Hudson Rod, Gun, and Archery Club

By now you have seen the headlines and images of destruction: the rioting, looting, violent assaults, and arson.

Students for Concealed Carry on Campus is a national, non-partisan, grassroots organization comprising over 42,000 college students, professors, college employees, parents of college students, and concerned citizens who believe that holders of state-issued concealed handgun licenses should be allowed the same measure of personal protection on college campuses that they enjoy virtually everywhere else.

To give NRA members and gun owners the latest information on Second Amendment cases filed or supported by NRA-ILA, we are pleased to announce a new online newsletter, the NRA-ILA Legal Update.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has drafted a plan to guide management of the Columbia National Wildlife Refuge for the next fifteen years. The Refuge is scattered across four counties in the Columbia Basin of east-central Washington near Othello. The management plan is open for public comment until August 28 which can be submitted at www.fws.gov/columbia. Click on “Draft Management Plan” in the orange box and it will show you how to submit comments online. You may also submit comments to: mcriver@fws.gov. Please include “Columbia CCP Comments” in the subject line of all correspondence.

On Thursday, September 15, the Pennsylvania House Game and Fisheries Committee will hold its second public hearing to consider ending the prohibition on Sunday hunting. This hearing will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the East Allen Township Municipal Building, 5344 Nor-Bath Boulevard; Northampton, PA 18067. Please continue to contact members of the House Game and Fisheries Committee and urge them to support expanding Sunday hunting. Contact information for this committee can be found here.

The California Legislature returns to work this Monday, August 15. It is imperative that you call AND e-mail your state Senator and Assemblyman TODAY and respectfully urge them to OPPOSE several anti-gun bills and support the NRA CCW reform legislation. To view all the legislation and find contact information for your state Senator and Assemblymember, please click here.

During its annual meeting last month, the Nevada Sheriffs and Chiefs Association tabled a motion that would have authorized the group's representatives to send a letter to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) asking them to re-instate the instant background check exemption for Nevada concealed carry weapons (CCW) permit holders. During the 2011 legislative session, the Nevada legislature passed Assembly Bill 282, which requires a background check on CCW permit renewals. AB 282 was signed into law by Governor Brian Sandoval on June 17. Please politely contact your county Sheriff NOW and ask him to move forward with the request to BATFE without delay and without an unnecessary vote. The only vote that counted was the overwhelming mandate from the Nevada Legislature and Governor Sandoval enacting AB 282!

Assistant House Minority Leader George Peterson (R-Grafton) will be introducing a bill entitled “An Act to Repeal the Ban on Modern Sporting Arms." The bill would repeal Massachusetts’ ban on so-called “assault weapons.” This comes in response to a misleading unsigned and undated “advisory letter” from the state Executive Office of Public Safety and Security (EPOS) to licensed firearms dealers in Massachusetts about so-called "assault weapons."Please call and e-mail your state Senator AND Representative urging him or her to “set the record straight” and cosponsor this important pro-gun bill. Please forward this alert to your family, friends and fellow gun owners across Massachusetts and urge them to also contact their state Senator AND Representative to sign on to this important bill.

The Boulder County Commission will be briefed this Thursday, August 11 by the U.S. Forest Service regarding public recreation, including hunting and shooting, on Forest Service lands in unincorporated Boulder County. This is an informational meeting only, but the public is invited to attend. This briefing will be held at 2:30 pm this Thursday in the hearing room on the third floor of the county Courthouse located at 1325 Pearl Street in Boulder.

NRA is fully funding and supporting a lawsuit challenging the Obama administration's demand that Federal Firearms License holders report multiple sales of certain long guns in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas.

NRA members are rightfully concerned about the protection of gun rights and the longevity of the shooting sports.

As we have previously reported the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives soon plans to take the first step toward national gun sales registration. In response to the BATFE plan--which will force the reporting of semi-automatic rifle sales by Federal Firearm Licensees in Southwest border states including Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas--NRA-ILA is looking to gather as much information as possible about the BATFE demand letters.

This week, Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) sent a letter signed by himself and 12 of his Democratic colleagues in the Senate stating their firm opposition to any U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) that included civilian firearms.

The more information that comes out about the reckless “Fast and Furious” gun running operation conducted by the Phoenix BATFE office, the more clear it seems that knowledge of the operation, and approval for it, went a lot higher than the Phoenix field office, or even the BATFE.

During an active legislative session for Oregon's firearms owners, several pro-gun bills worked their way through both houses of the legislature while others ran out of time before the session adjourned. Of particular note was the successful demise of onerous, anti-gun bills and last-minute amendments that failed to move forward.

As of July 24, the Philipsburg Rod and Gun Club has resumed operations and will have an open-house grand re-opening on Labor Day, September 5. More details will be released in the near future.

On July 13, Governor Jack Markel signed into law two bills of note to Delaware’s gun owners, NRA-supported House Bill 48 and NRA-opposed Senate Bill 25. HB 48 will go into effect no later than December 31, while SB 25 took immediate effect.

We reported last week on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives plan to take the first step toward national gun sales registration. In response to the BATFE plan--which will force the reporting of semi-automatic rifle sales by Federal Firearm Licensees in Southwest border states including Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas--NRA-ILA is looking to gather as much information as possible about the BATFE demand letters.

This week’s outrage comes to us from Baltimore, Maryland, where mayoral candidate Otis Rolley is proposing a $1.00 per bullet tax be levied on all ammunition purchases in the city of Baltimore as part of his “crime plan.”

The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has announced that on Tuesday, July 26, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will convene another hearing as part of the ongoing investigation into the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ “Operation Fast and Furious.” The committee called the program “a tragically flawed effort that is connected to deaths on both sides of the U.S./Mexico border.”