While Iowa talks of shifting their January 3 caucuses a month earlier and New Hampshire proposes dates as early as December 6, Pennsylvania may still be at least four months awayThe exact timing will depend on the number of challenges filed to any plans. from even having a redistricting plan to determine our legislative districts!

Here is an overview of what gun owners should know about some of the 2012 races:

Presidential Election
Unless there are radical shake-ups, the Democratic nominee will be incumbent Barack Obama. While we have been somewhat fortunate on his unwillingness to veto key legislation even when there are pro-gun amendments attached to it, his appointments to the Supreme Court reflect his true colors on this issue. The fact remains that the Second Amendment as an individual right still hangs in the balance by only one vote, and any replacement of one of the so-called “Heller Five” by this administration will likely lead to either the original case being overturned or limited so severely that there is no judicial respect for the individual right. Currently, the Republican primary is in full swing and will likely heat up here in Pennsylvania come springtime.

US Senate Race
Speculation has been strong about a Republican opponent to Sen. Bob Casey for several years. While he started out his term fairly low profile and uncontroversial, his support of controversial issues such as Obama’s healthcare plans put him on the radar with many Pennsylvanians. Now, the race is beginning to draw more attention from both sides of the aisle.

On the Democratic side, Casey only has one declared challenger so far. Brian KellyReaders are welcome to try and visit his website, kellyforussenate.com. However, when we tried to visit, warnings of serving malware popped up., who ran against former Rep. Paul Kanjorski in 2010, has announced he will launch a campaign next week.

For Republicans, the race is a little more interesting. There are at least nine candidates so far, and new announcements are not off the table. Two candidates have recent Congressional race experience – one from the Southeast and one from the Southwest. Word of Steven Welch’s campaign broke last month after his 2010 campaign for the Republican nomination the 6th congressional district was cut short when incumbent Rep. Jim Gerlach re-entered the race. A former challenger to the late Rep. John Murtha and Rep. Mark Critz, Tim Burns entered the Senate race this week.

Another former candidate also launched a campaign out of the Philadelphia suburbs – David Christian who ran for Congress in the 1980s. Erie was the site of Tom Smith’s campaign announcement. John Kensinger, a pharmacist, is running for the seat from Bedford County.

Hailing from the northern part of the state, John Vernon started his campaign in September. From Scranton, a businesswoman named Laureen Cummings has also announced a campaign for the Senate seat. Marc Scaringi, an attorney from the Harrisburg-area, also threw his hat into the ring to take on Sen. Casey.

Gun owners who pay close attention may recall that Sen. Casey had an A rating when he last ran for the seat. However, his support on a key vote for national reciprocity in 2009 was revealed to be open to gun control proponents if they felt they needed it to win a legislative battle. He also supported both of Obama’s Supreme Court nominees, including one who voted against individual rights in the McDonald case. With other pro-gun legislation moving in the current Congress, it remains to be seen what happens to the Senator’s 2012 grade.

Here’s a video of Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) discussing American exceptionalism and freedom. He also made time to thank NRA members for their support during the election.

Tuesday, September 28
Three rallies with Pat Toomey will be hosted around the state. The Senate seat will be absolutely vital in the event President Obama tries to appoint another anti-gun justice to the Supreme Court in coming years. Joe Sestak refused to even concede that guns can be used for self-defense in a debate earlier this year, so he will not be a friend to gun owners in the US Senate. We must unite behind Pat Toomey to make sure our rights are defended!

9:00 a.m.
Green Tree Volunteer Fire company
825 Poplar St
Pittsburgh, PA 15220-2827

12:00 p.m.
Clarks Summit Ramada
820 Northern Blvd
Clarks Summit, PA 18411

3:00 p.m.
Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW)
4800 W Market St
York, PA 17408

No RSVP is required for these three events.

Thursday, September 30
In preparation for the 2010 elections, NRA-ILA has hired Campaign Field Representatives who are working in key states to recruit and mobilize pro-gun volunteers. As part of this grassroots plan, NRA will host “Volunteer Kick-Off” meetings, featuring CFRs and ILA Grassroots Headquarters staff.

6:00 P.M.
Lower Providence Rod & Gun Club
2857 Egypt Road
Audubon, PA 19407

RSVP here.

There may be no vote a United States Senator casts that is more important than a vote to confirm a nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court. Now that the Court has clearly stated that the Second Amendment is a fundamental, individual right that applies to all law-abiding Americans, NRA members and gun owners expect a nominee to the Court to fully support, defend and preserve that freedom.

We have carefully examined the career, written documents and public statements of nominee Elena Kagan and have found nothing to indicate any support for the Second Amendment. On the contrary, the facts reveal a nominee who opposes Second Amendment rights and is clearly out of step with mainstream Americans.

Therefore, the NRA is strongly opposed to Kagan’s confirmation to the Court.

In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, she refused to declare support for the Second Amendment, saying only that the matter was “settled law.”

This was eerily similar to the scripted testimony of Justice Sonia Sotomayor last year, prior to her confirmation to the Court. When pressed on the Second Amendment then, Sotomayor also referred to the issue as “settled law.”

But in the recently decided case of McDonald v. City of Chicago, Sotomayor ignored the “settled law” of the Heller decision and signed a dissenting opinion that declared, “I can find nothing in the Second Amendment’s text, history, or underlying rationale that could warrant characterizing it as ‘fundamental’ insofar as it seeks to protect the keeping and bearing of arms for private self-defense purposes.”

It has become obvious that “settled law” is the scripted code of an anti-gun nominee’s confirmation effort. The NRA is not fooled. No member of the U.S. Senate should be either.

With no judicial record, only Kagan’s political career can be reviewed. And this provides no reason to trust her with Americans’ firearms freedom. Throughout her career, she has repeatedly demonstrated a clear hostility to the fundamental, individual right to keep and bear arms under the U.S. Constitution.

As a clerk for Justice Thurgood Marshall, Kagan said she was “not sympathetic” to a challenge to Washington, DC’s ban on firearms. As a domestic policy advisor in the Clinton White House, a colleague described her as “immersed” in Clinton’s aggressive assaults on the Second Amendment. She was involved in Clinton’s scheme to ban more than 50 types of commonly-owned semiautomatic firearms – an effort described as “…taking the law and bending it as far as we can to capture a whole new class of guns.”

As U.S. Solicitor General, Kagan chose not to file a brief last year in the landmark McDonald case, thus taking the position that incorporating the Second Amendment and applying it to the states was of no interest to the Obama Administration or the federal government.

These are not the positions of a person who supports the Second Amendment and, in fact, represent a clear and present danger to the right to keep and bear arms.

Kagan’s record clearly reveals that she does not believe that the Second Amendment guarantees a fundamental right. In her recent testimony, she refused to acknowledge respect for the God-given right of self-defense.

She should not serve on any court, let alone be confirmed to a lifetime seat on the highest court in the land.

The NRA is strongly opposed to the confirmation of Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court. This vote matters and will be a part of future candidate evaluations.

The above statement was originally published by NRA-ILA.

You can contact Senator Arlen Specter at 202-224-4254 and Senator Bob Casey at 202-224-6324.

Click here to view the embedded video.

You can also read Kopel’s written testimony where he decimates Kagan’s belief that the KKK & NRA should be linked as “bad guy orgs.”

The NRA has always stood up for civil rights, including the right to keep and bear arms without regard to race, color, or creed. The historic role of the KKK was to deprive African Americans of this right.

The cofounder of the NRA was General Ambose Everett Burnside, who had recently finished two terms as Governor of Rhode Island. As a Union General, he had been a leader at integrating the freedmen into combat roles. As the Providence Journal later put it, Burnside was ―One of the first of the regular army officers to approve heartily of Mr. Lincoln‘s emancipation policy, he was also one of the first to favor the arming of black troops, and one of the most successful in training them for action.

After founding the NRA, Burnside was elected Senator from Rhode Island. He fought against racial segregation in the military, and proposed that West Point adopt an affirmative action admissions plan for blacks.

The sixth NRA President, General Winfield Scott Hancock, was nationally extolled as “the hero of Gettysburg.” As Democratic nominee for U.S. President in 1880, he had lost the popular vote by less than 10,000 votes, and if he had won the swing state of New York, he would have won the electoral vote. Hancock was remarkable for his time, always treating black people as equals, even before the Civil War. In 1880, Hancock led a national campaign to vindicate a black cadet at West Point who had been attacked by some white cadets, but whom the West Point administration claimed had injured himself.

The NRA‘s Articles of Incorporation omitted something that was common for other sporting organizations at the time: a racial exclusion clause. In contrast to many other organizations and clubs created in the late 19th and early 20th centuries—such as the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association, the Professional Golf Association, the New York Athletic Club (for track and field), and the Amateur Athletic Union (same), the NRA welcomed members and athletes of every race.

The NRA was the governing body for the sport of rifle shooting, and eventually became the governing body for almost all the shooting sports. In this way, the NRA set a good example of racial integration and equality for the millions of Americans who participated in the shooting sports. Even during the worst of Jim Crow, a NRA match was one place where blacks and whites were exactly equal, and where skin color did not matter.

In the very segregated Washington, D.C., of the 1930s and 1940s, the shooting range at NRA National Headquarters was the only integrated place where a young black man could go and feel fully welcome. At least that was the experience of Richard Atkinson, a black man who grew up in the District during those years, and who was later was elected a director of the National Rifle Association.

The concerns Kopel raises are some of the reasons the NRA has made its opposition of Kagan crystal clear to members of the Senate. They will score the vote on her confirmation when they calculate grades for the 2010 elections.

Senators Arlen Specter & Bob Casey will likely return to Pennsylvania this next week for the July Fourth holiday recess. Please make sure you contact them to let them know that you stand with NRA & do not want a Supreme Court justice who believes that Americans who believe in gun rights are similar to despicable racists.

In the meantime, please take a few minutes to thank the members of the legislative branches of government who worked on our behalf to encourage the Supreme Court toward this position.

US Senate
Bob Casey

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Arlen Specter

• Twitter – @SenArlenSpecter
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US Congress
Jason Altmire

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Christopher Carney

• Twitter – @ChrisCarneyPa10
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Charlie Dent

• Twitter – @DentforCongress
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Jim Gerlach

• Twitter – @JimGerlach
• Facebook

Tim Holden

• Twitter – @TimHoldenPA17
• Facebook

Paul Kanjorski

• Twitter – @kanjo4congress
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Patrick Murphy

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Tim Murphy

• Twitter – @RepTimMurphy
• Facebook

Joe Pitts

• Twitter – @JoePitts4PA
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Todd Platts

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Bill Shuster

• Twitter – @RepBillShuster
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Glenn Thompson

• Twitter – @CongressmanGT
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State Officials
Tom Corbett

• Twitter – @CorbettforGov
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Joe Scarnati

Karen Boback

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Michele Brooks

Bryan Cutler

• Twitter – @RepBryanCutler
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Bill DeWeese

Glen Grell

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Rob Kauffman

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Mark Keller

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John Maher

Daryl Metcalfe

• Twitter – @DarylMetcalfe

Merle Phillips

Kathy Rapp

RoseMarie Swanger

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Will Tallman

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Katie True

• A rated Congressman Bill Shuster may be facing a new opponent in November. No Democrat filed to run in time for the May 18 primary, so now one man is waging a write-in campaign to be included in the general election.
• $10 for Liberty candidate Congressman Charlie Dent is showing some early signs of success over his opponent who is working with NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg to shut down gun shows.  Gun owners can’t afford to fall asleep at the wheel, though.  This seat is being targeted by the White House to flip over to anti-gun.
• Charlie Cook has reclassified PA-12 as leaning Republican after recent polling data about voter enthusiasm was released.  With either candidate in the special election, gun owners win since both scored As on their NRA questionnaires.
• NRA has released select endorsements for the primary elections in May.
• Pennsylvania has lost more Congressional seats than any other state from its peak representation.  We have lost a seat for a record number of apportionment count cycles – 8, and that will grow to 9 after this year’s Census is completed.  This makes a big difference in our state elections because the legislature and governor will be charged with passing the redistricting legislation that could severely impact how gun owners fare at the federal level.

Charlie Cook, the non-partisan analyst, has billed Pennsylvania’s Congressional races some of the most competitive in the country. Two districts – PA-7 and PA-12 – are rated complete toss-ups. This means the ground game of candidates will make the difference. For the two major candidates in PA-12, they are on an accelerated schedule with a special election on May 18. In PA-7, it is an open seat that has been held by both the GOP and Democrats in recent years. We know the Democratic nominee, state Rep. Bryan Lentz, is rated F.

In the leaning Democratic category, we have four seats: PA-3, PA-8, PA-10, and PA-11. In the 3rd & 8th districts, both of those incumbent Democrats have a lousy record on gun rights – rated F and D+ in the last election, respectively. In the 10th, things look slightly better should Democrat Chris Carney hold on to his seat with his previous rating of B. NRA members should also expect that Paul Kanjorski will hold on to his endorsement in the 11th because of his strong A rating from past votes. However, should the winds shift in the district to toss-up, his opponent Lou Barletta is a re-match from 2008 who was also rated A.

For the GOP, they only have one seat that “leans” to their party, and it is PA-15. If the political winds prevail and gun owners lend a hand to their friend in office, Rep. Charlie Dent, then we would keep an A rated seat from flipping to the hands of an opponent who is working with Michael Bloomberg to bring New York City gun control to Pennsylvania.

In the likely category, Republicans again only have one seat in their favor. The good news for gun owners is that it is for PA-6, held by endorsed and A rated Rep. Jim Gerlach.

Again, for the Democrats in the likely category, they stand a good chance of holding onto two seats – PA-4 and PA-17. Once again, gun owners won’t necessarily lose with these trends because both Democratic incumbents are A rated. In PA-17, the likely GOP challenger is also A rated. Any change in the tide shouldn’t impact the district’s sportsmen in any serious way.

The solid category is the only one where the GOP bests the Democrats this year, with a count of 5-4. The safe Democratic seats – PA-1, PA-2, PA-13, and PA-14 – are all F rated incumbents. Unless a political earthquake happens, these seats will all remain in the hands of candidates who are bad news for the Second Amendment and hunting rights. The safe Republican seats, on the other hand, are a much better picture for sportsmen. Those seats are: PA-5, PA-9, PA-16, PA-18, and PA-19. All are held by candidates with an A rating, save PA-19 whose incumbent is still a well-rated A-.

In the races for US Senate and Governor, Cook has billed both races as solid toss-ups.

The first major mention came from GOP candidate Tim Burns on Twitter earlier this month when he mentioned his Sunday activities that included buying ammunition. Though in PA-12, gun owners know that the Second Amendment isn’t a partisan issue, as evidenced by not only Murtha’s great record on the issue, but also through the tweets of the Democratic candidate. Mark Critz followed up a few days later letting us know that he had plans to stop by a local Friends of the NRA dinner. Unfortunately, he didn’t make it in time, but he did write to us and let us know that he will not miss out on the next one!

But now the pro-gun talk has moved off of Twitter and onto the airwaves. With this first commercial in the race, Burns makes gun rights a top issue:

Click here to view the embedded video.

NRA-ILA has sent questionnaires to candidates around the state, and we look forward to seeing answers from each of the special election candidates and their primary day opponents. At least based on new media antics, it looks like gun owners in Southwest Pennsylvania might have a ballot full of good choices.

District 12
Tim Burns, Republican

• Twitter – @TimothyBurns
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Bill Russell, Republican

• Twitter – @Russell2010
• Facebook
• YouTube

Mark Critz, Democrat

• Twitter – @critz4congress
• Facebook
• LinkedIn

Ryan Bucchianeri, Democrat

• Twitter – @Bucchianeri
• Facebook
• YouTube
• Flickr
• MySpace

Ron Mackell, Democrat

• Twitter – @RonMackell4Rep
• Facebook

District 13
Dee Adcock, Republican

• Twitter – @Adcock4Congress
• Facebook
• Flickr

Josh Quinter, Republican

• Twitter – @Josh_Quinter
• Facebook
• YouTube

Brian Haughton, Republican

• Twitter – @brianhaughton
• Facebook
• Flickr

District 15
Charlie Dent, Republican

• Twitter – @DentforCongress
• Facebook
• YouTube

John Callahan, Democrat

• Facebook
• YouTube

District 16
Joe Pitts, Republican

• Twitter – @JoePitts4PA
• Facebook
• YouTube
• LinkedIn

Lois Herr, Democrat

• Twitter – @herr2010
• Facebook

We’ll feature more candidates in the future.

Here’s a look a peek at how some of the challenges line up for races with pro-gun folks or other high-profile campaigns.

UPDATE: Red Name = Removed from Ballot

Federal
Senate – Joseph Vodvarka
Perhaps you haven’t heard of the longshot Democratic challenger to Sen. Arlen Specter and anti-gun Rep. Joe Sestak, well Sestak wants to make sure it stays that way. Sestak is challenging the names on the petition in order to clear any other hurdles in his quest to unseat the establishment-backed Specter this May.

1st District – Pia Varma
Though she does not yet have a grade from NRA, she has certainly made remarks in forums and online that indicate a strong support for the right to bear arms. If a typical challenge against an incumbent politician is an uphill battle, she will have to climb a mountain to unseat anti-gun Rep. Bob Brady. However, that fact doesn’t mean much in Philadelphia politics, and Rep. Brady’s supporters are challenging her petitions so he won’t have to share the ballot.

8th District – James Jones
Challenged by a supporter of a primary opponent, the concerns raised about quite of few of the signatures submitted by Jones would be enough to get him thrown off the ballot. With a 4-way GOP primary, the removal of any one candidate could make a difference in what is perceived to be primarily a race between former Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick and newcomer Gloria Carlineo.

State
Governor
In an unexpected move that sent chatter among the Democratic Party, Dan Onorato tried to have Joe Hoeffel tossed off the ballot by challenging his signatures. According to political reporters, Onorato did this to try and minimize the competition from the eastern part of the state. However, when he realized that with both Hoeffel and Sen. Tony Williams on the ballot, they could battle each other for the Philadelphia-area vote while he campaigns elsewhere, he withdrew the challenge.

Lt. Governor
There was an attempt to remove one of the nine GOP candidates running in the crowded field off the ballot. However, the complaint against Jean Craig Pepper has since been withdrawn. With so many names in this race, it is surprising more questions weren’t raised before the deadline to file challenges.

Senate District 4
It appears as though someone is trying to clear the Democratic field for incumbent anti-gun Sen. Leanna Washington in this district that spans the southern portion our region.

Senate District 22
Amid accusations that he did not properly disclose financial interests, anti-gun Scranton mayor Chris Doherty has been challenged by a voter. This is an important one to watch because Doherty has pledged to end state preemption for gun laws and limit the number of guns we may buy. Another Democratic name in the race, Charles Volpe, is being challenged based on his signatures. Meanwhile, there are no such challenges or accusations of shenanigans against Rep. Jim Wansacz who maintains an A rating.

House District 28
The only challenger to incumbent A rated Rep. Mike Turzai has had her petitions challenged by three voters. There are no reports as to the nature of their challenge.

House District 37
The surprise primary challenger to A rated Rep. Tom Creighton has been challenged for his qualifications, and it’s likely related to his status within the party whose nomination he is seeking. Candidate Barry McFarland was reported to have been a Democrat as recently as two months ago.

House District 38
C.L. Jabbour, a primary challenger to A rated Rep. Bill Kortz, faces a challenge to his place on the Democratic ballot this May, though it is not clear what about his qualifications is being challenged.

House District 45
A rated incumbent Rep. Nick Kotik is raising questions about the petitions of his Democratic primary challenger, Maribeth Taylor. There have been no reports on what inconsistencies he found with her signatures or qualifications, and he did not raise any concerns about the Republican candidate on the ballot.

House District 48
Two challenges have been filed in this race to replace retiring A+ rated Rep. Tim Solobay, one against a Republican and the other against a Democrat. It’s unclear what any of this means for gun owners in the district yet, other than potentially fewer choices on the ballot.

House District 49
A rated incumbent Rep. Peter Daley has allegedly found issues with the petitions filed by a potential Republican opponent. Though Rep. Daley will still face a primary challenge from another member of his party in May.

House District 131
Two voters in the district represented by A- rated Rep. Karen Beyer have challenged the petitions of a Democratic candidate running in the race on the basis of residency. While tax records show that candidate Mike Horton owns property in the district that he listed on his nominating petition, they assert that he actually resides at a different address outside of the district.

House District 147
In this open seat to replace now-Sen. Bob Mensch, the Democratic candidate’s petitions are being challenged by an area man. It is unclear what the challenge is in regards to – qualifications, disclosures, or signatures – but this has the potential to make it into a far less competitive race leaving only one GOP name on the ballot. Both candidates are unknowns on the issues important to gun owners.

Though some may wonder why the political game is starting in high gear so soon after his passing, it’s mainly due to unfortunate timelines in Pennsylvania’s election laws. The governor must declare a date for a special election within 10 days that takes place at least 60 days out from the announcement. Though he has not made an official statement, it is expected that Gov. Rendell will opt to schedule it on the same day as primary elections – May 18.

This sets up an interesting election for voters in Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District. Party officials will have to decide on the candidates who run in the special election. Due to the approaching deadlines for filing needed paperwork, it is expected that these decisions will be made quickly. However, because the seat would have been up for grabs in November anyway, there still needs to be a primary election for the regularly scheduled November race. In effect, voters will elect someone to fill the seat and vote for the same candidate in their respective primary races. The candidates will have two campaigns to run this year.

Based on reports from political reporters, here are some of the names that have been dropped from each party and candidates who were previously planning a run at the seat:

Democrat
Mark Singel – Previously A- rated in 1990, though his final NRA rating could not be quickly located.
Sen. John Wozniak – A rated
Sen. Richard Kasunic – A+ rated
Ron Mackell Jr. – unknown
Ryan Buccianeri – unknown
Bracken Burns – unknown
Vince Zapotosky – unknown
Barbara Hafer – Previously A rated in 1990, though her final NRA rating could not be quickly located.
Tom Ceraso – unknown
Joyce Murtha – unknown
Ed Cernic – unknown
Mark Critz – unknown

Republican
Bill Russell – A rated
Sen. Kim Ward – A rated
Rep. Dave Reed – A rated
Rep. Jeff Pyle – A+ rated
Diana Irey – A rated
Tim Burns – unknown
Mark Pasquerilla – unknown

Political observers have now reclassified this seat as a toss-up.

UPDATE: PoliticsPA has specifics on how candidates from each party must be chosen:

Party rules for Democrats and Republicans will determine how the special election candidate is selected. For Republicans, each county committee in the district will be assigned a certain number of conferees to send to the selection meeting. The conferees will vote to decide who becomes the party’s candidate.

For Democrats, the county committees in the 12th Districts will meet to recommend a candidate to the state party’s 50-member executive committee. The executive committee, comprising members from across Pennsylvania, will decide whether to endorse a candidate.

They also report on more names in the running that have been added to the lists.

Date:
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
6:30pm – 9:30pm
Doors open at 6:00pm

Location:
Crystal Tea Room-Wanamaker Building
One Hundred Penn Square East, Ninth Floor

Candidates Attending:
United States Senate – Peg Luksik, Pat Toomey
Pennsylvania Governor – Tom Corbett, Sam Rohrer
Additional offices represented:

• Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor
• 1st Congressional District
• 2nd Congressional District
• 6th Congressional District
• 7th Congressional District
• 8th Congressional District
• 13th Congressional District

Details:
Cash Bar
Business Casual Attire
RSVP – pamelawarren1@comcast.net

Judicial Battles
In 2010, we will find out whether the Supreme Court is willing to expand the landmark Heller decision to apply to states. In the current state, there is an acknowledged individual right to arms by the federal government. However, states and municipalities do not currently have to honor that right. The case to change that is McDonald v. Chicago, a challenge brought by the same attorney who won Heller to the city of Chicago’s handgun ban.

For Pennsylvania residents, McDonald is likely to bring very little tangible change to the state of our gun rights. Our state constitution has a strong individual right to arms, so we have not had to wait on the federal courts to tell our state and local governments to honor our rights. This case will most directly impact states without state protections for the right to bear arms or states whose judicial systems have effectively eroded those that may have existed.

The majority of briefs for the pro-gun side have already been filed and can be found on Alan Gura’s website. Chicago asked for an extension of their deadline, originally scheduled for mid-December. It was partially granted and they submitted their brief just before New Year’s Eve. This means that Gura will file a response near the end of January before the hearing occurs on March 2. If the timing of the Heller case is any indication – and the possible scope of the decision to stem beyond gun rights – then we may not see an opinion handed down until the end of June. Landmark cases tend to be held the longest, and Heller was the last case released during the Supreme Court’s term in 2008.

Local Battles
We have covered Mayor Bloomberg’s anti-gun group extensively on PAGunRights.com. So far, these mayors have called Pennsylvania’s ~600,000 concealed carry holders criminals, violated state laws on passing local gun control, and called on Congress to turn down all pro-gun bills. But shortly after Christmas, a document the mayors sent to President Obama & various agencies was released online. Bloomberg & his mayoral buddies in Pennsylvania have been trying to keep this blueprint for gun control under wraps by refusing to release it anywhere that gun owners could easily find it. Through a FOIA request & a cooperative agency, their real plan has been revealed and it is not at all good for gun owners.

Mayors working with Bloomberg have demanded the Obama Administration enact the following changes, as summarized at the link above:

• Require REAL ID compliant identification for all gun purchasers. Those in non-complying states, which are many, will no longer be permitted to buy firearms.
• Recommends a ban on the importation of all “non-sporting” firearms and ammunition, and specifically calls for banning the FN Five-Seven. Cheap imported rounds of military caliber may become a thing of the past.  Since MAIG isn’t all that specific on what would be sporting or non-sporting, Glocks could even be at risk.
• Calls for keeping records for people who get a NICS default proceed, which means your background check has not “cleared” but you went through the required three day waiting period. These records can be kept for up to 20 years, in the case of someone who’s name matches someone on the “terror watch” list and six months ordinarily. Default proceeds can happen if NICS has incomplete records, or the system is down for a protracted period of time.
• Calls for more enforcement of gun shows using the Richmond model. The techniques used at the Richmond gun shows were bad enough that Congress held hearings about the methods, and demanding ATF put a stop to them. They actually recommend rescinding a number of the changes made to prevent these abuses.
• Recommends ways for the administration to exploit loopholes in Tiahrt to publish information on “problematic” gun dealers (so they can be sued by New York City, no doubt). Having a lot of traces doesn’t necessarily mean a dealer is breaking the law.
• Lots of recommendations for new record keeping requirements on the part of FFLs
• Requiring placement of alternate serial numbers of every newly manufactured gun, and requiring serial numbers to be deeper and larger. Also require that a consistent serial numbering scheme be adopted across all manufacturers and importers which would be a default ban on many commemorative guns.
• Asks ATF to promote MAIG’s Responsible Dealer Partnership Program that they foisted on Wal-Mart, much like they do with NSSF’s “Don’t Lie for the Other Guy.” They imply NSSF’s program does not go far enough.
• Asks the Consumer Product Safety Commission to mandate gun safety lock standards. Gun dealers are required to provide these, but many gun owners are older, or younger, and do not have children. This would be a way to add substantially to the cost of a firearm, if a 30 dollar lock needed to be included with each sale.
• Extend the multiple purchase reporting requirement to long guns, especially ARs, 50 caliber firearms, and Kalashnikov variants. MAIG is not very clear on this, and I think it would be difficult for dealers to keep track of the current state of regulation.

This document reveals that this group and all of its member mayors are calling for outright gun bans. What’s more telling is that the document specifically outlines how to enact these proposals without going through the accountability of Congress.

We will be tackling these mayors one-by-one in 2010. Gun owners haven’t seen the actual tangible threat by this group yet, but hopefully with this plan to ban guns, add unreasonable restrictions on gun owners, and hike the prices of guns artificially will help shine the light on why this group cannot be ignored.

Elections – Federal
Most eyes will be on federal elections in 2010, especially following the results of November 2009 in New Jersey and Virginia. Candidates are lining up on both sides of the aisle, and we will be providing more specific coverage as more news breaks in 2010.

Gun owners who are registered to vote with a major party need to turn out and vote in the primary election on May 18, 2010. We cannot afford to have anti-gun representatives of any party running on the ballot in November. For those gun owners who are not registered with a party having a primary election, the last day to switch your registration is April 19 if you want to pull a party ballot.

In November, we will likely see some changes in Congress. It is likely some incumbents will lose, leaving the Republican with a few more seats in both chambers. Pennsylvania will obviously be part of these likely changes based on current polls that indicate a likely race between Pat Toomey (R) and Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) is exceptionally close. In the rest of the Senate, we may lose a pro-gun Democratic leader with Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV). If he is beaten by a likely anti-gun Republican challenger, in addition to losing a pro-gun Majority Leader, we will have another anti-gun vote and a new anti-gun leader in Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL). This means that without radical changes of other seats into pro-gun hands, we could be looking at a Senate that is just as hostile to gun rights as Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Elections – State
In Pennsylvania, we will also have major state elections in November (with the primary races in May). The Governor’s seat will capture most of the attention, but we cannot afford to ignore the state legislature. Not only does it put us at a risk for anti-gun legislation, but these representatives will be shaping our Congressional districts. A current review of Census data shows that Pennsylvania is slated to lose a seat in Congress. State lawmakers will determine which district will be erased and how the other districts will be distributed to likely voters. Gerrymandering is rarely a pleasant affair to watch, but it is real and does impact our gun rights.

Recruiting for the Cause
2010 will be a year of changes for gun rights. It’s up to us as to whether those changes are good or bad. While we can’t easily directly influence the decision of McDonald, we can influence elections which influence who is on the Court to hear cases like Heller and McDonald. While we cannot control changing demographics that mean Pennsylvania will lose a Congressional seat, we do control who holds the power to change the districts so that anti-gun forces aren’t given more influence.

Make sure you’re on our email list by sending your name, email, and Congressional district to admin (at) pagunrights (dot) com. Stop by a table at the Valley Forge Gun Show and make sure you’re getting the updates on when we need a hand in advancing freedom.

An overwhelming, bipartisan majority of members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate have signed an amicus curiae, or “friend of the court,” brief supporting the NRA’s position that the Second Amendment is incorporated against the states through the Fourteenth Amendment. The amicus brief, bearing the signatures of 251 Members of Congress and 58 Senators, was filed with the U.S. Supreme Court today in the case of McDonald v. City of Chicago.

Enough members of the Pennsylvania delegation signed on, including both our Senators, that it’s easier just to list who didn’t sign on. Those are:

• Bob Brady (D, PA-01)
• Chaka Fattah (D, PA-02)
• Kathleen Dahlkemper (D, PA-03)
• Joe Sestak (D, PA-07)
• Allyson Schwartz (D, PA-13)
• Mike Doyle (D, PA-14)

Out of 19 districts, that’s actually a very good showing.

In 2008, Sen. Hutchison lead an effort to organize a record number of members of Congress to sign a pro-individual rights brief in the Heller case. At the time, both Sen. Bob Casey and Arlen Specter signed onto the brief. In the House, 13 members of the Pennsylvania delegation signed the brief, including the 19th District’s Cong. Todd Platts. These members argued:

As Federal officials, we have a fundamental interest in protecting the constitutional rights of our constituents and the American people in general. …

The Second Amendment provides: “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” Congress adopted that wording and proposed it to the States in 1789. It became part of the Bill of Rights which the States ratified in 1791. As the text and the drafting history demonstrate, the Amendment was intended to guarantee the right of individuals to possess and keep ordinary firearms.

What stands out are Pennsylvania’s members of Congress who refused to support such an interpretation and sought to deny an individual rights interpretation of the Second Amendment. Cong. Patrick Murphy (PA-8), Allyson Schwartz (PA-13), and Joe Sestak (PA-7) refused to sign on to the brief, ultimately ending up on the wrong side of history. Two other members of the delegation, Cong. Bob Brady and Chaka Fattah, actually lead the opposition by filing a brief making a claim that the Second Amendment is limited to militia service. Interestingly, not a single member of the Court agreed with this claim. Even the dissent brief acknowledged the individual right to own arms.

At this time, no members of the Pennsylvania delegation have indicated whether they will sign on to this brief or not. It would be reasonable to expect the same result with this brief, though we will keep you informed as names are announced.

Of highest importance, S. 941and H.R. 2296 rewrite the system of administrative penalties for licensed dealers, manufacturers and importers of firearms. Today, for most violations, BATFE can only give a federal firearms license (FFL) holder a warning or revoke the license. S. 941and H.R. 2296 would allow fines or license suspensions for less serious violations, while still allowing license revocation for the kind of serious violations that would block an investigation or put guns in the hands of criminals. This will help prevent the all-too-common situations where BATFE has revoked licenses for insignificant technical violations—such as improper use of abbreviations, or filing records in the wrong order.

The Senate bill currently has 13 sponsors from both sides of the aisle. Unfortunately, neither of Pennsylvania’s Senators have signed on to the reform package. Contact Sen. Bob Casey at 1-866-802-2833 and Sen. Arlen Specter at 202-224-4254 to request their support for this important reform.

The House bill currently has 175 sponsors from both parties, and it includes 11 Pennsylvania Representatives. Residents of Pennsylvania’s 19th district should thank Rep. Todd Platts for his support at 1-877-902-1919. Unfortunately, Representatives Patrick Murphy and Allyson Schwartz have not signed on to support the bill yet. You can contact Rep. Murphy at 202-225-4276 and Rep. Schwartz at 202-225-6111 to suggest they sponsor the bill.

This year, the August recess is scheduled to run from August 3 to September 7.

If you would like to schedule a meeting to air concerns about any issues, check out the area district office contact information:

U.S. Senators
Arlen Specter
Upper Bucks/Montgomery Counties: Allentown
504 W. Hamilton, Suite 3814, Federal Building
Allentown, PA 18101
Phone: 215-597-7200

Philadelphia and Lower Bucks/Montgomery Counties: Philadelphia
600 Arch Street, Suite 9400
Philadelphia , PA 19106
Phone: 215-597-7200

Adams/York/Cumberland Counties: Harrisburg
228 Walnut Street, Room 1104, Federal Building
Harrisburg , PA 17101
Phone: 717-782-3951

Bob Casey
Upper Bucks/Montgomery Counties: Allentown
840 Hamilton Street, Suite 301
Allentown, PA 18101
Phone: 610-782-9470

Philadelphia and Lower Bucks/Montgomery Counties: Philadelphia
2000 Market Street, Suite 1870
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Phone: 215-405-9660

Adams/York/Cumberland Counties: Harrisburg
22 S. Third Street, Suite 6A
Harrisburg, PA 17101
Phone: 717-231-7540

U.S. Congress
Patrick Murphy, PA-8
Philadelphia, Lower Bucks Counties: Bristol
414 Mill Street
Bristol, PA 19007
Phone: 215-826-1963

Montgomery, Upper Bucks Counties: Doylestown
72 North Main Street
Doylestown, PA 18901
Phone: 215-348-1194

Allyson Schwartz, PA-13
Montgomery County: Jenkintown
706 West Avenue
Jenkintown, PA 19046
Phone: 215-517-6572

Philadelphia County: Philadelphia
7219 Frankford Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19135
Phone: 215-335-3355

Todd Platts, PA-19
Adams County: Gettysburg
22 Chambersburg Street
Gettysburg, PA 17325
Phone: 717-338-1919

Cumberland County: Carlisle
59 West Louther Street
Carlisle, PA 17013
Phone: 717-249-0190

York County: York
2209 East Market Street
York, PA 17402
Phone: 717-600-1919

Top concerns about the gun issue for Senators Casey and Specter are the confirmation of anti-Second Amendment Sonia Sotomayor and the appointment of anti-hunting Cass Sunstein to the office of Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (aka Regulatory Czar). In the House, Congressmen Murphy, Schwartz, and Platts should be questioned on opposition or support for the DC gun rights amendment to the DC voting rights bill. At this time, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has refused to bring up the bill for a vote out of fear that the House might support basic gun rights for residents of the District of Columbia.

If you would like to meet with other gun owners to conduct a meeting with Congressional staff, please let your local EVC know. You can contact us via this web form.

Newly Democratic Senator Arlen Specter has decided he does not want to maintain his previous NRA-rating and pro-gun record. He believes that concealed carry license holders in Pennsylvania should have their rights revoked at the borders of Ohio, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. (West Virginia is the only border state to honor your Pennsylvania License to Carry.)

Many gun owners in Pennsylvania cross the political spectrum. This is often reflected by the generally pro-gun nature of non-urban and/or statewide Democrats like Senator Casey. At this time, it would appear that Democratic gun owners will not have a true pro-gun voice in next year’s party primary election.

Pennsylvania’s Senators Bob Casey and Arlen Specter need to hear from you!  Neither has been willing to make a statement on their feelings on the amendment offered by Senators John Thune (R-SD) and David Vitter (R-LA).

Call Senator Bob Casey at (202) 224-6324 and Senator Arlen Specter at (202) 224-4254 tonight or tomorrow morning! Tell them to vote yes on the Thune/Vitter amendment for national reciprocity.

UPDATE: One hour before the vote, Sen. Specter has declared he will vote against the state’s 600,000 license holders. You still have time to call and tell him he is wrong!