DECEMBER 1999

I am changing the format slightly this month so that it is, I hope, easier to find and read things of interest to you.  Click on the topic to link to more information or a web site.

LOCAL & STATE

NATIONAL NEWS



Republicans selecting nomination for open Family Court Judge seat.

     QUESTION: Who will serve over 10 years issuing Pistol Licenses and can decide if and how to issue a pistol license and what, if any restrictions will be placed on your license?
     ANSWER:  The person that the Orange County Republican Committee will nominate as their candidate for the year 2000 elections and who will probably be appointed by Gov. Pataki to fill the seat until the elections.
     Who should care?  All gun owners in Orange County and the people living in the following areas:

Town of Highlands, City of Port Jervis, Towns of Deerpark, Greenville, Goshen, Minisink
     Meetings will be held in January and February to help select the candidate out of the 6 that are running.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION



THE NEWBURGH RANGE IS OPEN

    THE NEWBURGH RANGE opened on December, 1st.  It is in the same location as the old X-ring.  The indoor 25 yard range has 15 positions with returning targets.  They charge $10 a hour for range time and offer a 6 month memberships for $125.  They have targets and ammo now and are waiting for their FFL.  CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE ABOUT THE NEWBURGH RANGE.


The FIREARM ACCIDENT PREVENTION INSTRUCTION PROGRAM, A2045 .

    The NYSPRA has sent out an ALERT that this bill will be going to Pataki’s desk for his signature.  It is important that this bill get the attention that it deserves.  I guess that they planned to send it now thinking that no one would notice.  Call, e-mail and write Pataki and let him know that we want this bill signed.
    The Bill passed the Assembly because the anti-gunners did not know that it was not an anti-gun bill or what the Eddie Eagle Program that it talked about was or that the NRA had anything to do with it.  When it got to the Senate the anti-gunners had found out and tried to defeat it but it still passed.  The bill would allow all "CLASSROOMS, YOUTH PROGRAMS, SUMMER CAMPS AND DAY-CARE CENTERS.", to get Eddie Eagle material by ordering it from the DEC free of charge.  Call Gov. Pataki, your Senator or Assembly Person and ask them to push the bill.
    I asked NYSPRA what was going on and they said, "The bill MUST be passed to the Governor by December 31 - they have no way to stop it (it will not "die out"). As far as I have been able to tell, the Governor will be signing the bill. As soon as the bill is sent to the Governor I will be sending out e-mails to everyone I know to contact the Governor and urge him to sign."
    The NYSPRA has not sent out the e-mails.  It is up to you.

CLICK HERE TO E-MAIL GOV. PATAKI.  (Cut and paste the above name and # of the bill to your e-mail.)
CLICK HERE TO LOOK UP YOUR SENATOR'S OR ASSEMBLY PERSONS PHONE/E-MAIL/ADDRESS
CLICK HERE TO LOOK UP THE BILL, SEARCH FOR A2045.


Pataki is set to VETO Eddie the Eagle Bill!

From:             "John L. Cushman" <jcushman@juno.com>

Immediate Action Needed
Governor Pataki Threatens to Veto Eddie Eagle Bill

    Senate Sponsors of A. 2045 / S. 4057 have informed SCOPE this afternoon that Governor Pataki intends to veto A. 2045 / S. 4057, unless the legislature agrees to the governor's proposed amendments.
    As a reminder, this legislation would make available to schools and other organizations in New York State a gun safety program for children kindergarten through 6th grade, with the theme, "STOP!  Don't Touch.  Leave the Area.  Tell an Adult," when they encountered a firearm.
    Governor Pataki has said he will veto the bill unless the following amendments are made to the bill:

    Please contact the governor's office immediately!!!  Tell him you support this legislation as written and that the children of New York need and deserve this bill, urge him to sign A. 2045 / S. 4057.
    The governor is considering this bill as this alert is written, your immediate calls are needed, it is to late for letters.  Please call
Governor Pataki at :
                Phone: 518-474-8390
I encourage you to forward this alert to others.

WATERBURY, CONN. ANTI-GUN SUITE DISMISSED

WATERBURY, Conn. (AP) - A state judge on Friday dismissed the city of Bridgeport's lawsuit that sought to make gun makers responsible for the costs associated with gun violence.
Superior Court Judge Robert F. McWeeny agreed with gun makers who argued the city did not have legal standing to sue because the city had not suffered any direct injuries from guns.
``The plaintiffs have no statutory or common law basis to recoup their expenditures. They lack any statutory authorization to initiate such claims,'' McWeeny wrote. Bridgeport Mayor Joseph Ganim said the city would appeal.


Fifth Circuit Appeal of Emerson pro RKBA case.
    Dr. Emerson was getting a divorce from him wife and really started acting like a class A jerk.  In the process he pulled a gun on his wife and made possibly threatening statements against her life and others so she got a restraining order against him.  This case defiantly proves the idea that lawsuits over our civil rights are fought using cases with defendants that are the world's lowest low lives.
    Timothy Emerson violated the federal law barring gun ownership by people under state restraining orders in domestic disputes. A federal grand jury indicted Emerson, who was "greatly surprised" to learn that he may have violated any law.. U.S. District Court Judge Sam Cummings dismissed the case and found that the law denying guns to those under a restraining order was an unconstitutional infringement of the "individual right to bear arms."   The federal law, Cummings wrote, "is unconstitutional because it allows a state court divorce proceeding, without particularized findings of the threat of future violence, to automatically deprive a citizen of his Second Amendment rights."
    The Federal Government has now filled a appeal of Judge Cummings ruling that states that the Second Amendment is not an individual right and that even if it was, the federal government can still pass laws to regulate and control gun ownership.  Go to the Second Amendment Foundation web site for all of the information and SAF will be filing an Amicus Brief on Dec. 21.

ANTI-GUN CLINTON

 12/8/99 Clinton announces that the Federal Government will sue gun makers with a national class action gun suite if they do not do what he wants and what he can not get passed in congress.  Trigger locks and "smart gun" are two of the requirements.  (If all else fails, blackmail them with lawsuits.)  Just remember that every gun sold by an FFL now has to have government approval.  Related news is that some of the insurance companies that would normally pay the legal fees are refusing to pay or just do not have the money to pay the millions of dollars that the legal bills will cost.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE AP ARTICLE.

MAYORS FACE LAWSUIT FILED TUESDAY BY GUN OWNER GROUP

WASHINGTON, DC (Tuesday, November 30, 1999) - The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), a firearms civil rights legal defense, research and educational organization, has filed a federal lawsuit today in Washington, DC against the U.S.
Conference of Mayors (USCM) and certain individual mayors for conspiracy to violate civil and constitution rights, including
the First, Second and Ninth Amendments, as well as the creation of undue burden on lawful interstate commerce.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO: http://www.saf.org/pub/rkba/press-releases/MayorsLawsuitFiled.html


DEBATE BY LOTT

    There will be a debate on Dec. 13, 1999 on the topic of, "More Guns,  Less Crime?".   Professor John Lott, Jr. will be in our corner vs. Prof. David Yassky in the other corner.
     Topic:     More Guns, Less Crime?
     Place:     Cornell Club
                     6 East 44th Street
                     New York, NY  10017
                     (212) 986-0300
     Date:      Monday, December 13th, 1999
     Time:     6:00 PM.
     RSVP:    Mark Schuman at: (212) 578-9043
Please RSVP to Mark Schuman at: (212) 578-9043.  I am told it is free  and open to the public.
Show your support to Professor Lott and the cause, while also getting an education in Liberty.


CONGRESS ADJOURNS WITHOUT PASSING NEW GUN CONTROL LAWS.

NRA-ILA Fax Alert, Vol. 6, No. 46 - 11/24/99 CONGRESS ADJOURNS FOR 1999

    Congress adjourned for the year this week, ending the first session of the 106th Congress, and thanks to your efforts, no new federal gun restrictions were passed in 1999! Juvenile justice reform legislation, the vehicle the anti-gunners tried to use to further their efforts to destroy the Second Amendment, remained bottled up in a House-Senate conference committee, and never came up for a final vote. However, we can anticipate that the Clinton-Gore Administration and its followers will redouble their attacks on our right to keep and bear arms in mid January, when Congress is scheduled to reconvene.

Million Mother March Planned for Mothers day in Washington, DC for Gun Control.

    MASS -- Mothers Against Senseless Shooting - a movement to protect America's children from guns. It's time for mothers to make their voices heard. An off shoot of HCI is planning a march for Mothers Day.  The want:  Sensible "Cooling Off" Periods and Background Checks, License Handgun Owners and Register All Handguns, Safety Locks for All Handguns, Limit Purchases to one-handgun-per-month among other things.  They have a web site and the support of HCI.  They awarded an Apple Pie Award to Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell for his anti-gun work and his gun buy back program.  Majority Whip Tom Delay got the "Time out Chair" award for standing up for our rights.  They failed to mention the Democrats who voted against additional gun control.  See for yourself at:

http://www.millionmommarch.com/