Political Report American Marksman:

By Chris W. Cox

NRA-ILA Executive Director

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Gun Control Rebranded

For decades, gun control groups have constantly tried to change their brand names in order to fool the American public. Their goal is to convince people that a new name equals a new agenda. Gun owners, of course, see right through this charade every time it happens.

The latest example of this occurred last Oct. 17, when gun control group Americans for Responsible Solutions (ARS) announced a “relaunch” of the organization under the name “Giffords.” ARS was founded in 2013 by former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and her husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly.

At its founding, ARS tried to present itself as a more reasonable alternative to the hardline gun control groups already in the field. In a letter announcing the group, the couple employed a folksy charm and assured readers, “We don’t want to take away your guns any more than we want to give up the two guns we have locked in a safe at home.” This sort of down-home messaging never aligned with the fact that the group's Political Action Committee’s most prominent donors included Michael Bloomberg and former Facebook President Sean Parker.

Nor did it align with the group’s unyielding gun control positions. ARS’s founding letter expressed support for a host of typical gun control policies, including the criminalization of private firearms transfers and restrictions on commonly owned semi-automatic firearms. The group even supported legislation to make New Jersey’s already onerous gun laws more burdensome.

Further cementing the group’s radical bent, in 2016 ARS merged with the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence (LCPGV). LCPGV was founded in 1994 as the Legal Community Against Violence (LCAV) in response to a shooting at San Francisco’s Pettit & Martin law firm. In 2008, LCAV coauthored an amicus brief in District of Columbia v. Heller that argued in favor of the capital’s handgun ban and against the Second Amendment guaranteeing an individual right to keep and bear arms in the home for self-defense. Coinciding with the ARS name change, LCPGV is now the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

Three name changes and a merger in just over five years might seem excessive to some, but this type of rebranding effort is commonplace among gun control groups and has been a regular and routine occurrence over the past four decades.

What is today the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence was founded in 1974 as the National Council to Control Handguns. NCCH’s position called for “strict federal laws that will effectively restrict the possession of handguns to only the police, the military, licensed security guards, licensed pistol clubs and registered collectors.”

NCCH was then renamed Handgun Control Inc. in 1979. The change coincided with new messaging that de-emphasized a total ban on the civilian possession of handguns even though handgun prohibitionist Nelson T. “Pete” Shields remained at the helm of the organization until 1989. Shields famously admitted his three-part strategy to eliminate handguns. First, slow down production and sales, then register all existing handguns and, finally, prohibit handgun possession in almost all circumstances.

In 1989, Sarah Brady became chair of HCI. The group officially assumed the name Brady Campaign at a D.C. gala more than a decade later in 2001. The change was ostensibly to honor the Bradys, but accurately reflected the group’s desire to move away from the term “gun control.”

In 1988, Josh Sugarmann founded the anti-gun New Right Watch, then less than two years later abandoned the name in favor of the less politically charged Violence Policy Center. The inoffensive name appears to have worked on some of the less astute. In 2015, The New York Times referred to the organization as merely a “gun safety group.” This, despite VPC’s position that “handguns should be banned from future sale except for military and law-enforcement personnel.”

From 1975 to 1990, the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence was the National Coalition to Ban Handguns. In 2006, then-New York City Mayor Bloomberg established Mayors Against Illegal Guns. After acquiring effective control of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, in 2014 Bloomberg rebranded MDA and MAIG under the umbrella group Everytown for Gun Safety.

It’s telling that gun control zealots believe that the public will accept gun restrictions if they just put their product in a new package. However, after nearly a half-century of failure, it might be time for them to admit that the marketing isn’t the problem, it’s that the American people don’t want what they’re selling.

A NEW PACKAGE WON'T MAKE GUN CONTROL IDEAS EASIER TO SELL.

ILA STORY

Chipping Away At Our Rights

Chipping Away At Our Rights

By Chris W. Cox

NRA-ILA Executive Director

ANTI-GUNNERS PLAN TO CONTINUE THEIR ATTACK ON LAW-ABIDING FIREARM OWNERS WITH 2018 LEGISLATION.

The second session of the 115th Congress is now upon us, and it is as clear as ever that anti-gun members of Congress just don’t get it. Lawabiding Americans are tired of being scapegoats for the acts of criminals and terrorists.

Year after year, we see measures aimed squarely at you and me—the very people who conscientiously learn and follow the rules. Most are opportunistically introduced in the aftermath of some high-profile crime, while emotions are still raw. “We have to do something!” the activists and editorialists shriek.

But the “something” they refer to is gun control, and it would never have actually stopped the crime. Heightened restrictions would simply stand between upstanding Americans and the exercise of their rights. And through it all, anti-gun members of Congress and their cheerleaders in the press demonize the NRA and its members for standing in the way of “progress.”

I’d love to report that everything is going to be different in 2018 and that our opponents have seen the light. But, unfortunately, that is not the case. In the closing months of 2017, we saw one bill after another that reflects the same twisted thinking that if criminals only faced one more law, maybe they’d call it a day. The list of topics is a familiar one: civil liability for someone else’s crimes, “universal” background checks, de facto semi-automatic bans, magazine bans, waiting periods, and “watchlisting” (i.e., “may-issue” NICS approvals).

What follows is just a sampling of the bills that some federal lawmakers hope to pass so they can clamp down on your freedom.

Gun control advocates know many of their strongest allies are the increasingly activist and politically motivated judges who populate courts throughout the country. This means that one of the most potentially consequential bills is the misleadingly titled “Equal Access to Justice for Victims of Gun Violence Act,” currently pending as S. 1939 (Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.) and H.R. 3984 (Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.).

This legislation would repeal the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), an equal justice provision in its own right. The PLCAA was a reaction to a coordinated series of lawsuits designed to litigate the firearm industry into oblivion by holding law-abiding gun manufacturers and dealers responsible for the criminal acts of third parties.

And while its critics howl that the PLCAA grants the firearm industry unprecedented immunity, it was actually the legal theories advanced in these suits that were the real novelty. There’s no principle of law that would hold a baseball bat manufacturer liable for the acts of a bat-wielding assailant or an automobile dealer liable for damages caused by the driver of a robbery get-away car when neither the manufacturer nor the dealer had any relationship to the criminal. But that didn’t stop the litigants from hoping the courts would create a special rule for the gun industry or at least allow the cases to go on long enough to bleed the defendants dry through litigation costs. Without the PLCAA, the very existence of the domestic firearm industry would be jeopardized, which is why it repealing it remains the highest priority for gun banners.

Another perennial favorite of the gun control crowd is the concept of “universal” background checks, which seeks to interpose the government (and expensive fees) into every exchange of firearms, including those between trusted neighbors, close friends and even family members. Antigun Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., is carrying the torch once again with S. 2009.

Murphy told the media he hoped the mere introduction of the bill, which he admitted had little chance of passage, would nevertheless “strike fear” into supporters of the Second Amendment. It’s telling that would be his goal, rather than striking fear into the criminals who actually misuse guns yet would be completely unaffected by his bill.

Murphy’s right, though, that lawabiding gun owners have much to fear about the idea of abolishing private transfers. The government obviously cannot enforce this type of law unless it also creates universal licensing or registration of firearms. Of course, those measures are also necessary prerequisites for any large-scale attempt to confiscate or force the “buyback” of Americans’ guns. Anti-gun advocates routinely bring up Australia’s forced confiscation of firearms as a model of what should be done in the U.S.

Rep. Elizabeth Esty, D-Conn., not to be outdone by her anti-gun colleagues, has also jumped into the fray, by sponsoring H.R. 4052, which she ludicrously calls the “Keep Americans Safe Act.” This ban on “large-capacity” magazines would treat what most law-abiding Americans have in their firearms as contraband, subjecting their possessors to a possible 10-year stint in federal prison. How could something so many millions of upstanding Americans possess without incident deserve such harsh treatment? And why would a criminal who ignores existing prohibitions against possessing guns actually worry about the capacity of a magazine? Ask Esty.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Rep. Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla., have also introduced legislation to ban bump-fire stocks with S.1916 in the Senate and H.R. 3999 in the House. The actual language of this legislation, however, reaches considerably beyond bump stocks and threatens almost any part or accessory that would allow a semi-automatic firearm to shoot more quickly. Neither proposed ban has a grandfather provision, meaning they could turn Americans who obtained their parts or accessories years earlier (when they were still lawful) into federal felons. In this regard, the bills are even more extreme than the confiscatory gun bans of Australia—so admired by gun control advocates—which at least allowed current owners to surrender their property for compensation.

Another recent gun control bill rehashes an idea that's been around since the days when gun controllers were openly advocating for handgun bans. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi. D-Ill., introduced H.R. 4018 to impose a three-day waiting period on the sale or “borrowing” of a handgun, whether between private parties or federal firearm licensees and private parties.

Gun control advocates used to argue that waiting periods allowed local officials to run background checks on prospective purchasers, but that justification went out the window when the National Instant Criminal Background Check System came online in 1998. Then the argument shifted to a supposed “cooling-off” period for people who might buy a firearm in the heat of an angry moment, intending to do mischief with it. Of course, that rationale never made sense in the case of people who already owned firearms and who were still subject to the same wait. These days, it’s clear that waiting periods are just another arbitrary hurdle between Americans and the exercise of their Second Amendmentprotected rights.

Still other bills seek to make firearm purchases by non-prohibited individuals subject to the discretion of the U.S. Attorney General (H.R. 4057, Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y.) and to deny firearm transfers to people based on incomplete evidence, such as arrests without final dispositions (S. 1923, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and H.R. 3464, Rep. James E. Clyburn, D-S.C.). These bills show contempt not just for the Second Amendment but for basic notions of fairness and due process.

All of these bills illustrate that even with pro-gun majorities in Congress and a pro-gun White House, legislative assaults on the right to keep and bear arms continue. The ultimate goal is neither public safety nor holding criminals accountable. It’s to chip away at our firearms freedom until nothing is left.

“The ground is shifting,” anti-gun Murphy insists, “but you need legislation like this to rally people to the side of those who want change and against those who don’t want change.”

We’ve already heard rhetoric about “change” and “fundamental transformation” in American politics. Gun owners saw what that looked like under Barack Obama, when settled law was reinterpreted to enact new restrictions, lawful gun sellers were shunned by banks, federal agents oversaw the transfer of firearms to drug traffickers and innocent gun owners were vilified as the enablers of violent crime.

So make no mistake. As much as we hope to expand our freedoms with progun majorities in Congress and a progun president, the opposition is equally determined to exploit any circumstance to advance their own agenda. Many of these anti-gun politicians are not motivated by concerns about the Constitution or American freedom. They are motivated by their public image and job security. Holding them accountable is a daily, ongoing process.

Washington, D.C., is not a gunfriendly place, and there are plenty of days when we would rather be in a tree stand or duck blind than in the offices or hearing rooms of the U.S. Capitol. But we are here to be the voice of the American gun owner. We remain ever vigilant to defend our freedom for present and future generations.

By Todd Grable

Executive Director of Membership

It Pays to be a Member

On behalf of everyone here at the NRA who serves our nationwide membership, please accept our very best wishes for the holidays ahead and the coming new year. It’s a huge privilege to work with you, because it’s your personal commitment that’s keeping the Second Amendment alive and preserving our unique American way of life.

And while there’s no way that anyone at NRA can say “thank you” often enough for your service to freedom’s cause, I can tell you that we’re working every single day to make your NRA membership as valuable and worthwhile as we can.

In fact, the moment you joined the NRA, you earned an exclusive benefi ts package that can more than pay for your membership year after year. And I hope that as 2017 comes to a close and we begin a new year together, you’ll take the time to fi nd out more about your benefi ts by visiting us at benefi ts.nra.org.

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I hope that in 2018, you’ll make it your goal to explore your benefi ts package and take advantage of these exclusive NRA savings opportunities. Thank you for all you do for our cause and, again, please accept our best wishes to you and your family for a happy, healthy and prosperous 2018.

OUR TRAVEL AND INSURANCE BENEFITS ARE AMONG THE MOST POPULAR PROGRAMS THAT CAN SAVE YOUR FAMILY MONEY. BUT WHEN YOU VISIT BENEFITS.NRA.ORG, YOU’LL SEE THAT THESE BENEFITS ARE JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG.

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