Moving Forward

SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- Most of the major gun rights organizations gathered in San Francisco last weekend for the 25th Gun Rights Policy Conference (GRPC) where the mood was jubilant following the Supreme Court decision in the McDonald case, but the focus was on moving forward to build on the latest successes.

GRPC is sponsored by the Citizen's Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and the Second Amendment Foundation. Other groups attending or lending financial support included the National Shooting Sports Foundation, Gun Owners of America, the California Rifle and Pistol Association, the Calguns Foundation, the Microsoft Gun Club, and literally dozens of state gun rights groups. Missing from the 700 activists attending the annual conference was the National Rifle Association, which has been an active participant in many past GRPC gatherings. This comes at a time when many in the gun rights movement say that the NRA is trying to take credit for the momentous win in the McDonald decision, even though the case was initiated, directed, and funded by the Second Amendment Foundation.

http://www.theoutdoorwire.com/image_archive/2026451.jpeg> Alan Gottlieb "The gun movement needs to be modeled after the civil rights movement, which consisted of many groups. Photo Courtesy GUN WEEK.

The NRA's absence only pointed out how much the gun rights movement has changed over the last decade -- a period during which other national Second Amendment (2A) groups have grown and state 2A groups have developed sophistication and success records born of years battling in the political trenches. There did not appear to be any need among the groups at GRPC to be lead by the NRA.

In his opening remarks, Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) said, "The gun rights movement needs to be modeled after the civil rights movement, which consisted of many groups. It needs to be a movement controlled from the bottom up, and not from the top down."

One Word -- "Judges"

Gottlieb continued about the importance of GRPC, and 25 years of these gatherings where activists from around the country (and actually from other countries) meet, share strategies, and learn from each other.

"The importance of GRPC is networking," he said. "Without networking there is no communication. Without communication there is no gun rights. Without gun rights there is no freedom."

Noting the success in the Heller and McDonald decision and the dozens of lawsuits currently filed or on deck -- suits which challenge all manner of repressive gun control laws -- Gottlieb warned the audience that the most important job they face comes down to one word. "Judges."

Both Heller and McDonald were decided by a 5-4 margin. Had one justice gone the other way, we simply would not have a Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. The upcoming election, and all elections, are about who appoints judges at all levels, and who is confirmed, he explained.

"The only way to fight the anti-rights efforts of the executive branch is through the courts," Gottlieb continued.

Currently, the executive branch -- the Obama administration -- is appointing anti-gun bureaucrats into agencies, it has put a strongly anti gun rights attorney general into that seat, its Secretary of State (Clinton) has changed the U.S. policy about the United Nations' efforts to "control" firearms, and there are efforts to restrict firearms owners by such agencies as the BATFE, OSHA (possibly banning all firearms in the workplace), the Forest Service, BLM, and Fish and Wildlife Service.

Only the courts can stop a runaway executive branch, which is why the appointment of judges is so critical.

Gottlieb, and other speakers, also warned that if the Democrat party loses control of Congress in the mid-term election, as expected, that we could see attempts to slip in gun bans and restrictions in the lame duck session which follows.

The Rock Star Attorney

http://www.theoutdoorwire.com/image_archive/2026452.jpeg> Rock star treatment for Gura who set the record straight on who won what at the Supreme Court. Gun Week photo.

Alan Gura, the attorney who argued both the Heller and McDonald decision before the Supreme Court, was treated like a rock star by the energized crowd. In his comments, he said he wanted to set the record straight about McDonald. Never naming the NRA, he clearly was addressing that group's claim that it somehow "saved the day" on that case by inserting its own lawyer into the case. Gura said that despite claims to the contrary, he argued both due process and privileges and immunities before the court, and the court's decision confirmed that this was a sound tactic in that not all justices which voted for gun rights would have gone with one or the other. Both arguments had to be made.

In speaking about the subsequent cases he is working, especially one challenging the city of Chicago -- where the new law requires training at a gun range to get your handgun permit, but at the same time bans shooting ranges -- Gura pointed out that these suits are expensive.

"Litigation isn't free," he said. "And freedom isn't free."

Dozens of other speakers addressed various aspects of the gun rights battle.

Larry Pratt, from Gun Owners of America, addressed the DISCLOSE act (which failed to pass again last week): "Any politician who doesn't support a full 'freedom agenda' across the board is not supporting the Second Amendment."

Jeff Knox, from the Firearms Coalition: "Bloggers, please stop saying a law 'allows' the use or carrying of guns. We remove restrictions the government has placed on us, but the government does now 'allow' us anything."

Richard Pearson of the Illinois State Rifle Association reported that they will be working on getting concealed carry and statewide pre-emption approved in that state.

John Lott, researcher and author of the new third edition of the ground-breaking book More Guns -- Less Crime: "The role of empirical evidence will become more important." Saying that judges don't want to make decisions which will hurt people, they need to see clear evidence that when good people own guns, it makes them safer. Following almost two decades of research, he offered: "I can't find a place where the murder rate has gone down after a gun ban."

Gene Hoffman from the Calguns Foundation: "We lost our gun rights incrementally, and we have to work to get them back incrementally. The key is in being creative."

Nicki Stallard from the Pink Pistols: "The gay community is very politically active, and they are mostly anti-gun." Stallard explained that the Pink Pistols works with this community to show that they can protect themselves from physical attack if they own guns and know how to use them.

Joe Tartaro, editor of Gun Week: "Ask a candidate 'Do you own a gun?' If the answer is yes, then ask, 'Is it a handgun?' If the answer is no, he's not your guy."

While attendance at GRPC usually comes from the immediate area, every year a core group from all over the country attends. They come away energized, full of new ideas they can use in fighting local battles, and the entire gun rights movement gets a review of where it is and where it's going.

On the "where are we," the answer is that we are in a good place. The momentum is going our way, for the moment. The "where are we going" is equally clear. Civil rights litigation -- the specialty of Alan Gura -- demands planning and strategy. Each lawsuit is designed to set the stage for the next. Gura, the Second Amendment Foundation, and the Calguns Foundation have almost a dozen suits in place, and an equal number drawn up and waiting.

Showing propensity for taking its conference into the "belly of the beast" of anti gun rights attacks -- San Francisco -- Gottlieb announced that next year's GRPC will be in Chicago. That should be one to put on the calendar.

--- Tom Gresham

Gresham is host of Tom Gresham's Gun Talk, the nation's only syndicated radio talk show about handguns and one of the special contributing editors of The Outdoor Wire Digital Network.