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Sen. Coburn stands heroically, while NRA's response fails to hit mark

U.S. Senator Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) is standing firm against H.R. 2640, but he needs your help (see below). His leadership in the U.S. Senate, a body almost totally devoid of principled and courageous statesmen, has been rivaled by few in the last decade. Send a quick note to Senator Coburn at to thank him for being one of the few voices supporting our Constitution.

If you contacted the NRA in opposition to H.R. 2640, you may have received an e-mail dismissing gun owners' objections to the bill. But make no mistake, the NRA is feeling the heat, and the criticism from the gun rights community is getting louder.

The NRA is bragging about how this bill, with it's rabid anti-gun House sponsor Carolyn McCarthy driving it, will improve the Brady Registration system, but they miss one fact: Gun owners want to repeal the Brady Registration system, not improve it. We were opposed to the original compromise, which was cut by the NRA (Click here for details on how it passed originally), and are opposed to anything short of repealing it.

Gun owners are also adamantly opposed to building massive government databases where, even if you have a clean record, the system will -- sooner or later -- come back to haunt you.

Witness Virginia, long considered one of America's most pro-gun states. Gun banners in that state proposed a one-gun-a-month rationing scheme, but couldn't pass it through the legislature because it was too costly to create the system to restrict the purchase to one gun a month. But once the NRA passed the state-level Brady in Virginia, the system was in place. It gave our opponents the tools to advance their anti-gun agenda, and it was accomplished through the actions of the NRA.

The real tone of the NRA's response is "Trust us, we wouldn't do anything to hurt your rights".

But gun owners around the United States are starting to question that trust.

Take, for instance, the comments of one former NRA member:

"You told us to trust you in the past, and we got the 1934 National Firearms Act; the 1968 Gun Control Act; the Brady Registration system; the Assault Weapons Ban; the Lautenberg Gun Ban, so many compromises on the state level I've stopped counting, and now this: HR2640.” Eric, NRA member

Or this one:

“Any trust you might have earned from me by the tough talk in your fundraising letters has long-since vanished with your cacophony of compromises on my gun rights. I'd sooner write a check to Sarah Brady, as she's not as effective at passing gun control as the NRA." Gerry, former NRA member

A checklist of problems hasn't been answered by the NRA, and can't be, because these are devastating facts:

1. Why pass this gun control (everyone knows that's what it is)? Without the NRA's help, this bill wouldn't have a prayer. But our enemies are smiling, knowing they have cornered the group that is tasked with defending gun owners into supporting HR2640.

2. This bill is a massive expansion of the Brady Registration system, a scheme gun owners want to repeal, not expand.

3. This bill is offered by the most rabid anti-gunners in Congress, and is being praised by all of the enemies of freedom. That alone should give anyone pause.

4. We're told we should trust the very group that has been bargaining our rights away for decades. Let me ask you: Are you more comfortable with today's firearms laws than those 50 years ago? No, you aren't. And who is the self-appointed decision maker on gun issues?

But why is the NRA doing this?

It's very simple: the NRA is more concerned with their image in the press and their relationship to squishy politicians than in standing firm for gun owners. They'd rather be liked by Washington insiders than respected by their members.

They covet their media-dubbed status as the being the "powerful gun lobby" (ever wonder why the anti-gun press would praise the NRA in such a manner?), and you can't maintain that image if you don't sit down with your opponents to cut deals -- that's what Washington demands of its players. And cutting deals is what the NRA does best.

Of course, that isn't what they'll tell you in their fundraising mail, but their actions speak volumes.

The NRA will tell you that that H.R. 2640 will bring relief to gun owners; they claim it only enforces existing law; they claim it is an improvement to the NICS system.

Gun Owners of America's long-time gun rights attorney does a great job of detailing why these claims are not only wrong, but misleading. You can read those here.

In order to swallow the NRA’s minor clerical “improvements” to the NICS system, we must assume it is better to fix unconstitutional gun control than repeal it. Most gun owners have enough common sense to understand that no matter how much you try to change them, a bad law is still a bad law and an “infringement” is still an “infringement.”

The NRA also claims that “wrongfully” accused gun owners will now have recourse to regain their rights. If the NRA hadn’t bargained our rights away in the first place, combat veterans, kids with ADHD and gun owners whom liberal judges view as “extremists”, wouldn’t have to spend $100,000’s to regain their constitutionally protected rights.

The anti-gunners are doing a good enough job putting gun owners behind bars. We certainly don't need those considered to be "on our side" to help them.

What the NRA refuses to publicly acknowledge is that H.R. 2640 loosens the restraints on anti-gun BATFE agents and liberal judges in the process of “adjudicating” the mental state of gun owners.

No matter how much perfume the NRA uses, this pig still smells like a pig.

What you can do:

Call both your U.S. Senators and tell them to oppose H.R. 2640, the McCarthy/Leahy Gun Control Bill. The U.S. Senate switchboard number is (202) 224-3121. Ask for your Senators' office.

Go here to find your U.S. Senators.

Call Wayne LaPierre, Executive Vice-President of the NRA, at (800) 392-8683 and tell him to stop supporting gun control.

Email the NRA’s federal lobbyist, Chuck Cunningham at chuckc@visi.net and Federal-Affairs@nrahq.org. Tell him and NRA to stop supporting gun control.

Help NAGR fight gun control. Go here to donate to NAGR.

For more information on H.R. 2640, go here to visit NAGR’s information page.