Virginia Gov. Mark Warner signed
a measure prohibiting local governments
from undermining a state
firearm preemption law by enacting
their own gun control regulations.
Alexandria passed a measure
banning guns in municipal buildings.
The new state law overturns
this. Warner stated he is opposed
to Virginia local governments using
administrative mechanisms that are
not consistent with the state General
Assembly’s intent. “I support the
right of law-abiding Virginians to
keep and bear arms,†he stated. “If
the General Assembly were to send
me a bill allowing localities to pass
ordinances to regulate firearms in
recreation centers, I would sign it.
The General Assembly has chosen
not to do so this year.â€
In Maryland, CCRKBA awarded
the Civil Liberties Infringement Prize
to Montgomery County Executive
Douglas Duncan. CCRKBA Public
Affairs Director John Michael Snyder
said Duncan “deserves this mock
award because he uses his political
position to undermine the civil rights
of Montgomery County citizens. The
most egregious recent example of
the Duncan assault on civil rights
is his public attack on the First
Amendment freedom of speech of
Augustus Alzona. Duncan’s attempt
to kick Alzona off the County’s Hate/
Violence Committee is a vicious,
bigoted smear of an outstanding
Asian American. Duncan abhors
Alzona’s distribution of a flyer that
depicts Maryland gun-grabbing politicians
appropriately attired in Nazi
uniforms. The parody apparently hits
Duncan right where it hurts!â€
The Illinois State Rifle Association
last month announced formation of
a federal political action committee.
Known as the ISRA-Congressional
Campaign Committee (ISRA-CCC),
the organization will be free to endorse
and support candidates for
the U.S. House of Representatives
and U.S. Senate who adhere to the
committee’s philosophy on the individual
right of law-abiding citizens to
keep and bear arms. Several years
ago, said ISRA-CCC Chairman Todd
Vandermyde, the state political action
committee was formed to help
pro-gun candidates get elected. He
said the state committee enjoyed
better than an 80 percent success
rate in recent primary elections.
CCRKBA announced its opposition
to H.R. 3679, authored by Rep.
Luis V. Gutierrez of Illinois, to prohibit
the possession or transfer of a handgun
“that is not a sporting handgunâ€
and any combination of parts from
which such a handgun can be assembled.
It has been referred to the
House Committee on the Judiciary.
In Arizona, the pro-gun Brassroots
is rallying behind a woman
who wants to carry a handgun to
work. Shannon Flynn, an Arizona
Department of Revenue collector,
wants to carry her 9 mm pistol to
her state office because she fears
her father, now serving time in state
prison for molesting her, will come
after her when he is released. Flynn,
who has a concealed carry permit,
wants to be able to carry the gun with
her into the office building although
current policy in the state reportedly
would prevent her from doing that.
Brassroots President Gary Taylor is
calling on its members and others to
lobby Gov. Jane Dee Hull and state
legislators on Flynn’s behalf.
“Jolly old England is now experiencing
the truth in the saying, ‘when
guns are outlawed, only outlaws
will have guns,’†writes nationallysyndicated
Internet columnist Tanya
Metaksa, a CCRKBA Gun Rights
Defender of the Month Awardee
and former Executive Director of
the NRA Institute for Legislative
Action. “Law-abiding citizens,†she
continues, “were forced to give up
all their handguns after the British
government passed one of the most
stringent gun bans in the world in
1997…Since that draconian gun
law was passed…the crime rate has
skyrocketed and according to the
London Sunday Times it is very easy
to buy an illegal gun on the streets
of London if you have a few hundred
pounds.â€
Shortly after President Bush
signed into law the campaign finance
bill, Sen. Mitch McConnell of
Kentucky filed suit in federal court
in Washington, D. C. against it. The
suit maintains that the new law tries
“to regulate core political speechâ€
and “would radically alter, in a fundamental
and unconstitutional fashion,
the ways that citizens, corporations,
labor unions, trade associations, officeholders,
candidates, advocacy
groups, tax-exempt organizations
and national, state and local political
party committees are permitted to
participate in our nation’s democratic
processes.â€
