PA Bill Number: HB335

Title: In inchoate crimes, further providing for prohibited offensive weapons.

Description: In inchoate crimes, further providing for prohibited offensive weapons. ...

Last Action: Removed from table

Last Action Date: May 1, 2024

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Obama 'hasn't given up on gun control,' ABC reports :: 04/09/2015

Call it good timing, but as tens of thousands of Second Amendment activists start heading for Nashville and the 144th annual meeting of the National Rifle Association, President Barack Obama told ABC Wednesday that he “hasn’t given up on gun control.”

This will definitely give NRA leaders something with which to energize the grassroots. One can anticipate lots of discussion on the massive exhibit hall floor starting Friday morning, where hundreds of exhibitors will be showing off guns and gear to an audience that is ready to say “no more.”

It may be less coincidental that NBC News on Tuesday released a special report on open carry in Texas, complete with an interview featuring Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a Michael Bloomberg-supported group. Open Carry is a big issue in the Lone Star State, and Watts expressed disbelief that it is even legal.

“When I started Moms Demand Action,” Watts stated, “I had no idea that open carry was even a thing. I didn’t realize that it was legal. And then we started having our marches and our rallies and we would be surrounded, usually by men, who were open carrying. And very quickly we realized that this is actually legal in 44 states in this country.

“It’s our job now,” she added, “to stand up and say ‘This is not acceptable behavior, and we won’t tolerate it where we live.”

Funny how tolerance takes a hike when the right to keep and bear arms is being discussed. If the practice is legal in 44 states, then it actually is acceptable behavior under the law — though it does get some interesting reactions — and Watts might try being a little more tolerant.

As for the president, he told ABC, "What we've done is to try to do as much as we could administratively to tighten up how background checks are run, to go after illegal drug runners. But I will tell you that trying to get something through Congress has proven to be very difficult. And it's heart-breaking."

He should be prepared for more disappointment. Congress does not seem too receptive to the kinds of gun control measures he has supported.

And then there is this weekend’s NRA gathering. Several likely candidates and two confirmed candidates to replace the president next year are scheduled speakers. Politics will definitely be in the air.

This column will be reporting from Nashville during the three-day convention.

MEANWHILE, the National Shooting Sports Foundation has submitted a letter to the California Fish & Game Commission, explaining the organization’s objections and concerns over a rush to implement a ban on traditional ammunition for hunting. It’s quite a letter and it may be read here.

The Commission meets Thursday in Santa Rosa to discuss the proposed phase-out of lead ammunition. According to the letter, California stands to lose more than 1,800 jobs, an estimated $68.7 million in salaries and wages, and almost $14 million in state and local tax revenue if the ban leads to a predicted loss of some 36 percent of California hunters.

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