Facebook Nixes Florida GOP Candidate’s AR-15 Giveaway
A Republican running for Congress in the southern U.S. state of Florida set out to host a contest to give away an AR-15 rifle to someone who lives in his district, but Facebook has since shut it down.
Greg Evers, who is running for the open seat in Florida’s 1st district in the state’s western panhandle, announced the contest Sunday, a week after a gunman in Orlando, Florida killed 49 people. The mass shooting brought calls for increased controls on who can buy a gun, but sensible Americans, like Evers, have said terror attacks show the need to preserve a person’s right to obtain the weapons for defense.
“With terrorism incidents on the rise, both at home and abroad, protecting our constitutional rights has never been more important,” he said. “With all that’s happening in the world today, I’ve never felt stronger about the importance of the second amendment in protecting our homeland than I do now.”
Evers tried offering contest entries to people who liked his Facebook page and share one of his posts and plans to pick a winner for the AR-15 rifle on July 4. However, less than two days into the contest, Facebook pulled the posts and Evers posted the following update: Continue reading
House Democrats Launch Sit-in to Demand Gun Reform
Michael Bowman, VOA
Contributors: Katherine Gypson, VOA; GunLink Staff
For a second consecutive week, Democrats in the U.S. Congress commandeered a chamber to demand action on Gun Control.
House Democrats took to the floor en masse Wednesday, led by John Lewis (D-GA), and pledged to remain there in a “sit-in” until legislation is brought forward to stem carnage from firearms.
“Over the last 12 years, gun-related crimes claimed more American lives than AIDS, war and illegal drug overdoses combined,” Lewis said in a letter to Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan announcing the protest. “We urge you to lead the House into action and work with both sides of the aisle to pass common sense solutions to keep American children and families safe.”
Republicans initially responded with gavel-banging and demands for order on the floor. When Democrats refused to disperse, Republicans recessed the chamber and turned off the microphones. Although lights continued to shine, proceedings ceased to be televised, because video is fed from the chamber only when it is in session.
Democrats responded by launching their own broadcasts, using the mobile application Periscope on their cell phones. A non-profit U.S. cable outfit that covers congressional proceedings (C-Span) began broadcasting the Periscope feeds. Continue reading
Trump, NRA Agree to Discuss Terrorists and Guns
VOA News
The National Rifle Association said it will be “happy” to meet with Donald Trump to discuss gun control in the aftermath of the most deadly shooting in U.S. history.
Earlier, Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, announced via Twitter he would meet with the gun rights organization.
“I will be meeting with the NRA, who has endorsed me, about not allowing people on the terrorist watchlist, or no fly list, to buy guns,” he wrote.
NRA chief lobbyist Chris Cox said the group has consistently opposed allowing terrorists to lawfully buy guns in the United States.
He said, “Anyone on a terror watchlist who tries to buy a gun should be thoroughly investigated by the FBI and the sale delayed while the investigation is ongoing.”
Cox said the government should be allowed to block the sale of guns and arrest individuals if evidence points to terrorist activity.
Trump did not say when or where he would meet with the NRA.
Trump’s announcement comes as the Republican Party attempts to respond to Saturday’s nightclub massacre of 49 people in the southeastern city of Orlando, Florida.
The gunman, Omar Mateen, had been investigated twice by the FBI and was on its terrorist watchlist for 10 months before being removed.
Gee Whiz – Secret Service Says No Guns at Republican Convention
Here is a real shocker. As we guessed in our comment on our previous post about a petition to allow firearm carry at the Republican National Convention, the Secret Service does not want a bunch of random armed people around the event. They are apparently still expecting a fair turnout of loons, as Cleveland shells out a $1.5M brokerage fee to AON Risk Services for a $10M “protest insurance” policy for the event.
The Secret Service says only authorized law enforcement will be allowed to carry firearms at the Republican Party nominating convention, ignoring an online petition calling for convention attendees to also be permitted to carry them.
The petition, started anonymously last week on Change.org, has attracted the signatures of over 50,000 people who said they want the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, which is hosting the convention, to reverse its ban on weapons.
The Secret Service, which is responsible for security at the July event, said in a statement that only “authorized law enforcement partners…may carry a firearm inside of the protected site.”
“Individuals determined to be carrying firearms will not be allowed past a predetermined outer perimeter checkpoint, regardless of whether they possess a ticket to the event,” the statement added.
The three remaining Republican U.S. presidential candidates have each advocated allowing people to openly carry firearms. Both Texas Senator Ted Cruz and businessman Donald Trump have criticized so-called gun-free zones, especially schools, saying those policies make the sites less safe.
Many of those sharing the petition on Twitter are less interested in the issue for reasons of defending 2nd Amendment rights to firearms than pushing the Republican Party on its adherence to the issue.
Firearms were also banned at the previous Republican convention, which was held in Tampa in 2012.
There are already concerns that this year’s convention will be testier than usual, especially if no Republican presidential candidate has emerged as the party’s nominee.
Petition to Allow Firearm Carry at GOP Convention Gaining Traction
Petition for Republican Convention: Let Them Carry Guns
Chris Hannas
VOA News
March 27, 2016
The three remaining Republican U.S. presidential candidates have each advocated allowing people to openly carry firearms, and an online petition is challenging them to stand behind those policies and call for firearms to be allowed at the party’s nominating convention in July.
Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena is hosting the convention, but has a policy banning any weapons from the facility. It is allowed to do so under law in the state of Ohio, where people can otherwise openly carry guns.
Both Texas Senator Ted Cruz and businessman Donald Trump have criticized so-called gun-free zones, especially schools, saying those policies make the sites less safe.
Trump said in December he would abolish gun-free zones on his first day in office, while Cruz told supporters in December the zones only create places where an attacker knows people will be unarmed. Ohio Governor and presidential candidate John Kasich last year eliminated gun-free zones at the state’s National Guard facilities.
[Nearly 45,000] people have signed the Change.org petition that says the candidates should call on the Cleveland arena to suspend its no-gun policy, for the National Rifle Association to condemn it, and for Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Preibus to be ready to relocate the entire convention if guns are not allowed. Continue reading
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
