NRA-ILA GRASSROOTS ALERT: Vol. 20, No. 19 05/10/2013

New Government Report Undercuts Obama Anti-Gun Agenda

Things haven't been very good for President Obama lately. This week, Congress heard from witnesses concerning his administration's fatal failures related to the September 11, 2012, attack on our consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Not buying into the make-believe nonsense that Obama has improved America's standing among terrorists devoted to our destruction, jihadists recently attacked the Boston Marathon. The unemployment rate has decreased by only 0.4 percentage point since January.

And then there are the things that Obama really cares about. Perhaps symbolically, this week, Republican senators Bob Corker (Tenn.) and Saxby Chambliss (Ga.) defeated Obama and Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) in a game of golf. Likewise, reporters have been suggesting that the defeat of Obama's gun control agenda in the Senate puts his political clout in as much doubt as his golf prowess.

On the Hill: Senate Narrowly Rejects Pro-Gun Amendment, While House Committee Approves Protection for Veterans

On May 8, the U.S. Senate took up consideration of S. 601, the "Water Resources Development Act of 2013." During the debate, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) offered an amendment to extend the Right to Carry to lands administered by the Army Corps of Engineers.

The Corps manages over 11.7 million acres, including many recreational areas. In 2009, Congress passed legislation protecting the Right to Carry in national parks and wildlife refuges, but lands under Corps of Engineers management are not covered by that law.

With strong bipartisan support for the amendment, the final vote was 56-43. However, under the rules for consideration of the bill, 60 votes were required for passage.

2013 NRA Members' Meeting: Wayne LaPierre

2013 NRA Members' Meeting: Chris W. Cox

Senators Targeted Because of Pro-Gun Votes Need to Hear From You NOW!

Last month, the Senate rejected the gun control agenda being pushed by President Obama and a host of anti-gun legislators, including Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), and Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.). These anti-gun legislators failed to pass a single anti-gun proposal, leading one political commentator to call the Senate votes the "biggest loss" of Obama's presidency.

The centerpiece of the underlying bill being debated--S. 649, by Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.)--was the "universal background checks" provision authored by Sen. Schumer. Because Schumer's legislation was too severe to have any chance of passing, Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) joined with Schumer and proposed a compromise measure. When voted upon, the misguided Manchin-Toomey-Schumer proposal was defeated.

Almost immediately, our opponents began to attack some of the senators who supported our Second Amendment freedoms by voting "no" on the Manchin-Toomey-Schumer measure.

Outrage of the Week

This week's outrage falls under the category of, "here we go again." A couple of seven-year-old Suffolk, Va. boys were recently suspended from school for violating their school's "weapons policy." Their violation? Pretending their pencils were guns.

Apparently, the two received the disciplinary action after they pointed their pencils at each other as if they were guns and made "gun noises" while playing in class.

You read that right. According to Bethanne Bradshaw of the Suffolk Public School system, "A pencil is a weapon when it is pointed at someone in a threatening way and gun noises are made."