Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns From: [r--s] at [cbnewsc.cb.att.com] (Morris the Cat) Subject: Letter from Jim Baker Date: Mon, 14 Jun 1993 14:40:24 GMT Date: Fri, 11 Jun 93 13:55:51 EDT Organization: Blue Moon BBS ((614) 868-998[0245]) NRA INSTITUTE FOR LEGISLATIVE ACTION 1600 Rhode Island Ave., N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036 Dear NRA Member: The street fight's begun. Bill Clinton is tarring you, your family and every law-abiding gun owner in America and equating you with the lunatic fringe in an obvious attempt to strip you of your firearm freedoms. Even before the stand-off in Waco, TX turned into a raging inferno, Bill Clinton was stretching reason to the limits. In recent statements, the President has taken the NRA and its members to task for being "fixated" in our opposition to gun control. This action on the part of the President of the United States is illogical and absurd. Forget the fact that there is absolutely no connection between the Branch Davidians, the World Trade Center bombing in New York and the NRA. Just as they did with Patrick Purdy, our opponents see these incidents of madness as a chance to take a pot shot at the NRA and they take it. Frankly, I'm puzzled that the President sees something wrong with our "fixation" on defending the Constitution, something he swore similarly to defend just four months ago. But Bill Clinton doesn't want to discuss the Constitution. Bill Clinton doesn't want logic. No, Bill Clinton wants to move ahead on the most ambitious anti-gun agenda ever endorsed by a U.S. President. That's why I need you to immediately validate your 1993 NRA-ILA SUSTAINING MEMBERSHIP CARD... ..And send Washington politicians a message they can understand! Never before in the history of America has a presidential administration been so anti-gun. The campaign against your rights is led by a President who openly embraces Sarah Brady and everything she and Handgun Control, Inc. believe in. Let me give you an example of what she recently wrote to her supporters: Because they (the NRA) realize that if we get the Brady Bill to President Clinton and he signs it into law, then the door will be wide open for further gun control legislation. Of course, we hope that's true because, as you know, our campaign to enact a National Gun Policy to combat gun violence doesn't end with the Brady Bill -- it just begins. In addition, this campaign against your rights is piloted by a First Lady whose National Task Force on Health Care has contemplated imposing massive taxes on guns and ammunition to pay America's way out of our health care crisis. Finally, this campaign against your firearm freedoms is staffed by faceless bureaucrats who never came across an anti-gun measure they didn't like. It should be clear by now that the President and the anti-gunners in Congress are once again building their anti-gun agenda on criminal violence and cult figures on the fringes of society. Validating your NRA-ILA Sustaining Membership Card is the one action you can take to put sanity back into the fight for your guns. I say this because politics has become a street fight. It's meaner, nastier and more dependent on strength than ever before. Right now, with Clinton in the White House, the gun-banners in Congress will have the backing of the administration on every move they make. And, until the votes are taken on your handguns, your rifles, your shotguns, your semi-automatics, your ammunition, your right to personal protection and your hunting rights, we won't know if we truly have a Clinton-proof Congress. We do know one thing, however. If we let the anti-gun politicians have their way there will be absolutely nothing left of the Second Amendment when these vultures get through. This is a street fight you can't afford to sit out! And if we're going to win, I must have your immediate help. You see, you are our strength. I need your continued participation in, and financial support of, the NRA Institute for Legislative Action to convince Congress that you really care. Now I know you're going to say, "Now Jim, isn't this just another request for money?" Well, you're right, it is -- because as long as Clinton is in the White House you're going to get requests from NRA-ILA for the funds we need to stop him from stripping you of your rights. Clinton's made it clear that he wants to do for America what Governor Florio did for New Jersey, what Governor Wilder did for Virginia and what the state legislature did in California. Just because the President of the United States and his cohorts have threatened to use the full power of the federal government to get their way, we're not about to roll over and surrender our freedoms. Whether it's Hillary Clinton trying to tax our gun freedoms inside the White House or anti-gun Attorney General, Janet Reno, working against us in the courts, Clinton is surrounded by those who sympathize with his distorted views on guns and Second Amendment freedoms. Unless citizens like you speak up -- and speak up NOW -- the whole power of the United States government could overwhelm us. What do we do when every press release, every study, every public relations document, every grant and every testimony delivered before Congress is geared toward obliterating our Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms? I'll tell you what we do -- WE FIGHT BACK! But this time around the street fight's even tougher. We not only have to win against the anti-gun Clinton administration, we also have to defeat Handgun Control, Inc., the National Coalition to Ban Handguns, Ted Kennedy, Howard Metzenbaum, Charles Schumer, PETA, Cleveland Amory and other enemies -- both inside and outside of government -- who want your guns and your hunting rights and who are willing to commit millions of dollars to take them away. So I'm back to your NRA-ILA membership card. Are you going to activate it? I hope so, because I can't win this street fight alone. I'm counting on you being on my team. Now I realize that like most sportsmen and gun owners you probably belong to many other firearm and hunting organizations. But ask yourself this question: How many of those organizations are ready -- or even able -- under their tax status, to tell your legislators that you want to keep your gun and hunting freedoms intact? Ducks Unlimited, The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, The Wild Turkey Federation and other groups do great things, but they can't do much lobbying. They are handicapped in this street fight by federal law. They can't protect your guns! In short, you and I critically need a strong, large organization willing to match the "anti's" massive efforts to ban firearms. Only the NRA-ILA is that organization. Only the NRA-ILA has the will, the power, the effectiveness, the membership -- and with your support, the dollars -- to save your guns and hunting so that you can pass these traditions on to your children. Remember, Bill Clinton has praised Governors Florio of New Jersey and Wilder of Virginia for pushing gun control legislation in their states. In so doing, he's given his blessing to a ban on semi-automatics, and a limit of one-gun-per-month. Rest assured that when these measures fail to deter crime, as they will, there will be more. Next time it will be one gun per six months or one per year...Then one gun per lifetime...Then, none in a lifetime. And just as Clinton praises Governors Wilder and Florio for their stand on guns today, he's sure to embrace Ted Kennedy and Howard Metzenbaum's ideas tomorrow. Please take time now to get involved in this street fight. Not as an onlooker. but as a vigorous Participant who's willing to invest in the outcome. So now, I am asking you to send a contribution to NRA-ILA and activate your NRA-ILA Sustaining Membership Card. Send it to keep your guns. Send it to keep your hunting. Send it for your children. Send it to keep your freedoms. BUT SEND IT! If we can succeed at derailing the President's anti-gun agenda, we'll have won this street fight. But without you, we may as well pack up and go home. Because only your strength, your voice, and your NRA-ILA Sustaining Membership contribution can help us win. So please help. Again, thanks for going the extra mile. Sincerely, James Jay Baker Executive Director P.S. America has never faced a presidential administration so determined to undermine the Second Amendment. That's why you must join us in the street fight of the century by activating the enclosed 1993 NRA-ILA Sustaining Membership Card today. Thank you.