GRNC Alert 04-23-07:
In Wake of VT Shootings - Another Sellout of Rights
Our friends at Gun Owners of America alerted us to this threat to
your rights being mounted upon the graves of the unfortunate victims
of yet another killer facilitated by the Gun Free School Zones. We
include their analysis and is followed by our call to action in the
U. S. Congress.
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Monday, April 23, 2007
The biggest gun battle of the year is about to erupt on Capitol Hill.
Fueled by the recent Virginia Tech shootings, an odd coalition is
forming to help expand the number of honest people who now won't be
able to buy a gun.
The legislation has been introduced by none other than the Queen of
Gun Control herself, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY). But she has picked
up a key ally, as the bill (HR 297) is being pushed by a powerful gun
group in Washington, DC.
On Friday, The Washington Post reported on the strange coalition.
"With the Virginia Tech shootings resurrecting calls for tighter gun
controls," the Post said, "the National Rifle Association has begun
negotiations with senior Democrats over legislation to bolster the
national background-check system."
Rep. John Dingell (D-MI), who was once on the NRA Board of Directors
but resigned when he supported and voted for the Clinton semi-auto
ban in 1994, is reported to be "leading talks with the powerful gun
lobby in hopes of producing a deal ," Democratic aides and
lawmakers told the newspaper.
Rep. McCarthy admitted to the Post that her "crusades" for more gun
control have made her voice "toxic" in gun circles. "So Dingell is
handling negotiations with the NRA," the newspaper reported. "Dingell
is also in talks with Sens. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) and Ted Stevens
(R-Alaska), House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and Rep.
F. James Sensenbrenner (Wis.), the senior Republican on the House
Judiciary Committee."
Despite all this bad news, the Post article does go on to explain
that there are some potential pitfalls.
First, you will remember that this is the bill you helped kill last
year, when an avalanche of postcards was dumped on Congressional
desks by thousands upon thousands of GOA activists. That's why the
Post says there is one huge obstacle -- the members of Gun Owners of
America.
"The NRA must balance its desire to respond to the worst mass
shooting by a lone gunman in the nation's history with its
competition with the more strident Gun Owners of America, which
opposes any restriction on gun purchases," the Post reported.
SO WHAT DOES HR 297 DO?
Well, the rest of this alert will answer this question. This alert is
long, but it is important to read it in its entirety. We need to "arm"
ourselves with the facts so that we can keep pro-gun
Congressmen from being duped into supporting a bill that, as of now,
is being unanimously cosponsored by representatives sporting an "F-"
rating by GOA.
HR 297 provides, in the form of grants, about $1 billion to the
states to send more names to the FBI for inclusion in the National
Instant Criminal Background Check System . If you are thinking,
"Oh, I've never committed a felony, so this bill won't affect me,"
then you had better think again. If this bill becomes law, you and
your adult children will come closer to losing your gun rights than
ever before.
Are you, or is anyone in your family, a veteran who has suffered from
Post Traumatic Stress? If so, then you (and they) can probably kiss
your gun rights goodbye. In 1999, the Department of Veterans
Administration turned over 90,000 names of veterans to the FBI for
inclusion into the NICS background check system. These military
veterans -- who are some of the most honorable citizens in our
society -- can no longer buy a gun. Why? What was their heinous
"crime"?
Their "crime" was suffering from stress-related symptoms that often
follow our decent men and women who have served their country
overseas and fought the enemy in close combat. For all their
patriotism, the Clinton administration deemed them as mentally
"incompetent," sent their names for inclusion in the NICS system, and
they are now prohibited from owning guns under 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(4).
HR 297 would make sure that more of these names are included in the
NICS system.
But, of course, Representatives Dingell and McCarthy tell us that we
need HR 297 to stop future Seung-Hui Chos from getting a gun and to
prevent our nation from seeing another shooting like we had on
Virginia Tech. Oh really?
Then why, after passing all of their gun control, do countries like
Canada and Germany still have school shootings? Even the infamous
schoolyard massacre which occurred in Ireland in 1997 took place in a
country that, at that time, had far more stringent gun controls than
we do.
Where has gun control made people safer? Certainly not in Washington,
DC, nor in Great Britain, nor in any other place that has enacted a
draconian gun ban.
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