GOC sees total victory in 2008 on CA gun bills
Gun Owners of California (GOC) announced on Oct. 1 that all anti-gun state legislation proposed in 2008 had gone down to defeat.
The previous night, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the last two pieces of anti-gun legislation opposed by GOC. Both, AB-2498 (Saldaña-D) Firearms Training and SB-1171 (Scott-D) Open Carry bills were vetoed without comment by the Governor.
Add this to the earlier defeat of AB-2062 (DeLeon-D) Ammunition Registration and AB-2235 (DeSaulnier-D) Smart Guns, AB-2948 (Leno-D) Gun Show Ban at the Cow Palace and gunowners can take a much needed rest…at least until next year. GOC said it fully expects that these measures will be re-introduced by their or other authors in the 2009-2010 Legislative session.
GOC thanked grassroots gunowners for their efforts in opposition the legislation as well as Gerald Upholt, legislative liaison for the California Rifle and Pistol Association, Kathy Lynch representing the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), Safari Club International, the California Association of Retail Dealers, the California Sportsman’s Lobby, Outdoor Sportsmen’s Coalition of California, and Crossroads of the West Gun Shows for their wisdom, experience, and tireless work in making 2008 a victorious year for all of California’s gunowners.
The GOC announcement said, “We especially want to thank Smith & Wesson, and particularly Paul Pluff, director of marketing services for S&W, and Larry Keane, senior vice president and general counsel of NSSF for committing the time to come out to personally lobby the legislature alongside of us.”
Son buys dad same Garand he used in Korea
A Michigan man who sought the same model rifle used by his father during the Korean War said he ended up purchasing the gun his dad actually carried, according to a September United Press International (UPI)) and The Flint Journal story out of Davison, MI..
Jim Richardson, 54, said he wanted to track down an M1 Garand .30-caliber rifle for his father’s birthday, but it turned out the gun he purchased bore the serial number of the gun his father, Virgil Richardson, 78, used during the Korean War.
“I couldn’t even talk when he gave it to me,” Virgil Richardson said. “It didn’t even have to be the same gun to be important to me.”
Jim Richardson said he decided to give the present early after his father made a comment that included a reference to the serial number of the gun he used during the conflict.
“I told him my son (Jonathan) and I had been looking for one of those rifles,” Jim Richardson said. “He jokingly said, ‘If you ever find one with the serial number 16-22-26-1, I’ll give you a $1,000.’ ”
Jim Richardson said the Kentucky gun broker he was planning to buy the rifle from couldn’t believe the coincidence.
“After the war, the soldiers couldn’t bring the rifles back with them,” he said. “They stayed in Korea (until the 1980s), when they were able to be imported back to the United States.”
Brady Campaign backs Obama-Biden
Barack Obama and Joe Biden won the endorsement on Oct. 13 of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
Paul Helmke, the organization’s president, said Obama and Biden would strengthen background checks on gun purchasers, get assault weapons off the streets and give law enforcement more tools to stop illegal gun trafficking.
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