Firearms Owners Against
Crime
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it." – Thomas Paine, (“The Crisis, 1777”)
E-Newsletter & FOAC
Meeting Notice
November 4, 2007
Meeting Agenda Issues
Covered-
Invited Guest Speakers:
· None
7.1 Presentation of the past month’s report
8.1
None
9.0 NEW BUSINESS
9.1
Voter’s
Guide Approval
9.2
9.3
Judiciary
Committee Hearings (Past, Present and Future)
9.3.1
Fall
Anti-Gun Offensive Plans
9.3.2
Lobbying
& Education Day – October 23rd
9.4
Pro-Gun
Agenda Developments
9.5
Political
Events Review and Summary
9.6
Membership
committee developments
Federal issues:
9.7
HR
2640 & Public Debate / Issues
**Upcoming Gun Show: November 17th & 18th (PGCA - Harmarville)
For more information on FOAC
efforts to ‘Protect YOUR Rights’, THE MOST CURRENT VOTER’S GUIDES, donating
to or becoming a member of FOAC please click on this link: http://www.foac-pac.org/
FOAC - 2007
Meeting Schedule
Jan 14, 2nd Sunday, Feb 11, 2nd Sunday, Mar 11, 2nd Sunday,
Apr 15, 3rd Sunday, May 6, 1st Sunday, Jun 10, 2nd Sunday, Jul 8, 2nd Sunday,
Aug 12, 2nd Sunday, Sep 9, 2nd Sunday, Oct 14, 2nd Sunday, Nov 4, 1st Sunday, Dec 9, 2nd
Sunday
**Time of Meeting: 10:00 AM
**Location:
****Coffee and Donuts will be
provided
***Primary Election -- May 15 (Results Finalized)
***General Election -- Nov. 6 (Pending)
Election 2008
Unofficial early election returns are extremely promising! Of the statewide candidates in races that FOAC is involved in all but one appear to be victorious. In the Supreme Court races Judge Seamus McCaffery was the top vote getter in the state with a very tight race being waged between Debra Todd and Maureen Lally Green. Unfortunately it appears that the revisionist Debra Todd is going to win the election by a very slim margin of less than 2%. In the Superior Court races the two candidates endorsed by FOAC, Jackie Shogan and Cheryl Allen, have both won their respective seats for the Superior Court. In the retention elections for Supreme Court and Superior Court both Tom Saylor and Joan Orie Melvin handily won reelection.
In the County races it appears that
fortune has again shown on gun owners in a number of counties with FOAC
candidates either winning by a slim majority or surprisingly trumping incumbent
candidates. For instance the race for Berks County Sheriff resulted in a
narrow victory for FOAC endorsed Eric Weaknecht. In
both
Perhaps the most troubling outcome of this election is that participation by citizens has fallen even more to what many observers are reporting a level of only 15% turnout. While this does allow gun owners to increase their impact on elections throughout the Commonwealth it does not bode well for the future of our republic if weather and other mundane issues deter citizens from exercising this franchise and responsibility.
PA Legislative Battles Over Gun Control Continue (November)
Last month we reported on potential developments with certain bills being advanced that presented moderate gun control concepts to appease certain more radical legislator elements within the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. On October 31 the Pennsylvania Judiciary Committee voted two bills out of committee.
The first bill was House Bill 784 which in it’s original form was unacceptable and as a result of requests put to the prime sponsor of the bill, Representative Scott Petri, Harry Schneider in Kim Stolfer were able to successfully rewrite this legislation with the cooperation of several volunteer attorneys, notably Mike McCormick, to put together a more refined and polish language that will focus the intent of the bill.
The other bill
that was passed out of committee was House Bill 1744. As a result of earlier testimony before the
Judiciary Committee this Bill was deemed by sportsmen and gun owner
representatives as unacceptable in its current form. Our complaints generated a number of
amendments that were to supposedly moderate our concerns. Unfortunately the
process leading up to this vote did not allow for an open exchange of ideas
even though the offer was made with Representative Tom Caltagirone to assist in
determining what could be done to improve this legislation and to remove our
concerns. In fact several of the
amendments were not even available for review until the morning of the
committee vote which is an unacceptable situation. One of the
amendments amounts to, in my view, a political payoff for support by giving the
NRA taxpayer subsidies to establish 'Eddie Eagle' in
This legislation is scheduled for
a vote next week and we are asking ALL gun owners to notify their legislators
to support House Bill 784 and to OPPOSE House Bill 1744. We are going to be asking the statewide gun
owner and sportsmen’s groups to join with us in this effort. If you would like copies of the legislation
and the votes in the Judiciary Committee please e-mail your request. Also, please forward any comment that your
legislator makes on this legislation to us so that we can respond
properly. More to come!
Federal Legislative Update:
HR 2640 -- NICS
Update Bill
The bill which provides for an update of mental health records available to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) is being blocked in the Senate by a single lawmaker who says the provisions of the so-called "NICS Improvement Act" will cost too much and interfere with Second Amendment rights.
The bill, which has passed the House on a voice vote, has bipartisan backing and support from both the National Rifle Association and the Brady Campaign Against Gun Violence. It is designed to improve the federal system for checking gun buyers' mental health history in order to block purchases by those diagnosed as mentally ill.
The lawmaker who put the hold on the bill, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), contends that the bill would create "a pathway by which individuals can lose their Second Amendment rights but no pathway through which they can gain them back if they're stable. I believe individual rights should be guaranteed," Coburn said.
Coburn is even more concerned about the cost, which he contends would run to $2 billion over the next several years. Such legislation "is growing the government without decreasing it somewhere else," he said. He is backed by the American Legion, whose leadership said in a statement that the law "could have the unintended consequence of denying gun rights to any veteran, especially wartime veterans, without the benefit of due process." Gun Owners of America is also against the bill. The New GUN WEEK, November 15, 2007
Bishop Provision Protects Firearms
The
US House of Representatives on Oct. 24 passed by a 344-71 vote an amendment
sponsored by Congressman Rob Bishop (R-UT) that will ensure there will be no
federal infringement of Second Amendment rights on certain public lands.
The
provision, which came in the form of the Republican motion to recommit on HR-1483, a bill to expand and create
certain National Heritage Areas,
stipulates that all designated lands within these areas would be exclusively
governed by state and local laws regarding hunting, fishing, and the
possession or use of a weapon, trap, or net. The bill now heads to the US
Senate. The New GUN WEEK, November 15, 2007
NEWS RELEASES:
Senate Considering Treaty That Could
Affect Gun Rights
Ask your Senators
to support the "Second Amendment Protection" Amendment
Gun Owners of
E-Mail Alert
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
It turns out that
You would think that even Washington politicians would not be so stupid as to give people like Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Burma's despotic military junta, the Sudan's genocidal strongmen, or Cuba's Fidel Castro the right to interfere with our Second Amendment rights on American soil, right?
Well, what makes sense to the
common person isn't always the reality in
The Senate Foreign Relations committee will soon be debating the ratification of a treaty that bears the appropriate acronym of LOST (Law of the Sea Treaty). LOST would put the ocean's resources in the hands of the UN's International Seabed Authority -- and yes, that spells trouble for our Second Amendment rights.
First, there are concerns that the International Seabed Authority might close firing ranges based on the bogus argument that runoff from these ranges pollutes the world's oceans.
This battle over lead run-off is one that gun owners have already fought in this country. We shudder to think that we could one day find ourselves fighting this battle at the global level as well!
But, even more frightening, Article 88 of the treaty stipulates that the high seas are "reserved" for peaceful purposes. And this provision would be enforced by the Tribunal on the Law of the Sea.
What does this mean? It clearly doesn't mean that the
And the UN has shown no reluctance
to try to strip the
Peter Leitner, who was the Representative to the Law of the Sea negotiations in Geneva during the 1970s and a key witness at the hearing before the Environment and Public Works Committee, is not only an authority on the LOST treaty, he is concerned about the danger it poses to individual rights.
He says, "The inherent danger in this Treaty is the fact that nothing is set in stone and broad matters of interpretation will be the province of the 'one-nation/one-vote' Assembly. We will have no leverage, veto-power, etc., in that forum." And then there's the term "Peaceful Purposes" in the treaty. Leitner says that this is "one of those extraordinarily vague terms that lend themselves to political manipulation."
If the
Another opponent of this treaty is
John Bolton, the former
ACTION: Write your senator. Tell him not to vote to ratify the Law of the Sea Treaty until the following amendment is adopted:
Article 88 is amended by adding
at the end thereof the following:
"Notwithstanding anything in
this treaty to the contrary, no action shall be taken under this treaty which
would impede the export, transport, or import of small arms and ammunition into
the United States for the lawful exercise of Second Amendment rights under the
Constitution of the United States."
You can use the pre-written message and send it as an e-mail
by visiting the
CCRKBA: Hillary Wants Drivers Licenses For
Illegals, Opposes Carry Licenses For American
Citizens
“Based on her comments during Tuesday night’s debate,” said CCRKBA Chairman
Alan Gottlieb, “Sen. Clinton must think people in this country illegally are
entitled to greater rights than citizens and others who are here legally. Maybe
it’s because she knows that illegal aliens would vote for her, while
law-abiding American gun owners won’t.”
Gottlieb noted that Mrs. Clinton was the only presidential candidate, either
Republican or Democrat, who ignored an invitation to appear at the recent Gun
Rights Policy Conference in
“Every other candidate, both Republican and Democrat, either
attended, called or sent their regrets that they could not attend,”
Gottlieb said, “but Mrs. Clinton simply blew off the opportunity to speak to a
representative cross-section of
“It is clear she wants special priveleges for illegal
immigrants, yet she opposes allowing American citizens to carry firearms to
protect themselves from illegal aliens and others who commit violent crimes,”
he said.
“Since Hillary Clinton moved out of the White House early, so she could run for
the Senate from
“Hillary Clinton, like too many of her Democrat colleagues, has given mere lip
service to gun owners with vague claims that she ‘supports’ the Second
Amendment,” Gottlieb said. “It now appears that she is more interested in the
welfare of people who don’t belong in this country, than in the civil rights of
people who do belong here.”
-END-
News Briefs:
College ‘Empty Holster Protest’ Hits
Campuses, Draws Attention
by Gun Week Staff
When
Students for Concealed Carry on Campus (SCCC) announced their plans for a
nationwide "Empty Holster Protest" on ever 100 college and university
campuses across the country, it was largely intended to focus public attention
on the danger and futility posed by the "gun free zones" campus
policy that pervades the academic community in almost every state except
Coming
almost exactly six months after the massacre of defenseless students and
faculty at
The
protect spread across the campuses of America quietly during the third week of
October, and from all indications, the "Empty Holster Protest" aimed
at bringing awareness to the general public but particularly students and
teachers about their vulnerability in so-called "gun free zones."
Organizers say it is just the first step in an aggressive campaign to bring
concealed carry to higher education.
SCCC
is an independent grassroots organization that formed just days after the
Virginia Tech massacre in April-the protest involved students at universities,
colleges and community colleges all over the country. Pro-self-defense
students carried empty holsters in
And it created waves just about
everywhere, although many local news organizations seemed to ignore the
protest, some major news outlets covered it in depth, including The Washington Times, the Fox News
network and
For example, the Oct. 23 edition of US News & World Report noted that "A number of university administrators disagree (with the protest), saying guns can't possibly make campuses safer, even wondering whether the protest itself is disruptive or insensitive so soon after the Virgina Tech incident."
And Peter Hamm, a spokesman for the
Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, absurdly remarked, "You don't like
the fact that you can't have a gun on your college campus? Drop out of
school."
But on the other side of the
argument, Mark Taff, executive director of the Citizens
Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA), and coincidentally a
part-time student at Bellevue Community College (BCC) in
The sign then explained to readers that they could learn about the empty holster ,protest by visiting ConcealedCampus.com.
"It
is absurd to disarm legally-licensed citizens just because they happen to be on
a university campus," Taff told Gun Week. "These
are the very citizens who have demonstrated their clean background, and in
many cases gone through mandatory training, to qualify for a concealed carry
license. They are not the people who perpetrate outrages like Virginia Tech.
Indeed, they are the kind of people most likely to stop such incidents before
they become massacres."
That
sentiment was shared by Michael Flitcraft, a student
at the University of Cincinnati, OH. He spoke during
the recent Gun Rights Policy Conference, and was quoted by WKRC News in
Some
other students disagreed, including sophomore Wes Kayser,
who also attends the
Campus Security Failed
Taff quickly observed that campus security did not stop the Virginia Tech
rampage in which 32 students and teachers were killed, nor did it prevent a
murder-suicide earlier this year at the
"The
time has long since passed when the term 'gun-free school zone' should have
been erased from the national vocabulary," Taff
observed. "Such areas amount to victim disarmament zones where would-be
killers enjoy a target-rich environment in which they have no fear of-an
intended victim shooting back."
He
was working on organizing a chapter of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus
at BCC.
Meanwhile,
Internet gun rights activists have suggested that the Empty Holster Protest
become an annual event.
"CCRKBA
believes the National Empty Holster Protest will bring attention to a situation
that anti-gun university administrators want to ignore," Taff said. "So-called gun free zones' have been
complete failures and everyone knows it. It is time for a different approach,
one that restores the right of every student and faculty member to fight back.
That's why we support this student-led effort to create responsible, sensible
policies where there is now a moral and rational void. Students and teachers at
higher institutions deserve better than to continue living in the deadly
environment of political correctness."
In
related news, at least one university,
According
to KSL, the NBC affiliate in
The
Indicted
Reporters
at The South Bend Tribune in
The
revelation came in late October as news coverage intensified over the arrests
of former St. Joseph County Deputies Andy Taghon and
Ryan Huston, and South Bend Officer Jamie Buford on Oct. 22. Huston, Taghon and Buford face drug and fraud charges, according to
WSBT news in
In
2004, Police Cpl. Rick Ruszkowski was shot, and in
connection with that case, a man named Willard King pleaded guilty to federal
gun charges. The television station said the shooting occurred about the same
time that Taghon apparently sold the firearms in
question.
The
three indicted lawmen allegedly targeted trailers containing cocaine and stolen
goods between July 2004 and March 2005, while the owner of the trailers was in
jail. The cops allegedly sold many of the stolen items on eBay, and got a
convicted felon to peddle the cocaine.
Huston
and Taghon were fired in July 2006 and Buford is on
paid leave from the police department.
Also
arrested in the case was a man identified as Daniel Alvarez, a convicted felon.
He was allegedly solicited to sell the cocaine. The New GUN WEEK, November 15, 2007
Gunowners Face New
UN Treaty Fight
by Joseph P. Tartaro Executive Editor
Britain,
Japan, Australia and others are pushing for an unprecedented treaty regulating
the arms trade worldwide, in a campaign sure to last years and to pit them
against a determined foe: American gunowners, shooters organizations
worldwide, and, at present, the United States government.
The
Associated Press (AP) noted at the end of September, that in what United
Nations (UN) officials say is an "overwhelming" response, almost 100
governments have submitted ideas for such a treaty, to be reviewed over the
next year. There's an "extremely urgent" need for controls on the
international gun trade, says
But
in the US, according to AP, the National Rifle Association (NRA) and other
firearms civil rights groups say they see a creeping attempt to limit civilian
gun ownership within nations-even though the focus now is on setting standards
for arms exports and imports.
The
UN’s First Committee (Disarmament and International Security), in an
organizational meeting on Oct. 8, adopted its program of work and agenda for
the 62nd session of the General Assembly. The work program is split into three
phases, with the first phase, from Oct. 8
16,
being a general debate on all disarmament and international security agenda
items. The second phase, from Oct, 17-26, will be thematic discussions on all
items, along with the introduction and consideration of draft resolutions and
decisions. The final phase, lasting from Oct. 29-Nov. 2, will involve action on
all draft texts.
Just
before the First Committee began its meeting, leaders of the World Forum on the
Future of Shooting Sports Activities (WFSA) held a strategy meeting in
Earlier,
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon moved to revitalize
the international disarmament agenda and the UN effectiveness in that area
through the creation of a new Office for Disarmament Affairs and the
appointment of Sergio Duarte as High Representative to lead it. That
disarmament agenda covers everything from nuclear missiles to small arms
including rifles and shotguns and pistols. He and others in the international
community are pointed toward a binding treaty on regulating and policing global
traffic in small arms by the year 2010.
The
international issues "necessarily will come to involve at some point
domestic laws and policies regarding firearms," said former Congressman
Bob Barr (R-GA), a leading NRA voice on the subject, according to AP.
The
NRA and other
Now,
alone among the world's top 10 arms suppliers, the US-by far the biggest, with
almost $13 billion in arms export agreements in 2005 has not filed a requested
report to the UN with its views on a treaty.
"The
The
treaty campaign may encounter resistance beyond
The
Schwarzenegger Signs Microstamp,
Lead Ban Measures
California
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger R) signed the Crime Gun Identification kct over the Oct. 12-14 weekend, and that means gun sellers
by 2010-if there are my left in the state by that time-will nave to use
"microstamping" technology on very semi-automatic pistol they sell,
'INSNews.com reported.
The
new law, AB-1471, requires information about a pistol's make, model and
identification number to be laser engraved onto the gun's firing pin.
Theoretically, the information would transfer itself onto the Spent cartridge case when the pistol is fired, allowing
police to match bullet casings found at crime scenes with the gun that fired
the bullet.
Gun
control groups say the new law will help police solve crimes.
"We
applaud Gov. Schwarzenegger for taking a bold step to solve gun murders in
According
to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, Schwarzenegger `has set a new
national standard for the rest of the country to follow." Those accolades
mean that the Brady Campaign will now be using
Critics
say the bill is back door gun control. The National Shooting Sports Foundation
(NSSF), the trade association of the firearms industry, accused Schwarzenegger
of betraying law-abiding gunowners, retailers and hunters by signing the bill.
First
of all the "microstamping" technology is "flawed," as
indicated by multiple studies, the NSSF said in a news release. Among those
negative studies were reports issued by
NSSF
also said criminals will be able to remove the laser engraving in moments,
using common household tools. And it would be easy for criminals to scatter microstamped cartridges from other guns at crime scenes to
confuse police, critics say.
Some
say the new law will dry up gun sales in
"By
signing the microstamping legislation, Governor Schwarzenegger chose to
disregard warnings that major firearms manufacturers would be forced to abandon
the California market altogether rather than bear the astronomical costs
associated with reconfiguring the manufacturing and assembly processes necessary
for microstamping," NSSF said, according to CNSNews.
NSSF
also noted that according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives (ATF), firearms used in crimes are mostly old guns-beyond the reach
of microstamping legislation.
In
another blow to Second Amendment supporters, Schwarzenegger also signed AB-821,
a bill banning lead ammunition in certain hunting areas of the state.
Backed
by "anti-hunting extremists," the measure is intended to save the
California condor from lead poisoning-despite the fact that there is no
conclusive scientific evidence that the birds are getting sick from ingesting
ammunition fragments, NSSF said. The New GUN WEEK, November 1, 2007
From
the ‘Only Cops Should Have Guns’ comes the news story out of Albany, NY,
involving several automatic firearms obtained by officers-apparently “improperly”
according to The Albany Times Union-and now it appears some of the guns
are missing, despite a claim by the police chief that they had all been rounded
up and destroyed.
The
guns in question were acquired by
The
chief reportedly apologized to the city council's Public Safety Committee in
September when he acknowledged the purchases.
The
guns were originally confiscated in 2001 and 2002 after an investigation, and
at least 42 of the weapons were destroyed. But that didn't satisfy committee
Chairman James Scalzo, who told the newspaper,
"Those weapons could only have been purchased by a police department. No
individual officer or civilian could purchase those guns. They weren't used
for police; they were used, it's my understanding, for gun enthusiasts who
belonged to the police department. He stated to us that they had all been
recovered and destroyed."
The
guns had apparently never been used in the line of duty. Now
One
of the missing guns allegedly had been purchased by a sitting judge, and
another was bought by a judge who is now retired. Both judges denied having
ever received the guns, the newspaper said, and apparently the police chief is
satisfied they didn't. Another of the guns was reportedly obtained by Albany
County Assistant District Attorney Brian Farley, but he turned it in four
years ago.
The
guns were purchased in 1993 and 1994 during the first Clinton Administration.
One
of the guns was found during an investigation of a local gun store, B&J Guns.
Another of the guns was found at a gun store in