NRA WILL BE CLOSED ON JULY 4 & 5
AND WILL RE-OPEN ON JULY 8
HOUSE FLOOR DEBATE
<align=center>ON ARMING PILOTS UPCOMING
When Congress returns next week from its Independence Day recess, we anticipate H.R. 4635 will be one of the first bills brought to the House floor for consideration. This legislation would mandate the establishment of a test program to allow as many as 1,400 properly trained commercial airline pilots to have access to firearms as a last line of defense against terrorist hijackers. The test program has bipartisan support, and would give preference to pilots with prior military or law enforcement experience. While the NRA would like to see this option extended to all properly trained flight deck crew, this legislation represents a good first step in the right direction.
The full House should take up H.R. 4635 for floor debate some time next week, perhaps as early as Monday. We can anticipate some lawmakers will place their anti-gun extremist agenda above the interests of airline security, and they will try to gut this legislation with unacceptable amendments. Call your U.S. Representative at (202) 225-3121 and urge him to oppose any anti-gun amendments to H.R. 4635, and to vote for it when it is brought to the House floor for consideration.
In addition, S. 2554, the bill in the U.S. Senate which seeks to arm properly trained flight deck crew, has 12 cosponsors, and could use more. Please contact your U.S. Senators at (202) 224-3121 and urge them to cosponsor S. 2554. Those on the Internet can find additional contact information by using our "Write Your Representatives" tool.
ATTEND TOWN HALL MEETINGS
Congress is on break for its Independence Day District Work Period, and is scheduled to return July 8. Please contact your lawmakers’ district offices and ask if or when they plan to hold town hall meetings during the recess. If you do not know the number for your lawmakers’ district offices, you can use our "Write Your Representatives" tool, or call the NRA-ILA Grassroots Division at (800) 392-8683.
In addition to attending meetings and speaking out in support of our Right to Keep and Bear Arms, please forward the dates, times, and locations of any town hall meetings to your family members and friends who support the Second Amendment, and to the NRA-ILA Grassroots Division, so we may share this information with the pro-gun community. Please forward this information to the Grassroots Division by calling our toll-free number, faxing to (703) 267-3918, or by sending an e-mail to [email protected].
You can find listings of the town hall meetings we currently know about by clicking here.
NRA-ILA GRASSROOTS
<align=center>ELECTION WORKSHOPS
In preparation for the upcoming campaign season, NRA-ILA is hosting FREE Grassroots-Election Workshops in several areas across the country. Three Workshops will take place in California—in Sacramento on July 9, Fresno on July 11, and San Diego on July 13. Two more Workshops are scheduled for Kansas, with the first in Wichita on July 11, and the second in Overland Park on July 13. South Dakota has Workshops scheduled for Rapid City on July 15 and Pierre on July 17. There are three Workshops slated for Arizona—in Flagstaff on July 20, Scottsdale on July 22, and Tucson on July 23. And Albuquerque, N.M., is set for an August 17 Workshop. At these Workshops, you will learn what you can do in your own community to ensure pro-gun candidates are elected to office this election season. NRA members who are interested in attending should contact the NRA-ILA Grassroots Division at (800) 392-8683 for details and to reserve their spots. NRA members can also reserve their spots on-line.
2002 ELECTIONS
<align=center>CLOSER THAN YOU THINK
November 5
, Election Day 2002, is only four months away, and the pro-gun community needs to be ready to make its collective voice heard at the polls. But before the polls open that Tuesday, there is plenty of work that will need to be done. If you are interested in getting more involved with upcoming election activities, we encourage you to consider working with your NRA-ILA’s Election Volunteer Coordinator (EVC)—or maybe you would like to become an EVC yourself!
EVCs (one per Congressional district) act as the liaisons between NRA members in their districts and various pro-Second Amendment campaigns. The main goal of each EVC is to provide these campaigns with dedicated, educated volunteers to assist with phone banks, literature drops, voter registration drives, Election Day activities, and other critical campaign volunteer tasks.
The NRA-ILA Grassroots staff has already recruited a vast number of EVCs to serve in the 2002 elections, but we still have vacancies. If you are interested in serving as your congressional district’s EVC, would like to get in touch with your current EVC, or are simply interested in learning more about the EVC program in general, please contact the Grassroots Division at (800) 392-8683. Those on the Internet can find contact information for their EVC—and can check to see if there is an EVC vacancy for their Congressional district—by clicking here.
We need to have our EVCs in place now, so we may focus our efforts in 2002 on ensuring our EVCs and their grassroots networks will be ready to work with various pro-freedom campaigns. Please call today!
A LOOK AT THE STATES
NORTH CAROLINA
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This week, the NRA-backed lawsuit preemption bill, H.B. 622, sponsored by Representative P. Wayne Sexton (R-73), passed out of Senate Judiciary II Committee. This important legislation will prevent municipalities from filing politically-motivated lawsuits that attempt to hold gun makers liable for the criminal misuse of their products. Although this move represents a positive step in the fight to establish a lawsuit preemption statute in North Carolina, there is still work to be done. This bill could face a vote on the Senate floor as soon as next week, so supporters of the Second Amendment must act quickly. Please call your Senator immediately and urge him to support H.B. 622. If you are unsure of how to reach your Senator, please call the main General Assembly number, at (919) 733-7928, and ask for assistance. You can also use our "Write Your Representatives" tool.
HAVE A HAPPY AND SAFE
<align=center>INDEPENDENCE DAY WEEKEND!
