Branco: If it Saves Just One Life…
Guess it’s not a two-way street…
It’s the same old story, same old song and dance, my friend.
Branco: If You Like Your Guns, You Can Keep Your Guns
April Fools!
A.F. Branco – Obama Cares. Period.
Should we hope for more of this kind of change in the upcoming election?
NRA-ILA: The Next Supreme Court, by the Numbers
With the passage of Senior Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Antonin Scalia, how will the Court rule on Second Amendment cases in the future? The answer is, “it’s just a matter of simple math.”
In January, when the next president takes office, our eight Supreme Court justices will range in age from 56 to 83, with an average age of 69.
Four of the eight—Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito, Anthony Kennedy, and Clarence Thomas—joined the late Justice Antonin Scalia’s majority opinion in District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), recognizing that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep a handgun in the home for protection. They, along with Justice Scalia, also formed the majority in McDonald v. Chicago (2010), which applied Heller to the states.
Justices Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, both nominated to the Court by President Bill Clinton, dissented in Heller and McDonald, and Ginsburg has said that Heller should be overturned. The former president of Handgun Control, Inc. (today the Brady Campaign), has produced a BLUEPRINT to do precisely that.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, appointed by President Barack Obama after Heller, joined Breyer’s dissenting opinion in McDonald, claiming there is “nothing in the Second Amendment’s text, history, or underlying rationale . . . to protect the keeping and bearing of arms for private self-defense purposes.” Justice Elena Kagan, appointed by Obama after Heller and McDonald, was Associate White House Counsel for President Bill Clinton in 1995 and 1996, and assisted his efforts to impose gun control. Continue reading
BOHICA: 41F (nee 41P) is Here
Attorney General Lynch Signs Off 41P Final Ruling. It WILL Happen in as little as 180 days.
Included in the president’s inappropriately named “New Executive Actions to Reduce Gun Violence and Make Our Communities Safer” is the official harbinger of the BATFE’s 41P rule change.
Despite NFA owners being among the most law abiding gun owners who already have to jump through the most hoops, and despite the fact that – on average – NFA firearms are pretty much never used in crimes, the president’s edicts makes it more difficult to purchase what he calls “some of the most dangerous weapons and other items” through a trust, corporation, or other legal entity.
This change will require fingerprints, photographs, and background checks for all “responsible persons” of the trust or other legal entity. It is unclear what this change will do to the ability for legal entities to use the eForms system, which the BATFE claims to have been spending considerable time and resources on improving and getting the broken eForms Form 1 functionality working again, as the system appears to have no mechanism for accepting photographs or fingerprint or information.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch describes the change as “[closing] the ‘trust loophole’ that people have been using to avoid registering by going through legal trusts, corporations or other legal status.” And – in case this is confusing for some – by “loophole,” AG Lynch means “the law as written.”
Lynch signed off on the rule making and the official BATFE announcement is here. The release states that rule 41P “is effective 180 days after date of publication in the Federal Register,” which can be at any time now. It is unclear whether the BATFE will ever respond, as required, to the 9,000+ comments received regarding the rule change with anything other than “who cares, the president has a pen and a phone.”
41P Final Ruling Summary:
The Department of Justice is amending the regulations of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) regarding the making or transferring of a firearm under the National Firearms Act (NF A). This final rule defines the term “responsible person,” as used in reference to a trust, partnership, association, company, or corporation; requires responsible persons of such trusts or legal entities to complete a specified form and to submit photographs and fingerprints when the trust or legal entity files an application to make an NFA firearm or is listed as the transferee on an application to transfer an NFA firearm; requires that a copy of all applications to make or transfer a firearm, and the specified form for responsible persons, as applicable, be forwarded to the chief law enforcement officer (CLEO) of the locality in which the applicant/transferee or responsible person is located; and eliminates the requirement for a certification signed by the CLEO. These provisions provide a public safety benefit as they ensure that responsible persons undergo background checks. In addition, this final rule adds a new section to ATF’ s regulations to address the possession and transfer of firearms registered to a decedent. The new section clarifies that the executor, administrator, personal representative, or other person authorized under State law to dispose of property in an estate may possess a firearm registered to a decedent during the term of probate without such possession being treated as a “transfer” under the NF A. It also specifies that the transfer of the frrearm to any beneficiary of the estate may be made on a tax-exempt basis
NRA Backs Hearing Protection Act
Fairfax, VA – The National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) announced its support today for the Hearing Protection Act (H.R. 3799).
Sponsored by Congressman Matt Salmon (AZ-05), the legislation removes suppressors from regulations established under the National Firearms Act of 1934.
“Suppressors significantly reduce the chance of hearing loss for anyone who enjoys the shooting sports,” said Chris Cox, executive director of NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action. “On behalf of the NRA and our 5 million members, I want to thank Rep. Salmon for his leadership on this important bill.”
Prevailing regulations requires buyers to send an application to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), pay a $200 tax, and pass an arduously time consuming ATF background check. Under Salmon’s bill there will be no application, no tax, and buyers would be required to pass the same National Criminal Instant Background Check (NICS) as law-abiding guns owners.
As a leading voice in the industry, the American Suppressor Association has provided valuable insight to the creation of the Hearing Protection Act. “Suppressors benefit all involved in hunting and the shooting sports. It’s time to bring the law in line with modern technology,” said Cox.
It is currently legal to hunt with a suppressor in 37 states. 41 states allow private ownership of suppressors. Continue reading
The Top 535 People You Should Contact to Oppose Gun Control
Recently, a checkout-lane magazine popular with the American Idol crowd posted – amidst the latest dish on which famous couples are splitting up or which male celebrities are getting Botox treatment – an online article urging people to contact their representatives to “do something” about madmen killing people. Of course, echoing the president’s recent knee-jerk emotion-based plea, the implication is that the firearms are to blame and that more regulation is the cure. This despite the fact that the unconstitutional regulations for which they are calling would not (or, in some cases, did not) do anything to prevent such violence from being visited upon the lunatics’ disarmed victims.
They did, however, make one good point: that we should contact our representatives to make our opinions heard. Facts, real common sense, and – despite what some doctored propaganda pieces may say – public opinion is on the side of 2A rights. A few loudly complaining anti-gun zealots are hoping to be the “squeaky wheel” that warrants legislative grease while the silent majority of gun owners sit idly by. To make things easier for their readers to contact their reps, they list the contact information for all 435 US House and 100 US Senate members.
Great idea. Below is the list of those 535 voting members of the United States Congress. Scroll down to (or search the page for) your state and find your representatives and contact them to let them know what you think about the proven-ineffective (and often detrimental) gun control schemes that are being pushed. Continue reading
