GRNC Alert:
5 - 3 -09 |
Grass Roots North
Carolina
Forum for Firearms Education
P.O. Box 10684, Raleigh, NC 27605
(919) 664-8565, http://www.grnc.org
GRNC Alert Hotline: (919) 562-4137
hotline@grnc.org |
Are Sheriffs Using Your Money to Trample Your
rights?
(Printable {PDF} version here) |
Bill to repeal handgun purchase permits
needs hearing NOW!
As noted in earlier alerts, information indicates the
NC Sheriffs’ Assoc. (NCSA) has been lobbying against
your rights. Specifically, NCSA got SB 782 removed
from the hearing calendar minutes before the Senate
Commerce Committee was scheduled to debate it, placing
the bill in serious jeopardy. What is not clear is how
aware individual sheriffs are of what NCSA lobbyist
Eddie Caldwell is doing to kill the bill. There are
even indications the NCSA has not take a formal
legislative position.
SB 782: “Repeal Pistol/Crossbow Transfer Permit”
Recall that SB 782 would repeal our pistol purchase
permit system – a system not only shamed by its Jim
Crow origins, but archaic by having been replaced with
computerized background checks and reporting of
involuntary mental health commitments.
Sheriffs have broad latitude in issuing purchase
permits and have abused the law, including:
• Denying permits on arbitrary standards of “good
moral character;”
• Restricting permits issued to as few as 2 per year;
• Demanding other burdensome requirements, such as
notarized character affidavits, restricted
appointments or even, in one case, the signature of
the mayor!
ACT NOW OR THE BILL DIES
The “crossover deadline” by which a bill must pass at
least one chamber to avoid dying is MAY 14.
• CONTACT YOUR SHERIFF by going to
http://grnc.org/sheriffs.htm
• DELIVER THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE:
-------------------------------------------------------
Dear Sheriff:
Accounts indicate the North Carolina Sheriffs’
Association lobbyist Eddie Caldwell has engineered
removal of SB 782 from the calendar of the NC Senate
Commerce Committee, seriously jeopardizing the bill.
As you recall, SB 782 would repeal North Carolina’s
archaic pistol purchase permit system – a system long
since replaced by computerized background checks via
NICS and mandatory reporting of mental health data.
Meanwhile, a number of sheriffs have been applying
burdensome restrictions to issuing purchase permits,
including restrictions to as few as two per year.
As an elected official, please advise me immediately
whether Caldwell and the NCSA represent your views
and, if not, what you plan to do about it.
Respectfully,
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FIND OUT HOW SHERIFFS’ ASSOCIATION HAS SUBVERTED YOUR
RIGHTS
See GRNC president Paul Valone’s expose on the NC
Sheriffs’ Association on examiner.com by checking the
link below:
Are sheriffs using taxpayer money to trample taxpayer
gun rights?
Gun owners may have heard about financial
mismanagement within the NC Sheriffs Assoc, but few
know a Governor’s Crime Commission “blank check” grant
may be funding attacks on gun rights, most recently
when NCSA lobbyist Eddie Caldwell reportedly shelved
legislation to repeal NC’s Jim Crow-era gun purchase
law…
http://bit.ly/NCSheriffs
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GRNC OPEN LETTER TO NC SHERIFFS
To: North Carolina Sheriffs
From: F. Paul Valone, President, Grass Roots North
Carolina
Re: SB 782, “Repeal Pistol/Crossbow Transfer Permit”
Cc: Mr. Eddie Caldwell, Executive Vice President,
North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association
Dear Sheriff:
Starting with House Bill 1275, misnamed “Enforce Gun
Laws at Gun Shows,” way back in 1999, we started
having problems with increasing indifference to the
wishes of voters by the previously responsive
organization which represents the elected sheriffs of
North Carolina.
HB 1275, you may recall, cost Dave Huffman a seat in
Congress as the GRNC Political Victory Fund sent
thousands of postcards into the district, and spent a
handsome sum on radio spots in the district, all of
which highlighted the fact that he was chairman of the
NCSA legislative committee when the NCSA endorsed the
gun show bill. He lost the race by 87 votes.
Since then, we have had numerous problems,
particularly in the last session, when NCSA endorsed
(and then apparently didn’t endorse), HB 1287: “Report
Stolen Gun.” As you recall, sponsor Representative
Ronnie Sutton alleged in a committee hearing that you
endorsed the bill. And although Mr. Caldwell said NCSA
never endorsed HB 1287, the Raleigh News & Observer
reported:
“Caldwell's group also favors a bill that passed the
state House last week that would create a statewide
database of pistol purchase permit denials …”
For a detailed accounting of gun control bills
supported by the NCSA – as well as other malfeasance
on the part of the organization, please see my regular
gun rights column at examiner.com by going to:
http://bit.ly/NCSheriffs
Most recently, Republicans and Democrats alike have
supported a bill to repeal the archaic pistol purchase
permit system, SB 782, which gets a committee hearing
until – low and behold – “rumor” has it that Mr.
Caldwell had it pulled from the calendar; this,
despite the fact that other reports indicate sheriffs
themselves did not make a final decision on the bill.
I can give you all of the reasons to repeal the
purchase permit system, of course:
• It has long since been replaced by the National
Instant Check System;
• It is a remnant of the Jim Crow era;
• The “good moral character” clause has been
repeatedly abused;
• Draconian restrictions are being place on purchase
permits, including restriction of as few as two per
year.
But these problems are all known, so please allow me
to cut to the chase. Based on what we have seen thus
far, this is what GRNC has in mind:
• “No money for NCSA.” This message will go out on
each and every one of our e-mail alerts to thousands
of conservative gun owners across the state for the
foreseeable future. A year? Two? Ten? North Carolina
gun owners – who are historically supporters of law
enforcement organizations – are tired of seeing their
own money used to subvert their interests.
• Candidate ratings for sheriffs: We have toyed with
this for years, not especially anxious to add another
200 or so to the 350-odd candidates we evaluate each
election year in our “Remember in November” project
(see attached). Of course, it would be tailored to
sheriff races: We have already conducted a survey of
purchase permit restrictions. Other questions: Do
sheriffs charge for mental health checks for concealed
handgun permits? Do they send renewal notices for CHPs?
Do they require repeating the course for permit
renewals? We could go on and on.
While Mr. Caldwell has been subverting your interests
in the General Assembly by alienating legislators and
voters alike, GRNC became a political force capable of
impacting the vote of 120,000+ North Carolina gun
owners. And we have had enough.
Please feel free to contact me at (704) 907-9206 if
you wish to discuss the issue further.
Respectfully,
F. Paul Valone
President, Grass Roots North Carolina
You may find your NC representative by going
here:
http://www.grnc.org/contact_reps.htm
You may write your federal congressman by going here:
http://www.house.gov/writerep/
You may write your FEDERAL senators by going here:
http://www.senate.gov/ |
Support these PRO RKBA merchants who, as GRNC
sponsors, are supporting your Second Amendment rights:
 | Hyatt Coin & Gun Shop, 3332 Wilkinson Blvd.,
Charlotte, NC 28208, 704-663-5656,
www.hyattguns.com |
| Duncan Gun & Pawn, 414 Second St., North Wilkesboro,
NC 28659, 336-667-6303,
www.duncangun.com |
| Shooter's Express, 2 Caldwell Dr., Belmont, NC 28012,
800-358-GUNS,
www.shootersexpress.com |
| The Aisle Pawn Shop, 216 N. Main St., Mooresville, NC
28115, 704-663-5656
Gunner's Alley, LLC, 200 Parkthrough St., Cary, NC
27511,
www.gunnersalley.com, 919-388-1991, contact: Ed Gurearo, ed@gunnersalley.com |
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Copyright © 2009 Grass Roots
North Carolina P.O. 10684, Raleigh, NC 27605
Non-commercial reproduction and
distribution is permitted so long as this statement is included. All other
uses prohibited.
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