Anti-gun legislation, AB50 which would ban the sale and possession of
.50 caliber rifles, passed out of the California Legislature by one
vote and is now headed to the Governor's desk. Please be sure to
contact the Governor's office and respectfully ask him to VETO AB 50.
Please remind him that this anti-gun legislation is a huge unfunded
mandate on the state, is not supported by law enforcement, will drive
law-abiding American businesses into bankruptcy, and will do nothing
to fight crime.

You can contact the Governor at:
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-445-2841
Fax: 916-445-4633

To send an Electronic Mail please visit:
http://www.govmail.ca.gov

You can also use our "Write Your Reps" feature at www.nraila.org.

NRA Institute for Legislative Action

Why AB-50 is Bad for California

*AB-50 WILL ADD A NEW, MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR BUDGET ITEM WHEN THE
GOVERNOR'S 10-POINT RECOVERY PLAN CALLS FOR A FREEZE ON SPENDING AND SPECIAL CUTS TO REDUCE THE DEFICIT.

Despite claims of "little or no fiscal impact" by AB-50 proponents,
the 2003 California Budget Summary shows that media campaigns
comparable to those called for in AB-50 added between four and nine
million dollars each to the 2003 budget. This does not include the
open-ended costs of establishing and managing a statewide database
for the registration and tracking of lawfully-owned fifty caliber
rifles. This bill was passed in the same week that California puts
it's surplus on the auction block in the Governor's "State Garage
Sale" to help reduce the budget defecit. AB-50 defies and combats the
Governor's 10-Point Recovery Plan.

*AT A TIME WHEN CALIFORNIA IS TRYING TO DRAW BUSINESS TO THE STATE,
AB-50 WOULD DRIVE EXISTING BUSINESS OUT OF STATE, COSTING UNTOLD
MILLIONS LOST.

"As a California business we pay tens of thousands of dollars in taxes
each year, we have numerous employees and, as clients, we support a
wide range of vendors in our area. We run a huge metal machining
business in addition to our rifles but if AB-50 passes we will have
no choice but to let everyone go and relocate to another state. More
unemployment, another empty building... everybody loses."
Bill Ritchie
Chief Executive Officer
EDM Arms
Redlands, CA

* NO OTHER STATE IN AMERICA HAS THIS TYPE OF LEGISLATION.
CALIFORNIA WOULD BECOME THE FIRST AND ONLY STATE IN AMERICA TO BAN
THESE TARGET RIFLES.

There is no public or legislative mandate for AB-50.
California legislators have rejected versions of this ban for the last
ten years. There is no public demand for AB-50 nor any public concern
over target rifles. There is no history of crime involving these
rifles. The Long Beach Press-Telegram calls AB-50 a "pointless law
used by politicians in attempts to get credit for fixing problems
that don't exist."

* FEDERAL AGENCIES DO NOT SUPPORT THE CONCEPT OF A "FIFTY CALIBER
RIFLE THREAT" NOR HAVE THEY EVER ISSUED A WARNING REGARDING THESE
RIFLES.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) .................................DOES NOT SUPPORT AB-50
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) ........................................DOES NOT SUPPORT AB-50
Transportation Security Administration (TSA) ..........................DOES NOT SUPPORT AB-50
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE).....
........................................................................................................DOES NOT SUPPORT AB-50
Department of Transportation (DOT)..........................................DOES NOT SUPPORT AB-50
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) ...............................................DOES NOT SUPPORT AB-50
United States Secret Service .....................................................DOES NOT SUPPORT AB-50
Department of Justice (DOJ) ......................................................DOES NOT SUPPORT AB-50
National Transportation Safety Board .......................................DOES NOT SUPPORT AB-50

"We are aware of what is being said [about fifty caliber rifles]. We
have considered it as part of a number of potential threats. We just
don't feel it is high on the list of potential dangers."
Robert Johnson
Chief Spokesman
Transportation Security Administration

"The so-called 'fifty caliber threat' is political opportunism of the
worst sort -- diverting time, money and attention away from real-world
counterterror efforts. Legitimate efforts to fight terror should not
be allowed to be taken hostage by partisan political agendas."
Chief Carl Rowan, Jr.
Atlantic & Pacific Railroad Police Department
former FBI Special Agent
former Deputy U.S. Marshal

* RANK AND FILE COPS OPPOSE AB-50.
The Long Beach Police Department officer's union openly opposes AB-
50. A survey of San Diego Police Department officers showed a 92%
opposition to new gun control measures. A representative of the LAPD
testified that he knew of no instances where a fifty caliber rifle
was involved in a crime of any sort.

" As co-authors of the widely-acclaimed Law Enforcement Officer's
Safety Act signed into law by President Bush on July 22nd of this
year, LEAA is dedicated to law enforcement's real-world, war against
violent crime. As such, we strongly oppose AB-50 as a cheap attempt
to sell failed guncontrol that has been universally rejected by our
nation's police."
Ted Deeds
Chief Operating Officer
Law Enforcement Alliance of America

* JUSTIFICATION FOR AB-50 IS FILLED WITH FACTUAL INACCURACIES
AB-50 is built on a foundation of "dire and imminent urgency" that has
been pushed on the American public for over a decade without so much
as one of the "catastrophic scenarios" put forth even being
attempted. The representations made by proponents range from pure
conjecture to outright lies in the face of documented tests-- yet
they continue, relying on shocking predictions to frighten an
uninformed audience.

--on the alleged "threat" to Railroad
" The assertions put forth about the threat to rail from fifty caliber
rifles have no basis in reality. We exhaustively test our chemical
rail car designs against all types of firearms, including fifty
caliber. In almost all tests the bullet simply bounced off. The worst-
case scenario we could demonstrate was a tiny leak equivalent to a
hand-valve that wasn't completely closed. Leaks of that scale happen
every day all across America."
Tom Darymple
Sr. Vice President of Engineering
Trinity Rail Group

--Limousines and Buildings
" American Defense Systems routinely tests current and emerging armor
technologies against a wide range of handgun and rifle calibers
through .50BMG and on to larger calibers rifles readily available in
terrorist states, such as the 14.7mm, 20mm and 25mm. On 12 October
2003, I personally conducted a series of tests in the Washington D.C.
area in conjunction with both the United States Marine Corps and the
United States Secret Service. We repeatedly demonstrated the ability
to stop .50BMG rounds fired from a mere one hundred yards with
armored glass measuring only 1.9 inches thick."
Anthony J. Piscitelli
Chief Executive Officer
American Defense Systems, Inc.

--Commercial Aircraft
" The chances of any measurable event, if a bullet shattered a window
or struck the fuselage, are extremely slight. There would be little
hazard to continued safe flight and landing."
Ronald J. Hinderberger
Director of Aviation Safety
Boeing Commercial Aircraft

--Body Armor has been able to stop .50 caliber bullets since 1996
" In the past two decades, armor producers have developed a curved
lightweight KevlarT backed ceramic plate for the chest capable of
defeating a 50-caliber machine gun projectile." {Based on a series of
live fire tests conducted by the U.S. Army.}
Force Transmission through Chest Armor during the Defeat of .50-
Caliber Rounds
Haley, Joseph L., Jr.; Alem, Nabih M.; McEntire, B. J.; Lewis, James
A.;Army Aeromedical Research Lab, Fort Rucker AL, 1996

* AB-50 IS A BASELESS MEASURE: TERRORISTS HAVE ALL THE WEAPONS THEY COULD WANT The suggestion that terrorists will be stopped by
restricting the sale of rifles at the local gun store is completely
irrational. Al Qaeda and other terror organizations have almost
unlimited access to weapons that dwarf the fifty caliber rifle. This
is why every responsible agency from DHS to the FBI are posting
alerts regarding explosives, surface-to-air missiles and shoulder-
fired rockets... not expensive and cumbersome target rifles. {Federal
law already prohibits terrorists from buying any firearm through
commercial sales.}

"Through July 16, 2002, coalition forces identified 345 terrorist
weapon caches in Afghanistan alone. They included: 1,785 AK-47 rifles
with 370,000 rounds of ammunition; 30 heavy machine guns with 3.5
million rounds; 72 mortar tubes and 52,000 mortar rounds; 142
recoilless rifles with 1,700 rounds; 2,100 air-to-air missiles; 2,800
rocket-propelled grenade launchers with more than 4,000 grenades;
43,000 rounds of 107 mm and 122 mm rockets; 319 shoulder-fired
surface-to-air missiles; 50 tanks; 40 armored vehicles; 2,000 mines;
and more than 20 anti-aircraft weapons. The nation is filled with
weapons."
Donald Rumsfeld
United States Secretary of Defense

* AB-50 WILL HARM OUR NATIONAL SECURITY AND PUT COPS, SOLDIERS AT
GREATER RISK

The civilian market is essential for the survival of all small arms
manufacturers; eliminating civilian fifty caliber sales will also end
production of rifles currently used by LAPD and other California SWAT
units as well as many branches of the United States Armed Forces.

"The M82A1 Barrett is a manifestation of the important historic
cooperation played by private citizens and small business in the
United States in the development of weapons and munitions necessary
for the US Armed Forces to perform their mission to protect the
national security interests of the United States by fighting and
winning, with as few friendly casualties as possible."
W. Hays Parks.
Special Assistant to the Judge Advocate
United States Army Special Forces Command

"The small-arms sector is a critical component of the defense
industrial base. These firms make products that are essential to our
military. Our goal is just to make sure that the industry remains
viable so it can supply our military forces with the needed weapons.
The type of smear campaign seen against the .50 caliber rifle is not
only unfair, but it also opens The door for further attacks to other
weapon manufacturers. We must not let that happen. We must learn the
facts before we believe any accusations."
Assault on the Small Arms Industrial Base
Lt. Gen. Lawrence P. Farrell, Jr., USAF (Ret)

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