List of official to contact regarding new gun control

[Vlad G 345]

I encourage every one to start contacting elected officials. My form letter which I modify slightly depending on who I send it to is included. Edited to clarify: You should really write your own message in your own words, the impact will be greater. I'm only including mine to show you what I am thinking.

 

Here is who I propose you contact, although feel free to add more. Whenever possible I'll try to provide the contact links where you can just enter your info and your message, most have web contact forms.

 

1) Your Congressman and your 2 Senators. Yes I know in NJ they are anti-gun most likely but if they don't hear from you they think the cost of stepping on your head is lighter. They need to know opposition exists, and in mass. You can find them here: http://www.house.gov...entatives/find/ and here: http://www.senate.go...fm.cfm?State=NJ

 

2) Your Governor. No, he is not your friend, but see above. http://www.state.nj....vernor/contact/

 

3) You State Representative and senators. You can find them here: http://www.njleg.sta...tnumbers.asp#19

 

These are the simple ones, next the more advanced options:

 

4) Harry Reid, as the head of the senate and sometimes a friend of gun owners: http://www.reid.sena...ntact/index.cfm

 

5) Mitch Mcconnell Senate minority leader http://www.mcconnell...x.cfm?p=Contact

 

6) John Boehner Speaker of the house, he is probably very critical because the House is the only real hope we have to stop legislation: http://www.speaker.gov/contact

 

7) Eric Contor, House Majority leader: http://majorityleade...ct/contact.html

 

8) Nancy Pelosi, yes even our opponents, specially our opponents need to hear from us: http://www.democrati...der.gov/contact

 

Now we get really advanced

 

9) The Senate and House committees which would oversee new gun legislation. I haven't yet figured out which ones are responsible for it, you can maybe help by helping me figure out who is who from http://www.house.gov/committees/ and http://www.senate.go...ittees_home.htm

 

10) The NJ legislature committees in charge of public safety. I need help identifying these.

 

11) The Republican national committee : http://www.gop.com/contact-us/

 

12) Democratic National committee http://my.democrats....page/s/contact/

[Vlad G 345]

Here is my form letter:

 

I am contacting you day to express my opposition to any new gun control measures.

 

We have all been touched by the recent tragedy. Evil has visited our nation yet again, as evil will do again and again as it nests in the hearts of certain men and women from the start of human history. There is not a single person in this country who has not been touched by this tragedy. Many of us have refrained from speaking so far, out of respect for the victims and their families, while the media and anti-gun forces have been speculating, preaching, guessing, and misleading the public.

 

However 100 million American gun owners are NOT guilty of this senseless act. We refuse to be painted with a broad brush dipped in the blood of innocent children and we will reject assaults on the rights of every American citizen and the rights of future generations.

 

Our President recently said "enough is enough" and that we should examine of if the lost lives should be the price of our freedom. We also say enough is enough and would like to remind everyone that the founders of this country left us with warnings that those who will trade liberty for safety will find themselves with neither. In 1764, Thomas Jefferson wrote:

 

"Laws that forbid the carrying of arms, disarm only those who are neither inclined, nor determined to commit crimes. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants. They serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man."

 

His words were true then, and are true today. In every country that has institutionalize gun control, the measures have backfired. In the United Kingdom gun crime rose by nearly 100% in 10 years following the ban on firearms. The same has happened in Australia, and countless other countries. Laws only apply to the law abiding and the mentally healthy.

 

It is easy to forget the worst massacres in US history were committed with explosives, box cutters, or gasoline, instead media and politicians focus on guns, because they are easy targets. We, gun owners, say "no more". We will not hide, or back down from the coming legislative fight. We will use all political and civil tools at our disposal to resist infringements on the rights of this nation. By the latest statics half the US households poses firearms, and people do vote to protect their rights in far greater numbers then they vote to remove the rights someone else. The sea change in Congress after the passing of the Assault Weapons Ban in the 90's should be a reminder to politicians that the voters to pay attention. Gun owners today are more numerous and far better organized today then their were in the 90's thanks to the Internet and a greater awareness of political realities.

 

Without a doubt we will see a serious effort to re-introduce the Assault Weapons Ban. Gun owners know it, but we also know that the poorly and misleadingly named assault rifles have been the most popular rifles sold in the United States in the last decade. There are many millions in private hands, and over 300000 are sold every year. Every day citizens legally use these rifles for target shooting, hunting and home defense. Every single year we see new record sales of these rifles, now probably the most common rifle in the United States far surpassing any other hunting rifle. We will be told about an epidemic of violence perpetrated with so called assault weapons yet the FBI statistics show that less then 3% of all crime is committed with rifles of any kind, never mind the so called assault weapons. Any legislation aimed at prohibiting these weapons will affect millions and millions of voters. We want to take this opportunity to remind you that the State of Connecticut already has a version of a assault weapons ban which has proven to be completely ineffectual in stopping a madman.

 

Even in my home State of New Jersey, which already has a assault weapon ban in place, and has a low gun ownership rate compared with other States (estimated at 15%, compared with 38% national rate), semi-automatic rifles are the most popular firearm sold. Even in a State like New Jersey, that 15% rate of gun ownership translates to over 1 million gun owners and 1 million voters can swing any elections. Visit any shooting range or club and will see how common the rifles in question are and you will see the determination of gun owners to stand up in the political arena. In recent years, the lack of attempted new gun control measures by governments at all levels may have lulled some gun owners into sense of complacency, but the comments of elected officials in the wake of the recent tragedy have electrified us and spurred us into political action. While gun rights have not been on the forefront of recent elections, and the gun owning electorate spans the entire political spectrum, nothing will unified gun owners and bring them to the polls more then anti-gun legislation. Gun ownership is not a left or right issue, nor a Democrat or Republican issue, it is an American issue, fundamental to the American history and identity.

 

We refuse to be lectured on gun violence be an administration that has overseen the transfer of weapons to Mexican drug lords, breaking every law on the books. We refuse to have our rights infringed upon under the guise of saving children lives by a government who has made children a viable target for drone attacks.

 

The evil perpetrated in Newtown shows the futility of feel good legislation. The murderer killed his mother (illegal), stole firearms (illegal), was in possession of firearms by someone with a mental disorder (illegal), was in possession of handguns (illegal for someone under 21), stole a vehicle (illegal), brought guns on school property (illegal), broke into a school (illegal), and murdered innocent children and teachers (illegal). If you expect us to believe that just one more law or one more restriction on firearm ownership would have prevented this massacre you are sadly mistaken. You can not legislate against evil.

 

Earlier this year another mentally disturbed person went into a theater in Aurora and indulged into their murderous fantasy. Out of the seven theaters around him playing that movie, he did not choose the closest, he did not choose the biggest, he chose the only theater that banned customers for carrying a firearm for self defense. Not long ago another mentally disturbed person walked into a mall with murder in their heart, but his rampage was cut short when a armed bystander intervened. The hero that day did not even have to fire a shot, just presenting resistance to the evil before him resulted into the madman taking his own life. End the victim dis-armament zones that are nothing but slaughter houses for madmen. When you prohibit law abiding citizens to defend themselves you have blood on your hands. Our police and first responders, as well intended and hard working as they are, can never prevent these incidents but in every example where a citizen was able to intervene massacres were cut short.

 

The common thread in all the massacres this country has witnessed has been mental illness. We don't need the news to tell us this, we know it intrinsically because sane people do not walk into schools and murder children. 100 million gun owners do not target the innocent, and we all support a reexamination on how we deal with mental health issues in this country. This is a much harder task we wish to admit, so instead the easy answer is to target guns, because it is more politically correct to target gun owners then face the the cruel and irresponsible manner in which we treat those suffering from mental disorders.

 

Any national conversation should be based in facts and not emotion. Unfortunately the tone of the national conversation right now is controlled by people calling for all gun owners to be murdered, the NRA to be silenced, and property to be removed without due process. When one side of the conversation is dominated by people with no respect for life, liberty, freedom of speech, or property rights, anyone who as taken an oath to defend the Constitution in any role should consider if infringing on the citizens rights is in line with their oath of office.

 

In conclusion, the gun owners of this nation will not give up their rights and oppose new infringements on their Constitutional rights and I urge you take measure to protect the gun owners of this nation and their rights.

 

 

 

[alec.mc 180]

Well written Vlad

[mmjr 0]

Thanks for the list Vlad G! It's appreciated.

[SgtToadette 59]

Thank you very much for this list!

[JrzyGuy30 0]

Thank you for this.

[matty 810]

TL;dr, I will use some of it but cut it down-

[MUGENFRED 0]

WELL SAID

[Vlad G 345]

Keep in mind guys, you don't have to use my letter, in fact you may really want to write your own, in your own words because the impact will be higher if they receive a lot of different messages instead of just form letter. I only posted mine, to show you what is on my mind, not because I want my words to be the ones you use.

[ClangClang 14]

Letter is VERY well written and should be an Op-Ed, but does not make a very good letter to a rep. It is FAR too long. It is 15 paragraphs. It needs to be 3-4, maximum.

[45Doll 5,877]

My COMPLIMENTS Vlad.

[Vlad G 345]

Thanx guys, but if I much rather you reply with "I'm sending mine now"

[johnp 45]

Do any of these people have email addresses?

[MarkWVU02 47]

Great letter Vlad. I'm working in one of my own. I think if we really get involved we can make a change. Let's hope these politicians take the time to read them and take them serious. Again great job bro.

[chris327 30]

yea im emailing now, but will also be snail mailing them, we need everyone to work together here.

[compujas 21]

Very long, but very well written. I took the liberty of making some grammatical/spelling corrections for anyone looking to use it. I plan to send it out as well since I'm not terribly good at writing these kinds of things, but feel like this is definitely an "all hands on deck" situation.

 

I am contacting you day to express my opposition to any new gun control measures.

 

We have all been touched by the recent tragedy. Evil has visited our nation yet again, as evil will do again and again as it nests in the hearts of certain men and women from the start of human history. There is not a single person in this country that has not been touched by this tragedy. Many of us have refrained from speaking so far, out of respect for the victims and their families, while the media and anti-gun forces have been speculating, preaching, guessing, and misleading the public.

 

However 100 million American gun owners are NOT guilty of this senseless act. We refuse to be painted with a broad brush dipped in the blood of innocent children and we will reject assaults on the rights of every American citizen and the rights of future generations.

 

Our President recently said "enough is enough" and that we should examine if the lost lives should be the price of our freedom. We also say enough is enough and would like to remind everyone that the founders of this country left us with warnings that those who will trade liberty for safety will find themselves with neither. In 1764, Thomas Jefferson wrote:

 

"Laws that forbid the carrying of arms, disarm only those who are neither inclined, nor determined to commit crimes. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants. They serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man."

 

His words were true then, and are true today. In every country that has institutionalized gun control, the measures have backfired. In the United Kingdom gun crime rose by nearly 100% in 10 years following the ban on firearms. The same has happened in Australia, and countless other countries. Laws only apply to the law abiding and the mentally healthy.

 

It is easy to forget the worst massacres in US history were committed with explosives, box cutters, or gasoline; instead media and politicians focus on guns, because they are easy targets. We, gun owners, say "no more". We will not hide, or back down from the coming legislative fight. We will use all political and civil tools at our disposal to resist infringements on the rights of this nation. By the latest statistics, half of US households possess firearms, and people do vote to protect their rights in far greater numbers than they vote to remove the rights of someone else. The sea change in Congress after the passing of the Assault Weapons Ban in the 90's should be a reminder to politicians that the voters do pay attention. Gun owners today are more numerous and far better organized than they were in the 90's thanks to the Internet and a greater awareness of political realities.

 

Without a doubt we will see a serious effort to re-introduce the Assault Weapons Ban. Gun owners know it, but we also know that the poorly and misleadingly named assault rifles have been the most popular rifles sold in the United States in the last decade. There are many millions in private hands, and over 300,000 are sold every year. Every day citizens legally use these rifles for target shooting, hunting and home defense. Every single year we see new record sales of these rifles, now probably the most common rifle in the United States, far surpassing any other hunting rifle. We will be told about an epidemic of violence perpetrated with so called assault weapons, yet the FBI statistics show that less than 3% of all crime is committed with rifles of any kind, never mind the so called assault weapons. Any legislation aimed at prohibiting these weapons will affect millions and millions of voters. We want to take this opportunity to remind you that the State of Connecticut already has a version of an assault weapons ban which has proven to be completely ineffectual in stopping a madman.

 

Even in my home State of New Jersey, which already has an assault weapon ban in place, and has a low gun ownership rate compared with other States (estimated at 15%, compared with 38% national rate), semi-automatic rifles are the most popular firearm sold. Even in a State like New Jersey, that 15% rate of gun ownership translates to over 1 million gun owners and 1 million voters can swing any elections. Visit any shooting range or club and will see how common the rifles in question are and you will see the determination of gun owners to stand up in the political arena. In recent years, the lack of attempted new gun control measures by governments at all levels may have lulled some gun owners into a sense of complacency, but the comments of elected officials in the wake of the recent tragedy have electrified us and spurred us into political action. While gun rights have not been on the forefront of recent elections, and the gun owning electorate spans the entire political spectrum, nothing will unify gun owners and bring them to the polls more than anti-gun legislation. Gun ownership is not a left or right issue, nor a Democrat or Republican issue; it is an American issue, fundamental to the American history and identity.

 

We refuse to be lectured on gun violence by an administration that has overseen the transfer of weapons to Mexican drug lords, breaking every law on the books. We refuse to have our rights infringed upon under the guise of saving children’s lives by a government who has made children a viable target for drone attacks.

 

The evil perpetrated in Newtown shows the futility of feel good legislation. The murderer killed his mother (illegal), stole firearms (illegal), was in possession of firearms by someone with a mental disorder (illegal), was in possession of handguns (illegal for someone under 21), stole a vehicle (illegal), brought guns on school property (illegal), broke into a school (illegal), and murdered innocent children and teachers (illegal). If you expect us to believe that just one more law or one more restriction on firearm ownership would have prevented this massacre you are sadly mistaken. You cannot legislate against evil.

 

Earlier this year another mentally disturbed person went into a theater in Aurora and indulged into their murderous fantasy. Out of the seven theaters around him playing that movie, he did not choose the closest, he did not choose the biggest, he chose the only theater that banned customers from carrying a firearm for self defense. Not long ago another mentally disturbed person walked into a mall with murder in their heart, but his rampage was cut short when an armed bystander intervened. The hero that day did not even have to fire a shot, just presenting resistance to the evil before him resulted into the madman taking his own life. End the victim disarmament zones that are nothing but slaughter houses for madmen. When you prohibit law abiding citizens from defending themselves you have blood on your hands. Our police and first responders, as well intended and hard working as they are, can never prevent these incidents but in every example where a citizen was able to intervene, massacres were cut short.

 

The common thread in all the massacres this country has witnessed has been mental illness. We don't need the news to tell us this; we know it intrinsically because sane people do not walk into schools and murder children. 100 million gun owners do not target the innocent, and we all support a reexamination on how we deal with mental health issues in this country. This is a much harder task than we wish to admit, so instead the easy answer is to target guns, because it is more politically correct to target gun owners then face the cruel and irresponsible manner in which we treat those suffering from mental disorders.

 

Any national conversation should be based in facts and not emotion. Unfortunately the tone of the national conversation right now is controlled by people calling for all gun owners to be murdered, the NRA to be silenced, and property to be removed without due process. When one side of the conversation is dominated by people with no respect for life, liberty, freedom of speech, or property rights, anyone who has taken an oath to defend the Constitution in any role should consider if infringing on the citizens rights is in line with their oath of office.

 

In conclusion, the gun owners of this nation will not give up their rights and oppose new infringements on their Constitutional rights and I urge you take measures to protect the gun owners of this nation and their rights.

[Vlad G 345]

Yeah I made some fixes myself as well, I just can't be bothered to change the post

[MarkWVU02 47]

I'm going to write up a letter myself and print it out at work tomorrow. About how many do I need to print and send out. Can we get a sticky made with the names and addresses of all the people that need to be contacted this way we don't have to go to a million websites to find them all?

[Vlad G 345]

Well go ahead and collect the paper address in a decent format and I'll add it to my top post.

[MarkWVU02 47]

Will work on it tonight if I get a chance. Got a lot to do and really want to work in getting a draft together to mail out. Once I'm at my laptop I'll work at going through the websites and copy cutting and pasting them into a post.

[MarkWVU02 47]

Here's the start of what I'm getting (I'm in Lyndhurst so your congressman may be different):

 

Congress:

 

Steve Rothman

Having difficulty finding an address but has a contact page which includes a box asking for a response

 

Senators:

 

Frank R. Lautenberg

324 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING

Washington, DC 20510

 

Robert Menendez

528 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING

Washington, DC 20510

 

Governor:

 

Chris Christie

Office of the Governor

PO Box 001

Trenton, NJ 08625

609-292-6000

 

State Representatives and Senators: (This is for my District which is 36 this includes these towns: Carlstadt, Cliffside Park, East Rutherford, Little Ferry, Lyndhurst, Moonachie, North Arlington, Passaic, Ridgefield, Ridgefield Park, Rutherford, South Hackensack, Teterboro, Wallington, Wood-Ridge...please feel free to post with your district)

 

Senator Paul Sarlo

496 Columbia Blvd., 1st Floor

Wood-Ridge, NJ 07075

(201) 804-8118

 

Assemblywoman Marlene Caride

613 Bergen Blvd.

Ridgefield, NJ 07657

(201) 943-0615

 

Assemblyman Gary Schaer

1 Howe Avenue, Suite 302

Passaic, NJ 07055

(973) 249-3665

[SgtToadette 59]

Just located this on whitehouse.gov:

 

http://www.whitehouse.gov/share-your-thoughts-reducing-gun-violence?utm_source=wethepeople&utm_medium=response&utm_campaign=safety

 

Get writing!

[hd2000fxdl 422]

Bump for a good thread...

[DJ_ 0]

Guys here is a good link to use to easily email reps. I would also suggest following it with a written letter as well.

 

http://www.nraila.org/get-involved-locally/grassroots/write-your-reps.aspx