My Reps response, than mine.



> August 23, 2007
>
>Dear Mr. Patterson:
>
> Thank you for contacting me to express your thoughts about laws
> concerning firearms.
>
> Hunting has been a part of our culture since the first settlers arrived
> here in the early 1600s. American citizens also should be able to own
> firearms for self-protection.
>
>I support all the amendments to the Constitution including the Second
> Amendment, but I also believe that there must be rational limits on the
> use of firearms in modern society. For example, last April, a man shot
> and killed 32 students and teachers at Virginia Tech. The man had a long
> history of mental illness and had acted in a threatening manner in the
> past. A psychiatric evaluation found him in need of hospitalization for
> his mental illness, which should have prevented him from purchasing a
> firearm under Virginia law. But the state did not forward information
> about his illness to the National Instant Criminal Background Check
> System (NICS), and the man was able to purchase semi-automatic weapons,
> which he then used to murder his teachers and classmates. Dozens of
> families will never see their loved ones again because of this tragic
> mistake.
>
> Because of tragedies like this one, I recently supported the NICS
> Improvement Amendments Act of 2007 (H.R. 2640), which creates incentives
> for states to submit legal records to the NCIS about individuals who are
> by law ineligible to obtain firearms. The bill also allows the federal
> government to reduce grant awards to states that do not choose to
> participate in this program. In order to protect our civil liberties,
> the legislation requires states and federal agencies to allow
> individuals to appeal their status if they are deemed ineligible to
> obtain weapons. While it requires greater information-sharing among
> federal agencies, the legislation prohibits agencies from sharing mental
> health records that are irrelevant to the background check system. This
> bipartisan bill was supported by a wide range of organizations,
> including the National Rifle Association. It passed the House on June
> 13, 2007, and is awaiting action in the Senate.
>
> While I believe that law-abiding citizens should have the right to own
> firearms for hunting and self-protection, I believe that we should place
> reasonable limits on the types of weapons sold. There is no legitimate
> reason for ordinary citizens to use an automatic machine gun, a roadside
> bomb or a rocket-propelled grenade launcher. When we make these weapons
> easily available to the public, we only ease the way for those who would
> like to do great harm to others. If the young man at Virginia Tech had
> not had possession of a semi-automatic weapon, many people would still
> be alive today.
>
> Laws about the possession of firearms draw strong feelings on both sides
> of the political spectrum. I am confident that we will be able to create
> laws which honor the legitimate use of firearms for sportsmanship and
> self-protection while ensuring that the general public is not threatened
> by unfit individuals bearing weapons capable of mass killing.
>
> To find out more about issues, please check my website
> (www.shea-porter.house.gov <http://www.shea-porter.house.gov/> ). While
> there, you may also want to sign up for my email newsletter so that you
> can keep up on what's happening, both in Washington and at home in New
> Hampshire.
>
> Thank you for your sharing your thoughts on this issue and for taking
> the time to be involved in the political process. Please do not hesitate
> to write me again in the future.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Sincerely
>
>
> Carol Shea-Porter
>
> Member of Congress
>
>
To: Carol Shea-Porter

Thank you for you response, although the message I sent was when the Bill was proposed and some time has passed. I do not disagree w/ you on some issues. My fears are that some members of our government feel that we don't have a right to firearms. What happened at Va. tech was a tragedy, but the average law abiding gun owner will suffer. Just as the Clinton ban tried to stop "Assault Rifles" I fear this bill will infringe further. I have always been a competition shooter and hunter. One of the rifles I use for both is an AR15 derivative. It looks pretty much the same but has a 2 stage trigger. I use 5 round magazines for hunting coyotes and wild boar (yes we do have them) here in
N.H. . I grew up in NY on Long Island. Friends that are still in the shooting sports are harassed by the Police. Mind you the Laws there are more restrictive and make it harder to own a handgun, but even with all the correct licensing the police there still harass law abiding people, kind of like a Socialist state. States like NY, Mass. and California have allot of clout in our government and I fear that their agenda will spill over to everyone else. Both Mass and NY have stated that illegal firearms in their states come from NH. The FBI proved this to be false, but Neither has retracted their statements. I just don't believe legal gun owners are getting a fair shake. I work at SNHU and I do fear what would happen on our campus if a lunatic started shooting. The safety officers don't even have night sticks and Hooksetts police force has 3 cruisers on for most shifts. I have had Professors that I am friendly with say they would be happier if I could carry on campus. Most of their views are far left of mine, but they feel a few competent individuals, armed on campus would be reassuring. When I was a Kid we use to practice small bore in the range under Island Trees high school in NY, that was 30 years ago, so what happened?. The issue is that we teach our children no values, no responsibly, no respect for others or property. That is where it begins. My Fathers rifles use to sit in the back of his closet, and unless I had his permission I would not dream of touching them.

The issue is that our Government seems to feel they need to tell use what is best, what we need. I think that is a bunch of garbage. Live Free or Die! I don't need them, they need me to justify their existence.

Thank you, James Patterson

It is difficult to compose a letter like that JP. I think that you did well.

Cheezywan

Thanks Cheezy, The subject matter could have gone on and on. But most politicians have the attention span of a gnat. I have waited since April (?) for a response. I like the fact they vote on it and than respond. Her 1st year in office and already a bureaucrat! Jim

JP, both you and her missed one all important point, The a-- that killed those people at V-Tech was a green card, an immigrant and not legal to buy or posess a gun at all in this country!!
It was the NICS that dropped the ball on this one, and acording to what I read in the paper and on the net they had all the info to reject him but didn't. His mental state should be a non issue if this is true, the Nics is what failed so why give them even more power!! Glenn

Forna, no disrespect intended, But VT was not the issue. It was not part of my original E-mail .
This is the junk that the consperacy theorists do.
http://www.legitgov.org/virginia_tech_shooting_oddities.html
This guy came here at 8 years old, he was a legal immigrant. That is a very different debate, and not one I am willing to discuse here. Wrong place and not the subject. I am not saying that what you have to say is not importent but......Sorry, Jim

Mr. Patterson:

I believe your response was well said and to the point. I agree that it difficult to write a letter to a politician because they stray off-subject very easily. It is also difficult for the writer because most times you have to keep your inner feelings in check so you don't say anything that will turn this matter into an argument.

It is people such as yourself that will make a difference if only the politicos listen to the people who voted them in.

Keep up the good work,

Ordnance

JP,

I note your representative references restriction on full-auto weapons being readily available to the public. No mention of ersatz assault weapons (semi-auto). That tells me she is unaware of Class III and the restrictions already in place and the difficulties in obtaining them. She, or the staffer who actually penned the letter, may well be a victim of the intentional confusion Dianne Feinstein's politically motivated misapplication of the term in the original "assault weapon" ban fostered.

(I use the term 'ersatz assault weapon' to distinguish what the law calls an assault weapon from what weapons experts call an assault weapon — something with a selector switch for full-auto or bursts. Incidentally, I find that peoples eyes glaze over when I attempt to explain fully automatic and semi-automatic; too many syllables, apparently. Instead, I just tell them a real assault weapon can fire as a sub-machine gun, while the civilian versions cannot. I can't recall who said to beware of government's purposes when it changes the definitions of words in order to achieve its ends.)

Nick, the funny part is that Class III is pretty easy to get in this state with our laws, if you want to pay the price for one. I know 2 class III dealers, you go in pay for it, they run the background check, fill out the form for the tax stamp. Send the Form, copy of the background check and $200.00 to the ATF. They ussually send it within 2 weeks.
We have no waiting period for State residents on any Rifle or Pistol. The State determined it was un-constitutional when the Brady bill came out. It is amazing how little the politicans really know or understand. The only info they seem to have is the redoric that spews from other politicans mouths or the media. As far as your qoute, It sounds like Eisenhower. Thanks, Jim

Could be Eisenhower. Definitely somebody who read Orwell's 1984. Orwellian Double-speak is with us big time, thanks to political "spin".

Unless something has changed since I first looked into it 20 years ago, Class III here gets hung up on the local Sheriff's approval. Rural counties usually don't present an approval barrier if the Sheriff doesn't know of you for the wrong reasons, but counties that include major metropolitan areas do.

Jim, at least you got an answer, That's more than the most of us got from our Reps.