Washington, DC -(Ammoland.com)- Moving from the newsroom to the political backroom, there’s been a lot of “gun activity” on Capitol Hill in recent days.
House Speaker Paul Ryan recently announced that he will hold votes next week on barring Americans from buying guns if their names appear on a government watch list.
Gun Owners of America will issue a Call to Action this coming Tuesday, and give you pre-written text to send your Representative.
Gun Owners of America plans to fight this gun control legislation, every bit as hard as we did on the Senate side — something which garnered the ire of Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), who is quite annoyed with Gun Owners of America.
But it’s not just the Gun Owners of America staff and me that are frustrating him.
He’s annoyed with you, too!
After all, all of the gun control proposals failed in the Senate last week.
One of the proposals still remains in limbo. But no gun control was added to the Commerce-Justice-State spending bill.
Not a single one.
And Reid blames you and me for this.
Reid went so far as to say that Republicans are “taking their orders” from Gun Owners of America and the NRA.
It’s a bit overstated, to be sure, but there is no doubt that your activism has played a tremendous role.
The Sacramento Bee reported that GOA’s message — that ALL gun control is an infringement — was finding a receptive audience amongst many Republican Senators:
“Any infringement (on the right to own a gun) violates the Second Amendment,” said Larry Pratt, executive director emeritus of Gun Owners of America.
He found plenty of Republican support. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said using the Orlando attack to seek tougher gun laws was a “political distraction.”
“The American people find it ridiculous that in response to an ISIS terror attack, the Democrats go on high dudgeon that we’ve got to restrict the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens,” Cruz said.
What the Sacramento Bee had to say is not unique.
Two years ago, the New York Times credited GOA and its members with playing a huge role in unifying the gun movement — which, ultimately, helped kill the post-Sandy Hook gun control legislation.
The Times said:
Many lawmakers and gun safety advocates believe Gun Owners of America’s rising profile and heavy membership drive has led the N.R.A. to take a more aggressive stance against measures it once supported, like an expansion of background checks to include private gun sales.
Not only that, the Times reported that Republicans were now hesitant to support gun control compromises, citing “Mr. Pratt’s group [aka, GOA] as their biggest impediment, fearing retribution.”
Your loud opposition to gun control makes a HUGE difference.
It is what helps us to defend the Constitution and the Second Amendment, which protects our right to keep and bear arms.
And so I am very thankful that your support allows us to be here, putting the heat on wayward politicians.
About Gun Owners of America (GOA)
Gun Owners of America (GOA) is a non-profit lobbying organization formed in 1975 to preserve and defend the Second Amendment rights of gun owners. GOA sees firearms ownership as a freedom issue. `The only no compromise gun lobby in Washington’ – Ron Paul.
Visit: www.gunowners.org to Join.