Crime Bill Temporarily Stalled Thanks To Your Efforts

  • Thread starter Thread starter dZ
  • Start date Start date

dZ

New member
Crime Bill Temporarily Stalled Thanks To Your Efforts
-- Send the letter below opposing tomorrow's House gun vote

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


(Wednesday, March 8, 2000) -- Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) announced
today that she will offer a non-binding resolution asking the
House-Senate conference committee members to vote on the anti-gun
crime bill by a certain date. Since she could offer the resolution
as early as tomorrow, please look at the action item and letter
below to help guide your response to the Congress.

On an encouraging note, GOA members should be proud of their work.
In recent months, GOA supporters have been putting the heat on
Republican Senator Orrin Hatch (UT), exposing his compromises and
his support for gun control. And this past Friday, GOA mobilized
Utah activists once again in an emergency alert, after the press
reported that Senator Hatch would meet with the President.

Your pressure has been working.

Yesterday, the President met with Congressional leaders to discuss
strategies for moving the anti-gun crime bill out of the conference
committee. Senator Hatch was, in fact, one of the congressional
delegates attending the meeting.

Even though Hatch has voted for the anti-gun crime bill twice --
both this past May and July -- he emerged from the meeting saying
that he doesn't want the bill to go forward in its current form.
Why the transformation?

Well, President Clinton may have given a little insight to the
answer during a question and answer period yesterday. The President
stated that "there's so much pressure on Senator Hatch not to call a
[conference] meeting."

Indeed, that "pressure" is spelled G-U-N-O-W-N-E-R-S. You guys have
done a fantastic job. Sen. Hatch is under tremendous pressure to
oppose the bill. But we can't let up just yet.

Realize that the Senator, if he could, would like to pass some gun
control. On the first day of debate on the crime bill last year
(just days after the Columbine shooting), Sen. Hatch had this to
say:

"The administration -- and several of my colleagues -- have
called for more gun control. I plan to offer and support many of
the proposals that have been discussed." Source: Sen. Orrin Hatch,
statement on the Senate floor, as printed in the Congressional
Record, May 11, 1999.

Hatch then proceeded to vote for several anti-gun amendments, to
vote for final passage of the bill and to vote to override Senator
Bob Smith's filibuster in July. Hatch then called a conference
meeting together and was very hopeful that a crime bill (with gun
control) could be sent to the President:

"We have an obligation to reconcile these firearm-related
provisions in this conference. I hope my colleagues will put the
gun issue in perspective and realize that these provisions, while
controversial, are but a small part of the overall legislation."
Source: Sen. Orrin Hatch, before the Committee on the Judiciary,
Juvenile Crime Conference, Aug. 5, 1999. See: http://www.senate.gov/~hatch/state104.html

Even yesterday, Rep. Henry Hyde stated that, "Everyone [including
Sen. Hatch] agrees on the trigger locks, on the banning the large
cartridge clips, on a juvenile Brady, on denying access to assault
weapons to juveniles. Those things are very much in agreement."

Senator Hatch followed that by saying "if we could put the gun show
provision aside I think we'd have a bill. But we can't get the
other side to do that so far."

Such statements indicate that the Senator is trying to please both
sides. He will oppose the worst gun provision in the bill, but then
support what he considers to be the milder gun restrictions. In
other words, he'll support "Gun Control Lite."

THAT'S WHY YOUR JOB IS NOT OVER YET.

ACTION: The anti-gun legislation has been deadlocked in committee
following the intense grassroots pressure that was generated by Gun
Owners of America activists last year.

Please contact your Representative and ask him or her to oppose the
Lofgren resolution (which could be offered as early as tomorrow).
Her resolution would try to bump the anti-gun crime bill out of
committee. Tell them you oppose the juvenile crime bill as long as
it infringes on the 2nd Amendment in any manner.

Tell your Representative that you want NO GUN CONTROL... NO
COMPROMISES ... NO DEALS! Tell them you want to see the juvenile
crime bill stay bottled-up in committee.

CONTACT NUMBERS for Capitol Hill:

1-888-449-3511 (toll free)
1-202-224-3121 (Capitol Hill switchboard)

----- Pre-written message -----

Dear Representative

I am glad that the juvenile injustice bill is not moving forward
right now. But I am a little concerned that gun control is still
"on the table."

After meeting with the President on Tuesday, Senator Orrin Hatch
said that, "If we could put the gun show provision aside I think
we'd have a bill. But we can't get the other side to do that so
far."

Well, there's a lot of unconstitutional gun control in that bill --
even without the gun show provision. The Second Amendment says
that, "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be
infringed."

There is NO ROOM for compromise. I hope you will oppose the Zoe
Lofgren resolution that would instruct the House-Senate conferees to
push the anti-gun crime bill out of the committee. Please do
everything you can to oppose ALL of the gun control in the juvenile
crime bill and let me know what you intend to do.

Sincerely,
 
Back
Top