From: dritter@KnifeRights.org
To: customs1@kniferights.org
Sent: 7/8/2009 10:08:47 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Subj: URGENT ACTION ALERT: NEW Amendment Revising Federal Switchblade Act
Introduced
Amendment Revising Federal Switchblade Act Introduced, Supported by the
Administration.
We're going to ask you to write yet again, because your letters and emails
and faxes are WORKING. You are the ones who have made this happen.
While our primary focus had been on stopping funding for Customs relating
to their proposed rule, another track was being worked in the background
that would permanently solve the problem. It was initially conceived as a
follow-up to the urgently required need to stop Customs dead in its tracks,
giving us time to work on a more permanent solution. Late Tuesday evening,
even as we were marshaling support for the Cornyn-Wyden stop funding
amendment, we received an amendment introduced by Senators Pryor (D-AR) and
Hatch (R-UT) that would revise the Federal Switchblade Act (FSA); an
amendment that was being supported by Customs.
It was a good start, but was not quite acceptable for a variety of reasons.
Knife Rights led an effort to "perfect" the language of the amendment.
Working with our attorneys and AKTI representatives late into the night and
early morning hours, Knife Rights drafted language that we felt would
permanently solve the issue. With the cooperation of AKTI and NRA lobbyists
this revised language was handed off to Sen. Pryor who worked to get
Customs to accept the revised language. After a concerted effort by Sen.
Pryor, a consensus revision emerged that had the support of Customs and was
acceptable to Knife Rights and the industry. Late today a new Amendment
Number 1447 was introduced by Senators Cornyn, Pryor, Hatch, Vitter, Risch,
Chambliss, Corker, Enzi, Barrasso, Graham, Roberts, Wyden and Crapo that
adds another Exception in Section 1244 that clearly covers conventional
assisted openers and one-hand openers. It's not perfect, but it's good
enough and a major step forward. Even better, it is a permanent solution
rather than a stop-gap measure.
View the amendment here:
http://www.KnifeRights.org/SAmdt%201447.pdfThis cooperative effort has resulted in a bi-partisan amendment that has
the critical support from the Senate committees which have responsibility
for the FSA and which is endorsed by the Administration (Customs and Border
Production have signed off on it). That gives it a very good chance of
making it through the process, but first we have to get it voted into the
Homeland Security Appropriations Bill.
NONE of this would have occurred without the groundswell of negative
reaction to the Customs proposal. Your thousands of written letters mailed
to Customs and the thousands more emails and faxes sent to Members of
Congress asking them to stop Customs, are what raised the issue to a level
where it could no longer be ignored. As the efforts by Knife Rights and
AKTI garnered more support from others with more political pull, that led
to the Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus' letter to Sec. Napolitano. It all
added up to a great deal of pressure on Customs to fix the problem. Customs
has responded, to their credit.
The coalition of advocacy groups including Knife Rights, American Knife and
Tool Institute, National Rifle Association, Congressional Sportsmen
Foundation, Second Amendment Foundation, Citizens Committee for the Right
to Keep and Bear Arms and others were able to leverage YOUR outrage into an
effective political force in a very short time. None of us individually
could have done it alone and it would not have happened without the
grassroots support you have provided. You deserve to pat yourself on the
back for this effort to get it this far. In an age when we often feel like
Congress and the Administration simply ignore the citizens' wishes, this is
an example of them actually listening to the citizens. YOU made this happen!
Now, we need to get the job finished. The next step is a vote on this
Amendment in the Senate. Yes, that means it is time to write again. And,
hopefully you'll need to write again to support an effort to get it through
Conference Committee. That we are in a position to ask you to do this is
proof positive that it works. We have a short and simple letter this time.
Please WRITE NOW!
Locate YOUR OWN Senators and their email forms here:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfmSample Letter to YOUR Senators (copy and paste into the email form). If
your Senator is one of those listed at the end as co-sponsors, change the
closing to THANK them for their efforts co-sponsoring this amendment.:
RE: Amendment Number 1447 to DHS Appropriations H.R. 2892
Dear Senator [Insert Senator's Name],
As a pocket knife owner, I support Amendment Number 1447 as a fair and
reasonable solution to Customs' rulemaking which would expand the
interpretation of what a Switchblade is. I am pleased that Customs has
endorsed this amendment as a solution.
I strongly urge you to accept Senators Cornyn, Pryor, Hatch, Vitter, Risch,
Chambliss, Corker, Enzi, Barrasso, Graham, Roberts, Wyden and Crapo's
amendment, Number 1447, to the Homeland Security Appropriations bill.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
[Individual Signature]
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http://bit.ly/Scvp9Copyright 2009, Knife Rights, Inc.
This may be reproduced. It may not be reproduced for commercial purposes.
Doug Ritter
Chairman / CEO
Knife Rights, Inc.
Knife Rights Foundation, Inc.
www.KnifeRights.orgEmail: dritter@KnifeRights.org
From: Toma