McCain-Feingold Up In Senate This Week

(Monday, March 19, 2001) — Beginning today, the Senate began debating the McCain-Feingold Incumbent Protection Bill. By now, you are no doubt aware of the devastating impact that legislation would have on pro-gun groups. That bill, S. 27, would:

* Broadly define groups such as GOA to be engaged in “electioneering” because they merely mentioned officeholder/candidates on television or radio during the period before an election;

* By labeling pro-gun advocacy as “electioneering,” threaten the tax status or even the existence of Second Amendment groups.

No doubt, this bill will help to squelch the voice of groups like GOA, while increasing the power of incumbents. By limiting the voice of outside groups, Congressmen will then have a greater ability to keep their constituents in the dark. This bill is a serious attack upon the rights of all Americans, as it will greatly reduce their ability to stay well-informed and make it difficult to hold their legislators accountable on election day.

The most important votes on this bill will be on whether to invoke cloture (i.e., shut off debate for the purpose of passing the bill). According to Senate rules, if opponents of the bill can muster 41 votes, they can block “cloture” and kill the bill.

ACTION:

Please call or fax or e-mail your two senators and ask them to filibuster and vote against cloture on the anti-gun McCain-Feingold bill, S. 27. You can call the Senate at 202-224-3121, or toll-free at 1-877-762-8762. Forward this alert to as many gun owners as possible and ask them to contact their senators in opposition to cloture on S. 27.

To identify your senators, as well as to send a message via e-mail, see the Legislative Action Center at http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm on the GOA website.

POSTSCRIPT ON SENATE GUN BAN:

Two weeks ago, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) indicated her intention to offer a gun ban as an amendment to the bankruptcy bill. But last week she decided to postpone her attempt. Please stay tuned. Gun Owners of America will alert you to further anti-gun amendments by Feinstein.

—– Pre-written message for pro-gun Senators —–

Dear Senator:

The anti-gun Incumbent Protection bill, S. 27, threatens to open the membership lists of Second Amendment legislative organizations — and even eliminate their tax-exempt status.

Please filibuster and vote against cloture on this anti-gun and anti-speech abomination.

—– Pre-written message for anti-gun Senators —–

Dear Senator,

Even the AFL-CIO and the American Civil Liberties Union have attacked the McCain-Feingold Incumbent Protection Bill as counterproductive and unconstitutional.

This is because the principal impact of McCain-Feingold would be to silence legislative advocacy groups, while doing nothing to address the real problems with the political system.

Please vote against this abomination and vote against cloture.

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

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