Coalition targets ban on semi-automatics
I personally Like Bush but don’t like what he’s about to do with the 1994 ban on guns.
I personally don’t have a problem with owning mass round clips, or old military semi auto rifles.
If you feel the same please us this letter and addresses to get your voice heard.


Dear President Bush:
I oppose the Clinton-Feinstein ban on common household firearms.
And that is why I was surprised to hear White House spokesman Scott McClellan say that you support the current ban, along with its reauthorization (Knight Ridder newspapers, April 12, 2003).
I am taken aback for a few reasons. First, you clearly ran on a pro-gun platform in your race for the White House in 2000. As a result, you were elected President because gun owners all over the country went to the polls and voted for you. Most notably, pro-gun voters delivered three key Democratic states into your column -- Tennessee, West Virginia and Arkansas. Without these three states, Florida would never have been an issue.
Second, former President Bill Clinton has repeatedly stated, that passage of the 1994 semi-auto ban cost him control of the Congress. In other words, many Democrats lost their jobs because they voted for this ban. Gun control is a losing issue politically.
Third, the Clinton-Feinstein gun ban is clearly unconstitutional, and outlaws the very guns and magazines that millions of people have relied upon to defend their homes and families. The website of Gun Owners of America gives the statistics showing that these banned firearms are rarely used to commit crimes or murders -- in fact, more Americans are killed by knives.
I hope that Scott McClellan was in error and that his statement does not represent your views. And so I trust you will be open and honest with me. Will you OPPOSE the Clinton-Feinstein semi-auto ban and OPPOSE its reauthorization?
Please let me know.
Sincerely,


President George W. Bush: president@whitehouse.gov
Vice President Richard Cheney: vice.president@whitehouse.gov
The White House Phone Numbers
COMMENTS: 202-456-1111
SWITCHBOARD: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

I guess we will soon know if Bush is as much of a liar as Clinton was. Of course, I would much rather have a president lie about who he did or didn't have sex with, than one who lies about his position on a political issue.

This anit good. I will be sending a few letters and be posting this on other boards

Ya I wouldn’t’ say he’s that bad just not thinking right. I think he believes the hype about not getting reelected, and just had a major brain fart. I hope he’s just testing the waters to get a response of what the majority of the people want. that’s why I’ll take the time to e mail my opinion.
Hairy ape are you for or against the Ban?

The ban passed once and probably will again

I'm against the ban of course! Why would I want any restrictions on guns, when I'm a gun owner? I'd like to have a couple of magazines for my 9mm that will hold more than 10 rounds. That's gotta be the most ridiculous law I've ever heard of. They actually think limiting the capacity of a magazine will reduce crime

The main reason anti-gun folks went after this mag. restristion was that after the mcdonald shooting they were able to convines the population that the shooter could not have shoot so many people with out having that 15 round clip.
I know and you know that we can change mags in no time flat ,so this is really a none issue. I was a range coach in the corp for 3 out of 8 years and I can change mags in my 9mm in under one second with out ever taking my eyes of my next target. but most people don,t know this and the left is not going to tell them.
a member of my family was fund rasing for the anti-gun crowd many years ago. I told her how the laws being put forth by the anti's were not going to make her any safer and she did not beleiave me so I took her to the range and showed her. now she beleives me. educate a non shooter today inorder to protect your rights. Tom

Starcraft tom

"educate a non shooter today inorder to protect your rights."

That is a good statement!!!

This is a press relies from the other day. Sorry its kind of long but it shows where he is.
Q There's a policy issue that emerges from the sniper attacks, and that's some gun control advocates are calling for a national ballistic fingerprinting system where every gun, before it was sold, would be test-fired, the ballistic fingerprint would be entered into a database, and law enforcement like Montgomery County and Northern Virginia and federal law enforcement could call on that. Does the President support that?

MR. FLEISCHER: There are a variety of technical issues involving the reliability and the accuracy of that program that bear looking into, and those issues will be explored. That would also, of course, involve an act of Congress and a determination of the will of Congress to make that happen.
But there are a series of steps that the President has taken that he believes can be very helpful and should be helpful on the federal level, principally involving giving local law enforcement communities and the prosecutors enhanced resources and more prosecutors so they can more quickly bring people who commit crimes with guns to account, hold them accountable, bring them to justice and try them before a court of law.

Q But on this issue, on ballistic evidence, the President has doubts about its reliability and accuracy?

MR. FLEISCHER: Well, there are experts who have questions that have been raised about its accuracy and reliability. And those questions are rather -- or those issues are rather straightforward. And that involves, over time, whether or not this tracing technology remains accurate. The more a gun is used, the less accurate the tracing can become. The ability of somebody who obviously is in the business of committing crimes, and therefore wants to figure out ways to protect his ability to commit a crime without being caught, to alter the barrel of a gun -- such things as a simple nail file put down the barrel of a gun can alter the amount of tracing that's on a bullet, and therefore change the accuracy of the fingerprinting, very unlike any fingerprinting of human beings. A nail file cannot alter the fingerprint of a human. A nail file can alter the fingerprinting of a weapon.

Q These are arguments generally raised by defense lawyers. Prosecutors rely on this evidence. And I went to the ATF website today, after you mentioned these concerns the President has about reliability and accuracy, and the AFT, on its website for the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network, where guns that have been used in crimes are finger-printed, says, as each fingerprint is different, a firearm leaves unique, identifiable characteristics on expelled ammunition. Is the ATF wrong?

MR. FLEISCHER: If you keep reading on the same webpage, I think you left something out. That same webpage continues to say, though no investigative tool is perfect or will be effective in every situation, the availability of an open case file of many thousands of exhibits searchable in minutes instead of lifetimes that would be required for an entirely manual search provides invaluable information. And that's what it does, it provides information that is crime specific.

Q About guns that have been used in crimes. So guns that commit crimes are in this database, but the President doesn't want all guns in that database.

MR. FLEISCHER: Well, again, that gets into the same issue as I got into with fingerprints. There is an issue about fingerprints, of course, as a very effective way to catch people who engage in robbery or theft. Is that to say that every citizen in the United States should be finger-printed in order to catch robbers and thieves. And these same issues are raised here. The President does believe in the right of law-abiding citizens to own weapons.

Q Fair enough, so it's about liberty and privacy.

MR. FLEISCHER: Well, it's also about the other issues I raised, in terms of accuracy and reliability. These are all various factors of why this is not a simple solution or a simple matter. And certainly, in the case of the sniper, the real issue is values. And that's what is at stake here. The real issue is values. These are the acts of a depraved killer, who has broken and will continue to break laws. And so the question is not new laws; the question is the actions here represent the values in our society.

Q Back on the sniper situation, a top-ranking NRA has been noted as saying before that guns don't kill people, people kill people. Where does that statement fall in the midst of this sniper attack that is now classified as a form of terror? And also, if the President is not for the McCarthy proposal, what about another proposal to stiffen gun -- background checks for gun control?

MR. FLEISCHER: Well, the President does believe that there can be changes in the law that are effective in combating crime, and that's why the President has supported an expansion of the instant background check system. That's why he has supported an increase in the minimum age at which somebody can own a handgun from 18 to 21. That's why he supports a semi-automatic assault weapons ban for juveniles. He supports volunteer child safety locks on handguns, as well as he has supported a ban on importation of high-capacity ammunition clips. Not all of these are positions popular with the NRA. The President took those positions because he thinks they're the right thing to do.
But when it comes to criminal behavior and people who use guns to commit murder, there's no amount of laws that is going to stop these people from committing these depraved crimes. The issue is the morality; the issue is their values. And they have broken the law, they will break the law. New laws don't stop people like this. What stops people like this is tough enforcement of the laws, the additional resources the President has provided to state governments so that if somebody commits a crime, they know they will be prosecuted for the crime and serve time.

Q But, Ari, you pointed out a bit about the fact that the President doesn't always stand lockstep with the NRA. But let's talk about that statement. Where does that statement fall in light of this?

MR. FLEISCHER: Well, again, I think it's a real moral issue that people have wrestled with for years. But the fact of the matter is that there are depraved, sick people who commit these crimes, and that is really a matter of society and that individual's values more than it is a matter of any one law that could stop somebody from doing that. And this is where the President has talked about a culture that welcomes life, teachers and parents who teach right from wrong. These are the issues that people face, too.

Hears the whole conference link but it has other issues that weren’t about the thread.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/10/20021015-5.html#5B