Nevada Alert

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WAGCEVP

New member
Make Sure Your Senate Candidates Take The Pro-gun Pledge
-- Please use the pre-written letters below

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


ACTION INFO for Nevada gun owners:

1. Contact ENSIGN and BERNSTEIN right away.

John Ensign and Edward Bernstein are candidates for the U.S. Senate.
Both want to represent you next year in Congress. But both men have
refused to answer Gun Owners of America's Candidate Survey. You
have the right to insist that they answer their surveys today.


2. Please use the pre-written letter to contact the two campaigns
as follows:


John Ensign

Ph: 702-880-1000
Fax: 702-880-1014
Email: info@ensign4nevada.com


Edward Bernstein

Ph: 702-471-5669
Fax: 702-547-3630
Email: ed@bernstein4senate.com


NEVADA SENATE UPDATE for Tuesday, September 26, 2000:


1. Why are Ensign and Bernstein refusing to pledge their support for
gun owners rights?

GOA's survey contains a written pledge for candidates to make.
Candidates promise to support, or not support, repeals on all kinds
of gun control-from restrictive gun bans to oppressive registration.
Consider the following samples:

Question 2A) Would you support a repeal of the 1993 Brady instant
check which can result in a registration list of gun owners?
2B) If yes, would you introduce legislation repealing this Act?


Question 9A) A gun ban enacted in 1996, known as the Kohl Gun Free
Zones Ban, would create a virtual one-half mile wide "gun free"
circle around every school in America. Would you support a repeal
of the Kohl Gun Free Zones Ban? 9B) If yes, would you introduce
legislation repealing this Act?

And then consider this one:

Question 7) In 1996, Congress passed two gun control laws as part
of a larger omnibus spending bill. This tactic is frequently used
by anti-gun politicians to get controversial legislation passed.
As a Congressman, would you oppose a crime bill or a spending bill
that contained any restriction upon the people's Second Amendment
right to keep and bear arms?

GOA asks the tough questions. So you can imagine why some
politicians (like Ensign and Bernstein) might not want to fill out
their GOA surveys.


2. Candidates must commit to our issues BEFORE they get elected.

If the candidates can't make a written pledge to support a repeal of
gun control BEFORE the election, how can we be sure they'll support
it AFTER the election?

There are simply too many Senators that just go to Washington to
become part of the Inside-the-Beltway "country club." They go to
the Senate and simply refuse to lift a finger on gun owners' behalf.


3. The GOA survey keeps legislators accountable.

Ensign and Bernstein might claim that they have already filled out
surveys from other gun groups, and that they don't need to fill out
any more. Regardless, candidates need to answer their GOA surveys
for two reasons:

a. As mentioned earlier, the GOA survey forces candidates to take
a stand and to let gun owners know their position on the 2nd
Amendment. Candidates are either for us or against us.

b. The GOA survey also helps keep legislators accountable. Other
groups don't release their survey results. GOA does. By
releasing the answers to these surveys, GOA helps the
grassroots to hold their legislators accountable on issues that
affect their gun rights.

Please contact Ensign and Bernstein today!


----- Pre-written letter -----

Dear Mr. Ensign,

As a candidate to represent me in the U.S. Senate, your views on my
right to keep and bear arms are very important.

Recently, Gun Owners of America sent you a candidate survey on key
gun rights issues. I strongly urge you to answer GOA's survey 100%
pro-gun and return in promptly.

Gun Owners of America will inform me how you respond.

Sincerely,


----- Pre-written letter -----

Dear Mr. Bernstein,

As a candidate to represent me in the U.S. Senate, your views on my
right to keep and bear arms are very important.

Recently, Gun Owners of America sent you a candidate survey on key
gun rights issues. I strongly urge you to answer GOA's survey 100%
pro-gun and return in promptly.

Gun Owners of America will inform me how you respond.

Sincerely,


**************
 
Thanks, and done, but I don't expect much out of either of them.

I will vote for Ensign, just to keep the Democrats out (and because Bernstein is a trial lawter), but I will be gritting my teeth.

Ensign has a "ask me anything and I will answer" spot on his site. TWICE I have asked for his position on RKBA. I have also volunteered to pound the bricks campaigning for him and distributing lawn signs - NADA, no answer.

It's no wonder the repubs get their butts handed to them sometimes - flat out INEPT.
 
Last spring, Ensign made a campaign appearance at an indoor gun range in Sparks, NV. While I missed it, the owner of the range told me that Ensign expressed support for private firearm ownership, albeit in a lukewarm fashion. Nevertheless, all gunowners in Nevada must vote for Ensign regardless of how wishy-washy he may be.

Bernstein, as a Demoratic party loyalist, will be a sure bet for an anti-gun vote in the U.S. Senate. In contrast, Ensign, while not in the same exalted company as Senator Hatch (R-UT) when it comes to gun rights, will at least consider the pro-gun side before he votes.

Don't worry about some questionable survey from the G.O.A. How many U.S. Senate candidates have taken the time to stop in at a gun range? I suspect Ensign is the only one of the current group. Vote for Ensign.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Trevor:
In contrast, Ensign, while not in the same exalted company as Senator Hatch (R-UT) when it comes to gun rights, will at least consider the pro-gun side before he votes.
[/quote]

Exalted company? You're talking about the Senator who tried to slip all kinds of new gun control legislation through his juvenile crime bill. He only backed off after ENORMOUS pressure from GOA.

The only difference between Republicans and Democrats is that Republicans will sell us out more slowly.

--The Beez
 
Sen. Orrin Hatch has always been and continues to be strongly pro-RKBA. He is against gun control but supports crime control. The juvenile crime bill that he co-sponsored in 98-99 was an attempt at just that: Control crime, which, ultimately, can only help the course of private firearm ownership.

While the proposal had some anti-gun provisions (small changes in the law to placate the other side), it was an attempt to stop much more serious threats to private firearm ownership by the Democrats, especially in the wake of Columbine. The bill did die though. However, the extensive legislative wrangling over it kept Congress from enacting much more Draconian laws against the legality of guns.

Such twists and turns are the way things work. It behooves gunowners to understand this process lest Congress and the President do get together some dark and stormy night in a secret meeting and strip us of everything.

P.S. Smearing all Democrats and Republicans with the same broad brush of ridicule and hostility does nothing to win and keep pro-RKBA (and potentially pro) legislators on our side. Many of them can be persuaded provided we, the firearms community, do not come off as belligerent cranks. For my money, the G.O.A. does not help in this regard.

------------------
We have never been modern.

[This message has been edited by Trevor (edited October 01, 2000).]
 
Trevor: Some of us still refuse to label as friends people who'd sink the knife a little shallower, take our rights away in smaller steps. No, Hatch is NOT our friend, though I understand that some of us have become so used to being abused by politicians, that a failure to twist the knife is seen as a genuine act of friendship.

------------------
Sic semper tyrannis!
 
Excellent post Beez.
Hold on Bellmore Im going to show Trevor what
we think gun control is and then he can show us what he thinks crime control.
We know that politicians want to tell the people their the same.
Either way its them controlling us but..
www.gunowners.org www.ccops.org www.keepandbeararms.org

------------------
"those who sacrifice
liberty for security deserve neither"
 
House, Senate Part Ways on Gun Control
GOA stands alone in successfully killing gun restrictions in House
Congress is looking more like the OK Corral than a country club these days.

The Senate especially has earned a reputation for being a "country club" as members address each other cordially and refrain from disturbing the progress of business in that chamber.

But a cross-fire has ensued over the anti-gun juvenile bill that was hastily passed in the wake of the Colorado tragedy.

At the center of the firestorm is pro-gun Senator Bob Smith (I-NH) who employed an arcane set of parliamentary maneuvers that managed to delay the anti-gun crime bill for weeks.

This was to the chagrin of senators like Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) who wanted to quickly send this gun control to President Clinton.

Majority Leader Trent Lott pushes anti-gun crime bill through the Senate
With tremendous help from its leadership, the Senate passed S. 254 in May, a bill replete with gun bans and gun owner registration.

Senator Lott later confirmed his role in bringing this legislation to the floor:



On the juvenile justice bill [S. 254], I could have gone through all kinds of contortions and gyrations to try to block that, but I thought . . . we ought to take it up. . . . I didn't run around out here trying to block [the anti-gun amendments]. Some of my colleagues said I should have done that.
Indeed, Senators like Bob Smith pleaded with the Majority Leader, but it was to no avail. Lott brought the bill to the floor, it passed the Senate and then quickly moved to the other house.

Thankfully, Gun Owners of America was able to encourage pro-gun Republicans in the House to kill the anti-gun legislation in June. (See House and Senate votes.)

From inside the Capitol, Representatives John Doolittle (R-CA) and Tom DeLay (R-TX) did everything within their power to weaken and defeat the House gun bill, H.R. 2122.

They were successful, although House leader Denny Hastert (R-IL) was not amused.

Speaker Hastert disappointed that gun control defeated in the House
House Speaker Denny Hastert was openly disappointed in his colleagues after the defeat of the House gun bill, and he posted a statement to that effect on his web page. His June 21 statement read as follows:

I am disappointed . . . [with] the vast majority of Democrats [who] voted against a fair and open process, voted against the Juvenile Justice bill and voted against common-sense [sic] gun control legislation.
[Many Democrats opposed final passage of the House gun bill because conservative Republicans had managed to defeat even greater restrictions during earlier votes.]

Hastert apparently knew he was walking a "fine line." The Associated Press quoted Hastert as telling leaders in a private meeting "that passing the [House] bill would give the GOP a better chance at [enacting] some gun control, but not so much as to turn off conservative campaign donors next year."

Regardless, gun owners won a tremendous victory when the gun bill died.

But they did not completely escape unscathed, as the House passed another bill containing some gun control, H.R. 1501.

This bill— while adopting a more "cultural approach" to fighting crime— was amended on the floor to contain a non-binding authorization for more money for the BATF, a federal agency that has consistently harassed and violated gun owners all across the country.

Nevertheless, H.R. 1501 was a vast improvement over the devastating gun control in the Senate bill.

Lott "rolls" Smith and pushes anti-gun crime bill into compromise talks
The Senate bill contained gun bans and gun owner registration provisions, as well as provisions that would almost certainly put gun shows out of business.

Senator Smith promised to filibuster the Senate crime bill... and did succeed in delaying consideration of the bill for weeks.

But in late July, Senator Lott forced the bill to the floor and overcame Smith’s objections to the gun control crime legislation.

The Senate rules would have allowed Smith to continue filibustering the gun bill if Lott failed to produce 60 votes. Unfortunately for gun owners, Lott got the votes he needed.

Sen. Bob Smith (I-NH) stood up for gun owners and tried to filibuster S. 254

Thus, Lott succeeded in forcing the crime legislation into a conference committee, which is now tasked with ironing out the differences between the House and Senate bills.

Democrats praise Lott for strong support of Gore-Lautenberg gun bill
Democratic Minority Leader Tom Daschle (SD) praised Lott for his efforts in overcoming the temporary stranglehold that Smith had placed on the gun control bill.

"I will say I support the effort made by the majority leader to move this bill to conference and the method he has employed to do so," Daschle said.

"We have had a very good debate on this bill. [Democrats] have had an opportunity to offer amendments. I cite S. 254 as the model I wish we would follow on all bills."

Senator Lott was truly instrumental in moving this gun control legislation at every point along the way.

But the battle is not yet over as both the House and the Senate must again vote on this legislation when it exits the conference committee.

GOA will continue to update readers and call for appropriate action as needed. )))


Whatd you say about that broad brush stoke again TREVOR or our relibble republican reps??
Bet the NRA didnt tell you about Lott or Hassert eitehr.
How kind of them.
For the republican party that is.
www.gunowners.org www.ccops.org www.keepandbeararms.org
 
All that stuff is just posturing. I am not impressed. What gunowners need now is gridlock, not more self-righteous fluff, and certainly not any action in Congress, regardless of its effect upon the RKBA.

Ruger45: Please do not insult my intelligence with more links that contain the same mind-numbing BS that has made gunowners a laughingstock among the rest of the country.
I have been following this issue for 30 years. Matters have gotten worse because gunowners are losing on the character issue.

Our good name as honest, intelligent, and non-emotional citizens is on line now. No one will take us seriously by associating with the leadership of G.O.A.

Get some new ideas. Read a few books about the scholarly treatment of the RKBA. Learn how to work the system. Standing off to the side and having a tantrum about your rights is losing us the game.

If private firearm ownership ends in the U.S., gunowners will have no one to blame but themselves. People do view us as belligerent cranks. Deal with it.



------------------
We have never been modern.
 
Posturing?
Voting for more restictions on our RKBA
is posturing in your opinoin.
Associating with men who do feel guncontrol
is unconstitutional is causing us losses.
Sounds like such pussified thinking is what causes us losses.
Your going to vote for men like Lott and Hatch who support more guncontrol in America
and then tell me to go ask scholars what the problem is?
And where do you see a solution to any of this in the next 10 years sounds like more losses to me.
Im really your so ready to support yet more gunlaws I think weve had enough.
But then so many of us have no problem maing our freedoms a matter of compromise...
after all to fight even politically would be
UN PC cant have that now can we.

------------------
"those who sacrifice
liberty for security deserve neither"
 
Ruger 45: Here are a few authors who practice, in your opinion, "pussified thinking."

John Lott: "More Guns, Less Crime."
This book has done far more for the pro-gun side than the prattling of the G.O.A.

David B. Kopel: "Guns: Who Should Have Them?"
Kopel's work in various forums and editions is always learned and well-written.

Stephen B. Halbook: "That Every Man be Armed:
The Evolution of a Constitutional Right."
A textbook in legal and scholarly issues regarding the RKBA.

Don B. Kates: "The Great American Gun Debate: Essays on Firearms and Violence."
More good stuff to feed your head.

I can easily name several more. I should mention too Neal Knox: Everything and anything written by him.

Jeff Snyder in American Handgunner is a necessary reading too.

Ruger45: You have your homework.

As for the comment about Senators Lott and Hatch, these men are not our enemies. While they may not always agree with us, they are willing to give us a hearing and let us advise them accordingly on the RKBA. Don't expect the same treatment from Senators Kennedy, Schumer, or Bryan who will not give us one moment of their time. Knowing your allies can only help.

------------------
We have never been modern.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Trevor:
Ruger 45: Here are a few authors who practice, in your opinion, "pussified thinking."

[/quote][Lists several good research scholars whose findings should indeed be read and understood by all gun rights activists. But there's nothing here that promotes the slow-motion suicide tactics of NRA.] <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>

I can easily name several more. I should mention too Neal Knox: Everything and anything written by him.

[/quote] Neal Knox? He's a major GOA guy and also head of a dissident NRA faction that protests all the ruling clique's compromises! <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>

Jeff Snyder in American Handgunner is a necessary reading too.

[/quote] I was wondering where you were getting all your nonsense. Snyder is another collaborator. <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>

...

As for the comment about Senators Lott and Hatch, these men are not our enemies. While they may not always agree with us, they are willing to give us a hearing and let us advise them accordingly on the RKBA. Don't expect the same treatment from Senators Kennedy, Schumer, or Bryan who will not give us one moment of their time. Knowing your allies can only help.

[/quote]
So Lott and Hatch will make pleasant noises for us, and accept our political support, before turning around and pissing on us while telling us it's raining. At least the Democrats are honest in their contempt for us and our rights.

--The Beez
 
Thank you BEEZ my thoughts exactly.
Were waiting for you to show us where any of these authors support compromise TREVOR yes their are worse Democrats but if we ignore
the republicans when they support such
'common sense'gun legislation well still be headed in the same direction simply with a different head on the snake and a slower acting deadly vemon.
I love Neal Knox I dont send the NRa a dime anymore but I send Knox dinero and forward his alerts.
Ive read several of the books from the other authors while I do need to get more.
But still Im confounded as to why you would
line them up with the idea of settling for yet more gun 'safety' laws.
yes I do think settling for more restrictions on our rights for the sake of the republican party is pussified.
Orinn Hatch completely withdrew his support from the juvenile (IN) justice bill full of anti-gun measures after receiving again
hundreds of thousands of postcards from GOA members including myself so by his actions alone I think we the people by taking action
not just reading books were 'taken seriously.


------------------
"those who sacrifice
liberty for security deserve neither"
 
Trevor,

I'm not trying to be hardnosed.

I get the impression from you that you think compromise is a good thing.

I don't see it that way, but would you be willing to explain your point of view?

------------------
John/az
"When freedom is at stake, your silence is not golden, it's yellow..." RKBA!

See The Legacy of Gun Control film at: www.cphv.com

Do it for the children...
 
Unlike many on this board, I am not a libertarian. Instead, I am a conservative with conservative values. This position implies that I have no use for arm-waving and knee-jerk reactions to political problems, whether from the left or the right.

One way or another, there will be a regulatory environment regarding firearms in the U.S. The question is whether these laws will only favor the rich, well-connected, and a few other privileged few (such as law enforcement), or will honest citizens still be able to own firearms privately without too much expense and trouble. I believe this latter reality can be maintained and improved by learning to play the political game, maintaining strong pro-gun organizations, educating ourselves and others as to the legal and ethical realities of firearm ownership, and, finally, and most significantly, presenting a public image of private gunowners as intelligent, competent, and non-reactionary (to put it mildy) people who know their stuff and know how to get what they want without resorting to the tacky emotional tactics our opponents often use to scare people into thinking that guns are evil and that draconian gun laws are the answer.

Yes, I give money to Neal Knox too. I do so because his dissenting views on the operation of the NRA are necessary to keep the organization accountable to the grassroots. Meanwhile, I remain a Life Member of the NRA.
The political reality in the U.S. is not hopeless, but vigilance is necessary. As for the question of compromise, I suggest a book called "Getting to Yes" on the art of negotiation. The question is one of proper negotiation, not compromise.

I am not completely against the GOA, but I am uncomfortable with its flirtation with right-wing reactionaries. For instance, having seen Larry Pratt from time to time on news programs, I think that he presents an image of gunowners as one that frightens Americans who do not know one way or another anything about private firearms ownership.

I am not going to give over immediately to such people without a warning about their questionable behavior. Conservative means hold one's tongue from time to time, not blurting out every reactionary opinion one may have to a bad situation. Also, Pratt, like many other so-called leaders in the pro-gun camp, needs to take a course in public speaking and presenting his case more peruasively before a mass audience within the time limits of a television broadcast.

After Columbine in 1999, it would have been easy for Congress to pass several anti-gun measures because many people were in a reactionary mode to a bad situation. There are reactionaries on the left and the right. The gridlock engendered by the juvenile justice bill and the debate over it staved off such measures until cooler heads could prevail. Oddly, because Clinton and the Democrats wanted an issue to beat Republicans with, they contributed to the gridlock as well by demanding more than they knew they could get.

Such is politics. That activity is playing the game that we, as gunowners, need to be playing well now. We can learn a few things from our enemies too.

As for Jeff Snyder being a collaborator, I do not agree, but that problem is for another thread. Present your case for such a claim if you like. I will consider it carefully.

I apologize for this post being too long, but there are some important questions here. I am going to go to range now and shoot my pistol.

------------------
We have never been modern.

[This message has been edited by Trevor (edited October 17, 2000).]

[This message has been edited by Trevor (edited October 17, 2000).]
 
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