Gun Rights

At FOX 35 News in Orange County, Fla. comes this report: 'Forget about paying the bills with your tax refund, some are heading to the gun shop instead. Over at Shoot Straight employees say more people are taking a shot at a owning a gun, thanks to Uncle Sam.… As people debate the Stand Your Ground law, many worry about losing the right to own a gun, 'Any time people feel their second amendment right might be taken away or altered, they get concerned and buy the guns that they can buy now, while they can.'

David Kopel, adjunct law professor at Denver University and co-author of “Firearms Law and the Second Amendment”, wrote in the Washington Times this week: 'Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s visit to Washington last week featured his usual lecturing of Americans about gun control. This time, he had some good ideas, although he remains wedded to many bad ones, too. A polite guest, Mr. Calderon did not mention the “Fast and Furious” operation during his public events with President Obama. But reports indicate that he did bring it up privately, and he was furious - justifiably so.'

NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre spoke at the NRA Annual Meetings April 14, 2012. If you weren’t able to attend, a link to a transcript of his comments appears below, courtesy of the NRA. Or click the player window to watch the speech. 'All over this nation, people feel it in their hearts — that something has gone terribly wrong in our country. In almost every way you look at it, almost every aspect of American freedom is in some state of decline.

Larry Keane, general counsel of the NSSF, weighed in recently on the biased reporting about Remington firearms by NBC’s Rock Center program.

The editors of National Review Online recently did a clean, clear job of reacting to demands that self-defense laws enacted in many states to protect victims don't get repealed because of the Trayvon Martin case in Florida. From the article:

Conservative rocker Ted Nugent accused President Obama of running a “vile, evil, America-hating administration” during a weekend appearance at the National Rifle Association convention. He was interviewed at the NRA Annual Meetings by NRA radio host Cam Edwards.

Larry Keane, general counsel for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, recently clarified just where guns in Mexico come from -- and it's not primarily the U.S. He wrote, 'During his recent visit to the White House, Mexico President Felipe Calderon renewed his call for a U.S. assault weapons ban as a solution to the drug cartel-caused violence that plagues his country. He also claimed, according to columnist Bill Press, that violence levels are directly related to the number of guns in circulation. Both of these assertions are demonstrably false.'

Economist John Lott, noted for his academic advocacy of gun rights, says that when Barack Obama was his colleague at the University of Chicago, the future president treated him as if he were “evil.”

Josh Sugarmann, executive director of the Violence Policy Center, went wingnut on the Huffington Post recently, blaming the death of Trayvon Martin on the NRA and marketing by gun manufacturers.

If you haven't seen these NRA Bill of Rights ads yet, then stop for a moment, download them, and take a close look. The deck reads, 'Before anyone edits the Bill of Rights, the authors would like a word with you.'

In a Washington Times column on April 2, Second Amendment legal scholar David Kopel examined how anti-gun lobbies are purposely misstating how Florida’s “stand your ground” works.

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has signed House Bill 2728 into law, allowing hunters in the state to use lawfully-suppressed firearms for hunting.