McCain Incumbent Protection Bill Threatens Gun Owners
-- Bill to keep gun owners in the dark, endanger existence of GOA

Gun Owners of America E-Mail/FAX Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
http://www.gunowners.org


(Tuesday, March 6, 2001) -- Irked by nettlesome groups such as GOA
which threaten to expose their anti-gun activities, Arizona Senator
John McCain (R) and Wisconsin Democrat Senator Russ Feingold (D) are
pushing legislation which would eliminate the ability of groups like
GOA to keep gun owners informed on how their legislators are voting.

In the name of reforming campaign finance laws, this Incumbent
Protection legislation would allow the government to seize the
membership lists of groups such as ours -- and potentially outlaw
our organization.  The issue is scheduled to come before the Senate
between March 19th and 26th.

The Incumbent Protection bill, S. 27, would require legislative
advocacy groups -- including Second Amendment organizations such as
GOA -- to report to the government if they spend more than $10,000
preparing for and participating in TV and radio broadcasts which
mention officeholder-candidates within two months of an election.
If they wished, government bureaucrats could define virtually all of
an organization's activities as "preparation" for TV and radio
interviews.

With GOA employees regularly appearing on TV shows such as Fox News,
Crossfire, and other programs to discuss gun-related legislation,
there can be little doubt that S. 27 would apply to this
organization.  If it did, GOA would be required to provide the
government with its donor list.  For the time being, this disclosure
would be limited to contributors of $1,000 or more, but no one
should assume this threshold would not be reduced or eliminated once
the government's foot was in our membership door.

It goes without saying that an activist who sends a check to GOA to
help protect his Second Amendment rights doesn't want his name being
registered with the government as a gun owner.  And for that reason,
GOA will fight this bill "tooth and nail."  And if this bill were to
become law, GOA would not comply.  We would fight it in court, and
exhaust every possible resource, because we are not going to turn
over our members' names to the government.

This underscores why it is SO VERY IMPORTANT that we defeat this
bill in the Congress!  GOA would rather spend its members' dollars
defending 2nd Amendment freedoms, as opposed to spending hundreds of
thousands of dollars fighting 1st Amendment battles in court.

Finally, because the Incumbent Protection bill would define
GOA's battles against anti-gun legislation as "electioneering" if
they occurred during election season, these legislative activities
could affect our tax-exempt status -- and ultimately, our existence.
Urge your Senators to keep their distance from John McCain and Russ
Feingold, and to respect the free speech rights of all Americans.


ACTION:

 1. Please call, fax or email your two Senators and ask them to
 filibuster and vote against the anti-gun McCain-Feingold bill,
 S. 27.  You can call the Senate at 202-224-3121, or toll-free at
 1-877-762-8762.  See the GOA Legislative Action Center at
 http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm for complete Senate contact
 information, and to send pre-written messages.

 2. Forward this alert to as many gun owners as possible and ask
 them to contact their Senators in opposition to S. 27.


----- Pre-written message -----

Dear Senator:

The anti-gun McCain-Feingold bill, S. 27, threatens to open the
membership lists of Second Amendment organizations -- and even
threaten their tax-exempt status.  I urge you to oppose any bill
that would limit the ability of outside groups such as Gun Owners of
America to communicate with their members.  

I rely on groups like GOA to keep me informed when my rights are
being threatened.  I would consider a law to muzzle such groups as
an attempt to avoid the accountability that an informed electorate
provides.

Please filibuster and vote against this anti-gun and anti-speech
abomination.  Let me know what you intend to do.  Thank you.

Sincerely,

all we can do is try. If they don't do as we ask we vote against them. If all gun owners did this i don't think they could say no.

Thanks guys

mike

Great, mine is Tom Torlakson, co-author of SB 23.  I can't even find an e-mail address for him.  [:(!]