Thread: CPAC - NRA Wayne LaPierre - America's 100 million gun owners will not back down

Conservatives Confident on Gun Measures

By Associated Press March 16, 2013 6:55 am

OXON HILL, Md. - Conservatives are all but declaring victory on their defense of gun rights, exuding confidence as calls for aggressive controls in the wake of the Newtown elementary school massacre have given way to scaled-back expectations to firearm restrictions in Congress.

"They can call me crazy and whatever else they want, but NRA's nearly 5 million members and America's 100 million gun owners will not back down - not now, not ever," an emboldened Wayne LaPierre, the CEO and executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, told conservatives gathered at an annual conference. He pointedly ignored President Barack Obama's most restrictive proposals in his speech, using it instead to assail the one that has the potential of getting approved - a near-universal background check for gun owners.



CPAC 2013 - NRA's Wayne LaPierre - YouTube

It's a sign that LaPierre - and others at the Conservative Political Action Conference - thinks the nation's largest pro-gun lobby has successfully beaten back the most limiting proposals.

Indeed, a bipartisan deal on near-universal background checks for firearms buyers remains a real possibility. And Congress still could pass a ban on high-capacity magazines. But Democrats haven't been able to muster enough support, even within their own ranks, to push through an assault weapons ban.

That's by far the most restrictive of the series of changes Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have sought following the Connecticut school shooting that killed 26 children and educators and a series of deadly shootings in Aurora, Colo., Oak Creek, Wis., and elsewhere.

In the hallways of the Conservative Political Action Conference, many activists echoed LaPierre. Few of them talked with urgency about the outcome of an assault weapons ban or some of the other proposed restrictions. And many exuded a quiet confidence that a divided Congress won't act on even the more modest proposal to implement mandatory background checks.

"I don't think it's going to get done," said Randy Smith, a California technology company owner. "There's no way."

Mel Wilcox, a medical professor from Birmingham, Ala., who owns guns and hunts, said he "doesn't really have a problem" with the mandatory background checks but said he didn't expect Congress to act. "I don't think they'll ever push something through," he said.

Several activists pointed to simple arithmetic to explain their confidence in limited gun measures: Republicans remain adamantly opposed to restrictions to assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines and several Senate Democrats are facing re-election next year in rural states populated with many gun owners.

"There are too many Democrats who know they won't last long," said William Temple, a tea party member from Brunswick, Ga.

Connor Martin, Marine veteran and a gun owner from Bay City, Wis., said the upcoming re-election campaigns of several Senate Democrats, including Mark Begich of Alaska, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Max Baucus of Montana, would make it extremely difficult for Democrats to muster enough votes to pass the changes.

It's clear where Republicans in Congress stand on the measures.

Every Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee voted against bills the panel approved this week on background checks and the assault weapons ban. A third measure toughening federal penalties against illegal gun trafficking won committee passage last week with the support of only one Republican - Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the top GOP committee member. The other seven GOP senators opposed it. A fourth bill, slightly increasing federal aid for school safety, passed the committee with bipartisan support.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has said he will decide soon how to bring the measures to the Senate floor, where debate is expected next month.

In his speech, LaPierre called the proposal for mandatory background checks for gun owners a "placebo" that would not make schools or streets safer but would lead to a registration of lawful gun owners - lists that he said could be made public in local newspapers.

"In the end, there are only two reasons for government to create that federal registry of gun owners: to tax them or to take them," he said.

LaPierre ridiculed Biden's suggestion during a Facebook town last month that women like his wife, Jill, could fire "two blasts" from a shotgun if they felt threatened.

"Have they lost their minds over at the White House?" LaPierre said, noting that Biden has had armed protection in the Senate and as vice president. "You keep your advice. We'll keep our guns."

Support for the NRA was omnipresent at the conference. Many participants wore red NRA stickers on their coats with the motto, "Stand and Fight," and an NRA booth in the conference's exhibit hall offered bright-orange bags with pamphlets and bumper stickers carrying the group's message. The sign above the booth underscored the NRA's heft: "I'm a bitter gun owner and I vote."

Prominent Republicans have expressed support from the podium.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul told attendees that the path forward for the GOP was "rooted in respect for the Constitution and respect for the individual. Part of that respect is allowing Americans to freely exercise one of their most basic rights, the right to bear arms."

The White House expressed support Friday that some compromise could be found. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said aboard Air Force One en route to Chicago that nothing proposed by Obama would "take a firearm away from a law-abiding citizen."

"There's plenty of common ground for us to seize, to move forward, that would reduce gun violence in our communities," Earnest said.

---
Associated Press writers Alan Fram and Nedra Pickler contributed to this report.
A service of YellowBrix, Inc.

» Conservatives Confident on Gun Measures » News -- GOPUSA

Connecticut gun legislation 'definition of tyranny?'

By The Day March 15, 2013 12:29 pm

HARTFORD - Those opposed to stricter gun control measures turned out in force Thursday to speak out against Senate Bill 1076 and other legislation before the General Assembly's Public Safety and Security Committee.

"That (bill) is pretty scary," said Molinari Michael, 23, of New London. "That is probably the definition of tyranny. The fact that we are even here discussing that bill, that it is here, is just terrible."

The majority of speakers were opposed to the gun control proposals before the committee. They said their rights to protect themselves from home invaders and the government were being taken away.

Many of the controls in bill 1076 are similar to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's proposals and to the recommendations given by the Democrats on the Gun Violence Prevention Working Group, which is a part of the legislature's Bipartisan Task Force on Gun Violence Prevention and Children's Safety.

Malloy has said the task force is not moving quickly enough. Senate President Pro Tempore Donald Williams, D-Brooklyn, had called for a vote on a comprehensive bill by March 13, two days ago.

Many deadlines for the task force have come and gone. Senate and House leaders are still reviewing recommendations from the task force to come up with a comprehensive bill.

For the proposals in the Public Safety and Security Committee to reach the floor of the House and Senate, the committee would need to pass them by Thursday.

Before the hearing started, about 500 Colt's Manufacturing Co. employees rallied outside the Legislative Office Building to put a face on the jobs that might be lost, they said, if gun control measures pass. Expanding the assault weapons ban, as has been proposed, could negatively affect 80 percent of Colt's business, said Mike Holmes, the shop chairman who represents the bargaining unit workers at Colt's.

Eighty percent of its business is selling semiautomatic rifles with the AR-15 platform, he said.

Banning Colt products won't make communities safer, Holmes said. Mental health is the root of the problem, he said.

Malloy said on Wednesday that manufacturers still would be able to manufacture and sell weapons that are legal in other states.

"As long as they are manufacturing a product that can be legally consumed or purchased in the nation, they are welcome to stay in our state," he said.

But Holmes said Colt's workers are concerned about similar gun control laws spreading across the nation. New York has passed strong gun control laws, and many other states are discussing new laws in the wake of the shooting of 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown on Dec. 14.

At the public hearing, Scott Wilson, a New London resident and president of the Connecticut Citizens Defense League, said he opposed multiple bills before the committee.

"It is my belief that none of this would have prevented the Sandy Hook tragedy, nor would it prevent violence on the streets," Wilson said.

He said he is against Senate Bill 505, which aims to limit the purchase of a rifle or a long gun to those ages 21 and over, because people can enlist in the military before age 18.

He said he also is opposed to House Bill 6595, which prohibits the discharge of firearms near private residents. The bill jeopardizes numerous gun clubs in residential areas, even when the clubs predate the homes, he said.

There is already a law that covers the issue of a projectile crossing over a property boundary, he said.

Many people who testified said they were opposed to the proposal in bill 1076 to expand the definition of an assault weapon to include any semiautomatic firearm that has one military-style characteristic and the capacity to accept a detachable magazine.

Current law calls an assault weapon any semiautomatic weapon with a detachable magazine and two military-style characteristics. A military-style characteristic includes a folding or telescopic stock, a pistol grip or a bayonet mount.

"They are the same rifle wearing different clothing," said Michael Butler, a fire commissioner from Killingworth. He said these weapons, when used by a law-abiding citizen, are very effective defense weapons.

Butler said, "1076 is one of the most toxic pieces of infringement I have ever seen."

State Rep. Al Adinolfi, R-Cheshire, testified at the hearing, saying he disagreed with the idea that gun laws are worth it if one life can be saved. His nephew was bludgeoned to death with a hammer, he said. If someone wants to kill someone, they will, he said. Banning "large-capacity rifles or pistols" will not prevent mass murders, Adinolfi said.
NRA representatives also testified at the hearing.

State Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, said both sides of the political aisle were thinking of requiring universal background checks and asked whether the NRA supported this.

NRA state liaison John Hohenwarter said the NRA did not support universal background checks, but not before saying he didn't think Connecticut could handle the increased cost of background checks, considering the state of its budget.

"Are you a resident of Connecticut?" Osten asked. "I appreciate your concern, but on that case, these other people will weigh in."

Hohenwarter did say the NRA was in favor of going after straw purchasers -- people who buy guns legally and then sell them to someone who may not own a gun. Higher penalties were proposed in the bill for those who sell a firearm to someone who does not make a firearm purchase application to the Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection.

Very few people Thursday were in favor of the current legislation before the committee. Ron Pinciaro, executive director for Connecticut Against Gun Violence, said he wanted more than the gun control bills had to offer. For example, he said, the bill did not ban by name as many assault weapons as his nonprofit had sought and did not adequately address high-capacity magazines.
Former Norwalk councilwoman Anna Duleep said Republican and Democratic local leaders supported Connecticut Against Gun Violence and March for Change, which have asked for some of the strictest gun control measures.

"If you will not provide us with money to do this (handle crime), at least give us laws to protect our citizens and police," she said. "Please do not squander this opportunity to save lives."
___
(c)2013 The Day (New London, Conn.)
Visit The Day (New London, Conn.) at TheDay.com | New London and southeastern Connecticut News, Sports, Business, Entertainment, Video and Weather | The Day newspaper
Distributed by MCT Information Services
A service of YellowBrix, Inc.

» Connecticut gun legislation 'definition of tyranny?' » News -- GOPUSA