I Joined Gun Owners of America Today

By Jim on April 27th, 2007

Although I have a life membership to the NRA, I finally got around to joining the Gun Owners of America today. Why?

Well I part company with the NRA on HR 297, the bill to “improve” the NICS system. I don’t think it will stop a determined nutjob from killing a lot of people and I think it gives far too much power and information to the federal government. I also think the government will inevitably misuse that power as soon as it gets it.

Please note that I’m not giving up my NRA membership by any means. NRA is still the 800 pound gorilla of gun politics and it’s far too important an organization for gun owners with consciences to walk away from. But I like a bit of real diversity and GOA offers a strict constitutionalist perspective on 2nd amendment civil rights.

And I agree with GOA’s take on HR 297:

McCARTHY BILL TREATING GUN OWNERS WORSE THAN TERRORISTS

HR 297 would require the states to turn over mountains of personal data (on people like you) to the FBI — any information which according to the Attorney General, in his or her unilateral discretion, would be useful in ascertaining who is or is not a “prohibited person.”

Liberal support for this bill points out an interesting hypocrisy in their loyalties: For six years, congressional Democrats have complained about the Bush administration’s efforts to obtain personal information on suspected terrorists WITHOUT A COURT ORDER.

And yet, this bill would allow the FBI to obtain massive amounts of information — information which dwarfs any records obtained from warrantless searches (or wiretaps) that have been conducted by the Bush Administration on known or suspected terrorists operating in the country.

In fact, HR 297 would allow the FBI to get this information on honest Americans (like you) even though the required data is much more private and personal than any information obtained thus far by the Bush administration on terrorists.

And all of these personal records would be obtained by the FBI with no warrant or judicial or Congressional oversight whatsoever!!!

Get the picture? Spying on terrorists is bad… but spying on honest gun owners is good. After all, this horrific intrusion on the private lives of all Americans is presumed to be “okay” because it’s only being used to bash guns, not to go after terrorists and criminals who are trying to kill us.

As indicated in earlier alerts, this information could include your medical, psychological, financial, education, employment, traffic, state tax records and more. We don’t even know the full extent of what could be included because HR 297 — which can be viewed at http://thomas.loc.gov by typing in the bill number — is so open-ended. It requires states to provide the NICS system with ALL RECORDS that the Attorney General believes will help the FBI determine who is and who is not a prohibited person. Certainly, an anti-gun AG like Janet Reno would want as many types of records in the system as possible.

The provision that would probably lead to the greatest number of ‘fishing expeditions’ is that related to illegal aliens. Federal law prohibits illegal aliens from owning guns. The bill requires all “relevant” data related to who is in this country illegally. But what records pertaining to illegal aliens from the states would be relevant? Perhaps a better question would be, what records are not relevant?

ACTION:

1. Please take a moment to communicate your opposition to HR 297 — even if you already sent your Representative a note earlier this week. We have provided a new letter (below) which provides updated information relating to the battle we are fighting.

House leaders are talking about bringing up this bill soon. And Sen. Schumer (in his interview with O’Reilly) even hinted at the fact that the bill could come up WITHOUT the ability to offer pro-gun amendments — such as a repeal of the DC gun ban or reciprocity for concealed carry holders — provisions that could potentially serve as killer amendments.

Also — oh yeah, this is going to upset you — Senator Schumer told O’Reilly, “I got to tell you, a lot of NRA people, they support this.” Can you believe that? Senator Schumer is claiming to speak for you! That’s why it’s so important that you once again tell your congressman that Schumer is wrong… that you’re a supporter of gun rights who OPPOSES the anti-gun McCarthy-Dingell bill.

2. Please circulate this e-mail and forward it to as many gun owners as you can.

CONTACT INFORMATION: You can visit the Gun Owners Legislative Action Center to send your Representative the pre-written e-mail message below. And, you can call your Representative toll-free at 1-877-762-8762.

—– Pre-written letter —–

Dear Representative:

As a supporter of Second Amendment rights, I do NOT support HR 297, the NICS Improvement Act. I hope that you will OPPOSE this bill and urge your party leadership to either kill it outright or to allow other pro-gun amendments to be offered (repeal of the DC gun ban, reciprocity for concealed carry holders, etc.).

In its current form, HR 297 will treat gun owners even worse than terrorists, giving the FBI a mountain of private information on law-abiding Americans like me.

How is it that, despite all the criticism over the Bush administration’s attempts to obtain personal information on suspected terrorists without a court order, this bill would allow the FBI to obtain massive amounts of information on ME — information which dwarfs any warrantless searches (or wiretaps) that have been conducted by the Bush Administration on known or suspected terrorists operating in the country.

And all of this personal information would be obtained by the FBI with no warrant or judicial or Congressional oversight whatsoever!!!

How is it that spying on terrorists is bad, but spying on honest gun owners is good?

Again, I hope that you will oppose HR 297. Gun Owners of America will continue to keep me informed on the progress of this bill. Thank you.

Sincerely,

See the full page of info from GOA.