IN: Reply from Sen. Bayh on S. 659

[glocksman]

I received the following email from Senator Bayh on S.659 'Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act'

November 10, 2003


Dear Mr. xxx:

Thank you for your letter of support for S. 659, the "Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act." I welcome your thoughts and comments on this matter.

Throughout my career in public life, I have opposed legislation that fails to appropriately balance the need to maintain a safe society with the ability of law-abiding Americans to own and use firearms responsibly. In general, laws relating to firearms should place the highest priority on putting criminals who use guns in jail and second on ensuing that law-abiding citizens use their guns responsibly.

As you may know, the "Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act" would prohibit civil liability actions from being brought or continued against manufacturers, distributors, dealers, or importers of firearms or ammunition for damages resulting from the unlawful use of their products by third parties. This legislation passed the U.S. House of Representatives on April 9, 2003 on a vote of 285 to 140. Currently, this legislation is pending in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Unlike most of my Democratic colleagues, I intend to vote against attempts to filibuster or delay Senate action on this legislation. When debate begins on this legislation, I want to assure you that I share your concerns over litigation aimed solely to bankrupt the firearms industry.

Again, thank you for contacting me. I hope that the information that I have provided is helpful. My website, http://bayh.senate.gov, can provide additional details about legislation and state projects, and you can also sign up to receive my monthly e-newsletter, The Bayh Bulletin, by clicking on the link at the top of my homepage. Having your input is valuable to me, I hope that you will continue to advise me on matters of importance to you.

Best wishes,






Evan Bayh
United States Senator

This is a pleasant surprise, especially when considering the only reply I got from Senator Lugar in regards to my letter was a boilerplate 'Thank you for your thoughts' that didn't even mention the issue I wrote to him about.

Given Lugar's track record on gun issues, it wouldn't surprise me a bit if he was one of a handful of Republicans to vote against S.659

 

[El Tejon]

Got the same response a couple of weeks ago from Bayh. No response at all from Lugar.

Dick is the poster child for term limitation (the longer they stay, the more East Coast Eloi they become!).

 

[emc]

Well, El-T, if Lugar were to respond, that would be the equivalent of granting an audience to a member of that great unwashed group of people known as constituents! "Heavens, we just can't have that sort of thing around here, in the lofty heights of the Senate. Why, these subjects might then start to expect that we may even represent them and uphold the Constitution, as our darn oaths of office stated that we would. Sniff....that just won't do!"

In a further comment on Lugar, I spoke with one of the volunteer election coordinators in central Indiana some years ago. She explained that when some local gun owners spoke with a staffer about their disappointment at Lugar having voted in favor of the AWB, the staffer bluntly stated that the staffers had checked a number of names contained in some of the petitions sent urging Lugar to vote it down. With the number of petition signers who were not even registered to vote, the staffer made it pretty clear that Lugar didn't anticipate that it would make any difference in his re-election, and that these gun owners could safely be ignored.

Also, whenever I have succumbed to an attack of idealism and called his office to register some comments on pending legislation, I have never been able to get an answer as to what his position was on the actual bill up for a vote.

All in all, he needs to be booted out ASAP. I do wish that there were more published about his voting record. I'm of the opinion that he actively works on ensuring that his leftish/moderate voting record gets minimal attention.

FWIW..........

 

[nick89302]

For voting record info sign up at http://www.ConservativeAlerts.com/

 

[El Tejon]

emc, from your keyboard to God's ears!

 

[Langenator]

This may seem kind of silly, but does anyone out there is Hoosierland recall what Danny Quayle's 2A record was as a senator? If it was good, any chance of pulling him out of retirement?

 

[MPFreeman]

Our Hoosier Senators are terrible. Dick and Evan should both be replaced ASAP. Dick won about 70% of the vote last time. I think Evan won by a landslide too.

The chances of getting either out of office is near impossible in IN.

 

[Mark Tyson]

So ... he's saying what, exactly?

Anyway I thought this bill isn't going to protect anybody who breaks the law. And I don't think it concerns dealers, just manufacturers. Where's he getting his information from?