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  • 05/31/2024 3:03 PM | Anonymous

    Gun Owners’ Non-Votes

    Let’s start with a fact: there is no doubt that the New York Democrat Party is rabidly anti- 2nd Amendment, and especially the NY Democrat governors.  Based on their 2A positions, Democrat candidates are not attractive to gun owners.

    There is no generally accepted count of gun owners.  A few years ago, estimates of gun owners in NY State generally ranged from 4.0 million to 5.5 million.  With the surge in gun purchases since Biden became President, it’s reasonable to guess that the numbers now range from 4.5 million to 6 million.* 

    Let’s use 5 million gun owners in NY State as a conservative estimate for this exercise.

    Nationwide surveys have determined that about two-thirds of the people eligible to vote actually do vote on a regular basis.  That’s not just eligible registered voters but all possible eligible voters, registered or not.

    If NY gun owners voted in the same percentages as the general public, 3.3 million would vote regularly. Two thirds of the 5 million gun owners is 3.3 million. 

    SCOPE estimates that about 1.8 million gun owners vote regularly. 

    1.8 million gun owners vote while 3.3 million should vote.  The difference is 1.5 million gun owners sitting on the sidelines.

    Not all gun owners vote Republican / Conservative.  Let’s say 75% ** of gun owners vote Republican / Conservative.  

    If those 1.5 million non-voters had voted 75% Republican / Conservative, that would have been a net gain of 50%, which is 750 thousand*** Republican / Conservative votes. 

    Kathy Hochul won in 2022 by less than 400 thousand votes.

    Andrew Cuomo won in 2014 by just over 500 thousand votes.

    Think about that.  If gun owners had voted only at national averages, there would be no Kathy Hochul today and no Andrew Cuomo after 2014.

    Lower the split to 70% Republican/Conservative and 30% Democrat and you net a gain of 600 thousand votes. Still enough to eliminate Hochul and Cuomo.

    How do we get 1.5 million gun owners off the sideline and into the voting booth?

    Notes:

    A May 11, 2024 article in Gun Zone said: “According to recent estimates, there are approximately 5.2 million gun owners in New York State.

    ** Why use 75%? 

    75% of 1.8 million 1.35 million.  In recent NY Governor and Presidential elections, the 1.35 million would range from half to way-more-than-half of the total Republican / Conservative votes.  Unless you believe that gun owners are the only ones voting Republican / Conservative, 1.35 million is reasonable. 

    Other studies have shown 30% to 50% of gun owners vote, depending on state.  1.8 million is 36% of 5 million so it is in line. 

    And usually, more than 75% of statewide Republican / Conservative votes come from Upstate NY, which is where the Republican / Conservative strength is located.

    *** 75% R/C votes minus 25% Democrat votes nets a 50% gain in Republican / Conservative votes.  50% of the 1.5 million who didn’t vote is 750 thousand.

  • 05/29/2024 7:14 PM | Anonymous

    TOP 5 MOST EGREGIOUS FIREARMS LEGISLATIONCURRENTLY DEBATED IN THE NY STATE LEGISLATURE

    1.    Assembly Bill 08443 – Requires NY Attorney General to bring civil and criminal actions in NY State courts against any NY State resident or the ammunition seller in another state, when ammunition is purchased in another state, and it does not go through NY State’s ammunition background check.  Sponsors include 1 democrat; Referred to Codes Committee on January 3, 2024.

    2.     Senate Bill 8461 – Requires skeet field tracts at shooting ranges to be certain dimensions (300x600 yards); prohibits them from including wetlands or open water sources; directs the department of environmental conservation to promulgate rules regarding environmental stewardship and lead ammo material reclamation.

    3.    Senate Bill 00930/Assembly Bill 01566 – Restricts the sale of ammunition to only individuals authorized to possess such a weapon; creates a no gun database under the division of criminal justice services.  13 Sponsors; Referred to the Codes Committee on January 3, 2024.
    4.    Assembly Bill 03314 – Requires liability insurance for firearm, rifle, and shotgun owners.  Sponsors include five democrats; Referred to Insurance committee on January 3, 2024.

    5.    Senate Bill 04150 - Relates to limiting the acquisition of a rifle or shotgun to one every 90-day period.  1 sponsor; Referred to the Consumer Protection Committee on January 3, 2024.

    ** Bill numbers will change at the start of the next legislative calendar year

    SCOPE ACTIONS

    • Monitors NY State and local governments for gun legislation.
    • Donates to lawsuits to restore our Second Amendment (2A) rights.
    • Works with State legislators to sponsor pro 2A legislation.
    • Rates politicians on 2A actions and supports pro-2A politicians.
    • Synchronizes with other 2A organizations to increase effectiveness.
    • Educates politicians and the public on firearms legislation.

        ___________________________________________________________

    For the above information in a printable .pdf format; click HERE

    Print and share this information at your club and events~

    Contact your representatives!

    VOTE!

  • 05/27/2024 2:12 PM | Anonymous

    Mark Twain Strikes Again

    SCOPE has often quoted Will Rogers for some funny and timeless comments.

    Here are some of the same from Mark Twain.

    Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.

    If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.

    Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.

    It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.

    It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.

    If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you’re misinformed.  (Was Twain a Gannett newspaper subscriber?)

    A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.(Yep, he was definitely a Gannett subscriber?)

     I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.

    The secret of getting ahead is getting started. (Or as Yogi Berra might have said, 75% of life is just showing up.)

    Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. (Was he talking about non-voters?)

    Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company.

    Let us endeavor so to live so that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.  (Contrary  to the previous saying.)

    Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great. (Isn’t being great contrary to Equity in Outcomes?)

    And if you think only Mark Twain had a sense of humor:
    And to show New York State has the same sense of humor as California:
    If Twain were still alive, he would agree with the following:
    And finally, trust San Francisco to be on the cutting edge of crazy.  Remember the controversy when liberal cities like S.F. created areas for drug addicts to shoot up and began giving out free syringes.  One could almost predict where this will go.  San Francisco now spends $2 million a year (or maybe $5 million) on a “Managed Alcohol Program.” It provides free Alcohol to people struggling with chronic alcoholism who are mostly homeless.  Nurses dispense “controlled doses” of vodka and beer to street people at specific times of the day.

    Joshua Trees are a species supposedly threatened by “climate change.” A 2013 study concluded that, as temperatures rise and conditions become drier, it is anticipated that the available habitat for Joshua trees will diminish by as much as 90 percent.

    Solar power is viewed as an answer to “climate change.”

    4,200 Joshua trees are scheduled to be removed and replaced by solar panels for the Aratina Solar Project near Boron, CA in June of this year.

    NY State has been doing everything possible to drive up the cost of electricity.  NY’s goals include cutting electricity use by raising the price and making solar generated electricity more competitive by raising the cost of fossil fuel generated electricity.  In the recent electric bill, there is a credit which is explained as, “This credit is part of New York State’s ongoing efforts to support energy affordability.”

    No one will ever accuse the NY State government of being consistent.

    If you are okay with having Joe Biden tell you how to raise your children, consider how Hunter turned out.

    We picked a bad generation to start WW3.  They can’t even fight anxiety over being called the wrong pronoun.

  • 05/24/2024 1:20 PM | Anonymous

    Memorial Day

    I read an article by a man who was in a Nazi death camp as a child.  He remembered that towards the end of the war, the prisoners were deathly afraid that the guards would execute them.  So, when the prisoners were loaded into a box car, they were terrified.

    The boy’s father peered through the slats in the side of the car to see what was happening and when he said “there are armed men coming down the road”, there was panic.

    But then he said…“It’s the Americans.”

    Other than “He is risen,” no three words have ever meant as much to so many people as, “It’s the Americans.” 

    On the 40th anniversary of D-Day, Ronald Reagan spoke at Point Du Hoc, which is a cliff on the Normandy coast. On D-Day, U S Army rangers scaled that cliff under murderous fire.  They took great casualties, but they took the cliff.  40 years later, in front of Reagan were the living survivors of those rangers.  Reagan praised them and by extension, all the many victories for freedom that “it’s the Americans” have led.

    Reagan said, “Behind me is a monument that symbolizes the daggers, thrust into the top of the cliff by the army rangers.  And in front of me are the men who put them there.”

    “You were young the day you took these cliffs; some of you were hardly more than boys, with the deepest joys of life before you.  Yet you risked everything here.  Why? Why did you do it?  What impelled you to put aside the instinct for self-preservation and risk your lives to take these cliffs?  What inspired all the men of the armies that met here?  We look at you, and somehow we know the answer.  It was faith and belief; it was loyalty and love.”

    “The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead or on the next.  It was the deep knowledge – and pray God we have not lost it – that there is a profound moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest.  You were here to liberate, not to conquer, and so you and those others did not doubt your cause.  And you were right not to doubt.”

    It’s the Americans” who came on D-Day to Point Du Hoc and the liberation of Europe had begun.

    In 1966, French President Charles De Gaulle told U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk that De Gaulle wanted "every American soldier out of France." Rusk replied, "Does that include the dead Americans in the military cemeteries as well?" De Gaulle was silent. 

    Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller interrupted his career and was one of the first professional baseball players to enlist immediately after Pearl Harbor.  When he was being honored after coming back in 1945, he said, “The real heroes didn’t come home.”

    In the American Revolution, 31,000 soldiers and sailors died.  They died for a country that didn’t exist and they would never see.

    In the Civil War, 364,000 Union soldiers and sailors died.  They may have fought to save the Union or to free the slaves, or both, but for whatever reason they fought.  Their sacrifices turned the name United States from a plural into a singular and put us on the road to making “all men are created equal,” a fact.

    In World War II, 405,000 soldiers, sailors and airmen died.  As Reagan said, they came “to liberate, not to conquer.” 

    In all wars, a total of 1,354,000 Americans have died and another 1,498,000 were wounded.

    Remember when we proudly said: “I disagree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”  That’s what Americans died for.

    America was not founded on slavery. The pilgrims and puritans came here for religious freedom.  That’s what Americans died for.

    Before our Constitution, people were “servants of the king” - not  citizens.  11 score and 15 years ago, that changed.  That’s what Americans died for.

    You may remember a hit song from years ago: The Impossible Dream.  It sang about righting the unrightable, bearing the unbearable and fighting the unbeatable.  That’s very inspiring but, if you think about it, who would want to do that?  Right the unrightable?  Bear the unbearable? Fight the unbeatable?  That’s crazy.  

    But the song also gave a reason to fight: so “My heart will lie peaceful and calm when I’m laid to my rest….and the world will be better for this.” 

    Those 1,354,000 Americans who were killed have hearts lying peacefully and calm.  The world was better for them having lived.

    It’s a fair statement that everyone now living will eventually be laid to their rest.  Will hearts lie peaceful and calm because they did their duty?   Will the world be better for them having lived?  

    America is the last best hope of mankind and worthy of our efforts, past and present, to preserve it.

    On Memorial Day, we honor those that gave their lives for our country.  But Lincoln put it best at Gettysburg: “The brave men, living and dead…have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.”

    There is much to be proud of in our history, but there are now foreign and domestic enemies that would destroy the values, traditions and our very Constitution.  In doing so, they also sully the cherished memory of those we honor. 

    We didn’t ask for this fight to preserve what they died for, but it has been thrown upon us by those that don’t learn from history or try to twist it for their own purposes. 

    Our founders gave us the structure that made the United States the greatest country in the history of the world - if we can keep it.  It’s our right and our duty to preserve our Constitution against all enemies - foreign and domestic – and in doing so we meaningfully honor those that fell in our nation’s defense.

    The same questions echo across the years for all those called to duty in defense of our nation and our values: We didn’t ask for this fight, but if not us… who?  If not now…when?

    We must rise to the challenge so generations yet unborn will remember that whenever our country and all of mankind was threatened, it’s the Americans who rose up to defend it.  And the government of the people, by the people and for the people did not perish from the earth.

    And those future generations will proudly say the same words I end this: God bless the United States of America and all those who died to preserve that nation.

  • 05/16/2024 11:57 AM | Anonymous

    Crime Going Down?

    The Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) published an interesting study covering an 8 years period.

    Percent of Violent Crime NOT Involving Guns:

    2015   94%

    2016   91%

    2017   92%

    2018   93%

    2019   92%

    2020   92%

    2021   92%

    2022   91%

    But, but, but, Joe Biden and his Democrat minions say the answer to violent crime is more gun control, even though less than 10% of violent crimes involve guns.  Could they be misleading us in order to promote their policies of disarming law-abiding citizens?  Why not go after the other 90+%?

    A SCOPE member sent the above to us.  In researching the background, we found some other interesting information.

    The U.S. employs two distinct measures of crime:

    The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Reporting program counts the number of crimes reported to police annually.

    The Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, in its National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), asks 240,000 people a year whether they have been victims of a crime.

    The two measures have diverged since 2020: The FBI has reported less crime, while the NCVS reports that more people say they have been victims.

    Taking advantage of this statistical difference, in his State of the Union address this year, President Joe Biden proclaimed: “America is safer today than when I took office…last year, the murder rate saw the sharpest decrease in history, and violent crime fell to one of the lowest levels in more than 50 years.”

    Did Joe do battle with the truth (again)?  Why the difference?

    Several large cities no longer report crime statistics to the FBI.  As the Washington Examiner notes: “In 2019, 89% of agencies covering 97% of the population submitted data, but by 2021, that coverage plummeted to less than 63% of departments overseeing just 65% of the population.“ Included in those that no longer report to the FBI are New York City and Los Angeles.

    In addition, the CPRC says that FBI is undercounting crimes.  The CPRC cited discrepancies in reports from cities such as Baltimore, Milwaukee and Nashville.  The CPRC stated: “This trend is consistent across the board: While 2022’s FBI city-level figures track the police’s own data, the 2023 numbers consistently undercount offense totals. Any year-to-year comparison overstates decline.”

    Basically, any year-to-year comparison of crime by the FBI is no longer valid since the basis of comparison has radically changed.  Which means Biden’s statement about the decrease in crime is not valid and the general public perception that crime is an increasing problem is backed up by the National Crime Victimization Survey.  Per CPRC: “While the violent crime rate reported to police fell by 1.7% between 2021 and 2022, the National Crime Victimization Survey shows that total violent crime (reported and non-reported) rose from 16.5 to 23.5 per 100,000.” 

    (Put another less gentle way, the general public has a better grasp of the issue than Biden and the Democrats.)

    There is also another big problem with using the FBI Uniform Crime Report data on crimes reported to police because victims don’t report many crimes.

    Why is that?

    Per CPRC: “The number of crimes reported to police falls as the arrest rate declines. If people don’t think the police will solve their cases, they are less likely to report them to the police.”  (Emphasis added.)

    The DOJ Crime Victimization report affirms the CPRC statement, but buries it: “Victims may not report a crime for a variety of reasons, including fear of reprisal or getting the offender in trouble, believing that police would not or could not do anything to help, and believing the crime to be a personal issue or too trivial to report.”

    If people don’t report crimes because they do not believe anything positive will come of it, is that a reflection on the “soft-on-crime policies of the Left?  And if that is so, could those policies be the reason why liberal media fails to cover non reporting of crime as a reason for the statistical (but not real) drop in crime.

    Put another way: do you believe Joe Biden or your lying eyes?

  • 05/14/2024 9:09 AM | Anonymous

    NY Senate Proposed Bill S9225

    Per Subdivision 1 of section 265.00 of the NY penal law:

    Machine-gun" means any weapon…from which a number of shots or bullets may be rapidly or automatically discharged from a magazine with one continuous pull of the trigger...”

    Sounds like the classic definition of an automatic weapon which is commonly referred to as a “machine gun”. 

    Under proposed NY Senate bill S9225, included the definition of a machine gun will now be “any convertible pistol that is equipped with a pistol converter. A "Pistol converter" means any device (that) enables the pistol to discharge a number of shots or bullets rapidly or automatically with one continuous pull of the trigger.”)

    Hard to argue that if one makes a semi-automatic into an automatic, it becomes a “machine gun”.  (For example, if you pour alcohol into a glass of 7 Up, it is no longer a soda and has become an alcoholic drink, so S9225 isn’t exactly forging new law – in that case.)

    However, S9225 goes too far – way too far…

    S9225 also says “Convertible pistol" means any semi-automatic pistol that can be converted into a machine-gun solely by the installation or attachment of a pistol converter.”

    If you own a semi-automatic pistol that can potentially be converted into an automatic pistol (but is not converted and is still a semi-automatic weapon) you now have a “machine gun” under S9225 - even though it is not a machine gun.

    (Using the previous example, if one has a glass of only 7 Up, is it an alcoholic drink because it can be converted into an alcoholic drink by adding another ingredient?  Under the principle in S9225, the answer would be yes, it is an alcoholic drink.)

    Apparently, there is already in existence a “Glock switch” that can convert Glock semi-automatics into automatics.  So, if this became law, all Glocks - including those unaltered weapons that are currently owned - would become “Machine guns” and the owners would become felons.

    At any point in the future, potentially, every semi-automatic pistol could be made illegal if some inventor finds a way to convert them to fire automatically. 

    This follows in the path of many democrat efforts to make people responsible for what other people do, in order to strike at the 2nd Amendment’s guaranteed rights.

    SCOPE recently wrote about the lawsuit against an FFL (Vintage Firearms) where the owner is accused of selling an illegal “Assault Weapon” because the buyer later drilled out the fixed magazine of a legal weapon and converted it to an illegal weapon.

    And of course, the left wants manufacturers to be responsible for lawfully sold weapons that are someday used illegally, even though the manufacturer obeyed all laws in making and selling the weapons.

    What’s the penalty under S9225?

    “Any person, dealer, firm, partnership, or corporation who disposes of or who transports or ships as merchandise a convertible pistol is guilty of a class D felony.”

    Senator Zellnor Myrie of the 20th Senate District (Brooklyn) is the sponsor of this bill.  Three guesses what political party he belongs to?  (And if you guess wrong, you probably also wonder what religion the Pope belongs to.)

    If you own a semi-automatic pistol – or you care about your 2nd Amendment rights – it might be worth your while to contact your state legislator and express your distaste / concern / outraged indignation over S9225.  The right you save may be your own!

    One closing thought:

    The Crime Prevention Research Center has often pointed out that television crime shows seem to think criminals constantly use machine guns to commit crime. The reality is that the use of machine guns is so rare that it is statistically insignificant. 

    But Senator Myrie is hot-on-the-trail of anything insignificant.

    Link to actual bill:  Bill Search and Legislative Information | New York State Assembly

  • 05/13/2024 4:50 PM | Anonymous

    Driving Firearms Manufacturers Out Of Business

    On October 27th, 2023, a “90-day pause” to examine firearm export policy was announced by the Biden Administration. (If my calendar is correct, the 90 days pause has lasted over 180 days.)

    Exporting firearms from the U.S. involves two major entities: the U.S. Department of State controls exports of guns that are “inherently for military end use;” and the U.S. Commerce Department controls exports of guns that do not fit this category.

    Under a just announced “Interim Final Rule published by Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), the “pause” is going to become permanent policy. The export freezes sought by the Biden administration will be permanent. 

    Hiding under the cover story of U.S. national security, this rule is intended to hobble the firearms industry’s ability to compete in the international market by eliminating export sales of firearms (by Americans) and, the Biden Administration hopes, make the firearms’ business less financially viable.

    The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) estimates that the total economic impact of the Interim Final Rule easily exceeds $250 million to U.S. manufacturers and exporters, which is well above the low estimates BIS has been telling Congress.

    The public can comment on the Interim Final Rule until July 1st.

    The Interim Final Rule is scheduled to take effect May 30, 2024.

    To intimidate exporters, under the Interim Final Rule, firearm export licenses will be reduced from four years to just one year.  (This has been a favorite tactic of Democrats since Franklin Roosevelt and his FCC tried to intimidate radio stations that dared to criticize FDR by dramatically shortening their licensing period.)

    And there are foreign policy concerns (because the Biden Administration has been so successful in its foreign policy initiatives.)

    License applications will consider foreign policy, national security risk factors, government corruption (ours or theirs?), diversion of firearms and human rights abuses, among other criteria.  (Sounds like something Letitia James would have thought up.)

    There will be a presumption of denial for firearm export licenses to those countries identified by the State Department as “at risk,” which include 36 countries – mostly in Latin America, the Caribbean and Southeast Asian countries.

    All previously approved firearm export licenses to “high risk” countries will be revoked 60 days after with the Interim Final Rule takes effect, in 2024

    Will it make the world safer?  Nah!  Other countries are more than happy to fill the void and enjoy the sales revenue.  (Kinda like Biden’s policies on oil and natural gas.)

    Constitutional protections are relatively weaker in firearm exports than in sales of firearms to U.S. citizens.  Executive authority is relatively greater in foreign affairs so the Biden administration takes advantage of this to weaken firearms manufacturers and drive them out of business.

    Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President & General Counsel said this:.

    The enmity of the Biden administration against the firearm industry and Second Amendment rights is without parallel. This is deeply troubling the lengths to which this administration will go to turn the levers of government against a Constitutionally-protected industry in order to cozy up to special-interest gun control donors.”

    Is he saying Biden is catering to one branch of the Democrat Party in an election year by attacking firearms?  Is there any evidence that he does this sort of electioneering with other groups?  Say, forgiving student loans or reparations to blacks?  (Sarcasm intended.)

    Keane also said: These “policies that would strike at the heart of the ability of this industry to stay in business. This has been the end goal since President Biden said from the Democratic debate stage that ‘firearm manufacturers are the enemy.’ This is a wholesale attack on the industry that provides the means for Americans exercising their Second Amendment rights.”

    Remember when Biden came to office as a self-proclaimed uniter?  An American industry is his “enemy.”  That’s uniting?

    Export licensing may seem distant from the usual 2nd Amendment issues but the Biden administration will use every power, constitutional or not, to achieve its far-left goals, which includes destroying 2nd Amendment rights.

  • 05/10/2024 8:25 PM | Anonymous

    Court Cases and the NRA Elections

    The U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York has denied a preliminary injunction to stop NY’s law requiring background checks for ammunition sales.  By denying the motion for a preliminary injunction, that means that ammo background checks will stay in effect while the actual litigation against it is decided in court.

    The case arose because, under NY State’s 2022’s Concealed Carry Improvement Act, (CCIA) the state police established a statewide license and record database specific for ammunition sales.  Background checks for ammunition are run by state police and also incur a fee of $2.50. 

    In the finding to uphold CCIA, Judge Geraci cited a colonial Virginia statute dating back to 1756, which prohibited Catholics from owning or possessing arms. This historical precedent, according to Geraci, reflects a longstanding “national tradition” of restricting access to firearms for individuals deemed dangerous or unfit.

    Note: The 1756 statute targeted a specific religious group during a time of war, while the CCIA applies to all ammunition buyers.  This citing is in the tradition of many of the ‘historical’ gun bans that are traceable back to the post-civil war Jim Crow days and were aimed at disarming blacks. 

    In California, the case of Nguyen v Bonta is a challenge to California’s one gun purchase per month law.

    In March, Judge William Q. Hayes of the United States District Court, Southern District of California ruled the law violated the text of the Second Amendment and there were no reasonable analogies in the relevant legal history of the United States.

    Judge Hayes, stayed his decision for 30 days to allow defendants to appeal to California’s liberal-leaning 9th Circuit

    The case was sent to be heard by a three judge administrative panel of the Ninth Circuit.

    The Ninth Circuit has not been friendly to Second Amendment cases. Any rulings by three-judge panels on the Ninth Circuit that are favorable to the Second Amendment, have all been reversed by the entire court.

    Note: If California is successful, can New York be far behind?

    __________________________________________________________________

    The case of Bevis v Naperville involves ‘assault weapons’ bans by both Naperville and the State of Illinois.

    A district court in Southern Illinois found the ban unconstitutional.

    A federal district court in Chicago and overturned the district court’s ruling and found the ban was constitutional.

    The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit agreed with the federal district court, ruling that AR-15s are NOT protected by the Second Amendment.  The decision was made by a three-judge panel, with two judges finding similarities between AR-15s and M16s, and one judge dissenting.

    Note: Similar in cosmetic ways but not the same in any substantial way.

    In dissent, Judge Michael P. Brennan said, “Because the banned firearms and magazines warrant constitutional protection, and the government parties have failed to meet their burden to show that their bans are part of the history and tradition of firearms regulation, preliminary injunctions are justified against enforcement of the challenged laws.

    The two judges finding the ban legal said, “even the most important personal freedoms have their limits...Government…may condition free assembly on the issuance of a permit; it may require voters to present a valid identification card…The right enshrined in the Second Amendment is no different.”

    Note: Getting a permit or a license is not the same as banning something altogether.

    _____________________________________________________________           

    NRA Board of Directors election results are in and four reform candidates were elected, each winning a 3-year seat.

    Judge Phil Journey and Rocky Marshall, who got on the ballot via petition of the members, were elected. Wayne Anthony Ross of Alaska, a former Vice President who’s been on the Board since 1980 was reelected.  Jeff Knox was also elected. 

    The ‘reformers’ are only 4 Directors among 76, which means they will probably have no real power or influence.  But…

    It’s notable that candidates who did NOT get elected included long-time Director Joel Friedman, as well as two past-presidents, John Sigler and David Keene. Friedman and Keene were vocal defenders of Wayne LaPierre.

    The NRA is a thousand pound gorilla in defense of 2A and it is vital that they get past their current problems and can concentrate on defending 2A.

  • 05/06/2024 12:11 PM | Anonymous

    Is It A Scam?

    It seems whenever there are good intentions, there is someone trying to use those intentions in a scam to make money.

    Ammoland recently carried an article by Chris Lee, the Midwest Director of Government Relations – State Affairs for NSSF, the firearms industry trade association.  The NSSF is a legitimate 2A group with numerous lawsuits in defense of 2A. 

    Lee lives in Indiana and is, obviously, active in that state’s politics.  He wrote in Ammoland about a new ‘No Compromise’ 2A group in Indiana called the “Indiana Firearms Coalition” which claims to be “Indiana’s biggest and most powerful gun group.” [www.indianafirearmscoalition.org

    The problem is, neither Lee nor any of his political contacts had ever come into contact with the ‘biggest and most powerful gun group’ in Indiana: “…in all the time I spend at the statehouse, I’ve never seen them there.”

    Lee states that the Dorr brothers are behind a network of 24 organizations.  The typical comments about them is their fund raising efforts and taking credit for legislation they had nothing to do with.  

    The following are three articles about these groups and the brothers behind them.

    Exposing the Dorr Brother Scams

    Patriots Beware Of New Scam ‘No Compromise’ 2A Group In Hoosier State (ammoland.com)

    "Ohio Gun Owners" is not here to help | Buckeye Firearms Association

    According to the first article, the Dorr’s have two organizations in NY State:

    New York State Firearms Association 

    New Yorkers Against Excessive Quarantine

    And for our friends south of the border:

    Pennsylvania Firearms Association

    Pennsylvanians Against Excessive Quarantine

    NSSF is a legitimate 2A organization and is a trade organization for businesses engaged in 2A operations.  It is not competing for membership against any of the Dorr Brothers Organizations, so there is no apparent self-serving reason for Lee to have written what he did.

    There are many 2A organizations and SCOPE tries to avoid criticizing other 2A groups as we should all be in this together, for the same goal, which is not to enrich ourselves. 

    SCOPE does not take a position on this other than informing 2A defenders that they need to look closely at organizations and decide for themselves before they donate.

  • 04/25/2024 3:35 PM | Anonymous

    Highlights 2024

    SCOPE defends the 2nd Amendment and the entire Constitution at both the state and local level.  Our chapters give us a local connection that very few statewide organizations have developed.  The chapter Chairpersons make up the state Board of Directors so there is a close relationship. 

    The following are a few of the past year’s highlights:

    Donations to help fund 2A Lawsuits

                GOA - $16,000+ from state, chapters and members

                2nd Amendment Foundation - $6,000 from Steuben Chapter

                Vintage Firearms – $6,000 from state SCOPE

    Financial Support

                High School Trap and Skeet Teams – Multiple Chapters support teams

                Armed Women of America – Steuben Chapter supports

                $5,000 from state SCOPE to Steuben Chapter for get-out-the-vote campaign

                Miscellaneous other chapter support

    Petitions

                Repeal the Ammo background check

    Support

                SCOPE sent letter supporting NY Citizens Audit       

    Bill Proposed by SCOPE and introduced into NYS Senate by Senator

               S8609 Open Carry

    Monroe Chapter sends a letter to a legislator at every meeting

    Jefferson Lewis sponsored the play The American Soldier

    Educate and Inform are our central goals

                Firing Lines bimonthly (distributed beyond membership)

                Emails to members on current issues 3-4 times per week  (many are passed on &              quoted)

                Speakers at Chapter meetings, Members Meeting and Banquet

    • NY Citizens Audit

    • Legislators

    • Voter Registration officials

    • County Clerks

    • Sheriffs

    • Judges

    • Candidates

    • District Attorneys

    Special Interests

                Chapters attend Fairs, gun shows, etc.

    Political Contacts

    State officers and chapter chairpersons develop relationships at both the state and county levels.

    Member Support

                Research questions for members

    Letters to Editors by Members

    Strategic 2A Huddle

                Multiple 2A organizations working together

    Quarterly gun raffles to raise funds for activities

    Planning for this November’s Election

    • Research & publicize candidates          

    • Rate Candidates

    • Outdoor News ads

    • Distribute e mails to media

    • Op Eds

    • Interviews

    • Advertising

    • Chapters have candidates to meetings

    • Candidates attend SCOPE Annual Banquet in September

    SCOPE is a volunteer organization, we have only one employee.

    State and chapter officers volunteer their time and money to support 2A 

A 2nd Amendment Defense Organization, defending the rights of New York State gun owners to keep and bear arms!

PO Box 165
East Aurora, NY 14052

SCOPE is a 501(c)4 non-profit organization.

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