NRA First VP Pete Brownell Seeks Third Term on NRA Board
Editor’s Note: Pete Brownell, and Brownells as a whole, were among the first big established companies in the firearms industry to really embrace new media and recognize it as a valuable resource for firearm enthusiasts, industry members, recreational shooters and others to participate in the timely exchange of information. In addition to supporting new media, Pete has been an strong and unwavering supporter of Second Amendment rights. GunLink is proud share his announcement that he will seek a third term on the NRA Board and add our endorsement to the list of others supporting him. The NRA Board of Directors needs more members like Pete Brownell!
NRA First Vice President and CEO of Brownells, Pete Brownell, announced this week that he will seek a third term on the NRA’s Board of Directors. If re-elected, Brownell will likely become NRA President at the 2017 NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits in Atlanta, Georgia.
An NRA Life Member since birth, Brownell, 47, boasts proven NRA leadership experience and is a widely-recognized visionary in the firearm and outdoor industry. Brownell’s service to the NRA began in 2006 when he was nominated to serve on the NRA Membership Committee. Following his election to the board in 2010, Brownell began serving on numerous other committees, including:
- President’s Committee on Advancement
- Nominating Committee
- Sport Shooting Committee
- Finance Committee
- Law Enforcement Committee
- Meeting Site Selection Committee
- Publications Policy Committee
- Task Force on Industry Relations Committee
- Investment Oversight Committee
Proving himself as an ardent defender of the Second Amendment and a powerful voice for the NRA, Brownell was elected the NRA Second Vice President in April 2013. Two years later in 2015, he was elected NRA First Vice President, an office he holds today. 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
Support HR 3799 to Remove Silencers from NFA
As announced last week, a new bill has been introduced in the House to “provide that silencers be treated the same as long guns.” That is, to essentially remove them from the purview of the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA) and ease the cumbersome process of acquiring one of these valuable safety devices – a process that involves a lengthy wait and a $200 tax on top of the cost of the device.
Matt Salmon (R-AZ), introduced HR 3799, the Hearing Protection Act of 2015, to the house on October 22nd. There, it was Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means and to the Committee on the Judiciary for consideration. The full text of the bill, as well as updates about its progress, is available here.
The National Rifle Association (NRA) announced almost immediately their full support of the bill. GunLink also fully supports HR 3799 and urge everyone to contact their representatives and ask that they also support the bill, which is co-sponsored by Frank Guinta (R-NH), John Carter (R-TX), Mike Kelly (R-PA), Chris Collins (R-NY), Glenn Thompson (R-PA), Tim Huelskamp (R-KS), Trent Franks (R-AZ), Mia Love (R-UT), Doug LaMalfa (R-CA), Chris Stewart (R-UT), Scott DesJarlais (R-TN), and Bruce Westerman (R-AR).
An easy way to contact your representatives is to use the tools at the PopVox HR 3799 page. From there, HR3799 proponents can choose to support the bill. Be sure to include a personal message about why you support the bill. By including your personal message about why you support the bill, you guarantee that the PopVox system will generate a physical letter of support that will be hand delivered to your representatives’ offices.
You can also discuss the Hearing Protection Act of 2015 on the GunLink forums.
Why Support HR 3799?
Aside from the fact that 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
NRA Launches Television Ad Against Bloomberg’s Gun Control Agenda
The National Rifle Association aired its first political ad of the 2016 presidential campaign season during Thursday night’s Republican presidential debate. The 30-second spot targeted gun control advocate and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the candidates whom he may back.
The NRA says that this ad is the first step in a multi-phased effort to remind voters of Bloomberg’s disdain for freedom and his agenda to taking away our Second Amendment rights. The gun rights organization is expected to spend around $1 million on the ad, which will run on Fox News, CNN and on local television in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada. All three are home to early presidential primaries or caucuses. The ad will also appear digitally in those states as well as South Carolina – another early primary state.
Previous political efforts by the NRA’s political arms (and, by extension, their many members at the polls) have been largely successful and they hope to see more success in defeating anti-gun candidates in the 2016 elections.
Another Gun-Free Zone, Another Group of Victims
What exactly are these laws and policies protecting?
It is difficult to watch the news without becoming outraged – both at the stories of senseless violence carried out by crazed madmen as well as at the spin applied to those stories by certain groups in order to further their agenda. How many times are we going to hear about (or not) defenseless citizens, disarmed by “well intentioned,” “common sense” firearm policies, being turned into victims at the hands of criminals who, by their very nature, will disregard any and all laws or policies that get in their way?
Everyone has, no doubt, seen the news stories about our servicemen murdered by a radical Islamist, unable to protect themselves due to no-guns-allowed policies. This cold blooded murder came just days before another lunatic murdered two innocent moviegoers and wounded nine others at a Louisiana theater. The theater policy explicitly states that “possession of firearms or weapons of any kind regardless of whether openly or concealed, with or without a permit” is strictly prohibited. Sadly, although that policy may have stopped licensed concealed carry or legal open carry practitioners from bringing a means of self defense into the theater that night, it did not prevent the armed madman from bringing his weapon. That attack came nearly three years to the day after another madman murdered 12 and injured dozens more in another “gun free” theater in Colorado. Continue reading
