ALERT-AWB info from MMM website

[brookstexas]

Date: Fri, 25 Jun 2004 23:58:54 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: Important--- Possible AWB amendment/legislation in next few weeks
From: David Cronin <arfcom@netlane.com>
Newsgroups: rec.guns
Posted in various firearms related forums.

#From an MMM Action Alert....


ATTENTION ALL MOMS AND SUPPORTERS:
We are down to the wire now on the AWB. Only 23 more "working days" that
Congress will be in session before the Assault Weapons Ban expires on September
13.

The Feinstein/Warner bill to renew the ban is planned to be introduced in the
Senate as early as this coming week. (S.2109, the Assault Weapons Ban
Reauthorization Act of 2004) They plan to attach it to a class action bill that
the Republicans really want. We had a conference call with Senator Feinstein
last week and as she said, a renewal is all we can hope for, no chance to
strengthen the bill.

THIS IS WHAT WE NEED TO DO NOW:

1) Call Senator John Warner and THANK him for sponsoring this bill.

2) Call Senator George Allen and ask him to please return to his initial
positive position on the AWB issue and support this bill.

3) Call Senator John Kerry, thank him for supporting the AWB and ask him to
please arrange his campaign schedule so that he can return to Washington to vote
for the bill. He did this once before and we desperately need his vote. We can't
afford to lose 1 vote!

YOU CAN USE THE CAPITOL SWITCHBOARD FOR ALL THESE CALLS. THEY WILL CONNECT YOU
TO THE OFFICES. YOU WILL SPEAK TO AN AIDE AND YOUR OPINION WILL BE RECORDED AND
REPORTED TO THE SENATORS. (202-224-3121)

THEY NEED TO HEAR FROM US. They are being bombarded with negative calls from the
NRA who threaten to defeat their re-elections if they vote for the ban. THE
SENATORS NEED TO KNOW THAT THEIR CONSTITUENTS WANT THEM TO VOTE TO RENEW THE
BAN! The NRA has convinced them that their group speaks for the majority of
Americans. They do not! This issue isn't even controversial, expect to the NRA.
The vast majority of Americans support the ban.

And, please, tell everyone you know about this - especially people in other
states. Ask them to call their Senators with the same message. I will forward a
MMM email to you that will list how all the Senators voted on the AWB when it
was attached to the Immunity bill in March so they will know how their Senators
voted.

We will be doing more of this and other things in the next few weeks. We will
keep you up to date on the AWB in the House of Representatives as soon as we
have news.

Thank you for taking the time and making the effort to do this. We can not lose.
We must not fail.

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

Some background info on S. 2062 ("Class Action Fairness Act of 2004")

http://www.nldhlaw.com/CM/Articles/Articles182.asp

This bill is a priority for Republicans and President Bush.
It is currently on the Senate calendar.
This bill is very desirable by large corporations.
Senate Democrats have vowed to load it down with "poison pill" amendments in
order to stop it. However, if Feinstein can convince fellow Dems to hold off on
their amendments and only allow her AWB to be attached, it's conceivable
the entire bill would pass.

Additionally, on June 24th, the House of Representatives passed HR 218 ("Law
Enforcement Officers Safety Act of 2003"). The companion bill in the Senate is
S. 253.
This is the bill that would allow active duty and retired police officers to
carry concealed firearms outside their state of residency. This bill has huge
bi-partisan support: it has 297 co-sponsors in the House and 71 in the Senate.
The Fraternal Order of Police has made this a top priority.

http://www.grandlodgefop.org/press/pr040623a.html

There exists the strong possibility that Feinstein could also use this bill
(S.253), to attach any AWB amendment.

Several people have called the Senators office and an aide has confirmed that
Feinstein does indeed plan on re-introducing her AWB legislation as a part of
another bill. At that time no other information was divulged as to when and
exactly which bill would be the vehicle.

The AWB is due to sunset in 79 days. However, here are only 20 legislative days
left for Congress to vote on it. After today, Congress will take a brief recess
and reconvene on July 6th. It should be expected that either of the two bills
mentioned will be brought up for debate between then and July 26th when Congress
takes a six week Summer recess.

There is no question that Feinstein has every intention of seeing the AWB
renewed. It's going to come down to her best opportunity. When that opportunity
arises, gunowners are going to have little to no warning in order to respond to
our representatives. That's why it's imperative that we start looking to take
action now.

Many pro RKBA people keep saying not to worry about the AWB being passed as
stand alone legislation or as an amendment to another bill as it will be
defeated or stripped out in the House. That very well may be true, howver the
first counter-attack should be that any legislation with AWB language never
reachs the House to begin with.

Contact your representatives and get their commitment to vote against any AWB
legislation. Ask if they're aware of the possibility of an AWB being attached to
either S.2062 or S.253.

There's only 79 days left to regain part of our 2nd Amendment rights. It would
be an injustice to lose now when we're so close.

Contact information for your Senator.

http://www.senate.gov/general/contac...nators_cfm.cfm

Senate switchboard number is (202-224-3121)


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[Bartholomew Roberts]

This bill will come up for debate on the Senate floor on Tuesday (July 6th).

We need to be contacting our Senators now and letting them know that no AWB renewal amendment is acceptable in any bill.