U.S. Senators Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Chuck Schumer
(D-N.Y.) - two of the most shameless hucksters of the gun-ban
movement in Congress - have taken up where anti-gun extremists
failed miserably last week in the House of Representatives.
Kennedy and Schumer announced yesterday the introduction of S.
1253, a bill that seeks to give the FBI authority to use the
National Instant Check System (NICS) to retain the records of
law-abiding gun purchasers for at least 90 days - a policy the
lame-duck Clinton/Reno Department of Justice (DOJ) had attempted
to make permanent with
a last-minute regulation.
The
Kennedy-Schumer bill was introduced as part of a coordinated
anti-gun attack on Attorney General John Ashcroft's recent
proposal to reform and improve the operation of NICS - which
included a call to slash the amount of time allowed to keep
records on law-abiding citizens that are generated by NICS to
less than one day. The introduction of S. 1253 also follows
closely on the heels of last week's overwhelming, bi-partisan
rejection in the House of Representatives of similar legislation
introduced by Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.).
The Kennedy-Schumer bill is supported by the usual anti-gun
suspects, including
the gun-ban lobby formerly known as HCI, and
a who's-who list of anti-gun Senators such as Boxer, Clinton,
Corzine, Feinstein, Reed, and Torricelli. And joining the list
of extremists who support this registration scheme for
law-abiding gun purchasers is Internet billionaire Andrew
McKelvey's
Americans for Gun Safety (AGS). AGS, of course, is
the fledgling anti-gun organization that claims it is a
"centrist, non-partisan group," but consistently demonstrates it
is nothing more than an anti-gun lobbying group cut from the same
cloth as Sarah Brady. AGS President Jon Cowan (former chief of
staff to Clinton's anti-gun HUD Secretary Cuomo) stated, "We
support the efforts [of Kennedy/Schumer]," then went on to say,
"It's a shame it had to come to this."
The "shame" to which
Cowan refers is not exactly clear, but perhaps he means it is a
"shame" that AGS has been forced to acknowledge its support for
the licensing and/or registration of all gun owners - its "top
national priority," according to the group's own internal
documents.
Or maybe the "shame" is that McKelvey's millions are
being squandered on ineffective lobbying for the same types of
anti-gun proposals that other anti-gun organizations promote,
thus shattering the thin facade of AGS as a self-proclaimed
"centrist" group.
Whatever the case, make sure to contact your U.S. Senators to
urge them to support Attorney General Ashcroft and the privacy of
law-abiding gun purchasers by opposing S. 1253, the
Kennedy-Schumer registration bill. You can contact your U.S.
Senators at 202/224-3121, or use the "Write Your Reps" tool at
NRAILA.org to find additional contact information.
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