GOA Blasts Clinton, BATF on Import Ban

Gun Owners of America recently blasted the Clinton administration for its continued assault on the Constitutional rights of gun owners, and chided the BATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) for its overt hypocrisy in enforcing firearms regulations.

Gun Owners was responding to the President’s decision from November when he placed a 120-day freeze on the importation of certain semi-automatic firearms. One White House official described the gun ban this way: “We are taking the law and bending it as far as we can to capture a whole new class of guns.” (Source: Los Angeles Times, 10/22/97.)

At the end of this 120 day period, the Clinton administration will make a final decision on whether the firearms will be permanently banned.

Earlier this month, GOA sent an official protest to the Clinton administration after the Treasury Department (through the BATF) solicited comments from several organizations, including GOA.

“The members of Gun Owners of America object to the ‘sporting purposes’ test itself,” said GOA Executive Director Larry Pratt. “The framers of our Bill of Rights wisely provided for a ‘right of the people to keep and bear arms,’ and not for the sake of deer hunting or competitive shooting.”

ACTION: Go to http://www.gunowners.org/fs9815.htm to read GOA’s official testimony in its entirety. Tell your Congressman that you support both bills in Congress (H.R. 2734 and H.R. 2721) that would effectively invalidate any permanent import ban.

[The latter bill, introduced by Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), would not only repeal the “sporting purposes” test which Clinton is using to enforce the ban, the bill would also repeal the Brady Law and the 1994 ban on semi-automatic firearms.]

POSSIBLE ACTION: Gun Owners of America has asked the Treasury department to extend the comment period on the import ban proposal to individuals so that GOA members can send their comments as well. Please stay tuned.

GOA Opposing Clinton-appointed, Anti-gun Judge

Gun Owners of America has joined with several pro-freedom groups to block a Clinton-appointed judge from taking a seat on the federal bench.

As early as next week, the Senate may consider the nomination of Margaret Morrow to a U.S. District Court position. Ms. Morrow is not only extremely anti-gun, she’s a “judicial activist” who thinks that judges can disregard the law and use the court’s rulings to reshape society.

If nominated to the federal bench, she could affect the outcome of several gun cases, and ensure that the federal courts hand down even more anti-gun rulings.

ACTION: Gun owners should call their senators at 1-800-522-6721 or 202-224-3121 and ask them to oppose the Margaret Morrow nomination. The GOA website contains fax and e-mail contact info for Congress.

Note: A previous alert found at http://www.gunowners.org/a102897.htm details the problems with the Morrow nomination in depth.

STAY TUNED for some good news in an upcoming alert regarding Hatch’s Horror Bill (S. 10)!