SB 169 even worse than originally introduced
 -- Ask Gov. Riley to kill this gun control bill

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

Friday, May 7, 2004


SB 169 is now on its way to the Governor.  Only Bob Riley can stop
Alabama from enacting one of the most surreptitious gun control laws
in recent memory.

Last month, Gun Owners of America alerted you to the fact that the
Alabama Senate had passed SB 169 -- a bill which is supposedly aimed
at keeping guns out of the "wrong hands."  In reality, the bill will
blacklist innocent Alabama citizens, resulting in the confiscation
of their firearms.

Just yesterday, Republicans and Democrats in the House joined
together to put the bill over the top and send it to the governor's
desk.

As we reported earlier, SB 169 will result in firearms being taken
away from innocent Alabama citizens and their families.  The bill
would add your grandpa and grandma to the FBI's computer database of
murderers, rapists, and robbers -- because some bureaucrat forcibly
institutionalized them.

Several amendments were added to SB 169 before it passed the
legislature -- many of which were attempts to make the bill more
palatable to gun owners.  In reality, most of these amendments make
the bill worse.

SB 169 now requires the turning over of "all information from any
state or local government agency that is necessary to complete a
NICS check...."  Thus, if a turnover of tax, unemployment, health or
library records would help determine whether there are illegal
aliens in the state who would be disqualified from owning firearms
under federal law, presumably this would be required.

If SB 169 were to become law, Alabama citizens like yourself could
see more of your private information going to the federal
government.

Meanwhile, no changes were made to correct the fundamental flaws in
the bill.  The fact that your relatives could lose their gun rights
is extremely alarming, especially when one considers that they could
be thrown into an institution by a probate judge with NO training in
the law whatsoever.

In an attempt to alleviate this inequity, the bill was amended to
allow an aggrieved relative of yours to get his or her rights
restored under state law.  But this is a toothless provision, as
Americans still have no way to get their gun rights restored under
FEDERAL law.

The BATFE in Washington, DC is prevented by law from restoring
people's rights.  Because federal law trumps state law in this area,
anyone disarmed by SB 169 can expect to be disarmed for life!

Another change in SB 169 would require that a probate court declare
that an infirm relative must "pose a threat to use firearms
inappropriately" before his or her rights can be taken away.  Of
course, this change is hardly a protection for innocent Alabamans,
for you can be sure that all future "testimony" in probate courts
across the state will include anti-gun "findings" to make sure your
infirm relatives are permanently disarmed.

The bottom line is that ALL people committed under this act would
FOREVER lose their firearms rights -- and relatives would find that
the family's firearms (that is, your inheritance) could be seized by
government officials.

SB 169 is gun control.  Gun control only controls the good guys, not
criminals.  If people are abusing firearms, they should be
prosecuted under criminal law, not phony psychiatric findings of
incompetence.

Psychiatry's track record is very bad -- from sending people to
death camps in Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia, to the Berkley
"study" that found that Rush Limbaugh had the same kind of
personality as did Hitler.

Any profession that cannot tell the difference between a
conservative and the leader of the German National Socialist Party
should not be empowered to disarm American citizens.

ACTION:  The toothpaste is out of the tube.  It cannot be put back
in.  Please send the message below (or one like it) to Gov. Bob
Riley and urge him to kill SB 169.  There is an e-mail web form at
http://www.governor.state.al.us/contact/contact_form.aspx where you
can copy/paste the pre-written message or compose your own.

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

Dear Governor Riley:

Please veto SB 169, a very dangerous gun control bill.

I realize that several amendments were added to SB 169 before it
passed the legislature and that many of these amendments were
attempts to make the bill more palatable to gun owners.  In reality,
most of these amendments make the bill worse.

For example, SB 169 now requires the turning over of "all
information from any state or local government agency that is
necessary to complete a NICS check...."  Thus, if a turnover of tax,
unemployment, health or library records would help determine whether
there are illegal aliens in the state who would be disqualified from
owning firearms under federal law, presumably this would be
required.

If SB 169 were to become law, Alabama citizens like me could see
more of our private information going to the federal government.

Meanwhile, no changes were made to correct the fundamental flaws in
the bill.  The fact that my infirm relatives could lose their gun
rights is extremely alarming, especially when one considers that
they could be thrown into an institution by a probate judge with NO
training in the law whatsoever.

This problem is compounded by the fact that persons who are wrongly
disqualified to own a gun under this legislation will NEVER get
their rights restored.  I understand this bill was amended to allow
an infirm person to get his or her rights restored under state law.
But this is a toothless provision, as Americans still have no way to
get their gun rights restored under FEDERAL law.

The BATFE in Washington, DC is prevented by law from restoring
people's rights.  Because federal law trumps state law in this area,
anyone disarmed by SB 169 can expect to be disarmed for life!

Please use criminal law to punish criminal behavior.  This bill does
nothing to keep guns out of criminals' hands, but it will disarm
many others who have every right to keep and bear arms.

Sincerely,

Email Sent!!!

Email sent, and I called for good measure.

The Bastards.

SG

Ditto...and a hard copy with wet signature will be mailed Monday a.m.

email sent

Could you post the original email from GOA about the original Bill as proposed? Or email it to me?
Thanks
Email Sent
IronFish

Well, I got off my butt and signed up for GOA alerts, and read up on this bill. What a load!
I can't believe, even a crooked politician, from the South would even consider voting for this. This bill misses the whole point. When I get my Super-fancy polimer hip, I wont be able to fight, I wont be able to run, but I will be able to pull a gun!
I might even need to write an editorial about this.

Thanks for letting me know. All I get now are NRA and SAF Alerts.

IronFish

Sent off my e-mail to the Gubner, but I dought that it will do any good.