Candidate McGreevey, Democrat, Made Secret Deal With NRA

The Newark Star Ledger ^ | 10.30.02

[Coleus]

Gov. James E. McGreevey cast himself as an unabashed champion of gun control last year. He made the topic one of the linchpins of his campaign against Republican gubernatorial candidate Bret Schundler and pledged to enact a first-in-the-nation law to require "smart gun" technology on all handguns sold in New Jersey.

[Coleus]

Lol, that's a good one. So, why is the NRA dissing republicans? Seems kind of strange. Is this a new policy??????

[archy]

So why is the NRA dissing republicans?

Oh, I've got no concerns about stepping on the *11th Commandment* [Thou shalt speak no ill of a fellow Republican] when it's deserved, as with a RINO, Democratic coattail-rider or fellow traveller, or anti-civil rights statist like John McCain. If the Republicans don't clean out their own house, somebody'll happily do it for them, and they'll be seen as just as corrupt as the Dems, just without the Democratic crook's larger numbers and bigger budgets.

But do you reckon maybe one of those FBI files Clinton had in the White House belonged to NRA President Wayne LaPierre?

-archy-/-

[Coleus]

But do you reckon maybe one of those FBI files Clinton had in the White House belonged to NRA President Wayne LaPierre?
>>>

Interesting point, what did he do?

If Wayne has baggage, he should quit.

[ChadGore]

WIN ONE FOR THE GIPPER

Vote on Tuesday.

Do the right thing.

[archy]

I'm basing the consideration on Clinton's particular loathing of the NRA, known proclivities for attempting to control his political enemies by such means, and post-election statements in which he'd noted gun control as the factor that cost Democrats the election.

When our local club discussed the qualifications of Wayne LaPierre to head the organization, it was noted that he's not a veteran. That alone was enough for us.

More info *here*.

-archy-/-

[archy]

GCA-68 into law>>>>

Oh? Fill me in...

Info on one of those identified by the NRA as particularly responsible *here*.

-archy-/-

[Coleus]

Thanks, it's good to know both sides.

[Lancey Howard]

McGreevey embraced gun control in his campaign for governor last year...

And he won in a 'slide.
Shows you what a weak, scumbag state New Jersey is, LOL.
Right next door in Pennsylvania, "gun control" won't happen in a billion years. That scumbag Ed Rendell is blowing a lot of hot air about "gun control" when he's campaigning in the parasite centers (cities) but he certainly understands that that stuff is a non-starter in Harrisburg.

[Lancey Howard]

For real protection of the 2nd amendment, I prefer Jews for the Preservation of Firearms.
(Sorry, I no longer know how to post a link since the FR changes this year.)

[montag813]

THIS CAN HELP FORRESTER! GET THE WORD OUR DOOR-TO-DOOR VOLUNTEERS!

BRING THE STAR LEDGER WITH YOU!

CONFUSE VOTERS ON THE GUN ISSUE....DEFEAT LAUSENBERG!

[Coleus]

Alleged deal by McGreevey to block 'smart gun' bill embitters activists
Friday, November 08, 2002

By WENDY RUDERMAN
Trenton Bureau

Debra Wachspress says she felt betrayed by Governor McGreevey.

The 36-year-old gun control activist supported McGreevey's gubernatorial bid. Wachspress and other New Jersey members of the Million Mom March put "McGreevey for Governor" signs on their front lawns. They talked him up on soccer fields. They sent out e-mails telling hundreds of residents to vote for him. They stood by his side at news conferences.

They believed in him because he promised to sign a bill mandating so-called "smart guns" that can be fired only by their owner.

"It was a no-brainer at the time," said Wachspress, a Trenton-area mother of three.

So Wachspress and others who vouched for McGreevey bristled when they learned last week that he had reportedly cut a secret deal with the National Rifle Association during last fall's gubernatorial race to block the bill. In exchange, gun groups reportedly pledged not to mobilize against McGreevey on Election Day.

"I felt highly betrayed," Wachspress said. "He thought he could play both sides and not get caught. He got caught. ... Maybe we wouldn't have gone out of our way to drive to every corner of the state to stand with him at press conferences if we had known."

McGreevey moved this week to mollify the miffed gun control advocates Thursday, when a smart-gun bill cleared the same Assembly committee where it was bottled up last month. But the episode may have caused long-term political damage with activists, who are now wary of the candidate they once so enthusiastically endorsed. They now plan to closely monitor his moves.

"We'll forgive him if he signs the bill and if he stops cutting secret deals with the gun lobby that are unbeknowst to us," Wachspress said.

Republicans, who have long been painted as puppets of the gun lobby, now argue that McGreevey can no longer attack them in future campaigns. To do so, McGreevey would risk being ridiculed as a hypocrite, they say. Party officials went on the offensive Thursday.

"The bill will ultimately end up getting passed, but [it's about] the credibility of an individual that goes out and makes a deal trying to placate both sides on an issue and then gets caught,'' said Republican Senate President John O. Bennet of Monmouth County.

McGreevey spokesman Kevin Davitt denied that the governor made any backroom deal with the NRA.

"There was no deal," Davitt said. "He is going to sign [the bill] when it gets to his desk."

McGreevey has acknowledged that he spoke with NRA leaders about the bill, but said they simply discussed an exemption for guns used in shooting competitions. Greg Costa, an NRA lobbyist who reportedly helped broker the deal, declined to comment.

The bill released from the Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee requires each new handgun sold in New Jersey to have a mechanism that prevents anyone other than its owner from firing it. The technology is not yet commercially available. The bill would require that all guns be equipped with the technology three years after it hits the market and the state Attorney General declares them safe.

The bill exempts guns used by police officers and guns used in established shooting competitions. The bill also establishes a commission to study whether law enforcement personnel should be required to carry smart guns.

Two weeks ago, the bill stalled when the committee's chairman, Assemblyman Peter J. Barnes Jr., D-Middlesex - a sponsor of the smart gun bill - unexpectedly abstained. At the time, Barnes said he couldn't vote for the bill because he believed the measure should apply to guns police officers carry.

Bill supporters immediately accused Democrats, including McGreevey, of "caving in" to the NRA and said the last-minute change offered by Barnes was an excuse to kill the bill, which Barnes vehemently denied.

"There are a great number of soccer moms who are watching this issue closely," said Kim Ward Basco, president of the Middlesex County chapter of the Million Mom March. "And we are not crazed mothers in minivans driving through McDonald's. We're reasonable people fighting for gun violence prevention."

When Wachspress returned home on Halloween after stumping for Sen. Frank Lautenberg, she found a message from McGreevey on her answering machine. He promised to move the bill forward, Wachspress said.

"He knew that he had to reach out to us because he was up to some stuff that he shouldn't have been up to," Wachspress said. "What the message said to us was that we've got clout. He doesn't want to anger us. He needs us. That came across pretty loud and clear."

On the same day, bill supporters were meeting with the governor's staff behind closed doors.

The results of those talks emerged Thursday in an amended version of the bill that cleared the committee 5-1, with Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll, R-Morris Township, the lone dissenter. Carroll said it was "silly" to mandate something that doesn't yet exist and called the technology "science fiction, right out of 'Star Trek.'"

The long-stalled bill, sponsored by Assemblywoman Loretta Weinberg, D-Teaneck, and Assemblyman Matthew Ahearn, D-Fair Lawn, now moves to the full Assembly for a vote.

"I feel pretty good right now," Weinberg said.

http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?level_3_id=5&page=5579444

[Coleus]

I guess you were right, sorry. The Forrester camp. said they were only 3 points behind. I'm glad we took over the Senate, now let's just hope they act and vote like republicans.

[Coleus]

Do you have a "specific" link where it maintains that the NRA "wrote" the Brady Bill, thanks.

[archy]

There are some details of the NRA's *Brady Bill Compromise* here. Neal Knox and NRAWOL have detailed other aspects of the more recent NRA support for *Project Exile* and the 1934 Firearms act, bookends that make it clear that some of the NRA leadership has been selling out the membership for quite some time.

-archy-/-

[ffrancone]

Wish I had been wrong!

[Dan from Michigan]

I wonder who the Deputy NRA Director in Jersey is. Jersey should call Fairfax and tell them to keep him out of Jersey.

[Dan from Michigan]

This is the kind of CRAP that is why I donate ALL my extra to the GOA.

I don't like GOA either after they turned on Michigan's CCW, but I have to agree with some of the current crap by certain NRA individuals. In fact I wonder if the same guy that runs Michigan is running Jersey????

NRA is run by a bunch of wimps that are SELLING us out.

And one of those sellouts took control in a coup of Michigan's group too. :( I'm no longer a member.

[Dan from Michigan]

Bingo. I know the game. I caught a few tricks in the last election out here.

[gnarledmaw]

America's largest gun control organization
Vin Suprynowicz, Sunday, June 03, 2001
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

On Jan. 16, 1968, in an address to the New York State University law school in Buffalo, Sen. Robert Kennedy, D-N.Y., stated: "I think it is a terrible indictment of the National Rifle Association that they haven't supported any legislation to try and control the misuse of rifles and pistols in this country."

NRA Executive Vice President Franklin L. Orth took great umbrage at this remark in the October 1968 issue of the NRA's magazine, The American Rifleman, terming Sen. Kennedy's accusation "a great smear of a great American organization." Mr. Orth then went on to point out, "The National Rifle Association has been in support of workable, enforceable gun control legislation since its very inception in 1871."

Really? But the NRA has always been portrayed in the mainstream press as a radical anti-gun-control organization. Is it? Has it ever been?

In that 1968 issue of The American Rifleman, associate editor Alan C. Webber picked up the defense of the NRA's gun-control credentials. I quote again from the NRA's own, official organ:

"Item: The late Karl T. Frederick, an NRA president, served for years as special consultant with the Commissioners on Uniform State Laws to frame the Uniform Firearms Act of 1930. ... Salient provisions of the Act require a license to carry a pistol concealed on one's person or in a vehicle; require the purchaser of a pistol to give information about himself which is submitted by the seller to the local police authorities; specify a 48-hour time lapse between application for purchase and delivery."

Remember, I'm not asking whether you think these are good ideas. I'm asking whether the NRA is the pack of wild-eyed, take-no-prisoners, "pure language of the Second Amendment, take my gun from my cold dead fingers" radical extremists which the national press corps would have us believe. In fact, can the NRA rightly be said to be a "gun rights" organization, at all?

"Item," Editor Webber of The American Rifleman continued back in 1968: "The NRA supported the National Firearms Act of 1934 which taxes and requires registration of such firearms as machine guns, sawed-off rifles and sawed-off shotguns. ...

"NRA currently backs several Senate and House bills which, through amendment, would put new teeth into the National and Federal Firearms Acts. ... "

Nor is there much room to believe the NRA has changed its stripes in the past 23 years.

In Utah this year, Utah Gun Owners Alliance lobbyist and M.D. Sarah Thompson had worked to get through "a good bill that would have honored concealed-carry permits from any other state without restriction," notes Dennis Fusaro, who himself was let go from GOA in March for not being cooperative enough with the gun-grabbers at the NRA.

In the final days of the session, however, NRA lobbyist Brian Judy arrived in Salt Lake City and made a deal to accept an amendment that the out-of-state permits would only be honored for 60 days.

"Sarah had the senators pretty well under control and was pushing them with grass-roots pressure, and then Brian Judy goes in the back room and accepts this bad amendment," Fusaro reports.

Says Thompson: "Read their magazine. The NRA helped write the National Firearms Act of 1934, the Gun Control Act of 1968. ... Here in Utah they backed our Olympic gun ban" (restricting the right of Utah citizens to carry permitted weapons at Olympic venues while the winter Olympics are in town, so as not to offend the hoplophobic foreigners).

"In the 2000 (Utah) Legislature the NRA backed a midnight gun control bill that vastly expanded the list of people prohibited from owning guns in the state, a retroactive ban on people who were adjudicated years ago. As a result of this I get calls from people who have been hunters for years who now have to go through a background check, who did something wrong as a juvenile 30 or 40 years ago, and they've lost their gun rights."

The test case for whether GOA or the NRA remains a true "gun-rights organization" will be "what's going on with (President) Bush's proposal for Project Safe Neighborhoods," Thompson warns.

Project Safe Neighborhoods is designed to prove the Bush administration is not against "sensible" gun control, she explains, "and the tagline on it is, 'If you use a gun illegally you will do hard time.'

"But you don't have prosecutors saying 'We're not going to prosecute rapists because they're really good people.' That's not the problem. Those laws are already enforced. So the people they're really going after are people who are violating one of the 20,000 unconstitutional gun laws, people who put a flash suppressor on their rifle, or have a high capacity magazine on their firearm, or who drive by the school with a hunting rifle in the back of their truck; it's all the unconstitutional, politically correct gun control laws they're going to be enforcing."

Vin Suprynowicz, the Review-Journal's assistant editorial page editor, is author of "Send in the Waco Killers." His column appears Sunday.

[Coleus]

Thanks..

So, where are the "good" gun/2nd Amendment "rights" organizations and websites?