Capital District SCOPE

Mont Vernon changed it’s policy to not allow concealed carry holders to enter Mount Vernon when it previously did.  You can do something, read below and see a sample letter to complain.

From the Freebeacon.com web site:  http://freebeacon.com/issues/virginia-gun-rights-group-protests-new-gun-ban-george-washingtons-home/

From Virginia Citizens Defense League:  Mount Vernon “no guns” policy
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Member Ron Klein called the Mount Vernon main number – 703-780-2000 – and asked to speak to a manager or director about their new “no guns” policy. He pointed out that such a policy would only affect law-abiding citizens, while criminals will ignore the sign. George Washington is no doubt rolling in his grave over such a restriction!

Here is a page on their prohibitions:

http://www.mountvernon.org/plan-your-visit/tips-for-your-visit/guidelines/bag-inspection-policy-prohibited-items/

There is a page showing their senior staff names and email addresses at:

http://www.mountvernon.org/about/senior-staff/

http://www.mountvernon.org/preservation/mount-vernon-ladies-association/mount-vernon-ladies-association-board-members/

I suggest both emailing them and calling, too.

Example letter already sent by a member of CDSCOPE:

Hi. Thank you for doing a great job maintaining and running Mount Vernon. You truly deserve to be recognized for such commendable work and I thank you for it. I do have one problem that sincerely bothers me that I hope you can contemplate and fix. I read with dismay recently in a freebeacon.com web site article that you recently changed your policy regarding letting concealed handgun carry holders carry their concealed handguns on site. There are nearly 17 million concealed carry holders in this nation and your policy is bigoted against them. Each concealed carry holder undergoes a background check to purchase a firearm, you couldn’t ask for a more law abiding and trustworthy patron. Concealed carry holders just want to be prepared in case of an emergency. It is the same reason you would have a fire extinguisher in your house, you assume a fire is never going to happen to you, but just in case you want to have a fire extinguisher around to be prepared. The right to keep and bear arms was decided to be an individual right, a civil right, by the supreme court in the Heller case and your policy is denying concealed carriers their constitutional right to protect themselves. This new policy of denying entrance to concealed carry holders exercising their constitutional right, if you think about it deeply, is just as bigoted as a storeowner denying entrance to someone due to the color of their skin, even after the supreme court ruled it was unconstitutional to do so because it was a civil right. I’m sure you would be very angry if someone denied entry to a place today based on their skin color, and these two issues have equivalence. The argument of the safety issue is moot because concealed carriers are safer than the general public and safer than police officers too.

Thank-you for taking the time to read this and I urge you further debate on this issue among your board and to reverse your policy immediately…..because you can. Please forward to all the members of the board and senior staff.

Gia M. Arnold, the former State Senate candidate who ran on a pro-Second Amendment platform and was arrested for not using a turn signal, possession of an assault rifle, a high capacity magazine, public obstruction, an air soft pistol (originally charged as a handgun), an air soft face mask, and a knife, later charged with second degree obstructing governmental administration and second and third degree criminal possession of a weapon was sentenced to five years’ probation Friday after pleading to possession of an illegal assault rifle.

Articles here

http://buffalonews.com/2017/07/21/gia-arnold-former-state-senate-hopeful-avoids-jail-gun-case/

http://www.niagara-gazette.com/news/local_news/arnold-receives-probation-in-gun-possession-case/article_c65a2dee-3557-5359-bbe1-b5dfb3870966.html

http://www.dailypublic.com/articles/02132016/gia-arnold-and-triggering-ammosexuals

From our Twitter feed twitter.com/CDSCOPE   and

Summarized from the 7/18 Guns.com web site:

According to court documents, the Johnsons were asked by officials to be foster parents to their grandchild, but when the grandfather, concealed pistol license holder, arrived to pick up the youth from the Michigan Health and Human Services’ custody, caseworkers searched him and said he had to provide the serial numbers to all his firearms.  When he questioned caseworkers about the legality of the policy, Johnson was told “if you want to care for your grandson you will have to give up some of your constitutional rights”  (more of the story here)

Comment: they need a list of the serial numbers of all his firearms? The MHHS contact information is here in case you want to call or mail them…..  http://www.michigan.gov/mdhhs/0,5885,7-339–352302–,00.html

Personal comment:  This one makes me angry.  Whether you agree with the Bundy Ranch revolt or not, a judge in the Bundy retrial should not tamper with the jury’s ability to use nullification if they see fit.  This is more erosion of the rights of the people.

Update 7/22:  so much more information about the case from the NRA-ILA, read here, It has been 5 years since this woman’s guns were seized.

Update 7/20: this story has a pay wall so you might not be able to read the entire story.  To get around it, cut and past “Circuit Opens Door to Gun Recovery After Order Expires” into Google and the entire story should appear when you click on it.

From the July 18th New York Law Journal:

A federal appeals court said there is “no clear reason” why a Nassau County woman whose rifles and shotguns were taken away as part of a now-expired order of protection should not receive a hearing to determine if her weapons should be returned.  (more here)

….After Panzella’s ex-husband withdrew his petition to extend the order of protection in March 2013, Panzella asked to have her firearms returned. But the sheriff’s department refused to do so unless it received a court order, which is its policy.

Call or write Sheriff Sposato and tell him his policy of retaining firearms after a court order has expired violates civil rights and they need to change their policy.

Michael J. Sposato, Nassau County Sheriff, 100 Carman Ave., East Meadow, NY 11554.  Civil Enforcement No: 516-571-2120 (no email address was found)

More:  The Albany County Sheriff’s Department was contacted and they informed SCOPE that their policy is that after an order of protection has expired, and there are no other court documents, the firearms are returned.

here is an example letter:

date

Sheriff Michael J. Sposato
Nassau County Sheriff
100 Carman Ave.
East Meadow, NY 11554

 

Dear Sheriff Sposata:

I recently read in the 7/18/17 New York Law Journal and on the 7/21/17 NRA-ILA web site how your office confiscated firearms from Ms. Panzella in 2012 over an order of protection against her. I also read the order of protection did not require the confiscation of the firearms. When the order of protection expired, your office kept the firearms and refused to return them without a court order as was your policy.

I also read that since then there has been a federal court ruling stating that your office could not rely on your retention policy to keep the firearms without due process. Your case is now being discussed in Law Journals.

Change your policy! What you are doing by retaining the firearms is stealing. You Sheriff’s Office people that refuse to change the firearms retention policy should be ashamed of yourselves. Other sheriff departments do not have this policy. The fact that your case is being discussed in law journals and has gone to federal appeals court shows how wrong your policy is. Once it gets that far, it is government overreach.

CHANGE YOUR POLICY AND RETURN MS. PANZELLA’S FIREARMS PLEASE!

I am a gun owner and I belong to a gun rights group and this case is getting gun owning voters riled up. As the sheriff I know you can change the policy, please do so and stop making a mess out of this case and Ms. Panzella’s life. Thank-you for your time.

Cordially,

 

 

 

from the July 18th Rome Sentinel:

A firearms ownership advocacy group has raised $500 to
reimburse a local man for expenses incurred after his firearms were mistakenly confiscated through a state gun control law following a Social Security number mixup, the organization has announced.  (more here)

If you want to help support the cause of dividing NYS into two economic zones, purchasing one of these t-shirts will help fund the cause.  Update: New t-shirts are available.

http://www.newamsterdamny.org/store.html

 

From the 7/15/17 Western Free Press:

In the political world there is much controversy about legislation and legislators. New York just closed their legislative session and there is little to brag about by the governor and the legislators, The governor and leaders obviously disagree, but many issues were ignored and little was done for the taxpayers of the state to improve laws.

Among the casualties were necessary amendments to the SAFE act to correct the huge infringements to the Second Amendment. The biggest one is the lack of due process dealing with the confiscation of property and destroying of gun rights…………..   find the rest here

I’ve heard of people shooting at cans, melons and jugs before, but this study shoots at breast implants.  The study shows that breast implants slow the velocity of a bullet, but don’t replace bullet proof vests.  more here

 

complete article from Ammoland: (www.ammoland.com/2017/07/cmp-sales-1911s-one-step-closer-house-passage)

Excerpt:  Fairfax, VA – -(Ammoland.com)- On Friday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 2810, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2018.

Included in the bill is a provision that would make U.S. Army surplus 1911 .45 ACP pistols available to the American public through the Civilian Marksmanship program (CMP).

In November of 2015, then-President Obama signed the NDAA for Fiscal year 2016 into law with language that authorized the Secretary of Defense to transfer 1911s no longer in service to the CMP for public sale. That language made the transfers subject to the Secretary’s discretion and capped them at 10,000 per year. Unsurprisingly, no actual transfers were made under the program while Obama remained in the White House.

This year’s language, however, would effectively make the transfers mandatory and would remove the yearly cap.

The NRA thanks House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-TX) and Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) for their steadfast support of this important provision.

Upon completion of the Senate NDAA, the House and Senate will convene a conference committee to resolve the differences in their bills. If you would like to see 1911 sales return to the CMP, please contact your U.S. Senators and Representative and urge them to keep the House language on this matter intact in the final bill they send to the president. You can contact Senators and Representative at 202-225-3121.