National Park Service Gun Ban Expanding
— 600-mile Trail to be added to NPS
Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
http://www.gunowners.org
ACTION: Urge your two senators to support S. 2619 — a bill introduced by
Sen. Tom Coburn — to repeal the gun ban on National Park Service lands.
Also, please urge them to stand with Sen. Coburn against the strong-arm
tactics of Majority Leader Reid, who is trying to silence Coburn and thwart
his pro-gun agenda.
You can skip to the bottom and use the pre-written letter below to contact
your two senators right away. Or, you can first read the following alert to
better understand the battle Sen. Coburn is embroiled in and how Sen. Reid
is trying to use his position as Majority Leader to trample Coburn (and the
Second Amendment).
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
On July 10, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to designate the
Washington-Rochambeau Trail, which stretches 600 miles from Rhode Island to
Yorktown, Virginia, as a National Historic Trail. Such a designation would
place the trail under the jurisdiction of the Department of Interior and the
National Park Service, thus subjecting the Washington-Rochambeau to the
current NPS gun ban.
Carrying firearms on land controlled by the NPS is prohibited, even if the
state in which the land is located allows firearms. The only way you can
legally have a firearm anywhere on National Park land currently is by having
it unloaded and inaccessible, such as locked up in your trunk.
While the Interior Department recently (after seven years of foot-dragging)
proposed new rules to partially reverse the gun ban, they have not yet taken
effect. If and when they do go into effect, most gun owners would still not
be allowed to possess firearms on these lands because, among other problems
with the rule, open carry would remain prohibited. Congress still needs to
take action to make the gun ban repeal complete and permanent.
Before the bill passed the House, Rep. Rob Bishop (R-UT) filed an amendment
with the Rules Committee to protect the Second Amendment on the trail. His
amendment would have required that state and local laws govern firearms
possession and carrying on the trail. The Rules Committee changed that
language and made it apply only to hunting.
Rep. Bishop denounced the Committee during debate on the measure, pointing
out that the committee “did not defend all of the Second
Amendment, only the
so-called hunting rights, which is not, not the purpose of the Second
Amendment.”
Rep. Bishop made a motion to send the bill back to committee with
instructions to restore the pro-gun language. His motion narrowly failed,
211-202.
The bill (H.R. 1286) now heads to the Senate where the situation is much
more complex. Dr. Tom Coburn (R-OK) has been a leader on repealing the NPS
gun ban. Sen. Coburn previously introduced a bill (S. 2619) to rescind the
ban, but it remains bottled up by senate leadership. Earlier this year,
Sen. Coburn entered into a so-called unanimous consent agreement with Senate
Majority Leader Harry Reid to get a vote on his repeal language, but Sen.
Reid reneged on his promise and blocked the vote.
Sen. Coburn remains committed to forcing a vote on killing the NPS gun ban,
and Sen. Reid seems equally committed to blocking that vote. Reid’s most
recent maneuver to silence Coburn is to introduce (as one measure) a package
of bills that Coburn has held up on constitutional grounds. Rolling many
bills into one, loaded with pork and pet projects to dole out to a variety
of senators, is a transparent attempt to erode the widespread support Sen.
Coburn has among his colleagues.
If Reid is successful in passing so many bills at one time without debate,
the ability of individual senators to force deliberate consideration and
roll call votes on important legislation will be threatened.
The reason each state has two senators is stop large population centers
(such as an unholy alliance of NYC, Chicago and Los Angeles) from dictating
their will upon the rest of the country. Historically, the rules of the
Senate have always allowed any individual senator to keep the full body from
acting in an unconstitutional manner.
If other senators allow Reid to act as the dictator of the senate, Coburn’s
ability to stop the expansion of the NPS gun ban will be severely
threatened.
Unless Sen. Coburn’s effort is successful in repealing the gun ban, the 600
mile Washington-Rochambeau — which encompasses parts of major thoroughfares
such as I-95 — will become yet another Second Amendment infringement zone
effecting hundreds of thousands of gun owners up and down the East Coast.
CONTACT INFORMATION: You can visit the Gun Owners Legislative Action Center
at http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm to send your Senators the
pre-written e-mail message below. And, you can call your Senators at
202-224-3121 or toll-free at 1-877-762-8762.
—– Pre-written letter —–
Dear Senator,
Senator Tom Coburn is leading the fight against the National Park Service
gun ban.
While the Interior Department recently (after seven years of foot-dragging)
proposed new rules to partially reverse the gun ban, they have not yet taken
effect. If and when they do go into effect, most gun owners would still not
be allowed to possess firearms on these lands because, among other problems
with the rule, open carry would remain prohibited.
Senator Coburn is the sponsor of a bill, S. 2619, to make the gun ban repeal
complete and permanent. I urge you to become a cosponsor of this
legislation.
In addition, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has used unprecedented
procedural maneuvers to silence Dr. Coburn and to keep this bill or a
similar amendment from coming to the floor of the Senate. Please stand with
Sen. Coburn against the strong-arm tactics of Sen. Reid and support the
repeal of the NPS gun ban.
Sincerely,
****************************
Olofson Relief Fund
David Olofson has been subjected to a gross miscarriage of justice.
What happened to Olofson could happen to any American who owns a
semi-automatic firearm.
He was convicted of knowingly transferring an unregistered machine gun
— a standard semi-auto rifle which fired two three-round bursts and
then jammed. Gun owners call that a malfunction. The federal government
calls it an easy way to get a felony conviction. Olofson was sentenced
to 30 months in federal prison.
David Olofson is an information technology professional with a wife,
three children and a mortgage. Until his conviction, he was also in the
National Guard.
The Olofson Relief Fund has been set up to allow concerned Americans to
help the Olfoson’s make their mortgage and (their one) car payments
while Dave is unable to work.
If you decide to contribute to the Olofson Relief Fund, your credit
card will be charged monthly for the amount you have indicated. This
will continue until Olofson is out of prison — or you notify us to
discontinue the charges.
Gun Owners of America is acting as the agent for the fund. All moneys
collected will be transferred regularly to the mortgage and car loan
holders.
To make a monthly contribution, go to:
http://www.gunowners.org/olofson.htm
To read about this case in greater detail, see:
http://www.gunowners.org/op0850.htm
That recall was pretty well publicized. If anyone has a copy of it in an old magazine please contact Gun Owners of America. Similar things have happened over the years with 1911 model pistols when the sear became worn, as well as Marlin Rifles and just about every semi-Auto that has ever been produced.
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