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Kerry Signs Global Gun Control Accord in Wake of Obama’s Renewed Calls for “Transformation”Shortly before he was reelected, President Obama proclaimed to the rapturous cheers and applause of his supporters, “We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America.” Many at the time wondered exactly what sort of “fundamental transformation” was needed in what was already the most prosperous, peaceful, just, egalitarian, and powerful nation the world has ever known. A simple return to first principles, some would argue, is the better prescription to preserve the country’s preeminence in the future. Nevertheless, taking his cues directly from the anti-gunner’s playbook we reported on recently, President Obama last Sunday turned a memorial service for victims of a heinous crime into a platform to call for yet another “transformation,” this one in the federal gun laws under which the nation’s violent crime rate has fallen to a 42-year low. In a breathtaking display of opportunism and self-centeredness, an event meant to display a nation’s mourning and remembrance degenerated into an expression of the president’s personal agenda and his vision of a “transformed” America. |
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Watch the Latest Grassroots News Minute
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UN American Arms Trade Treaty
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Senate.gov Invents Second Amendment ControversyPerhaps we were too harsh on textbook publishers last week for botching the proper interpretation of the Second Amendment, as even those in charge of the official website of a body sworn to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States” apparently can’t be expected to get it right. The official website of the United States Senate features a “Virtual Reference Desk” section on the Constitution which offers an explanation of the Second Amendment that reads, “Whether this provision protects the individual’s right to own firearms or whether it deals only with the collective right of the people to arm and maintain a militia has long been debated.” The passage downplays the individual right to keep and bear arms guaranteed by the Second Amendment and gives undue credence to an interpretation of the amendment long-held in disrepute and rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2008 and 2010. |
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Not a Peep from Obama: Violent Crime Now at a 42-Year LowLast week, the FBI released its national crime report for 2012. By a slight margin, the nation’s violent crime rate decreased in 2012–relative to 2011–making it the lowest it has been since 1970. Compared to 1991, when it hit an all-time high, violent crime is down by 49 percent. The nation’s murder rate was unchanged in 2012; still lower than any time since 1963 and at nearly an all-time low. Between 2011 and 2012, 24 states and the District of Columbia experienced decreases in their murder rates. There was no correlation of these trends with the severity of the states’ or the District’s gun control laws. Troubled Detroit, under Michigan’s law requiring a permit to purchase a handgun, had the highest murder rate among large cities, followed by Baltimore, under Maryland’s law imposing a seven-day waiting period on handgun purchases. |
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NICS Will Continue to Operate if There Is a Government ShutdownNRA-ILA has received a number of questions on the status of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) in the case of a government shutdown. Law enforcement activities are designated as essential services and do not shut down even if the Congress and President fail to agree on funding legislation. The NICS system will continue to operate. |
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2013 Firearms Law & The Second Amendment SymposiumThe 2013 NRA “Firearms Law & The Second Amendment Symposium” will be held on Saturday, October 12th, at The University of Denver. Focusing on recent developments in our nation’s courts and legislatures regarding the Second Amendment, speakers will discuss and debate current Second Amendment developments and related issues. |
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Set your DVR…
Posted on September 20, 2013
NRA Executive Vice-President Wayne LaPierre will appear on NBC’s Meet the Press this Sunday, to discuss issues related to the tragedy that took place at the Washington, D.C., Navy Yard earlier this week. Please be sure to watch. NRA-ILA will address issues related to the tragedy in next week’s Alert. In the meantime, our thoughts and prayers remain with those affected by this terrible event.
From NRA-ILA:
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On Sunday: Wayne LaPierre on National TV to Discuss the Navy Yard TragedyNRA Executive Vice-President Wayne LaPierre will appear on NBC’s Meet the Press this Sunday, to discuss issues related to the tragedy that took place at the Washington, D.C., Navy Yard earlier this week. Please be sure to watch. NRA-ILA will address issues related to the tragedy in next week’s Alert. In the meantime, our thoughts and prayers remain with those affected by this terrible event. |
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University of Kansas Professor to NRA: May Your Children be NextRecent news reports have noted al Qaeda’s calls for attacks inside the United States and on U.S. ambassadors around the world. The calls for attacks are justified–according to an al Qaeda spokesman–because these diplomats are “representative of the empire of evil and corruption, America.” Most Americans can only shudder at such outrageous public comments. The blind, unthinking hatred that underlies them is a sobering reminder of evil and the ever-present potential for violence that continues to promote conflict around the world. To label such comments as political speech or claim they have a rational place in public debate would surely be considered far-fetched, especially given al Qaeda’s record of giving action to this sort of rhetoric. But in the case of one University of Kansas professor, indulging in arguably even stronger rhetoric–publicly calling for the deaths of innocent children–is apparently his way of expressing himself as “an independent thinker.” |
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U.S. History Textbook Continues Tradition of Misinterpreting Second AmendmentRecent news out of Texas has pro-rights parents reaching for their children’s backpacks after it was revealed that a popular textbook used to teach high school advanced placement U.S. history courses includes a shocking misinterpretation of the Second Amendment. Published by AMSCO School Publications, Inc., and titled, United States History: Preparing for the Advanced Placement Exam, the 2010 edition of the textbook incorrectly summarizes the Second Amendment as meaning, “The people have the right to keep and bear arms in a state militia.” The Canejo Valley School District of Thousand Oaks, Calif., has made a copy of the entire text of the widely-used volume available on its website. |
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New Documentary to Illustrate History of Second Amendment and Current Firearm Policy DebatesAward-winning filmmaker Peter Jay Gould is now developing INFRINGED: Second Amendment in the Crosshairs, a new feature-length documentary designed to separate fact from fiction in today’s gun rights debate. “Our plan is to create a captivating, compelling, feature-length film comprised of dramatic historical reenactments, including a passionate presentation of the Founding Fathers’ original debate over the Bill of Rights,” said Gould. “We’ll track through the years, right on up to today, showing how the Second Amendment has served as the linchpin protecting all our other liberties.” |
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Go West, Young Man! An Ohio Activist’s Experience in the Colorado Recall ElectionsWhether across the street, across town, across the state line, or across the country, we as EVCs or NRA-ILA Volunteers, should not limit our volunteerism by self-imposed geographic borders. What we offer as experienced grassroots activists is unique, highly respected by those we assist, and feared by those who oppose us and the liberty we fight to protect. Just because the area you live in is not currently embroiled in a heated battle for our freedoms doesn’t mean you can’t lend your valuable assistance elsewhere. |
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013 Firearms Law & The Second Amendment SymposiumThe 2013 NRA “Firearms Law & The Second Amendment Symposium” will be held on Saturday, October 12th, at The University of Denver. Focusing on recent developments in our nation’s courts and legislatures regarding the Second Amendment, speakers will discuss and debate current Second Amendment developments and related issues. |
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From NRA-ILA:
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Total Recall: Colorado Lawmakers Ousted in Historic VoteWhen legislators disregard the voice and will of the people who vote them into office, the people should rightly vote those legislators out of office. On Tuesday, a historic grassroots effort by voters in Colorado resulted in just that–the recall of Colorado Senate President John Morse (D) and Senator Angela Giron (D). This week’s action represents the first recall of legislators in Colorado history. Tuesday’s vote sent a clear and unmistakable message to elected officials that their primary job is to listen to the people and defend their rights and freedoms, and that they are accountable to their constituents–not the dollars or social engineering agendas of out-of-state anti-gun billionaires. Simply put, legislators work for the voters, not the other way around! Recall proceedings began earlier this year, after Sens. Morse and Giron voted for anti-gun legislation that restricted the ability of law-abiding residents to exercise their Second Amendment rights, including their inherent right to self-defense. This effort was driven by concerned Coloradoans, who collected petition signatures, made phone calls, knocked on doors, and worked diligently to turn voters out in this historic effort. And despite massive spending by Michael Bloomberg and the anti-gun elitists, Sens. Morse and Giron are now looking for work. |
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Illinois Supreme Court Declares State’s Ban on Carrying Firearms UnconstitutionalIn an unusually forceful and straightforward opinion in the case of People v. Aguilar, the Supreme Court of Illinois unanimously held that the state’s “comprehensive ban” on the “use of an operable firearm for self-defense outside the home” is invalid on its face under the Second Amendment. The NRA had participated in the case with an amicus brief. The court surveyed the Supreme Court’s recent Second Amendment decisions, as well as state and federal precedents from courts in Illinois. Regarding the significance of the Supreme Court’s opinions, it declared: “neither Heller nor McDonald expressly limits the second amendment’s protections to the home. On the contrary, both decisions contain language strongly suggesting if not outright confirming that the second amendment right to keep and bear arms extends beyond the home.” It also characterized the Illinois law as “a wholesale statutory ban on the exercise of a personal right that is specifically named in and guaranteed by the United States Constitution….” According to the court, “In no other context would we permit this, and we will not permit it here either.” |
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His Group Honored the Boston Bomber
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More Guns, Less Murder?“Stampede” would only slightly exaggerate the speed with which anti-gun public health researchers responded to President Obama’s call for $10 million to fund “gun violence” research earlier this year. Within a short time, gun control-supporting number-crunchers who had been given tax dollars to produce “studies” promoting gun control in the 1990s, before Congress turned off the spigot, assembled in Washington, D.C., to compile a wish list of topics they want to be paid to “study” today. This week, Boston University researchers chimed in too, releasing a study to be published soon in the American Journal of Public Health, claiming to have found “a robust correlation between higher levels of gun ownership and higher firearm homicide rates.” Gun control advocates may want to hold off on popping champagne corks to celebrate, however. The study did not conclude that there is any cause-and-effect relationship between gun ownership and gun homicides. |
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In Mexico, Citizen Militias Take Up Arms to Protect Their CommunitiesAccording to an article published in the Washington Post this week, entitled, In volatile Mexican state, it’s citizens vs. cartels, residents across the Mexican state of Michoacan are increasingly organizing into citizen militias in order to combat the threat posed by one of the country’s most powerful and ruthless drug cartels. And despite strict federal laws barring most civilian firearm ownership, average citizens are arming themselves for the fight with everything from machetes to old hunting rifles, to firearms seized from their cartel enemies. The article describes the formation of the militias as a “desperate reaction” to a reign of terror carried out by Mexico’s third largest cartel, the Knights Templar. Cartel actions in the region include drug smuggling, general violence and intimidation, and an extortion racket that taxes every avenue of commerce, from the revenues of a taco stand to the wages of a farm laborer. Those who refuse to pay can be subject to having their loved ones kidnapped, or death. |
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Enter the SOG Knives NRA Giveaway!Enter the SOG Knives NRA Giveaway on Facebook! One winner will receive a Gunny Fixed Blade Knife. Five winners will receive a SEAL Pup Knife. The Gunny Fixed Blade Knife is a limited edition, heirloom-quality knife designed by R. Lee Ermey–aka “The Gunny”– and SOG Specialty Knives & Tools. Each knife is meticulously crafted using exotic Cocobolo hardwood handles which feature a stingray hide inlay along with nickel-plated replicas of the commemorative Gunny coin. |
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2013 Firearms Law & The Second Amendment SymposiumThe 2013 NRA “Firearms Law & The Second Amendment Symposium” will be held on Saturday, October 12th, at The University of Denver. Focusing on recent developments in our nation’s courts and legislatures regarding the Second Amendment, speakers will discuss and debate current Second Amendment developments and related issues. |
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