End of the Year Report

GOA’s Gun Rights Report for 2004

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“[GOA's] lobbying probably torpedoed the best chance for [renewing
the semi-auto ban] this year.” — National Journal, 7/17/04
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Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408

http://www.gunowners.org

Tuesday, December 14, 2004

This has been an exciting year, and the GOA staff wants to say “Thank
You” for working with us in 2004.

No doubt, the most important work was forcing the semi-auto ban to
sunset this year. Reading the quote above, you can see that GOA
members and activists like yourself played a HUGE role in realizing
that triumph. This was a tremendous victory that has set the
anti-gun movement back a decade.

But while this was certainly the most prominent achievement, there
were other good news items to celebrate as well. To this end, here
are a few of the things that we have accomplished together this year.

GOA’S GOOD NEWS FILES

JANUARY — FEBRUARY

As many of the state legislatures are in session during this part of
the year, much of GOA’s time was spent on improving your gun rights
closer to home.

IN SEVERAL STATES, anti-gun legislators anticipated that the federal
ban on semi-autos might sunset, so they tried to enact state versions
of the Clinton ban, largely to no great effect. For example, GOA
activated its grassroots alert several times in Maryland and was
successful in encouraging pro-gun legislators in the state to kill
the gun ban.

IN ILLINOIS, GOA helped fan the flames of support for a bill that
gives new legal protections to gun owners who use a handgun to shoot
home invaders. Lawmakers introduced the bill after the town of
Wilmette prosecuted Hale DeMar for using a handgun to shoot a burglar
in his home. Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) eventually vetoed the bill,
but GOA activists helped persuade their representatives and senators
to override the governor’s veto in November!

IN NEW HAMPSHIRE, GOA supporters helped push a Vermont-Alaska style
concealed carry bill over the top in the state senate. The bill
would allow law-abiding citizens to carry firearms for self-defense
without first getting a permit — while still allowing people to get
permits if they want reciprocity with other states.

On a surprising note, a New Hampshire lawmaker called GOA
headquarters in Virginia with some very disturbing news after the
carry bill passed the senate. The lawmaker warned that the sponsor
of the carry bill, Sen. Andrew Peterson, was getting “cold
feet” and
was planning to stab gun owners in the back. Peterson wanted to
appease police groups that opposed the legislation, so he tried to
kill his own bill by preventing it from going to the state house.
When that failed, he attended the House hearings and actually
testified against his own bill!

GUN OWNERS OF AMERICA SUBSEQUENTLY PUNISHED the “flip-flopping”
Senator during a September primary that he lost by only 268 votes.
(GOA helped distribute hundreds upon hundreds of leaflets that
detailed Peterson’s treachery to gun owners in the district right
before the election.) The winner, Rep. Peter Bragdon, is a committed
supporter of Second Amendment rights and a die-hard defender of real
concealed carry. This is definitely an issue that GOA would like to
revisit in 2005.

MARCH — APRIL

AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL, GOA stepped up the assault against an anti-gun
education bill this past winter. The bill authorized millions of
dollars for anti-gun bureaucrats to train teachers in new history and
civics standards that are being mandated by the federal government.

GOA provided its members with postcards opposing the bill, and GOA
members responded quickly. Thousands upon thousands of postcards
rained down on legislators’ desks, alerting Representatives to
serious concerns with the bill. At best, the bill would do nothing
to address the existing anti-gun curriculum in the schools. At
worst, those problems would be exacerbated.

Representatives listened to you, and many pulled their names from
H.R. 1078 — eleven altogether. One Capitol Hill publication noted
the tremendous impact that GOA members were having on the bill. The
Hill newspaper stated the bill is “not expected to reach the House
floor… [which] shows the effect that one influential lobbying group
[GOA] can have on legislation.”

While the bill did recently hit the House floor, it did so in an
extremely gutted form. The bill’s chances of getting to the
President’s desk are still somewhat up in the air at this point, so
GOA will continue tracking its status.

ON A MORE EXCITING NOTE, pro-gun forces won a huge victory in March
when Senators voted down several gun control restrictions that had
been inserted into the gun makers’ protection act.

Senators were being pressed to pass the bill, even though it had been
saddled with amendments to effectively abolish gun shows, to renew
the semi-auto ban, and to require Americans to “lock up their
safety.”

The pressure was on. Senators were given the vague promise that if
they voted for these anti-gun provisions, the bill would be “cleaned
up” later — but this is a very dangerous strategy which has failed
many times in the past.

At the same time, thousands upon thousands of GOA postcards were
being dumped on Senators’ desks. The timing could not have been more
perfect.

GOA postcards stopped these gun control restrictions — including the
Feinstein semi-auto ban — from passing out of the Senate. The
postcards made it quite obvious to Senate offices that we were not
about to swallow very minimal Second Amendment gains in exchange for
gun control. In the words of one Senate staffer, the GOA mail made
it clear that “no deals” were acceptable.

“GOA postcards killed the Feinstein ban,” he said, echoing the
sentiments of many others on Capitol Hill.

The Senate listened to gun owners and defeated the entire anti-gun
package by an overwhelming vote. Gun owners had dodged a bullet.

MAY — JULY

Even after the defeat of the semi-auto ban in March, Senator
Feinstein said that she would look for any and every opportunity to
get her gun ban passed.

To combat this, GOA worked hard to get Senate Majority Leader Bill
Frist to use parliamentary maneuvers to keep gun control amendments
from being offered to other bills.

Senator Frist (R-TN) had refused to use those parliamentary
techniques when the gun makers’ protection act was being debated in
March. He said it couldn’t be done.

Of course, GOA knew that wasn’t true. So we posted the specific
details on GOA’s website — at www.gunowners.org/a030204a.htm — and
documented how Senator Frist can bring up a bill for a vote, while
using parliamentary roadblocks that keep antagonistic amendments from
being offered.

GOA then asked its members and activists to contact Senator Frist’s
office — to make sure he not only read the document, but was
prepared to use all the weapons in his arsenal to stop Senator
Feinstein.

He listened to you. When Senator Feinstein threatened to attach her
gun ban to a legal reform bill, Senator Frist blocked her amendment.

Democrats were furious. They protested the “undemocratic”
spirit of
Senator Frist. They were very upset they couldn’t offer the gun ban
as an amendment.

But Senator Frist stood firm, as he was being encouraged by thousands
upon thousands of e-mails and phone calls coming from GOA members.

Listen to what an outraged Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) had to say
about Senator Frist’s actions:

I know we have the class action reform bill on the floor of the
Senate, but that bill apparently is going nowhere at this moment.
My understanding is the majority leader [Frist] has ‘filled the
tree,’ which is a fancy way of saying he is blocking everything.
He puts a bill down, blocks everything, and creates a little gate
in the majority leader’s office saying: Show me your amendment.
If I like it, you can offer it; if I don’t, you can’t.

That is where we are. Because of that action, I assume very
little is going to happen at the moment. [Source: Congressional
Record, July 7, 2004, p. S 7726.]

Because of gun owners like you, Senator Frist had learned how to
“block everything” — a strategy that succeeded in killing the
Feinstein gun ban.

Grassroots lobbying had won the day in the Senate.

AUGUST — SEPTEMBER

GOA’s focus during these two months narrowed to two main items: the
sunset of the semi-auto ban in September and the approaching
elections.

Having successfully stopped the gun ban in the Senate, GOA shifted
its focus to the House. You guys made the difference, as your
postcards and phone calls continually applied the heat to
Representatives in the Congress. Because of you, House Majority
Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) was able to say “we don’t have the votes to
pass” the semi-auto ban.

They didn’t have the votes because you were holding your
Congressmen’s feet to the fire. Thousands upon thousands of letters,
e-mails, postcards and phone calls.

GOA ALSO HIT THE AIRWAVES. In September alone, GOA spokesmen
appeared in more than 100 radio, TV, newspaper and magazine outlets.
Many of these media appearances involved “mano a mano” combat with
anti-gun representatives, as the semi-auto ban remained a hot topic.

GOA also alerted its members and supporters to the upcoming vote on
repealing the DC gun ban. Gun owners were pleased at the outcome as
the House voted to repeal the ban. Unfortunately, the U.S. Senate
refused to take up the legislation.

OCTOBER — NOVEMBER

Gun Owners of America, through its candidate rating program and
political action committee, was able to expose much anti-gun
duplicity this year, and the results were extremely heartening.

Altogether, the Gun Owners of America — Political Victory Fund
(GOA-PVF) helped 14 pro-gun challengers get elected in the House and
Senate. GOA’s general policy is to restrict our support to
challengers, since incumbents have obvious advantages in raising
money and name ID.

Topping the list of targets was the obstructionist anti-gun Senate
Minority Leader, Tom Daschle, who has finally been deposed.
Replacing him is former Representative John Thune, a strong pro-gun
ally supported by GOA-PVF.

But while ousting Daschle was certainly one of the most crucial races
this year, there were six open Senate seats that anti-gunners had
their sights set on. GOA-PVF played an important role in thwarting
that plan and helping to elect strong pro-gun advocates to five of
the six open seats.