A C T I O N       I T E M S

During the 20th Century 18 million people were murdered by private indivi duals. During that same period 120 Million were killed by their own governments. About 80 million of those murders followed gun registration programs that led to gun confiscation. Unarmed people are easier to kill and enslave than an armed citizenry. That's why our Constitution protects your righ t to own military style rifles. This right is infringed by the current ban on certain semi-automatic (one shot per trigger-pull) rifles.
Republican House speaker Denny Hastert, Monday the 19th, remained non -committal regarding whether or not he would support a renewal of the ban on normal- capacity magazines and certain semi-automatic rifles.
"I need to have some discussions with the president and leadership before I make that decision," he said Thursday. "I am reserving my person al opinion."

  PHONE CALLS are a very important means for politicians to keep their finger on our pulse. They figure if you'll take a few minutes and spend a couple of bucks for long-distance calls you're SERIOUS about your message. No, there's no way to measure the influence of calls, but Congressmen continually tell us this is how they know what issues to support or not to support. We tend to believe them. Remember, their goal is NOT to protect the Constitution (except perhaps Ron Paul of Texas) but to get RE-ELECTED. Listening to their most active and vocal constituents is how they do it.

START WITH
Speaker of the House, Republican Dennis Hastert - (202) 225-2976

THEN CALL
House Majority Leader, Republican Tom DeLay - 202-225-5951

THEN CALL
Senate Majority Leader, Republican Bill Frist - (202) 224-3344

THEN CALL
The White House - (202) 456-1111

HESITATING?
HERE'S WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU CALL:

  • They say "Hello, Rep X's office."
  • Tell them you want to leave a comment.
  • They'll say "Sure, go ahead."
  • Just something like "If the Clinton gun and magazine ban is renewed, I will not support/vote for (Bush, Republican Party, etc.)."
    No need to get emotional or speak volumes.
  • The phone handler on the other end will mark your comment on their iss ues list and say "Thank you," and you're done.

Its easy.

DO IT SO YOUR KIDS CAN ENJOY THE RIGHTS YOU DID.

Oppose renewing the Semi-auto rifle ban of 1994 Link to --
http://patriotpetitio ns.us/nogunban

Arming Pilots

The arming cargo pilot language is embedded (new buzz word) as an ammendment to Senate Bill 165, the Air Cargo Security Improvement Act. We will tell you, this extremely important legislation is on the fast track (about as fast as things go in Washington) to the President's desk.  It is by no means a done deal, but we look for a positive outcome.
http://www.secure-skies.org
Simply by their actions, the Transportation Security Administration [TSA] has made it abundantly clear their heart is really not
into making the FFDO program [arming commercial passenger plane pilots] a meaningful, reasonable, well thought out
program for pilots to volunteer to protect our national air transportation system from acts of terrorism and air piracy.  On May 8th the House Aviation Sub-Committee chaired by our good friend Chairman John Mica (R-FL) held a hearing specifically on the status of the FFDO program and the arming cargo pilot issue.  Deputy Director Stephen McHale, of the TSA testified on their behalf.
   Let's put it this way, it was not a good day for the TSA and Director McHale.  During Q&A, Chairman Mica said this," the
TSA is creating an overly costly, complicated and bureaucratic program, and some of the standard operating procedures just don't make sense" as reported by CNSNews.  Then, Chairman Mica questioned the intense overly intrusive psychological testing and continual monitoring of pilots by psychologists during the entire training process. Representative DeFazio (D-OR)
put it to McHale this way, "I find it particularly odd that pilots who are trusted to fly what was used as a weapon of mass destruction on 9/11 require additional scrutiny before they can carry a personal firearm to defend the flight deck".

It has come to our attention this week that the TSA has fired the Director of the TSA Training Academy and have fired or reassigned other instructors who were involved in the first FFDO class at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in Glynco, Ga.  These instructors have decades of law enforcement experience, are obviously very capable or else they would not be there in the first place.  These same instructors were given the highest praise for their training methods and professionalism, while the TSA Administrators, who fired him, that descended upon Glynco during training were unanimously sharply criticized by the first group of FFDOs.  Why would the TSA fire or reassign these people?  We at APSA are outraged at this contemptuous action by the TSA.  Would the May 8th hearing have anything to do with it?  Surely the TSA would not be that heartless, callous, spiteful, or just plain in your face. Or would they?  We report, you decide.

APSA has already begun the process of talking to people on Capitol Hill to fix the screening problem alluded to above, and a host of other problems that have already been reported in the media. Soooooo=85.here we go again.  More time on the Hill to fix the mess produced by the TSA.  Where does our government find such people?

The TSA now has a sign up form for "passenger" commercial airline pilots on their web site to sign up for the FFDO program.
DO SO AT YOUR OWN RISK.  Obviously, APSA is less than enthusiastic about the program as it now stands.  Any pilot out there will have to make their own decision pro and con about volunteering for the present program.  APSA will neither advise for or against volunteering for the program.  You may remember we had a form to sign up on our site a while back.  We fought very hard to get the TSA to use that info for initial contacts, but the TSA in their infinite wisdom wishes to waste more time and money to reinvent the wheel.  We will put the link to sign up on our site for your convenience.  Go to our web site and click on TSA FFDO INFORMATION located on our home page. 
The author of this update will wait for the improved program.   It will happen.

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As we predicted, the anti-gunners in the Senate are prepared the thwart the will of that body's majority and are hatching a plan to derail S. 659-the Senate version of reckless lawsuit preemption that currently enjoys the support of 52 cosponsors. The House version of the bill-H.R. 1036-already passed in that chamber by  an overwhelming bipartisan majority. The future of lawsuit preemption in the Senate, however, is far less certain. Fox News Channel reported on Tuesday (May 13) that the campaign to stymie S. 659 through use of a filibuster is already underway. Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) has claimed, "[we] will do everything we can to stop this...legislation from becoming law."
In addition to the filibuster, Reed has promised that the anti-freedom Senate contingent may try to amend S. 659 with a host of gun control proposals, including a gun show ban and mandatory storage language, to name just a couple.

With the fight over this much-needed reform beginning to reach critical mass, it is more important than ever that you continue to contact your U.S. Senators in support of S. 659 and ask them to do everything in their power to prevent any parliamentary trickery to de-rail this common sense reform.  
You can call your U.S. Senators at (202) 224-3121 or use our "Write Your Representatives" tool to find contact information.
For a list of Senate cosponsors of S. 659, go to the Library of Congress website, at:   http://thomas.loc.gov

Government Propaganda Initiative
Feds will fund soft-money campaigns
to influence voters on state initiatives

What would you do if Congress were about to approve a billion dollars' worth of advertising designed to defeat marijuana policy reform legislation and initiatives?

Well, the U.S. House of Representative is about to do this -- in a committee vote on Thursday, May 22 -- and we hope that you will immediately take action to stop this attempt to undermine the democratic process.

Congress is acting right now to push the powers of the White House drug czar past the point of no return. Along with another five years and another billion dollars for the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, Congress wants to give the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy the power to use the campaign for "partisan political purposes" to "oppose any attempt to legalize [marijuana]"!

If you want to prevent President Bush from spending up to a billion dollars in advertising against the Marijuana Policy Project's state campaigns for medical marijuana and general marijuana policy reform, please send a pre-written letter to your U.S. representative at
  http://www.mpp.org/Stop_the_Provision
This link will take you directly to a page where you will enter your name and address.  Then, you will
just need to select a letter and hit send.

The anti-drug ads have already tried to convince the American people that marijuana is the most harmful drug available and that marijuana use leads to gun violence, date rape, teen pregnancy, auto accidents, gang killings, and terrorism. If Congress gets its way, the anti-drug ads -- funded with a billion tax dollars -- will now be telling citizens how to vote!

Help the Marijuana Policy Project keep Drug Czar John Walters from using his ads to meddle in the democratic reform of marijuana laws.
  Visit  http://www.mpp.org/Stop_the_Provision  to send a pre-written fax to your U.S. representative today.