May 3, 2019 Newsletter by Jeff Pittman
NRA troubles
- NRA Meetings NOT Quite Wrapped Up [The Outdoor Wire]
- An Open Letter to NRA Board Members From a Former Employee [The Truth About Guns]
- Letter from Wayne LaPierre to the NRA Board [.pdf document]
If I understand correctly, Oliver North did not resign but rather announced that he’d been informed that he would not be nominated for reelection by the establishment — in essence that he was being fired as president. The NRA presidency, historically, had been a one-year term, filled by the first vice president, with a major exception having been made for Charlton Heston due to his immense popularity. We also note that when the last former NRA president Pete Brownell unexpectedly resigned and North was elected, both the first and second vice presidents — Richard Childress and Carolyn D. Meadows, had declined to serve at that time. I don’t know why we would have first and second vice presidents who can’t/won’t serve when the president leaves. What else do we need them for?
Last Monday, the Board named 83-year-old Carolyn Meadows as its new president, skipping over Mr. Childress, and voted unanimously to renew Mr. LaPierre as executive vice president and CEO, as well as retaining all the other officers, during a 9-1/2 hour executive session meeting. Mr. Childress reportedly lost his position as NRA first vice president to Charles Cotton, but remained on the Board, and former president North was also given a lifetime appointment to the NRA’s executive council. The slate of NRA officer candidates was decided upon, and nominated by, the NRA Board of Directors nominating committee. There were no other nominations from the floor, and therefore no opposing nominations, so the vote was done by acclamation, not roll call vote.
This is why I’ve been voting only for petition-nominated Board candidates. Did/do you vote in NRA elections? Do it. 2,452,893 ballots were bound in the official magazines of the NRA for this year’s board election. 145,920 ballots received back, of which 141,101 were valid. That’s less than 5% of eligible voting members (total membership is around 5+ million). Pathetic. Bloomberg could easily hire 150,000 minions to be members and outvote us.
The official attendance at the NRA Annual Meeting in Indianapolis was approximately 81,000.
United Nations Arms Trade Treaty
President Donald Trump said that he would pull out of the UN Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), a global 2014 gun control pact designed to regulate the sale of conventional weapons, from small arms to battle tanks. President Trump signed a document at the NRA meeting, asking the US Senate to immediately stop the ratification process and send the agreement back to him so he could rescind US participation.
The treaty negotiations began in 2012 under the purview of the United Nations. Former US Secretary of State John Kerry signed it in 2013 during the Obama administration. The US was the 91st country to sign the ATT, and it took effect in 2014. The US Senate never ratified the treaty, and the GOP-led chamber was not currently considering it.
I’m not sure this “unsigning” is much more than a political gesture, as any future president could “re-sign” it.
However, while never ratified by the US Senate, even unsigned treaties can be dangerous when they attempt to bind the United States to refrain from any act that would defeat the “object and purpose” of the treaty. Also, the ATT was drafted with the express purpose of allowing future foreign officials to be able to amend the treaty without the agreement of the United States. By requiring only 75% of the treaty signatories to create an amendment to the treaty, the future danger of the treaty to American gun owners was effectively limitless.
Litigation
In Georgia, a Peach County jury acquitted a man of charges of aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, after he answered his door around 3 a.m. one morning with a gun in hand. The person knocking was a deputy who shot the defendant. No reported charges for the deputy.
The NRA has agreed to stop soliciting insurance (Carry Guard) in California without a license, and made changes to its website and member communication materials to address allegations in a cease and desist order issued last September by the California Department of Insurance.
The US Senate has confirmed 102 federal judges since the start of the Trump administration.
About those bump stocks
Legislation
The US House of Representatives has passed The Target Practice and Marksmanship Training Support Act. The Senate passed the identical bill earlier in April and it will now go to President Trump for his expected signature to become law. The bill allows states to construct or improve public recreational shooting ranges using more of their Pittman-Robertson (guns and ammo tax) funds than under current law. States would now be able to use PR dollars to pay for up to 90% of construction for shooting ranges, up from 75% under the current law.
HR 2443, the Firearms Interstate Commerce Reform Act, has been introduce by US Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA). The legislation would allow consumers to purchase handguns, across state lines, as long as they meet applicable laws at the point of purchase and their home of record. We already do that for long guns, if both states in question allow it.
DGUs*
*Note that there are far too many defensive gun use reports to list even a representative sample here, so I only list a chosen few each week.
We have a report that the man who fired a semi-automatic weapon inside the Chabad of Poway synagogue in San Diego last week ceased his “hate crime” attack when an unarmed combat vet gave chase and an armed (some reports state he was handed a gun by another congregant), off-duty Border Patrol agent who was in the congregation also chased and returned fire, at which point the killer called 911 to save his sorry butt. The injured rabbi recalled telling the CBP agent, “Please arm yourself when you are here. We never know when we’ll need it.”
Richard Bias, 32, was on parole and wearing an ankle monitor when he broke into a Desoto County (MS) home last week and was shot in the abdomen and leg. No word on charges
Less lethal projectiles
A contributor reminded us this week that rubber bullets, buckshot, etc. are compliance tools, not defensive tools.
Compliance
Your compliance can get you killed
And what about a criminal’s non-compliance?
University of North Carolina
You saw where a man armed with a gun killed two and wounded four others on the University of North Carolina-Charlotte campus this week. A 21-year-old student died trying to “jump” on the gunman and disarm him.
Gun free zone.
CCW tips
- Drawing Attention Away From Your Concealed Carry Gun [Active Response Training]
Enemies
Democratic presidential candidate Julián Castro says he has a plan to stop mass shootings. Gun control.
Kabbage, Inc. is an online financial technology company based in Atlanta, Georgia. The company provides funding directly to small businesses and consumers through an automated lending platform. But reportedly not to small businesses who legally sell “assault style” rifles or guns to anyone under 21.
Kroger Co. showed a decrease in profits a year after it banned the sale of firearms in its subsidiary Fred Meyer stores, and no longer sells printed magazines that feature “assault rifles.” (sic)
Hypocritical, anti-gun Pope Francis accused of heresy. Why am I not surprised?
The Only Ones
Former Minneapolis (MN) Police Officer Mohamed Noor was found guilty of third-degree murder and manslaughter for fatally shooting Justine Ruszczyk while responding to her 911 call for help. He faces up to 12 and a half years for third-degree murder and four years for second-degree manslaughter. I don’t know how you get murder AND manslaughter for the same act with a single victim. But that ain’t much prison time.
Last week at the College of the Mainland Law Enforcement Training Academy in Texas City (about 40 miles southeast of Houston, TX), an unidentified police cadet had a loaded handgun in his backpack in a classroom and the gun “accidentally” fired when he reached into his bag. Two cadets were struck in their legs and a third cadet was grazed; no serious injuries.
The New Orleans (LA) Police Department announced they are dropping charges of attempted murder of a police officer related to an officer-involved shooting last month, when an unidentified NOPD officer sustained a gunshot wound during a confrontation with a suspect who had a gun in his waistband. But only the officer himself, not the suspect, grabbed the gun and shot himself with it.
Security guard Maurice James was working at the Harley Davidson store in Panama City on Friday when, police said, “he displayed his gun in a careless manner and was not actively engaged in self-defense or the protection of another person,” and accidentally shot himself in the leg. James was taken to the hospital for treatment and charged with improper display of a firearm.
“One (Hancock County, MS) deputy was bitten by another deputy’s K-9 dog during the incident (arrest of felon with a gun).”
An unidentified middle school resource officer from the Pasco County (FL) Sheriff’s Dept. was reportedly leaning against a cafeteria wall when his holstered Sig 9mm pistol fired into the wall and floor behind him. No injuries. The officer was apparently using a level-3 retention holster that probably incorporates some engagement of the trigger guard. IF his story that he didn’t touch the gun is true, then we speculate that perhaps a foreign object was present in the holster and got in between the trigger and the retention device, perhaps causing activation of the trigger when the gun was pushed further into the holster by the wall.
An unidentified Ladue (MO) police officer mistakenly shot an arrest-resisting shoplifting suspect with her firearm instead of her TASER.
A US combat veteran of the war in Afghanistan who prosecutors say plotted to detonate multiple nail bombs at a Los Angeles-area white nationalist rally, seeking to cause mass casualties, was arrested in an FBI sting operation, federal prosecutors said this week.
Cat disease update
Record MS Gar
We reported last month about a Texas Alligator Gar caught that was 7-feet, 7-inches. Now we have a Mississippi bowfisherman who broke his own record with an 8-foot, 223-lb. specimen.
Boondocks Firearms Training Academy in Raymond, MS, got another very positive shout-out from Rob Leatham and Tom Gresham on the radio this week, both for its world class facilities and its very helpful and attentive staff.
SIG/Winchester Army Pistol Ammo from Oxford, MS
.300 Rem. Ultra Mag. “Accelerator”
1 mile per second. In case you can’t wait for the bullet to get there.
Products
CZ has a new Dan Wesson 6″ long-slide 1911 bull barrel pistol chambered in 10mm, called the Kodiak.
Surefire’s new Stilletto PRO rechargeable pocket flashlight offers 1000 lumens. Around $200.
Bushnell’s NEW Advance Micro Reflex sight features an easy-change battery in a slide-out drawer.
Streamlight’s QB Headlamp offers 200 lumens over 85 meters and is USB rechargeable. $41. I use a lot of Streamlight stuff and ALWAYS get my money’s worth.
