GOP AZ Senator: Takes heat for packing heat

Biased press, biased reporting

Arizona’s District 6 State Sen. Lori Klein represents all things anathema to the liberal Arizona Republic.

She’s an intelligent, attractive, conservative Republican woman, who stays true to her values and actually represents her North Phoenix constituents.

These attributes place her directly in the sights of sometime reporter Richard Ruelas, reduced to a “people profiler,” who tried in vain to diminish the first-term senator in an overly long screed in which he took her to task for exercising her Second Amendment rights and carrying a legal firearm in her purse. Ruelas joined other Republic henchmen in a massive five-page assault on gun ownership — beginning with yesterday’s Page One hyperbole: Armed: Guns in Arizona.  Today the disparagement of gun ownership continues with Gunslinger Attitude.

In the tradition of Paul Harvey, who often refused to drop names of those who longed for the exposure, we won’t link to the biased tirades.

But we do applaud Sen. Lori Klein for her resolve and not backing down in the face of a frontal assault from a loaded press.

NYC Mayor Bloomberg’s AZ gun show PR stunt falls flat

Evidencing the height of pomposity, Bloomberg News boasts about its namesake owner, Michael Bloomberg, conducting gun show stings in Arizona. Bloomberg, listed as the 10^th richest man in America — with an estimated net worth of $18 billion — obviously has too much time on his hands. It would appear running a news organization, the crime ridden city of New York and busying himself opportunistically switching party affiliation from Democrat to Republican and then to Independent — depending on which gave him the greatest benefit at a given time –  should more than keep him occupied.

State Sen. Ron Gould (R-Dist 3) declared: “Let me get this straight: From New York City, they are going to send people to Arizona to look into this? They might take a look a little closer to home if they are concerned about guns getting in their state.”

The operators of Crossroads of the West Gun Shows also weighed in, saying, “Mayor Bloomberg and his ‘task force’ have no legal authority in the state of Arizona, or in any other place in America except New York City. These forays into America’s heartland committing blatant acts to entrap otherwise innocent gun owners is an unlawful scheme that is created by Bloomberg’s task force.”

And Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne criticized Bloomberg for not notifying the AZ State Police in advance of the investigation. “The fact that no such notification was made indicates this so-called sting is nothing less than a public relations stunt,” Horne said in this statement, adding that the mayor ought to focus on New York City’s “skyrocketing crime rate.”

“According to the most recent FBI statistics, violent crime in New York City increased significantly in 2010 compared to data from 2009,” he said. “Robbery went up 3.9 percent, forcible rape rose 13.9 percent, aggravated assault increased 8.8 percent and murder rose 12.3 percent. Clearly, the good men and women of the New York City police department have more pressing crimes to investigate than alleged violations at a gun show 2,400 miles away.”

We couldn’t agree more! Go ply your publicity-seeking stings elsewhere, Bloomie.

Dine elsewhere, Tom Brokaw

He once appeared fearless and urbane as he flew jet fighters and reported from hot spots around the globe. But now former NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw is a bespectacled, paunchy and skittish retiree, who reveals himself as no fan of the Second Amendment.

In his appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” yesterday, Brokaw discussed Arizona. We make him so nervous, he says he doesn’t want to risk having dinner or a drink in our beautiful state on a Saturday night.

Watch him here.*

Brokaw: “Here is why I think there are a lot of Glocks being sold, because gun owners are worried that they’re going to be outlawed. That’s what happened when President Obama first took office is that people were buying ammunition and storing it in underground bunkers because they thought he was going to outlaw guns and ammunition. Gun control is too simple a phrase to define all the complications and nuances of it, frankly. In Arizona they have a wide open system. I would be nervous about going into a bar or restaurant in Arizona on a Saturday night where people can carry concealed without permits.”

Don’t be conned. Obama grandly talks about toning down the rhetoric. But the Wall Street Journal reminds us of his own heated tone here: Obama: ‘If They Bring a Knife to the Fight, We Bring a Gun.’

Arizona’s concealed carry law can be read here.

* H/T Noel Sheppard at NewsBusters

THIS is why Supreme Court justices matter

The case of McDonald v. City of Chicago, was correctly decided today at the U. S. Supreme Court. 

In a 5- 4 majority vote, in what is arguably the most important Second Amendment case in Supreme Court history, the Court today held that the “right of the people to keep and bear Arms” cannot be infringed by the states.

“It is clear that the Framers . . . counted the right to keep and bear arms among those fundamental rights necessary to our system of ordered liberty,” Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. wrote for the conservatives on the court.

How instructive that today, of all days, the confirmation hearing for Obama’s liberal appointee Elena Kagan begins. On his last day on the court, 90-year-old Justice John Paul Stevens (or his clerks) wrote the minority opinion.

The Heritage Foundation has an exclusive interview with Alan Gura, lead attorney for the plaintiffs.  Watch it here.

NRA sells out to the Democrats

The National Association for Gun Rights (NAGR) exposes further egregious actions of the National Rife Association (NRA).

Three prominent Washington D.C. websites* are reporting what many capitol insiders have previously warned: The National Rifle Association has made a deal with the devil (i.e. anti-gun Democrats Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid) to limit the free speech of Americans in exchange for their carved-out exemption.

House Democrats have offered to exempt the NRA from a sweeping campaign-finance bill, removing a major obstacle in the push to roll back the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling.

Here is Wayne LaPierre’s weak explanation of his capitulation to the left.

The legislation in question is designed to restore more campaign finance rules in the wake of last year’s Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision, which removed prohibitions on corporations and unions running TV ads opposing or backing candidates in the run-up to an election, POLITICO reports.

Please take a few moments to acquaint yourself on the overreaching Disclose Act (HR 5175) by viewing this clarifying video.

HR 5175, is written to ensure freedom groups cannot rally their members in the upcoming elections by placing reporting mandates on them and by forcing them to disclose their membership rosters and donor lists. These mandates apply to individuals and groups which make independent donations or promote their favored candidate outside the realm of the official campaigns, namely Grassroots activism. HR 5175 Amends the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971

Call the NRA today at 1-800-672-3888 and ask them to renounce the deal with Pelosi and Reid.

Seeing Red AZ recently wrote about the NRA’s loss of credibility with their endorsement of John McCain over conservative J.D. Hayworth.

* Center for Competitive Politics, RedState, and POLITICO.

NRA endorsement of McCain destroys group’s credibility

Those who are familiar with this site will recall that the National Rifle Association (NRA)  has been on the Seeing Red AZ blogroll since the inception of this website in June 2007. Take a good hard look, because the link will soon be coming down.

Yesterday we posted the endorsements U.S. Senate candidate J. D. Hayworth received from former NRA President Bob Corbin and from the Gun Owners of America. Yet the NRA, which has previously referred to John McCain as “one of the premier flag carriers for the enemies of the second amendment,” inexplicably gave McCain their endorsement.

In endorsing Hayworth, the Gun Owners of America (GOA) said: “John McCain has gone out of his way to earn the ire of conservatives and gun owners in his 20-plus years as a U.S. Senator from Arizona.”

Watch this GOA ad exposing John McCain’s efforts to constrain our First and Second Amendment Rights.  Then read what GOA’s Political Victory Fund says about McCain here.

This indefensible approval is akin to the shameful endorsement of McCain by Arizona Right to Life (AZRTL) which resulted in members of the board and PAC leaving the organization and calling the endorsement of McCain an “egregious affront.”  AZRTL  acknowledged that J.D. Hayworth “had a perfect pro-life voting record during his service in the U.S. House of Representatives,“ but it was evident McCain’s financial support via buying tables at events meant more. ARTL said the determining factors in their endorsement decision were “incumbency and electability,“ both political considerations — neither of which incorporate the fundamental principle of protection of the unborn.

And the equally hypocritical NRA?

Here is their July 20, 2001 First Freedom magazine cover story and accompanying article titled, What’s Happened to John McCain? The tag-line accompanying the damning photo of him with Democrats Chuck Schumer and Joe Lieberman accuses John McCain of “jeopardizing the freedom of law-abiding gun owners.”

We strongly urge you to read it, and then join us in enrolling as a member in Gun Owners of America.

J. D. Hayworth scores stellar endorsements

Bob Corbin, who served 12 years as Arizona’s Attorney General and as national president of the National Rifle Association, has endorsed U.S. Senate Candidate J.D. Hayworth in his bid to unseat Sen. John McCain.

 ”With an Obama Administration that is openly hostile to our rights as gun owners, we need a Senator like J.D. Hayworth protecting the Second Amendment,” Corbin said.

“For 12 years while he was in Congress, J.D. maintained a perfect ‘A’ rating from both the NRA and the Gun Owners of America,” Corbin said. On May 25, 2010, the NRA’s Political Victory Fund sent Hayworth a letter again giving him an “A” rating.

Hayworth said he was honored to have Corbin’s endorsement along with the endorsement of Gun Owners of America in his campaign against Sen. McCain.

In endorsing Hayworth, the Gun Owners of America (GOA) said: “John McCain has gone out of his way to earn the ire of conservatives and gun owners in his 20-plus years as a U.S. Senator from Arizona.”  Watch this GOA ad exposing John McCain’s efforts to constrain our First and Second Amendment Rights.

Read what GOA’s Political Victory Fund says about McCain here.

Hayworth said: “Sen. McCain and I have real differences on the issue of guns and gun rights. In fact, the NRA called McCain ‘one of the premier flag carriers for the enemies of the second amendment’.”

McCain’s lifetime NRA rating is C+ for favoring a ban on small, inexpensive handguns, authoring a bill to close the “gun show loophole,” and wanting pilots to carry stun guns instead of hand guns.

“Official Washington tends to side with Washington insiders especially when they are incumbents,” said Hayworth spokesman Mark Sanders. “But people in Arizona are proud to stand with Hayworth who is a true defender of gun rights.”

Koncerns about Komrade Kagan

Bloomberg news reports that while clerking for U. S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, supreme court nominee Elena Kagan said she was “not sympathetic” toward a man who contended that his constitutional rights were violated when he was convicted for carrying an unlicensed pistol.

Kagan urged Justice Marshall to vote against hearing the District of Columbia man’s appeal. The man’s “sole contention is that the District of Columbia’s firearms statutes violate his constitutional right to ‘keep and bear arms,’” Kagan wrote. “I’m not sympathetic.”

In a 5-4 decision in 2008, the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution protects individual gun rights in District of Columbia v. Heller, overturning the District of Columbia’s handgun ban. It would not have been so, had Kagan been on that court. Kagan is described as one who works strategically to thwart the agenda of a more conservative majority.

Kagan’s views on the our constitutionally protected  First Amendment freedom of speech, can be summed up in these words while answering questions on gun rights during her confirmation hearing as solicitor general: “Once again, there is no question, after Heller, that the Second Amendment guarantees individuals the right to keep and bear arms and that this right, like others in the Constitution, provides strong although not unlimited protection against governmental regulation.”

Get that? American citizens’ freedom of speech enjoys “Strong although not unlimited protection against governmental regulation.”

Kagan’s leftist views are deeply ingrained. This commentary, titled Nov. 10, 1980: Fear and loathing in Brooklyn, was authored by Elena Kagan (Class of ’81) during her tenure as editorial chairman at The Daily Princetonian. It was published immediately after Ronald Reagan’s victory, and includes these telling insights:

Looking back on last Tuesday [when Ronald Reagan won the presidency], I can see that our gut response — our emotion-packed conclusion that the world had gone mad, that liberalism was dead and that there was no longer any place for the ideals we held or the beliefs we espoused — was a false one. In my more rational moments, I can now argue that the next few years will be marked by American disillusionment with conservative programs and solutions, and that a new, revitalized, perhaps more leftist left will once again come to the fore.

Brewer protects Second Amendment rights: Allows concealed carry w/o permit

With the stroke of her pen today, Gov. Jan Brewer signed into law a bill allowing Arizonans to carry a concealed weapon without a permit.

Arizona now joins Alaska and Vermont as the third state in the union not to require a permit.

Gov. Brewer declared, “The State of Arizona has long been the home to defenders of personal liberty and the freedoms enshrined and protected by the Constitution of the United States and our State Constitution. I believe strongly in the individual rights and responsibilities of a free society, and as Governor I have pledged a solemn and important oath to protect and defend the Constitution.”

“Today I signed Senate Bill 1108, the constitutional carry bill. I believe this legislation not only protects the Second Amendment rights of Arizona citizens, but restores those rights as well. I am joined in support of this legislation by both Republican and Democratic members of the Arizona legislature, and I laud the strong number of bipartisan supporters who join with me to defend the rights of our citizens,” Brewer, a Republican, said in a statement.

The measure takes effect 90 days after the current legislative session ends.

Tea Party candidate, Debra Medina, could upset Texas governor’s race

Discontent is not only rampant in Arizona.  While here the very real possibility exists of the nearly three-decades-long Washington career of John McCain teetering on the brink of implosion, Texas is also making its own brand of political hay.

Enter Debra Medina, a one-time registered nurse, current small-business owner, Republican and Tea Party activist, who is energizing newly active voters, as America’s sleeping giant of the apathetic and disenfranchised is awaking. Across the county, they seem to be saying, “We’re mad as hell, and we’re not going to take it anymore!”

Medina speaks clearly to the issues that resonate with conservatives and newly energized activists. She is pro-life, pro-Second Amendment, and doesn’t equivocate on the issue of illegal immigration. Read her common sense perspective on the issues here.

Medina is also steadfast in her opinion that taxes on private property must be abolished. She prefers the use of a state sales tax as a means of generating necessary revenue to fund the legitimate purposes of government.

Republican Texas Congressman Ron Paul is a supporter and mentor.

Entrenched incumbent Gov. Rick Perry and challenger Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, long a Washington insider, thought they had only one another to jab at. They both may be in for quite a surprise come election eve.

Even the UK Guardian is interested in this phenomena spreading through the colonies. They’ve had first hand experience with raging tea partiers and know we mean business.