Posted on 02/03/2003 3:46:14 AM PST by from occupied ga
(Atlanta, Sunday, February 2) -- An emergency crisis is developing rapidly in the new Georgia legislature. You must act immediately to stop a dangerous attack on YOUR RIGHT to keep a gun ready for use in your home or car.
If this law passes, and you are prosecuted, you could go to prison for 10 years.
A showdown on SB 1, a so-called "Child Endangerment" bill, is coming early Mon. afternoon Feb. 3 in the Georgia State Senate Judiciary Committee meeting where just a handful of state senators could give the "go ahead" to this dangerous legislation.
There's a lot of information to digest, and not much time to act, so please read on carefully:
For years, CSG has worked with gun rights activists statewide to stall and kill so-called "Lock Away Your Gun" schemes where people have to lock up their guns so they are useless in emergencies or face having authorities confiscate their guns or even face going to prison if anything happens.
In 1998, then State Sen. (now Congressman) David Scott (D-Atlanta) succeeded in getting his "Lock Away Your Gun" scheme passed through the Ga. State Senate. But CSG alerted thousands of gun owners statewide and the backlash killed the bill in the Georgia House of Representatives at the last minute.
This defeat was so humiliating for the anti-gunners that no major push for gun control was made for several years. But last year, in 2002, the anti-gunners reorganized in the Georgia House around anti-gun ringleader State Rep. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield (D-Decatur).
And state anti-gunners came up with a new strategy: so-called "child endangerment" legislation that's extra hard to fight because it doesn't even mention guns. But the principle is the same: if you don't lock away your gun so it's useless, anti-gun prosecutors and judges can throw the book at you. And this time they're not playing: you can go to prison for up to 10 years.
They do this by using vague wording criminalizing any "act which demonstrates a willful disregard for the safety of others who might reasonably be expected to be injured thereby." What does that mean?
Or language like causing a child under 18 "excessive mental pain."
You can now see the method of their madness. They don't mention guns but they're wording the law VAGUELY with loopholes big enough to drive a truck through.
It's a set-up for anti-gun district attorneys and judges to persecute gun owners, frightening people into locking up their guns so they're useless, eventually causing people to give up owning guns for protection.
This is the law in anti-gun states where people are in the process of losing their right to keep and bear arms.
Fortunately, it's not that way in Georgia YET and you can still help stop this attack on your gun rights. Unfortunately, the situation in the Georgia House has deteriorated since 1998. If SB 1 or similar legislation passes the State Senate, we're not likely to stop it in the Georgia House.
That's why YOU must act immediately to help turn up the heat on the Senate Judiciary Committee members who'll be acting on this bill Mon. afternoon Feb. 3.
Sharing responsibility for this sneak attack on your gun rights is Senate Judiciary Chairman Charlie Tanksley (R-Marietta), a moderate Republican who COULD have buried SB 1 a mile deep in committee. Instead, he's HELPING the anti-gunners by substituting SB 1 with similar wording drafted in the House last year by anti-gun ringleader Rep. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield (D-Decatur), and moving right away, early in the session, to push it on through his committee.
Mr. Tanksley wants to rush this SB 1 Substitute through the Senate so it can get over to the House. Instead, he needs to slow down because many voters in his Cobb County district will be angry if they find out he's helping the anti-gunners.
The outcome of this crucial showdown depends on whether you help by calling at least one (1) senator on the Senate Judiciary Committee before they vote on the SB 1 Substitute Mon. afternoon Feb. 2. A handful of calls won't do. You (and everybody else who gets this e-mail alert) need to help stop this attack on your right to keep and bear arms. Pass the word.
ACTION ITEMS
URGENT! Please act before 1 pm Mon. Feb. 2. If you miss this crucial deadline go ahead and call anyway--this fight won't be over in just one day.
1. Contact the office of Georgia State Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Tanksley and leave a message that voters in his Cobb County district will be upset if they find out he's rushing the SB 1 Substitute so-called "Child Endangerment" legislation through his committee. This vague legislation needs extensive work to ensure it doesn't violate people's rights and can't be abused by over-zealous prosecutors and judges.
Charlie Tanksley (R-Marietta) Capitol office 404-656-0150 fax 651-6767
2. Contact at least one of the senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee. If your own senator isn't on the list, pick one at random. Contact their office and leave a message saying the SB 1 Substitute so-called "Child Endangerment" bill is totally unacceptable as it is. The SB 1 Substitute needs to be exhaustively reviewed and the vague language cleaned up to ensure it doesn't violate people's rights and can't be abused by over-zealous prosecutors and judges, or else it should be thrown in the trash.
Contact the office of at least one senator on the Senate Judiciary Committee:
Rene Kemp (D-Hinesville) 404-656-0070/657-1806
3. E-mail or fax this alert to everybody you know who owns a gun or is concerned about their constitutional rights.
4. CSG wants to pack the Sen. Judiciary Committee meeting on SB 1 with gun owners who want to voice their objection to this attack on their right of self-defense. Please attend if you can. The committee will meet Mon. Feb. 2 upon adjournment of the State Senate (about 1:45 pm) in Room 450 of the State Capitol in Atlanta.
Maybe then dims would be illegal.
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