Step up our game in SEPA

[Gripsafety]

Folks in SEPA, we all need to talk to our state reps and make them feel some pressure from the pro-2A side. The antis are in their ears every day.

I have spoken with 2 reps (Steve Barrar PA160 and Dan Truitt PA156) who have been considered staunch 2A supporters but are now openly considering universal background checks. We need to nip this now. I'm pretty sure that they'd really rather not vote on it before the election, and maybe what they are saying is just election year talk, but we need to let them know that we are watching and will hammer them.

In this election year, these guys are easy to find. Write letters and emails and make phone calls, but find out where these guys are on weekends and such and get in their faces. I appreciate that Dan and Steve have been honest about considering background checks and are willing to listen. They need to hear more from our side. Dan has a booth at the Goshen Country Fair this week and was there last night. Go there and see him. Steve is also easy to find these days. We need to get active in every district, even if the rep is rabidly anti. These guys need to know that the pressure the reps in the western half of the state feel from our side extends all the way to the Delaware. All we have to do is get on board and apply it.

I am frustrated. I see this cancer creeping into some pretty conservative places, and most of us don't even know it. Please get engaged and have a face to face with your rep or candidate this election season.

[vinlander]

I went to a rally in Philly last year which had people from Red Jacket and Hickok45 speaking, and the turnout was abysmal all things considered.

You would think that a rally in the cradle of freedom on a weekend would have brought more people in. But then every rally I attended in Harrisburg had pretty bad attendance as well.

Amnesty International had a rally in Philly against "gun violence" and had plenty of loud and organized attendance.

For PA having a pretty large NRA membership and lots, and lots of hunters, the voting gun owners here seem amazingly apathetic. They think the democrats their parents voted for are the same as today. This state will be easy to take over for the progressives.

[Champagne Lady]

If I had known about that rally with Red Jacket and Hickock45, I would have come down for it. Didn't hear a thing about it. So much for advertising. I do a lot of emailing and will certainly keep emailing my reps about gun rights.

[Qtrborecrazy]

We do a sad job of getting out and spreading the word, even in our enents section the is no place to announce rallies. Attendance in Harrisburg in April was so so. I understand people need to work, but damn people will take a day off for some of the stupidest crap.

[Yellowfin]

Start talking to the public and to the influential people to whom the politicians listen. Rallies and emails are what gun owners in New York and Massachusetts do, and look at the results they get. They clearly do NOT seek/buy/demand influence with the influential who are the cause of things rather than the surface symptom. If Barrar and Truitt are straying, look up their donors and talk to those guys. Elected folks WILL NOT side with you (or anyone else) over their bankroll no matter what you say, so if you want results talk to the people who have the bigger voice.

My experience with them elsewhere indicates there are two kinds of responses to political input, the "We appreciate your views and we'll look into it" and "Yes sir, right away sir" --the former gets nothing done and is very hard to tell from having done nothing in the first place and the other gets the result requested. WAY TOO MUCH of gun owner political input gets the "we'll look into it" because "yes sir, right away sir" isn't expected, demanded, AND pursued with sufficient means, fortitude, and intolerance for lesser results. Too many people treat elected officials like a psychic, therapist, or a Buddhist priest instead of a mechanic or HVAC guy, someone you tell you paid them now fix the damn problem and not maybe or tomorrow but right ****ing now. If you can't talk to them in that manner then you get ahold of the person who can, because they are listening to the person if that person isn't you.

[JenniferG]

Most gun owners are working people with responsibilities and most gun grabbers are not. Gun owners need to get involved but it has to be effective and advertised when the rally is going to be. You can't be having one here and there and expect people to show up. You have to make it "THE" place to be when it comes to gun rights. Sunday afternoon in a place that gets a lot of traffic is usually the ideal situation. Weekday rallies in obscure locations is a loser.

[Yellowfin]

Rallies in total are a losing proposition, VERY low returns on resources and effort at best. The next day they are forgotten.

[stainless]

Most gun owners are working people with responsibilities and most gun grabbers are not.

QFT.......

[WhiteFeather]

Folks in SEPA, we all need to talk to our state reps and make them feel some pressure from the pro-2A side. The antis are in their ears every day.

I have spoken with 2 reps (Steve Barrar PA160 and Dan Truitt PA156) who have been considered staunch 2A supporters but are now openly considering universal background checks. We need to nip this now. I'm pretty sure that they'd really rather not vote on it before the election, and maybe what they are saying is just election year talk, but we need to let them know that we are watching and will hammer them.

In this election year, these guys are easy to find. Write letters and emails and make phone calls, but find out where these guys are on weekends and such and get in their faces. I appreciate that Dan and Steve have been honest about considering background checks and are willing to listen. They need to hear more from our side. Dan has a booth at the Goshen Country Fair this week and was there last night. Go there and see him. Steve is also easy to find these days. We need to get active in every district, even if the rep is rabidly anti. These guys need to know that the pressure the reps in the western half of the state feel from our side extends all the way to the Delaware. All we have to do is get on board and apply it.

I am frustrated. I see this cancer creeping into some pretty conservative places, and most of us don't even know it. Please get engaged and have a face to face with your rep or candidate this election season.

See attached FOAC document at bottom of post.

Everyone PLEASE download and get copies of FOAC's

Universal Background Checks
Panacea or Deeply Flawed Social Experiment?

Most Americans support background checks, but they, almost without exception, have very little clue about what that concept really means.

Universal background checks--the elimination of private transfers of firearms--have been sold to the American people as a reasonable and attractive way to stop criminals from getting firearms. Who wouldn’t/couldn’t be for it? As in all things, the devil is in the oft-overlooked details and hidden agendas!

First, it is important to understand that every single handgun transfer (there are no private transfers of handguns in this state) in Pennsylvania has gone through a background check--and a record of sale is on file in Harrisburg. Since the vast majority of firearms used in crime are handguns, it is easy to understand why Pennsylvania has long required a ‘record of sale’ form for every transfer of a handgun (in fact, for the past 80 years). However, statistics comparing Pennsylvania to other states that don’t mandate these requirements on the sale of firearms show virtually no difference in crime rates between PA and those other states.

Pennsylvanians are once again being subjected to rhetoric attempting to justify this controversial program. Academicians and researchers have hotly debated the pro’s and con’s, with the weight of evidence ultimately emerging against adoption of universal background checks.


Law enforcement has also been vocal in their opposition to this concept. A recent poll (2013) by Police ONE of 15,000 law enforcement officers is illustrative of the attitude of crime fighters:

As can be seen in Question 7, barely 11% of law enforcement support banning the private sale of firearms. These officers see how criminals routinely evade current gun laws and therefore overwhelmingly reject the pro-universal background check rhetoric that permeates today’s firearm-related public discourse.


Question 21 refers to solutions for ending large-scale shootings. The responses here are very illustrative what police perceive is most effective at stopping these types of crimes. As can be seen, barely 1.5% of police support ‘Tighter Limits on Weapons Sales and Transfers’!!


In 2013, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) released a report discussing universal background checks. The report, Summary of Select Firearm Violence Prevention Strategies, was authored by Greg Ridgeway, Dep./Dir., who gave the following summary:

* The effectiveness of universal background checks depends on the ability to reduce straw purchasing, requiring gun registration, and an easy gun transfer process.


* A perfect universal background check system . . . does not address the largest sources (straw purchasers and theft) of gun crime, which would most likely increase if background checks at gun shows and private sellers were implemented.


* In addition, Ridgeway quotes an NIJ funded study of the Los Angeles illicit gun market: “Results showed that many crime guns were first purchased at local . . . licensed dealers, rather than from out of state . . . contrary to the conventional wisdom that crime guns were being trafficked across state borders from places with less stringent regulations.”

Now consider the following federal firearms laws that are already in place:


* It is a federal felony to be engaged in the business of buying and selling firearms and ammunition without having a federal firearm dealer’s license.


* It is a crime for a federally licensed dealer to sell a gun without doing a background check. This applies to all dealers, including those at retail stores (like Walmart), gun shows, flea markets, or anywhere else.


* It is a federal felony to sell, trade, give, lend, rent, or transfer a gun to a person you know or should have known is not legally allowed to own, purchase, or possess a firearm. The penalty for selling a gun to a person who is a criminal, mentally ill, mentally incompetent, or an alcohol or drug abuser is a 10-year federal prison sentence.

* It is a federal felony to submit false information on a background check form for the purpose of purchasing a firearm. According to a 2012 report to the Department of Justice (DOJ), more than 72,000 people were turned down on gun purchases in 2010 because they didn’t pass the background check. Only 44 of those cases were prosecuted.


State laws also apply and are extensive, as are the penalties and punishments. PA Title 18, section 6111 governs the sale of firearms procedures and the requirements for reported information.

A list of some of the lesser known issues and consequences of imposing this concept on society deserves consideration:


* Universal background checks require registration of firearms.

* Significant financial costs accompany this proposal, and the current efforts to collect and maintain the registration of handguns imposes a significant--some say unsustainable--burden on Pennsylvania.

* Universal background checks are prejudicial towards certain religious faiths such as the Amish.


Given the above, then, what is the real reason for this latest push for universal background checks in Harrisburg?

The strategy behind today’s push for universal background check can be understood from examining the ideology of gun-control advocates, originally articulated at the beginning of the gun-control movement:

“We’ll take one step at a time, and the first is necessarily--given the political realities--very modest. We’ll have to start working again to strengthen the law, and then again to strengthen the next law and again and again. Our ultimate goal . . . is to get registration. The final problem is to make possession . . . . totally illegal.”

Pete Shields, founder of Handgun Control, Inc. (now the Brady Campaign), New Yorker Magazine, June 26, 1976, page 53.

See attached document




Get FOAC document into as many Reps hands as you can


You might want to start with ALL the anti-gun sponsors of HB 1010


Rep SANTARSIERO-Requiring Background Checks for All Firearms

http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/...type=B&bn=1010

see list of sponsors to HB 1010 here

SANTARSIERO, DEAN, WATERS, FRANKEL, V. BROWN, COHEN, SCHLOSSBERG, YOUNGBLOOD, K. BOYLE, DAVIS, STEPHENS, O'BRIEN, McGEEHAN, THOMAS, CRUZ, BROWNLEE, McCARTER, SIMS, BISHOP, SAMUELSON, MUNDY, DONATUCCI, W. KELLER, ROEBUCK, PASHINSKI, CARROLL, M. DALEY, VITALI, GALLOWAY, BRIGGS, SABATINA, DeLISSIO, ROZZI, FREEMAN, MOLCHANY, STURLA, KIM, FABRIZIO, DAVIDSON, NEILSON, McNEILL, KINSEY, CLAY, CALTAGIRONE, B. BOYLE, GAINEY, WHEATLEY, J. HARRIS, KAVULICH, SWANGER, HACKETT, KILLION, KIRKLAND, PARKER, MIRANDA, BRADFORD, SCHREIBER, ROSS, D. EVANS, ADOLPH, D. MILLER, MICOZZIE, MICCARELLI, RAVENSTAHL, DEASY and KAMPF

BTW most on this list are dedicated anti-gunner, that would even ban a picture of a gun if they could, some may surprise you that are supporting this flawed concept, some just don't know any better.....

You task is to educate them why this won't work..... Use FOAC info to help educate the Reps


Make sure you visit FOAC website


http://foac-pac.org/






You might want to ask Rep Dan Truitt why he is a sponsor on HB 1515 Mandatory Lost & Stolen of firearm as this is ANOTHER PROVEN FAILED social experiment, that fails to achieve the goals its supporters claimed purpose for enactment will accomplish.

Even the newspapers couldn't find anywhere Mandatory Lost & Stolen of firearm did anything constructive in other states foolish enough to pass this to stop criminal actions.

How Local Lost and Stolen firearm laws are enacted
http://www.acslpa.org/Firearms_-_Hun...e_enacted.html


Theft of Firearms-Sentence Enhancement Legislation
http://www.acslpa.org/Firearms_-_Hun...gislation.html

Straw Purchasing Criminals—Crisis in Camouflage

http://www.acslpa.org/Firearms_-_Hun...10-04-K-1-.pdf



HB 1515 mandatory Reporting Lost or Stolen Firearms
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/...type=B&bn=1515



DEAN, K. BOYLE, YOUNGBLOOD, ROZZI, O'BRIEN, BROWNLEE, VITALI, KINSEY, SCHLOSSBERG, DONATUCCI, COHEN, V. BROWN, SANTARSIERO, KAVULICH, McGEEHAN, ROSS, BRIGGS, FRANKEL, MOLCHANY, FABRIZIO, MUNDY, ROEBUCK, FREEMAN, McCARTER, SIMS, M. DALEY, WATERS, GAINEY and TRUITT

See attached FOAC document