This weekend the organizers of the Facebook group "open carry movement" sent a message to its members captioned "open carry nation." The group is shooting to fire up a nation-wide cyber-roots push for legislative progress to "repeal the last 7 state bans on openly carrying properly holstered firearms," explains group organizer John Pierce, an information technology expert by week, and top ranked college student at Hamline Law on weekends. "And FB is the way to go to get this done."
2011 is turning out to be a banner year for gun rights activists who have already succeeded in convincing all three branches of government to liberalize gun laws in a number of states. For example, the Wyoming legislature repealed the requirement to have a permit to conceal guns, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell (R) ordered the repeal of regulations banning in state forests and parks, and Fresno County, California Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Hamilton struck down a new California law which would have banned online ammunition sales.
While there have been no repeals of state-wide open carry bans since the open carry movement started in around 2004, Pierce notes that states like Virginia and Ohio have preempted local bans on open carry. Now he thinks 2011 will be a tipping point, with Florida and probably Oklahoma legalizing open carry. Virginia Citizens Defense League President Philip Van Cleave said that open carry is already an option for gun owners in Virginia, and ought to be an option in all states. "Gun owners should have the right to choose," he said.
----------
Facebook Group "Open Carry Movement" Update (26 March, 2011): Open carry nation!
Open carriers:
2011 has brought the most legislative action on open carry reform that we can remember! The open carry movement is working like drano to unclog the legislative process for gun rights generally, and to eventually make America an open carry nation!
But the only way open carry progress will continue is if a critical mass of actual constituents of each state representative and senator tells THEIR Rep. & Sen. what they want!
Unlike members of the FEDERAL Congress, state Reps. & Sens. often get very little constituent contact. In many states merely 5 – 10 constituent contacts on a particular bill proves decisive as to how a legislator votes and/or influences her party caucus to pressure key committee members.
The open carry movement needs state Reps. & Sens. to hear from residents in THEIR district, by street address, to keep open carry legislation moving in the right direction across our nation – polite, short, and simple emails to your state Rep. & Sen. to support or oppose a bill (including your name and street address) is all it takes.
Please pass the state-specific action alert below to your friends, family, and associates in your state:
Florida
The Florida legislature and Governor Scott appear set to legalize open carry for persons holding a concealed handgun license, augmenting the existing limited right to open carry (without a license) while fishing and under certain other circumstances. If you live in Florida, find YOUR state Rep. at http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/sections/representatives/myrepresentative.aspx & Sen. at http://www.flsenate.gov/senators/findand make sure they know that you, your spouse, friends, and associates want open carry legalized in Florida and are counting on them to pass it this year.
Oklahoma
In Oklahoma an unlicensed “constitutional” open carry bill has easily passed the Senate, and appears to be supported by Governor Fallin. If you live in Oklahoma, find YOUR state Rep. & Sen. at http://www.oklegislature.gov and make sure they know that you, your spouse, friends, and associates want open carry legalized in Oklahoma and are counting on them to pass it this year.
Tell ORA President Don Scott to “Retract your lie!” to the Oklahoma House of Representatives!
Incredibly, Don Scott, president of a self-proclaimed “gun rights” group calling itself the Oklahoma Rifle Association (ORA), has urged the Oklahoma House to kill the open carry bill by falsely claiming that “the purchase of handguns by persons under the age of 21 is in violation of existing federal law.”
The truth is that federal law explicitly ALLOWS those 18 and over to own, carry, and buy handguns in private sales, and for those 21 and over to also buy handguns from federally licensed dealers if they wish (see 18 USC 922). Private sales are legal in Oklahoma and most states; most guns owned in America today were acquired privately and not through dealers (see http://www.opencarry.org/privatetransfers.html). Don Scott knows this already but thinks you’re too stupid to know better. It’s one thing to oppose legislation on policy grounds, but it’s another to intentionally mislead state legislators.
Email ORA President Don Scott today at dons@rec.ok.coop and ask him to “Retract your lie!” about federal handgun purchase laws.
Texas
In Texas, HB 2756 has been introduced to legalize open carry for persons holding a concealed handgun license. If you live in Texas, find YOUR state Rep. & Sen. at http://www.capitol.state.tx.us and make sure they know that you, your spouse, friends, and associates want open carry legalized in Texas and are counting on them to pass it this year.
Arkansas
A bill to clarify Arkansas law as to open carry rights failed in committee this year. Currently an Arkansas statute bans the carriage of firearms “with a purpose to employ the . . . weapon against a person.” Despite the explicit “intent” clause in the statute, Arkansas law enforcement agencies interpret this statute as banning all open carry. If you live in Arkansas, go to http://www.arkansashouse.org and find YOUR state Rep. & Sen. and make sure they know that you, your spouse, friends, and associates want Arkansas law clarified to explicitly allow open carry for lawful purposes and are counting on them to pass it this year.
California
In California 2 bills have been introduced to BAN open carry: AB 144 directly bans open carry in many or most public places, while SB 661 indirectly bans open carry by way of expanding school zone gun bans to 1,500 feet! If you live in California, sign the petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/CalOCPet/petition.html and click the privacy setting to let the petition founder see your email address. Then, find YOUR state Rep. & Sen. at http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html and make sure they know that that you, your spouse, friends, and associates oppose BOTH bills and are counting on them to oppose them.
Carry on!
Mike & John
Comments