Diocoles wrote:
Nice for AZ.
Now for Colorado.
I've been reading more and more about RMGO and the differences with NRA.
I'm getting more and more interested in RMGO.
I'm a life member of NRA, but I may just have to join RMGO...
And, we should not have to worry about the way we carry our pistol any more than we should have to worry about how to carry a pocket knife.
Rocky Mountain Gun Owners (
http://www.rmgo.org) has been working on passing a Vermont Carry bill (now dubbed, accurately, Constitutional Carry) in Colorado since the early 1990’s.
It’s called a number of things, and can come in different forms. Vermont Carry, Alaska Law, Constitutional Carry – all mean no-permit-needed, no-Big-Brother-May-I, no lists, and no government-mandated training. Though stand-alone legislation is great, often the efforts to pass Vermont Laws come in the form of amendments to existing legislation.
We’ve run Vermont legislation and amendments half a dozen times in the Colorado legislature. Former Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave ran Vermont amendments in the State House when she served there as well as her own stand-alone bill (in the post-Columbine environment). At RMGO’s prompting, Colorado State Senators Greg Brophy and Ted Harvey have both offered Vermont legislation and/or amendments.
Our national organization, the National Association for Gun Rights (
http://www.nationalgunrights.org), has been working with other states to get this legislation introduced and passed. In fact, Wyoming Gun Owners (
http://www.wyominggunowners.org) almost got their Constitutional Carry bill passed in 2010, despite a 30-day budgetary session time limit. They did get the Firearms Freedom Act passed (this one with REAL teeth, and no compromises made to exempt NFA weapons) this year.
We’ve worked with other groups to get the legislation introduced, including Iowa in 2009 and 2010, and have urged NAGR members to help in any state where it’s introduced (NAGR did an Arizona e-mail to pass that legislation a few weeks ago).
RMGO even asks a Vermont Carry question in our state candidates’ survey.
That all being said, the elephant in the room is the NRA. In Colorado, the NRA desperately tried to avoid passing a Vermont Law. In 1997, they threatened then-State Rep. Marilyn Musgrave with lowering her NRA grade if she ran a Vermont amendment (see
http://gunowners.org/musgrave.htm) for the letter. In subsequent years in Colorado, the Firearms Coalition of Colorado (which no longer exist) and the state affiliate of the NRA, the Colorado State Shooting Association, all testified against Vermont Carry bills and amendments.
Across the country, the NRA and their lapdogs poo-poo Vermont Carry, saying it won’t have a chance. But that’s what they said prior to Alaska passing – “That’ll never happen.”