WESTERN UNION Hotline: Call Western Union at 1-800-651-1486 to have a mailgram sent to your Congressman in support of the Citizen’s Self-Defense Act (H.R. 27). For more information, see the second ACTION item listed below.

(April 11, 1997) — Four more Representatives have heeded your calls and faxes to join Rep. Helen Chenoweth in repealing the Lautenberg gun ban. The total sponsorship list for H.R. 1009 now comes to 16 Reps. — as opposed to the 18 sponsors and cosponsors for Rep. Bob Barr’s ‘half-baked’ repeal. This is good news, especially when one considers that Barr’s bill (H.R. 26) was introduced over two months before H.R. 1009. Judging from the number of cosponsors for these two bills, no one can claim that there is a mandate for Barr’s compromise approach that will still leave the Lautenberg gun ban in the federal code.

The four new cosponsors to H.R. 1009 are:

     Rep. Jay Dickey (R-AR)         Rep. Rick Hill (R-MT)
     Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA)       Rep. Bob Stump (R-AZ)

ACTION: Keep checking back with your Representative (1-800-962-3524) and ask them if they have cosponsored H.R. 1009. GOA also has sample Letters to the Editor that you can use to light “brush fires” in local newspapers. Simply visit our Website at http://www.gunowners.org/coslettb.htm to get copies. Pass these letters out to your friends. (You can also request these letters by faxing a request to GOA.) Link to Letters

Self-Defense protection bill now has 41 cosponsors

On another front, the Citizen’s Self-Defense Act now has 41 official cosponsors. This bill will protect citizens, who use a gun in self-defense, from anti-gun prosecutors and judges. One of the perverse realities in this country is the fact that officials will go after honest citizens who use guns in clear-cut cases of self-defense. H.R. 27 will protect people who are persecuted for exercising this right.

ACTION: Call Western Union at 1-800-651-1486 to have a mailgram sent to your Congressman in support of H.R. 27. The hard-hitting message includes the latest statistics regarding guns used in self-defense and explains how recent gun legislation is chipping away at this cherished liberty.

If your Congressman has not cosponsored the bill, the mailgram will ask him to do so. If he has cosponsored the bill, the mailgram will thank him for doing so. Your phone will be charged $6.95 for the mailgram.

WEB UPDATE: Keep checking GOA’s Cosponsor Watch to get an update of cosponsors to H.R. 27 and H.R. 1009.