• We are now running on a new, and hopefully much-improved, server. In addition we are also on new forum software. Any move entails a lot of technical details and I suspect we will encounter a few issues as the new server goes live. Please be patient with us. It will be worth it! :) Please help by posting all issues here.
  • The forum will be down for about an hour this weekend for maintenance. I apologize for the inconvenience.
  • If you are having trouble seeing the forum then you may need to clear your browser's DNS cache. Click here for instructions on how to do that
  • Please review the Forum Rules frequently as we are constantly trying to improve the forum for our members and visitors.

Anti-gun Advocates In Senate Seek Rules Changes - ACTION ITEM

ed

Founder's Club Member - Moderator
Joined
Mar 8, 2008
Messages
4,841
Location
Loudoun County - Dulles Airport, Virginia, USA
Anti-gun Advocates In Senate Seek Rules Changes
-- Action would clear the way for semi-auto bans, guns show bans, gun licensing, and ammunition bans

Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
http://gunowners.org


Monday, January 3, 2011


Make no mistake about it: Procedure is power.

The reason we are not stuck with bans on semi-autos, gun shows and ammunition is because the U.S. Senate is structured so that whatever party is in the minority still retains procedural power to protect the rights of the citizenry against the "tyranny of the majority."

But on January 5, 2011, at the beginning of the new Congress, Senate Democrats are hatching a plan to decimate long-standing Senate rules in order to remove those protections.

The linchpin of the plan would be a ruling by Senate President Joe Biden that the Senate is not a "continuing body" and therefore has NO rules -- other than whatever 53 Democrats and Independents might unilaterally adopt.

At the core of their efforts will be an attempt to abolish the "hold letter" -- at least as it currently exists. Pro-gun senators have used "hold letters" in the past to kill proposed gun show bans, semi-auto bans, ammunition bans, gun licensing requirements, registration lists -- any number of anti-freedom initiatives.

Basically, a hold letter allows a single Senator to slow down movement on unconstitutional legislation, so that it can't be rammed through before the American people can voice their concerns.

Gun banners may also try to reduce the number of senators required to shut off filibusters of anti-gun measures. And they will do this in the expectation that the Second Amendment community has been preoccupied during the holidays and, thus, won't mobilize in time to stop the plan.

Again, procedure is power. The rules that currently exist in the Senate have been designed to slow down unconstitutional legislation -- and this is in keeping with our concept of checks and balances. Thus, not all rules changes are automatically bad, since anything that slows down the galloping herd of gun control is a good thing and should be supported.

To this end, Senator Jim DeMint may offer an amendment to the rules that would prohibit anti-gun legislation from being passed in the Senate, unless two-thirds of all senators vote to consider it. Now that's the kind of rules change that we can support!

ACTION: Contact your two senators, and tell them the following:

First, resist efforts by the anti-gun Left to abolish or amend the Senate rules on January 5 in order to make it more difficult to filibuster anti-gun measures.

Second, oppose any attempt to abolish "hold letters," which have been used by pro-gun senators to kill a number of anti-freedom initiatives.

Third, support the amendment to the Senate rules by Senator Jim DeMint that would prohibit anti-gun legislation from being passed in the Senate, unless two-thirds of all senators vote to consider it.

There are two different pre-written letters for this alert -- one for Republicans and one for Democrats.

If you go to GOA's Legislative Action Center to contact your Senators, the correct pre-written letter will AUTOMATICALLY be chosen. If you choose to contact your Senators without going through the GOA website, then please make sure you choose the correct letter below for the correct Senator.


----- Pre-written letter to Republican Senators -----

Dear Senator:

The reason we are not stuck with bans on semi-autos, gun shows and ammunition is because the U.S. Senate is structured so that whatever party is in the minority still retains procedural power to protect the rights of the citizenry against the "tyranny of the majority."

But on January 5, 2011, at the beginning of the new Congress, the Senate Democratic leadership is hatching a plan to decimate the Senate rules.

The linchpin of the plan would be a ruling by Senate President Joe Biden that the Senate is not a "continuing body" and therefore has NO rules -- other than whatever 53 Democrats and Independents might unilaterally adopt.

At the core of these efforts will be an attempt to abolish the "hold letter" -- at least as it currently exists. Pro-gun senators have used hold letters in the past to kill proposed gun show bans, semi-auto bans, ammunition bans, gun licensing requirements, registration lists -- any number of anti-freedom initiatives.

Gun banners may also try to reduce the number of senators required to shut off filibusters of anti-gun measures. And they will do this in the expectation that the Second Amendment community has been preoccupied during the holidays and, thus, won't mobilize in time to stop the plan.

I would ask you for the following:

First, resist efforts by the anti-gun Left to abolish or amend the Senate rules on January 5 in order to make it more difficult to filibuster anti-gun measures.

Second, oppose any attempt to abolish "hold letters," which have been used by pro-gun senators to kill a number of anti-freedom initiatives.

Third, support the amendment to the Senate rules by Senator Jim DeMint that would prohibit anti-gun legislation from being passed in the Senate, unless two-thirds of all senators vote to consider it.

Sincerely,


----- Pre-written letter to Democrat Senators -----

Dear Senator:

On January 5, 2011, at the beginning of the new Congress, there are some in the Senate leadership who are hatching a plan to decimate the Senate rules.

The linchpin of the plan would be a ruling by Senate President Joe Biden that the Senate is not a "continuing body" and therefore has NO rules -- other than whatever 53 Democrats and Independents might unilaterally adopt.

At the core of these efforts will be an attempt to abolish the "hold letter" -- at least as it currently exists. And, they may also try to reduce the number of senators required to shut off filibusters.

Ironically, these are the same senators who were, a half-decade ago, screaming at the prospects of Republicans and Vice President Dick Cheney changing the rules in order to expedite judicial nominations.

Also ironic is the fact that the same Democrats who are so enthusiastic about squashing the rights of the minority might well be in the minority in the Senate after the next election.

I would ask you to resist efforts to abolish or amend any Senate rules that would make it more difficult to filibuster or place holds on legislation. These valuable tools have a history of protecting the rights of all Americans.

Sincerely,



Please do not reply directly to this message, as your reply will bounce back as undeliverable.

To subscribe to free, low-volume GOA alerts, go to: http://www.gunowners.org/ean.htm. Change of e-mail address may also be made at that location.


To unsubscribe send a message to gunowners_list@capwiz.mailmanager.net with the word unsubscribe in the subject line or click on the link at bottom.

Problems, questions or comments? Please visit http://gunowners.net/cgi-bin/ttx.cgi?cmd=newticket or call 703-321-8585 during normal east coast business hours.
 

Repeater

Regular Member
Joined
Nov 5, 2007
Messages
2,498
Location
Richmond, Virginia, USA
Effort could take weeks

Senate Rules Reform Fight Likely To Be Drawn Out For Weeks

Operatives leading the lobbying effort for Senate rules reform said Monday that they expect Democrats to delay consideration of the issue until late January in hopes of crystallizing final support for a package of fixes.

...

After the Senate adjourns, Democrats will likely discuss which provisions stand the best chance of passing, with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), chair of the chamber's Rules Committee, getting a major say over the composition of the final product.

Expectations were high for Senate Democrats to settle on a package of reforms over the New Year's break, but Larson framed the new timing as a potentially significant boon for final passage of rules reform, noting that leadership could fully nail down the 50-plus votes necessary to push something through via the "constitutional option."

Watch out for that "constitutional option."
 

Uber_Olafsun

Regular Member
Joined
Dec 9, 2009
Messages
583
Location
Alexandria, Virginia, United States
Obama care must be paying for assisted political suicide. Now that they have lost their grip they are trying whatever they can to force things through. Yet as soon as the repubs start to use their same strategy against them they would cry foul. It is mind boggling that they are even considering this.
 

nuc65

Activist Member
Joined
Nov 22, 2009
Messages
1,121
Location
Lynchburg, Virginia, USA
Interesting enough the anti-democrat GOA letter I sent to my senators went to two democrats

Your e-mail message was sent to:
Senator Mark Warner (D-VA)
Senator Jim Webb (D-VA)

hahahhahahaha
 

Mr. Y

Regular Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2006
Messages
485
Location
Super Secret Squirrel Bunker, Virginia, USA
You can change the wording of the letters but this brings up a good point

Please, DO NOT lend your support to partisan attacks via reflector messages.

You may not like conservatives, or liberals, or libertarians or whatever particular stripe of politician we may be saddled with but if you send off messages with a partisan attack them then don't be surprised if they DON'T HELP YOU.

In fact, there is a very good chance that if your message is even substantially altered from what GOA pre-populated with, it may still get discarded. The reason is that Capwiz delivers messages with a footer indicating it is a Capwiz generated alert courtesy of (in this case) GOA.

It's a better idea to lend your support to an effort by calling and backing it up using the senator/representative web form and request you be contacted in return. If you want to affiliate your comments with a group or organization there are plenty of good, non partisan, independent & unaffiliated pro-RKBA organizations out there.
 

nuc65

Activist Member
Joined
Nov 22, 2009
Messages
1,121
Location
Lynchburg, Virginia, USA
Please, DO NOT lend your support to partisan attacks via reflector messages.

You may not like conservatives, or liberals, or libertarians or whatever particular stripe of politician we may be saddled with but if you send off messages with a partisan attack them then don't be surprised if they DON'T HELP YOU.

In fact, there is a very good chance that if your message is even substantially altered from what GOA pre-populated with, it may still get discarded. The reason is that Capwiz delivers messages with a footer indicating it is a Capwiz generated alert courtesy of (in this case) GOA.

It's a better idea to lend your support to an effort by calling and backing it up using the senator/representative web form and request you be contacted in return. If you want to affiliate your comments with a group or organization there are plenty of good, non partisan, independent & unaffiliated pro-RKBA organizations out there.

I agree, I really wasn't too happy with the message as far as it seemed like an attack on democrats. Which not all democrats are on the extreme end, the same as not all republicans are on the extreme end... It seems like the message could have been reworded such that it wouldn't have been an attack on democrats, but as I read it - it was just that- an attack on democrats.
 
Top