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FAIRFAX, Va. --(Ammoland.com)- Here are some of the top stories we brought you in the NRA-ILA Grassroots Alert in 2011.

With what will be a critically important 2012, we must increase our efforts to ensure we’re prepared to meet the great opportunities and challenges we will face next year.

We will continue to provide you with information in future Alerts to ensure our mutual success.

January:

• The Ohio Supreme Court issued a ruling upholding Ohio’s firearms preemption law and siding with both the state’s and NRA’s position, as outlined in a “friend of the court” brief filed with the court.  The case, City of Cleveland v. State of Ohio, stemmed from the city’s scheme to establish a series of restrictive gun laws despite Ohio law, which clearly prohibits such municipal gun ordinances.
• The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011 was signed into law.  The legislation included several provisions developed by NRA-ILA and pro-Second Amendment members of Congress, that provide practical benefits to gun owners while protecting the privacy and Second Amendment rights of gun-owning military personnel and their families and civilian employees of the Department of Defense.
• U.S. Reps. Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.) and Leonard Boswell (D-Iowa) introduced H.R. 420 — the “Veterans’ Heritage Firearms Act.”  The legislation would provide a limited amnesty period for veterans who served overseas before 1968.  During the amnesty period, the veterans would be able to register war relic firearms without fear of prosecution. This amnesty would also extend to a veteran’s lawful family members.

February

• U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) asked the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to respond to allegations that it allowed suspicious firearm transactions to proceed, and that a gun sold in one of those cases may have been involved in a shootout that claimed the life of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.
• The U.S. House voted for an amendment to H.R. 1 offered by Reps. Denny Rehberg and Dan Boren that prohibits the use of federal funds for a new and unauthorized multiple sales reporting scheme proposed by BATFE. The measure passed the chamber with broad bipartisan support.
• In 2009, the Obama administration approved the importation and sale of collectible, American-made M1 Garand rifles and M1 carbines from South Korea. However, the administration reversed its decision in March 2010, deciding instead to prevent these rifles –legal to make and purchase in the United States—from entering the country.  S. 381—the Collectible Firearms Protection Act—and its House companion bill, H.R. 615 were introduced.  The bills seek to once again allow these American-made firearms to be re-imported and sold in the U.S.
• NRA worked with a coalition of the nation’s largest hunting and conservation groups to address the wolf management crisis.  The coalition thanked members of Congress for taking several steps in the right direction for wolf conservation, and reminded Congress that all wolves in the Rockies and Great Lakes area are recovered and should now be managed by state biologists. The coalition supports all four pending bills in the House and Senate to move recovered wolf populations to state wildlife management.
• H.R. 822, was introduced in the U.S. House by Representatives Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) and Heath Shuler (D-N.C.).  The measure would allow any person with a valid state-issued concealed carry permit to carry a concealed firearm in any state that issues concealed firearm permits, or that does not prohibit the carrying of concealed firearms. A state’s laws governing where concealed firearms may be carried would apply within its borders. The bill also applies to Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and U.S. territories.  H.R. 822 would not create a federal licensing system.  Rather, it would require the states to recognize each others’ carry permits, just as they recognize drivers’ licenses and carry permits held by armored car guards.
• A peerless friend of gun owners, retired U.S. Sen. James A. McClure, R-Idaho—who aggressively led the advancement of the Second Amendment cause in the U.S. Senate for two decades—died on February 26.

March

• U.S. Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and John Ensign (R-Nev.) introduced S. 570 — “a bill to prohibit the Department of Justice from tracking and cataloguing the purchases of multiple rifles and shotguns.”  The bill would prohibit the use of federal funds for a multiple sales reporting scheme proposed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
• NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris Cox sent letters to key leaders in Congress calling for hearings to examine the firearms trafficking investigations tactics employed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Those tactics have allegedly allowed firearms to fall into the hands of Mexican criminal organizations, with the knowledge of the BATFE.   In the letters sent to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) and Ranking Member John Conyers (D-Mich.) and their counterparts in the U.S. Senate, Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Cox wrote that the BATFE project “reportedly allowed over 2,000 firearms to be sold to individuals already linked to Mexican drug cartels.  Many of those transactions were reported as suspicious by the licensed firearms dealers themselves, but BATFE reportedly encouraged them to proceed with these sales, which the dealers would otherwise have turned down.”
• Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R) signed legislation authorizing a mourning dove hunting season. With this historic expansion of hunting opportunities through SF 464, the Legislature and Governor demonstrated their steadfast commitment to sportsmen and gun owners.
• Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R) signed into law House Bill 2013 and Senate Bill 152. HB 2013 enables residents of Kansas to purchase long guns in non-contiguous states and residents of non-contiguous states to purchase long guns in Kansas.  SB 152 allows persons licensed to carry a concealed firearm to lawfully carry their firearm while hunting.
• “Permitless Carry” legislation, Senate File 47, and “Castle Doctrine” legislation, House Bill 167, were signed into law by Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead (R).
• House Bill 1079, signed into law by Gov. Dennis Daugaard (R), clarifies that residents of non-contiguous states may purchase long guns in South Dakota.
• Gov. Steve Beshear (D) signed into law House Bill 308.  The legislation will implement the federal NICS Improvements Amendments Act by enabling residents of Kentucky, who have lost their firearm rights because of a mental health-related commitment or adjudication, to petition a court to have them restored.

April

• The continuing resolution for FY 2011 included a general provision that delists certain populations of wolves from the Endangered Species Act.  Wolf populations in Montana and Idaho as well as portions of Utah, Oregon and Washington would be declared recovered by reinstating the 2009 ruling from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), paving the way for regulated wolf hunting seasons.
• The NRA, and American gun owners, lost a loyal friend on April 16, 2011, when former U.S. Rep. Harold L. Volkmer died in his hometown of Hannibal, Missouri. He had just celebrated his 80th birthday, and was pleased to read the hundreds of cards he had received from grateful gun owners.
• The Mexican government continued its attempt to blame the American gun community for Mexico’s internal strife, and retained the New York City-based law firm of Reid Collins & Tsai to examine its options for suing U.S. gun manufacturers and distributors.  Such lawsuits have been used for decades as a tactic by anti-gun groups and governments in their attempts to bankrupt gun manufacturers and circumvent the political process.  However, the “Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act” protects firearm manufacturers, distributors, dealers and importers from lawsuits brought about as a result of “the harm solely caused by the criminal or unlawful misuse of firearm products or ammunition products by others when the product functioned as designed and intended.”
• U.S. Senators Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and John Thune (R-S.D.) and U.S. Representatives Jeff Miller (R-Fla.), Mike Ross (D-Ark.), Bob Latta (R-Ohio) and Heath Shuler (D-N.C.), introduced legislation to protect traditional lead ammunition and fishing tackle from a potential ban by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
• Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin (R) signed into law the “Fraudulent Firearms Purchase Prevention Act.”  Senate Bill 856 protects lawful firearm retailers from illegal gun sting operations.
• Gov. Jack Dalrymple (R) signed into law two pro-gun reforms.  House Bill 1438 allows North Dakota workers to store their firearms in locked personal vehicles on publicly accessible parking lots without fear of being fired.  House Bill 1269 will grant persons who have lost their firearm rights because of a mental health commitment or adjudication the right to petition to have them restored.
• Senate File 456, signed into law by Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R), is designed to improve the language under last session’s “shall-issue” law and allow Iowa state law to meet the requirements set forth in the federal NICS Improvement Amendments Act.
• Gov. Jan Brewer (R) brought pro-gun reforms to the state of Arizona by signing key pieces of legislation.  Senate Bill 1469 strengths the current “Castle Doctrine” language by broadening the definition of reasonable use of force, including deadly force, to provide greater protection for those forced to defend themselves or family from an attacker.  House Bill 2645 is designed to meet the requirements of the federal NICS Improvement Amendments Act by enabling persons who have lost their firearm rights because of a mental health-related commitment or adjudication to petition a court to have them restored.
• Gov. Dave Heineman (R) signed Legislative Bill 512 into law.  LB 152 requires the state to provide information concerning mental health adjudications to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) database and sets up a relief from disabilities process.  In addition, LB 512 makes numerous improvements to Nebraska’s right-to-carry laws.

May

• On May 1, Navy SEALS provide America with an historic event that will forever be seared in our memories:  the killing of Osama bin Laden — the mastermind behind the September 11 terrorist attacks on our nation.
• NRA filed its formal comments on the “ATF Study on the Importability of Certain Shotguns.”  The “study,” published in January, proposed to ban the importation of any shotgun, regardless of action type, if it has one or more supposedly non-”sporting” features.
• NRA challenged the constitutionality of Illinois’ complete and total ban on carrying firearms for self-defense outside the home or place of business.  The case, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, is Shepard v. Madigan. The lead plaintiff is church treasurer Mary Shepard; joining her is the Illinois State Rifle Association, NRA’s state affiliate.
• Rep. Bob Gibbs (R-Ohio) and Rep. Jason Altmire (D-Pa.) introduced H.R. 1865, the Recreational Lands Self-Defense Act, which is designed to protect the rights of gun owners on lands owned or managed by the Army Corps of Engineers.
• Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) signed into law five pro-firearm bills:  Senate Enrolled Act 506 (Transport Permit Reform), Senate Enrolled Act 292 (Firearm Preemption Reform), Senate Enrolled Act 94 (Non-Contiguous State Firearm Purchase), Senate Enrolled Act 411 (Parking Lot), and Senate Enrolled Act 154 (allows loaded firearms on off-road vehicles on private property if the person has permission to be on the property).
• The FBI estimated that the number of violent crimes decreased 5.5 percent from 2009 to 2010, including a 4.4 percent decrease in the number of murders.  Because the U.S. population increased during the period, the figures imply that the total violent crime per capita rate and the murder rate decreased more than six percent and five percent, respectively.  This brings the violent crime to a 37-year low and the murder rate to a 47-year low.
• Assembly Bill 217, signed into law by Gov. Brian Sandoval (R), allows residents of non-contiguous states to purchase long guns in Nevada.  It also allows Nevada residents to purchase long guns in non-contiguous states.

June

• The U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals conclusively and forcefully held, without need for oral argument, that the National Rifle Association has the right to recover attorneys’ fees in its lawsuits against the city of Chicago’s and the village of Oak Park’s unconstitutional gun bans. The court held that NRA was a prevailing party in the case of National Rifle Association v. City of Chicago and Village of Oak Park.
• Congressional hearings held by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform revealed that the gun smuggling investigation known as “Fast and Furious,” implemented out of the Phoenix Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives office, was conducted in a reckless manner that led to the illegal sale of thousands of firearms. Many of those firearms ended up in the hands of Mexican drug cartels and other criminals, and may have contributed to the death of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry.
• A proposal by U.S. Rep. John Campbell (R-Calif.) and Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) to prohibit necessary and legal practices used to effectively manage wildlife and predator species was overwhelmingly defeated in the House of Representatives.  The amendment to H.R. 2112—the Agriculture appropriations bill—was strongly opposed by NRA and other pro-hunting organizations.  It was pushed by the Humane Society of the United States and other radical anti-hunting groups.
• Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) signed into law Senate Bill 321, worker protection/parking lot legislation.  The Governor also signed legislation to extend the Right to Carry to your boat or personal watercraft (House Bill 25); to allow properly permitted landowners or helicopter owners to contract with third parties to ride on helicopters and take depredating feral hogs and coyotes (House Bill 716); to prevent rules restricting a foster parent’s ability to transport a foster child in a private vehicle if a handgun is present (House Bill 2560); and to limit the ability of local governments to sue owners or operators of sport shooting ranges (Senate Bill 766).
• Lawful firearm retailers are protected from illegal gun sting operations such as those by anti-gun New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.  Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley (R) signed HB 450, Fraudulent Firearms Purchase Prevention legislation
• Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) signed into law Legislative Document 35.  This key piece of legislation prohibits an employer from banning an employee with a valid concealed firearms permit from keeping a firearm in the employee’s vehicle as long as the vehicle is locked and the firearm is not visible.
• Gov. Rick Scott (R) signed into law Senate Bill 234 and House Bill 45.  SB 234 brings reform to Florida’s “Right-to-Carry” law and allows residents to purchase long guns in other states.  HB 45 stops local politicians and governments from violating Florida law by providing penalties for willful violations.
• Louisiana residents may purchase a long gun in any state with the passage of Senate Bill 39—signed into law by Gov. Bobby Jindal (R).
• Gov. John Kasich (R) signed House Bill 54 into law.  HB 54 brings Ohio in compliance with federal law to provide for the restoration of firearm rights for certain individuals.
• Gov. Bev Perdue (D) signed into law House Bill 650.  HB 650 contains “Castle Doctrine” language, Fraudulent Firearms Purchase language, allows Right-to-Carry permit holders to store firearms in their vehicles when parked on the grounds of certain state properties and courthouses, allows for the purchase of rifles and shotguns by North Carolina residents in other states, and makes other improvements.

July

• NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre and NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris W. Cox joined Gov. Scott Walker (R) as he signed the Wisconsin Personal Protection Act into law. This made Wisconsin the 49th state to give law-abiding citizens an option to carry a concealed firearm for personal protection.
• Gov. Tom Corbett (R) signed Pennsylvania “Castle Doctrine” legislation into law.  This common-sense measure permits law-abiding citizens to use force, including deadly force, against attackers in their homes and any place where they have a legal right to be.  It also protects individuals from civil lawsuits by attackers or attackers’ families when force is used.
• The Obama administration formally announced that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will require firearm dealers in the southwestern border states to file “multiple sale” reports on detachable-magazine rifles larger than .22 caliber. Under the plan, each dealer will be required to report to the BATFE any sale of two or more such rifles to a single individual within five business days.
• NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre drew a line in the sand on behalf of American gun owners at the United Nations.  LaPierre spoke to the UN’s Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) Preparatory Committee, the group drafting an international treaty that will supposedly control all non-nuclear arms, worldwide, including civilian firearms. He told the audience of delegates from approximately 150 U.N. member states that the NRA would vehemently oppose any UN treaty that in any way restricts American gun owners’ rights.
• Gov. Jay Nixon (D) signed into law House Bill 294.  HB 294 expands a variety of firearm rights for Missouri gun owners, and addresses a number of Right-to-Carry issues.  HB 294 finally lowered Missouri’s Right-to-Carry minimum age requirement (formerly the oldest in the nation) from 23-years old to 21-years old.
• Gov. Jack Markell (D) signed into law House Bill 48.  This new law updates Delaware state law to meet the requirements set forth in the federal NICS Improvement Amendments Act. In addition to conforming Delaware law to the NIAA, this legislation also repeals Delaware’s instant check for firearm purchases and moves all background checks to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).

August

• NRA supports a lawsuit challenging the Obama administration’s demand that Federal Firearms License holders report multiple sales of certain long guns in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas. The suit asserts that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives lacks statutory authority to demand these reports.
• Riots, looting, violent assaults and arson left London and other UK cities looking like war zones.  The current bedlam showed us what a disarmed country looks like and how little is left when free men and women surrender the right to own a firearm.  Chris Cox wrote a compelling op-ed on “Britain’s Criminal Utopia” for the Daily Caller.
• The Iowa Administrative Rules Committee met to review the Natural Resource Commission’s (NRC) final rule for Iowa’s first dove hunting season in nearly a century.  In a 9-1 bipartisan vote, legislators overwhelmingly rejected the NRC’s underhanded attempt to include a statewide traditional ammunition ban in the final rule.  This vote allowed for a “session-delay” of the lead ammunition ban, meaning the legislature will have to act during the next legislative session to remove the ban from the final dove rule.  However, Iowa’s first dove season will proceed and will not include a traditional ammunition ban.
• In what can only be described as “Washington D.C. logic,” the three BATFE agents who were responsible for the “Fast and Furious” debacle in Phoenix were promoted.  The Department of Justice announced the appointment of U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota, B. Todd Jones, to serve as Acting Director of BATFE, replacing Kenneth Melson.  The DOJ also announced that Dennis Burke, U.S. attorney for the district of Arizona, resigned.  And the Wall Street Journal reported that Emory Hurley, the assistant U.S. attorney responsible for the day-to-day operations of “Fast and Furious,” was removed from his post and reassigned to the department’s Civil Division.

September

• Senators Jim Webb (D-Va.) and John Boozman (R-Ark.) introduced S. 1588—“The Recreational Land Self–Defense Act.“  S. 1588 is the Senate companion bill to H.R. 1865 and is designed to protect the rights of gun owners on lands owned or managed by the Army Corps of Engineers.
• The Obama campaign launched a new website, AttackWatch.com. The purpose of the site is to give Obama supporters a way to report “attacks” on the president, implying that any criticism must be based on lies or misinformation.  When it comes to firearm issues, it’s this site that is misrepresenting President Obama’s record on guns.
• In what promises to be a continuing debate on the rights of law-abiding citizens, the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled that banning firearms on the grounds of Oregon’s public universities exceeded the scope of the university system’s authority, thereby opening up the state’s campuses to individuals who hold valid concealed handgun licenses.
• The New Hampshire House voted to override the Governor’s veto of Senate Bill 88.  SB 88 is now law, and establishes that the law-abiding have the right to defend themselves from assault wherever they have a legal right to be when they believe there is an imminent threat to their life and well being.

October

• A divided federal appeals court upheld the District of Columbia’s controversial ban on semi-automatic rifles and so-called “large capacity” magazines, but asked a lower court to reconsider certain aspects of its gun registration system.
• The “Veterans Second Amendment Protection Act,” which was added to H.R. 2349 as an amendment, passed the House.  The bill will provide individuals receiving veterans’ benefits with added protection against loss of the right to possess firearms due to mental health decisions.
• House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) subpoenaed the Justice Department in the “Fast and Furious” scandal.  The subpoena seeks documents and all communications between the office of Attorney General Eric Holder, his deputies, and the White House in connection with the now-infamous Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive’s failed operation.
• U.S. Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Mark Begich (D-Alaska) introduced the Senate companion bill to H.R. 58, the “Firearms Interstate Commerce Reform Act,” which was reintroduced in the U.S. House in Jan. 2011.  This common sense reform to broaden lawful interstate sales of firearms has been an NRA priority for many years.

November

• NRA launched an ad campaign to tell President Obama to fire Attorney General Eric Holder.  The cauldron that is the “Fast and Furious” scandal continues to boil, with an increasing number of members of Congress now calling for Attorney General Eric Holder’s immediate resignation.  Meanwhile, the White House and the Justice Department remain silent and stubbornly continue to ignore the demands to remove Holder.
• The Washington state Court of Appeals affirmed that a gun ban in Seattle’s parks is illegal.  The decision comes more than a year after a King County judge sided with several area gun owners, NRA, the Second Amendment Foundation.
• The ongoing effort to fully vindicate the fundamental, individual right to carry a concealed handgun for self-defense took a major step forward with House passage of H.R. 822, the “National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act of 2011.” The bill, sponsored by Reps. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) and Heath Shuler (D-N.C.), which had 245 cosponsors, was approved by an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 272-154.
• The final conference report on the combined Fiscal Year 2012 Agriculture, Commerce/Justice/Science (CJS) and Transportation/Housing/Urban Development (THUD) Appropriations bill was passed by both the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate, and was signed into law. This conference report contains 12 provisions that strengthen legal protections for the Second Amendment.
• NRA will fight the proposal by the Obama administration and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to drastically restrict recreational shooting opportunities on public lands. NRA is particularly concerned about the stated motive of this action. A spokesman for the BLM told U.S. News and World Report that the proposed ban was being enacted in response to “urbanites” who “freak out” when they hear shooting on public lands. The spokesman also acknowledged that the impetus for this restriction was not rooted in safety, but to reduce “social conflict.”
• The Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism held a hearing on Sen. Charles Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) S. 436.  Dubbed by anti-gunners the “Fix Gun Checks Act,” the legislation would eliminate private sales and gun shows as we know them and expand the range of persons prohibited from owning firearms.

December

• NRA opposition helps defeat the nomination of Caitlin Halligan to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.  Halligan had a record of attacks on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans.  NRA’s opposition to this nomination began in March 2011, when we expressed our concerns to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary
• Gov. Scott Walker (R) signed Assembly Bill 69 into law.  This law provides essential protections for law-abiding citizens who defend themselves and their families from a criminal looking to do them harm.

About:
Established in 1871, the National Rifle Association is America’s oldest civil rights and sportsmen’s group. Four million members strong, NRA continues its mission to uphold Second Amendment rights and to advocate enforcement of existing laws against violent offenders to reduce crime. The Association remains the nation’s leader in firearm education and training for law-abiding gun owners, law enforcement and the military. Visit: www.nra.org

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Gun Owners of America

Washington, DC --(Ammoland.com)- “In the 35 years since its foundation, the GOA has maintained its staunch opposition to any form of gun control, often taking a harder stand than the NRA.” — Ben Garrett, award-winning journalist, newspaper editor and blogger

With your help, Gun Owners of America was able to accomplish quite a bit in 2011. We thank you for your support, which makes this announcement  possible.

As we approach the Christmas holidays, we certainly have a lot to be thankful for.

Here’s a partial list of what we accomplished together this year:

January

• * One of the first acts of the Congress in 2011 was to read the Constitution aloud, for the first time in history, on the floor of the United States House of Representatives. Virginia Rep. Bob Goodlatte led the effort in the House and credited GOA for helping make it happen.

“I want to thank Gun Owners of America for early support of the idea to read the U.S. Constitution on the House floor and for taking the lead to rally the grassroots in support of the Read the Constitution effort,” Goodlatte said.

Of course, reading the Constitution is one thing, abiding by it is another. And that is a battle GOA brings to Capitol Hill on a daily basis.

• *GOA began a year-long effort to call attention to Fast and Furious. This operation that was run out of the Justice Department helped criminals buy guns “legally” from American gun stores -­ with the hopes that the ensuing violence would drive calls for more gun control.

February – March

• * GOA began warning its activists that anti-gun Democrats might try to attach gun control restrictions on a bill to reauthorize funding the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration). These proposals included a ban on high capacity magazines; restrictions that would end gun shows; and, potentially, a provision stripping millions of gun owners of their rights by placing them on “watch lists” without any due process of law.

GOA worked on the Hill by putting pro-gun amendments into the hands of certain Senators. Our efforts to counter these disastrous proposals with pro-gun initiatives backed the gun grabbers into a comer and stymied their plans.

• *GOA and its activists won temporary victories when the House voted to repeal the anti-gun ObamaCare law and to adopt the Boren-Rehberg amendment — which would defund ATF’s latest gun registry.

Gun Owners of America contacted every member of the House of Representatives prior to winning the votes on ObamaCare and Boren-Rehberg. Sadly, both of these victories were temporary, as the Democrat Senate refused to go along.

• * GOA began a national campaign to defeat restrictive legislation introduced by New York Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D). Her bill, HR 308, would resurrect the ban on high capacity magazines which passed during the Clinton administration — but later sunset in 2004. (GOA will spend the year mobilizing gun owners against this threat, and can thankfully report that, by year’s end, her bill has remained bottled up in committee.)

April-May

• * After President Obama nominated Goodwin Liu to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, GOA worked hard to alert Senators to his extreme, anti-gun record. Like many radical progressives, Liu believes that while our Second Amendment rights might have been necessary in the 1700s, they are no longer needed today. Thanks, in large part, to Liu’s radical views on the Second Amendment, his nomination was narrowly defeated.

• * Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) tied the Senate in knots for more than a week fighting for a GOA ­backed amendment which would have protected 4473’s and other gun records from blanket searches by the ATF under the so-called PATRIOT Act.

Because many leaders in his own party refused to back him, Sen. Paul was not successful this time, but he put a marker down that gun rights would not be violated without a fight from the pro-gun community.

Sen. Paul thanked “Gun Owners of America for their strong support of my amendment to protect the privacy of gun owners.”

June – August

• * GOA activated its grassroots members in opposition to S. 679, the Cover-up Protection Act — a bill that would exempt hundreds of federal appointees from Senate confirmation, thus allowing the President to stack his administration with flaming anti-gunners.

This battle underscored the power of the grassroots — and the effect that phone calls and emails can have upon their elected officials. After hearing from thousands upon thousands of GOA’s activists, Capitol Hill staffers confided to GOA that key Senators reversed course and decided to add amendments which would require the most important Presidential appointments to still be approved by the Senate.

• * The crescendo over the Operation Fast and Furious debacle continued to build. Dubbed as Obama’s Watergate, Fast and Furious highlights the extent that his corrupt administration will go to demonize gun owners. GOA has spent the first half of the year educating the media and the grassroots over Fast and Furious — and for its part, CBS and Fox News lead the media in covering this fiasco.

September

• * GOA began to energize its grassroots in favor of concealed carry reciprocity bill introduced by Georgia Rep. Paul Broun. His bill (HR 2900) will allow law-abiding gun owners to carry out­ of-state without requiring them to possess a concealed carry permit in the state they are visiting.
• *Gun Owners of America briefed an important case before the U.S. Supreme Court earlier in the year — and, in September, we won! The Court handed down its decision in Bond v. United States, where the U.S. government had made a “federal case” out of a domestic dispute involving a Pennsylvania woman who injured her neighbor.

There was absolutely no reason why the federal government should have been prosecuting Carol Bond, as opposed to the local authorities. So GOA got involved with the intent to help drive the federal government back into the parameters as outlined in the Constitution — a result which will, most definitely, benefit gun owners.

October- November

• * In late October, GOA began pressing hard for congressmen to start petitioning for Eric Holder’s resignation. Within a week, the number of Representatives calling for Holder’s resignation rose to more than two dozen — and the number has since doubled to more than four dozen.
• * The Obama Administration issued regulations earlier this year requiring agencies to lie to the public under certain circumstances. GOA alerted its grassroots in October to these regs and urged Congress to defund the administration’s ability to enforce them. The Administration pulled the regulations within the week.
• * In November, Gun Owners Foundation won a Supreme Court case in defense of a gun owner in Virginia. Russell Ernest Smith had been wrongfully convicted of “willfully and intentionally” making a false statement on his 4473 form when purchasing a firearm. But GOF believed that the government’s argument against Smith was specious.

So Gun Owners Foundation prepared its amicus brief and submitted it on behalf of Mr. Smith. GOF was the only group making the case that Smith’s conviction should be overturned. After waiting several months for the verdict, the Virginia Supreme Court announced its verdict … and Smith emerged victorious.

What’s both interesting and exciting in this case is that, in overturning Smith’s conviction, the judges used an argument that GOF had made — an argument which his own lawyer did not even make. GOF is clearly making an impact upon the courts in defense of gun owners’ rights!

• * Concealed carry reciprocity legislation passed on the floor of the House by a 272-154 vote. Representatives had two bills to choose from — although the weaker bill passed. The battle now moves to the Senate, where GOA will work to amend the legislation with the provisions of HR 2900, the “constitutional carry” friendly bill.

December

• * GOA worked hard this year to stall (or defeat) the nomination of anti-gun judges. One of Obama’s picks who stalled out was Caitlin Halligan, a judicial nominee with a history of anti­gun activism. But with most of the nation focusing its attention on the upcoming holidays, GOA had to call the troops into battle after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid tried to ram through Halligan’s confirmation in early December.
• * The response of Gun Owners of America members to the GOA alert was overwhelming and played an important role in defeating the confirmation of Halligan. On the Hill, Gun Owners of America briefed Senate offices right up to the time of the vote about the danger of confirming Halligan. Thankfully, in a procedural maneuver known as a “cloture vote,” Reid fell six votes short of getting the needed votes to move the nomination forward for a final vote.

About:
Gun Owners of America (GOA) is a non-profit lobbying organization formed in 1975 to preserve and defend the Second Amendment rights of gun owners. GOA sees firearms ownership as a freedom issue. `The only no comprise gun lobby in Washington’ – Ron Paul

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