Buckeye Firearms Assoc. volunteer discusses concerns of gun control loophole in health care bill with Congressman Zack Space

Editor's Note: Just hours before he cast a vote in favor of nationalized health care, Congressman Zack Space had a meeting with constituents regarding his pending vote. Buckeye Firearms Association volunteer Jason Mihalick attended the meeting, and brought up the concerns about the health care bill opening the backdoor to gun control. Following is his summary of the meeting:

By Jason Mihalick

On Thursday, November 5, 2009 thousands and thousands of citizens took time from their work and their families to drive hundreds of miles to stand on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol Building united in opposition to the 1900+ page healthcare tome that Congress says is "To provide affordable, quality healthcare for all Americans and reduce the growth in health care spending, and for other purposes".

The crowd chanted phrases such as "Naaaaan-ceeeeey", "Can you -- hear us -- now?", "Kill -- the -- Bill" , and "Nah, nah, nah, nah -- nah, nah, nah, nah -- hey, hey, hey -- gooo-ooodbye" implying that this would be the last term than many current representatives would enjoy. Michelle Bachmann, John Voight, and Mark Levin all gave rousing speeches that were well received by the crowd. Many Republican representatives were assembled on the Capitol steps behind the podium and proceeded to speak one after another. Some, such as Joe Wilson, were very well received. However, after 45 minutes to an hour of what seemed to be each and every Republican Representative using the microphone to repeat the same thing and share in the spotlight, many folks started to filter out.

Once the "press conference" ended, we dispersed to pay a visit to the offices of our representatives. There were lines so long that they wrapped around buildings. As we entered into the Cannon building and passed through the metal detectors, you could hear hundreds people chanting "Naaaan-ceeeey" in the hallway where Nancy Pelosi's office was located. The buildings were packed with concerned citizens and our presence was definitely felt. Many folks met with their representatives that intended to vote for the bill and made it a very uncomfortable day for them.

I attended a meeting with Zack Space (D - OH 18) in which there were 25 to 30 people from his district packed into his office in the Cannon building. Two of the constituents in attendance were Amish. I spoke with one of the Amish-men afterwards and he said that there are many in the Amish community that are very, very concerned about what is happening in the country. Their respectful questioning proved that they understood the seriousness of the situation in our country and the original design of limited government.

Congressman Space made it clear at the beginning of the meeting that he was intending on voting Yes on the health care bill. One person brought up that Space had stated in another meeting in August that he would not support any bill which contained public funding of abortions. The person continued telling him that, in fact, public funding of abortion IS in the bill, on page 110. Congressman Space said that he would look into it. Another person asked why is there such a rush to get a bill through and why couldn't there be, at the least, a pilot program run instead of implementing the program in the entire country? To which another person pointed out that Massachusetts was already trying publicly funded healthcare and it wasn't working there. The Congressman commented that we have already been waiting 30 years to fix healthcare and that now is the time. Other constituents expressed serious concerns about the debt we are leaving for our children, to which Congressman Space replied how health care reform would actually save us money. One of the Amish-men asked Congressman Space to name one government program that has actually been run efficiently. I don't recall Congressman Space having a response for that question.

At the end of our meeting with Zack Space, I did shake his hand, introduce myself as a BFA volunteer, and thank him for his support of the Second Amendment. I then mentioned to him the information I learned about the possibility of the "Health Benefits Advisory Committee" that is being created by this bill (HR 3692) as a backdoor way to compromise our Second Amendment rights. He directed me to his aid to discuss it and the aid said that he would check with the NRA on the topic.

Unfortunately, despite this meeting with constituents, Rep. Space cast his vote for the bill in a late-night weekend session. I can tell you that those who voted "yes" for this bill definitely know how we feel about this bill, and that if they voted for it, there are large numbers of people that have sworn to make it their personal mission to see that their representative is voted out of office.

We will not go away ... we are going to be back. This is only the beginning.