Time to Hammer Holder

Thanks to Jim Tomes of Second Amendment Patriots, who sent around this Jeff Knox piece on the next steps needed to beat Obamite AG-nominee Eric Holder:

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Block Holder - Act Today!

Just 2 items in this Alert:
1. Personal note and appeal from Jeff
2. Holder Confirmation Hearing scheduled for January 15!!
Happy New Year!!!

I hope you've enjoyed the holy days and gotten a bit of needed rest. As Mom commented yesterday when someone complained that their short vacation from work was not long enough: "Vacation? What's a vacation?" When you do the kind of work we do, it seems that there is no such thing as a day off. We did enjoy a nice family Christmas morning, (my 2-year old grandson really brought the Christmas spirit back to us this year) but by that afternoon she was busy processing mail from the last Hard Corps Report and trying to keep up with correspondence while I was working on new columns that were due and trying to build the coalition against the appointment of Eric Holder as Attorney General. It seems like there are always 5 or 6 other things that I need to be doing and I never can get around to all of them.

I want to thank those who have provided financial support recently. Your contributions are all that allow us to continue in the fight, and continuing in the fight is all we want to do – as long as we can do it effectively. Every dollar we receive from our friends and supporters makes a real difference to us and we appreciate each one. Unlike the Brady Bunch and the Violence Policy Center, The Firearms Coalition is solely supported by member contributions. We don't have billionaire sugar-daddies and don't receive grants from big "charitable" foundations. We rely on you. Contributors can rest assured that there are no exorbitant salaries being paid around here and no expensive junkets being taken. I'll just say that it's a good thing that I inherited my dad's Scottish penny-pincher gene or else it would be doubtful that we'd be able to keep going.

If you haven't made a contribution recently, now's a great time to do so; we've made special deals with some of our friends to allow us to offer your choice of the documentary DVD; In Search of the Second Amendment by Dave Hardy, the first book on the Heller decision; The Heller Case: Gun Rights Affirmed by Alan Korwin and David Kopel, or Steve Halbrooks latest book; The Founders' Second Amendment. With any contribution of $50 or more you can take your pick of the three titles. For a contribution of $120 or more you can have all three. Supplies are limited so don't wait. If we get a good response we will try to continue the offer, but there's no guarantee that we'll be able to so act now.

Sarah Brady is telling Congress and the new President that you don't care any more and that any gun control law at all is OK with you as long as it doesn't include an all out ban on possession of all guns. She even has a poll claiming to show that a majority of gunowners support stricter gun laws and she's using that to convince Congress to push forward with her restrictive wish list.

To battle this we need to pound Congress hard to let them know "We ain't dead yet!" That's why it's important that you act on the information below immediately!

Congress is planning to hit the ground running in a few days. The new Congress will be sworn in on January 6 and the Senate Judiciary Committee has set a date of January 15 for confirmation hearings on Barack Obama's pick for Attorney General, Eric Holder. Gunowners need to be pushing members of the committee very hard to delay and block the confirmation.

The Democrat members of the Judiciary Committee are all sworn enemies to the Second Amendment and are unlikely to be swayed at all by any firearms related arguments, but might hesitate to confirm based on Holders participation in the pardons of 16 Puerto Rican terrorists and billionaire financier and arms merchant Marc Rich. Any letters to Democrats should focus on those issues.

On the Republican side, Arlen Specter, the ranking Republican on the committee has never been a friend to gun rights, but he owes his reelection to NRA support and has expressed concern over the pardon issues. Among the other Republicans, most are relatively reliable votes, but only Coburn has routinely taken a leadership role on Second Amendment matters. All of them need to be pressed hard to do everything they can to block the appointment.

For more information about Eric Holder and why his appointment must be fought tooth and nail, go to our web site at www.FirearmsCoalition.org.

I would also encourage NRA members to send letters to Chris Cox at NRA urging him to fight the Holder appointment with everything he's got. Remind him that a good fight over Holder could preempt much of the anti gun legislation being planned and keep us from having to fight numerous other battles. Remember that Chris works for you just like the politicians do. It's up to you to keep him and NRA moving in the right direction. If you know any NRA Directors, it's a good idea to be lobbying them as well. This is the type of fight that NRA tends to choose not to fight because it's not a likely winner and they want to preserve political capitol for more urgent matters. That would be a mistake. A good fight now, even in a losing cause, sends the message that the gun lobby isn't dead yet and builds much more political capitol than it expends. If NRA refuses to take the lead in the fight to stop the Holder appointment, the fight will be a fizzle and the result will be to increase the impression that the gun lobby is impotent – emboldening our enemies and guaranteeing tougher battles in the future.

Here is the current roster for the Judiciary Committee:
Democrats:

Patrick J. Leahy
Chairman, D-Vermont

Edward M. Kennedy
D-Massachusetts
Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
D-Delaware
Herb Kohl
D-Wisconsin
Dianne Feinstein
D-California
Russell D. Feingold
D-Wisconsin
Charles E. Schumer
D-New York
Richard J. Durbin
D-Illinois
Benjamin L. Cardin
D-Maryland
Sheldon Whitehouse
D-Rhode Island
Republicans:

Arlen Specter
Ranking Member, R-Pennsylvania
Orrin G. Hatch
R-Utah
Charles E. Grassley
R-Iowa
Jon Kyl
R-Arizona
Jeff Sessions
R-Alabama
Lindsey Graham
R-South Carolina
John Cornyn
R-Texas
Sam Brownback
R-Kansas
Tom Coburn
R-Oklahoma

Keep in mind that Biden will not be serving and Kennedy says he is going to resign from the committee (after 46 years.) That means that there will be two new Democrats added to the committee and so far there has been no indication of who they might be.

Right now the first priority is to hit the members of the Judiciary Committee asking them to delay, side-track, or outright kill the Holder nomination. The secondary priority is to hit the rest of the Senate. Anyone can lobby any Committee member so don't hesitate to send a note to each member. Short and to the point is best and I suggest making your point in the Subject line if you're sending e-mail.

Below is a sample, for e-mail or snail-mail, appropriate for almost any Republican:



Subject: Reject Holder Nomination


Dear Senator Specter;

I am writing to urge you to oppose the confirmation of Eric Holder as Attorney General of the United States. Please do everything in your power to block Holder's confirmation.

Mr. Holder has demonstrated extremely poor judgment, a lack of understanding of the Constitution, and a willingness to take questionable actions on behalf of the President. His appointment appears to be based more on political cronyism than on demonstrated skills and abilities.

As Deputy Attorney General under Janet Reno, Mr. Holder actively worked to suppress information about the Waco tragedy. Later he played a key roll in the Elian Gonzalez fiasco, not only acting as the administration spokesperson, but apparently participating in the decision-making process which resulted in a Federal SWAT team's pre-dawn raid to seize the child at gunpoint and forcibly return him to Castro's Cuba. Mr. Holder's actions in both of those cases demonstrated a serious lack of judgment, a willingness to engage in duplicitous and deceptive rhetoric, and disrespect for justice and the rule of law.

During his time in the AG's office and subsequently, Mr. Holder has consistently called for and endorsed stricter gun control laws and has espoused the theory that the Second Amendment does not protect an individual right. This theory was rejected by all 9 Justices of the Supreme Court. Such a fundamental misconstruction of an enumerated constitutional right demonstrates a serious lack of understanding of the meaning and intent of the Constitution and the philosophy upon which this nation is founded. It also demonstrates an unhealthy distrust of his fellow citizens. The nomination of Eric Holder is an insult to every American gun owner and Senate confirmation would add real injury to the insult.

At the close of the Clinton administration, Holder was instrumental in facilitating the presidential pardons of Marc Rich and 16 FALN terrorists. Holder's lack of judgment in these cases and his willingness to do President Clinton's bidding in these matters demonstrates a critical lack of personal integrity and backbone. Those pardons could scarcely be justified at the time and have since been shown to have been motivated by financial and political gain.

Eric Holder has proven that he does not have the understanding, judgment, or personal integrity to responsibly manage the extensive authority of the Attorney General's office. Members of the Senate are tasked with overseeing the appointment of senior executives and ensuring that the positions are filled with the very best qualified candidates available. Mr. Holder does not meet this standard and should not be confirmed. Past AG nominees have been blocked for inadvertently using undocumented workers as domestic workers in their homes. Mr. Holder's failings far exceed such errors.

I ask that you demonstrate your commitment to positive changes in Washington and your stated support for Second Amendment rights by doing everything in your power to block the confirmation of Eric Holder as Attorney General.

Please keep me apprised of your position and actions in this matter.

Sincerely,

Jeff Knox
PO Box 3313
Manassas, VA 20108

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I wrote a column to appear in Shotgun News on the subject of the Holder appointment, but if the Judiciary committee sticks to their planned schedule and no one places a "hold" on the nomination, the appointment could be confirmed before the magazine hits the newsstands. That makes it even more critical that everyone reading this take action today.

The first thing to do is to forward this Alert to everyone in your e-mail address book.

Next, modify the letter to make it your own, or just replace my name with your own and send a copy to each Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Their contact information can be found by clicking on their names at the following address:

http://judiciary.senate.gov/about/members.cfm

Lastly, send a similar note, but more personalized, to both of your Senators urging them to reject the Holder appointment. I would also encourage you to send a similar message to President-Elect Obama by using the web form available at this site:

http://change.gov/page/content/contact/

Please take action now and please do what you can to support our efforts financially. We can't do it without you.

Yours for the Second Amendment,

Jeff Knox
Director, The Firearms Coalition