House To Vote On Anti-gun Amendments

House to Take up Anti-gun Crime Bill on Thursday

ACTION: Contact your Representative and ask him to vote AGAINST allfinal passage of the bill as it is guaranteed to have 2nd Amendment restrictions within it. Finally, ask your Representative to support the [Rep. Virgil] Goode amendment repealing the Washington, D.C. gun ban. To contact your Representative, dial 202-225-3121 or call toll-free at 1-888-449-3511. See http://www.gunowners.org/h106th.htm for fax and e-mail contact info. gun control proposals offered to the juvenile injustice bill (H.R. 2122). Moreover, ask him to vote AGAINST

(Wednesday, June 16, 1999)– The House of Representatives is expected tomorrow to consider the House version of the anti-gun crime bill. Reps. Bill McCollum (R-FL) and Henry Hyde (R-IL) are the chief sponsors of this legislation, H.R. 2122. Like similar legislation offered in the Senate, this bill would:

* Ban the private sales of firearms at gun shows unless the buyer submits to a background registration check; and

* Allow unlimited BATF ability to regulate and conduct harassing inspections of gun shows– to the point where gun shows could be regulated out of existence.

Representatives have submitted more than 170 amendments to the bill and to a companion measure. While not all of them will be “in order,” we can expect to see (at a minimum) the following amendments come to a vote on Thursday:

* Mandatory “safety locks” on all guns sold. The language of this amendment will simply lead to the requirement that parents lock up their guns.. But locking up your safety means that a gun will not be immediately usable in an emergency and will actually cost lives. The Wall Street Journal (4/23/99) noted how when Beretta tested a “Saf T Lok,” it caused 18 of 27 rounds to “totally malfunction.” And when Handgun Control’s chief attorney attempted to demonstrate the same trigger lock at an HCI-sponsored event, he found, to his embarrassment, that he was unable to disengage the lock.

* Banning imports of self-defense ammunition clips that hold more than 10 rounds. Shotgunners beware! A shotgun can pump more lead in less than five seconds than a semi-automatic (with large magazine clip) can put out in a minute. If the anti-gunners succeed in banning these imports, shotguns may be next on the list.

* Raising the legal age to 21 for buying a handgun from a private individual. This provision will overturn more than 200 years of American jurisprudence and will create an interesting paradox. A 20-year old soldier coming home from the army would go to jail if he purchases from his father the exact type of handgun that he’s been trained to use in the service.

* Banning juvenile possession of certain semiautomatic rifles. Like the provision before it, this amendment will do nothing to stop juvenile thugs from using guns. Rather, it will punish law-abiding kids that go target shooting with their parents, or in some cases, will punish those brave teenagers that have used their family semi-auto to kill attackers in the home.

* Repeal of the D.C. gun ban. On a good note, pro-gun Rep. Virgil Goode (D-VA) is expected to offer an amendment repealing the gun ban in the nation’s capital. However, while pro-gun Representatives should be encouraged to support the Goode amendment, they should realize that this one amendment does not “purify” the rest of the bill. Representatives should still vote “NO” on final passage.