Sarah Brady, Blood Dancer

I just got an email from Sarah Brady. No, it wasn't an invitation to her Columbus Day BBQ, and no it wasn't an invite to her annual charity wheel chair race either. It was a solicitation asking for more money to help destroy my civil rights, using the latest school shooting as grist for her bloody donation mill. Nowhere in the email does she mention the six kids killed in Wisconsin by a deranged police officer. Where is her outrage about this? Are the lives of the school kids in Ohio worth more to her from a publicity standpoint than those snuffed out in Wisconsin? Do you still think that only Police and the Military are the only people who should have guns Sarah? be careful, your hypocrisy is showing...

Here's the email, and my comments.

More Guns at Schools While Senate Stalls on Improving Background Checks

Your support can help us break the logjam on a bill to strengthen the Brady law's NICS

Dear Mr. Orlov,

I'm once again heartbroken that a deranged teenager was so easily able to get his hands on two guns and ammunition, shooting four people before killing himself at a Cleveland school on Wednesday.

Together, we must stop senseless tragedies like this. And we can.

So, what do you propose we do Sarah? How about making murder more illegal, or making the "Gun Free Zone" signs just a little larger to make sure the bad guys see them. And how exactly is this, so called, NICS Improvement Bill supposed to have stopped a criminal who wasn't even old enough to legally own those guns in the first place?

The first thing we must do is convince the U.S. Senate to strengthen the Brady background check system by passing the National Instant Check System (NICS) Improvement Act.

In other words, you want to deprive even more people of their rights, rightly or wrongly, just so you can feel good about yourself? Here's some news for you lady, my rights are not there to improve your sense of self satisfaction. More feel good legislation that only affects the law abiding and which will be ignored by the criminals is not going to help matters any. How about you go after the real source of the problems, repeat criminal offenders?

Will you help me by making a special contribution to the Brady Campaign right now? Your contribution will be used to bring pressure to bear on the Senate, garner media attention, and rally public support for this critical bill.

Um, let me think about this...HELL NO!

Next week will be the six-month anniversary of the Virginia Tech tragedy where 32 were shot and killed. Since then, almost 6,000 sisters, brothers, fathers, and mothers have been murdered by guns.

While it may or may not have helped in the VT case, allowing CCW permit holders to lawfully keep their arms for defense of themselves and others around them is a huge step forward. Guns don't kill people Sarah, criminals misusing guns do.

Immediately following the Virginia Tech shootings, the Brady Campaign pressed elected officials by asking "What are YOU going to do about gun violence?"

What have you done about criminals who misuse guns to commit violence? You say you don't want to ban guns, and then you turn around and support gun bans. Liar. All you will accomplish is rendering the law abiding defenseless and empowering the criminal element.

In July, the U.S. House of Representatives took a courageous first step to keep guns out of the wrong hands by passing HR 2640, the NICS Improvement Act.

We all know whose hands are the wrong hands Sarah, the hands of every law abiding, freedom loving, gun owner in the nation! Don't lie to me, I know better.

Many states fail to supply thousands of records of prohibited gun buyers to the national Brady background check system. The result is that felons, domestic violence abusers, and those who are dangerously mentally ill can walk into gun stores or gun shows and buy weapons without being stopped.

The NICS Improvement Act would address this critical problem.

But the U.S. Senate has failed to take action and get this bill passed. The consequences of their inaction are a steady drumbeat of gun deaths, more student shooting rampages, more carnage, and untold suffering by the victims and their families.

The Senate should act to pass this important bill!

You mean the gun control expansion bill that expands the already illegal law? The one that has every gun control loving representative drooling in their eagerness to support it? The same bill the NRA is shortsightedly supporting? The same bill that will come around to bite them in the ass later on? Thanks, but no thanks Sarah. You can keep your phony act.

The Brady Campaign is working full force to convince the U.S. Senate to pass this bill immediately. Tragically, 32 Americans are murdered by guns every day and we cannot afford to wait another day for them to take action.

Again, guns don't murder anyone, criminals do. How many of these 32 a day you claim, are criminals, already disallowed from having guns, killing other criminals? How many are criminals shot by law abiding citizens who were defending themselves? How many are victims disarmed by gun bans and other unconstitutional restrictions which you support?

We need your support today to put pressure on the U.S. Senate to pass this legislation and help stop the senseless violence.

Please make a contribution of $25 or more right now to help fund our efforts to pass this important bill in the Senate.

If you really wanted to stop the senseless violence you'd go after the real source of the problem, criminals, and not law abiding citizens. Once again, I'd sooner crawl across broken glass, gouge out my eyes with broken sporks and eviscerate myself with a rusty pair of scissors, while rolling around in rock salt, than donate money to you and your organization. Is that clear enough for you?"

Sincerely,
Sarah Brady, Chair

NICS Bill Stalled

Senate gun bill tied to Va. Tech shootings stalls

Bill, bogged down by funding concerns, aims to improve background checks

WASHINGTON - A bill inspired by the Virginia Tech shootings is bogged down by objections over funding and who should be barred from buying a firearm.

The bill would tighten requirements for states to share gun purchasers’ mental health information with the federal government.

Majority Democrats in the Senate were poised as early as this past Monday to bring the bill to a vote until Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., objected.

Coburn says he has concerns that billions of dollars of new spending in the bill is not paid for by cuts in other programs. And he says the bill does not pay for appeals by veterans or other Americans who feel they have been wrongly barred from buying a gun.

“As Congress prepares to raise the debt limit once again, it is not too much to ask politicians to do the job they were elected to do and make choices,” Coburn said Wednesday. “Veterans, or any other American, should not lose their Second Amendment rights if they have been unfairly tagged as having mental health concerns.”

Propelled by a rare alliance between the National Rifle Association and majority Democrats, the legislation was passed in similar form by the House and would be the first major gun control law in more than a decade.

“Nothing can bring back the lives tragically lost at Virginia Tech, but this amendment will begin to repair and restore our faith in the (national background check) system and help prevent similar tragedies in the future,” said Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who is sponsoring the bill with Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

“When the NRA and Chuck Schumer agree, that tells you it’s something worth doing,” Schumer said. (Yeah, right... -Yuri)

Mental health gap in gun law?
The legislation aims to fix flaws in the national background check system that allowed Seung-Hui Cho, a mentally ill Virginia Tech student, to buy guns and kill 32 people April 16 in the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

Cho had been ruled a danger to himself during a court commitment hearing in 2005. He had been ordered to undergo outpatient mental health treatment and should have been barred from buying the two guns he used in the rampage. However, the commonwealth of Virginia never forwarded the information to the national background check system.

The legislation clarifies what mental health records should be reported to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System and gives states financial incentives for compliance.

The Senate version of the bill is very similar to the House version, with a few changes.

The Senate authorizes up to $400 million a year over five years in new grant funding for improvements to the information technology and state compliance programs, an increase over the House version’s $250 million a year over three years. The Senate version would begin appropriations in 2009, rather than 2008 as in the House-passed version.

It also gives the attorney general discretion to penalize states beginning after three years if they do not meet compliance targets.

When you compromise with Evil, Evil wins!

"Victory for Gun Control in House. NRA Sees the Light" says the email I got today from the Brady Campaign to prevent Gun ownership. I am completely opposed to this bill. The fact that the NRA decided to negotiate with evil on this is incredible. I am a member, but more and more I'm becoming dissatisfied with their policies. From giving anti-gun sheriff's and politicians "A" ratings and now this blasphemy. This bill would have gone nowhere without the NRA's help. They say they will keep an eye on it and withdraw support if more anti-gun amendments are added to it, but I'm not sure I believe them. Besides, even if they do withdraw support, now that the Democrats control Washington it will get rammed through anyway.

By the way, who's hands are the "wrong hands" they refer to in the letter? Pull back from the computer, raise your arms up in front of the monitor and have a good look.

From the Brady's:

Victory: Bill That Strengthens Brady Backgrounds Checks Passes U.S. House

Dear Mr. Orlov,

That’s right! You read it correctly. With your help, we’ve been asking legislators, “What are YOU going to do about gun violence?”

And we got our first BIG answer yesterday, when, by a voice vote, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 2640 to strengthen Brady background checks!!

The bill, introduced by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) requires states to automate their lists of convicted criminals and the mentally ill who are prohibited from buying firearms.

It also requires states to report those lists to the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) that was enacted with passage of the Brady Law.

And now this important bill is moving swiftly to the U.S. Senate and we need your help today to make sure it gets passed.

Please make a generous contribution of $15.00 or more today to help us make this happen.

Surprisingly, the NRA supports the bill. The Virginia Tech shootings were a horrific reminder of the gaps in U.S. gun laws. The gun lobby knew its usual opposition to any and every solution we brought forward would be unacceptable to the American public so it made this concession.

But we know we still have much more to do to keep guns out of the wrong hands and that the gun lobby will oppose us as we move forward with other sensible steps. We will work to push Congress to extend Brady background checks to all gun sales — especially those at gun shows.

To do the work ahead, we need your support today to sustain this strong momentum. This is the BEST time for you to make a contribution to help our fight to make Brady background checks stronger ... step-by-step we are making progress.

Show us what YOU’RE going to do to help stop gun violence by making a contribution of $15.00 or more right now.

Thanks for your support! We’ll keep you posted ...

Sincerely,

Sarah Brady, Chair

Hmmm, I feel the need to make another contribution to the gun Rights organization of my choice. I suggest you do the same.