meet predictions, demonstrating once again that this was really a thinly disguised gun control scheme that was sold to the public as an effort to reduce so-called “gun violence,” the Second Amendment Foundation said today.

Figures released by the city under a Public Records Act request by the senior editor of SAF’s monthly magazine TheGunMag.com show the city collected $93,220.74 last year, a decline of nearly $10,000 from the amount collected in 2016 and far below the $300,000 to $500,000 revenue originally predicted by its proponents on the Seattle City Council when the tax was hastily passed almost three years ago.

“Once again,” noted SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb, “Seattle’s pie-in-the-sky gun tax revenue forecast has been proven to be a complete failure, essentially like other gun control fantasies. The revenue data only reinforces our claim in a lawsuit against the tax that this was a gun control scheme to drive firearm sales and gun stores out of the city, which it obviously did.

“It is important to remember that the city would never have released this data if it hadn’t been for our lawsuit in 2016 that forced Seattle to come clean and turn over the revenue figures,” he observed. “Otherwise, we believe the city would have continued to conceal this information because it is embarrassingly short of their prediction.”

“This was, and remains, a First Amendment issue,” said TheGunMag.com Senior Editor Dave Workman. “The public, and especially Seattle taxpayers, have a right to this information.”

“The city probably spent more on legal bills to keep the information confidential, and on manpower to comply with the Public Records Act and last year’s court order than it has so far collected,” Gottlieb estimated. “But this is a pretty good example of what gun control is all about. It always begins with grandiose promises, it invariably hurts the wrong people, it doesn’t stop criminals, and in the end those responsible stubbornly refuse to admit their real goal was to further erode gun rights. And the public winds up essentially worse off than they were before.”

Teens With Guns Can Be A Good Thing

The Winston-Salem Journal had a story today about a bunch of teens and near teens with guns. In fact, there were over 1,200 of them ranging in age from 12 to 18. And it was safe and controlled and educational and fun.

It was the District 7 Youth Hunter Education Skills Tournament and featured 72 teams competing to be in the state tournament. Two teams get automatic bids and the remainder hope that their scores are high enough to win one of the 22 at-large spots in the 40 team state tournament. The event is sponsored by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission and was held at the Hunting Creek Preserve in Harmony, NC.

To many, the district tournament may have come at a strange time — where the words “teens” and “guns” are inflammatory at best after the harrowing school shooting in Florida last month — but the teens who competed asserted that the tragedy does not define what they do.

“There will always be bad people who want to do bad things with guns, but that does not define us,” said Spencer Ballus, one of the 52 members of Reagan High School’s shooting team. “Everyone here has a good head on their shoulders. We are conscientious, responsible and put safety first.”

The teams competed in rifle, shotgun, archery, and orienteering with the cumulative score deciding the winners.

But the tournament is largely apolitical — completed for the love of competition and the camaraderie that comes with being on a team.

“I do it for fun because I like getting to compete with my friends,” said Walkertown student Brandon Carrier, 12. “I like rifle because it’s something I grew up doing with my dad.”

(Spencer) Ballus, a senior at Reagan, has been practicing for the tournament since December and said he fell into the sport as a freshman in search of his niche.

His specialty is rifle, where he has to hit a small target with a bull’s-eye the size of a dime.

The team practices from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. every Saturday in a nearby Pfafftown farmer’s field, doing occasional farmwork in exchange for use of the land.

“I’d never really been into athletics, but I thought the team looked interesting,” Ballus said. “The camaraderie is the best part. It was the best decision I could’ve made.”

I think a parent of one of the competitors hit the nail on the head.

“If we taught more about guns, I think we’d have a lot less shootings,” said parent Tony Bryant, whose son Cole Abbott competes on the Reagan team. “Instead of just playing video games, this teaches the kids to respect guns. It’s a wonderful thing.”

H/T Nathan C.

Ludicrous Posturing

It is like little kids posturing on the school yard. One kid says something and the other kid says, "Yeah? Well, I did that and this too!" So it is with politicians and firearms especially if they have D after their name.

The latest extreme example of this comes from my home state of North Carolina. Rep. Rodney Moore (R-Mecklenburg) says he'll introduce a bill to raise the legal age to purchase a rifle to age 21.

Here is his rationale as reported by WRAL:

Rep. Rodney Moore said he didn’t need to look any further than the faces of the victims of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School to know change was necessary.

“[They’re] very tragic examples of where we’ve become as a society in letting weapons of war be distributed on our streets,” Moore said.

 His bill would per the usual exempt law enforcement, firefighters, and members of the military.

You are probably saying, "So what! Lots of people have said they want to raise the age to 21."

Ah, but it gets better.

Penalties for using rifles to commit a crime in places like a school or public building would increase and the law would require a 90-day waiting period to purchase guns.

“We need to go through a thorough criminal background check. We need to do a mental evaluation and that is why we need the waiting period,” Moore said.

In a statement of extreme irony, Moore concludes by saying he supports the Second Amendment.

Moore said he is a supporter of the Second Amendment, but does not feel his proposal violates anybody’s rights.

“What it is doing is enhancing the safety of that particular amendment,” he said. “When the Second Amendment was written into the Constitution, the founding fathers had no idea how technology, how weapons would change.”

 Raise the age to 21, add a 90-day waiting period, insist on a mental evaluation, AND say you are doing it to enhance the "safety" of the Second Amendment. In terms of political posturing that is going to be hard to beat.

Quote Of The Day

“Guns don’t have much legitimate purpose in cities outside of the hands of trained law enforcement,” Cook said. “I think many cities would want to reinstitute a blanket ban or licensing requirements on carrying in public.”

Philip Cook is the ITT/Terry Sanford Professor Emeritus of Public Policy Studies at Duke University. He is a well-known researcher in "gun violence" (sic) with a significant anti-gun bias. The quote above comes from Duke's student newspaper, The Chronicle, in which Cook was interviewed about past and proposed firearms-related legislation in the North Carolina General Assembly.

He advocated much tighter restrictions on concealed carry as well as doing away with state preemption so that cities like Durham where Duke is located could enact their own gun controls. As to enacting a ban on carrying in public, at least for open carrying, it would be an unconstitutional act. The North Carolina Supreme Court decided that in 1922 in the case of State v. Keener where the court ruled that open carrying was a constitutional right.

Another gem in this article deals with a total mischaracterization of why North Carolina has the pistol purchase permit wherein one must apply for a permit from their local sheriff to buy a handgun.

“That is relatively unusual, especially among Southern states,” said Cook, who researches gun control and crime prevention...

“The wisdom of the time [in 1919] was that rifles and shotguns are used for hunting and target shooting and other sports uses. Handguns are used against people,” Cook said. “And I think that remains true today.”

No, the wisdom of the time had nothing to do with handguns being used against people. The wisdom of the time was that blacks, union organizers, populists, and even Republicans had to be kept relatively disarmed. This was so that these people could not present a challenge to segregationist Democrats and their Klan allies. I have researched it extensively and have had many posts over the years on this subject. You can find some of them here, here, and here. I would note again that the co-sponsor of the 1919 bill was State Sen. Earle A. Humphrey (D-Goldsboro) who was the brother-in-law of ardent segregationist and Democrat party boss Furnifold Simmons.

Two Steps Forward; Potentially Many Back In Illinois

As I reported yesterday, Gov. Bruce Rauner (R-IL) did the right thing and vetoed SB 1657 - the Gun Dealer Licensing Bill. However, there are many more bills out there that need to die. Moreover, the anti-gun forces are attempting to repeal the state law that pre-empts local regulation of firearms. You can imagine the regulations that would be enacted by Chicagoland politicians in the city and the suburbs.

On another note, kudos to the Iroquois County Board for its pro-Second Amendment resolution. The county is located in northeastern Illinois between Chicago and Champaign-Urbana on the Indiana border.

Illinois Carry has sent out this alert. If you are an Illinois resident, contact your representative and senator. Now.

Governor Rauner Vetoes Gun Dealer Licensing Calls for Bipartisan Solutions After a full court press, all hands on deck, Katie bar the door effort by the anti Second Amendment legislators in Chicago, Governor Rauner, with a stroke of his pen, has undone the heinous firearm dealer licensing bill. We've been working with the Governor and his staff from day one for just a time as this. IllinoisCarry has taken him at his word and with this, the worst gun bill to hit an Illinois governor's desk in decades, he has proven his mettle. IllinoisCarry extends our sincere thanks to the Governor, and to our members who supported him while considering this difficult, but well reasoned, decision. But the fight isn't over! We expect anti-gun Chicago legislators to attempt an override of the Governor's veto, and to pass several other pieces of legislation. An amendment has been filed on HB1465 "Assault Weapon" ban Under 21 proposing an "affirmative defense" for our youth who participate in shooting sports with adults.  This is a poor attempt to make shooting sports illegal for our children while seemingly addressing our concerns. An amendment was filed on HB1467 Bump Stock & Trigger Crank Ban to now include the repeal of state preemption of local gun law, turning a bill that some considered an acceptable loss into election year theater. New momentum was given SB2314 Assault Weapons - Municipality, the inspiration for elimination preemption, and SB2317 Crim Cd Trigger Modification,  yet another flavor of bump stock ban. Call Your State Senator! Tell your Senator to vote against any attempt to override Governor Rauner's veto of SB1657 Gun Dealer Licensing. Also urge your state Senator to vote No on the following bills and any amendments to these bills: HB1465 "Assault Weapon Under 21 HB1467 Bump Stock & Trigger Crank Ban SB2314 Assault Weapon - Municipality SB2317 Crim Cd Trigger Modification Contact information for your legislators can be found here. ###

Iroquois County Board Passes Pro-Second Amendment Resolution! Tuesday night, Mar. 13th the Iroquois County Board voted to adopt the following resolution supporting lawful gun owners in Illinois.  We encourage other counties to adopt similar resolutions, and ask each of you to share a copy with your county board members! Copies of the resolution and contact infromation can be found here. RESOLUTION of the COUNTY BOARD OF THE COUNTY OF IROQUOIS, ILLINOIS Resolution opposing the passage of HB1465, HB 1467, HB1468, HB1469, SB1657, any trailer bill, or any bill similar too, or any bill where the 100th Illinois General Assembly desires to restrict the Individual right of US Citizens as protected by the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution WHEREAS, the Right of the People to Keep and Bear Arms is guaranteed as an Individual Right under the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution and under the Constitution of the State of Illinois, and; WHEREAS, the Right of the People to Keep and Bear Arms for defense of Life, Liberty, and Property is regarded as an Inalienable Right by the People of Iroquois County, Illinois, and: WHEREAS, the People of Iroquois County, Illinois, derive economic benefit from all safe forms of firearms recreation, hunting, and shooting conducted within Iroquois County using all types of firearms allowable under the United States Constitution and; WHEREAS, HB1465 is a violation of the 4th Amendment to the US Constitution requiring responsible persons under 21 to surrender lawfully owned firearms or face becoming instant felons; fails to define how to relinquish firearms; only allows possession at Sparta shooting complex, but fails to provide similar exemptions for recreational shooting at gun clubs, private ranges or under supervision of responsible adult or parent, unless certified as a firearms instructor; WHEREAS HB1467 is violation of the 4th Amendment to the US Constitution requiring persons to immediately relinquish lawfully owned bump stocks or trigger cranks, while also failing to provide where and how to relinquish firearms devices, thus creating instant felons upon passage; WHEREAS HB1468 contains broad and unclear definitions which will cause confusion amongst firearm owners and dealers as to which type of firearm is subject to 72 hour wait period; bans nonresidents from purchasing certain long guns defined loosely as assault weapons, puts dealers in jeopardy of unknowingly violating the law; WHEREAS HB1469 is violation of the 4th Amendment to the US Constitution requiring persons to immediately relinquish lawfully owned magazines, fails to provide how to properly relinquish banned magazines, creates instant felons if enacted as written, creates conflicts allowing for sale to out of state persons while stating possession is a felony, bans body armor worn as protection for those who employ the use of chain saws, motorcyclists, range officers and firearm instructors, shop owners and employees who work in dangerous neighborhoods or during night shifts; WHEREAS SB1657 and trailer bills will create economic hardship on lawfully owned and operated, small business firearm dealerships, in effect forcing them to close; will create undue burdens and price increases on persons to lawfully purchase firearms; will have a direct negative impact on local economies thru job loss and sales tax loss; will create another layer of burdensome government regulation on top of the heavy Federal regulations; imposes new fees on top of existing Federal license fees; WHEREAS, Iroquois County Board, being elected to represent the People of Iroquois County and being duly sworn by their Oath of Office to uphold the United States Constitution and the Constitution of the State of Illinois, and; WHEREAS, the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate, being elected by the People of the State of Illinois and being duly sworn by their Oath of Office to uphold the United States Constitution and the Constitution of the State of Illinois, and; WHEREAS, The Governor of Illinois, being elected to represent the People of the State of Illinois and being duly sworn by your Oath of Office to uphold the United States Constitution and the Constitution of the State of Illinois, and; WHEREAS, proposed legislation, any bills similar to, under consideration by the Illinois State Legislature would infringe the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and would ban the possession and use of firearms, magazines, body armor now employed by individual citizens of Iroquois County, Illinois, for defense of Life, Liberty and Property and would ban the possession and use of firearms now employed for safe forms of firearms recreation, hunting and shooting conducted within Iroquois County, Illinois; WHEREAS, the proposed legislation potentially violates the 5th Amendment failing to provide just compensation under the takings clause, 8th Amendment imposition against excessive fines and punishments on law abiding citizens by punitive forfeiture/relinquishment of lawfully owned property, and Ex Post Facto Law Clause of the United States Constitution. NOW, THEREFORE, IT BE AND IS HEREBY RESOLVED that the People of Iroquois County, Illinois, do hereby oppose the enactment of any legislation that would infringe upon the Right of the People to keep and bear arms and consider such laws to be unconstitutional and beyond lawful Legislative Authority. BE IT FURTHER RESOVLED, that the Iroquois County Board demands that the Illinois General Assembly cease further actions restricting the Right of the People to keep and bear arms, and hereby demand that the Governor of Illinois veto all such legislation which restricts the Right of the People to keep and bear arms. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Clerk of Iroquois County is hereby directed to prepare and deliver certified copies of this Resolution to all members of the Illinois General Assembly and to the Office of the Governor. ###

Some Good News Out Of Illinois

Finally, some good news on gun rights out of Illinois. Gov. Bruce Rauner (R-IL) vetoed SB 1657 which would have forced Illinois gun dealers to be licensed by both the Federal government and the state. It was legislation intended to eventually force the mom and pop gun shops out of business.

However, the fight is not over. There are other bills out there as well as the potential for Rauner's veto to be overridden.

From ISRA:

Here is the link that was embedded in the picture above.