Norton's National Radio Address Shows Progress Against NRA

Norton's National Radio Address Shows Progress Against NRA

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) is giving the weekly Congressional Black Caucus "Message to America" that starts running this evening, and will continue throughout next week on stations across the country. Norton, who is making headway on the D.C. Voting Rights bill, used this week's message to alert the country to progress being made in turning back National Rifle Association efforts to spread gun repeal that started with the attachment of a "lethal gun amendment to a civil rights bill, the D.C. Voting Rights Act," she said. "The NRA grew drunk with power because they were unchallenged. Too few fought back when 200 years of work for D.C. congressional voting rights was sidelined, now requiring months of work to get back on track. Nobody fought back when a gun amendment got pasted to a credit card bill we all needed. However, the country's mayors and Democratic and Republican senators have proven we can protect gun safety. All we need to do is fight back."

Norton's full statement:

Democrats are making good headway on the nation's most visible issues - from the economy to healthcare. However, the Black community cannot let Congress continue to eliminate laws that keep gun violence down. It started in February with a little noticed, but outrageous, action by the National Rifle Association, which attached a lethal gun amendment to a civil rights bill, the D.C. Voting Rights Act to wipe out all gun laws in the nation's capital.

I am working with our leadership to return our bill to its voting rights content. However, the NRA, emboldened by its initial success with the D.C. Voting Rights bill, has moved rapidly to weaken the nation's gun laws, using conservative Democrats. For example, the Obama Administration quickly overturned a last-minute Bush Administration regulation that allowed people to carry loaded guns in national parks, but the NRA, almost as quickly, brought back the Bush provision. The NRA got conservative Democrats to join Republicans to attach the Bush gun provision to an urgently needed credit card bill banning hidden credit card fees and increases.

The country's mayors recently fought back and won, stopping the NRA from overriding local laws by permitting concealed weapons to be carried from state to state.

Our African American community cannot allow right-wing lobbies to get a free pass that increases gun violence for us. The NRA grew drunk with power because they were unchallenged. Too few fought back when 200 years of work for D.C. congressional voting rights was sidelined, now requiring months of work to get back on track. Nobody fought back when a gun amendment got pasted to a credit card bill we all needed. However, the country's mayors and Democratic and Republican senators have proven we can protect gun safety. All we need to do is fight back. The African American community has everything to lose and the most to gain.