It is certainly no surprise for gun owners to see the New York Times run a story belittling the United States Constitution. After all, the Times has worked for decades to devalue our founding document. “[I]ts influence is waning,” opines the Times. It is “terse and old, and it guarantees relatively few rights.” The paper faults the Constitution for being difficult to amend and reflective of the times in which it was written. While the Times does not go so far as to claim the U.S. Constitution has been bad for America, it does lament that it is of “little current use to, say, a new African nation.”

Despite Mayor Bloomberg’s publicity stunt last week in the form of a Super Bowl gun control ad with his gun-grabbing cohort, Boston Mayor Tom Menino, Bloomberg’s time in reducing gun crime could better be spent policing his own…police.
In a follow up to a story we reported on last October, on Monday, one of Bloomberg’s police officers pleaded guilty to charges that he led a group that took cash to illegally transport firearms into New York. The officer could face up to 20 years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for June.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants a statewide gun registry in Illinois, an idea some lawmakers quickly dismissed Thursday as ineffective and an insult to gun owners. The proposal would require anyone who buys a handgun to pay a $65 registration fee. To register a gun, a purchaser would need to provide his name, address and phone number, along with the weapon’s manufacturer and serial number and the place and date of purchase. The registry would be in addition to the firearm ownership standards all gun owners must already meet.

Every so often, a local news story about a victim of crime goes national. Most recently, it was Sarah McKinley, 18, home alone with her 3 month old son, a few days after Sarah’s husband had died of lung cancer. Two men apparently looking to steal pain medicine prescribed for the husband broke in. Sarah grabbed a shotgun and a pistol and killed Justin Martin as he forced entry into her home. How often do such incidents happen? While the results from studies vary, the numbers are large. The National Crime Victimization Survey, for various procedural reasons, is at the low end, showing 108,000 such cases a year (although this was some years back, when crime rates were higher than now). The widely reported Kleck/Gertz study, which has its own set of problems, showed a range of 830,000 to 2.45 million defensive gun uses per year. Other studies have fallen solidly in the middle, with hundreds of thousands of defensive gun uses per year.

House Bill 2457, sponsored by Brenda Barton (R-5), would allow an individual to carry an additional firearm for personal protection while hunting, as long as that firearm is not used for the taking of wildlife.  This bill simply allows hunters the ability to adequately defend themselves from a variety of potential outdoor crimes.  HB 2457 is expected to be heard by the state House Energy and Natural Resources Committee this Monday, February 13, and needs your support! 

Today, one of the NRA’s top legislative priorities, House File 1467, passed in the state Senate Finance Committee by a 10 to 5 vote. HF 1467 will now be considered and voted on by the full state Senate.  Last year, HF 1467 passed in the state House by a 79 to 50 vote and this state Senate vote is the final hurdle to get this important omnibus pro-gun bill to the Governor.  A floor consideration date has not been set, but the NRA will update you when action is imminent. In the meantime, please call AND email your state Senator and urge him to pass HF 1467 quickly and help send this important legislation to the Governor.  Contact information for your state Senator can be found here.

Yesterday, the New Hampshire Senate sent three pro-gun bills, House Bill 194, House Bill 330 and House Bill 334 to interim study, therefore New Hampshire gun owners now need to focus on NRA-backed House Bill 536.