To protect Second Amendment rights, ensure that all individuals who should be prohibited from buying a firearm are listed in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, and provide a responsible and consistent background check process.Introduced by Representative Peter King, R-NY, in March. been in limbo in the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs and House Committee on the Judiciary since then.
I found out about it when I idly clicked the link to "How your U.S. lawmakers voted | The Seattle Times and read thatOfficial Summary
Public Safety and Second Amendment Rights Protection Act of 2015 Amends the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act to reauthorize for FY2016-FY2019 the grant program for improvements to the criminal history record system. Amends the NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007 to:
(1) establish a four-year implementation plan to ensure maximum coordination and automation of reporting of records or making records available to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System;
(2) direct the Attorney General to make grants to states, Indian tribal governments, and state court systems to improve the automation and transmittal of mental health records and criminal history dispositions;
(3) provide for withholding grant funds from states that have not implemented a relief from disabilities program and the reallocation of such funds to states that are in compliance;
(4) make federal court information available for inclusion in the System; and
(5) allow the submission to the System of mental health records that would otherwise be protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Provides that nothing in this Act shall be construed to:
(1) expand the enforcement authority or jurisdiction of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives;
(2) allow the establishment, directly or indirectly, of a federal firearms registry; or
(3) extend background check requirements to transfers of firearms other than those made at gun shows or over the Internet, or to temporary transfers for purposes including lawful hunting or sporting, or to temporary possession of a firearm for purposes of examination or evaluation by a prospective transferee. National Commission on Mass Violence Act of 2015 Establishes the National Commission on Mass Violence to study the availability and nature of firearms, including the means of acquiring firearms, issues relating to mental health, and the impacts of the availability and nature of firearms on incidents of mass violence or in preventing mass violence. Requires the Commission to conduct a comprehensive factual study of incidents of mass violence, including incidents not involving firearms, to determine the root causes of such mass violence.
The voting was pretty much along party lines, at least here in the Northwet.Background checks on gun sales
By a vote of 244 for and 183 against, the House on Oct. 8 blocked a parliamentary tactic by Democrats aimed at bringing to the floor a bill (HR 1217) now stranded in two committees that would greatly expand background checks on commercial gun sales. The bill would require checks on sales conducted over the Internet, between private parties at gun shows and through classified ads. It would plug existing loopholes that allow an estimated 40 percent of U.S. gun sales to avoid mandatory background checks. Conducted via the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System, these checks are intended to prevent domestic abusers, the mentally ill and individuals with criminal records from obtaining firearms. The bill, which also prohibits the establishment of a national registry of gun owners, is nearly identical to the so-called Toomey-Manchin amendment that failed in a Senate vote in April 2013 four months after the Newtown, Conn., school shootings.
And it's actually quite interesting, or at least, I found it so.Should the Supreme Court defer to the will of the majority and uphold most democratically enacted laws? Or does the Constitution empower the Supreme Court to protect a broad range of individual rights from the reach of lawmakers? In this timely and provocative book, Damon Root traces the long war over judicial activism and judicial restraint from its beginnings in the bloody age of slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction to its central role in today's blockbuster legal battles over gay rights, gun control, and health care reform.
It's a conflict that cuts across the political spectrum in surprising ways and makes for some unusual bedfellows. Judicial deference is not only a touchstone of the Progressive left, for example, it is also a philosophy adopted by many members of the modern right. Today's growing camp of libertarians, however, has no patience with judicial restraint and little use for majority rule. They want the courts and judges to police the other branches of government, and expect Justices to strike down any state or federal law that infringes on their bold constitutional agenda of personal and economic freedom.
Overruled is the story of two competing visions, each one with its own take on what role the government and the courts should play in our society, a fundamental debate that goes to the very heart of our constitutional system.
...as between two possible interpretations of a statute, by one of which it would be unconstitutional and by the other valid, our plain duty is to adopt that which will save the Act.to be, well, shocking.
Purpose: To protect Second Amendment rights, ensure that all individuals who should be prohibited from buying a firearm are listed in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, and provide a responsible and consistent background check process.OK...
AMENDMENT INTENDED TO BE PROPOSED BY MR. MANCHIN (for himself, Mr. TOOMEY, Mr. KIRK, and Mr. SCHUMER)Inspires all kinds of confidence...
...the transfer is made between spouses, between parents or spouses of parents and their children or spouses of their children, between siblings or spouses of siblings, or between grandparents or spouses of grandparents and their grandchildren or spouses of their grandchildren, or between aunts or uncles or their spouses and their nieces or nephews or their spouses, or between first cousins, if the transferor does not know or have reasonable cause to believe that the transferee is prohibited from receiving or possessing a firearm under Federal, State, or local lawOtherwise, private transfers are legal if
"(B) the transfer is made between an unlicensed transferor and an unlicensed transferee residing in the same State, which takes place in such State, if-Subparagraph (i) is a killer.
"(i) the Attorney General certifies that State in which the transfer takes place has in effect requirements under law that are generally equivalent to the requirements of this section; and
"(ii) the transfer was conducted in compliance with the laws of the State;
Wait for me! Wait for me! I'm your leader! How can I lead you if you won't wait for me?!
(2)(a) No unlicensed person may sell a firearm to anotherNot only are some of the co-sponsors Republicans, at least one of them was rated by the NRA as an "A+"--until now.
7 unlicensed person unless the purchaser has undergone a background check
8 in accordance with the provisions of this subsection (2) and the
9 purchaser is not ineligible to possess a firearm under state or federal
10 law.
11 (b) A seller of a firearm to an unlicensed person shall request a
12 background check of the purchaser or transferee from a dealer or from
13 the chief of police or the sheriff of the jurisdiction in which the
14 seller or the purchaser resides. The background check shall include a
15 check of the national criminal instant background check system.
16 (c) The purchaser must complete an application to transfer a
17 firearm. The application shall be provided to the dealer or the chief
18 of police or sheriff conducting the background check.
19 (d) The department of licensing shall create and make available an
20 application to transfer a firearm for use by unlicensed persons engaged
21 in the sale or purchase of a firearm. The application shall include
22 the information required under RCW 9.41.090 for an application to
23 purchase a pistol from a dealer, and any other information the
24 department of licensing determines is appropriate.
25 (e) A dealer or a chief of police or sheriff who conducts a
26 background check for an unlicensed person under this subsection (2)
27 must indicate on the application whether the purchaser is eligible or
28 ineligible to possess a firearm under state and federal law based on
29 the results of the background check. A dealer or a chief of police or
30 sheriff may charge a fee for conducting the background check in an
31 amount not to exceed twenty dollars, plus any charges imposed by the
32 federal bureau of investigation.
33 (f) A person who sells a firearm to an unlicensed person in
34 violation of this subsection (2) is guilty of a gross misdemeanor
35 punishable under chapter 9A.20 RCW.
36 (g) For the purposes of this subsection (2), "unlicensed person"
37 means any person who is not licensed as a dealer under this chapter.
EDIT: Okay, "impeach" wasn't the right word. Recall. Replace as Speaker, at a minimum.
We don't want a "loyal opposition", not now. We want, we need, utter, dogged, Churchillian opposition to any and all laws, rules, regulations, policies, or procedures that will further erode the Constitution of these United States, and our individual freedom and rights.
The sponsor of the state Senate’s version, Republican Thomas O’Mara, told TheDC that he had not initially considered that the legislation might ban First Amendment-protected speech.Well, the only requirement to get elected to and hold a seat is that one be alive, not that one have an IQ above room temperature.
“Today is the first day that these issues have been raised,” O’Mara said. “I haven’t gotten any comments from any of my colleagues in the Senate who said that this wasn’t a good idea.”
Republican state Assemblyman Jim Conte praised the legislation, writing that it would eliminate “mean-spirited and baseless political attacks that add nothing to the real debate.”Like I said, tar, feathers...
The legislation would “demand that those who spread rumor, conjecture or outright lies online be willing to come forward and defend the comments they post,” Republican Assemblywoman Claudia Tenney added. “We, as a society, have never expected anything less when potentially harmful words are put into print.”
(More at the link.)Over the weekend, Republicans in the 37th Legislative District gathered to choose delegates to the state GOP convention.
The caucus started out Saturday morning inside Dimmitt Middle School. But it didn't end inside the building.
After supporters of Texas Congressman Ron Paul elected one of their own to chair of the meeting, the gathering was booted to an outside basketball court by King County Republican Party Chairman Lori Sotelo.
The move came after attendees irritated Sotelo by rejecting her choice to run the caucus - former King County Councilman David Irons.
Instead, the group voted for Tamara Smilanich*, a Paul supporter.
That prompted Sotelo to declare the meeting was no longer a Republican Party event - but a Ron Paul campaign event.
John McCain’s 2008 campaign staff allegedly had evidence that Democrats stuffed ballot boxes in Pennsylvania and Ohio on election night, but McCain chose not to pursue voter fraud, according to internal Stratfor emails published by WikiLeaks.Professor Reynolds says it was a BAD CALL
...
After discussions with his inner circle, which explains the delay in his speech, McCain decided not to pursue the voter fraud in PA and Ohio, despite his staff’s desire to make it an issue. He said no. Staff felt they could get a federal injunction to stop the process. McCain felt the crowds assembled in support of Obama and such would be detrimental to our country and it would do our nation no good for this to drag out like last go around, coupled with the possibility of domestic violence.
John McCain, the 2008 Election, and Civil Unrest.
What we do know is this: First, that people in the McCain campaign thought they had evidence of election tampering that cost McCain the election. Second, that McCain thought it best for the country to do nothing about it, in part because of fears of mob violence.
America is coasting along a slippery surface, and small concessions to the mob can resonate in ways we can’t predict. In seven months, we have a chance to reverse the mistakes of 2008, even if only to stand up to the mob this time. . . .
If you are sitting on the couch on Election Day watching it on TV, if you are at work instead of not using available leave, if you aren’t inside the polls on Election Day to prevent the mess of 2008 from repeating, you aren’t doing enough. If not 2012, when?
