“It’s people like [Erich] Pratt who could derail even modest efforts to bring a modicum of sanity to the nation’s gun laws,” said The Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart on January 16, 2013.
And then there were the insults that CNN’s Piers Morgan threw at GOA Executive Director Larry Pratt when Morgan ran out of arguments — even calling him an “idiot” and “incredibly stupid.”
The Left is scared that their hopes for greater gun control may fall short. They are scared that history is going to repeat itself.
Remember the battle in 2004 when we fought the renewal of Feinstein’s semi-auto ban? The media mourned that:
“GOA’s lobbying probably torpedoed the best chance for [renewing the semi-auto ban] this year.” (National Journal, July 17, 2004).
It’s been almost ten years since we won that battle. And it’s been even longer since GOA stood alone after the Columbine tragedy — drawing a line in the sand — and told Congress that gun owners would accept NOT ONE WORD of gun control.
Now, here we are in 2013 — and the anti-gunners are hysterical. They are worried that their attempts to get stricter gun laws this year are about to slip through their fingers.
For us, this is all good news. But let us make this perfectly clear: THE BATTLE IS NOT WON YET.
And we have to continue to pound, pound, pound — just as we have done over the past two months.
That said, there are good signs around Capitol Hill that your activism is producing tremendous results:
* Anti-gun radicals have all but given up on their ability to pass Feinstein’s semi-automatic ban and magazine ban. Instead, they are focusing on their universal gun registry and a trafficking/licensure bill.
* If we can just get 117 Republicans in the House to sign the Stockman-Broun letter insisting that no gun control be brought up in the House without the support of 117 Republicans, it will be difficult for House Speaker John Boehner to bring up any gun control in the House.
* The handful of House liberal anti-gun Republicans seem to be holding firm in opposition to the universal gun registry. Philadelphia suburban Congressman Meehan -– one of the Left’s two key targets -– yesterday flatly resisted MSNBC’s call for him to endorse the registry.
* Unlike the gun control fight after Columbine -– which we won, with great difficulty -– the pro-gun movement is united. MSNBC’s Joy Reid lamented on January 25 that NRA had become hard-core in order to “compete with extremist [sic] groups like Gun Owners of America.”
* As predicted, the mainline media has shifted, just a little bit, from gun grabbing to job-destruction and amnesty.
So keep up the good work. Your efforts have taken us a long way toward victory. But we are not there yet. We want to thank you for standing with us and for keeping the pressure on!
In Liberty,
Larry Pratt
Conservative Libertarian Outpost 