guns

Mr. Valone of Grass Roots North Carolina responded to my message. The message is based on excuses and a false alleged equivalency between his actions and those of the reporter whose family Mr. Valone has placed at increased risk. Below is the chain of correspondence.

Threatening someone's family is behavior worthy of the lower forms of mob bosses, drug lords, and fanatical terrorists. Is the president of Grass Roots North Carolina seeking to place himself in such company?

The state of North Carolina is considering legislation that will lift the ban on concealed, loaded guns in bars, restaurants, and public parks. Sign a postcard here to tell the NC Legislature that Guns and Alcohol Don't Mix!

I just noticed another bad Republican idea worth pointing out:

It is rare that the inside dealings of the General Assembly, its rules and its operating procedures rise to the level that they should concern the general public. But a bill that appears to be well-greased is scary in its implications.

The bill would give both the House speaker and the Senate president pro tem authority to individually exempt any elected officer of either chamber from any rule of the Legislative Services Commission, the body of lawmakers that controls how the legislature operates, according to the Insider newsletter.

http://www2.journalnow.com/news/opinion/2011/apr/13/wsopin01-arming-elected-officials-a-bad-idea-ar-942807/

From the Des Moines Register:

A snafu during a legislative debate where a microphone was turned on captured banter between two Iowa GOP leaders, who also joked about a “give-a-handgun-to-a-schizophrenic bill.”

Republicans this week revived a proposal that would allow Iowans to carry weapons in public without permission from a sheriff, without background checks and without training requirements.

The legislation, House Study bill 219, is known as “Alaska carry,” which is law in Alaska, Arizona, Vermont and Wyoming. Rep. Erik Helland, R-Johnston, is listed as one of the three legislators on a subcommittee assigned the bill.

Behold.

Transcript after the jump.

What if anyone could stockpile any weapons they wanted, as long as they were made in North Carolina? Representative Glen Bradley seems to believe you should have that right.

Rep. Bradley is a new member of the North Carolina House, winning election with only 51% of the vote. Nevertheless, he has been busy in the house. He's the primary sponsor on five bills that contain invoke the word "freedom" more than Mel Gibson in Braveheart. One of these bills, House Bill 241, would make "a personal firearm, a firearm accessory, or ammunition" fully manufactured within the borders of the State of North Carolina not subject to federal law.

It is disturbing to read that a cult militia sought to arm themselves with deadly weapons and to train its members to kill scores of people, including law enforcement officials, based on a sick and twisted interpretation of the Christian faith.

Their arrest is more proof that home-grown hate groups can easily arm themselves with some of the most deadly artillery available, such as military-style assault weapons, powerful handguns and other dangerous tools of mass destruction.

As an economic crisis drives fear and heat to a boiling pitch, we depend on sensible federal gun laws to prevent dangerous hate groups from possessing the deadly weapons they need to terrorize.

For victims of domestic violence in Buncombe County, the process for obtaining an ex parte (temporary restraining order) is surprisingly fast, and essentially just two steps: once one fills out the necessary paperwork, a judge will review all cases twice a day. Buncombe County is blessed with judges who understand the gravity of domestic violence, something many areas still lack, and those trying to flee dangerous relationships can generally rely on the courts to grant them a temporary order until the case can later be heard in civil court.

Cross-posted from a post at Proverbially Penned.

Freshman congressman Larry Kissell has drawn his first official challenger in the form of Tim D'Annunzio, who, it appears, is also acting as a tea-party candidate within the GOP. D'Annunzio did a fantastic job, as CQ Politics reports, of garnering free media attention by holding fundraisers appealing to the crazier individuals among us. D'Annunzio decided a $25 a plate dinner of North Carolina barbeque and sweet tea just wasn't enough to get people excited about his campaign. So he decided to let his supporters come out, enjoy a good meal, and shoot an Uzi or an MP-5 submachine gun.

No, I'm not kidding; he seriously did this:

But wait! There's more. Not only is D'Annunzio running for Congress, he's also acting as if he is the savior of the GOP. More after the break...

Today the United States Senate rejected an amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill which would have undermined public safety and the safety of our police.  This amendment, known as the Thune Amendment, would allow the transport of concealed weapons across state lines, even by persons legally barred from possessing guns in the state. 

The Thune Amendment threatened to strip states of the right to protect their own citizens.  Fortunately thirty-nine Senators recognized this bill as a dangerous pathway to illegal gun trafficking. The bill was opposed by 450 mayors across America, including 8 in North Carolina