Nra-ila: Feinstein Introduces "assault Weapons" Reauthorization Bill

[Kreed]

From: nraila.org
Date: Friday, June 4, 2004, 9:20:09 PM
Subject: NRA-ILA Grassroots Alert Vol. 11, No. 22

FEINSTEIN INTRODUCES "ASSAULT WEAPONS" REAUTHORIZATION BILL

Yesterday, vehemently anti-gun Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif) introduced S. 2498, legislation that would reauthorize the Clinton gun ban. The bill is being held on the Senate floor and could come up at any time.

This is the start of a sustained political battle we`ll be waging over the next few months. Our opponents will continue to work at every turn to try and accomplish their anti-gun goals, and we need to be prepared. Please visit NRA-ILA`s informative website-- www.ClintonGunBan.com --and learn the facts about this debate, which has too long been driven and dominated by falsehoods and emotion. And please forward this website to others who need to know both the history and the truth about this issue. Then, please contact your Senators and urge them to oppose S. 2498 or any other legislation seeking to extend the so-called "assault weapons" ban. You can find contact information for your elected officials by using the "Write Your Representatives" tool at www.NRAILA.org, or you can call your U.S. Senators at (202) 224-3121.

 

[Kreed]

Who to call to oppose S.2498

Start your counterattack by first contacting the Senate Leadership. Information is below. Feel free to copy and distribute far and wide.

GET HOT, people! The rights you save will be your own!

Bill Frist
Majority Leader
Phone: (202) 224-3344
Website: http://frist.senate.gov/

Mitch McConnell
Majority Whip
Phone: (202) 224-2541
Website: http://mcconnell.senate.gov/

Rick Santorum
Senate Republican Conference
Phone: (202) 224-6324
Website: http://santorum.senate.gov/

Jon Kyl
Republican Policy Committee
Phone: (202) 224-2207
Website: http://kyl.senate.gov/

Kay Bailey Hutchison
Vice Chairman
Phone: (202) 224-5922
Website: http://hutchison.senate.gov/

Ted Stevens
President Pro Tempore
Phone: (202) 224-3004
Website: http://stevens.senate.gov/

 

[Standing Wolf]

Yep—and the sun rose in the east this morning.

 

[Kreed]

Hey, that's really helpful! Thanks for your contribution.

 

[GigaBuist]

Well, isn't this a dupe of this thread?

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=85064

 

[La Pistoletta]

This Feinstein is really giving you people a headache, isn't she? Why can't she and the others just stop? How can one person have so much power so as to be able to do this?
I say remove all the ridiculous bans and start going after the smugglers instead of taking honest people to the lecture rooms while the criminals steal the wallets from the jackets in the hall.

 

[Kreed]

> Well, isn't this a dupe of this thread?

No. The thread you indicated was a generalized warning from the GOA. This is an alert from the NRA-ILA that mentions a specific bill that was filed late Friday, S.2498. Feinswein deliberately filed this on a Friday in the hope that us "redneck gun nuts" would be busy drinking beer and fondling our guns. Neat, huh?

If the Senators' and Representatives' inboxes and mailboxes and answering machines are FULL come Monday, they'll get the message, cat-quick.

Stay safe,

Kreed

 

[madcowburger]

I just e-mailed Bill Frist about it. I probably went into too much detail. I asked why it was that known oathbreaking traitors and domestic enemies of the Constitution like Feinsten, Schumer, et al. are not impeached or expelled from the Senate, and indeed why they are not put on trial for treason? But Frist probably won't read it anyway.

MCB

 

[GigaBuist]

No. The thread you indicated was a generalized warning from the GOA. This is an alert from the NRA-ILA that mentions a specific bill that was filed late Friday, S.2498.

Ahh, I see. I thought the NRA-ILA posts talking about S 2498 at the bottom were the same thing.

At any rate, we're on the same side of the issue. It probably does warrant it's own thread.

Feinswein deliberately filed this on a Friday in the hope that us "redneck gun nuts" would be busy drinking beer and fondling our guns. Neat, huh?

Dang, she's got me pegged! I'm even chewing tobacco and sharpening knives today too!

OK, so what do the legal beagels in the group have to say about this? As far as I know the Senate can't just drop a bill on the floor and vote on it and expect it to go anywhere. It's gotta get passed the House too which is our only hope of stopping the darned thing. We pretty much know from S 1805 that the Senate does have enough votes to get an AWB renewal passed. That's why I thought the "last minute rider" thing was the danger -- because then the House could OK it by comittee.

Or does it go up for popular vote on the House floor? I can't remember.

My Senators (MI) are a wash here. Levin actually OK'ed Ted Kennedy's "AP" ammendment to S 1805 -- you remember, the thing against .223, 7.62x39 and the evil 30-30. In a deer hunting state. :banghead:

Both went for the AWB rider. :banghead: :banghead:

 

[Kreed]

GigaBuist,

You're right. Even if this gets through the Senate, it would still have to make it through the House, and chances are slim that it would. Tom Delay of Texas said about a year ago that the AW ban renewal would not make it to George Bush's desk, and I believe him. (GW's statement about signing a renewal if it did was a bit of pandering, IMO, to the soccor moms and their ilk, knowing that it would not -- isn't politics grand?)

But having this bill killed in the womb will send a powerful message to the gun-grabbers like Feinswein, which is a worthwhile goal unto itself. And killing this attempt could possibly settle the issue, for this legislative year, anyway. Like a never-ending game of "whack-a-mole", this freedom-shredding legislation seems to always pop up somewhere else when it's smacked down. One thing we need to stay very wary of is an AW renewal being tacked onto some "must have" spending or cime bill in the dead of night. It's happened before. The very fact that the gun-grabbers have to operate in this underhanded fashion is clear evidence that they know they're up to no good.

As for Senators, tell me about it! I have two socialist scumbags to contend with myself -- Bob "Crackers" Graham and Bill "Foggy" Nelson. Both of 'em put together aren't worth dogscratch.

 

[Publicola]

Okay listen up please...

DeLay is the majority leader. He doesn't want the AWB renewed. So far we're all correct on this.

However Hastert controls the house. He is the one, not DeLay, who decides what gets voted on & what doesn't. DeLay might be persuasive, but if Hastert ignores him then DeLay doesn't have any power to do anything about it.

Hastert has said a few times that he's open to the possibility of letting an AWB renewal come to the floor for a vote.

& if it comes to the floor of the house for a vote I think y'all are gonna be in for s surprise.

I counted the house members a while back according to their GOA ratings. I find them to be more objective than the NRA"s ratings & thus more accurate.

In the4 house the D & F rated reps are ten votes or so short of passing any gun control law. In other words there are enough anti-gun reps to come within ten votes of a majority. D & F doesn't get handed out by accident.

Still ten votes short is what you're thinking right? Well that's just the D & F votes. They have a pool of about 50 (possibly more - can't recall excatly right now) C rated reps to sway. C is given to people who vote for or against gun control without a real strong convinction in general to guide them. Sometimes they're on our side, sometimes they're not.

I doubt that from a pool of 50+ reps that they couldn't find ten to vote for an AWB renewal. Perhaps it'd be harder if it was a new law instead of a renewal, but merely extending the law wouldn't pose some of the problems enacting a new one would for the C rated reps.


So let me be clear: the house is more likely to pass an AWB renewal than it is to reject it. It's a bad sign when it comes down to what I'm about to say, but our best hope of defeating a gun control law rests in the senate.

& the senate is shakey as hell. If they can muster up the numbers (which in theory they have) & the intestinal fortitude (which in practice they rarely do) to filibuster then we have a chance as long as they hold the filibuster.

However if they don't filibuster either through a lack of courage or a deal for cloture then the AWB renewal will pass the senate & it will probably pass the house if Hastert lets it get voted on (which he likely would).

Bush... look, believe his support for the AWB is a political thing all you want, but the fact is he said he supports it. Not just that he would sign it, but that he suports it. Considering his daddy signed an executive order that prohibted the import of "assault weapons" I don't think W is just saying things to appease the middle. He really believes the AWB is a good thing. But like I said, believe what you will about his motives.

What you should realize is that if he starts using some of his political capital to get a renewal passed then it will get passed. DeLay can rant & rave all he wants but Bush would get the support of many republican reps who are on the fence. Hastert would feel justified in letting it come to a vote, & the senate...uh. No filibuster & it'd pass there with little fuss outside of a few republicans like Craig.

To reiterate, the senate will pass it unless a filibuster stops it from being voted on, the house will probably pass it if it comes to a vote & with Bush exerting a little pressure (for whatever reason) Hastert will not have a problem letting it come to a vote.

Our best & perhaps only chance is to urge 41 senators to filibuster any AWB renewal.

oh, DiFi didn't do anything underhanded. She introduced the bill on Thursday. It had its second reading on friday & it would be sometime next week before the text is available & any action can be taken on it. She's not sneaking around on this one - least not in any deliberate way that I can see. Any sneakiness will come when she tries to get a vote on it, but for now hold back the accusations of being underhanded as they're not justifiable.

Course if you want to rag on her limitied reading comprehension skills since she apperently can't grasp certain parts of our constitution by all means go ahead.

 

[Wildalaska]

I asked why it was that known oathbreaking traitors and domestic enemies of the Constitution like Feinsten, Schumer, et al. are not impeached or expelled from the Senate, and indeed why they are not put on trial for treason? But Frist probably won't read it anyway.

Well hell I hope he doesnt, such silliness gives us all a bad name.

WildlearnhowtowritealetterAlaska

 

[jfh]

publicola's post in this thread above

is good enough to go as its own thread, on a float. He's cut through all the various issues each of us feel we understand to give us the political route this thing could go if such things happen as

GWB's late polling for his re-election shows he can gain more voters than he loses in signing such a ban, and

Some "gun incident" gets into the headlines in such a way that the press give it a life of its own. I predict this gets done by something as simple as an innocent getting shot in some crack neighborhood in a drive-by--and it is shown that it was done with ANY sort of 'AWB'--legal, illegal, merely a SA pistol with an old magazine.

We really need to be vigilant on this....Publicola, do this again as a thread--maybe with a header like "how a new AWB will be passed before November 2"

 

[Kreed]

jfh,

I agree. Publicola is obviously well versed on all the aspects of the poltics involved with the sunset of the AW ban, and the more people who see what he wrote, the better. Once again our fundamental freedoms are revealed to be no more than a political bargaining chip.

"Land of the Free, Home of the Brave?" Not if you look closely.

I agree about the potential for some mass-shooting before September being perpetrated to turn public opion against the sunset. HighRoad member "Travis McGee" has alluded to exactly such a "Super Columbine" occurring for exactly such a purpose.

We live in interesting times.

 

[rick_reno]

Feinstein introduces AWB

I have no doubt Bush could get more votes by signing it than not signing it - he'd be taking a page out of the Clinton politicing book - steal an issue from the opposition party and make it your own.

I'm not convinced most gun owners care about this issue. Sure, it get a lot of bits spent on it here but out in the real world it's not a big deal. At the shooting range I volunteer at as a range master in N. Idaho, I'lll often bring the topic up with shooters and if they even know about it (most don't) they say they don't care in ratios of what are easily 5 to 1.

After 4 years of Bush, the "Republican" with his "Republican" Congress I doubt we can count on them to do anything significant for the right to keep and bear arms - the past 4 years haven't shown me any movement in that direction. The "Republicans" know that we're unlikely to vote them out of office - and make things worse. Going from the pan to the fire has never been something I willingly do.

 

[gunsmith]

if we get a new AWB

Or the old one fails to sunset,we have to make the Dems and RINO's feel real pain.
I for one will send my old and new voter registration card to the RNC switching my allegiance to the Constitution or Libertarian party.
I am horrified at Kerry having the power to appoint new supremes.

How do make the RINO's and anti's in the Dem party feel our wrath without shooting ourselves in the foot is the 64,000$ question.

I'm not convinced most gun owners care about this issue

I'm afraid R.Reno is correct. The good news (I hope) is that a sleeping giant (the millions of gun owners who depend on the NRA but don't join and never even heard of GOA) will get politicized when they outlaw semi auto shotguns.

 

[orangeninja]

Won't the GOP just poison pill this just as last time? The one with the limitations being placed upon the courts trying to establish vicarious liability upon gun manufacturers. Theres billions of dollars there to be had, plus the fact that it will set precedent of manufacturers not being held liable.....which the DEMs don't want. You've got to remember the Democrats have everything they have accomplished in the last 4 years through lawsuits. It's how they impose themselves upon the sovereign will of the States.

 

[MrAcheson]

Heh, lets add the legal protections for gun manufacturers to her bill and see how she likes it.

 

[angrywalkindude]

This justed ruined my day!

 

[UnknownSailor]

Any word of potential sponsors of the House version of Feinstein's bill?

I will get very vocal about this when I get back, but until then, CALL OR WRITE YOUR REPs PEOPLE!

GET ALL YOUR FRIENDS TO DO IT, TOO!

Do it for all of us currently deployed, who can't.

 

[Diggler]

Here is my letter...

Senator ___,

I have become aware that Senator Feinstein has introduced S. 2498, which is legislation that will reauthorize the ban of semi-automatic firearms with certain cosmetic features that some deem 'evil.'

I hope that you will be a leader in allowing this unconstitutional legislation to sunset. Please stop, filibuster if necessary, any bill that has this meaningless breach of the Second Amendment attached.

How many people have been killed by a bayonet lug? By a pistol grip on a rifle? By a flash hider?

This law is ridiculous. It does nothing to save lives, but attempts to make criminals out of everyday gun owners. Let's take the criminals off the streets; lock up those who commit violent crimes with firearms.

President Bush has my reserved support for now. That is subject to change. I am a registered, donating Republican, but I can assure you that if the GOP, with its control of the legislative and executive branches, allows this legislation to even make it to the President's desk, I will reconsider my vote and will NOT vote for a Republican again, but instead for a third-party that more accurately reflects my beliefs.

I keep hearing from others that I need to work within the two-party system and change it from within. This is my final attempt. I hope the Republican Party can stand up for the Constitution and help return the government to the way it was meant to be, and this issue is important enough to be my litmus test as to whether our lawmakers trust the American people.

Please vote as our Founding Fathers would have done.

 

[Dbl0Kevin]

Those of you that are so worried about the AWB passing the House seem to be forgetting something. Several years ago the House actually passed a repeal of the AWB by a pretty decent margin. I really don't see the House having changed all that much since then. I know of course it's good to be vigilant, but I really don't see the votes in the House to renew.

 

[NY Patriot]

Time to kick our collective efforts up a knoch...

The Essential End the AW Ban Contact List & Sample Letter Thread

Ain't nothin to it but to use it!!!

 

[fjolnirsson]

:banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

Gods, I HATE Feinstein!
She makes me want to tear out my hair! It's like when we were kids, and your sister would sit in the back seat and poke you continually. Then your parents turn around, and she raises her hands and looks innocent.
Why can't she find a new pet cause? I just, I can't, I just want to......

She comes very close sometimes, to sending me over the edge. One day, my wife will find me huddled in a corner with my guns, twitching and muttering about Feinstein.
I think it's worse because she's my Congress critter, so I have noone to turn to....

 

[VaniB.]

GWB's late polling for his re-election shows he can gain more voters than he loses in signing such a ban, and

I just don't believe that. Because if George W. has enough smarts, he will know that he is not going to win over any more minorities or liberals on that issue alone. To them he's still a war monger, anti-abortion, tax cutting, air polluting REPUBLICAN, that they hate. Guns or no guns! Hopefully Bush has learned in 3 1/2 years that "Going along to get along" garners him no new friends, but loses his constituency.

HE MUST KNOW BY RENEWING THE AWB HE'S GOING TO POLARIZE HIS OWN BASE.

Send a note to Dennis Hastert like I am. Tell him if they renew the AWB, you're not going to bother going to the polls. A NON ENERGIZED BASE IS WHAT WILL SCARE THEM MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE. If you tell them you're going to vote for Kerry, they know it makes no sence. If you tell them you'll vote Libertarian, or for the Greens then they figure they never had you anyway, BUT IF YOU TELL THEM YOU'RE A REGISTERED REPUBLICAN WHO'S STAYING HOME THIS TIME, THEN THAT IS GOING TO WORRY THE HECK OUT OF THEM. The margin of victory will be razor thin, and they can't afford to antagonize their base.They'll come around to realizing that ignoring the new FEINSTEIN BILL is the easiest course of action to take.

If he signs this bill, it will be the first Election that I will not bother to vote. After his loss, the analysts will look at the numbers and tell the Republicans exactly where they went wrong.....that they turned their backs on important issues and so the base stayed home! Maybe they'd wise up for next time. Hopefully, this worse case scenario won't happen though.