A Special Message From
NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris W. Cox
I'm writing you today to talk about one subject, and one subject only--S. 397, the "Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act." This NRA-supported legislation would end reckless, predatory, and potentially bankrupting lawsuits against the gun industry filed by greedy trial lawyers and the gun ban lobby.
You and I have fought side-by-side to end these outrageous suits. Time and again, I have urged you to contact your lawmakers, to write letters to the editor, and to spread the word to your family, friends, and fellow firearm owners. Time and again, you have answered the call--you always do. For that, I am eternally grateful. Now I am calling upon you once again to help end the job we started years ago.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) has scheduled a Senate vote on S. 397 before Congress adjourns for its "Summer District Work Period" (Aug. 1-Sept. 5). That means votes will occur on the bill next week!
I know you will once again contact your U.S. Senators, today and again next week, and urge them to support S. 397--without any anti-gun amendments--when it is brought to the Senate floor. Your U.S. Senators need to hear directly from you that you consider any votes in support of anti-gun amendments to this legislation as votes against the bill itself.
Next week will see a lot of heated debate in the U.S. Senate. Expect the anti-gunners to throw everything including the kitchen sink at this bill in the form of gun control amendments--.50 caliber rifle bans, semi-auto bans, bans on gun shows, etc. We can and will achieve our mutual goal of finally enacting this common sense law, but only with your continued assistance. Please help us finish the job!
(For more complete information on S. 397, and to contact your U.S. Senators, please go to http://www.nraila.org/stoprecklesslawsuits.aspx.. You may also call your U.S. Senators at (202) 224-3121. Please share this information with everyone you know who supports the Second Amendment!)
EXCERPTS FROM SENATOR FRIST'S ANNOUNCEMENT ON S. 397 VOTE
"We will consider gun liability legislation before we leave. Given the profusion of litigation, the Department of Defense faces the very real prospect of outsourcing sidearms for our soldiers to foreign manufacturers.
"The Beretta Corporation, for instance, makes the standard sidearm for the U.S. Armed Forces. They have the long term contracts to supply these pistols to our forces in Iraq. Recently, the company had this to say: ‘The decision of the D.C. Court of Appeals . . . has the likelihood of bankrupting, not only Beretta U.S.A., but every maker of semiautomatic pistols and rifles since 1991' [the year Washington D.C. passed its onerous ban].
"Without this legislation it is probable the American manufacturers of legal firearms will be faced with a real prospect of going out of business, ending a critical source of supply for our armed forces, our police and our citizens.
"These frivolous suits threaten a domestic industry that is critical to our national defense, jeopardize hundreds of thousands of jobs, and put at risk that law abiding citizens have access to guns for recreational use. Many support this legislation...and I am hopeful that with the cooperation of members, we can complete all action on this legislation before the recess."
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