Dear Representative:

As the Treasury-Postal appropriations bill (H.R. 4871) comes to the House floor, the members of Gun Owners of America would urge you to please vote YES on the Hostettler amendment and NO on any amendment that would strip the Goode provision from the bill.

Both amendments relate to the disastrous Smith & Wesson agreement -- an agreement that does much more than just deal with trigger locks. This agreement regulates and restricts the 2nd Amendment rights of ALL kinds of gun makers, gun dealers and private individuals.

The Smith & Wesson agreement would require every S&W dealer to regulate customers of ALL OTHER BRANDS OF FIREARMS in the following ways:

• No customer could purchase ANY firearm without taking a government-approved safety course [paragraph II(A)(1)(r)(1) of the agreement];
• No customer could purchase ANY firearm in excess of the agreement's one-gun-at-a-time rationing schedule [paragraph II(c)(3)]; and,
• No customer could purchase ANY firearm until the FBI gave the affirmative go-ahead, thus allowing the ELIMINATION of firearms sales by withholding all approvals [paragraph II(A)(1)(o)].

The GOODE AMENDMENT fulfills an important function by prohibiting the government from giving preferences to S&W as a result of entering into this horrible agreement. This is particularly important because the agreement prioritizes S&W's anti-gun activities above the safety of the public and our law enforcement officials.

But the HOSTETTLER AMENDMENT is EQUALLY important. The implementation of the agreement primarily relies upon the establishment of an anti-gun OVERSIGHT COMMISSION. Rep. Hostettler's amendment would prevent the use of tapxpayer monies to fund that commission-- an anti-gun agency that was never authorized by Congress.

UNLESS BOTH THE GOODE AMENDMENT AND THE HOSTETTLER AMENDMENT ARE ADOPTED, THE CLINTON AMENDMENT CAN PROCEED TO OUTLAW FIREARMS BY IMPLEMENTING THE AGREEMENT.

Sincerely,