Anti-gunners in New York are back again this year with the same failed microstamping scheme that has been defeated in previous sessions.  The New York Senate Codes Committee is scheduled to consider S675B on Tuesday, March 13, and it is imperative that gun owners in New York make their voices heard now.

The New York Senate Codes Committee was scheduled to consider Senate Bill 675B, microstamping legislation, but this bill was moved to the Senate Rules Committee.  A hearing date has not yet been scheduled in that new committee.

Introduced by state Senator José Peralta (D-13), S675B would require all semi-automatic pistols delivered to any licensed firearms dealer in New York to mechanically stamp an alpha-numeric or geometric code on the cartridge case, which would be used to identify the make, model and serial number of the gun.  This unproven technology is easily defeated by criminals and would only add to the cost of firearms.  Gun control advocates understand that this is a backdoor attack on the Second Amendment by forcing manufacturers out of the state and driving up the cost of firearms for New Yorkers.  It would have terrible repercussions for the state's economy, as manufacturers would likely pack up and leave the Empire State, taking valuable jobs with them.

From the first moment that the American people became aware that senior BATFE officials ordered agents in the field to allow guns sold in the U.S. to be smuggled on an all-but-certain path to Mexico’s vicious drug cartels, many of us have wondered “why.” What possible legitimate purpose could be fulfilled by allowing a large number of guns—over 2,000, by some estimates—to disappear across our southwestern border without the Mexican government’s knowledge?

There has been only one logical answer possible. Someone within the BATFE or higher in the Department of Justice wanted the smuggled guns to be recovered at crime scenes in Mexico, and traced to sources within the U.S., so that the Obama Administration could claim a need for one or another gun control measure being pushed by anti-gun groups. Someone who values gun control more than the lives of innocent people killed by cartel operatives armed with the BATFE’s “walked” guns. Someone who believes, as one BATFE official put it, that “to make an omelet, you have to break some eggs.”

Last week, Mexican President Felipe Calderon unveiled a “billboard” near the U.S. border made of crushed firearms formed into the words, "No More Weapons!"The Mexican government (aided by American media) has consistently claimed that their country’s crime problems are due, in large part, to the flow of firearms into Mexico from the U.S. 

This sentiment has been bolstered by the Obama administration through U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, his Department of Justice, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives now-infamous “Fast and Furious” gunrunning operation.

BATFE officials who supervised the operation out of Phoenix claimed as early as 2008 that 90 percent of the guns seized in Mexico came from the U.S.Of course, it has now been shown that many of Mexico’s traced firearms originate in Central America and other countries.  In other words, the “90 percent” statistic was widely reported, but was obviously inflated, and BATFE officials have themselves refuted those numbers.

     On Thursday, February 2, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee regarding his role in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' gun running operation known as “Fast and Furious.”

During the hearing, Holder continued to deny any foreknowledge of the botched operation.  Representative Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the House committee, led the charge in questioning Holder on his involvement and knowledge.  When Issa asked Holder if he had been briefed on the wiretaps presented in this case, Holder responded, "These wiretaps are very voluminous, read well kinds of things.  I have not read them."  

      It is certainly no surprise for gun owners to see the New York Times run a story belittling the United States Constitution. After all, the Times has worked for decades to devalue our founding document. 

“[I]ts influence is waning,” opines the Times. It is “terse and old, and it guarantees relatively few rights.” The paper faults the Constitution for being difficult to amend and reflective of the times in which it was written. While the Times does not go so far as to claim the U.S. Constitution has been bad for America, it does lament that it is of “little current use to, say, a new African nation.”

Act Now to Stop Obama/Holder Gun Registration Scheme

      Recently, a federal district court in Washington, D.C. issued a ruling upholding an Obama administration policy that requires federally licensed firearms retailers in states bordering Mexico to report multiple sales of semi-automatic rifles. The case was brought by two NRA-backed firearm retailers and by the National Shooting Sports Foundation acting on behalf of its affected members. Plaintiffs have already filed an appeal—but while we await the outcome, your help is urgently needed in seeking congressional action to end this illegal policy.

The Year In Review

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.

Dec. 2011

     On Dec. 5, the NRA filed its opening appellate brief on behalf of several law-abiding young adults challenging the federal ban on dealer sales of handguns and handgun ammunition to persons between the ages of 18 and 20. The case is Jennings v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and will be heard in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. (A similar case challenging Texas' age limit of 21 for issuance of concealed handgun licenses remains pending in the trial court.)

     The appeal challenges a ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, which held that the law does not violate the Second Amendment.  The lower court wrongly compared the ban to other restrictions the Supreme Court has said would be "presumptively lawful," such as the ban on sales to convicted felons.

Federal Court Upholds Obama/Holder Gun Registration Scheme; Congressional Action Needed

Moments before this alert was to go out, a federal district court in Washington, D.C. issued a ruling upholding an Obama administration policy that requires federally licensed firearms retailers in states bordering Mexico to report multiple sales of semi-automatic rifles.  The case was brought by two NRA-backed firearms retailers and by the National Shooting Sports Foundation acting on behalf of its affected members.  Plaintiffs plan to appeal immediately—but in the meantime, your help is urgently needed in seeking congressional action to end this illegal policy.

Devised by Attorney General  Eric Holder's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the plan requires all of the 8,700 firearm dealers in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas to report all sales of two or more semi-automatic rifles within five consecutive business days, if the rifles are larger than .22 caliber and use detachable magazines.  (The plaintiffs in the case pointed out that this was about 20 times more dealers than had been subject to any similar "demand letter" before, but in today's decision the court nonetheless found the new requirement "limited in scope.")

It is imperative that you contact your U.S. Senators and ask them to cosponsor and support S. 570.  You can find contact information for your elected officials by using the "Write Your Representatives" tool at www.NRAILA.org, or you can call your U.S. senators at (202) 224-3121.