Bang! Bang!

Well Regulated, Stupid!

Remember that old expression, "What if they gave a war and nobody came?" Answer: The National Rifle Association would lobby Congress on behalf of "law-abiding gun owners" and their right to shoot off their big... uh... weapons. Do not underestimate these guys. They're well armed with lies, damn lies, and statistics--not to mention catchy phrases like, "Guns don't kill people; people kill people." (I have seen it. They hover in the air above a person's temple, and BANG! The poor gun owner is left to blame.) Oh, and, by the way, viruses don't kill people either: immune systems do.

The NRA likes to describe its members and supporters as "law-abiding gun owners," never quite comprehending the point that it ain't the law-abiding, stupid! They will not concede that our laws target only those persons who are NOT "law-abiding." Duh. But an adjective such as "law-abiding", an American flag, and a truncated 2nd Amendment seems to keep these folks moving at a good clip. Tell it to Colorado. Unable to recognize true sophistry when they say it, the NRA and its supporters ONLY champion solutions that increase our prison population, lengthen prison sentences, and breach more fundamental and substantive rights, not the least of which is this little thing called Due Process.

Enforcement, they say, is the key. We do not need more laws; we need better enforcement of existing laws. Well, aren't we pie in the sky? Of course, enforcement of existing laws would help. But the NRA's plan spends approximately $40,000+ annually to imprison the "unabiding."

If our government deployed the same resources and vigor to eliminate guns from our society than it does to eliminate cigarette smoking from our society, wouldn't we have made some progress by now? If our government treated cigarette smoking like the public health problem it is, and use of firearms as the crime it is--rather than the other way about--wouldn't we retain a greater perspective of the real issue? That is, guns DO kill people. Honest. No, really!

Is the NRA daft? (Judge for yourself: see below.) Does it honestly believe that a society absent guns would be less safe than, say, than an unregulated, well-armed society of citizens carrying concealed weapons? Sadly, yes. It speaks of its cause and its members with the tone of entitlement, as if they belonged to a protected class of citizens. Perhaps the NRA fears the same public pressure to fess up and stop denying the obvious--to the tune of billions in settlements. What else could explain the blatant arrogance in Colorado where the NRA consciously chose to go ahead and hold their convention, albeit abbreviated, after the Columbine shootings? That's a bit like holding a "smoke in" outside a cancer ward?

Well, let's see what they're up to:


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                      May 20, 1999

LAPIERRE, BAKER ISSUE NRA STATEMENT

(WASHINGTON, DC) -- The following statement was issued today by Wayne LaPierre, NRA Executive Vice President, and James J. Baker, Executive Director of NRA's Institute for Legislative Action:

"Once again, the Clinton-Gore Administration is pursuing a charade of law-making without law enforcement. The Clinton-Gore Administration is papering over a shameful record of not enforcing existing gun laws. Now they want more gun laws they won't enforce. The federal courts won't want to try these cases. It's more made-for-television law-making. [Mr. Baker, meet Mr. Reynolds...James--R.J.]

The NRA will continue to hold a mirror up to this dishonest process until the American people demand more meaningful and substantive action from government. Everyone knows this won't stop the crisis in our schools. I wouldn't say everyone.] The American people want existing gun laws enforced and their Second Amendment freedoms protected." [How's this: the Second Amendment mentions nothing about the right to "keep and bear" ammunition.]

NRA-ILA FAX ALERT
           11250 Waples Mill Road * Fairfax, VA22030
Phone: (800) 392-8683 * Fax: (703) 267-3918 * GROOTS@NRA.org

Vol. 6, No. 19                                            5/21/99

                   SENATE SELLS-OUT GUN OWNERS

     On May 20, the last day of debate on gun control amendments to S. 254, the >>>>>>>>>>>Juvenile<<<<<<<<<< Justice Reform Bill, the U.S. Senate abandoned law-abiding gun owners when it passed by a 50-50 vote...a slightly-modified, yet completely intrusive version of the Lautenberg anti-gun show amendment. Rejected last week (see FAX Alert Vol. 6, No. 18), the Lautenberg Amendment now: [Everyone knows this won't stop the crisis in our schools. Everyone knows this won't stop the crisis in our schools. Everyone knows. Everyone knows. No YOU said everyone knows!]

* Defines a gun show as an event where just one person offers 50 or more firearms for sale

[You should see how our government defines a garage sale. Whoa boy!]

* Mandates that information on particular firearms sold be sent to BATF -- a requirement that doesn't even exist at gun stores -- with the obvious intent of setting up a national registry of law-abiding gun owners

[Wouldn't want to know who's carrying a gun. That way, we would be able to trace the gun! We do, however, need to know who drives a car and in what state and whether or not they carry insurance, etc. Whine, whine, whine.]

* Allows the FBI to charge an unlimited gun tax for background check -- and now guarantees that the FBI can keep files on lawful purchasers for 90 days, rather than the record destruction mandated in last year's Smith Amendment

[Ibid]

     Immediately after his tie-breaking vote, Gore took to the airwaves to applaud those Senators who voted against NRA. [Boo hoo.] If S. 254 is enacted into law [Get this...] in its current form, it absolutely will end gun shows as we have always known them. [Uh...so? Who goes out to look at a bunch of old guns anyway?] Republican Senator John Warner (Va.) cast the deciding vote in favor of Lautenberg, thus causing the 50-50 split, and leaving the fate of this vote to Al Gore. All members should contact Sen. Warner at: Phone: (202) 224-2023; Fax: (202) 224-6295, E-mail: senator@warner.senate.gov, and express their strongest displeasure with his siding with the Clinton-Gore Administration [Shoot on sight, I say!] on this critical [critical?] gun vote. Also added to the bill this week [You mean there's more? Toto, this doesn't look like Kansas!] was an amendment by Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), requiring licensed dealers [Here comes another one...] to sell locking devices with firearms, [The horror...the horror!] on a 78-20 vote, despite the fact that most guns (approx. 80%) already provide locks with their firearms. The amendment did, however, provide qualified immunity for individuals who use these devices if their guns are accessed and misused by unauthorized persons. [Phew! Dodged a bullet.]

     NRA opposed final passage of S. 254, but it passed the Senate on a 73-25 vote, and the fight now moves to the House, which will soon begin work on its own juvenile justice bill. Rest assured the anti-gunners [Is that a word?] in the House are already preparing to push many of their own anti-gun amendments to the House bill, so please call your U.S. Representative at (202) 225-3121, and urge him to reject any gun control amendments to the House juvenile justice bill.
 

There's more, but just more of the same kind of US versus THEM blather, plus a list of who opposes the NRA and how to contact them, etc. You can read that for yourself. You might even be one of them thar law abiding gun tootin'' citizens they talk about. I don't expect the NRA to change its stance; they are so deeply embedded in their cause.

Did Spike Lee really apologize?