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Urgent Call To Action
Every year the New York Assembly has a day when they debate and vote on a package of anti gun legislation. This "gun bill" day always coincides with the "Albany Lobby Day" of the New Yorkers Against Gun Violence which includes their dog and pony show of anti gun propaganda in the lobby of the Legislative Office Building (LOB).
Every year NYAGV gets a free ride on this day. They bus in a handful of activist and basically get to puff up their collective chests and show how much power they have. This year we would like to disrupt their free ride by having gun owners show up in Albany in large numbers and pretty much overshadow them, take the day away from them.
By large numbers I mean thousands, anything less will be ineffective and not worth doing.
Gun bill day is April 29 and we are asking gun owners from all over the state to make the commitment to come to Albany, spend the day visiting legislators and filling the Assembly galleries before the anti gunners can, show the legislators that we do care about our rights.
We are asking you to take the day off from work, car pool, rent a bus whatever it takes but be in Albany on April 29 to show you care about your rights.
Details are still being worked out but the legislative session that day will most likely be at 11am but could be as late as 3pm, the exact time will be nailed down later. I would suggest that you plan to be at the Capitol no later than 10am and be prepared to stay until at least 4pm.
If you are coming as a group or individually, make appointments with your legislators or their staff. If you can't get an appointment you should still go to their office and let their staff know you are there and your position on gun legislation.
Most importantly, once we nail down the time of the legislative session, we need to be at the Assembly chambers and fill the seats in the chamber, the lobby and the upper gallery. Let those who debate the bills see that gun owners care and will take action.
Some rules to abide by.
- NO CAMO of any kind should be worn or overalls. Dress casual but not down.
- Wear your SCOPE, NRA, Club, NYSRPA, NYSCC or other group hat, shirt or some other article that identifies you as a gun owner. Repeat NO CAMO anything.
- NO confrontation with any of the anti gunners of any kind.
- If questioned by the press (it could happen) keep it short and to the point that you are a gun owner who cares about your rights and you are there to show the legislature that you care.
- You will have to go through security screening to get in the LOB, so no weapons of any kind, the less metal you have on you the easier it will be to get through quickly.
- No signs, I don't think they will allow them but they would be a negative distraction anyhow.
- Be courteous with any and all legislators even if they are rabidly anti gun.
- When in the Assembly chambers no outburst or demonstrations are allowed. Regardless of how outrageous the debate may be do not make a scene.
Many of the legislators think gun owners don't care because we don't show up, this is our chance to show them otherwise.
Having an idea in advance or our numbers would be helpful, so let us know if you are coming by email or phone. If you have any questions feel free to contact me.
Sincerely,
Ken Mathison, President
SCOPE, Inc.
info@SCOPEny.org
585-663-8741
www.SCOPEny.org
Directions to the Empire State Plaza
http://www.ogs.state.ny.us/visiting/gettingaround/defaultdirections.html
Parking information at the plaza
http://www.ogs.state.ny.us/parking/forVisitor/parkingmap.html
If you are unable to be part of the gun owner rally in Albany on April 29th, you still have work to do that can help protect your rights.
Starting Monday morning we need you to call your Assembly representative and ask them to vote against all of the 14 bills that will be voted on this week in the Assembly session. If your rep is progun just ask them to oppose all of the bills on the list, but if your rep is one of the anti-gun reps then you need to make a separate call on each bill. The purpose of this is to tie up their phones with calls. It is an effective strategy and has worked it the past.
You can find contact info for your Assembly rep here http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/
Once these bills have passed the Assembly they will go to the Senate so you need to do the same with your Senator with additional calls to Senate Majority Leader Sen. Malcolm Smith's office (Albany office (518) 455-2701) and to Codes Committee Chairman Sen. Schneiderman (Albany office (518) 455-2041), he is the senate sponsor on many of these bills and they are in his Codes Committee.
You can print off a shortened version of our Legislative Report with the 14 bill package only at our website http://scopeny.org/ARCHIVES/SCOPE_Legislative_Report.pdf
They are also listed below.
It is important that you try to make the trip to Albany but if you cannot be there, we really need you to make the time to make these phone calls.
Ken Mathison, President
SCOPE, Inc.
2009 LEGISLATIVE REPORT
THESE ARE THE BILLS THAT WILL COME TO THE FLOOR FOR VOTE ON APRIL 29
Report Date April 24, 2009
Bill # |
Bill Sponsor |
Bill Summary |
SCOPE Position |
A801/S1598A |
Paulin/Schneiderman |
Requires the renewal of firearms' licenses after five years and the taking of a safety course outside the city of New York; sets a date for expiration and provides for a schedule for recertification to be developed by the commissioner of criminal justice services. |
OPPOSE-Requires 5 year renewal of pistol license and firearms safety course for renewal. |
A1093/S1715 |
Paulin/Schneiderman |
Requires the creation and imposition of restrictive commercial practices and stringent recordkeeping and reporting to prevent gun sales to criminals; provides that such measures shall be promulgated by the superintendent of state police; requires liability insurance of at least one million dollars; restricts premises of sales; requires employee training; prohibits straw purchases; imposes additional license conditions. |
OPPOSE-would impose sever restrictions on gun sellers that would drive most out of the gun selling business. See the official SCOPE Position Paper on this bill at our website in the Legislative link. |
A1326 |
Englebright |
Proscribes persons, firms or corporations engaged in the retail business of selling firearms from selling, delivering or transferring child operated firearms; defines "child operated firearm" to mean a pistol or revolver manufactured 1 year after the effective date of these provisions which does not contain a childproofing device or mechanism incorporated into the design of such pistol or revolver to effectively preclude an average 5 year old from firing same; makes violations a class A misdemeanor. |
OPPOSE- assumes that gun makers are purposely selling guns that can be operated by a child. Mandates design criteria to keep that average 5 year old child from operating a firearm. |
A2881/S2375 |
Koon/Padavan |
Includes possession of armor piercing, frangible or devastator ammunition as criminal possession of a weapon in the 4th degree and where possession is knowingly with intent to use against another, it shall constitute criminal possession of a weapon in the 3rd degree. |
OPPOSE- defines types of ammo and provides criminal penalties for illegal use of ammo. Uses innuendo and unsubstantiated claims that certain types of ammo are "armor" piercing, does not define "armor". Prelude to complete bans of ammo types. |
A2882/S627 |
Koon/Robach |
Provides for the submission by state and local law enforcement authorities of expended projectiles and shell casings and guns, found or otherwise coming into their possession, to the state police pistol and revolver ballistic identification electronic databank; requires the law enforcement agencies to make a record thereof and submit within 30 days. |
OPPOSE An expansion of the failed CoBIS system. CoBIS has, as predicted, failed to produce any crime fighting results in its near 10 year life span. |
A3076/S3597 |
Kavanagh/Krueger |
Establishes a three-hour safety course, developed by the municipal police training council, which shall be completed by an applicant prior to the issuance of a license to possess a pistol, revolver, rifle or shotgun; provides that a license for a firearm shall not be issued until a certificate of participation in such course is submitted to the licensing agency or officer. |
OPPOSE requires a 3 hour safety course prior to receiving a pistol license. |
A3211A |
Eddington |
Bans the sale, use or possession of 50-caliber or larger weapons and directs the division of state police to embark on a program whereby persons currently in lawful possession of such weapons may be reimbursed for the fair market value thereof upon turning such weapons in to a designated officer. |
OPPOSE-bans the possession of any .50 caliber or larger firearm. Has been amended to exempt rifled barrel shotguns but still totally bans many other common firearms |
A5078/S725 |
Lentol/Johnson C |
Amends the definition of a "disguised gun" to include a weapon or device capable of being concealed on a person from which a shot can be discharged through the energy of an explosive which is designed and intended to appear to be a toy gun. |
OPPOSE This bill assumes that gun manufacturers are routinely making firearms that appear to be toys. |
A5696/S4456 |
Kavanagh/Schneiderman |
Requires employees of dealers in firearms to submit to state and national criminal background checks. |
OPPOSE Requires something any prudent firearms dealer is already doing. |
A5844/S3098 |
Weisenberg/Schneiderman |
Enacts the "children's weapon accident prevention act"; creates crimes of failure to store a weapon safely in the first and second degrees, aggravated failure to store a weapon, and criminally negligent storage of a weapon in the first and second degrees; provides affirmative defenses; directs the commissioner of education to develop a weapons safety program. |
OPPOSE Mandatory firearm storage requirements. |
A6157 |
Titone |
Amends the definition of assault weapon to include additional weapons; defines the terms "detachable magazine", "muzzle break" and "muzzle compensator"; authorizes the division of state police to promulgate rules and regulations for the addition of information identifying assault weapons lawfully possessed prior to January 1, 2010 to the pistol and revolver ballistic identification databank. |
OPPOSE Dramatically expands the definition of an assault weapon to include many more commonly owned rifles, pistols and shotguns. Requires registration if you want to keep your firearms. Gives State Police vast authority to designate any semi automatic firearm as an assault weapon. See the official SCOPE Position Paper at our website in the Legislative link. |
A6468/S4397 |
Schimel/Schneiderman |
Requires semiautomatic pistols manufactured or delivered to any licensed dealer in this state to be capable of microstamping ammunition; establishes fines for violations of this requirement. |
OPPOSE Back door method of banning semi auto handguns by mandating untested sole source technology. |
A7574 |
Hoyt |
Provides that collateral loan brokers shall store firearms in the same manner as gunsmiths and dealers in firearms are required to store them. |
OPPOSE Unnecessary bill, pawn shops engaged in the business of buying and selling firearms must be licensed same as a gun dealer and follow all rules and regs governing gun stores. |
A7575 |
Lancman |
This bill would improve public safety and prevent domestic
violence incidents from escalating into even greater violence by keeping
guns out of the hands of domestic violence perpetrators. |
OPPOSE broadly expands offenses that would be included in "serious offenses" which would permanently ban one from possessing firearms. It also ties these
offenses to "family members" but doesn't define what a family member is, which gives courts dangerously broad authority to determine who is included in the definition of a family member. |
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