Support ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN and Oppose GUN ACCESS Bills
[5-1-07]

Seven years ago, women around the country were preparing for the Mother’s Day Million Mom March –a mobilization for common sense gun laws. Thousands came to the National Mall in Washington DC to have their voices heard by the policy makers. Sadly, congressional supporters who voted to support common sense gun laws have been told by pollster that they may have lost their following election because of that vote. To get Congress to take up gun control bills again, at this time just before a Presidential election may be difficult. It does not mean we should not speak up, especially in the face of the tragedy at Virginia Tech this week.

There are several gun bills pending in this new Congress. Two of them are polar opposites of one another. HR 1022, introduced on February 13, 2007 by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), would reauthorize the Assault Weapons Ban that was allowed to expire. This revised Act is cited as the `Assault Weapons Ban and Law Enforcement Protection Act of 2007'. The second bill is HR 73, introduced on January 4, 2007 by Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD), and is called the ‘Citizens' Self-Defense Act of 2007. Its stated purpose is"to protect the right to obtain firearms for security, and to use firearms in defense of self, family, or home, and to provide for the enforcement of such right."

Through the windows of the Washington Offices of the Presbyterian Church (USA), we see the Supreme Court. As ordered by President Bush for all federal buildings, the flag at the front is flying at half-staff in recognition of the Virginia Tech tragedy. It is striking to look at this gesture of recognition at the very place where their interpretation of the Constitution’s Second Amendment has permitted the carrying of such weapons. The Justices are looking at this very same flag that we see from our windows.

The nation is in mourning. We have 32 funerals to attend as they are surely to be covered on our television all day news programs. We will pray. We will cry for the very gifted lives that have been snuffed our too early. We can then take action by contacting our two Senators, our representative, and the President between now and Mother’s Day. An Action Alert in the Act Now Box on this web page is set to expire at midnight on May 13th, the evening of Mother Day. Contact your officials and send letters to the editors of your local newspapers. For the action alert click here >>  Say you support the sentiment of HR 1022 –to ban assault weapons and that you do not support an increase in guns as advocated in HR 73. (General Assembly policy does not call for the banning of guns used for the purpose of hunting)

Noting that some 11,000 people have died during the conflict in Iraq, Moderator Susan R. Andrews and Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick then remind us that some 28,000 people have died during the past year in the USA, as a result of gun violence.

Received 10-17-02; posted here on 10-19-02]

It has been striking over the past few days, as the unknown sharpshooter has continued to kill random innocent people in the area of our nation's capital, that few reporters or commentators have so much as breathed a question about what some kind of rational gun control might have done to prevent such a killing spree.

Finally a few brave souls have dared to mention the notion of "ballistic fingerprinting," which would enable law enforcement departments to trace guns from the marking on bullets fired in the commission of a crime.

8th Annual Citizens' Conference to Stop Gun Violence:
Winning in 2002

Presented by the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence 
and the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence

February 22 - 23, 2002
Arlington, Virginia

"I will never bring a gun to school; I will never use a gun to settle a dispute; I will use my influence with my friends to keep them from using guns to settle disputes. My individual choices and actions, when multiplied by those of young people throughout the country, will make a difference. Together, by honoring this pledge, we can reverse the violence and grow up in safety."

May 23, 2001  [posted here 5-31-01]

The change in position is troubling not only because it ignores legal precedent, but because it could undermine the promise Mr. Ashcroft made to the American people during his confirmation hearings to fully enforce the nation's gun laws. How can our Attorney General enforce laws that he and his Justice Department believe violate the Constitution of the United States?

The meaning and intent of the Second Amendment are clear:

The U.S. Supreme Court case U.S. v. Miller (1939) ruled that the Second Amendment protects a state's right to maintain a well-regulated militia rather than an individual's right to possess a firearm. The Supreme Court has declined to hear another Second Amendment case since that ruling. The courts have let stand gun control laws including the Brady Law, and even handgun bans in several U.S. cities. Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger vigorously argued that the Second Amendment referred to a collective state right, and characterized attempts by those who would distort the meaning of the Second Amendment as "fraud."

While Mr. Ashcroft's personal interpretation of the Second Amendment is not surprising (he espoused the same view as Governor, and later Senator from the state of Missouri), his view now takes on added significance in his role as Attorney General.

Coalition to Stop Gun Violence President Michael K. Beard took issue with Mr. Ashcroft's irresponsible misinterpretation of the Second Amendment, and called on the Justice Department to renew its commitment to enforcing established law: "Attorney General Ashcroft swore to uphold and enforce the law during his confirmation hearings. For the Justice Department to take a position so contrary to the established meaning of the Second Amendment sheds a wary light on where Mr. Ashcroft's true commitments lie.