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GOA ALERT:Gunowners under attack,contact your reps

jpwolfjpwolf Member Posts: 9,164
IRS Moves to Threaten Second Amendment Newsletters, E-mail Alerts

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

Thursday, January 15


The ink is barely dry on the Supreme Court's devastating decision in
McConnell v. FEC -- the so-called campaign finance case that GOA was
involved in. That decision severely restricted broadcast
communications, thus making it more difficult for GOA to hold
legislators accountable on Second Amendment issues.

Now, the IRS is already leaping forward to expand the Court's ruling
to include GOA newsletters, e-mail alerts, and other Second
Amendment communications.

Put out for comment on December 23, 2003 -- when, presumably, no one
would notice -- proposed IRS Revenue Ruling 2004-6 creates a broad
new set of ambiguous standards which groups like GOA must follow in
order to avoid losing all or part of their tax-exempt status.

Under the proposed Revenue Ruling, the IRS would create a vague
"balancing test" to determine whether GOA communications would be
"permitted" by the government.

If the communication occurred close to an election, mentioned an
officeholder who was running for reelection, and was targeted to put
pressure on congressmen through constituents in each
representative's district, all of these factors would push toward
outlawing the communication.

Although the McCain-Feingold Incumbent Protection law was repressive
enough, the proposed Revenue Ruling would go far beyond this
anti-gun statute:

* Unlike McCain-Feingold, the proposed Revenue Ruling would not be
restricted to broadcast ads. Rather, it would apply to
newspaper ads, e-mail alerts, newsletters, and other
communications by organizations such as GOA.

* Unlike McCain-Feingold, the proposed Revenue Ruling would not
automatically exempt communications which occurred more than 60
days prior to an election -- or which fell below a certain
monetary threshold.

* Unlike McCain-Feingold, the proposed Revenue Ruling would
contain no fixed standards for compliance. Rather every GOA
newsletter or alert would have to be published with the
realization that the government, after the fact, could apply its
vague criteria to determine that is was "impermissible."

For example, when GOA learned that an anti-gun rider had been placed
on a Defense authorization bill in September 2000, GOA alerted its
members to this provision which would have allowed the Dept. of
Defense to confiscate and destroy any military surplus item that had
ever been sold by the government.

M1 Carbines, 1903 Springfields, Colt SAAs, uniforms, ammo, scopes --
and much more. All these privately-owned items could have been
confiscated and destroyed by the feds.

GOA generated a groundswell of nationwide opposition against the
confiscation attempt. But we especially targeted our focus on the
Senate Armed Services Committee.

The message evidently got through, as the Committee Chairman's
office called GOA to discuss this problem after he received hoards
of calls, postcards and e-mails from our members. The provision was
removed, and Second Amendment rights were preserved.

But had this IRS regulation been in effect in 2000, the agency
(which then was under Clinton's control) could have RETROACTIVELY
punished GOA, stating that our activity would have been
impermissible if just one of the targeted Senators had been facing
reelection!

This new regulation would allow lawmakers to load up gun bills prior
to an election, secure in the knowledge that GOA won't be able to
let you guys know about them in time.

GOA has formally lodged a protest with the IRS regarding this
expansion and abuse of power. To read the GOA comments, go to
http://www.gunowners.org/fs0403.htm on the web.

It is imperative that this rule be defeated!


ACTION: Contact your congressmen. Ask them to write the IRS and
demand that it withdraw proposed Revenue Ruling 2004-6. You can
contact your Representative and Senators by visiting the Gun Owners
Legislative Action Center at http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm
to send them a pre-written e-mail message.

Your Representative and Senators must submit their comments to the
IRS by January 26.



Pre-written message

Dear

The proposed IRS Revenue Ruling 2004-6 is an abomination.

It would put the government in charge of determining whether a broad
range of newsletters, alerts, and other communications would be
"allowed" by organizations such as Gun Owners of America and the
National Rifle Association.

Unlike McCain-Feingold -- which was bad enough -- the proposed
Revenue Ruling would not be limited to broadcast ads. It would have
no monetary threshold. And it would not be automatically
inapplicable to communications which occur over 60 days before a
general election.

Please write the Internal Revenue Service by January 26, 2004 and
ask it to withdraw this ill-consider ruling. When submitting your
comments to the IRS, please address your letter to the attention of
Judy Kindell, T:EO:RA:G, 1111 Constitution Ave NW,
Washington, DC 20224.

Sincerely,

Posted this in GD, got a whopping 8 reads/0 responses in 1 hour. How dissappointing. I tell you guys right now, we are in this situation because the people who are supposed to give dam*, don't, and the active enemies of liberty know this! Those who are on this forum who can't even read an alert, copy and print a pre-written letter, sign and send said letter, are just as much my enemy by inactivity as those who work actively against me.
"All tyranny needs to succeed is for good men to do nothing"
"Good" men do not do "nothing". Good men get moving!
Thanks to all the good men in GunRights.

Comments

  • pickenuppickenup Member Posts: 22,844 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    jp
    This was posted earlier today, in the general forum, and it is already on page 3. [:(]


    The gene pool needs chlorine.
  • jpwolfjpwolf Member Posts: 9,164
    edited November -1
    I saw that pickenup, I thought with a better title it might generate more looks, it generated less[V]
  • longhunterlonghunter Member Posts: 3,242
    edited November -1
    Well guys,I am here,I have followed thru...Where the ell is EVERONE else???Maybe becaud=se it isn't an NRA bulletin...[:(!]
  • tr foxtr fox Member Posts: 13,856
    edited November -1
    I followed your request on the general discussion board wolf. thanks for making it easy.

    Quote "When guns were invented everything changed. For the first time in the history of the world a frail woman had a chance to sucessfully defend herself and home. My dream is that one of the anti-gun nuts will need a gun for defense and be unable to have one because of their own actions."
  • IAMAHUSKERIAMAHUSKER Member Posts: 2,479 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I sent out letters on this already myself. Very discouraging how quickly things like this head down the page. Only to be replaced by things such as "what do you like to eat".

    "I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it." --Thomas Jefferson to Archibald Stuart, 1791. ME 8:276
  • NANA Member Posts: 20 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Im' here and I'm in!! Will send today !!

    {)xxxx{:::::::>TRESPASSERS WILL BE VIOLATED! <:::::::}XXX(}
  • dsmithdsmith Member Posts: 902 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I'm in. What bill(s) should I tell them to oppose? Can anybody help me sum this up and help me tell my politicians exactly what to oppose?
  • tr foxtr fox Member Posts: 13,856
    edited November -1
    IMAHUSKER: You have noticed haven't you. There are even posters on the general discussion side posting an inviatation to come in because "coffee is on" even though most of the readers live HUNDREDS OF MILES AWAY. And all this while their government (both parties) continues to sodomize them and their families.

    Quote "When guns were invented everything changed. For the first time in the history of the world a frail woman had a chance to sucessfully defend herself and home. My dream is that one of the anti-gun nuts will need a gun for defense and be unable to have one because of their own actions."
  • pickenuppickenup Member Posts: 22,844 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    dsmith,
    There is an underlined link in jpwolf's post, after "ACTION".
    This will lead you to a prepared statement, and who to send it to.

    The gene pool needs chlorine.
  • tr foxtr fox Member Posts: 13,856
    edited November -1
    thanks pickenup. For some reason I missed dsmsith's question for guidance.

    Quote "When guns were invented everything changed. For the first time in the history of the world a frail woman had a chance to sucessfully defend herself and home. My dream is that one of the anti-gun nuts will need a gun for defense and be unable to have one because of their own actions."
  • longhunterlonghunter Member Posts: 3,242
    edited November -1
    I really enjoy seeing the new names in here....Thank you and keep it up!
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