Posted on 05/26/2011 5:11:53 AM PDT by marktwain
Washington, DC --(Ammoland.com)- Remember the corrupt tactics used by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to pass ObamaCare? The secret meetings? The refusal to let the American people see the language?
Well, he’s at it again. This time, Reid is abusing his role as Majority Leader of the Senate to block a pro-gun amendment that Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is attempting to add to the so-called Patriot Act.
In order to circumvent Sen. Paul’s efforts to protect gun rights, Reid scuttled the Senate version of the 9/11 extension and instead tacked it onto an unrelated House-passed small business bill. He then employed a procedural scheme to lock out ALL Republican amendments, including Paul’s pro-gun amendment.
As you know, Rand Paul’s amendment would exempt 4473’s (the form all purchasers fill out when they buy a firearm from a licensed dealer) and other gun records from the blanket information demands which Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) can make under the 9/11 legislation.
Without Paul’s exemption, it is possible that the BATFE could go to a secret (FISA) court, and, in a one-party (ex parte) proceeding, obtain an order to produce every 4473 in the country, ostensibly because a “terrorism investigation” requires it. If such an action were taken, the government would have a list of every gun buyer in the country going back decades.
This is unacceptable and it is a violation of gun owner protections enacted in 1986 as part of the McClure-Volkmer Firearms Owners Protection Act. The McClure-Volkmer Act spells out the purposes for which gun records can be obtained by a law enforcement agency: as part of a bona fide criminal investigation, a trace, or a routine annual inspection. Sen. Paul’s amendment will simply keep the 1986 law’s provisions in place.
It should also be noted that the records in question deal with persons who already underwent the (unconstitutional) background check and were allowed to purchase a firearm. Once again, the dangers of a background check system (which presumes a person is a criminal until proven otherwise) are highlighted, as efforts must constantly be made to keep the government’s hands off the list of honest gun owners.
Sen. Paul’s amendment to protect gun owners would have tremendous support in the Senate, and Reid knows it—which is why he has gone through such great lengths to keep it of the floor. Now is the time to insist that the Paul amendment be allowed to come up for a vote and that gun dealer records be protected
ACTION: Contact your Senators. Tell them to oppose cloture on Harry Reid’s motion to concur until Rand Paul has had an opportunity to offer his amendment to protect gun records.
Click Here to send your Senators a prewritten email. Gun Owners of America 8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102 Springfield, VA 22151 Phone: 703-321-8585 FAX: 703-321-8408 www.gunowners.org
It is crazy to set up a huge expensive bureaucratic system, require everyone to jump though hoops and prove that they are *not* criminals in order to try, ineffectively, to prevent the few individuals who are not responsible, from having legal access to guns. This is a failed paradigm, and it should be abandoned. To accept the idea that the all gun sales should be monitored by the government, and only allowed to those it deems satisfactory is fundamentally wrong.
The entire idea of the enterprise has always been the death of a thousand cuts, where the restrictions on who can buy, and where, and how and what are continually increased until the number of gun owners is reduced to political insignificance.
It’s my understanding that the 4473’s are turned into the feds anyway when the FFL decides to close shop or if he passes away.
In essence, the 4473’s you fill out only stay out of federal hands until your FFL ceases to exist.
Aren’t the words “Harry Reid” and “Sleazy” in a headline superfluous?
when was the last time Reid used tactics that were not sleazy?
And tell me why the NRA backed Reid? I am an NRA Life Member and this really pisses me off.
Because, of course, NRA is pro-2A regardless of party. So, Dirty Harry must be pro-2A.
Reminds me of a mobius strip.
I think I am calling the NRA today and explain to them why I dropped my membership last year.
Big government socialists will do anything to circumvent the constitution, which guarantees rights the Marxists would like to withhold at their discretion.
Like Mao and Stalin before them, they’d very much prefer to be the Big Daddy who hands out rights only to party members and pals.
Because the NRA has become wimp-ified — scared of being labelled partisan. So in response, they feel the need to “reach out” and support some Democrats.
It is ridiculous, because even pro gun Democrats being elected means ANTI GUN majorities are in charge. One of many reasons to join pro gun organizations other than the ridiculous NRA. Heston would turn over in his grave.....
I’ll bet WLP and the NRA are proud of their guy Reid now! Remember, it’s not just about gun rights, it’s about the success of the organization.
I'm saving my anger for Mitch McConnell. He has apparently come out against Mr. Paul's amendment and is urging other republicans to oppose it.
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