How you can help hold Holder

January 7, 7:17 AMGun Rights ExaminerDavid Codrea

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So far this week, we've explained why Obama attorney general nominee Eric Holder is a terrible choice for gun owners, and why we should oppose his confirmation. We then explored alternative objections should the senators we contact have a track record of hostility to the Second Amendment.

It's important for those of us who believe in the right to keep and bear arms to take two actions, and to do so immediately, as a hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled for the 15th of this month.

The first action is to contact the committee members. Blogger JR of "A Keyboard and a .45" has simplified things for us by listing all committee members and their contact information, including web contact forms, "snail mail" addresses, and telephone numbers.

So that you can tailor your approach to account for anti-gun hostility, I recommend leaving any reference to gun issues out of your correspondences to all of the Democrat committee members.

By the same token, I'd include gun rights objections to all Republicans approached, even though some, like Arlen Specter, have not been our friend.

I'm not going to give you a sample letter because I believe it's important they see individual communications that don't look "canned." All I'd advise is make it clear you want them to reject the nominee and give a few succinct reasons why. Keep it brief and to the point.

The second action is to write both of your state's senators. If you don't know how to contact them, you can find them by clicking here. As we discussed in an earlier column, what you want to press them to do is put a hold on Holder--one that will take a supermajority of senators to override.

To figure out if your senator is a friend or foe of gun rights so you know how to approach them (and why wouldn't you already know?), I suggest two resources:

The National Rifle Association's Candidate Grades and Endorsements

Gun Owners of America's Senate Ratings

Come to think of it, there are three other actions you can take that will only add a couple minutes to the task at hand: Contact NRA, GOA and the Citizens Committee on the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and ask why we don't see a clear call to action to their members on the NRA-ILA, GOA or CCRKBA main pages. True, we can find some advisory statements if we search, but what we urgently need right now is vocal leadership on this from our national "gun lobby" groups. They have the resources and the reach to amplify efforts that so far have been carried mainly by The Firearms Coalition, this column, and a handful of blogs.

You can contact NRA here, GOA here, and CCRKBA by emailing InformationRequestATccrkbaDOTorg.

We are faced with the prospect of having an attorney general who believes in his bones that you do not have a right to keep and bear arms. We know that Obama has promised, on his website, to permanently ban semi-autos purposely mislabeled as "assault weapons," to end private sales, and to require non-existent technology under the guise of "childproofing," among other assaults on our freedom. We know Eric Holder will enthusiastically oversee this mission as the nation's top enforcer, and in a new analysis, author Alan Korwin warns of a proposal that would allow the next AG to ban guns at will.

If we can stop his confirmation, it will send a clear message to the Obama administration that they don't have carte blanche to strip away our fundamental freedoms. It will give them pause in pursuing that course, and buy us time to prepare for the next assault.

Will it succeed? There are no guarantees. But if we don't try, we'll know we've surrendered without even standing up for ourselves--and for posterity.

You have a choice: You can spend a few minutes writing a few correspondences, and have a chance to effect the outcome, or you can do nothing, and the outcome will be a foregone conclusion.

I think Mr. Churchill would like a word with us about now:

Still, if you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than live as slaves.

Important Update: The Firearms Coalition has informed its members of this three-part Examiner series on Holder, and Jeff Knox writes something I agree with that my original draft of this post may not make clear:

I agree with David's suggestion to keep guns out of the discussion when writing to harshly anti-gun Senators, but if the Senator is just mildly anti-gun or better, be sure to at least mention that Holder's record on the Second Amendment is a serious concern to you.  We need to be sure that these folks know it's us.

If you know people who are involved in other issues mentioned: Privacy, Government Restrictions on the Internet, Medical Marijuana, Cuban Ex-patriots, etc. be sure to share Codrea's information with them and encourage them to get involved in the fight to block his confirmation.

Together we can win this!

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Welcome, Los Angeles Gun Rights Examiner

These are exciting times for spreading the gun rights message. We saw the debut of the Cleveland Gun Rights Examiner, and now I'd like to introduce you to John Longenecker, the new Los Angeles Gun Rights Examiner.

John is a long-time columnist, author and lecturer. Here are a few of his websites where you can familiarize yourself with his work:

Good for the Country

Contrast Media Press

Liberty Nut.com

As you can see, his credentials and expertise are awesome, and we're very fortunate to have him posting regularly as LA's Gun Rights Examiner.

Please join me in welcoming John to Examiner.com, and also in making his column a regular read.

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RNC throws a softball

I was afraid they'd do this, and they didn't fail to disappoint.

Rather than ask a substantive question of the many submitted, the candidates were asked how many guns they own.

I'm going to keep on this story, because it's important gun owners let them know Michael Steele is unacceptable.

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Gun Talk

I've been so wrapped up with the holder and RNC issues, I forgot to report back on my Sunday chat with Tom Gresham on his nationally-syndicated Gun Talk Radio.

You can listen to the interview here.