[VeteransRights] [ALERT] Support DC Gun Rights Legislation

From: "AmericanAngel1957"
[VeteransRights] [ALERT] Support DC Gun Rights Legislation

This CONSERVATIVE ALERT prepared for Diane Weller:
ISSUE: Shouldn't the Second Amendment apply to ALL law-
abiding Americans? We think so -- and some in Congress
apparently agree.
U.S. Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN) recently introduced legislation
in the House that would guarantee to citizens of the
District of Columbia their Second Amendment right to bear
firearms in their homes and businesses. HR 3193, "The
District of Columbia Personal Protection Act," which was
cosponsored by 22 Democrats and 40 Republicans, would lift
the District of Columbia's gun ban, one of the strictest
such bans in America. The ban forbids law-abiding citizens
from possessing handguns, and rifles are allowed only on
an extremely limited basis.
"The District of Columbia is a failed laboratory experiment
for gun control," Souder said. "It has one of the most
comprehensive bans on firearms in the nation, and it also
has one of the highest violent crime rates in the nation.
In fact, in 2002 it had the highest per capita crime rate
of any city in the nation. This is not a coincidence. The
simple fact is, when law abiding citizens are forbidden by
their government from protecting themselves, they become
easy prey for those to whom a gun ban is just one more law
to break. The citizens of the District of Columbia have
the same constitutional rights as the rest of us, and one
of those rights is the right to bear firearms. We shall
not allow their right to protect themselves and their
property be trampled on any longer."
Similar legislation (S 1414) was introduced earlier this
year by Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-UT), Chairman of the Senate
Judiciary Committee. "It is time to restore the rights of
law-abiding citizens to protect themselves and to defend
their families against murderous predators," stated Hatch.
"It is time to tell the citizens of the District of Columbia
that the Second Amendment of the Constitution applies to
them, and not only to their fellow Americans in the rest
of the country. The prohibition of firearms in the
District of Columbia is as ineffective and deplorable as
it is unconstitutional; it is high-time we rectify this
wrong."
The D.C. Personal Protection Act would:
* Permit law abiding citizens of the District of Columbia
to possess handguns andrifles in their homes and businesses;
* Repeal the registration requirements for firearms;
* Eliminate criminal penalties for possession of firearms;
* Repeal the ban on semi-automatic firearms;
* Repeal the ban on the possession of ammunition;
* Permit the storage of armed firearms in one's home or
place of business; and
* Eliminate the criminal penalties for carrying a handgun
in a person's home or business.
ACTION ITEM: We need to dispel unfounded myths that the way
you reduce violent, gun-related crime is by prohibiting the
possession of firearms. Excessive regulation and the
systematic erosion of the rights guaranteed by the Second
Amendment do not deter violent, gun-toting criminals.
Enacting and vigorously enforcing stiff penalties for those
that commit crimes with guns deters violent crime. Not only
is this the proven and effective approach to reducing gun
violence, it also preserves the constitutionally guaranteed
rights of law-abiding men and women to own and possess
firearms.
Go to our site below to send a FREE editable, pre-written
message to your Representative and Senators, urging them to
support HR 3193 and S 1414, "The District of Columbia Personal
Protection Act":
http://www.conservativealerts.com/100203.htm
AOL GO HERE
NOTE: Be sure to forward this e-mail to everyone you know who
wants to help support the right to bear arms -- for ALL law-
abiding Americans. Thank you!