Biden Regroups, Promises Fight
At a press conference this week, Vice President Joe Biden (D) warned that he and the Obama administration have not given up on their proposed gun control measures, declared that the administration would “beat” NRA by passing gun control measures, and vowed that legislators who oppose the administration on gun control will “pay a political price” for doing so. As reported in the Washington Post, Biden said to an audience that included Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, “As proud as the president and I am of progress we’ve made, we need Congress to act. We need everyone in the country to know the fight is not over. Far from it.” He further stated, “Janet Napolitano has not given up. Eric Holder has not given up.” Biden renewed the administration’s call for “universal” background checks and reminded attendees that gun control remains on the administration’s agenda despite a major defeat in the U.S. Senate in April. “Because of the invocation of a rule, a perverted filibuster rule requiring 60 votes for everything, we lost,” said Biden.
Alaska: Governor protects Second Amendment rights
Continuing his commitment to fight for and defend Alaskans’ Second Amendment rights, Governor Sean Parnell today signed several firearm and self-defense bills into law. The governor was joined by numerous legislators, including House Speaker Mike Chenault and Senate President Charlie Huggins, and Brian Judy of the National Rifle Association as he signed the package of bills in support of Alaskans’ Second Amendment rights.
NRA and CRPA Orange County Carry Suits Lead to Appeal
Opening another front in the Right-to-Carry battle, on Sept. 5, a lawsuit backed by the NRA and the California Rifle and Pistol Association was filed against Orange County, Calif. and Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. The suit (McKay v. Hutchens) was filed on behalf of several Orange County residents who have been denied carry licenses and seeks to remedy Sheriff Hutchens’ discriminatory licensing practice of requiring “good cause,” which the complaint defines as “a special or contemporaneous ‘need’ to defend oneself – something more than ‘general concerns about personal safety.’”
Michael Bloomberg aide lobbied on guns in Nevada
Michael Bloomberg’s gun control group sent a city employee to register as a lobbyist in Nevada on state-based firearms issues, a use of government resources that raises further questions about the relationship between the city and the mayor’s self-funded 501(c)(4).