"You also can check out www.ocshooters.com for additional coverage and information on local, state and national issues affecting outdoor sports. It has excellent links to sites that provide information you need to be an informed and educated voter."

  Thanks to David and make sure that you read his article every Tuesday in the T H-R.

Middletown Pistol and Rifle Club leads Orange County Pistol League

     The Middletown Pistol and Rifle Club is leading the Orange County Pistol League by 91 points after 8 weeks. The Pleasantville Team is in second place and with 4 weeks remaining and it is still an open race because 91 points only represents 0.5% of the over 17,634 total points that the MPRA team has scored so far this season. Last year Pleasantville won by only 3 points out of 26,560 total points shot.
     The Pleasantville Team has won 4 of the 8 meets, MPRA has won 3 and we have had one tie but the Pleasantville Team dropped 182 points the opening week of the hunting season when only one out of their 4 top shooters showed up. It is still a neck and neck race and if the top shooters of the Middletown fail to show one week the lead could change again.
     The Orange County Pistol League is a 22 Caliber, NRA registered league that anyone can shoot in. Shooters of every level from novice first time shooters to . CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION.

Assemblywoman Nancy Calhoun takes oath of office.

     96th District, Blooming Grove, Assemblywoman Nancy Calhoun took her oath of office on 1/17/03 at the Central Valley School. She was given the oath by Judge Stewart Rosenwasser. Others on stage were our new Sheriff Carl DuBois

NYSCC annual March on Albany announced.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION

OCFSC members meet with Sen. Larkin and Morahan in 2002
CLICK HERE TO SEE A REPORT AND PICTURES ON LAST YEAR'S TRIP

     March 18th is the date of this years annual "MARCH ON ALBANY" coordinated by the New York State Conservation Council, Inc.. Every year sportsmen and sportswomen for across the state meet with the their representatives in Albany. We usually leave around 7:30 or 8:00 AM, stop for a quick breakfast and this year we will have our first meeting at 10:30 AM with our Senators. Transportation is provided by the Orange County Federation of Sportsmens Clubs, Inc. so it is a free trip for anyone who wants to go. After our meetings we stop for a quick meal on the way back and return to Orange County between 3:30 and 4:00 PM.
     It is important that you go with us this year. Please plan to go and see if you can bring a friend. E-Mail me if you want to go.

Carl DuBois takes over Sheriff's Department

     Sheriff Carl DuBois took over control of the Orange County Sheriff's Department on January 1st after being sworn in at a ceremony held in the new Orange County Court building. The ceremony was attended by several hundred people, was standing room only and included the Hudson Valley Regional Police Pipe & Drum and Boy Scout Troop 62 from Goshen.
     It will take several months for the new Sheriff to make changes in the department. Those changes have been complicated by on-going investigation into the involvement of several department employees who were involved in falsifying petitions in an attempt to get Sheriff Bigger on the Independent Party Line in last year's September Primary. (CLICK HERE FOR AUG. NEWSLETTER STORY.) Those employees have had to be assigned to desk jobs during the investigation.
     Plans to put the Orange County Jail under control of a newly created department have been shelved and the idea put on hold by the county legislature while they wait to see what changes are made and how Sheriff DuBois runs the jail. Changes are going to be made in every department and in the ID section that does the Pistol License checks.

T H-R Article on "County destroys surrendered weapons" misleading.
CLICK HERE FOR THE WHOLE ARTICLE

CLICK ON THE PICTURE TO SEE A BIGGER PICTURE.

A not very well written article in the T H-R confused some people about when, why and what guns are ordered destroyed by the OC Sheriff's Department. They are following NY State law outlined in PL 400. 1. The article was poorly written and did not correctly explain what the Sheriff's Department was doing. (Typical of the T H-R) 2. Crime guns are checked to see if they are stolen 3 times. The first time locally when the guns are turned in. The information about the gun is then sent to Albany where they check again and then when the guns are going to be destroyed they are checked again locally. All checks are against national data bases of stolen guns. 3. Even if a stolen gun is used in a crime the owner can request that the gun be returned. (A gun owner might have bought a new gun with the insurance money that he got for the stolen gun. I can think of other reasons that someone might not want a gun back.) The Judge would then decide if the gun should be returned and if so issue an order. 4. Most guns turned in or taken because of orders of protection, divorce, ... are returned.    If you turn in a gun and do not go back to pick it up within a year you loose the gun under NY State law.

I can not get upset if a gun that was purchased illegally and held illegally and used in a crime is destroyed. Would it be nice if some of the guns could be sold to raise money? Yes! Do I think that the 2nd Amendment is violated if these guns are cut up? NO! Guns do not have rights, only people have rights and only if they are not criminals.       Again, the article was printed on Dec. 30th and the new Sheriff had nothing to do with it.

2002 Pistol License applications for Orange County

Putnam County Clerk wants hands-on training
and 5 year renewable handgun licenses.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE WHOLE ARTICLE IN THE THE JOURNAL NEWS

     Putnam County Clerk Dennis Sant wants to follow the lead of Westchester by asking for hands-on training as a condition of obtaining pistol permits and by mandating that licenses be renewed every five years. Westchester County Clerk Leonard Spano said there were 63,200 pistol permits when he was first elected in 1994. "A lot of the people were dead, moved away. It was a useless list," he said. Now, it has been pared down to about 17,000, and people pay $10 every five years to renew.
     " I expect to keep my records up-to-date, and in order to do this, I need to be kept up-to-date," Sant said. In Putnam, there are about 10,000 pistol permits, according to the County Clerk's Office.
     The county Legislature would have to pass a home-rule request for the state to act, since the proposed legislation would cover only Putnam. The law would then have to be passed in the Assembly and Senate and signed by Gov. Mario Pataki.
      Dennis Sant was kind enough to return my phone call and we had a long talk about his proposal about renewable licenses. My main points:

• PL 400 does not give the county clerks office the responsible of or give it the authority to removing from the list of Pistol License holders those who have died or moved. (That is why they need the new law.)
• No harm is done by having a license record of someone who has moved or died. (A license can not be transferred and if someone moves out of the state and they return if they have an out of state license the pistol license is no good and you get arrested and your guns taken away.
• The legislature knew when they passed the law that people would die and move and it could have passed renewable licenses but they knew that at some point that renewable licenses would be abused
• Nassau County needed more money for their budget so they raised the fee for the license to $200 for 5 years. (How is anyone going to protest? What are you going to do not renew your license. They know where you live. How many people gave up their license and their guns because to the fees?
• NY City has renewable licenses and they just decided to not issue licenses under section "F" of PL 400, their so-called "Target" license, they will only issue "Premise" licenses and that makes it illegal for anyone in NY City to take their handguns out of NY City for any reason. (NY City claims that you can use it for hunting but the NY State Police do not agree.)

      His main points were:

• He has a lot of files that take up a lot of room.
• His files are not "accurate" because some of the people who have licenses are dead or have moved and he is worried about what happened to the guns on the licenses.

     He is going to try to correct the information using other means for now, (voter list, driving licenses list.) We did not talk about the required hands-on training.

Castle Point Air Rifle Team wins competition
by Barbara Bedell. 1/15/03 Times Herald-Record
CLICK HERE FOR THE WHOLE ARTICLE

CLICK ON PICTURE TO SEE ADDITIONAL PICTURES

     More than a hundred wheelchairs rolled into the gym at Castle Point last week for the Regional Air Rifle Competition. All eyes were on the shooters and the targets pinned to a board. It was an upbeat crowd with lots of energy.
     The competition, in its second year, brought an enthusiastic crowd. Co-sponsored by the VA Hudson Valley Health Care System, the Eastern Paralyzed Veterans Association, and the National Rifle Association. Most of the competitors are military veterans, but the competition is open to any citizen who is paralyzed. Many of the competitors live in VA hospitals. Among the competitors were teams from VA hospitals at Castle Point, the Bronx, East Orange, New Jersey and Lebanon, Pa.
Winners were:
- Quad Support Assisted Stand Division – Charlie Brown, first; Paul Foley, second; Kenny Gayle, third. All are from Castle Point.
- Quad Support Stand Division – Edward Horvat, Castle Point, first; Donald Young, Bronx, second; Douglas Nealons, Bronx, third.
- Para-Support Stand Division – Don Plunkett, New Windsor, first; Ken Walters, Lebanon, Pa., second; Dave Kleinfelter, Lebanon, Pa., third.
- Para-Free Hand Division – Frank Javorka, first; Joe Dunn, second; Chris Fidler, third. All are from Lebanon, Pa.
     Although this was Castle Point's first year as host, Nancy Winter, public affairs specialist, said it will return to the Beacon hospital next year (last year, it was held in the Bronx). "Our central location made it easier for more people to attend this year," she said. For information, call 838-5234.

Big Gun Bust in B'klyn
CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL ARTICLE

     As part of “Operation Young Guns,” a total of 59 guns - ranging from semiautomatic handguns to AK-47s - were bought by the officer, all from illegal sellers in the area of the Kingsborough Houses in Crown Heights. Thirty-six people, most of them members of either the Black, Quest, or Vel’s Crew gangs, were arrested between Monday night and yesterday morning, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said. The officer also bought more than 40 bags of crack and heroin, Kelly said.
      U.S. Attorney Roslynn Mauskopf said the leaders of the gun operation typically used 16-year-olds to make deliveries. “The adults and the leaders of the crews would arrange the transaction and they would leave the dirty work up to the juveniles,” she said.
      Most of the suspects will be prosecuted in federal, rather than state, courts, where they face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years if convicted. The mandatory sentence in local courts is two years, officials said. The stiffer penalties can act as a deterrent to illegal gun traders, Kelly said. The undercover officer infiltrated the gangs, buying 59 guns over the past several months for an average price of $850 and as much as $2,000 each. Twenty-five of those arrested were gang members, and several are career criminals, Kelly said.
      Again the NY City police have paid criminals over $50,000 to buy 59 guns. How many other guns were sold while they were waiting to build a bigger case. What is wrong with this picture?

OUCH!! Gun in pants shoots suspect, police say
1/28/03, The Advocate Online, Baton Rouge, LA
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE ARTICLE

      A man accused of robbing two people in an apartment wounded himself in the genitals when the gun stuffed in his pants went off during the getaway, police said.
      Officers responding to the robbery found 19-year-old Jasen Gins lying on the ground screaming in the parking lot at 11588 N. Harrell's Ferry Road about 10:30 p.m. Friday, police spokesman Cpl. Don Kelly said.
      Gins and two other robbers allegedly forced their way into an apartment, held up two men at gunpoint and fled, Kelly said. The other robbers are still at large, he said.
      Gins, 16064 Derby Drive, told police he had been shot during a robbery, but Kelly said the bullet went through his underwear and into his leg. No bullet holes were found in his pants to support his claim that he'd been shot by someone else, Kelly said.
       After receiving medical treatment, Gins was booked Saturday into Parish Prison on a count of armed robbery.

George (Loony,) Clooney makes fun of Charlton Heston's illness.
CLICK HERE FOR THE WORLD NET DAILY ARTICLE
(For those of you who were thinking of going to see
"Confessions of a Dangerous Mind")

What's up with George Clooney?
Actor's become the angriest man in Hollywood
Posted: January 20, 2003
9:20 p.m. Eastern

     In receiving a special filmmaking achievement award from the National Board of Reviews, actor George Clooney joked that "Charlton Heston announced again today that he is suffering from Alzheimer's."
      Clooney still had a chance to apologize for the bad humor day. When questioned about the remark by New York Newsday, Clooney sputtered: "I don't care. Charlton Heston is the head of the National Rifle Association. He deserves whatever anyone says about him."
      Clooney, it turns out, is active in gun control and an increasing number of other political causes. He embraces the term "political liberal," he says. And he's become a major Hollywood critic of the impending war in Iraq – and of its author, President Bush.
      He says President Bush would fit in just fine with New Jersey's favorite crime family. "The government itself is running exactly like the Sopranos," he tells talk-show host Charlie Rose tonight. Clooney says Bush has cut deals with France and Russia so the United Nations Security Council won't complain when "we go into a war [with Iraq] and kill a lot of innocent people."
     " [Bush says,] 'France, you're getting the pipelines,'" Clooney quips. "Are we going to try and talk [to Saddam Hussein] without jumping in and killing people first?" asks Clooney. "I don't believe we're going to wait until the last resort to do it. That's what bothers me."
Clooney's latest directorial project is "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind."

The following is a letter to the editor that I sent to the World Net Daily:

What's up with George Clooney?
Clooney makes fun of about Charlton Heston's illness and the NRA while at the same time the movie that he just directed is about how Chuck Barris from “The Gong Show” and “The Dating Game.” is a CIA agent who makes hits while chaperoning contestants who’ve won vacation prizes. The trailer on TV even shows Barris shooting a handgun that one has to assume is aimed at someone's head. George Clooney is against guns unless he can glorify using one to kill someone so that he can make a buck off of it.

For HCI more murders = "A" grade

     The BRADY CAMPAIN, aka HCI, just released its grades for all 50 states. (NY could only rate a "B+", I wonder why they left out Washington, D.C.?) Just to compare two states, Maryland got an "A". They even got: "EXTRA CREDIT: Ballistic fingerprint handguns, handgun safety training, one-handgun-a-month, ban on assault weapons and large magazines." Virginia got a "C-" and they even got "DEMERIT: Prohibits lawsuits against gun industry, preempted local laws on guns in city buildings." So you would think that you would be safer in Maryland than Virginia. WRONG!!!
      In a 1/19/03 article, Maryland Firing Blanks in the Washington Post, all of the restrictions and regulations that got Maryland its "A" from the Handgun Control, Inc. are listed and all of the reasons that Virginia got an "C-" including the fact that they issue "Concealed Carry License" that does not include police discretion, training requirements and, worse of all, reciprocity.
   The article then states:

     So are Marylanders a lot safer than Virginians? Quite the opposite. FBI data show that in 2000 (the most recent year for which figures are available), on a per capita basis Maryland ranked third in murders and first in robberies among the states, while Virginia ranked 15th in murders and 27th in robberies. Maryland had a firearm-related murder rate of 5.9 per 100,000 residents, while Virginia's rate was almost 70 percent lower, at 1.8 incidents per 100,000 residents. Maryland also doesn't stack up well nationally. Its firearm murder rate in 2000 was nearly double (190 percent) the national rate, while Virginia's rate was 42 percent below the national rate.
     What has Virginia done that has made its residents safer than Marylanders -- other than not passing "progressive" gun laws? In 1995 it enacted a law that allows law-abiding residents to carry concealed firearms. After an initial increase in the rate of firearm-related homicides, by 2000 Virginia's firearm-related homicide rate declined by 22 percent.