Charlie T Waite

Today the Senate Government Oversight and Reform Committee will consider legislation that prevents the closure of federally licensed firearms dealers by public officials, Senate Bill 360. Please contact committee members and ask them to SUPPORT SB 360. Senate Bill 360 bars public officials from prohibiting all federally licensed firearms dealers (FFL) in the state or a specified geographic area from the commercial sale or transfer of firearms or their components or ammunition. This will prevent the future closure of FFLs during declared states of emergency, including during the current Covid-19 outbreak. Again, please contact members of the Senate Government Oversight and Reform Committee and ask them to SUPPORT Senate Bill 360.

Democrats Appear Set to End Public Gun Ownership If They Gain Power in November Bills to do it already written, introduced, await election, HR 5717, S 3254 Congressional Bills Would Disarm the Populace BUT: Democrat-run cities tolerate or encourage street rioting, catch and release violent perps Defund and "stand down" police policies popular with democrat city councils allow looting, arson, assault Threat of "Black Lives Matter" retribution limits punishment of instigators, Marxist revolutionaries "Wokecabulary" distorts much of what the public is fed "An armed, civilian population is our only safeguard, and some politicians are doing everything they can to eliminate it, deliberately turning America into a socialist third-world nightmare." –JPFO "Disarming an innocent person is an act of violence." –Craig Lindsay "'Critical race theory,' which teaches America is evil and must be destroyed, is being forced upon federal officials and public schools. President Trump's executive order to end it may be too little too late. The BLM and socialist activists, quietly implementing it caught us unawares, and are on the verge of beating us. Mass media, many of whom hate America and agree with vile elements of "critical race theory," amplify the effects and feed it as a steady diet, either blatantly, or so subtly it slips through unconsciously, which is more destructive." –Alan Korwin, Author, JPFO Consultant, The Uninvited Ombudsman An unfiltered view of recent events leads to a singularly dangerous conclusion. Left on the present course, gun ownership in America will end, the balancing force it presents to tyranny will be lost, and socialists making their play for control of America will succeed, gaining the levers of power. Thus defeated, the sole linchpin of freedom on the planet, The United States as we know it, will be gone, and the masses of people who struggle to get here will have nowhere else to go to breathe free air. The American experiment in self-governance, free enterprise and liberty will have come to a crashing halt. It all comes down to the vote in November. A blue sweep will end it all. An unfortunate confluence of events led to this precipice— • The communist's efforts to gain control of the school system and teachers' unions; • Cultural and intellectual infiltration of the mass media; • Turning enough members of Congress receptive to embracing socialism; • A lethal plague released by communist China. The body politic was hit with just enough fear and disinformation to exert control over the general public, and swing the tide to accomplish Comrade Khrushchev's stated goal: "Americans will hoist the communist flag themselves." -1956. If forces tied to the socialist/democrat party take both houses of Congress and the presidency, what little remains of free speech, right to assemble, a free press which these days means the Internet, the right to resist tyranny, which means an armed populace, due process of law and the other guarantees of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, will become memories of the past. The public recognizes that TV networks and print "news" are already compromised into a nearly total lockstep narrative. JPFO says cling to your Bibles—and written copies of history. Most ubiquitous sources of information on the Internet are already warped almost beyond recognition, and are no longer stable. Constant riots in democrat-run cities are virtually absent from so-called mass "news" outlets and will be bleached from history going forward. Basic reference material is already re-written and sanitized on sensitive (i.e., freedom-oriented) subjects. "Fact-checking" has become synonymous with censorship of disfavored speech. Firearms subjects are practically verboten in the public square at this point in time. Read a newspaper from even a few years back, it's hard to understand from its lack of wokecabulary. JPFO says REMEMBER—"Never Again!" requires guns in people's hands. Public gun bans HR 5717 and S 3254 are prohibited by the Constitution and cannot be legally enacted. Search those phrases and read them. Join Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership.

As previously reported, Governor Sununu prevented the erosion of our Right to Keep and Bear Arms by vetoing firearm seizure legislation, House Bill 687. On Wednesday, September 16, your legislators are convening for a veto session to consider the Governor’s veto, and they need to hear from you! It is important that you contact your state legislators and ask them to SUSTAIN the veto on HB 687. House Bill 687, sponsored by Representative Debra Altschiller (D-Rockingham 19), allows ex parte orders to suspend Second Amendment rights without adequate due process. Further, if the order is vacated after an individual surrenders their firearms, that individual will have to go to court to have their property returned, unlike when the court wrongfully takes their property away. Knowingly filing a false claim is only a misdemeanor, while violating an order is a Class B felony, punishable by three and a half to seven years of imprisonment. This extreme difference in punishments could lead to false accusations against many law-abiding individuals. Constitutional rights should only be restricted with sufficient due process of law. Due process limits restrictions on constitutional rights to only serious convictions and adjudications that provide procedural protections to the accused, which results in more reliable proceedings. The Right to Keep and Bear Arms should not be treated as a second-class right and should only be restricted when sufficient protections are in place. Please click the “Take Action” button above to contact your state legislators and urge them to SUSTAIN Governor Sununu’s veto of firearm seizure legislation, House Bill 687.

Early this month, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) released two new procedure documents. The first, ATF Procedure 2020-1, Recordkeeping procedure for non-over-the-counter firearm sales by licensees to unlicensed in-state residents that are NICS exempt (Sept. 3, 2020), provides directions to licensed importers, manufacturers, and dealers (FFLs) on the correct process for the parties to the transaction to take in completing ATF Form 4473, when the transaction involves a sale or transfer to an unlicensed person, resident in the same state as the FFL, who does not appear in person at the FFL’s business premises. Federal law, 18 U.S.C. 922(t)(3), authorizes sales and transfers without a NICS background check to persons with a valid “NICS-exempt” permit or license (a firearm subject to the National Firearms Act that has been approved for transfer is also exempted). A separate federal law, 18 U.S.C. 922(c), allows an FFL to sell a firearm to an unlicensed person who does not appear in person in limited circumstances, generally involving a sworn statement in the prescribed form, notification to the chief law enforcement officer of the locality where the person resides, and a wait time of at least a week. The statement must contain blank spaces to attach a true copy of any permit or license. Procedure 2020-1 allows an FFL to conduct and record a sale of a firearm to a resident of the same state who does not appear in person at the FFL’s business premises provided that the transfer is exempt from the NICS background check requirements and the procedures outlined in the document are followed by the seller-transferor, the buyer-transferee, and the FFL. The new Procedure 2020-1 supersedes ATF Procedure 2013-2. The second new document, ATF Proc. 2020-2, Recordkeeping and Background Check Procedure for Facilitation of Private Party Firearms Transfers (Sept. 2, 2020), gives directions on the recordkeeping and NICS procedures for FFLs who facilitate or broker the transfer of firearms between private, unlicensed individuals. Some states’ laws mandate that all firearm transactions between non-FFLs be made through an FFL; otherwise, because unlicensed persons do not have access to the NICS to conduct a background check, some private sellers may choose to make a private sale using an FFL. ATF has previously issued guidance documents on the role of the FFL in these transactions, and this procedure supersedes the latest of those, ATF Procedure 2017-1. ATF Process 2020-2 establishes the new procedures that apply when a private party transferor (seller) takes a firearm to an FFL with the prospective transferee/buyer to conduct a sale or transfer. One of the questions that prior guidance documents left open was the responsibility of an FFL when the private party seller left the firearm in the exclusive possession of the FFL at the FFL’s business premises while the NICS background check on the buyer/transferee was pending. If the buyer/transferee failed the NICS check, the FFL was directed to conduct a NICS background check on the private party seller before he or she could retake possession of the firearm. If the seller also failed the NICS check, the FFL was prohibited from returning the gun. This version fails to clarify the FFL’s responsibility in such cases. It simply directs the FFL to conduct a “NICS background check on the private party seller, and receive either a ‘proceed’ response, or no response after three business days (or appropriate State waiting period), prior to returning the firearm.” This procedure does not apply to pawn transactions, consignment sales, or repairs. Earlier this year, the ATF released an industry letter on firearm sales and deliveries exterior to the brick-and-mortar structure at which a firearms business is licensed (drive-up or walk-up access), for the purposes of accommodating pandemic-related distancing and restricted contact directives. That document is available here.

On July 22, President Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr announced the expansion of the Department of Justice’s Operation Legend to Chicago in order to combat the increase in violent crime that has gripped the city in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, rioting, and sustained de-policing efforts. Describing the effort, a DOJ press release noted, “Operation Legend is a sustained, systematic and coordinated law enforcement initiative in which federal law enforcement agencies work in conjunction with state and local law enforcement officials to fight violent crime.” The release went on to explain that the move was necessary due to a 51 percent year over year increase in homicides in the Windy City. Just over a month and a half later, the surge in law enforcement appears to have worked. On September 9, Barr gave a press conference in Chicago to provide an update on Operation Legend. A press release accompanying the conference noted, “Since the operation’s launch, there have been more than 2,000 arrests, including defendants who have been charged in state and local courts. Of those arrests, approximately 592 defendants have been charged with federal crimes.” More importantly, the DOJ explained, “In Chicago, there has been a 50 percent decrease in homicides in the first seven weeks of the operation, when compared to the five weeks prior to the operation’s launch.” The apparent improvement in Chicago will not come as a surprise to those familiar with an earlier effort to leverage federal resources to combat violent crime. In 1997, federal officials developed Project Exile to target violent crime in Richmond, Va. During the program, local and federal officials worked together to ensure aggressive prosecution of violent criminals under existing federal gun laws. In 1997 Richmond suffered the second highest per capita homicide rate in the country. In 1998 the city’s homicides were cut by nearly one-third. A 2005 study from a team of researchers at the University of Missouri-St. Louis determined, “Richmond’s homicide reduction was significantly greater than the decline in other large cities after the implementation of Project Exile…” As Chicago’s violence spun out of control this summer, Mayor Lori Lightfoot was quick to shift blame away from her own failures and onto the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans. Current and past experience show that adequate enforcement of existing laws can reduce violent crime without diminishing Americans’ fundamental rights.

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BELLEVUE, WA – For the first time in its 35-year history, the annual Gun Rights Policy Conference will be a virtual event held online Sept. 19-20, hosted by the Second Amendment Foundation and Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. This year’s conference theme is “Elect Freedom.” With the crucial 2020 presidential and congressional elections less than two months away, this year’s event has added importance for gun rights activists across the country. To register, go to www.saf.org/grpc/. You will receive information to join the event, which will be presented on several different platforms. The conference agenda includes 32 panel discussions covering such subjects as federal and state legislative affairs, grassroots activism, suicide prevention, legal actions in defense of the Second Amendment, media and corporate attacks on the right to keep and bear arms, women’s issues, advancing the run rights message, and much more. There will also be a panel memorial honoring the late Joe Tartaro, SAF president and longtime executive editor of TheGunMag.com. “Despite the problems relating to COVID-19,” SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb acknowledged, “we’re really excited about this year’s event, and because it is online, we are going to reach a huge audience. The importance of that cannot be over-estimated. “We’ve got a lineup of presentations that will educate, inform and even entertain our GRPC audience,” he added. “We will also have some special VIP appearances.” “Since the first GRPC was held in Seattle in 1986,” Gottlieb noted, “the event has evolved from 20 speakers and 70 attendees to more than 90 speakers and 1,100 attendees in 2019. The GRPC has become a ‘must attend’ event for gun rights advocates and grassroots activists across the country. This year we anticipate having nearly 120 gun rights speakers.” And because the event is entirely online, gun rights activists can attend from the comfort of their own home. “This will be an awesome event,” Gottlieb predicted, “and gun owners from coast to coast can virtually attend.”

In June, the Pennsylvania House passed Emergency Powers Legislation, House Bill 1747. Earlier this week, the Senate Judiciary Committee inched this critical Second Amendment legislation one step closer to final passage on a 9 to 5 vote. This important legislation will allow Pennsylvania to join the growing list of states which are protecting Second Amendment rights when a state of emergency is declared. House Bill 1747 prevents the Governor from suspending or limiting the sale, dispensing or transportation of firearms during a declared emergency. It would also remove the carry prohibitions that exist with exemptions. Governors across the country have declared states of emergency in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, bringing renewed attention to the broad powers being exercised by Executives. NRA has worked during this unprecedented public health crisis to ensure the constitutional rights of citizens are not infringed by fighting against gun store and range closures and combating overreaching executive authority. House Bill 1747 next moves to the Senate floor for a full vote. Please contact your State Senator and respectfully request that they vote in favor of HB 1747.

BELLEVUE, WA – Thanks to a strong public response, the Second Amendment Foundation announced today it is extending and expanding its “Second Amendment First Responder’ advertising campaign to include new channels next week. “We’re delighted with the response and it is helping us expand the reach of our project,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “The more people we reach with the ‘2A First Responder’ program, the better our ability to defend this important constitutional right.” Heading into its third week, the SAF advertising effort will now air on DirecTV to subscribers of Fox News, Fox Business, CNBC, CNN, The Weather Channel, MSNBC, American Heroes channel, and History channel, and on DISH to Fox subscribers, plus Newsmax, One America News and Fox News in several local markets. “Our campaign remains simple and direct,” Gottlieb explained. “Gun rights need to be protected now more than ever as America is under continued attack by anarchists who have been undermining public safety by pushing to defund police agencies, hoping for a breakdown of law and order. “The American public is responding,” he added. “We’re offering a counter to violent lawbreakers who have been hiding behind the veil of public protest to riot and loot, destroy public and private property and throw society into chaos. This anarchy has to stop. “There has never been a more critical moment for law-abiding Americans to step forward and defend their right to keep and bear arms,” Gottlieb continued, “and that’s what Second Amendment First Responders is really all about. We’re not promoting a candidate or a political party, just a worthy cause.” To participate in the Second Amendment First Responder program, simply text “PROTECT 2A” to “474747.” A message will come back immediately from SAF explaining how activists are the front line when it comes to defending the right to keep and bear arms. They increase their activism by becoming “force multipliers” who then recruit additional volunteers to build their own local networks.

As they proudly acknowledge, Democratic presidential nominee Joseph Biden and vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris represent a clear and present danger to liberty, freedom, the Constitution, and the values that have made America the greatest country in the world. Because they pose a uniquely grave threat to all that we hold dear, Firearms Policy Coalition expressly and unequivocally opposes Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris in the strongest possible terms. If elected, the Democratic nominees would: Nominate radical, constitutionally regressive, anti-rights federal judges and Supreme Court justices; Act to ban common, constitutionally protected firearms, magazines, and other arms; Push to criminalize common transfers of firearms between friends and family members, further restricting access to the right to keep and bear arms; Abuse executive authority to ban the importation of firearms, ammunition, and accessories; Infringe on core First Amendment rights by banning gun-related speech, computer design files, and 3D printing; Ban the home-building of firearms, a deeply rooted American tradition protected by the Constitution; Direct reforms to the ATF and the Department of Justice to expand enforcement of unconstitutional gun control laws and burden retailers; Direct the use of tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to fund anti-gun studies to support anti-gun policies; Enact policies to eliminate the lawful acquisition of arms through modern sales channels; Enact legislation and take executive actions to compel states to require licenses before exercising fundamental, enumerated rights; Direct the FBI and ATF to confiscate weapons from people they believe may be prohibited based on shoddy, inaccurate databases and bureaucratic whims; Promote dangerous “red flag” prohibition and confiscation orders; Radically expand the classes of persons federally prohibited from possessing firearms and ammunition; Establish a “task force” to use people’s speech against them, targeting those who say things the government disfavor for bans and confiscation; Punish gun owners who have children in the home; Make gun ownership prohibitively expensive for the average American and accessible to only the wealthy; Require gun owners to report lost or stolen guns, effectively victimizing them twice; Direct the FBI to target gun purchasers who fail the NICS background check and report them to state and local law enforcement, even if the background check result was false and based on inaccurate data; Restrict the rights of the elderly and disabled by giving the Social Security Administration the authority to effectively prohibit their purchases of firearms; Repeal legislation that protects firearm manufacturers and retailers from frivolous lawsuits, forcing critical industry members out of business and closing small businesses; Require all firearms to contain expensive and unreliable “smart gun” technology. FPC is all too familiar with Senator Harris, having battled her in the courts when she was California’s aggressively authoritarian attorney general. Then-California Attorney General Harris used her massive Department of Justice to promote and defend restrictions on speech and firearms, among other fundamental rights. We have no doubt that a Biden/Harris administration would abuse its powers to attack political enemies, including those of us who cherish and fight for the Republic, liberty, and freedom. We take no joy in observing that Mr. Biden’s health and mental faculties are suffering. But in a system that has allowed the executive branch to aggregate power and wield force in a manner never imagined or intended by our Founders, such cannot be ignored. Neither can the fact that, if Mr. Biden were unable to complete a term of office, Ms. Harris would rise to a position of power that would imperil our Republic. FPC remains a fiercely non-partisan organization. When President Trump took unconstitutional measures to prohibit certain arms, we directly engaged him and his administration in substantive legal action. When the President made statements promoting policies that conflict with our principles we opposed them and promoted better policies. And when President Trump nominated individuals who could not be trusted to protect our rights and property, FPC opposed those nominations. We stand for the People, not a political party or politicians. In our view, the United States is at a crossroads. Broken political parties that ignore and redline the Constitution, expand government, and steal more power for themselves from the People are putting our rights and future at risk. Violent mobs and “cancel culture” are expediting the Balkanization of America and destroying the free marketplace of ideas in favor of a monolithic and oppressive system of hegemonic rule. And the American people now have a choice to make that carries incredible risk and consequence for this and future generations. Their history and agenda show that a Biden/Harris administration would immeasurably damage our Republic, the American people, individual liberty, freedom, the rule of law, and our constitutional system as a whole. FPC strongly opposes the election of Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris.

BELLEVUE, WA – Defense Distributed and the Second Amendment Foundation have moved for an interim injunction pending appeal by New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal in the continuing challenge of Grewal’s censorship relating to the publication of information about 3D gun production. The case is in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, where a three-judge panel recently ruled unanimously that Grewal is “subject to the jurisdiction of Texas courts” because of his efforts to prevent publication of the information by Defense Distributed violates the company’s and SAF’s First Amendment rights. Grewal is one of nine Attorneys General to file suit in the Western District of Washington to enjoin the State Department from authorizing the release of Defense Distributed’s files. The SAF/Defense Distributed motion states their case bluntly: “This appeal arises from the ongoing efforts of New Jersey’s Attorney General Gurbir Grewal and several of his peers to hamstring the plaintiffs’ distribution of materials related to the 3D printing of firearms.” Plaintiffs are now asking for an injunction because Grewal “has now sought panel rehearing and rehearing en banc (and might also seek certiorari). This prevents the Plaintiffs from promptly proceeding on remand to have the district court rule on the merits of their preliminary injunction request. Having chosen to keep this Court in charge of the case indefinitely, Grewal cannot refuse to litigate Plaintiffs’ request for interim injunctive relief here and now. “ “New Jersey passed a statute aimed specifically at us and Defense Distributed,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “Attorney General Grewal is essentially trying a delaying tactic to tie this case up in legal red tape as long as possible, while in the process depriving us of our First Amendment rights to share firearms information under color of state law. “We’re asking the court for an injunction so Grewal will be prevented from enforcing the New Jersey statute and requiring us to cease and desist publishing computer files with digital firearms information,” he added. SAF and Defense Distributed are represented by attorney Chad Flores with Beck Redden LLP in Houston.