Pro-Gun Bills Blocked

		The GVP Report - May 15, 2012
Blogs Joan Peterson, Common GunSense, There Will Be a Lot of "Heat" in Tampa for the Republican Convention. Gov. Scott has said guns will be allowed outside the convention, although squirt guns will be banned. "Why does anyone think they need a loaded gun while attending the conventions?" Josh Horwitz, Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, "Second Amendment" Vigilantes Systematically Dismantling Our Rights, We have reached a point where many of the rights and privileges we take for granted are being threatened not by a "tyrannical" government, but by overbearing individuals with guns. Baldr Odinson, Ceasefire Oregon, Where Is The Safest Place To Avoid Gun Accidents? Shooting Ranges? looks at a string of unintentional shootings that have happened recently at shooting ranges across the country. Cathie Whittenburg, OhhShoot Blog, Texas man worried about a possible intruder ends up unintentionally shooting himself and his girlfriend. Advocacy For the 13th year in a row Ceasefire Oregon and the local Million Mom March chapter hold a Mother's Day rally.  This year's theme is No Guns In Schools.  ► Ladd Everitt, Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, Why 'Stand Your Ground' is really 'Kill at Will', by pushing this law the NRA sends a clear message to wannabe vigilantes that it's okay to carry a gun in public and use it without fear of legal repercussions. ► Violence Policy Center released the 4th edition of "American Roulette" that estimates 12 murder-suicides occur each week in the U.S., the vast majority with guns.  ► Baldr Odinson, Ceasefire Oregon, Hard to Believe, But Guns Are Legal in Schools. Most schools have policies prohibiting guns on school property, but a recent Oregon Court of Appeals ruling raised questions about their enforceability.   ► Toby Hoover, Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence, held a press conference with Ohio state Reps. Celeste & Heard to "Stand Their Ground" on Overreaching Gun Legislation, objecting to the litany of pending gun bills that put public safety and law enforcement officers in harms way. Worst of the Week 39-year-old J.T. Ready, of Gilbert, Arizona, shot and killed his girlfriend, Lisa Mederos, age 47, her daughter, Amber Mederos, 22, Amber's boyfriend, Jim Hoitt, 24, and Amber's daughter, Lilly, 16 months old.  He then shot and killed himself.  Ready was a well-known anti-illegal immigrant extremist.  He was one of the founders of the U.S. Border Guard, a fringe militia group that took it upon themselves to hunt undocumented immigrants and drug gangs in the Arizona desert.  "I think what these murders reflect is the kind of person who very often is attracted to this movement," said Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center.  "J.T. Ready was a thug.  He had a long history of violence, and it finally came to this kind of violence."  Bill Straus of the Anti-Defamation League is stunned at the general lack of outrage from Arizona's political and law-enforcement establishment over the extremists who roam the state's desert areas.  "Something like neo-Nazis patrolling the border? That warrants everybody's attention."		In The News Pro-gun bills failed in: ► The New Hampshire Senate killed a bill that would have allowed residents to carry a concealed gun without a permit.  Said one lawmaker, "I would say to those groups pushing for this: You are out of your mind if you think we can't have any restrictions whatsoever." ► The Tennessee legislature adjourned without voting on a bill that would prohibit employers from banning guns in employee's cars in their parking lots.  The bill was heavily opposed by TN's largest businesses and universities, because the bill would have allowed guns on campuses. ► The Kansas Senate indefinitely tabled a bill that would have allowed guns in more public buildings.  The bill would have allowed hospitals and colleges to ban concealed weapons but they would have to explain their reasons to the attorney general's office. Trayvon Martin's mother, Saybrina Fulton, released a video message for Mother's Day asking parents nationwide to support the Second Chance campaign working to reform, repeal and prevent passage of new Florida-style "Shoot First" laws around the country. ► New Jersey Attorney General announced a new initiative to target gun violence.  Tactics include investigations focuses on seizing weapons in violent areas, disrupting the supply-chain of weapons trafficking, and aggressively prosecuting those involved in illegal gun sales. ► ATF works to fight "lying and buying" straw-purchases in an effort to stop the pipeline of illegal guns from Memphis to Chicago.  The mother of a victim calls for stronger laws, "My son is in the cemetery.  The young man who brought the gun to Illinois is in the penitentiary.  But, what happened to the gun dealer?" ► A reporter spends a night with Miami-Dade Police Dept.'s Gang Unit and learns that the gangs take advantage of Florida's weak gun laws, one gang member will have a concealed weapons permit, allowing them to legally carry a loaded, hidden gun.  Community Support Spocko, My FireDogLake, Trayvon's Mom and My Mom on Protecting Their Kids.  "I read about gun enthusiasts and I wonder, what is the equivalent on my side? Perhaps we are developing 'public safety enthusiasts.' We are for laws that makes everyone safer, not just one at the expense of others." ► Lanny Davis, Holder, Fast and Furious, and the Double Standard, Rep. Issa has abandoned a bipartisan critique of the misguided Fast and Furious and is trying to hold Holder in contempt of Congress for doing what Republican administrations have done over the years.  ► Patricia Maisch, hero survivor of the Tucson shooting, has sent a letter to the House Oversight Committee expressing concern that Rep. Issa has spent too much time investigating Holder and not enough time trying to prevent future shooting tragedies.  ► Glen Laden, Settling Conflicts: Guns and Homeschooling. When a conversation ensues a discovery is made: Most people really are not at one end of the spectrum or the other in the debate over gun ownership.  There are areas of agreement. ► The Daily Show, Free at Last, Free to Blast. Aasif Mandvi talks to MO State Rep. Wanda Brown about her Second Amendment crusade to release gun owners from the shackles of persecution.  ► Sen. Sylvia Larsen, N.H. state legislator, Let's Repeal State's 'Stand Your Ground' Law. In 2011, the Republican-led Legislature overturned Gov. Lynch's veto of the bill that models the Florida law.  Now it's time to repeal the law and return to the sensible laws we've lived safely under for many years.  ► Media Matters, Investigative Reporters Slam NRA-Backed Bill Targeting Illegal Gun Sale Stings. "This law appears to create a shield for illegal conduct.  We would be very concerned with any attempt to criminalize legitimate reporting," said ProPublica.org managing editor. ► Walter Rodgers, Christian Science Monitor, Florida-style 'Stand Your Ground' Gun Laws Sub Impulse for Intelligent Thinking. "I've had pistols held to my head from Bosnia to Beirut.  Your best self-defense is your tongue. Rarely does one find oneself in a confrontation that can't be talked out of, and where having a gun would have made things safer." What the Gun Lobby is Doing A firearms auction website, trying to profit off Trayvon Martin's death, was selling gun range targets that featured a silhouette in a hoodie with crosshairs aimed at the chest. A bag of Skittles is tucked in the pocket and a hand is holding a can of iced tea. ► An email campaign that has the endorsement of Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) depicts a rifle pointing at President Obama's head and a message about an imaginary "million rifle ban" the president is allegedly seeking to implement. ► The U.S. House voted to block a requirement that border-state gun dealers alert federal law enforcement about multiple rifle sales.  The reporting requirement is an effort to stop gun smuggling to Mexican drug cartels.  Since it started in August, 120 criminal investigations have been launched that have led to 25 prosecutions of more than 100 defendants.  ► AWR Hawkins, AmmoLand Shooting Sports News, explains why the right to keep and bear arms is a God-given right, intrinsic to our very being, with which we were endowed by our Creator.