Got another e-mail my Dad forwarded me from his friend. My dad and I have been jesting via email for years, but he invokes my thought process more than most folks and I enjoy posting those thoughts here. So don’t think I am picking on him. It’s more like picking with him.

So here’s the text of the email:

Call or email your rep!!

Here is the text of the bill HR 45.  Below is a synopsis.

http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h45/text

Very Important for you to be aware of a new bill HR 45 introduced
into the House.  This is the Blair Holt Firearm Licensing & Record of Sale
Act of 2009. 
       
Even gun shop owners didn’t know about this because it is flying
under the radar.  To find out about this – Google HR 45
        2009.  You will get all the information.
       
Basically this would make it illegal to own a firearm – any rifle
with a clip or ANY pistol unless:
       
          *It is registered.
           *You are fingerprinted.
           *You supply a current Driver’s License.
           *You supply your Social Security #.
           *You will submit to a physical & mental evaluation at any
               time of their choosing.
           *Each update – change or ownership through private or
              public sale must be reported and costs $25 – Failure to
               do so you automatically lose the right to own a firearm
               and are subject up to a year in jail.
           *There is a child provision clause on page 16 section 305
               stating a child-access provision.  Gun must be locked
               and inaccessible to any child under 18.
       
They would have the right to come and inspect that you are storing
your gun safely away from accessibility to children and fine is punishable
for up to 5 yrs. in prison.
       
       
The best way to fight this (if you want to) is to tell all your
friends about it and “spring into action”.  One suggestion is that  we all
join a pro-gun group like the Colorado Rifle Association, hunting
associations, gun clubs and especially the NRA.
       
This is just a “termite” approach to complete confiscation of guns
and disarming of our society to the point we have no defense – chip away a
little here and there until the goal is accomplished before anyone realizes
it.
       
This is one to act on whether you own a gun or not.  If you take my
gun, only the criminal will have one to use against me. 
       
HR 45 only makes all of us less safe.

I can’t say I disagree with either the sentiment of the bill or the sentiment of the sender, but the whole thing is a cacophony of idiots as far as I can tell.

I encourage you to read the bill (caution: reading the comments will melt your brain) and decide for yourself whether this thing is worth a shit. Personally I don’t think it should or will pass either house of congress, let alone get signed into law.

Thing is though, we have a problem with guns in this country. That problem however isn’t a lack of laws and the solution isn’t sensational email forwards. The dialog is going to have to get a lot more intelligent if we are to make ourselves and our kids any safer while respecting the rights our Constitution ensures.

I can’t help but think that the bill and the reactions are both, at best, a sizable detriment towards progress. If the bill concerns you then you should express that concern to your Congressperson. I’d recommend however that you make your argument calm and constructive and base it on the actual wording of the bill and not sensational assumptions.

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