Take a deep breath! You’re in for a wild ride.
“‘Immigration reform will add over 8,000,000 anti-gun voters to the voting rolls,’ Gun Owners of America warned its members and supporters in a January 24 alert.” — The Examiner, January 29, 2014
For months, as you know, GOA has been battling against the anti-gun immigration amnesty bill, which would add 8,000,000 anti-gun voters to the voting rolls.
The political left has attacked Gun Owners of America for rallying gun owners to oppose the anti-gun amnesty legislation. One liberal website even (mockingly) characterized our view as saying that “immigrants must suffer because of their supposed political views.”
Of course, that’s not what we’re saying, but then again, we wouldn’t expect anti-gun liberals to understand.
There were even some conservatives who had misgivings. For example, one pro-gun author confessed that he initially “harbored some doubts” about GOA’s position and even argued that immigration overhaul could actually help gun ownership in the U.S.
But after reading our alerts, he admitted that such a rosy scenario was “probably very wishful thinking” on his part, especially considering the 2013 “Pew poll indicating an electoral bonanza for Democrats — and therefore for ‘gun control’ — should illegal aliens gain the right to vote.”
GOA is very thankful for thoughtful journalists like the one above who took the time to really research the issue — and grateful for many gun owners like yourself who have taken action on our alerts.
The result has been an intense outpouring of “political heat” on politicians in Washington (especially Republicans).
A couple of weeks ago, GOA asked you to contact your Republican Congressman, prior to their retreat, to let them know that their grassroots base (that is, gun owners) do not support anything that resembles amnesty. Other groups have joined the chorus as well.
Since then, media reports indicated that the phones rang off the hook on Capitol Hill — especially in Speaker Boehner’s office.
All of this culminated in newspaper headlines around the country reporting, on Friday, that the anti-gun amnesty bill was dead and we had won:
* “Hope dims for immigration bill,” trumpeted USA Today.
* “Boehner Doubts Immigration Bill Will Pass in 2014,” said the New York Times.
* “Immigration Overhaul Stalls,” said the front-page headline of the Wall Street Journal.
For us to have reached this point was an enormous victory for your activism. And GOA is grateful for all you who made calls and helped tie up the phone lines on Capitol Hill opposing this bill.
But the battle is clearly not over, for buried deep in the articles was a more nuanced story. The Journal said that a pro-immigration leader “was told by congressional aides to ‘take a deep breath’ and that ‘the wheels continue to turn.'”
Thus, there is still some degree of danger that Speaker John Boehner could push the anti-gun bill after primary filing season had closed — perhaps in May, June or July.
This would not be the first time that we have seen defeat snatched from the jaws of victory. In fact, you might remember our most recent alert over the weekend which explained how a Senate committee ambushed pro-gun Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) in an attempt to defeat his language repealing the Post Office gun ban.
[GOA has posted an update here which further explains how players behind the scenes — like Senator Mark Begich (D-AK) — worked overtime to ambush Rand Paul and sack his pro-gun agenda.]
So one might wonder: Is this battle over anti-gun amnesty just another political ambush, similar to the one gun owners saw play out in the battle to repeal the post office gun ban?
Well, consider the multiple levels of perfidy that are at play.
Fast Track to Gun Control?
Many of the same business interests that support immigration — for short-term “balance sheet” motives — also support a bill to allow Barack Obama to write virtually any multilateral trade treaties he wants — with little or no ability to stop them when we “find out what’s in them.”
The bill is called “fast track.” The way it would work is that Obama could negotiate treaties, and, once they were negotiated, they would have to be considered under the Senate rules … they could not be filibustered … they would be approved by a simple majority … and they would be unamendable.
Obviously, if the Obama treaties contained provisions limiting the import and export of guns, we would not have the votes to do anything about it, if “fast track” were in place.
Why is this relevant?
MSNBC and the New York Times have floated a “deal” to pass the anti-gun immigration bill. Obama would “give” Republicans “fast track” — because many in the GOP business interests support “fast track” and many Democrats oppose it. In exchange, Republicans would “give” Obama immigration amnesty.
Obviously, some Washington-centered business interests would view this as a win-win.
For gun owners, it would be a lose-lose. There would be 8,000,000 new anti-gun voters, and California-style gun control would be inevitable. On the other hand, newly drafted Obama anti-gun treaties, which could resemble the UN Arms Trade Treaty, would be almost impossible to stop.
Think Obama is so honorable that he would not use treaties to ban guns? Does anyone think that?
ACTION: For now, let’s receive our apparent victory graciously — knowing that we’re going to have to be continually vigilant to make sure the amnesty bill doesn’t raise its ugly head again. So urge your Representatives to remain firm in opposing anti-gun amnesty for the rest of this congressional session. So Take Action and urge your Representatives to remain firm in opposing anti-gun amnesty for the rest of this congressional session.
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