Texas Democratic Congressman Jack Brooks* sold out gun owners in 1994
when he voted for the "assault weapon ban" that year after making a deal
with President Bill Clinton. Is another sell-out deal now in the works?
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It’s probably a harbinger of sell-outs to come. But Senate GOP Leader
Mitch McConnell is apparently about to conclude an agreement with
Majority Leader Harry Reid which would sell out pro-gunners and decimate
minority rights under the Senate rules.
This change could occur as early as Wednesday. If enacted, it could
handcuff pro-gun forces and keep them from defeating the most radical
initiatives aimed at restricting our Second Amendment rights.
The first of two changes would allow Harry Reid -- and only Harry Reid
-- to circuмvent the hurdles that the minority could use to slow down a
controversial gun control bill.
As you may remember from the fight over the anti-gun ObamaCare bill, the
filibuster of the "motion to proceed" is the last point where
pro-gunners can delay a bill before Harry Reid can bribe Senators and
buy votes with deals like the infamous Cornhusker Kickback.
If Reid follows this procedure, McConnell could offer two "germane"
amendments on behalf of Republicans. But given the willingness of
Democrats to destroy the Senate rules by brute force, you can expect
them to drastically limit what amendments would be considered "germane,"
thus restricting the ability of the minority to effectively filibuster
an anti-gun bill.
The second Reid-McConnell amendment would make it virtually impossible
to stop a bill from going to House-Senate conference committee.
Currently, if pro-gunners suspect that Democrats intend to take a tiny
bill and write comprehensive gun control in a House-Senate conference,
they can stop the bill from going to conference and require that it be
bounced back-and-forth in an amendable form -- what is known as
ping-ponging -- between the two houses.
But this Reid-McConnell change would allow Reid to force a conference to
prevent the minority from, once again, stopping gun control legislation
from being written in a conference committee and crammed down Senators’
throats on a take-it-or-leave it basis.
The bottom line? Given that Harry Reid has consistently abused the
Senate rules and locked Republicans out of the amendment process, why
should McConnell reward him with this massive expansion of his powers?
And what does this say about the likelihood that McConnell will show any
courage on the gun issue when it comes before the U.S. Senate?
The President and his allies in the Congress want to impose Universal
Background Checks, among other things, upon every gun purchaser in
America. This would finally give gun grabbers the information they need
to identify and register every gun buyer (whether the purchase was
completed as a private sale or through a gun dealer).
Given that the Democrats in New York are trying to CONFISCATE guns from
law-abiding gun owners, gun owners should rise with ONE VOICE in
opposing any legislation or rules changes that would allow federal
bureaucrats to register gun owners.
And more to the point, gun owners need to contact their Senators
immediately and demand that they leave the Senate rules alone!
At the rate that Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is going -- if he
concludes a deal limiting the use of the filibuster -- it would not be
surprising if a number of primary opponents emerge to challenge him.
ACTION: Please contact your U.S. Senators immediately. While you can
contact them here through CapWiz, we would strongly encourage you to
call your Senators and DEMAND that they leave the filibuster alone!
You can reach them by calling the U.S. Senate switchboard at
202-224-3121. And, please call Sen. Mitch McConnell (202-224-2541) and
tell him to make NO DEALS to limit the use of the filibuster.
Please note that we have included separate letters for Republicans and
Democrat Senators.
Stop the U.S. Senate from greasing the skids for gun confiscation
Reid & McConnell are reportedly about to change the Senate rules
Gun Owners of America
http://capwiz.com/gunowners/issues/alert/?alertid=62344801* Jack Brooks, Former Texas Congressman, Dies at 89
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/06/us/politics/jack-brooks-former-texas-congressman-dies-at-89.html