Thread: State-by-state gun control developments

Del Mar City Council Urges Gun Show Ban

By Lauren Steussy
Monday, Jan 14, 2013 | Updated 8:11 PM PST

In a strongly-worded resolution passed with unanimous support, the Del Mar City Council has urged the banning of a popular gun show on the city's fairgrounds.

"Crossroads of the West" has held their show in Del Mar for the past 22 years, and they promote 60 shows a year throughout the west coast.

Gunshows like Crossroads have recently been criticized for their gun registration policies, especially in the wake of the Newtown massacre.

On Monday, the council cited the tragedy, in addition to the rising number of Americans killed with guns, as reason to ban the show from the fairgrounds.

"Hosting gun shows in Del Mar and calling them 'the Del Mar Gun Show' implies tacit approval of the gun shows by the citizens of Del Mar," the resolution stated.

The resolution urged the District Agricultural Association, which hosts the gunshows, to not renew their contract with Crossroads of the West or any other gun show sponsor.

"My response, relative to the school shootings is that when you have a gun free zone, it is an invitation to people to come in and do what they want to do," said Dexter Haight, president of the NRA Members Council of Greater San Diego.

"That's where people who want to do bad things are going to go to."

Haight said though he was urged direct gun control questions to NRA headquarters, he felt there was too much misinformation at the meeting to remain quiet.

The council's action is not the first showing of support for such a ban. One local resident collected a petition with over 750 signatures to ban the gun shows from Del Mar.

Organizers maintain that the show poses no danger to the community, though.

The Del Mar Fairgrounds Board of Directors met to hear what residents and members of the public thought about a potential ban last week.

"As a public entity we have to be cognizant of the fact that we cannot discriminate against who can or cannot use our facility," said Adam Day, Board of Directors president in a previous article. "These shows are operated under the most strict rules and regulations."

Some supporters of gun shows say they responsibility lies of the owner of the weapon, while protesters say its time for local officials to step in to keep residents.

The board of directors says unless a board member challenges the gun show, it is unlikely it will be canceled.

Del Mar Council Urges Gun Show Ban | NBC 7 San Diego

New York enacts gun-control law, first since Newtown attack

By Barbara Goldberg
NEW YORK | Tue Jan 15, 2013 5:56pm EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday signed into law one of the nation's toughest gun-control measures and the first to be enacted since the mass shooting last month at an elementary school in neighboring Connecticut.

The bill passed the Democratic-led Assembly on Tuesday afternoon, a day after sweeping through the Republican-majority Senate.

The bill expands the state's ban on assault weapons, puts limits on ammunition capacity and has new measures to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill.

Cuomo pressed for passage of the bill after a gunman killed 20 students and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, just over one month ago.

The measure also mandates a life sentence without parole for anyone who murders a first responder. Just two weeks after the massacre in Connecticut, an arsonist gunman ambushed and killed two firefighters responding to a fire he had set near Rochester.

At a signing ceremony in Albany, Cuomo said provisions of the bill, such as limiting gun clips to seven rounds and mental health screening for weapons purchases, were essential to making New Yorkers safer.

"People who are mentally ill should not have access to guns, that's common sense," Cuomo said. "That's probably the hallmark of this bill, coming up with a system that allows for mental-health screens."

"Seven bullets in a gun, why? Because the high-capacity magazines that give you the capacity to kill a large number of human beings in a very short period of time is nonsensical to a civil society," Cuomo said.

Police have said the gunman in Newtown, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, carried numerous high-capacity magazines and that he changed gun clips several times, allowing him to unleash at least 150 rounds in his 10-minute assault on the elementary school. Some victims were shot as many as 11 times.

Gun rights advocates lashed out at Cuomo and New York's law, decrying the speed at which the legislation moved through New York's statehouse. The state's lawmakers have been back at work for less than a week.

"The National Rifle Association and our New York members are outraged at the draconian gun control bill that was rushed through the process late Monday evening," the NRA, the nation's most powerful gun rights lobby group, said in a statement.

"These gun control schemes have failed in the past and will have no impact on public safety and crime," the NRA said. "Sadly, the New York Legislature gave no consideration to that reality."

Also on Tuesday in Danbury, Connecticut, not far from Newtown, gun control advocates gathered for a rally outside a Walmart store to demand Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the nation's largest gun retailer, stop selling assault weapons.

Among those at the rally were Lori Haas, whose daughter was injured in the 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech, and Pam Simon, who was wounded in the 2011 shooting in Tucson, Arizona, that also critically injured former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

The Newtown killings plunged the rural New England town of 27,000 into grief along with much of the nation and prompted President Barack Obama to form a task force headed by Vice President Joe Biden to find ways to curb gun violence. Obama is scheduled to unveil the recommendations on Wednesday.

In a White House news conference on Monday, Obama signaled he will ask Congress to ban military-style assault weapons, require stronger background checks for gun buyers and put tighter controls on high-capacity magazine clips.

The assault rifle used in the Newtown attack is based on a military rifle and can be equipped with magazines that hold up to 30 rounds of ammunition.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/15/us-usa-guns-newyork-idUSBRE90E06L20130115

Gun show at Del Mar Fairgrounds will go on despite strong opposition from City of Del Mar
10News ‎-

Kozachik: No more gun shows at Tucson Convention Center

»


Benjamin Brayfield, Rapid City J

Ammunition for sale at the Rapid City Rifle Club Gun Show & Sale at the Central States Fairgrounds.
2013-01-16T15:30:00ZKozachik: No more gun shows at Tucson Convention Center
7 hours ago • Darren DaRonco Arizona Daily Star

Gun shows could be a thing of the past at the Tucson Convention Center if Councilman Steve Kozachik gets his way.

Kozachik wants to prohibit gun shows on city-owned property until either the state legislature or the U.S. Congress passes a bill requiring background checks on all gun sales.

“Continuing to allow person-to-person gun sales without the requirement of any background checks is a clear threat to the health and safety of the community. If any place has a right to be sensitive about that, Tucson does,” Kozachik said.

“It’s my belief, and I’m hearing it daily now, that we should take a leadership position in saying “no” to gun shows on public property until the state or the feds fix the clear gap in the law that allows people to buy weapons without the seller having any knowledge of who they are or what their background is.”

Federal law mandates that only licensed firearm dealers must conduct a background check. Private sales, regardless of where the transaction occurs, are unregulated.

Kozachik will introduce the item at the next council meeting, Feb. 5. If approved, he hopes the prohibition will take effect immediately and prevent city staff from issuing permits to gun shows to lease the TCC.

The move will affect a lone company, the Phoenix-based McMann Roadrunner Gun Show, which holds about three shows a year at the convention center.

Owner Lori McMann said she doesn’t understand why the city would want to keep her out of the TCC.

“They don’t have any basis to not rent to us. We’ve had no rule violations or any law violations,” McMann said. “I don’t know why they would be proposing this since it has already been defeated once.”

“A city cannot make a law that supercedes state or federal law,” she said.
The legal challenge McMann referenced was a lawsuit filed years ago by her parents, Pat and Joan McMann, over a city ordinance that required instant background checks on all firearm purchases at gun shows held at the TCC.

Although an appeals court ruled in favor of the city in 2002, City Attorney Mike Rankin said the state Legislature has amended state law to work around the ruling.

Though the city can’t require instant background checks on vendors, Rankin said the city still retains the right over who can lease city property.

“Those changes don’t override our charter authority, which comes from the Constitution and not from the Legislature,” Rankin wrote in an email. “Under McMann, as a charter city, we can still decide how to operate our convention center, including deciding how the property will be used, and specifically whether it will be used for gun shows.”

Contact reporter Darren DaRonco at 573-4243 or ddaronco@azstarnet.com.

http://azstarnet.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/kozachik-no-more-gun-shows-at-tucson-convention-center/article_e8cf46e2-602a-11e2-a589-001a4bcf887a.html

City fight with state over gun law looms

Council expected to force checks of weapons purchases on city land

David Sanders/Arizona Daily Star

The Tucson City Council is expected to vote Feb. 5 to require background checks on all gun purchases on city-owned or -managed property - even if it means triggering a fight with the Legislature.

Councilman Steve Kozachik's proposal apparently has the four council votes it will need for approval.

"Our responsibility as a governing body is to protect the safety of the public. If the state wants to challenge our requiring background checks in court, they'll lose it both legally, and they'll lose it in the court of public opinion," Kozachik said. "If that's the fight they want to have, I'm saying bring it on."

State law prohibits cities from passing gun laws stricter than state statutes. But Kozachik said curtailing unregulated gun sales is different from passing an ordinance prohibiting guns in a public park or other restrictive measures. He said preventing cities from requiring background checks is tantamount to endorsing a potential criminal act.

"The state cannot force us to sanction a transaction that may result in somebody buying a gun who is not legally authorized to have it.

"In a person-to-person sale," he said, "the only way to discover the legality is to do a background check."

Requiring the checks on city-controlled property, such as the Tucson Convention Center, is not a gun ordinance more restrictive than state law; it is simply making sure transactions are legal, Kozachik said.

Fellow Councilman Paul Cunningham said he doesn't understand why someone would oppose the idea.

"It is really difficult for me to believe that requiring background checks is bad policy," Cunningham said. "By advocating the avoidance of background checks, you are effectively advocating for violent crime."

Although the Legislature has a history of thwarting Tucson City Council attempts at gun control, Councilwoman Karin Uhlich said the courts have sided with the city in the past. "I think we have firm legal standing," said Uhlich, who also supports Kozachik's measure.

"And it's also keeping with what I hear from people in Tucson, which is until there's comprehensive and meaningful action taken at the federal level, they'd like to see us do everything we can to reinforce the goal of better background checks on gun sales."

The three other members of Tucson's all-Democrat City Council - Regina Romero, Richard Fimbres and Shirley Scott - would not comment Tuesday on whether they will vote in favor of the measure. Mayor Jonathan Rothschild was out of town and couldn't be reached, but Kozachik said Rothschild has told him he supports it.
If it does pass, the city can expect opposition from gun-rights advocates.

Charles Heller, communications director for the Arizona Citizens Defense League, said Tucson's latest attempt to circumvent state law exemplifies why the Legislature needs to continually tighten its gun laws.

"Pre-emption was written in direct response to the malfeasance of the Tucson City Council," Heller said. And now "they're attempting to abridge a fundamental civil right. They're attempting to abridge commerce. It's a basic constitutional right. You have a right to contract."

Heller said the ordinance would succeed only in suppressing the rights of law-abiding citizens and accomplish little in the way of keeping guns out of the hands of criminals.

Rather than sue, Heller said his group most likely will tackle the issue at the state Capitol.

"We are not going to roll over," Heller said. "So far, two governors have signed 27 Arizona Citizens Defense League bills in the last seven years. Our track record is a lot better than the city of Tucson as far as victories at the state Legislature are concerned."

State Rep. Ethan Orr, R-Tucson, said if each municipality passed its own gun laws, it could place otherwise law-abiding citizens in legal jeopardy just for driving from one city to the next with firearms in their vehicles. And that's why it's important to maintain uniform gun laws across the state.

"Once you open that can of worms … it could turn into a hodgepodge of chaos," Orr said.

On the other side of the aisle, Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Tucson, said she supports the City Council's efforts. She said this wouldn't be an issue at the Legislature if some members practiced what they preached.

"It always appalls me that some of the biggest opponents of mandates and preemption from the federal government are those that want to put mandates and pre-emption on local governments in here in Arizona," Lopez said. "Cities and towns really know best what their city and citizens want and need."

Contact reporter Darren DaRonco at ddaronco@azstarnet.com or 573-4243.

http://azstarnet.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/city-fight-with-state-over-gun-law-looms/article_46a27fc4-12fe-5c88-8a12-3ab8e3d64c22.html

RELATED

http://www.alipac.us/f9/fontana-cali...rifles-271122/

N.M. legislative panel to consider gun restrictions Monday

Posted at: 01/28/2013 7:33 AM
By: The Associated Press



SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - New Mexico lawmakers are turning their attention to a proposal that will require criminal background checks of people buying firearms from private sellers, including at gun shows.

The House Judiciary Committee is scheduled Monday to consider the legislation by Democratic Rep. Miguel Garcia of Albuquerque.

Federal law requires background checks for sales by licensed dealers in stores or at gun shows.

However, the law doesn't cover firearm sales between private individuals, whether at a gun show or someone's home. Garcia contends that more background checks will prevent sales of guns to people prohibited from buying firearms, including individuals with a history of mental ill or those convicted of crimes.

The debate over the gun legislation comes a month after a Connecticut school shooting that claimed 26 lives.
http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S2911213.shtml?cat=504

FBI proposes three gun control rules to strengthen instant background checks

Mon, 2013-01-28 12:44 PM By: Jacob Goodwin

As President Obama’s 23 recent executive actions related to gun control begin to work their way through the federal bureaucracy, three specific proposed revisions to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, known as NICS, have been published in the Federal Register by the FBI.

The proposed rules are designed to make the instant criminal background check system more accessible to law enforcement, more useful and longer-lived.

First, criminal justice agencies run by Native-American tribes will be allowed, for the first time, to access NICS, as they determine whether to issue firearm related permits and licenses on Indian reservations. “Given that state and local criminal justice agencies can access the NICS Index in the course of issuing a permit or license, tribal criminal justice agencies should also be permitted to conduct NICS background checks to support their issuance of firearm related permits and licenses,” says the FBI’s proposed notice of rulemaking, which was published on Jan. 28.

Second, criminal justice agencies which have recovered, confiscated or seized firearms would now be allowed to check with the NICS database to conduct instant background checks on individuals to whom they plan to return or transfer those firearms. Such background checks would be performed “in order to ensure that the person to whom the firearm will be transferred is not prohibited from possessing a firearm,” explains the FBI’s draft rule.

Third, the NICS database would be allowed to retain records related to denied firearms transactions, rather than having to transfer those records after 10 years to an off-site Federal Records Center. “Current technology allows NICS to readily retain such records on site, and the FBI has therefore determined that for NICS’ own internal business operations, litigation and prosecution purposes, and proper administration of the system, NICS shall retain denied transaction records on site,” says the FBI.

The public is invited to comment on these three proposed new rules by March 29.

Further information is available from Patricia Traxler, of the FBI’s NICS Strategy and System Unit, at 304-625-7372.
http://www.gsnmagazine.com/node/28351?c=law_enforcement_first_responders

Amid national gun reform, Wyoming takes contrarian stance

Wyoming’s proposed state gun, the Model 83 .454 Casull revolver from Freedom Arms, a Wyoming-based gun manufacturer. (Wikimedia Commons — click to view)

By Gregory NickersonJanuary 29, 2013In the midst of a national gun-control effort to curb firearm violence, Wyoming’s lawmakers have introduced a raft of measures aimed largely at protecting and expanding the right to bear arms.

The Wyoming Firearms Protection Act has drawn national media attention by proposing to ban enforcement of all federal gun regulations within the state.


Click here to read more from this series.

Another bill responding to the Newtown, Conn., school massacre would allow carrying concealed weapons at schools and college campuses.

Monday (January 28 ) began gun and social issues week in the Wyoming House, with lawmakers hearing a variety of bills dealing with hot button issues such as guns, voter registration, abortion, and domestic partnerships.

Several legislators, including Rep. Kendell Kroeker (R-Evansville), allegedly received threatening emails early in the legislature’s winter session. That moved House Speaker Rep. Tom Lubnau (R-Gillette) to schedule social issues bills together to facilitate heightened security in the Capitol. (The Casper Star Tribune covered the added security here.)

On Monday, the House Judiciary Committee heard bills regarding the carrying of concealed weapons in government meetings and prohibition of weapons from courtrooms. Both measures passed.

Discussion of gun bills continues today (Tuesday, January 29). As this article is published, the Judiciary Committee will cast votes on state preemption of local gun laws. They will also consider a ban on enforcing federal firearms regulation, and permitting concealed carry in schools. Click here for a full schedule of committee meetings.

The bills that pass out of committee will hit the floor of the House on Wednesday (January 30) for three rounds of debate.

The bills don’t have universal approval on the part of Wyoming lawmakers, but their existence reflects attitudes embracing the Second Amendment and a vibrant gun culture. In a state where President Barack Obama earned only 28 percent of the vote, it may not be a surprise that some lawmakers stand determined that Wyoming approach firearms law in its own way.

More guns = less crime?

Why is Wyoming’s firearms legislation heading in the opposite direction from that of more urban parts of the country?

Simply put, many people here love guns. Generational traditions of hunting and target shooting mesh well with the abundance of wildlife and open spaces. Knowing how to shoot a gun puts wild game on the dinner table for many families.


Rep. Allen Jaggi (R-Lyman)

But there’s also a sense that guns aren’t the root cause of violence, and that restricting firearms won’t help reduce gun violence.

“A well-armed society is a safe society,” said Rep. Allen Jaggi (R-Lyman), a retired biology teacher. “The more guns you take away, the more rights of people you take away, the more rights you’re giving to the bad guys, the criminals who don’t care about the law.”

Broadly speaking, Wyoming does have less crime than other states while also being well armed. In 2001, the state ranked No. 1 in the nation for the rate of gun ownership, with 59.7 percent of survey respondents saying they had guns in their household. Wyoming ranked 43^rd in the nation for the rate of violent crime per 100,000 people, according to 2006 numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau.

While Wyoming does have a low overall crime rate, residents also face a higher risk of dying by guns than people in other states. According to the Center for Disease Control, in 2009 Wyoming had a firearms death rate of 18.1 per 100,000, tying with Louisiana for the highest rank among the 50 states and Washington D.C. This rate includes all gun deaths from violent crimes, accidents, and suicides.

So do Wyoming’s guns make us more or less safe?

A 2004 report from the National Research Council cited by Factcheck.org states, “Existing research studies and data include a wealth of descriptive information on homicide, suicide, and firearms, but, because of the limitations of existing data and methods, do not credibly demonstrate a causal relationship between the ownership of firearms and the causes or prevention of criminal violence or suicide.”

So, for many scientists, the jury is still out, even as advocates on both sides stand firm on their positions. That leaves gun issues to the realm of politics, where the best-sounding rhetoric may win the day.

http://wyofile.com/2013/01/amid-national-gun-reform-wyoming-takes-contrarian-stance/