Monday’s Newspaper  by Tom Reynolds

Monday’s newspapers had some interesting things in it – and not in it.

Gunmen in southern Nigeria opened fire on Christian worshippers on Sunday, killing at least 50 people.  Per Australia’s University of Sydney, “In Nigeria, civilians are not allowed to possess machine-guns, military rifles (assault weapons) and handguns.”  Unfortunately for 50 church goers, in Nigeria as in America, criminals didn’t obey the law. 

One has to wonder how many church goers would be alive if the worshippers had been as armed as their attackers?  Would the attack have even taken place if the terrorists had known that the worshippers were heavily armed?

Joe Biden is worried about “right wing terrorists” at school board meetings.  Nigeria could show him what real terrorism is like.

Another article focused on, “Guns divide faith communities”.  As you might imagine, it focused on gun possession being anti-religious. 

One activist asked: ”How can you be pro-life and not support getting rid of assault rifles?” Speaking for those who are anti-abortion, abortion kills a defenseless human being and gun owners do not want to be defenseless victims, so we arm to protect ourselves and others.  That’s how we can be anti-abortion and pro-gun.    

But let’s take that answer further.  Sean Connery’s famous line in The Untouchables movie made fun of the stupidity of “bringing a knife to a gun fight”.  We want to be as armed or, better yet, more heavily armed than any assailant.  If the assailant has a knife, we want a handgun.  If the assailant has a hand gun, we want an “Assault Weapon” with lots of rounds of ammunition in the magazine - or a pump action shotgun with lots of rounds in the magazine.  Since women are smaller than men, to defend themselves they need a weapon tailored to their need: a light weight, light recoil “Assault Rifle” with a full magazine works fine.  That’s why the Modern Sporting Rifle – misnamed as an “Assault Rifle” - is one of the preferred weapons for home defense.

Another article pushed long waiting periods for the purchase of guns and gave all the reasons for it.  It neglected to list even one reason for shorter waiting periods.  For instance, it missed that if a person is threatened, they would not want to wait 30 days to get a gun for defense.  After all, a Restraining Order is just a piece of paper and while police may be minutes away, help from a gun arrives at 1,500 feet per second. 

What was hardly mentioned was that Monday was June 6^th.  Didn’t something rather important happen on that day, to save civilization, 78 years ago? 

Snoopy had a cartoon tribute and there was a one sentence note about D Day in the section, “Today In History”.  More space in that section was given to rallies in support of Black Lives Matter and George Floyd.  Rallies?  Seemed more like riots as I remember them.

It might have been a nice counterpoint to the anti-gun articles to point out what Hitler did in Western Europe is what tyrants always do, they disarm the citizens to prevent effective opposition.  Fortunately, for Western Europe, America and its allies had guns.

New York State Strikes Again  by Tom Reynolds

Never letting a tragedy go to waste, the New York legislature just passed a slew of bad legislation concerning guns - as legislators hurried out the door to work for reelection. 

Like the redistricting issue, as long as the left has unopposed control of the law-making process, they’ll push their agenda, ignoring facts, logic and the constitution.  Their goal is not protecting citizens but disarming citizens.  Once those laws are enacted, fighting them will cost thousands of dollars in court while the Albany swamp will defend those laws using the bottomless pockets of taxpayers. 

By-the-way, that’s why they’re going after the NRA.  Not because of its political contributions -the NRA is not one of the big political contributors - but because the NRA has the dollars to fight back, in court.

The new laws are meaningless in terms of safety.  Why?  Check out the FBI’s statistics covering a 5 years period on homicides; they’re available on line.  All rifles - not just semi-automatics:

• are used less in homicides than knives,         
• are used less in homicides than blunt instruments (hammers), 
• are used less in homicides than hands & feet. 

Semi-automatic rifles are not the problem

The left likes to talk about the Buffalo shooter and the Uvalde shooter but the Buffalo shooter said he chose New York because of its strict gun laws, which made armed opposition less likely.  And all schools are gun free zones, which the Uvalde shooter knew.  Again, less likely to run into armed opposition.

If they wanted real change, the legislature would have done away with:  Bail Reform, Gun Free zones and made District Attorneys, like Manhattan’s Alvin Bragg and San Francisco’ Chesa Boudin, enforce the laws.   (Boudin is polling 10 points down in his Tuesday recall election.)     

One of the new laws extends existing licensing procedures for handguns to semi-automatic rifles.  It will require a license to purchase or take possession of a semi- automatic rifle.  If you thought getting a pistol permit was fun… 

You will now need a license to use your constitutional right.  What’s next?  A license to use your 1^st Amendment rights to comment publicly about licensing laws? 

This is “License Creep”.  In 1934, automatics were licensed, then handguns, now semi-automatic rifles.  Next: Licenses for pump action shotguns?  

And the license will have to be recertified every 5 years.  More bureaucracy to deal with.

Borrow a semi-automatic rifle from a buddy to try out at the firing range and you will have committed a crime.  (Without that license you took possession, which is a crime.)

The law also raises to 21 the minimum age to purchase or possess any semi-automatic rifle.  Why not leave it at 18?  Do 18 years old lack judgement?  Lack maturity?  If that is so, why should they vote at 18?  Why should they be able to get an abortion without their parent’s’ consent before 18.  Why should they be able to identify as a different gender before 18?

Another unspoken reason for these laws, besides skirting around the 2^nd Amendment, is to drive retailers out of New York.  You can’t buy guns, legally if no one is selling guns legally.

Previously, NY State passed a law that guns are a “Public Nuisance”, to get around the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act of 2005 (PLCAA).  That is the law that Biden constantly lies about, saying gun manufacturers can’t be sued.  In truth, NY also is exposing gun stores as well as manufacturers to frivolous lawsuits which PLCAA shielded them from.    

Now, NYS requires a license for customers to buy the most popular firearm - the Modern Sporting Rifle.  This will slow down sales.  Without sales, retailers are out of business.

Now, retailers will have to store guns in a safe or secured area.  Gun retailers usually have dozens of guns on display which will now have to be moved into secure storage when closing and brought back out when opening.  In addition, ammo will have to be stored out of reach of customers, which means hiring additional staff to service the customer.  And to top it off, gun stores will have to install a high-level security system costing thousands of dollars.  The cost of a gun just went up because of “overhead expenses”.  But we need more inflation, right?

Acting in tandem with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) NYS is increasing record keeping requirements and putting gun stores in danger of losing their licenses over a minor paperwork infraction.

What the NY legislature and governor overlook (intentionally) is that the laws only effect law abiding citizens and not criminals.  90% of homicides involve illegal guns or illegal users.  More laws won’t stop criminals.

Our core problem is that the leftist culture is a culture without morals, a culture without ethics, a culture without American values and a culture without God.  Change the culture not the laws.         

And to all those hunters and others who believed the gun control movement was not coming for them, guess again.  How many times will theses gun owners need to be slapped before they realize that the left is serious about taking away their guns.

The legislators who crammed through these laws - in the tradition of Andrew Cuomo and the SAFE Act - will be running for reelection.  If we want to regain New York and our rights, we need to tell these politicians how we feel about reelecting them.  Chris Jacobs just found out he should not have messed with gun owners.  It’s time for other politicians to get that message.

Leftist Talking Points Aren’t research  by Tom Reynolds

A Nevada newspaper featured an op-ed by an anti-gun writer who obviously had not researched the issue any deeper than a few leftist talking points.  What struck me is how shallow his comments were and betrayed a real lack of understanding about guns and gun control.  The following are his comments and my responses.

What is preventing background checks for all gun purchases? In Nevada, if you have a concealed carry weapons permit, no background check is required. And federal law does not require background checks for private sales. The purpose of a background check is to prevent guns from getting into the wrong hands, including criminals and juveniles.

A concealed carry permit holder has already passed the background check.  Many politicians propose laws to bury gun purchasers in regulations in order to make it more difficult to buy a gun than it already is?

90% of all homicide are committed by illegal guns and / or illegal users, so tightening the background check system does not affect those people – usually called criminals.

► How come you need a test and license to drive a car, but no such requirements for using a firearm? The U.S. has the highest gun deaths per capita than any other developed country.

Driving a car is not a constitutionally protected right.  Would you demand a test and license to exercise free speech, such as the writer of the op-ed did? 

And a license is a back door to creating a list of gun owners, which is illegal under federal law.

Statistics differ on a per capita basis.

► Why would one need an assault weapon that has no recreational value? An 18-year-old in Texas cannot buy beer, but can buy an assault gun. An AK-15 is a military weapon designed to create mass casualties and inflict superior damage to organs, and is not appropriate for civilian use. An AK-15 can fire 700 rounds per minute. There are over 15 million AK-15s in the U.S. And an AK-15, or a variant, has been used in several mass shootings, including Aurora, Colorado; Newtown, Connecticut; San Bernardino, California; and Sutherland Springs, Texas. And in Las Vegas, it took a state resident 10 minutes to shoot 1,000 rounds to kill 60 and wound 411.

The “Modern Sporting Rifle” (assault rifle) is an AR 15 which is only fired in semi-automatic – one shot per trigger pull.  700 rounds per minute would require 11+ trigger pulls per second.  (Even Roy Rogers wasn’t that fast!) The AK 15 is a Russian military rifle that fires in automatic.  Get your facts straight.  

Contrary to statement, the so-called assault weapon is properly labelled a “Modern Sporting Rifle”.  Because it has a lesser recoil, it is better suited to women. It allows a civilian (including women) to be on an equal or better basis in a fight against a criminal.

Why should an 18 years old not own a rifle?  An 18 years old can vote. And a vote causes both long and short term damage (Joe Biden for example.)

► How do you propose making our schools safer? As of May 2022 we have had 27 school shootings this year — more than one shooting per week. Recently, 19 children and two teachers were killed in Uvalde, Texas. The Uvalde shooter legally purchased two assault rifles just after his 18th birthday. He had 30-round magazines but legislation to limit ammunition to 10 rounds have repeatedly failed.

Schools are all gun free zones.  Thus, all school shootings occur in gun free zones.  Do away with gun free zones so that a killer will know he will meet lethal opposition.  (Arm volunteer teachers.)  The recent killer in Buffalo NY stated he chose New York because of its strict gun laws making opposition less likely.

Another proposal is: Don’t elect D.A.’s who will not enforce the laws.

► Why would regulating gun ownership restrict our Second Amendment rights? Our Second Amendment reads in its entirety: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed." I find it interesting that its cites “a well regulated Militia.” Interestingly, voting is regulated but that in no way restricts my right to vote.

Concerning voting, have you not heard the whining about voting laws being too restrictive? 

The history of the 2^nd Amendment as related to “militia” is too complicated for a short answer here.  Try reading the Supreme Court decisions in Heller v DC and McDonald v Chicago, which explained it.

► Lastly, please be sure to explain the coincidence between the highest gun ownership per capita and the second highest gun total deaths worldwide. It has been reported that the states with the most guns also have the most gun deaths. In 2020, 45,222 Americans died by guns, or 124 each day. This is the highest number ever recorded, and a 43% increase from 2010. In 2021, 136 were killed in mass shootings, with one of every four deaths children or teens.

60+% of gun deaths, every year, are suicides.

90+% of other gun deaths, every year, happen with illegal weapons and illegal gun users so more laws will not impact them.

Per FBI statistics:

   More murders are committed with blunt objects (hammers) than all rifles.

   Many more murders are committed with knives than all rifles.

   More murders are committed with hands & feet than with all rifles.

On the other hand, the Center For Disease Control estimates that guns are used for defensive purposes 500,000 times a year.  (And that is considered a low estimate.)  Isn’t that a good reason to carry a gun?

As to children’s deaths, the surveys usually include, as children, teenage gang members and have been known to include children up to early 20’s.

NY Governor, Democrat leaders, Introduce New Ten Gun Control Bills.  by Tom Reynolds

•  Hunters affected: all semi-auto rifle transfers to require permit.

•  Untested microstamping may outlaw common handguns.

•  All eleven+ round magazines subject to potential destruction, confiscation or buyback.

•  Red Flag laws may eliminate doctor-patient privilege.

•  Pro-Second Amendment websites may be censored as “misinformation” or “hate speech.”

•  Gun dealers subject to expensive new requirements.

•  Other measures.

“Never let a crisis go to waste.”  Governor Hochul and her Democratic cohorts in the NY Senate and Assembly have introduced a slew of anti-gun bills.  If passed, they become the law and any attempt to overturn them will cost gun owners tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars while the state will use its unlimited taxpayer dollars to defend these laws.

Gun owners can make their feelings known, now, or wait to see their gun rights further eroded.  Speak up or be further silenced.

SCOPE’S comments follow the description of each bill.  While some may seem less onerous, in the hands of NY’s left-wing politicians and bureaucrats, they will be used against you.

A10503    S9458: require that someone obtain a license, with a minimum age of 21, to purchase or take possession of any semiautomatic rifle, not just so-called “assault weapons” and require recertification of that license every five years;

SCOPE: Hunters and plinkers who thought NYS would never come for them just got a nasty surprise.   They will now get to go through the same process as pistol permit applicants just to buy that “ranch rifle.”   Requires a license to use a constitutional right, even though rifles are used less in homicides than knives or feet and fists.

A7926   S4116: require microstamping for new guns, upon DCJS certification, and make unlawful sale of a non-microstamping-enabled firearm a crime; 

SCOPE:  Will eventually require all new pistols to be microstamped, a technology that does not work and is easily defeated.  Anyone who wants to buy a legal gun will be stuck with outdated pre-law pistols while criminals can obtain the newest and best.

A10428     S9229: eliminate grandfathering of more than ten round magazines and require destruction, surrender or buy-back;

SCOPE: Eliminates magazines that were purchased legally and sets a precedent for confiscating guns later.

A10502   S9113: expand the Red Flag law by expanding the list of people who can file for Extreme Risk Protection Orders, including your own doctor, and other measures;

SCOPE: Red Flag Laws already violate due process and medical privacy.  Expansion will discourage lawful gun owners from seeking treatment for fear of losing their constitutional rights and create an ever-larger bureaucracy that works to take away your rights without constitutional protections.

A10504     S9456: broadly define regulated firearms  to include any weapon not defined in the Penal Law that is designed or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by action of an explosive;

SCOPE: Appears to retroactively make certain unidentified weapons into “firearms” and, therefore, subject to the same regulations as handguns, assault rifles, etc.  Many New Yorkers may become criminals overnight without even knowing it.

A10497    S9407: prohibit the purchase of body armor for anyone who is not engaged in an “eligible” profession;

SCOPE: Eliminates civilians protecting themselves from criminals who will ignore yet another law.

A10501    S9465, A7865   S4511: increase accountability for social media platforms, target “hate speech” and “misinformation”;

SCOPE: A step to censor Second Amendment supporters and conservatives.   Statements like “guns save lives” will likely be labeled “misinformation,” or “hate speech,” ala COVID censorship or Hunter Biden’s laptop.  No chance it will find ANTIFA and BLM as violent extremists or domestic terrorists. 

A1023   S4970: require gun dealers to implement a security plan; prohibit persons under eighteen and not accompanied by a parent from certain locations of a gun dealer’s premises; adhere to record keeping requirements; and require the State police to conduct inspections of gun dealers every three years;

SCOPE: To overregulate gun dealers and drive them out of business.

Throwing It Against the Wall  by Tom Reynolds

After last Tuesday’s school shooting, Biden, Hochul and the left flew rapidly past condolences into condemnation of guns.  They throw every emotion possible against the wall, hoping something sticks.  They should try rationally thinking about guns, for a change.

Why are the left’s current emotional efforts without value or reason?

What if all civilian gun ownership in the USA was illegal?  Guns would start flowing across the southern border which is, currently, an open invitation to anyone who wants to cross it.  Create a gun shortage and guns, like drugs, will be smuggled in.  Net result, criminals will still have access to illegal guns. 

And there will be more criminals, since one will have to break the law to protect one’s family against illegally armed criminals.  As the saying goes, “when guns are outlawed only outlaws will have guns”; except, you will then be amongst the outlaws.

Don’t forget the 400 million guns already in America.  Would they all disappear?  400 million is a good basis to start a “black market”.  On the positive side, shortages lead to increased prices, so the resell value of your guns would keep up with inflation. 

The left now believes 18 years old is not mature enough to own a gun.  Amendment XXVI sets the voting age at 18.  Eighteen is mature enough to vote, but not mature enough to own a gun?  A gun does short-term damage but a vote does long-term damage.  (I offer Joe Biden as proof.)

Will leftists also move to raise the voting age to 21?  Not likely, since most young people tend to vote Democrat.  Gun at 18 = immature. Vote at 18 = Democrat.

One anti-gun writer complained about “easy access” to buying a gun.  If he actually tried to buy a gun, he would discover that there may be “access”, but it’s definitely not “easy”.

Another anti-gun commentator recommended that a small compromise on our Constitutional Rights wouldn’t hurt.  And the last time the left stopped with a small compromise was when?  Many “small” compromises will continue until there is no civilian gun ownership.   

The recent Buffalo murderer chose NY State because its strict gun laws made opposition unlikely. Time for Albany to rethink disarming citizens?

The Texas shooter chose a “gun free zone”.  Killers appreciate advertising “no opposition zones”.   Research from the Crime Prevention Research Center shows that 98% of all public mass shootings that occurred between 1950 and July 10, 2016 occurred in gun free zones.

But tragedies do continue?  What is the answer?  The answer is NOT gun control.  The answer IS reversing the leftist culture and returning to traditional American values. 

Murderers kill, not because they have a gun, but because they want to.  What warped mind kills fourth graders?  One that rejects the Judeo-Christian values that founded our nation.  Remember that commandment, “Thou shalt not murder”.

Most mass murderers come from fatherless homes.  For 200 years, America championed the traditional family and believed that two parents are better than one.  Now, the current fashion on the left disparages the nuclear family. 

Remember: “I disagree with what you say but will defend your right to say it”.  Disagree with the left and you are a racist or domestic terrorist.  Biden even tried to create a government agency to monitor what you say, in case you say something they view as domestic terrorism: i.e. criticism of Democrat Party values.  Biden should get the Joseph Goebbels Award for that. 

Openly divisive rhetoric like Critical Race Theory is taught in school; if you are a white American, you must be a racist.  Isn’t that racism?  The left wants to use racism to stop racism.

Talking to a first grader about sex formerly got you arrested.  Now, it gets you a teaching position.

Boys aren’t boys and girls aren’t girls. 

If Russian interference in an American election was bad, is letting non-citizens vote good?

Should people who never attended college pay off the college loans of people who did go to college?

Why must your dog must be vaccinated but illegal immigrants need not be.

Cheat to get into college and you go to prison.  Cheat to get into the USA and you go to college for free.

Should people who never owned slaves pay reparations to people who have never been slaves?

The left keeps pushing that all bad events are due to the faults of American society and criminals are victims, not predators.  With fewer deterrents, criminals are becoming bolder.  With more criticism and lack of backing from their political bosses, police are becoming more hesitant to stick-their-necks-out. 

America was a “melting pot” where people were expected to assimilate.  Now, aberrations are celebrated and society is supposed to embrace the abnormal.  If you adopt a child, the child is assimilated into the parent’s culture, not vice versa. 

Until our culture reassimilates into traditional American values, starting with respect for life, we won’t stop these tragedies.  Meanwhile, gun sales will escalate as self-defense is a core right.

Updated Proposed Federal Legislation

PROPOSED FEDERAL GUN RELATED LAWS

The following is a list of proposed laws involving guns at the federal level.  The bill number is included under HOUSE or SENATE, depending on where the bill is introduced.  In some cases, companion bills are introduced in both the House and the Senate.

The better rendering of this report is posted at the following link:

https://scopeny2a.org/federal-firearms-legislation

Also, a Pdf version of this report can downloaded by clicking Here.

SCOPE's position on the bill is also shown.

Unfortunately, there are so many that it is difficult to concentrate on any particular bills.  But if you find one that is particularly onerous, do not hesitate to tell your Congressperson how you feel.

HOUSE          SENATE

HR0645         SB0045

OPPOSE

Educational institutions receiving Elementary and Secondary Education Grants may not use these grants to procure firearms or train in the use of firearms.

HR0748         SB1235

OPPOSE

Requirement for storage of firearms in residences if someone under 18 or someone ineligible to possess a firearm could possibly gain access to the firearm.  Fines or a crime depending on circumstances.  DOJ will give preferences to states enacting similar laws.  The wording is similar to the SAFE Act.

HR0825        SB1028

OPPOSE

Authorizes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to conduct or support research on firearms safety or gun violence prevention.  Puts aside $50 million per year from 2022-2027

NONE            SB0183

OPPOSE

Inform FBI about people investigated for terrorism who submit NICS check. To provide appropriate information to Federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies, pursuant to investigating terrorism, and for other purposes.

Note: definition of "investigated for terrorism" and “for other purposes” could be easily abused by DC Swamp.

NONE           SB0292

OPPOSE

Mandates that states have Extreme Risk Protective Orders for up to 12 months. The wording in this bill is duplicated in the NYS Safe Act.

NONE           SB0525

SUPPORT

Revises criminal provisions related to interstate transportation of firearms & ammo. The bill prohibits the arrest or detention of an individual for a state or local firearm or ammunition violation unless there is probable cause. This bill facilitates interstate transportation of firearms and ammo.

NONE             SB0529

OPPOSE

Establishes new background check requirements for firearm transfers between private parties (i.e. unlicensed individuals).  It prohibits a firearm transfer between private parties unless a licensed gun dealer, manufacturer, importer first takes possession of the firearm to conduct a background check.  The prohibition does not apply to certain firearm transfers, such as a gift between spouses in good faith.

NONE          SB0591

OPPOSE

Prohibits a licensed gun dealer from transferring a firearm to an unlicensed person.  Current law permits an FFL to transfer a firearm to an unlicensed person if a submitted background check remains incomplete after three business days. 

HR8             NONE

OPPOSE

Background checks act of 2021.  Expands NICS background check to every firearm sale and transfer, even temporary transfers.  Very partisan Democratic bill.

HR0030         SB878

OPPOSE

Gun Trafficking Prohibition Act.  Limits 3rd party firearm purchases.  Existing laws cover this.

HR0038           NONE

SUPPORT

Concealed Carry Interstate Reciprocity Act. Facilitates Concealed Carry between states.

HR0095          NONE

SUPPORT

Hearing Protection Act.  Removes suppressors / silencers from the definition of firearms under National Firearms Act

HR0121          NONE

OPPOSE

Gun Violence Reduction Resources Act of 2021. Hire an additional 200 BATFE agents.

HR0125          NONE

OPPOSE

Not Sorry Act of 2021.  Modifies firearms-related background check requirements for transfers involving a semiautomatic firearm, suppressor, armor-piercing ammunition, or large capacity ammunition magazine. 7 day waiting period on transfers of semiauto's (and others).

HR0127        NONE

OPPOSE

Sabika Sheikh Firearm Licensing and Registration Act.  Federal licensing of firearms ownership.  Establishes a publicly available database of firearms.  Also prohibits the possession of certain ammo and large capacity ammo feeding devices.  DOJ shall issue a license if the individual is 21 years of age or older and undergoes a criminal background check and a psychological evaluation and completes a certified training course and has an $800 annual premium insurance policy.

HR0130         NONE

OPPOSE

Kimberly Vaughan Firearm Safe Storage Act.  Establishes a federal statutory framework to regulate the storage of firearms and ammo on residential premises.

HR0135       NONE

NO POSITION

Accidental Firearms Transfers Reporting Act of 2021.  Requires the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to report to Congress on the number of firearm transfers when an FFL submits a background check through the NICS System and NICS fails to respond within three business days and the licensed gun dealer completes the transfer.

HR0167       NONE

OPPOSE

To prohibit the transfer of a firearm at a gun show by a person who is not an FFL.  Only FFL’s could transfer firearms at gun shows.

HR0194        NONE

SUPPORT

Report on NICS check denials of:

(1) firearm transfer denials issued by the NICS that are referred to the BATFE for investigation. 

(2) prosecutions resulting from such investigations

(3) firearms recovered by the BATFE in cases in which a denial was issued by the system after a firearm was transferred.

HR0225         NONE

SUPPORT

Allow interstate transportation of firearms or ammo. Comprehensively address the interstate transportation of firearms or ammo

HR0355        NONE

SUPPORT

Illegal Alien NICS Alert Act.  Notify ICE if illegal alien submits a NICS Check.  Requires the NICS system to notify enforcement agencies when the NICS system indicates that a prospective firearm transferee is illegally or unlawfully in the United States.

HR0405     NONE

OPPOSE

Lead Endangers Animals Daily Act of 2021.  No lead ammo on federal lands. Directs the Department of the interior to issue final regulations prohibiting the discharge of any firearms using lead ammo on all waters under the jurisdiction and control of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

HR0647      NONE

OPPOSE

Interstate Firearms Sales Act.  No interstate long gun sales.  Restricts the sale or transfer of shotguns and rifles across state lines

HR0716        NONE

SUPPORT

To promote accountability and transparency in future executive orders.  30 day public notification and reporting on Executive Orders concerning gun rights.  President must notify Congress and the public before issuing executive orders relating to the constitutional right of law-abiding individuals in the United States to own, carry, and use firearms.

HR0880       NONE

OPPOSE

Firearm Safety Act of 2021.  Put firearms under Consumer Product Safety Commission.  Allows the Consumer Product Safety Commission to issue safety standards for firearms and components.

HR0882       NONE

NO POSITION

Keeping Guns From High-Risk Individuals act.  Prohibit sale / transfer of firearm to high-risk individuals. Expands the categories of persons who are prohibited from shipping, transporting, receiving, or possessing firearms or ammunition.

HR0933       NONE

SUPPORT

Home Defense and Competitive Shooting Act of 2021.  No funds for anti 2A research.  Remove short barrel rifles (rifles of less than 16 inches in length) from the definition of firearms for purposes of National Firearms Act.

HR1004         NONE

OPPOSE

Firearm Risk Protection Act of 2021.  Requires liability insurance to buy firearm.  Establishes requirements for gun purchasers and gun owners to be covered by a qualified liability insurance policy.

HR1006          NONE

OPPOSE

Gun Show Loophole Closing Act of 2021.  NICS check on all gun show sales.  Establishes new requirements regarding firearm transfers at gun shows.

HR1027        NONE

SUPPORT

Safe Bases Act.  Permits armed forces to carry concealed on military bases.  Provides statutory authority for the Department of Defense (DOD) to allow a service member to carry a concealed firearm while on any military installation.

HR1446        NONE

OPPOSE

Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2021. Expands NICS check deadline beyond 3 days.  No NICS response can suspend a gun sale from 20 days to indefinitely. 

HR1454         NONE

OPPOSE

Ghost Guns Are Guns Act.  Firearm assembly kits to be considered firearms.  Broadens the definition of firearm for purposes of federal firearms laws. Specifically, it includes as a firearm any firearm kit from which a firearm may be readily assembled.

HR147       NONE

OPPOSE

Undetectable Firearms Modernization Act.  Modernize undetectable firearms act of 1988.  Revises the federal statutory framework regulating the manufacture, possession, sale, import, shipment, delivery of firearms detectable by walk-through metal detectors after the removal of grips, stocks, and magazines.

HR1567         NONE

SUPPORT

Police Officers Protecting Children Act.  Allow L E O's & retired L E O's to carry firearm in school zone.  Specifies that certain active and retired law enforcement officers who are authorized to carry firearms are not subject to the federal prohibition on possessing (or discharging) a firearm in a school zone.

HR6225         NONE

OPPOSE

Federal Firearm Licensee Act.  Adds significant bureaucratic security and reporting requirements to FFL's.

HR3960       NONE

SUPPORT

Brian A. Terry Memorial Eliminate the ATF Act.  To eliminate the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and remove firearm restrictions on lawful gun owners and provide funds to surviving families of border patrol agents killed as a result of Operation Fast and Furious.

NONE          SB675

OPPOSE

Requires the Department of Justice to notify state and local law enforcement authorities following a firearms-related background check that results in a denial.  Also requires reports on denials to Congress. 

Note: Opens door to investigating all NICS denials even though 90%+ are later overturned.

• Tom Reynolds, President of Shooters Committee On Political Education, Inc. (S.C.O.P.E.), has issued this second, follow up statement in response to the recent tragedy at the Tops Supermarket, in Buffalo, Erie County, New York:

  On Wednesday, we pointed out how politicians were exploiting this tragedy for their own political purposes.  Since, of course, nothing can stand in the way of leftist politicians when they have the opportunity to “spin” an issue, it becomes necessary that SCOPE to point out some obvious facts, in response. 

  Previously, we referred to the policies of Biden, Hochul and Schumer as their “discredited ideology”.  The shooting at Tops, in Buffalo, provides ample evidence that it is discredited.  It is just the latest example of the complete failure, implicit racism and utter insanity of their gun control ideology.

  According to published reports:

• ·      The alleged shooter made it clear in his online “manifesto” that he chose his location and his intended victims precisely because he knew that New York’s gun control laws would render those victims largely defenseless.  

• ·      He illegally altered his weapon. 

• ·      He ignored the state’s ban on so-called “high capacity” magazines with more than ten rounds and counted on his victims obeying it. 

• ·      He intentionally targeted African Americans, a group that some legal experts say are disproportionately harmed by gun control and New York’s license requirements.    

• ·      He had previously been held for a mental health exam because of prior threats.

We keep repeating an uncontestable truth, criminals do not obey gun control laws.  That old adage is truer than ever, “When guns are outlawed only outlaws will have guns”.  The Tops shooter was counting on that.  This despicable crime succeeded because, not in spite of, futile New York laws.

It is time to end this failed, decades old, experiment and allow law-abiding New Yorkers of all races, creeds and sexes to defend themselves against violence and hate.  New York must follow the lead of other states and expand, not limit, the right to bear arms for self-defense in all locations.  Gun control madness must end now.

SCOPE is a non-partisan statewide 501(c)4 organization dedicated to preserving the Second Amendment rights of residents of New York State.  It is headquartered in Erie County, New York.  Its activities include keeping the public informed on legislation that will affect Americans’ Constitutional right to keep and bear arms, working with government officials to sponsor pro Second Amendment legislation and attending shooting sports events to increase awareness of gun rights.   SCOPE has local chapters throughout the state, with members, male and female, from all walks of life.

Tom Reynolds, President of Shooters Committee On Political Education, Inc. (S.C.O.P.E.), has issued the following statement in response to the recent tragedy at the Tops Supermarket, in Buffalo, Erie County, New York:

The shooting at Tops in Buffalo, on Saturday, was a tragedy that will impact lives forever.  In its wake, the proper responses are condolences, sympathy, remembrances and prayers.

Good leaders know that bad decisions get made in the heat of emotion. But like vampires poised over the still warm bodies of the victims, Joe Biden, Kathy Hochul and Chuck Schumer chose to drain every bit of advantage from the emotions around this tragedy.  Shame on them.  They are willing to exploit the suffering of others in order to push their own discredited ideology on America.

There was no need for immediate action by any of those three politicians as the killer was immediately apprehended.  They should have used their offices to start the healing process.  Instead, they almost immediately rushed to the like-minded media and restarted their campaigns against the 2^nd Amendment.

They seem to believe that they can bring America together by dividing it.  That more racism is the solution to racism.  And most important to them, that no tragedy goes to waste.

In the days and weeks ahead, we will learn more about what drove the murderer to this inhuman act.  Then, in a calm deliberative manner we can seek the truth.  There is an old military adage, “The first reports of the scouts are usually wrong”.  Basing unnecessary action on the breathless reporting of those first on the scene and on politicians, intent on shoring up support for their next election, is wrong.

This trio of politicians will try to focus on an inanimate object that is incapable of action without human input and the obvious mental health issues of the human that used it.  But the degeneration of our culture where human lives are tossed away must be included in that conversation.  We can’t begin to solve the issue without deliberate consideration of where our moral and religious values have gone.

School Board Elections

Tomorrow, Tuesday, May 17^th, is election day for school board members.  Historically, many people stay home and don’t vote. But the next day, many of these same people are complaining about the loss of American values and culture.  Change starts in the schools and with school board elections. 

Lynn Leonard is a SCOPE member and she is running for a seat on the Corning - Painted Post School Board. She chose to be part of the solution by taking action at the local level.  She had this to say about the importance of this election and participating in it:

“In recent years public education has lost focus, no longer believing parents should decide what is best for the education of their children”. 

“Instead of teaching the basic skills necessary to succeed after graduation, our schools have prioritized Critical Race Theory and LGBTQ activism”.

“Instead of teaching our students the blessings of liberty guaranteed by our Constitution, educators are programmed to teach that the United States and capitalism are the root cause of all the ills of the world”.

“It is time for the silent majority to speak up and demand that our schools return to a foundation of teaching proficiency in math, science, and literature”.

“As a mom and life-long educator, I choose to be part of the solution by taking action at the local level instead of complacency and complaining.  It is time to show up, speak up, and VOTE”.

“Research your local Board of Education candidates and vote on Tuesday, May 17^th.   Let your voice be heard!   If not you, who?  If not now, when”?

 Education professionals and the federal government no longer believe parents should decide what is best for the education of their children. The National School Boards Association (NSBA) sent a letter to the Biden administration comparing parents who protested school's COVID policies to domestic terrorists.  The Department of Justice then issued a memo directing the F.B.I. to investigate.  Speak your voice for the benefit of your child at a school board meeting and the F.B.I. may come calling.  

Talking to a first grader about sex would formerly have gotten you arrested.  Now, LGBTQ activism trumps common sense parenting.   

This election is the first of several elections, this year, that will determine the direction of our country.  Vote in every one of them to save your country. As Thomas Paine said, “…he that stands by it (America) now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman”.

Joe Biden Said  by Tom Reynolds

Joe Biden has pledged that he wants to unite all Americans.  This week he said: "MAGA crowd" the "most extreme political organization that's existed in American history—in recent American history." He added, “Let me tell you about this ultra-MAGA agenda: It's extreme, as most MAGA things are…" 

Joe Biden just called 74 million Trump voters, “the most extreme political organization that existed in American history.” That’s uniting America? 

Joe Biden believes that if you voted for Donald Trump:

·      you are more extreme than the Ku Klux Klan

·      you are more extreme than the Democrat Part which fought a war to preserve slavery

·      you are more extreme than the American Communist Party 

·      you are more extreme than Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez 

·      you are more extreme than those that believe you can wish yourself into a different gender

·      you are more extreme than Antifa, which led riots and routinely targeted law enforcement officers

·      you are more extreme than the Nation of Islam, a racist, antisemitic group that spawned violence such as the murderer of a Capitol Police Officer

·      you are more extreme than the New Black Panther Party which is fueled by anti-Semitism and anti-white beliefs and wants the creation of an all-black country or state within the US.

·      you are more extreme than the Weather Underground which conducted a bombing campaign targeting government buildings and several banks

·      You are more extreme than the Department of Homeland Security’s Disinformation Governance Board which has the goal of “protecting” American citizens from using their First Amendment Rights

Biden’s statements came about in response to a draft Supreme Court ruling on Roe v Wade.  Biden claimed that as a consequence of overturning Roe v Wade, “What happens if you have states changing laws saying that children who are LGBTQ can’t be in classrooms with other children?”  In the leaked draft ruling, Justice Alito explicitly said: “Nothing in this opinion should be understood to cast doubt on precedents that do not concern abortion.”  Biden also forgot about the federal laws that ban discrimination, based on sexual preference and gender.

Trump voters can now add being called “The most extreme” to the many other titles that Biden and the left have bestowed on them: Deplorables, Misogynists, anti-Science, Traitors, Religious Fanatics, Homophobes, Smelly Wal Mart Shoppers, Fascists and that old reliable – Racists.  But things you can be sure that Biden will never call them are Communists or Socialists.

The fascinating thing, missing from most of the current news, is that when he was a Senator, Biden stated in 1974, “I don't like the Supreme Court decision on abortion. I think it went too far. I don't think that a woman has the sole right to say what should happen to her body.”

And to top that off, in the 1980s he supported a constitutional amendment that called for letting states decide abortion law – which is exactly what is called for in Justice Alito’s draft ruling.