goa nl 11-4-04goa then tried to get the offending officials prosecuted. but louisiana attorney...

Gun OwnersTHE

31 YEARS OF NO COMPROMISE – 1975-2006

by Erich PrattSay hello to Nancy Pelosi, the new

Speaker of the House.The democratic congresswoman

from California is rabidly anti-gun.She holds an F- rating from GunOwners of America and has consis-tently championed socialist “values.”

To be sure, she has worked hard toearn her failing grade.

Consider that Pelosi was one ofonly 99 Representatives who voted infavor of gun confiscation in July.That vote saw more than 300 con-gressmen cast their ballots to prohibitfederal agents from stealing firearmsfrom law-abiding citizens.

It was truly an overwhelmingmajority who supported the SecondAmendment rights of Americans.

But in that July vote, Nancy Pelosi joined the hardcore leftin Congress to support gun confiscation. She actually voted tolet government agents burst into your home and steal yourfirearms!

That’s the woman who will bedetermining which bills will bevoted on next year in the House ofRepresentatives. Yes, there stillmay be a majority of congressmenwho oppose the outright confisca-tion of citizens’ guns.

But in Nancy Pelosi’s new Con-gress, a bill to prohibit such gunconfiscation would never see thelight of day! She will decide whatgun bills come to the floor.

So what can we expect underSpeaker Pelosi’s leadership?

Well, we can expect hearings onthe need for more gun control. Inthe House, look for the new leaderof the Judiciary Committee —rabid anti-gunner John Conyers (D-

MI) — to head up these investigations.In the other chamber, you can be sure that Senators

Kennedy, Schumer and Feinstein will be clamoring for morerestrictions on your Second Amendment rights.

As GOA racks up pro-gun victories in 2006...Attacks on Gun Rights Expected to Increase

Election 2006

Volume XXVI, Number 5 • December 15, 2006

by John VellecoWhat impact, if any, will the transformational 2006 Congres-

sional Election have on Second Amendment rights? While election 2006 may have been a referendum on many

things (the President, war in Iraq, Jack Abramoff, Mark Foleyfor example), it does not translate into greater support for guncontrol at the grass roots level.

In 1995, President Clinton stood in the U.S. House chamberfor the State of the Union address, and noted that 25-30 repre-sentatives were not there (following the 1994 election) due tovotes for gun control; that was a referendum on gun control.

If anything, gun control was notable as a non-issue in thiselection. In compiling the GOA rating, researchers could hardlyfind a congressional candidate with any stated position on guncontrol on campaign websites.

That’s not to say many of the newly elected will not supportthe anti-gun agenda; just that they recognize open support for

gun control will cost them at the polls. Unlike the newly elected members, however, the Democrat

Congressional leadership is completely beholden to the far leftanti-gun extreme of its party.

House Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi (F-rated by GOA) is a

Continued on page 8

Continued on page 2

Inside:• Sarah Brady takes aim at GOA

(page 2)

• GOA in the news (page 3)• Grassroots help GOA win key

legislative victories (pages 4-5)

Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is F- rated byGun Owners of America. She supported gun confisca-tion in July, when she voted against legislation to pro-hibit federal agents from stealing firearms during a stateof emergency. Speaker Pelosi’s new Congress is sure toput gun owners on the defensive.

Ass

ocia

ted

Pre

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December 15, 2006 • The Gun Owners /

We will see scores of anti-gun billsflooding the Congress. When onelooks at the types of bills that havealready been introduced by members ofPelosi’s party, you see things such as:• Bans on ammunition• Expansion of the Brady data base to

include the names of countless, law-abiding gun owners

• A re-authorization of the semi-autogun ban (a ban which President Bushis on record as supporting!)

• A prohibition on gun shows• A gun ban that will prohibit any hand-

gun from being sold which can not be“personalized” — thus preventingloved ones from using a spouse’sfirearm in an emergency.The list goes on and on. There could

be a lot of gun control debated over thenext several months. So prepare your-self for what will be a rough roadahead.

In the meantime, however, oneshould not neglect the fact that 2006was a real improvement for gun rightsin many respects. Yes, it will be a chal-lenge to preserve the victories that weaccomplished this year.

But consider just some of the highlights that we achievedtogether in 2006.

GOA Pushes Emergency Protection A little over a year ago — in the wake of Hurricane Katrina

— police began stealing the guns of law-abiding residents inNew Orleans.

GOA sprung into action, first, by posting videos of the gunconfiscation on our website.

GOA then tried to get the offending officials prosecuted.But Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti (D) — and theU.S. Inspector General — refused to investigate.

GOA found a more receptive attitude from legislators, asGOA-supported bills were introduced all across the nation.These Emergency Protection bills repeal state codes that granttremendous “emergency powers” to the government — powerswhich authorize officials to regulate or ban firearms.

Ten states enacted their Emergency Protection bills into law,and at the federal level, President Bush also signed a similarprovision into law this past October.

GOA spent a lot of time in Louisiana, getting gun owners inthe state to lobby their own legislators in favor of a change inthe law. The results were astounding.

GOA sets the grassroots on fireThe sponsor of the Emergency Protection legislation in the

state, Rep. Steve Scalise, told GOA that, “I’ve had a number of

[Representatives] come up to me askingto co-author my bill because they heardfrom members of Gun Owners ofAmerica in their districts in support ofmy bill.” In the end, 80% of the Housecosponsored his bill.

GOA’s work in the Bayou State’sHouse of Representatives, prior to thevote, was equally rewarding. Scalisealso told GOA that,

I showed the DVD you sent me onour computer monitors during thedebate, so all the members got towatch the confiscations — especial-ly when they tackled that lady inher house on Magazine Street —while the debate was going on.Thanks again for sending that[DVD] to me because it was veryeffective in making the point thatthis legislation is necessary.

If you have ever wondered if youractivism makes a difference, then won-der no more. The outpouring of grass-roots support at both the state and fed-eral levels was immense and effective.

After the Emergency Protection lan-guage overwhelmingly passed in theU.S. Senate, one office told GOA that,“They obviously got your message loudand clear. It was the most lopsided gunvote I have ever seen. There was some

serious hand wringing on the democratic side.”

Why was there “serious hand wringing”? Because theefforts from gun activists made it VERY difficult for anti-gunDemocrats to vote against the language offered by pro-gunSenator David Vitter (R-LA).

There were only 16 U.S. Senators who voted wrong. But if you look at GOA’s Senate rating — at www.gunowners.org/109srat.htm — you’ll see a lot more than just 16 F’s in that chamber.

Many F’s simply couldn’t take the heat, and they voted toput a stop to gun confiscation. But this was not the only feder-al victory that GOA helped achieve.

GOA single-handedly slams the door on Brady Expansion

The following quote from a congressional office says it all:“Oh s—t! We got a lot of postcards and emails from GOA

Attacks on Gun RightsContinued from page 1

Continued on page 3

The Gun Owners is published by Gun Owners of America, Inc. 8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151 (703) 321-8585

“GOA was the only Second Amendmentgroup in Washington opposing McCarthy’sattack.... And thanks to the active of GOAmembers, this [Brady expansion] bill isdead for the year.”

Sarah Brady TakesAim at GOA!

In November, the Brady Campaign asked theFederal Election Commission to investigateGOA’s practice of posting its candidate rat-ings on the Internet. Millions of gun ownersrely on these ratings, and that is somethingthe Brady Bunch would like to halt. In 2002,the Bradys rejoiced when Congress passedthe Incumbent Protect Act, stating that “nowthe gun lobby’s stranglehold on Congress willbe broken.” Indeed, they want to make it ille-gal for GOA to tell gun owners what theirlegislators are actually doing. But it shouldnot surprise anyone that a group which doesn’t understand the Second Amendmentdoes not understand First Amendment free-doms as well.


members.”This shows the reaction from one Con-

gressional office in response to the numberof postcards and emails that GOA memberssent in opposition to the McCarthy gun grab(HR 1415).

GOA members let their Representativesknow they didn’t want an expansion of theBrady Law, and the activism paid off hand-somely. This was an uphill task, as earlyon, the bill was expected to easily pass theHouse of Representatives.

But GOA members and activists over-whelmingly responded to our internet andpostal alerts over the August recess, result-ing in untold thousands of postcards andemails being dumped on legislators’ desks.

The immense tidal wave of grassrootsopposition buried this bill as legislative offices on Capitol Hillhave told GOA, “We’ve heard your postcards and emails loudand clear!”

It’s a good thing those postcards and emails were sent byour members, too, because GOA was the only Second Amend-ment group in Washington opposing McCarthy’s attack.

The House Judiciary Committee was scheduled to vote onHR 1415 in early September. At that time, the committeereported two firearms-related bills to the floor of the House —but they specifically passed over the McCarthy bill (eventhough it was scheduled to come up for a vote).

GOA alone opposed the McCarthy bill as it would spendnearly $1 billion dollars to further prop up and expand theunconstitutional Brady Law. And thanks to the active supportof GOA members, this bill is dead for the year.

GOA helping gun owners to Stand Your GroundAnother victory for gun owners involved strengthened pro-

tections for using guns inself-defense.

All over the country,Gun Owners of Americapushed legislation mod-eled after the Stand YourGround law that wasenacted in Florida lastyear.

All together, more thana dozen states have nowpassed this legislation.Similar to Florida’s bill,these measures would doseveral things to improvepeople’s safety, such as:

• Remove the “duty toretreat” if you are unlaw-fully attacked by another,hence, allowing you to“stand your ground;” and

• Give a person the presumption of innocence if he or sheshoots someone who had forcibly and unlawfully enteredthe gun owner’s home or car.

GOA has provided a helping hand in mobilizing gun ownersin many of these states.

“Thanks so much for helping me push my Stand YourGround bill through the legislature,” Rep. Calvey said. “Thisbill will go a long way to protect the safety of law-abiding gunowners in Oklahoma.”

GOA will continue to push for these laws in 2007, but inmany states, we will be fighting a lot of defensive battles aswell.

Gun Owners provides ‘silver bullet’in killing San Francisco gun ban

One defensive battle that ended quite well involved the SanFrancisco gun ban.

Attacks on Gun RightsContinued from page 2


Continued on page 6

In October, GOA appeared on TV sets across the country and around the world. After three school yard shootings led to cries for moregun control, GOA spokesmen pointed out that the U.S. school zone ban has failed to prevent school murders, but that armed principals andadults have successfully stopped gunmen in their tracks. To view some of these debates, please go to http://www.gunowners.org/svtb.htm.

Supporting Gun Confiscation. “God forbid something like9/11 should occur again; or Hurricane Katrina. It is anextraordinary circumstance where ordinary life is chal-lenged .... Chaos is reigning, and they are trying to keep thesociety together.... [So] the police make it known that thiswill be a gun-free zone. We are going to confiscate everygun.... Is that unreasonable?”

— Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), July 13, 2006

GOA in the News



GOA winslegislativevictories

GOA mobilizes gun owners in Louisiana. The GOA grassroots campaign to preventfuture gun thefts was super-effective in the Bayou State. “I’ve had a number of [Represen-tatives] come up to me asking to co-author my bill because they heard from members ofGun Owners of America in their districts in support of my bill,” said state Rep. SteveScalise (R-LA). In the end, 80% of the House cosponsored his bill.

Scalise also told GOA that, “I showed the DVD you sent me on our computer monitorsduring the debate, so all the members got to watch the confiscations — especially whenthey tackled that lady in her house on Magazine Street — while the debate was going on.Thanks again for sending that [DVD] to me because it was very effective in making thepoint that this legislation is necessary.”

“Oh s—t! We got a lotof postcards andemails from GOAmembers.”— As stated by a Con-gressional office toGOA lobbyist John Vel-leco (left) regarding theattempt to expand theBrady law.

Fighting an uphill bat-tle all the way, GOAwas the only SecondAmendment group in

Washington trying to kill the Brady expansion. Success, however, came inearly September when a tidal wave of grassroots opposition buried the gungrab bill. Legislative offices on Capitol Hill told GOA, “We’ve heard yourpostcards and emails loud and clear!”

Rep. Steve Scalise (R)

GOA’s Larry Pratt and Sen. David Vitter (R-LA)

Senator Vitter praises GOA’s work. “GOA’s help in pushingmy amendment to prohibit gun confiscation ... was a huge help,and it was very effective. I look forward to working on manyother issues with GOA.”

— Senator David Vitter (R-LA), July 13, 2006

GOA single-handedlykills Bradyexpansion



GOA supportinggun ownerprotections

GOFhelpsoverturngun ban

Gun Owners Foundationweighs in on handgunban. After San Franciscovoters decided to ban hand-guns within their city lim-its, GOA’s founder andchairman, Sen. H.L.Richardson (inset), submit-ted an amicus brief contest-ing the new edict. Whileserving as a Californiastate senator for more thantwo decades, Richardsonhad drafted (and passed)preemption legislationwhich bans localities fromdoing what the Bay City did. In June, Superior Court Judge James Warren agreedwith the GOF-funded amicus brief and overturned the voter-approved measure, cit-ing Richardson’s law as prohibiting the city from banning guns.

GOA speaks to Pennsylvania legislators. With the sponsorsof the Stand Your Ground bill standing behind him, GOA Exec-utive Director Larry Pratt addressed legislators and gun ownerson the advent of the bill’s introduction in the Keystone State.

GOA congratulatesIndiana lawmakersfor passing lifetimecarry. GOA ExecutiveDirector Larry Prattattended the governor’sbill-signing ceremonyin March. Picturedwith Pratt are the con-cealed carry reformsponsors from bothchambers: Sen. JohnnyNugent (R) on the leftand Rep. TroyWoodruff (R) on theright.

Victory in theSooner State.“Thanks so much forhelping me push myStand Your Groundbill through the leg-islature,” said stateRep. Kevin Calvey(R). “This bill willgo a long way toprotect the safety oflaw-abiding gunowners in Okla-homa.”

State Rep. Kevin Clavey (R-OK)



After San Francisco voters decided to ban handguns withintheir city limits, GOA’s founder and chairman, Sen. H.L.Richardson, submitted an amicus brief contesting the newedict.

While serving as a California state senator for more thantwo decades, Richardson had drafted (and passed) preemptionlegislation which bans localities from doing what the Bay Citydid.

In June, Superior Court Judge James Warren agreed with theGOF-funded amicus brief and overturned the voter-approvedmeasure, citing Richardson’s law as prohibiting the city frombanning guns.

Contributions to Gun Owners Foundation make victorieslike this possible.

One of GOF’s other high-profile cases is in Montana, wherewe are helping to defend Rick Celata, the owner of KT Ordi-nance.

Celata’s company makes parts kits for individuals who wantto make their own firearms, which is legal as long as the ownerdoes not sell the firearm to another person. The BATFE has

raided Celata and confiscated all of his part kits, although theagency has yet to charge him with any criminal wrongdoing.Nevertheless, Celata’s firearms have been put up for forfeiture.

Again, there were a lot of good things that occurred in 2006.Gun Owners of America hopes that you will stand with us sothat these key victories don’t evaporate.!

Attacking Gun RightsContinued from page 3

1054

GOA’s Erich Pratt (left) debated the head of the Brady Campaignin October, after three school shootings foisted the gun issue intothe headlines nationwide.



Endowing the future Gun Owners of America

member Jim Hammers agreeswith the founders of the Ameri-can republic — “Eternal vigi-lance is the price of liberty.”

In order to insure that GOAis able to be vigilant indefinite-ly, if not eternally, Jim is one ofthe GOA members who has putthe defense of freedom in hiswill. It is not unusual for GOAto be notified that we have beenleft in a member’s will when itis too late to thank him.

Jim would appear to havenotified us in plenty of time tothank him for leaving GOA inhis will. As his picture shows,Jim appears to be quite hale andhearty.

Jim was attracted to GunOwners of America because ofits confrontational approach inthe political arena. As a strong Christian, he also was pleased tofind the Gun Owners Foundation fact sheet on the web —http://www.gunowners.org — dealing with the Bible and GunControl.

Jim is not a P.C. sort of guy, even among gun owners. Hisfavorite rifle is the AK which he admires for its rugged reliabil-ity. He also is partial to Harleys.

Jim Hammers, thank you very much. Your endowment ofGun Owners of America will go a long way to keeping us inthe fight to keep our guns — and preserve what it means to befree Americans.!

After planes struck the World Trade Center towers in 2001,Gun Owners of America lobbied hard to get guns into thehands of U.S. pilots. The efforts paid off, as Congress latervoted to allow guns in the cockpit. On September 11, 2001,there were only 33 federal marshals in the air — most ofthem working international flights. Today, there are severalthousand pilots who have been trained to carry firearms onU.S. flights around the country.

GOA member Jim Hammers

A GOA Flashback:Five Years Ago...

Every year, GOA has benefited from gun owners who putthe defense of freedom in their wills. Please let us know ifyou have already put Gun Owners in your will or if youwould like additional information. Estate and financialplanning is available upon request.

“Gun Owners of America is one of themost effective and important politicalorganizations in this country.... [They]can mobilize gun owners from all acrossAmerica, uniting them into a single pow-erful voice that politicians in Washingtondare not ignore.”

— U.S. Senator David Vitter (R-LA)

“Thank you for the good work you do for2nd amendment and freedom.”

— Rep. Michael Pitts (SC)

“I really appreciate the work Gun Own-ers of America did to spread the word toyour members so they could contact theirlegislators and help pass [my] Resolu-tion.”

— Rep. Steve Scalise (LA)

“Thanks very much for sending me infor-mation on guns being confiscated frompeople in New Orleans. The videorecording was particularly compelling.”

— Rep. Pete Hinkle (NH)State Rep. Michael Pitts (R-SC)

What They’re Saying About GOA



charter member of the most extreme wing of the party she nowleads. As the person who controls what bills come to the floor,Pelosi will be unable to say “No” to the appeals for more guncontrol by the likes of Sarah Brady and her congressional allies.

The Speaker’s strongest House ally in the push for more guncontrol is long-time Democrat anti-gun activist John Conyers,the likely Chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

Almost all bills related to the Second Amendment will passthrough Conyers’ committee. The new Chairman, an extremistwho advocates a total handgun ban, will control the schedule ofthe committee as well as which bills come up for committeevote.

The situation in the Senate may be worse. The expected newSenate Majority will be F-rated Harry Reid (NV) and the prob-able incoming Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committeewill be GOA F-rated Pat Leahy of Vermont

From there it really goes downhill. The rest of the Democrats currently on the committee make

up the Who’s Who of the anti-gun movement:• Ted Kennedy (MA), the mouthpiece for Sarah Brady in the

Senate; • Joe Biden (DE), who chaired the Judiciary Committee

when the Brady bill passed in 1993, and who said at thattime, famously, “The public and the Congress have spokenunequivocally, and I don’t carewhat a minority wants;”

• Herb Kohl (WI), author of the“Gun Free Zones Ban;”

• Dianne Feinstein (CA), author ofthe so-called “Assault Weapons”ban;

• Russ Feingold (WI), democratlead sponsor of so-called cam-paign finance reform;

• Charlie Schumer (NY), leadsponsor of the 1993 Brady law;and

• Dick Durbin (IL), one of themost outspoken gun controlzealots in the Senate.

Gun owners should look twice atthe above list. Most or all of thesemembers will remain on the JudiciaryCommittee when the new Congress convenes in January, andwill help shape American gun laws for at least the next twoyears.

Gun Owner Victories There were several bright spots

for gun owners this election. The210th Congress will include the fol-lowing “A rated” members who hadthe support of Gun Owners ofAmerica’s Political Action Commit-tee: Doug Lamborn (CO), Bill Sali(ID), Vern Buchanan (FL) PeterRoskam (IL), Tim Walberg (MI),Michele Bachmann (MN), AdrianSmith (NE), and Jim Jordan (OH).

With the exception of Buchanan,who has not held elected office,each of these new representativeshave strong, proven pro-gun recordsin their respective state legislatures.In addition, Reps. Roskam, Wal-berg, Smith and Jordan are a vastimprovement over the Republicansthey are replacing.

Further, many of the incumbent Republicans who weredefeated were not pro-gun. For example, Nancy Johnson (CT),Jim Leach (IA), Clay Shaw (FL), Curt Weldon (PA), and Char-lie Bass (NH) were not strong gun rights supporters.

In the Senate, ousted Republican Mike DeWine of Ohio wasas anti-gun as Charlie Schumer. The same can be said for Lin-coln Chafee (R-RI).

Democrat Senators-elect Jon Tester (MT), and Bob Casey(PA), as well as Jim Webb, claim to be pro-gun. It remains tobe seen if they vote that way.

The bottom line: on a race-by-race basis, the pro-gun move-ment suffered a net loss of only a small handful of seats.

However, notwithstanding widespread calls for moderationwithin their ranks, the Democrat leadership in the House andSenate will unquestionably put gun owners on the defensive byseeking to renew the semi-auto ban, close down gun shows, anddrastically expand the Brady gun control law.!

Election 2006Continued from page 1

Michele Bachmann (R-MN), a former state sena-tor with a reputationholding the establish-ment’s feet to the fire,won a tight race in theGopher State.

Rep-elect Bill Sali (R-ID) was one of severalcandidates helped tovictory by Gun Ownersof America-PoliticalVictory Fund.

Gun OwnersTHE

Sen. H.L. Richardson (Ret.)Founder and Chairman

Tim MacyVice-Chairman

The Gun Owners publication is not copyrighted.Copies may be made freely, but it is requestedthat attribution be made together with GOA’saddress, phone number and web site location.

GUN OWNERS OF AMERICA8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102Springfield, Virginia 22151703-321-8585Web Site: http://www.gunowners.org

Larry PrattExecutive Director

Erich PrattDirector of Communications

John VellecoDirector of Federal Affairs

“The Democrat leadership in the Houseand Senate will unquestionably put gunowners on the defensive by seeking torenew the semi-auto ban, close down gunshows, and drastically expand the Bradygun control law.”

goa nl 11-4-04goa then tried to get the offending officials prosecuted. but louisiana attorney...

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