MN-GOCRA

Help get a new gun range built in the Twin Cities!

admin — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 16:54:01 +0000

Help get a new gun range built in the Twin Cities!

If you live in the Twin Cities, you know how busy the small number of indoor ranges get, and how long you have to wait for a lane on a winter Saturday.

(And if you’re in Greater Minnesota, lend the city folks a hand anyway!)

A local, familiy-owned business is working to build a new gun store and range in Osseo (map), a suburb (near Maple Grove and Brooklyn Park) the northwest metro. Chris and Jeanine Willliamson have been FFLs for years, and are looking to expand their family business to meet this need.

Of course, some people will oppose anything to do with firearms.

We need to show the Osseo City Council that there is strong local support for this business, at that it will attract people and dollars into the Osseo community.

What you can do:

Go to Osseo tonight:

Please attend the Conditional Use Permit meeting TONIGHT in Osseo:

If possible, arrive by 6 p.m., but get there whenever you can. Please be neatly dressed and polite! This isn’t a protest, but a show of calm support! We recommend AGAINST open carry for this event.

Monday, June 17

June 17, 2013, 7 p.m.

Osseo City Hall (map)

415 Central Ave

Osseo, MN 55369

Call and email the City Council:

Please be very polite and friendly, and tell them IN YOUR OWN WORDS that you support a new gun store and range, and that you would visit Osseo and spend money there, both at the range and at local businesses such as gas stations and restaurants.

Mayor Duane Poppe, term expires 12/31/14

Phone: 612.359.1606 – Email: dpoppe@ci.osseo.mn.us

Council member Allan Hartkopf, term expires 12/31/14

Phone: 763.425.2929 – Email: ahartkopf@ci.osseo.mn.us

Council member Bonnie Heinen, term expires 12/31/16

Phone: 763.425.3310 – Email: bheinen@ci.osseo.mn.us

Council member Mark Schulz, term expires 12/31/16

Phone: 763.425.7457 – Email: mschulz@ci.osseo.mn.us

Council member Rick Weber, term expires 12/31/14

Phone: 763.424.6122 – Email: rweber@ci.osseo.mn.us

More info:

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2013/06/13/proposed-gun-range-would-sit-next-to-osseo-hs/

Osseo Public Planning Commission

Conditional use permit needed for 14-20 lane gun range and retail sales, gunsmithing, and gun safety classroom space. Potential locations being considered include: old senior center site; Block 22, the old NRG Dance Studio and the old Advantage Stone and Brick Supply site were all being considered.

The proposal will be voted on by the planning commission that evening, then passed to the Osseo City Council for a vote on June 24.

Please spread the word:

ZERO gun control this session

admin — Fri, 17 May 2013 04:35:22 +0000

Out-of-state email slams Minnesota gun rights supporters

There is an inflammatory email being sent to Minnesotans by an out-of-state individual who has never actually accomplished anything for Minnesota gun rights (or those of any other state that we can see).

The real purpose of this email is the same as all the rest of the emails this individual sends: to solicit donations.

GOCRA and its friends in both the House and the Senate, including long-time gun rights champions Sen. Warren Limmer and Rep. Tony Cornish, as well as gun rights bill sponsors Sen. Julianne Ortman and Rep. Debra Hilstrom, spent hours in good faith negotiations with SF235’s author, Sen. Ron Latz.

The result was a delete-all amendment that completely replaced the original bill, substituting a very different bill that was deserving of GOCRA support.

SF235 has no gun control. It does not send “mental health” data or gun owner fingerprints to the Feds. To say that it does, one must be dangerously ignorant, or a liar.

GOCRA, the group that brought Shall-Issue carry to Minnesota, has been protecting and extending gun rights in Minnesota for a quarter century.

We were at the Capitol for the whole session, and our lawyers (with a combined 70+ years of proven gun rights advocacy in MInnesota) carefully scrutinized every word of this legislation, as well as the more than a dozen bills we sent to defeat this session.

These Second Amendment supporters — DFLers Hilstrom and Saxhaug, as well as Republicans Ortman, Limmer, and Cornish — deserve your support. They’ve earned it with their actions.

Please spread the word:

Should the police track and store your whereabouts?

admin — Thu, 16 May 2013 19:14:29 +0000

At Gun Owners Civil Rights Alliance, “Civil Rights” is our middle name.

While this isn’t a gun rights issue, it tracks very closely with the civil rights we fight for:

Minneapolis Police (as well as many other departments) use automated license plate readers to log millions of times, dates, and locations of cars every month. They know where you were, and they keep this data as long as they want.

A proposed law, House File 474 (and Senate companion SF385), would force police departments to immediately delete data on non-suspect cars (like yours).

This bill is scheduled for a vote tomorrow in the House. If you think that the police shouldn’t track the every move of innocent citizens, ask your state senator representative to support HF474/SF385.

The ACLU summarizes the issue well:

What
Please spread the word:

Zombie gun control bill? Not on our watch!

admin — Tue, 14 May 2013 21:28:40 +0000

Zombie gun control bill? Not on our watch!

An update from the capitol:

Senator Ron Latz (DFL-St. Louis Park) announced last night that he intended to resurrect a gun bill this morning, after the leadership had announced that there would be no gun bills heard this year.

We were able to mobilize a quick reaction from our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/gocra), and we worked this morning with Latz and other legislators to ensure that only good language got through the House finance committee.

We are at the Capitol this afternoon, keeping an eye on things and making sure nothing bad gets added in conference committee.

The streamlined bill contains some genuinely positive improvements to the NICS system, which should help ensure that prohibited people are actually entered into the national system — and removed when their prohibitions are over.

The fact that the Sen. Latz and the committee voted only for a bill that met with GOCRA approval is a testament to the influence that YOU have at the legislature. Your voices, emails, calls (and maroon shirts!) reminded our civil servants who they work for!

If you value the work we do, please consider purchasing a membership! Already have one? Give one as a gift!

Please spread the word:

YOU DID IT! No Minnesota gun control this session!

admin — Thu, 02 May 2013 16:55:42 +0000

You did it!

Your calls, emails, and attendance at the hearings told our legislators that we won’t stand for any more infringements — and they listened. Today, Minnesota House Speaker Paul Thissen announced that the House would not be hearing any gun control bills this session.

No “assault weapon” bans.

No magazine bans.

No universal registration.

No confiscation.

As we told the Pioneer Press last night:

Andrew Rothman, vice president of the Minnesota Gun Owners Civil Rights Alliance, said critics like to point to the National Rifle Association as the “500-pound-gorilla” because the organization can send in professional lobbyists.

But it’s local grass-roots groups like his — where the power is people, not money — that make an impact, he said.

“Day to day, week to week, year to year, it’s the locals making those one-to-one contacts with legislators and our volunteer lobbyists who spend time at the Capitol for 25 years that make that difference. You don’t have to like us or agree with us to trust us, but we have that track record,” Rothman said. “By far, we saw that in the hearings in February and March, when the gun rights supporters outnumbered the gun banners 10 or 20 to one. That wasn’t an accident. It was because our people care. And there are a lot of us. And those who are out to restrict rights of others are in a tiny, tiny minority.”

…

The Minnesota Gun Owners Civil Rights Alliance has no paid staffers. Since 1989, the group has relied on volunteers and donations from Minnesota residents to get the word out, Rothman said. And their voices are being heard loud and clear.

What’s Next?

Don’t sit back and relax quite yet! While gun control is dead this session in Minnesota, in Washington, D.C., it’s still on the table.

Call and email Senator Franken, Senator Klobuchar, and your Congressman or Congresswoman (see the end of this email for phone numbers and email links). Tell them that Minnesotans have shown how they feel about having their rights threatened. Tell them that as a constituent, you expect them to respect the Second Amendment.

Call or email Rep. Tony Cornish, Rep. Debra Hilstrom, and Sen. Julianne Ortman and thank them for their strong, principled leadership in defense of our rights this session. If your own reps served you well, let them know. If they didn’t, let them know that, too!

If you haven’t yet signed up for a GOCRA membership, we hope you will. The next fight is always just around the corner.

Thank you for being a part of our winning team!

Gratefully,

Your GOCRA volunteer crew:

Alfred, Andrew, Bryan, David, Evan, Jason, Joe, Lonn, Mark, Pat, Paul, Rich and Rob

Please spread the word:

What’s happened, where we are now, and what’s next

admin — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 19:49:16 +0000

Gun control 2013: What’s happened, where we are now, and what’s next

There’s a lot going on, so we thought we’d send one summary email this week and catch everyone up.

Contents:

Win a 1911

David Gross speaking in Rochester Thursday

At the legislature:

Legislation Vacation

What’s happened so far

What’s next

What you can do

Membership premiums update

Win a 1911

Did we mention that we’re giving away a Remington 1911 to one of our email recipients? If the bottom of this email shows your representatives, you’re already entered. If not, click the link to update your info!

David Gross speaking in Rochester Thursday

GOCRA co-founder and treasurer David Gross, an attorney with decades of experience in the fight for your gun rights in Minnesota, will be addressing the Rochester Tea Party Patriots tomorrow night at 7. All the details are at their web site. David is a one-of-a-kind speaker — don’t miss this opportunity! (We’ll also have memberships and GOCRA t-shirts available at the event.)

Legislation vacation

The legislature is off this week for spring break. That’s a break for all of us, because they can’t do any damage when they’re not at the Capitol.

What’s happened so far

Last week in the Minnesota House, anti-gun-rights extremist Rep. Michael Paymar gave up on his Punish Gun Owners Act, HF237. Paymar, who chairs the Public Safety committee, acknowledged that he didn’t even have the votes to get his gun control agenda out of his own committee.

Rep. Paymar did manage to get a “compromise” bill passed out of committee — a bill hidden from the public until less than an hour before the hearing last Thursday. While GOCRA supports most of the provisions of HF285 (they were already in the GOCRA- and NRA-supported “Good bill” that Rep. Paymar refused to hear in committee), it does include one controversial provision:

HF285 requires the purchaser in a private sale of a pistol or sporting rifle, if the transaction takes place at a gun show, to have a permit to purchase or carry, and show that permit to the private seller. While this is what most of us do anyway, it is still a step, though a small one, toward increased regulation of private sales.

What’s next

Representative Paymar has vowed to reintroduce Universal Registration as an amendment on the House floor. We need to make sure that Minnesota lawmakers know that we will not tolerate a vote for such an amendment. There is also the possibility that some of the “Good Bill” criminal control provisions that GOCRA supports will be amended on to his bill.

There is also a lot of room for things to change as the House and the Senate work to match up their bill, either by amendment, or in conference committees. We’ll be watching that closely.

We don’t know yet when Rep. Paymar’s bill will be heard in the full House. We’ll let you know as soon as we know.

What you can do

Starting Tuesday, it will be time to once again remind legislators that we’re watching, and that we won’t stand for any infringements. We’ll let you know when and how.

Membership premiums update

We’ve been swamped with all of the new memberships! THANK YOU! We are working as hard as we can to get the pins and patches out the door. We ran out of each; the pins are back in stock, and patches are on the way, so it won’t be long now.

Please spread the word:

Battles Won, War not Over

admin — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 13:18:13 +0000

The short version: gun control has taken a beating, but it isn’t dead yet. Keep calling and emailing, and come to the Capitol tonight for a Public Safety committee hearing. More below:

Battles won; war not over

Thanks to your spectacular efforts, Rep. Michael Paymar’s Punish Gun Owners Act, HF237, died in the House Public Safety committee on Tuesday. And if that weren’t enough reason to celebrate, Sen. Ron Latz pulled his equally bad SF458 from the Senate rules committee,

The fight isn’t over

Tonight (Thursday night), the House Public Safety committee will hear Rep. Lesch’s HF285. To discourage you from coming to show your opposition, Rep. Paymar has not yet set a time for the evening hearing.

We will let you know as soon as the hearing is scheduled. Typically, evening hearings start at 6 or 7, unless the committee chair elects to keep us waiting for over an hour — again.

Universal registration still a threat

Rep. Paymar has been flooding the media with conflicting information on the universal registration plans. Rep. Paymar apparently couldn’t go even 24 hours before breaking the agreement he reportedly struck with Rep. Debra Hilstrom to get a gun bill — any gun bill — out of committee.

Rep. Hilstrom has assured us that she has taken measures necessary to prevent any universal registration from making it’s way into a bill this session, but Rep. Paymar’s doublespeak gives us cause for concern.

Victory goes to those who show up!

The House DFL strategy seems to be to try to wear us out with endless, meaningless hearings — canceling bills at the last minute, delaying votes for hours, and other last-minute scheduling changes.

They underestimate our commitment, don’t they?

Please show up Thursday night wearing your maroon shirt (or better yet, a GOCRA shirt) and stand strong against universal registration and any other infringements on law-abiding citizens.

House Public Safety Committtee Meeting (members)

Thursday, March 21

State Office Building, Room 10 (directions)

??? o’clock p.m. (schedule)

Contact these House Public Safety committee members TODAY, and let them know that attacking the rights of law-abiding gun owners is a non-starter:

Sending the email is easy! Clicking on the email links below will give you a complete email, ready to edit or send.

Representative John Ward (DFL)

651-296-4333

E-mail:rep.john.ward@house.mn

Thank Rep. Ward for his past support of your gun rights and encourage him to resist pressure from metro gun banners.

Representative Shannon Savick (DFL)

651-296-8216

E-mail: rep.shannon.savick@house.mn

Rep. Savick is a rural DFLer who needs to be reminded that her constituents will not tolerate new gun control.

Representative Steve Simon (DFL)

651-296-9889

E-mail:rep.steve.simon@house.mn

Rep. Simon is a smart, principled lawyer. Remind him that the Supreme Court has affirmed the right to keep and bear arms as an individual right, and that stripping due process doesn’t make us more free or more safe.

Then, call and email your OWN senator and representative and give them the same message.

See you tomorrow at the SOB!

Please spread the word:

House gun control bill dead (for now); Senate bill hearing Wednesday

admin — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 15:33:27 +0000

House gun control bill dead (mostly); Senate gun control hearing Wednesday

Rep. Paymar’s gun control bill HF237 defeated

Last night, Rep. Michael Paymar publicly admitted that his Punish Gun Owners Act, HF237, didn’t even have the votes to get out of his own committee, and was dead for the session.

Rep. Paymar, though he delayed last night’s public meeting for well over an hour to do so, was unable to bully Rep. Debra Hilstrom, a crucial DFL vote, into to supporting his rights-grabbing bill. Rather than allow his pet gun control bill to go down in flames in his own committee, Rep. Paymar “laid over” the bill — tabling it for the session.

Rep. Hilstrom, a DFLer from Brooklyn Center and a prosecuting attorney, is the chief author of HF1325, the Criminal Control bill, which has 78 co-authors in the House. Paymar’s Constitution-trampling bill had only 8.

The next battle

In a face-saving measure, Rep. Paymar told reporters that he had reached a “compromise” with Rep. Hilstrom, giving up 95% of his anti-gun agenda in exchange for some sort of “gun show loophole” legislation. Rep. Hilstrom assured GOCRA last night that the language, yet to be seen, will not include any government registration of firearms. A likely draft would include what responsible gun owners do anyway: require a stranger at a gun show to show a permit to purchase or permit to carry before allowing him to purchase a handguns or sporting rifle. No third party, government paperwork or registration would be involved.

Gun controllers have vowed to strengthen such a bill on the House floor; GOCRA and other gun rights advocates have vowed to kill any gun control this session.

Keep up the pressure

Keep up the pressure: it’s making a difference! After admitting that the Public Safety Committee wasted members’ and citizens’ time last night (and, to his credit, apologizing for it), Vice Chair Paul Rosenthal said he found the onslaught of phone calls and emails “annoying.”

If you want to explain to Rep. Rosenthal that citizen input cxomes with the job, his phone number is 651-296-7803, and his email address is rep.paul.rosenthal@house.mn.

Senate gun control bill headed for Rules Committee today

Sen. Ron Latz’s companion to the Paymar bill, SF458, heads for Senate Rules Committee at around noon, where it faces an uncertain future. The committee, unlike Sen. Latz’s Judiciary Committee, is not stacked with gun controllers. Your voice can convince them to put the final nail in this bill’s coffin.

What can you do?

Today, please call and email these three members of the Senate Rules Committee and urge them to vote NO on SF458. All three have good to very good gun rights voting record. Encourage them to keep their high GOCRA grades by voting no — we are scoring this vote.

Remember, these DFLers are presumed friendly: BE POLITE AND POSITIVE!

Sen. Tom Bakk (DFL) – Committee Chair and Senate Majority Leader

651-296-8881

Email form: http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/members/member_emailform.php?mem_id=1003

Sen. Bakk has the power to promote or scuttle any legislation he wishes. Tell him that we will not tolerate ANY new gun control, and that we have long memories.

Sen. Rod Skoe (DFL)

651-296-4196

E-mail: sen.rod.skoe@senate.mn

Sen. Skoe is a strong supporter of gun rights. Tell his to stay that course. His constituents in northern Minnesota expect nothing less.

Sen. LeRoy Stumpf (DFL)

651-296-8660

Email form: http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/members/member_emailform.php?mem_id=1063

Like Sen. Skoe, Sen. Stumpf represents a district in northern Minnesota, where we don’t tolerate restrictions of our gun rights. Remind him, politely, that there is no acceptable amount of infringement.

What’s next?

By the end of the day Friday, any bill that hasn’t cleared either a House or Senate committee is dead for the year. Expect parliamentary maneuvers to resurrect provisions of Rep. Paymar’s failed bill.

We’ll keep you updated as much as possible in the coming days as we see what last-ditch strategy the gun control minority in the legislature will use to advance their agenda of harassing law-abiding gun owners while ignoring actual criminals.

Please spread the word:

Gun control hearing moved to 7 tonight; call these legislators and join us there!

admin — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 19:49:27 +0000

Sorry for the repeat email; we had some typos to correct and info to add.

“Punish Gun Owners Act” vote moved to 7 p.m. tonight

A hearing on the rights-violating gun control bill, HF237, has been delayed until 7 p.m. tonight.

This gives you the rest of the day to swamp legislators with your calls and emails.

Something sneaky?

Rep. Michael Paymar, author of HF237, the Punish Gun Owners Act, is also chairman of the House Public Safety Committee, and rescheduled the bill this morning with no notice.

Rep. Paymar has also waived the 24-hour amendment rule, so he may try to rush in some amendments to make his bill even worse for gun owners.

How you can help

1. Come to the hearing tonight

Please meet us, starting at 5:00 p.m., outside Room 10 at the State Office Building, right next to the Capitol. Here are the directions. Wear a maroon shirt , or better yet, your GOCRA t-shirt.

2. Make your voice heard RIGHT NOW

Call AND email these House Public Safety Committee members TODAY and tell them:

Vote NO on HF237

Demand a vote, and vote YES on HF1325

Don’t miss this hearing!

GOCRA is keeping score, and a missed vote on HF237 will be counted as a vote FOR it.

Sending the email is easy! Clicking on the email links below will give you a complete email, ready to edit or send.

Representative John Ward (DFL)

651-296-4333

E-mail:rep.john.ward@house.mn

Thank Rep. Ward for his past support of your gun rights and encourage him to resist pressure from metro gun banners.

Representative Shannon Savick (DFL)

651-296-8216

E-mail: rep.shannon.savick@house.mn

Rep. Savick is a rural DFLer who needs to be reminded that her constituents will not tolerate new gun control.

Representative Steve Simon (DFL)

651-296-9889

E-mail:rep.steve.simon@house.mn

Rep. Simon is a smart, principled lawyer. Remind him that the Supreme Court has affirmed the right to keep and bear arms as an individual right, and that stripping due process doesn’t make us more free or more safe.

Representative Brian Johnson (R)

651-296-4346

E-mail: rep.brian.johnson@house.mn

Rep. Johnson is new at the legislature this year, and will be under a lot of pressure to cave to gun control. Tell him to stand firm for our rights.

Then, call and email your OWN senator and representative and give them the same message.

Good House bill: HF1325 (Hilstrom)

Bad Senate bill: HF237 (Paymar)

Good Senate bill: SF1359 (Ortman)

Bad Senate bill: SF458 (Latz)

More info on the good and bad bills is on our web site here: http://www.gocra.org/news/2013/03/tell-minnesota-house-committee-to-respect-our-rights-control-criminals/

Please spread the word:

URGENT:

admin — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 17:51:09 +0000

BRAIN TRUST: click the email links, too — they put text into user’s email.

“Punish Gun Owners Act” hearing moved to 7 p.m. tonight

A hearing on the rights-violating gun control bill, HF237, has been delayed until 7 p.m. tonight.

This gives you the rest of the day to swamp legislators with your calls and emails.

Rep. Michael Paymar, author of HF237, the Punish Gun Owners Act, is also chairman of the House Public Safety Committee, and rescheduled the bill this morning with no notice.

Something sneaky?

Rep. Paymar has also waived the 24-hour amendment rule, so he may try to add something even worse to the bill tonight.

How you can help

1. Come to the hearing tonight

Please meet us, starting at 5:00 p.m., outside the Room 10 at the State Office Building, right next to the Capitol. Here are the directions. Wear a maroon shirt, or better yet, your GOCRA t-shirt.

2. Make your voice heard RIGHT NOW

Call AND email these House Public Safety Committee members TODAY and tell them:

Vote NO on HF237

Demand a vote, and vote YES on HF132

Don’t miss this hearing!

GOCRA is keeping score, and a missed vote on HF237 will be counted as a vote FOR it.

Representative John Ward (DFL)

651-296-4333

E-mail:rep.john.ward@house.mn

Thank Rep. Ward for his past support of your gun rights and encourage him to resist pressure from metro gun banners.

Representative Shannon Savick (DFL)

651-296-8216

E-mail: rep.shannon.savick@house.mn

Rep. Savick is a rural DFLer who needs to be reminded that her constituents will not tolerate new gun control.

Representative Steve Simon (DFL)

651-296-9889

E-mail:rep.steve.simon@house.mn

Rep. Simon is a smart, principled lawyer. Remind him that the Supreme Court has affirmed the right to keep and bear arms as an individual right, and that stripping due process doesn’t make us more free or more safe.

Representative Brian Johnson (R)

651-296-4346

E-mail: rep.brian.johnson@house.mn

Rep. Johnson is new at the legislature this year, and will be under a lot of pressure to cave to gun control. Tell him to stand firm for our rights.

Then, call and email your OWN senator and representative and give them the same message.

Good House bill: HF1325 (Hilstrom)

Bad Senate bill: HF237 (Paymar)

Good Senate bill: SF1369 (Ortman)

Bad Senate bill: SF458 (Latz)

More info on the good and bad bills is on our web site here: http://www.gocra.org/news/2013/03/tell-minnesota-house-committee-to-respect-our-rights-control-criminals/

Please spread the word: