| Vol2-No21 BULLET POINTS | |
| NRA RANKED NUMBER ONE ON FORTUNE POWER LIST | |
| The 4.3 million member National Rifle Association gained top ranking in Fortune magazine's recently released "Power 25" list as the most powerful lobbying group in American politics. The gun rights organization unseated the 34.8 million member American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) that had held Fortune's top slot for the past four years. In its evaluation Fortune described the NRA as "a highly focused, well-financed organization" and gave it credit for "electing its supporters to Congress and, last year, to the White House" with "a state-of-the-art lobbying machine with its own national newscast, one million precinct-level political organizers, and an in-house telemarketing department." AARP ranked second on the Fortune list, the National Federation of Independent Business was third, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee fourth and the Association of Trial Lawyers ranked number five. | |
| McCAIN, LIEBERMAN INTRODUCE GUN SHOW BILL | |
| After weeks of news reports publicizing their intentions, U.S. Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) on Tuesday, May 15, introduced legislation to expand federal government background checks to include all firearm transfers at gun shows. Among its many complex provisions that create numerous new categories for regulation, the bill establishes a waiting period of up to five days to complete a check, and would require gun show attendees to "register" with the federal government whether or not they even sold or swapped a single firearm. Its definition of "gun shows" encompasses an individual's home, imposing the same requirements on family members and friends transferring a gun as it does on transfers between strangers. The bill also allows the FBI to charge an open-ended fee for the background check, and allows the bureau to retain records of gun buyers who pass the check. The bill has drawn opposition from the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action, Jim Baker, NRA-ILA executive director, referring to government studies that show less than two percent of criminals get their guns from gun shows, said, "We're talking about a very, very small problem that they've approached with a sledgehammer in terms of individual rights." Baker called the bill "the beginning of a registration system." | |
| NSSF/ATF DEALER-AWARENESS SEMINARS EXPAND TO NORTHWEST | |
| The series of nationwide firearm dealer-awareness seminars heads northwest in June. This joint effort between the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms (ATF) was created to help reduce the criminal use of firearms. The series of "Partnership for Progress" seminars features representatives from NSSF and ATF speaking on topics such as how to recognize and deter straw purchases, firearms tracing, inventory security issues and the "Don't Lie For the Other Guy" program. Scheduled dates are Dover, DE., June 6; Seattle, WA., June 19; Portland, OR., June 21; Spokane, WA., June 26; Anchorage, AK., June 28. For complete details on this important series, please contact Shane Dalton at sdalton@nssf.org or 203-426-1320, or visit the NAFR Web site at www.nafr.org . | |
| HESTON ELECTED TO FOURTH TERM AT NRA | |
| Hollywood legend Charlton Heston will serve an unprecedented fourth term as president of the National Rifle Association following his unanimous reelection by the group's Board of Directors during its meeting Monday, May 21, at the 130th NRA Annual Convention in Kansas City, MO. The charismatic screen star has helped galvanize American gun owners into joining the NRA whose membership now stands at 4.3 million and is still growing. The NRA is also coming off one of its best election campaign efforts in recent memory, with 86 percent of the 10,000 NRA-endorsed political candidates winning their races. NRA's involvement in the 2000 presidential contest is also credited with putting Texas Governor George W. Bush in the White House-a fact underscored by Interior Secretary Gale Norton who thanked the group in her keynote speech at the NRA Members' Banquet Saturday night. Norton read a letter from President Bush extending his "warm greetings" to the association and saying he looked "forward to working" with them "to reduce violent crime in America while protecting our constitutional rights." A former prosecutor and Colorado attorney general, Norton stressed that the "best way to reduce crime is to lock up the criminals who commit violent crimes." | |
| HCI CHANGES ITS NAME | |
| The name may change, but the goal is the same. Sarah Brady's Handgun Control, Inc., is expected to announce next month that it will adopt a new name and henceforth be known as the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. The group's sister organization, the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence, is to be called the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. The change appears to be a fairly transparent attempt to recast the groups as more acceptable to an American public that has grown increasingly skeptical of the gun control movement and its ultimate goals of restricting, if not outright banning, legitimate firearm ownership. | |
| MARYLAND GOVERNOR VETOES SAFETY EDUCATION EFFORT | |
| A firearm safety education bill that recently passed the Maryland legislature by a wide margin has been vetoed by Gov. Parris Glendening. The bill, which enjoyed strong support from politicians and groups across political and ideological lines, would have made Maryland the first state to offer firearm safety training in public schools, from kindergarten through high school. Glendening, however, rejected the bill because of provisions that would allow middle school and high school students to learn gun safety at shooting ranges with courses developed in part by the NRA. | |