State, local and jurisdictional-level actions related to gun-control (Post-Newtown)

[Dusty]

http://washingtonexaminer.com/nra-ch...rticle/2527573

The head of the National Rifle Association mocked President Obama's Rose Garden "tantrum" after losing the gun control fight in the Senate, charging Thursday that Obama suffered the worst defeat of his presidency because "he bit off more than he could chew."

David Keene told Secrets that the president and his team misplayed their hand because they don't have a sense of the public's attitude toward gun control. "They just can't gauge the public reaction to what they do because they don't have any sense that the public has feelings different than they do," said Keene.

"He thought and his folks thought that Newtown changed everything. Newtown was a tragedy but that doesn't change people's basic values and feelings," added the NRA president. "What he learned is that he bit off a lot more than he can chew and that you can't just talk your way to a victory. You have to have something that makes some sense and he what he was proposing just didn't make much sense."

The loss devastated the president, who ranted about the NRA's power during his Rose Garden address after Wednesday's vote.

Keene, however, saw it differently. "It was the biggest legislative defeat he suffered but that does not justify the unseemly picture of a president of the United States throwing a public tantrum."

Snip

[Dusty]

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013...est=latestnews





Blocked by Congress from expanding gun sale background checks, President Obama is turning to actions within his own power to keep people from buying a gun who are prohibited for mental health reasons.

Federal law bans certain mentally ill people from purchasing firearms, but not all states are providing data to stop the prohibited sales to the FBI's background check system. A federal review last year found 17 states contributed fewer than 10 mental health records to the database, meaning many deemed by a judge to be a danger still could have access to guns.

The Obama administration was starting a process Friday aimed at removing barriers in health privacy laws that prevent some states from reporting information to the background check system. The action comes two days after the Senate rejected a measure that would have required buyers of firearms online and at gun shows to pass a background check. That's already required for shoppers at licensed gun dealers.

Stung by the defeat, Obama vowed to keep up the fight for the background check expansion but also to do what he could through executive action.

"Even without Congress, my administration will keep doing everything it can to protect more of our communities," Obama said from the Rose Garden shortly after the Senate voted. "We're going to address the barriers that prevent states from participating in the existing background check system."

Obama also mentioned giving law enforcement more information about lost and stolen guns and establishing emergency plans for schools. Those measures were among the 23 executive actions the president signed in January when he announced his broader push for tighter gun laws in response to a mass shooting of first-graders and staff at Newtown, Conn.'s Sandy Hook Elementary School.

The Health and Human Services Department on Friday was beginning to ask for public comment on how the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, passed by Congress in 1996 and known as HIPAA, is preventing some states from reporting to the background check system and how to address the problem. Under HIPAA, health care providers such as hospitals may release limited information to police, but only in certain circumstances such as when a court is involved.

Since 1968, federal law has banned the sale of guns to those who have been deemed a danger to themselves or others, involuntarily committed or judged not guilty by reason of insanity or incompetent to stand trial. The background check system -- which is also used to prevent convicted felons from buying guns -- was established under the 1993 Brady Bill.

A few state agencies shared mental health records voluntarily for years, but the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007 spurred passage of legislation that required states to submit the records or eventually risk losing up to 5 percent of the federal funding they receive to fight crime.

Last year's review by the Government Accountability Office found that although the number of mental health records available to the background check system increased 800 percent since 2004, some states said they were not sharing mental health information because of concerns about restrictions under HIPAA privacy law. Obama is interested in a change that would specifically allow disclosure of mental health records for the system, and he wants to increase financial incentives for states to contribute the information.

In the Virginia Tech rampage, student Seung-Hui Cho shot 32 people to death and committed suicide. He was able to buy two guns even though he had been ruled a danger to himself during a court hearing in 2005 and was ordered to undergo outpatient mental health treatment.

Authorities have not described a possible motive or released details of any mental health condition that might explain why Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza killed 20 children and six adults before killing himself. The rifle he used was purchased by his mother, whom he also killed at home before heading to the school.

The background check system does not give retailers access to mental health records but simply tells them whether a buyer is approved, denied or needs additional investigation before a firearm may be purchased. The system doesn't tell the seller why a potential buyer was denied.

Snip

[Badger52]

Originally Posted by Dusty

"We're going to address the barriers that prevent states from participating in the existing background check system."

Is he channeling Gaghdad Bob?

[Team Sergeant]

Liberal left-wing gun control sure is working in Barry's hometown of Chicago.......

Chicago is already over 100 homicides....... should be a banner year for Chicago!

Funny that "Tiny Dancer" is very quiet about the gun violence in Chicago.

[medic&commo]

IMO, POTUS reaction to failure of gun control in Senate was partly an act.
Upset that his tactics din't work to sway the lawmakers was the authentic part.
He needs this passed, so it can fail in the HR, so he has a campaigning point in 2014.
m&c

[Badger52]

EXSUM: HHS is looking to craft a specific exemption to allow states' reporting of things like involuntary commitments, formal adjudications and other circumstances which are prohibitors in NICS, pursuant to POTUS' executive actions.

LINK to article here.

LINK to PDF of Fed Register notice here.

“The Department … is issuing this Advance Notice … to solicit public comments on such barriers to reporting and ways in which these barriers can be addressed,” the notice states. “In particular, we are considering creating an express permission in the HIPAA rules for reporting the relevant information to the NICS by those HIPAA covered entities responsible for involuntary commitments or the formal adjudications that would subject individuals to the mental health prohibitor, or that are otherwise designated by the States to report to the NICS.

“In addition, we are soliciting comments on the best methods to disseminate information on relevant HIPAA policies to State level entities that originate or maintain information that may be reported to NICS,” the summary continues. “Finally, we are soliciting public input on whether there are ways to mitigate any unintended adverse consequences for individuals seeking needed mental health services that may be caused by creating express regulatory permission to report relevant information to NICS.

“The Department will use the information it receives to determine how best to address these issues,” it declares.

[tonyz]

SC Senate passes bill to allow guns in bars and restaurants

The State
By JAMIE SELF — jself@thestate.com
Published: April 23, 2013


COLUMBIA, SC — The S.C. Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would allow concealed-weapons permit holders to carry guns into bars and restaurants until midnight — a victory for Second Amendment advocates.

The bill’s 33-5 vote Tuesday with bipartisan support came before next week’s deadline for sending bills to the House for possible passage.

The bill is the first to pass either State House chamber aimed at expanding gun rights amid a national debate over whether more or fewer gun laws will protect the country against violence such as the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., last year, and last week’s Boston bombings.

It may be the only one that gains traction.

Another Senate proposal, sponsored by Sen. Lee Bright, R-Spartanburg, that would allow people to carry guns without permits, concealed or in the open, is in a Senate committee and facing opposition.

Bright tried to insert his proposal into the bill Tuesday but failed.

If the bill to allow weapons in bars and restaurants becomes law, concealed-permit holders would not be allowed to drink alcohol while carrying their guns, and bar and restaurant owners could choose to prohibit firearms. They also could ask anyone carrying a firearm to leave the premises.

Permit holders could not carry guns into restaurants and bars between midnight and 5 a.m.

The stance that guns and alcohol do not mix has been a common refrain among critics, including State Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel.

Sen. Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, offered the midnight deadline as a compromise to appease Democrats who took issue with allowing guns into bars.

While supporters set out to allow concealed-permit holders to carry guns while having dinner in restaurants — instead of leaving their weapons in their vehicles — the bill does not distinguish between bars and restaurants serving alcohol.

That is because the distinction also is unclear in state law, the bill’s supporters have said.

The people who carry concealed weapons are the “responsible good guys” among gun owners, said Massey, a co-sponsor of the bill. They have undergone background checks and completed courses on state firearms laws and on how to handle firearms, he said.

<snip>

http://www.thestate.com/2013/04/23/2...ylink=misearch

[Dusty]

Originally Posted by tonyz

The people who carry concealed weapons are the “responsible good guys” among gun owners, said Massey, a co-sponsor of the bill. They have undergone background checks and completed courses on state firearms laws and on how to handle firearms, he said.

For years I used to think, "I'll never be able to fathom why isn't it obvious to libs."

They know the deal, but CCW people terrify them because they know they'll never fully control them.

[tonyz]

Originally Posted by Dusty

For years I used to think, "I'll never be able to fathom why isn't it obvious to libs."

They know the deal, but CCW people terrify them because they know they'll never fully control them.

The vast majority of concealed carry holders never commit a crime with a firearm. We had a thread around here a year or so ago that cited statistics from TX and FL supporting that notion. IIRC, the favorable numbers were compelling.

Lawful, concealed carry folks are overwhelmingly responsible.

It is far easier for the libs to pass a feel good law that punishes/controls the good 99% of concealed carry folks for the actions of the 1% than to address that 1% and the criminals and mentally ill.

[Dusty]

http://www.breitbart.com/system/wire/DA5TMD5G0


lol Talk about bassackward reasoning!

Vice President Joe Biden said Friday that Arizona Sen. John McCain probably would have beat his boss in the 2008 presidential election had the economy not collapsed.

Biden's comment about McCain and President Barack Obama came during the opening dinner of an annual forum among the Red Rocks of Sedona in northern Arizona. He and McCain, a Republican, touched on the gun control debate following the Newtown shootings and the bombings in Boston, but made no mention of Syria. Just as the night came to a close, Biden turned to the grueling nature of presidential campaigns.

"The truth of the matter is, Barack knows it, I know, had the economy not collapsed around your ears, John, in the middle of literally _ as things were moving _ I think you probably would have won," Biden said. "But it would have been incredibly, incredibly, incredibly close. You inherited a really difficult time."

The forum is part of the McCain Institute for International Leadership, a program formed by McCain as a way to debate foreign affairs. This year's theme for the Sedona Forum is "How can we promote freedom and democracy effectively?"

Rather than a discussion between McCain and Biden, the two sat on stage together with McCain posing questions to his former Democratic adversary on gun control and whether background checks are necessary, human rights abuses at the hands of the United States and the recent bombings at the Boston marathon.

McCain and Biden both said that despite their disagreements, they've never lost respect for one another.

On gun control, Biden said it's never been a simple issue, but that Congress has miscalculated how deeply the public feels about it and has failed to stand up to groups like the National Rifle Association, particularly after the shootings in Newtown. He said the public is looking to Congress to be mature enough to figure out a way to diminish the chance it will happen again.

"For the first time ever, you have people who are for gun safety, for increasing background checks," Biden said. "Two out of three of them say it will be a major determining factor in how I vote. That's the political dynamic that has changed. So I think we're going to get this anyway. I think this will pass before the year is out, within this Congress."In responding to a question about the vulnerabilities of the United States when it comes to terrorist attacks, Biden said that the radical, lone wolves have been the most difficult to catch. But he said America shouldn't change its values, how it treats people abroad or people coming into the United States. Nor should America adopt policies that keep people from freely walking down the street without being frisked by police or carrying identification cards, he said.

"The moment we change any of those things, that's when they win," Biden said. "Because they don't see how you can have a society that is not ordered and regimented and wedded to an orthodoxy that is theirs. That's the point that bothers them most about us."

McCain followed up by saying that those who tortured U.S. prisoners, in violation of the Geneva convention, should be exposed and be held responsible to prevent repeated abuses.

Biden agreed with the man once held as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. He said the internal debate in Congress and at the White House is how things got to that point, but it's not yet resolved.

"I think the only way you excise the demons is you acknowledge what happened, straightforward," Biden said.

Snip

[MR2]

Controversy over pro-gun billboard in Colorado

[tonyz]

Originally Posted by Broadsword2004

California may outright ban semiautomatic rifles that accept detachable magazines.

Hope the gangs and cartel folks get that memo - what a crock of shite.

[grog18b]

Just another "ban" that we will someday get around to throwing out like Heller...

[Destrier]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7F1nPSNnaBo

I hope to see more of this guys PSA's.

[Paslode]

LOS ANGELES -- A California law that requires all semi-automatic handguns to be equipped with technology that stamps its identifying information on bullet casings is now in effect after years of delays.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/05/18/543...#storylink=cpy

It will be interesting to see how and if this helps law enforcement.....or if anyone gets framed because someone picked up some casing and dropped them at a crime scene.