Posted: 4/16/2005 8:35:25 PM EDT
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Well, just for a few mintues. Spend a little time writing your representatives and local papers, so we're not sitting here writing about some $hitty Kaliforified version of an AR next month. Do it or lose it! Larry |
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I have been and the result is the following. April 16, 2005 Dear Representative Bellock It’s our understanding that House Bills 2414 and 1098 didn’t make the April 15th deadline for third reading. That they now have been re-referred back to rules, possibly for reconsideration to advance them to the House Floor for a vote when the House returns on the 26th of April. I’ve taken notice that you have voted several times in the past on legislation related to the 2 amendment, with you voting record being 12 times for, 2 times against and 1 time of not voting. I urge you Representative Bellock to oppose these bills. I know that you will vote your district, yet I ask you to please remember. The way you vote, should these bills come back to the House Floor for a vote. Not only will affect your district, but the entire state of Illinois. Please take in consideration the following in determining how you should vote. Opponents of gun restrictions often argue that even seemingly modest restrictions are the first step towards total bans on all guns or all handguns. Some proponents of gun restrictions mock this: No-one is talking about gun bans, they say -- the slippery slope concern is groundless. In the words of Martin Dyckman, associate editor of the St. Petersburg Times (Dec. 12, 1993, at 3D), "no one is seriously proposing to ban or confiscate all guns. You hear that only from the gun lobby itself, which whistles up this bogeyman whenever some reasonable regulation is proposed." Who is right here? Is it true that no-one is seriously proposing broad gun bans? Is it true that the slippery slope concern is just a bogeyman? Here are a few relevant quotes on this point. (All of them have been verified by, Eugene Volokh, Professor of Law, UCLA Law School, with help from their excellent law library.) Before coming to UCLA, he clerked for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on the U.S. Supreme Court and for Judge Alex Kozinski on the U.S. Court of Appears for the Ninth Circuit. 1. Quotes from gun control proponents praising the slippery slope, and urging mild restrictions as steps toward a total ban. In fact, the assault weapons ban will have no significant effect either on the crime rate or on personal security. Nonetheless, it is a good idea . . . . Its only real justification is not to reduce crime but to desensitize the public to the regulation of weapons in preparation for their ultimate confiscation. Charles Krauthammer (columnist), Disarm the Citizenry. But Not Yet, Washington Post, Apr. 5, 1996 (boldface added). *** Peter] Jennings: And the effect of the assault rifle ban in Stockton? The price went up, gun stores sold out and police say that fewer than 20 were turned in. Still, some people in Stockton argue you cannot measure the effect that way. They believe there's value in making a statement that the implements of violence are unacceptable in our culture. [Stockton, California] Mayor [Barbara] Fass: I think you have to do it a step at a time and I think that is what the NRA is most concerned about, is that it will happen one very small step at a time, so that by the time people have "woken up" -- quote -- to what's happened, it's gone farther than what they feel the consensus of American citizens would be. But it does have to go one step at a time and the beginning of the banning of semi-assault military weapons, that are military weapons, not "household" weapons, is the first step." ABC News Special, Peter Jennings Reporting: Guns, April 11, 1991, available on LEXIS, NEWS database, SCRIPT file (boldface added) 2. Quotes from politicians urging gun bans. Former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros and Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke signed the Communitarian Network's The Case for Domestic Disarmament, which among other thing said: There is little sense in gun registration. What we need to significantly enhance public safety is domestic disarmament . . . . Domestic disarmament entails the removal of arms from private hands. 3. Quotes from leading media figures and institutions urging gun bans. I would like to dispute that. Truthfully. I know it's an amendment. I know it's in the Constitution. But you know what? Enough! I would like to say, I think there should be a law -- and I know this is extreme -- that no one can have a gun in the U.S. If you have a gun, you go to jail. Only the police should have guns." Shannon Hawkins, Rosie Takes on the NRA, Ottawa Sun, April 29, 1999, at 55 (quoting talk show hostess Rosie O'Donnell) (boldface added). *** My guess [is] . . . that the great majority of Americans are saying they favor gun control when they really mean gun banishment. . . . I think the country has long been ready to restrict the use of guns, except for hunting rifles and shotguns, and now I think we're prepared to [bget rid of the damned things entirely -- the handguns, the semis and the automatics. Roger Rosenblatt (Time Magazine columnist), Get Rid of the Damned Things, Time, Aug. 9, 1999, at 38 (boldface added). *** Time national correspondent Jack E. White one-upped Mr. Thomas: "Whatever is being proposed is way too namby-pamby. I mean, for example, we're talking about limiting people to one gun purchase or handgun purchase a month. Why not just ban the ownership of handguns when nobody needs one? Why not just ban semi-automatic rifles? Nobody needs one." L. Brent Bozell III, Lock-and-Load Mode Against the 2nd, Washington Times, May 8, 1999, at A12. *** Investigate the NRA with renewed vigor. It may be on the run, but its spokesman claims membership ($25 annual dues) is up 600,000 over 10 years ago. Print names of elected officials who take NRA funds. Interview them. Support all forms of gun licensing; in fact, all the causes NRA opposes. Thomas Winship (former editor of the Boston Globe), Step Up the War Against Guns, Editor & Publisher Magazine, April 24, 1993, at 24. 4. Quotes from advocacy groups urging gun bans. We will never fully solve our nation's horrific problem of gun violence unless we ban the manufacture and sale of handguns and semiautomatic assault weapons. Jeff Muchnick, Legislative Director, Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, Better Yet, Ban All Handguns, USA Today, Dec. 29, 1993, at 11A (boldface added). *** The goal of CSGV is the orderly elimination of the private sale of handguns and assault weapons in the United States. Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, ("The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence is composed of 44 civic, professional and religious organizations and 120,000 individual members that advocate for a ban on the sale and possession of handguns and assault weapons."). *** There is little sense in gun registration. What we need to significantly enhance public safety is domestic disarmament . . . . Domestic disarmament entails the removal of arms from private hands . . . . Given the proper political support by the people who oppose the pro-gun lobby, legislation to remove the guns from private hands, acts like the legislation drafted by Senator John Chafee [to ban handguns], can be passed in short order. What is needed is domestic disarmament. This is the policy of practically all other Western democracies, from Canada to Britain to Germany, from France to Scandinavia. Domestic disarmament entails the removal of arms from private hands and, ultimately, from much of the police force. Once guns are hard to obtain and the very possession and sale of them are offenses, the level of violent crime will fall significantly. Communitarian Network, The Case for Domestic Disarmament, endorsed by 75 signatories, mostly academics. The Case For Domestic Disarmament Prepared by Amitai Etzioni and Steven Hellend. Inclosing Representative Bellock, remember those who oppose the 2 amendment aren’t after the whole loaf or even half a loaf…but a slice of it at a time, and in the end. There we be none left…not even for the military or the law enforcement community. Please don't believe the lie about this being about Home Land Security, about terrorism, or for reducing crime. Sincerely, xxxx xxxxx |
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That is a great letter. I really like how you back up your points. I plan on putting a letter together tonight, and sending out copies tomorrow. I'm not exactly good at writing but hope to get a decent opinion across. And how about calling? Id like to make as many calls on my lunch break tomorrow as I can. The only thing is should I call local offices or the ones in Springfield or both? I tried my rep earlier today and just got a machine. Are there any chances I'll get a call back? Think it's sufficient to just leave messages? Hope you all don't think these are dumb questions but Im a newbie at this kind of thing and want to have the biggest impact that I can. I'm starting to understand why some of you complain about those who don't get involved. If every gun owner in Illinois called, wrote letters etc, none of these bills would have a chance of passing. |
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