ALERT

THIS INFORMATION IS HERE TO KEEP YOU INFORMED

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
this is a very dangerous bill

Senate Passes Anti-gun Incumbent Protection Bill
-- Battle moves to the House

Gun Owners of America E-Mail/FAX Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
http://www.gunowners.org

ACTION: If one or both of your Senators voted for the
unconstitutional Incumbent Protection Bill, please forward your
displeasure to them by phone, fax or email. (See below for the list
of Senators voting for S. 27.) Be sure to thank your Senator if he
voted right. Also, please communicate with President George Bush
and let him know that S. 27 deserves a veto if it ever gets to his
desk.

(Tuesday, April 3, 2001) -- Americans should be hopping mad.
Senators yesterday voted for a bill that was nothing other than an
Incumbent Protection Plan, pure and simple.

The anti-gun bill, S. 27, works to silence the voice of outside
groups, like GOA, that help educate voters before an election. At
the same time, the bill enhances the ability of the politicians in
the Republican and Democrat parties to raise and spend money to get
their candidates elected.

The bill, sponsored by Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Russ
Feingold (D-WI), passed the Senate by a 59-41 vote. Eleven
Republicans, other than McCain, broke ranks with their leadership.

The anti-gun McCain bill would prohibit groups like GOA from running
TV or radio ads that mention a candidate's name in the 60 days prior
to an election. [This restriction entered the bill through the
Wellstone amendment -- the contents of which GOA reported last
week.] In other words, S. 27 prohibits many kinds of free speech
two months before an election for everyone but the media, the
parties and federal candidates.

Moreover, the Senate Incumbent Protection Bill increases the amount
of money that the parties can receive during an election cycle,
while freezing the dollar amounts given to political action
committees (PACs) operated by groups like GOA.

For example, contribution limits to state and local party committees
will be doubled, and dollar limits to the national party committees
will be increased by 25%. But the amount of money which individuals
can give to grassroots PACs, such as the one run by Gun Owners of
America, will NOT be increased at all under the provisions of S. 27.

Get the picture? More money and more freedom for federal candidates
and the parties that represent them. But more restrictions for the
people who wish to complain about their behavior in office.

In a strongly worded letter to Senators, GOA explained that support
for this bill would be regarded as nothing other than an effort to
restrict the First Amendment to cover their own moral inadequacies.
In a letter dated March 29, 2001, GOA Executive Director stated that
it is no surprise that:

Senator [McCain] who shamed the nation with his membership in the
Keating 5 [has led] the effort to silence outside criticism of
incumbents.... The problem with the American political system is
NOT that too much free speech has educated the American people too
thoroughly on dangerous legislation which would impact them.

Rather, the problem with the American political system is that
politicians who enter $8 million book deals, steal furniture from
the government, lie under oath, sell presidential pardons, and
date rape federal employees on government property believe they
can cover their own indiscretions by taking away the First
Amendment rights of others.

The Senate bill is an abomination. It now moves to the House, where
Republican leaders such as Minority Whip Tom DeLay (R-TX) have
committed to do everything in their power to torpedo the
legislation. GOA is working with House leaders to devise strategies
to kill the bill as well.

One big question mark, however, remains regarding President George
Bush. It is unclear how he would act if the Senate bill were sent
to him. Bush opposes some of the aspects in S. 27, but he has said
he will sign a bill that "improves the system."

CONTACT INFORMATION:

1. You can contact the Senate at 202-224-3121, or toll-free at
1-877-762-8762. To identify your Senators, as well as to send a
message via e-mail, see the Legislative Action Center at
http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm on the GOA website.

2. You can contact the President by phone at 202-456-1414 or by fax
at 202-456-2461; president@whitehouse.gov is the e-mail address.

HERE'S THE SENATORS WHO VOTED IN FAVOR OF THE INCUMBENT PROTECTION BILL:

Akaka (D-HI) Domenici (R-NM) Lugar (R-IN)
Baucus (D-MT) Dorgan (D-ND) McCain (R-AZ)
Bayh (D-IN) Durbin (D-IL) Mikulski (D-MD)
Biden (D-DE) Edwards (D-NC) Miller (D-GA)
Bingaman (D-NM) Feingold (D-WI) Murray (D-WA)
Boxer (D-CA) Feinstein (D-CA) Nelson (D-FL)
Byrd (D-WV) Fitzgerald (R-IL) Reed (D-RI)
Cantwell (D-WA) Graham (D-FL) Reid (D-NV)
Carnahan (D-MO) Harkin (D-IA) Rockefeller (D-WV)
Carper (D-DE) Inouye (D-HI) Sarbanes (D-MD)
Chafee (R-RI) Jeffords (R-VT) Schumer (D-NY)
Cleland (D-GA) Johnson (D-SD) Snowe (R-ME)
Clinton (D-NY) Kennedy (D-MA) Specter (R-PA)
Cochran (R-MS) Kerry (D-MA) Stabenow (D-MI)
Collins (R-ME) Kohl (D-WI) Stevens (R-AK)
Conrad (D-ND) Landrieu (D-LA) Thompson (R-TN)
Corzine (D-NJ) Leahy (D-VT) Torricelli (D-NJ)
Daschle (D-SD) Levin (D-MI) Wellstone (D-MN)
Dayton (D-MN) Lieberman (D-CT) Wyden (D-OR)
Dodd (D-CT) Lincoln (D-AR)

TO SENATORS WHO VOTED IN FAVOR OF THE INCUMBENT PROTECTION BILL:

Dear Senator:

I was disappointed to see that you voted in favor of such an
unconstitutional measure as the McCain-Feingold bill. S. 27 is
nothing more than an Incumbent Protection Bill which will increase
the money (and power) that federal politicians can wield to get
themselves elected. At the same time, the Wellstone amendment in
the bill works to silence watchdog groups that I depend upon to let
me know how my elected officials are behaving. Shame!

TO THE PRESIDENT:

Dear President Bush:

I was disappointed to see that the Senate voted for such an
unconstitutional measure as the McCain-Feingold bill. S. 27 is
nothing more than an Incumbent Protection Bill which will increase
the money (and power) that federal politicians can wield to get
themselves elected. At the same time, the Wellstone amendment in
the bill works to silence watchdog groups that I depend upon to let
me know how my elected officials are behaving. If S. 27 ever gets
to your desk, I hope you will not hesitate to veto it, as it
squelches the First Amendment rights of all Americans. Thank you.

**************
Special! Become a GOA Life Member ($500) and receive one thousand
dollars ($1000) in free world-class training! Front Sight Firearms
Training Institute offers a two-day defensive handgun course,
two-day tactical shotgun course, or a two-day practical rifle course
PLUS a one-day submachine gun course where they provide the Uzis and
all the ammo! This $1000 value is free for new GOA Life Members.
Please see http://www.gunowners.org/subguns.htm for details.

**************

[Please circulate this report far and wide. Invite those not presently subscribing to sign up at http://www.gunowners.org/ean.htm for GOA's low volume e-mail alerts.]

2000: The Year in Review Gun Owners of America E-Mail/FAX Alert 8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151 Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408 http://www.gunowners.org

What They're Saying About GOA Rep. John Hostettler, (R-IN) "Gun Owners of America is the pit bull of the Second Amendment. They are relentless and never give any ground whatsoever to the gun grabbers." Retiring Rep. Helen Chenoweth (R-ID) "GOA is close to standing alone in Washington. They do not tell their members one thing and do another inside the beltway. They are tough and they don't give up." U.S. Senator Bob Smith, (R-NH) "You and your members are great patriots." Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) "GOA is the only no-compromise gun lobby in Washington." Roll Call, the newspaper of record on Capitol Hill: "Gun Owners of America is considered the most aggressive pro-gun lobbying organization." GOA Members Dodge a Bullet This Year After Hard Work Kills Gun Control "Members of Congress work in dread of receiving the hundreds, even thousands, of postcards, letters, and phone calls.... When Senator Patrick Leahy [D-VT] voted in favor of a relatively minor piece of gun-control legislation, 'we got hundreds of postcards overnight,' said a Leahy aide." -- Boston Globe, 8/7/00 It was supposed to be a done deal. "Accord near on gun bill," one headline blared on September 24, 1999. Negotiators are "close to agreement," opined the Associated Press. New gun controls were imminent. Indeed, many people thought the "fix" was in. Gun owners were facing new gun bans, gun owner registration and self-defense restrictions. Supposedly, there was nothing we could do. Some gun owners were even suggesting that we agree to gun control "lite" to minimize the damage. The media, those in Congress and the White House -- all of them agreed that something was going to pass. Well, that was September 1999. More than a year later, those same experts were pronouncing the gun bill dead. What happened? What happened was that Capitol Hill felt the power of the grassroots. GOA members unleashed a torrent of postcards and letters upon Washington. Legislators were flooded with complaint after complaint as e-mail, faxes and phone calls upped the pressure even more. Legislative offices told Roll Call, the newspaper of record on Capitol Hill, that the collective voice of GOA members was quite loud. "Gun Owners [of America] is... much more active. They moved quickly and we heard from their people," said one House leadership source close to the juvenile crime issue. The victory over the anti-gun juvenile bill (H.R. 1501) has clearly demonstrated the power that committed gun owners can have upon legislation in Congress. There is no need to retreat in the face of our opponents. We don't need to offer gun control "lite" as an alternative whenever Sen. Chuck Schumer wants another gun ban. We don't need to compromise; we just need to organize. And that we did. Gun owners won big with the defeat of the anti-gun juvenile bill. We won big with the passage of Rep. John Hostettler's "gun owners protection act," and with the defeat of several anti-gun measures. Consider just some of the victories we accomplished together this year: * The Clinton administration cut a horrendous deal with Smith & Wesson in March that imposed new restrictions on gun buyers and dealers. GOA subsequently pushed a "gun owners protection act" -- offered by Rep. John Hostettler of Indiana -- which helps ensure that other gun makers will not join Smith & Wesson in selling out gun owners. The Hostettler provision became law in October and prohibits the military from rewarding S&W's perfidy with fat government contracts. * GOA activists won a key battle when they helped kill an anti-gun Schumer amendment that threatened to put gun makers out of business. The provision would have helped the cities bringing suit against gun makers by preventing them from declaring legitimate bankruptcy, thus discharging any enormous judgments that result from frivolous lawsuits. * Holding a letter from GOA in her hand, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) stood on the Senate floor attacking GOA in March after we refused to support her gun control "compromise." Boxer's anti-gun amendment, which instructed House-Senate conferees to finish its work on the anti-gun juvenile bill, subsequently failed by one vote. * GOA members put intense pressure on Utah Senator Orrin Hatch to change his position and stop supporting the anti-gun juvenile bill. After thousands upon thousands of postcards, letters and telephone calls, Sen. Hatch finally "saw the light." President Clinton later lamented the fact that Sen. Hatch had changed his tune, noting that "there's so much pressure on Senator Hatch not to call a meeting" to pass the anti-gun juvenile bill. * Incredibly, after months and months of grassroots pressure from GOA members this year, almost 50 Representatives and Senators switched their votes away from their previous support for the anti-gun bill. The massive defections doomed the chances of post-Columbine gun control from passing. And finally, GOA members and activists helped kill one of the sneakiest gun bans ever devised. The Defense Department would have been authorized to confiscate and destroy any military surplus item that had ever been sold by the government -- M1 Carbines, 1903 Springfields, Colt SAAs, uniforms, ammo, scopes, antique planes, anti-aircraft guns in front of VFW posts, and much more. All these items could have been confiscated and destroyed by the government. Gun Owners of America put out e-mail and fax alerts asking our members to contact their congressmen and demand removal of this incredible gun grab. The bill had already passed both houses of Congress by huge margins -- nobody reads the bills -- and was in a conference committee to iron out differences. One of the members of that committee, anti-gun Republican Senator John Warner of Virginia, was crucial. GOA mailed postcards to our members in the state urging them to put the heat on Warner. Two days after the mail went out, Warner's office called asking what was going on. We told them they were on the verge of angering not only gun owners, but veterans as well. The message evidently got through. Thanks to the tireless members of Gun Owners of America who are always ready when called, Congress felt the heat. The Pearl Harbor attack on the Second Amendment was averted by the flood of calls and e-mail directed to Congress. This year's success gives us hope for next year. We want to press forward for even greater victories. GOA will fight for national concealed carry reciprocity. We will work to pass the Citizen's Self-defense Act. We want to stop the frivolous lawsuits against the gun industry -- lawsuits that threaten to put an end to the buying and selling of guns in this country. It is going to be a tough two years. But with your help, GOA will fight for these things. With your help, GOA will battle the compromisers who want to sign off on gun bans at gun shows, to register private sales, and to impose anti-safety devices upon every handgun owner. With your help, GOA will stand against the media pundits who continue beating the drums for more and more draconian restrictions. GOA can do a lot with your help. But we need you to stand with us. Thank you for supporting Gun Owners of America and making us your gun lobby. If You're Not Yet A GOA Member, Is It Time You Became One? The ability of GOA to continue putting pressure on politicians depends on loyal activists like yourself. So if you would like to keep up on other issues; if you would like to get our special Fact Sheets which are only provided to GOA members; if you would like to receive our very informative newsletter and get pre-printed postcards that enable you to easily lobby your own Congressmen -- even to the point of becoming an "arm chair lobbyist" while watching TV commercials -- then please become a GOA member today! Join GOA today online at http://www.gunowners.org/ordergoamem.htm or call 703-321-8585. Or print and mail the following form.

******************************************************************************

FIRST ADMENDMENT IS BEING ATTACKED-STILL-8-2000

ACTION: Contact your Senators (1-800-522-6721) and urge
them to oppose S. 25. The Associated Press reports that the
Senate has 49 votes willing to support the bill. That is how
close this dangerous bill is to passing -- although it is 11
votes shy of overcoming an expected filibuster. Also, a
compromise bill is in the works. Ask them not to settle for any
compromises that would limit your First Amendment rights, or the
rights of those groups (like GOA) that represent you.

(Tuesday, September 30, 1997) -- Last Friday, the Senate
began debating so-called "campaign finance" legislation, but a
vote is not expected until October 6 or 7. The legislation your
Senators will be voting on would seriously hamper (if not
prevent) the ability of gun groups and other political
organizations to publish the anti-gun records of incumbents.

In reality, this legislation is an "Incumbent Protection"
bill masquerading as campaign finance "reform." Consider how
these bills (S. 25 and H.R. 493) will seriously prevent gun
owners from removing anti-gun politicians from Congress:

1. Regulate GOA's Communications. As introduced, both the
House and Senate bills would seriously hinder the ability of
groups to help pro-gun candidates and to educate pro-gun voters.
If a group like GOA had ever communicated with a candidate or his
campaign at any time, it could possibly be barred from making
independent expenditures on behalf of that candidate (section
251, H.R. 493). Such limitations on expenditures include
mailings, issue (pro-gun) advertisements, or other forms of
action which are not coordinated with any campaign and are
therefore constitutionally protected from regulation. It is only
natural for gun groups to talk to legislators favoring your gun
rights. This provision would thus squelch speech and hamstring
the gun lobbies that you support. Both bills would also regulate
GOA's educating of voters: GOA mailings which ask recipients to
contact their congressman, and which cost in excess of $10,000,
would have to be registered (sec. 241, S. 25; sec. 254 H.R. 493)
-- and could even be outlawed.

2. Slash the Political Power of the Pro-Gun Movement. S.
25 would ban political action committee (PAC) contributions to
federal candidates (section 201). For Second Amendment groups,
this ban on PACs -- coupled with the elimination of independent
expenditures -- would outlaw virtually any involvement in the
national political process.

While H.R. 493 stops just short of an outright ban (section
201), the effect of drying up seed money for challengers would
be to virtually eliminate any serious challenges to well-known
incumbents. Incumbents are handed over $5 million of taxpayer
funds to conduct their operations (including their pro rata share
of the general operations of Congress). Used effectively, these
resources can be channeled into a formidable reelection effort.
Without seed money from PACs, challengers will find it
considerably more difficult to take on this form of
taxpayer-financed publicity machine.

3. Insulate Anti-gun Incumbents. Because incumbents
already have strong name recognition -- and because pro-gun
groups would be prohibited from being active in the political
process -- it would be virtually impossible to attempt to remove
congressmen for their anti-gun votes.

The media would, of course, be free to continue its anti-gun
drum beat. The result is that a pro-gun vote would politically
jeopardize an incumbent's political career, while an anti-gun
vote would enhance it. Under these circumstances, whatever
incentives there are to stand up for the Second Amendment would
crumble. How long would the manufacture, importation, sale and
ownership of firearms in America continue under this system?

4. Expand the power of Federal Bureaucrats. The two
"Incumbent Protection" bills (S. 25 and H.R. 493) would also vest

the Federal Election Commission (FEC) with new far-reaching
powers in order to enforce the massively expanded prohibitions in
these bills. Among other things, the FEC will be empowered to
conduct random audits of gun groups (sec. 302, S. 25; sec. 301,
H.R. 493), place prior restraints on political activity (sec.
303, S. 25; sec. 306, H.R. 493) and more.

Final Notes: The sponsorship of S. 25 marks an "unholy
alliance" between Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Russ Feingold
(D-WI). There is a Constructive Republican Alternative Proposal
(note the acronym) which will later be debated on the Senate
floor. The "compromise" bill, while scaled back in some
respects, will still ban or limit a lot of political activity in
which citizens currently engage.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

In the House: GOA earlier alerted you to a pro-gun
amendment which Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) had successfully
attached to the Treasury-Postal Appropriations bill.
Unfortunately, this amendment, which would have protected the
importation of certain semi-automatic firearms, was stripped from
the bill on the House floor on September 17 without a vote. To
see who betrayed gun owners, look for details in the upcoming
November issue of The Gun Owners newsletter.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Notable Quotables:

* "The McCain-Feingold election-reform bill, the darling of
the president and his fellow Democrats, expresses Washington's
unique approach to repentance: Instead of punishing colleagues
who have broken laws with ingenuity and flair, honorables want to
define old transgressions out of existence and recategorize
dissent as a federal crime" -- Tony Snow, nationally syndicated
columnist, The Washington Times, September 22, 1997.

* "You want a definition of chutzpah? Forget the kid who
killed his parents and begged for mercy because he was an orphan.
Think instead about Bill Clinton demanding that Congress pass
campaign-finance reform" -- James Pinkerton, Newsday and Los
Angeles Times columnist, quoted in The Washington Times,
September 26, 1997.

e-mail: sjbpub@usa.net