Norton's Radio Message to America Alerts Country to Gun Antics on D.C. Voting Rights Bill
Norton’s Radio Message to America Alerts Country to Gun Antics on D.C. Voting Rights Bill
(April 10, 2009)
WASHINGTON, D.C. –As part of a determined effort to get a vote for D.C. without a dangerous gun amendment attached, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today gave the “Message to America” for the Congressional Black Caucus, which has taken a leading role to dispatch the gun amendment from the D.C. House Voting Rights bill. In the statement, Norton said, “The NRA is playing with the lives of police who protect the federal officials and employees who work here, millions of you who visit here, and we who live here, including, and the President and his family. The nation’s capital has become the N.R.A.’s test case for loosening gun laws across the country.” Norton’s commentary will broadcast on Urban Radio Network stations beginning this evening at 5 p.m. It will re-broadcast on those stations throughout next week, and will also air on the Bev Smith Show, Monday between 7-10 p.m. Call 412-281-6761 to hear to hear radio address live. Norton’s complete commentary follows:CBC Weekly Address, Message to AmericaBy Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC)
April 10, 2009
This is Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton. Last week, as I was holding a hearing on a proposed gun amendment to strip the nation’s capital of its gun laws, a gunman in Binghamton, N.Y. opened fire in a public building, killing 13 and wounding four others. The next day in Pittsburgh, a gunman killed three police officers. In the last 30 days, 57 people have been killed in eight mass shootings. Gunmen have opened fire in a church, a day care center, and a nursing home and, yet – some in Congress want to make guns more available, starting with your nation’s capital. In Washington, I am fighting to keep the National Rifle Association from legalizing the stockpiling of 50 caliber weapons that pierce armor a mile away, permitting gun-running between D.C. and two neighboring states, allowing gun ownership by a person just out of a mental institution, and preventing gun registration.
The NRA is playing with the lives of police who protect the federal officials and employees who work here, millions of you who visit here, and we who live here, including, and the President and his family. The nation’s capital has become the N.R.A.’s test case for loosening gun laws across the country.
To add final insult to great injury, Sen. John Ensign attached the N.R.A. gun amendment to a civil rights bill pending in the House, the D.C. voting rights bill, and the Senate quickly passed it without even asking what the N.R.A. amendment said. You have voting members of Congress, that majority-Black D.C. is still trying to get. Please call or e-mail your Senators and Representatives to vote for a clean D.C. voting rights bill. Help us disarm them the N.R.A.
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