In an email sent to National Rifle Association members on Thursday, the head of the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) warned that politicians in Washington D.C. were “closing in fast on your Right to Keep and Bear Arms.”
“President Barack Obama and anti-gun politicians are on an all-out crusade to pass new laws that would: BAN tens of millions of rifles, shotguns and handguns…make it more difficult, expensive, and in some cases, ILLEGAL for you to purchase ammunition…and even FORCE you to register your firearms with the federal government,” NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris Cox wrote in the email. “Some are even talking about a mandatory gun confiscation and ‘buyback’ program – where you would be forced to hand over your guns in exchange for a government check!”
The NRA-ILA is the lobbying arm of the NRA. Cox’s email came a day after President Obama announced 23 executive actions he plans to take to reduce gun violence in response to the massacre in Newtown, Conn. last month. Neither confiscation nor buybacks were on Obama’s list, nor were they part of the sweeping legislative proposals the President made on the subject.
“[T]he fact is, despite their statements, the main goal of the gun banners in Congress is not to make schools safer, but to ban your guns and abolish every last sacred right you have under the Second Amendment..until they reduce your freedom to ashes,” Cox wrote.
The email was also a fundraising pitch. It warned that President Obama “recently pledged to raise $20 million to ram his gun ban agenda through Congress,” and reminded members that the President has “plenty of rich, gun-hating friends in Hollywood, along with anti-gun billionaire Michael Bloomberg, who will shower him with the money he needs to strip you of your gun rights.”
“So please, whatever you can afford to give NRA-ILA right now, I need you to do it,” Cox wrote. “Whether it’s as little as $10, or as much as $150 or more, every single dollar will go toward winning this once-in-a-generation battle to save our Second Amendment freedom. AND EVERY SINGLE DOLLAR YOU GIVE TODAY COUNTS!”
Read the full text of the email here:
There are political fires raging across Capitol Hill right now and they’re closing in fast on your Right to Keep and Bear Arms.
President Barack Obama and anti-gun politicians are on an all-out crusade to pass new laws that would: BAN tens of millions of rifles, shotguns and handguns…make it more difficult, expensive, and in some cases, ILLEGAL for you to purchase ammunition…and even FORCE you to register your firearms with the federal government.
Some are even talking about a mandatory gun confiscation and “buyback” program – where you would be forced to hand over your guns in exchange for a government check!
NONE of this would have the slightest impact on making our children, our homes, or our communities safer. And that’s sad, because now more than ever, we need our elected officials to take serious steps toward improving public safety… particularly in our nation’s schools.
But the fact is, despite their statements, the main goal of the gun banners in Congress is not to make schools safer, but to ban your guns and abolish every last sacred right you have under the Second Amendment..until they reduce your freedom to ashes.
Your NRA-ILA is fighting every hour of every day to hold the line, but there is no way we can win without your full and active participation RIGHT NOW.
President Barack Obama recently pledged to raise $20 million to ram his gun ban agenda through Congress. And Obama’s got plenty of rich, gun-hating friends in Hollywood, along with anti-gun billionaire Michael Bloomberg, who will shower him with the money he needs to strip you of your gun rights.
I don’t have friends like that. I’ve got something much better…YOU. You know what’s at stake. You love your freedom and your country, and I know you’re willing to STAND AND FIGHT to save both of them.
So please, whatever you can afford to give NRA-ILA right now, I need you to do it.
Whether it’s as little as $10, or as much as $150 or more, every single dollar will go toward winning this once-in-a-generation battle to save our Second Amendment freedom. AND EVERY SINGLE DOLLAR YOU GIVE TODAY COUNTS!
Your contributions to NRA-ILA support our fight on your behalf in the halls of Congress and across the country. Your contributions are the lifeblood of our legislative and legal initiatives, research, educational pieces, press activities, and all of our pro-gun advertising and grassroots activism.
There is no other way to put it: Our strength comes from you. Our ability to win comes from you. That’s why I’m asking you to help save our Second Amendment by making NRA-ILA stronger than ever before.
Thank you for everything you do to support NRA-ILA and defend freedom.
Please help as soon as you can.
Sincerely,
Chris