Category: Action Alert

On the morning of January 18, 2018, McClatchy published a bombshell article revealing that the National Rifle Association is under investigation by the FBI. Specifically, the FBI is investigating whether Russian Central Bank head Alexander Torshin illegally funneled money to the NRA to help Donald Trump win the presidency.

The NRA’s relationship with the government of Vladimir Putin is longstanding and dates back to at least 2011 when Torshin was introduced to then-NRA president David Keene (the former chair of the American Conservative Union). Since that time, Torshin has attended four NRA annual meetings in the United States.

NRA leaders have also made several trips to Moscow to meet with Torshin and members of Putin’s cabinet. The most publicized of these meetings was in December 2015, when a sizable NRA delegation traveled to Moscow to meet with Russian defense minister Dmitry Rogozin.

During the 2016 election cycle, the NRA spent a record amount of money—at least $55 million and more than $70 million according to some sources with ties to the organization. The FBI will be determining if some of this spending was foreign money. It is illegal to use foreign money to influence federal elections in the United States.

Please share McClatchy’s blockbuster article on Facebook and Twitter using the following templates:

1) Facebook post:

A blockbuster new report from McClatchy reveals that the NRA is being investigated by the FBI. Specifically, the FBI is investigating whether Russian Central Bank head Alexander Torshin illegally funneled money to the NRA to elect Donald Trump president. Please share this article!

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article195231139.html

2) Tweet:

Blockbuster report reveals NRA is being investigated by the FBI. Agency looking into whether NRA used Russian money to benefit #Trump in 2016 election. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article195231139.html 

After you share the article on social media, click the orange banner below to report taking action!

This year on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day the Albuquerque Journal ran a repulsive advertisement from Los Ranchos Gun Shop that invoked the name and image of Dr. King in order to sell firearms and ammunition.

Placed alongside women’s basketball scores in the sports section of Sunday’s Journal, the ad promoted 10% off all accessories with the purchase of a gun on MLK Day. Customers who mentioned the ad were given an additional 5% off.

The owner of Los Ranchos Gun Shop, Mark Abramson, defended the ad as an “appropriate depiction of Dr. King.” He then claimed, wrongly, that Dr. King “fought” to put more firearms into the hands of African-Americans.

In truth, Dr. King decried Americans’ easy access to firearms and voluntarily disarmed himself and his bodyguards because of his unshakable commitment to nonviolence.

Please take one or more of the following actions in response to this offensive advertisement:

1) Leave a comment on one of the existing threads at the Los Ranchos Gun Shop Facebook page telling them how you feel about their MLK ad:

https://www.facebook.com/LosRanchosGuns/

2) Submit a letter to the editor to the Albuquerque Journal  at the following link and call for the staffer who approved this ad to be fired immediately:

http://www.abqjournal.com/letters/new

You can use the following 150 words as a template for your letter, but please personalize your submission to a significant degree, because the Albuquerque Journal will NOT publish a letter unless it is unique:

I am deeply offended by the Los Ranchos Gun Shop advertisement that the Albuquerque Journal  published on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Given Dr. King’s absolute commitment to nonviolence, and the circumstances surrounding his assassination, it is beyond the pale for your newspaper to print his image and good name in a promotion designed to sell guns and ammunition. Dr. King was patently clear on where he stood on guns. “By…our readiness to allow arms to be purchased at will and fired at whim…we have created an atmosphere in which violence and hatred have become popular pastimes,” he wrote. Dr. King also unilaterally disarmed himself and his bodyguards, explaining, “Had we become distracted by the question of my safety we would have lost the moral offensive and sunk to the level of our oppressors.” The staffer in your advertising department who approved the running of this ad should be fired immediately.

Once you have taken one or more of these actions, click the orange banner below to report taking action!

It is a federal crime (felony) to lie on a background check application when purchasing a gun from a a federally licensed firearms dealer (FFL), but the law is rarely enforced because federal agencies like the ATF lack the necessary manpower.

The state of Washington recently remedied this problem by enacting an exciting new law. One provision of the law requires FFLs to contact the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs whenever a prohibited purchaser fails a background check. This allows the association to notify local police, who can then send officers out to arrest the applicant. Info about these failed checks is also sent to the Washington State Patrol so they can incorporate it into databases that are used by police officers in the field.

Another provision in the law allows victims of domestic abuse to be notified when an individual they have an active restraining order against attempts to buy a gun.

In just the first five months of the law being in effect, the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs reports 1,231 denied applications for gun purchases. 152 of these cases were referred to local law enforcement for further investigation. 49 of these prohibited purchasers made multiple attempts to buy a firearm. 71 were the subject of active restraining orders.

Please contact one or more of your state legislators and give them the following message:

Dear Rep./Sen., please see the attached article for information on an exciting new law, HB 1501, that is being implemented in the state of Washington.  Under the law, gun dealers are required to notify law enforcement when a prohibited purchaser fails a background check in their store. If necessary, local police officers can then be dispatched to make an arrest. This information is also shared with the state patrol agency so it can be incorporated into databases searchable by officers in the field. Equally important, the law allows domestic violence victims to be notified when the individual who is the subject of their active restraining order attempts to buy a gun. This bipartisan law was so non-controversial that even the NRA supported it! I am contacting you today to request that you introduce legislation similar to HB 1501 in our state.  If such legislation has already been introduced, then I request that you co-sponsor it and persuade your colleagues to do so as well. There is no excuse for our state not having such a law on the books. It is already preventing violence and saving lives in Washington.

Article: https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/01/09/576849656/washington-law-targeting-domestic-abusers-yields-report-of-71-attempted-gun-buys

If you don’t know who your state legislators are, or need their contact info, click here:

http://www.commoncause.org/take-action/find-elected-officials/

If you live in Washington, then ask your state legislators how they voted on HB 1501. If they voted for it, thank them. If not, spank them!

Once you have contacted one or more of your state legislators, click the orange banner below to report taking action!

[Congratulations to the Alliance for Gun Responsibility and other groups that helped to enact HB 1501 into law!]

Update: On May 22, 2019, the U.S. Senate confirmed Howard Nielson, Jr. to serve as a federal judge in Utah. The vote was party-line (51-47) with only Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine joining Democrats against Nielson.

---

In 2017, we successfully campaigned against Brett Talley, an unqualified and dangerous nominee for federal district court with extreme views on the gun issue.

Now the Trump administration has put forward another pro-gun extremist to serve on the federal bench. Frequent NRA lawyer Howard C. Nielson, Jr.  has been nominated for a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Utah. His nomination will first be considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee. If approved, it will go to the Senate floor for a vote.

Nielson has long served as an attorney for the NRA, the Illinois State Rifle Association, and other gun lobby groups. In this role, he has advocated for a series of absolutist positions on guns. For example, Nielson has argued that:

• Americans who oppose changing the law to allow 18-20 year-olds to buy handguns from federally licensed firearm dealers are engaging in “massive resistance” comparable to the efforts of racist state officials who resisted desegregation after the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954.
• Illinois’ democratically-enacted law banning assault weapons is a violation of the Second Amendment and must be overturned because semiautomatic rifles like the AR-15 and AK-47 are now in “common use.” Nielson added that these assault weapons are “less dangerous” than other firearms and effective for home defense.

Please call your two U.S. Senators through the U.S. Capitol Hotline at (202) 224-3121 and give them the following message:

Please vote NO on the nomination of William C. Nielson, Jr. to serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah should the nomination come before your committee, or to the floor of the full Senate, for a vote. Nielson is a paid NRA attorney with absolutist views on guns. I am particularly disturbed that he compared Americans who believe that 18-20 year-olds should not be able to purchase handguns with racists who opposed desegregation following the Brown v. Board decision. Nielson’s claim that semiautomatic rifles like the AR-15 and AK-47 are “less dangerous” than other firearms is also an outrage that should anger anyone following the mass carnage we have seen inflicted by lone gunmen in Las Vegas, Orlando, Newtown, etc. Finally, he has exhibited little, if any, empathy for victims and survivors of gun violence in this country. Nielson’s nomination is dangerous and a threat to public safety. It must be opposed. I will be watching your actions on this nomination very closely.

If you don’t know who your two Senators are, or want their direct-dial numbers, click here:

https://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Once you have contacted your Senators, click the orange banner above to report taking action!

[A special thanks to the Giffords Law Center and Alliance for Justice for sounding the alarm about this nomination!]

On February 3, 2018, the Holiday Inn Portland-Airport (I-205) will be hosting a “Freedom Rally” organized by the Oregon Liberty Alliance. The event will feature two NRA leaders, former Wisconsin County Sheriff David Clarke, Jr. and national spokesperson Dana Loesch, who are infamous for promoting violence against Americans they disagree with politically.

As recently as this month, Clarke was suspended from Twitter and forced to delete messages that called for violence against journalists. One tweet read, “When LYING LIB MEDIA makes up FAKE NEWS to smear me, the ANTIDOTE is to go right at them. Punch them in the nose & MAKE THEM TASTE THEIR OWN BLOOD.” Clarke is also set to go on trial this month for illegally detaining, and later threatening, a man who shook his head at the then-sheriff on an airplane last year. Finally, it is well-known that Clarke allowed four Americans to die in his custody when he was  sheriff, including a newborn baby and 38 year-old man with mental health issues.

Loesch is best known as the narrator of a series of 2017 videos that encouraged NRA supporters to engage in armed violence against journalists and Americans who have protested the Trump administration.

Holiday Inn is a property of the Intercontinental Hotels Group, which owns over 5,000 hotels in nearly 100 countries. On its website, IHG brags, “A commitment to operating our business responsibly underpins our entire strategy. We bring this commitment to life through our culture and by embedding it in all aspects of our work.” Furthermore, in its 2016 Responsible Business Summary Report, IHG lists “human rights” as an area where the company is “driving positive change.”

Please contact IHG through one of the channels below and give them the following message (personalized as you like):

I am outraged to learn that the Holiday Inn—Portland Airport (I-205) will be hosting speakers David A. Clarke and Dana Loesch on February 3, 2018 during a “Freedom Rally” being sponsored by the Oregon Liberty Alliance. Both Clarke and Loesch are well-known for advocating violence against journalists and Americans who have protested the Trump administration. Clarke was recently suspended from Twitter for making three threats of this nature. Additionally, Clarke is well-known for having four Americans die in his custody when he served as Wisconsin County sheriff, including a newborn baby. Loesch is the unrepentant narrator of a series of extreme NRA videos that encourage gun owners to retaliate against Americans exercising their First Amendment rights.  On the IHG website, you brag about your code of “responsibility” and how you are “driving positive change” on “human rights.”  Hosting speakers who routinely promote violence is a clear violation of your stated principles. I call on you to cancel this “Freedom Rally” immediately, or at a minimum demand that the Oregon Liberty Alliance remove Clarke and Loesch from the speakers’ program. I will be watching your actions closely and making my future travel decisions based on them.

Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG)
Phone: (800) 621-0555
Email via webform: https://www.ihg.com/hotels/us/en/customer-care/forms/comment
Alternate email: janis.moeller@atriumhospitality.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ihg/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ihgservice

Once you have contacted IHG, click the orange banner below to report taking action!

Update: Permitless (open and concealed) carry legislation continues to die in the South Carolina General Assembly. In April 2019, the latest iteration of the bill (S. 139) was tabled after a pro-gun activist threatened to shoot House Judiciary Committee chairman Peter McCoy for not marking it up. Thanks to everyone who has taken this action and hindered this terrible policy!

---

South Carolina already has the 11th highest rate of gun death of the 50 states.

Nonetheless, in March 2017 the South Carolina state House of Representatives passed a dangerous bill which would allow residents of the state to carry firearms in public—openly or concealed—without any permit, background check or training.  The bill was purposely rammed through committee when Democrats were not present to avoid scrutiny and public testimony.

This legislation will likely be taken up by the state Senate for consideration. The Majority Leader of the South Carolina Senate, Senator A. Shane Massey, has responsibility to schedule votes and assign bills to committee. South Carolina lawmakers are scheduled to return to work on January 9, 2018.

Please contact Senator Massey through one of the channels below and give him the following message (personalized as you like):

Senator, I was deeply disturbed to hear that your chamber might again be taking up the dangerous and irresponsible permitless carry legislation that failed earlier in the year. South Carolina already has the 11th highest gun death rate of the 50 states. The state has experienced countless shootings by dangerous individuals with legal access to firearms, including Emanuel AME Church gunman Dylan Roof.  Please table all bills that would allow permitless carry immediately and permanently. Your chamber should focus on closing the Charleston Loophole, which allowed Roof to consummate his murderous plan.  You should also define and improve the process by which South Carolina courts report disqualified gun buyers to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. Finally, a procedure should be established for gun dealers to notify local law enforcement when gun buyers lie on a background check application, a felony offense. This way these criminals can be arrested on the spot without further delay. I care deeply about the safety of Palmetto State residents and will be watching your actions closely.

State Senate Majority Leader A. Shane Massey
Phone: (803) 212-6330, (803) 480-0419
Email via webform: http://senatormassey.com/contact-2/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/senatormassey/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/shanemassey

Please contact Senator Massey regardless of where you live! If you do not live in South Carolina, but travel to the state or have some other connection to it, let the senator and his staff know.

Once you have contacted Senator Massey, click the orange banner below to report taking action!

On Monday, January 15, 2018, gun violence survivors and GVP advocates will gather at the State Capitol in Richmond, Virginia to conduct the 26th annual Vigil and Advocacy Day of the Virginia Center for Public Safety and Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence. During the day, participants will acknowledge the nonviolent teachings of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., remember lost loved ones, and lobby their states delegates and senators for tougher gun laws.

It’s a big event. Each MLK Day, radical pro-gun advocates with the Virginia Citizens Defense League also rally their forces at the State Capitol. In decades past, pro-gun attendees would outnumber GVP advocates significantly. That has changed abruptly in the last couple of years, with GVP groups including  gathering crowds of 600-700 to participate in MLK day activities and pro-gun organizers straining to reach half that number.

That grassroots push is reflected in the changing composition of the Virginia government. GVP won big in the November 2017 elections in Virginia, with Ralph Northam prevailing in the governor’s race and Chris Hurst, whose fiancee Alison Parker was shot and killed on live television, winning a delegate’s seat. Many ardently pro-NRA legislators lost their seats. Virginia is an exciting Purple state that continues to trend progressive, and that is in no small part because of the work of GVP advocates.

The schedule for the 2018 Vigil and Advocacy Day is as follows:

2PM: Vigil to remember victims of gun violence at the Bell Tower on State Capitol grounds in Richmond. Intersection of 9th and Franklin. Governor-Elect Ralph Northam will be the featured speaker at the vigil.

3PM-5PM: Move inside General Assembly building to speak with Virginia delegates and senators about doing a better job of reducing gun violence in the state.

Please take one of the following two actions:

1) If you live in the Virginia area, and are able to attend the event, please RSVP to Kayla Hicks at khicks@efsgv.org or (757) 550-0316.

2) If you can’t make it, please share the following link with your family and friends from Virginia on Facebook and encourage them to attend:

https://www.facebook.com/events/319590418540062/

After taking one or more of the actions, click the orange banner below to report doing so!

Update:  During the second round of public comments on the proposed bump stock ban, supporters outnumbered opponents by three to one! On December 26, 2018, the Department of Justice published a final rule banning bump stocks. Owners were given 90 days to turn them into an ATF field office or destroy them. Thank you to everyone who submitted a comment(s) and helped this ban get enacted!

---

The day after Christmas, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives published an advanced notice of a proposed rule concerning bump stocks. This proposal follows the horrific October mass shooting in Las Vegas in which a gunman used bump stocks to simulate full automatic gunfire. He inflicted 600 casualties in just 10 minutes.

The rule being proposed by the ATF would classify bump stocks as machine guns under federal law. That means citizens would be unable to legally obtain bump stocks without going through a thorough licensing and registration process.

ATF is soliciting comments from the member of the public as part of their rule-making process. Specifically, the ATF has invited comments “on the costs or benefits of the proposal, and on the appropriate methodology and data for calculating those costs and benefits.”

Please take one or more of the following actions:

1) Click the following link and submit a comment to the ATF:

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/12/26/2017-27898/application-of-the-definition-of-machinegun-to-bump-fire-stocks-and-other-similar-devices

Click the green SUBMIT A FORMAL COMMENT button at the top right of the webpage to submit your comment via webform. [Note: Not all fields in the webform are required.]

You can use the following message as a template for your comment:

First, let me thank you for taking on the task of regulating bump stocks, which have no legitimate place in civilian commerce. This issue was the responsibility of the U.S. Congress to fix. I am sorry it has landed on the shoulders of your agency. But now that it has, it is critical to get it right. I think the cost of unregulated bump stocks (and other devices which allow semiautomatic firearms to simulate full automatic fire) will be more shootings like Las Vegas, in which single gunmen inflict massive numbers of casualties. We cannot allow that morally, or as a democracy. Please draft and finalize a rule that tightly regulates civilian ownership and purchase of bump stocks and similar devices that simulate full automatic fire (i.e., trigger cranks, Auto Glove, etc.). This should include, at a minimum, a licensing and registration process like the one we have for machine guns. For too long, the financial needs of the gun industry have trumped public safety. Let’s change that. If you do the right thing here, I will have the ATF’s back.

2) Share the comment link above on your social media feeds and encourage others to submit a comment.

Please note that comments MUST be submitted by January 25, 2018 or they will not be accepted!

Click on the orange banner below to report taking action once you have submitted your comment!

Daniel Webster, the director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, has written a terrific op-ed in The Hill on the subject of the NRA’s “National Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act.”

This dangerous legislation, H.R. 38, would force states to allow individuals from other states to carry concealed guns on their streets. This includes individuals from both “Shall-Issue” states as well as the 12 states that require no permit at all to carry concealed. Furthermore, H.R. 38 makes verification of permits from 49 other states impossible for law enforcement.

Webster makes a persuasive argument as to why the expansion of permissive concealed carry regimens would be a disaster for public safety.

He shares new polling data from the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research that shows Americans support stronger safety standards for concealed carry by wide margins, regardless of political affiliation or gun ownership.

Webster also highlights new research that links permissive concealed carry laws to high violent crime (and murder) rates.

Please read Daniel Webster’s op-ed  at the following link and then share it on Facebook and/or Twitter:

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/politics/365543-gun-owners-and-republicans-dont-really-want-concealed-carry

After you read the op-ed, click the orange banner below to report taking action!