Open letter to the pro-gun community

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by melbo, Oct 4, 2007.


  1. melbo

    melbo Hunter Gatherer Administrator Founding Member

    An Open Letter To The Pro-gun Community

    Gun Owners of America
    8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
    Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
    http://www.gunowners.org

    Thursday, October 4, 2007


    It may be a cliche, but it is true: This letter is written not in
    anger, but in sorrow and concern. It is written to our friends about
    NRA staff who, tragically, have taken a course which, we believe,
    would be disastrous for the Second Amendment and the pro-gun
    movement.

    Two of us are Life Members of the NRA -- one of whom was an NRA board
    member for over ten years. And our legislative counsel was a paid
    consultant for the NRA.

    So we certainly have no animus against the NRA staff, much less our
    wonderful friends who are NRA members.

    In fact, over the last thirty years, GOA and its staff have worked
    with NRA to facilitate most of our pro-gun victories -- from
    McClure-Volkmer to the death of post-Columbine gun control to a gun
    liability bill free of anti-gun "killer amendments."

    But those who staff the NRA, without consulting the membership, have
    now made a series of strange and dangerous alliances with the likes
    of Chuck Schumer, Carolyn McCarthy, and Pat Leahy. And we believe
    that, if allowed to continue, this will produce anti-gun policies
    which the NRA staff will bitterly regret.

    Christ said, in the Sermon on the Mount, that "by their fruits, ye
    shall know them." And, frankly, these fruits are not likely to
    produce much pro-gun legislation.

    Substantively, the Leahy/McCarthy/Schumer bill, which NRA's staff has
    vigorously supported without consulting with its membership, would
    rubber-stamp the illegal and non-statutory BATFE regulations which
    have already been used to strip gun rights from 110,000 veterans. It
    would also allow an anti-gun administration to turn over Americans'
    most private medical records to the federal instant check system
    without a court order.

    But perhaps even worse, the bill was hatched in secret, without
    hearings or testimony, and passed out of the House without even a
    roll call. And now, the sponsors are trying to do the same thing in
    the Senate -- in an effort to ram the bill through without votes or
    floor debate, led by anti-gun Senator Chuck Schumer. If it is good
    legislation, as its proponents claim, why such fears of a roll call
    vote or debate in committee?

    Indeed, in the face of horrific dissent from the NRA's own
    membership, its staff has tragically ignored arguments and dug in its
    heels -- in an almost "because-we-say-so" attitude.

    Understand this:

    * Passage of McCarthy/Leahy/Schumer will not quell the calls for gun
    control. To the contrary, it will embolden our enemies to push for
    the abolition of even more of our Second Amendment rights. Already,
    the Brady Campaign has indicated its intent to follow up this
    "victory" with a push for an effective ban on gun shows.

    * Passage of McCarthy/Leahy/Schumer will not be viewed as an "NRA
    victory." To the contrary, once the liberal media has used the NRA
    staff for its purposes, it will throw them away like a used Kleenex.
    Already, an over-confident press is crowing that this is the "first
    major gun control measure in over a decade."

    * Taking the BATFE's horrifically expansive unlawful regulations
    dealing with veterans' loss of gun rights and making them
    unchangeable congressionally-endorsed statutory law is NOT
    "maintaining the status quo."

    * We are told that the McCarthy/Leahy/Schumer bill should be passed
    because it contains special provisions to allow persons prohibited
    from owning guns to get their rights restored. But there is already
    such a provision in the law; it is 18 U.S.C. 925(c). And the reason
    why no one has been able to get their rights restored under CURRENT
    LAW is that funds for the system have been blocked by Chuck Schumer.
    It is no favor to gun owners for Chuck Schumer -- the man who has
    blocked funding for McClure-Volkmer's "relief from disability"
    provisions for 15 years -- to now offer to give us back a tepid
    version of the provisions of current law which he has tried so hard
    to destroy.

    Finally, there is the cost, which ranges from $1 billion in the
    cheapest draft to $5 billion -- to one bill which places no limits
    whatsoever on spending. Thus, we would be drastically increasing
    funding for gun control -- at a time when BATFE, which has done so
    much damage to the Second Amendment, should be punished, rather than
    rewarded.

    We would now respectfully ask the NRA staff to step back from a
    battle with its membership -- and to join with us in opposing
    McCarthy/Leahy/Schumer gun control, rather than supporting it.

    And, to our friends and NRA members, we would ask that you take this
    letter and pass it on to your friends and colleagues.

    Sincerely,


    Senator H.L. "Bill" Richardson (ret.)
    Founder and Chairman

    Larry Pratt
    Executive Director

    Michael E. Hammond
    Legislative Counsel
     
  2. monkeyman

    monkeyman Monkey+++ Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    Business as usual at the NRA, jump in bed with the enemy in hopes they can get a kiss while we get screwed.
     
  3. jim2

    jim2 Monkey+++

    I wonder how this is tied in with the election to the board of the likes of Joaquin Jackson. This traitor to Texas thinks no one outside of officialdom "needs" more than a five shot firearm. Sorry dogs!

    jim
     
  4. Tango3

    Tango3 Aimless wanderer

    Perhaps the nra board should be informed Schumer and Mccarthy are the enemy and are not on the side of responsible gun owners. ( like maybe a mass exodus of members and their funds.).
     
  5. monkeyman

    monkeyman Monkey+++ Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    Thats why I like the Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership. Founded by the folks who remember when Hitler pulled the same crap and know better than to let it happen again, a little at a time OR all at once and kow its to important to barter away for profit.
     
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