July 26, 2005 -- There is trouble afoot in Washington, D.C...

As you know, if you've been getting our alerts for anytime, last year the US Senate introduced a bill that would protect gun makers and sellers from meritless lawsuits. As you also know, the bill turned into an anti-gun nightmare that had to be stopped.

In fact, last year's bill would have been America's worst gun control package EVER.

Along with our friends from pro-gun groups across the country, and with your tireless efforts, we were able to kill it.

Until the very last minute, the NRA supported the bill and promised that, in spite of the terrible anti-gun amendments added to it, they were confident that it could be "cleaned up" when it was sent to the House.

At the time we warned you that it would be a fatal strategy to accept passage of the gun makers protection law if it included anti-gun language.

We felt that was a dangerous approach that had failed many times in the past. In the end, because of your input, the NRA backed off this dangerous policy and agreed that the bill had to be killed, but not before they and others ridiculed our position. In effect, we made the NRA reluctantly pull the plug on their out-of-control Frankenstein.

Well, it may be deja-vu all over again.

Another bill (S. 397) to protect gun makers is due to be dealt with in the Senate TOMORROW, and sources on Capitol Hill have informed us that the NRA is prepared to accept anti-gun amendments in the Senate in hopes of having them stripped out in the House, in spite of recent NRA alerts opposing anti-gun amendments.

This has been confirmed by Senator Larry Craig, the sponsor of S. 397 and an NRA board member. According to Jeff Knox's (son of the late Neal Knox) Hard Corps Report:

You can find this whole alert by clicking here.

In other words, the NRA's plan is to charge ahead, despite the very real possibility that this bill will be full of anti-gun amendments, including bans on .50 caliber firearms, a renewed and ever expansive Assault Weapons Ban, and many, many others.

For more on this please see a recent GOA alert by clicking here.

What you can do: Urge Senator Bill Frist to do whatever it takes to keep anti-gun amendments off of the gun makers' protection act. Ask him to use ANY and ALL of the parliamentary maneuvers that he has at his disposal to keep anti-gun zealots from attaching amendments to S. 397.

You can call Senator Frist at (202) 224-3344, or click here for e-mail contact.   Then paste in the sample language below.

Then send a message to our two US Senators, Wayne Allard and Ken Salazar. Tell to them oppose S. 397 if it has gun control attached to the bill.

For Allard, copy the sample letter below and paste into this contact website for Wayne Allard (click here).

For Salazar, copy the sample letter below and paste into this contact website for Ken Salazar (click here).

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Dear Senator Frist:
I have been informed that anti-gun militants intend to offer gun control amendments to the gun makers' protection act, S. 397. I want you to know that the minimal gains this legislation will give us should NOT be accepted in exchange for any additional gun control.

I have no confidence that gun control language will be taken out of the bill in a conference committee. Those are the same kinds of failed promises that I have heard in years past when we got stuck with the Clinton-Feinstein semi-auto ban in 1994 and the McCain-Feingold free speech restrictions in 2002.

Instead, I would encourage you to use the SAME SUCCESSFUL STRATEGY that you used last year to keep gun control off of the class action lawsuit bill. I would urge you to use any and all parliamentary tools at your disposal to prevent this amendment from being offered to the gun makers' protection act.

Sincerely,



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Dear Senator Allard/Salazar:

Though we'd like to protect firearms manufacturers from frivolous lawsuits, it is entirely possible that this legislation is laden down with gun control, much like the same bills offered in 2004.

If there is one gun control amendment added, I urge you to kill this legislation. It is too dangerous to expect a conference committee to remove these objectionable items. The strategy of relying on a conference committee to remove unconstitutional amendments has been disastrous.

Sincerely,


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Once again, we cannot allow this well intentioned bill to become a vehicle for the militant anti-gun forces.

Stay tuned.
 

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