By Tanya Metaksa
What’s New—POLITICS: Primary elections during August 2024; United Nations: Trade on Small Arms conference attacks US and Israel; Democrat Party platform on firearms; Texas State Fair Colorado: The new gun purchase tracking law became effective on August 8; California: three moreanti-Second Amendment bills awaiting votes in the Senate; Colorado: The new gun purchase tracking law became effective on August 8; Colorado voters will decide whether to ban mountain lion hunting, Initiative 91, on November 5, 2024; Louisiana: The University of Louisiana at Lafayette is trying to stop the Right-to-Carry, which is allowed by state law, in downtown Layfayette; Nebraska: special session adjourned.
United Nations
We coveredthe UN Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat, and Eradicate the Illicit Trade on Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects (PofA) conference in the Grassroots Report for July 15, 2024. This week, NRA-ILA reported on the 10th Conference of States Parties to the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), which was held in Geneva, Switzerland. This is the Treaty that President Trump in 2019 had John Kerry’s signature revoked and thus unbound the United States from its purpose. The State of Palestine, yes, it is recognized by the ATT, delivered an attack against Israel and the United States, blaming both nations for violations of human rights. They demanded that the UN, through the ATT, punish the United States for its firearms exports to Israel. Indeed, this type of international attack through the UN on the United States’ ability to export weapons should not be condoned.
Politics
Presidential Election
Here is the Democrat Party Platform on guns if anyone has any doubt!
“Democrats will establish universal background checks, a step supported by the vast majority of Americans, including gun owners. We will once again ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. We will require safe storage for guns. Democrats will end the gun industry’s immunity from liability so gunmakers can no longer escape accountability. We will pass a national red flag law to prevent tragedies by keeping weapons out of dangerous hands. We will increase funding to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) for enforcement and prosecution and to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for firearm background checks. And, because the gun violence epidemic is a public health crisis, we will fund gun violence research across the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) as well as community violence interventions.”
This X (formerly known as Twitter) post summarizes their anti-Second Amendment positions.
Finally, if you believe that the anti-Second Amendment movement is linked to the Democratic party, you are correct! Check out this article by Lee Williams, which explains the relationship between David Hogg and the Democratic party’s fundraising arm, ActBlue.
Gabby Giffords’ tweet re Kamala Harris
“The @KamalaHarris I know is a brilliant, devoted public servant who has worked diligently to make our country safer.
“Her record—as Attorney General of California, US Senator, and Vice President—speaks for itself.
Madam Vice President, you have my unwavering support.”
Final Primary elections for August
Grades courtesy of NRA-PVF
Oklahoma: Election August 27, 2024:
State Senate Republican Primary
District 3: NRA Endorsed-Blake Cowboy Stephens (R) A
District 15: Lisa Standridge AQ, Robert Keyes AQ
District 33: Christi Gillespie AQ, Shelley Gwartney AQ
District 47: Kelly Hines AQ, Jenny Schmitt AQ
Texas State Fair
We have covered the saga of the Texas State Fair banning the carrying of “all firearms, knives that are prohibited according to state law, clubs, explosive devices, ammunition, chemical dispensing devices, replicas or hoaxes, or other weapons of any kind. This includes Holders of a License to Carry, Constitutional Carry, Concealed Carry, and Open Carry of firearms anywhere on the fairgrounds, including Cotton Bowl Stadium.”
Immediately after that announcement, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sent a press release warning the City of Dallas to ”End State Fair Firearms Policy Unlawfully Infringing on Second Amendment Rights.” He also threatened to seek injunctive relief and civil penalties.
More than 70 state lawmakers and candidates also sent a letter urging the Texas State Fair to rescind this policy. On August 14, 2024, State Senator Mayes Middleton sent a letter requesting an opinion from AG Paxton concerning the legality of a subdivision enforcing restrictions on the carrying of firearms, and Paxton’s office wrote to the Dallas Interim City Manager Kimberly Tolbert a letter explaining the Attorney General’s position that stated: “The City of Dallas is hereby given 15 days from receipt of this notice to cure this violation. Should the violation not be cured, our office may file suit to seek injunctive relief and collect civil penalties of not less than $1,000 and not more than $1,500 for each violation, with each day of a continuing violation constituting a separate violation.”
State Legislation and local communities
States that are still in session: California, Illinois (recess), Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska (special session), New Hampshire (recess), New Jersey (recess), Ohio (recess), Pennsylvania (recess), Virginia (recess), Wisconsin
California: The legislature will adjourn this week. These three bills have been sent for a Senate floor vote: AB2917, which expands upon California’s “red flag” laws; SB53, which prohibits firearm possession in the home unless the firearms are stored in a California Department of Justice-approved locked box or safe, and SB1252, a bill to codify the Office of Gun Violence Prevention. This is the final vote before they go to Governor Newsom, who has not seen an anti-Second Amendment bill he does not love.
Colorado: The new gun purchase tracking law became effective on August 8. All Guns and ammo purchased in Colorado with a credit card will be given a unique “code” that can be easily identified and tracked.
Colorado voters will decide whether to ban mountain lion hunting, Initiative 91, on November 5, 2024. A Colorado think tank has published a paper on the fiscal impact if the Initiative passed. The key finding of this study: “$4.0 million–$6.2 million in lost Colorado Parks and Wildlife revenue – The fiscal impact in the state ballot analysis concludes that CPW’s revenue would decline by $410,000 resulting from direct loss of hunting licenses for mountain lions and bobcats. The dynamic impact ranges from $3.6 million to $5.8 million—9 to 14 times larger—when accounting for lost elk and mule deer permit revenue affected by an increase in mountain lion population.”
Louisiana: The University of Louisiana at Lafayette is trying to stop the Right-to-Carry, which is allowed by state law, in downtown Layfayette. The Mayor of Lafayette Parish announced that a 1,000-foot firearms-free zone exists around the University of Louisiana’s Lafayette Science Museum. On August 13, the Louisiana Attorney General issued the following statement: “The law on Gun-Free School Zones is narrow. The Lafayette Science Museum downtown does not fall under it.”
Senator Blake Miguez also has requested an Attorney General opinion on the definition of “school property.”
Nebraska: The special session passed a slimmed-down version of the Governor’s tax relief plan and has adjourned;
