March 1, 2004
Neal Knox Update --
The anti-gun crowd’s sole focus right now is killing S. 1805, the renumbered S. 659 gun industry liability protection bill.
So why on Earth are so many panicky gun rights defenders (or people
claiming to be) doing everything they can to help the enemy?
Yes, S. 1805 is in danger of being loaded up with anti-gun amendments in the Senate. But anyone with two brain cells to rub together knows that the Senate is overloaded with anti-gunners and has been for several years.
The only way to get the bill passed is to get it back to the House, where it can be cleaned up or killed.
The identical House version, H.R. 1036, passed last April 285-140.
The Senate bill has 55 co-sponsors -- five more than necessary for
passage. Last week the Schumer-Lautenberg, et al, filibuster failed by 75 votes -- fifteen more votes than the two-thirds necessary to bring it to the floor.
The day the voting started, the White House sent Congress a Statement of Administration Policy calling for a "clean bill" -- one without amendments. That's what President Bush has said he will sign -- which greatly improves the chances of a cleaned Conference Committee bill getting through the Senate.
Sen. Schumer fumed the Bush position will cost 10 or eleven Republican votes against his and Dianne Feinstein's amendments. Let's hope he's right, but I doubt it. Three or four might be enough.
With everything stacked against them, the only way the anti-gunners can kill the bill is to load it down with a bunch of killer amendments -- causing the gun rights people to do what the anti-gun crowd can't do. Kill it -- like our Nervous Nellies are already clamoring to do.
Schumer's "useful idiots" -- some of our people -- are in a panic because Sen. Larry Craig and other pro-gunners signed a "Unanimous Consent Agreement" allowing a series of anti-gun (and pro-gun) amendments to be considered without a string of filibusters.
That's the only way the Senate ever can consider a controversial bill -- but many of those screaming about "Unanimous Consent" think it means the pro-gun side has consented to evil amendments. They haven't.
Sen. Barbara Boxer added an amendment requiring all dealer-sold handguns to be delivered with a safety lock, as most already are.
The Internet is being flooded with emails from people I never heard of -- forwarded by people who should know better -- demanding that S. 1805 be killed because it "contains gun control."
Let me assure you: S. 1805 WILL CONTAIN A LOT MORE GUN CONTROL --
probably including the Feinstein "Assault Weapon" ban and the McCain gun show-killer bill -- before the Senate's final vote.
But I want the Senate to hold their noses and send it back to the House, warts and all.
The letters going out right now from misled gun owners to their Senators, telling them to vote against S. 1805, were probably drafted in the offices of "Americans for Gun Safety" and Handgun Control Inc.
If not, they might as well have been.
As most of you know, I have been personally involved in every Federal gun rights battle since 1966 -- as founding editor of Gun Week, editor of Handloader and Rifle, Executive Director of NRA-ILA, legislative columnist for Guns & Ammo, Shotgun News and other publications, and Vice President of NRA for three years, until Charlton Heston beat me 38-34.
In short, I've been around this block twice. I have never seen such a well-orchestrated campaign to kill a pro-gun bill.
Every Senator who voted FOR the Boxer/Schumer/Feinstein/Kennedy
amendments will vote AGAINST the bill. I want to see every Senator who voted AGAINST those amendments to vote FOR an anti-gun bill, and we should let them know that we'll never hold that vote against them.
Because that's the only way we can get the bill to the House, where those amendments can be stripped -- so the United States Arms Industry can survive, and prices on the guns they produce won't continue to skyrocket.
Am I absolutely certain that every anti-gun amendment can be stripped off in the House-Senate Conference? Or else knocked off in House votes?
No, I'm not.
But I AM certain that if they aren't WE CAN KILL THE BILL IN THE HOUSE.
And from what I've been personally told, NRA will lead the effort to kill their own bill if the corruption remains.
Yes, it's dangerous. Passing legislation when the Senate is against us is always dangerous -- and it's difficult, but with the House and White House on our side, it's doable.
Let's show a little courage, friends.
Neal Knox Update --
The anti-gun crowd’s sole focus right now is killing S. 1805, the renumbered S. 659 gun industry liability protection bill.
So why on Earth are so many panicky gun rights defenders (or people
claiming to be) doing everything they can to help the enemy?
Yes, S. 1805 is in danger of being loaded up with anti-gun amendments in the Senate. But anyone with two brain cells to rub together knows that the Senate is overloaded with anti-gunners and has been for several years.
The only way to get the bill passed is to get it back to the House, where it can be cleaned up or killed.
The identical House version, H.R. 1036, passed last April 285-140.
The Senate bill has 55 co-sponsors -- five more than necessary for
passage. Last week the Schumer-Lautenberg, et al, filibuster failed by 75 votes -- fifteen more votes than the two-thirds necessary to bring it to the floor.
The day the voting started, the White House sent Congress a Statement of Administration Policy calling for a "clean bill" -- one without amendments. That's what President Bush has said he will sign -- which greatly improves the chances of a cleaned Conference Committee bill getting through the Senate.
Sen. Schumer fumed the Bush position will cost 10 or eleven Republican votes against his and Dianne Feinstein's amendments. Let's hope he's right, but I doubt it. Three or four might be enough.
With everything stacked against them, the only way the anti-gunners can kill the bill is to load it down with a bunch of killer amendments -- causing the gun rights people to do what the anti-gun crowd can't do. Kill it -- like our Nervous Nellies are already clamoring to do.
Schumer's "useful idiots" -- some of our people -- are in a panic because Sen. Larry Craig and other pro-gunners signed a "Unanimous Consent Agreement" allowing a series of anti-gun (and pro-gun) amendments to be considered without a string of filibusters.
That's the only way the Senate ever can consider a controversial bill -- but many of those screaming about "Unanimous Consent" think it means the pro-gun side has consented to evil amendments. They haven't.
Sen. Barbara Boxer added an amendment requiring all dealer-sold handguns to be delivered with a safety lock, as most already are.
The Internet is being flooded with emails from people I never heard of -- forwarded by people who should know better -- demanding that S. 1805 be killed because it "contains gun control."
Let me assure you: S. 1805 WILL CONTAIN A LOT MORE GUN CONTROL --
probably including the Feinstein "Assault Weapon" ban and the McCain gun show-killer bill -- before the Senate's final vote.
But I want the Senate to hold their noses and send it back to the House, warts and all.
The letters going out right now from misled gun owners to their Senators, telling them to vote against S. 1805, were probably drafted in the offices of "Americans for Gun Safety" and Handgun Control Inc.
If not, they might as well have been.
As most of you know, I have been personally involved in every Federal gun rights battle since 1966 -- as founding editor of Gun Week, editor of Handloader and Rifle, Executive Director of NRA-ILA, legislative columnist for Guns & Ammo, Shotgun News and other publications, and Vice President of NRA for three years, until Charlton Heston beat me 38-34.
In short, I've been around this block twice. I have never seen such a well-orchestrated campaign to kill a pro-gun bill.
Every Senator who voted FOR the Boxer/Schumer/Feinstein/Kennedy
amendments will vote AGAINST the bill. I want to see every Senator who voted AGAINST those amendments to vote FOR an anti-gun bill, and we should let them know that we'll never hold that vote against them.
Because that's the only way we can get the bill to the House, where those amendments can be stripped -- so the United States Arms Industry can survive, and prices on the guns they produce won't continue to skyrocket.
Am I absolutely certain that every anti-gun amendment can be stripped off in the House-Senate Conference? Or else knocked off in House votes?
No, I'm not.
But I AM certain that if they aren't WE CAN KILL THE BILL IN THE HOUSE.
And from what I've been personally told, NRA will lead the effort to kill their own bill if the corruption remains.
Yes, it's dangerous. Passing legislation when the Senate is against us is always dangerous -- and it's difficult, but with the House and White House on our side, it's doable.
Let's show a little courage, friends.