LEAA To Greet 106th Congress
Fighting For Right-To-Carry Legislation
By James J. Fotis, LEAA's Executive Director
LEAA Advisor, Fall 1998

Veteran Capitol Hill-watchers will attest that patience and persistence are the hallmarks of any attempt to shepherd meaningful legislation through Congress and ultimately into law. LEAA’s ongoing effort to pass national Right-To-Carry legislation (referred to as H.R. 218 in the last congressional session) is no exception.

During this session of Congress, the “Community Protection Act of 1997,” introduced by Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-Calif.), accomplished more toward becoming law since LEAA first crafted the measure some seven years ago. Unfortunately, a last-minute setback (orchestrated by Sarah Brady and turncoat police groups) prevented it from reaching the House floor in the waning days of the 105th Congress. And to complicate matters even more, congressmen and senators were quite distracted by Clinton’s repeated debacles.

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Jim Fotis
Executive Director, LEAA

Nonetheless, LEAA has vowed to greet the new 106th Congress with the Community Protection Act when federal lawmakers reconvene after the new year. And that bill may be crafted to put HCI’s claim of being pro-police to a true litmus test and demonstrate once and for all that Handgun Control Inc. is no friend of law enforcement.

With Civilian Reciprocity
During the last months of the 105th Congress, H.R. 218 supporter Rep. Bill McCollum (R-Fla.) endured catcalls from colleagues and guided the bill through the House Subcommittee on Crime by adding an amendment to include civilian Right-To-Carry. Then in July, the amended bill cleared the full committee. H.R. 218 had never before reached this stage.

The bill was poised for a floor vote before the full House when it was derailed after a concerted campaign by HCI’s pocket politician, Rep. Charles Schumer (now unfortunately the senator-elect from New York). Schumer and HCI claimed that Rep. McCollum’s amendment extending national recognition of state concealed carry permits for citizens was the reason for their efforts to kill the bill.

Schumer’s and Brady’s thoughts were supported by representatives of the all too-often anti-gun police organizations like the National Association of Police Organizations, the National Troopers Coalition and the International Brotherhood of Police Officers.

On the other hand, the FOP realized the necessity of H.R. 218. To his credit, Gilbert Gallegos, president of the national Fraternal Order of Police, chastised HCI and its law enforcement allies for turning their backs on H.R. 218 and, subsequently, on the right of law enforcement officers to protect their lives as well as the lives of loved ones and innocent bystanders nationwide.

LEAA’s legislative staff was confident that we could overcome the grandstanding by HCI and still move the legislation to the House floor before the conclusion of the session. Unfortunately, this was the same week the 4,000-page report was released detailing the President’s scandals and he once again, indirectly, averted worthy legislation.

While LEAA and congressional strategists have not yet settled upon a course for the renewed effort to pass this much-needed bill during the next session, one possible scenario would be to strip H.R. 218 down to its base elements in order to expose HCI and Senator-Elect Schumer’s true anti-gun, anti-law enforcement colors. As a straight law enforcement Right-To-Carry bill, any protest by Schumer or Brady would be hard to spin as anything but an anti-cop move by the duo.

If they withdraw their opposition, they would be endorsing an equally galling proposition to their anti-gun friends, namely that firearms (handguns in particular) are effective personal protection tools. But if these two persist in their efforts to block LEAA’s attempts to pass a meaningful law enforcement-oriented Right-To-Carry bill, HCI’s ultimate goal of disarming law enforcement and civilians alike would be hard to deny.

After all, a September 9 press release issued by HCI said, “H.R. 218, in its original form, was a relatively non-controversial measure.” Does that mean they’ll support it next year?

Since we would expect Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) to reintroduce his National Right-To-Carry Reciprocity for civilians (known as H.R. 339 during the last session and written to include the full text of H.R. 218), we would have two separate legislative vehicles to advance our agenda. At the close of the 105th congressional session, 75 representatives supported Rep. Stearns’ bill, which would provide for reciprocity of state-issued permits from one state to another. Additionally, this strategy (like in war) could divide the enemy’s forces and place us in a more advantageous position.

Starting Over
Since the law-making process has to start at step one when the new congressional body convenes, LEAA is hoping to get the same sequential bill number assigned (218) to the Community Protection Act since that’s how most supporters refer to it.

Moreover, Rep. Cunningham, who has sponsored the bill from its inception in 1992, will undoubtedly be the force behind it again this year. At the end of the 105th Congress, 124 other representatives in the House had signed on as cosponsors, and more than 100 of them are returning to Washington in 1999. Therefore, we expect a strong front as the bill once again forges ahead through the subcommittee and committee stages.

The best plan of action for LEAA members at this point is to contact your newly elected officials (even if it’s an incumbent) and encourage their support of this much-needed bill. And tell your friends and coworkers to do likewise; we have to inundate them with cards and letters to get action early. LEAA will continue to update members and supporters on the progress of the Community Protection Act in each LEAA publication and on our website at www.leaa.org