U.S. Senate Votes To Prohibit Gun Confiscation

“They obviously got your message loud and clear. It was the most lopsided gun vote I have ever seen.” — As told by a Senate office to GOA after the overwhelming vote yesterday

Gun Owners of America today celebrated one of the most the spectacular legislative victories in recent memory, as the U.S. Senate voted yesterday 84-16 to pass pro-gun legislation offered by Sen. David Vitter (R-LA). The Vitter language, which was offered as an amendment to the Homeland Security appropriations bill (HR 5441), will make it illegal for federal agents to confiscate firearms during an emergency or major disaster.

“The Senate did the right thing yesterday,” said Erich Pratt, Director of Communications for Gun Owners of America. “There’s never a good reason for federal agents to confiscate firearms from law-abiding citizens. Never, never, never.

“And the gun confiscations that took place in New Orleans last September in the wake of Hurricane Katrina are all the more outrageous when you consider that the guns were stolen at a time when people needed them most,” Pratt said.

“Dialing 9-1-1 doesn’t work very well when the neighborhood is flooded, the phones aren’t working and chaos is in full bloom.”

The Vitter amendment must now survive a conference committee — where House and Senate negotiators will iron out differences between the spending bills passed in both chambers. If the Vitter language makes it to the President’s desk, it will perfectly complement what has been happening in the states. This year, GOA-supported Emergency Protection bills have been introduced in several states, and ten states have already enacted their bills into law.

In yesterday’s Senate vote, only 16 Senators voted against the Vitter amendment. They are:

Akaka (D-HI)
Boxer (D-CA)
Clinton (D-NY)
Dodd (D-CT)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Harkin (D-IA)
Inouye (D-HI)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Levin (D-MI)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Reed (D-RI)
Sarbanes (D-MD)
Schumer (D-NY)