Contact Your Congressman!
-- Tell him or her to support the Pickering amendment to the

Incumbent Protection Bill

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
Gun Owners of America

(Wednesday, February 13, 2002) -- Late tonight, the U.S. House of
Representatives will consider the anti-gun Incumbent Protection Bill
(H.R. 2356).

Shays-Meehan (so-called Campaign Finance Reform) is particularly a
dagger at the heart of pro-gun groups. Groups like GOA would be
prohibited from engaging in many forms of communication to the
public which mention the names of incumbent legislators within 60
days of an election.

This would give anti-gunners a decisive advantage. For instance, if
anti-gun groups were prohibited from broadcasting ads depicting
pro-gun candidates, they would have little trouble getting the
Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Enquirer, L.A. Times,
etc., (all of which are exempt from the legislation) to run the ads
as Editorials.

Pro-gun groups rarely receive any positive attention from the major
media outlets. Thus, GOA members and supporters often rely on our
advocacy to inform them of how their Representatives in Washington
are voting -- and to alert them when important votes are pending, no
matter how close to an election such votes may occur.

To protect the right of groups like GOA to communicate to the
public, an amendment to Shays-Meehan has been offered by pro-gun
Rep. Chip Pickering (R-MS), which would:

exempt Second Amendment groups from the bill's requirements.

In addition to protecting the rights of groups like GOA to
communicate with the public, the Pickering amendment draws a line in
the sand in reaffirming that the Second Amendment is an INDIVIDUAL
RIGHT. The Pickering amendment would also:

declare that the Second Amendment applies to ALL AMERICANS and NOT
just to the National Guard.

SEE NEXT MESSAGE FOR CONTINUATION

CONTINUATION...


As you know, there are many politicians who pretend to support the
Second Amendment in order to secure your votes, but sabotage gun
rights once they are elected.

Today's vote on the Gun Owners Protection amendment will distinguish
our friends from our enemies. NO POLITICIAN WHO VOTES TO LIMIT THE
SECOND AMENDMENT TO THE NATIONAL GUARD -- BY OPPOSING THIS AMENDMENT
-- SHOULD EXPECT ANYONE TO BELIEVE THAT HE IS ANYTHING BUT ANTI-GUN.

ACTION: Please e-mail or call your congressman IMMEDIATELY. Tell
him or her to support the pro-gun amendment to the Shays-Meehan
Incumbent Protection Bill. You can call your Representative at
202-225-3121. To identify your Representative, as well as to send a
message via e-mail, see the Legislative Action Center at
http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm on the GOA website.

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

Dear Congressman,

An amendment to the Shays-Meehan Incumbent Protection Bill to
protect the right of Second Amendment groups to communicate
effectively to the public is being offered today.

I cannot count on the major media to inform me of what's going on
concerning my gun rights. I must rely on GOA and other groups to
inform me of pending legislation or congressional votes, no matter
how close to an election these issues arise.

In fact, the primary concern of the First Amendment is to protect
exactly the type of political communication Shays-Meehan is trying
to destroy.

The Pickering amendment reaffirms that the Second Amendment is an
individual right, not one reserved to the National Guard.

I urge you to support the Pickering Gun Owners Protection amendment.

Sincerely,

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

Please do not reply directly to this message, as your reply will
bounce back as undeliverable.

To subscribe to free, low-volume GOA alerts, go to
http://www.gunowners.org/ean.htm on the web. Change of e-mail
address may also be made at that location.

Since time is of the essence, to make it easier to find your rep and send the email, log into GOA's site and type in your zip code, then the issue your concerned about, then just fill in the blanks.

Done