Phyrfight Intel

From the NRA

On Wednesday, October 26, President George W. Bush signed into law the NRA-backed “Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act” (S. 397)–legislation to end politically motivated lawsuits designed to bankrupt law-abiding American firearm manufacturers and retailers. S. 397 passed both chambers of Congress with broad bipartisan support; in recent years, 33 states have passed similar legislation.

Having lost this extremely significant battle in Congress, the anti-gunners have again taken their show to the courts–and activist judges–in an attempt to circumvent and challenge the new law.

On December 2, anti-gun New York Federal Judge Jack B. Weinstein ruled that New York City’s lawsuit against law-abiding firearm manufacturers and retailers could move forward.

“Judge Weinstein’s decision was not only predictable, but intellectually dishonest and blatantly biased, given his decade-long track record of aiming to derail the firearms industry,” said Lawrence G. Keane, senior vice president and general counsel for the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the trade organization for the firearm industry. “New York City’s lawsuit is precisely the type of suit the ‘Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act’ was designed to prevent. During debate in each chamber of Congress, Senator Larry Craig and Representative Cliff Stearns–the sponsors of the bill–both referenced the city’s case as a quintessential example of a lawsuit the act would prevent.”

Firearm manufacturers named in the suit include: Beretta U.S.A. Corporation, the Browning Arms Company, Colt Manufacturing Company, Inc., Glock, Inc., and the Smith & Wesson Corporation.

These industry defendants plan to immediately appeal the decision to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

MAYOR BLOOMBERG EXPLOITS TRAGEDY–TARGETS NRA

A December 2, story in the New York Post detailed the rantings of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) as he took advantage of a grievous, heart-breaking tragedy and used it as an occasion to wrongly blast NRA.

Referring to the recent slaying of a New York City police officer (by a suspect accused of shooting another officer during a robbery attempt some 10 days earlier), Mayor Bloomberg lashed out at NRA, telling listeners to his weekly radio show that, “Fundamentally, if you want to solve the problem [of gun violence] it’s up to Congress, and Congress keeps getting rolled by the NRA. This is plain and simple, the NRA versus the lives of our children and our police officers.”

In what amounts to a classic cop-out, Bloomberg prefers to point fingers and deflect blame, rather than address the city’s criminal justice system (for which he is responsible and paid to enforce) and arrest and prosecute criminals so that repeat offenders can’t continue their mayhem.

Commenting on Bloomberg’s diatribe, NRA-ILA Director of Public Affairs, Andrew Arulanandam, said, “I think it’s really despicable for the mayor to try and inject politics into this very sad and tragic event. Our membership rolls are full of active and retired law-enforcement and military officers. It is not appropriate to talk about politics at this time. At this point in time our thoughts and prayers are with the slain police officer’s family.”

If you would like to contact Mayor Bloomberg to let him know what you think about his comments, you can call his office at (212) 639-9675, fax him at (212) 788-2460, or e-mail him at http://www.nyc.gov/html/mail/html/mayor.html.

D.C. PERSONAL PROTECTION ACT–A TOP LEGISLATIVE PRIORITY

One of NRA-ILA’s top legislative priorities in Congress continues to be the passage of S. 1082 and H.R. 1288–the Senate and House versions of the “District of Columbia Personal Protection Act.” This legislation seeks to restore the constitutionally-guaranteed Second Amendment rights of the residents of the District of Columbia.

The need for this legislation is obvious. While effectively banning handgun ownership for over a quarter-century, Washington, D.C., consistently has one of the highest homicide rates in the nation.

“D.C.’s politicians have stripped law-abiding residents of their ability to defend themselves and their families,” said NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris W. Cox. “Passage of the ‘District of Columbia Personal Protection Act’ will remedy this senseless and dangerous injustice.”

Please be sure to contact your U.S. Senators and Representative and ask them to cosponsor and support S. 1082 and H.R. 1288.

For a list of Senate cosponsors, please visit http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:SN01082:@@@P.

For a list of House cosponsors, please visit http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:HR01288:@@@P.

You can call your U.S. Senators at (202) 224-3121, or your U.S. Representative at (202) 225-3121.