But the most important battles are still to come 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 Wednesday, April 8, 2009 Thank you for your activism last week on the budget resolution, especially given the short notice. (Please realize that GOA has no control over when votes are scheduled, so sometimes we have to alert you with little time before the vote takes place!) While the budget resolution for fiscal year 2010 has now passed the Senate and the House in different forms, we were able to secure some significant victories in the Senate. First, with 64 favorable votes, the Senate passed an amendment by Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) to force the federally subsidized Amtrak to allow passengers to carry firearms in checked bags. In addition, the Senate adopted an amendment offered by Senator James DeMint (R-SC) to prohibit any system of nationalized health care which would prevent Americans from being able to select their doctors and insurance companies. This amendment could make it more difficult to institute either socialized medicine or a Massachusetts-style insurance that requires everyone to purchase [government approved?] insurance. This is good news for gun owners. A "mandated" insurance system could not only cost you up to $1,000 month, but could also result in your most sensitive personal information being placed in a medical database -- information that could easily be used to put more names on the gun prohibition list (NICS). The budget resolution now goes to conference committee, where anti-gunners are expected to strip out both of our pro-gun amendments. But these amendments did pin senators down on important issues early in the budget war, which was an important strategic objective. It is unclear when the conference report on the budget resolution will be sent back to the Senate and the House. One possibility is that the resolution will be held in conference until September. The Democrat leadership has ominously threatened to produce a bill that would require mandatory health insurance. They are not talking about this openly, but as a recent editorial in The Washington Post confessed: "Though only some of the players [on Capitol Hill] will say so now, the [health care] plan will ultimately include a mandate requiring everyone to have insurance." (April 6, 2009) You see, the power players on Capitol Hill are not admitting this openly because the American people oppose it. But if they set in motion a process to help sneak such a "mandate" into law, then gun owners will only have a few weeks to stop it in September. This is why we need to keep the pressure on liberty-leaning Senators during the ensuing months. Please stay tuned. **************************** Olofson Update David Olofson continues to languish in prison for a malfunctioning rifle. GOA attorneys made oral arguments before the federal appeals court in Chicago on January 23. They pointed out that the government withheld from the jury that the Supreme Court itself, along with a government training manual, has made it clear that a gun functioning like Olofson's was not a machine gun but simply a malfunctioning gun. If this decision is not overturned, any owner of a semi-automatic firearm could find himself sitting in jail next to David Olofson. Generous individuals have made monthly commitments of $10 a month (or more). This has enabled Candy Olofson to take care of their three kids and keep her job as a nurse without having to get a second job. The Olofson Relief Fund has been making the monthly payments of approximately $1300 combined for the family car and mortgage. Understandably, some have had to stop making their monthly contributions. Can you step up to the plate and take their place? If so, please go to http://gunowners.org/olofson.htm and use your favorite credit card to make an automatic monthly donation of $10 (or more). If you can't commit to a monthly charge, that same page accepts one-time donations... every little bit helps. ****************************
Posts Tagged ‘Gun Control’
Some Victories Last Week During The First Budget Skirmish
April 9, 2009Someone forgot to tell killers that murder is against the law
April 8, 2009More good writing from an Examiner author!
Credit all of the state legislatures around the country that made it a crime to murder people. This has been the situation in this country even before we were a country, so the laws against murder are not new, and could not possibly have been overlooked by killers, no matter who they are.
Read About It: The Examiner
Support for Gun Control Laws at All Time Lows
April 8, 2009Well imagine that? Why could this be? Perhaps because even many democrats don’t trust the imposter in chief and his administration?
In Gallup polling conducted prior to last week’s gun massacre at an immigrant center in Binghamton, N.Y., only 29% of Americans said the possession of handguns by private citizens should be banned in the United States. While similar to the 30% recorded in 2007, the latest reading is the smallest percentage favoring a handgun ban since Gallup first polled on this nearly 50 years ago.
Read About It: Gallup Poll
If He Can Make It Here, He Could Make It Anywhere!
April 8, 2009Okay folks, I don’t know how on earth this slipped past me, but better late then never I suppose, and yes, the NRA should have proof read this before posting it. SOURCE
| Friday, April 03, 2009 |
| For those of you who don’t closely follow local politics in Manhattan, Richard Aborn, former president of then-Handgun Control, Inc. (now Brady Center) is running for Manhattan DA, and he has secured some endorsements for his race based in large part on his support for gun control.
Former New York City Police Department and current Los Angeles police commissioner Bill Bratton blessed Aborn’s race, noting their working relationship on, among other items, the Brady bill. Bratton also cited Aborn’s work with Mayor Bloomberg on “meaningful gun control and regulation.” Aborn was also endorsed by NY Assemblyman Danny O’Donnell, brother of the well-known, shrill, anti-gun crusader, Rosie O’Donnell. Danny O’Donnell cited the following in issuing his endorsement:
Someone needs to educate Assemblyman O’Donnell that “protecting civil liberties” while whittling away the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans are mutually exclusive. And finally, from Aborn’s own campaign site, he lists these bona fides: GUN CONTROL LEADER
Enough said. |
Senator Kerry–Border Security “No”, Gun Control “Yes”
April 4, 2009Well just what can you really expect from someone that put himself in for medals, then threw them away, but the medals were actually someone else’s, and also negotiated with enemy government representatives while still serving as a reserve officer in the United States Navy? John Kerry deserves to be tarred and feathered, then hung until dead, period. Not a United States Senator that is still determined to undermine and destroy the Constitution if not the United States of America. He has been in league with the international felon George Soros to that end, and now this?
With escalating drug-related violence continuing unabated in Mexico, anti-gun elected officials in Washington continue to let no tragedy go unexploited.
The latest to add his voice to the anti-gun chorus should come as a surprise to no one, as Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) has a long voting record in support of gun control.
This week, Kerry called sending National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexican border “premature and possibly counterproductive.” But Kerry had no qualms in supporting additional restrictions on law-abiding American gun owners. (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/03/30/kerry-mexico-failed-state/)
For a fleeting moment Kerry sounded a hopeful tone in his remarks in El Paso when he noted the need to “work harder to enforce existing gun laws against exporting weapons across international borders.” However, Kerry reverted to his usual anti-gun talking points as he called for a ban on imported “assault rifles” (presumably he meant semi-auto “assault weapons”) into the U.S.—a ban that has existed since 1989.
Senator Kerry is either confused about what an “assault rifle” is, is ignorant of the parameters of the existing import ban, or more likely, simply wants to expand his gun control crusade. In either case, and as noted earlier, none of this should come as a surprise from a failed presidential candidate who tried to camouflage his decades long voting record against the Second Amendment by trying to reinvent himself as a “sportsman.” Senator Kerry’s plan to stop the international trafficking of firearms into Mexico by banning legal importation of firearms into the United States simply defies logic and common sense.
American gun owners should be outraged when a sitting U.S. Senator dismisses tightening up our nation’s border security as “possibly counterproductive”, but has no qualms about passing additional restrictions that will be avoided and evaded by criminals.
25% is 90% The new math..?
April 4, 2009Seems like Ms. Pelosi et all are still at it, and still can’t get the facts correct even with help from rogue agencies.
As we continue to report, Congress has jumped into the topic of Mexican border violence with both feet, having held 10 different Subcommittee and Full Committee hearings on the topic, with more coming. It has also become clear that anti-gun politicians and groups are intent on using this issue to advance new gun laws.
In the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Drugs and Crime, Sen. Dianne Feinstein renewed her attacks on gun owners’ rights. During her remarks, she stated that there are over 2,000 guns smuggled into Mexico from the U.S. each day. But when she tried to elicit support for that number from a representative from the BATFE, he responded that the number was much lower. Senator Feinstein was clearly unhappy that he would not endorse her anti-gun sound bite.
Feinstein also repeated the claim that 90% of seized guns are from American sources (please see related story below). In fact, it is unknown where most of the arms possessed by the cartels originate. According to the BATFE 90% of the firearms traced are from American sources, but BATFE only traces 25% of the guns seized by Mexican authorities. The remaining 75% of guns seized along with all the firearms remaining in the hands of the cartels are of unknown origin. The fact that only 25% of the guns seized are traced raises a significant question: Why has the Mexican government not requested traces on the remaining 75%? Could it be because those guns are far less likely to have originated in America? Could it be that the Mexican authorities do not want it known where these guns come from? Could it be that it benefits the Mexican government to continue to blame U.S. gun laws to divert attention away from the rampant corruption of local governments and police forces? Could it be all of the above?
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has also entered the debate, traveling to Mexico and taking the opportunity to blame American gun laws. She called for a renewal of the semi-auto ban, and even trumpeted the ban’s illusory impact: “And there’s no doubt in my mind that the 10 years we had an assault weapons ban in America was one of the tools that helped to drive down the crime rate.”
Perhaps if Clinton had read the congressionally mandated study performed by the Urban Institute (http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/aw_final.pdf) she would know it showed that the ban couldn’t possibly have had much impact on crime because “the banned guns were never used in more than a modest fraction of all gun murders” before the ban.
In another development that will not please the gun ban crowd, the leader of the Border Patrol Union, T.J. Bonner, said he was “underwhelmed” by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano’s plans to secure the border and went on to debunk the idea that Mexican violence is caused by American guns: “The U.S. has more weapons but we don’t have that kind of violence in our streets,” he said.
American gun owners know that that the real solution to the border violence is to actually secure the border. Shifting the focus to gun laws is nothing more than a calculated attack on our Second Amendment rights.
For more information on the hearings, please go to www.nraila.org.
Greater Gun Rights Battles Looming
April 3, 2009Gun 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 Wednesday, April 1, 2009 In March, both the U.S. House and Senate finished up work on a massive, anti-gun $10 billion omnibus federal land bill. The bill had been held up for over a year in large part due to GOA members fighting for Second Amendment rights on federal land -- YOUR land. The Second Amendment has been null and void for many years on all land controlled by the National Park Service (NPS). While regulations promulgated in the waning days of the Bush administration partially reversed that gun ban, a federal judge recently blocked those rules from taking effect. GOA worked closely with pro-gun members of the House and Senate to add a complete repeal of the NPS gun prohibition to the larger land bill. While these efforts delayed passage of the bill, in the end the anti-gun congressional leadership teamed up with "pro-gun" compromisers and passed the measure without protecting the Second Amendment. In an effort to appease gun owners, language was added to the bill to protect hunting and fishing. But, as GOA pointed out to the Congress, the Founding Fathers did not pledge their lives, fortunes and sacred honor to protect a recreational pastime. The final attempt to protect the Second Amendment from NPS bureaucrats came on a procedural vote in the House that would have made in order an amendment, sponsored by pro-gun Reps. Doc Hastings (R-WA) and Rob Bishop (R-UT), to repeal the gun ban. That motion failed by a vote of 242-180. So now not only does the gun ban remain in place, the new bill greatly expands the total amount of NPS land. Since NPS-controlled parks and trails also include many busy roadways, hundreds of thousands of gun owners can unwittingly find themselves in violation of the gun ban without even knowing they are on federal land. Representatives Hastings and Bishop, along with Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA), have vowed to continue their efforts to wipe this unconstitutional gun ban from the books. In the Senate, Tom Coburn (R-OK) is also pushing for the repeal of the anti-gun NPS regulations. Gun Owners of America would like to thank the thousands upon thousands of email subscribers who repeatedly contacted their congressmen in this battle to protect the Second Amendment. We were sold out by compromisers this time, but we will "remember in November" those who voted against the Second Amendment. Please help spread the word so we can get even more people contacting their elected officials. As the late Senator Everett Dirksen said, "When I feel the heat, I see the light." And do we ever need to turn up the heat! Many important battles for your Second Amendment rights lay before us. For instance, Barack Obama and his anti-gun cronies are making a massive push to renew the Clinton semi-auto ban. The President and his Attorney General, Eric Holder, are blaming the current violence among Mexican drug cartels on firearms from the United States. This is another blatant attempt by anti-gun advocates to use whatever situation they can find to further erode your Second Amendment rights. The problems of corruption and violence in Mexico should not be used as an excuse to curtail your right to keep and bear arms. But once again law-abiding American gun owners are in danger of being punished for the criminal actions of others. The Clinton gun ban is just one of the attacks that you and GOA will be fighting. There is also a massive anti-gun bill in Congress, H.R. 45, that includes universal gun owner licensing and registration, and the Obama White House continues its efforts to ban private firearms transactions at gun shows. You can help us reach out to even more gun owners. Please forward this message to your friends and encourage them to sign up for the GOA email alerts. And if you haven't already become a member of GOA, consider joining. For a small amount of money such as $35, $50 or $100, you can join with other Americans to save our Constitutional rights. Visit www.gunowners.org to join GOA today. Thank you again for being part of the GOA team working to protect American liberty.
The Myth of 90 Percent: Only a Small Fraction of Guns in Mexico Come From U.S.
April 3, 2009
EXCLUSIVE: You’ve heard this shocking “fact” before — on TV and radio, in newspapers, on the Internet and from the highest politicians in the land: 90 percent of the weapons used to commit crimes in Mexico come from the United States.
– Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it to reporters on a flight to Mexico City.
– CBS newsman Bob Schieffer referred to it while interviewing President Obama.
– California Sen. Dianne Feinstein said at a Senate hearing: “It is unacceptable to have 90 percent of the guns that are picked up in Mexico and used to shoot judges, police officers and mayors … come from the United States.”
– William Hoover, assistant director for field operations at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, testified in the House of Representatives that “there is more than enough evidence to indicate that over 90 percent of the firearms that have either been recovered in, or interdicted in transport to Mexico, originated from various sources within the United States.”
There’s just one problem with the 90 percent “statistic” and it’s a big one:
It’s just not true.
In fact, it’s not even close. By all accounts, it’s probably around 17 percent.
What’s true, an ATF spokeswoman told FOXNews.com, in a clarification of the statistic used by her own agency’s assistant director, “is that over 90 percent of the traced firearms originate from the U.S.”
Full Story Here:
The Myth of 90 Percent: Only a Small Fraction of G
Well, well, well! The BATF is lying concerning the numbers. Eric Holder and Company are liars too, using skewed figures in their desire to reinstate the AWB and take guns from the hands of lawful, sane and responsible gun owners. Who’d a thunk it.
I have said it, nearly all gun bloggers have said it, the drug lords in Mexico are NOT going to get their guns and explosive ordinance from the USA when they can buy it, unhindered, on the world market and through black market sources in Central and South America.
This is vindication of the American gun owner. Now we need to watch very closely and see if any other MSM news sources pick up on this, and watch the Attorney General himself. This could set that unstable asshat of on a campaign of vindication, with American gun owners as HIS target.
Thanks to FOXNews and their reporters for this, great work folks, and much needed as well!
DEFEND YOUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS:
March 26, 2009From the Second Amendment March News;
URGENT! Anti-gun Chicago talk show host Milt Rosenberg will be hosting a radio debate on the REPEAL of the 2nd Amendment to our Constitution on superstation WGN Radio.
WGN has a huge market and can be heard on air in many states and around the world streaming live on the internet….this is not just an Illinois issue. (Note that if you cannot click on the link directly, copy and paste the entire link into your browser’s address bar.)
http://www.wgnradio.com/index.php?option=com_google_maps&Itemid=123
The following is taken from an urgent email just issued by the Illinois State Rifle Association. This is a TRIAL BALLOON people. Don’t forget where Obama came from….Chicago. If you care at all about freedom then you recognize that an on air debate about abolishing the 2nd Amendment is the shot across the bow. Read and respond:
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Defending our Constitution will be Bob Levy, Chairman of the Cato Institute.
The debater who will be attacking our Constitution has not been named as of yet.
HERE IS WHAT YOU MUST DO TO DEFEND YOUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS:
1. Mark your calendar to listen to WGN Radio, AM 720, on Thursday, March 26, 2009 beginning at 9 PM. If you cannot receive WGN in your area, you can listen to the program live on the Internet at http://www.wgnradio.com
2. No matter where you live, please be sure to call the radio station’s call in line at (312) 591-7200 and ask to speak your opinion on what has been said. It would be best if you voice support for the 2nd Amendment and Mr. Levy’s statements rather than personally attacking whoever the anti gunner is.
3. Please pass this alert on to all your gun-owning, freedom-loving friends, your gun club, and anyone else you know who would be interested in calling in to the radio show to defend our Constitution.
4. Please post this alert to any and all Internet bulletin boards or blogs to which you subscribe.
It is important that you call the radio station and continue to call until you get through to speak. The more pro-gun callers we get, the better. Don’t let the anti gunners use this forum as a vehicle for trampling on our Constitution!
Let’s do what we can to generate a nation-wide response to this latest attack on our rights!
Judge Blocks Rule Permitting Concealed Guns In U.S. Parks
March 20, 2009The usual suspects are back at it using the courts to thwart the liberty of others as well as undermine the ability of decent people to defend themselves and others. The national Parks, like our schools and colleges, are free fire zones for criminals. But, the Brady Bunch would prefer for you to be bitten by bears or sodomized by social misfits rather than be capable of properly and effectively defending yourself, your family, and other innocent people.
A federal judge yesterday blocked a last-minute rule enacted by President George W. Bush allowing visitors to national parks to carry concealed weapons.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly issued a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit brought by gun-control advocates and environmental groups. The Justice Department had sought to block the injunction against the controversial rule.
The three groups that brought the suit — the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, the National Parks Conservation Association and the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees — argued that the Bush action violated several laws.
In her ruling, Kollar-Kotelly agreed that the government’s process had been “astoundingly flawed.”
Conservative Libertarian Outpost 