Capital District SCOPE

In case you missed the debate, you can catch it here:

Members –

Today is National Voter Registration Day. Gun control groups are pushing hard to get people registered to vote for “Gun Sense Candidates” and say the upcoming elections are their chance to change the future.

Don’t let them steal your future by voting anti-gun politicians into office. If you aren’t registered to vote, all you need to do to register is click on the link below. Not sure if you’re registered? You can use the link to check.

Please send this link to family and friends. It will take all the pain of registering in person away and may help boost voter turnout. Let’s not give up without a fight.

https://www.vote.org/register-to-vote/

Register to vote online with Vote.org. Fast, free, secure and nonpartisan. It takes less than 2 minutes to register to vote. Get started now.

Your vote counts!

Here is a generic letter some members are sending to Field & Stream via the web site survey (https://dcsg.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0lbxtecnOsIRRAN)

I am a gun owner and outdoorsman. I have shopped at Dick’s and Field & Stream many times in the past.

When Dick’s announced the company would no longer sell rifles and shotguns to anyone less than 21 years old, this made me concerned that corporate had been swayed by a minority public opinion.

When Dick’s announced the company would no longer sell certain types of rifles and shotguns, pull these items from existing stock not to sell, and would destroy these instead of returning these firearms to the manufacturers, this upset me even more.

When I read Dick’s corporate had hired a known anti-gun lobbyist law firm in Washington D.C., that was the final move I would not tolerate as a customer of Dick’s.

It is ironic that a company that still sells a limited inventory of firearms hires a anti-gun lobbyist!!

Since that last Dick’s decision, I will never shop in any Dick’s or Field and Stream store again! I will recommend to my friends, on social media, and the organizations I belong to, not to shop at either store!

I will instead do my shopping at local businesses and FFL dealers for all my needs and wants. They are more than willing to talk and socialize, deal, and sell me what I would have bought at Dick’s and Field and Stream at a better price.

Sincerely,

 

From our friend Gary:

Hi all,

FYI…

The use of center fire rifles for big game hunting in Albany County will be legal for the next two years. This was to sunset this year if not renewed.

Bill A10342 was passed in both the NYS Senate and Assembly and finally signed into law on 7/31/2018. The DEC hunting guidebook does not have this in it because of the printing deadlines. You may want to tell your classes about this and to always be aware that laws do change.

Here is the link to this bill:
https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2017/a10342

From our member Gary….. here is a link to the 2018 DEC Hunting and Trapping guide book for you to download.

https://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/wildlife_pdf/15huntguide.pdf

By David Figuradfigura@nyup.com
NYup.com  (entire article here)

Excerpt:  New York’s Venison Donation Coalition program, which supplies venison donated by the state’s deer hunters to regional food banks and local food pantries, is losing money.

The bottom line, is the program, which last year supplied more than 66,000 pounds of donated venison to food pantries across the state is struggling. For the past two years, the program has run several thousand dollars in the red and this year undoubtedly will be no different.

This program makes hunters look good. The venison they don’t keep for themselves goes to those in need. They’re helping their neighbors out.  The Coalition is reaching out. We could use some help. We don’t want to see this go away. We need your donations to continue making this happen.

Donations can be made at any local sportsmen licensing-issuing location or sent directly to the program at Venison Donation Coalition Inc., 3 Pulteney Square, Bath, N.Y. 14810.

from:  https://www.recordernews.com/opinion/letters/132603

SANTABARBARA SOLD OUT SECOND AMENDMENT SUPPORTERS
Posted by Recorder News | Sep 6, 2018 | Letters | 1 |

To the editor,

For Second Amendment Supporters like myself, one bill has loomed large over the last several years. It’s been our rallying point. It’s defined our advocacy, and it’s become symbolic of this governor’s distaste for a deliberative legislative process and his total disconnect from Upstate.

I’m talking, of course, about the NY SAFE Act, rammed by the governor through the Legislature late at night and with no public debate. I don’t agree with Governor Cuomo on many things, but when he says it’s the strictest gun control law in the country, he’s not kidding.

My opponent voted for it. You would think he’d tout it to Democrats across the district. Instead, he’s doing something funny- he’s trying to convince Second Amendment supporters that he has their back.

Don’t fall for it. Angelo might have backed Second Amendment rights when he was a Republican, but since switching parties and taking tens of thousands of dollars from New York City special interest groups he’s decided it’s more convenient for him to shift his positions accordingly. Angelo had one chance, like every other member of the Legislature, to come through for us. He didn’t. Other Democrats who represent upstate areas in the Assembly have joined a chorus of Republican of voices calling for a SAFE Act repeal. Angelo isn’t one of them. He still makes the case to sportsmen that he shares their values. His grade from the NRA is 7. Not 7 out of 10, 7 percent out of 100.

If Angelo wants to talk about guns, he should go around the district and tell Democrats that he helped pass the strictest gun control bill in the country. What he shouldn’t do is tell a different story to those of us who believe in the constitution, who believe in civil liberties, and who believe that law-abiding, decent Americans should have the right to hunt, to secure their homes and to protect their families.

I’m a member of the NRA and NYSRPA. If you send me to Albany, you’ll never have to wonder how I’ll vote when it comes to protecting our constitutional freedoms. I stand with you.

Brian McGarry

Rotterdam

Schenectady County Legislator

and candidate for NYS Assembly

It’s coming and we have to be ready for it.

From gunpoliticsny.com

S-9145
AUG 1, 2018 Politics, State Legislation

Follow up to my previous post: Senator Brad Hoylman has introduced a bill S-9145 creating “the offense of unlawful dissemination of instructions for the assembly of a weapon and the sentencing for certain offenses regarding ghost guns.”

07/25/2018
By Don Smith and Tom Reynolds

Over the course of fourteen years, from 1775 to 1789, the US had four forms of government: a king, the Continental Congress, the Articles of Confederation and, finally, our Constitution. Each step was an attempt to improve on the previous one. It was a pendulum-like process but it eventually worked.

On a lesser scale, SCOPE has been undergoing the same process. After decades of being a relatively small organization primarily in western NY, it suddenly became a genuinely statewide organization after passage of the SAFE Act in 2013. That growth led to administrative and organizational problems. New leadership was elected to deal with those problems while simultaneously charting a new long term direction that puts more grassroots emphasis on the chapters and committees.

This new emphasis on grassroots’ actions is important because we do our best to work at that level with our locally elected officials. It is important for constituents to be in contact with their legislators on multiple occasions, especially during NY’s legislative session from January to June. SCOPE chapters in the legislator’s home district must open lines of communication which will forge positive and valuable on-going relationships between legislators and SCOPE members. Working through SCOPE will allow common people at the local level to affect the decisions of their representatives. This is a fundamental role for any “grassroots” organization.

Our belief is that putting more emphasis on the chapters and committees will help to invigorate the membership to be more involved, raise SCOPE’s profile, increase membership and make SCOPE more effective. We are seeing signs that this is happening. Last year, we only had six candidates for At Large positions on SCOPE’s board and all were previously involved at the state level. This year we have twelve candidates and half are NOT now involved at the state level. Last year we had one person doing the review of proposed legislation while this year we have three. But there are many other non -board jobs that need doing and we need volunteers from the membership.

Growth and development brings new challenges to be answered. When SCOPE moved from being a small regional to a large statewide organization, it did not adapt its policies and procedures for the changing organizational needs. Officers have a duty to see that members’ dues are used ethically, efficiently and effectively. By -laws and regulations must be followed and not ignored. Officers must be willing to share information openly with the board and the membership; knowledge may be power but that power cannot be hoarded by a few.

These simple directives were not followed over the past few years and problems occurred and administrations changed. We inherited last year’s records that were either incomplete or in complete disarray, which puts an audit of last year in question. However, we are committed to having the first financial audit in SCOPE’s history by ensuring that the current year’s records will allow an audit. Members will know how their dues are being spent. We are also catching up on required government reporting that was not done in the past and is stressing both chapter and state officers. But, it must be done and once completed it will ease future chapter operations. We now have a very active Finance Committee that is putting greater emphasis on protecting SCOPE’s assets and ensuring that these issues never again arise.

The 2A movement has been hampered by the lack of cooperation between organizations. Working together isn’t always easy but having all the gun owners in NY motivated, locally involved and moving in the same direction will produce a force that cannot be ignored. This requires organizations to rise above old issues and recognize that they exist to defend our Constitutional Rights and that goal must neutralize differences that arise. Towards that end, one of the first efforts mutually made was to end the problems between SCOPE and NYS Rifle and Pistol Association and begin working along parallel paths. To that end, we have met success. Both SCOPE and NYSRPA have set aside past differences for the greater good of the 2nd Amendment. SCOPE looks forward to forging new relationships, even if it means overlooking past problems between organizations and individuals in order to defend the 2nd Amendment.

SCOPE is also concerned with the protection of fundamental human rights such as due process, freedom of speech and protection against unreasonable searches and seizures of personal property. Our Articles of Incorporation state that SCOPE is, “…dedicated to the preservation of the United State of America and the Constitution……and particularly Article 2 of the Bill of Rights.” Those opposing the 2nd Amendment are also going after other rights. We must begin to work with our natural allies in the name of protecting all Constitutional Rights. You don’t have to own a gun to be concerned about the erosion of your rights. We must work with “Rights” organizations for a return to what the Constitution originally said and not the one Sotomayer and others wish it had said.

Ronald Reagan defined perfectly that our short term decisions should all still be moving us in our long term direction. No organization operates in a vacuum and current political forces influence our short-term decisions but we must never lose sight of our goals. Extreme anti 2nd Amendment forces like Cuomo, Obama and the mainstream media have dominated the past few years but we may now have an ally in the White House. We must capture this moment by promoting enthusiasm, raising expectations and supporting activism.

Because of the negative political climate we endured, the primary goal of 2A defense organizations has been to counter attacks on the rights of firearms owners. SCOPE was a part of successfully lobbying for the REJECTION of bills sometimes labeled “SAFE Act 2″. Some examples: Safe Storage, Microstamping, Ban of 50 Caliber firearms [including 12 gauge shotguns], Mandatory insurance coverage of $250,000 for gun owners, 18 years old to own a gun, State issued pistol permits, Registration of ALL firearms with $15 fee/gun and annual renewal with $10 fee/gun.

While we won these battles, the enemies will return and the “War On Guns” continues. Although we have not been able to obtain a repeal of the SAFE ACT itself, we continue to remain on the offensive.

All of us in SCOPE need to be laser focused on “what we do”, “how we do it” and “what it costs in time and money” between now and the November 2018 Gubernatorial Election. There are serious issues with which your chapter and state leadership must be engaged. Distractions should not be tolerated. “Cuomo’s Gotta Go” as well as the SAFE Act.