As predicted on this blog, The DISCLOSE Act shook of its earlier setback and surged back to the House for passage. We’ve already warned how this could undercut freedom of speech for groups like the Tea Party, but we want to pass along the perspective from the Virginia Gun Owners Coalition, which released the following statement:

President Obama just moved closer to his dream of gagging gun owners.

Yesterday, the House of Representatives shredded the First Amendment by voting 219-206 to pass H.R. 5175, the DISCLOSE Act.

Here are the Virginia Congressmen who voted to restrict the First Amendment, and by doing so, gun owner’s voices to protect the Second Amendment:

Boucher (D), Connolly (D), Moran (D), Perriello (D), and Scott (D)

These Congressmen voted correctly:

Nye (D), Cantor (R), Forbes (R), Goodlatte (R), Wittman (R), Wolf (R)

As hard as it is to believe, they made the bill (which should really be called the Establishment Protection Act) /even worse/ in the hours leading up to the vote by including more provisions to benefit their Big Labor pals and to obtain further details on those opposed to their power grabs.

Thanks to the actions of VGOC and other freedom-minded activists across the country, the vote on H.R. 5175 came down to the wire and was much closer than expected.  Your pressure reminded them that we are serious about holding our elected officials accountable for their actions.

This vote is by no means the end of the fight, and the battle to protect Americans’ right to free speech and to keep the federal government from gathering even more information about us now moves on to the Senate, where the bill faces many challenges. 

There are several steps you can take to ensure the Establishment Protection Act is decisively defeated in the Senate. 

First, contact your senators right away and make sure they know we have not given up on this critical issue.

*_Call Senator Warner at 202 224 2023_*

*_Call Senator Webb at 202 224 4024_* 

Urge them to filibuster H.R. 5175 and all other attempts to curb free speech.

Next, call the NRA headquarters at 1-800-672-3888 and their Legislative Action group at 1-800-392-8683 and tell them to drop their compromise and actively oppose H.R. 5175.

Without their special deal with House leaders, DISCLOSE may have been stopped in its tracks before ever reaching the House floor in the first place.

In fact, Capitol insiders say Harry Reid may be the driving force for this exemption. Reid is in a very tough re-election race in Nevada, but the NRA has all but endorsed him (see the latest NRA magazine, with many flattering pictures of Reid).  If he’s held accountable for his bad votes on the gun issue, he will almost certainly lose, which is why he’d like to silence all of the pro-gun groups except the one that’s supporting him.

Finally, please forward this email to your family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers so we can spread the message about the threat posed by the Establishment Protection Act.

VGOC and other gun rights organizations have enjoyed more success than the statists ever imagined possible, and they would love nothing more than to shut us down by going after our donors.

Let’s show them that you and I will not back down in the fight for liberty.

For Liberty,
Mike McHugh
President, VGOC