Reply from Harry Reid

Sounds like encouraging news to me.

kind of makes it tough to not stand with him......hes so liberal on some isues but says hes conservative on this one, a very important one only second to the freedom of speach....

2nd amendment rights shouldn't be a conservative or liberal issue, but here we are...

Anyway, a better response from Reid then what many in Florida got from Rubio. However, I have little trust in Reid, and Feinstein has been crowing that Reid promised her that the AWB would see a floor vote.

Not that we have nothing to worry about on the Federal Level, but many people wrongly focus on the Lawmakers in DC, and over look their local Lawmakers... The majority of gun related laws are local... something like 80% of them in fact.

We let the local politicians slide and give the federal ones heck about gun control.

I like the response. I received a similar one from my US House Representative.

Words about hunting is a clear sign they don't get it. Thankfully neither used those words.

The suspicious part of my mind has me asking, what response would an anti gun email receive?

Received these two this afternoon :

Rep Hoyle <[email protected]>
2:14 PM (35 minutes ago)

to me
Dear Mr. xxxxxxx,

Thank you for contacting my office regarding gun rights. As a mother, I am heartbroken by the recent tragedies. We cannot let events like the massacre in Newton or the shooting right here at home at the Clackamas Town Center continue to happen.

A number of proposals have been introduced in the legislature so far, including arming school personnel, and regulating high volume ammunition magazines. In response to the recent events, I have sponsored a bill to provide a funding mechanism for improved school security infrastructure. Additionally, I will continue to push for increased funding for and access to mental health care.

We need to have a serious conversation about how we prevent incidents like this in the future. I have always been a supporter of increased access to mental health care and I have always been and will continue to be a strong supporter of the 2nd amendment.

Thank you again for contacting my office regarding gun rights. I appreciate your comments on this important issue. Please don't hesitate to contact my office again if my staff or I can be of any assistance to you in the future.

All the best
Val

Representative Val Hoyle
Oregon House District 14
West Eugene, Junction City, Cheshire and Alvadore


and




Dear xxxxxx,



Thank you for contacting me to express your concerns about any proposed legislation that would affect gun ownership by signing the Ruger Firearms petition. I appreciate hearing from you.



In the wake of the tragic mass shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary and right at home in Clackamas Town Center, I have heard a wide range of views from many Oregonians on gun policies and gun violence. Indeed, I am deeply saddened by these senseless shootings and the loss of innocent lives.



As I consider proposed policies regarding guns, I will have two perspectives. As a supporter of the Second Amendment, I will ask if the proposals meet the constitutional test. Second, I will ask if the proposals will make a difference in the tragic situations we have witnessed. In short, I will be digging into the facts and research about each of the proposals on the table with these perspectives in mind.



It is appropriate in light of the recent tragedies that this is a national discussion, and I'm glad you are sharing your thoughts with me. As specific proposals are put before Congress, please continue to give me your feedback.




All my best,

Jeffrey A. Merkley
United States Senator

You can write any Senator you want. They all work for us, and considering the nature of legislation these days... I mean I cannot unseat Fienstien, but she is pushing laws that affect me just as much as my state legislature or state senator.

I wouldn't trust Reid for one minute. I can see him being "absent" on a day where a big gun vote was happening or something like that.

I wouldn't trust Reid for one minute. I can see him being "absent" on a day where a big gun vote was happening or something like that.

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Considering they 'need' every vote they can get to get to 60 votes and we dont 'need' any votes to get past 40, I dont think him being 'absent' would hurt our cause. Anabsent vote from him is as good as a vote against gun control.

delete

Reid's response doesn't sound like the response of an anti. The antis respond with things like "protect the rights of hunters" or "respect the gun tradition while keeping the most dangerous weapons....blah blah". I'm somewhat encouraged by that.

1984's Double Speak.

Of course all liberals support the right to keep and bear arms. The question is their definition of "arms". They can say they support the 2A and still try to ban "assault rifles" and hi cap magazines. You have the right to bear arms...as long as those arms are sweet and fuzzy and don't threaten anyone.

As cooler heads begin to prevail, I've been seeing improvement in the responses that I've been receiving from my elected reps (and others) in support of the 2A.

I am starting to think that the knee-jerk movement is beginning to show signs of slowing, but I am not gonna stop writing 'til this AWB bill is finally put aside (for this session at least).

I got the same reply from Old Harry, I'm afraid he'll say what ever you want to hear. However I also heard from Dr. Heck, (Representative) who para-phrasing said "we have to do something. Closing the loopholes with registration sounds pretty good". Needless to say I wrote back a very polite statement asking what about all the laws we presently have on the books, not one of those children at Sandy Hook benefitted from them. How about we put a police officer in the schools, or at the very least have a CCW that is well trained, and take down those ridiculous gun free signs.:banghead:

A man in Ozark AL tried to remove his child from a school bus today. When the driver told him to stop he shot the driver as well as hit another child.

How do you legislate that behavior?

Capital punishment

hso said:

2nd Amendment rights aren't a "liberal" or "conservative" or a Democrat or Republican issue. There is no "safe bet" on who does and doesn't support the 2A and we've been surprised before letting our prejudices lead us to make assumptions. The shallow narrow thinking that it is will lead us to defeat.

We need to send polite, firm, factual and passionate letters to Senator Reed pointing out that ideologues will try to wreck the 2A and drag anyone who supports a ban on firearms, magazines, or ammunition down and then out of political office. We all thank God that the whole of the U.S. isn't Chicago or Detroit with their 3rd World murder rates and we will not stand for having the entire country treated as if it were those holes.

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Exactly!
Thank you so much for getting right to the point of it.
I sent two more letters today. I'll be working on getting more out this week. I made it a point to use up an entire roll of stamps and box of envelopes on this, and I'll be copying and pasting every letter into email as well.
And I am most assuredly NOT a Republican.

jrdolall said:

Of course all liberals support the right to keep and bear arms. The question is their definition of "arms". They can say they support the 2A and still try to ban "assault rifles" and hi cap magazines. You have the right to bear arms...as long as those arms are sweet and fuzzy and don't threaten anyone.

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For the record, I know precisely what "arms" means - it means weapons that offer a private citizen parity with an infantryman of the time. It should include real select-fire rifles, belt-fed GPMG's, and possibly even RPG's and the like. I would support that - but it's unlikely it will ever mean that in my lifetime.
But for the purposes of this discussion, it certainly covers the AR-15 and other self-loading rifles and their respective standard capacity 20, 30, and 40+ round magazines.
The Second Amendment was created to put the necessary teeth in the Bill of Rights to ensure the protection of the rest of our rights. I may disagree with many of you on politics, but I want to sort those disagreements out under a Constitutional government that respects our rights.



Also, the standard load of the Continental Army after c. 1777 was a buck-and-ball load that used eight to ten buck shot pellets (around .30 caliber each) and one standard sized musket ball. So if a Continental infantryman was making his musket get loud three times a minute, he was actually putting over 30 projectiles downrange at the British. These loads were used on Washington's command, so ain't nobody gonna tell this kid that the Founders weren't fans of increasing firepower when they could.

And I am also encouraged a little by this reply. I sent a letter to Reid last week saying that although my Democrat Senator (Begich) has come out in solid defense of the Second Amendment, even more so than my Republican Senator, I'd still be forced to vote him out of office in an attempt to allow a Republican controlled legislature to repeal any new gun control laws that might be passed. Reid may not value me since I'm not a constituent, but he sure as hell doesn't want to set a pro-gun Democrat Senator in a red state set up to be voted out in the next election.

The next thing you know, the NRA will be supporting Reid once again.

As a gun owner, I welcomed the Supreme Court's decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, which made clear that every law abiding citizen has an individual constitutional right to keep and bear arms. We must work to protect this right by enforcing laws that keep guns away from terrorists and criminals. However, the rights of responsible gun owners should not be compromised by individuals who use firearms to commit crimes.

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I don't think this offers any hope. All it means it that he says he will make sure your rights are not compromised, but he never says you have the right to own any of the guns Obama wants to ban. This doesn't mean that he considers your rights as a gun owner to extend beyond just what you need for hunting and sport shooting.

Dr. B - I take it you've read the Heller v. D.C. opinion already (as I'm sure most of us have).
Heller mentions resistance to tyranny in passing, but primarily focuses on self-defense. It says nothing about hunting or sport shooting.