Posted: 1/19/2007 7:32:23 PM EDT
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GRASSROOTS GUNRIGHTS ACTION ALERT! WASHINGTON ATTEMPTING TO STOP GRASSROOTS LOBBYING. First Amendment Under Attack Again! Urge your Senators to VOTE YES on the Bennett Amendment! Congress is about to enact new ethics and lobbying rules. As you might expect, they are using this opportunity to silence organizations like GrassRoots GunRights of SC. Expect this to be a bi-partisan effort. There is always bipartisanship when it comes to protecting incumbents. There was bipartisan support for the McCain-Feingold law - a law to stop grassroots organizations from using the mass media to tell people about an incumbent's voting record close to an election. Incumbents want to silence grassroots organizations completely so they can hide the truth about the incumbent's voting record from the people. This would prevent GrassRoots from telling its members about the voting records of politicians during the election season. All this just goes to show that all of our constitutional rights are under attack. First, the Second Amendment. Now, the First Amendment. Section 220 in the Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act (S.1) being voted on next week in the U.S. Senate would target groups like GrassRoots GunRights SC, who represent gun owners in South Carolina. Our style of grassroots lobbying (i.e., e-mails, newsletters, website, and direct mail) has been treated differently than the kind of high dollar inside lobbying (i.e., TV, newspapers, and radio) that the McCain-Feingold law attacked. Now, the incumbents want to make sure that what they do to you during legislative season can not be reported to you during election season. The incumbents do not want you to know the truth! The dangerous provisions in the bill would subject groups like GrassRoots SC to a mountain of government regulation. When we spend money encouraging you and other citizens to contact their elected officials on a particular issue, this provision would require extensive government reporting, including notifying Congress 45 days before such action would take place. Given the pace that attacks on our rights take place, this is clearly an attempt to stop us from contacting and informing you about dangerous legislation that is in the works. Sen. Robert Bennett (R-UT), along with Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), has offered an amendment to strike the grassroots lobbying provisions included in S.1. You need to contact Senators Lindsey Graham and Jim DeMint as soon as possible and urge them to support the Bennett/ McConnell amendment. Every gun rights organization (including the NRA and GOA) is asking you to contact your Senators about this immediately. The Senate will vote on the Bennett amendment soon. Please call Senators Graham and DeMint today and tell them to VOTE YES on the Bennett amendment! Please act now! Urge Your Senators to VOTE YES on the Bennett Amendment! |