alan
Member
Posters Note:
Use the pre-printed letter if you like, or call Senator Frist, plus your own Senate Critters. Do not figure that Jack or the NRA will do it. If you don't, who will?
Feinstein Gun Ban Could Come up in the Senate Soon
Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
http://www.gunowners.org
Thursday, July 21, 2005
While the big news of the day is President Bush's pick for the
Supreme Court (more on this below), Gun Owners of America is hearing
rumblings that the Senate will soon be considering legislation to
slow down the number of frivolous lawsuits against gun makers.
Although GOA is supportive of this legislation, S. 397, we must
remember that anti-gun Senators used this legislation last year to
load it up with all kinds of anti-gun riders -- things like gun show
restrictions, semi-auto bans and more.
In the end, pro-gun supporters were forced to vote against (and kill)
the lawsuit protection bill in order to defeat the anti-gun
amendments.
GOA told Majority Leader Bill Frist that all of this could have been
avoided if he used certain parliamentary maneuvers to keep Senator
Dianne Feinstein from offering her gun ban amendment to the bill.
Later, when she tried to attach the semi-auto ban to another bill,
GOA asked you to contact Frist and urge him to use those
parliamentary procedures.
Well, he did. And it worked. Feinstein & Co. were furious that
Frist was acting in such an "undemocratic" fashion. They railed
against Frist and the Republican leadership. But we escaped without
getting ANY new gun restrictions. (You can read about this victory
by going to http://www.gunowners.org/a091404.htm on the GOA website.)
Fast forward one year. Some Republicans have seemingly forgotten
this key success from last year, and seem willing to allow Sen.
Feinstein to offer gun control legislation to the gun makers'
protection act.
The Washington Post reported last week that Sen. Feinstein is looking
to offer a gun ban when the lawsuit protection bill comes up for a
vote in the next couple of weeks. Feinstein said she "would try to
limit sales of powerful 50 caliber weapons so that they could only be
sold through federally licensed dealers, not at gun shows."
Unfortunately, rather than repeating a proven strategy for success,
Senate Republicans are reportedly adopting a VERY DANGEROUS plan. In
fact, they would be going down the same road that gave us both the
semi-auto ban and the McCain-Feingold incumbent protection act.
The Post quotes Senator Larry Craig (R-ID) as saying that the
"strategy this time would not be to dump the bill but remove anything
objectionable in conference with the House of Representatives."
OK, there are two problems with this strategy. First, they don't
need to "dump" the bill. Why not just use the parliamentary
procedures (described at http://www.gunowners.org/a030204a.htm on the
GOA website) which would prevent -- and have prevented in the past --
anti-gun amendments from even being offered in the first place?
Second, it's very dangerous to ask Senators to vote for gun control
legislation, on the promise that it will be killed later on. You
wouldn't try this approach out in the woods. When is the best time
to kill a poisonous snake? Answer: the first chance you get. The
longer you let it live, the better chance it has to bite you.
This is exactly what happened in 2002, when many senators voted for
the McCain-Feingold restrictions on free speech, based on the
assumption that the conference committee would clean up the bill
later and the Supreme Court would overturn it.
Gun owners are now well aware that the conference committee never
cleaned up the McCain-Feingold incumbent protection bill, and
draconian restrictions on the ability of Gun Owners to inform people
of their legislators' anti-gun records went to the President's desk.
President Bush then signed the bill, also relying on the presumption
that the Supreme Court would strike down unconstitutional provisions
that were in it.
Well, wrong again. The Supreme Court upheld the restrictions in
December, 2003.
This is also the SAME FAILED STRATEGY that gave us the semi-auto ban.
Pro-gun Senators refused to filibuster the semi-auto ban -- when
Senator Feinstein offered it as an amendment to the crime bill in
November of 1993 -- arguing that they would remove the language in
conference! Sound familiar?
The ban survived the conference committee and was happily signed into
law by President Clinton. Were it not for the sunset provision, the
semi-auto ban would still be the law of the land.
Remember, you always kill a poisonous snake the first chance you get.
One can only assume that a conference committee will "take care of
the problem" if one ignores the determination of Ted Kennedy, Dianne
Feinstein and Chuck Schumer.
ACTION: Please urge Senator Bill Frist to do whatever it takes to
keep anti-gun amendments off of the gun makers' protection act. Ask
him to use ANY and ALL of the parliamentary maneuvers that he has at
his disposal to keep Dianne Feinstein from attaching her gun ban to
S. 397. Urge him to use the power of the majority to stand for the
Bill of Rights.
You can call Senator Frist at (202) 224-3344, or go to
http://www.frist.senate.gov and select "Contact Senator
Frist" under
the "About Senator Frist" heading to send a message similar to the
one below.
Please note: Even if you do not live in Tennessee, Sen. Frist will
probably appreciate your opinion since he is looking to represent you
in the future as the next President of the United States.
----- Pre-written letter -----
Dear Senator Frist:
Gun Owners of America informs me that Senator Dianne Feinstein and
her cohorts are looking to offer gun control amendments to the gun
makers' protection act, S. 397. I want you to know that the minimal
gains this legislation will give us should NOT be accepted in
exchange for Feinstein-style gun control.
You should also know that I am very wary of promises that the
offending gun control language will be taken out of the bill in a
conference committee. Those are the same kinds of failed promises
that I have heard in years past when we got stuck with the
Clinton-Feinstein semi-auto ban in 1994 and the McCain-Feingold free
speech restrictions in 2002.
Instead, I would encourage you to use the SAME SUCCESSFUL STRATEGY
that you used last year to keep gun control off of the class action
lawsuit bill. I would urge you to use any and all parliamentary
tools at your disposal to prevent this amendment from being offered
to the gun makers' protection act.
Gun Owners of America has listed how this can be done, step by step,
at http://www.gunowners.org/a030204a.htm on its website. Thank you.
Sincerely,
****************************
Bush Makes Supreme Court Nomination
As you know, President Bush has nominated Judge John G. Roberts, Jr.,
to replace the retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
Roberts served as the deputy solicitor general in the Bush I
administration and has briefly served on the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the D.C. Circuit. In all candor, not much is known about this
"stealth candidate." There are indications that he believes in
judicial restraint, but there is really not much of a paper trail --
especially regarding the Second Amendment -- to be sure of his
approach to the Constitution.
On the one hand, choosing stealth candidates has given us bad judges
like David Souter. Ann Coulter is certainly a notable conservative
who is out front, leading the charge against any such stealth
nominee. On the other hand, choosing a candidate who does not have a
paper trail could be a brilliant strategy to prevent him from being
"Borked."
All of this to say, Gun Owners of America will be looking forward to
the nomination hearings with great anticipation. Please stay tuned.
Use the pre-printed letter if you like, or call Senator Frist, plus your own Senate Critters. Do not figure that Jack or the NRA will do it. If you don't, who will?
Feinstein Gun Ban Could Come up in the Senate Soon
Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
http://www.gunowners.org
Thursday, July 21, 2005
While the big news of the day is President Bush's pick for the
Supreme Court (more on this below), Gun Owners of America is hearing
rumblings that the Senate will soon be considering legislation to
slow down the number of frivolous lawsuits against gun makers.
Although GOA is supportive of this legislation, S. 397, we must
remember that anti-gun Senators used this legislation last year to
load it up with all kinds of anti-gun riders -- things like gun show
restrictions, semi-auto bans and more.
In the end, pro-gun supporters were forced to vote against (and kill)
the lawsuit protection bill in order to defeat the anti-gun
amendments.
GOA told Majority Leader Bill Frist that all of this could have been
avoided if he used certain parliamentary maneuvers to keep Senator
Dianne Feinstein from offering her gun ban amendment to the bill.
Later, when she tried to attach the semi-auto ban to another bill,
GOA asked you to contact Frist and urge him to use those
parliamentary procedures.
Well, he did. And it worked. Feinstein & Co. were furious that
Frist was acting in such an "undemocratic" fashion. They railed
against Frist and the Republican leadership. But we escaped without
getting ANY new gun restrictions. (You can read about this victory
by going to http://www.gunowners.org/a091404.htm on the GOA website.)
Fast forward one year. Some Republicans have seemingly forgotten
this key success from last year, and seem willing to allow Sen.
Feinstein to offer gun control legislation to the gun makers'
protection act.
The Washington Post reported last week that Sen. Feinstein is looking
to offer a gun ban when the lawsuit protection bill comes up for a
vote in the next couple of weeks. Feinstein said she "would try to
limit sales of powerful 50 caliber weapons so that they could only be
sold through federally licensed dealers, not at gun shows."
Unfortunately, rather than repeating a proven strategy for success,
Senate Republicans are reportedly adopting a VERY DANGEROUS plan. In
fact, they would be going down the same road that gave us both the
semi-auto ban and the McCain-Feingold incumbent protection act.
The Post quotes Senator Larry Craig (R-ID) as saying that the
"strategy this time would not be to dump the bill but remove anything
objectionable in conference with the House of Representatives."
OK, there are two problems with this strategy. First, they don't
need to "dump" the bill. Why not just use the parliamentary
procedures (described at http://www.gunowners.org/a030204a.htm on the
GOA website) which would prevent -- and have prevented in the past --
anti-gun amendments from even being offered in the first place?
Second, it's very dangerous to ask Senators to vote for gun control
legislation, on the promise that it will be killed later on. You
wouldn't try this approach out in the woods. When is the best time
to kill a poisonous snake? Answer: the first chance you get. The
longer you let it live, the better chance it has to bite you.
This is exactly what happened in 2002, when many senators voted for
the McCain-Feingold restrictions on free speech, based on the
assumption that the conference committee would clean up the bill
later and the Supreme Court would overturn it.
Gun owners are now well aware that the conference committee never
cleaned up the McCain-Feingold incumbent protection bill, and
draconian restrictions on the ability of Gun Owners to inform people
of their legislators' anti-gun records went to the President's desk.
President Bush then signed the bill, also relying on the presumption
that the Supreme Court would strike down unconstitutional provisions
that were in it.
Well, wrong again. The Supreme Court upheld the restrictions in
December, 2003.
This is also the SAME FAILED STRATEGY that gave us the semi-auto ban.
Pro-gun Senators refused to filibuster the semi-auto ban -- when
Senator Feinstein offered it as an amendment to the crime bill in
November of 1993 -- arguing that they would remove the language in
conference! Sound familiar?
The ban survived the conference committee and was happily signed into
law by President Clinton. Were it not for the sunset provision, the
semi-auto ban would still be the law of the land.
Remember, you always kill a poisonous snake the first chance you get.
One can only assume that a conference committee will "take care of
the problem" if one ignores the determination of Ted Kennedy, Dianne
Feinstein and Chuck Schumer.
ACTION: Please urge Senator Bill Frist to do whatever it takes to
keep anti-gun amendments off of the gun makers' protection act. Ask
him to use ANY and ALL of the parliamentary maneuvers that he has at
his disposal to keep Dianne Feinstein from attaching her gun ban to
S. 397. Urge him to use the power of the majority to stand for the
Bill of Rights.
You can call Senator Frist at (202) 224-3344, or go to
http://www.frist.senate.gov and select "Contact Senator
Frist" under
the "About Senator Frist" heading to send a message similar to the
one below.
Please note: Even if you do not live in Tennessee, Sen. Frist will
probably appreciate your opinion since he is looking to represent you
in the future as the next President of the United States.
----- Pre-written letter -----
Dear Senator Frist:
Gun Owners of America informs me that Senator Dianne Feinstein and
her cohorts are looking to offer gun control amendments to the gun
makers' protection act, S. 397. I want you to know that the minimal
gains this legislation will give us should NOT be accepted in
exchange for Feinstein-style gun control.
You should also know that I am very wary of promises that the
offending gun control language will be taken out of the bill in a
conference committee. Those are the same kinds of failed promises
that I have heard in years past when we got stuck with the
Clinton-Feinstein semi-auto ban in 1994 and the McCain-Feingold free
speech restrictions in 2002.
Instead, I would encourage you to use the SAME SUCCESSFUL STRATEGY
that you used last year to keep gun control off of the class action
lawsuit bill. I would urge you to use any and all parliamentary
tools at your disposal to prevent this amendment from being offered
to the gun makers' protection act.
Gun Owners of America has listed how this can be done, step by step,
at http://www.gunowners.org/a030204a.htm on its website. Thank you.
Sincerely,
****************************
Bush Makes Supreme Court Nomination
As you know, President Bush has nominated Judge John G. Roberts, Jr.,
to replace the retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
Roberts served as the deputy solicitor general in the Bush I
administration and has briefly served on the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the D.C. Circuit. In all candor, not much is known about this
"stealth candidate." There are indications that he believes in
judicial restraint, but there is really not much of a paper trail --
especially regarding the Second Amendment -- to be sure of his
approach to the Constitution.
On the one hand, choosing stealth candidates has given us bad judges
like David Souter. Ann Coulter is certainly a notable conservative
who is out front, leading the charge against any such stealth
nominee. On the other hand, choosing a candidate who does not have a
paper trail could be a brilliant strategy to prevent him from being
"Borked."
All of this to say, Gun Owners of America will be looking forward to
the nomination hearings with great anticipation. Please stay tuned.
