NY STATE NEWS

NY Assemblyman John W. Lavelle wants your guns, Sponsors A2466, bill to expand Assault Weapon to include almost all semi-autos and pump guns and end "grandfather clause"

MAYOR MIKE'S (anti-) GUN AGENDA

NATIONAL NEWS

PEW and other liberal foundations buys Campaign Finance Reform and hides their involvement.

Who`s Bankrolling The Enemy? Who is funding the anti-hunting/gun groups?

2005 Youth Summit Extends Deadline for Applications, FREE week in Washington DC and $20K in Scholarship money.

Philadelphia has 21 homicides eight days, Mayor calls for moratorium on the issuing of gun permits.

FBI Work Challenged, Conviction Negated

ILLINOIS ANTI-GUN ACTIVIST ARRESTED (WITH GUN IN HOME)

2005 Orange County Pistol League Results

     The final scores that were shot on 3/15/05 are in and this year's winner of the OCPL are in and Monroe Chester won again and by a slightly wider margin than they won last year. The final numbers are:

Highest averages were:

     The 22 Caliber Pistol League is a fall and winter bullseye league that shoots 12 scheduled matches at Master Class in Monroe. It follows the NRA Gallery Course and we shoot 60 rounds every other Wednesday with weeks off for holidays. The matches are registered with the NRA so that you can obtain a classifications. A total of 53 shooters participated in this years league with a total of 41 of them shooting the required 10 matches for classification. We want to thank all of those who shot in this year's event and if you want to join call Master Class and have them put your name on the list for next year. You can use any 22 caliber pistol and we normally have our first match in the first week of November. If you know that you will miss a match you can shoot ahead or if something comes up and you miss a match you can also shoot a make up. The course of fire is easy and fun a shooters of any level can shoot. Average scores ranged from a high of 578 to a low of 230. The average score of all shooters who shot the 10 round minimum was 505 for an average of 84.2%. (60 rounds are shot with a maximum of 10 points per shot for a perfect score of 600.)

2005 Annual March on Albany

     The weather was great this year and the bus was waiting at 6:30 AM at the Black Rock parking lot for our annual 2 hour bus ride to Albany to meet with our local legislatures from Orange County. The Orange County Federation of Sportsmens Clubs, Inc. sponsors this annual event including a stop on the way back home for a free lunch. We had several new faces on the bus this year along with some who had made this trip many times.
     Our main points were:No expansion of the Assault Weapons Ban or other gun bans, and no new anti-gun laws and no new gun control laws that are not approved by NYSPRA and other groups.
     We were able to meet with all of our legislatures except for Kirwin and Bonacic. All of the meetings went well but with the liberal anti-gun Democrats, mainly from the NY City area, in control of the Assembly, very little will change one way or the other as long as we can find enough votes in the Senate to block new anti-gun legislation. Most of the anti-gun laws are not written to reduce crime and are very poorly written so that it is almost impossible to understand what the impact will really be or, like the new AWB A 2466, are written so that they ban the so called bad guns along with everything else, including many of the guns we use for hunting and even the guns used in the Olympics.

				Our first meeting was with Nancy Calhoun, 96th, Blooming Grove. She has always been one of our strongest supports in all of our efforts. With the help of Barbra Dunn of her office, Nancy always stays well informed on the issues and acts based on knowledge and in the best interest of her constituents. We wish that half of the Assembly people were as well informed as Nancy is.
This is some of the legislation that WE SUPPORTED: A05093: Eliminates the pistol and revolver ballistic identification databank. The program has cost up to $4,000,000 a year and registered over 92,551 guns with no gun connected to any crime. We have wasted between $13,000,000 to $16,000,000 on this program in 4 years. A1536A/S2742: Junior Pistol licenses to persons between the ages of fourteen and twenty to permit training, target practice, hunting and shooting competition by such persons; provides that such activities be undertaken in the company of a lawfully licensed or exempt person. A-1815A/S-1536 (and several other bills): Creates junior big game hunting license for people between the ages of 14 and 16 years to hunt wild deer and bear during the hunting season. A-2047/S-158 (and several other bills): Prohibits counties and other local municipalities from regulating hunting, fishing, and trapping. Hunting: Open up more state owned lands for hunting, fishing and trapping and promote and provide incentives for counties to open up lands including private lands. We restate that we are opposed to the development of any New York State owned property and the closure of any hunting lands and parking access spaces.
		We are very fortunate to have one of the few Democrats in the Assembly who "Get it" and supports us. Aileen M. Gunther, 98th, Forestburgh understands our issues and helps us as much as she can.
					This is Annie Rabbitt's, 97th, Walkill, first year in the Assembly but we were impressed with how much she has learned in such a short time and we know that she will be a great asset in the future. When bills come up she makes sure that she contacts people back home so that she knows our position and is informed on the bill.
					Sen. William J. Larkin Jr.,39th, New Windsor and Sen. Thomas P. Morahan, 38TH, New City, held a meeting with us in one of the meeting rooms. Sen. John J. Bonacic, 42th, Mount Hope, was unable to attend but sent a representative. The discussions with Sen. Morahan, who supported the NY AW Ban and Sen. Larkin , who is at odds with us over the Stewart Buffer Lands, were frank and too the point and while we do not see "eye to eye" on all of the issues, they both are supportive of most of our main issues and promised that the worst of the legislation will not pass.
While the Federation sponsors the trip, members of the Orange County chapter of SCOPE not only went on the trip but also donated to help pay for the bus.

A group picture with Sen. Larkin and Sen. Morahan

     If you want to go on the next trip, we have this trip every year on the 3rd Tuesday of March.

Youth day at Monroe-Chester Sportsmen Club, Inc.
May 1st, and October 16th, 2005

     The Monroe-Chester Sportsmen Club's Youth Day is always a big event. Every year hundreds of young people are exposed to Archery, air pistol, skeet, sporting clays, 22 rifle, trap and a black powder exhibit in a safe and friendly environment at the twice a year events. It is a great educational opportunity for both the sport and to promote safety.
     If you want to go expect to be there early, the start time is 7:30 AM at the club on Gibson Hill Road. You must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian. This event is rain or shine and lunch will be provided. The RSVP date is two weeks before the event.

OCShooters.com Newsletter article picked up by GUN WEEK
GUN WEEK WEB SITE

     The national weekly newspaper, GUN WEEK, published a letter to the editor copied from the February OCShooters.com newsletter. The article "FBI 03 crime numbers v Brady's anti-gun rating for each state" was not submitted directly to GUN WEEK but must have been picked up from a copy of an e-mail forwarded by "Paul Gallant"'s gun news forwarding service. The letter did contain one minor typo.
     In the sentence: "If D.C. were included in the numbers the average rate of all as would have been 615 per 100,000." The "as" should have been "A"s to read "If D.C. were included in the numbers the average rate of all "A"s would have been 615 per 100,000."
      This is the second time that OCShooters.com has been reprinted in GUN WEEK. Thanks to whoever did it.

2005 Orange County Friends of the NRA Dinner a great success

     Everyone had a great time at the March 5th Dinner. Over 260 people attended and around $14,000 was raised for the NRA Foundation that spends the money on Education projects with 1/2 of that money staying in NY State. A lot of everything was given away in the various raffles, drawings, bucket raffles, auctions and silent auctions. None could have been happier than ME, George Rogero because I won, (with the help of my daughter who rolled the dice that produced the winning ticket,) a nice Remington Model 700 CDL in.204 Ruger caliber. Remington does not offer this gun in .204 Ruger, (a hot new 300 to 400 yard round that fires a 32 g bullet at 4,225 fps,) but the NRA had 425 made as prizes for the Friends of the NRA Dinners across the country. And don't think that I was the only gun winner, there were many of us and we had 4 drawings of the "Wall of Guns" alone, plus the many guns that were donated or that the NRA provided.
     If you missed this year's dinner, put a note somewhere to make sure that you catch the next one. The dinner is sponsored each year by the Orange County Federation off Sportsmen's Clubs with the help of many volunteers and donations from many local business, clubs and individuals. A big thanks to all of those who attended, helped or donated items.
     The next major event in going to be in October when the Orange County Federation off Sportsmen's Clubs is going to hold their own big Annual Dinner. It is run just about the same as the NRA dinner and gun and donations have already started to be collected.
     I have had an incredible run of luck and this is the third gun in a row that I have won and two of the drawings were at very high odds. I was lucky enough to win a Beretta shotgun in 12 g. with 2 barrels at the last Friends of the NRA Dinner last year, (click here to see the newsletter article.) And I won a nice Black Powder gun at the last Orange County Federation Dinner, (click here to see the newsletter article.) And now I won this rifle at this year's Friends of the NRA Dinner. You can bet that I will be at this October's Federation Dinner to see if I can make it 4 in a row. (I still need a good lever action 30-30 or 30-06.)
     Check back, I will be putting together a Photo Album of the event as soon as I can.

NY Assemblyman John W. Lavelle wants your guns
Sponsors A2466, bill to expand Assault Weapon to include almost all
semi-autos and pump guns and end "grandfather clause"

     From the arm pit of Staten Islands comes Democrat Assemblyman John W. Lavelle from the 61st Assembly District who wants to save the world by taking away your guns that he does not like. The NY Assault Weapon ban is not good enough for him. He wants to take away most of the Semi-automatic handguns and many target rifles and shotguns. If it is a handgun and holds more than 10 rounds, its an Assault Weapon. The bill only allows the person who owns the gun on 1/1/06 to own the gun and shoot it at a range. You don't get to buy new guns, sell yours or give yours away. He was kind enough to also include "ON PROPERTY OWNED OR IMMEDIATELY CONTROLLED BY THE PERSON," so it looks like you can use it to protect your home or business.

     The "THE FOLLOWING" has changed with the biggest being that just having a pistol grip, thumbhole stock or muzzle brake or compensator qualifies it as an assault weapon. If the mag holds more than 10 rounds even if it is fixed, it qualifies as an "Assault Weapon."
     If you have an "Assault Weapon" you have one of 3 choices. Make it "PERMANENTLY INOPERABLE," turn it in to the police or turn it in to the NY State Police to have it fired, the data registered in the CoBIS data base, and have a NICS check done before you can get it back.
     This is not the only gun bills that this savior of humanity has sponsored. He has two other gun bills for your consideration. If A00405 passes, if you have a firearm stolen and the police find it with a criminal before you find out that it was stolen then you will get: "IN THE POSSESSION OF ANY PERSON WANTED FOR ARREST FOR ANY CRIME OR USED DURING THE COMMISSION OF ANY CRIME SHALL BE PUNISHABLE BY A FINE NOT TO EXCEED FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS AND ... SHALL BE PROHIBITED FROM PURCHASING ANY FIREARM, RIFLE OR SHOTGUN FOR A PERIOD OF FIVE YEARS."
     If your gun is lost or stolen and you report it, A00406 you will be "PROHIBITED FROM PURCHASING ANY FIREARM, RIFLE OR SHOTGUN FOR A PERIOD OF ONE YEAR FROM THE DATE SUCH REPORT IS MADE" (I guess that you will not wait till you buy another gun to report the loss or theft.)

I reformatted the proposed law so that it is easier to read.

 S 2. Subdivision 22 of section 265.00 of the penal law is REPEALED and a new subdivision 22 is added to read as follows:
22. "Assault weapon" means any:
(A) Semi-automatic or pump-action rifle that has the capacity to accept a detachable magazine and has one or more of the following:

(i) a pistol grip;
(ii) a second handgrip or a protruding grip that can be held by the non-trigger hand;
(iii) a folding, telescoping or thumbhole stock;
(iv) a shroud attached to the barrel, or that partially or completely encircles the barrel, allowing the bearer to hold the firearm with the non-trigger hand without being burned, but excluding a slide that encloses the barrel; or
(v) a muzzle brake or muzzle compensator;

(B) Semi-automatic pistol, or any semi-automatic, centerfire rifle with a fixed magazine, that has the capacity to accept more than ten rounds of ammunition;
(C) Semi-automatic pistol that has the capacity to accept a detachable magazine and has one or more of the following:

(i) a second handgrip or a protruding grip that can be held by the non-trigger hand;
(ii) a folding, telescoping or thumbhole stock;
(iii) a shroud attached to the barrel, or that partially or completely encircles the barrel, allowing the bearer to hold the firearm with the non-trigger hand without being burned, but excluding a slide that encloses the barrel;
(iv) a muzzle brake or muzzle compensator; or
(v) the capacity to accept a detachable magazine at any location outside of the pistol grip;

(D) Semi-automatic shotgun that has one or more of the following:

(i) a pistol grip or a vertical handgrip;
(ii) a folding, telescoping or thumbhole stock;
(iii) a fixed magazine capacity in excess of five rounds; or
(iv) an ability to accept a detachable magazine;

     The NY Post has come out with a pro-gun editorial that states "A bill in Congress to block lawsuits against gun-makers is hardly a perfect answer to litigious gun-control activists, but it seems the best recourse nonetheless. ...
     The article points out the problem caused by NY City's new law that allows law suits against gun makers that would, "hold a perfectly legal industry responsible for the illegal use of its products." and ask the question, "Should other legal products be targeted because their illegal or inappropriate use leads to injury and death? "

PEW and other liberal foundations buys Campaign Finance Reform
and hides their involvement.

     Who paid for the Campaign Finance Reform? 88% of it or over $123 million came from eight liberal foundations. Their totals were: Pew Charitable Trusts ($40.1 million), the Schumann Center for Media and Democracy ($17.6 million), the Carnegie Corporation of New York ($14.1 million), the Joyce Foundation ($13.5 million), George Soros' Open Society Institute ($12.6 million), the Jerome Kohlberg Trust ($11.3 million), the Ford Foundation ($8.8 million) and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation ($5.2 million).
     Never heard of some of them? How about the left wing groups that these foundations support like: Earth Action Network, the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, People for the American Way, Planned Parenthood, the Public Citizen Foundation, the Feminist Majority Foundation .
      How did they do it? By funding people, groups and making up people who were pushing for reform because they knew that if just these liberal foundations wanted it, congress would never pass it.
     CLICK HERE FOR THE NY POST ARTICLE.

APRIL NEWSLETTER

     The Youth Education Summit's (YES) deadline for applications was March 15, the deadline has been extended and applications will be accepted though April 18. The summit is a seven-day, all expense paid educational experience in Washington, D.C., for high school sophomores and juniors. The National Rifle Association launched the YES Program in an effort to encourage America's youth to become active and knowledgeable citizens. While in the nation's capital, students learn the significance of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights while developing an understanding of federal government and the importance of active participation in civic affairs.
      YES activities include: . Active daytime participation in an obstacle course at the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Virginia . Competitive debates with other high school students from across the nation . Guest speakers and research time at NRA headquarters and the National Firearms Museum . Informative tours and independent time at historic sites and monuments in Washington, D.C
      In addition to spending a fun-filled week learning about the U.S. government, YES participants compete for $20,000 in college scholarships. The first round of awards is given at the conclusion of the YES program and is comprised of $10,000. Participants are judged based on their initial application, on-site debates and participation during the week. Multiple students receive scholarships in the first round and the total number of students selected dictates how much each student will receive. The sum of all first round scholarships is not greater than $10,000.
      The second round of scholarship awards is given to only one student. It is comprised of $10,000 and involves a second application, available to the participants after they go through the YES program. This scholarship is referred to as the Grand Scholarship.
      The April 18 deadline is approaching soon so get the word out to outstanding high school sophomores and juniors in your area. Applications must be postmarked by the 18th, good luck! Additional information and an application for the 2005 Youth Education Summit is available online at www.nrafoundation.org/friends/yes.
      The program takes place June 20-26 in Washington, DC. Chosen applicants will have an expense paid trip to Washington with 40 of their peers from across the nation to participate in a fun-filled week.
      Please contact Karen Evans or Brooke Berthelsen for more information about this program.

  FBI Work Challenged, Conviction Negated
By DAVID PACE, Associated Press Writer
CLICK HERE FOR THE WHOLE ARTICLE

   "WASHINGTON - An FBI crime lab technique used for decades to match bullets to crimes — and relied on by prosecutors in hundreds of criminal trials — is based on "erroneous scientific foundations," a New Jersey appeals court has ruled.
      In a decision Monday overturning a 1997 murder conviction, the court said Michael S. Behn deserves a new trial because expert testimony based on the FBI technique was central to his conviction. "
     The test involves the testing of the metal from bullets that have been recovered and comparing its trace metal components to bullets found that are connected to a suspect. Test have found that this type of matching is unreliable

ILLINOIS ANTI-GUN ACTIVIST ARRESTED (WITH GUN IN HOME),
CCRKBA SAYS 'WELCOME TO THE PARTY'
CLICK HERE FOR THE ARTICLE

For Immediate Release: March 1, 2005
      The arrest of a Springfield, IL anti-gun activist by police who allegedly found an illegal handgun and drugs in her home during a contested search prompted the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms to bid Annette "Flirty" Stevens a "welcome to the party."
     Stevens became an activist with the Million Mom March after her son was gunned down in 2002. She has acknowledged having the gun – from which the serial number had been removed – in her home. The handgun belonged to her late son, Jericko Clark, she insisted, and she had simply wrapped it up and forgotten about it after finding it several months after his slaying. She claims the search was illegal.
     "Annette Stevens may now understand why so many law-abiding people are fed up with the kind of gun laws that are promoted by the Million Mom March and other extremist gun control organizations," said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. "Ironically, the law against filing serial numbers off firearms is one that gun rights activists and organizations have long supported. Yet here she is, this ‘poster mom' for gun control, acknowledging that she has kept an illegally-altered handgun in her home while she's been campaigning to deprive other citizens of their firearms.
     "In the kind of Draconian anti-gun society Stevens and her cohorts are trying to create," Gottlieb continued, "it wouldn't matter if she were innocent as she claims. Under the laws her group supports, gun owners are essentially considered guilty until they prove themselves otherwise. That's everything from background checks to waiting periods, and certainly the Illinois requirement that gun owners have a Firearms Owners Identification Card. Stevens has no FOID card, so there's another gun law violation. There are thousands of local and state laws across the country that the Million Moms support, none of which have done anything to prevent a single crime. All they do is chip away at the gun rights of law-abiding citizens.
     "If Stevens is so convinced guns don't belong in society," Gottlieb observed, "then why didn't she immediately turn that gun over to the police when she found it more than two years ago? Why did she keep it? What's wrong with this picture? Ms. Stevens is about to learn that supporting gun control is like keeping a vicious dog. They sometimes bite the hands that feed them."
     With more than 650,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is one of the nation's premier gun rights organizations. As a non-profit organization, the Citizens Committee is dedicated to preserving firearms freedoms through active lobbying of elected officials and facilitating grass-roots organization of gun rights activists in local communities throughout the United States. The Citizens Committee can be reached by phone at (425) 454-4911, on the internet at www.ccrkba.org or by email to InformationRequest@ccrkba.org.
     OTHER ARTICLES: Anti-gun activist arrested after firearm found at home "The handgun, which had a scratched-off serial number, and drugs allegedly were discovered ... inside Stevens' home ... detectives working on the drive-by cases - which already have resulted in four arrests - began taking a closer look at Stevens after her name came up in interviews with witnesses and informants.