[ftp://ftp.shell.portal.com/pub/chan/goa/29jul94] From: LARRY.PRATT@prn-bbs.org (LARRY PRATT) Subject: Why Should I keep Calling To: firearms-alert@shell.portal.com Date: Fri, 29 Jul 1994 06:23:41 GMT Overnight Update: Please don't think the battle is over and it isn't worth making any more calls. During GOA staff visits to the Hill today, I was reminded of something important: House and Senate staff are exhausted and besieged. You may think that your calls on gun control don't matter any more. Perhaps your last call was answered by a staffer who sounded bored and indifferent. But actually your calls matter now more than ever. And virtually anyone you talk to on a Congressional staff will sound bored and exhausted this time of year. Consider what today was like for a member of Bob Dole's staff. The House is holding hearings on the Whitewater scandal. The Senate begins its own hearings tomorrow. Yesterday, twenty people were arrested in your office protesting for health care. Today, the halls are filled with people in wheelchairs lobbying for national health insurance. The Senate was debating education most of today. Tomorrow promises a day long debate on the proposed new Supreme Court justice. A parade of lobbyists in $1,000 suits, often in groups of three to ten wander in and out to talk about health care and telecommunications. A hearing into Janet Reno's stewardship at the Department of Justice took place most of the afternoon. As a staffer, you've been getting home at midnight and are back at work by 8:00 or 8:30. You are so tired that everything seems to run together. If the recess is delayed past August 12, you don't know if you will have the energy to work. This is the time of year when Congress wants to finish virtually everything. There are about 4-6 weeks left to pass all the appropriations bills, debate health care, welfare reform and a host of other wildly controversial issues. Understand that if you are tired of calling Congress, the people you are calling are twice as tired of talking to you. Given the legislative din of so many pressing issues exploding simultaneously, it takes twice as much effort on our part for the staff to even notice. Every call you make reminds these people that if Congress passes a crime bill, there will be someone unhappy about it. Politicians and their staffs like to make people happy. Right now, the only constituency in favor of the crime bill is the Clinton family. I know you are tired, too. I've asked a lot from every reader of these messages over the past two weeks. And you have delivered every time. Just a bit more effort now can mean victory--the sweetest, stunning victory ever won over the enemies of our Second Amendment rights. Keep calling and writing. We can still win. Posted by Gun Owners of America, 8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151 (703) 321-8585 (v) (703) 321-8818 (f). No E-mail, please. =========================================================================== Bypassing the bias of broadcast media with the "narrowcast" function of the telephone line's information SuperHiway! The Paul Revere Network Multi-Line BBS (408) 947-7800, 279-0872, 947-7678 =========================================================================== __ From: LARRY.PRATT@prn-bbs.org (LARRY PRATT) Subject: Gun Ban in Congress To: firearms-alert@shell.portal.com Date: Fri, 29 Jul 1994 06:22:40 GMT Keep Calls Going to the Senate and House -- Brooks, Hyde sell out gun owners by Gun Owners of America (July 28, 1994) -- Last night, Rep. Henry Hyde cast the deciding vote to add the gun ban to the crime bill. Two men must especially be held accountable for their actions: Rep. Hyde for his vote, and Rep. Jack Brooks for not squelching the crime bill when he had the power to do so. Brooks had the power to sit on the crime bill; he could have let the crime bill languish in the committee. As stated by The Washington Post, "Brooks can control [the crime bill's] schedule." He could have refused to hold another meeting. But apparently, he was more interested in keeping his perks. The Washington Post reported today that legislators are hoping to bring the crime bill to the floors of each chamber by tomorrow for a vote (but House staffers have told GOA that it may not occur until Monday). Until they do vote on the bill, we need to keep the pressure on our Representatives (202-225-3121) and Senators (202-224-3121). Keep calling until the final vote is a done deal. Get others to call as well. (Since there are many anti-gun legislators who have problems with other parts of the bill, there is still a chance of defeating the bill in either house.) As we said yesterday, we also need to put the heat on Senators Dole, Craig, Gramm and Wallop. These men have national constituencies, and so we must all strongly urge them to filibuster. Please call AND fax them. Here are their numbers again: -- Dole: 202-224-6521, 913-295-2745; fax: 202-224-3163 -- Craig: 202-224-2752, fax: 202-224-2573 -- Gramm: 202-224-2934, fax: 202-224-8387 -- Wallop: 202-224-6441, fax: 202-224-3230 Here's two helpful hints when asking the four senators listed above to filibuster: 1. Be persistent with them! Many times, senators will refrain from even starting a filibuster if they think they are a few votes short. If you get this excuse from any of the four senators listed above, tell them to push for a filibuster anyway. Tell them to force a vote so we can get the other traitors on record as having voted to stop the filibuster. How can we hold the bad guys accountable when there's no recorded vote? That's why we need to press the above senators to do their part, to push for a filibuster; and we'll take care of our part -- in November. And we will! On this point, Gun Owners of America is today delivering a flyer door-to-door in the halls of Congress, that asks legislators to keep one question in mind before they vote for the crime bill: "Remember Jim Florio?" The flyer goes on to cite the hard lessons learned by Mary Sue Terry in Virginia and Joe Prather in Kentucky. But best of all, the flyer goes on to quote from the soon-to-be FORMER state senator David Roberti of California. After being defeated for his bid to be state Treasurer, Roberti said: "When the Gun Lobby goes after you, it does have an adverse impact" (Los Angeles Times, 6/9/94). (As you may know, gun owners helped force a recall election to oust the anti-gun senator earlier this year. This special election cost Roberti thousands of dollars per day, thereby depleting his financial resources. As a result, he lost his primary election for Treasurer to a person whose name recognition ranked below all other state contenders.) 2. Don't let a senator's office get you side-tracked. One GOA lobbyist in Dole's office heard them telling a caller that they should instead be contacting Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer. It is true, people need to contact their own senators. But Mr. Dole needs to understand that if he's thinking about being President, then he also represents ALL OF US. A President should be a leader. Tell him that we'll remember whether or not he acted like a leader when our rights were on the chopping block! Our best plan of attack for the next few days (until the crime bill is defeated or passed) is to continue calling/faxing the above numbers, and to get others to call and fax as well. Keep up the pressure! GOA lobbyists on the Hill today report that while Sen. Gramm's phones were busy, the phones of Senators Dole, Craig and Wallop were quiet. Please, don't let up now. This alert was posted by Gun Owners of America, 8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151, (703)321-8585, fax: 321-8408. Please do not send e-mail. =========================================================================== Bypassing the bias of broadcast media with the "narrowcast" function of the telephone line's information SuperHiway! The Paul Revere Network Multi-Line BBS (408) 947-7800, 279-0872, 947-7678 ===========================================================================