The Sky Isn’t Falling!  The Sky Isn’t Falling!!

There are no serious threats to gun rights imminent in Congress.

Despite repeated attempts to debunk the myths by every major and most minor gun rights organizations, dire warnings about things like S. 2099, H.R.45, assault weapons bans, ammo taxes, and more keep circulation around the internet.

Here are the facts:

While there have been some very ugly bills introduced this session – just as there are every session – introducing a bill and having a bill as a serious threat are miles apart.  None of the anti-rights bills introduced this session are showing the slightest signs of life.  As we reported and predicted back in January when former Black Panther leader, Bobby Rush (D-IL) introduced H.R.45, a registration and licensing bill, the bill has gone nowhere and is going nowhere.  Here is a listing of all congressional actions for H.R. 45:

ALL ACTIONS:

1/6/2009:

Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

2/9/2009:

Referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security.

Cosponsors – None

As for S.2099, the bill to require listing of firearms on individual income tax forms, it is even "deader" than H.R.45.  S.2099 has been dead for 8 years!  It was introduced by Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) back in 2001.  At that time it was sent to committee where it languished with no cosponsors for the entire session and has never been introduced again.

Right now the last thing the President and the Democrat leadership want to do is get GunVoters more riled up.  While there is no question that Barack Obama and the majority of the Democrat leadership would jump at the chance to pass the most onerous gun laws imaginable, they would only do so if they thought they could get away with it without serious political repercussions.  They know they can’t!  GunVoters have made it clear that any new gun laws will meet with serious political repercussions and the Democrats still have nightmares about their devastating losses in 1994.  Again, we predicted this back in November (the comments on that post are particularly interesting.)

The bottom line is that there are no serious threats imminent in Congress.  When there are, we will let you know.  For reliable information about pending legislation and negative regulations, you can rely on The Firearms Coalition.  Signing up for our Knox e-Updates and Alerts is an excellent way to stay on top of the issue.  You can subscribe by clicking on "Alerts List" in the main menu at www.FirearmsCoalition.org.

Please copy this short article and send it to everyone on your email list to help get people away from worrying about non-threats and focus them on the serious work that needs to be done right now.

Jeff Knox

Director, The Firearms Coalition

www.FirearmsCoalition.org

www.GunVoter.org

Senate Tells Amtrak, "No Guns, No Money."

Shenanigans in play!

(Washington, DC, Update September 18, 2009) The US Senate has voted 68-30 in favor of a measure which would deny $1.6 Billion taxpayer dollars for the beleaguered Amtrak passenger train system unless they change their "No Guns" policy.

Since the Madrid commuter train bombing in 2004 Amtrak has maintained a policy of no guns or weapons on their trains – even locked in checked baggage.  The amendment passed by the Senate today was sponsored by Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) says that Amtrak must accept checked baggage containing firearms or starter pistols as long as the passenger declares the firearm at the time of check in and the gun is unloaded and locked in a hard-sided case.  The measure also provides for the lawful transport of ammunition in checked baggage.

Opponents raised objections based on the cost of implementing the liberalized regulations, but those arguments rang hollow and the measure passed easily. 

 Now for the shenanigans:

Even though the amendment passed easily – with a few surprising (and suspicious) votes in favor – this is not a done deal.  Since the Senate version of the underlying appropriations bill is now different from the version passed in the House, there must be a Reconciliation Conference to bring the two versions into line.  For a conference, both houses select a number of representatives who are supposed to go sit down together and hash out their differences, settling on a final bill they believe will be acceptable in both houses.  That version of the bill is then sent to the floors of the House and the Senate where it receives an up or down vote.  No amendments are accepted for a reconciled bill.  While this amendment passed by a vote of 68 to 30, the prospects of it surviving the reconciliation process seem pretty slim.  Even though the conference committee is weighted with 13 members who voted for the amendment and 8 who voted against it, + 1, Byrd of WV, who did not vote, those numbers can be deceptive. 

Of the 22 members of the committee, 12 are rated "F" by GOA with 3 rated "D," 1 rated "C," 2 rated "B," and only 4 rated "A."   Additionally, virtually all of the "F" rated members who voted for the amendment are "bullet proof," hailing from states where liberty is a lost art and there is little likelihood of successfully defeating them at the ballot box.

Given those facts, it is very probable that Senate leadership chose to allow the amendment to pass with the intention of stripping it out in conference.  It will be interesting to see whether the House also appoints staunch anti-gunners as the majority of their conference representatives.  Stay tuned. 

Below is a breakdown of the vote and the Senate representatives to the Conference Committee.

Continue reading Guns on a Train →