The District of Columbia released its long awaited petition asking the Supreme Court to review the Parker/Heller case. Mayor Adrian Fenty held a Tuesday morning press conference which was anticipated by 3 articles and a guest editorial in the Washington Post. All of the stories in the Post echoed the City’s contention that the Court of Appeals made a radical decision when they interpreted the part of the Second Amendment which says, “the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed”, as meaning that the People’s right to keep and bear arms should not be infringed.
Joaquin Jackson Update
Yesterday I sent out an Alert about NRA Director Joaquin Jackson's TV interview in which he opined that "assault weapons" were alright if they only had a capacity of 5 rounds.
This story has actually been bouncing around the internet for a couple of weeks and Ranger Jackson and NRA have released a response to the concerns raised by the story.
It is very clear in the interview exactly what Jackson is saying and what he means. Along with some other comments he states;
"I think these assault weapons basically need to be in the hands of the military and they need to be in the hands of the police, but as far as assault weapons to a civilian, if you… if you… it's alright if you got that magazine capacity down to five rounds."
NRA Director Against “Assault Weapons”
NRA Director Against "Assault Weapons
"I think these assault weapons basically need to be in the hands of the military and they need to be in the hands of the police, but as far as assault weapons to a civilian, if you… if you… it's alright if you got that magazine capacity down to five rounds."
These are the words of famous, former Texas Ranger and current member of the NRA Board of Directors, Joaquin Jackson.
Jackson was being interviewed on PBS TV station KLRU on a program called TexasMonthly Talks.
The pertinent segment of the interview can be viewed on-line at:
http://www.klru.org/texasmonthlytalks/archives/jackson/jackson.asp
last clip on the page.
Below is a transcript of this portion of the interview.
The Next Ex-NRA Board Member
Joaquin Jackson: my favorite candidate next former NRA Board member.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSGySNLyACE
My dad got drummed off the Board for independently and "without portfolio" lobbying Congress to follow NRA Board policy which NRA had turned away from. This guy, while waving his Board credentials, calls for banning all but five-round magazines for "assault weapons."
If you know any Board members, maybe they need to hear from you.
Speaking of which, contact information for Board members might be a useful thing. We'll work on that.
Please let us know of any developments from this interview.
Snyder supports HELPS Act
Longtime gun rights advocate John Snyder has joined The Firearms Coalition in calling for Congress to cut funding to any college or university which prohibits employees and students from the otherwise lawful carry of personal protection firearms.
We first introduced this idea in our July/August Hard Corps Report newsletter and provided more details in a Knox Report column a few days later. That Knox Report can be read here.
Snyder is the Public Affairs Director for The Citizen's Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and PRDirector for the National Association of Chiefs of Police.
We are very pleased and encouraged by Mr. Snyder's support for this type of legislation and hope that other gun rights leaders will take a similar stand.
Time for HELPS
Force the Issue
(Manassas, VA, August 14, 2007) The Firearms Coalition has drafted legislation which would restrict any federal funds from going to any college or university which prohibits employees and students who may lawfully possess and carry defensive weapons off campus from possessing and carrying those weapons on campus. We call it HELPS, the Higher Education Lawful Personal Security Act and we believe it could be passed in the 110th Congress.
Rights Day Summary
Well it was a pretty good day.
I got to Realco Guns in Maryland right at Noon instead of earlier as I had planned.
We had about 25 or 30 people with a few comings and goings along the way compared to their 50 or 60 folks. The biggest difference being that it looked like most of their people were on the clock while they were there while our side was pretty much all volunteers.
Jane with Second Amendment Sisters had done a good job coordinating things with the local cops, etc. and had a good PA system set up. Henry Heymering with Maryland Shall Issue was there with several of his guys and gave away a bunch of "Self Defense in a Family Value" T-shirts. Bob Culver with Montgomery Citizens for a Safer Maryland was there for the whole event and we had several guys up from Virginia and VCDL. A couple of guys from the Tyrany Response Team showed up and the ProGunProgressive.com blogger popped in as things were wrapping up.
The guys from Realco had coffee and do-nuts for us and I saw lots of people buying ammo and accessories. The two times I popped into the store, there were guys busily working on the seemingly endless paperwork which goes along with selling guns these days. Very nice guys. Very professional.
I did get a chance to speak with a few media types as did many of our crew and I think pretty much everyone who spoke to the press handled themselves well. The three points I really wanted to get across were:
1. Self defense is a Civil Right
2. Gun control doesn't work
3. There are three primary reasons for more guns in DC being traced back to Realco than any other store. Those three reasons are; Location, Location, and Location.
All in all I think it was a productive event. Realco did more business than they normally would have. The anti's didn't get a free pass. And activists from Maryland, DC, and Virginia got a chance to network and build the kind of camaraderie that only comes from spending time together in the trenches.
I want to express my thanks to everyone who attended this event and to everyone around the country who made it a point to stop by their local gun shop and buy a box of ammo or a new gun.
If you attended an event in your area, please send me a report on it.
Don't forget to follow up todays action with a letter or e-mail to your elected officials to let them know that the power of the gun lobby comes directly from our numbers and our commitment and that we will work hard to defeat any politician who betrays their oath to support and defend the US Constitution.
Let's do this again next year with more bells and whistles!
Yours for the Second Amendment,
Jeff
MD, DC, Virginia!
Celebrate National Exercise Your Rights Day with me this Tuesday (August 28).
I'll be at the Maryland/DC event at:
Realco Guns, Inc.
6108 Marlboro Pike
District Heights, MD 20747
I'll be there a bit before Noon and stay through 2:00.
Anyone in the DC metro area is encouraged to stop by and join us anytime during those two hours.
Even if you can only stop by for a few minutes on your lunch hour to show your support and buy a box of ammo.
Hope to see many of you there.
Jeff
Brady Protest List
Here is the list of planned events from the Brady Bunch:
- a rally at a park in Newark near the school where the recent shootings took place
- a protest at a gun store in Maryland that is responsible for the most crime guns found in Washington, D.C.
- Dallas: a march down Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. and rally at a local church
- Denver: a silence vigil to protest recent shootings
- Duluth, Minn.: a bell-ringing for gun violence victims at city hall
- Ewing, N.J.: a kick-off BBQ for Operation Ceasefire
- Houston: a “freeway blog” over a busy highway
- Minneapolis: an anti-violence coalition breakfast and Protest Easy Guns lie-in
- Philadelphia: Protest Easy Guns lie-in and community forum
- Phoenix: a candlelight vigil at the Arizona state capitol
- San Diego: community forum on illegal guns
- and Protest Easy Guns Lie-Ins in Seattle, Raleigh, Philadelphia, Portland (Maine), Minneapolis, St. Paul, Richmond (Calif.), and Springfield (Ill.)
In addition, a statewide letter writing campaign is being organized in California to build support for a crime-fighting “microstamping” bill being considered by the State Legislature.
If you can attend any of these events, please do so and let us know at exercise@firearmscoalition.org
Update 08/24/07
The Good, the Bad, and Jesse Jackson
Yesterday and today have been Good News – Bad News and very full.
The Good:
A friend invited me to attend a local Friends of NRA Banquet last night. I always enjoy the banquets and am very supportive of the work of the NRA Foundation. I spent many years working on Friends Committees helping to put together banquets in Arizona, Washington State, and Idaho. I've attended many banquets and acted as MC for at least 7 or 8 over the years, but I've never won anything more than a small houseplant and a pocket knife sharpener – until last night. I am now the proud owner of a brand new Weatherby .257 rifle! Woo Hoo!!!
More Good News: Some of you might recall I mentioned that I had an article scheduled to come out in a major gun publication…
Well it finally hit the news stand. It's a feature article on how to introduce people to guns Continue reading Update 08/24/07