Block Holder - Act Today!

[AlertsList at FirearmsCoalition.org (Firearms Coalition)]

Just 2 items in this Alert:
1. Personal note and appeal from Jeff
2. Holder Confirmation Hearing scheduled for January 15!!

            Happy New Year!!!

I hope you've enjoyed the holy days and gotten a bit of needed rest.  As
Mom commented yesterday when someone complained that their short
vacation from work was not long enough: "Vacation?  What's a vacation?" 
When you do the kind of work we do, it seems that there is no such thing
as a day off.  We did enjoy a nice family Christmas morning, (my 2-year
old grandson really brought the Christmas spirit back to us this year)
but by that afternoon she was busy processing mail from the last Hard
Corps Report and trying to keep up with correspondence while I was
working on new columns that were due and trying to build the coalition
against the appointment of Eric Holder as Attorney General.  It seems
like there are always 5 or 6 other things that I need to be doing and I
never can get around to all of them. 

I want to thank those who have provided financial support recently.
 Your contributions are all that allow us to continue in the fight, and
continuing in the fight is all we want to do ? as long as we can do it
effectively.  Every dollar we receive from our friends and supporters
makes a real difference to us and we appreciate each one.   Unlike the
Brady Bunch and the Violence Policy Center, The Firearms Coalition is
solely supported by member contributions.  We don't have billionaire
sugar-daddies and don't receive grants from big "charitable"
foundations.  We rely on you.  Contributors can rest assured that there
are no exorbitant salaries being paid around here and no expensive
junkets being taken.  I'll just say that it's a good thing that I
inherited my dad's Scottish penny-pincher gene or else it would be
doubtful that we'd be able to keep going.

If you haven't made a contribution recently, now's a great time to do
so; we've made special deals with some of our friends to allow us to
offer your choice of the documentary DVD; */In Search of the Second
Amendment/* by Dave Hardy, the first book on the Heller decision; */The
Heller Case: Gun Rights Affirmed/* by Alan Korwin and David Kopel, or
Steve Halbrooks latest book; */The Founders' Second Amendment/*.  With
any contribution of $50 or more you can take your pick of the three
titles.  For a contribution of $120 or more you can have all three. 
Supplies are limited so don't wait.  If we get a good response we will
try to continue the offer, but there's no guarantee that we'll be able
to so act now.

Sarah Brady is telling Congress and the new President that you don't
care any more and that any gun control law at all is OK with you as long
as it doesn't include an all out ban on possession of all guns.  She
even has a poll claiming to show that a majority of gunowners support
stricter gun laws and she's using that to convince Congress to push
forward with her restrictive wish list. 

To battle this we need to pound Congress hard to let them know "/We
ain't dead yet!/"  That's why it's important that you act on the
information below immediately!

Congress is planning to hit the ground running in a few days.  The new
Congress will be sworn in on January 6 and the Senate Judiciary
Committee has set a date of January 15 for confirmation hearings on
Barack Obama's pick for Attorney General, Eric Holder.  Gunowners need
to be pushing members of the committee very hard to delay and block the
confirmation.

The Democrat members of the Judiciary Committee are all sworn enemies to
the Second Amendment and are unlikely to be swayed at all by any
firearms related arguments, but might hesitate to confirm based on
Holders participation in the pardons of 16 Puerto Rican terrorists and
billionaire financier and arms merchant Marc Rich.  Any letters to
Democrats should focus on those issues.

On the Republican side, Arlen Specter, the ranking Republican on the
committee has never been a friend to gun rights, but he owes his
reelection to NRA support and has expressed concern over the pardon
issues.  Among the other Republicans, most are relatively reliable
votes, but only Coburn has routinely taken a leadership role on Second
Amendment matters.  All of them need to be pressed hard to do everything
they can to block the appointment.

For more information about Eric Holder and why his appointment must be
fought tooth and nail, go to our web site at www.FirearmsCoalition.org
<http://www.FirearmsCoalition.org>.

I would also encourage NRA members to send letters to Chris Cox at NRA
urging him to fight the Holder appointment with everything he's got. 
Remind him that a good fight over Holder could preempt much of the anti
gun legislation being planned and keep us from having to fight numerous
other battles.  Remember that Chris works for you just like the
politicians do.  It's up to you to keep him and NRA moving in the right
direction.  If you know any NRA Directors, it's a good idea to be
lobbying them as well.  This is the type of fight that NRA tends to
choose not to fight because it's not a likely winner and they want to
preserve political capitol for more urgent matters.  That would be a
mistake.  A good fight now, even in a losing cause, sends the message
that the gun lobby isn't dead yet and builds much more political capitol
than it expends.  If NRA refuses to take the lead in the fight to stop
the Holder appointment, the fight will be a fizzle and the result will
be to increase the impression that the gun lobby is impotent ?
emboldening our enemies and guaranteeing tougher battles in the future.

Here is the current roster for the Judiciary Committee:

*Democrats:
*

*Patrick J. Leahy*
Chairman, D-Vermont

*Edward M. Kennedy*
D-Massachusetts
*Joseph R. Biden, Jr.*
D-Delaware
*Herb Kohl*
D-Wisconsin
*Dianne Feinstein*
D-California
*Russell D. Feingold*
D-Wisconsin
*Charles E. Schumer*
D-New York
*Richard J. Durbin*
D-Illinois
*Benjamin L. Cardin*
D-Maryland
*Sheldon Whitehouse*
D-Rhode Island

*Republicans:*

*Arlen Specter*
Ranking Member, R-Pennsylvania
*Orrin G. Hatch*
R-Utah
*Charles E. Grassley*
R-Iowa
*Jon Kyl*
R-Arizona
*Jeff Sessions*
R-Alabama
*Lindsey Graham*
R-South Carolina
*John Cornyn*
R-Texas
*Sam Brownback*
R-Kansas
*Tom Coburn*
R-Oklahoma

Keep in mind that Biden will not be serving and Kennedy says he is going
to resign from the committee (after 46 years.)  That means that there
will be two new Democrats added to the committee and so far there has
been no indication of who they might be.

Right now the first priority is to hit the members of the Judiciary
Committee asking them to delay, side-track, or outright kill the Holder
nomination.  The secondary priority is to hit the rest of the Senate. 
Anyone can lobby any Committee member so don't hesitate to send a note
to each member.  Short and to the point is best and I suggest making
your point in the Subject line if you're sending e-mail.

Below is a sample, for e-mail or snail-mail, appropriate for almost any
Republican:

 

Subject: Reject Holder Nomination
 

Dear Senator Specter;

            I am writing to urge you to oppose the confirmation of Eric
Holder as Attorney General of the United States.  Please do everything
in your power to block Holder's confirmation.

            Mr. Holder has demonstrated extremely poor judgment, a lack
of understanding of the Constitution, and a willingness to take
questionable actions on behalf of the President.  His appointment
appears to be based more on political cronyism than on demonstrated
skills and abilities.

            As Deputy Attorney General under Janet Reno, Mr. Holder
actively worked to suppress information about the Waco tragedy.  Later
he played a key roll in the Elian Gonzalez fiasco, not only acting as
the administration spokesperson, but apparently participating in the
decision-making process which resulted in a Federal SWAT team's pre-dawn
raid to seize the child at gunpoint and forcibly return him to Castro's
Cuba.  Mr. Holder's actions in both of those cases demonstrated a
serious lack of judgment, a willingness to engage in duplicitous and
deceptive rhetoric, and disrespect for justice and the rule of law.

During his time in the AG's office and subsequently, Mr. Holder has
consistently called for and endorsed stricter gun control laws and has
espoused the theory that the Second Amendment does not protect an
individual right.  This theory was rejected by all 9 Justices of the
Supreme Court.  Such a fundamental misconstruction of an enumerated
constitutional right demonstrates a serious lack of understanding of the
meaning and intent of the Constitution and the philosophy upon which
this nation is founded.  It also demonstrates an unhealthy distrust of
his fellow citizens.  The nomination of Eric Holder is an insult to
every American gun owner and Senate confirmation would add real injury
to the insult.

At the close of the Clinton administration, Holder was instrumental in
facilitating the presidential pardons of Marc Rich and 16 FALN
terrorists.  Holder's lack of judgment in these cases and his
willingness to do President Clinton's bidding in these matters
demonstrates a critical lack of personal integrity and backbone.  Those
pardons could scarcely be justified at the time and have since been
shown to have been motivated by financial and political gain.

            Eric Holder has proven that he does not have the
understanding, judgment, or personal integrity to responsibly manage the
extensive authority of the Attorney General's office.  Members of the
Senate are tasked with overseeing the appointment of senior executives
and ensuring that the positions are filled with the very best qualified
candidates available.  Mr. Holder does not meet this standard and should
not be confirmed.  Past AG nominees have been blocked for inadvertently
using undocumented workers as domestic workers in their homes.  Mr.
Holder's failings far exceed such errors.

            I ask that you demonstrate your commitment to positive
changes in Washington and your stated support for Second Amendment
rights by doing everything in your power to block the confirmation of
Eric Holder as Attorney General.

            Please keep me apprised of your position and actions in this
matter.

Sincerely,

Jeff Knox
PO Box 3313
Manassas, VA  20108

------------------------

I wrote a column to appear in Shotgun News on the subject of the Holder
appointment, but if the Judiciary committee sticks to their planned
schedule and no one places a "hold" on the nomination, the appointment
could be confirmed before the magazine hits the newsstands.  That makes
it even more critical that everyone reading this take action today.

*The first thing to do is to forward this Alert to everyone in your
e-mail address book.*

*Next,* modify the letter to make it your own, or just replace my name
with your own and send a copy to each Republican on the Senate Judiciary
Committee.  Their contact information can be found by clicking on their
names at the following address:

http://judiciary.senate.gov/about/members.cfm
<http://judiciary.senate.gov/about/members.cfm>

*Lastly*, send a similar note, but more personalized, to both of your
Senators urging them to reject the Holder appointment.  I would also
encourage you to send a similar message to President-Elect Obama by
using the web form available at this site:

http://change.gov/page/content/contact/
<http://change.gov/page/content/contact/>

Please take action now and please do what you can to support our efforts
financially.  We can't do it without you.

Yours for the Second Amendment,

Jeff Knox
            Director, The Firearms Coalition

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