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Victory in the House!

-- But the land bill battle will continue

 

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, March 11, 2009

 

 

Thanks to you, a bill expanding gun control on federal land was narrowly

defeated Wednesday morning, March 11.

 

The Omnibus Public Lands Act of 2009, S. 22, would have drastically

increased the amount of land controlled by the National Park Service,

thus subjecting such land to the anti-gun regulations of the agency.

 

The bill was brought to the floor of the U.S. House on what is known as

the "suspension calendar." This calendar is normally reserved for

non-controversial bills. As such, any bill being passed under the

suspension calendar requires a two-thirds majority of those voting.

 

In this case, the pro-gun position prevailed by a mere two votes --

meaning S. 22 is far from being non-controversial.

 

Although suspension bills are not normally amended, one change was

allowed in a secret backroom deal between a few members.

 

The amendment, offered by Rep. Jason Altmire (D-PA), was intended to

alleviate the concerns of gun owners.

 

The Altmire amendment sought to protect hunting and recreational

shooting on federal land, but those steps are completely inadequate to

address the concerns of millions of gun owners.

 

The Second Amendment protects, as the Supreme Court affirmed in D.C. v.

Heller, an individual right to keep and bear arms. That right was never

intended to protect only the shooting sports.

 

Under current regulations, firearms possessed for the sole purpose of

self-defense on land controlled by the National Park Service is

prohibited unless the person holds a concealed carry permit.

 

While millions of law-biding Americans hold CCW permits, many more do

not. It is these citizens' rights that are going unprotected.

 

NPS land covers the gamut from busy thoroughfares to remote wilderness

areas. These gun free zones are dangerous, in addition to creating a

patchwork of inconsistent regulations between federal and state land.

 

Although we won today, unfortunately the battle is not over.

 

The anti-gun leadership will attempt to bring this bill back to the

floor in a way that requires a simple majority, rather than the

two-thirds vote they needed Wednesday.

 

Several pro-gun congressmen will try to offer an amendment in committee

to simply allow state and local law to govern firearms possession on NPS

land. This type of amendment would put more control at the local level

and protect the gun rights of all law-abiding Americans.

 

What is expected is that the leadership will propose a new "rule" that

blocks any such pro-gun amendments.

 

If that happens, the vote on the rule becomes the gun vote.

 

House leaders have not indicated when they will attempt to bring the

bill back to the floor, but it could come up at any time.

 

Therefore, your Representative needs to hear from you once again, for

two reasons. First, the entire House needs to be urged to reject any

parliamentary trick that excludes language to protect Second Amendment

rights on federal land. Next, those who voted against your rights need

to know of your dissatisfaction, while those who stood up for your

rights should be thanked.

 

ACTION: Please use the Gun Owners Legislative Action Center at

http://gunowners.org/activism.htm to send your Rep. a pre-written

letter. Note: the LAC will automatically load the correct text for

individual Representatives, based upon their vote Wednesday. Because

the list has to be divided in this way, the pre-written letters are not

editable by the sender.

 

 

----- Pre-written letter for those who voted pro-gun -----

 

Dear Representative:

 

Thank you for standing up for the Second Amendment by voting against S.

22, the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009.

 

This bill would greatly expand land controlled by the National Park

Service, and thus spread the agency's gun restrictions to even more

areas. The NPS gun ban should be repealed, not expanded.

 

Although the pro-gun side won today, the battle is not over. The

anti-gun leadership will try to bring the bill to the floor again, this

time with a rule intended to exclude a pro-gun amendment to repeal the

NPS anti-gun regulations.

 

If that is the case, I urge you to once again stand up for the Second

Amendment and vote against the rule.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

----- Pre-written letter for those who voted anti-gun -----

 

Dear Representative,

 

I am extremely disappointed that you did not stand up for the Second

Amendment on the issue of S. 22, the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act

of 2009.

 

This bill would greatly expand land controlled by the National Park

Service, and thus spread the agency's gun restrictions to even more

areas. The NPS gun ban should be repealed, not expanded.

 

Although the pro-gun side won today, the battle is not over. The

anti-gun leadership will try to bring the bill to the floor again, this

time with a rule intended to exclude a pro-gun amendment to repeal the

NPS anti-gun regulations.

 

If that is the case, I urge you to protect the Second Amendment rights

of law-abiding Americans and vote against the rule.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

****************************

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Thanks for the post.

I went to site that you provided the link for and sent the message, not that it will do any good, because the lefties from Virginia will always vote against guns. But it does feel good to let the pricks know how I feel.

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I emailed my Rep, she's pretty good about stuff like this.

 

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congres...se/1/votes/117/

 

In WA

(Typical douche bags)

Yeas - Brian Baird, Norman Dicks, Jay Inslee, Rick Larsen, Jim McDermott, David Reichert, Adam Smith

 

Neas

Doc Hastings, Cathy McMorris Rodgers <-- That's my Rep

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