Third in a series. Next is Running Campaigns and
Unregistering Your Gun. See below.
****************************
Oppose and defeat the Juvenile Justice Bill
You can call your representatives at the following toll-free
numbers US Capitol Switchboard 888-449-3511 You can
also call them using the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-
3121.
Here's an e-mail link to Congress. http://in-search-of.org/ http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ http://www.gunowners.org/mailerx.html
To spread the word call Rush Limbaugh at 800-282-2882 and
callers may call in from 12 noon to 3PM EST, M-F
See newly revised www.2ndamendment.net
For legislative updates contact www.nealknox.com and go to
"Scripts from the Firearms Coalition Legislative Update Line"
*****************************
BASIC PRINCIPLE - Gun laws do not prevent criminals from
getting firearms. Criminals do not obey laws. In fact, the
disarming of honest citizens makes crime worse. Therefore,
additional firearm restrictions are bad and fewer restrictions
are good. Anti-gun media people and politicians do not wish
to control your firearms. They wish to destroy your firearms.
PURPOSE - Your purpose is to protect the individual's right
to keep and bear arms. The best way to defend your own
rights is to defend the rights of others. This means achieving
positive legislative results. Your job as an activist is to (A)
stop bad legislation from passing and (B) get good legislation
passed. The job is not to make a particular person or
politician happy.
NECESSARY PREREQUISITES - You must be willing to
spend your own time, energy and money to do this work.
First, go to your local library and copy all of the state and
federal firearm laws and place then in a notebook with
separators and labels. Read and understand all of these
laws. Next be a member of a firearms organization in your
state - preferably one that has a range and a large, stable,
active membership. Make sure you can mail to this
membership. Get to be the organization's legislative officer.
Get from your state capital a roster of the state legislators
with their HOME and office addresses and phone numbers.
Print up this roster in a handy folded to fit shirt pocket form.
Pass these out at gun clubs and include in all mailing to
members at least once per year. Politicians respond
primarily to THOSE IN THEIR DISTRICTS who can vote for
or against them. Get a copy of your state's rules for both the
senate and house. Know these rules.
ACTIVATING FIREARMS OWNERS - Only when it is
absolutely necessary must you try to get a large number of
your fellow gun owners to contact their representatives by the
use of an EXPENSIVE mailing. However, when it is
necessary, the mailing should contain your cover letter
describing the position you believe they should take with their
legislators and a roster of the legislators to be contacted.
Your letter must be true, strong and motivational. Anger and
fear should be in your letter to your firearm owner friends.
You must get them to act. They will act but you cannot get
them to do this very often.
PRINCIPLE OF LEGISLATIVE DIRECTION - Bad legislation
is that legislation that restricts firearm owners further in a
particular jurisdiction. Good legislation is that legislation that
restricts firearm owners less in that particular jurisdiction.
Legislation that is good in a very restrictive state is bad is a
far less restrictive state. People who have not lived in a very
restrictive state do not understand this.
The legislative rules are as follows:
1. Stopping bad legislation is the FIRST PRIORITY.
A. Use the numerical strength where it exists in either house
or either committee.
B. Get amendments attached to make the bill less likely to
pass.
C. If nothing else works, get a lot of amendments adopted to
soften the legislation. Firearm owners who have never lived
in a very restrictive state do not understand this. An example
is a bill to follow private sales in a state I formerly resided.
Friends in the state Senate amended this bad bill that had
passed the house. This meant that the bill had to go back to
the house and pass with the amendments. In the mean time
I personally called 180 members of my gun club and the bill
failed in the house by 2 votes out of a 141-member house.
A word of caution here. You do not want to amend the bill to
make it acceptable to more of the members of the general
assembly. You wish to make the bill unacceptable to anti-
gun legislators. The object is to kill the bill.
2. Passing good legislation is the SECOND PRIORITY;
however when no attack is present pursue good legislation.
A. Write the bill so that it will be perceived as practical
legislation. Read the present law and get a lawyer friend to
help. Run it by others. A dream bill that goes nowhere
wastes resources and your creditability. THE PERFECT IS
THE ENEMY OF THE GOOD.
B. Use the numerical strength where it exists in either house
or committee.
C. Get amendments attached to make the bill more likely to
pass.
D. If the politicians insist on garbaging up the bill, stop or
soften any of these amendments you can. However get the
bill passed.
E. PRINCIPLE OF GRADUALISM - Use the gradualism
approach. Year after year pass good bills. People who have
never lived in a very restrictive state do not understand this.
A lot of members think NRA is responsible for the final
wording of a bill. This is not necessarily true. Mistakes can
be made by local activists who are not politically savvy or
more likely by NRA-ILA's liaisons. YOUR FRIENDS CAN DO
TO YOU WHAT YOUR ENEMIES CANNOT. However
opposition politicians do the most damage.
F. DO NO HARM – You have no moral right to appease
the anti-gun politicians and media. Do not preemptively
surrender, or decide which aspect of our Second Amendment
right should be gutted in trade for advancing or not gutting
some other aspect. Do not support "tolerable"
unconstitutional gun controls to appear reasonable, or in
return for a sucker promise to back off on other gun controls.
Unfortunately over the years NRA has done this at times. In
1988 they made a compromise to get the Maryland roster
board that now decides what handguns can be sold in
Maryland. The NRA State Liaison called me late at night to
tell me AFTER the fact. I wrote and help bring to a vote the
Maryland referendum to try to stop the law from going into
effect. This did fail because of the police raid on the
headquarters of the Maryland Committee Against the Gun
Ban the night before the election. The TV stations left the
voters with the impression the pro-gun side was doing
something illegal. (The anti-gun politicians used the tactics of
the Nazis in Germany in the 1930s.)
COMMUNICATING WITH POLITICIANS - Do not try to
communicate with the politicians who are the enemies of
firearm ownership. You do not want to waste your time and
damage our cause by educating the enemy. Do all your
communication with the politicians in that political body who
are in favor of firearm ownership. Testify at each hearing
where an anti-gun bill is being considered. Arrive early and
sign up before anyone else. Stay late and talk to the
politicians who are on your side in the committee. A friend on
the committee can do our cause a world of good.
GOOD ARGUMENTS - Your idea of a good argument and
what works are different. The ideas that work on anti-gun
bills are pointing out those things in the bill that can work an
injustice on the average citizen. Your committee testimony
should be written for reference. But only say what others
have not said ahead of you. Repetition will not work with
committee members.
FOLLOW THE BILL - It is up to you to know the legislative
schedule and obtain timely copies of all bills affecting firearm
owners. You must think ahead and have the information
beforehand. Anti-gun bills are not dead until the legislative
session ends. Pro-gun bills are not completed until signed by
the Governor.
****************************
The 2ndAmendmentNews Team
The way to protect your own rights is to protect the rights of
others. Our right to own and use firearms is under attack.
We receive e-mail addresses from various sources that
represent the recipients as receptive to our timely, low-to-
moderate volume gun-rights-related alerts (generally no more
than weekly, never more than daily, depending on legislative
and other circumstances). Occasionally recipients turn out to
be not interested, and we remove them immediately with our
sincere apology for any inconvenience. If you wish to be
removed send an e mail to 2ndamendmentnews-
owner@onelist.com and include "unsubscribe".
If you know anyone who would appreciate these alerts,
please let us know and we'll enroll them on a trial basis.
Also, feel free to forward our alerts.
If you've received this as a forward and wish to subscribe
please send a reply to me at luz.clark@prodigy.net or
behanna@fast.net
Cordially Yours,
The 2ndAmendmentNews Team
2ndAmendmentNews is published by volunteer activists who
support the full original individual rights intent of the 2nd
Amendment and oppose any appeasement on gun rights.
The moderators include Chris Behanna, Weldon Clark (an
NRA director) and Steve Cicero.
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude
better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from
us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down
and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set
lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our
countrymen. -- Samuel Adams, speech at the Philadelphia
State House, August 1, 1776.
Unregistering Your Gun. See below.
****************************
Oppose and defeat the Juvenile Justice Bill
You can call your representatives at the following toll-free
numbers US Capitol Switchboard 888-449-3511 You can
also call them using the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-
3121.
Here's an e-mail link to Congress. http://in-search-of.org/ http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ http://www.gunowners.org/mailerx.html
To spread the word call Rush Limbaugh at 800-282-2882 and
callers may call in from 12 noon to 3PM EST, M-F
See newly revised www.2ndamendment.net
For legislative updates contact www.nealknox.com and go to
"Scripts from the Firearms Coalition Legislative Update Line"
*****************************
BASIC PRINCIPLE - Gun laws do not prevent criminals from
getting firearms. Criminals do not obey laws. In fact, the
disarming of honest citizens makes crime worse. Therefore,
additional firearm restrictions are bad and fewer restrictions
are good. Anti-gun media people and politicians do not wish
to control your firearms. They wish to destroy your firearms.
PURPOSE - Your purpose is to protect the individual's right
to keep and bear arms. The best way to defend your own
rights is to defend the rights of others. This means achieving
positive legislative results. Your job as an activist is to (A)
stop bad legislation from passing and (B) get good legislation
passed. The job is not to make a particular person or
politician happy.
NECESSARY PREREQUISITES - You must be willing to
spend your own time, energy and money to do this work.
First, go to your local library and copy all of the state and
federal firearm laws and place then in a notebook with
separators and labels. Read and understand all of these
laws. Next be a member of a firearms organization in your
state - preferably one that has a range and a large, stable,
active membership. Make sure you can mail to this
membership. Get to be the organization's legislative officer.
Get from your state capital a roster of the state legislators
with their HOME and office addresses and phone numbers.
Print up this roster in a handy folded to fit shirt pocket form.
Pass these out at gun clubs and include in all mailing to
members at least once per year. Politicians respond
primarily to THOSE IN THEIR DISTRICTS who can vote for
or against them. Get a copy of your state's rules for both the
senate and house. Know these rules.
ACTIVATING FIREARMS OWNERS - Only when it is
absolutely necessary must you try to get a large number of
your fellow gun owners to contact their representatives by the
use of an EXPENSIVE mailing. However, when it is
necessary, the mailing should contain your cover letter
describing the position you believe they should take with their
legislators and a roster of the legislators to be contacted.
Your letter must be true, strong and motivational. Anger and
fear should be in your letter to your firearm owner friends.
You must get them to act. They will act but you cannot get
them to do this very often.
PRINCIPLE OF LEGISLATIVE DIRECTION - Bad legislation
is that legislation that restricts firearm owners further in a
particular jurisdiction. Good legislation is that legislation that
restricts firearm owners less in that particular jurisdiction.
Legislation that is good in a very restrictive state is bad is a
far less restrictive state. People who have not lived in a very
restrictive state do not understand this.
The legislative rules are as follows:
1. Stopping bad legislation is the FIRST PRIORITY.
A. Use the numerical strength where it exists in either house
or either committee.
B. Get amendments attached to make the bill less likely to
pass.
C. If nothing else works, get a lot of amendments adopted to
soften the legislation. Firearm owners who have never lived
in a very restrictive state do not understand this. An example
is a bill to follow private sales in a state I formerly resided.
Friends in the state Senate amended this bad bill that had
passed the house. This meant that the bill had to go back to
the house and pass with the amendments. In the mean time
I personally called 180 members of my gun club and the bill
failed in the house by 2 votes out of a 141-member house.
A word of caution here. You do not want to amend the bill to
make it acceptable to more of the members of the general
assembly. You wish to make the bill unacceptable to anti-
gun legislators. The object is to kill the bill.
2. Passing good legislation is the SECOND PRIORITY;
however when no attack is present pursue good legislation.
A. Write the bill so that it will be perceived as practical
legislation. Read the present law and get a lawyer friend to
help. Run it by others. A dream bill that goes nowhere
wastes resources and your creditability. THE PERFECT IS
THE ENEMY OF THE GOOD.
B. Use the numerical strength where it exists in either house
or committee.
C. Get amendments attached to make the bill more likely to
pass.
D. If the politicians insist on garbaging up the bill, stop or
soften any of these amendments you can. However get the
bill passed.
E. PRINCIPLE OF GRADUALISM - Use the gradualism
approach. Year after year pass good bills. People who have
never lived in a very restrictive state do not understand this.
A lot of members think NRA is responsible for the final
wording of a bill. This is not necessarily true. Mistakes can
be made by local activists who are not politically savvy or
more likely by NRA-ILA's liaisons. YOUR FRIENDS CAN DO
TO YOU WHAT YOUR ENEMIES CANNOT. However
opposition politicians do the most damage.
F. DO NO HARM – You have no moral right to appease
the anti-gun politicians and media. Do not preemptively
surrender, or decide which aspect of our Second Amendment
right should be gutted in trade for advancing or not gutting
some other aspect. Do not support "tolerable"
unconstitutional gun controls to appear reasonable, or in
return for a sucker promise to back off on other gun controls.
Unfortunately over the years NRA has done this at times. In
1988 they made a compromise to get the Maryland roster
board that now decides what handguns can be sold in
Maryland. The NRA State Liaison called me late at night to
tell me AFTER the fact. I wrote and help bring to a vote the
Maryland referendum to try to stop the law from going into
effect. This did fail because of the police raid on the
headquarters of the Maryland Committee Against the Gun
Ban the night before the election. The TV stations left the
voters with the impression the pro-gun side was doing
something illegal. (The anti-gun politicians used the tactics of
the Nazis in Germany in the 1930s.)
COMMUNICATING WITH POLITICIANS - Do not try to
communicate with the politicians who are the enemies of
firearm ownership. You do not want to waste your time and
damage our cause by educating the enemy. Do all your
communication with the politicians in that political body who
are in favor of firearm ownership. Testify at each hearing
where an anti-gun bill is being considered. Arrive early and
sign up before anyone else. Stay late and talk to the
politicians who are on your side in the committee. A friend on
the committee can do our cause a world of good.
GOOD ARGUMENTS - Your idea of a good argument and
what works are different. The ideas that work on anti-gun
bills are pointing out those things in the bill that can work an
injustice on the average citizen. Your committee testimony
should be written for reference. But only say what others
have not said ahead of you. Repetition will not work with
committee members.
FOLLOW THE BILL - It is up to you to know the legislative
schedule and obtain timely copies of all bills affecting firearm
owners. You must think ahead and have the information
beforehand. Anti-gun bills are not dead until the legislative
session ends. Pro-gun bills are not completed until signed by
the Governor.
****************************
The 2ndAmendmentNews Team
The way to protect your own rights is to protect the rights of
others. Our right to own and use firearms is under attack.
We receive e-mail addresses from various sources that
represent the recipients as receptive to our timely, low-to-
moderate volume gun-rights-related alerts (generally no more
than weekly, never more than daily, depending on legislative
and other circumstances). Occasionally recipients turn out to
be not interested, and we remove them immediately with our
sincere apology for any inconvenience. If you wish to be
removed send an e mail to 2ndamendmentnews-
owner@onelist.com and include "unsubscribe".
If you know anyone who would appreciate these alerts,
please let us know and we'll enroll them on a trial basis.
Also, feel free to forward our alerts.
If you've received this as a forward and wish to subscribe
please send a reply to me at luz.clark@prodigy.net or
behanna@fast.net
Cordially Yours,
The 2ndAmendmentNews Team
2ndAmendmentNews is published by volunteer activists who
support the full original individual rights intent of the 2nd
Amendment and oppose any appeasement on gun rights.
The moderators include Chris Behanna, Weldon Clark (an
NRA director) and Steve Cicero.
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude
better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from
us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down
and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set
lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our
countrymen. -- Samuel Adams, speech at the Philadelphia
State House, August 1, 1776.