Posted on 02/17/2003 3:41:56 AM PST by from occupied ga
(Atlanta, Sunday, February 16) -- Gun owners working against the HB197 Stealth Triggerlock bill have turned up startling new facts about the coalition backing this scheme. You'll get mad when you find out what's really going on at the Capitol.
Fortunately, steady pressure from gun owners across Georgia caused House bosses to delay again the final showdown vote on HB197 and Rep. Bobby Franklin's companion "Self-Defense" amendment.
The final showdown is now expected to start 10:00 am Tue. Feb. 18. The legislature is scheduled to be off a full week starting Wed. Feb. 19. Anti-gunners realize more delay could cost them momentum.
You get full credit for stopping a slam dunk by the anti-gunners. Your work so far has made the outcome of this fight a "squeaker."
The anti-gunners have a slight edge right now in committed votes, but fence-sitters are holding the outcome in the balance. It should be decided on the basis of telephone calls Mon. Feb. 17, as many legislators finally start to make up their minds ahead of Tuesday morning's showdown.
You can help deliver winning blows against the Stealth Triggerlock bill by calling your state Rep. right away urging a vote for Rep. Bobby Franklin's Self-Defense amendment to HB197. If you've already called, you can still help by "doubling down" (see below). This alert is a full report, so if you're in a big hurry, proceed directly to the action items.
The so-called "Child Endangerment" coalition turned out in force at the Capitol Thu. Feb. 13 to lobby legislators for HB197. CSG Legislative Director Bill Phillips said he'd "never seen anything like it. There were hundreds of them crawling all over the place." The coalition is an alliance of "child-grabbers," power-hungry prosecutors, and hardcore anti-gunners.
"Child-grabbers" are the network of so-called "children's advocates" who have built a job-rich small industry in the last ten years based on caring for children snatched up from so-called "dysfunctional parents" in accordance with concepts outlined in Hillary Clinton's book "It Takes a Village."
HB197 creates (as Rep. Larry O'Neal complained this week) an unprecedented new Georgia Code section 16-5-73 effectively authorizing the seizure of children in situations the child-grabbers merely just don't like, even though no harm has actually occurred. Under current law, only children who are actually injured can be seized. HB197 is a huge expansion of power to take children away from their parents. It's potential for abuse is enormous.
Of course, child-grabbers don't have authority to act alone, but a visit to websites of child-grabber groups shows they train and work closely with metro area prosecutors who are backing HB197.
HB197 gives prosecutors new powers to charge people who keep unlocked guns in their home or car, even if nobody is hurt. Anti-gunners, prosecutors, and child-grabbers have been quietly working together on HB197 for three years, and they're drooling at the prospect of getting these new powers.
Where do the child-grabbers get their money? In late 2001, the so-called "Georgians for Gun Safety" anti-gun group launched a massive campaign to raise money for gun control. The reply form instructed anti-gunners to make their checks out to the Atlanta/Fulton Commission on Children and Youth.
But child-grabbers also get as much as 50 percent of their money directly from the State of Georgia. That's right: last Thursday, while many gun owners were at work, these quasi-government workers, these child-grabbers paid with YOUR taxpayer dollars, were on the job at the Capitol lobbying legislators to pass the Stealth Triggerlock bill.
It's no accident last Thursday was the day HB197 was originally planned to go to the floor of the House. The timing had been carefully plotted in advance. But you and other gun owners temporarily threw a wrench in the gears.
Nonetheless, this may be your last real chance to do anything about it. Already, several well-financed child-grabbers are freshmen state Reps. this term, joining more experienced anti-gunners like Reps. Mary Margaret Oliver (D-Atlanta) and Stephanie Stuckey Benfield (D-Decatur). For the first time, anti-gun extremists outnumber hardline pro-gun Reps. like Bobby Franklin (R-Marietta), Brian Joyce (R-Lookout Mountain) and others.
The alliance of child-grabbers, metro area prosecutors, and anti-gunners is a dangerous threat to your right to keep and bear arms. If HB197 passes, it's estimated child-grabbers will be able to seize enough extra children in a few years to double the size of their operation, the number of jobs they have, and their economic strength.
CSG President Marston Tuck said, "Nobody's questioning the love these people have for children. The problem is they love children so much they're apparently willing to discard the Constitution and other basic principles upon which our society is founded. It's like throwing out the baby with the bath water."
These people are the "soldiers" in a movement to effectively repeal your gun rights using the courts as a weapon. Right now, they're building a small army with your taxpayer dollars, and railroading bills through the legislature to legitimize their objectives, while many citizens are asleep at the switch.
If you've already called your own state Rep. you need to take immediate action to "double down" Monday by getting at least one other person to call their state Rep. and object to the HB197 scheme. If you haven't already called your own state Rep. you'd better call Monday before it's too late.
CSG is a single-issue organization dedicated to defending the right to keep and bear arms in Georgia. Our charter prevents us from involvement with other issues like so-called "child endangerment." But CSG will not stand by and let a gang of left-wing Hillary Clinton types pass anti-gun legislation in the form of a stealth triggerlock bill like HB197.
To avoid stepping outside "our box" CSG is working with House Pro-Gun Leader Rep. Bobby Franklin who will offer a Self-Defense floor amendment to HB197. This amendment protects your right to self-defense, while not otherwise taking a position on the "child endangerment" aspects of HB197.
However, anti-gunners are likely to lose much of their interest in HB197 if the Self-Defense amendment is adopted. Ms. Oliver summed it up this week in the House Judiciary Committee when she whined, "Mr. Chairman, with this Self-Defense amendment, we won't be able to prosecute anybody for having an unlocked gun."
The HB197 Stealth Triggerlock bill says if you keep a gun unlocked so it's ready for self-defense, anti-gun officials can come to your home or in your car, arrest you, and confiscate your guns. The Self-Defense amendment will stop them. But anti-gunners and child-grabbers can still defeat the Self-Defense amendment because many fence-sitters are undecided.
If you've already called, it's vital that you call again. This time leave a message asking why they're stalling the Self-Defense amendment to HB197. If you haven't called yet, you need to call your state Rep. right away. Leave a message saying to vote for Rep. Franklin's Self-Defense amendment to HB197.
The anti-gunners and child-grabbers will attempt to tie up the phone lines at the Capitol on Monday. Don't let their busy signals keep you from doing your duty. Keep pounding away until you get through. Legislative offices stay open until 5:00 pm.
ACTION ITEMS
look here for the list of house members by district Citizens for Safe Government, Inc.
P.O. Box 813764
Smyrna, GA 30081
csg@arms.org
I can't speak for your neck of the woods, but here in coastal Georgia, that "for the sake of the children" nonsense has been laughed at for years. I guess we're backwards- or could it be the other way around?
I know you will, and I send my kindest regards to you and your lovely spouse.
Good Lord a' Mercy, it's been years since I've heard that phrase- I grew up when kids were ( mercifully ) understood to occupy a different world than the adults.
Here are cool links to find your reps and use for a phone directory:
Link 1 - Search by County;
http://www.dca.state.ga.us/research/By_juris_rpt.pdf
Link 2 - Click on the names for office phone no.'s;
http://www.legis.state.ga.us/cgi-bin/gl_peo_list.pl?List=sthousedl
Not sure how to post the links.... please copy and paste as needed...
Regards to all
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