We Won!!!
South Dakota Gun Owners E-mail Alert
PO Box 3845, Rapid City, SD 57709
(605) 737-5583
LibertyTeeth@sdgo.org
http://www.SDGO.org
(September 15, 2004) - Pinch yourself. This is
not a dream.
A fresh breath of freedom has swept across the land.
The hated ban on semi-automatic firearms and magazines has now expired; and it
was, in large part, thanks to your efforts.
In fact, you played a TREMENDOUS role in making sure this onerous law faded into
the sunset.
Remember, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) has been trying to attach this gun ban
to a must-pass bill all year long.
She succeeded in doing this in March, when she tacked her ban onto the gun
makers' protection act, by getting 52 votes in favor of her amendment.
At that time, Senator Bill Frist (R-TN) had refused to use parliamentary
techniques to keep the gun ban from being offered to the bill. He said it
couldn't be done.
Of course, SDGO and GOA knew that wasn't true. Majority Leader Frist can bring
up a bill for a vote, while using parliamentary roadblocks that keep
antagonistic amendments from being offered. (See
http://www.gunowners.org/a030204a.htm for specific details.)
So we asked you to contact Senator Frist's office -- to make sure he not only
read the document, but was prepared to use all the weapons in his arsenal to
stop Senator Feinstein.
He responded to your grassroots pressure. When Senator Feinstein threatened to
attach her gun ban to a legal reform bill, Senator Frist blocked her amendment.
Democrats were furious. They protested the "undemocratic" spirit of Senator
Frist. They were very upset they couldn't offer the gun ban as an amendment.
But thousands upon thousands of e-mails and phone calls from SDGO members and
other gun owners across the nation held Senator Frist’s feet to the fire.
Listen to what an outraged Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) had to say about Senator
Frist's actions:
"I know we have the class action reform bill on the floor of the Senate, but
that bill apparently is going nowhere at this moment. My understanding is the
majority leader [Frist] has 'filled the tree,' which is a fancy way of saying he
is blocking everything. He puts a bill down, blocks everything, and creates a
little gate in the majority leader's office saying: Show me your amendment. If
I like it, you can offer it; if I don't, you can't. That is where we are.
Because of that action, I assume very little is going to happen at the moment."
[Source: Congressional Record, July 7, 2004, p. S 7726.]
Because of you, Senator Frist had now learned how to "block everything" -- a
strategy that was the turning point in a long and protracted battle. Grassroots
lobbying won the day in the Senate.
You guys also made the difference the House, as your e-mails and phone calls
continually applied the heat to Representatives in the Congress. Because of
you, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) was able to say "we don't have the
votes to pass" the semi-auto ban.
They didn't have the votes because you were holding your Representative’s feet
to the fire with thousands of letters, e-mails, postcards and phone calls.
Thanks to you, the gun banners have been blocked at every turn.
Thanks to you, firearms and magazines that were once banned are now legal.
And thanks to you, SDGO and GOA will continue to be here, fighting for your
right to keep and bear arms.
Thank you!