An Open Letter To The Pro-gun Community

Gun Owners of America 8001 Forbes Place, Suite
102, Springfield, VA 22151 Phone: 703-321-8585 /
FAX: 703-321-8408 http://www.gunowners.org

Thursday, October 4, 2007

It may be a cliche, but it is true: This letter
is written not in anger, but in sorrow and
concern. It is written to our friends about NRA
staff who, tragically, have taken a course which,
we believe, would be disastrous for the Second
Amendment and the pro-gun movement.

Two of us are Life Members of the NRA -- one of
whom was an NRA board member for over ten years.
And our legislative counsel was a paid consultant
for the NRA.

So we certainly have no animus against the NRA
staff, much less our wonderful friends who are
NRA members.

In fact, over the last thirty years, GOA and its
staff have worked with NRA to facilitate most of
our pro-gun victories -- from McClure-Volkmer to
the death of post-Columbine gun control to a gun
liability bill free of anti-gun "killer
amendments."

But those who staff the NRA, without consulting
the membership, have now made a series of strange
and dangerous alliances with the likes of Chuck
Schumer, Carolyn McCarthy, and Pat Leahy. And we
believe that, if allowed to continue, this will
produce anti-gun policies which the NRA staff
will bitterly regret.

Christ said, in the Sermon on the Mount, that "by
their fruits, ye shall know them." And, frankly,
these fruits are not likely to produce much
pro-gun legislation.

Substantively, the Leahy/McCarthy/Schumer bill,
which NRA's staff has vigorously supported
without consulting with its membership, would
rubber-stamp the illegal and non-statutory BATFE
regulations which have already been used to strip
gun rights from 110,000 veterans. It would also
allow an anti-gun administration to turn over
Americans' most private medical records to the
federal instant check system without a court
order.

But perhaps even worse, the bill was hatched in
secret, without hearings or testimony, and passed
out of the House without even a roll call. And
now, the sponsors are trying to do the same thing
in the Senate -- in an effort to ram the bill
through without votes or floor debate, led by
anti-gun Senator Chuck Schumer. If it is good
legislation, as its proponents claim, why such
fears of a roll call vote or debate in committee?

Indeed, in the face of horrific dissent from the
NRA's own membership, its staff has tragically
ignored arguments and dug in its heels -- in an
almost "because-we-say-so" attitude.

Understand this:

* Passage of McCarthy/Leahy/Schumer will not
quell the calls for gun control. To the contrary,
it will embolden our enemies to push for the
abolition of even more of our Second Amendment
rights. Already, the Brady Campaign has indicated
its intent to follow up this "victory" with a
push for an effective ban on gun shows.

* Passage of McCarthy/Leahy/Schumer will not be
viewed as an "NRA victory." To the contrary, once
the liberal media has used the NRA staff for its
purposes, it will throw them away like a used
Kleenex. Already, an over-confident press is
crowing that this is the "first major gun control
measure in over a decade."

* Taking the BATFE's horrifically expansive
unlawful regulations dealing with veterans' loss
of gun rights and making them unchangeable
congressionally-endorsed statutory law is NOT
"maintaining the status quo."

* We are told that the McCarthy/Leahy/Schumer
bill should be passed because it contains special
provisions to allow persons prohibited from
owning guns to get their rights restored. But
there is already such a provision in the law; it
is 18 U.S.C. 925(c). And the reason why no one
has been able to get their rights restored under
CURRENT LAW is that funds for the system have
been blocked by Chuck Schumer. It is no favor to
gun owners for Chuck Schumer -- the man who has
blocked funding for McClure-Volkmer's "relief
from disability" provisions for 15 years -- to
now offer to give us back a tepid version of the
provisions of current law which he has tried so
hard to destroy.

Finally, there is the cost, which ranges from $1
billion in the cheapest draft to $5 billion -- to
one bill which places no limits whatsoever on
spending. Thus, we would be drastically
increasing funding for gun control -- at a time
when BATFE, which has done so much damage to the
Second Amendment, should be punished, rather than
rewarded.

We would now respectfully ask the NRA staff to
step back from a battle with its membership --
and to join with us in opposing
McCarthy/Leahy/Schumer gun control, rather than
supporting it.

And, to our friends and NRA members, we would ask
that you take this letter and pass it on to your
friends and colleagues.

Sincerely,

Larry Pratt Executive Director

Michael E. Hammond Legislative Counsel