I received a breathless e-mail today that "zOMG, the Senate is going to require us to declare our guns on our income tax forms in Senate Bill 2099!! Call your congressman today!!!1!"
Bullshit. Calm down, people.
Senate bill 2099 does not exist. Go to Thomas.gov and search for it in the 111th Congress, if you wish. S. 2099 was indeed a gun control bill, but it was introduced 9 years ago in the 106th Congress and it died a very quick death. The "S. 2099" stuff is a complete fraud.
At least the panicky e-mails about H.R. 45 refer to a real bill, but that bill is as dead as Tom DeLay's political career. H.R. 45 has no co-sponsors. It was referred to the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security on February 9th and there it languishes. A general rule is that a bill without co-sponsors, especially if it deals with a hot-button topic, is dead the moment it is introduced. Rep. Bobby Rush introduced it, in all probability, to curry favor with the gun control nuts in his district (and to use it as a way to get donations out of them).
It is a very old game. The Republicans do the same thing when they introduce bills for banning abortion or mandating that same-sex couples be executed: They are bills that throw red meat to the rabid nuts in the base and those bills are introduced with the full knowledge of everyone on the Hill that they are dead the moment they are introduced.
Calm down, everyone.
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7 comments:
Can I infer that someone at the NRA looked at their checking account balance, noted it was going alarmingly low, and decided it was time to scare more people into joining the NRA to defend their gun rights from an illusionary enemy? No, that would make me a cynical penguin, nobody at any reputable organization would ever do something like that...
:-).
-- Badtux the Cynical Penguin
The NRA is notorious for that shit. It's gotten to the point that it takes me maybe 15 minutes to read a new issue of the American Rifleman.
Heard an interesting stat the week:
The percentage of People that want gun control has been slowly sinking in the last few decades. It's half of what it was in the 80's I think it was.
We all own a gun now I guess. I know I do, and have since I was old enough to go hunting with my dad. He taught us about firearms and I am glad he did.
Since I have several friends in law enforcement, that very email has found its way to my pasture two or three times a year for the past several years. It actually has a shred of truth, in that there was a bill (SB 2099) introduced by introduced by Jack Reed (D RI) in 2000, but it died in committee and has never resurfaced.
While I doubt this is purposeful work by the NRA, I do not doubt that this particular missive manages to continue in circulation due to some reason perhaps a bit more sinister than simple ignorance.
I'm with you Comrade in calling for my gun nut friends to settle down. This was my message in blogs written HERE ... and HERE.
If the Democrats want to start losing elections again, all they need do is start introducing gun control legislation.
I think the NRA went so far as to more or less debunk this one themselves. I'll try to find the reference.
JB, the NRA is still flogging the threat of H.R.45, though.
Unfortunately, the hardcore NRA members aren't bright enough to read, and understand, your page, Comrade.
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