Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
http://www.gunowners.org
Monday, March 27, 2006
Gun Owners of America alerted you a couple of weeks ago to
legislation -- introduced by Texas Congressmen Jeb Hensarling and
Ron Paul -- that will exempt the Internet from regulation under
federal "electioneering" laws.
The bill, H.R. 1606, was supposed to come to a vote on March
16, but it was inexplicably pulled from the House calendar. The good
news is that bill is now back on the calendar, and it is scheduled
for a vote as early as Wednesday.
Unless the Hensarling-Paul bill is enacted, many major blogs
and web sites could be shut down for 60 days before any general
election -- and for 30 days prior to any primary -- making it much
more difficult for groups like Gun Owners of America to criticize
anti-gun candidates.
These regulations have resulted from two court opinions that
followed the passage of the Incumbent Protection Act -- a law
sponsored by Senators John McCain and Russ Feingold. One opinion
upheld the McCain-Feingold law almost in its entirely [McConnell v.
FEC]. In the other -- Shays v. Federal Election Commission -- judges
ordered the Federal Election Commission to regulate the Internet.
The FEC is still mightily fighting the court to minimize the
regulation of the Internet. But who knows if they will prevail, or
if a future administration will take a much different view. This is
why H.R. 1606 is so important.
The danger, as it stands now, is that if Hensarling and Paul
are unsuccessful in exempting the Internet from FEC regulation, many
major blogs and web sites could one day be construed to be engaged
in "electioneering communications" because they praise or criticize
candidates. And, if this happens, they could be shut down for 60
days prior to an election -- or, at least, subject to a "gag rule"
on what they are allowed to say.
ACTION:
1. Contact your congressman. Ask him to vote for H.R. 1606, a
bill to exempt the Internet from McCain-Feingold.
You can visit the Gun Owners Legislative Action Center at
http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm to send your
Representative a pre-written e-mail message such as the one below.
2. Take action and then please forward this alert to your
pro-gun friends and family!
----- Pre-written letter -----
Dear Representative:
The U.S. House of Representatives will soon vote on H.R. 1606,
a bill by introduced by Texas Congressmen Jeb Hensarling and Ron
Paul to exempt the Internet from regulation under federal
"electioneering" laws.
Unless the Hensarling-Paul bill is enacted, many major blogs
and web sites could be shut down for 60 days before any general
election -- and for 30 days prior to any primary.
Please support H.R. 1606. Thank you.
Sincerely,
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