Legislation & Lawsuits

Across the country a gun battle continues to rage as anti-gun groups, emboldened by the initial public outcry over the Sandy Hook tragedy, continue their attempts to ram through legislation designed to restrict the rights of law-abiding gun owners.

As they continue their argument to “do something”, Second Amendment supporters are now marshaling forces and pushing back. That pushback didn’t deter Connecticut or Maryland legislators yesterday.

Knowing success was a long shot, Connecticut gun owners turned out in force Wednesday in a last-ditch effort to head off that state’s sweeping anti-gun legislation. The 138-page bill called for bans on sales of “assault rifles” and “high capacity magazines” along with a litany of requirements many legislators hadn’t seen in a cohesive form until the bill “dropped” on their desks yesterday morning.

Read or not, the measure passed by a 26-10 margin with six of 14 Republican senators supporting the bill and two of 22 Democrats voting against it. Two amendments seeking to weaken the bill failed by 25-11 and 26-10 margins. Immediately after Senate passage, the House began its debate.

Again, passage is considered a foregone conclusion with Governor Daniel P. Malloy standing by to sign the bill into law “as soon as it reaches his desk.”

Businessmen across the country are wondering what the Connecticut legislature was thinking. Refusing to consider any discussion regarding a reasonable timeframe for implementation or turning the sale of a high-capacity magazine into a Class D felony- the same level as sexual assault-in a state where firearms are historically produced?

Connecticut has historically been linked to the firearms industry. Today, companies including Colt’s Defense, Mossberg and Stag Arms (each of whom offers versions of the AR-15 rifles the legislation bans) are still located there.

All three of those companies are actively being courted by other states.

Should the firearms industry decide to leave Connecticut rather than remain there and tacitly endorse the measures, 7,000 jobs could go with them.

Stag Arms owner Mark Malkowski isn’t threatening to move and take Stag’s 200 or so jobs with him, but admits having a concern about “staying in a state that does not support us.”

That’s the same concern voiced by the National Shooting Sports Foundation-yet another industry group that calls Connecticut home. Earlier this week, the NSSF blasted the state’s “double standard” of “you can build it here, but not sell it here.”

Maryland’s Governor Martin O’Malley is getting his pen out in preparation for signing that state’s toughened gun laws. Under the measure passed yesterday by the state’s House of Delegates a ban will be put into place on assault weapons, magazine limits will be limited to 10 rounds and fingerprinting, a license and training will be necessary in order to purchase a gun.

The legislation, which supporters call “restrictive” because there is “no civil place in society for assault rifles” will also require gun owners to report lost weapons to police, empower the Maryland state police to inspect gun dealers, and share more information on mental issues with the NICS system. Additionally, the state would automatically disqualify more people from gun ownership based on mental health issues and commission of violent crimes.

Opposition to the bill was futile, but spirited. House minority leader Anthony J. O’Donnell called the bill “hastily crafted” and a “sham job on the citizens of Maryland so the governor can punch his national ticket.”

In Colorado, pushback from outraged gun owners centers around Senate President John Morse. The Basic Freedom Defense Fund (BFDF), a grassroots group incensed at the latest batch of anti-gun legislation passed there, has received approval from Colorado’s Secretary of State to begin gathering signatures for the recall of Morse “for his stand and leadership against the Second Amendment of the Constitution and his attack on the constitutional rights of Colorado citizens.”

According to BFDF spokesperson Nick Andrasik, “Morse has made it very clear -through both his words and his actions- that he puts greater value on the thoughts of interest groups in Washington, D.C. and New York City than his own Colorado constituency.”

According to Andrasik and BFDF, Morse told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow he advised fellow Senators to “ignore the thousands of emails sent in opposition” and went on to tell Maddow he was “proud of my caucus…and they way they’ve gotten this done.”

Now, it seems thousands of outraged citizens of Colorado are determined to send Morse their own message in terms he can’t ignore. Learn more about the group and their objectives at www.bfdf.org.

Finally, a positive bit of news. The guys at Tactical T-Shirts launched their Chris Kyle tribute shirt shortly after Kyle’s murder because they wanted to “do something” to help the families left fatherless in the tragic event.

Yesterday, two bits of news worth sharing. First, after working non-stop, they have caught up on their orders. If you order a shirt today (and I’d still encourage you to do that by clicking the box on the right side of this page) it will only be a few days before it arrives.

The last bit of news from them isn’t just good, it’s downright impressive. Sales of the shirts have raised more than $58,000 dollars for the two families.

Who says you can’t make a positive difference anymore?

Jim Shepherd is the Editor and Publisher of the The Outdoor Wire Digital Network and The Shooting Wire.
For other news and updates from the outdoor industry, follow Jim on Twitter.

The material published here reflects only the opinion of the author, and does not necessarily reflect official positions of Outdoor Channel.