Gun Control Slowed For The Moment

Your activism has slowed down gun control in Congress
— Thank you for all your hard work

Gun control is on the back burner in Congress… and that is good news.

But, as has often been said, in order to fully understand the good news, it helps to understand the bad news first. The “bad news” was this: in early September, gun control was on the “fast track” in the House.

Pressure was mounting to help protect gun makers against frivolous lawsuits, but the prevailing attitude was that they should be helped at any cost… even if it meant swallowing new gun control regulations for the average gun owner.

While the Senate passed S. 397 with two gun control provisions, the House bill (H.R. 800) remained free and clear of any gun control. Unfortunately, more than 100 Representatives — many of them pro-gun — were led to believe that the Senate bill would be acceptable. So they signed a pre-written letter to the House leadership, asking them to bring up the anti-gun Senate version!

Adding just one gun control amendment allows gun haters to snatch an undue victory from the hands of gun owners, who are expending a lot of time and resources to get this bill passed.

To make matters worse, Capitol Hill insiders were expecting the bill and its gun control amendments to sail through final passage sometime in September.

So GOA alerted you to this threat… and THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS of you took action. The results have been very rewarding.

The word now from the House is that the bill is not expected to come up until next year.

Getting this extra time is huge. It allows us to keep on petitioning each Representative and continue banging on the House leadership, asking them to drop the gun control from the bill.

GOA MEMBERS HAVE MADE A HUGE DIFFERENCE THIS YEAR

Your hard work has managed to influence Congress in many ways during the fight to pass legislation which moves us in the direction of helping gun makers.

Earlier this year — when we found out that Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) wanted to add her semi-auto ban renewal as an amendment to the Senate bill — we asked Majority Leader Bill Frist to use parliamentary procedures to block her amendment.

At first, Sen. Frist was reluctant. He didn’t want to be seen as “obstructionist.” He dragged his feet. His staff even claimed “it couldn’t be done.”

But after the Senator received several thousand emails, faxes and phone calls from GOA members, Frist CHANGED HIS MIND. He used the parliamentary procedure GOA had recommended — a strategy known as “treeing the bill” — to block Sen. Feinstein from offering her semi-auto gun ban to S. 397 in July.

It was a TREMENDOUS VICTORY. Sen. Frist — because of your hard work and encouragement — had accomplished a great pro-gun feat. But then he blinked. Rather than blocking ALL gun control amendments, he decided to allow some amendments to be voted on. Some amendments failed. Others passed.

And that’s how S. 397 got burdened with two gun control amendments — a trigger lock amendment and an armor-piercing ammunition study. [You can read more about the two gun control provisions that were stuck into S. 397 by going to http://www.gunowners.org/a081105.htm on the GOA website.]

CLEAN LEGISLATION DESPERATELY NEEDED

GOA is committed to passing a clean bill that will take a step toward protecting gun makers against the abusive lawsuits that have been launched against the gun industry.

Just last week, the U.S. Supreme Court turned away appeals from 12 different states which were requesting that Washington, DC be prevented from suing gun makers. The High Court’s decision allows gun haters to bring lawsuits against the gun industry under the “Assault Weapons Manufacturing Strict Liability Act of 1990.” Any murder committed in the nation’s capital that involves a weapon which can fire more than 12 shots without reloading will subject the maker of that gun to strict liability, regardless of where the gun maker is located.

Washington, DC has one of the nation’s strictest gun bans, and yet the city consistently ranks among the nation’s leaders in murder.

Good legislation is definitely needed. Let’s continue working together to put a muzzle on the gun grabbers, without muzzling gun owners in any way, shape or form.

WILL YOU HELP GOA REMAIN AMERICA’S 2ND AMENDMENT WATCHDOG?

Grassroots activism works. Your efforts are worthwhile, because quite often, politicians won’t see the “light” until they feel the “heat” from the folks back home.

That is why GOA is committed to keeping you informed about what is happening here in our nation’s capital. But the ability of GOA to keep you up-to-date and to continue putting pressure on politicians depends on loyal activists like yourself.

So if you would like to keep up on 2nd Amendment issues; if you would like to receive our very informative newsletter and get pre-printed postcards that enable you to easily lobby your own Congressmen — even to the point of becoming an “arm chair lobbyist” while watching TV commercials — then please become a GOA member today!

Join GOA today online at http://www.gunowners.org/ordergoamem.htm or call 703-321-8585.

U.S. Representative Ron Paul of Texas says, “Your membership in Gun Owners makes a difference on Capitol Hill every single day…. I know that GOA will continue to be the ‘no compromise’ leader in defending America’s gun rights and personal freedoms.”

Again, simply go to http://www.gunowners.org/ordergoamem.htm and join with hundreds of thousands of other Americans who have already sided with the nation’s only national, no-compromise gun lobby.

You can continue to receive these email alerts for free. But your contribution will go a long way to help us keep you informed. Rest assured, GOA will certainly keep you up-to-date if anything changes in the battle to clean up the gun liability bill.

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New Supreme Court Nomination

Who is Harriet Miers? That seems to be the million dollar question these days. There is much about her legal thinking which remains an enigma to most Americans. Gun Owners of America is very concerned that a new justice could be placed on the High Court, without sufficient knowledge about her judicial philosophy. Hence, GOA has written the White House to express our concerns and to get answers to some very specific questions. Please stay tuned.