Very Important!!

If you want to keep our 2nd Amendment, please call your Senators!!

Please see below:

Subject: NRA statement

Date: Monday, May 10, 1999 9:33 PM

NRA issued a statement today in reply to the President's violence meeting,
to
which we were not invited.  Actually, there were two statements.  They are
as
follows:

FROM FARCE TO FRAUD: AMERICA'S SCANDAL OF MADE-FOR-TV LAWMAKING

Reading this page can make you safer: we're issuing this urgent call to the
President and Congress to quit reducing American lawmaking to pure political
theater.  More firearm legislation, like prior legislation passed with no
intention of enforcement, is a dangerous fraud perpetrated upon the safety
of
the American people that must stop.

Why the drama is dangerous:  First, politicians warm up the audience.

Legislation is titled and marketed in press conference previews.

Then the starring players conduct their prime-time debate under a flashy
marquee,
which leads to the airdate when the legislation becomes law.  The political
actors check their ratings and read their polls.  The public cheers.  Then,
like all pure entertainment, the curtain falls on that performance, the
applause echoes into silence and they begin to script the next week's coming
attraction.

Nobody hangs around to live out the illusion of law they just
created.  Americans are left with the stage dressing of legislation, another
array of new laws with no funding, no prosecutors, no courts, and no intent
to enforce them.  It's all fake.

This made-for-TV lawmaking has the same effect on the population as
made-for-TV violence.  It entertains us, but harms us.  And it's dangerous,
because criminals are emboldened by a government that manufactures law it
has
no intention of enforcing.

Proof of the fraud:

Because of this administration's scandalous policy against prosecution,
gun-toting criminals have it twice as good now as before.
Federal prosecution of felons using guns in crime has been cut in
half- down 47% - since President Clinton took office.

So who's afraid of this Administration's Justice Department?

Students should fear inescapable punishment if they violate the
Gun-Free School Zones Act.  But of the 6,000 students caught at school with
guns in the past 2 years, this administration federally prosecuted only 13
in
the entire country.

Remember the lip-biting pleas for the Brady Bill?  The President
claims 250,000 prohibited buyers have been turned away.  But since it's a
crime for a felon to try to buy a gun, how many criminals nationwide have
they prosecuted when they caught them in the act?  Zero in 1996, zero in
1997, and zero in 1998.

Straw purchasers who illegally provide guns to kids should dread the
feds.  But in the past 2 years, this administration has prosecuted only 11
people nationwide for illegally transferring handguns to juveniles.

Armed gang-bangers should be afraid of getting caught.  But in the
past 2 years, the President's Justice Department has prosecuted only 11
juveniles anywhere in the country for illegal possession of handguns.

Gun-runners should be scared of getting busted.  But in the past 2
years, this administration has prosecuted only 37 criminals nationwide for
providing firearms to felons.

*** Congress can't keep looking the other way.  Without consequences, its
laws are lies.

Proof that prosecution saves lives:  Project Exile is a zero-tolerance
prosecution project that began in Richmond, Virginia, and has since been
adopted by Rochester, New York.

When Project Exile is put in place, murder and gun crime are cut by a
third or a half almost overnight.  District Attorneys say they've never seen
a program have such a dramatic, immediate effect on criminal violence.

Here's why it works:

Relentless, no-discussion, no-excuses prosecution.
Any violent felon caught with a gun, whether he's raping or resting,
goes to jail for 5 years, period.

But it can't seem to get the support of this administration's Justice
Department.

Why not?

Because NRA has supported it from the beginning.  We put up our
own cash to help sustain Project Exile, even though it's their sworn
duty to uphold the law.  We've called upon the President and Congress
to consider funding Project Exile nationwide.  Instead, they're considering
new firearms laws on top of the 20,000 already on the books.

What you can do:

Stop the show.

1.  Speak out against dishonest lawmaking.  Demand the money and
manpower to enforce laws already in place, before making more to ignore.

2.  Ask the press to do its job.  Demand probing, investigative
journalism that shines the cold light of day upon this fraudulent process.

3.  Demand accountability.  Join our relentless pursuit of the truth
about who's enforcing the law, who's not, why not, and who's paying the
price.

Fraud diminishes freedom.  If a law is important enough to pass, it's
important enough to enforce.


AMERICAN NEEDS TO HEAR WHAT ITS PRESIDENT WON'T

It is unfortunate that the President would call a national summit on youth
violence and exclude from that roundtable discussion the nation's foremost
authority on  firearms safety education, accident prevention, and proven
policies that curb criminal misuse of guns.

* So here's what the National Rifle Association believes to be effective
- not in theory, but in practice - and calls upon the President's summit and
Congress to consider in their search for meaningful solutions.

* Insist that schools be as safe as airports, with absolutely gun-free
schools
and zero tolerance for violators of the Gun-Free School Zones Act.  Of 6,000
students caught at school with guns in the past 2 years, only 13 were
federally prosecuted

* Adopt and fund Project Exile nationally, a zero-tolerance policy tested
and
proven to immediately cut crime and save lives because every violent felon
caught with a gun goes to jail for 5 years, period.  Provide $50 million for
the necessary investigators and prosecutors to implement Project Exile
nationwide, plus $25 million to build awareness of it.

* Fund the Eddie Eagle safety program, the most effective gun accident
prevention program in existence, for every elementary classroom in America.
It has already reached 11 million children, and gun accident rates are the
lowest in history.

* Restore full and permanent funding for the National Instant Check System.
And when a felon tries to buy a gun, prosecute him.  None have been
prosecuted in the past 3 years.

* Close the Hinckley loophole by making records of people adjudicated
mentally
incompetent available to the National Instant Check System.  Insanities like
John Hinckley's would not prevent a gun purchase today, because most mental
records are invisible to the system.

* Stop ignoring lawbreakers who illegally provide guns to juveniles.  Only
11
were federally prosecuted in the past 2 years.  Arrest them and lock them
up.

* Stop releasing juvenile criminals caught with guns.  Only 11 were
federally
prosecuted in the past 2 years.

* Bar all juveniles convicted of violent felonies from owning guns for life.

* Hold adults responsible for willfully and recklessly allowing access to
firearms.

* Keep criminal records of violent juveniles open indefinitely, not expunged
at 18 in the middle of a crime spree.

* Stop ignoring easy access to firearms by convicted felons through straw
purchasers.  Only 37 were federally prosecuted in the past 2 years.

* Admit that Right to Carry works.  Properly permitted citizens who pass the
background checks and training courses not only deserve that right, but are
a
proven deterrent to crime.  abuse is nonexistent.  And though very few
actually choose to carry a gun, criminals don't know which few they are.

* We believe in absolute adherence to the law at gun shows and will consider
instant checks there when, and only when, this administration stops
demanding
new gun taxes, and stops illegally compiling and retaining the records of
millions of lawful gun buyers.

* We support and encourage the distribution and use of safety locks, trigger
locks, gun safes or any voluntary means necessary and appropriate to keep
firearms away from, or inoperable by, those who shouldn't have them.

We oppose waiting periods because they constitute prior restraint
upon the lawful.  We oppose specified magazine capacities because criminal
behavior isn't influenced by how many bullets, magazines, guns, bombs, or
anything else the law says he may carry.  We oppose one-gun-a month schemes
because once there's authority to say one, there will eventually be
authority
to say none.  Most importantly, none of these proposals has any proven
relationship to the criminal misuse of firearms.

The NRA has invested tens of millions of dollars teaching childhood
accident prevention, promoting firearm safety, educating hunters, training
police instructors, and funding startup of Project Exile around the country.

This is far more than the federal government, the media community, citizens'
groups, and all summit attendees combined.  More firearms legislation, like
previous legislation, that is passed with no intention of enforcement is a
dangerous fraud perpetrated upon the safety of the American people that must
stop.

These are our positions and policies, respectfully submitted by
millions of American gun owners who believe their consideration and adoption
will contribute immediately and meaningfully to the President's summit and
Congressional deliberations.

So, please contact your Senators, Congress members, and all legislators in
your state,

IF YOU WANT TO KEEP YOUR SECOND AMENDMENT FREEDOMS!!

Do it    * * *   N  O  W    * * * ! ! !

Thank you.