Just Five More Days Until the Semi-auto Ban Sunsets!
 -- But Brady Bunch making one last push on the House, Senate and
    Oval Office

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

ACTION:

1. Ask President Bush to resist the efforts of police chiefs, who
will be pressing him this week to reauthorize the Clinton semi-auto
ban.  A pre-written letter is provided below.

2. Celebrate the approaching sunset of the semi-auto ban by buying
another gun.  While the gun being auctioned below is not a
semi-automatic firearm, it is the actual gun that was used to save
the lives of hundreds of South Africans from a terrorist attack more
than 10 years ago.


Wednesday, September 8, 2004

Only five more days.

That's all that is left until the Clinton ban on more than 180 types
of semi-automatic firearms and magazines sunsets.  The magic date is
September 13.

One of the most hated gun bans ever enacted will cease to exist.  But
not if the Brady Bunch has its way.

Sarah Brady's disciples in the House and Senate are considering
amendments to reauthorize the ban.  And in the nation's capital,
press reports indicate that dozens of police chiefs will travel to
Washington this week to urge President Bush to renew the ban.

In the House, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy has vowed she will not let the
semi-auto ban die without a fight.  According to Congressional
Quarterly, a Capitol Hill news service, McCarthy is threatening to
offer semi-auto renewal language as an amendment to the Labor-HHS
appropriations bill.

Gun Owners of America is virtually certain McCarthy will be
unsuccessful in the House, because Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX)
is 100% opposed to this ban and is ready, procedurally, to keep her
amendment from being offered to the spending bill.

In the Senate, anti-gun Senators could be eyeing the intelligence
reorganization bill -- implementing the recommendations from the 9/11
commission -- as the vehicle of choice for a gun ban renewal.

Again, Gun Owners of America has been working with Senate offices to
make sure this doesn't happen.  But please stay close to your
keyboard in upcoming weeks; we will notify you of any anti-gun
movement in the Senate.  (Even after the ban sunsets, Congress could
still pass a new law to bring it back.)

Ultimately, the key to killing the gun ban in the House and Senate is
to make sure that George Bush does not start asking both houses of
Congress to send him a bill renewing the ban.

You might remember that President Bush has indicated support for the
ban in the past.  That's the bad news.  The good news is that, to
date, he has not pressured the Republican leadership in either house
to send him such a bill.

But if that were to change -- if the President were to start asking
Congress to send him a gun ban extension -- it is not inconceivable
that the Republican leadership in either house might allow a vote on
the noxious ban.

For this reason, GOA urges you to remind the President that it is
time to let the semi-auto ban sunset.  The ban is unconstitutional.
It doesn't take guns out of criminals' hands.  And it should be sent
to the trash heap.

CONTACT INFO:  You can use the pre-written message below and send it
as an e-mail by visiting the GOA Legislative Action Center at
http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm on the GOA website.

Anti-gun groups are encouraging their people to contact the White
House on Thursday, Sept. 9.  Please consider placing a call or
sending a fax in addition to your e-mail.  You can reach the White
House at:

Phone: (202) 456-1414
Fax: (202) 456-2461


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

Dear President Bush:

The facts are in.  The 1994 gun ban signed by your predecessor,
President Bill Clinton, has NOT worked to reduce crime.

The Washington Times reported on August 17 on a recent study
published by your own National Institute of Justice.  In an article
entitled, "Ban of assault weapons didn't reduce violence," Jerry
Seper quotes the NIJ as saying, "We cannot clearly credit the ban
with any of the nation's recent drop in gun violence.  And, indeed,
there has been no discernible reduction in the lethality and
injuriousness of gun violence."

This study reflects the results of two studies that were conducted
during the Clinton administration.  The Bureau of Justice Statistics
found in 1993 and 1997 that military-styled firearms -- the so-called
"assault weapons" banned in 1994 -- were used in less than two
percent of crimes nationwide.

In other words, these guns were never "weapons of choice" for
criminals -- either before or after the ban.

Please be clear about one thing:  the guns banned by President
Clinton are NOT truly assault weapons.  They are semi-automatic
firearms, which means the guns Clinton banned are not used by any
military on earth.  Soldiers use fully automatic machine guns; they
don't settle for weapons that can only fire one bullet with each pull
of the trigger.

I hope you will resist efforts by an unrepresentative gaggle of
police chiefs this week who claim that America's cops want this gun
ban extended.

Real cops, the ones who walk the "beat," oppose banning
semi-automatic firearms.  Over 90% of the officers polled by the
National Association of Chiefs of Police in 1995 said the semi-auto
ban will in no way stop criminals from getting these guns or
magazines.

And in an earlier survey, almost 90% of cops said that private
citizens should have these types of guns to help defend the nation in
the event of natural disasters or terrorism when the National Guard
has been mobilized.

I urge you stand with gun owners, to uphold the Constitution, and to
oppose all efforts at extending this horrible gun ban.  Thank you.

Sincerely,


****************************

Chance to Win a Freedom Gun
-- Used in South Africa to Save Hundreds of Lives

Charl van Wyk was at church on a Sunday night in 1993 when terrorists
began spraying machine gun fire and tossing hand grenades into the
ranks of the worshippers.

Charl pulled out his Rossi .38 and -- from the back of the church --
fired shots that ended up saving hundreds of lives, by police
estimates.

(The account of this incredible evening is in Charl's book Shooting
Back which is carried at http://www.gunowners.com/books1053.htm in
the GOA bookstore.)

If you would like to bid on this gun, which is being auctioned for
the next few days, go to:
http://www.gunbroker.com/auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=22600537

If the gun is won by a U.S. bidder, the winning bid (minus the actual
value of the gun) can be receipted for a tax deduction, since the
proceeds will go to a U.S. missionary organization (ITMI).

Check it out today.  This is a truly historic firearm!


****************************

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Bump

Thank you.