As Lands Bill Fight Ends

[phagar 1]

As Lands Bill Fight Ends

-- Greater battles over gun rights loom

 

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, April 1, 2009

 

 

In March, both the U.S. House and Senate finished up work on a massive,

anti-gun $10 billion omnibus federal land bill.

 

The bill had been held up for over a year in large part due to GOA

members fighting for Second Amendment rights on federal land -- YOUR

land.

 

The Second Amendment has been null and void for many years on all land

controlled by the National Park Service (NPS). While regulations

promulgated in the waning days of the Bush administration partially

reversed that gun ban, a federal judge recently blocked those rules from

taking effect.

 

GOA worked closely with pro-gun members of the House and Senate to add a

complete repeal of the NPS gun prohibition to the larger land bill.

While these efforts delayed passage of the bill, in the end the anti-gun

congressional leadership teamed up with "pro-gun" compromisers and

passed the measure without protecting the Second Amendment.

 

In an effort to appease gun owners, language was added to the bill to

protect hunting and fishing. But, as GOA pointed out to the Congress,

the Founding Fathers did not pledge their lives, fortunes and sacred

honor to protect a recreational pastime.

 

The final attempt to protect the Second Amendment from NPS bureaucrats

came on a procedural vote in the House that would have made in order an

amendment, sponsored by pro-gun Reps. Doc Hastings (R-WA) and Rob Bishop

(R-UT), to repeal the gun ban. That motion failed by a vote of 242-180.

 

So now not only does the gun ban remain in place, the new bill greatly

expands the total amount of NPS land. Since NPS-controlled parks and

trails also include many busy roadways, hundreds of thousands of gun

owners can unwittingly find themselves in violation of the gun ban

without even knowing they are on federal land.

 

Representatives Hastings and Bishop, along with Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA),

have vowed to continue their efforts to wipe this unconstitutional gun

ban from the books. In the Senate, Tom Coburn (R-OK) is also pushing

for the repeal of the anti-gun NPS regulations.

 

Gun Owners of America would like to thank the thousands upon thousands

of email subscribers who repeatedly contacted their congressmen in this

battle to protect the Second Amendment. We were sold out by

compromisers this time, but we will "remember in November" those who

voted against the Second Amendment.

 

Please help spread the word so we can get even more people contacting

their elected officials. As the late Senator Everett Dirksen said,

"When I feel the heat, I see the light."

 

And do we ever need to turn up the heat!

 

Many important battles for your Second Amendment rights lay before us.

For instance, Barack Obama and his anti-gun cronies are making a massive

push to renew the Clinton semi-auto ban.

 

The President and his Attorney General, Eric Holder, are blaming the

current violence among Mexican drug cartels on firearms from the United

States. This is another blatant attempt by anti-gun advocates to use

whatever situation they can find to further erode your Second Amendment

rights.

 

The problems of corruption and violence in Mexico should not be used as

an excuse to curtail your right to keep and bear arms. But once again

law-abiding American gun owners are in danger of being punished for the

criminal actions of others.

 

The Clinton gun ban is just one of the attacks that you and GOA will be

fighting.

 

There is also a massive anti-gun bill in Congress, H.R. 45, that

includes universal gun owner licensing and registration, and the Obama

White House continues its efforts to ban private firearms transactions

at gun shows.

 

You can help us reach out to even more gun owners. Please forward this

message to your friends and encourage them to sign up for the GOA email

alerts.