Senator Maria Cantwell's reply to my HR1022 letter (D-WA)

[SAG0282]

What I wrote to my Rep. Norm Dicks (D-6th District) and two US Senators (Patty Murray and Cantwell, both Democrats).

XXSenator/RepXX-

Thank you in advance for considering my opinion. I am writing you concerning HR 1022 to express, in the strongest possible terms, my opposition to this bill. While violent crime is a major problem and one that should be tackled with aggression, gun control has time and again proven only to be politically convenient, and not at all useful to the problem. Studies done by the NIJ and CDC both found that the original assault weapons ban had no demonstrable value to crime in any way. As a lawful concealed gun carrier and sport shooter, I would be adversely affected by this bill and penalized for the actions of the criminal element. Please oppose this bill and stand up for Washington's many gun owners.

Thank you,
Siegfried Geringer

Her response, from which defensive uses and the more fundamental reasons for the 2nd Amendment are conspicuously absent.

Dear Mr. Geringer,



Thank you for contacting me to express your views on gun ownership. I appreciate hearing your concerns about gun control and understand how strongly you feel about the right to bear arms.



You should know that I take our Constitution very seriously. It is a most fundamental goal for me as your Senator to work to uphold the rights guaranteed by our founding document. Furthermore, I know that recreational use and collection of guns for hunting, sport, and other activities is extremely important to you and many other law-abiding Washingtonians.



Just as I am committed to protecting Second Amendment rights, I believe you would agree with my long-standing conviction that we must keep guns out of the hands of criminals and children. I believe that our first step in preventing further criminal and youth gun violence should be stricter enforcement of responsible gun laws that punish criminal use of firearms and that make access to guns harder for children and criminals.



As your Senator, you can be assured that I will work to protect the legitimate rights of law-abiding American gun-owners, while continuing to support responsible gun control legislation to reduce crime and make our communities safer. I believe both of these goals are important and can be simultaneously accomplished through common-sense gun laws and stricter enforcement of existing laws.



Again, thank you for contacting me on this important issue. Please do not hesitate to contact me again on this or any other issue.



Sincerely,
Maria Cantwell
United States Senator

 

[thexrayboy]

What you should have done is be explicit in your communications. Tell your reps that you want to see from them in writing, a promise to vote against HR1022 and all other bills that limit the availability of arms to citizens. Tell them
that platitudes and vague generalities will be interpreted as a vote against your wishes and you will actively seek in the future to have them replaced with a candidate that is willing to state a concrete position on 2A and promises to vote in support of it. These canned vague mealymouth letters that politicos write in response to their constituency is an insult and an offense to rational people.

 

[jpk1md]

Sounds like someones Rep needs to have it explained to her that Criminals circumvent the LEGAL process for purchasing firearms and this is why additional gun control legislation will not reduce crime...only criminalize law abiding citizens

 

[Autolycus]

What bothers me is that the letter she sent in response seems like it was just spammed out.

She just typed your name and that is that. What I dont understand on her part is how come she does not explain how the AWB will stop crime? Especially since the last one was inneffective.

The response that she sent completely dodged the issue at hand. I hate politicians and their doublespeak!!!

 

[Declaration Day]

I also wrote my representative, Thaddeus McCotter. I would share the email I sent, but I didn't save a copy of it. I do remember urging my Rep to oppose HR 1022 on grounds that it is a violation of the Second Amendment. The response is as follows:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear (Declaration Day),

Thank you for informing me of your opposition to the Assault Weapons Ban and Law Enforcement Protection act (H.R. 1022). Your thoughts on this important matter are most welcome and appreciated.

I agree with you.

As you know, on September 13, 1994, Congress placed a 10 year ban on the possession, transfer, or further domestic manufacture of semiautomatic assault weapons (SAWs). Since this ban expired on September 13, 2004, multiple attempts have been made in both the 108th and 109th sessions of Congress to extend or permanently impose the ban. Opponents of doing so, including myself, believe responsible gun owners must not be punished for the wrongdoing of criminals; thus, Congress needs to stop targeting hunters, responsible gun owners, and gun manufacturers, and focus on the real problem: repeat offenders illegally obtaining firearms.

Nevertheless, Representative Carolyn McCarthy (NY) introduced the Assault Weapons Ban and Law Enforcement Protection Act (H.R. 1022) on February 13, 2007. If enacted, this legislation would reinstate for ten years the expired prohibitions regarding assault weapons and large capacity ammunition feeding devices. Furthermore, H.R. 1022 would also prohibit the transfer of semiautomatic weapons, except through a licensed dealer or a State or local law enforcement agency. Presently, H.R. 1022 awaits in the House Judiciary Committee.

In the mean time, rest assured, your opposition to the Assault Weapons Ban and Law Enforcement Protection Act (H.R. 1022) will be kept firmly in mind during the 110th Congress. Again, thank you for contacting me; and for all you do for our community and our country. Should you have any further comment or question on this or any other issue, please contact me at the Livonia District or Washington, D.C. office.

I work for you.

Sincerely,

Thaddeus McCotter
Member of Congress

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FWIW, both my name and my Rep's signature were written with a pen, though I can't verify if Mr. McCotter was the one who signed it.

I intend to visit the Livonia District office, as he has invited me to do, this week.

 

[ilcylic]

Declaration Day: That's a great letter. If you do meet with him, give him a thumbs up from me too.

 

[Declaration Day]

Will do!

 

[grimjaw]

Washington state senators

No secret which way our senators would vote if it came to the floor. My local rep, "Doc" Hastings was more explicit.

Thank you for contacting me regarding the semi-automatic firearms ban. I appreciate you taking the time to make me aware of your views.

As you may know, prior to my election, Congress passed and President Clinton signed into law the Omnibus Crime Control Act, which imposed a 10-year ban on the manufacture and sale to individuals of approximately 200 models of semi-automatic firearms that were not legally owned or available prior to September 13, 1994. This ban expired in September, 2004.

Please be assured that I strongly support measures to ensure the protection of our Second Amendment Rights, and oppose misguided endeavors that deteriorate American's Constitutional rights. I will be certain to keep your concerns in mind should legislation reinstating the ban be brought up for a vote.

Again, thank you for taking the time to contact me. Please do not hesitate to contact me again in the future on any matter of importance to you.

Sincerely, High Muckity-Muck etc.

Maybe I didn't pay close enough attention to the previous ban. It covered things that we couldn't own in the first place?

I have poor skills when it comes to writing government, so perhaps different wording would have elicited a different response.

jm

 

[xilch]

SAG0282:

You're lucky. I have yet to receive a reply from Patty Murray, Maria Cantwell or Brian Baird about HR 1022. I guess they don't feel they owe me a reply.

 

[Cacique500]

You should know that I take our Constitution very seriously.

I know that recreational use and collection of guns for hunting, sport, and other activities

If she takes the Constitution very seriously then she knows the 2nd Amendment isn't about recreational the use of firearms, right?

 

[Libertylover]

Uhhhhh, you guys expected something OTHER than form letters filled with vagueries and platitudes from your Congress-critters???

The best way to get your voice heard on stuff like this is to join your LOCAL gun orgs. I think that EVERY state has one, and they follow things more closely on the local level, including your own congresscritters' views and more importantly, their VOTES on these issues.

 

[MD_Willington]

Cantwell and Murray are *****, no I take that back, that's mean to mentally challenged people...

I too wrote to them, I don't expect anything back though... I used the hit them where it hurts line of thought though, used the "I'm your buddy" approach...

I sent this, an amalgamation of stuff I stole online:

Thank you for taking the time to read my letter.

This is regarding my families OPPOSITION to Representative Carolyn McCarthy's introduction of H.R. 1022, to re-authorize the federal "Assault Weapons Ban".

President William Clinton credited the Assault Weapon Ban of 1994 and the NRA action following its passage as being in large part responsible for the Democratic Party’s losses in the following elections. This put the House and Senate solidly in Republican hands for 12 years. Supporting a resolution like this again could do the same thing.

Strategically this is not the time for such a bold move. A new "Assault Weapons Ban" is quite honestly not worth the possibility of sacrificing all the gains the Democratic Party has made in the 2006 elections.

Also as a member of the United States Government, you've sworn a duty to uphold the Constitution of the United States and its amendments. Your constituents have entrusted that you will do what is right. Please do not allow yourself to violate that trust. Preserve the 2nd amendment of the United States Constitution by voting against this unconstitutional bill if it is brought before you.

With this in mind, please try to keep this legislation from moving out of committee. If it does make it out of committee, we would greatly appreciate any effort you could make to encourage your peers to oppose this legislation.

Thank you again for the continued work, and the honor of your time.

Hit them where it hurts, they know the previous ban lost them seats... so I dangled the guise of them loosing seats in their face...

May be underhanded but that is the way they play the game...


BTW, I'd never vote for Murray or Cantwell, but they don'y know that...

 

[geronimotwo]

received this on 3-1

Thank you for taking the time to write to me. I just wanted to write to
let you know that we have received your email and will respond as quickly
as we are able. Due to the volumes of mail we receive each day, we
appreciate your patience in waiting for a response.

Priority consideration will be given to district residents. Thanks again
for contacting me and I look forward to hearing from you again soon.

Sincerely,

Kirsten E. Gillibrand
Member of Congress

haven't heard anything since......

 

[Darth Muffin]

I'm in WA too. Since HR1022 is a House bill I wrote my rep instead of my senator. Here's the reply I got.

Dear Tom,

Thank you for contacting my office regarding your concern over H.R. 1022, the Assault Weapons Ban and Law Enforcement Protection Act. It is an honor to represent the people of Eastern Washington, and I appreciate hearing from you.

H.R. 1022 was introduced by Representative Carolyn McCarthy of New York on February 13, 2007 and referred to the House Judiciary Committee. This legislation would amend the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act to provide for a ten-year extension of the assault weapons ban. In addition, it revises the definition of "semiautomatic assault weapon" to include conversion kits and any semiautomatic rifle or pistol that has an ability to accept a detachable magazine and that has specified characteristics, including a telescoping stock; prohibits the transfer of an assault weapon except through a licensed dealer or a state or local law enforcement agency; and prohibits the transfer of any assault weapon with a large capacity ammunition feeding device.

I am a strong defender of the Second Amendment and our constitutional rights. Recently, the FBI published a list of factors that contribute to crime based on the Uniform Crime Report. Access to firearms did not make this list. Gun control laws are not a fix-all answer to reducing crime. While there are certainly commonsense safeguards we can put in place, I believe that the focus should be on increasing penalties for crimes committed with guns and not taking the rights of responsible citizens away. As this bill moves through the legislative process, I will certainly keep your thoughts and concerns in mind on this legislation and work to protect our constitutional rights.

Thanks again for writing on this important issue. I invite you to visit my website at www.mcmorrisrodgers.house.gov for further information. Please do not hesitate to contact my office if I can be of further assistance.

Best Wishes,

Cathy McMorris Rodgers

Member of Congress

Hopefully she'll make up for our Senator twits and not even let it get out of the house.

 

[skinnyguy]

At least some of you are getting responses. I have yet to recieve even a "we haven't gotten to you yet" email back from Chris Cannon, UT state representative.

I have emailed him twice, once at the introduction of the bill, and again when the bill picked up it's 12 co-sponsors.

I do know this, should he not reply, I'll be checking his voting status once this bill does what it's going to do. If he abstains or votes yes on it, I'm going to visit every single person I know that he "represents" and tell them FTF that this guy don't give a rat's a$$ about your 2nd amendment rights, vote AGAINST this guy.

 

[Oleg Volk]

I strongly advise using fax instead of email.

 

[Langenator]

Senator Cant-Vote-Well is a largely ineffective bag of wind who is much better at making long winded speeches than at actually accomplishing anything in the Senate. About her only nominally useful function to anyone is to provide another vote for the Democrat caucus.

She's a cipher for the Seattle/King County Dem machine-in fact, without the help of almost certain voting "irregularities" by said machine, and a buttload of her personal money (paid to her for a job at RealNetworks where nobody seems to know what she actually did), she likely never would have unseated Slade Gorton in the first place.

She and Porky Patty Murray have almost identical records, but "Osama Mama" at least actually gets things done, even if they're not the kind of things I'd like to see getting done ($500k for a park full of ugly sculpture, anyone?)

Gun rights have been a decided non-issue in the last two Senate elections in WA. State elections are won and lost in the belt of suburbs around Seattle/Tacoma, where the issue either isn't seen as important or doesn't play well with voters brainwashed by the Seattle media.

 

[USMCRotrHed]

congressional spam responses

OK, be realistic here. Our representatives receive huge amounts of email and letters. In order to respond to these they have to write "blanket reponses" that will fit most situations and their aides will respond with the appropriate letter.

I can vouch for my rep and Senators. I do get a response everytime I write to them. I can tell by which letter they respond with that my letters and emails were read by at least an aide in the office.

The good and bad side is this: I wrote once regarding illegal immigration and got a response about energy conservation. I wrote back about how I expected a more appropriate response from the office than a misguided form letter and within 24 hours got a call from his office offering an apology for the oversite and assurance that my views were heard.

The moral is:

Keep writing! Even if your politicos don't agree with you, your view is being heard in their office. Hopefully it will guide them in which view they need to take in order to stay in office.

 

[MD_Willington]

Darth Muffin

Same here, same letter...

 

[skinnyguy]

I got my reply

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=262714

VERY interesting reading!!!

 

[lacoochee]

Call, as well as write, most of the time you will run into gatekeepers but every once in a while you may actually get your congress critter. My congress woman Ginny Brown-Waite will also take appointments when she is in town or for that matter if you are in town in DC.

 

[Cesiumsponge]

Hum...at least you got a generic reply from Cantwell. I didn't get any replies from my 9th district rep (Adam Smith), or either of our lady Senators.

 

[ilcylic]

Grimjaw: That response looks pretty good to me.

Please be assured that I strongly support measures to ensure the protection of our Second Amendment Rights, and oppose misguided endeavors that deteriorate American's Constitutional rights.

 

[lance22]

Why did she even bother replying?

I like it how every anti-gun measure is done to keep guns 'out of the hands of children and criminals' as if either could legally purchase a firearm.

Here's the real deal: They don't want law abiding citizens to own guns. That's the bottom line. As a perk, if law abiding people don't have guns then criminals won't have a source to steal them from. HR 1022 doesn't have a damn thing to do with children or criminals and I find her generic 'form letter' to be insulting.

 

[MD_Willington]

Cantwell's Spokane Office.

I've actually been to her office before, INS is next door... get them when they get their green card I guess.. LOL

Anyway, I needed to use a phone and we went into her office, my toddler son pretty much let loose with toddler fury and made a havok of the office while I used the phone, I feigned concern, but was really laughing inside..

lol.. kids, gotta love'm