Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
gunowners.org
Friday, October 22, 2004
H.R. 10 -- the so-called 9/11 bill -- has passed the House by a
two-to-one margin. It is now in conference committee to iron out its
differences with the Senate-passed version (S. 2845). GOA has
already alerted you to the most alarming aspects of the House bill.
Just to review, H.R. 10 would:
(1) Create a massive government database containing personal
information on every American man, woman and child [section 2173].
This database would be within the exclusive discretion of the
bureaucrats, but could include medical records, confidential
financial records, library records, and gun records.
(2) "Standardize," (that is, nationalize) the process of issuing
drivers' licenses -- an action which takes the final step toward
creating a national ID card [section 3052].
This is a huge concern because these federal standards can easily be
used by a future Hillary Clinton administration to keep certain
groups of people (such as gun owners) from receiving these National
ID cards. Even the Bush administration has supported legislation
(PATRIOT Acts I and II) that could be used to designate groups like
GOA and NRA as terrorist organizations (see
gunowners.org for details). If the feds can
set standards that keep you from getting a "National ID card," then
your life has just become very difficult -- as your ability to write
a check or buy a gun becomes next to impossible.
(3) Set up a system whereby any employer or industry identified by
the Attorney General would have to submit employment applicants to
the government for approval -- complete with fingerprints or other
"biometric identifiers" [section 2142].
You can go to gunowners.org to see a more
detailed analysis as to why these areas should concern gun owners.
The Senate bill is better in many respects, but does contain a
national ID card provision quietly added by anti-gun Senator John
McCain on the Senate floor when no one was paying attention.
It's also ironic what is NOT in the bill. One would think that a
"9/11 bill" which seeks to correct shortcomings prior to the terror
hijackings of three years ago would expedite the process for arming
pilots. But the bill does nothing in this regard.
This legislation now goes to the House-Senate conference.
ACTION: Contact your Representatives and demand that he or she works
to delete the anti-gun, anti-freedom provisions in sections 2173,
3052, and 2142. Even if your legislator isn't on the conference
committee, your message tells him that this bill is UNACCEPTABLE as
long as those provisions remain. You can use the pre-written message
below and send it as an e-mail by visiting the GOA Legislative Action
Center at gunowners.org (where phone and fax
numbers are also available). |
