Commentary on Reciprocity

Reciprocity will have an overall positive change on the gun culture of the US if passed. More people will obtain carry permits and be introduced to the normalcy of gun ownership.   They will in turn become more interested in rifles, shotguns, and sporting handguns.

Reciprocity is more important than just reciprocity in itself.

Final Vote for HR 38, Updated with New York, 12/8/17

Local Representatives within the Capital District SCOPE Chapter:

Tonko – Nay

Faso – Aye

Most members of the New York House delegation opposed the concealed carry bill, including two Republicans — U.S. Reps. Dan Donovan and Peter King.


Here is how the entire New York state congressional delegation voted:

YES
Rep. Chris Collins (R), Rep. John Faso (R), Rep. John Katko (R), Rep. Tom Reed (R), Rep. Elise Stefanik (R), Rep. Claudia Tenney (R), Rep. Lee Zeldin (R)

NO
Rep. Yvette Clarke (D), Rep. Joseph Crowley (D), Rep. Dan Donovan (R), Rep. Eliot Engel (D), Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D), Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D), Rep. Brian Higgins (D), Rep. Peter King (R), Rep. Nita Lowey (D), Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D), Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D), Rep. Gregory Meeks (D), Rep. Grace Meng (D), Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D), Rep. Kathleen Rice (D), Rep. Jose Serrano (D), Rep. Louise Slaughter (D), Rep. Tom Suozzi (D), Rep. Paul Tonko (D), Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D)


Everybody Else – Final Vote Results:  http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2017/roll663.xml

FYI – HR 38 / HR 4477 and Virginia Citizens Defense League’s Take on it

excerpt:

Virginia Citizens Defense League is going to continue supporting H.R. 38, even when combined with H.R. 4434.

The idea is that gun owners will gain far more by having National Reciprocity than would be lost to the bad parts of the Fix NICS component.

There are various theories floating around as to whether combining the bills is either a good strategy that will help get National Reciprocity onto the President’s desk or a horrible strategy that will only get the Fix NICS bill on his desk. Should National Reciprocity die in the Senate, but Fix NICS survive, we will then contact our Representatives to kill the Fix NICS bill and also ask the President to veto the Fix NICS bill unless National Reciprocity is also put on his desk.

The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) is working to get an amendment to improve the Fix NICS part of the bill. That would be an ideal solution.

Virginia Citizens Defense League will push CCRKBA’s amendment to Fix NICS once we know which Representative is carrying it and once we can verify the wording.

You will be updated once I know more about the CCRKBA’s proposed amendments, hopefully on Tuesday. You will also be updated on the disposition of H.R. 38 once I find out how the vote went on Wednesday.

Article:  https://www.ammoland.com/2017/12/national-reciprocity-vote-in-house-this-week-but-there-is-a-twist

HR 38, Reciprocity Update #3

Here is what GOA says:

By now, it is very possible that the House will combine the “Fix NICS” legislation with the reciprocity bill.

Ultimately, Gun Owners of America prefers that Congress send a clean reciprocity bill to the President.

But if the House combines the two bills together, one of two things will happen.

First, combining the two bills could end up killing the Fix NICS legislation. As a stand-alone bill, because of the support of the NRA and many in the House leadership, Fix NICS has enough votes to pass VERY EASILY in the House and Senate.

But it is very likely that Democrats would oppose a combined bill and filibuster it in the Senate. For this reason, prominent Senate Republicans and Democrats oppose combining the two bills — because they don’t want to kill the Fix NICS legislation.

Second, there is the slight possibility that combining the two bills will help concealed reciprocity go to the President’s desk.

As the situation stands now, Senate Democrats have enough votes to filibuster and kill reciprocity. But a combined bill might encourage some Red State Democrats to break from Schumer and vote “aye” on the bill.

HR 38 Reciprocity Update #2 – A Sneaky Change Occurred

There is a dirty trick that happened to HR 38.  It was secretly amended to include the Fix NICs (HR 4477) legislation into it.   It goes to the House Rules Committee Tuesday (12/5) before the final floor vote.  The only way to get it amended to remove the Fix NICs text is to ask your representative to amend it to remove all the HR 4477 text.  Here is what I wrote:

Representative Tonko,
HR 38 was amended to include text from HR 4477 into it.  It is scheduled to go to the rules committee and get a House vote on Tuesday. HR 4477 text was added to HR 38 in a non transparent and sneaky fashion with no discussion. I want you to please amend HR 38 to remove all the text from HR 4477.
Sincerely,..

Please call or email your representative.  We want a clean vote on HR 38, not the one that was amended to include HR 4477.

H.R. 38 – Reciprocity Update

There was great news coming out of the House Judiciary Committee today! By a 19-11 vote, the Constitutional Carry-friendly reciprocity legislation was voted out of the House committee and is now on its way to passage by the full House. The legislation would allow anyone with a pistol permit to carry in any state in the country.

Next it goes to the House floor for debate, possible amendments, and a full vote. Then the Senate votes on their version.

Now is the time for us all to put the heavy pressure on our representatives. The Capital District SCOPE Chapter is represented by: Tonko (D) in District 20 (Albany, Schenectady, part Rensselaer, part Saratoga) and Faso (R) in District 19 (Greene, Columbia, part Rensselaer).

Tonko does not support the bill and does not support us gun owners. We need to be a constant (but polite) pain in his ass. All gun owners in his district need to contact him repeatedly until the vote and tell him he is not representing us and he needs to change his mind and support HR 38. We need to be able to protect ourselves and our families when traveling, without worrying about going to prison. Call Faso too, he is worried about his next election and he has liberal protestors outside his office all the time. Tell him to support HR 38 and he will have your support in the next election.

Contacting is easy to do, call the congressional switchboard at 866-338-1015 any time, you will be connected to his office and you can leave a message. If this is important to you, you can call daily if you want, to get the point across how important this is.

Call the congressional switchboard at 866-338-1015 any time, it’s easy. Even if you don’t have a pistol permit, you might get one someday, or someone with a pistol might save your butt someday.

Capital District SCOPE

Patriot John Wallace Passes Away

From Oathkeepers Facebook Page:

To all Oath Keepers and others, sadly I must report to you that our recent past President John Wallace has passed away from a medical condition he has been battling for some time.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family. John was a Founding Member of New York Oath Keepers and served in many capacities including Vice President, and most recently, President, but found it necessary to step down because of his illness. He set a great example as a continuous fighter for the Constitution and was, and will continue to be, a constant reminder of the importance of honoring our OATH. I trust that John will continue to be with us as we continue to fight on.

Dan Devlin, Pres. New York Oath Keepers

For more about John’s service to his family and community, and specifics about arrangements click on the link below, or copy and paste into your browser.

 

http://www.frenchblasl.com/obituaries/John-W-Wallace…

 

Comment: I never met John, but I saw many of his videos on YouTube.  I liked him a lot.  He seemed caring and tough at the same time, and he was a great speaker.

Last Minute Election Rating

Rensselaer County

Rensselaer County Clerk Frank Merola rated A

 

Frank Merola was not mentioned before because the Times Union did not mention the Rensselaer County Clerk race. I just saw it on the ballot.

Election Day Special

Capital District Ratings

Rensselaer County:

Executive Steve McLaughlin  rated A

Legislator District 3 Todd Tessman rated A

Legislator District 2 John Hebert rated D

Grafton Town Justice Christopher Meyer rated A

Information for Capital District Voters from NYSRPA

http://www.nysrpa.org/nysrpa-endorsed-candidates-2017/

This list is from NYSRPA and may be useful to you.  It includes some candidates from Rensselaer County, Columbia County and Schenectady County that NYSRPA endorses.