The Not-Sweet 16

As reported in last week’s Alert, on July 13, 2006, all 55 Republicans, joined by 28 Democrats and 1 Independent, voted to pass Senator David Vitter’s (R-La.) amendment to prohibit the use of taxpayer funds allocated under the Homeland Security appropriations bill (H.R. 5441) to be used to confiscate lawfully-possessed firearms during an emergency or major disaster.  Sixteen Senators opposed the prohibition.

In passing this legislation, the United States Senate acted on a bi-partisan basis to protect the self-defense rights of citizens when those rights are most vital, in the aftermath of a major disaster, when law-abiding citizens are left to defend themselves and their families.

Sixteen Democrats (including both Senators from the states of California, Hawaii, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York) voted to defeat this commonsense legislation (Déjà vu Note:  Under the unblinking eye of the C-SPAN cameras, Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) voted against the Vitter amendment, then minutes later he reversed course and voted for it.)  These extreme opponents of the Second Amendment are: 

While the passage of Senator Vitter’s Amendment is significant, enactment into law of the “Disaster Recovery Personal Protection Act of 2006” should remain our overarching goal.  Introduced as S. 2599 by Senator Vitter in the Senate, and H.R. 5013 by U.S. Representative Bobby Jindal (R-La.) in the House, this NRA-supported legislation would amend federal emergency statute laws to prohibit federal, state, and local authorities from confiscating lawfully-owned firearms during times of disaster.

Please be sure to contact your U.S. Senators and your U.S. Representative, and urge them to cosponsor and support S. 2599, and H.R. 5013, respectively, the “Disaster Recovery Personal Protection Act of 2006!”   You can reach your Senators at (202) 224-3121 and your Representative at (202) 225-3121.