Date: Mon, 13 Feb 1995 22:08:35 -0500 From: alerts@gatekeeper.nra.org (NRA Alerts) To: firearms-alert@shell.portal.com Subject: FAXALERT: February 10th, 1995 NRA-ILA FAX NETWORK 11250 Waples Mill Road * Fairfax, VA 22030 Vol. 2, No. 6Phone: 1-800-392-8683 * Fax: 703-267-3918 2/10/95 NRA TAKES CLINTON GUN BAN TO COURT! On Tuesday, February 7, NRA filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging President Clinton's gun ban. Filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, the suit contends that the gun ban law must be overturned because of its vagueness and because it violates the "due process" clause of the Fifth Amendment. The law's definition of banned firearms, both by name and description, is so ambiguous that it is impossible to determine which firearms are legal and which are forbidden. Moreover, the gun ban violates the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment by exempting several firearms by manufacturer's name even though they are in type, function and capacity identical to other guns prohibited by the Clinton law! The suit, coupled with NRA's efforts to repeal the gun ban in Congress, amounts to a two-pronged strategy which hopefully will wipe this repressive law from the books! News from Capitol Hill: In a strong show of bi-partisan support, another repeal bill has been filed in the House. This latest measure, H.R. 698, is co-sponsored by Reps. Bartlett (R- MD), Chapman (D-TX) and Stockman (R-TX) -- who have all sponsored other bills to repeal the gun ban. Additionally, the fight to pull in the reins on the BATF has begun! H.R. 666 -- a bill to modify the exclusionary rule to allow evidence obtained by law enforcement agents without a warrant, but in "good faith," to be used in court -- passed in the U.S. House. A key amendment added by pro-gun Rep. Harold Volkmer (D-MO) passed 228-198, and will prevent BATF from taking advantage of this newly created "good faith" exemption. In pushing his amendment, Volkmer criticized BATF as being one of "the biggest abusers of the rights of gun owners and private citizens." A LOOK AT THE STATES: ARKANSAS: The Senate approved SB 157 -- an NRA-supported right to carry bill -- without any registration requirements! SB 157 now moves to the House Judiciary Committee. HB 1088 -- another strong right to carry bill -- has passed the House and now moves to the Senate Judiciary Committee for consideration. CALIFORNIA: Last week, the California Police Chiefs Associations (CPCA) issued a proposal calling for the confiscation of most semi-autos; firearms registration & licensing; magazine bans; mandatory storage requirements; and destruction of firearms found to violate any of these proposals. CPCA is now lobbying the State Legislature to adopt its plan. Call NRA in Sacramento at 916/446-2455 to receive a copy of CPCA's gun control agenda, as well as information on specific actions you can take to combat these proposals. COLORADO: The Senate Judiciary Committee defeated SB 104 & SB 60 -- the NRA-supported right to carry reform bills. However, SB 67 -- a bill making it more difficult to obtain a carry permit -- was also defeated. In the House, the State Affairs Committee approved HB 1084 -- another NRA-supported right to carry reform bill. GEORGIA: HB 513 -- the NRA-supported instant check/statewide firearms preemption bill that would end all federal and local waiting periods in Georgia -- passed the House Public Safety Committee, and floor action is expected early next week. Georgia NRA members should contact their State Representatives and urge them to support HB 513. INDIANA: HB 1453 -- an NRA-supported range protection bill -- passed the House, and now moves to the Senate Corrections, Criminal and Civil Procedures Committee. PENNSYLVANIA: Senator Fumo's omnibus gun bill -- Special Session #1, SB #6 -- has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. This bill retains the state's waiting period despite its call for an instant check, and fails to correct Philadelphia's refusal to issue permits to carry! Members should call the Senate Judiciary Chairman and ask him to oppose any bill that retains the waiting period and fails to correct the situation in Philadelphia. UTAH: HB 54 -- the NRA-supported firearms preemption bill, and HB 70 -- an NRA-supported right to carry reform bill -- both passed the House, and now await Senate action. Utah members should call their State Senators at 1-800-662-3367 and urge support for both measures. In other action, by a 10-18 vote, the Senate killed SB 59, a mandatory training bill. VIRGINIA: SB 744 -- the NRA-supported right to carry reform bill -- has passed the Senate and awaits action by the House Courts of Justice Committee, which has scheduled a hearing for next week. For hearing information, call the NRA-ILA Grassroots Division. Meanwhile, Virginia members should call their State Delegate in anticipation of a floor vote, and urge them to support SB 744 without any gutting amendments! WASHINGTON: The House Laws & Justice Committee has approved bills to: repeal the open carry restrictions enacted last year; enact range protection and roll back a number of restrictions on licensed dealers. WEST VIRGINIA: Eight of the twelve NRA-endorsed candidates running for the Charleston City Council won their primary elections on February 6. Defeated in last week's primary was anti-gun Mayor Kent Hall, who proposed a number of restrictive gun control ordinances in 1993. We'll keep you posted on our election recommendations for the mid-April general election. GRASSROOTS EFFORTS DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE: A year ago this month, the U.S. Forest Service made public their revised law enforcement regulations that would have severely restricted your right to hunt on public lands. The Forest Service soon rescinded their ill-conceived recommendations, however, and NRA has just learned that the withdrawal was due largely to the nearly 175,000 written responses law-abiding gun owners mailed to Washington, D.C., from across the nation! -- This information is presented as a service to the Internet community by the NRA/ILA. Many files are available via anonymous ftp from ftp.nra.org, via WWW at http://www.nra.org, via gopher at gopher.nra.org, and via WAIS at wais.nra.org Be sure to subscribe to the NRA mailing lists. Send the word help as the body of a message to listproc@NRA.org Information can also be obtained by connecting to the NRA-ILA GUN-TALK BBS at (703) 934-2121.