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UN Moving Forward With Anti-Gun Treaty

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photo credit: R0NgMoving crews have packed up desks, lamps, chairs, office supplies and other personal items of numerous Democrat Senate and House offices now vacated after November’s election. But in a suite of offices located directly across from the Senate Floor, there were relics from the list of bills that passed the U.S. House and sat without action inside Harry Reid’s office. Somewhere in that stack likely sits an anti-gun treaty signed by Secretary of State John Kerry.

To his credit, outgoing-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid likely knew the United Nation’s Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) would never meet the two-thirds majority requirement for ratification. But as of Christmas Eve, the treaty has gone into effect internationally.

The UN General Assembly first approved the ATT in April 2013 and Kerry signed it on Sept. 24, 2013, amid criticism from the Republican side of the upper chamber’s aisle.

No action has been taken to move the treaty to a vote for U.S. Senate ratification, but 61 nations have ratified the treaty and 69 additional nations have signed without ratification by their own governments. The ATT is legally binding only to the 61 nations whose governments have procedurally embraced the global legislation.

Likely, Reid avoided the self-inflicted damage to Democrats in an election cycle that would result with a recorded vote on a UN arms control effort. Then again, Democrats didn’t fair all that well as it was. (Read more about the anti-gun treaty HERE)

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Grandpa of Toddler Who Shot Mother Says to Quit Using Accident to Push Gun Control

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Veronica Rutledge and her husband loved everything about guns. They practiced at shooting ranges. They hunted. And both of them, relatives and friends say, had permits to carry concealed firearms. Veronica typically left her Blackfoot, Idaho, home with her gun nestled at her side. So on Christmas morning last week, her husband gave her a present he hoped would make her life more comfortable: a purse with a special pocket for a concealed weapon. . .

On Tuesday morning . . . Veronica, 29, arrived at a nearby Wal-Mart in Hayden with her three nieces and son, her gun “zippered closed” inside her new purse, her father-in-law said. Then, in the back of the store, near the electronics section, the purse was left unattended for a moment.

“An inquisitive 2-year-old boy reached into the purse, unzipped the compartment, found the gun and shot his mother in the head,” Rutledge said. “It’s a terrible, terrible incident.”

The aftermath has been crushing, he said. His son went to the Wal-Mart to collect his nieces and son, and no one now is sure what to say to the boy, who is not doing well. . .

Rutledge isn’t just sad — he’s angry. Not at his grandson. Nor at his dead daughter-in-law, “who didn’t have a malicious fiber in her body,” he said. He’s angry at the observers already using the accident as an excuse to grandstand on gun rights. (Read more about how this tragedy is beings used to push gun control HERE).

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Anti-Gun Billionaire: 'We Need More School Shootings'

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Photo Credit: WNDIt didn’t take long for some progressives to exploit the tragic shooting at a Washington State high school last Friday, as they used it in an attempt to gain support for a ballot initiative requiring expanded background checks on all gun transfers in the state.

Within hours of the Oct. 24 shooting that claimed the lives of two students at Marysville-Pilchuck High School, one of the billionaire backers of the Nov. 4 ballot initiative posted a link to the story on his Facebook page with the caption, “We need more school shootings!!! Vote yes on Initiative 591.”

The posting by Nick Hanauer, a Seattle venture capitalist from a Democrat family, was excused as “sarcasm,” according to gun-rights advocates in Washington. I-591 would prohibit background checks and has the support of the National Rifle Association. Hanauer is one of the top financial donors to the organization pushing I-594, a competing ballot measure that would require background checks on almost all gun transfers, even short-term loans between friends and family members.

The Facebook posting by Hanauer was removed sometime late Friday. Meanwhile, the news came Monday morning that a third Marysville student, 14-year-old Gia Soriano, had died overnight of her wounds at a hospital in Everett.

Hanauer’s comment was just the latest attempt by anti-gun forces to make political hay off of someone’s loss, said Dave Workman, a resident of North Bend, Washington, and a former NRA board member.

Read more from this story HERE.

Gun-Toting Grandpa Defends Wife, Granddaughter From Rapists In NC Home Invasion

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Photo Credit: Daily CallerA North Carolina man exchanged fire with three home invaders after they tried to rob his house and rape his granddaughter, reports the Fayetteville Observer.

At his Lumberton home on Monday, Kenneth Byrd, 67, was approached by an individual claiming to have car problems. When Byrd invited the man into his home, he was rushed by two additional assailants wearing black clothes and ski masks.

The home invaders — all three brandishing handguns — corralled Byrd, his wife Judy and their 19-year-old granddaughter and demanded money and other valuables from the family safe.

Byrd initially complied with their demands, but when the men began to beat Judy and attempted to rape his granddaughter, he grabbed a hidden firearm and let loose a flurry of shots at the assailants.

Read more from this story HERE.

NY Gun Registry Deems Almost 35,000 People Too Mentally Ill To Carry a Gun

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Photo Credit: TownHallA new figure out of New York shows that the state has deemed 34,500 people too mentally ill to carry a firearm. While any responsible citizen would argue a dangerous and mentally unstable person should not be wielding a gun, some mental health advocates are arguing the number is far too high:

“That seems extraordinarily high to me,” said Sam Tsemberis, a former director of New York City’s involuntary hospitalization program for homeless and dangerous people, now the chief executive of Pathways to Housing, which provides housing to the mentally ill. “Assumed dangerousness is a far cry from actual dangerousness.”

The Office of Mental Health pointed out that 144,000 people were hospitalized in New York in 2012 for mental illness, trying to justify the gun registry’s seemingly high number. Yet, other health professionals argue the majority of those cases are not violent.

Read more from this story HERE.

New Trend: Billionaires 'Buying Gun Control'

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Photo Credit: Getty ImagesBill Gates, Michael Bloomberg and three other billionaires are bankrolling a controversial gun-control initiative that will appear on the Nov. 4 ballot in Washington State.

Even the new owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, Steve Ballmer, has gotten into the act, writing a check for $1 million dollars to help flood the airwaves with anti-gun propaganda.

The strategy in Washington relies on big money supplied by a few ultra-rich elites and, if successful, could serve as Bloomberg’s model for tightening the strings on gun owners nationwide.

Initiative 594 would not only require background checks for transactions at gun shows and over the Internet but also person-to-person sales and loaned guns. Even handing a firearm to a friend for a few moments during a hunting trip would trigger the need for a background check if Initiative 594 were to pass, critics say. The cost of the background check, to be borne by the gun owner, is yet to be determined.

Backers of the proposal are flush with cash, as nearly $8 million has been shoveled in their direction from wealthy businessmen such as Bloomberg, Gates, Ballmer, Seattle venture capitalist Nick Hanauer and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.

Read more from this story HERE.

CA Gov. Signs New Gun Restriction: Authorities Can Seize Guns from People Who 'Pose a Threat'

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Photo Credit: AP / Rich PedroncelliBy Don Thompson.

California will become the first state that allows family members to ask a judge to remove firearms from a relative who appears to pose a threat, under legislation Gov. Jerry Brown said Tuesday he had signed.

The bill was proposed by several Democrats and responds to a deadly rampage in May near the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Relatives of the victims and other supporters of the bill said the parents of 22-year-old Elliot Rodger were thwarted in their attempts to seek help for their troubled son before the rampage.

Supporters had said such a measure could have prevented the attacks, winning out over critics who said it would erode gun rights.

“If both of these laws had been in place on May 23, things could have been very different,” Rodger’s father, Peter Rodger, said in a statement Tuesday night. “California, today, is a safer state because of this legislation. Let’s hope other states follow.”

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: APCalifornia becomes first state to ban plastic bags

By FENIT NIRAPPIL.

Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday signed the nation’s first statewide ban on single-use plastic bags at grocery and convenience stores, driven to action by pollution in streets and waterways.

A national coalition of plastic bag manufacturers immediately said it would seek a voter referendum to repeal the law, which is scheduled to take effect in July 2015.

Under SB270, plastic bags will be phased out of checkout counters at large grocery stores and supermarkets such as Wal-Mart and Target starting next summer, and convenience stores and pharmacies in 2016. The law does not apply to bags used for fruits, vegetables or meats, or to shopping bags used at other retailers. It allows grocers to charge a fee of at least 10 cents for using paper bags.

State Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Los Angeles, credits the momentum for statewide legislation to the more than 100 cities and counties, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, that already have such bans.

The law marks a major milestone for environmental activists who have successfully pushed plastic bag bans in cities across the U.S., including Chicago, Austin and Seattle. Hawaii is also on track to have a de-facto statewide ban, with all counties approving prohibitions.

Read more from this story HERE.

School Bans National Guard T-Shirts Over Gun Image

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Photo Credit: New York Army National GuardA National Guard recruiter was instructed to stop handing out promotional t-shirts at a New York high school after teachers complained at the shirts featured a soldier holding a weapon.

“A pointed gun is just not appropriate for a high school,” said Alan McCartney, the interim superintendent of the Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk School District.

Last Friday, a recruiter for the New York Army National Guard was on campus handing out swag – including a shirt with the logo of a silhouetted soldier aiming a rifle. The silhouette was framed by an American flag and the words “National Guard.”

“A couple of teachers realized it showed a silhouette of a rifleman on it,” McCartney told me in a telephone interview. “I realize some students look at the t-shirt and all they see is the National Guard. And that is a good thing. Others look at the shirt and all they see is the rifle.”

The recruiter had already given away as many as 20 shirts when the principal showed up and asked him to stop. The recruiter complied with the principal’s request and left the campus.

Read more from this story HERE.

Huh: Anti-Gun Billionaire Buys a Nazi Tank

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Photo Credit: TownHallIf you’ve paid attention at all to the gun control debate over the past two decades, you’ve certainly heard the argument from gun control activists, “What do you want? For people to be able to buy and own tanks?!”

That argument and question are red herrings. The average citizen is not trying to own or buy tanks (even though there are legal ways to do it), but an anti-gun billionaire dedicated to taking away your Second Amendment rights, just bought one.

Co-founder of Microsoft Paul Allen has dumped hundreds-of-thousands of dollars into anti-gun campaigns and now, he’s the proud owner of a WWII Nazi tank. Chris Egar over at Guns.com has more…

Read more from this story HERE.

Anti-Gun Groups No Longer Fighting For Assault Weapons Bans

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Photo Credit: TownHallAlas, gun control groups seem to have moved away from so-called assault weapons bans for reasons pro-Second Amendment groups have espoused for months; they’re ineffective and represent a very small fraction of firearm-related homicides. Shannon Watts of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America now calls such policy initiatives “nonstarters.” Nonetheless, that does not mean that these people have abandoned their support for such bans on certain types of firearms (via ProPublica):

Nearly two years later, Watts works full-time as the head of the group, now named Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, is a significant player in a coalition financed by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. But while polls suggest a majority of Americans still support an assault weapons ban, it is no longer one of Watts’ top priorities.

“We’ve very much changed our strategy to focus on public safety measures that will save the most lives,” she told ProPublica.

It’s not just that the ban proved to be what Watts calls a “nonstarter” politically, gaining fewer votes in the Senate post-Sandy Hook than background check legislation. It was also that as Watts spoke to experts and learned more about gun violence in the United States, she realized that pushing for a ban isn’t the best way to prevent gun deaths.

A 2004 Justice Department-funded evaluation found no clear evidence that the decade-long ban saved any lives. The guns categorized as “assault weapons” had only been used in about 2 percent of gun crimes before the ban. “Should it be renewed,” the report concluded, “the ban’s effects on gun violence are likely to be small at best and perhaps too small for reliable measurement.”

Read more from this story HERE.