SUPPORT FOR ARMED PILOTS
<align=center>REMAINS HIGH—OPPOSITION WANING
Support for legislation that would establish a program to arm pilots continues to gather momentum. A little over two weeks ago, the House passed by nearly a 3-to-1 margin its bill, H.R. 4635
, which would establish an armed pilots program. Last week’s resignation ofUndersecretary of Transportation for SecurityJohn Magaw—the head of theTransportation Security Administration (TSA), who was publicly opposed to the idea of training pilots how to safely handle a firearm on the flight deck—removed one of the bureaucratic obstacles to passage of this critical legislation. And this week, the U.S. Senate finally began discussing its armed pilots legislation,S. 2554, and Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta’s previous opposition to the proposal seems to be waning.
On Tuesday, Secretary Mineta told the Aviation Subcommittee of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
that he had instructed Magaw’s replacement at TSA, Admiral James M. Loy, to examine the possibility of arming commercial airline pilots. And on Thursday, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation held a hearing on aviation security where the only real vocal opposition to arming pilots expressed by a lawmaker came from U.S. Senator Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.), who chairs the committee.
Hollings’s opposition to armed pilots is so extreme that he rejected a request to testify before Congress from the widow of a pilot who was killed in the September 11 terrorist attacks.Ellen Saracini, whose husband was killed when the plane he piloted,United Airlines Flight 175, was hijacked by terrorists and crashed into theWorld Trade Center, was onThe O’Reilly Factor Wednesday night. She toldBill O’Reilly that Senator Hollings would not let her testify before his committee. After O’Reilly asked if she had contacted Hollings directly, she stated, "I have a letter right here that was addressed to the senator. [U.S.]Senator Bob Smith (R-N.H.) wrote a letter, asking that I be able to testify and it was denied." WhenNRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre heard from Ellen Saracini, and she told him of her not being allowed to testify, LaPierre sent a letter to Senator Hollings asking, "On behalf of our over 4 million members and the tens of millions of Americans who believe in pilots being given a practical and effective tool to defend the cockpit from terrorist attacks, I am appealing to you to give Ellen Saracini the opportunity to testify."
Fortunately, few lawmakers are willing to openly join Hollings in his opposition to S. 2554, while supporters of the bill continue to make themselves known. The bill now has 24 co-sponsors, and U.S. Senator Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) announced he supports the bill after having spoken to two pilots recently when weather delayed his flight out of
Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. Quick action in the Senate on S. 2554 remains critical, so now is the time to contact your U.S. Senators and urge them to support this legislation. Please contact your U.S. Senators at (202) 224-3121 and urge them to cosponsor S. 2554, work to ensure the bill is brought up for consideration, or support its being offered as an amendment to other legislation being considered on the Senate floor. You can find additional contact information by using our "Write Your Representatives" tool. Please also be sure to raise this issue if you attend a town hall meeting over the next several weeks (see story below).
"ATTEMPTED" CRIMES LANGUAGE
<align=center>BLOCKED FROM CORPORATE ACCOUNTABILITY BILL
Thanks to the efforts of U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and others, an attempt to include language in the "
Corporate Accountability Bill,"H.R. 3763, that would have amended the federal criminal code to punishcriminal "attempts" with the same penalty as the underlying crime was unsuccessful. NRA and other opponents of the proposal pointed out that it would have created a vague new category of crimes that could be subject to overlybroad interpretation. NRA opposed the measure, pointing out that it could have subjected innocent mistakes or misunderstandings to federal criminal prosecution.
Instead of the nebulous "attempted" crime language, the final bill focuses only on key federal financial crimes, and would create a new crime for any attempts to defraud shareholders, even if those attempts are not successful. NRA pointed out that most states already allow for people to be punished for attempting to commit most serious crimes without actually completing the act, such as in cases of attempted rape and murder, so a new federal law in this area was not necessary. We thank all those involved, including Senator Leahy, for their efforts.
ANTI-GUN FOUNDATION SUGGESTS
<align=center>ELIMINATING FIREARM SAFETY PROGRAMS
A recent "study" put together by a collection of anti-gun "researchers," and funded by a foundation with
a long anti-gun history, has come to the shocking and dangerous conclusion that programs that teach children how to be safe when firearms are present are ineffective and should be abandoned. TheDavid and Lucille Packard Foundation has funded several biased, anti-gun studies in the past, and provided significant financial support to the anti-gun extremist organization, the "Million Mom March" (MMM). The MMM, you will recall, is the organization that staged a Mother’s Day rally in Washington, D.C., in 2000 (drawing closer to 100,000 participants, rather than its promised million), and was absorbed by the gun-ban lobby formerly known asHCI the following year, after suffering a near catastrophic financial collapse. The list of anti-gun "researchers" included in the "study," coupled with the source of the funding, should be enough to tell most clear-thinking individuals that this latest effort was intended simply as another vehicle to promote the same anti-gun policies that have been championed for many years by the gun-ban movement.
The Packard report makes nine recommendations, most of which would curtail the freedom of law-abiding citizens, while saying absolutely nothing about those who criminally misuse guns. The report’s conclusions range from being extremely predictable to potentially life-threatening. It is expected, of course, to see anti-gun "researchers" conclude that firearms, although already one of the most regulated products in America, should be made subject to increased regulation. In fact, contrary to the Foundation’s suggestion that the manufacture, distribution, and sale of firearms is somehow lacking in any sort of control, the industry is already strictly regulated. Gun makers are subject to numerous national regulations promulgated by BATF, which are detailed in 152 pages of very small type, and the firearm industry must comply with countless federal, state, and local laws. Manufacturing standards are reviewed by the FBI, the U.S. Customs Service, other public and private agencies—even the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Industry standards are set by the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers Institute (SAAMI), an organization that was created at the request of the federal government in 1926. SAAMI, an accredited standards developer for the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), currently publishes more than 700 standards related to firearm and ammunition safety and quality which are reviewed by outside parties. In addition, there are approximately 20,000 laws currently in effect that regulate firearms.
But the most shocking aspect of this release is its attack on safety programs for children. Accidental fatalities involving firearms among children are at an all-time low, and have been decreasing for decades. And while most experts attribute this trend to an increase in programs that teach children how to act safely around firearms (e.g., NRA’sEddie Eagle GunSafe® Program, which has delivered its safety message to more than 16 million children), the authors of the "study" claim such programs "are of limited effectiveness." An NRA spokesman defended Eddie Eagle, telling theWashington Post, "It is widely taught to children and widely acclaimed, and we’re confident it is an effective program."
The
National Shooting Sports Foundation’s (NSSF)Paul Erhardt dismissed the Packard Foundation’s "study," saying it "doesn’t pass the reality test." An NSSF release responding to last week’s anti-gun propaganda pointed to an analysis from last year by theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC)Firearms Injury Surveillance Study for 1993 - 1997. The CDC data show that, not only are accidental fatalities at an all-time low, but there has been a dramatic decrease in non-fatal firearm-related injuries for all age categories—including children and adolescents. Erhardt asked thePost, "If safety education doesn’t work, how come the numbers of injuries and deaths are going down?"
It is unlikely the Packard Foundation’s position opposing gun-safety programs will be supported by anyone but the truly anti-gun. HCI’sMichael Barnes, for example, praised the conclusions of his cohorts in the anti-gun movement, and told theWashington Post his gun-ban lobby had "abandoned its child education program." But evenproposing shifting resources away from safety education programs is extremely reckless. HCI may have "abandoned its child education program"—likely after nobody expressed any real interest in it because it was more anti-gun propaganda than safety instruction—but NRA, along with those truly concerned about keeping firearm ownership safe and legal, will continue to promote our own life-saving programs.
The bottom line is that this "study" is merely designed to promote an agenda aimed at restricting access to firearms by law-abiding, responsible citizens by proposing that "laws regarding gun sales should be tightened." It also suggests the design of firearms be left in the hands of bureaucrats and the anti-gun community.
Perhaps the most dangerous and disturbing conclusion of the Foundation is the ridiculous notion that firearm safety programs have "limited effectiveness." Should any policy makers take this outrageous position to heart, and should this lead to the abandonment of even one firearm safety program, it could quite easily lead to the tragic loss of life because a child was not exposed to an important safety message.
ATTEND TOWN HALL MEETINGS
Congress is scheduled to go on break for its Summer District Work Period
—with the House break scheduled for July 29 until Sept. 5, and the Senate for Aug. 5 to Sept. 2. 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.
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 know about by clicking here
.
NRA-ILA GRASSROOTS
<align=center>ELECTION WORKSHOPS
In preparation for the upcoming campaign season, NRA-ILA has been hosting FREE Grassroots-Election Workshops across the country, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive so far. Your NRA-ILA Grassroots staff has conducted 19 Workshops, providing nearly 2,000 NRA members the opportunity to receive critical guidance as to what they can do in their communities to ensure pro-gun candidates win their races during key primary races and on Election Day, Nov. 5. These Workshops have also provided a venue for dozens of lawmakers, candidates seeking office, and their staffs to reach out to NRA members and explain their positions on our Right to Keep and Bear Arms. So far, our Election Workshops have visited the states of Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, South Dakota, and West Virginia, and there are still more to come.
Upcoming Workshops are slated for Albuquerque, N.M., and Monroeville, Pa.
—both set for Aug. 17—followed by one in Mesquite, Tex., on Aug. 24, one in San Antonio, Tex., on Aug. 26, and one in Pontiac, Mich., on Aug. 27. On Sept. 5, we’ll be hosting two Workshops—one in Spokane, Wash., and the other in Medford, Ore. Sept. 7, there are also two Workshops scheduled—one in Sioux Falls, S.D., and one in Omaha, Neb. And on Sept. 9, there will be another South Dakota Workshop, this time in Aberdeen. 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.
A LOOK AT THE STATES
KANSAS:
Advanced voting for the Aug. 6 primary elections has already begun. If you will be unable to visit the polls on election day or would like to cast your vote early, contact your county election officer to request an advanced voting ballot.
For more information on early voting, call the Kansas Secretary of State’s Office at (800) 262-8683.
MASSACHUSETTS:
Massachusetts NRA members must act quickly to make sure important gun law reform legislation is addressed in the State Senate before the legislative session ends!
This month, the Massachusetts House of Representatives voted 114-32 to send reform bill HB 5102 to the Senate. While the bill fails to roll back all of the oppressive anti-gun legislation imposed by the legislature in 1998, it includes several important revisions, including provisions standardizing the size of firearms carry licenses and identification cards, and allowing citizens with motor vehicle offenses and non-violent misdemeanors to own guns. Now, Senate President Thomas Birmingham is blocking HB 5102 from passing out of the Senate Ways and Means Committee. Time is running out for this bill to clear the Senate, so we need you to call Senator Birmingham immediately and urge him to release HB 5102 to the Senate floor for a vote. Senator Birmingham can be reached at (617) 722-1500. Also, please contact your State Senator and urge him to support this important piece of reform legislation. If you are unsure of how to reach your Senator, please call the Senate information office at (617) 722-1455 and ask for assistance. Those with access to the Internet can also use our "Write Your Representatives" tool.
TEXAS:
This week, the Department of Public Safety announced that Governor Rick Perry (R) has given final approval to a reciprocal Right to Carry (RTC) agreement with the State of Wyoming. This will allow residents of Wyoming with valid RTC permits to carry in Texas, and vice versa. This agreement makes Wyoming the eighth state with which Texas has negotiated RTC reciprocity.
