More Pressure Needed To Convince Bush To Withdraw Brief

[Cavalier Knight]

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

Friday, January 25, 2008

The Bush administration has continued veering toward gun control. You know it is bad when The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence salutes the administration's support for gun control.

Why would anti-gunners praise the Bush administration? For one, signing the first gun control legislation in over a decade, the Veterans Disarmament Act (H.R. 2640). For another, the very anti-gun brief the Solicitor General (the Justice Department's lawyer) filed in the DC gun ban case, D.C. v. Heller.

As you know, Rep. Virgil Goode is rounding up other members of the U.S. House of Representatives to join with him on his letter to the President asking him to withdraw that brief.

Gun Owners of America has taken the lead in building public awareness of the Solicitor General's action, and the need to urge all members of Congress to support Rep. Goode's efforts.

We know it is imperative for the NRA to encourage their members to weigh in with their representatives on behalf of Rep. Goode.

It would be very helpful if you -- and as many gun owners as you can recruit to help -- would call the NRA and urge them to publicly encourage members of Congress to join with Rep. Goode by signing his letter to the White House.

The toll-free number to call at the NRA is 800-392-8683. To maximize your effort, please call rather than e-mail.

For your information, the GOA press release that explains what is wrong with the administration's brief is here:

http://www.gunowners.org/pr0801.htm

The D.C. v. Heller case is by far the most important Second Amendment court case of our lifetime. Thank you for doing all you can to help secure a pro-gun outcome.

 

[TexasRifleman]

So GOA now lobbies NRA?

This gets weirder by the minute......

So when Bush doesn't pull the brief GOA will claim it's NRA's fault.

Time and datestamp my post, see if I'm not right 6 months from now.

Now, it's still a good idea but after the last debacle it's kinda odd hearing GOA speak this way and not suspect some other motive.

 

[JohnBT]

"It would be very helpful if you -- and as many gun owners as you can recruit to help -- would call the NRA..."

And while you're on the line, JOIN the NRA, too.

John

 

[green-grizzly]

So much for the NRA's boast that Bush would be "a president where we work out of their office."

 

[GEM]

Does anybody actually think Bush knows that this controversy is going on?

His masters just shuttle him around to a speech, to the ranch, play with the dog, etc.

If he had any inkling that the RKBA was important or studied (hahaha) the issue himself, this wouldn't have happened.

 

[Javelin]

This is becoming a very important subject and unfortunately none of the candidates for President are being asked anything regarding firearms. And Bush seems to be just selling out.

I tell you what, its time to send more than words of encouragement to the NRA.. its time to send some fiancial support for the RKBA so they can keep lobbying for the 2nd Amendment.

 

[Rachen]

I think this is a serious issue too. Bush is supposed to be pro-gun, so I suppose the liberals in his admin is probably trying to pressure him to go the other way. Remember that Democrats have won control of the House. I think we are starting to see the poison at work in the bloodstreams of Congress.

Thats just what I think. I can't come up with another reason why Bush is turning against the 2A.

 

[JohnBT]

Why? There's an election next year. Both parties have to gravitate toward the center (play to some of the other party's members) if they're to have any chance of winning the White House.

john

 

[Robert Hairless]

My guess is that the President of the United States didn't even know about that amicus brief. The U.S. government has at least 1,000 people working in at least 47 agencies, maybe more.

It would be flatly impossible to any president to personally supervise everything every one of them--the people and the agencies both--does every day and still have time to brush his teeth.

Might as well complain that the CEO of General Electric is out to get you because your last three light bulbs blew prematurely. That doesn't mean he isn't out to get you, of course.

 

[Kharn]

The U.S. government has at least 1,000 people working in at least 47 agencies, maybe more.

I think you are short a few zeros, there were about 1.87mil federal civil servants in 2005 (not including 767k USPS employees).

Kharn

 

[Bad Voodoo]

Think about a scale, law-abiding citizens on the extreme left (not politically ); Reps and Congress moving toward the middle; w/ the Pres and his cabinet on the right. Sliding, weighted scale from L to R = less to more power w/ the middle of the scale providing the checks and balances, as required by the Constitution.

The entire mandate behind the Bush/Cheney presidency has been to currupt the checks and balances of our government and give the presidency almost complete autonomy.

This issue, and the resulting choices we make in this election cycle, are of huge importance to each of us. We allow "business as usual" to continue at the continued infringement and expense of our natural rights.

 

[ArmedBear]

SCOTUS doesn't care what the AG thinks.

SCOTUS' job is to tell the AG where to stick it.

This letter has no real power over SCOTUS; it merely expresses, to anyone intelligent, that the AG opposes any limits on Federal power. SCOTUS goes through this every session, and they've heard this a lot.

 

[Bad Voodoo]

SCOTUS doesn't care what the AG thinks huh? Ever hear of the Office of Legal Council?

OLC "is the most important government office you've never heard of. Among its bosses -- before they went on the Supreme Court -- were William Rehnquist and Antonin Scalia. Within the executive branch, including the Pentagon and CIA, the OLC acts as a kind of mini Supreme Court. Its carefully worded opinions are regarded as binding precedent -- final say on what the president and all his agencies can and cannot legally do." ("Palace Revolt" by Daniel Klaidman, Stuart Taylor Jr. and Evan Thomas. Newsweek, February 6, 2006, Pg. 34)

The Office of Legal Counsel also functions as general counsel for the Department of Justice itself. It reviews all proposed orders of the Attorney General and all regulations requiring the Attorney General's approval.

Think again. This jack-booted government has become an infestation. Everyone all along the chain of command, legal and governmental, have a vested interest in what their friends think and propose.

We're all alone out here.

 

[Robert Hairless]

I think you are short a few zeros, there were about 1.87mil federal civil servants in 2005 (not including 767k USPS employees).

You're kidding. I didn't think that there could be more than 1,131 federal employees at most. In any case I did say "at least."

But if you're correct, it would take the President a long, long time to check what every employee is doing. There must be at least 5-6 cabinet members and their departments probably have at least a dozen relatively high level employees each. So if the President of the U.S.A. got a 10 minute telephone call from each of them to check about what they're doing it might take at least all his time every day just to hear them. No time for teeth brushing for sure.

 

[Cavalier Knight]

The Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Office of Legal Counsel assists the Attorney General in his function as legal advisor to the President and all the executive branch agencies. The Office drafts legal opinions of the Attorney General and also provides its own written opinions and oral advice in response to requests from the Counsel to the President, the various agencies of the executive branch, and offices within the Department. Such requests typically deal with legal issues of particular complexity and importance or about which two or more agencies are in disagreement. The Office also is responsible for providing legal advice to the executive branch on all constitutional questions and reviewing pending legislation for constitutionality.

All Executive orders and proclamations proposed to be issued by the President are reviewed by the Office of Legal Counsel for form and legality, as are various other matters that require the President's formal approval.

In addition to serving as, in effect, outside counsel for the other agencies of the executive branch, the Office of Legal Counsel also functions as general counsel for the Department itself. It reviews all proposed orders of the Attorney General and all regulations requiring the Attorney General's approval. It also performs a variety of special assignments referred by the Attorney General or the Deputy Attorney General.

The Office of Legal Counsel is not authorized to give legal advice to private persons.

 

[bruss01]

If the NRA would put some serious pressure on the President and SG's office to withdraw the brief, I will then be convinced of their sincere support for Heller vs. DC which they had earlier tried to derail.

This would convince me to rejoin the NRA.

I would expect, as a continuing member of the NRA, to see a lot of lawsuits put in the works based on the precedents set in Heller. If not, I would have serious doubts again about the sincerity of them wanting to protect gun owners rather than using that as an excuse to collect money and political favoritism without risking working themselves out of a job.

 

[Robert Hairless]

We know it is imperative for the NRA to encourage their members to weigh in with their representatives on behalf of Rep. Goode.

It would be very helpful if you -- and as many gun owners as you can recruit to help -- would call the NRA and urge them to publicly encourage members of Congress to join with Rep. Goode by signing his letter to the White House.

No. Those of you who are not NRA members, who have attacked the NRA, or who refuse to support it need to show some character. Do not call the NRA or ask it to do anything at all for you. Don't compromise.

Remember that you are opposed to the NRA. Stand up for your principles. Don't try to destroy the NRA or ride on the backs of its members and then try to petition it for what you want. That's morally and ethically wrong.

I don't understand what's going on with Larry Pratt and Gun Owners of America. It is the biggest "No Compromise" gun rights group in the country. I know it is because it says so. Why is it "compromising" now and asking its members to compromise?

What is wrong with these people?

 

[Bad Voodoo]

Well said, Robert. Well said.

 

[Robert Hairless]

Well said, Robert. Well said.

Thank you. The attacks will come soon, I suppose. "Character" is not a popular concept today. "Gimme" has eclipsed it.

GOA has acknowledged that the NRA is all that stands between gun owners and the gun grabbers.

It's time for gun owners who have been behaving like ungrateful guests at a relative's home--taking the food while criticizing it bitterly--to start behaving like responsible people.

Join the NRA and support it as best you can. Leave the attacks on the NRA to the people who want to strip you of your guns and gun rights.

The chances are good that one of them will be President of the U.S. in less than a year. We all will have our hands full trying to defend against them. We can't succeed if we're divided. All of us need the strongest possible NRA now.

Quit the quarrelling and the backbiting and help the rest of us present a united front. Now.

 

[gc70]

I would be amazed if Bush even knew that Justice filed a brief. Even without the brief, SCOTUS justices are smart enough to know that a decision in Heller recognizing an individual right and applying strict scrutiny would start the process of eliminating federal gun control laws.

 

[Mall Ninja]

An interesting analysis of the administration's brief can be found here:

http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?01fd5fce-06c9-4b9e-ab9d-bfed4ba345e8

Gist: The solicitor general's brief is not as bad is it might have been.

Some excerpts:

"The Solicitor General's brief states the government's position in no uncertain terms. The Second Amendment, it says, 'protects an individual right to possess firearms unrelated to militia operations.'... the federal government's 'admission against interest' that the Second Amendment protects an individual right is likely to have a striking impact in the Supreme Court chambers...Given the government's obligation to try to save as many federal gun statutes as possible, it is not surprising that the brief also urges the Supreme Court to limit the same individual right it asks the court to recognize...D.C.'s gun ban violates any reasonable conception of a right 'to keep and bear arms.' The High Court has no reason to decide the exact contours of the right in order to uphold the lower court decision. The lower court simply decided that the denial of a right to possess virtually any gun in a citizen's home is unconstitutional. Going beyond that narrow holding would be dicta, and responsible judges know they are not supposed to issue advisory opinions."

 

[rwc]

I seriously doubt that this "bell" can be un-rung. Once a brief is filed it is going to be read by the law clerks that do most of the opinion drafting and heavy-lifting in any appellate court.

 

[LAR-15]

How many of the presidential candidates still running would say the SA is an individual right?

Maybe Huckabee and possibly McCain.

But thats it.

The Bush Admin has come flat out and state the right is an INDIVIDUAL right

 

[george29]

Re: GW, nothing broken a cluster of bananas won't fix.

 

[ilcylic]

LAR-15: Ron Paul has said flat out that he supports 2A as an individual right.

I share our Founders’ belief that in a free society each citizen must have the right to keep and bear arms. They ratified the Second Amendment knowing that this right is the guardian of every other right, and they all would be horrified by the proliferation of unconstitutional legislation that prevents law-abiding Americans from exercising this right.