CCRKBA: Platform Confirms Dems Still Don't Get It About Gun Rights

CCRKBA News Release:

Citizens Committee for the
Right to Keep and Bear Arms
12500 N.E. Tenth Place
Bellevue, WA 98005
PLATFORM CONFIRMS DEMS STILL ‘DON’T GET IT’ ABOUT GUN RIGHTS, SAYS CCRKBA

For Immediate Release: August 12, 2008

BELLEVUE, WA

The 2008 Democratic Party’s draft platform confirms that the party still doesn’t get it about Second Amendment gun rights versus the Utopian fantasy that gun control laws will somehow make neighborhoods safer, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.

While promising to preserve our Second Amendment rights, said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, the party platform demonizes semiautomatic sport utility rifles and wants them banned, calls for anti-gun show legislation and proposes so-called ‘common-sense’ gun laws. Many Democrats believe bans on most guns are ‘common sense’ and they still support the handgun ban in Barack Obama’s hometown of Chicago. Boiled down, all it really means is that the Democrats are still the party of gun control no matter how they try to re-package the rhetoric, and they know it.

Gottlieb, co-author of a new book called These Dogs Don’t Hunt: The Democrats’ War on Guns, said the party is shamelessly telling American gun owners that they embrace the rights of millions of shooters, hunters and gun collectors, but there’s a caveat.

The party’s gun control platform plank puts the lie to everything they say, he added. As Democrats descend on Denver to nominate a candidate who is on record in opposition to sensible concealed carry laws, we encourage gun owners across the country, and especially in Colorado, to remind the party that the Supreme Court in June held that gun bans are unconstitutional. Yet here they are, calling for a ban on so-called ‘assault weapons’ even after years of experience tells us that Bill Clinton’s ban accomplished nothing, and cost the party control of Congress in 1994.

Democrats want to regulate gun shows out of business, he continued, even after a study done for the Justice Department found that gun shows are rarely the source of firearms used by criminals. Gun shows provide a forum, a gathering place for law-abiding gun owners to discuss ideas and issues, and share constitutionally protected freedoms of speech, assembly and the right to keep and bear arms. Increasingly, Democrats seem averse to the exercise of these rights by anyone who does not share their philosophy. And this is the party of inclusion?

Democrats have an opportunity to reject and repudiate this platform, Gottlieb concluded. If they do not, that tells American gun owners everything they need to know about Democrats as November approaches.

With more than 650,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is one of the nation’s premier gun rights organizations. As a non-profit organization, the Citizens Committee is dedicated to preserving firearms freedoms through active lobbying of elected officials and facilitating grass-roots organization of gun rights activists in local communities throughout the United States. The Citizens Committee can be reached by phone at (425) 454-4911, on the Internet at www.ccrkba.org or by email to InformationRequest@ccrkba.org.

AZ: City of Peoria AZ Police Department Fleecing our Pockets

The City of Peoria AZ Police Department has been unjustly taking money from citizen pockets for YEARS (see details below), but I only recently became aware of it when I became yet another victim of their so-called "false alarm" policy. You see, a burglar broke into my home late at night last November while we were out of town for a week enjoying the Thanksgiving Holiday. Hearing our burglar alarm sound, he or she ran away to find an easier target. The burglar was in such a hurry to get away he or she left our door wide open. My alarm company did the job I pay them to do, and called the City of Peoria AZ Police Department to notify them of the alarm event. The City of Peoria AZ Police Department then did the job I pay them to do (via the taxes I pay) & came out to investigate.

They arrived sometime after the criminal had already safely escaped, found the door wide open, searched for the criminal, found the place vacant, secured the door, left a note saying the door had been found wide open when they arrived but after searching they were not able to find the criminal nor any evidence of wrongdoing other than the wide open door, and left. That should have been the end of the story, but it turned out only to be the first step of the City of Peoria Arizona Citizen Victimization Plan (I made that name up - I presume the plan is named something far less scandalous, perhaps it is called something more pleasant like the City of Peoria Arizona Alarm Reduction Plan).

You see, like any normal governmental organization, the Peoria AZ PD thirsts for additional funds. Normal cities acquire their PD funds through something called taxation. The City of Peoria AZ Police department does receive revenue through taxation, but they also found another way to raise additional funds. I would call it the "lets pillage the pockets of our own citizens who have been targeted by burglars plan". That way burglar victims can be victimized twice, once by the burglar who illegally broke in and subsequently escaped without charges, then by the Police who did their job to investigate & then ASSUMED it was a false alarm even if the door is found wide open (Hello, door found wide open after we've been away for nearly a week should be a CLUE).

That's right ladies & gentlemen, our fine City of Peoria AZ Police Department ASSUMES you are guilty of having a false alarm if it was triggered in ANY way shape or form, unless they actually catch a perpetrator red handed OR you can prove it was not a false alarm. Guilty until you prove yourself innocent, that's the way it's supposed to be isn't it? Or is that only supposed to happen in places like China or Cuba?

I heard the standard Policy right from the horses mouth, Lt. Scrivens, a member of the City of Peoria AZ Chief or Police office who has been delegated the duty of reviewing requests to re-categorize false alarms that can be fined to actual alarms that can't be fined. When I explained the full situation to him he explained why he could not do as I asked & explained the standard policy to me in an e-mail:

. . . The Peoria Police Department responds to thousands of alarm calls each year. Ninety nine (99%) percent of all alarm calls are false alarms. Each alarm activation police receives requires a minimum of a two officer response and sometimes additional officers depending on the size of the building and the individual circumstances . . .

In review of your alarm appeals, there was no annotation of any suspicious or criminal activity associated with the activation. It is department policy to leave a door hanger to notify residents we have responded to their residence on an alarm call annotating if the house was secured, door found unlocked or open, etc. If any potential evidence or witness information at the scene can be developed of the alarm being set off by a criminal act, our policy is to initiate a written report and contact the home owner as soon as possible. This was not the case in your alarm activation so a door hanger was left . . .

When you boil the stated policy down, the policy of the City of Peoria AZ Police Department is that unless all of the following miracles take place simultaneously, they automatically ASSUME all alarms are a false alarm, victimizing burglar victims a second time, first by the criminal, then by the Police Department. This is what is required for us lowly citizens to PROVE we are not guilty of a false alarm event:

1. The criminal that broke in must be seen illegally entering the premises by one or more eye witnesses (unlikely at late hours of the night as in the case of my alarm event).
2. The witness must then ASSUME it was a criminal entering & not the owner or someone authorized by the owner.
3. The witness must then be willing to go to the trouble of notifying Police to file an eye witness report of assumed criminal activity.
4. Someone in the Police Department would then have to link the eye witness report to the alarm event & actually document the found link, after which someone in the PD would have to change the recorded alarm event from the assumed false state to a valid state.
   

It's no wonder our city has a 99% ASSUMED false alarm rate. It's a miracle that all of the above requirements manage to take place in 1% of the alarm events. I took a look at some of the past City of Peoria AZ Police Annual Reports & found that they are making some nice coin off the backs of the citizens they victimize by making the false alarm assumption in their current policy:

2003 & earlier - I failed to locate the annual reports - they may not be online.
2004: 4,700 alarms ASSUMED to be false. Citizens FLEECED to the tune of $59,000.00
2005: 3,700 alarms ASSUMED to be false. Citizens FLEECED to the tune of $69,000.00
2006: Assumed false alarm data not reported - did they forget or could they be hiding it?
2007: I was unable to locate the 2007 annual report - I don't know if I didn't find it or if it has not yet been created & placed online.

It is interesting to note that from 2004 to 2005 the number of alarms assumed to be false decreased by 1000 events, yet the revenue they fleeced from city citizens & businesses increased by $10,000.00. If you live in Peoria AZ, please contact the Peoria PD Community Relations Department at 623-773-7099 & your Peoria Council Member (see district map here) to ask that this unjust policy of guilty until you prove yourself innocent as well as the current policy of letting the Police Police themselves for alarm reviews be corrected. For an extra touch contact the Mayor too. In the very LEAST an open door found at the alarm event scene should be presumed to be a valid alarm until the PD proves otherwise, not the other way around.

I have contacted my City of Peoria AZ Representative, Vice Mayor Carlat to notify her of this unjust situation and all I got was essentially a form letter saying she does empathize with me but the Police Department has already reviewed my case so all is ASSUMED to be well (somehow having the Police Department review its own flawed determination seems less than satisfactory to me, but maybe it's just me):

While Ms. Carlat does empathize with your frustration, a thorough and comprehensive review of your case was performed by the designated representative for the Peoria Police Chief, as authorized by the Peoria City Code.

Is it just me or does that sound like a flawed policy to anyone else? Put the Police Department in charge of reviewing its own flawed determinations. Isn't that just perfect. A government Police agency in charge of Policing itself to make sure it is being fair in the methods it uses to fleece its Citizens to gain the extra revenue it desires. Isn't this just typical, if you want something screwed up, ask the government to do something. If you really want to see something screwed up, ask the government to police itself while doing something.

Being myself completely unsatisfied with Vice Mayor Carlat's response, not to mention the fact that during her tenure she voted in favor of forcing Peoria residents to pay more for sewer & garbage services (my rates have already increased TWICE since) in order to pay for forced curbside recycling which had already been REJECTED when presented to the citizens for a vote, I checked to see who is running against her this year for her spot on the Peoria City Council, and to my pleasant surprise I found that Mark Knight is running against her. I have since met both Mark Knight & his wife when they stopped by to install a yard sign I requested & we discussed politics at length. During my online & in person discussions I found him to be a person of solid conservative values like unto my own (keep government small, don't create unnecessary laws or policies, no increase in taxes, etc). He is also a strong supporter of the Constitution & the Bill of Rights, including the 2nd Amendment.

I have made a donation to the Mark Knight Campaign, and I had his yard sign installed in my front yard next to my bitter gun owner & Jack Harper (AZ Senate District 4) yard signs. My wife & I will be voting for both Mark Knight & Jack Harper this year. If you are a member of AZ Legislative District 4 you might be interested in watching a debate between Senator Jack Harper & his current opponent in the upcoming Republican Primary.

If you like myself happen to live in the Peoria AZ Mesquite District I encourage you to check out Mark's web site to see if you'd be interested in voting for him. He is very responsive to his e-mail so feel free to contact him with any questions you may have.

Couple Forced to Shoot Cougar

A New Castle Colorado couple was walking down a road when they were attacked by a Mountain Lion. Luckily one of them was armed:

. . . a couple was walking on a road about two miles north of New Castle, about 170 miles west of Denver, when a mountain lion emerged from bushes alongside the road. The two told state wildlife officers that they yelled, waved their arms and backed away slowly, trying to scare the mountain lion away without startling it.

But the couple said the mountain lion was down low and kept moving toward them. The man drew a pistol he was carrying and shot the cat. "Our investigation shows the mountain lion was about 6 feet away before the man fired a shot," Colorado Division of Wildlife spokesman Randy Hampton said . . .

"We felt this was a situation, where had they not been armed, we would've been dealing with a very different story today," Hampton said. The cat in Tuesday's incident was a young male and underweight at 60 pounds. Hampton said preliminary results from a necropsy -- the animal equivalent of an autopsy -- show the mountain lion had pneumonia, bronchitis and probably hadn't eaten in several days . . .

NRA Political Victory Fund Endorsements

The NRA Political Victory Fund Endorsements are now ready for a number of States, including Arizona (AZ Primary will take place September 2nd). Go check it out & make sure you vote freedom first!

Airports Don't Have Rights!

Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss. stated:

"If airports think (guns) should not be allowed, they should have the right to modify their security plan to reflect that"

No Mr. Thompson you are incorrect. Airports don't have rights. Airports are paid for & operated by we the people and only have the power & authority that we the people grant unto them. They have powers, not rights. The powers that we the people grant to Airport authorities would obviously end at any point where an Airport Authority would attempt to usurp a constitutionally protected but preexisting right to keep & bear arms.

So don't attempt to lecture me about Airport Rights that don't even exist Mr Thompson. Talk to me about the rights of we the people, and start doing the job of upholding the constitution you swore to protect when you accepted your office as a representative of the people!

Call Mr. Thompson's office yourself & let him know what you think about this critical issue: 202-225-5876

More from Sebastian.

Update 1: More from the NRA-ILA. Contact the TSA to let them know what you think about them considering the request to allow airports to ban guns outside of the secure areas.

I Dream of the Day I can Travel Freely While Armed

It wasn't long ago in the grand scheme of things that you could travel anywhere in the US or most of the World for that matter armed without having to be a Police Officer to be allowed to exercise that fundamental right to be prepared to defend yourself from any unknown enemy. Thanks to the efforts of many throughout this wonderful Country I can now travel over the majority of the US while armed so that I can always be prepared to defend myself & my family from predators & beasts that walk on either two legs or four.

Unfortunately, if I travel to some States in the US or to most Countries outside of the US the laws either outright won't allow me to be armed for my own defense, or require a mountain of paperwork & bureaucratic approvals. Many countries like the UK even make it illegal to defend yourself at all - if you defend yourself you could actually be sentenced to more jail time than the perpetrator you defended yourself against. They require you to just be a good victim & call the Police with hopes that you'll still be alive when they arrive.

I know I'm a dreamer, but I dream of the day when the fundamental freedom to defend ones family & oneself has been restored throughout the US & even many areas of the World. My simple wish is that all the world could be as free as an Arizona resident like myself, or better yet as free as an Alaska or Vermont resident where you don't even need to get government permission to exercise the fundamental right to bear arms. Watch this video & imagine yourself being free to dance the funny dance while carrying a concealed weapon in all these places to get the best effect of my dream:

AZ: AZCDL Questionnaires Sent to Candidates

The AZCDL has sent questionnaires to all Arizona Legislature Candidates - be sure to contact the candidates you're interested in supporting and request that they fill it out & send it in:

We recently mailed questionnaires to all State legislature candidates. Results will be posted on our website after they start coming in. We will notify you with a link to the new web-page when it's completed.

AzCDL's questionnaire fit on a postcard and we provided return postage. We asked every candidate to respond "Yes" or "No" to each of the following statements:

* Law-abiding citizens have the right to carry a weapon, with or without a government issued permit, in any place that they have a right to be.
* Trained, law-abiding adult citizens have the right to carry their weapons onto the grounds of schools, colleges and universities in order to be able to protect themselves and others from criminals.
* Law-abiding citizens have the right to carry a weapon into a restaurant with them while they dine, whether or not the establishment happens to serve alcohol for consumption on the premises.
* Article 2, Section 26 of the Arizona Constitution means what it says. Our right to bear arms must not be subject to local laws.
* Law-abiding citizens who are forced to use a weapon in self-defense should be presumed innocent of any wrongdoing unless proven otherwise by the state, and should also be free from any retaliatory civil suits by the criminal or his family/estate.

In our cover letter to all candidates, we told them that they could send us an expanded response, but that anything other than a "Yes" was a "No", and anything perceived as a "Yes but…" will be posted as a "No." Unchecked boxes will also be treated as a "No."

We are updating out website to accommodate the questionnaire results, and to show the legislator voting records from the recent legislative session. We will "Alert" you when we have made the changes and the data is available.

These alerts are a project of the Arizona Citizens Defense League (AzCDL), an all volunteer, non-profit, non-partisan grassroots organization. Join today!

AzCDL – Protecting Your Freedom
http://www.azcdl.org/html/accomplishments.html

Copyright © 2008 Arizona Citizens Defense League, Inc., all rights reserved.

Fight or Flight?

Fox news ran a news piece saying that when faced with a criminal Police recommend you choose flight over fight. To demonstrate their point they ran a story on a Father who went outside (empty handed) to investigate some noises he heard & ended up being by a couple of thugs who ran him over while they were stealing his car. Fox news said that his mistake was going outside. Generally I agree you should stay inside, get your gun, your phone, gather your family behind your defensive position (you should practice this gathering just like you practice fire drills) & call the Police. In this way you truly are able to protect your most valuable possessions, your family members.

Fox said "there is nothing you own that is worth risking your life for." I say, there is nothing in my home worth losing your life over, so if you are a criminal planning to break in, be aware that you will risk being carried out in a body bag. My TV is nice, but not THAT nice, and if you break into my home I'll be protecting my wife & children, not my TV, so don't mess with me!

Update: As a related side note, FBI Statistics show that if you are ever attacked by a criminal you are less likely to be injured if you fight back than if you offer no resistance. Especially if you fight back using a gun. When compared to offering no resistance at all, fighting back with a gun decreases your chances of being or seriously injured from 55% to only 3% in the case of attempted assault, & from 23% to only 7% in the case of attempted robbery.

McDonald v City of Chicago

You can follow the McDonald v. City of Chicago lawsuit to throw out the the City of Chicago Gun Ban as unconstitutional at http://chicagoguncase.com

All American Blogger: The Second Amendment According to Keith Olbermann

Duane Lester responds to Keith Olbermann's assertion that the 2nd Amendment only protects the fundamental & preexisting individual right for we the people to keep and bear the types of arms commonly in use in 1791. If true, why isn't Keith using a quill to spread his 1st amendment protected propaganda rather than the TV media?

NRA ILA Grassroots Alert

This week's NRA-ILA Grassroots Alert

Students for Concealed Carry on Campus National Conference

Today the Students for Concealed Carry on Campus (SCCC) held their first National Conference on the topic of getting rid of Gun Free Zones. You can watch the archive Real Player feed from c-span. They did a great job, definitely worth watching.

2008 GRPC Conference

It's coming soon, less than 2 months to go! The 2008 Gun Rights Policy Conference (GRPC) is being held in Phoenix Arizona this year on the weekend of Friday Sep 26th. Save the date on your calendar & make plans to be there!

HR 6691 Would Repeal DC Gun Ban

This is only a wild guess, but I'm thinking that the House Democrat leadership saw the writing on the wall & decided to compromise. Better for them to allow the vote because they are willing to let the voice of the people be heard rather than because they were forced to by a petition process. Just a guess.

From the NRA-ILA:

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Fairfax, VA -- Today, in a bi-partisan effort, Congressman Travis Childers, Congressmen John Dingell, John Tanner, Mike Ross and Mark Souder, along with 47 of their colleagues, introduced the Second Amendment Enforcement Act (H.R. 6691). This critical legislation overturns D.C.'s recently enacted emergency laws that continue to defy the recent Supreme Court ruling by continuing to restrict District of Columbia residents' right to self-defense. This National Rifle Association-backed bill is needed to enforce the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in District of Columbia v. Heller.

On June 26, the U. S. Supreme Court held in District of Columbia v. Heller that "the District's ban on handgun possession in the home violates the Second Amendment, as does its prohibition against rendering any lawful firearm in the home operable for the purpose of immediate self-defense." The Supreme Court clearly stated that handguns are constitutionally-protected arms because they are commonly used, are typically possessed by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes, are considered by the American people to be the quintessential self-defense weapon, are the most popular weapon chosen by Americans for self-defense in the home and are the most preferred firearm in the nation to keep and use for protection of home and family.

The Second Amendment Enforcement Act will:

* Repeal the District's ban on semi-automatic handguns. Semi-automatic pistols have been the most commonly purchased handguns in the United States over the last 20 years, and therefore a ban on those firearms is unconstitutional as decided by Heller;

* Restore the right of self-defense by repealing the requirement that firearms be disassembled or secured with a trigger lock in the home;

* Repeal the current D.C. registration system that requires multiple visits to police headquarters; ballistics testing; passing a written test on D.C. gun laws; fingerprinting; and limiting registration to one handgun per 90 days. The current system is unduly burdensome and serves as a vehicle for even more onerous restrictions; and

* Create a limited exemption to the federal ban on interstate handgun sales by allowing D.C. residents to purchase handguns in Virginia and Maryland. Currently there are no firearms dealers in the District of Columbia, and the federal ban prohibits residents from purchasing handguns outside of the District; therefore, District residents have no means of purchasing handguns.

Copyright 2008, National Rifle Association of America, Institute for Legislative Action.
This may be reproduced. It may not be reproduced for commercial purposes.
Contact Us | Privacy & Security Policy

More from the NRA-ILA here.

Best BBQ Grill Ever

Received this photo in my e-mail today as an attachment. I wish I had one for of these for my backyard. It looks like it is for sale based on the hanging flier in the photo, so if anyone knows who is selling these let me know & I'll link to their site.

We are the NRA, and We are Watching!

Sebastian has the scoop on an NRA member who was allegedly a secret super spy gaining access to the highest levels of multiple anti gun groups allowing her to obtain super secret details about their anti-gun methodology & trickery.

This should be a warning to the Brady group & other anti gun organizations with benign sounding sly names such as the Violence Policy Center that purport to be against violence but actually seek to take away our guns. As is widely reported even by our enemies, the NRA really is a huge powerful lobby made powerful because of its grass roots support by millions of individual NRA members throughout America who share the single minded goal of protecting our right to keep & bear arms. You never know when one of us is secretly listening in on one of your super secret meetings where you make your plans on how best to lie to & confuse the general public. Trying to convince people that a 3 shot bird gun is a super scary weapon comes to mind as a recent example of your trickery. We are the NRA, we are WATCHING, we are LISTENING. Beware, and behave.

More from Uncle.

Register To Vote

I know that if you're reading this blog you are probably already registered, but if you are not the NRA has made it easy to register to vote in whatever State you live in by filling out an online form & printing out the required paperwork which you can then place in the mail.

If you live in Arizona you can complete the entire registration process online - no stamp required.

In Arizona the deadline to register to vote in the upcoming Primary election is this coming Monday Aug 4th so don't delay, register today!

Also for Arizonans in Maricopa County you can:

• Request online to have your ballot mailed to you for the upcoming election.
• Print out, sign, & mail in a form to sign up permanently to have ballots mailed to you for all future elections.

I imagine these same early ballot options are available for all Counties in Arizona, although they may not all be online. If you're aware of the links for your Arizona County, please post them as a comment or drop me an e-mail.

House Bill Would Repeal DC Gun Ban

The Second Amendment Enforcement Act HR 1331 - contact your representative & ask that they sign the HR 1331 discharge petition to bring the Second Amendment Enforcement Act to the floor for a vote.

HR 1331 would force the vote on a modified version of HR 1399 which if passed would repeal the DC semiautomatic handgun ban & remove all requirements for registration & keeping guns disassembled. It is in the process of gathering required signatures to over-ride the House Democrat Majority that had blocked HR 1399 in a move to prevent a vote. HR 1331 is co-sponsored by Reps. Mike Ross (D-Ark.) and Mark Souder (R-Ind.)

. . . Souder is seeking to bring the bill to the floor through a "discharge petition," which requires the signatures of 218 House members. The move allows the measure to bypass House committees, and forces the Democratic majority to allow the full chamber to vote on it.

Since filing the petition last week, Souder has collected 109 signatures. He is confident of picking up sufficient support since 247 legislators had previously co-sponsored the gun bill, including 56 Democrats . . .

More here.

Update 1: House Democrat Leadership decided to allow the vote on bill HR 6691.

The Brady Bunch: Scared of a 3 Shot Birdgun

If this wasn't so pathetic it would be funny. Just when you think the Brady folks can't prove themselves to be either bigger liars or even more dumb, they open their mouth to speak again.

More from Uncle & Sebastian.