Gun Report From Capitol Hill
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
"Gun Owners of America is the pit bull of the Second Amendment.
They are relentless and never give any ground whatsoever to the
gun grabbers." --Rep. John Hostettler (R-IN), July 2000
(Friday, August 4, 2000) -- This has been a hard-fought year. You
have helped us to fight (and win) several battles. And quite
frankly, gun owners have done as well as anyone could expect
considering the obstacles we have faced in the White House.
Below, you will find a list of victories that you have helped to
bring about. But first, a quick wrap-up of the final days before
Congress recessed last week.
Pro-gun Language Dies In Conference
Rep. Virgil Goode (I-VA) succeeded in getting a pro-gun amendment
stuck into the House version of the Treasury-Postal funding bill.
The Goode provision would keep the Treasury Department from giving
any preference towards Smith & Wesson when the agency buys service
revolvers for its agents.
On the Senate side, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) stuck a similar
amendment into the bill. But what should have then been a pro-gun
coup resulted in disaster when the pro-gun language was stripped
out of the bill in a conference committee -- apparently because
moderate Republicans did not want to give President Clinton a reason
for vetoing an appropriations bill.
Anti-gun Amendments Expected Next Month
Gun owners will be faced with renewed attacks upon the 2nd Amendment
when the Senate returns for action in September. The Democrats have
made it clear that they plan to use delaying tactics to slow down
the appropriation bills, unless they are allowed to offer anti-gun
amendments to those bills.
This is, of course, how some of the worst anti-gun legislation was
enacted in the recent past. You will remember that the Lautenberg
gun ban (disarming millions for misdemeanor infractions) and the
Kohl gun free school zone ban were both added onto appropriation
bills in September 1996.
On a positive note, Sen. Bob Smith (R-NH) could offer pro-gun
amendments to the upcoming spending bills. As the
Commerce-Justice-State bill did not come up before the recess, his
amendment to alter current law to require the "immediate
destruction" of gun buyers' records will have to wait until
September.
ACTION: Continue to register your support for the Smith amendment.
Call 202-224-3121 or toll-free at 1-888-449-3511. A pre-written
letter is included at http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm --
simply plug in your zipcode and select your Senators as recipients.
Finally, for some encouragement, here are some of the victories
that we have accomplished together this year.
Highlights From The First Half Of 2000
Feb 02 Gun activists quickly respond to GOA's call to action from
the night before. The issue concerns an anti-gun amendment
offered by Senators Levin (D-MI) and Schumer (D-NY) that
would help the cities bringing suit against gun makers. The
Levin amendment prevents gun makers from declaring
legitimate bankruptcy, and thus, discharging any enormous
judgments that result from frivolous lawsuits. The
amendment failed 68-29.
Mar 01 Sen. Boxer (D-CA) attacks GOA for refusing to compromise
and for opposing firearms restrictions. Boxer's amendment
instructing House-Senate conferees to finish its work on the
anti-gun juvenile bill fails on a tie vote.
Mar 03 GOA responds to Sen. Hatch (R-UT) who has publicly stated
he will support a juvenile crime bill containing certain
gun control provisions. GOA begins an intense grassroots
campaign to help the Senator "see the light."
Mar 07 President Clinton laments the fact that Sen. Hatch has now
changed his tune. Now that progress on the juvenile crime
bill is moving slow, the President notes that "there's so
much pressure on Senator Hatch not to call a [conference]
meeting."
Mar 15 Gun control proponents sink to a new low, as gun activists
help generate more than 20 new pro-gun votes in the House of
Representatives. Last September, Rep. Lofgren (D-CA) had
offered a motion to instruct the crime bill conferees to
move the bill out of committee. That anti-gun motion had
passed with 241 votes. But after months and months of
grassroots pressure, Lofgren could only muster 218 votes
(a 51% majority) on March 15, 2000. While gunnies still
lost this vote, the narrow margin indicated there was no
mandate for sending the President an anti-gun crime bill.
May 17 Gun control sinks to a new low in the U.S. Senate. Having
passed the juvenile crime bill one year earlier with 73
votes (out of 100), gun grabbers helplessly watch their
amendment squeak by on a vote of 50-49. The amendment
instructs conferees to report the anti-gun crime bill out of
the committee. Even though gun owners technically "lost"
this vote, the slim margin was itself a victory. Again, the
slim margin sends a message to the conferees -- loud and
clear -- that there is no real mandate for getting any work
done on the anti-gun crime bill. To this day, the bill that
was "inspired" by the Columbine tragedy remains bottled-up.
May 18 Democrats are fuming as GOA works to successfully encourage
House members to keep pro-gun language in the DoD
authorization bill. The language, inserted by pro-gun Rep.
Hostettler (R-IN), would bar the Department of Defense from
giving Smith & Wesson preferential treatment in government
contracts -- thus preventing the DoD from rewarding the gun
maker for selling out gun owners in March.
Jun 21 Gun owners rally behind Rep. Hostettler who scores again in
a big way, when he successfully attaches a pro-gun amendment
to the HUD funding bill. White House officials decry the
Hostettler provision that prevents HUD from joining in
coalition with state and local governments that are
interested in suing the gun industry.
Jun 28 Gun owners dodge a bullet after thousands of angry activists
bombard Capitol Hill. On this day, the House backs away
from their initial plan to force lobby groups like GOA to
disclose many, if not all, of its members' names. The
Senate agrees to the House's changes one day later.
Jun 29 Grassroots pressure encourages nine Congressman to switch
their votes and to support a Hostettler amendment that will
defund the Clinton & Wesson agreement. Unfortunately, the
amendment fails, as just three more vote switchers would
have given Hostettler the victory.
Jul 26 Rep. Barr (R-GA) tells GOA that the secret search provisions
have been killed after the resounding outcry from activists
reached Capitol Hill. This language, dubbed the "sneak and
peak" provisions, would have let the government sneak onto
your property while you were away, seize certain items from
your home and not tell you about it for months -- if at all.
**************
Do not reply directly to this message.
To subscribe to free, low-volume GOA alerts, go to http://www.gunowners.org/ean.htm on the web.
To unsubscribe send a message to gunowners_members@mailmanager.net
with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.
Change of e-mail address: unsubscribe the old address and
subscribe the new using the above instructions.
Problems, questions or comments? The main GOA e-mail address
goamail@gunowners.org is at your disposal. Please do not add that
address to distribution lists sending more than ten messages per
week or lists associated with issues other than gun rights.
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
"Gun Owners of America is the pit bull of the Second Amendment.
They are relentless and never give any ground whatsoever to the
gun grabbers." --Rep. John Hostettler (R-IN), July 2000
(Friday, August 4, 2000) -- This has been a hard-fought year. You
have helped us to fight (and win) several battles. And quite
frankly, gun owners have done as well as anyone could expect
considering the obstacles we have faced in the White House.
Below, you will find a list of victories that you have helped to
bring about. But first, a quick wrap-up of the final days before
Congress recessed last week.
Pro-gun Language Dies In Conference
Rep. Virgil Goode (I-VA) succeeded in getting a pro-gun amendment
stuck into the House version of the Treasury-Postal funding bill.
The Goode provision would keep the Treasury Department from giving
any preference towards Smith & Wesson when the agency buys service
revolvers for its agents.
On the Senate side, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) stuck a similar
amendment into the bill. But what should have then been a pro-gun
coup resulted in disaster when the pro-gun language was stripped
out of the bill in a conference committee -- apparently because
moderate Republicans did not want to give President Clinton a reason
for vetoing an appropriations bill.
Anti-gun Amendments Expected Next Month
Gun owners will be faced with renewed attacks upon the 2nd Amendment
when the Senate returns for action in September. The Democrats have
made it clear that they plan to use delaying tactics to slow down
the appropriation bills, unless they are allowed to offer anti-gun
amendments to those bills.
This is, of course, how some of the worst anti-gun legislation was
enacted in the recent past. You will remember that the Lautenberg
gun ban (disarming millions for misdemeanor infractions) and the
Kohl gun free school zone ban were both added onto appropriation
bills in September 1996.
On a positive note, Sen. Bob Smith (R-NH) could offer pro-gun
amendments to the upcoming spending bills. As the
Commerce-Justice-State bill did not come up before the recess, his
amendment to alter current law to require the "immediate
destruction" of gun buyers' records will have to wait until
September.
ACTION: Continue to register your support for the Smith amendment.
Call 202-224-3121 or toll-free at 1-888-449-3511. A pre-written
letter is included at http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm --
simply plug in your zipcode and select your Senators as recipients.
Finally, for some encouragement, here are some of the victories
that we have accomplished together this year.
Highlights From The First Half Of 2000
Feb 02 Gun activists quickly respond to GOA's call to action from
the night before. The issue concerns an anti-gun amendment
offered by Senators Levin (D-MI) and Schumer (D-NY) that
would help the cities bringing suit against gun makers. The
Levin amendment prevents gun makers from declaring
legitimate bankruptcy, and thus, discharging any enormous
judgments that result from frivolous lawsuits. The
amendment failed 68-29.
Mar 01 Sen. Boxer (D-CA) attacks GOA for refusing to compromise
and for opposing firearms restrictions. Boxer's amendment
instructing House-Senate conferees to finish its work on the
anti-gun juvenile bill fails on a tie vote.
Mar 03 GOA responds to Sen. Hatch (R-UT) who has publicly stated
he will support a juvenile crime bill containing certain
gun control provisions. GOA begins an intense grassroots
campaign to help the Senator "see the light."
Mar 07 President Clinton laments the fact that Sen. Hatch has now
changed his tune. Now that progress on the juvenile crime
bill is moving slow, the President notes that "there's so
much pressure on Senator Hatch not to call a [conference]
meeting."
Mar 15 Gun control proponents sink to a new low, as gun activists
help generate more than 20 new pro-gun votes in the House of
Representatives. Last September, Rep. Lofgren (D-CA) had
offered a motion to instruct the crime bill conferees to
move the bill out of committee. That anti-gun motion had
passed with 241 votes. But after months and months of
grassroots pressure, Lofgren could only muster 218 votes
(a 51% majority) on March 15, 2000. While gunnies still
lost this vote, the narrow margin indicated there was no
mandate for sending the President an anti-gun crime bill.
May 17 Gun control sinks to a new low in the U.S. Senate. Having
passed the juvenile crime bill one year earlier with 73
votes (out of 100), gun grabbers helplessly watch their
amendment squeak by on a vote of 50-49. The amendment
instructs conferees to report the anti-gun crime bill out of
the committee. Even though gun owners technically "lost"
this vote, the slim margin was itself a victory. Again, the
slim margin sends a message to the conferees -- loud and
clear -- that there is no real mandate for getting any work
done on the anti-gun crime bill. To this day, the bill that
was "inspired" by the Columbine tragedy remains bottled-up.
May 18 Democrats are fuming as GOA works to successfully encourage
House members to keep pro-gun language in the DoD
authorization bill. The language, inserted by pro-gun Rep.
Hostettler (R-IN), would bar the Department of Defense from
giving Smith & Wesson preferential treatment in government
contracts -- thus preventing the DoD from rewarding the gun
maker for selling out gun owners in March.
Jun 21 Gun owners rally behind Rep. Hostettler who scores again in
a big way, when he successfully attaches a pro-gun amendment
to the HUD funding bill. White House officials decry the
Hostettler provision that prevents HUD from joining in
coalition with state and local governments that are
interested in suing the gun industry.
Jun 28 Gun owners dodge a bullet after thousands of angry activists
bombard Capitol Hill. On this day, the House backs away
from their initial plan to force lobby groups like GOA to
disclose many, if not all, of its members' names. The
Senate agrees to the House's changes one day later.
Jun 29 Grassroots pressure encourages nine Congressman to switch
their votes and to support a Hostettler amendment that will
defund the Clinton & Wesson agreement. Unfortunately, the
amendment fails, as just three more vote switchers would
have given Hostettler the victory.
Jul 26 Rep. Barr (R-GA) tells GOA that the secret search provisions
have been killed after the resounding outcry from activists
reached Capitol Hill. This language, dubbed the "sneak and
peak" provisions, would have let the government sneak onto
your property while you were away, seize certain items from
your home and not tell you about it for months -- if at all.
**************
Do not reply directly to this message.
To subscribe to free, low-volume GOA alerts, go to http://www.gunowners.org/ean.htm on the web.
To unsubscribe send a message to gunowners_members@mailmanager.net
with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.
Change of e-mail address: unsubscribe the old address and
subscribe the new using the above instructions.
Problems, questions or comments? The main GOA e-mail address
goamail@gunowners.org is at your disposal. Please do not add that
address to distribution lists sending more than ten messages per
week or lists associated with issues other than gun rights.