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Obama to Praise Colorado’s New Gun Laws as Gun Businesses Exit, Boycotts Organize

Photo Credit: AP

When President Barack Obama comes to Colorado on Wednesday to praise state lawmakers for taking a tough stance on gun control — an example that he hopes Congress will follow — it will be to a backdrop of a changing economic landscape brought on by the new laws.

Because of strict new gun bills signed recently by Gov. John Hickenlooper that ban high-capacity magazines and require universal background checks on gun transfers, hunting groups are organizing boycotts, shooting competitions are being canceled and more and more businesses that serve the gun industry are announcing that they’re taking their companies — and the jobs they provide — to more Second Amendment-friendly locales.

On Monday, organizers for the Rocky Mountain Western States Regional IDPA Championship shooting competition canceled their July 4-6 event because the new laws will go into effect on July 1. Organizers expected 300 out-of-state shooters to come to Montrose for the weekend.

“With these new Colorado laws going into effect July 1, and based on the ambiguous way in which they were written, we have decided to cancel the Rocky Mountain Western States Regional IDPA Championship,” said event organizer Walt Proulx in a press release.

This is the second competition to cancel. Earlier, the 2013 Ruger Rimfire Challenge World Championship, to be held in Byers, Colo. July 19-21, was canceled and has yet to be rescheduled “outside of Colorado,” according to the Ruger website.

Read more from this story HERE.

Video: 15 year Old Girl Leaves Anti-Gun Politicians Speechless

Photo Credit: YouTube

A 15 year old girl uses facts and knowledge from a shooter’s perspective to completely shut down any argument for more gun control. Reminding us that “guns are not the problem, people are.” Why isn’t our government this intelligent?

Watch video here:

Mark Kelly Warns that GOP Efforts to Block Gun Control Legislation Will Hurt Reelection Efforts; GOP's Flake Disagrees

photo credit: R0Ng

By Fox News. Senate Democrats recently removed bans on semi-automatic weapons from pending gun-control legislation in apparent hopes of passing the more politically acceptable universal background checks — even referring to the checks as the “sweet spot” of the proposal.

But the issue has turned into the new sticking point in Congress with a top Republican saying Sunday the plan is “going nowhere” and Democrats and other gun-control advocates pressing the issue.

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham repeated the argument among gun-rights advocates that the federal government should not add new checks when existing ones are not enforced.

“The current system is broken,” he said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “Why in the world would you expand that system if you’re not enforcing the law that exists today. … So I think that legislation is going nowhere.”

Leading gun-control advocate Mark Kelly warned Republican senators that trying to block a vote on new firearms legislation that includes universal background checks could hurt their re-election efforts. Read more from this story HERE.

Sen. Jeff Flake: Universal background checks ‘a bridge too far’

By David Sherfinski. Sen. Jeff Flake, Arizona Republican, said Sunday that universal background checks on all gun sales are “a bridge too far for most of us” as Democrats try to cobble together a package that can win 60 votes in the Senate.

“We do need to strengthen the background check system, but universal background checks, I think, is a bridge too far for most of us,” Mr. Flake said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “The paperwork requirements alone would be significant.”

Mr. Flake — along with Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, and Democratic Sens. Mark Begich of Alaska and Mark L. Pryor of Arkansas — has introduced legislation intended to clarify issues surrounding mental illness and which people are legally barred from buying or owning a firearm.

Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, has introduced a bill that would require near-universal background checks for all gun sales, but said he’s still hunting for a measure that can get 60 votes in the Senate. His bill passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on a straight party-line vote after bipartisan talks on compromise legislation broke down over the issue of record-keeping on gun sales. Read more from this story HERE.

State Grants Secret Service Vast New Powers to Circumvent Sheriffs

Photo Credit: WND

A bill is heading to Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper’s desk that Republican lawmakers say would give members of the Secret Service broad arrest powers in the state and could provide a framework for federal agents eventually to enforce gun restrictions.

“This is absolutely insane,” Rep. Lori Saine, R-Dacono, said. “In theory if a Secret Service agent is in a county where the sheriff has refused to enforce some of the recent unenforceable gun laws, the agent could arrest an individual if he believes the law has been broken.”

The idea actually aligns with an Obama agenda to create vast new restrictions and regulations on guns. WND has reported that hundreds of sheriffs nationwide, including many in Colorado, have said they cannot enforce federal restrictions that would violate the Second Amendment.

In Colorado, Weld County Sheriff John Cooke said he and many other county sheriffs “won’t bother” with several laws poised to go into effect in Colorado because they would be impossible to enforce.

One of the laws would require private sellers to do a background check on purchasers in private gun transaction, but the sheriffs wonder how to keep track of whether gun owners are meeting the new requirements.

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama Uses Executive Power to Move Gun Control Agenda Forward

Photo Credit: Jesse 1974

President Obama is quietly moving forward on gun control. The president has used his executive powers to bolster the national background check system, jump start government research on the causes of gun violence and create a million-dollar ad campaign aimed at safe gun ownership.

The executive steps will give federal law enforcement officials access to more data about guns and their owners, help keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill, and lay the groundwork for future legislative efforts.

It is unclear whether the National Rifle Association (NRA) will challenge any of the executive actions in court. A spokesman for the NRA did not return a request for comment. The moves, which have not been widely touted by the administration, come as Obama ups his pressure on Congress to take action on gun control in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings. The Senate is expected to begin floor consideration of legislation when it returns in April.

Efforts to renew a ban in semi-automatic weapons with military-style features and high-capacity magazines have stalled in Congress. Democratic senators still hope to move gun control legislation that includes tougher background checks, but conservative Republican senators have threatened to filibuster it.

If approved by the Senate, any bill would then face tough sledding in the GOP-controlled House. Gun control groups say Obama’s piecemeal approach falls short of what could be accomplished by legislation overhauling the nation’s gun laws. Still, they argue the actions remain important and will reduce gun violence.

Read more from this story HERE.

Dana Loesch vs. Piers Morgan and Van Jones On Gun Control: Need We Say More? (+video)

Photo Credit: CNN

Things got tense Thursday night on CNN when Piers Morgan went head-to-head with conservative radio host Dana Loesch on the issue of gun control. Also on the show were former White House czar Van Jones and Grover Norquist — quite a diverse panel.

Morgan began by blasting the National Rifle Association’s “outrageous” and “utterly insensitive” leadership. Norquist replied by dismissed gun control and citing statistics that show several cities with very strict gun laws also have very high crime rates and shootings.

Shaking his head, Jones said the points that Norquist made were “not true.”

“You can’t deny the science. You’re a science denier, man,” Norquist replied, shooting Jones a wink. Jones then argued that the issue really is “military-style assault weapons” being out on the street in America, a point with Loesch quickly refuted.

“That’s a false premise,” Loesch said. “I’m going to correct you, because I am tired of this talking point being put out there. First and foremost, let’s get something straight. ‘Military-style assault weapons’ are not out on the street. We are talking about semi-automatic weapons, weapons that are capable of–” Morgan and Jones then teamed up on Loesch to argue that semi-automatic weapons like the popular AR-15 are, in-fact, “military-style assault weapons” because Gen. Stanley McChrystal used the phrase.

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Rand Paul to Obama: “Call Me If Any of Your Reforms Would Have Saved Those Kids at Sandy Hook” (+video)

Photo Credit: YouTube

“I think it’s a mistake for either side to politicize this. The president uses them as a backdrop and drama for getting some kind of political will. But, my question to the president is, ‘Call me if any of your reforms would have saved those kids at Sandy Hook.” If anything he’s proposing would have changed the outcome I’ll listen to him.”

Watch video here:

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DC Cardinal McCarrick: Church Will Push For Immigration, Gun Safety

Photo Credit: Jim, the Photographer

A U.S. cardinal said he expects Catholic Church leaders to intensify efforts on behalf of a new immigration law and gun control measures as congressional legislation on the issues move forward.

Many undocumented immigrants are “family people” who “came to make a contribution to American society,” Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, retired Catholic prelate of the nation’s capital, said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt,” which airs this weekend.

The nation’s Catholic bishops will back up their endorsement of a path to legal status for such immigrants with more action once legislation is introduced, he added. “I’m hoping that when we get a bill, you’ll see how active they’ll be,” McCarrick said.

While the Catholic Church hierarchy has clashed with President Barack Obama over abortion rights and his health-care law’s mandate for contraception coverage, the nation’s bishops are allied with him on his stance for an immigration overhaul and gun control legislation.

A group of bipartisan senators is almost finished drafting immigration legislation to be introduced the week of April 8. In the aftermath of Newtown, Connecticut, shootings that killed 20 schoolchildren in December, lawmakers are at odds over new regulations of firearms and ammunition, while some push for more stringent background checks for gun-buyers.

Read more from this story HERE.

Texas Democrat Proposes Legislation that Would Remove Sheriffs Who Refuse to Enforce Gun Control

Hundreds of sheriffs across the country have banded together and vowed not to enforce any new state or federal gun control legislation because they feel such laws would be in violation of the U.S. Constitution — the document they took an oath to uphold.

Glenn Beck recently hosted a number of these sheriffs on TheBlaze TV to discuss proposed gun legislation and why they are taking a stand.

Now, at least one lawmaker in Texas, state Rep. Yvonne Davis (D-Dallas), is proposing legislation that would remove any sheriff or law enforcement officer who refuses to enforce state or federal law. Keep in mind, sheriffs are elected by the people, not appointed by bureaucrats. In other words, the proposed bill would remove elected officials from office unless they enforce laws they feel violate the Constitution.

If found “guilty,” a court shall remove the person from office and disqualify them from public office for a period of 10 years.

Read more from this story HERE.

Bill Whittle: The Constitution is Being Destroyed, Only Guns Can Defend Us

Bill Whittle’s new project, ‘The Virtual President,’ tackles gun control as one of its first projects.

In the below video, Whittle eviscerates all arguments for gun bans, particularly assault weapons.

Not only does he contend that laws making it “easier for the predator [creates] more predators,” he also points out that hands and feet are used to murder twice as many people as rifles, knives five times as many as rifles, and medical malpractice, 300 times as many as rifles.

Whittle then suggests that the reason knives and doctors are not banned is because society perceives they do more good than bad. And using that reasoning, firearms should never be banned as they prevent a 100 times more violent crimes than murders committed with firearms.

But he concludes that the real reason that we must oppose gun control is to ensure that Americans have the means to defend themselves from a government that “is destroying the Constitution.” And without the restraint of the Constitution, even our own government could inflict the same sort of mass killings that occurred in the Soviet Union, China, Vietnam and Cambodia: