Posted on 04/24/2003 10:06:05 AM PDT by from occupied ga
If you participated in the Capitol call-in Mon. Apr. 21 or Tue. Apr. 22, you were awesome.
"The first cracks in the child endangerment front appeared Monday. On Tuesday, we drove a big wedge in those cracks," said CSG Vice-President Steve Bellofatto.
As a result of the heat, SB1 didn't make the cut to go to the floor of the House Tuesday afternoon. That sent children's advocates scurrying around the Capitol to drum up more support. By evening, they'd twisted enough arms to bring SB1 to the floor. But many Reps. were apparently too tired to deal with it: as House Pro-Gun Leader Rep. Bobby Franklin (R-Marietta) worked the floor Tuesday night adding signatures to the Self-Defense amendment, Majority Leader Rep. Jimmy Skipper (D-Americus) abruptly moved to adjourn until Friday.
CSG Legislative Director Bill Phillips said gun owners laid a healthy attitude adjustment on the opposition this week: "After they beat us 2-1 in the Senate, the child advocates were all smiles. But Tuesday, for the first time, we could see they were worried."
"Like any good team, we made adjustments to our game plan at half-time," he said. "We're better prepared, and we're focusing on the Self-Defense amendment, which is our best play."
But the real credit goes to you and the many gun owners who've jumped back in the fray with both feet.
The General Assembly reconvenes Fri. Apr. 25 at 10:00 am for the final day of a historic session. SB1 will likely come up in mid-afternoon. The legislators will probably work until midnight, so there will still be plenty of time for the House to deal with SB1 and work out any differences with the Senate.
"There's daylight ahead," said Bill Phillips, "but we're not out of the woods yet."
The anti-gunners are regrouping. You need to stay on your politicians right down to the wire. It's still too close to call.
ANALYSIS OF SB1
Remember, SB1 was initially two triggerlock schemes in one bill, both using "stealth" language where reference to firearms is replaced by vague general language about anything dangerous:
This past week, SB1 House floor manager Rep. Wendell Willard (R-Dunwoody) deleted section 16-5-73 (as in part 1 above) from the bill because of mounting resistance. But this is only a partial victory. The part referred to in (2) above is still in the bill, and anti-gun officials will be able to use it as a triggerlock scheme unless the Self-Defense amendment is added.
THE FINAL SHOWDOWN
On Fri. Apr. 25, when SB1 is taken up on the floor of the House, if the Self-Defense amendment is defeated, the bill will go to a House-Senate conference committee where the "child endangerment" section will probably be put back in. Once agreed to by both chambers, the bill goes to the Governor who'll sign it into law. In years to come, this could be very bad for gun owners.
If the Self-Defense amendment is adopted, SB1 will still go to conference committee, where the Senators will try to strip out the Self-Defense amendment. In this case, there will be another vote later on the conference committee version of SB1. If that happens, it's crucial your State Rep. votes against any version that doesn't include the Self-Defense amendment.
To sum it up, you want your State Rep. to do two things:
(1) Vote FOR Rep. Franklin's Self-Defense amendment to SB1 when it comes to the floor of the House.
(2) Vote later AGAINST any House-Senate conference version of SB1 that doesn't include the Self-Defense amendment.
HOW TO CONTACT YOUR STATE REP.
1. Get your state House district number by calling the Registrar of Voters or the Voter Registration office in your county.
2. Using your state House district number, get contact information for your state Rep. (or Reps. if you live in a multi-member district) by calling the House Information Office at 404-656-5082. Or check the Georgia House roster on the Internet by entering the following address into a WEB browser:
http://www.legis.state.ga.us/cgi-bin/gl_peo_list.pl?List=sthousedl
ACTION ITEMS
SB1 took damage from big hits this week, but it hasn't been stopped yet. Now victory is within reach. The Self-Defense amendment will gut it. More pressure is needed on the politicians. To defeat the anti-gunners and their accomplices, you need to help with this final surge.
It's called the "double-down" and to do it you get just one (1) other person to contact their Georgia state Rep. about SB1 between now and 10:00 am Fri. morning and then VERIFY it. It's not easy, but it gets terrific results, effectively doubling the pressure on the politicians on the most crucial day.
1. Double down on the politicians:
(a) Get in touch with a friend, co-worker, or family member. If it's a family member, they should not live at your address.
(b) Communicate to them what's going on, and that you need their help.
(c) Personally ask them to contact, by a certain time, their State Rep.'s office in support of the Self-Defense amendment to SB1.
(d) When the time is up, check to see if they've contacted their State Rep. If you can't verify they did, you're not done yet.
It's not as easy as it sounds, but it produces amazing results. We need more pressure on the politicians for the final showdown. Do this if you want to help stop the Stealth Triggerlock scheme in Georgia.
2. If you haven't already called your own State Rep., make sure you do it by 10:00 am Fri. morning. After that, not many messages are likely to actually get to your Rep. for the rest of the day.
3. The NRA has taken a neutral position on SB1. That means it's okay for NRA members to call in support of the Self-Defense amendment.
4. Forward this e-mail to every gun owner you know in Georgia.
Citizens for Safe Government, Inc.
P.O. Box 813764
Smyrna, GA 30081
csg@arms.org
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