With NRA’s Help California Homeowners Convince HOA to Drop Gun Ban Plan
Sacramento, CA –-(Ammoland.com)-The Greenstone Country community, located in El Dorado County California near Placerville, has historically allowed some sport shooting.
But a member of the Board of Directors of the Greenstone Country Homeowners Association wanted to change that.
He asked the Board to change the Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (“CC&R”) of the community to completely ban the discharge of firearms and airguns and eliminate all target and other shooting throughout the gated equestrian community.
Thankfully Bob Ayrest, a resident of Greenstone Country and a National Rifle Association (NRA) member, brought this issue to the attention of the NRA’s California attorneys at the law firm of Michel & Associates, P.C., who assisted him and other neighbors in defeating the attempt to do away with shooting in the community.
Ayrest and a group of about fifteen Greenstone homeowners attended the August 12, 2010 Greenstone Country HOA Board of Directors meeting to speak against the proposed changes to the CC&R. At the meeting they pointed out the many flaws in the proposed revisions, including that the revisions would inappropriately ban the discharge of BB guns, airguns, bows, and nailguns, because these devices discharge projectiles by means of compressed air or springs.
Mr. Ayrest also pointed out to the Board of Directors that the proper procedure to implement a change to the CC&Rs had not been followed. Under the HOA bylaws, proper procedure for amending the CC&Rs calls for the HOA’s CC&R Revision Committee to first consider a proposal to revise the CC&Rs, and then recommend items for change to the Board only if the CC&R committee finds the suggested change appropriate. Instead of taking this proper route, the Director who wanted to ban the use of guns in Greenstone Country attempted to push the amendment through the Board of Directors without first going through the CC&R committee.
Finally, Ayrest informed the Board of Directors that he had consulted with attorneys for the NRA and that if they wanted to push the revisions, the NRA was prepared to back him and the rest of the supporting homeowners all the way.
Acknowledging the NRA’s involvement, and recognizing their mistake, the Board of Directors referred the proposal back to the CC&R Revision Committee to make a recommendation for the proposed changes if the committee felt it was necessary. With the input from Ayrest and the others, CC&R committee found no reason to revise the current version of CC&R, so the proposed change was defeated.
Seventeen years ago the NRA and CRPA joined forces to fight local gun bans being written and pushed in California by the gun ban lobby. Their coordinated efforts became the NRA/CRPA “Local Ordinance Project” (LOP) – a statewide campaign to fight ill conceived local efforts at gun control and educate politicians about available programs that are effective in reducing accidents and violence without infringing on the rights of law-abiding gun owners. The NRA/CRPA LOP has had tremendous success in beating back most of these anti-self-defense proposals. The defeat of the proposed CC&R charge in Greenstone is just a more recent example of LOP’s accomplishments.
In addition to fighting local gun bans, for decades the NRA has been litigating dozens of cases in California courts to promote the right to self-defense and the 2nd Amendment. In the post Heller and McDonald legal environment, NRA and CRPA Foundation have formed the NRA/CRPA Foundation Legal Action Project (LAP), a joint venture to pro-actively strike down ill-conceived gun control laws and ordinances and advance the rights of firearms owners, specifically in California. Sometimes, success is more likely when LAP’s litigation efforts are kept low profile, so the details of every lawsuit are not always released.
To see a partial list of the LOP and LAP’s recent accomplishments, or to contribute to the NRA or to the NRA/CRPAF LAP and support this and similar Second Amendment cases, visit www.nraila.org and www.crpafoundation.org.
About:
The California Rifle and Pistol Association “CRPA,” founded in 1875, is dedicated to defending the rights of law-abiding citizens to responsibly use firearms for self-defense and the defense of their loved ones, for sport, and for all other legal activities. CRPA is the official state association of the National Rifle Association. A California non-profit association, CRPA is independently directed by its own Board of Directors. CRPA’s members include law enforcement officers, prosecutors, professionals, firearm experts, the general public, and loving parents. CRPA has always worked to reduce the criminal misuse of firearms and firearms accidents, while actively promoting and organizing the competitive shooting sports and Olympic training programs in California. We are proud to say that many CRPA competitors are among the best in the world. Visit: www.crpa.org