Get in touch with your Senator

[Tom Servo]

We've had three terrible mass shootings in a week. The media and politicians are exploiting this, and the House has the votes to pass a gun-control bill. That leaves the Senate, who are in recess until the second week of September.

H.R. 8, the "universal background check" bill, is the one they'll be pushing. The PopVox website gives a good summary, and if you sign up, it makes it very easy to send emails to your relevant representatives.

They're going to have an inbox full of hysterical gun-control propaganda when they get back. It's up to us to counterbalance that.

 

[Spats McGee]

Done.

I like Popvox. Makes emailing my congresscritters easy.

 

[zxcvbob]

My senators are nanny-statist democrats. If I contact them, that will just reinforce how much smarter they are than me and strengthen their resolve to vote the other way. (they resent and despise all the voters who don't live in the metropolis.)

 

[BobCat45]

Thanks for the reminder! Oddly enough, when I signed in to Popvox and searched for this bill, the website told me my opposition was already saved, and it showed me text I recall having written - I suppose months ago when I first voiced opposition on Popvox.

On the one hand I feel cheated, only having one "vote" on Popvox (but one can always write one's representatives independently of Popvox). On the other hand you can tell I'm from Chicago, feeling cheated by only getting to vote one time.

 

[USNRet93]

Gonna send something to Trump?

Donald Trump has repeatedly endorsed a series of gun control proposals that put the Republican president at odds with the National Rifle Association and stunned lawmakers within his own party.

During the meeting, Trump called for a “beautiful” comprehensive bill that would expand background checks on gun purchases, remove guns from the hands of the mentally ill, bolster security on school campuses and restrict young people from purchasing certain weapons.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/feb/28/trump-background-checks-gun-control

During remarks at the White House following two mass shootings over the weekend that left dozens dead, Trump backed red-flag laws, which in Colorado have been cause for a lawsuit, sheriffs’ public objections, and attempts at recalling Democrats from office.

“We must make sure that those judged to pose a grave risk to public safety do not have access to firearms, and that, if they do, those firearms can be taken through rapid due process,” Trump said. “That is why I have called for red-flag laws, also known as extreme risk protection orders.”

https://www.denverpost.com/2019/08/05/red-flag-gun-laws-trump-colorado/

 

[Tom Servo]

the website told me my opposition was already saved, and it showed me text I recall having written - I suppose months ago when I first voiced opposition on Popvox.

Yeah, it's the same bill. They've had it kicking around since last session.

(Actually, some variation of it has been proposed every session since the original Brady Act passed in 1994.)

Gonna send something to Trump?

It's really not worth the effort. Some junior intern monitors his correspondence, and the chances of him seeing it are pretty much nil.

 

[2ndsojourn]

I appreciate your sentiment Tom, but sending Corey Booker or Robt Menendez a letter resisting more gun control is a fruitless waste of effort. Like mentioned above, his emails are filtered by his intern lemmings who "don't know the flavor of the Kool Aid they're sipping".

 

[Tom Servo]

sending Corey Booker or Robt Menendez a letter resisting more gun control is a fruitless waste of effort.

Sorry. I forgot the disclaimer: offer not valid in all 50 states.

 

[natman]

Which of my Senators should I contact, Diane Feinstein or Kamala Harris?

 

[DaleA]

My senators are nanny-statist democrats. If I contact them, that will just reinforce how much smarter they are than me and strengthen their resolve to vote the other way. (they resent and despise all the voters who don't live in the metropolis.)

Got that right. Still, do we have to do SOMETHING??? (Good land, I'm starting to sound like the other side...)

Which of my Senators should I contact, Diane Feinstein or Kamala Harris?

Ouch! So what your saying is you've got it worse than I do (in Minnesota)?
(And I certainly believe you do with the ABSURD(!!!) ammo buying restrictions you have there.)

 

[BobCat45]

Contacting your "nanny-statist democrats" is as effective as my contacting my 'red-state' senators in Texas.

Neither of us will accomplish anything other than providing input to individuals whose minds are already made up, and who know which side of the bread is buttered. Mine happen to be on the same side of the issue as I am, so far, but they need to hear from me.

We will not influence their votes, but some members of the gun-ban crowd who recall the wholesale congressional losses after the 2004 'assault weapons' ban may experience a tinge of discomfort when their interns give them the 'pro versus against' numbers.

It costs nothing besides a few electrons to send a message on Popvox, and having done what you can (besides voting when that comes along, which is just as futile) - you might feel better.

 

[rickyrick]

1994 Assault Weapons ban... ended in 2004

 

[BobCat45]

Yes, you're right and I'm wrong by ten years!

When it expired in 2004 I built a 16" AR carbine kit with a collapsible stock, thinking my wife would like it. No interest but I still have it. And in fact I built it just because it had suddenly become legal (again) to do so.

 

[P5 Guy]

Let's see how Scott and Rubio react.
I e-mailed both and "Chain-gang' Charlie Crist my house rep. Crist used to call himself a Reagan style conservative when he was the AG. Upon acquiring the Governor's Mansion his tune changed. During the housing bubble burst Crist turned the state over to the LtGov to run for the Senate as an Independent. Now he is a statist democrat who attended the memorial/gun control protest in William's Park in StPete with ardent anti-gun mayor Kriseman.
Gov Scott, now senator jerked his knee so hard after the Parkland shooting that within weeks he signed a raise to 21 for long gun ownership, and a red flag law.
Hopefully more gun rights folks in Florida will sway their votes, but history is against this.

 

[Spats McGee]

I feel bad for those of you with 'nanny-state' Senators and Reps. With that said, even the NS congressfolks are, first and foremost, politicians. Someone, somewhere, counts the yeas and the nays for them to see which way the wind blows. One email clearly won't change their minds, but if you don't contact them, they'll never know you oppose something. I would encourage you to email them, regardless of their positions.

 

[Tom Servo]

I feel bad for those of you with 'nanny-state' Senators and Reps.

Looking at the news the last 24 hours or so, that may be more states than we think. It looks like this may be the tipping point for many waffling politicians, and it's starting to feel like 1994 all over again.

 

[Destructo6]

Contact them anyways. It won't hurt the cause and can only help.

 

[BobCat45]

Agreed! Civil language contact with one's congressmen and senators can't hurt, can only help.

And re: 1994 - I recall it fondly. Never wanted an AR-15 but bought one in response to the impending ban.

Then I had a rifle for which I had no immediate use.

Found a Highpower match nearby, and have been shooting AR-15s since then.

Each draconian ban puts more AR-type rifles into circulation.

 

[BillM]

My senators are Ron Wyden and his sock puppet Jeff "chicken little" Merkley. They only
effect from mailing them is to keep a intern busy sending out blah-blah-blah replies.

 

[BobCat45]

Interns need make-work, too.

Have you never used a postage-paid business-reply envelope to return an unwanted snail-mail solicitation? Their resources are finite. Use them up!

Popvox costs nothing, not even a stamp. But your input shows in the numbers, for and against.