Georgia GUN ALERT

Citizens for Safe Government email alert ^ | 2/7/2003 | CSG

[from occupied ga]

(Atlanta, Friday, February 7) -- Georgia gun owners didn't get much time this week to enjoy their victory over the SB1 Substitute "Stealth Triggerlock" bill.

Stymied in the State Senate, anti-gunners immediately introduced identical "Stealth Triggerlock" language in the Georgia House of Representatives as HB197. They quickly railroaded it through the House Judiciary Family Law Subcommittee on Wednesday, Feb. 5.

The HB197 "Stealth Triggerlock" bill is a "Lock Away Your Gun" bill in disguise. It will force gun owners to lock away their guns so they're not ready for self-defense. If you don't lock up your guns so they're not ready for self-defense, officials will be able to come to your home or in your car, arrest you, and confiscate your guns.

Pro-gun activists have previously defeated explicit "Lock Away Your Gun" schemes in Georgia. But this new "stealth" approach has been carefully crafted by anti-gunners so it doesn't specifically mention firearms--instead HB197 uses vague language with loopholes big enough to drive a truck through. Anti-gunners have been working on it for three years. They believe the "Stealth Tiggerlock" bill can pass because it doesn't explicitly mention guns.

The HB197 Stealth Triggerlock bill is moving fast. It's scheduled for a crucial vote by the full House Judiciary Committee Monday afternoon Feb. 10 at 2:00 pm.

Pro-gun Rep. Warren Massey (R-Winder) will force politicians on the committee to "show their cards" on guns by making them vote on his "Self-Defense" amendment to exempt gun owners who want to keep their guns unlocked so they are ready for self-defense.

You can help Rep. Massey defend your rights: CALL THE OFFICE of a pair of members on the House Judiciary Committee (see below) and urge them to vote for the Massey Self-Defense Amendment to HB197. Do this as soon as you can--the showdown is coming Mon. afternoon, Feb. 10. Pressure works--you saw how it stopped SB1 in the Senate. But this fight is tougher--if you weren't able to call last time, you need to call this time.

WHO'S BEHIND THIS SCHEME? HB197 is being pushed by House anti-gun ringleader Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver (D-Atlanta). Yep, that's right, Ms. Oliver is back in the legislature after being defeated in disgrace 4 years ago when she was caught abusing a campaign worker. House bosses have made her Chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Family Law and now she's attacking your gun rights again.

Also involved are Rep. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield (D-Decatur), who served as House anti-gun ringleader last year, and Rep. Wendell Willard (R-Atlanta), a liberal Republican who's the "front man" for HB197. Backing all this is a group of anti-gun prosecutors from the Atlanta metro area and a network of "anything for the children" Hillary Clinton types.

WHERE'S THE NRA? On the sidelines. NRA bosses are claiming privately since the anti-gunners cleverly drafted the Stealth Triggerlock bill without any reference to firearms, it can't be opposed. Then why isn't the NRA supporting the Massey Self-Defense Amendment to insert explicit language protecting gun owners?

At the Feb. 5 subcommittee meeting, the NRA's hired lobbyist didn't even show up. Ellen Williams, speaking for the Child Advocacy Centers of Georgia in support of HB197, grabbed the opportunity to speak for the NRA, claiming "the NRA wasn't opposed" to the bill.

HOW DID THE POLITICIANS VOTE FEB. 5?

Voting to approve HB197:
Wendell Willard (R-Atlanta)
Stephanie Stuckey Benfield (D-Decatur)
Mary Margaret Oliver (D-Atlanta)
Able Mable Thomas (D-Atlanta)
Larry Walker (D-Perry)
Larry O'Neal (R-Warner Robins)

Voting against HB197 in subcommittee: NOBODY

Absent: David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge).

IMPORTANT: if the Stealth Triggerlock bill becomes law, and you don't lock up your guns so they're not ready for self-defense, anti-gun officials will be able to come to your home or in your car, arrest you, and confiscate your guns.

Anti-gun prosecutors claim they won't abuse this law to persecute gun owners and push their anti-gun agenda by way of the courts. But the anti-gunners have no credibility. They're dead set against the Massey Self-Defense Amendment to HB197 because the Massey Self-Defense Amendment would protect your rights.

Fight against the anti-gunners advancing the HB197 Stealth Triggerlock scheme in the Georgia House. Everybody's help is needed urgently because this all-out frontal assault will be harder to beat than the sneak attack we just stopped.

You can help keep your right to self-defense by calling the offices of a pair of members of the full House Judiciary Committee before the meeting at 2:00 pm Monday, Feb. 10. Leave messages urging them to support the Massey Self Defense Amendment to HB197.

ACTION ITEMS

• 1. Contact the office of a member of the full House Judiciary Committee who represents a pro-gun district. If your own State Rep. isn't on this list, pick one at random. Leave a message saying you want them to support the Massey Self-Defense Amendment to HB197. House members generally don't have fax numbers. Here's a list of committee members from pro-gun districts:
  1. Mike Boggs (D-Waycross) 404-656-0152
  2. Tom Campbell (R-Roswell) 404-656-0152
  3. Mack Crawford (R-Concord) 404-656-0152
  4. Scott Dix (R-Lilburn) 404-656-0126
  5. Barry Fleming (R-Harlem) 404-656-0325
  6. Warren Massey (R-Winder) 404-656-0325
  7. Larry O'Neal (R-Warner Robins) 404-651-7737
  8. David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) 404-656-0109
  9. Jim Stokes (D-Covington) 404-656-0254
  10. Rob Teilhet (D-Atlanta) 404-656-0202
  11. Curt Thompson (D-Norcross) 404-656-0177
  12. Larry Walker (D-Perry) 404-656-0213
• 2. Contact the office of a member of the full House Judiciary Committee who is NOT from a pro-gun district. This lets the anti-gunners know gun owners won't be pushed around. If your own State Rep. isn't on this list, pick one at random. Leave a message asking them to agree to the Massey Self-Defense Amendment to HB197. Here's a list of committee members who are NOT from pro-gun districts:
  1. Tom Bordeaux (D-Savannah) 404-656-5125
  2. Roger Bruce (D-Atlanta) 404-656-6372
  3. Nick Moraitakis (D-Atlanta) 404-656-0202

  4. Mary Margaret Oliver (D-Atlanta) 404-656-6372

  5. Pam Stephenson (D-Lithonia) 404-656-0126
  6. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield (D-Decatur) 404-656-6372
  7. Able Mable Thomas (D-Atlanta) 404-656-0177
  8. Wendell Willard (R-Atlanta) 404-656-0314
• 3. (Extra Credit) Rep. David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) deserted gun owners by being absent from the field of battle Feb. 5. He claims to be pro-gun but his record is spotty. He ran statewide for Attorney General in 1998 but was defeated. Word is he might try again. Leave a message for Mr. Ralston saying he needs to start doing the job he has now or he can forget running for higher office. Call his office at the Capitol at 404-656-0109. To make double-sure your message gets through, also call his law office at 706-632-2221 or e-mail him at: ralstonlaw@tds.net
• 4. E-mail or fax this alert to everybody you know who owns a gun or is otherwise concerned about their constitutional rights.

--

Citizens for Safe Government, Inc.

P.O. Box 813764

Smyrna, GA 30081

csg@arms.org

[from occupied ga]

The anti-gunners have been working for three years to get this one through. They never quit. As long as they are still alive they will keep trying to disarm and enslave us. They won't be satisfied until the entire US is a totalitarian police state that would make the old Soviet Union look like a freedom lovers paradise.

[Mulder]

The "domestic enemies of the Constitution" come out of the woodwork, once again.

[stevio]

Bump for my Georgian brothers and sisters.

[Puppage]

Stymied in the State Senate.....

Was it Buckwheated in the House?

[conservativefromGa]

Ga Bump

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

2A Alert Ping

[Tatze]

Perhaps you can post the bill or part of the bill that you think includes the "stealth triggerlock." Im reading the bill online now and can find no such provision. I was about to call my Rep Jan Jones (unfortunately), who was also a sponsor, and then Wendell Willard, but thought I should read the bill first.

I will still call and give them hell if you point out the offending provision of the bill, but I dont see it.

[logic101.net]

"Anti-gun politicians claim..."

Yep, and the seat belt fanatics claimed that the manditory seat belt law would never be used to pull over drivers too!


MARK A SITY
http://www.logic101.net/

[from occupied ga]

Perhaps you can post the bill or part of the bill that you think includes the "stealth triggerlock."

well how about:

Criminal negligence is an act or failure to act which demonstrates a willful, wanton, or reckless disregard for the safety of others who might reasonably be expected to be injured thereby.

...

"(c) Any person commits the offense of cruelty to children in the second degree when such person with criminal negligence causes a child under the age of 18 cruel or excessive mental or physical pain.

Is that vague enough for you? It's a prosecutor's dream. Read what CSG member Warren Massey had to say about it

xxxxx,

You are absolutely right about both these bills. They will make any gun owning citizen have to lock up his/her gun for fear of becoming a felon under this law.

Rest assured that I will do my damnedest to defeat this measure in the judiciary committee on Monday and in the House should the committee fail to understand that they are on the threshold of stiking down the 2nd amendment.

The language is cleverly crafted, but you only have to look at the key sponsors to know what they are trying to do. Not only are guns attacked but the language is so overbroad that leaving your keys in the car could get you locked up as a felon.

Going into the house from the garden to answer the phone and not locking away the insecticide could put you away as a felon.

I could keep naming examples all day of the acts or failure to act that > would make not criminal ordinary citizens felons under this legislation.

You can forward my email to anyone you want. I will gladly explain the true effect of the language to any legislator who is interested.

Warren Massey
Republican Vice Chair
House

Don't take my word for it take Warren's

[Ches]

I'm afraid this BS is never going to end. The gun grabbers are going to keep us all busy fighting these brush fires. Here in WI we don't have a triggerlock law but I am aware of prosecutions for reckless endangerment of a child for having unlocked guns. A local gunsmith with FFL is now a felon for this reason. Had a gun in a nightstand with a loaded clip in another drawer. After four or five years, he has lost his business, his house and is still fighting to get his children back from Social Services. This was the result of a raid on an anonymous tip that he was a "weapons dealer". They never checked to see if he had an FFL before the warrant was issued, came in the middle of the night, ATF style, he and his wife were thrown on the floor with AR-15s pointed at their heads. The only thing they could get to stick was the reckless endangerment charge.

They don't need these fricking laws, they've managed to stretch the reckless endangerment to cover it as it is.

[Tatze]

Jones & Willard have been called. If Wendell actually gets the message, I would expect him to call me back. We have worked together on enough things that I think he would call me on this (I hope). Maybe Ill try him at home tonight.

[from occupied ga]

I'm afraid this BS is never going to end.

Too right. It will only stop if we're dead, or they're dead, or we're totally enslaved. They are not deterred by reason, by the Bill of Rights, or by any appeal to their consciences. It is a religion to them. They worship state power and they see any ability of individuals to protect themselves as blasphemy.

[Ches]

"They are not deterred by reason,"

Nor by their own treason.

[Ches]

I've forwarded this to some friends in Georgia. Hope it helps.

[OldPossum]

I note that the comment was made that the NRA was not involved. It's probably just as well that they don't. If they did, they would do what they do best: compromise.

[from occupied ga]

. If they did, they would do what they do best: compromise.

I've given up trying to understand the rationale behind the NRA's policy of preemptive surrender. I guess the leadership is French.

[Vic3O3]

ping!

[Shooter 2.5]

Nope. I keep hearing how the NRA can't do this and can't do that. That people should quit the NRA and no one should be in the NRA.

Fine. It's all your's. Take up the slack because the NRA isn't involved. Have fun.

[from occupied ga]

Take up the slack because the NRA isn't involved.

We did and we are.