2nd Amendment Takes Another Hit in U.S. Senate
-- More gun control on the table for Tuesday
Gun Owners of America E-Mail/FAX Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
http://www.gunowners.org
(Monday, May 17, 1999)-- In an attempt to blunt the efforts of
Democrats in the Senate, Republicans Orrin Hatch (UT) and Larry
Craig (ID) offered a "Gun Control Lite" amendment that passed 48-47
on Friday. Better said, the amendment was gun control "lite" only
when compared to more restrictive proposals offered by Sen. Chuck
Schumer (D-NY) and others. If the Hatch/Craig amendment were
enacted into law, gun owners would see yet more erosion of their 2nd
Amendment liberties.
The vote over the Hatch/Craig amendment was quite convoluted, as
many anti-gun Republicans and Democrats voted against this
alternative-- it being slightly "weaker" than a Lautenberg-Schumer
proposal. [Go to
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/vote1061/vote_00118.html to see
the full vote on Friday's Hatch amendment.]
Of the Senators who voted against the Hatch/Craig gun control
amendment, it appears that only Senators Enzi (WY), Bob Smith (NH),
and Thomas (WY) voted against the amendment for the RIGHT reasons.
[Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), who cast a very principled vote
against gun control last week, missed the vote on Friday due to a
funeral.] Listed below is a summary of some of the proposals in the
Hatch/Craig amendment:
1. Potential for registering private sales. This amendment will
force the instant registration check system upon gun sales that
occur between PRIVATE sellers and PRIVATE buyers at gun shows, a
requirement that is unprecedented in U.S. history. (1) Of course,
the number one danger here-- besides being an infringement of the
2nd Amendment-- is the threat of gun owner registration. Forcing
gun buyers to send their names to the government always presents the
opportunity for keeping (or registering) those gun buyers' names.
According to government studies from 1989 onwards, any background
check can lead to registration, despite legal prohibitions. And the
danger with registration is the possibility of future confiscation--
an occurrence which has already happened in New York City and
California. If the Hatch/Craig amendment is enacted into law, you
can bet that politicians will spend 2000 talking about the "private
sale loophole"-- thereby trying to regulate all firearms
transactions between individuals.
2. BATF harassment of gun owners. The Hatch/Craig amendment
would assign one U.S. attorney in every district exclusively to
harass gun owners. (2) It would spend $50,000,000 for that purpose.
But of this $50 million, a full $40 million of it will go to
increasing the presence of the BATF-- not to pursue murder, mass
murder, violent felonies, or crimes of violence, but to pursue
"firearms" offenses (most of which will be recordkeeping and other
innocuous errors by law-abiding Americans).
3. More and more 2nd Amendment infringements. In addition to the
provisions above, the Hatch/Craig amendment would do the following:
* A lifetime gun ban for juveniles committing youthful
indiscretions at a very young age [Section 441 on page S5310 of the
Congressional Record, 5/13/99];
* Extending the arcane and confusing juvenile handgun ban to
semi-autos, (3) which are used in less than 2% of serious crimes
[Section 451 on page S5310-S5311 of the Congressional Record,
5/13/99];
* Increasing penalties for violating the almost incomprehensible
regulations governing the circumstances under which you may legally
take your kid hunting or target shooting with a handgun or semi-auto
[Section 451 on page S5310-11 of the Congressional Record, 5/13/99].
ACTION: Please send the letter below to your two Senators. You can
visit the GOA web page at http://www.gunowners.org/s106th.htm for
contact info. Or call toll-free at 1-888-449-3511.
---------------------------------
Dear Senator:
Guns have been around since before the first settlers set foot on
this continent. Yet, high school shootings are almost exclusively a
phenomenon of the last decade-- a decade when gun control reached an
all-time high. Why is this?
The answer is that, over the last 10 years, the media and unsavory
politicians have perfected the art of exploiting tragedy in order to
try to implement a gun control agenda.
Just recently, thousands of disaffected young people have learned
from the liberal media what it will take for them to vent their
anger and gain national attention.
And thus, it is no surprise that copycat incidents have sprung up
all over the country-- and in Canada, which has total gun control.
In the Canadian incident, where massive gun control failed to stop a
school shooting, government officials threw up their hands and
conceded that there is nothing government can do about these
incidents.
More than 19 gun laws didn't stop the two killers in Littleton,
Colorado. And I am willing to bet that passing more gun control is
not going to make a difference either.
I understand that the Senate will resume voting on the anti-gun
crime bill (S. 254) this week. Please vote against any and all gun
control amendments; and please vote against this crime bill if it
contains any gun control in it-- which it currently does.
I would also request that you do everything in your power to
encourage the Senate leadership to pull this anti-gun bill from the
floor. If S. 254 passes, it will be "Christmas in May" for
President Clinton and Sarah Brady-- as it gives them many of the
things they are currently seeking.
Please let me know what you intend to do. Thank you.
Sincerely,
---------------------------------
1 Unumbered final section in the Hatch/Craig amendment on page S5313
of the Congressional Record, 5/13/99.
2 Sections 403-405 of the Hatch/Craig amendment on page S5309 of the
Congressional Record, 5/13/99.
3 Under this provision, a juvenile may be sent to prison for five
years for going target shooting with his friends, even though there
is absolutely no unlawful intent. A parent and son will also be
subject to long prison terms if they fail to comply with any of the
dozens of arcane and labyrinthine rules dealing with permission
slips, permissible activities, modes of transportation, etc. NO
senator or law professor could state with certainty the parameters
of these requirements; yet, a sixteen year-old boy or a parent who
innocently violates them can be sent to prison for five years or
more.
**************
Did someone else forward this to you? To be certain of getting up to
date information, please consider subscribing to the GOA E-Mail
Alert Network directly. There is no cost or obligation, and the
volume of mail is quite low. To subscribe, simply send a message to
goamail@gunowners.org and include the state in which you live, in
either the subject or the body. To unsubscribe, reply to any alert
and ask to be removed.
-- More gun control on the table for Tuesday
Gun Owners of America E-Mail/FAX Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
http://www.gunowners.org
(Monday, May 17, 1999)-- In an attempt to blunt the efforts of
Democrats in the Senate, Republicans Orrin Hatch (UT) and Larry
Craig (ID) offered a "Gun Control Lite" amendment that passed 48-47
on Friday. Better said, the amendment was gun control "lite" only
when compared to more restrictive proposals offered by Sen. Chuck
Schumer (D-NY) and others. If the Hatch/Craig amendment were
enacted into law, gun owners would see yet more erosion of their 2nd
Amendment liberties.
The vote over the Hatch/Craig amendment was quite convoluted, as
many anti-gun Republicans and Democrats voted against this
alternative-- it being slightly "weaker" than a Lautenberg-Schumer
proposal. [Go to
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/vote1061/vote_00118.html to see
the full vote on Friday's Hatch amendment.]
Of the Senators who voted against the Hatch/Craig gun control
amendment, it appears that only Senators Enzi (WY), Bob Smith (NH),
and Thomas (WY) voted against the amendment for the RIGHT reasons.
[Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), who cast a very principled vote
against gun control last week, missed the vote on Friday due to a
funeral.] Listed below is a summary of some of the proposals in the
Hatch/Craig amendment:
1. Potential for registering private sales. This amendment will
force the instant registration check system upon gun sales that
occur between PRIVATE sellers and PRIVATE buyers at gun shows, a
requirement that is unprecedented in U.S. history. (1) Of course,
the number one danger here-- besides being an infringement of the
2nd Amendment-- is the threat of gun owner registration. Forcing
gun buyers to send their names to the government always presents the
opportunity for keeping (or registering) those gun buyers' names.
According to government studies from 1989 onwards, any background
check can lead to registration, despite legal prohibitions. And the
danger with registration is the possibility of future confiscation--
an occurrence which has already happened in New York City and
California. If the Hatch/Craig amendment is enacted into law, you
can bet that politicians will spend 2000 talking about the "private
sale loophole"-- thereby trying to regulate all firearms
transactions between individuals.
2. BATF harassment of gun owners. The Hatch/Craig amendment
would assign one U.S. attorney in every district exclusively to
harass gun owners. (2) It would spend $50,000,000 for that purpose.
But of this $50 million, a full $40 million of it will go to
increasing the presence of the BATF-- not to pursue murder, mass
murder, violent felonies, or crimes of violence, but to pursue
"firearms" offenses (most of which will be recordkeeping and other
innocuous errors by law-abiding Americans).
3. More and more 2nd Amendment infringements. In addition to the
provisions above, the Hatch/Craig amendment would do the following:
* A lifetime gun ban for juveniles committing youthful
indiscretions at a very young age [Section 441 on page S5310 of the
Congressional Record, 5/13/99];
* Extending the arcane and confusing juvenile handgun ban to
semi-autos, (3) which are used in less than 2% of serious crimes
[Section 451 on page S5310-S5311 of the Congressional Record,
5/13/99];
* Increasing penalties for violating the almost incomprehensible
regulations governing the circumstances under which you may legally
take your kid hunting or target shooting with a handgun or semi-auto
[Section 451 on page S5310-11 of the Congressional Record, 5/13/99].
ACTION: Please send the letter below to your two Senators. You can
visit the GOA web page at http://www.gunowners.org/s106th.htm for
contact info. Or call toll-free at 1-888-449-3511.
---------------------------------
Dear Senator:
Guns have been around since before the first settlers set foot on
this continent. Yet, high school shootings are almost exclusively a
phenomenon of the last decade-- a decade when gun control reached an
all-time high. Why is this?
The answer is that, over the last 10 years, the media and unsavory
politicians have perfected the art of exploiting tragedy in order to
try to implement a gun control agenda.
Just recently, thousands of disaffected young people have learned
from the liberal media what it will take for them to vent their
anger and gain national attention.
And thus, it is no surprise that copycat incidents have sprung up
all over the country-- and in Canada, which has total gun control.
In the Canadian incident, where massive gun control failed to stop a
school shooting, government officials threw up their hands and
conceded that there is nothing government can do about these
incidents.
More than 19 gun laws didn't stop the two killers in Littleton,
Colorado. And I am willing to bet that passing more gun control is
not going to make a difference either.
I understand that the Senate will resume voting on the anti-gun
crime bill (S. 254) this week. Please vote against any and all gun
control amendments; and please vote against this crime bill if it
contains any gun control in it-- which it currently does.
I would also request that you do everything in your power to
encourage the Senate leadership to pull this anti-gun bill from the
floor. If S. 254 passes, it will be "Christmas in May" for
President Clinton and Sarah Brady-- as it gives them many of the
things they are currently seeking.
Please let me know what you intend to do. Thank you.
Sincerely,
---------------------------------
1 Unumbered final section in the Hatch/Craig amendment on page S5313
of the Congressional Record, 5/13/99.
2 Sections 403-405 of the Hatch/Craig amendment on page S5309 of the
Congressional Record, 5/13/99.
3 Under this provision, a juvenile may be sent to prison for five
years for going target shooting with his friends, even though there
is absolutely no unlawful intent. A parent and son will also be
subject to long prison terms if they fail to comply with any of the
dozens of arcane and labyrinthine rules dealing with permission
slips, permissible activities, modes of transportation, etc. NO
senator or law professor could state with certainty the parameters
of these requirements; yet, a sixteen year-old boy or a parent who
innocently violates them can be sent to prison for five years or
more.
**************
Did someone else forward this to you? To be certain of getting up to
date information, please consider subscribing to the GOA E-Mail
Alert Network directly. There is no cost or obligation, and the
volume of mail is quite low. To subscribe, simply send a message to
goamail@gunowners.org and include the state in which you live, in
either the subject or the body. To unsubscribe, reply to any alert
and ask to be removed.