VA-ALERT: Do your part now! - 47 Senators sign letter on National Park carry!!!

[waynesan]

Sen. Mike Crapo has sent a letter to Sec. of Interior Dirk Kempthorne requesting the rules for carrying and transporting weapons in National Parks and Wildllife Refuges be changed to conform to the laws of the States in which the lands are located. This would be a big improvement. Follow this link to the NRA website and read the letter:
http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Read.aspx?ID=3319

47 Senators cosigned the letter. I'm going to call tomorrow and find out why my Sen. ( Lamar Alexander ) is not listed as a cosigner.

[tooltimey]

Wow, what took so long?

We'd better hurry and get this change enacted since bush has all but guaranteed that the next president will be a democrat.

[JaserST4]

We'd better hurry and get this change enacted since bush has all but guaranteed that the next president will be a democrat.

Is that what they are saying on MTV and Air America? I wouldn't pay too much attention to it, Bush is one of the most liberal Republicans to sit in office. The only way to make the cry baby left happy is to committ suicide or bow to their every whim.

[W.E.G.]

VA-ALERT: Do your part now! - 47 Senators sign letter on National Park carry!!!


Pressure on the Department of the Interior (DOI) to change the rules in National Parks and National Wildlife Refuges to allow law-abiding gun owners to carry guns for self-defense has just increased dramatically!

**Forty-seven** Senators have co-signed a letter from Senator Mike Crapo to Dirk Kempthorne, Secretary of the Department of the Interior
(DOI) asking DOI to allow state law to determine if guns can be carried in National Parks and National Wildlife Refuges in that state!

The letter (and a link to the PDF version of the letter) is below.

Virginia Senator Jim Webb signed the letter. Senator John Warner, as usual, was no where to be found.

The NRA was apparently instrumental in getting this letter generated - good job. Now we need to help make this actually happen.

ACTION ITEMS:

First, let's thank Senator Webb for supporting this effort and encourage him to continue putting pressure on DOI to do the right thing.

We also need to contact Senator Warner and urge him to let DOI know that he, too, supports Senator Crapo's efforts.

--

For Senator Webb's web mail, click here:

http://webb.senate.gov/contact/

Subject - select "Civil Liberty"

Suggested message:

I would like to thank you for signing Senator Crapo's letter to the Department of the Interior! Please keep pressure on the Department of the Interior to allow state law to determine if law-abiding citizens are able to carry firearms for self-defense while they are visiting National Parks and National Wildlife Refuges!

--

For Senator Warner's web mail, click here:

http://warner.senate.gov/public/inde...ct.ContactForm

Subject - select "Second Amendment"

Suggested message:

I urge you to send a letter to the Department of the Interior supporting the efforts of Senator Crapo and 46 other Senators to allow state law to determine if law-abiding citizens can carry a firearm for self-defense while visiting National Parks and National Wildlife Refuges. The right for a citizen to defend himself is both Constitutionally protected and is not negotiable.

Please let me know what you are going to do.

--

Here is a link to the letter and the text of the letter:

http://www.nraila.org/Media/PDFs/kempthorne_ltr.pdf

United States Senate
WASHINGTON, DC 20510

December 14, 2007

The Honorable Dirk Kempthorne
Secretary
Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, NW.
Washington DC 20240

Dear Secretary Kempthorne:

We write today concerning a longstanding effort to have the National Park Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service remove their prohibitions on law-abiding citizens from transporting and carrying firearms on lands managed by these agencies.
We appeal to
you on this matter in the interest of Second Amendment rights and consistency in firearms policy across federal public land management agencies.

As you know, 36 CFR 2.4, applicable to the National Park Service, and 50 CFR 27.42, applicable to the Fish and Wildlife Service, prohibits individuals from possessing a firearm on lands managed by those agencies - even citizens with valid concealed weapons permits.

These regulations infringe on the rights of law-abiding gun owners, who wish to transport and carry firearms on or across these lands. Also, you will note that other federal land management agencies, such as the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service allow transporting and carrying of firearms on these lands in accordance with the laws of the host state. These inconsistencies in firearms regulations for public lands are confusing, burdensome, and unnecessary.

For these reasons, we support an exception to 36 CFR 2.4 and 50 CFR
27.42 to allow
law-abiding citizens to transport and carry firearms consistent with state law where the National Park Service's sites and the National Wildlife Refuges are located. Such regulatory changes would respect the Second Amendment rights of law- abiding gun owners, while providing a consistent application of state weapons laws across all land ownership boundaries.

We appreciate the opportunity to share our concerns with you. Please treat this letter in conformance with all applicable procedural rules and ethical guidelines.

Sincerely,

Senator Mike Crapo

Senator Max Baucus

Senator Larry Craig

Senator Tim Johnson

Senator Jim Inhofe

Senator Jon Tester

Senator David Vitter

Senator Mark Pryor

Senator Gordon Smith

Senator Blanche Lincoln

Senator Orrin Hatch

Senator Byron Dorgan

Senator Norm Coleman

Senator Ben Nelson

Senator Tom Coburn

Senator Jim Webb

Senator Judd Gregg

Senator Lisa Murkowski

Senator John Ensign

Senator John Sununu

Senator Ted Stevens

Senator Robert Bennett

Senator Saxby Chambliss

Senator Thad Cochran

Senator Johnny Isakson

Senator John Bunning

Senator Wayne Allard

Senator John Thune

Senator Chuck Grassley

Senator Bob Corker

Senator Trent Lott

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison

Senator Pat Roberts

Senator Mel Martinez

Senator John Cornyn

Senator Richard Shelby

Senator Chuck Hagel

Senator Lindsey Graham

Senator Elizabeth Dole

Senator Mike Enzi

Senator John McCain

Senator John Barrasso

Senator Sam Brownback

Senator Pete Domenici

Senator Jim DeMint

Senator Jeff Sessions

Senator Jon Kyl

-------------------------------------------
***************************************************************************
VA-ALERT is a project of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc.
(VCDL). VCDL is an all-volunteer, non-partisan grassroots organization dedicated to defending the human rights of all Virginians. The Right to Keep and Bear Arms is a fundamental human right.

VCDL web page: http://www.vcdl.org
***************************************************************************

[SkySlash]

My Senators are already on board, so I'll send a thank you rather than a please join.

-SS

[azsixshooter]

Sounds great, I will look into this but hope our guys here in AZ are already behind it.

Funny, I was JUST thinking about this very thing on the way to work last night.

[waynesan]

Here is the llink to the actual letter sent by Sen. Crapo:

http://www.nraila.org/Media/PDFs/kempthorne_ltr.pdf

You can see all the Senators who cosigned listed.

Sen. Corker from Tenn. is one of the cosigners but Lamar Alexander would not sign it. I called his office and his staff person told me Sen. Alexander thought the way the rule is now has been working pretty good and he would not join the effort for change unless the Dept. of Interior approved of the change. Not too good in my opinion for a man who ran as a "strong supporter of Second Amendment Rights."

[Glenn E. Meyer]

How come Bush and the Senators didn't do this when he had a GOP majority in Congress? Too busy worrying about Terry Schiavo?

Can we just admit that Bush was a failure in being proactive for the RKBA?

[Al Norris]

If it's any consolation Glenn, I tried to make that point prior to the 2000 election.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

In any case, it's a good idea.

I'm a touch of a skeptic. Think it might be proposed now so that it will rile up the RKBA true believers? This bill will go nowhere with the Dems in control of the House and Senate (weaker there). Thus, its defeat will point out that if the Dems get the White House - there will be hell to pay on the RKBA? So hold your nose and vote GOP

Of course, if one did this a long time ago - wouldn't have the issue to rile up the choir.

Sigh.

[tooltimey]

How come Bush and the Senators didn't do this when he had a GOP majority in Congress? Too busy worrying about Terry Schiavo?

Can we just admit that Bush was a failure in being proactive for the RKBA?

Like admitting that Ted Kennedy is a drunk or that Britney is out of control.

Is that what they are saying on MTV and Air America? I wouldn't pay too much attention to it, Bush is one of the most liberal Republicans to sit in office. The only way to make the cry baby left happy is to committ suicide or bow to their every whim.

That rant didn't make any sense and didn't apply to what I said. Bush has destroyed the credibility of the rep party and it really doesn't even matter what channel or website you go to, you can sense it. Just because Limbaugh talks like he lives in a bubble with "dubya" and thinks republicans still have credibility, doesn't change the last election.

[Mr. James]

What bill? There is no bill. The signers are asking the Department of the Interior to effect changes in its regulations to permit state law to control carrying of firearms in these park and refuge areas. That's all.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

If you had the Presidency and both Houses, can't you compell this with a bill?

Also, if Bush is in charge of the Executive Branch, can he compell them to change this regulation? Not a Constitutional Scholar here but is this in his ability?

Why not ask he do this, if he can?

[tooltimey]

Also, if Bush is in charge of the Executive Branch, can he compell them to change this regulation?

Yep, bush could have done this on the first day of his first inauguration.

Why hasn't Kempthorne already done this on his own? What was Kempthorne like in congress? He was probably a pro establishment ladder climber and bush rewarded that loyalty by appointing him to be a high level bureaucrat. Gotta love washington.

[JaserST4]

That rant didn't make any sense and didn't apply to what I said. Bush has destroyed the credibility of the rep party and it really doesn't even matter what channel or website you go to, you can sense it. Just because Limbaugh talks like he lives in a bubble with "dubya" and thinks republicans still have credibility, doesn't change the last election.

A. It did make sense. You responded to it, right?
B. It wasn't a rant.
C. Bush won the last presidential election. If you mean the
Senate, they make Bush's poll numbers look good. Where's their credibility?
D. You don't have the authority to declare what everyone else believes, only God does.

[Crosshair]

OK, I see Dorgan signed it, good. I'll have to get on Conrad's case about it and see if he joins in.

[38splfan]

I see niether of mine are on there.
Have to write them the riot act tomorrow

[RDak]

This isn't the most important thing a President has to worry about.

As to Bush not being pro-gun enough? He could have been better but he was a FAR CRY BETTER than what we would have had with a Democrat in office (e.g., Gore and Kerry). And I just shudder at the thought of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton becoming President.

Bush nominated Roberts and Alito for the Supreme Court. If Gore and Kerry were President, and made their Supreme Court nominations, the Court would have clearly been stacked with justices who would probably rule the 2nd Amendment is a collective right in DC vs. Heller.

Also, the Justice Department did a "180" when he came into office by changing its collective right interpretation of the 2nd Amendment to an individual right interpretation.

So Bush hasn't been that bad at all considering the Democratic alternatives. To me, he was a Godsend for Godsakes.

Has there been any anti-gun legislation enacted since Bush was President?

[Mr. James]

I know the Bush-as-Hitler trope is popular in some circles, but no, Bush cannot just pick up the phone and "compel" Congress to deliver a bill to his specifications. He can work with, cajole, strongarm the Republican caucus to push a bill. He can wheel and deal. He can make promises he may or may not intend to keep. He can use his "bully pulpit" to shame Congress into acting. Whether any resultant measure passes, or passes in a form he, Bush, wants to sign is another matter altogether.

And yes, Bush could have told Kempthorne, "hey, Dirk, let's fix this pronto." Could, that is, if such an arcane issue (to most folks) was first on his to-do list. It ain't.

The fix would take the form of changes to the Code of Federal Regulations. That's certainly do-able, and easier than passing new legislation, but one doesn't do it with a phone call or an e-mail.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

The failure of Bush as a proactive gun rights President is proven by the popular argument that he is better than a truly anti-candiate like Kerry and what new anti legislation was passed under his watch.

That's not the point. If he truly was a pro-gun president he could have spent a day discussing proactive thingees (like this) rather than clearing brush on his endless vacations and acted on them.

Remember he had time to act like an hysterical crackpot and fly to Washington for special legislation over Terry Schiavo.

He didn't have a day at least to plan a legislative or regulatory reward for his proRKBA supporters? That's because he hoodwinked all of you social conservatives. He had you in the bag because he was better than Kerry or Gore. So, ******* what - that doesn't excuse his inaction. OH, it's hard to do, not if you have brain. Question answered.

Bush was a failure as a proactive gun rights president. Yes, that's better than Kerry. That doesn't make him a success.

Recall, he would have signed the AWB and torture boy Gonzales supported that. Thank you that the legislators never let a bill get to him.

It is pretty common psychology to start to overvalue X because you hate Y. Sorry, if Y really stinks and X stinks, that doesn't unstink X.

[RDak]

Well you do make some good points Glenn. He could have been better but remember his picks for the Supreme Court could save us and the 180 degree change in the Justice Department's view of individual gun rights were VERY important moves in our favor.

Don't completely discount what Bush has done.

Reality dictates that I MUST look at the lesser of two evils. That's just the way it is.

I hear what you are saying though. Especially about that Terry Schiavo situation.

Where I think he fell pretty far short is in the area of BATF regulations. I've read some pretty alarming stories about certain practices by that agency. Hopefully those stories are overblown but I don't know?

Btw, I like that "unstink X" analogy.