PA Bill Number: SB709
Title: In game or wildlife protection, further providing for the offense of unlawful taking and possession of protected birds and for endangered or ...
Description: In game or wildlife protection, further providing for the offense of unlawful taking and possession of protected birds and for endangered or .. ...
Last Action: Third consideration and final passage (171-30)
Last Action Date: Apr 15, 2024
FOAC's Weekly Message For Sunday March 3rd 2019 :: 03/03/2019
Pennsylvania gun owners have, what appears to be, a seriously mistaken belief that PA gun laws are better than most. At presentation after presentation we, FOAC, try to dispel this misguided notion that continuously comes up as if to dismiss gun law concerns and to derail ‘any’ thoughts of a need to get involved.
Well, another so-called ‘gun safety organization’ (code for your rights are unimportant) has given Pennsylvania a higher grade on its “gun law scorecard” compared with last year, ranking the state 12th on the strength of its gun laws and other factors.
The Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence bumped up Pennsylvania’s grade from a C last year to a C+ this year. The center was named for former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords, who survived an assassination attempt in 2011, following the merger of her gun safety organization and another group in 2016.
In their statement, the Giffords Law Center explained the improvement by saying that Pennsylvania “strengthened its gun laws in 2018 by prohibiting firearm possession by individuals who have been convicted of domestic abuse or are subject to domestic violence protective orders, and requiring those individuals to relinquish their firearms.”
Those changes were included in HB 2060, fought stridently by FOAC, and passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Tom Wolf in October 2018. (this law is now HUGELY controversial with law enforcement who are now coming to grips with their obligations!)
However, the Giffords Law Center said the state “could further raise its grade and save lives by allowing local governments to regulate firearms and enacting extreme-risk protection order legislation.”
Wolf said in a public statement that he was pleased with the efforts being made but that more work needs to be done
“I am proud that last year Pennsylvania enacted its first gun safety bill in decades, but the Tree of Life shooting reaffirmed to me that we must do more,” Wolf said, referencing the Oct. 27 mass shooting at the Pittsburgh synagogue that claimed 11 lives.
“We must keep guns from dangerous individuals. No gun should be sold anywhere without a background check,” Wolf said. “And, we must have an honest conversation about the ease by which anyone can get a weapon designed for warfare. I am hopeful that we can continue to make progress on improving public safety and reducing gun violence.”
Is this a sign of a ‘gun’ friendly state? Are your fellow gun owners asleep at the switch and oblivious to what is REALLY going on in Harrisburg?? Remember, they can’t TAKE our Freedom BUT we can give it away through Apathy and Inaction!
In keeping with the theme above, you have probably heard, the U.S. House of Representatives voted on two gun control bills last week. One of these bills, H.R. 8, would ban common place zero-risk firearm transfers, essentially criminalizing law-abiding citizens.
H.R. 8 passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 240 to 190. News media outlets like CNN claim that the bill passed with bipartisan support. Looking at the breakdown of the vote, the proposed law did not enjoy as much bipartisan support as CNN claimed.
Out of the 197 Republican members of the House only eight voted for the measure with PA turncoat Rep. Fitzpatrick being one of them. Two Democrats, Jared Golden of Maine and Collin Peterson of Minnesota, joined the other 189 Republican members of the House in voting against it.
The other, H.R. 1112, removes the three-day limit to complete a background check and without a 3-day limit, the FBI has no incentive to get background checks done in a timely manner. The legislation mandates that this be extended to minimum of 10 days. However, the reality is what will end up happening is that people will be delayed much longer and even possibly forever to get their firearms. When that happens the next step, appealing the determination of the National Instant (?) Background Check system, is currently backlogged to the point that appeals are taking more than a year right now.
Delaying someone’s right to defend themselves can be deadly. In New Jersey, a woman named Carol Bowne was murdered by her ex-boyfriend after she became stuck waiting 43 days for her firearm permit just to purchase and possess her firearm.
FOAC is committed to seeing firearm wielding violent criminals held responsible but NOT at the expense of the Rights of law-abiding citizens and our Constitution!! Neither of these bills would have prevented a single mass murder (not Aurora, Ill. – Parkland, Fla. or Charleston, SC) in the last 25 years.
Universal Background Checks — Rights or Privileges?
Capitol Hill Democrats woke up Wednesday chomping at the bit to pass an invasive, sweeping piece of legislation—H.R. 8, the “Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019”—Democrats in the “other Washington” (Washington state) are also pushing several stricter gun control measures. The overall national anti-gun push is leading many to wonder if the Democrat party has forgotten the difference between “rights” and “privileges,” or whether Democrat lawmakers just doesn’t care.
Efforts to ban so-called “assault rifles” have cooled temporarily, but Democrats in Washington clearly have their sights firmly fixed on the 2nd Amendment.
So, why are they doing this? Can Democrats be so averse to the 2nd Amendment that they are doing everything possible to destroy it?
Banning an entire class of firearms is a non-starter with Congressman Mullins and his GOP colleagues who oppose H.R. 8. The bill may pass in the House, but it is almost certainly going to face difficulty in the Republican-controlled Senate, and here’s why:
“H.R. 8 fails to prevent gun violence. Over 77 percent of criminals in state prisons for firearm crimes obtained a firearm on the black market, on the street, from a drug dealer, or through theft, according to the Department of Justice.
“Stricter gun laws do not always equate to safer cities. Look to Chicago, where Illinois has some of the strictest gun laws in the country.”
The legislation would not have prevented shootings at Columbine High School, Fort Hood, the Aurora movie theater, Las Vegas, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the Washington D.C. Navy Yard or Sandy Hook. But Democrats don’t appear to care. Anti-gunners want a symbolic win, another trophy on their mantle.
“House Democrats will continue to carry on about how their bill will ‘prevent’ future gun violence,” Congressman Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma writes at Fox News. “But H.R. 8 will not prevent gun violence at the hands of criminals. Current law already requires a background check on every commercial gun purchase in America. But that doesn’t fit House Democrats’ narrative.”
He says that H.R. 8 could turn honest gun owners into criminals. Some in the 2nd Amendment community wonder if that isn’t the plan; disqualify as many people as possible from being able to own firearms, making it easier to trample over them in a rush to erase the 2nd Amendment from the Bill of Rights.
Far-fetched? Hmmm…..
Congressional Democrats File Assault Weapons Ban of 2019
On February 15th, the U.S. House Representatives introduced its grand new scheme for the iteration of an assault weapons ban. The exact language of the proposed legislation has STILL not been released to date, but we have a glimpse thanks to anti-gun members of congress.
The legislation – known as the Assault Weapons Ban of 2019 (H.R.1296) – would ban 205 specific firearms by name, including the AK-47 and AR-15 assault rifles.
Colorado congresswoman Diana DeGette outlined the new restrictions on her official government website.
DeGette Sponsors Legislation to Ban Military-style Assault Weapons
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) sponsored legislation filed today to ban the sale, manufacture or possession of any new military-style assault weapons.
The legislation – known as the Assault Weapons Ban of 2019 (H.R.1296) – would ban 205 specific firearms by name, including the AK-47 and AR-15 assault rifles. It would also ban any semi-automatic rifle, pistol or shotgun that accepts a detachable magazine and has one or more “military-style” features, such as a pistol grip, threaded barrel or folding stock.
“With Democrats once again in control of the House, now is the time to enact common sense gun safety legislation,” DeGette said. “We can’t allow what happened in Aurora, or Columbine, or Parkland, or Newtown, or Las Vegas, to ever happen again. We need to get these assault weapons off of our streets and we need to do it now.”
The bill seeks to ban the military-style assault weapons that have been used in some of the nation’s most high-profile mass shootings, such as the AR-15 rifle used by the shooter at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, the Smith & Wesson M&P15 rifle used in Aurora, Colorado, and the Sig Sauer MCX used at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando.
Specifically, the legislation prohibits the sale, transfer, production, and importation of:
- Semi-automatic rifles and pistols with a military-style feature that can accept a detachable magazine;
- Semi-automatic rifles with a fixed magazine that can hold more than 10 rounds;
- Semi-automatic shotguns with a military-style feature;
- Any ammunition feeding device that can hold more than 10 rounds;
- And 205 specifically-named and listed firearms.
The legislation, however, would not ban the sale, possession or transfer of any semiautomatic weapon that’s lawfully possessed before the bill is signed into law.
Research shows that when a shooter uses a military-style assault weapon or a high-capacity magazine that holds more than 10 rounds to carry out one of these horrific attacks, the number of victims who are killed increases substantially.
In 1994, Congress passed and President Bill Clinton signed the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, which prohibited the manufacturing of 18 specific semiautomatic weapons, along with the manufacturing of high-capacity magazines that hold more than 10 rounds. That ban, however, expired in 2004 – and Congress has, so far, failed to reenact it.
A 2004 study found that gun crimes involving assault weapons declined by as much as 72 percent while the ban was in effect. Another study found that in the 10 years immediately after the ban expired, mass shootings that resulted in the deaths of six or more people increased by 183 percent.
The Assault Weapons Ban of 2019 is co-sponsored by 190 members of the U.S. House. It is endorsed by the American Federation of Teachers, Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, Center for American Progress, Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, March for Our Lives, Newtown Action Alliance, NoRA, and Everytown for Gun Safety.
The Assault Weapons Ban of 2019 (H.R.1296) nearly mirrors the gun control legislation introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein and others in the Senate. Where the Senate’s version had little chance due to its’ Republican majority, the House of Representatives is solidly controlled by the Democrats. That is not said to further an agenda for one party over the other. It merely states a fact that that top Democrats have come out strongly against the Second Amendment. The House bill has a good chance of passing.
Nancy Pelosi promised that gun control would be a top priority for the Democrats within hours of the last election and before the gavel was placed back in her hands. “This will be a priority for us going into the next Congress,” Pelosi said in November 2018.
The fight for the 2nd Amendment is real. Get in the game or prepare to lose your 2nd Amendment rights.
Most Americans Would Fail a Citizenship Test-Would YOU?
When Americans don't know what it means to be American, we will lose Liberty.
- Why are Millennials embracing socialism as an acceptable philosophical approach to markets?
- Why is the public at large not just laughing when the political Left attempts to tie the anti-Semitism and perversion of Christianity practiced by Nazis to the political Right?
- Why are we seeing a growing embrace of victimhood and weakness as honorable instead of achievement?
- Why do individuals who refuse to value citizenship but want socialism fail to see that those coming into America illegally do so either with nefarious intent or because they are fleeing big, socialist government?
Better yet, how’d we get here to this mess and how can we make an urgent correction? Believing Thomas Jefferson’s statement to be true, Americans need to think through and understand the implications: “A nation has never been ignorant and free; that has never been and will never be.”
The Wall Street Journal opined last fall over the “embarrassing” number of Americans who failed the same civics test administered to those working through the naturalization process to become a U.S. Citizens. Writing about the abysmal 19% of individuals 45 years of age or younger who successfully answered enough questions about America’s history and government to pass, the editorial board blared that this “reflects the declining state of American public schools. None of this augurs well for the future of self-government.”
No, criticism of so many of America’s public schools and our government-run education is not excessively harsh.
On Feb. 15, the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, housed at Princeton University, issued a damning press release publishing results of a 50-state survey asking 41,000 Americans the same 20 questions testing civic knowledge that are part of the naturalization process. The questions ranged from inquiring how many amendments are enjoined to the U.S. Constitution to identifying one of the rights enumerated in the First Amendment to which war former President Dwight D. Eisenhower served in prior to his election.
The results were truly shameful. Only one state, Vermont, saw the majority of its participants pass — and even then, 47% failed. Had 70% or higher been deemed the passing threshold, not one state would have had a majority of individuals pass. The worst-performing state was Louisiana, with 73% who failed. That percentage climbed to 82% if you include those correctly answering as few as 12 of the 20 questions.
Simply put, the facts of history have been rewritten, the roles of history have been recast, and the value of exceptionalism has been substituted with warmed-up mediocrity as the new normal to equalize the masses. Call it indoctrination, propaganda, or some other moniker attempting to capture the breadth, width, and reach of our current chaotic conundrum, but understand one thing: The great nation of America is being destroyed by Americans, not some foreign enemy. Those rewriting history and recasting the roles, good and bad, to fit today’s culture and political agendas are truly deconstructing our nation, most knowing they must create an ignorance of just how America became great through its unique constitutional republic and individualism that breeds self-reliance and exceptionalism, ingredients that do not coexist with socialism, communism, or all the other -isms that create a permanent underclass dependent upon big government.
Americans young, old, learned, and ignorant, love and herald the demand for Liberty. Yet, most live as if the prospects of freedom are made possible by obtaining some freeze-dried packet that comes with the instructions to just add water and, voila, the benefits of living in a constitutional republic abound.
As the WSJ noted, “The real threat to American freedom is the failure of current citizens to learn even the most basic facts about U.S. history and government.”
Every state needs to pass its own legislation to address the lack of history taught and the horrific proficiency of critical information about America’s truly exceptional history. Equally important, every single adult who has a child, a grandchild or some other mind malleable within reach must serve as a First Teacher to ensure our children learn and grow into citizens who are capable of what James Madison spoke of as a permanently free people who serve as guardians of true Liberty.
Every Democrat Presidential Hopeful for 2020 Hates the 2nd Amendment
A recent issue of the Washington Post listed the Post’s pick of the top fifteen Democrat candidates for our 2020 presidential election. More are joining the race almost daily, but these fifteen represent “front-runners,” on the Democrat side, at least according to the Post’s editors.
As one scrolls down through this list, a solitary fact immediately jumps out:
Every single one is venomously anti-gun and anti-2nd Amendment.
Without exception, each caustically loathes private gun-ownership by US citizens, and each hates, with a rabid mania, American gun owners, both for what we believe and for the individual freedom and liberty we so stridently work to protect.
“A King, by disallowing Acts of this salutary nature, from being the father of his people, degenerated into a Tyrant and thus forfeits all rights to his subjects' obedience.” ~ Patrick Henry, 1777
What will inevitably happen, entirely without fail, when any one of these Democrat/Socialists/Marxists takes the White House, and when Democrat/Socialists/Marxists end-up in control of Congress?
Gun bans, magazine bans, ammunition bans, mandatory gun confiscation will be passed without delay, and promptly signed into federal law. Our 2nd Amendment will likely be repealed outright and scrapped altogether. Within four years, all privately-owned guns in the USA will be confiscated and destroyed. Hold-outs will be rounded up and herded into “re-education programs” (gulags).
Will our Supreme Court protect us from this unconstitutional repugnance?
They seldom have in the past, and even when they bravely attempt to, liberal/Marxist lower-court judges, along with liberal/Marxist legislators, contemptuously ignore them, much as they’re doing right now with so-called “landmark” Heller, McDonald, and Caetano Decisions.
Our so-called “Supreme Court” may as well have remained silent. In short, there is no protection from these Marxist-tyrant-wannabes.
Also, they’re simultaneously destroying our Electoral College, so that their opponents' votes will be utterly irrelevant in future elections. Hoards of illegals are being concentrated in rotting, squalorous metro areas (like SF, LA, Chicago) and maintained in continuous poverty and dependency.
In addition to eliminating our Second Amendment, Democrat/Marxists will immediately go to work on our First and Fourth.
“Hate speech” will be expanded to indict any who will dare to speak out against them. All political “debate” will thus come to an end. Their nationalized thugs will spread-out and kick-in doors without warning nor warrants, looking for “anti-revolutionary propaganda.” And, they’ll oh-so sanctimoniously, cynically insist they’re doing it all “for the children,” much as they do now.
We students of American history know and understand “gun-control” was the spark that started the entire American Revolutionary War. Those pitiable, embattled farmers who bravely, audaciously blocked the bridge at Lexington and Concord in 1775 are our magnificent ancestors. They blocked that bridge, because British regular troops were coming to forcibly confiscate their privately-owned flintlock rifles (the “assault weapon” of the era), and they knew it.
How far we’ve come in 243 years. King George III is back, banging on our very door. He wants us to let him back in.
Video Helps Expose Flawed Red Flag Gun Confiscation Laws
Red Flag laws continue to sweep the country with New York being the latest state to implement these unconstitutional laws.
The truth is that gun owners must do a better job of exposing these laws to those who aren't deep in the 2nd Amendment fight like you are. We must reach out to those in the “middle” and explain why Red Flag laws are dangerous.
According to the 2nd Amendment Activist, the goal was to educate the public in a different way on gun control:
“The goal was to create a video that didn't come across preachy. We also didn't want a video that had a bunch of angry gun owners telling people how dangerous gun control is. The public is used to that. We wanted to make a video that was funny to watch but would also make people think about these issues and realize how dangerous they are. The target audience isn't hard-core gun owners, but people who haven't taken a strong stance either way on Red Flag laws and get them on our side of this fight. However, we believe gun owners will still find the video entertaining.”
We are asking you to support the 2nd Amendment Activist and their efforts to expose gun control in a new and enlightening way by doing the following things:
- 1. Go watch the video above or on YouTube using the link here! (Make sure to Subscribe after you watch!)
- 2. Share that video with as many people as you can, especially those who do not know about Red Flag laws or think they are a good idea.
Consequences of 2018: Mad Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan) Attacks Our Rights
You can’t say that there was no warning. Last year we discussed how our rights would be at risk with Jerrold Nadler as Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. At the time, we noted that in terms of his voting record, Nadler is just as bad as Charles Schumer and Dianne Feinstein.
Well, Nadler is no longer under the radar, folks. Furthermore, he’s left no doubt that he is just as bad as Feinstein. Oh, he doesn’t have a “Mr. and Mrs. America” moment, but according to Cybercast News Service, he has embraced Australia as an example when it comes to firearms ownership. Which, for all intents and purposes, means he wants to confiscate your modern sporting rifles, your modern multi-purpose shotguns, and even your old pump-action shotguns that were handed down from your parents or other relatives.
But Australia-style goes beyond that. One has to show a “genuine purpose” to own a gun. And as is the case with the so-called discretionary-issue states (really no-issue states as a general rule), self-defense is often not considered a good reason to have a gun. Australia is the “needs-based” licensing system of Sarah Brady’s dreams. Oh, and you can forget concealed carry of any stripe, either. Since self-defense is no longer a valid reason to own a gun… then why would they even think about letting you carry one?
And here is something that should wake a lot of people up: Jerrold Nadler thinks he can eventually pull it off. He’s thinking long-term, and he has a plan to get there. He knows that the current situation won’t let him get that Australia-type legislative package, but he can lay the groundwork to get it. In this, he has a far better grasp of strategy and tactics than many, if not most, gun owners.
There were tons of close races for House seats in 2018… races that almost uniformly tipped against the most viable pro-Second Amendment candidates.
The real battle is an ongoing one for the hearts and minds of our fellow Americans.
We won’t ever get Nadler, Chuck Schumer, or Dianne Feinstein to give up efforts to take away our rights over shootings we never committed. But that isn’t what we need to do. We can and must focus our efforts on convincing our fellow Americans that those anti-2nd Amendment extremists are in the wrong to punish millions of law-abiding citizens who either wish to exercise their Second Amendment rights responsibly or who actually do exercise those rights for the actions of criminals and madmen.
This is a battle that cannot be won or lost with just a few grandiose statements about the 2nd Amendment. No, this is an ongoing fight, and the right strategy, continuing pressure and tactics, including coming across in the right way, will give us a better chance of having a more favorable political climate to win those hearts and minds.
In Closing:
Gun Banners Swear, “We Just Want a Safer America”
Liberal progressives are today working tirelessly to similarly convert all American gun-owners to outcasts, all “suspects,” all dangerous “dissidents.”
“In any ‘compromise’ between food and poison, only death can win. In any ‘compromise’ between good and evil, only evil can profit.” ~ Ayn Rand
In a recent interview with the New Yorker, a highly-regarded (among her fellow liberals) “progressive” politician, Lucy McBath, talked about the “religion of guns” and starkly reveals, in painful detail, the way American leftists plan on degrading, stripping, impoverishing, isolating, marginalizing, terrorizing, and eventually incarcerating American gun-owners, dealers, gunsmiths, and manufacturers.
Progressives’ clearly-stated goal is to dissolve, in its entirety, our historically-important culture of private gun ownership in the USA.
They assure us (as a spider assures a fly) they just want a “safer America.”
- Castro claimed to want a “safer Cuba,” so he enlisted the professional assistance of ever-eager murdering, Argentinian thug, Ernesto “Che” Guevara, to deliver an endless supply of previously disarmed “dissidents” to Castro’s torture-cells and firing squads.
- Mao wanted a “safer PRC,” so he sent his red-book-waving Red Guards to hunt-down previously disarmed “dissidents,” so that they could be herded into gulags, tortured and murdered.
- Pol Pot wanted a “safer Cambodia,” so he dispatched hordes of grim-faced twelve-year-old murdering monsters to find and then deliver previously disarmed “dissidents” to Tuol Seng (the “prison-of-no-return”) or directly to Pot’s notorious killing fields, filled as far as one could see with the bleached skeletons of millions of innocent people, of all ages.
- Joe Stalin wanted a “safer USSR,” so he let loose the “Cheka,” followed by the dreaded NKVD, to find previously disarmed “enemies of the state” behind every door, and underneath every bed, all candidates for brutal “interrogation,” slow, painful death in gulags, sometimes summary execution.
Fellow citizens, who know what is good for themselves, will shun us completely, lest they share the same fate.
Videos: California DOJ Gun Confiscation After Lawful Registration:
Following the confiscation of two AR15 pistols from a California citizen in San Diego County, the California Department of Justice has taken a beating in social media.
Too many gun owners see ‘no danger’ in registering firearms. In video number 2 look at the 26 minute mark for the analogy to PA’s Record of Sale database.
WW II Resistance Fighter on Gun Ownership: "Without your rifle, you are nothing, worthless. You are waiting for death, any minute, any second." Aron Bielski, WWII Jewish Resistance Fighter in Eastern Europe
Founding Fathers Statement on Freedom: "With hearts fortified with these animating reflections, we most solemnly, before God and the world, declare, that, exerting the utmost energy of those powers, which our beneficent Creator hath graciously bestowed upon us, the arms we have compelled by our enemies to assume, we will, in defiance of every hazard, with unabating firmness and perseverance employ for the preservation of our liberties." Declaration of the Cause and Necessity of Taking up Arms (1775)
Yours in Freedom,
Kim Stolfer
