Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns
From: [d l b] at [fanny.wash.inmet.com] (David Barton)
Subject: Re: NRA-ILA Sellout in Virginia
Date: Wed, 14 Jul 1993 15:14:06 GMT

John De Armond writes:

   Well it looks like NRA has been in lockstep with the Brady bunch in
   order to pass the Virginia Gun Control Act of 1993, also known as
   H.B. 2273.  This bill, among other things, adds the Striker 12 and
   the Streetsweeper to Va's list of banned guns.

This is, at best, out of date.  The Assembly has been out of session
for some time.  Prior to this bill, Virginia had no list of banned
guns; thus, nothing was "added".

   In this package is a letter from Delegate William Mims, a staunch
   pro-gun representative.  Regarding the 1992 session where this same
   bill was known as SB 94, he says:

Anyone who calls Bill Mims a "staunch pro-gun representative" has no
idea on God's green earth what he or she is talking about.  One of
Northern Virginia's gun rights activists's main tasks has been to keep
Mims on the right side of such gun votes as we can.

   Elsewhere in the package is a two page letter from Mike Farris,
   candidate for Lt. Govenor.  He spends the whole letter outlining
   his staunch conservative pro gun position, specifically stating he
   is against waiting periods, the gun-a-month program, instant checks
   or any other restriction on non-criminal gun ownership.

   In the margin is a hand-written note that says Farris won the
   nominating election on June 5th.  It also says that NRA-ILA refused
   to give Mr Farris any money but donated $50,000 to his opponent.
   (That number seems high, could it be $5000?  Anyone have any other
   data?)

Farris, George Allen, and Jim Gilmore all won nomination; all are very
staunch pro-gun politicians (unlike Mims).  I have no knowledge about
any contribution from the NRA to Farris one way or the other.  I
*know* they made a very substantial contribution to the Allen campaign
because they did it through the Commonwealth Sportsmen's Alliance.
The CSA also made contributions to the Farris campaign; I don't know
if any of the NRA money went to him directly.

I don't argue with the general jist of this; Cunningham has been a
continuing thorn on the side of the Virginia gun owners (there are
several other instances that this does not mention).

   I tried to call Mr. Stump today but missed him.  I'll try tomorrow.
   I want to get an update on what is going on.  I'll have more
   details after I talk to him.  Meanwhile if anyone in Virginia is
   intersted in joining Mr. Stump in a grassroots organization, he can
   be contacted as follows:

   Bill Stump Jr.  Rt 1, Box 240B Dublin, VA 24084 703 674 9537

   The Farris campaign can be reached at 703 882 9000.  Sounds like
   The this is a fellow who deserves our support.

I don't know Stump; I'll try to get a reading on him when I can, and
give some sort of report from the point of view of people up here.  I
urge contributions to the campaigns in Virginia (all three Republican
candidates here are deserving of support) be made through the
Commonwealth Sportsmen's Alliance; their address is:

Commonwealth Sportsman's Alliance
Political Action Committee
Kirby Burch, President
P. O. Box 657
Powhatan, VA 23139

This has the benefit that contributions come into the candidates by an
organization that they know is specifically oriented to firearms
rights.  This has a tremendous amount of impact.

More when I hear it.

					Dave Barton
					[d l b] at [hudson.wash.inmet.com]