By Maria Heil,
Spokesperson, Second Amendment Sisters

Since my last article I have been very busy! SAS had a booth at the Eastern Sports & Outdoors Show in Harrisburg, PA. The show is every February and runs for nine days. It is the largest show of its kind in North America. Word is that around one million people visited the show this year! It was an incredible experience! So many people who did not know that SAS existed were very happy to see us. We ran out of our Women & Guns magazines on the fourth day! So many women were thrilled to know that there is an organization that sees that our right to gun ownership equates with our right to self-defense.
I must say though, we did get a lot of, "That's alright, I belong to the NRA!" Well, so do I, but that's not going to do it anymore. SAS is not part of the NRA, SAF, GOA, CCRKBA, or any other group. We are truly grassroots! None of us are paid for what we do. We get all our money from donations and memberships. We are doing this out of our own love for freedom and America.

By the way, it was reported in the New York Times that the MMM national headquarters recently fired 30 of its 35 employees! We can't get fired because we are all volunteers!

I've been talking myself hoarse lately telling people that they have to do more than just join the NRA. Paying your annual dues to the NRA is not going to take care of the entire battle for our freedoms. You have to WRITE letters to your representatives in both your own State Capitol and in Washington, DC. The most respected piece of mail that a legislator can get is a hand-written letter from a person he or she represents! Even if there is no pending legislation or upcoming election, write to your representatives and tell them how you feel, that's what they really want to know. Do it today, before something comes up that needs immediate attention. This is a battle, which is going to be fought on many battlegrounds, and the NRA cannot be in the front lines for each and every battle. There is a great need for all the pro-Second Amendment groups. We each fight battles in our own way, and we are winning these battles. If the NRA could do it all, then all the pro-Second Amendment groups would not exist today. The fact of the matter is that we all have one goal, that is, to keep our Second Amendment rights, the individual right to keep and bear arms, the right to defend ourselves and our families.

Now, I also debated an anti-rights person from Cease-Fire, New Jersey. He brought up the same points as one of his fellow anti-self-defense people from Cease-Fire brought up at this time last year in another debate. I'm tired of telling them the facts, so I thought I would share the facts with you, in the hope that you will spread this information around and hopefully enough people will know the truth so that the anti-self-defense people will stop using these lies.

First lie is the "Gun Show Loophole". There is no gun show loophole! If someone makes a living buying and selling guns, they must have a Federal Firearms License or they are breaking the law and should be prosecuted. Now, when you see reports that a certain percentage of dealers at gun shows are NOT licensed, please remember that they are counting vendors that sell jewelry, eye glass cleaner, paintings, etc. Also, what they are talking about is private sales, and not just at gun shows. They are talking about gun sales from one friend to another. They are also talking about if Uncle Charlie dies and wills you his old gun; they want that transfer recorded as well. What they are really talking about is their scheme to get all guns REGISTERED! If they make it so that all firearms transfers have to go through their system, then that is their way of registering all guns. Think about it!

The second lie is that the firearms industry is totally unregulated and that there are no standards for the firearms industry. They could not be further from the truth!

Since 1926 the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers' Institute (SAAMI) has been setting the standards for the firearms industry. SAAMI is an accredited standards developer for the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).
Currently, the anti-self-defense groups are attempting to put the firearms industry under the Consumer Safety Protection Act, in the name of "safety." Congress exempted the firearms and ammunition industries in 1972 saying; "The Consumer Product Safety Commission shall make no ruling or order that restricts the manufacture or sale of firearms, ammunition, including black powder or gunpowder, for firearms." Numerous industries in addition to firearms and ammunition were exempted from the CSPA, including automobiles, boats, and aircraft. Congress has not wavered from its initial position. SAAMI'S website is www.saami.org.

Now, about the Consumer Product Safety Commission, according to their website at www.cpsc.gov, "CPSC works to reduce the risk of injuries and deaths from consumer products by: developing VOLUNTARY standards with industry: Issuing and enforcing mandatory standards; banning consumer products if no feasible standard would adequately protect the public," etc(Keep this "banning" statement in mind, because this is what the anti-self-defense people are aiming for!) They also state "We have jurisdiction over about 15,000 types of consumer products, from automatic-drip coffee makers to toys to lawn mowers. Some types of products, however, are covered by other federal agencies. For example, cars, trucks and motorcycles are covered by the Department of Transportation; foods, drugs and cosmetics are covered by the Food and Drug Administration; and alcohol, tobacco and firearms are within the jurisdiction of the Department of the Treasury."

The main function of CPSC is to set VOLUNTARY standards for industries, not strictly regulate industries. However, they have set some mandatory standards, and this is where the anti-self-defense people hope to get firearms placed and most assuredly banned. CPSC does not regulate industries, just look at how many recalls they have on their website. Looking at the CPSC, it appears that their main purpose is to provide an avenue of reporting defective products and getting companies to recall such products.

So, don't buy into the myth that the Firearms Industry has no set standards and that they should be regulated by the CPSC. Also, if a firearms manufacturer makes a defective product, the same consumer product liability laws bind them as every other product manufacturer.

I hope this article has informed you a little and inspired you to get involved, because we are all counting on you! Yes, YOU!crime. They will simply swell the profits of the black market and place the trafficking of guns totally beyond government control.