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Arizona Citizens Defense League

Catalina, AZ --(Ammoland.com)- To view the status of legislation that AzCDL is monitoring, visit our Bill Tracking page: http://www.azcdl.org/html/bill_tracking.html .

Thank you for your Action Center emails on HB 2095 (stopping HOA firearms restrictions) and SB 1077 (firearms on state lands)! We are working with the committee chairs to get these bills to move forward.

Meanwhile, we’re seeing progress on SB 1241, the AzCDL-requested legislation that would remove local control over the disposition of forfeited weapons. On Monday, January 30, 2012, SB 1241 passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee by a 5 to 2 vote with one member not voting.

Next week, on Monday, February 6, 2012, the following pro-rights bills are schedule to be heard in the Senate Judiciary Committee:

• SB 1304 would remove the authority of political subdivisions (counties, cities, towns, etc.) to restrict the discharge of a firearm within a quarter mile of an occupied structure. Currently it is possible for you to legally defend yourself with a firearm but be arrested for “discharging a firearm” under a local ordinance.
• SB 1448 would require state and local government property to have access “controlled or restricted by the presence of a state or other certified law enforcement officer, or an armed security officer” in order ban the carrying of weapons.
• SB 1474 is an NRA-requested Campus Carry bill that would allow CCW permit holders to carry discreetly on campus, but would allow college and university governing boards to prohibit weapons inside of buildings as long as “temporary and secure” storage for the weapon is provided.
• SB 1479 would reduce the penalty for entering state and local government property that bans weapons to a Petty Offense unless it is a “secured facility” (guards, metal detectors, etc.), then the penalty is a Misdemeanor. The bill also allows for court action when the government entity doesn’t follow the rules.

Over in the House, HB 2640, which would prohibit the Game and Fish Commission from limiting or restricting magazine capacity on any authorized firearm, has been scheduled for a hearing on Monday, February 6, 2012, in the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

On Wednesday, February 8, 2012, HB 2728 is scheduled to be heard in the House Military Affairs and Public Safety (MAPS) Committee. This bill would prohibit the Arizona Game and Fish Commission from banning the lawful possession or use of sound suppressors when hunting.

If you would like to contact your legislator about these, or any other bills, our Legislative Action Center is available for your use. Go to http://capwiz.com/azcdl/home , click on your State Senator or Representative, then click on the “contact” tab and compose a message. If this is your first visit to our Action Center, you will need to provide your location to help you identify your elected officials.

The deadline for Senators to introduce bills was January 30, 2012. Representatives have until Monday, February 6, 2012 to get their bills filed.

Stay tuned! When critical legislation moves, we will notify you via these Alerts.

• You can also follow AzCDL on Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/FacebookAzCDL , and during the legislative session, we’ll send out updates via Twitter: http://twitter.com/AzCDL_Alerts .
• AzCDL’s Political Action Committee (PAC) is also on Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/FacebookAzCDLPAC .
• These alerts are a project of the Arizona Citizens Defense League (AzCDL), an all volunteer, non-profit, non-partisan grassroots organization: http://www.azcdl.org/html/join_us_.html .
• AzCDL – Protecting Your Freedom http://www.azcdl.org/html/accomplishments.html .

About:
AzCDL believes that the emphasis of gun laws should be on criminal misuse and that law-abiding citizens should be able to own and carry firearms unaffected by unnecessary laws or regulations. AzCDL was founded by a group of local activists who recognized that a sustained, coordinated, statewide effort was critical to protecting and expanding the rights of law-abiding gun owners. As a like-minded coalition of activists, the AzCDL founders were instrumental in the successful passage of the first major improvement to Arizona’s CCW (concealed carry) laws since they were instituted in 1994. Visit: www.azcdl.org

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Virginia Citizens Defense League

Covington VA --(Ammoland.com)- ACTION ITEM: We need to make sure our Senators AND Delegates understand that they MUST fix the current situation with firearm background checks.

Either take the State Police out of the loop and use the FREE federal NICS system OR fund the State Police check and require that such funding must only be used to hire people to do the background checks.

AND the State Police computer system must have redundancy so that it does NOT go down for more than a few minutes a YEAR, just like Visa, MasterCard, and American Express computers.

• To send an email to your Senator, click here: http://tinyurl.com/7m2fxbj
• To send an email to your Delegate, click here: http://tinyurl.com/7sx9w6q

LET’S ROLL!

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

The following gun bills passed the House today and head to the Senate:

• HB 20, Delegate Wilt, protects the right to carry and transport firearms during an emergency (the matching Senate bill, SB 245, Senator Obenshain, has already passed the Senate)
• HB 22, Delegate Cole, provides that a locality must have an ordinance for gun buy-ups before they and do buy-ups and that such guns should be sold to dealers if possible
• HB 26, Delegate Cole, provides a civil for of $25 (instead of the current Class 1 misdemeanor) if a CHP holder does not have their permit with them while carrying concealed
• HB 940, Delegate Lingamfelter, repeals One Handgun a Month

On Wednesday in the Senate Courts of Justice committee, anti-gun Senator McEachin’s SB 379, which outlaws privates sales of handguns unless they go through a dealer, was killed by an 8 to 6 vote!

Senator McEachin’s other anti-gun bill, SB 648, which adds yet another penalty on a gun owner for being in possession of a firearm while under the influence of alcohol, failed to report by a tie 7 to 7 vote. WE ARE WATCHING THIS BILL AS IT COULD BE RESURRECTED. The original vote killed the bill outright, but then there was some shenanigans behind the scenes and a few votes were changed to make the count 7 to 7 (the committee chair, Senator Norment, was one of the changed votes). The significance is that the vote could be reconsidered in the near future and the bill could potentially pass out of committee.

Also, Senator McDougle has a bill, SB 435, that our attorney does NOT like. It changes the language on the law against making a false statement on the handgun purchase forms. The bill throws a wider net and that is not a good thing. Watch for more on this bill soon.

On Thursday, February 2, the House Militia, Police and Public Safety subcommittees #2 and #1 will meet and consider gun bills.

Subcommittee #2 meets at 7:30 AM in the 4th Floor West Conference Room and will consider HB 237, Delegate Cosgrove’s HB 237, which will allow long guns background checks to be run through the federal NICS system to take the load off the Virginia State Police. SEE ACTION ITEM BELOW.

Subcommittee #1 meets at 5 PM in the 4th Floor West Conference Room and will consider the following bills:

• HB 25, Delegate Cole, protects concealed handgun permit info from dissemination by Circuit Court Clerks. VCDL strongly supports this bill
• HB 592, Delegate Merricks, exempts permit holders from a state background check on the purchase of a firearm. VCDL supports this bill, but considers Delegate Gilbert’s HB 859 to be a superior bill
• HB 754, Delegate Cline, removes fingerprinting as local option for getting a CHP. VCDL strongly supports this bill
• HB 929, Delegate Lingamfelter, gives RETIRED Commonwealth Attorneys the special carry privileges of an off-duty police officer. VCDL opposes this bill – a CHP would work just fine for retirees. If there is some concern that the retirees can’t protect themselves EVERYWHERE they go with a CHP, THEN LET’S FIX CHPs SO THAT THEY ARE GOOD EVERYWHERE!

About:
Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc. (VCDL). VCDL is an all-volunteer, non-partisan grassroots organization dedicated to defending the human rights of all Virginians. The Right to Keep and Bear Arms is a fundamental human right. Visit: www.vcdl.org

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