NO T
NR A
YOUR GR AND PARENTS’
HOW THE LE ADERSHIP OF THE
NR A PUT S A MERICANS AT RISK
E VERY TOWN FOR GUN SAFE T Y
NO T
NR A
YOUR GR AND PARENTS’
HOW THE LE ADERSHIP OF THE
NR A PUT S A MERICANS AT RISK
APRIL 2014
NOT YOUR GR ANDPARENT S’ NR A
2
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
4HOW THE LEADERSHIP OF THE
NRA PUTS AMERICANS AT RISK
5
Arming Felons and Terrorists
8
Mixing Guns and Alcohol
10
Silencing Doctors and Military Commanders
12
Handcuffing Law Enforcement
14
Hobbling Local Efforts to Fight Gun Crime
16Conclusion
18Endnotes
1
2
E VERY TOWN FOR GUN SAFE T Y
For a century after its founding in 1871, the
National Rifle Association served its members
and the country by promoting hunting,
marksmanship, and responsible gun use.
It supported common sense gun laws, including
measures to license firearm dealers and restrict
access to machine guns, and advocated for
passage of major federal gun legislation like the
National Firearms Act of 1934 and the Federal
Firearms Act of 1938.
EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
That organization no longer exists.
The leadership of today’s NRA would be
unrecognizable to the people who led it for
most of the twentieth century — or to NRA
member Ronald Reagan, who endorsed
a 7-day waiting period for gun purchases and
thought background checks were “just plain
common sense”1 — positions that are
anathema to the contemporary gun lobby.
NOT YOUR GR ANDPARENT S’ NR A
Over the last thirty years, the Washington
This report highlights some of the extreme
leadership of the NRA has led the
positions the NRA has taken and some of
organization through a fundamental
the tactics it uses to advance its agenda,
transformation. The organization’s leaders
which is making America less safe. They
now cater to the most extreme members of include:
its base and fight even modest efforts to
Fighting for the rights of felons
close loopholes in the nation’s gun laws.
and terror suspects to buy and
They take a scorched-earth approach to
own firearms and explosives;
politics, compiling an enemies list that
Campaigning to put guns in places
includes any organization or individual who
like bars, despite the documented
dares question the party line.2 And they
dangers of mixing guns and alcohol;
bury evidence,3 silence researchers,4 and
blacklist companies that contradict the
Promoting gag orders to block
NRA’s agenda or cooperate with those who
pediatricians and military
commanders from discussing gun
seek to reduce gun violence.5
safety with parents and service
American children, families, and
members at risk for suicide;
communities are paying a high price.
Handcuffing law enforcement and
Guns kill 86 Americans every day.6
impeding their efforts to fight gun
Meanwhile, the NRA relentlessly presses
crime by sabotaging the introduction
legislators in every statehouse in America
of proven, innovative technology; and
to enact more dangerous gun laws.7 And
the organization’s Washington lobbyists
Hobbling communities beset
by gun violence by thwarting their
work to block Congress from taking
efforts to tailor gun laws to local
any action to address the national
conditions.
epidemic of gun violence.
3
4
E VERY TOWN FOR GUN SAFE T Y
HOW THE LEADERSHIP OF THE
NRA PUTS AMERICANS AT RISK
During congressional debate over the National Firearms
Act of 1934, which regulated the machine guns used by
Prohibition era organized crime, the NRA’s president
testified that he “never believed in the general practice
of carrying weapons,” and said carrying guns “should be
sharply restricted and only under licenses.”8 The
executive vice president told Congress that the group
was “absolutely favorable to reasonable gun control.”9
Today’s NRA has remained true to its roots in some
important ways. The organization’s gun safety and
marksmanship programs remain useful contributions to
the shooting sports and to public safety. And it is largely
because of these nationwide programs that the
organization is well known, and relatively well liked, in
much of the country. This is the NRA most American
gun owners know and trust.
But in other ways, the Washington leadership of the
National Rifle Association has led the organization
in a very different direction from that of its founders.
The contemporary NRA would be unrecognizable to
the people who led it for most of the twentieth century.
Today’s radicalized NRA was born in 1977, when an
insurgent group seized control of the organization’s
leadership. At the annual NRA meeting that year, the
insurgents mounted a coup and elected as their new
leader Harlon Carter, whose views would fundamentally
reshape the organization. He rejected calls for
prohibiting dangerous classes of persons from
possessing guns, saying that allowing “convicted violent
felons, mentally deranged people, violently addicted
to narcotics people to have guns” was simply the “price
we pay for freedom.”10
NOT YOUR GR ANDPARENT S’ NR A
5
ARMING FELONS
& TERRORISTS
Carter’s views have since been institutionalized as NRA
orthodoxy. Whereas more than eight in ten gun owners
— including 74 percent of the NRA’s own members —
support requiring a criminal background check of anyone
purchasing a gun,11 the NRA now opposes them,
proclaiming that background checks are a nefarious
government plot to create a national registry of guns.12
After a series of high-profile assassinations, including
President John F. Kennedy, Reverend Martin Luther
King Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy, the Gun Control Act of
The leadership of today’s NRA supports arming dangerous 1968 made it illegal for certain categories of particularly
people and allowing almost anyone to carry guns anywhere, dangerous people to purchase or possess firearms —
including convicted felons. Nine out of ten Americans
including our most sensitive areas — government
— including 82 percent of gun owners and 74 percent of
buildings, daycare centers, bars. It systematically
NRA members — support this common-sense
undermines efforts to enforce the law against the small
prohibition.13 And yet the NRA’s Washington leadership
handful of gun dealers who sell an overwhelming
opposes laws that would prevent not only felons from
percentage of guns that end up at crime scenes. It works
acquiring firearms, but individuals on the government’s
to ban any discussions of gun safety by doctors and
terror watch lists as well.
military commanders and counselors. And it promotes
vindictive state legislation to thwart local responses to gun
Arming Felons
violence, and ostracizes those who take issue with any of
Federal law bars individuals with felony convictions from
its positions.
purchasing or possessing guns.14 But the NRA has lobbied
Simply put, the NRA’s intransigence thwarts efforts
to implement strategies proven to reduce gun injuries,
and helps perpetuate the firearm deaths of 31,000
Americans every year.
at both the federal and state level to ease these restrictions,
and to let convicted felons overturn their prohibitions and
regain access to guns.
In 1986, the NRA successfully lobbied Congress to pass
the Firearm Owners Protection Act (FOPA),15 which allows
felons convicted of gun crimes to reverse their gun
prohibitions. FOPA also let states set their own standards
for restoring gun rights and removed federal restrictions on
criminals who have had their state prohibitions overturned.16
6
In Minnesota, for example, thousands of felons —
including those convicted of violent crimes — regained
access to guns under the new statute. When Minnesota
Republican Senator David Durenberger saw a public safety
crisis brewing and sought to address it, he “ran into a
stone wall” when he raised the issue with the NRA.17
Durenberger’s concerns played out as he had feared. In one
case, convicted felon David J. Byrne, who was prohibited
from possessing guns after killing his estranged wife and a
family friend, had his gun rights restored as a result of
FOPA. Byrne bought a gun and went on a shooting
rampage, injuring three police officers in a half-hour gun
battle that ended only when police shot and wounded him.18
The change also had a predictable outcome in Washington
State. In 1995, the NRA successfully lobbied for a law that,
E VERY TOWN FOR GUN SAFE T Y
except for the most violent felons and sex offenders,
requires judges to reverse a criminal’s gun prohibition if he
has not been convicted of any new crimes in the five years
after completing his sentence; a judge cannot consider an
applicant’s character, mental health or any other factors.19
After the law’s passage in 1995, more than 3,300 convicted
criminals regained their gun rights, and more than 400 —
fully 13 percent — went on to commit new crimes, including
murder, child rape and drive-by shootings.20
Felons who have had their gun prohibitions overturned
thanks to NRA-backed efforts include convicted murderers
and individuals guilty of transferring explosives to
international terrorists, threatening family members with
guns, illegally selling prohibited weapons like machine
guns and committing aggravated assault, robbery and
rape.21 But the NRA’s leaders are undeterred, and
INDIVIDUALS ON TERRORIST WATCH LISTS ATTEMPTED
TO BUY GUNS AND EXPLOSIVES AT LEAST 1,453 TIMES
BETWEEN FEBRUARY 2004 AND DECEMBER 2010,
AND IN 91 PERCENT OF THOSE OCCASIONS, THEY SUCCEEDED.
DUE IN LARGE PART TO THE NRA’S MOBILIZATION,
TERROR-GAP LEGISLATION HAS REPEATEDLY STALLED IN
CONGRESS. TO THIS DAY, THERE IS NOTHING PREVENTING
SUSPECTED TERRORISTS FROM LEGALLY BUYING GUNS.
NOT YOUR GR ANDPARENT S’ NR A
7
continue to campaign relentlessly in favor of state laws that
let dangerous criminals buy guns legally.22
having to show an identification card. So what are you
waiting for?”27
As a result, at least 11 states now allow for automatic
reversal of felons’ gun prohibitions after a certain period of
time, either for all felons or those convicted of certain
crimes.23 Many other states, like Washington, allow felons
to petition to reverse their prohibition — often through
processes that presumptively restore gun rights to
criminals and remove judges’ discretion to deny a petition
if basic criteria are satisfied — despite the risk that these
individuals will go on to commit additional crimes.24
The danger of gun-wielding terrorists is far from
hypothetical. According to the Government
Accountability Office, individuals on terrorist watch lists
attempted to buy guns and explosives at least 1,453
times between February 2004 and December 2010,
and in 91 percent of those occasions — 1,321 separate
incidents — they succeeded.28 Numerous
terrorism-related incidents on U.S. soil since 9/11 —
including shootings in Fort Hood and Little Rock in
2009, and plots in Fort Dix (2007), Quantico (2009),
and Seattle (2011) — involved firearms.29
Arming Terrorists
The FBI currently has no authority to block firearm sales
to individuals on the country’s terrorist watch lists —
so someone deemed too dangerous to board a plane
is allowed to buy guns under federal law.
Gun owners, including NRA members, overwhelmingly
support proposals to close this “terror gap:” a 2012
survey by Republican pollster Frank Luntz found that 76
percent of gun owners, including 71 percent of NRA
members, support prohibiting people on terror watch
lists from purchasing guns.25
But the NRA’s leaders virulently oppose proposals to
close this dangerous loophole.26
In June 2011, Al Qaeda issued a video message that
featured an American-born member of the terrorist
group urging followers to commit violent acts of jihad by
exploiting weaknesses in U.S. gun laws. “America is
absolutely awash with easily obtainable firearms,” he
said in the video. “You can go down to a gun show...
and come away with a fully automatic assault rifle
without a background check and, most likely, without
In response, legislation originally proposed by the Bush
Administration and endorsed by the Obama Justice
Department (S.34 and H.R. 720) would give the Justice
Department discretion — subject to judicial review —
to block gun and explosives sales to terror suspects.
But the NRA’s Washington leadership has fought
strenuously any efforts to close the terror gap, describing
attempts to tighten the law as a conspiracy by “politicians
who hate the Second Amendment.”30 Due in large part to
the NRA’s mobilization against terror-gap legislation, it
has repeatedly stalled in Congress.
To this day, nothing prevents suspected terrorists from
legally buying guns and explosives at federally licensed
dealers or from unlicensed individuals.
8
MIXING
GUNS
AND
ALCOHOL
Just as the NRA’s leaders oppose efforts to keep guns
out of the hands of the most dangerous people, they
aggressively advocate putting guns into every setting,
including volatile environments like bars.
Common sense and academic research show that
alcohol and guns can be a deadly mix. There is a strong
correlation between per capita alcohol consumption and
firearm violence.31 A report by the U.S. Department of
Justice concluded that approximately 40 percent of
those convicted of homicide had been drinking alcohol
at the time of their offense.32 And data from the National
Violent Death Reporting System indicate that 62 percent
of murder victims have a blood alcohol concentration
above the legal limit.33
The American public understands these dangers: in a
nationwide poll, more than nine in ten Americans opposed
laws that would allow people to carry guns in bars or on
college campuses where binge drinking is common.34
Yet, despite public opinion and scientific research
showing the danger posed by firearms in the hands of
alcohol users, the NRA presses to allow customers in
bars to carry hidden, loaded guns.35
E VERY TOWN FOR GUN SAFE T Y
There is no shortage of evidence that drunken bar fights
can turn deadly when guns are involved — and that all
bar patrons are at risk. For example, in April 2014, a
30-year-old man was fatally shot at point-blank range
after a fight broke out at a popular bar blocks from the
University of Pennsylvania campus.36 On Easter Sunday
that month, another man was killed and a second person
wounded when shots were fired inside a bar popular with
fraternity members at the State University of New York —
New Paltz.37 In February, 2014, a Lexington County,
South Carolina man was shot and killed when he tried to
break up a bar fight between other patrons.38 The same
month, in Fort Worth, Texas, a 56-year-old grandmother
who joined her friends for a drink was killed when an
altercation broke out at the bar and she was caught in
the crossfire. She was an innocent bystander, in the
wrong place at the wrong time.39
Despite the obvious dangers, the NRA’s leadership has
pushed legislation across the country to allow hidden,
loaded guns in bars, and the organization claims that
more than 40 states now allow guns in businesses that
sell alcohol.40 Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Ohio, Virginia
and Wisconsin all recently passed guns-in-bars legislation.
When Arizona passed such a law in 2009, one bar owner
lamented that allowing guns in bars would allow minor
scuffles to turn deadly; he complained that “[t]he idea of
anyone coming in with guns in a place that serves alcohol
just seems ludicrous.”41
NOT YOUR GR ANDPARENT S’ NR A
9
“ON SOME NIGHTS YOU HAVE
COLLEGE KIDS WALL TO
WALL IN HERE DRINKING,”
SAID A BAR OWNER IN
CLEMSON, SC.
“YOU DON’T WANT A GUN
IN HERE.”
THE NRA EVIDENTLY
DISAGREES.
In Tennessee, State Representative Curry Todd pushed a
guns-in-bars law with the NRA’s support. A Republican
Representative named Joe McCord — a member of the
NRA with an A-plus NRA rating — condemned the
NRA-supported bill in the strongest terms and criticized
the organization for its support and strong-arm tactics.
McCord explained, “Essentially, the NRA is saying to us,
if you don’t support and vote for carrying guns in bars, we
will not endorse you... This line of reasoning borders on
lunacy. What line will we not cross for the NRA? At what
point do we say that’s too much?... I’m sorry for those
[legislators] who feel you have to hold your nose and vote
for it... because of the NRA.”42 Despite intense opposition,
the legislature approved the bill and overrode Governor
Phil Bredesen’s veto to enact it into law.43
In 2014, lawmakers in Georgia44 and South Carolina
enacted laws allowing concealed guns in bars. One bar
owner in Clemson, South Carolina explained the reason
he chose to post a sign barring guns from his bar: “On
some nights you have college kids wall to wall in here
drinking,” he said. “You don’t want a gun in here.”45
The NRA evidently disagrees.
40%
OF THOSE CONVICTED OF
HOMICIDE HAD BEEN DRINKING ALCOHOL
AT THE TIME OF THEIR OFFENSE
10
SILENCING
DOCTORS
AND MILITARY
COMMANDERS
The extremism of the NRA’s leaders is not limited to
arming dangerous people and putting guns in sensitive
places. The gun lobby has also written and passed
legislation that bars doctors from even talking to parents
about gun safety and gagged military commanders and
mental health professionals from discussing firearms
with soldiers at risk of suicide.
Pediatrician Gag Orders
Just as they routinely counsel parents about other ways to
prevent childhood injury — like car seats, swimming pool
covers, and bike helmets — American pediatricians can
help protect children by discussing responsible firearm
ownership with their parents.
Scientific evidence indicates how. More than two million
children live in homes with unsecured firearms,46 and
research consistently shows that these children are at an
elevated risk of accidental firearm injury.47 But doctors are
uniquely positioned to help. A study of family practice
patients who reported gun ownership found that those
counseled by a doctor about safe firearm storage were 2.2
times as likely to improve their gun storage practices as
those who did not receive counseling.48 Another
nationwide, randomized controlled trial found that patients
who were counseled by their pediatrician about gun safety
and offered free firearm cable locks were 22 percent more
likely to continue following the recommended gun storage
practices six months later.49 In keeping with this evidence,
E VERY TOWN FOR GUN SAFE T Y
the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American
Academy of Family Physicians, the American College of
Physicians and the Society for Adolescent Medicine all
recommend that doctors inform parents of the risks of
gun injuries and how to prevent them.50
But the NRA’s leaders disregard this scientific evidence
and fight for laws that would gag doctors from even
discussing gun safety with parents.
In 2011, the group pushed Florida lawmakers to pass a
bill prohibiting doctors from asking their patients whether
they owned guns.51 The NRA’s former president (and
current lobbyist) Marion Hammer endorsed the law,
claiming in testimony before the state legislature that it
was necessary to prevent doctors from discriminating
against or harassing patients who chose to own guns.52
But a federal court found the law unconstitutional
because it infringed doctors’ free speech rights by
preventing the sharing of truthful, non-misleading
information about guns with patients — while doing
nothing to limit gun owners’ Second Amendment rights.53
Governor Rick Scott appealed the decision, and the NRA
filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the appeals court
to reinstate the law.54 A decision is pending.55
In 2013, Montana followed in Florida’s footsteps, enacting
a law that prohibits doctors from using questions about
gun ownership to determine what patients they will treat.56
In total, state legislators in at least thirteen states have
followed the NRA’s lead by introducing laws that would
discipline doctors who ask patients whether they have
guns in their homes, or prohibit doctors from recording
information about gun ownership in medical files.57
NOT YOUR GR ANDPARENT S’ NR A
11
NRA-BACKED LAWS TO GAG PEDIATRICIANS
SIGNED INTO LAW
PENDING IN 2014 LEGISLATIVE SESSION
INTRODUCED, FAILED IN PAST LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Muzzling Military Commanders and Counselors
The pediatrician’s office is not the only place where the
NRA disregards scientific evidence and meddles with
public health. The group also fought to restrict military
commanders and counselors from taking steps to prevent
gun suicides among American soldiers, sailors, airmen,
and marines.58
Over the last decade, the U.S. military has endured an
epidemic of suicides among active-duty troops, and more
than two-thirds of these deaths involved firearms.59 The
suicide rate hit a record high in 2012 when more than 349
service members took their own lives — more than were
killed in battle in Afghanistan that year.60
Military commanders determined that these suicides could
be prevented by talking with soldiers about whether they
had personal firearms in their homes and removing guns
from those most likely to hurt themselves. After studying
hundreds of military suicide cases, retired U.S. Army
Colonel Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, MD, MPH, concluded
“that the easy availability of weapons is a major part of the
problem.”61 Former Army Vice Chief of Staff General Peter
Chiarelli explained that the “majority of [suicides] have two
things in common: alcohol and a gun. That’s just the way it
is. And when you have somebody that you in fact feel is
high risk, I don’t believe it’s unreasonable to tell that
individual that it would not be a good idea to have a
weapon around the house.”62 As Chiarelli explained, “if you
can separate the individual from the weapon, you can
lower the incidences of suicide.”63
Despite the evidence supporting this common-sense
conclusion, the NRA’s leaders defied the military and
lobbied to prevent commanders from asking even basic
questions about service members’ privately owned guns.64
The NRA-backed restriction was introduced in 2010 as an
amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act
(NDAA) and took effect the following year.65 Chris Cox, the
executive director of the political and lobbying arm of the
NRA, applauded the restrictions as “protect[ing] the
privacy and Second Amendment rights of gun-owning
military personnel and their families.”66 But military
commanders were outraged by the new policy, which
muzzled them even when service members were at
serious risk of harm.67
Fortunately, the military fought back — and prevailed.
Working with suicide prevention advocates and Mayors
Against Illegal Guns, a group of retired generals and
admirals lobbied Congress to remove the dangerous gag
order, and it was rescinded in the 2013 NDAA.68 Along
with the expansion of behavioral healthcare services
and the distribution of thousands of gunlocks to
promote the safe storage of firearms, repeal of the
NRA-backed policy contributed to a 22 percent decline
in military suicides in 2013.69
12
HANDCUFFING
LAW
ENFORCEMENT
Beyond endangering those who risk their lives to defend
our country overseas, the NRA leadership undermines
enforcement of our gun laws here at home, and
promotes policies that put police in danger.
Standing your ground — against police.
In 2012, the NRA led a fight that drew national
headlines for its audacity. Their objective was to pass
an Indiana law that explicitly allowed Indiana residents
to use lethal force against uniformed law enforcement
officers.70 This statute expanded the state’s already
controversial “Stand Your Ground” law to a
once-unthinkable extreme.
Indiana law turns traditional self-defense doctrine on its
head, and now allows a person to use a gun against a
police officer if the person “reasonably believes” the
officer is trying to enter his or her home unlawfully or
otherwise unlawfully interfering with his or her property
— even if the homeowner is mistaken and the officer
was breaking no laws.71
Law enforcement officers in Indiana were outraged. The
president of Jeffersonville Fraternal Order of Police
Lodge 100 warned, “Somebody is going get away with
killing a cop because of this law.” Another Indiana
police chief called it a “recipe for disaster” that put a
“bounty on our heads.” In response to the group’s
support for this dangerous law, the police chief
terminated his NRA membership.72
E VERY TOWN FOR GUN SAFE T Y
Fighting gun-tracing technology
The NRA’s leadership also opposes the use of technology
that would help law enforcement track down gun criminals.
Law enforcement work tirelessly to solve crimes, but each
year in the U.S. nearly 40 percent of homicides73 and 60
percent of aggravated assaults with a firearm74 go unsolved.
That means that tens of thousands of violent criminals
evade arrest each year.75 When guns are involved in these
crimes, there is often little law enforcement can do to track
the specific gun used in a shooting if they do not recover
the gun at a crime scene. So-called “microstamping”
technology could change that.
Microstamping is a state-of-the-art technique that would
help law enforcement connect shell casings found at crime
scenes directly to the guns that fired them. When a
semiautomatic handgun is fired, the cartridge casing
comes into contact with the gun’s firing pin and breech
face before it is ejected and a new cartridge is loaded into
the chamber. Microstamping imprints a unique code on
the casing whenever the gun is fired. This allows law
enforcement to determine which gun fired any casings
they recover — aiding them to ultimately determine who
perpetrated the crime.
Microstamping would provide police with invaluable
intelligence for solving crimes, which is the reason leading
law enforcement agencies like the International Association
of Chiefs of Police strongly support using it in all new
semiautomatic handguns.76 As Frederick Bealefeld III, a
former Baltimore Police Commissioner, said,
microstamping “is one of these things in law enforcement
that would just take us from the Stone Age to the jet age in
an instant. I just can’t comprehend the opposition to it.”77
NOT YOUR GR ANDPARENT S’ NR A
Incomprehensible or not, the NRA strongly opposes
microstamping, and has used misinformation, political
expenditures, and every other trick in the book to block
adoption of the technology.
The NRA and other gun lobby groups have speciously
argued that microstamping would make guns prohibitively
expensive,78 but the micro-machining firm Laser Light
Technologies estimates that they can produce
microstamping components for between $1-$6 per gun.79
NRA leaders have also attacked microstamping technology
as unreliable,80 although studies have shown that all six
microstamped characters on a single expended shell casing
could be correctly identified 87 percent of the time.81
“[MICROSTAMPING] IS ONE
OF THESE THINGS IN
LAW ENFORCEMENT THAT
WOULD TAKE US FROM
THE STONE AGE TO THE
JET AGE IN AN INSTANT.
I JUST CAN’T COMPREHEND
THE OPPOSITION TO IT.”
FREDERICK BEALEFELD III,
FORMER BALTIMORE
POLICE COMMISSIONER
13
The NRA has poured extensive resources into its fight
against microstamping. In 2010, it spent more than
$100,000 82 in New York State to defeat microstamping
legislation that was supported by law enforcement
agencies and over 100 mayors.83 And New York is not
alone: the NRA targeted microstamping legislation in
Maryland,84 Massachusetts,85 Oklahoma,86 Rhode Island87
and Wisconsin.88
It also opposed microstamping in California, but it was
unsuccessful: in 2007, Republican Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger signed a microstamping bill into law.89
Even then, NRA leadership tried to delay implementation.
Because the developer of microstamping technology held
patents that could have delayed its implementation, the
California law provided that it would not take effect until
gun manufacturers could use the technology without
interference from the patents. Seeking to delay their ability
to do so, a former board member of the NRA’s official
California affiliate personally paid the $555 fee to extend
the patents so as to delay manufacturers’ access to the
technology and put off the effective date of the law.90
In 2013, with these delay tactics exhausted, the
California Attorney General certified that patents were
no longer a bar to implementing the microstamping
requirement. But even after the law took effect,
the NRA continued to resist its implementation.
The NRA’s attorney in California said the group
would seek to convince regulators to block the law
or legislators to overturn it,91 and the president
of gun maker Smith & Wesson announced that it
“would continue to work with the NRA” to block
microstamping from taking effect.92
14
HOBBLING
LOCAL
EFFORT S
TO FIGHT
GUN CRIME
Among the most insidious of the policies the NRA has
pursued is its campaign to stop cities from taking action to
protect the public in their own jurisdictions. In more than
40 states, the NRA has persuaded state legislators to pass
so-called “preemption” laws that broadly limit the ability of
local governments to adopt gun violence prevention
measures suited to local conditions. Only seven states had
such laws in 1979, but when the new generation of NRA
executives took over the organization, they launched a
nationwide campaign to convince state legislators to
prohibit cities from adopting their own gun rules.93
These laws are strongly associated with increased rates of
gun trafficking: states with broad preemption laws send
crime guns out of state at a rate more than four times
higher than states that allow cities to regulate guns.94
Preemption laws also defy common sense — and
longstanding tradition — by requiring crowded, high-crime
cities to apply the same gun laws as those in sparsely
populated, low-crime rural areas. This misguided approach
to gun regulation prevents urban areas from addressing
the unique challenges and concerns they face regarding
guns — and has perilous implications.
E VERY TOWN FOR GUN SAFE T Y
In March 2014, for example, West Virginia’s governor
signed a preemption law that prevents cities from
restricting guns in city parks and municipal community
centers. The law allows people with concealed carry
permits to bring guns into after-school and youth recreation
programs held in city facilities.95 It prompted the mayor of
West Virginia’s capital and largest city to produce signs
reading: “WARNING, CHILDREN ENTERING MUNICIPAL
RECREATION CENTERS MAY BE EXPOSED TO
STRANGERS CARRYING CONCEALED WEAPONS.”96
Stripped of the power to restrict guns in youth facilities in
his city, the mayor opined: “If there are either shootings or
shootouts, we hope none of the innocent children that take
part in the programs there are hit with any stray rounds of
ammunition.”97
WA R N I N G
CHILDREN
L
MUNICIPA
ENTERING
E RS
ION CENT
RECRE AT
X POSE D
M AY BE E
G E RS
TO S T R A N
ED
CO N CE A L
CARRY ING
W E A PO NS
NOT YOUR GR ANDPARENT S’ NR A
In Pennsylvania, NRA management has campaigned for
years to add punitive conditions to the state’s already broad
preemption law, even though it has already produced
illogical and lethal results. Under the law, the state
legislature can prohibit gun-carrying on state property, but
municipalities are powerless to do the same. Cities must
allow citizens to carry guns on local government property,
including municipal buildings.98 This produced tragic
results in Ross Township, Pennsylvania, where an armed
man entered the Municipal Building and shot and killed
three people in 2013.99
The NRA is now trying to make Pennsylvania’s
preemption law even worse. After unsuccessfully
challenging a number of local laws requiring gun owners
to report when their guns are lost or stolen, the NRA
convinced allies in the legislature to sponsor a bill giving
the NRA legal authority to sue Pennsylvania cities. Under
a version of the bill considered in 2012, if the NRA sued
a city over a local gun law like a lost and stolen ordinance,
the city would have to pay the NRA’s legal fees if the city
backed down and repealed its law within 30 days.
And if a city fought to preserve its law but eventually lost,
it could face a $5,000 fine and would be required to
pay triple the NRA’s legal fees — a windfall to the NRA,
paid with taxpayer dollars, for suing to overturn a
common-sense safety law.100 That measure failed, but the
NRA now supports a new version of the bill that would
still require cities to turn over taxpayer dollars to the
NRA’s trial lawyers if they sued over a local gun law and it
was repealed or struck down in court.101 A broad coalition
of Pennsylvanians, including mayors, leaders of law
enforcement and prosecutors, the state organizations for
city and county leaders and newspapers across the state
has persuaded the legislature to reject the bill.102
15
Such community opposition has not diminished the NRA’s
support — and it has not dissuaded the NRA from
promoting similar legislation in other states. In Florida, for
example, the state legislature added numerous provisions
to the state’s preemption law in 2011 — one of which gave
the NRA legal standing to challenge local laws in court and
made them eligible for attorneys’ fees and damages.
By expressly giving NRA lawyers authority to sue over local
gun rules — and subsidizing their efforts to do so with
taxpayer money — these extreme preemption laws send
a strong signal to local leaders: if they dare take any action
to protect their communities from gun violence, the
NRA’s trial lawyers will respond aggressively — and will be
expected to be paid from the public purse for doing so.
STATES WITH BROAD
PREEMPTION LAWS SEND
CRIME GUNS OUT OF STATE
AT A RATE MORE THAN
FOUR TIMES GREATER
THAN STATES THAT
ALLOW LOCAL CONTROL.
16
CONCLUSION
E VERY TOWN FOR GUN SAFE T Y
The leaders of today’s NRA
put ideology and agenda over
public safety and they take a
no-holds barred approach to
any dissenters, blacklisting
any individual, organization or
company that bucks the party
line.103
NOT YOUR GR ANDPARENT S’ NR A
A leading gun manufacturer, Smith & Wesson, discovered
the hard way how the ideologues running today’s NRA
deal with those who question modern NRA orthodoxy. In
2000, Smith & Wesson entered an agreement with the
Clinton Administration to voluntarily promote responsible
sales practices and so-called “smart gun” technology.
While the measures Smith & Wesson agreed to were
modest, the NRA’s reaction was anything but. Its
Washington leaders accused Smith & Wesson of “an act of
craven self-interest” and running up “the white flag of
surrender... [in the] fight for the Second Amendment,” and
claimed that the company’s agreement would “force down
the throats of an entire lawful industry [the] anti-gun
policies” of the Clinton administration.104 NRA leadership
called for a boycott of the gun maker, making the company
an “industry outcast.”105 Smith & Wesson’s sales declined
by nearly 40 percent and, on the verge of bankruptcy, it
was sold to a new owner that repudiated the agreement.106
Smith & Wesson managed to earn its way back into the
good graces of the NRA leadership by making strategic
financial donations; by 2012, after its contributions
surpassed one million dollars, the gun maker was inducted
into the NRA’s “Golden Ring of Freedom.”107 But in other
cases, NRA leaders have not been so forgiving of
companies, organizations and individuals whose views on
gun violence undermine their agenda.
17
Lamar Advertising in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, found itself
on the NRA’s enemies list after donating billboards to be
used as part of a gun violence prevention initiative. Target
ran afoul of the NRA’s zero-tolerance approach because its
stores do not sell real firearms, and it enforces a
longstanding policy in which the only toy guns it sells are
brightly colored or oddly shaped and cannot be mistaken
for actual weapons. And the NRA’s leaders blacklisted
FedEx after a FedEx spokeswoman had the temerity to
defend the company’s ban on guns in its facilities and
parking lots by saying, “We believe that a property owner’s
right to provide a safe work environment trumps an
individual’s right to possess a firearm on the owner’s
property.”108
Police or physician, military commander or local leader: the
NRA’s leadership metes out the same punishment to all
those who question the party line. And their unyielding
adherence to this dogma isolates them from the vast
majority of the American public — and from the majority of
their own membership.
18
E VERY TOWN FOR GUN SAFE T Y
1 In a speech at George Washington University, Reagan said, “it’s just plain common sense that there be a waiting period to allow local
law-enforcement officials to conduct background checks on those who wish to purchase handguns.” Steven A. Holmes, “Gun Control Bill
Backed by Reagan in Appeal to Bush,” NY Times, March 29, 1991. He signed a 15-day waiting period into law while governor, and urged
passage of the Brady bill that originally required 7-day waiting periods. Ronald Reagan, “Why I’m for the Brady bill,” N.Y. Times, March 29, 1991.
And he signed a joint letter with Presidents Carter and Ford urging Congress to pass the assault weapons ban and saying that the ban was “a
matter of vital importance to the public safety.” William J. Eaton, “Ford, Carter, Reagan Push for Gun Ban,” Los Angeles Times, May 5, 1994.
2 See NRA-ILA, “Fact Sheet: National Organizations with Anti-Gun Policies,” Sept. 17, 2012 (on file with Everytown for Gun Safety)
(compiling a lengthy list of individuals and organizations the NRA claims endorse “anti-gun policies,” media organizations it claims “have
assisted in the attack on Second Amendment rights,” and companies it claims have “lent their corporate support to gun control”).
3 See generally Mayors Against Illegal Guns, Access Denied 20-30, Jan. 2013, at maig.us/accessdenied.
4 See generally id. at 10-20.
5 See, e.g., Jackie Koszczuk, “NRA Turns Against Smith & Wesson,” Philadelphia Inquirer, Mar. 23, 2000; Jessica Chasmar, “NRA boycott of
outdoors show shuts it down,” Washington Times, Jan. 24, 2013, at http://bit.ly/1eWYzNK.
6 See Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Fatal Injury Reports, National and Regional, 1999-2010, at http://1.usa.gov/INLSVQ
(5 year average of gun deaths from 2006 – 2010 is 86 deaths/year).
7 For example, during the 2014 legislative session in Georgia, the NRA pressed for sweeping gun legislation that critics called the “Guns
Everywhere Act,” and which proposed to allow felons using illegal guns to claim protection under the state’s Stand Your Ground law and
permit guns on college campuses and in churches, government buildings, and unsecured areas of airports. When a modified version of the
legislation passed, the NRA applauded it as the “culmination of all the hard work that NRA members, Second Amendment supporters and
Georgia legislators accomplished.” NRA-ILA, “Georgia: Governor to Sign Comprehensive Pro-Gun Bill on Wednesday,” Apr. 22, 2014,
at http://bit.ly/1nGxEFC.
8 Adam Winkler, Gunfight: The Battle over the Right to Bear Arms in America 210-11 (WW. Norton 2011).
9 Id. at 211.
10 See generally Josh Sugarmann, National Rifle Association: Money, Firepower & Fear, Chapter Two: “Revolt at Cincinnati,” 1992, available at
http://bit.ly/1tfzT6R.
11 Luntz Global, Gun Owners Poll for Mayors Against Illegal Guns, July, 2012, at http://maig.us/1qlOoBJ.
12 See “Wayne LaPierre: Executive Vice President and CEO,” Who is the NRA Leadership, at http://www.meetthenra.org/nra-member/
wayne-lapierre (collecting quotations from LaPierre denouncing background checks).
13 See Quinnipiac University Poll, March 26 – April 1, 2013, at http://bit.ly/1ticB01; see also Luntz Global, Gun Owners Poll for Mayors Against
Illegal Guns, July, 2012, at http://every.tw/luntz.
14 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(d)(1), (g)(1).
15 See Dave Hardy, “No Surrender: The straight skinny on the Firearms Owners’ Protection Act (FOPA) the law that saved gun rights,”
NRA-ILA.org, Jan. 25, 2011, at http://bit.ly/1hihqwU.
16 See Pub.L. 99–308, 100 Stat. 449, enacted May 19, 1986.
17 Michael Luo, “Felons Finding It Easy to Regain Gun Rights,” N.Y. Times, Nov. 13, 2011.
18 David Chanen, “Legislators propose lifetime ban on weapons for felons,” Star Tribune, Jul.27, 2001.
19 Michael Luo, “Felons Finding It Easy to Regain Gun Rights,” N.Y. Times, Nov. 13, 2011.
20 Id.
21 Violence Policy Center, “Guns for Felons: How the NRA Works to Rearm Criminals,” 2000, at https://www.vpc.org/studies/felons.htm.
22 See Michael Luo, “Felons Finding It Easy to Regain Gun Rights,” N.Y. Times, Nov. 13, 2011.
23 These states include Alaska, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota,
and Texas. See Alaska Stat. § 11.61.200(b)(1)(C); Kan. Stat. Ann. § 21-6304(a); La. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 14:95.1(C); Mass. Ann. Laws ch. 140, §
129B(1)(i); Mich. Comp. Laws Serv. § 705.224f; N.M. Stat. Ann. § 30-7-16(C)(2); N.D. Cent. Code § 62.1-02-01; Or. Rev. Stat. § 166.270; R.I.
Gen. Laws § 11-47-5 (b); S.D. Codified Laws § 22-14-15; Tex. Penal Code § 46.04(a).
24 See Michael Luo, “Felons Finding It Easy to Regain Gun Rights,” N.Y. Times, Nov. 13, 2011.
25 Luntz Global, Gun Owners Poll for Mayors Against Illegal Guns, July, 2012, at http://every.tw/luntz.
26 NRA-ILA, “Are you an American or are you a terrorist?” Aug. 30, 2009, at http://bit.ly/1mZFxWj.
27 Video available at http://youtu.be/EpRQzTP8H1o.
28 Government Accountability Office. May 5, 2010. “Terrorist Watchlist Screening.” http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d10703t.pdf.
29 Pre-9/11 terrorist incidents on American soil, like shootings at the Empire State Building (1997) and CIA headquarters (1993),
also involved firearms.
30 Dana Milbank, “Terrorists who want to buy guns have friends on Capitol Hill,” Washington Post, May 6, 2010, at http://wapo.st/1ltI6yJ; see
also NRA-ILA, “Are you an American or are you a terrorist?” Aug. 30, 2009, at http://bit.ly/1mZFxWj.
NOT YOUR GR ANDPARENT S’ NR A
19
31 Wintemute G.J., “Association between firearm ownership, firearm-related risk and risk reduction behaviours and alcohol-related risk
behaviours,” Injury Prevention, P422-427 (Jun. 13, 2011).
32 Jennifer C. Karberg & Doris J. James, Substance Dependence, Abuse, and Treatment of Jail Inmates, 2002, U.S. Dep’t of Justice, July 2005,
at http://1.usa.gov/1nCKEft.
33 D. Karch, J. Logan & N. Patel, “Surveillance for Violent Deaths — National Violent Death Reporting System, 16 States, 2008,” Morbidity and
Mortality Weekly Report, Aug. 26, 2011.
34 David Hemenway, Deborah Azrael & Matthew Miller, “National Attitudes Concerning Gun Carrying in the United States,” 7 Inj. Prev. 282, 283
(Dec. 2001), at http://1.usa.gov/1hULSSa. A Columbia University study found that half of college students engage in binge drinking or
abuse of prescription and illegal drugs and that nearly one in four college students meet the medical criteria for substance abuse and
dependence. The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, “Wasting the Best and the Brightest:
Substance Abuse at America’s Colleges and Universities,” Mar. 2007, available at http://bit.ly/1g57Qhc.
35 Amanda Lee Myers, “Guns Allowed in Arizona Bars Starting Wednesday,” Huffington Post, Sept. 29, 2009, at http://huff.to/1i8Avlv
36 Emily Babay, “Man shot to death outside University City bar,” Philly.com, Apr. 15, 2014, at http://bit.ly/1noA6Aw.
37 Pauline Liu, “Update: Search continues for shooter in New Paltz fatal shooting,” RecordOnline, Apr. 20, 2014, at http://bit.ly/1i8nIp3.
38 Jason Old, “Man fatally shot trying to break up fight outside bar, deputies seek witnesses,” WISTV.com, Feb. 4, 2014,
at http://bit.ly/1mVSBfg.
39 Claire Cardona, “Woman killed during shooting at North Side Outlaws bar in Fort Worth was innocent bystander,” DallasNews.com, Feb. 17,
2014, at http://bit.ly/1epas9g.
40 Amanda Lee Myers, “Guns Allowed in Arizona Bars Starting Wednesday,” Huffington Post, Sept. 29, 2009, at http://huff.to/1i8Avlv.
41 Id.
42 Tom Humphrey, “‘Guns in Bars’ bill heads to Bredesen,” Knoxville News, May 5, 2010, at http://bit.ly/1jeOyZ6.
43 Malcolm Gay, “More States Allowing Guns in Bars,” N.Y. Times, Oct. 3, 2010.
44 Georgia H.B. 875, the Safe Carry Protection Act.
45 Kim Severson, “Want Guns With That? Chefs Find Politics Hotter Than Kitchen,” N.Y. Times, Mar. 31, 2014.
46 See Mark A. Schuster et al., “Firearm storage patterns in US homes with children,” American Journal of Public Health, 90, no. 4 (2000):
588-594, available at: http://bit.ly/1cxGGDU; Okoro et al., Prevalence of Household Firearms and Firearm-Storage Practice In the 50 States
and the District of Columbia: Findings From The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2002, Pediatrics 116(3): e370-e376 (Sept. 1,
2005).
47 See, e.g., Guohua Li et al., “Factors Associated with the Intent of Firearm-Related Injuries in Pediatric Trauma Patients,” Archives of
Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine 150, no. 11 (1996): 1160-1165; Garen J. Wintemute et al., “When Children Shoot Children; 88 Unintended
Deaths in California,” Journal of the American Medical Association 257, no. 22 (1987): 3107-3109.
48 Teresa Albright and Sandra Burge, “Improving Firearm Storage Habits: Impact of Brief Office Counseling by Family Physicians,” Journal of
the American Board of Family Practice 16, no. 1 (2003): 40-46.
49 Shari L. Barkin, et al., “Is office-based counseling about media use, timeouts, and firearm storage effective? Results from a
cluster-randomized, controlled trial,” 122(1) Pediatrics (2008).
50 See Prevention of Firearm Injuries in Children (Gill et al., 2013).
51 Florida H.B. 155 (2011).
52 See House H&HS Comm. Hr’g at 43:00, Apr. 5, 2011 (Marion Hammer, NRA),
at http://myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/PodCasts/PodCastArchives.aspx.
53 Wollschlaeger v. Farmer, 880 F. Supp. 2d 1251 (S.D. Fla. 2012).
54 See Wollschlaeger v. Governor State of Florida, Brief of Amicus Curiae National Rifle Association of America, Inc. Supporting Appellants
and Reversal, No. 12-14009 (11th Cir. Oct. 1, 2012).
55 See Curt Anderson, “Court Hears Florida Appeal in ‘Docs vs. Glocks’ Case,” Naples News, July 18, 2013, at http://bit.ly/1b8p0bR.
56 Montana H.B. 459 (signed April 19, 2013).
57 Bills restricting what doctors can ask patients about guns or what gun data they can record in medical records have been introduced in
Alabama, Florida, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West
Virginia; the bills were signed into law in Florida and Montana. So far in 2014, such bills have been introduced in at least four states: Missouri,
Oklahoma, Tennessee, and West Virginia. The NRA also added an amendment to the Affordable Care Act which prohibits doctors from
collecting data on gun ownership. See Title X, Protection of Second Amendment Gun Rights, Affordable Care Act.
58 See NRA-ILA, “Sen. Inhofe Introduces Legislation To Protect Second Amendment Rights of Military and Dept. of Defense Civilian
Personnel,” May 28, 2010, at http://bit.ly/1sx3TuC.
59Department of the Army, Army 2020: Generating Health & Discipline in the Force ahead of the Strategic Reset 57, 2012,
at http://bit.ly/1mrWl8L.
60 Bill Briggs, “Military Suicide Rate hit Record High in 2012,” NBCNews.com, at http://nbcnews.to/PNeIcR.
20
E VERY TOWN FOR GUN SAFE T Y
61 Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, Suicide and the United States Army: Perspectives from the Former Psychiatry Consultant to the Army Surgeon
General, at http://bit.ly/PqMUuw.
62 Anna Mulrine, “Military Fights NRA in Wake of Suicide Epidemic,” NBCNews.com, July 27, 2012.
63 Anna Mulrine, “Pentagon vs. NRA: Will gun-rights law raise risk of soldier suicides?” Christian Science Monitor, Nov. 4, 2011.
64 Id.
65 NRA-ILA, “Sen. Inhofe Introduces Legislation To Protect Second Amendment Rights of Military and Dept. of Defense Civilian Personnel,”
May 28, 2010, at http://bit.ly/1sx3TuC.
66 Chris W. Cox, “Political Report,” NRAPublications, http://bit.ly/1qgHKys.
67 Anna Mulrine, “Gun Control: Why the US military is fighting with the NRA,” Christian Science Monitor, July 27, 2012, at http://bit.ly/PohN2a
(describing commanders “increasingly expressing frustration” with the NRA for blocking “vital measures to keep troops safe”).
68 See Stephanie Gaskell, “Bloomberg taps retired military brass in war on illegal guns,” Politico, Mar. 6, 2013, at http://politi.co/PohYe2.
69 AP, “Military Suicide Rate Down More than 22 Percent Since Last Year, Defense Officials Say, Nov. 11, 2013, at http://fxn.ws/1qgHQWZ.
70 See Mark Niquette, “NRA-Backed Law Spells Out When Indianans May Open Fire on Police,” Bloomberg News, June 5, 2012,
at http://bloom.bg/OPv97z.
71 Indiana Code § 35-41-3-2(i).
72 Mark Niquette, “NRA-Backed Law Spells Out When Indianans May Open Fire on Police,” Bloomberg News, June 5, 2012, at http://bloom.bg/
OPv97z.
73 “Crime in the United States 2010: Offenses Cleared,” Federal Bureau of Investigation, http://1.usa.gov/1lvNaqU.
74 “Crime in the United States 2010: Table 27,” Federal Bureau of Investigation.
75 “Crime in the United States: Table 25,” Federal Bureau of Investigation, http://1.usa.gov/1gNoMJE.
76 “Legislative Agenda of the International Association of Chiefs of Police: January 2011-January 2013,” International Association of Chiefs
of Police, http://bit.ly/1lfqsmw.
77 Erica Goode, “Method to Track Firearm Use Is Stalled by Foes,” N.Y. Times, June 12, 2012, http://nyti.ms/1ltG8hV.
78 Adam Cohen, “The Latest Crime Solving Technique the Gun Lobby Doesn’t Like,” Time.com, April 9, 2014, at http://ti.me/1lKPkQ0.
79 “Letter from Phyllis A. Hannan to California State Assemblyman Mike Feuer,” September 10, 2007, http://bit.ly/1i7Fg4v.
80 See NRA-ILA, “California’s Microstamping Requirement Bans Sale of Improved Pistols - Dealers Face Shortage of Handguns Approved
For Sale,” Jan. 23, 2014, at http://bit.ly/1jsjzaN (describing microstamping as “flawed technology that manufacturers cannot comply with
because it does not work”).
81 LS Chumbley, et al, “Clarity of Microstamped Identifiers as a Function of Primer Hardness and Type of Firearm Action,” Association of
Firearm and Tool Mark Examiners Journal 44, no. 2 (2012).
82 Staff Report, “NRA Flooding Albany With Cash To Block Bullet Microstamping,” Gothamist, April 11, 2012, at http://bit.ly/1g9kbEz.
83 New York Mayors Against Illegal Guns, “100 New York Mayors Ask: Will Leaders in Albany Stand with Police?” Stamp Out Gun Crime,
at http://stampoutguncrime.com/index.php.
84 NRA-ILA, “Maryland’s 2006 General Assembly Adjourns,” April 14, 2006, at http://bit.ly/1i2tgzH.
85 NRA News, “MA Microstamping Legislation Threatens Gun Industry,” NRANews.com, August 29, 2011, at http://bit.ly/1n4VjPI.
86 NewsOn6, “Oklahoma Representative Boren: Microstamping Bill Is Pro-Gun Legislation,” NewsOn6.com, October 21, 2010,
at http://bit.ly/1qsgPOA.
87 NRA-ILA, “Microstamping Legislation to be Considered in Rhode Island,” April 17, 2008, at http://bit.ly/1g9nsUv.
88 Richard Moore, “First shots fired over handgun microstamping in Wisconsin,” The Lakeland Times, March 31, 2009, at http://bit.ly/1krOiLA.
89 See Cal. Penal Code § 31910(b)(7)(A).
90 “Former Directors Who Want to Save CRPA,” Save California Rifle and Pistol Association, at http://bit.ly/1nCKQv8.
91 See Phil Willon, “Smith & Wesson joins fight against ‘microstamping,’” Los Angeles Times, Jan. 23, 2014, at http://lat.ms/1lvFQLU.
92 Emily Miller, “Smith & Wesson to stop selling guns in California due to microstamping law,” Washington Times, Jan. 22, 2014, at http://bit.
ly/1askXMx.
93 See Joe Palazzolo, “Gun Rights Groups Target Local Rules,” Wall Street Journal LawBlog, Feb. 6, 2013, at http://on.wsj.com/1mWeIFb.
NOT YOUR GR ANDPARENT S’ NR A
21
94 Interstate crime gun export rates measure the number of traced guns initially purchased in one state but recovered from crime scenes in
another, controlling for the population of the state where the gun was purchased. States that allow local governments to pass gun laws
export crime guns at a rate of 4.4 guns per 100,000 residents. By contrast the states with preemption laws have an export rate of 18.2
crime guns per 100,000 residents.
95 See Ariel Rothfield, “Gun law triggers controversy from community,” WOWKTV.com, Mar. 26, 2014, at http://bit.ly/1qeBPrR.
96 Chris Eger, “WV: Bill signed by Governor strikes down city gun bans; Mayor vows to fight,” Guns.com, Mar. 26, 2014, at http://bit.ly/PSxu2g.
97 Id.
98 18 Pa.C.S. § 6120.
99 Staff Reports, “Ross Township shooting suspect: ‘I wish I killed more of them!’” Pocono Record, Aug. 6, 2013, at http://bit.ly/PNG3vF.
100 See Editorial, “Measure would punish cities, coddle criminals,” LancasterOnline.com, Feb. 10, 2012, at http://bit.ly/1nkEAuH.
101 See NRA-ILA, “Pennsylvania: Firearms Preemption Bill Still Stalled in House, Your Immediate Help Needed,” Apr. 15, 2014,
at http://bit.ly/1pnmE4z.
102 See Dana DiFilippo, “Rules on reporting stolen guns could soon cost cities some money,” Philly.com, Feb. 9, 2012, at http://bit.ly/1hptlZW.
103 See NRA-ILA, “Fact Sheet: National Organizations with Anti-Gun Policies,” Sept. 17, 2012 (on file with Everytown for Gun Safety).
104 NRA-ILA, “The Smith & Wesson Sellout,” Mar. 20, 2000, at http://bit.ly/1iFKtzj.
105 See Leslie Wayne, “After taking bullets, Smith & Wesson lives,” N.Y. Times, Apr. 6, 2006.
106 See Jeffrey Seglin, “The Right Thing; When Good Ethics Aren’t Good Business,” N.Y. Times, Mar. 18, 2001, at http://nyti.ms/1nEuNNp;
Christina Austin, “How Gun Maker Smith & Wesson Almost Went Out of Business When It Accepted Gun Control,” Business Insider, Jan. 21,
2013, at http://read.bi/1iG8vtV.
107 Press Release: Smith & Wesson, “Smith & Wesson to be Inducted into the NRA Golden Ring of Freedom,” May 24, 2012,
at http://bit.ly/1k3WIW5.
108
Margaret Newkirk, “Guns-to-Work Laws Spread in U.S. as Business Fights NRA,” Business Week, Dec. 12, 2012.
E VERY TOWN.ORG