GRNC Alert 5-2-14: NRA’s Own Alert Proves Schatzman is Anti-Gun

Is NRA lying to members, or does it not remember its own alert?

NOTE: EARLY VOTING ENDS TOMORROW AT 1:00 pm

Earlier this week, GRNC documented assertions that incumbent Forsyth County Sheriff William Schatzman obstructed issuance of concealed handgun permits and imposed arbitrary requirements on applicants in violation of state law.

Apparently in response to GRNC Political Victory Fund mailings against Schatzman, on Monday the NRA endorsed Schatzman, the endorsement letter for which can be seen at:

http://grnc.org/documents/NRA_endorsement_of_Schatzman.jpg

Now, the NRA is justifying this endorsement by telling members who complain about the endorsement by, among other things, telling people Schatzman supports the repeal of our Jim Crow-era pistol purchase permit system. Unfortunately, that is either a lie or utter incompetence . The NRA, in one of its own alerts last year on House Bill 937, targeted Schatzman using his own words.

Here is the NRA alert against Schatzman:

http://grnc.org/documents/nra_alert_Schatzman.pdf

Here are Schatzman’s words about repealing the purchase permit system:

“To my friends and political followers, thank you for expressing your concerns regarding our gun laws and for your strong support for our Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office for the last eleven years. I, like you, believe in and strongly support requiring purchase permits and background checks for all hand gun purchases. I do not support NC HB 937 Amend Various Firearms Laws as it is currently written. I oppose the provision, added by the NC Senate last Tuesday 6/11/13, which would repeal the pistol purchase permit law. I am on the NC Sheriff’s Association (NCSA) Legislative Committee and I know the NCSA opposes the added Senate provision, also, and has asked the NC General Assembly to delete it. If you have any questions about this matter, I would be happy to answer them. My best regards always. Sheriff Bill” [Emphasis added]

Now here is the story the NRA is giving complaining members:

“The NRA appreciates your concern regarding the endorsement of Sheriff Schatzman in the upcoming primary election. Unfortunately, it would appear that the information circulating about Sheriff Schatzman is not exactly current or accurate. First, the complaint about unnecessary personal information on CHP applications was clearly addressed. It was raised over two years ago, and within days, those who raised their concerns announced, ‘Your voice has been heard. That information is no longer required.’

“The second complaint, also raised more than two years ago, was also apparently resolved, as the group that raised this issue once in 2012 never raised it again. If the sheriff was actually doing something illegal, as alleged, one would presume some sort of action would have been taken.

“The NRA takes its endorsements very seriously, and we stand by them. In this case, the NRA received responses to its candidate questionnaire from Sheriff Schatzman that indicated he strongly supports NRA’s views on Second Amendment issues. He expressed support for every one of the NRA’s legislative goals, including repeal of the Handgun Permit-to-Purchase which is a very important state legislative priority for us this year.

“A representative of the NRA also had a long meeting with Sheriff Schatzman to discuss in great detail NRA’s concerns. While it is unclear if the group that is questioning NRA’s endorsement bothered to speak directly to Sheriff Schatzman, the NRA did, and came away with a clear understanding of the sheriff’s views. You can rest assured he supports the Second Amendment, has committed to continuing to do so, and has clearly exhibited that, if concerns are raised by gun owners, he is more than happy to address them. Again, considering there have not been an! y issues raised in the two years since the initial concerns were raised, it would appear that Sheriff Schatzman addressed those problems.

“Thanks, Katelyn Bledsoe”

The truth about Schatzman

This demonstrates that the NRA is either now lying about Schatzman’s history, or else they are too incompetent to remember it. Either way, they are wrong. Moreover, despite Bledsoe’s assertions to the contrary, GRNC’s concerns about Schatzman are both “timely” and “accurate.” Not only have we exchanged messages with Schatzman many times, he returned GRNC’s candidate survey with a mediocre 83%, as opposed to Dave Griffith’s 100%.

In truth, it was GRNC who “outted” Schatzman’s demands for employer contact information from concealed handgun applicants, not the NRA. Nor did Schatzman reverse the policy “within days.” It took three weeks of repeated communications from GRNC president Paul Valone, the threat of litigation, and a GRNC alert which deluged Schatzman with irate phone calls and emails, all of which are documented at:

http://www.grnc.org/grnc-pvf/grnc-pvf-alertsupdates/627-grnc-pvf-alert-grnc-proves-forsyth-sheriff-violated-law

Schatzman refuses to sign Form 4’s

The NRA also fails to note that Schatzman refuses to sign Form 4’s for Title II weapons such as suppressors and short-barreled rifles, which are required by the BATF to own these firearms, despite GRNC-initiated legislation in 2011 which makes them perfectly legal to own. Opponent Dave Griffith has pledged to do so.

Why is the NRA endorsing bad candidates?

This is the question rolling in from people who don’t know the NRA’s long history of endorsing anti-gun candidates, either due to “deals” or to its policy of trying to curry favor with incumbents. GRNC created the “Remember in November” project in 1994 due to precisely those deficiencies in NRA endorsements, which have included Senator “Fountain” Odom (who weakened our original concealed handgun bill), Sen. Marc Basnight (who stymied pro gun bills for nearly two decades), Governor Mike Easley (need we say more?) and scores of others.

The NRA endorsement of Senate candidate (and former NC House Speaker) Thom Tillis is predictable. No doubt, NRA representative Anthony Roulette promised to kiss his ring (and other parts of his anatomy) last year during the House Bill 937 debate.

More surprising is the Schatzman endorsement which, made at the last minute on April 28, appears to be entirely in response to GRNC-PVF mailings against an obviously an anti-gun sheriff. Interestingly, the endorsement is signed by Roulette who, as the NRA’s NC representative, almost certainly was the same person who commanded the NRA alert blasting Schatzman last year. In other words, Roulette is either lying about Schatzman supporting the pistol purchase permit repeal or (giving him the benefit of the doubt), Roulette is truly incompetent. Either way, he needs to go.

IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED!

·         CALL THE NRA at 800-392-8683 on Monday morning between 9:00 AM and 11:00 AM and demand they do two things: (1) Retract the Schatzman endorsement and (2) fire Anthony Roulette, the NRA representative who made it.

·         EMAIL NRA SPOKESPERSON KATELYN BLEDSOE at KBledsoe@nrahq.org and ask her whether Roulette is lying about Schatzman or simply too incompetent to know that his organization already blasted him over repeal of the pistol purchase law just last year. Here too, demand the firing of Roulette and retraction of the Schatzman endorsement.

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