An Open Letter To The Pro-gun Community
102, Springfield, VA 22151 Phone: 703-321-8585 /
FAX: 703-321-8408 http://www.gunowners.org
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.
whom was an NRA board member for over ten years.
And our legislative counsel was a paid consultant
for the NRA.
staff, much less our wonderful friends who are
NRA members.
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."
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.
their fruits, ye shall know them." And, frankly,
these fruits are not likely to produce much
pro-gun legislation.
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.
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?
NRA's own membership, its staff has tragically
ignored arguments and dug in its heels -- in an
almost "because-we-say-so" attitude.
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.
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."
unlawful regulations dealing with veterans' loss
of gun rights and making them unchangeable
congressionally-endorsed statutory law is NOT
"maintaining the status quo."
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.
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.
step back from a battle with its membership --
and to join with us in opposing
McCarthy/Leahy/Schumer gun control, rather than
supporting it.
that you take this letter and pass it on to your
friends and colleagues.
Chairman
URGENT ALERT!!!
Anti-gun Zealots Trying To Ram Disarmament Bill Through Senate
-- Immediate action required
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
http://www.gunowners.org
You'd think that when rabid, anti-gun legislators like Sen. Charles
Schumer and Rep. Carolyn McCarthy join together to pass anti-gun
legislation, it would raise a few red flags.
gun owners with H.R. 2640 -- legislation which would bar you from
owning guns if:
Stress Disorder; or
entire gun collection seized, based only on a diagnosis of
Alzheimer's (and there goes the family inheritance).
months. You will remember that it passed in the House with an
unrecorded voice vote in June and was later passed out of the Senate
Judiciary Committee -- also without a recorded vote.
Veterans Disarmament Act -- so he is circulating an
"agreement" which
would waive the Senate rules in order to bring up and pass the bill.
couple of days!
ability of pro-gun senators to offer amendments which would clean up
the legislation... and would grease the skids for immediate passage!
prevail, he must get "unanimous consent." This means that just ONE
single senator can block it.
them to OBJECT to Senator Chuck Schumer's "unanimous consent
agreement" to steamroll H.R. 2640, the McCarthy anti-gun bill.
visiting the GOA Legislative Action Center at
http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm (where phone and fax numbers
are also available).
consent" to steamroll the Senate in connection with Carolyn
McCarthy's anti-gun bill, H.R. 2640.
if:
or
program.
entire gun collection seized, based only on a diagnosis of
Alzheimer's from a Medicare home health provider (and there goes the
family inheritance).
Veterans Disarmament Act. The Military Order of the Purple Heart is
opposed to it, having stated on June 18 of this year, that "For the
first time the legislation, if enacted, would statutorily impose a
lifetime gun ban on battle-scarred veterans."
consent agreement to discharge the bill.
Feinsteins at it again
You may recall that in recent years, GOA has
enlisted your aid in fighting so-called "gang"
legislation, which typically includes attempts to
apply federal RICO anti-racketeering statutes to
minor gun infractions -- thus harassing and
prosecuting otherwise law-abiding gun owners as
though they were Mafia bosses.
for such underhandedness.
your family, gun shop employees, or even church
bowling league would be considered an organized
"gang" and subjected to draconian prison
sentences if you did any of a number of things,
such as:
glovebox as you -- inevitably -- drive within
1,000 feet of a school, even if you didn't know
the school was there;
entrapped in a Bloomberg-style "sting" operation;
written letter of permission (which must be on
his actual person), even if you are standing
right behind him at the range the whole time; or,
names were illegally added to the Brady system by
President Clinton (or, presumably, one of the
thousands more who will be on the list if the
current Veterans Disarmament bill passes), if you
continued to possess a firearm.
which is quite large as bills go. Feinstein and
her anti-gun cronies will counter that the
situations listed above aren't enough -- you also
have to commit a crime of violence while engaging
in them.
themselves from carjackers or their businesses
from hold-ups are indicted by anti-gun
prosecutors merely for exercising their right to
self-defense. And what judge is going to say that
the "gun crimes" in those instances aren't crimes
of violence?
state that family members or gun shop employees
are "co-conspirators" or are "aiding and
abetting" actual criminals using guns.
what happens when prosecutorial powers are
enormously expanded. Take the original RICO Act
itself, for example. We were told that it was
needed to shut down the Mafia -- a tool to be
used in the fight against organized crime. But in
the years since its passage, the RICO Act has
become the overzealous prosecutor's version of
going nuclear... wrapping everything up in one
big package of conspiracy charges and twenty
years to life prison terms.
your two teenage boys could be treated like the
Gambino family just because you brandished your
firearm to scare away a carjacker... without
firing a shot! And prison terms of 10, 20, or
even all of your remaining years aren't right in
such instances, either!
It must be deleted, period. To our knowledge, the
entire Second Amendment community -- spearheaded
by GOA and the NRA -- is adamantly opposed to
Feinstein's scheme.
Capitol Hill about how to "handle" the problems
of S. 456 with a minimum of fuss. The most likely
scenario is that there would only be two
amendments allowed -- one Republican and one
Democratic. Once that is done, the Senate would
immediately proceed to a vote on the bill...
which may or may not be a recorded vote. Gun
owners should bear in mind that, regardless of
which politician is saying otherwise, there is NO
GUARANTEE that the Republican amendment would
even attempt to totally strike section 215. The
amendment might not help matters that much, and
might not pass anyway.
"roll of the dice" amendment vote is nothing more
than the usual smoke-and-mirrors designed to give
politicians cover from the wrath of a known
activist constituency.
Our position is firm and unalterable: section 215
must go away, now. The time to kill a snake is
before it strikes. And this snake could strike at
any time; a vote on final passage could occur as
early as this week.
Any individual senator can place a "hold" on a
particular piece of legislation until his or her
concerns are addressed; if the Leadership ignores
those objections, it becomes extremely difficult
to move the legislation forward. The "hold" is a
legislative tactic that we have used to great
advantage in the past. We need at least one
Senator to take that step and place a hold on S.
456.
your Senators a pre-written message asking them
to place a "hold" on S. 456 until such time as
section 215 is deleted from the bill.
First Amendment rights as well under attack
Even while we are busy defending our Second Amendment rights against efforts to enhance the Brady Law, there is a movement afoot to restrict our First Amendment rights as well... a movement that can make the defense of our liberties that much harder.You may have heard of this effort as the "Hush Rush" bill or, just simply, as the Fairness Doctrine. No matter how you look at it, however, there is nothing fair about it.Better termed the UnFairness Doctrine, it would radically limit the type of information you hear in the media and would greatly restrict access by Gun Owners of America to the airwaves.Access to talk radio has been crucial for GOA. If we had to depend on network news alone, one would think that crime is out of control. Talk radio has given Second Amendment supporters the opportunity to present the data that more guns in the hands of the public has actually lowered crime.On June 28, the House of Representatives voted 309 to 115 for an amendment -- offered by pro-gun Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) -- to defund enforcement of the unFairness Doctrine. This was a great victory. But even though the amendment -- which was added to a Federal Communication Commission appropriation (HR 2829) -- was a victory for supporters of the First Amendment, it does not give lasting comfort to supporters of free speech.The vote on the appropriations amendment applies only to FCC actions in 2008. Since no one thinks that the Commission would move to reimpose the unFairness Doctrine until after 2008, what is needed is enactment of S. 1748, the Broadcaster Freedom Act which was introduced by Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN).The so-called Fairness Doctrine is openly touted as a way to squelch conservative's market-driven dominance of talk radio. For example, Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma reports overhearing a conversation between Senators Hilary Clinton (NY) and Barbara Boxer (CA). The two Senators were complaining about conservatives' success in the free market of ideas on radio and said "We've got to have a balance. There's got to be a legislative fix for this."The UnFairness Doctrine is on its face an attack on free speech. Were folks like Senators Clinton and Boxer truly interested in balance, they would want to extend their unFairness Doctrine to the Public Broadcasting System and the network news programs, almost all of which tilt to the left.The anti-free speech forces in Congress may want to gag talk radio because Air America has staggered into bankruptcy. Air America, which was the left's failed attempt to compete with conservative talk radio, has almost no audience. It got its clock cleaned and has only itself to blame. It should not be allowed to hide behind a phony "Fairness Doctrine.Remember, the First Amendment protects free speech, not fairness. Free speech is a constitutional doctrine; using the power of government to mandate political "fairness" is a socialist doctrine.
go here
Soros-linked group
Soros-linked group hit with huge fine America Coming Together (ACT) raised $137 million for its
- The Politico.com
The Federal Election Commission has fined one of the last
cycles biggest liberal political action committees $775,000
for using unregulated soft money to boost John Kerry and other
Democratic candidates during the 2004 elections.
get-out-the-vote effort in 2004, but the FEC found most
of that cash came through contributions that violated federal limits.
Sport A Hit Even With Shooters Who Miss
- St. Petersburg Times
Roger and Cathy Gascoigne conduct free clinics to introduce
clay pigeon shooting to women and kids, who are enthusiastic participants.
Read More | Read Other News
The reason
"The reason the framers of the Constitution gave us the Second Amendment was summed
vote this year
Let's make sure that we in the pro-Second Amendment community do all we can in registering and voting this year.
STATE ROUNDUP
STATE ROUNDUP (please click to see any updates on states not listed below.)
ARIZONA: Anti-Shooting Activists Meet in Opposition to Northern Arizona Shooting Facility A group of anti-shooting activists called Citizens to Preserve Munds Park Community Values will be meeting on Saturday, August 4 at 10:00 a.m. to coordinate opposition to the planned state-of-the-art Willard Springs Shooting Range in Northern Arizona. As you may know, the effort to build a shooting facility in Northern Arizona has been a long and difficult process that has spanned more than a decade. Please attend this meeting and have your voice heard! Tell the opposition that noise testing has been completed by the state and there is no shooting noise that will enter Munds Park. Tell them that recreational opportunities will be enhanced, not diminished, and that the shooting sports are synonymous with true Arizona "community values." The meeting will be held Saturday, August 4 at 10:00 a.m. at the Munds Park RV Resort Banquet Hall, 17550 Munds Ranch Road, Munds Park, AZ
CALIFORNIA: Update on Pending California Firearm Legislation The California legislature is on break until Monday, August 20. Please contact your State Senator and respectfully urge him or her to oppose AB1471, AB334, and AB821. Contact information for your State Senator can be found by clicking here.
COLORADO: Hunting and Recreational Shooting Restrictions Proposed on BLM Land! Once again, hunting and recreational shooting is being targeted by the Bureau of Land Management, now in south central Colorado near Salida. If you hunt, target shoot, use motorized vehicles, hike and/or camp on these public lands, the proposal will affect you. It is important that BLM hear from you. The management plan and information on how to submit comments can be found at: http://www.blm.gov/co/st/en/fo/rgfo/travel_mgmt/arkansas_river_trave l0.html. The deadline to submit comments is Friday, August 3.
MICHIGAN: "No-Net-Loss" Legislation Could Be Headed to Senate Floor Anytime! House Bill 4597, "No-Net-Loss" legislation, is heading to the Senate floor for consideration. This bill will protect Michigan's valuable hunting tradition by ensuring that today's total acreage of public hunting lands is not reduced. Please contact your State Senator at (517) 373-2400 and respectfully urge him or her to pass HB4597 to protect Michigan's hunting heritage.
MISSISSIPPI: Tuesday, August 7 is Primary Election Day in Mississippi! If you have questions about candidates grades and endorsements, please call our Grassroots Division at 800-392-8683 or visit www.NRAPVF.org. Be sure to "Vote Freedom First" on Tuesday, August 7! For more information about voting in Mississippi, please visit: http://www.sos.state.ms.us/elections/2007/index.asp
MISSOURI: Missouri's "Hunting Heritage Protection Act" Being Undermined! On July 3, 2007 Governor Blunt signed Senate Bill 225 into law. Now, NRA members are anxiously awaiting the enactment date on August 28. Since passage in the closing days of Missouri's regular session, the Missouri Municipal League (MML) has undermined NRA members' hard work on SB 225, by urging all cities that do not currently have restrictions on hunting and the discharge of firearms to enact such an ordinance prior to the effective date of Senate Bill 225, the "Hunting Heritage Protection Areas Act." Now, the MML is trying to influence your local Park District board to pass restrictions on SB 225! Please be sure to monitor your city government and Park District meeting and agenda announcements and alert NRA-ILA of any proposal that seeks to restrict hunting and sport shooting. Please forward any information to Kris Koenen at kkoenen@nrahq.org or (703) 267-1209.
NEW JERSEY: Bill to Reorganize Fish & Game Council Heads to Assembly Floor! A3275, a bill that seeks to drastically change the membership of the Fish & Game Council from six sportsmen and three farmers who represent various geographical regions of the state to seven political appointees recommended by the Governor, is now heading to the full Assembly. The bill passed the Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee by a 5-2 vote on Thursday, June 14. Animal "rights" extremists testifying in support of A3275 derided hunting as a "15th century" means to wildlife management and touted this legislation as a "21st century" tool for wildlife management. They also expressed their desire to rid the Fish & Game Council of anyone with a "hunter driven background." Please contact your State Assembly member at (800) 792-8630 and respectfully urge him or her to vigorously oppose this anti-hunting legislation. To identify your Assembly member, please click here.
NORTH CAROLINA: Bill Allowing Judges to Carry Concealed Heads to Senate Floor! House Bill 573 would allow judges who have valid North Carolina concealed carry permits the ability to lawfully carry a firearm for personal protection in courthouses. HB573 passed the Senate Judiciary II Committee on Friday, July 27. It now heads to the full Senate for consideration. Please contact your State Senator today at (803) 212-6200 and respectfully urge him or her to support this legislation.
Anti-Gun Database Bill Still Alive! On Friday, July 27, the Senate Judiciary II Committee decided not to hear House Bill 1287. However, the bill is still alive as the Committee will still be in session through the weekend. This bill would create a new statewide database to which sheriffs would report all individuals who have been denied a permit to purchase a handgun. Please continue contacting the Senate Judiciary II Committee and respectfully urge them to oppose HB1287. Contact information for the Committee can be found by clicking here.
Compromisers On Capitol Hill Reviving Brady Expansion Again
Compromisers On Capitol Hill Reviving Brady Expansion Again
-- Your hard work in bottling up this bill is about to be undone
Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
http://www.gunowners.org
"[The] more vociferous rival, Gun Owners of America,... has long
opposed McCarthy's background-check bill." -- The Washington Post,
June 9, 2007
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
While the entire nation was focused on the immigration bill the past
couple of weeks, the gremlins on Capitol Hill were finalizing a
"compromise" on gun control legislation.
The good news is that your tremendous outpouring of opposition to
Rep. Carolyn McCarthy's Brady enhancement (HR 297) has sent a strong
signal to Capitol Hill that this bill is unacceptable as written.
The bad news is that there are some seemingly pro-gun Congressmen who
are driven to get anything passed, just so they can say they did
something about Virginia Tech.
So what's going on?
On Saturday, The Washington Post reported [ see
http://tinyurl.com/23cgqn ] that both the Democrats and the NRA
leadership had reached a "deal" on legislation similar to the
McCarthy bill. This "deal" involves a new bill that has been
introduced by Rep. McCarthy (HR 2640) -- a bill that has not yet been
posted on the Thomas legislative service. While all the legislative
particulars are not yet available, one thing is clear: it is, as
reported by the Post, a deal with Democrats. And it involves
legislation introduced by the most anti-gun member of the House
, Rep.
Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY).
The Post says that, under the new language, the federal government
would pay (that is, spend taxpayers' money) to help the states send
more names of individual Americans to the FBI for inclusion in the
background check system. If a state fails to do this, then the feds
could cut various law enforcement grants to that state. In essence,
this is a restatement of what the original McCarthy bill does. The
states will be bribed (again, with your money) to send more names,
many of them innocent gun owners, to the FBI in West Virginia -- and
perhaps lots of other personal information on you as well.
Under the terms of this compromise, the Post says, "individuals with
minor infractions in their pasts could petition their states to have
their names removed from the federal database, and about 83,000
military veterans, put into the system by the Department of Veterans
Affairs in 2000 for alleged mental health reasons, would have a
chance to clean their records."
Oh really? The Brady law already contains a procedure for cleaning
up records. But it hasn't worked for the 83,000 veterans that are
currently prohibited from buying guns. Gun Owners of America is
aware of many people who have tried to invoke this procedure in the
Brady Law, only to get the run around -- and a form letter -- from
the FBI. The simple truth is that the FBI and the BATFE think the
83,000 veterans, and many other law-abiding Americans, should be in
the NICS system.
After all, that's what federal regulations decree. Unless these regs
are changed, Congress can create as many redundant procedures for
cleaning up these records as it wants, but the bottom line is, there
is nothing that will force the FBI to scrub gun owners' name from the
NICS system.
Not only that, there is a Schumer amendment in federal law which
prevents the BATFE from restoring the rights of individuals who are
barred from purchasing firearms. If that amendment is not repealed,
then it doesn't matter if your state stops sending your name for
inclusion in the FBI's NICS system... you are still going to be a
disqualified purchaser when you try to buy a gun.
Moreover, will gun owners who are currently being denied the ability
to purchase firearms -- such as the military veterans who have
suffered from post-traumatic stress -- be recompensed in any way for
their efforts to "clean their records"? They will, no doubt,
have to
spend thousands of dollars going to a shrink for a positive
recommendation, for hiring lawyers to take their case to court, etc.
And this is not to mention the fact that this procedure turns our
whole legal system on its head. Americans are presumed innocent
until PROVEN guilty. But these brave souls, who risked their lives
defending our country, were denied the right to bear arms because of
a mental illness "loophole" in the law. Their names were added to
the prohibited purchasers' list in West Virginia without any due
process, without any trial by jury... no, their names were just added
by executive fiat. They were unilaterally, and unconstitutionally,
added into the NICS system by the Clinton administration. And now
the burden of proof is ON THEM to prove their innocence. Isn't that
backwards?
One wonders if these military veterans will be any more successful in
getting back their gun rights than the gun owners in New Orleans who
tried to get back their firearms which were confiscated in the wake
of Hurricane Katrina. (Gun owners in the Big Easy have found it very
difficult to prove their case and get their guns back, even though
the courts have ruled that the police acted improperly in
confiscating their firearms.) But isn't that the problem when honest
people are thrust into the position of PROVING their innocence to the
government, rather than vice-versa.
The fact is, current federal law -- combined with BATFE's
interpretations of that law -- will make it very unlikely that any
court will restore the Second Amendment rights of those 83,000
veterans.
Finally, the Post article also says the "federal government would be
permanently barred from charging gun buyers or sellers a fee for
their background checks." Well, that sounds good, but GOA already
won this battle in 1998 when we drafted and pushed the Smith
amendment into law.
GOA had to overcome opposition from certain pro-gun groups to help
Senator Bob Smith (R-NH) introduce and push his language as an
amendment to an appropriations bill. The Smith amendment barred the
FBI from taxing gun buyers, something which the Clinton
administration was considering doing.
GOA won the vote in the Senate with a veto-proof majority and the
Smith amendment has been law ever since. But now we're being told
that we need to swallow McCarthy's poison pill so that the Smith
amendment -- which is currently law -- will stay on the books. Huh?!
ACTION: Gun Owners of America is the only national pro-gun
organization opposing the McCarthy bill, so it is imperative that you
contact your representative immediately. Please take action today
and spread the word about HR 2640! We need all the help we can get.
You can visit the Gun Owners Legislative Action Center at
http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm to send your Representative a
pre-written e-mail message. You can call your Representative at
202-225-3121, or you can call your Representative toll-free at
1-877-762-8762.
----- Pre-written letter -----
Dear Representative:
Gun Owners of America tells me there is a compromise brewing on
McCarthy's Brady expansion legislation -- the recently introduced HR
2640. I want you to know that grassroots gun owners OPPOSE this
bill.
All the compromises on the table continue to infringe upon the Second
Amendment. Please understand that no new gun control whatsoever is
acceptable... period.
If you want to know some language that gun owners would support, then
consider this:
"The Brady Law shall be null and void unless, prior to six months
following the date of enactment of this Act, every name of a veteran
forwarded to the national instant criminal background check system by
the Veterans Administration or the Department of Veterans Affairs be
permanently removed from that system."
Fables, Myths & Other Tall Tales
Fables, Myths & Other Tall Tales
- "Once upon a time . . . " Sometimes it seems that news reports about guns or gun owners should begin with that phrase.
Those four short words would inform readers that while the story to follow will be presented as fact, it is really fiction, or better said, a myth or a fable.
Unfortunately, non-truths, through constant repetition, have come to displace facts in the public dialog about guns in America.
