Action Needed: Concealed Weapons License May Become Useless

Date:        July 21, 2008
TO:          Florida Gun Owners
FROM:     Marion P. Hammer
               USF Executive Director
               NRA Past President

CORPORATE GIANTS ARE GRINDING YOUR GUN RIGHTS
INTO THE DIRT OF THEIR PARKING LOTS.

Dear Florida Gun Owner:

If you have, or plan to have, a Florida license to carry a concealed firearm, or if you ever carry a firearm in your private vehicle for self-defense or other lawful purposes, those rights are in grave danger.

Corporate giants in Florida have threatened to destroy your right to have a firearm in your personal vehicle when you park your private car or truck in a publicly accessible parking lot.

We are currently locked in a costly legal battle in federal court against the Chamber of Commerce and the Brady Campaign.  They seek to overthrow the new law, HB-503, passed in April and signed by Governor Crist that protects your right to carry firearms in your private vehicle.  This reckless action, brought by the Chamber of Commerce and other gun ban groups, is being funded by well-heeled anti-gun corporate giants.

In April 2008, with NRA's support, the Legislature stood up for your rights and passed legislation allowing you to keep a firearm locked in your private vehicle in publicly accessible parking lots. Governor Charlie Crist stood up for your rights and signed the legislation into law to protect us from corporate giants.

While many business owners, including Sea World and Busch Gardens, respect our constitutional right to keep and bear arms, the Florida Chamber of Commerce and the Florida Retail Federation are not speaking for them.  The Florida Chamber and Retail Federation are speaking for The Walt Disney Corporation, Publix Supermarkets, Georgia Pacific and other corporate giants that are funding the assault on our constitutional rights.

In this legal challenge to defend our rights, NRA depends solely on your support. And we can't do it alone and won't succeed in protecting our rights unless you act today.

WHAT IS AT STAKE?

Your right to carry is meaningless if you cannot drive into a parking lot owned by a supermarket, theme park, or retail store or any other business that has a bias against firearms ownership and self-defense...and doesn't care about your safety when you are on your way to or from work or in the course of daily business.

This promises to be a long and expensive court battle. But the National Rifle Association is standing right along side the Attorney General of Florida to protect our rights no matter what it takes.

Please join us in this fight to save constitutional rights from big business -- using their mega-million-dollar budgets -- to crush freedom in Florida.  Working together, we can fight back and win.

PLEASE send a contribution TODAY. No matter where you live, no matter what city, what county -- this is a fight that affects all of us. Right-to-carry laws are meaningless if corporate bullies are allowed to eliminate them in Florida by decree.

Send a contribution today.  Click Here

Or use this link: 

https://secure.nraila.org/Contribute.aspx?t=FLParking&key=1830G10010

I'm counting on you to make a special contribution in the amount of $25, $50, $75 or any other amount you can afford to preserve our rights.

Thank you for your help and support.

Marion P. Hammer
NRA Past President
The National Rifle Association of America
11250 Waples Mill Road
Fairfax, VA 22030

Please continue to check www.NRAILA.org for updates on this important issue.