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Gun Owners
of America Alert -
While a Flurry of New Gun Bills Descends upon Capitol Hill...
A proposed McCain bill requires your attention right now
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
(Friday, February 9, 2001) -- Now that the 107th Congress is underway,
legislators on Capitol Hill are scurrying to get their
bills introduced. As one would suspect, many anti-gun bills have already
been introduced, and many of them by the usual suspects: Feinstein,
Schumer, Boxer, etc.
Gun Owners of America is currently analyzing all bills affecting gun
rights and hopes to have them summarized on our website by the end of next
week. Once the flurry of new bills subsides to a mere
trickle, GOA will also report on the bills that gun owners especially need
to watch -- as well as the ones that need support.
But one bill deserves your attention right now. Earlier, GOA heard
whispers on the Hill about a proposed bill being crafted by Senators John
McCain (R-AZ) and Joe Lieberman (D-CT). Well, those whispers
are no longer mere speculation.
Roll Call, one of the newspapers that covers events and legislation on
Capitol Hill, announced yesterday that both Senators were working on a gun
control "compromise" aimed at putting heat upon the new
President, as well as the Republican leadership. (See an excerpt of the
story below.)
While it still has yet to be introduced, the McCain-Lieberman bill:
* Would slam the door on private sales at gun shows unless the buyer
submits to a registration background check;
* Would force gun owners to purchase "lock up your safety"
devices; and
* Even more troubling, would force federal agents to increase efforts at
arresting and convicting honest gun owners who, in many cases, may
inadvertently violate one of the many federal anti-gun laws which punish
mere technicalities, such as gun possession.
A gun owner who travels with a gun through a school zone or who uses one
of the family handguns to go target shooting with a 15-year old son (when
the son does not have written permission to handle the firearm) could find
Project Exile sending him or her to prison. And an individual who uses a
gun for self-defense in a way that a court subsequently finds to be
inappropriate could be sent to prison for a MANDATORY MINIMUM of five
years.
ACTION:
1. Please contact Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and ask him to stop selling out
gun owners. You can use the SAMPLE LETTER below, along with the following
contact information:
Phone -- 202-224-2235
E-mail -- john_mccain@mccain.senate.gov
Fax -- 202-228-2862
McCain has spent the last few years trying to become a "media
darling," but in doing so, he has compromised the very freedoms he
fought for years ago. McCain's voting record has dipped to
a C- in recent years, and gun owners in Oregon and Colorado will remember
that he even used TV ads to push gun control
referendums in their states right before the November elections last year.
2. ALL GUN OWNERS should contact Sen. McCain. After all, he is a fomer
(and perhaps, future) presidential contender. He should care about your
opinion, whether you live in Maine, Florida, Washington or Arizona. So
EVERYONE, please write your own letter -- or use the sample letter below
to help direct your
comments to Sen. McCain.
3. Please circulate this alert.
----- Pre-written message -----
Dear Senator McCain:
I was greatly dismayed to see the Roll Call article (2/8/01) which
reported on the gun control "compromise" that you and Joe
Lieberman are fashioning. I would hope that you would CEASE and DESIST
immediately from selling out gun owners' rights.
The Second Amendment states that the people have a right to keep and
bear arms that "shall not be infringed." What part of "not
infringed" don't you understand? All of the proposals you are
pushing will chip away at the rights of decent, law-abiding citizens.
Should you succeed -- and I will do everything in my power to oppose
your efforts -- I want you to know that you will greatly undermine the
freedoms that Americans now enjoy. Furthermore, I should inform you that I
will never support a candidate who consistently tries to
undermine the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
Yours for the Second Amendment,
---------------------------------------------------------------
McCain Planning Gun Control Bill
By Mark Preston of Roll Call
http://www.rollcall.com/pages/news/00/2
001/02/news0208c.html
Seizing on Congress' failure to reach a bipartisan agreement on gun safety
legislation, Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) are
quietly working together to draft an alternative
compromise that both parties can support.
The discussions between McCain and Lieberman are still in the infant
stages, but the bill is likely to include a reworked version of the
controversial gun show loophole, trigger locks and more funds and support
for the law enforcement community, aides to both Senators
said.
Some of McCain's GOP colleagues believe that the Arizonan's interest
in the gun issue and other hot topics, such as HMO reform, is an attempt
to undercut President Bush's agenda.
"[McCain] is just trying to set the presidential agenda, and there is
a discomfort with that," griped a GOP Senator close to the Republican
leadership team....
Staffers for both McCain and Lieberman have been talking about a
compromise gun bill since late last year; however, the two Senators were
able to discuss the issue in greater depth during their official visit to
Munich, Germany, this past weekend.
"This is not done," a source close to McCain cautioned.
"But we are working on it."
A spokesman for Lieberman acknowledged that the Connecticut Democrat is
eager to work with the Arizona Republican, whom he "deeply
respects."
"This would be an opportunity to chart a third way on stopping gun
crime by dedicating more resources to enforcing existing gun laws while
also fixing some of the loopholes that persist in those laws,"
Lieberman spokesman Dan Gerstein said....
"With Senator McCain joining Senator Lieberman on this debate, you
are all but guaranteed it is going to register on the public's radar
screen," said a senior Senate Democratic aide, who noted that the
Senate Democratic leaders would likely embrace Lieberman's efforts to pass
a gun safety bill.
"McCain is unbelievable," the aide added. "He has got
absolutely no fear of antagonizing his leadership."
McCain's decision to tackle this issue is likely to further infuriate his
Senate GOP colleagues, who are working hard to
implement Bush's legislative priorities.
"There is a lot of frustration," a Republican Senator said.
"He has
got his own agenda."...
---------------------------------------------------------------
For more information on Sen. John McCain's anti-gun activities, please
see:
http://www.gunowners.org/cgv.htm
(simply go to the Senate votes to view McCain's record)
http://www.gunowners.org/smu0599.htm
(shows what the New Hampshire Union Leader had to say about McCain's
anti-gun actions in 1999)
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