Appeal From Gun Owners of America (GOA) On the DISCLOSE Act

From GOA:

Wednesday, September 22, 2010




Anti-gun Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (NV) is giving voters yet another reason why he must be defeated in November.



Preparing for heavy losses in the general election, anti-gun Democrat leaders like Reid and Charles Schumer (D-NY) appear to be readying for a vote on the so-called DISCLOSE Act, possibly this week.



While Reid has not yet officially taken the necessary steps to move the bill, his communications director sent out this Tweet on Tuesday: "We're debating DISCLOSE Act tomorrow [Wednesday] w/ vote Thursday."



You may recall that the DISCLOSE Act, which passed the House in June, died in the Senate in July after an intense lobbying effort by Gun Owners of America and other groups.



The bill, sponsored by Schumer, puts severe and unconstitutional limits on GOA's ability to hold individual congressmen accountable in the weeks leading up to an election.



Instead of protecting the most important type of speech protected by the First Amendment -- political speech -- this bill would force groups like GOA to "disclose" the names of donors in certain political advertisements.



Since Gun Owners of America is not willing to disclose its membership lists to the Federal Election Commission, we could be prohibited from running radio or TV ads exposing a federal candidate's voting record within 60 days of a general election.



This is just another attempt by pathetic, anti-gun politicians to save their jobs before the political earthquake in November strikes.



And, as has been the case so often over the past two years, Reid, Schumer and Co. are using the rules of the Senate to bring the bill directly to the floor. There have been no committee hearings to debate the merits of the bill, thus the American people have no opportunity to see just how egregiously DISCLOSE violates the Constitution.



While the bill does contain a controversial provision to exempt the National Rifle Association, GOA remains adamantly opposed to it on constitutional grounds.



Please urge your Senators to protect ALL of the Bill of Rights. Remind them that your ability to protect the Second Amendment relies on the safeguards of the First Amendment.



ACTION: Please contact your Senators and urge them to oppose the DISCLOSE Act. You can use the Gun Owners Legislative Action Center at http://gunowners.org/activism.htm to send your Senators the pre-written e-mail message below.





----- Pre-written letter -----



Dear Senator:



I stand with Gun Owners of America in opposing Senator Schumer's so-called DISCLOSE Act.



This bill was defeated once in the Senate, but now anti-gun Majority Leader Harry Reid plans to bring it back to the floor for another vote.



The DISCLOSE Act is just another attempt by politicians to cling to their jobs by silencing groups like Gun Owners of America.



And, as has been the case so often over the past two years, Reid, Schumer and Co. are using the rules of the Senate to bring the bill directly to the floor. There have been no committee hearings to debate the merits of the bill, thus the American people have no opportunity to see just how the ironically named DISCLOSE Act violates the Constitution.



Gun Owners of America represents the views of hundreds of thousands of Second Amendment supporters. Any bill that squelched the free speech rights of groups like GOA is also an attack on my rights.



Please vote NO on Sen. Schumer's DISCLOSE Act.



Sincerely,