Gun Owner Involvement In The Immigration Debate

Immigration Bill Dead For Now
— Gun owners unheralded in media, but played a huge role in the defeat of bill

Well, the American public has spoken.

If you ever wondered whether your activism pays off, then look no further than the immigration debate. The bill went down in flames yesterday by a vote of 53-46.

And good thing too, because this bill was packing more than just immigration stuff — it also contained anti-gun language as well.

But what else would you expect from a Ted Kennedy bill?

In addition to denying many law-abiding gun owners their right to find a job or buy a gun, the bill could have put every major gun shop out of business, something which the anti-gun left has been trying to do for years.

GOA wants to thank all of you who took action on our immigration alerts recently. You probably don’t realize how important YOUR INVOLVEMENT was in killing this bill. Obviously, no one group can take all the credit, because there was pressure coming from all over America. Even so, most of the media has credited conservative talk shows as the 800 pound gorilla — and yes, the talk shows were extremely important.

But remember the Baucus amendment that we asked you to lobby on? The Senate voted on whether to table (or kill) that amendment on Wednesday, but it failed to do so. That one amendment is being credited by insiders as being THE BIGGEST reason the bill could not get enough votes for cloture (that is, to end debate and vote up or down on the bill).

Consider what Congressional Quarterly had to say about that amendment on Wednesday: “The process [to get a Unanimous Consent agreement] came to a halt when the chamber refused to table an amendment by Max Baucus, D-Mont…. When the chamber voted against tabling the Baucus amendment, the process stopped. Without a unanimous consent agreement to adopt the amendment or move on, the next step was the cloture vote [which failed].”

This complies with what one highly placed Senate staffer told GOA yesterday when he said that the failed attempt to kill the Baucus amendment was “probably the reason we killed the bill.”

The Baucus amendment would have protected the jobs and gun rights of Americans who live in states that are blocking the enforcement of the REAL ID Act. Without the promise of a National ID in every state, the Baucus amendment effectively became the ultimate poison pill in this bill.

So kudos to all of you for all of your hard work!

Now, our attention reverts back to the McCarthy Brady expansion bill (HR 2640) — which could come up any time after the July 4th holiday.

Supporters of the McCarthy bill are hanging their hat on language which purports to help disqualified people get their rights restored. So GOA has built a special section on its website that gets to the truth on this issue and informs gun owners of the dangers in HR 2640.

Please go to http://www.gunowners.org/netb.htm to learn what the specifics of the bill are, who its main supporters are, answers to claims made by proponents of the bill, who faces the greatest risk of being disqualified for buying a gun, and more.

Enjoy the holidays!

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4th of July Scheduling Note

Congress is out of session the entirety of next week, so there will not be any votes scheduled. Some GOA staff members are taking advantage of that fact to go on their annual vacations.

There will always be senior GOA staff paying attention to any developments regarding gun rights legislation, and our main office will be open during normal business hours except for the 4th itself.

However, we will be short-staffed. We ask that you please LIMIT E-MAIL COMMUNICATIONS during this time frame, as you are unlikely to receive a timely response. Should you have questions requiring quick answers, please call 703-321-8585 during EDT business hours.