Firearms Policy Coalition

AWR Hawkins of Brietbart.com reports:

Andy Greenberg for Wired writes:

THIS IS MY ghost gun. To quote the rifleman’s creed, there are many like it, but this one is mine. It’s called a “ghost gun”—a term popularized by gun control advocates but increasingly adopted by gun lovers too—because it’s an untraceable semiautomatic rifle with no serial number, existing beyond law enforcement’s knowledge and control…

I did this mostly alone. I have virtually no technical understanding of firearms and a Cro-Magnon man’s mastery of power tools. Still, I made a fully metal, functional, and accurate AR-15. To be specific, I made the rifle’s lower receiver; that’s the body of the gun, the only part that US law defines and regulates as a “firearm.” All I needed for my entirely legal DIY gunsmithing project was about six hours, a 12-year-old’s understanding of computer software, an $80 chunk of aluminum, and a nearly featureless black 1-cubic-foot desktop milling machine called the Ghost Gunner.

Read the rest of the story at Wired.

Stephen Gutowski for The Washington Free Beacon reports:

The District of Columbia Police Department said on Monday it has not issued any gun-carry permit denials since a federal judge ruled the city’s requirement that applicants show a special need to carry a firearm unconstitutional.

“Since the injunction was issued, we have not issued any denials of applications,” D.C. Police spokesman Lieutenant Sean Conboy said. “We have not denied any applications. We have issued two letters invoking the additional 90-day period to process two of those applications that were pending.”

Conboy could not say whether any new applications would be approved or what would happen to those whose applications had been denied under the now defunct “good reason” clause.

“We’re awaiting further guidance from the Office of the Attorney General on other applications,” he said.

Read the full story HERE.

Chris Eger for Guns.com reports:

With the stroke of a pen this week, Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) made law a measure to reform concealed carry rights and expand castle doctrine in the state.

….The measure, SB 175, now law, expands the protections of Nevada’s castle doctrine defense to justifiable homicide to include occupied vehicles while adding protections against civil lawsuits.

Next, the law will allow the expansion of Nevada’s reciprocity agreements from the current 16 states to as many as 26.

Gone will be Clark County’s 1948-vintage handgun registration requirement. With these permits popularly known as blue cards due to their color, current law mandates all handguns with a barrel less than 12 inches be registered within 72 hours of being purchased by an area resident. Opponents argued the scheme came from a time that pre-dated current background checks and has been made obsolete in a modern Nevada. The county will have a year to destroy the estimated one million now-historical registrations held on file.

Read the full story HERE.

Andrea Noble for The Washington Times reports:

A pair of D.C. sisters angered by recent court rulings that allow gun owners to carry concealed pistols in the District are looking to profit from a venture that educates businesses about the loosened firearms restrictions.

Through their company — Goods, Not Guns — Dari Yudkoff Pogach and Aliza Yudkoff Glasner are selling “firearms prohibited” stickers to businesses so owners can advertise that they do not allow concealed handguns inside their stores.

“It was a good chance to raise awareness and also provide a service by selling regulation-compliant signs in the District,” Ms. Pogach said.

….The effort isn’t without the threat of backlash, however. Several Second Amendment activist groups around the country have kept track of businesses that do and don’t allow gun owners to carry firearms in their stores, in some cases creating boycott lists of companies that take an anti-gun stance.

Read the full story at The Washington Times.

California Assembly Bill 1134, an anti-gun proposal authored by Democratic Assemblyman Mark Stone of Santa Cruz, is awaiting consideration in the Senate Committee on Public Safety after being passed by the Assembly on April 16.

Sometimes a public demonstration can backfire on its proponents. Kit Daniels for PrisonPlanet.com reports:

Nearly every player on the New York Mets baseball team dressed in orange like prison inmates to promote gun control, the political movement that would practically turn Americans into a disarmed prison population.

The Mets posed in orange for a photo tweeted out on Tuesday in support of “Gun Violence Awareness Day,” which is sponsored by Michael Bloomberg’s “Everytown for Gun Safety.”

But guess who else wears orange and would likely support gun control? Violent prison inmates who are about to be released….a disarmed population is at the mercy of those with arms, just like a prison population which is at the mercy of armed guards.

Read the full story at PrisonPlanet.com.

Chris Eger for Guns.com reports:

Kicking off the first annual National Gun Violence Awareness Day, Sen. Edward J. Markey, Mass., and Rep. Carolyn Maloney, N.Y. recycled gun control proposals that tanked last session.

Resurrected are the Handgun Trigger Safety Act, which mandates a move to user-authorized or personalized handguns, commonly referred to as smart guns and a bill that would add $60 million in funding to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to study gun violence as a health care issue.

The smart gun bill, termed the Handgun Trigger Safety Act of 2015, mandates that within five years of it becoming law only personalized handguns must be sold. Further, within 10 years, traditional handguns would have to be retrofitted to comply with the act.

….Representatives of firearms trade groups advise they have nothing against the technology, but do take issue with laws such as the one proposed Tuesday that would force it on the market.

Read the full story at Guns.com.

Lawmakers are bracing for a showdown on Capitol Hill over gun provisions in a bill to fund the Justice Department (DOJ).

House Republicans are seeking to roll back a number of controversial gun regulations from the Obama administration, but not without a fight from Democrats.

Some of the provisions would block DOJ from banning military-style assault rifles and high-powered bullets for handguns, and collecting information about certain guns sales.These provisions are expected to be offered as so-called appropriations riders, which means DOJ’s funding would be contingent on federal authorities following these rules….as the National Rifle Association sees it: “We need to stop the Obama administration from bypassing Congress on gun control,” said NRA spokeswoman Jennifer Baker.

California Senate Bill 347, a gun control measure authored by Assembly member Hannah-Beth Jackson of Santa Barbara, could face a floor vote in the Senate as early as tomorrow morning.

Dion Lefler for The Wichita Eagle reports:

The Kansas Senate advanced a bill Monday to limit local government control over gun sellers.

The bill also would allow convicted former juveniles to obtain concealed-weapons permits.

Supporters characterized it as a cleanup bill to fix what they say are problems with a 2014 law that intended to limit city and county governments’ authority to regulate firearms.

The bill would prevent local government from using zoning and taxing authority to regulate the location of gun sellers or to require them to have a local business license. Local governments would still be able to collect sales taxes that are applied to all commercial businesses in a community.

The bill “keeps them from discriminating against gun dealers,” said Sen. Forrest Knox, R-Altoona.

Read the full article at The Wichita Eagle.

Paul Bedard for the Washington Examiner reports:

The New York Mets have become the first sports team to join the nationwide anti-gun campaign, aligning with celebrities like Piers Morgan and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to back today’s National Gun Violence Awareness Day.

Sponsored by the Michael Bloomberg-backed Everytown for Gun Safety, people with some 200 organizations are wearing orange to draw attention to the issue.

According to the group, the Mets even dressed in orange to show their support.

Read the full story at the Washington Examiner.

Ben Kamiser for The Hill reports:

Capitol police arrested an intern for Kansas Rep. Lynn Jenkins, a top member of the Republican conference, on Monday morning for allegedly bringing an unloaded handgun into the Longworth House Office Building.

Police said they found the weapon, an unloaded Smith & Wesson 9mm handgun, during the routine search that all visitors undergo at the entrance of the office building.

The authorities arrested Joshua Wheeler, a 25-year-old Kansas man working as a paid intern in Jenkins’s office, on charges of carrying the gun without a license and for possessing an unregistered firearm.

Read the full story at The Hill.

Anti-gun California Senate Bill 347 is heading towards a Senate floor vote; if the bill is not passed by the full Senate this week, it will die on rules. So tell the members of the Senate to vote “NO” on SB 347 NOW!

Chris Eger for Guns.com reports:

Following the lead of the state Senate, the Maine House approved a bill Monday to allow the concealed carry of handguns without a permit in a quick 83-62 vote that included over a dozen Democrats.

The legislation, advocating what is termed constitutional carry, would allow residents who are not prohibited from possessing firearms to carry a concealed pistol or revolver, while preserving the current licensing scheme to grant those who travel out of the state reciprocal rights.

….“It’s great that we have finally gotten to a place where people understand the importance of this protection and are comfortable enough to let our Maine citizens exercise the same freedoms that the state of Vermont allows their citizens to exercise,” said Sen. Eric Brakey, R-Androscoggin, the bill’s sponsor after the House vote.

Read the full story at Guns.com.

Florida Today reports:

Sebastian Police are investigating an incident in which a would-be robber was shot and killed by a cab driver that two males were attempting to rob early Saturday morning.

According to the department, two males, ages 34 and 36, hailed a cab. After they got in the car, police say one of the passengers held a knife to the man and attempted to rob him.

But the cab driver fought back, retrieving a gun and shooting the subject. Police say both passengers fled the scene following the shooting.

Read the full story at Florida Today.

California Senate Bill 707 (Wolk), a bill that would disarm law-abiding carry licensees (“CCW” holders) in “gun-free school zones” and criminalize currently-lawful conduct, squeaked through the Senate on a 23-12 vote. Five senators did not vote on the measure.

Brian Anderson for Downtrend reported in April:

The reason Vivek Murthy’s confirmation as Surgeon General stalled for so long is because he’s an anti-gun fanatic and many Republicans worried that he would use the position to promote gun violence as a health issue and enact a sort of backdoor gun control. Murthy insisted he wouldn’t let his personal politics interfere with his job and enough suckers believed him that he was eventually confirmed by a lame duck democratic Senate.

….Before he became the Surgeon General, Murthy was quite the anti-gun activist. As a member of Doctors for America he held the position that assault rifles should be banned, magazine capacities limited, and gun access be severely limited. In a series of tweets, he wrote this: “Tired of politicians playing politics w/ guns, putting lives at risk b/c they’re scared of NRA. Guns are a health care issue. #debatehealth.”

Read the full article at Downtrend.com.

GQ Magazine interviewed True Detective star Vince Vaughn and he had this to say on the rights of Americans to carry firearms:

URGENT: Anti-gun California Senate Bills 707 and 347 are heading towards a Senate floor vote THIS WEEK.

It is MISSION-CRITICAL that all gun owners call the following senators NOW and respectfully urge them to vote “NO” on SB 707 and SB 347!

• Sen. Pat Bates: (916) 651-4036
• Sen. Jim Nielsen: (916) 651-4004
• Sen. Cathleen Galgiani: (916) 651-4005
• Sen. Steve Glazer: (916) 651-4007
• Sen. Ben Hueso: (916) 651-4040
• Sen. Connie Leyva: (916) 651-4020
• Sen. Carol Liu: (916) 651-4025
• Sen. Richard Pan: (916) 651-4006
• Sen. Richard Roth: (916) 651-4031
• Sen. Mike McGuire: (916) 651-4002
• Sen. Bob Huff: (916) 651-4029
• Sen. Anthony Cannella: (916) 651-4012

You can also send a message using FPC’s TAKE ACTION tools at firearmspolicy.org/act.