NAGR/Dudley in Mississiippi: alienating allies
http://www.clarionledger.com/story/n...-law/28157163/
A gun rights group that drew the ire of the Mississippi Legislature's staunchest gun rights supporters has been fined by the secretary of state's office for soliciting donations without registering as a nonprofit.
"It just keeps coming with these people," said House Judiciary Chairman Andy Gipson, R-Braxton, who has championed successful pro-gun rights legislation in recent years. "I think this demonstrates the primary purpose of this group coming to Mississippi was to raise money, and they even did that illegally. I would also say that they were illegally soliciting Mississippians' money at the same time they were lobbying the Legislature illegally."
The Colorado-based National Association of Gun Rights – parent of the Mississippi Gun Rights Group founded last October – entered into a consent decree with the secretary of state's office. It says the group will abide by Mississippi law – which requires registering as a charitable organization – and pay a $500 fine.
Mississippi Gun Rights was at first welcomed by conservatives in the pro-gun Mississippi Legislature. But after the group targeted several of them with "robo-calls" and social media ads claiming they are anti-gun rights, Gipson and others vowed never again to deal with the organization or its founding director in Mississippi, Noel Fritsch.
Gipson and others complained Fritsch was lobbying lawmakers without having registered as a lobbyist, and Sen. Angela Hill, R-Picayune – who initially filed a bill on behalf of the group – vowed in March that she would contact the Capitol Police if Fritsch contacted her again, saying his communications with her had become "borderline threatening."
Fritsch, who had been lobbying lawmakers at least since January, did not register as a lobbyist until March, after the secretary of state's office received complaints. Violation of the lobbying law carries a penalty of up to a $1,000 fine and six months in jail, but the law is seldom enforced or prosecuted, particularly if someone registers after being notified of complaints.
Fritsch, in a written statement Friday said: "It is unfortunate that career politicians in Jackson, running from their weak records on important issues like the Second Amendment, would use arbitrary government fines as a tool to silence opposition – a clear sign they also take issue with the First Amendment."
NAGR has created controversy nationally running ads targeting Republicans with A ratings on gun rights from the National Rifle Association. NAGR has recently outspent the NRA on federal lobbying efforts and has been expanding its efforts to state-level politics. Mississippi Gun Rights, with membership fees starting at $25, has claimed to have more than 50,000 members in Mississippi.
Mississippi Gun Rights this year pushed a "constitutional carry" bill in the Mississippi Legislature, to allow carrying of a concealed weapon without a permit. But several pro-gun lawmakers, including Hill who filed the MGR bill, said they realized it was poorly crafted and had problems including contradictory language that could have actually restricted gun rights.
When lawmakers tried to work on the bill to resolve issues, MGR launched a social media and phone calling campaign attacking some of the Legislature's most ardent gun rights supporters as being anti-gun rights. Fritsch, in a statement at the time, accused some of the lawmakers who supported his bill of "betrayal."
Gipson, who says he still supports constitutional carry, instead successfully passed a bill that allows concealed carry without a permit in purses, briefcases or other bags or satchels. Gipson said Fritsch and MGR fouled any chances of the broader constitutional carry bill passing this year.
Contact Geoff Pender at (601) 961-7266 or gpender@jackson.gannett.com. Follow @GeoffPender on Twitter.
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