Phyrfight Intel

NRA-ILA Grassroots Alert Vol. 12, No. 20 05/20/05

HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
CONTINUES WORK ON H.R. 800

On Wednesday, May 18, the House Judiciary Committee met to continue debating amendments to H.R. 800, the “Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act,” sponsored by Reps. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) and Rick Boucher (D-Va.). The legislation has 254 cosponsors.

Anti-gun members of the committee offered a series of amendments that had no purpose except to try and score political points–including one by Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.) to eliminate the bill’s statement that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms. Scott and his supporters, including Reps. John Conyers (D-Mich.) and Maxine Waters (D-Cal.), argued that the Second Amendment wasn’t intended to protect individuals’ self-defense rights–a theory long discredited by modern Second Amendment scholars.

Pro-Second Amendment Rep. Chris Cannon (R-Utah) led supporters of the bill in responding to the opponents, and soundly defeating all the anti-gun amendments.

Unfortunately, the “mark up” session was interrupted by other House business, but we expect the bill will be taken up again at an upcoming Judiciary Committee meeting. In the meantime, please continue to contact your U.S. Representative and Senators in support of H.R. 800 and its Senate counterpart, S. 397–without any anti-gun amendments.

To access the most up-to-date information on this issue, and to find out if your lawmaker is a cosponsor, please go to the “Help Save America’s Firearms Industry” heading at www.NRAILA.org. This function will allow you to easily send an e-mail or letter to your U.S. Representative and U.S. Senators. Please forward this link to your family, friends, and fellow firearm owners.

For additional information on effectively communicating with your lawmakers, please go to: http://www.nraila.org/CurrentLegislation/ActionAlerts/Read.aspx?ID=274 (Grassroots Alert, Vol. 12, No. 12).