I just read “the infamous Chapter 20 in Living with Glocks”.   It’s nice to have finally found something I can read that hits the core of what I believe.  I’ll be buying the book now.
G. in Texas

Terry Goddard, Arizona AG

 

 

If your AG is on this list, write a letter of thanks.  This is the boldest move to preserve your rights that has been taken within the system in a long time.

This blurb is from the NSSF, National Shooting Sports Foundation.

ATTORNEYS GENERAL OPPOSE SEMI-AUTO BAN

Twenty three (23) state attorneys general have signed a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, expressing their opposition to reinstatement of the federal ban on semi-automatic firearms. “The high court’s landmark decision (District of Columbia. v. Heller, et al.) affirmed that individual Americans have a constitutionally-protected right to keep and bear arms,” the letter stated. “We do not believe that further restricting law-abiding Americans’ access to certain semiautomatic firearms serves any real law enforcement purpose” The letter concluded, “… we do not believe that reinstating the 1994 assault weapons ban will solve the problems currently facing the United States or Mexico.”

Here’s the letter. Read it, it’s very informative and does not mince words!

Eric Holder, Your AG and Obama, Your President

State Attorneys General
A Communication From the Chief Legal Officers of the Following States:
Alabama * Arkansas * Colorado * Florida * Georgia
Idaho * Kansas * Kentucky * Louisiana * Michigan * Missouri
Montana * Nebraska * Nevada * New Hampshire
North Dakota * Oklahoma * South Carolina * South Dakota * Texas
Utah * Wisconsin * Wyoming

June 11, 2009

The Honorable Eric Holder
United States Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice

Dear Attorney General Holder:
We the undersigned Attorneys General respectfully write to express our pposition to the reinstatement of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994’s semi-automatic firearms prohibition, which is commonly referred to as the assault weapons ban.

As the states’ top law enforcement officials, we share the Obama Administration’s commitment to reducing illegal drugs and violent crime within the United States. We also share your deep concern about drug cartel violence in Mexico. However, we do not believe that restricting lawabiding Americans’ access to certain semi-automatic firearms will resolve any of these problems. So, we were pleased by the President’s recent comments indicating his desire to enforce current laws – rather than reinstate the ban on so-called assault weapons.

As you know, the 1994 ban on so-called ‘assault weapons’ did not apply to machine guns or other fully automatic firearms. Machine gun ownership was first regulated when the National Firearms Act was passed in 1934. And more than twenty years ago, Congress took additional steps to ban fully automatic weapons. Because fully automatic machine guns have already been banned, we do not believe that further restricting law-abiding Americans’ access to certain semiautomatic firearms serves any real law enforcement purpose.

Recent public statements by congressional leaders reflect that same view. On February 26, 2009, The Hill newspaper quoted the Senate Majority Leader’s spokesman saying: “Sen. Reid would oppose an effort [to] reinstate the ban.” When House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was recently asked whether she supports reinstating the 1994 ban, the Speaker reportedly responded “No…I think we need to enforce the laws we have right now.” We agree with the Speaker and the Majority Leader.

The same sentiment has also been expressed to you by sixty-five (65) Congressional Democrats in a letter dated March 17, 2009. In that letter, they astutely noted, “It is hard to believe the ban would be…effective in controlling crime by well-funded international drug traffickers, who regularly use grenade launchers, anti-tank rockets, and other weapons that are not available on the civilian market in the United States.”

Under Title 18, Section 924 of the U.S. Code, knowingly transferring a firearm to an individual who will use that firearm to commit a violent or drug-related crime is already a federal offense. Similarly, it is also a felony to possess a firearm for the purpose of furthering drug trafficking. At a recent Congressional hearing, Kumar Kibble, the Deputy Director of the Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s Office of Investigations, testified that the Patriot Act included changes to Title 18, Section 554 of the U.S. Code, which improved federal authorities’ ability to investigate and prosecute illegal smuggling.

As Attorneys General, we are committed to defending our constituents’ constitutional rights – including their constitutionally-protected right to keep and bear arms. This duty is particularly important in light of the United States Supreme Court’s recent Heller decision, which held that the Second Amendment “elevated above all other interests the right of law-abiding, responsible citizens to use arms in defense of hearth and home.” The high court’s landmark decision affirmed that individual Americans have a constitutionally-protected right to keep and bear arms. We, the undersigned Attorneys General, are staunch defenders of that right and believe that it
should not be encroached upon without sound justification – and a clear law enforcement purpose.

We are pleased that the Administration appears to conform with the Congressional leadership’s position on this very important issue. Importantly, the White House website no longer calls for the reinstatement of the 1994 ban. In fact, it expressly acknowledges “the great conservation legacy of America’s hunters.” We share that appreciation for hunters and are committed to defending our Second Amendment rights—which is why we believe that additional gun control laws are unnecessary. Instead, authorities need to enforce laws that are already in place.

As Attorneys General, we look forward to working with you and President Obama on commonsense law enforcement solutions to transnational crime. We stand ready to cooperate and collaborate on crime prevention and law enforcement initiatives that will protect our constituents, crack down on transnational crime, and help reduce narcotics consumption in the United States. But, for the reasons explained in this letter, we do not believe that reinstating the 1994 assault weapons ban will solve the problems currently facing the United States or Mexico.

Sincerely,

Dustin McDaniel Greg Abbott
Attorney General of Arkansas Attorney General of Texas
Troy King John W. Suthers
Attorney General of Alabama Attorney General of Colorado
Bill McCollum Thurbert E. Baker
Attorney General of Florida Attorney General of Georgia
Lawrence G. Wasden Steve Six
Attorney General of Idaho Attorney General of Kansas
Jack Conway James D. Caldwell
Attorney General of Kentucky Attorney General of Louisiana
Mike Cox Chris Koster
Attorney General of Michigan Attorney General of Missouri
Steve Bullock Jon Bruning
Attorney General of Montana Attorney General of Nebraska
Catherine Cortez Masto Kelly A. Ayotte
Attorney General of Nevada Attorney General of New Hampshire
Wayne Stenehjem W.A. Edmondson
Attorney General of North Dakota Attorney General of Oklahoma
Henry McMaster Lawrence Long
Attorney General of South Carolina Attorney General of South Dakota
Mark L. Shurtleff J.B. Van Hollen
Attorney General of Utah Attorney General of Wisconsin
Bruce A. Salzburg
Attorney General of Wyoming

Here’s a link to a PDF version to send to your lame Attorney General.

WASHINGTON — Frustrated liberals are asking why a Democratic-controlled Congress and White House can’t manage to close the Guantanamo prison or keep new gun-rights laws from passing.

After all, President Barack Obama pledged to shut down the military detention center on Cuba for suspected terrorists. And Democratic control of the government would suggest that any gun legislation leads to tighter controls on weapons, not expanded use. Even as they grouse, however, liberal lawmakers acknowledge that no one factor explains last week’s disappointing back-to-back votes in Congress.

The Obama administration is focused on other priorities, they say. Party leaders don’t want to endanger Democratic lawmakers from conservative districts by stressing divisive issues such as gun control.

On Guantanamo, many say, Obama and his allies were caught napping as Republicans stirred public fears about relocating suspected terrorists.

“I think it’s one of the few times that he didn’t think it all the way out,” said Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., an unabashed admirer of the president.

As for trying to keep loaded guns out of national parks, Cummings said, “I don’t think he put a lot of energy into it.” Issues such as national security and the distressed economy deserve greater attention, at least for now, he said, adding that the president “picks his fights very carefully.”

Such explanations provide small comfort to left- leaning Democrats after eight years of George W. Bush’s presidency and nearly a dozen years of Republican control of Congress.

“We’ll probably end up passing more gun bills” that expand owners’ rights “than we did during the Republican administration,” said Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., a leading gun control advocate. “That is what surprises me.”

She placed less blame on the White House than on ordinary Americans and advocacy groups that are consistently outflanked by gun owners’ groups, especially the National Rifle Association.

“Until the American people say enough is enough, and get active in it,” Democratic control of Congress and the White House will not be enough to turn the tide, said McCarthy, whose husband was killed by a gunman in 1993.

Two votes in Congress last Wednesday dismayed many liberals and exposed the limits of their influence even with Obama as president and Democrats holding solid majorities in both houses.

The Senate voted 90-6 to join the House in blocking the transfer of any prisoners from Guantanamo. Harsh treatment and indefinite detention of suspects there have sparked worldwide criticisms of the U.S. government and helped al-Qaida recruit volunteers, said Obama, who pledges to close the prison early next year. Lawmakers say they want more details on where detainees will be sent.

Also Wednesday, the House voted overwhelmingly to join the Senate in letting people carry loaded guns in national parks and wildlife refuges. More than 100 House Democrats and 174 Republicans voted for the gun measure, which was attached to an Obama-backed bill imposing new restrictions on credit card companies.

Earlier this year, gun-rights supporters derailed a bill to give the District of Columbia voting rights in Congress by adding a provision that would repeal the city’s strict gun regulations.

The gun votes were less surprising to many Democrats than were the Guantanamo developments. The NRA remains among the most powerful lobbies, and many lawmakers take care to stay off its political enemies list.

“People do not want to be on the wrong side of this particular cultural divide,” said Rep. David Price, D-N.C., who supports tougher gun controls. “It’s too bad there’s not a more responsible national organization” to counteract the NRA, he said.

In some ways, the gun-control lobby is choking on Democratic success in congressional races. “The seats we’re picking up come disproportionately from those more conservative areas,” Price said, where linking the Democratic Party to gun control can be dangerous at re-election time.

Rep. Lynn Woolsey of California is another Democrat frustrated by the gun debate. When she asks colleagues why they don’t support tougher restrictions, she said, they reply, “You just don’t get it, Woolsey. You don’t have our districts.”

“It has to do with being afraid they’ll lose their election if they stand up against guns,” she said.

Guantananamo is a more pressing issue for the administration.

For months, congressional Republicans and conservative commentators said Obama’s plan to close the prison would place terrorists on U.S. soil, even though the locations presumably would be prisons. By the time the administration offered more details and reassurances, congressional Democrats were backpedalling, voting to block funds to relocate detainees.

“I’m not sure they realized the opposition they were going to come up against,” Woolsey said.

Many Democratic lawmakers predicted that Obama will resolve the Guantanamo problem and eventually turn to gun issues, where he has advocated ownership rights with “common sense” regulations.

“I do believe that down the road the president will start working on some of the gun violence issues,” said McCarthy, the New York Democrat. “But let’s face it,” she said. “We’ve got an awful lot of issues on our plate right now.”

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