Monday Morning Gun Liability update

To open your morning, Publicola has some good analysis of the NRA's position. The situation is the same as it was Friday evening; we're waiting for votes on the amendments already proposed and expecting the really nasty ones to be proposed either today or tomorrow. KeepAndBearArms.com has a good summary, too. And I expect Geek with a .45 will be continuing his blow-by-blow from CSPAN. The NRA has their own status update. And you can keep up with the action on C-SPAN2.

Contact your legislators at 1-202-224-3121. Use the CapWiz button on the left to send email. Do both, in fact, but make sure to call; it's faster. Email might not be read in time. Here's the message:

Senator, I support the passage of S1805, but only without any further anti-gun amendments. Senator McCain's gun show bill is unacceptable. So are any amendments renewing the Assault Weapons Ban. I urge you to vote against those amendments specifically, and to vote against any other anti-gun amendments, including either version of the armor-piercing ammunition amendment. Most important, Senator, if the Assault Weapons Ban or the Gun Show Ban are passed as amendments to this bill, I insist that you vote to kill the entire bill. I support a clean bill only; no compromises for additional gun control.

That message may change as amendments are voted on. In particular, the moment I hear that the gun show bill or the assault weapons ban have been amended into this bill, I'll send out something saying explicitly that it's time to kill the bill. Here's the scorecard at the moment:

Currently in the Bill

• Senator Boxer's Trigger Lock amendment...
• ... with Kohl's amendment to make it more palatable.

Currently awaiting a vote

• "Gun Show" ban
• "Assault Weapons" ban renewal
• National Concealed-Carry for Law Enforcement
• Senator Kennedy's Armor-piercing ammunition ban, which would ban all common centerfire rifle rounds, including the .30-30
• Senator Craig's "armor-piercing ammo" amendment, which restates current law and increases penalties for killing a police officer
• Orrin Hatch's bill to end the DC gun ban

Stuff we've stopped

• A "law enforcement exemption" that would allow suits by law enforcement victims
• A special exemption for the DC sniper case

Just to get a quick summary out: the gun show ban is bad, and if it passes, we kill the bill; the assault weapons ban is bad, and if it passes, we kill the bill; the LEO concealed-carry bill is OK; Kennedy's ammunition ban is bad, and probably worth killing the bill; Craig's amendment isn't great, but is acceptable if it keeps Kennedy's amendment out of the bill; and if we can kill the DC gun ban with this bill, that's a good thing. For more details, see the analysis from Angel Shamaya of KeepAndBearArms.com.

If you're wondering who to call to have the most effect, check out this list of 2004 Senate races. These are the people who are up for reelection this November. These are the people with the most incentive to listen to voter input. Note that Senator Boxer is on this list, and while she's not likely to change her mind, Nicki Fellenzer has come up with a good way to show her what we think.