I received this from Ray Carter at the Second Amendment Foundation.  If you can help them, please do, especially if you’re in Europe yourself.  Like Ray said in his message, what happens there will inevitably spread over here.

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Dear friends and gun rights activists,

Joining the call of British Shooting Sports Council we ask to IAPCAR and all gun rights association in its organization, to participate to the online survey organized by European Union Commissioner, Cecilia Malmstrom.

The menace to semiautomatic firearms in private hands is IMMINENT, as the online survey maliciously suggests a possible link between private possession of firearms and their us for criminal or terrorist purposes, being nothing else than another attempt to disarm honest citizens for the sake of added “firearms security”.

The questions are utterly misleading.

Question C.2 suggests that the list of prohibited firearms should be extended (it is understood that the Commission is referring to semiautomatic rifles and possibly also to semiautomatic shotguns and handguns).

Question C.4 pursues the mandatory use of locking devices in firearms (imagine the impact if this was made retrospective).

Question C.7 would provide a justification to introduce compulsory mental health tests and suppress the current derogation that allows people under the age of 18 to hunt and sport-shoot if they have parental permission or guidance.

We can expect for sure that the various anti-gun EU associations will take action to orchestrate a deliberate number of answers resulting in a public call for tighter gun control.
Deadline for participation is June 17^th 2013.         

This can’t happen and we ask you to take part to the online survey in the following steps:

Please follow the following steps:

1. Go to:  http://ec.europa.eu/yourvoice/ipm/forms/dispatch?form=ReduceFirearmsRisk
2. Choose your language in the icon that is in the upper right part of the screen.
3. Indicate your country, whether you are an individual or an organization and your name or the name of your organization.
4. Answer the questions by clicking on option “1” for each one of them. You do not need to answer the optional questions that request additional comments (questions B.4, C.11, D.5 and E.6).
5. After having answered the questions, as a security measure to avoid computer-generated replies, you will have to type in the numbers and/or letters that will be displayed in your screen and validate them.
6. Your answers will have been submitted by then. You can view them and/or save them as a PDF.

All of the European associations, especially Swedish ones, can contact the proposer of this survey in the person of European Commissioner Ms. Cecilia Malmstrom which can be contacted at these sites, possibly to explain her that firearms of private honest citizens are not to be confused with the ones of criminals and terrorists:

http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/malmstrom/contact/contact-me_en.htm

https://twitter.com/malmstromeu

https://www.facebook.com/MalmstromEU

Swedish citizens in particular can also contact her party, Folkpartiet liberalerna (Liberal People’s Party), to let them know what you think, at the following site and email:

http://www.folkpartiet.se/  —  info@folkpartiet.se

While EU citiziens can contact Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (A.L.D.E.):

http://web.cor.europa.eu/alde/contact-us/Pages/default.aspx

Asking their respective national parties NOT to support Maelmstrom initiatives, you can find various parties members of ALDE at the following page:

http://www.alde.eu/alde-group/alde-across-europe-map-member-state/

We thank you for your help, immediate action is necessary for the protection of our common gun rights.

Best regards,

Simone Ciucchi – FISAT President

May 2013

Bologna, Italy

The usual gang of fools is crying to each other about how the evil gun lobby has Congress firmly in its evil grasp, and that’s why we can’t have a renaissance of the human spirit and get rid of those evil guns.  You see, they know that the people want to give up their guns and a few bad men are paying off politicians who are for sale and scaring those principled statesmen who are scared easily.

I never knew I was that kind of evil.*  You see, I am the gun lobby, and I think a lot of you are too.  I belong to groups like the NRA and the SAF, and not just as a “Yeah, I send them my dues.” exercise.  I stay informed, not just about what is happening here and now, but also what has been done in other places and times.  By learning about history and applying that to the present day, it helps me to make good predictions on where decisions may lead, and the decision to take away surrender gun rights has invariably led to tyranny and murder.  I have taken the time to learn how our government works and why the rights guaranteed by the Constitution were put in there.  I take the time to reach out to the politicians who represent me, and I make sure that they know just where I stand on not only gun rights, but also a large spread of subjects.

Those who are crying foul after the political process played out yesterday point to polls that show a majority of Americans wanting more gun control.  Let’s set aside the incessant arguing about whose polls mean more, and look at what matters when you look at public opinion on a political matter:  The number of registered and likely voters who have an opinion on the matter in question.  I am very curious to see how the pro/con ratio came out among the citizens who took the time to call, write, and visit their Senators and Representatives about gun legislation in the past few months.  I’d really like to see polls about gun control taken from people who got off their butts and voted last November, not just the random people the pollsters could catch at home on a Wednesday morning.

But to be honest, polls don’t matter when you talk about voting away my rights.  You see, even if a majority of people truly do want me to get a background check before selling a gun to my neighbor, or get rid of any of  guns that they find objectionable, or even turn in all of my guns, it means nothing to me.  I was born with my rights.  They were not given to me by the government or the consent of other citizens.  Just as a majority of people cannot force people to convert to Christianity or cause the burning of a book that pisses everyone off, I can’t be forced to curtail my rights to arms.  You can’t take my rights, I can only give them away voluntarily, and that just isn’t going to happen.

So I’m going to continue to be the ‘evil gun lobby’ as long as I have breath.  Feel free to exercise the same rights and power that I and those like me have been doing and contact your Congresscritters if you disagree.  Heck, you might even get lucky and get something through Congress eventually.  Of course, then the battle will shift to the courts, and then back to the legislature, and then back again, because we’re not going anywhere.  People like us have been here since before Lexington and Concord, and we will still be here when Washington and Lincoln are mythical characters.

I’ll see you guys at the next Evil Gun Lobby meeting.  I’m bringing cookies.

*I’m evil, just not that kind of evil.

Today, the amendments to the Senate gun control bill, both pro- and anti-gun rights, were defeated in votes that had several Senators crossing the aisle to side with the other party.  While the fight at the federal level is not over by a long shot, this is a good start.  Harry Reid’s procedural vote in favor of the Mancin-Toomey ‘compromise’ means that it can be resurrected, so we need to make sure our Senators know to keep the pressure up.  We need to reach out to the Senators who stood with us and let them know that we won’t forget.  They are sure to be berated and attacked by those who prefer that men be herd animals.  We also need to reach out to those who betrayed us and make sure they know that we also won’t forget them, because we need to convince them of the error of their ways before we vote them out of office.

President Obama immediately trotted out former Representative Gabbie Giffords and several members of Newtown families to act as backdrops and meat puppets for his stern looks and disapproving remarks about the Senate’s actions.  He asserts that today “was a pretty shameful day for Washington”.  He would know better if he’d bothered to show up more often during his own abbreviated career in the Senate.

We can be happy with this victory, but we need to remember to not stop fighting.  Even as the corpse of federal gun control continues to run around the farm-yard after decapitation, the anti-rights crowd continues its efforts at the state level.  Colorado, New York, and Connecticut have tightened their laws, and many legislators in other states have introduced anti-rights legislation.  We need to continue to support groups like the NRA, SAF, and GOA, but we also need to get behind our state and local pro-gun rights groups.  Victories in the Senate will be meaningless if the back door of state restrictions is left wide open.

So, celebrate, but keep your eyes on the horizon.  Reid and Feinstein aren’t done yet, and further fights are inevitable.  We need to watch that we do not embolden the anti-rights groups with trash-talking or, heaven forbid, another horrific incident.  The less ammunition we give the other side, the easier these battles will be.  Remember to be gracious to those who support us, persuasive to those who waver, and merciless to those who oppose us, but also remember that we are all Americans and human beings, and deserve a modicum of respect.

Politico has an article up about the difficulties both sides of the legislative battle over gun control are having, and the author makes some good points.

On one side, Senate Majority Leader and President Obama, despite constant and intense appeals to emotions, are having trouble getting even all of the senators in their parties caucus to support gun control bills.  At the same time, the prospect of legislation that fulfills any of the President’s goals passing the House are not looking at all good.

On the other side of the aisle, several Republican senators are wavering on the issue and may join the Democrats.  Some are even making deals that would allow them to vote for the Mancin-Toomey-Schumer ‘compromise’ without it impacting their constituents.  16 Republicans voted with the Democrats to block a filibuster of the bills, preferring to go over to negotiation, amendment, and horse-trading.

The money quotes from the article are pretty good:

It also, once again, displays the competing interests in the Capitol: A Senate attuned to national politics, and a House consumed with local, gerrymandered, constituencies.

Honestly, that’s the way it’s supposed to work.  The Senate was originally envisioned as being the chamber that included senior statesmen, who had the breadth of experience and wisdom to look at large issues and act accordingly.  The House, on the other hand, has always been directly elected by the people, and is supposed to be the place where the wants, needs, and opinions of the common person mean the most.  The two chambers are set in this juxtaposition to try to find an equilibrium between the power of the upper levels of society and power of the masses of common people. This tension between the two chambers makes sure that neither those on top or those in that big squishy middle can run off the edge of the world.

Let’s change a few things here.  Right now, we have a Democrat president and a slight Democrat majority in the Senate, coupled with a slight Republican majority in the House, all of whom are considering gun control legislation because of a horrific, graphic, and public shooting in a school.  Let’s flip that to a Republican president and Senate, with a Democrat majority in the House, a scenario that is quite likely when you consider how thinly divided the American electorate is these days.  Let’s give that scenario something controversial to consider, like federal restrictions on abortion being pushed because of a horrific, graphic, and public scandal at an abortion clinic.  While the President might be able to ram some sort of legislation through the Republican Senate, the Democrat House would probably not go along with it, since they know where their constituencies fall on that issue, and that they will be taken to the woodshed in primaries and elections quite soon after voting to restrict abortion. 

The purpose of the House is to force the Senate to take the will of the people into account, and the purpose of the Senate is to force the House to think about what’s good for the country as a whole.  Sometimes they can come to an agreement, but the process forces both chambers to consider the other.

The other quote gets my back up a bit, though:

Late Monday night, the New York Times reported that Manchin and Toomey are considering a possible revision to their bill that would exempt residents in rural areas living hundreds of miles from licensed gun deals from some of the requirements of the bill.

The revision, which would be added only as amendment if the Manchin-Toomey proposal is adopted, is designed to appeal to Begich and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), said aides familiar with the issue. Manchin huddled with both Alaskan senators on the floor after a vote Monday night.

Here’s my response:

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. (Emphasis mine)

Yesterday, I asked you all to once again contact your Senators in order to urge them to support our rights.

But I missed a step.

You see, some of our people in Congress have already come out and publicly stated their support for the Second Amendment and our rights, as well as their opposition to the latest raft of anti-rights legislation.

We need to make sure that those who stand with us know that we appreciate their efforts and will remember them when election time comes around.

If your Senator and/or Representative makes the right noises and takes the right actions, please drop them another line and let them know you appreciate it.

This week the Senate will take up anti-gun rights bills.  Several senators have vowed to filibuster the legislation, and massive efforts on both sides of the issue are underway.  On one side is us, gun owners and pro-rights believers.  On the other side are those who cannot trust citizens to live their own lives, to make their own choices, and be left alone.  One side wants existing laws enforced, the other side wants new laws that will only be enforced when it is convenient.  One side has already compromised too much, while the other will not rest until all freedoms are under the thumb of Washington.

Now is the time for us to truly make our voices heard.

Now is the time to get off the fence and start swinging for it.

Now is the time for all efforts to concentrate on the Senate.

Write your Senators.  Call their offices.  At all times, be polite and professional, but also be firm in reminding them that we expect them to side with us and the Constitution.  Tell them that you expect them to support the filibuster, especially if they have voiced opposition to it.  Tell them that if the legislation comes to a vote, that you expect them to vote “No”.

Let the Senate be the place where this folly dies, at least for now.  Let them know:  No mandatory background checks.  No registrations.  No limitations on our rights.  We will not take one step back, and we will remember who stood with us, who stood against us, and who slunk away when things were difficult.  We are the majority in this country, and we will not back down.

What an embarrassment of riches……

• Senator Diane Feinstein (D for Demagogue, California) recently defeated an amendment to her proposed gun ban bill that would have exempted veterans in the same way that she wants to exempt government employees and law enforcement*.  Her reasoning was that veterans all have PTSD, which is a new development from Iraq, and we are all going to go crazy and start shooting baby ducks and premature infants.  You see, the good Senator believes that us vets are all ticking time bombs, all ate up with the ghosts of wars past, and are just a bad hair day away from losing our collective shit.  I’ve got news for her – Veterans are a slice of the society that produced them.  Most are honorable, honest, law-abiding folks.  Some have been negatively impacted by their experiences and are in need of help.  And a small minority of them were scumbags before they got to basic training and didn’t get much beyond that stage of personal evolution.  In other words, we’re just like everyone else.  And PTSD isn’t exactly a new phenomenon.  After the Civil War, they called it “Soldier’s Heart”.  In World War I, it was called “Shell Shock”.  During World War II and beyond, it was called ” Battle Fatigue”.  Since Vietnam, it’s been called “Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome” and “Post Traumatic Stress Disorder”.  My guess is that there has been some kind of way to describe people who have gone through something and come out shaken and hurt since Og picked up a rock and hit Unga upside the head.  As a matter of fact, PTSD is common among people who go through horrible events, like the shooting of a co-worker by another.  Perhaps the good Senator is projecting a bit here, and might be in need of her own counseling.  Who knows?  Maybe under all that pancake make-up and Botox, she’s a seething cauldron of murderous thoughts, and all it takes is for one of us uppity commoners to question her authority to unleash the beast.
• Senator Feinstein (D for Decrepit, California) has also been in the news for an exchange between her and Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas on Friday.  Senator Cruz asked Senator Feinstein if she would do the same thing to books, which are protected under the 1st Amendment, as she is doing to guns, which are protected under the 2nd Amendment.  Rather than reply to a yes-or-no question with a yes-or-no answer, the good Senator from California regaled us all with her experiences during that horrid day when a California politician threw a temper tantrum over not being able to un-resign his office and shot two people, and how she poked a finger into a gunshot wound looking for a pulse.  Since she didn’t deny that she would be open to restricting the freedom of the press as much as she wants to restrict the freedom to bear arms, I’m going to guess that she would be quite happy seeing subversive literature like “Atlas Shrugs” or “1984” suppressed.  She might like parts of “Fahrenheit 451”, but something tells me that “The Federalist Papers” and “Common Sense” wouldn’t make her cut.
• The President and his band of merry gentlemen continue to make targeted cuts with an eye to making Main Street hurt while protecting their core constituencies and pet projects. The latest that I’ve seen is that they are planning on cutting USDA food inspectors while still spending money to tell illegal immigrants how to sign up for food stamps.  That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, the President would rather that my children die from food poisoning than an illegal immigrant not sign up for free goodies paid for with the sweat of my brow.  I’m sure, of course, that his daughters will only be eating the finest food with every possible safety inspection done on it, to include proctological examinations of the cattle prior to slaughter.  This, ladies and gentlemen, is machine politics in its highest form.  If he was mayor of Chicago, that hive of scum and villainy, he would be laying off snow-plow drivers two days before Christmas so that he could pay for a New Years Eve party. 
• President Obama is spending money we don’t have so that he can make his first trip to Israel.  The Nobel laureate and giver of all that is good and clean in this world has lowered expectations that his very presence in the Holy Land will bring about a flowering of peace and brotherhood between Muslims and Jews, between Bears fans and Packer’s fans, and between the Irish and the Irish.  Instead, he plans to do his best to get a good price on some stuff at the souvenir bazaar in Jerusalem, catch a stoning in Jericho, and maybe play some golf on the West Bank.
• Hillary Clinton, former First Lady, Senator, Secretary of State, and fashion model for Soviet Fashion Collective #231, has announced her support for gay marriage.  How brave of her to do this.  To come out in support of such a controversial subject, risking such a promising political career, and running counter to her political base in order to make a moral stand is truly inspiring.  My mother always told us where she was the day that President Kennedy was killed, and I always tell my children where I was when the attacks of 9/11 happened.  In just such a manner, my children will be able to tell their children and their children’s children where they were the day that Hillary Clinton proclaimed that she’s in favor of gay marriage.  Let loose the doves!  Let the church bells ring!  Hillary Clinton has finally pronounced her position on gay marriage!

*Personally, if the ban were to pass and if it had an exception for veterans, I would not take advantage of it.  If we aren’t all free, then none of us is free.