» Bill Aims To Disarm Feds’ Gun Controls | ABQ Journal By Dan Boyd / Journal Staff Writer on Fri, Jan 18, 2013

The New Mexico bill – House Bill 114, sponsored by Rep. Nora Espinoza of Roswell – would make it a third-degree felony for any government official or firearm dealer to try to enforce federal gun laws here. …

Republican legislators in Texas, Wyoming and Tennessee have introduced legislation similar to Espinoza’s New Mexico measure in recent weeks. …

Rep. Gail Chasey, D-Albuquerque, the new chairwoman of the House Judiciary Committee, said Thursday that she had not seen Espinoza’s bill but that it likely would raise significant legal questions.

“I don’t know how a state says you can’t enforce a federal law,” Chasey said. “I think secession would have to precede that, but I guess we’ll see.”

» Bill Aims To Disarm Feds’ Gun Controls | ABQ Journal

At the Federal level, we have one idiot (your choice) and two pro-gun Democrats. We can work this out. peace, mjh

» New Mexico Delegation Reacts to Obama Gun Proposals | ABQ Journal By Michael Coleman / Journal Washington Bureau on Wed, Jan 16, 2013

We asked the New Mexico congressional delegation to respond  to the president’s just-announced proposals to help reduce gun violence. Sen. Martin Heinrich and Rep. Ben Ray Lujan praised the proposal – or at least parts of it – and Rep. Steve Pearce said it wouldn’t solve the problem. [Rep. Michele Lujan-Grisham supports the proposal.]

[follow the link to read full statements]

» New Mexico Delegation Reacts to Obama Gun Proposals | ABQ Journal

Fourteen years ago, the NRA opposed guns in schools. And promised an immediate impact on violence. Still waiting. Hat tip to Ed Bott for the link.

NRA Annual Meeting – Wayne LaPierre Address to Members

I wouldn’t stand before you today if I didn’t believe, and I couldn’t prove, that our common-sense policies can have a more immediate impact on violence, and make more citizens safer, than anything that anyone else is proposing.

So I’d like to speak in response to the President’s recent press conferences and news appearances. And please, listen not just for what we’ve done, but for what more we can all do.

First, we believe in absolutely gun-free, zero-tolerance, totally safe schools. That means no guns in America’s schools, period … with the rare exception of law enforcement officers or trained security personnel.

We believe America’s schools should be as safe as America’s airports. You can’t talk about, much less take, bombs and guns onto airplanes. Such behavior in our schools should be prosecuted just as certainly as such behavior in our airports is prosecuted.

NRA Annual Meeting – Wayne LaPierre Address to Members

Gun sellers are ginning up their customers, goading the lemmings off the cliff.

Gun Makers Worry Revamped Laws Will Hurt Bottom Line : NPR

MIKE FIFER: Just do it. Just reach out to your consumers, let them know, let them tell their friends, let’s make a groundswell. Let’s get that silent majority to speak up for once.

ZARROLI: Fifer’s company has developed software that makes it easy for gun owners to contact their state and federal politicians, and about 400,000 people had used it as of Friday. Fifer said that some of the proposals being talked about, like the assault weapons ban, would set the industry back.

FIFER: Everybody I’ve talked to in the industry is anxious to keep developing new products, get them out to consumers. [mjh: New and Improved weapons of mass destruction!] And nobody wants to backtrack now and try to go adjust all their current products to fit these new, new regulations. [mjh: Nobody wants responsibility for what they’ve already dumped on AmeriCo.] Nobody wants to do that. That’s not where they’re focused. That’s a big step backwards for all of us.

ZARROLI: Fifer was interviewed at a convention for the gun industry sponsored by the National Shooting Sports Foundation in Las Vegas. A lot of those attending the show see the proposals as an attack on gun ownership. James Rebbolds, who works for a company that exports reloading supplies, paused outside the convention center yesterday afternoon to say the proposals would have a minimal effect on gun violence.

JAMES REBBOLDS: I think they’re going to take guns away from law-abiding citizens. And the only people that will have guns are the criminals.

ZARROLI: Not far away was Mike Cole, who works for a manufacturing company and was at the show to meet with vendors. Cole said he is sympathetic to some of the president’s aims and restricting ammunition is a good idea. But he says it may be too late at this point to do anything about assault weapons.

MIKE COLE: Because there are so many assault weapons out there now that the assault weapon ban – what, it’s been for almost 10 years, over 10 years, I think, that it hasn’t been in effect, so it’s – there’s a lot of weapons out there already.

ZARROLI: Cole says the enormous size of the Las Vegas convention is a stark reminder of just how big the gun industry is. And it underscores just how big the challenges are for the White House as it tries to take the industry on. Jim Zarroli, NPR News.

Gun Makers Worry Revamped Laws Will Hurt Bottom Line : NPR

Gotta put pressure on these Senate Democrats.

Meet The NRA-Backed Senate Democrats Who Oppose Obama’s Gun Violence Prevention Plan | ThinkProgress

Yet a group of Senate Democrats, all of them highly rated by the National Rifle Association, are refusing to say if they support the President’s reform package. Below is a list of the Senators in question, how they’re rated by the NRA, and what they’ve said about gun law reform:

1. Max Baucus, Montana (NRA Rating: A+). Baucus appeared to oppose any federal action on gun law reform, saying in a statement that “Before passing new laws, we need a thoughtful debate that respects responsible, law-abiding gun owners in Montana instead of a one-size-fits all directives from Washington.”

2. Heidi Heitkamp, North Dakota (NRA Rating: A). In a local television appearance before President Obama’s announcement, Heitkamp accused the White House of having ulterior motives besides preventing mass killing, claiming “There isn’t any amount of gun regulation or gun executive orders that will solve the problem of identifying people who could potentially do this and making sure they get the help and their families get the help so they don’ t do this. I’ve said it all along that this is wrong headed…I think it is an agenda driven by something other than school shootings.”

3. Tim Johnson, South Dakota (NRA Rating: A). Like Baucus, Johnson argued against federal solutions: “We in South Dakota have far fewer problems with guns than they do in New York or New Jersey and it makes common sense to not have one size fits all.”

4. Joe Donnelly, Indiana (NRA Rating: A). Donnelly simply said that “I am a strong supporter of the Second Amendment,” pointed to his NRA endorsement, and rejected the assault weapons ban plan of Obama’s proposal.

5. Mark Begich, Alaska (NRA Rating: A). Begich went even further than Donnelly in criticizing the assault weapons ban, saying “I … take issue with the president’s call for banning aesthetically altered rifles and shotguns and certain magazines. This is a dangerous limitation on a family’s ability to defend itself.” He did, however, support “measures to improve lacking law enforcement protocols designed to prevent those with mental illness from obtaining weapons.”

6. Joe Manchin, West Virginia (NRA Rating: A). Manchin blamed a “culture of mass violence” rather than the spread of deadly weapons, wishing the president had created a “national commission [to] build the consensus we need for real action backed not only by gun control advocates, mental health experts and entertainment industry executives but also by law-abiding gun owners who fully understand the history and heritage of firearms in America.”

7. John Tester, Montana (NRA Rating: A-). Tester refused to take a position, saying “As Congress considers ways to address gun violence, we must look at all aspects of this issue. Our priority must be keeping all Americans–especially our kids–safe. I will look closely at all proposals on the table, but we must use common sense and respect our Constitution.”

8. Harry Reid, Nevada (NRA Rating: B). Reid, like Tester, wouldn’t say one way or another: “I thank the President’s task force for its thoughtful recommendations. I am committed to ensuring that the Senate will consider legislation that addresses gun violence and other aspects of violence in our society early this year. The tragedy at Sandy Hook was just the latest sad reminder that we are not doing enough to protect our citizens – especially our children – from gun violence and a culture of violence, and all options should be on the table moving forward.”

Meet The NRA-Backed Senate Democrats Who Oppose Obama’s Gun Violence Prevention Plan | ThinkProgress

Gun Group Chief Says Industry Didn’t Cause Newtown : NPR

"There’s a dirty little secret here in the wake of Newtown," said Ladd Everitt, spokesman for the Washington, D.C.-based Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. "One of the primary areas for marketing and growth in the gun industry right now is assault weapons. The other is compact style handguns for people who carry guns in public."

"What’s sexy and promoted is military-style assault weapons, not bolt-action deer hunting rifles," Everitt said. "In truth, the lobbying of the NSSF and their partners at the NRA is the sole reason we now live in an America where homicidal maniacs are allowed to stockpile firearms, often legally." …

The 35th annual SHOT show was closed to the public and was covered by a limited number of reporters and photographers. Foundation spokesman Bill Brassard Jr. told The Associated Press the group was swamped by media requests and stopped accepting applications following the Newtown shooting.

"By shutting out the news media, NSSF hopes that what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas," said Josh Sugarmann, head of the Violence Policy Center gun-control advocacy group in Washington, D.C., and a native of Newtown, Conn. He accused the foundation of "putting a happy face on the weapons of war it helps market … while ignoring the inevitable tragedies that result."

Gun Group Chief Says Industry Didn’t Cause Newtown : NPR

I lived through Nixon and Spiro the Angry Crook. I lived through Raygun and Bush the First. I lived through Bush the Idiot and the Dark Lord. During DUHbya’s Reign of Error, I was told “Get over it!” Way back in ‘68, the conservative line was “America: Love it or Leave it!” I’ll be a touch nicer to you than you were to me: don’t go if you can just calm down a bit. Otherwise, “Get over it!”

During all those dark, miserable years, I never thought America was actually doomed by the idiots in charge or the goons they commanded. You are welcome to despise Obama and the majority that elected him. You are not welcome to incite panic and bloodshed. Calm down. Get over it.