‘Stockholm Syndrome’ Afflicts Capitol Hill, Jeopardizes Pro-gun Reforms

Washington, DC -(Ammoland.com)- With your help, we are starting to get their attention on Capitol Hill.

There are now several dozen Congressmen who have cosponsored H.R. 923, which is Rep. Marlin Stutzman’s bill to enable concealed carry reciprocity from coast to coast.

Stutzman’s bill in the House — along with the companion bill in the Senate (S. 498, introduced by John Cornyn) — are the ONLY truly pro-gun reciprocity bills in the Congress.

But some pro-gun congressman are suffering from a type of “Stockholm syndrome,” where prisoners become so oppressed that they begin to think like their captors.

There are some pro-gun members of Congress who have allowed anti-gun crazies like Chuck Schumer to convince them that the freedom citizens enjoy in Constitutional Carry states is just too much.

According to them, that freedom needs to be curtailed and citizens must be registered like sex offenders before they can exercise their right to bear arms outside of their home state.

That’s nonsense.

Licensing and background checks don’t stop criminals from acquiring or carrying guns. And ultimately, they give officials a potential registration list of gun owners that frequently get abused:

• Remember when a New York newspaper printed the addresses of gun owners in 2013?
• Or remember when Delaware police used records retained from background checks to determine that an elderly woman was a first time gun buyer — and, thus, ineligible to purchase a weapon because of her “age and gender”?

The above stories of registration and abuse are just the tip of the iceberg.

But gun grabbers would have us believe that pro-gun jurisdictions like Vermont — which was the first Constitutional Carry state in the country — are responsible for illegal guns going into places like New York.

Of course, this is a total lie. The reality is that no background check or licensing system is going to stop bad guys from purchasing and carrying firearms.

So why should we settle for a weaker alternative to the Stutzman-Cornyn bills? Why should we accept a compromise reciprocity bill that forces good citizens living in Constitutional Carry states to get licensed and taxed before carrying firearms out-of-state?

If your state doesn’t recognize Constitutional Carry right now, wouldn’t you like your state legislators to adopt such a law?

But the truth is: It will become LESS LIKELY they’ll do so if the U.S. House of Representatives successfully pushes reciprocity legislation that doesn’t protect permitless carry states.

That’s why we need to remind congressmen — especially the “pro-gun” Representatives in the House — how totally ineffective background checks have been (for gun purchases or carry permits).

As it is, roughly 95% of NICS denials are “false positives,” which means most of the people who are being denied are not the people that want to hold up the neighborhood grocery store.

Not only that, the NICS system is being used to deny hundreds of thousands of military veterans their right to purchase firearms. And soon, senior citizens will get the same ill-treatment.

Congressmen suffering from the “Stockholm syndrome” want pro-gun states like Vermont to change their laws and start registering gun owners before they carry firearms.

For this reason, we are asking you to renew your efforts — this time to the House of Representatives only.

Urge your congressman to support Marlin Stutzman’s H.R. 923 to enable reciprocity from coast-to-coast.

It’s imperative that they hear a groundswell of support for this bill.

After all, your Second Amendment rights don’t stop at your state border!

In liberty,

Erich Pratt
Executive Director
Gun Owners of America

About Gun Owners of America (GOA)

Gun Owners of America (GOA) is a non-profit lobbying organization formed in 1975 to preserve and defend the Second Amendment rights of gun owners. GOA sees firearms ownership as a freedom issue. `The only no compromise gun lobby in Washington’ – Ron Paul.

Visit: www.gunowners.org to Join.