December 14, 2011. BLOWING ROCK -- Grass Roots North Carolina president F. Paul Valone, the self-described architect of the June gun rights legislation that became effective December 1, took exception to how Blowing Rock News characterized his organization (Dec. 12 article), so we invited him to provide our readers with some illumination not only about his organization, but on the recent gun rights legislation and its impact on Blowing Rock, including upcoming consideration by the Town Council and Planning Board.

Editor's Caution: Blowing Rock News has not verified the accuracy of any facts, figures, or opinions expressed herein.  The reader should refer to the footnotes to source material provided by the author. An "Editor's Response" follows Mr. Valone's article.

A Law to Save Lives

By F. Paul Valone. December 14, 2011. RALEIGH -- Recounting recent changes to state gun laws, in a December 12th article Blowing Rock News described the organization I founded and direct as “a Raleigh-based lobby organization that, while it has individual members, receives a substantial amount of funding from firearms merchants.”

Before discussing misconceptions about the new laws, let’s get something straight: I don’t earn a dime defending the right to keep and bear arms, and the group I direct, Grass Roots North Carolina (GRNC), is not a big-buck lobby bankrolled by Merchants of Death. It is a member-funded, all-volunteer, grassroots collection of people who join to defend freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights.

GRNC isn’t a “lobby organization” because it doesn’t hire lobbyists. Volunteers defending your freedoms take time from family and work, often driving hours to the state legislature to hold politicians’ feet to the fire.

Nor does GRNC take “a substantial amount of funding from firearms merchants.” Beyond some newsletter and website ads, constituting perhaps 5% of operational revenues, we are funded entirely by member contributions. Because we substitute volunteer sweat for money, we aren’t required to file the financial disclosures of high-dollar non-profits, rendering the assertion of “substantial” gun merchant funding speculative at best.

Blowing Rock News was dead on target, however, in calling GRNC the “architect” of House Bill 650, an omnibus gun bill covering everything from reinforcing your right to self defense (“Castle Doctrine”) to expanding our concealed handgun law into state and municipal parks.

Effective December 1, local governments lost the power to prevent permit-holders from protecting themselves with concealed handguns in municipal parks, except in narrowly defined, specifically listed “recreational facilities,” rendering Blowing Rock’s current ordinance unenforceable.¹ But when town officials describe planned changes to bring ordinances into compliance as “neither difficult nor controversial,” rest assured they are both.

Background

To give you background, every time a state passes or expands a concealed handgun law, critics conjure dire prognostications of shootouts at traffic lights or, more recently, in parks. Invariably, they are wrong.

For 16 years, North Carolina’s concealed handgun permit-holders have proven themselves sane, sober and law-abiding. Mirroring other states with concealed carry, of 395,251 permits approved, less than one-third of one percent (0.30%) have been revoked for any reason, with most revocations unrelated to guns.²  You can expect that same responsibility in parks.

You should also expect the law to deter violent predators. Echoing controlled, multi-variate studies of other states conducted by John R. Lott, former chief economist for the U.S. Sentencing Commission³, North Carolina violent crime dropped by fully 43.5% since the concealed handgun law’s 1995 inception. According to State Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Reporting Data, between 1995 and 2010 murder dropped by 47%, rape by 35%, robbery by 43%, and aggravated assault by 44%.⁴

Why? Because criminals avoid armed victims.

Meanwhile, evidence suggests our ostensibly “gun free” parks have not enjoyed that benefit. Although crime reporting in state parks is inconsistent, an informal comparison between 1995 and 2010 suggests an increase of nearly 36% in total crime, and a reduction in violent crime only one-third of that experienced elsewhere.⁵

Municipal parks are worse. Although crime rates are not separately reported, we found scores of assaults, rapes, murders and attempted kidnappings. On November 18, Leroy Staton was stabbed to death in Greenville’s Jaycee Park – a murder described as “gruesome.”⁶

Applying the New Laws in Blowing Rock

None of this seems to matter to local governments squelching citizen input as they quietly ban guns in the few areas they still can…and a few they legally can’t. Although some have declined to pass restrictions, others have violated both the letter and spirit of the new statute by passing bans for hiking trails, whole parks, and even entire lakes.

When courts inevitably interpret changes made by HB 650, they will consider both plain language and legislative intent. As for the former, the bill defines “recreational facilities” where guns may still be banned as: “a playground, an athletic field, a swimming pool, and an athletic facility.”

As for legislative intent, even the misguided sponsor of the restrictions dumped onto the bill explained they were intended for “active” sports areas where tempers supposedly flare, noting “…this amendment does not address passive recreation areas” such as walking trails and picnic areas.⁷

Yet “passive” areas slated for bans under Blowing Rock planning director Kevin Rothrock’s proposal – in violation of state law – include all of Memorial Park (with gazebo and restrooms); Davant Athletic Field’s walking track, Rotary Pavillion and restrooms; and property surrounding Grover C. Robbins Memorial Pool, including “adjacent greenspace.”⁸

Lest you think Raleigh is usurping local authority, understand that statewide uniformity of gun laws has existed since 1995. Called “firearms preemption,” it is intended to help citizens avoid becoming accidental criminals while navigating a minefield of inconsistent gun laws. Indeed, under the Blowing Rock proposal, if you carry a firearm to protect your children at a picnic and then decide to push them on a swing, you face an increased penalty of six months in jail.

Concealed handgun laws have a long history of success. Rather than scurrying to ban concealed handguns in the few areas still permissible, city governments should embrace the law as a rational response to park violence which will save lives.

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F. Paul Valone is president of Grass Roots North Carolina. He may be reached at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Footnotes:

1. Section 21(b) of House Bill 650, available at: http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/Sessions/2011/Bills/House/PDF/H650v6.pdf
2. “North Carolina Concealed Handgun Permit Statistics by County: 12/1/1995 thru 6/30/2011,” North Carolina Department of Justice, available at: http://www.ncdoj.gov/CHPStats.aspx
3. More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun Control Laws, 3^rd Edition, John R. Lott, Jr., The University of Chicago Press, 2010.
4. “Crime in North Carolina: Annual Summary Reports of Uniform Crime Reporting Data,” North Carolina Department of Justice, available at: http://crimereporting.ncdoj.gov/Reports.aspx. Data compiled from 1995 (concealed handgun law became effective on 12-1-95) until 2010. Overall violent crime rate per 100,000 people dropped from 662.9 to 374.4 (43.5%); with murder dropping from 9.6 to 5.1 (47%); rape dropping from 33.1 to 21.5 (35%); robbery from 184.2 to 105.0 (43%); and aggravated assault from 436.0 to 242.7 (44%). Although correlation does not imply causation, the trend exactly mirrors the impact of concealed handgun laws demonstrated by John R. Lott and William Landes in their controlled, multi-variate analysis of such laws entitled, “Crime, Deterrence and Right to Carry Concealed Handgun Laws.”
5. Data compiled from North Carolina Department of Justice statistics at: http://crimereporting.ncdoj.gov/Reports.aspx
6. “Friend: Stabbing death was 'gruesome'”, Greenville Daily Reflector, Nov. 19, 2011: http://reflector.cookepublishing.net/crimerescue/police-reports/jaycee-park-stabbing-kills-man-771033
7. Representative David Guice explaining his amendment to what was then House Bill 111 (which was eventually folded into HB 650) during March 29, 2011 floor session of the NC House. Chamber audio available at: http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/DocumentSites/browseDocSite.asp?nID=9&sFolderName=\2011-2012%20Session\Audio%20Archives
8. Blowing Rock Planning Board agenda for December 15, 2011 available at: http://www.townofblowingrock.com/planagendas/12-15-11.htm

EDITOR'S RESPONSE

By David Rogers. December 14, 2011. BLOWING ROCK -- Blowing Rock News thanks Mr. Valone for offering his insights and perspective.   On a personal level, I mostly agree with Mr. Valone about gun rights, but Blowing Rock News is a news and information provider, not a lobby organization.   Moreover, I take exception to his claim that we misrepresented his organization in our article (see below).  His group must also come to terms with an important aspect of the human condition: different people can look at the same thing (or, in this case, the same language) and see things differently based on their own set of values. They simply may not see it his way (see below).

INTERPRETING LEGISLATION

ANY legislation is likely to be interpreted differently than its author(s) intended -- by one or more individuals.  It is also likely to be implemented differently by various municipalities vs. what was envisioned in the authors' minds -- rightly or wrongly.

The architects of the U.S. Constitution knew that their historic, coveted and uniquely American document, as well as all subsequent legislation by federal, state and local governments subject to the Constitution's adoption, would be open to interpretation by various constituent interests at different points in history.  That's why the framers of the Constitution also provided for the U.S. Supreme Court and other judicial bodies: to adjudicate differences in interpretation of laws passed by the legislative branch of government and agreed to by the executive branch.  Those powers of "final" interpretation are an important part of our system's "checks and balances."  At least when I was in school, we studied the Constitution and learned about these most basic of principles in the 8th grade.

While Mr. Valone may well be a principal in the crafting of the June gun rights legislation that is the subject of the current discussion, it is still going to be interpreted and implemented by the various municipalities in North Carolina -- and perhaps differently than he intended in its framing.  His would not be the first piece of legislation (nor will it be the last) to undergo the scrutiny of our judicial system as the law is (interpreted and) implemented.  We look forward to many months, if not years of covering gun rights cases in the future.  Despite GRNC's lobbying (advocacy) efforts, there are differences already in its implementation, from Winston-Salem to Smithfield.  The citizen representatives of Blowing Rock will exercise their rights to interpretation and implementation of the legislation, of course subject to potential future judicial review if challenged.

CHARACTERIZATION AS A LOBBY-BASED ORGANIZATION

As for Blowing Rock News characterizing GRNC as "a Raleigh-based lobby organization":

First, we intended that characterization as a statement of fact, NOT one of contempt for lobby organizations. In our current system of government, lobby organizations play important roles in getting citizen viewpoints across, even if special interest groups have at times been criticized for unfairly influencing legislation.  Certainly, we did not depict GRNC as a "Merchant of Death".

That said, Blowing Rock News did not pull a depiction of GRNC as a lobby organization out of thin air.  To the contrary, we took it from GRNC's own website (it has since been changed, but we saved a screen print) as we were crafting our article, in which it stated (emphasis in "blue" added):

About Rights Watch International

Like national gun rights organizations, GRNC actually comprises three entities:

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  • GRNC itself is incorporated as a 501(c)(4) organization, which is tax exempt, may lobby for or against legislation, and may conduct limited candidate advocacy.  Although the organization is tax exempt, contributions are not tax deductible.
  • Rights Watch International (RWI) is our 501(c)(3) arm and was charterd to conduct education and legal action to defend your rights in legal system.  Contributions to RWI are deductible for state and federal income tax purposes, making RWI a perfect vehicle for large contributions or via employers' United Way fundraising drives. (Note: Rights Watch International must be specifically designated for United Way donations)
  • GRNC Political Fund: As described elsewhere, GRNC-PVF is a political action committee created for "express advocacy" -- the election or defeat of candidates in specific races in order to elect pro-gun majorities to the North Carolina General Assembly, Congress, and elsewhere.

Note: Subsequent to a phone conversation between Mr. Valone and David Rogers, editor of Blowing Rock News, GRNC has purged its website of the word "lobby."  As stated, we saved a screen print of the original.  Also note that the "About" language refers to GRNC as the umbrella organization (that it "actually comprises three entities"). So any reference to any of the component parts of GRNC can actually refer to GRNC, the master organization.

Whether you call yourself an organization to "advocate for or against legislation", or a "political action committee", which GRNC still does, you are still a lobby organization.  And it does not matter whether or not you are a volunteer or paid professional organization.  In fact, the esteemed online resource Dictionary.com defines the verb form of the word "lobby" several ways as:

• "a group of persons who work or conduct a campaign to influence members of a legislature to vote according to the group's special interest."  AND 
• "to solicit or try to influence the votes of members of a legislative body." AND 
• "to try to influence the actions of (public officials, especially legislators)." AND 
• "to urge or procure the passage of (a bill)..."  

Thesaurus.com goes a step further, listing numerous definitions of the word "lobby", including one in which it lists a SYNONYM for the noun "lobby" as "political action committee".  

If GRNC does not wish to be referred to as a lobby organization, then it not only needs to purge the word "lobby" from its "About" section of www.grnc.org (we'll even give you a free hyperlink to the site so folks can find out first hand what you are about), but it also needs to purge the words "political action committee" and "advocate for or against legislation." (which is the changed language).  All of that language implies "lobby organization" within the scope of the English language we all share. If not being a lobby organization is its goal, then it needs to stop trying to influence the votes of legislators. In Mr. Valone's self-description, "...often driving hours to the state legislature to hold politicians’ feet to the fire."

FUNDING BY FIREARMS MERCHANTS

There is nothing inherently wrong with a special interest or "lobby" organization, whether volunteer or professional, receiving money from firearms merchants or any other business interest.  "Significant" or "substantial" is a subjective term that is subject to interpretation.  We made that observation because of the 11 sponsors listed on the website, 10 are firearms-related enterprises.  There is nothing wrong with that, but the people of North Carolina have a right to know who is influencing the crafting of the laws that govern them, whether the monetary contributions are five percent of operating revenues or 80% of operating revenues.

As editor of Blowing Rock News, I may or may not disagree with the positions or values of Mr. Valone when it comes to an American's ownership and possession of a handgun, as well as his or her right to use it when self, family or property are threatened.  It is his right to have those positions and values and it is his right to try to influence others to see the world his way.  

However, I do have a problem with not admitting what you are, but still taking us to task for telling the truth and accurately depicting your organization.  If you are defensive about being a lobby organization, get over it. It's not illegal to be one.

BLOWING ROCK ISSUE AWARENESS

Finally, we should note that GRNC is urging a vigorous campaign in Blowing Rock.  Its current "Recent GRNC Alerts" page focuses solely on Blowing Rock. (http://www.grnc.org/defend-your-rights/clients/recent-grnc-alerts).  It provides links to the current town ordinance, the proposed town ordinance, as well as all of the phone numbers for the Mayor and Town Commissioners. It also provides "Talking Points" and urges that GRNC members attend the Planning Board meeting on Thursday, December 15, in Town Hall.

Whatever side of this issue you are on, whether for or against a strict or liberal interpretation of the legislation, if you care at all you might want to attend.

Respectfully,

David Rogers, Editor, Blowing Rock News

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