Just Five More Days Until the Semi-auto Ban
Sunsets!
-- But Brady Bunch making one
last push on the House, Senate and
Oval Office
South Dakota Gun Owners E-mail Alert
PO Box 3845, Rapid City, SD 57709
(605) 737-5583
LibertyTeeth@sdgo.org
http://www.SDGO.org
An alert from Gun Owners of America -
http://www.gunowners.org
ACTION:
Ask President Bush to resist the efforts of police chiefs, who will be pressing
him this week to reauthorize the Clinton semi-auto ban. A pre-written letter is
provided below.
(Thursday, September 9, 2004) - Only five more days.
That's all that is left until the Clinton ban on more than 180 types of
semi-automatic firearms and magazines sunsets. The magic date is September 13.
One of the most hated gun bans ever enacted will cease to exist. But not if the
Brady Bunch has its way.
Sarah Brady's disciples in the House and Senate are considering amendments to
reauthorize the ban. And in the nation's capital, press reports indicate that
dozens of police chiefs will travel to Washington this week to urge President
Bush to renew the ban.
In the House, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy has vowed she will not let the semi-auto ban
die without a fight. According to Congressional Quarterly, a Capitol Hill news
service, McCarthy is threatening to offer semi-auto renewal language as an
amendment to the Labor-HHS appropriations bill.
GOA is virtually certain McCarthy will be unsuccessful in the House, because
Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) is 100% opposed to this ban and is ready,
procedurally, to keep her amendment from being offered to the spending bill.
In the Senate, anti-gun Senators could be eyeing the intelligence reorganization
bill -- implementing the recommendations from the 9/11 commission -- as the
vehicle of choice for a gun ban renewal. Please stay close to your keyboard in
upcoming weeks; we will notify you of any anti-gun movement in the Senate.
(Even after the ban sunsets, Congress could still pass a new law to bring it
back.)
Ultimately, the key to killing the gun ban in the House and Senate is to make
sure that George Bush does not start asking both houses of Congress to send him
a bill renewing the ban.
You might remember that President Bush has indicated support for the ban in the
past. That's the bad news. The good news is that, to date, he has not
pressured the Republican leadership in either house to send him such a bill.
But if that were to change -- if the President were to start asking Congress to
send him a gun ban extension -- it is not inconceivable that the Republican
leadership in either house might allow a vote on the noxious ban.
For this reason, SDGO urges you to remind the President that it is time to let
the semi-auto ban sunset. The ban is unconstitutional. It doesn't take guns
out of criminals' hands. And it should be sent to the trash heap.
You can use the pre-written message below and send it as an e-mail.
Anti-gun groups are encouraging their people to contact the White House on
Thursday, Sept. 9. Please consider placing a call or sending a fax in addition
to your e-mail.
PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH:
White House Phone: (202) 456-1414
White House Fax: (202) 456-2461
Email:
president@whitehouse.gov
----- Pre-written message -----
Dear President Bush:
The facts are in. The 1994 gun ban signed by your predecessor, President Bill
Clinton, has NOT worked to reduce crime.
The Washington Times reported on August 17 on a recent study published by your
own National Institute of Justice. In an article entitled, "Ban of assault
weapons didn't reduce violence," Jerry Seper quotes the NIJ as saying, "We
cannot clearly credit the ban with any of the nation's recent drop in gun
violence. And, indeed, there has been no discernible reduction in the lethality
and injuriousness of gun violence."
This study reflects the results of two studies that were conducted during the
Clinton administration. The Bureau of Justice Statistics found in 1993 and 1997
that military-styled firearms -- the so-called "assault weapons" banned in 1994
-- were used in less than two percent of crimes nationwide.
In other words, these guns were never "weapons of choice" for criminals --
either before or after the ban.
Please be clear about one thing: the guns banned by President Clinton are NOT
truly assault weapons. They are semi-automatic firearms, which means the guns
Clinton banned are not used by any military on earth. Soldiers use fully
automatic machine guns; they don't settle for weapons that can only fire one
bullet with each pull of the trigger.
I hope you will resist efforts by an unrepresentative gaggle of police chiefs
this week who claim that America's cops want this gun ban extended.
Real cops, the ones who walk the "beat," oppose banning semi-automatic
firearms. Over 90% of the officers polled by the National Association of Chiefs
of Police in 1995 said the semi-auto ban will in no way stop criminals from
getting these guns or magazines.
And in an earlier survey, almost 90% of cops said that private citizens should
have these types of guns to help defend the nation in the event of natural
disasters or terrorism when the National Guard has been mobilized.
I urge you to stand with gun owners, to uphold the Constitution, and to oppose
all efforts at extending this horrible gun ban. Thank you.
Sincerely,
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