Gun owners score pair of victories against Bloomberg and OSHA

The NRA is reporting that the U.S. House Appropriations Committee voted on July 12 to protect language commonly known as the "Tiahrt Amendment," rejecting two separate amendments designed to strike and gut the language, in the Commerce, Justice, and Science appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2008. This language maintains firearm trace information within the law enforcement community and out of the hands of politicians, trial lawyers and special interest groups.

And on a different front, the NRA has received confirmation that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will significantly revise a recent proposal for new "explosives safety" regulations that caused serious concern among gun owners.

Tiahrt Amendment

From the NRA's Grassroots Alert:

Rep. James Moran's (D-VA) amendment that would have completely
eliminated the Tiahrt language was defeated on a voice vote. Rep.
Patrick Kennedy's (D-RI) so-called "compromise" amendment was
overwhelmingly defeated by a strong bipartisan vote of 26-40. The
Kennedy Amendment would have allowed trace information to be disclosed
to anyone who asks for it under the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA).

"Today's vote is a victory for rank-and-file law enforcement," said
NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris W. Cox. "These courageous men and
women
are engaged in a protracted battle with politicians who want access to
this information to further a political agenda. NRA is proud to join
forces with law enforcement groups, and we will continue the fight to
make sure this provision remains American public policy as it has for
the past five years."

The National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), the Southern States
Police
Benevolent Association, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives (BATFE) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) all support the
effort to maintain trace information exclusively within the law
enforcement universe. The Tiahrt Amendment has been public policy since
2003.

Law enforcement agencies have cited concern that giving politicians
access to this information will compromise the safety of all their men
and women, particularly those involved in undercover work, and severely
impact the integrity of on-going criminal investigations. Even New
York
City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly recognized this problem and wrote a letter of support to then-Attorney General Ashcroft in 2002. Commissioner Kelly
pointed out, "The release of trace information under FOIA jeopardizes
not only the investigations, but also the lives of law enforcement
officers, informants, witnesses and others."

New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg (I) is leading a host of politicians
and political appointees who want access to BATFE trace information to
continue and expand widespread lawsuits against firearm retailers and
manufacturers that were outlawed under the "Protection of Lawful
Commerce in Arms Act" of 2005. NRA has always maintained that the
primary objective must be to arrest, prosecute and pursue maximum
sentences for those who break the law and that civil lawsuits should
not
take precedence over criminal proceedings.

"NRA stands steadfast with our policemen and women. It is
inappropriate
for any politician to try and get access to this firearm trace
information to promote the agenda of the gun-control lobby. The lives
of America's rank and file law enforcement must not be used as
political
pawns," concluded Cox.

From the New York Sun:

In Gun Fight, Bloomberg Raises Profile but Fails To Win Votes

In his fight to repeal a federal gun law, Mayor Bloomberg has flown across the country, spent millions in televised campaign-style ads, raised his national profile, and sparked interest in a possible presidential run.

But in Congress, he's hardly changed anyone's mind.

If anything, support in the powerful House Appropriations Committee for the so-called Tiahrt Amendment, which restricts access to gun trace data, has grown since it passed by a one-vote margin when it was first added to a spending bill in 2003.

Tiahrt-related Stories at BuckeyeFirearms.org:
Senate committee protects trace data security - Bloomberg loses a round

Tiahrt Responds to Bloomberg Campaign of Lies and Distortion

Anti-gun Senator Does Bloomberg's Bidding - Yanks Tiahrt Amendment

Bloomberg attacks nation's law enforcement officers

CNSNews: 'Mayors Against Illegal Guns' Preparing Their Assault

CNSNews.com: Anti-gun mayor convicted on firearms charges

OSHA Safety Regulation proposal

From the NRA's Grassroots Alert

OSHA had
originally set out to update workplace safety regulations, but the
proposed rules included restrictions that very few gun shops, sporting
goods stores, shippers, or ammunition dealers could comply with.

Gun owners had filed a blizzard of negative comments urged by the NRA,
and just a week ago, OSHA had already issued one extension for its
public comment period at the request of the National Shooting Sports
Foundation. After continued publicity through NRA alerts and the
outdoor media, and after dozens of Members of Congress expressed
concern
about its impact, OSHA has wisely decided to go back to the drawing
board.

Working with the NRA, Congressman Denny Rehberg (R-MT) planned to offer
a floor amendment to the Labor-HHS appropriations bill this Wednesday
when the House considers this legislation. His amendment would have
prohibited federal funds from being used to enforce this OSHA
regulation.

Such an amendment is no longer necessary since Kristine A. Iverson, the
Labor Department's Assistant Secretary for Congressional and
Intergovernmental Affairs, sent Rep. Rehberg a letter, dated July 16,
stating that it "was never the intention of OSHA to block the sale,
transportation, or storage of small arms ammunition, and OSHA is taking
prompt action to revise" this proposed rule to clarify the purpose of
the regulation.

Also, working with the NRA, Congressman Doug Lamborn (R-CO) gathered
signatures from 25 House colleagues for a letter, dated July 11,
expressing concerns about this proposed OSHA rule. The letter calling
the proposal "an undue burden on a single industry where facts do not
support the need outlined by this proposed rule" and "not feasible,
making it realistically impossible for companies to comply with its
tenets."

The OSHA proposal would have defined "explosives" to include "black
powder, . small arms ammunition, small arms ammunition primers, [and]
smokeless propellant," and treated these items the same as the most
volatile high explosives.

Under the proposed rule, a workplace that contained even a handful of
small arms cartridges, for any reason, would have been considered a
"facility containing explosives" and therefore subject to many
impractical restrictions. For example, no one could carry "firearms,
ammunition, or similar articles in facilities containing explosives .
except as required for work duties." Obviously, this rule would make
it
impossible to operate any kind of gun store, firing range, or gunsmith
shop.

The public comment website for the proposed rule is no longer
accessible. The Labor Department will publish a notice in the July 17
Federal Register announcing that a new rule proposal will soon be
drafted for public comment. Needless to say, the NRA monitors proposed
federal regulations to head off this kind of overreach, and will be
alert for OSHA's next draft.

From RushLimbaugh.com:

The Insidious Advance of Liberalism

...The Democrat Party has not been able to get anywhere on a gun control agenda because there are simply too many people in this country who, for whatever reason, want a gun. They hunt or they want one for self-defense, protection and so forth. I'll never forget Gore, in the 2000 presidential debate, actually making the case that he was anti-gun control. He wanted everybody to have a gun that wanted one. Then Kerry, in the 2004 race, goes to Ohio or Indiana somewhere, dressed up like Elmer Fud and said, "Can I get me a huntin' license here?" Trying to make everybody think that these guys have seen the light on gun control, they're out there seeking the votes of gun owners. So you say, "Then how did this happen?" Well, OSHA is a government agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and it's one of these little organizations that tells everybody how they have to run their office and how they have to run their business; how big the toilet can be; how wide the handicapped toilet could be. You have to have an incline for wheelchairs, all of these things. Is your ceiling too short? Is there asbestos up there? It's the gestapo in disguise of an angel.

So you've got these little liberals that have come out of the Ivy League or wherever they've been educated, and they work in these agencies. They populate them. And some liberals obviously came up with an idea. "All right, if we can't get gun control legislatively, if the will of the American people is such that we can't win this, then we gotta take an end route. We gotta make an end run." And that's what this was. They were simply going to make it impossible for sporting goods stores and gun owners to have ammunition in stock, because it's an explosive, and it violated the new safety regulations. Well, what good's a gun without the bullet? What good's a shotgun without the shell? This is how they do it, folks. They insulate themselves from election results by getting themselves in these agencies.

...Working with the NRA, Congressman Doug Lamborn (R-CO) gathered signatures from 25 House colleagues for a letter, dated July 11, expressing concerns about this proposed OSHA rule. The letter calling the proposal 'an undue burden on a single industry where facts do not support the need outlined by this proposed rule' and 'not feasible, making it realistically impossible for companies to comply with its tenets.'" That was the exact purpose. By making it impossible to comply, you have to go out of business. You think I'm exaggerating about this. Somebody tried to get this done. Somebody at OSHA -- a group, an individual, somebody, tried to get this done, and they're going to keep trying things like this, because liberals don't want you to have a gun, and they haven't changed on this. I don't care what their presidential candidates say, they do not want you to have a gun, but once again, the American people stopped it, and this is cause for celebration. The American people found out about this, raised holy hell to their elected representatives, and OSHA had to back down.

OSHA-related Stories at BuckeyeFirearms.org:
Proposed safety regs would dry up ammunition sales

Limbaugh discusses OSHA proposal