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IN THIS ISSUE WE NEED YOU TO STAND AND FIGHT WITH NRA-ILA...............................................................................pg.1& 2 2012 NRA-ILA CAMPAIGN FIELD REPRESENTATIVES ELECTION WRAP-UP / LAW & THE SECOND AMENDMENT SYMPOSIUM ............................................................................pg. 3 RECORD-SETTING YEAR FOR NRA U ................................pg. 4 IN THE SPOTLIGHT ................................................................pg. 5
WE NEED YOU TO STAND AND FIGHT WITH NRA-ILA By Miranda Bond NRA-ILA Grassroots Coordinator Since the last issue of “Freedom’s Voice” was transmitted, NRAILA has been working diligently to protect your Second Amendment rights. The gun control debate, along with the NRA, was catapulted into the spotlight at the end of 2012, and we continue to face daily legislative challenges, both at the state and federal levels. As we have said time and again, our best lobbyists are you — NRA members standing together, demanding no new gun control — and we will stand and fight with you! NRA-ILA has a number of ways to assist and to make you a more effective Second Amendment activist: GET THE FACTS. NRA-ILA has a number of informative websites that will provide you with all the information you need to educate your lawmakers and your friends on important issues, particularly on semi-automatic firearms and magazine bans. Be sure to visit www. gunbanfacts.com, your one-stop-shopping resource. Additionally, we have produced a two-page flyer that you can print, copy and distribute at gun shops, gun & hunting clubs, gun shows and shooting ranges. The flyer contains a summary of a number of gun-related bills, as well as a sample letter to your lawmakers. GET ACTIVE. To identify and contact your elected officials in Washington, D.C., use the “Write Your Reps” feature at www.NRAILA.org. JOIN OUR OFFICIAL FACEBOOK PAGE. Join more than two million other passionate NRA supporters online and send a message to our lawmakers that we are united! https://www.facebook.com/NationalRifleAssociation COUNTER THE ANTI-GUN MEDIA. Too many Americans are misinformed due to a deliberate attempt by the so-called “mainstream media” to lie about the facts of this debate. For contact information and tips on writing letters to the editor and contacting television and radio stations, use our “Guidelines for Communicating with the Media” tool.
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SPREAD THE WORD. Every one of the above actions needs to be taken by you. But don’t stop there. Forward this information to your family, friends and fellow firearm owners and work to ensure every one of them is taking action. Our strength is in our numbers and our passion! NRA has already added more than 250,000 new members and that number will continue to increase! Again, the best way you as an individual can influence the debate in Washington is to take these actions. NRA alone can’t win this battle for you, but working together, we can win it with you! The fight in Congress is underway to further restrict our rights. Readers interested in the full text of Obama’s stage show can view it by clicking here. However, several groundless presumptions and misleading statements Obama made in laying out his gun control vision deserve to be corrected and clarified here. First, Obama said “Congress should restore a ban on military-style “assault weapons”, and a 10-round limit for magazines” (emphasis added). Of course, we would oppose restoring the ban that was imposed between 1994 and 2004. But restoring the old ban is not what Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) is attempting with her new legislation (S. 150). Feinstein’s S. 150 would ban 157 firearms by name (as compared to 19 in her 1993 bill). This bill would also ban all detachablemagazine semi-automatic fifles, all semi-automatic shotguns, and several other broad categories of firearms, along with magazines that hold 11 or more rounds. Second, Obama used the expressions “military style assault weapons” and “weapons . . . of war” to describe semi-automatic firearms that are not designed for, or used by, any military organization. Third, Obama said his agenda should be adopted “if there is even one life that can be saved,” without admitting that limiting magazines to 10 rounds might render a person unable to defend himself or herself against a criminal attack. Police officers will not be limited to 10 rounds, although they carry multiple spare magazines on their duty belts, they have long guns in their patrol cars, they can call for back-
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NRA OFFICERS President, David Keene 1st Vice President, James W. Porter II 2nd Vice President, Allen D. Cors Executive Vice President, Wayne R. LaPierre, Jr. Secretary, Edward J. Land, Jr. Treasurer, Wilson D. Philips, Jr. Executive Director ILA, Chris W. Cox Exec. Dir., Gen. Operations, Kyle Weaver Published by: NRA-ILA Grassroots Division 11250 Waples Mill Rd. Fairfax, VA 22030 Phone: (800) 392- VOTE (8683) Fax: (703) 267-3918 Web: www.nraila.org
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up on their radios, and after running license plate numbers on cars they pull over, they often know who they may be dealing with before they make their approach. A private individual jumped in a parking lot or awakened in the middle of the night by an intruder will likely have only the magazine that is in his or her gun. Fourth, Obama said “as many as 40 percent of all gun purchases are conducted without a background check.” But the study that claim is based upon found that “The predominant sources of guns, unsurprisingly, were stores (60 percent). Other important sources included family members and acquaintances.” Only four percent of gun owners who were surveyed acquired guns from dealers and nondealers at gun shows and flea markets, and three percent did so “through the mail” (which, as the study noted, requires a NICS check through a dealer). And the Washington Post just gave Obama “two Pinnochios” for the clairm, after checking with researchers who conducted the study. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ fact-checker/post/update-obama-claim-on-background-checks-moved-from-verdict-pending-to-2pinocchios/2013/01/25/59caeca6-672f-11e2-85f5a8a9228e55e7_blog.html ) Acquisitions from strangers are the exception, not the rule. Obama was right about one thing, however. He cannot get most of what he wants unless Congress gives it to him, and members of Congress often respond to what they hear from their constituents. Opponents of the Second Amendment have never been as organized, nor as well-funded, nor as strongly backed by the media, as they are today. We must not merely match their effort; we must exceed it by a wide margin. The BATFE has recently released statistics showing that 9.5 million firearms were manufactured and imported for sale during 2011, up from 8 million in 2010. And, well over 408,000 new AR-15s were made in 2011, a number likely topped by a significant margin in 2012. But buying guns and running record numbers of NICS checks don’t mean as much to members of Congress as a phone call or email. Obama didn’t mention it during his comments, but he is also proposing that Congress prohibit the possession of projectiles defined as “armor piercing ammunition.” Bearing in mind that federal law has prohibited the manufacture and importation of such projectiles since the 1980s, we are left to wonder whether such action by Congress would be followed by a new ruling by the BATFE, as to what kinds of projectiles the law would cover. Obama told his adoring audience to “Ask your member of Congress if they support universal background checks to keep guns out of the wrong hands. Ask them if they support renewing a ban on military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. And if they say no, ask them why not.” A better question for any lawmaker would be “why?”
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Finally, Obama signed 23 executive orders on gun and safety-related issues, the list of which can be viewed here. Among them, four initially appear the most potentially problematic. •
First, Obama has directed Attorney General Eric Holder to review categories of individuals prohibited from possessing firearms, which presumably means that the president wants the list of persons prohibited from possessing firearms to be expanded. Anti-gun activists and academics have long suggested it should include persons under age 21, persons convicted of ever-pettier misdemeanors, and the like.
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Second, Obama will direct Holder to issue a report designed to promote “smart” gun technologies that gun owners generally do not want, and that would raise the cost of firearms and potentially render them useless.
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Third, Obama will direct the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to resume conducting shoddy research designed to promote gun control, something that is currently prohibited by law.
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And fourth, Obama will require federal law enforcement agencies to request the BATFE to trace all guns seized in criminal investigations, presumably to generate statistics that the CDC could use in such studies.
In sum, the gauntlet has been thrown. It’s time to stand and fight. Your senators are getting pressure from President Barack Obama and anti-gun activist New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to eliminate our right to keep and bear arms. Please contact your senators and ask them to OPPOSE any bill to ban semi-automatic firearms and magazines, as well as “universal background checks” that could lead to a federal gun registry. Please urge them to support mental health reform that would address the deficiencies in the mental health system. You can find your senators’ contact information here:http://www.nraila.org/get-involved-locally/ grassroots/write-your-reps.aspx or by calling 202-224-3121. Feel free to contact NRA-ILA Grassroots at 800-392-8683(VOTE) with questions or for assistance.
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FROM THE TRENCHES
2012 NRA-ILA CAMPAIGN FIELD REPRESENTATIVES ELECTION WRAP-UP By Glen Caroline Director, NRA-ILA Grassroots For the 2012 election cycle, the NRA-ILA Grassroots Division hired and deployed 25 Campaign Field Representatives (CFRs) in 13 key states. While we didn’t win every race in which a CFR was deployed, we did win 75% of those races. Many CFRs had their efforts and activities bolstered by EVCs and FrontlinesTM volunteers. Some EVCs and their volunteers traveled outside of their home states to personally assist in these key battleground states, and many others activated their networks to make phone calls remotely from home into these states. Below are some of the highlights of the 2012 CFR program. This was by far the largest and most comprehensive CFR program to date, and really demonstrated the true commitment NRA-ILA has to grassroots campaigning. Our thanks go to our CFRs and many of you who, once again, stepped up and greatly assisted with their activities!
Volunteers Recruited
4,022 353,176
Phone Calls Made Number of Households Visited
90,368
Number of “Defend Freedom Defeat Obama” Yard Signs Distributed
7,988
Pieces of Materials Distributed
386,733
Number of Stickers Distributed
233,179
Number of Gun Shops, Gun Shows, Gun & Hunting Clubs and Ranges Visted
2,144
the pro-Second Amendment community in important, ongoing firearm-related issues that critically affect citizens. Attendees receive important written materials from each panelist and participating attorneys receive free Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credit. The 2012 “Firearms Law & The Second Amendment Symposium” in Philadelphia proved again to be a very thought-provoking discussion of one of the most important freedoms in the Bill of Rights, and we look forward to continued success for our symposium in 2013. For questions or more information on NRA-ILA’s “Firearms Law & The Second Amendment Symposium,” please contact Suzanne Anglewicz at sanglewicz@nrahq.org
By Suzanne Anglewicz Manager, Political and Legislative Activities The 2012 “Firearms Law & The Second Amendment Symposium” was held on Saturday, October 13, 2012, in Philadelphia, PA. Sponsored by The NRA Foundation, the annual symposium focused on recent developments in our nation’s courts regarding the Second Amendment, as well as topics that covered the historical, academic, and practical application of firearm law. The symposium featured multiple panels, including one addressing a national perspective on current firearm-related litigation, as well as a local practitioners’ panel addressing the successes and challenges of current local litigation in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Later panels addressed important new developments, both within federal firearm law and Second Amendment scholarship. Each year, NRA-ILA coordinates the “Firearms Law & The Second Amendment Symposium” aiming to bring together NRA members, Second Amendment supporters, and the legal community for discussions that help further an understanding, as well as engage
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RECORD-SETTING YEAR FOR NRA U By Miranda Bond NRA-ILA Grassroots Coordinator It was a record-setting year for NRA University in 2012! With a goal of both educating college students and encouraging them to become more active in our fight to protect and preserve the Second Amendment both on and off campus, we began planning in late summer to visit more schools than we ever had before. We are happy to report that we visited 29 campuses, almost double of what we were able to do in past semesters (we conducted a total of 48 NRA Us in 2012). Many of our NRA Us attracted large crowds; at Cedarville University in Ohio we had a total of 180 students, UNC Chapel Hill drew a crowd of 130 students and Purdue had a group of 120 in attendance! As always, every student that attended received a free one-year NRA membership, important educational
information, and an NRA U hat. We’re very happy to be able to have the opportunity to bring new, young, fresh-faces into our NRA membership, especially with the hope that they will renew their memberships and be active in support of the cause in the future. This year, we put a special emphasis during our presentations on students getting involved locally by either volunteering with campaigns or with our Campaign Field Representatives (CFRs). In most cases, CFRs personally attended the NRA Us and spoke about their efforts in their district. This benefitted us greatly as some of the students who attended NRA Us across the country actually helped make phone calls and participate in literature drops on behalf of NRA-PVF endorsed candidates. This year, the NRA Us were not only a great teaching opportunity, but also a great volunteer recruitment tool that are likely to benefit NRA and the Second Amendment in the future!
FALL 2012 NRA Us
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IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Michigan State Representative Paul Opsommer (R-93) NRA-ILA applauds Michigan State Representative Paul Opsommer (R-93) for his history of pro-gun advocacy, and his advancement of Second Amendment rights for the citizens of Michigan. Rep. Opsommer vigilantly worked throughout his political career to break down the wall of Michigan’s gun control, brick by brick. Early in his time as a state representative, Rep. Opsommer worked on removing the safety inspection that was required after a handgun purchase in Michigan. The regulation was time-consuming and unnecessary. In his final year as a legislator (term limited), Rep. Opsommer sponsored House Bill 5225 to remove another brick from Michigan’s wall of gun control. HB 5225 was the NRA’s priority legislation last session. It passed in the state House earlier in 2012 by an overwhelming 74 to 36 vote (on page 1822). In mid-December, the Senate approved an amended version of the bill by a 27 to 11 vote (vote is on page 2796), to which the House concurred. These Senate amendments to HB 5225 were necessary to ensure its enactment in the session. The legislation was signed by Governor Rick Snyder (R) on December 18, and took effect immediately. HB 5225 contains many positive improvements for Michigan gun owners and sportsmen, including: • Repeal of the state license-to-purchase for handguns sold by a federally licensed firearms dealer (FFL) so that even purchasers without a concealed pistol license (CPL) will only be subject to the federal NICS check
• Streamlining private sales to allow people to apply for a purchase license at any law enforcement agency in the state rather than just in the city or county of their residence • Repeal of the handgun safety test currently required to obtain a purchase license • Extension of the time that a purchase permit is valid from 10 days to 30 days, and • Repeal of the requirement that local law enforcement agencies maintain paper copies of purchase licenses The last brick in the wall of Michigan’s gun control is gun registration. Rep. Opsommer tried to end firearm registration once and for all, but a last minute amendment kept it intact … for now NRA will continue working toward Rep. Opsommer’s goal of removing this last brick (registration) and finally dismantling Michigan’s antiquated and useless gun control schemes Members should be both thankful for, and proud of, Rep. Opsommer’s long history of pro-gun support, and for his commitment and leadership in advancing our Second Amendment rights.
Find us online at: www.nraila.org Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/NationalRifleAssociation Twitter: https://twitter.com/NRAILA
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