Posted on 10/04/2007 4:16:02 PM PDT by EdReform
Thursday, October 4, 2007
It may be a cliche, but it is true: This letter is written not in anger, but in sorrow and concern. It is written to our friends about NRA staff who, tragically, have taken a course which, we believe, would be disastrous for the Second Amendment and the pro-gun movement.Two of us are Life Members of the NRA -- one of whom was an NRA board member for over ten years. And our legislative counsel was a paid consultant for the NRA.
So we certainly have no animus against the NRA staff, much less our wonderful friends who are NRA members.
In fact, over the last thirty years, GOA and its staff have worked with NRA to facilitate most of our pro-gun victories -- from McClure-Volkmer to the death of post-Columbine gun control to a gun liability bill free of anti-gun "killer amendments."
But those who staff the NRA, without consulting the membership, have now made a series of strange and dangerous alliances with the likes of Chuck Schumer, Carolyn McCarthy, and Pat Leahy. And we believe that, if allowed to continue, this will produce anti-gun policies which the NRA staff will bitterly regret.
Christ said, in the Sermon on the Mount, that "by their fruits, ye shall know them." And, frankly, these fruits are not likely to produce much pro-gun legislation.
Substantively, the Leahy/McCarthy/Schumer bill, which NRA's staff has vigorously supported without consulting with its membership, would rubber-stamp the illegal and non-statutory BATFE regulations which have already been used to strip gun rights from 110,000 veterans. It would also allow an anti-gun administration to turn over Americans' most private medical records to the federal instant check system without a court order.
But perhaps even worse, the bill was hatched in secret, without hearings or testimony, and passed out of the House without even a roll call. And now, the sponsors are trying to do the same thing in the Senate -- in an effort to ram the bill through without votes or floor debate, led by anti-gun Senator Chuck Schumer. If it is good legislation, as its proponents claim, why such fears of a roll call vote or debate in committee?
Indeed, in the face of horrific dissent from the NRA's own membership, its staff has tragically ignored arguments and dug in its heels -- in an almost "because-we-say-so" attitude.
Understand this:
* Passage of McCarthy/Leahy/Schumer will not quell the calls for gun control. To the contrary, it will embolden our enemies to push for the abolition of even more of our Second Amendment rights. Already, the Brady Campaign has indicated its intent to follow up this "victory" with a push for an effective ban on gun shows.
* Passage of McCarthy/Leahy/Schumer will not be viewed as an "NRA victory." To the contrary, once the liberal media has used the NRA staff for its purposes, it will throw them away like a used Kleenex. Already, an over-confident press is crowing that this is the "first major gun control measure in over a decade."
* Taking the BATFE's horrifically expansive unlawful regulations dealing with veterans' loss of gun rights and making them unchangeable congressionally-endorsed statutory law is NOT "maintaining the status quo."
* We are told that the McCarthy/Leahy/Schumer bill should be passed because it contains special provisions to allow persons prohibited from owning guns to get their rights restored. But there is already such a provision in the law; it is 18 U.S.C. 925(c). And the reason why no one has been able to get their rights restored under CURRENT LAW is that funds for the system have been blocked by Chuck Schumer. It is no favor to gun owners for Chuck Schumer -- the man who has blocked funding for McClure-Volkmer's "relief from disability" provisions for 15 years -- to now offer to give us back a tepid version of the provisions of current law which he has tried so hard to destroy.
Finally, there is the cost, which ranges from $1 billion in the cheapest draft to $5 billion -- to one bill which places no limits whatsoever on spending. Thus, we would be drastically increasing funding for gun control -- at a time when BATFE, which has done so much damage to the Second Amendment, should be punished, rather than rewarded.
We would now respectfully ask the NRA staff to step back from a battle with its membership -- and to join with us in opposing McCarthy/Leahy/Schumer gun control, rather than supporting it.
And, to our friends and NRA members, we would ask that you take this letter and pass it onto your friends and colleagues.
Sincerely,
Senator H.L. "Bill" Richardson (ret.)
Founder and ChairmanLarry Pratt
Executive DirectorMichael E. Hammond
Legislative Counsel
The BS is this ‘letter’ has been debunked many times.
In any case why should I listen to an organisation founded by a Dem and that has done absolutely nothing for 2A other than stir up crap and sell T-shits?
I missed the debunking but I don’t trust ANY legislation authored by those clowns. Never. Ever.
Since the bill will probably pass, time will tell if it’s all BS or not. With Schumer involved, I have my doubts.
I don’t trust ANY legislation authored by those clowns. Never. Ever.
DITTO!
"We're going to hammer guns on the anvil of relentless legislative strategy! We're going to beat guns into submission!"
-- Senator Charles Schumer, 1993
I’ve not seen the letter before, nor the debunking. Since you have, could you post a link to the debunking you mention?
I’m not so much lazy as I hate to reinvent the wheel if you already know where one sits.
Many thanks Hazcat!
The letter has not been posted before. What Hazcat is referring to are the points made by GOA within the letter. Click on the Keyword GOA ( http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=goa ) and you’ll find several threads on the subject.
This was also answered on Military.com and here http://www.pgnh.org/enough_nra_bashing
A good read, and very informative!
Thanks Hazcat!
I just wish they would attack the anti-gun crowd as much as the attack the NRA.
Go F*ck yourselves.
Harsh letter follows.
Sincerely,
The NRA
More fundraising propaganda from the impotent GOA.
This is pathetic.
Rebuttal here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1906205/posts?page=6#6
Best regards,
What does that post have to do with this letter? This bill is not even mentioned there.
You don’t like the NRA and this bill? Fine.
I think the GOA is a distraction and a subversive group that runs around screaming that the sky is falling and asking for money for unknown and unseen purposes.
I was taught and have lived my life knowing that any person or organization is known by the company it keeps. With the NRA keeping company with the likes of Leahy, McCarthy, and Schumer, it looks REAL bad.
Just what event or action in the past convinced the NRA that what the three of them has said is true? In my 35 years experience watching politics the likelihood of it happening this time is about on par with hitting the X ring from 1000 yard with a .22 LR revolver, one shot, no sighters.
See posts 7 and 8 and please read the entire thread before you ask questions that are already answered.
IMHO, the NRA should withdraw their support for H.R. 2640. I have no animus against the NRA.
You mean the NRA is a subversive group that asks for money for unknown and unseen purposes.
Voice votes, backroom deals, shaky premises (NICS IMPROVEMENT indeed). That is the NRA I have come to know and fear.
Best regards,
A-Men, brother! I joined GOA once. All year, all I got was NRA bashing and streams of junk mail asking for money. It was a good object lesson that some so-called 2nd Amendment groups have ulterior motives and goals. It was enough to make me a NRA Life-member.
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