GOA EMERGENCY Alert - 7/20/00 House to Vote on Several Gun Amendments Tonight

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Emergency Alert!
-- House to Vote on Several Gun Amendments Tonight

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


(Thursday, July 20, 2000) -- The moment of truth has arrived. The
last train will ride through Congress tonight, and with it, will
come the last chance for pro-gun Rep. John Hostettler (R-IN) to
defeat President Clinton's back door gun control.


Hostettler "Stop the BATF" Amendment

The House today begins consideration of the Treasury-Postal funding
bill (H.R. 4871). And Rep. Hostettler plans to offer an amendment
preventing the BATF from enforcing the agreement signed by the
Clinton administration and Smith & Wesson. This accord regulates
and restricts the sales of ALL firearms sold by dealers carrying
S&W products -- including Glocks, Berettas, Brownings, etc.

Hence, under the agreement, if a person tries to buy a gun from a
S&W dealer, he must at the very least: take a government-approved
safety course to buy ANY firearm, and submit to a limit of no more
than one handgun OF ANY KIND at a time. In addition, the agreement
could shut down all gun shows.

Hostettler will probably offer his amendment some time late tonight.


Goode "No Preferences" Amendment

On the other side of the aisle, Democrats are hoping to strip out an
amendment that was tacked onto the bill in subcommittee by pro-gun
Rep. Virgil Goode (I-VA). The Goode amendment prevents the Treasury
Department from rewarding S&W with fat government contracts in
exchange for the sell-out agreement the company signed last March.
The language of his provision will stop the Treasury Dept. from
showing any preference toward Smith & Wesson when purchasing
firearms for their agents -- including BATF, Secret Service, etc.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) is expected to offer the amendment striking
the Goode language from the bill.


ACTION: Please call your Representatives right away and urge them
to:

1. Support the Hostettler amendment which will stop the BATF from
in any way enforcing the Clinton & Wesson agreement. This accord
is more than just about trigger locks. This agreement regulates
and restricts the 2nd Amendment rights of ALL kinds of gun makers,
gun dealers and private individuals. Clinton should not be
allowed to make an end-run around the Congress in order to
unilaterally impose gun control upon the nation.

2. Oppose any amendment (by DeLauro or others) that would strike
the Goode "no preferences" provision from the bill. The criteria
our government should use when purchasing weapons should be quite
simple -- the safety of the public and law-enforcement personnel
which comes from purchasing the best product at the best price.
The awarding of these contracts should have nothing to do with
whether a gun maker (like S&W) has adopted the President's gun
control agenda. The Goode amendment ensures the President cannot
give preference to S&W and reward them for selling out gun owners.

Contact your Congressman at 202-225-3121 or toll-free at
1-888-449-3511. Note: with so little time, phone calls will
probably make more of a difference than e-mail or faxes.


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Guys & gals, listen up: The phone number above is TOLL-FREE. For those of you who don't regularly contact the Congress: IT COULD NOT BE ANY EASIER to call this number, then, ask the operator for the House of Representatives, [insert your critter's name here]'s office. Then a staffer will note your name, address, and your request (support the hostettler amendment to 4871, oppose DeLauro or anything striking Virgil Goode's provision).

Get with it, folks! It takes all of 45 seconds.
 
I did my part. I called Tim Roemer expressed my opinion politly.

For good measure I also contacted my state legislators and urged them to pass legislation preventing preferential treatment for those who make pacts with the Cli.. oh I mean pacts with the devil and also urged legislation prohibiting lawsuits against firearm manufacturers.
 
Hard Ball:

NRA-ILA FAX ALERT
Vol. 7, No. 29

HOUSE PASSES APPROPRIATIONS BILL WITH GOODE AMENDMENT ATTACHED

On Thursday, the U.S. House passed the 2001 Treasury, Postal Service and
General Government Appropriations bill containing an important amendment
by pro-gun U.S. Rep. Virgil Goode (Ind.-Va.). Goode's amendment (see FAX
Alert Vol. 7, No. 28) would prohibit the Treasury, Postal Service, and
other agencies from granting or withholding firearms contracts on the
basis of gun makers' agreement to arbitrary "codes of conduct" relating to
their operating or design practices in importing, manufacturing, or
dealing in firearms or ammunition -- such as the coerced agreement signed
recently by Smith & Wesson (S&W). On Tuesday, there was an effort to
remove Goode's amendment in the House Committee on Appropriations by
anti-gun extremist U.S. Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), but she was defeated on
a voice vote, with opposition to Lowey's effort coming from both sides of
the aisle. U.S. Reps. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.) and David Obey (D-Wis.) both
deserve a great deal of thanks for speaking out against the New York
lawmaker, and even Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), normally a foe of the pro-gun
community, opposed Lowey.

The U.S. Senate also has been considering the Treasury/Postal
Appropriations legislation, and, thanks to the efforts of U.S. Sen.
Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), language similar to the Goode amendment was
included during subcommittee markup of the Senate's version of the
legislation. Sen. Shelby, along with Sens. Ben Nighthorse Campbell
(R-Colo.), and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) deserve credit for thwarting the attempt
by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) to strip the language that would prohibit
establishing politically-motivated purchase preferences for government
firearms contracts. As with the Goode amendment, the Senate language does
not refer specifically to the Smith & Wesson Sellout (see Special FAX
Alert 3/20/00), but it was clearly inspired by the concern that the
Clinton-Gore Administration would fulfill its threat to impose purchase
preferences on the Department of Treasury, Postal Service, and all other
agencies covered by this bill's jurisdiction. As mentioned last week, HUD
Secretary Andrew Cuomo has already proposed such purchase preferences for
federal law enforcement agencies, and his proposal would encourage or
require the federal government to give highly preferential procurement
treatment to firearms manufacturers, like S&W, who sign coerced agreements
restricting their otherwise legitimate activities. Sen. Shelby also stood
fast during Senate Appropriations Committee debate on the legislation,
where he derailed attempts by Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Frank
Lautenberg (D-N.J.) to strip the purchase preference prohibition language.


The next stage will be the floor of the U.S. Senate, where we can expect
anti-gun extremists such as Feinstein and Lautenberg to continue their
efforts to reward S&W's craven attack on the Second Amendment. Call your
U.S. Senators and urge them to oppose any attempts to strip language
prohibiting purchase preferences for government contracts on firearms from
the 2001 Treasury, Postal Service and General Government Appropriations
bill. You can contact your Senators by calling (202) 224-3121, or by using
the "Write Your Reps" feature on NRAILA.org.

Dick
Want to send a message to Bush? Sign the petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/monk/petition.html and forward the link to every gun owner you know.
 
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