Just Five More Days

Just Five More Days Until the Semi-auto Ban Sunsets!
— But Brady Bunch making one last push on the House, Senate and Oval Office

ACTION:

1. Ask President Bush to resist the efforts of police chiefs, who will be pressing him this week to reauthorize the Clinton semi-auto ban. A pre-written letter is provided below.

2. Celebrate the approaching sunset of the semi-auto ban by buying another gun. While the gun being auctioned below is not a semi-automatic firearm, it is the actual gun that was used to save the lives of hundreds of South Africans from a terrorist attack more than 10 years ago.

Wednesday, September 8, 2004

Only five more days.

That’s all that is left until the Clinton ban on more than 180 types of semi-automatic firearms and magazines sunsets. The magic date is September 13.

One of the most hated gun bans ever enacted will cease to exist. But not if the Brady Bunch has its way.

Sarah Brady’s disciples in the House and Senate are considering amendments to reauthorize the ban. And in the nation’s capital, press reports indicate that dozens of police chiefs will travel to Washington this week to urge President Bush to renew the ban.

In the House, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy has vowed she will not let the semi-auto ban die without a fight. According to Congressional Quarterly, a Capitol Hill news service, McCarthy is threatening to offer semi-auto renewal language as an amendment to the Labor-HHS appropriations bill.

Gun Owners of America is virtually certain McCarthy will be unsuccessful in the House, because Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) is 100% opposed to this ban and is ready, procedurally, to keep her amendment from being offered to the spending bill.

In the Senate, anti-gun Senators could be eyeing the intelligence reorganization bill — implementing the recommendations from the 9/11 commission — as the vehicle of choice for a gun ban renewal.

Again, Gun Owners of America has been working with Senate offices to make sure this doesn’t happen. But please stay close to your keyboard in upcoming weeks; we will notify you of any anti-gun movement in the Senate. (Even after the ban sunsets, Congress could still pass a new law to bring it back.)

Ultimately, the key to killing the gun ban in the House and Senate is to make sure that George Bush does not start asking both houses of Congress to send him a bill renewing the ban.

You might remember that President Bush has indicated support for the ban in the past. That’s the bad news. The good news is that, to date, he has not pressured the Republican leadership in either house to send him such a bill.

But if that were to change — if the President were to start asking Congress to send him a gun ban extension — it is not inconceivable that the Republican leadership in either house might allow a vote on the noxious ban.

For this reason, GOA urges you to remind the President that it is time to let the semi-auto ban sunset. The ban is unconstitutional. It doesn’t take guns out of criminals’ hands. And it should be sent to the trash heap.

CONTACT INFO: You can use the pre-written message below and send it as an e-mail by visiting the GOA Legislative Action Center on the GOA website.

Anti-gun groups are encouraging their people to contact the White House on Thursday, Sept. 9. Please consider placing a call or sending a fax in addition to your e-mail. You can reach the White House at:

Phone: (202) 456-1414
Fax: (202) 456-2461

—– Pre-written message —–

<p”>Dear President Bush:

The facts are in. The 1994 gun ban signed by your predecessor, President Bill Clinton, has NOT worked to reduce crime.

The Washington Times reported on August 17 on a recent study published by your own National Institute of Justice. In an article entitled, “Ban of assault weapons didn’t reduce violence,” Jerry Seper quotes the NIJ as saying, “We cannot clearly credit the ban with any of the nation’s recent drop in gun violence. And, indeed, there has been no discernible reduction in the lethality and injuriousness of gun violence.”

This study reflects the results of two studies that were conducted during the Clinton administration. The Bureau of Justice Statistics found in 1993 and 1997 that military-styled firearms — the so-called “assault weapons” banned in 1994 — were used in less than two percent of crimes nationwide.

In other words, these guns were never “weapons of choice” for criminals — either before or after the ban.

Please be clear about one thing: the guns banned by President Clinton are NOT truly assault weapons. They are semi-automatic firearms, which means the guns Clinton banned are not used by any military on earth. Soldiers use fully automatic machine guns; they don’t settle for weapons that can only fire one bullet with each pull of the trigger.

I hope you will resist efforts by an unrepresentative gaggle of police chiefs this week who claim that America’s cops want this gun ban extended.

Real cops, the ones who walk the “beat,” oppose banning semi-automatic firearms. Over 90% of the officers polled by the National Association of Chiefs of Police in 1995 said the semi-auto ban will in no way stop criminals from getting these guns or magazines.

And in an earlier survey, almost 90% of cops said that private citizens should have these types of guns to help defend the nation in the event of natural disasters or terrorism when the National Guard has been mobilized.

I urge you stand with gun owners, to uphold the Constitution, and to oppose all efforts at extending this horrible gun ban. Thank you.

Sincerely,

****************************

Chance to Win a Freedom Gun
— Used in South Africa to Save Hundreds of Lives

Charl van Wyk was at church on a Sunday night in 1993 when terrorists began spraying machine gun fire and tossing hand grenades into the ranks of the worshippers.

Charl pulled out his Rossi .38 and — from the back of the church — fired shots that ended up saving hundreds of lives, by police estimates.

(The account of this incredible evening is in Charl’s book Shooting Back which is carried in the GOA bookstore.)

If the gun is won by a U.S. bidder, the winning bid (minus the actual value of the gun) can be receipted for a tax deduction, since the proceeds will go to a U.S. missionary organization (ITMI).

Check it out today. This is a truly historic firearm!