8/24/13
A group of 2nd Amendment supporters from Franklin, Clinton and Essex Counties attended a SCOPE presentation at the Saranac Lake Fish and Game Club on 8/23/13. The presentation by SCOPE President Stephen Aldstadt included a history of the SCOPE organization and its mission.
After a brief discussion the group voted and elected a Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer to begin the organization of the new “SCOPE North Country Committee” joining the 6000 other members spread out among 160 clubs in New York State. The Committee can become a Charter group of SCOPE after one year.
The North Country Committee challenged with a large geographical layout will begin educating and organizing their portion of the 6 million gun owners in New York State. Voter registration and political involvement for upcoming elections will be a priority.
SCOPE Mission Statement
The Shooter’s Committee on Political Education was founded in 1965 by a group of firearms owners in western New York. SCOPE is a civil rights organization focused on the protection and preservation of the right of firearms ownership as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. The founding of SCOPE and its subsequent growth were in response to the attacks on the Second Amendment as being outmoded in modern times or not being applicable to the rights of individuals. In other words, firearms ownership, much less use, was no longer considered by some to be politically correct.
While SCOPE role is focused primarily on the political process, it is an issues oriented organization. It does not align itself with any political party nor does it endorse any candidates for elective office. Our function is to counter assaults on the right of firearms ownership. This entails providing legislators and executives with timely and accurate information to support sound decisions.
In a free society, it is inevitable that the needs of the public will come into conflict with the rights of the individual. The SCOPE legislative team reviews all proposed firearms legislation for its impact on the legitimate firearms owner, its economic cost to the state, and its potential for achieving its stated objective. In developing our position on a specific piece of legislation or regulatory proposal, SCOPE goes through an extensive review process. All proposals are examined in light of their relationship to legitimate state interests and their potential for achieving objectives substantially related to satisfying those interests.
SCOPE’s purpose is to maintain the right of individuals to own and use firearms for lawful purposes. The Supreme Court in its landmark 2008 decision in District of Columbia v. Heller clearly upheld this right. We do recognize that we live in a real world where individual rights may conflict and the state has a legitimate interest in resolving those conflicts. Any regulation by the state, however, must serve an important governmental objective and must be closely related to the achievement of that objective. SCOPE will oppose, with all its resources, any proposal that is not based on sound technical grounds or that infringes on the rights of firearms owners for the purpose of promoting a political philosophy, advancing a social theory, or as an emotional response and is not based on clear Constitutional grounds.
SCOPE Link: www.SCOPENY.org