Bill Carter

Carter's Country Outdoor Stores

Houston

August, 2004

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“COMMON SENSE GUN CONTROL”

Back in 1993, then President Bill Clinton told America he was a hunter and would not support any gun legislation on his watch, except for some “common sense” handgun legislation. The result was the Brady Law that regulated ALL firearms after November 30, 1998 and continues today.

Now in 2004, the NRA-ILA Executive Director, Chris Cox, has announced that the NRA has not endorsed President Bush. I can understand the NRA’s concern with the ban on assault weapons due to expire on September 13th, since the President had committed during his 2000 campaign to support extension of the ban.

However, the bottom line question for gun owners and the firearms industry is “Are we better off with President Bush with the possibility of the Congress passing the assault ban extension for the President to sign. . .or with Senator Kerry with his anti-gun voting record and known ties to the far left’s agenda to pass more gun laws?”

I sincerely hope the NRA wakes up to the fact that endorsing and mounting an active campaign to re-elect President Bush is not a political option, but a necessity for gun owners and the gun industry alike.

The Firearms Industry just missed a golden opportunity to pass Tort Reform Legislation in this year’s Republican-controlled Congress. Unfortunately, after we all worked on Senate Bill 659 for over two years, at the last minute anti-gun factions loaded it with “common sense” amendments that required among other things, background checks for non-licensed sales at gun shows and re-enacted the Clinton-era ban on what they labeled assault weapons.  The anti-gun lobby will probably continue to attack individual sales at gun shows and try to re-enact the assault ban that expires this year.  This is a fight that can only be won by us at the polls.

The Washington-based anti-gun group called Americans for Gun Safety or AGS claims to have “common sense” positions on firearms issues and gun ownership.  However, in AGS’ latest media campaign, they labeled legitimate gun retailers as “High Crime Dealers” that “flooded our streets with crime guns”.  This smear was based solely on the number of gun traces those dealers received from the BATFE from 1996 to 2000. 

Yours truly made “the list” and newspaper headlines across the country.  Our local BATFE “spokesperson” came out in our defense citing that all trace guns were not crime guns and that dealers with high volumes over a long period of time will statistically have more traces than a dealer with lower sales volume and not many years in the business.  The newspaper did print an article countering AGS’ claims of being a middle of the road, tax-exempt organization with no anti-gun leanings.  However, those listed retailers continue to pay the price by undergoing more audits and having to report their used firearms inventory and acquisitions directly to BATFE Headquarters.

We must all keep our faith and support the re-election of President George W. Bush.  There was little doubt that the 2000 Presidential Election was critical for the future of the firearms industry.  Therefore, there can be no doubt that the election this year decides our future!

Please continue your support of the TGDA.