----- Original Message ----

-From: Pr

To:

Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2009 7:45 PM

 

"Pork" Bailout Bill Could Ban Guns For Millions Of Americans  -- Ask your Senators to oppose HR 1

Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert 

8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151

Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408

http://www.gunowners.org

"HR 1 is about more than just pork. Millions of gun owners stand to  lose their gun rights without any due process." -- Larry Pratt, GOA  Executive Director

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

The Obama administration is putting a lot of pressure on Congress to  slam through the most recent $800+ billion bailout package before anyone  has an opportunity to read it.

The Obama administration intones that the details are unimportant. The  only thing that matters is the "bigness." And, by shipping a  bill of  nearly $900 billion (plus interest) to our children and grandchildren,  the package is really, really big -- bigger, in fact, than the budget of  our entire government for the first 170 years of our country's  existence.

But now that some of the details are finally starting to leak out of  Washington, Gun Owners -- and a lot of other analysts -- are beginning  to look at the fine print. And some of it is particularly scary.

Of particular concern to gun owners are sections 13101 through 13434 of  HR 1, which would set up the infrastructure to computerize the medical  records of ALL AMERICANS in a government-coordina

ted database.

True, the bill doesn't mandate that the data will be in a giant computer  under the Oval Office. But it does mandate that your medical records be  reduced to a computerized form which is available to it in a second.

This it would do by establishing a National Coordinator for Health  Information Technology -- tasked with, among other things, "providing  information to help guide medical decisions at the time and place of  care."

It should be scary enough that a government bureaucrat is directed by  statute to try to influence your doctor's decisions with respect to your  medical care.

But of even greater concern to gun owners is the fact that a  government-coordinated database (which government can freely access)  will now contain all records of government-provided and private  psychiatric treatment -- including, in particular, the drugs which were  prescribed.

Remember last year's "NICS Improvement Act" -- otherwise  known as the  Veterans Disarmament Act? This law codified ATF's attempts to make you  a prohibited person on the basis of a government psychiatrist's finding  that you are a "danger" -- without a finding by any court. Well,  roughly 150,000 battle-scarred veterans have already been unfairly  stripped of their gun rights by the government.

But people who, as kids, were diagnosed with Attention Deficit  Disorder... or seniors with Alzheimer's... or police with Post-Traumatic  Stress Disorder... or people who are now theoretically covered by the  new law... these people have, generally, not suffered the consequences  of its sanctions -- YET. And the chief reason is that their records are  not easily available to the government in a central, easily retrievable,  computerized form.

The bailout bill would change all of that. It would push increasingly  hard to force your private psychiatrist or government-sanctioned  psychiatrist to turn over your psychiatric records to a massive  database. This would be mandated immediately if your doctor does  business with the government.

This would supposedly save Medicare money in connection with medical  treatment. And, the sponsors insist, they would work very hard to  protect your privacy.

But this turns the concept of "privacy" on its head. The  privacy which  is MOST important is privacy from the prying eyes of government -- not  privacy of government data against the prying eyes of others. After  all, many government data bases have been hacked in recent years, with   mountains of information stolen.

So, once the government has access to these computerized psychiatric  records, the stage will be set for using that database to take away the  gun rights of those with Alzheimer's, those with ADD, and those with  PTSD.

ACTION: Write your two senators. Urge them to vote against the bailout  bill (HR 1) until it is stripped of provisions which would turn your  psychiatric records over to a central government-coordinated database  against your will -- without you getting your day in court.

You can go to the Gun Owners Legislative Action Center at  http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm to send your Senators the  pre-written e-mail message below.

----- Prewritten Letter -----

Dear Senator:

I am particularly concerned about sections 13101 through 13434 of the  new bailout bill (HR 1). These sections would set up the infrastructure  to computerize the medical records of ALL AMERICANS in a   government-coordinated database, including psychiatric records.

It is scary enough that a government bureaucrat is directed by statute  to try to influence my doctor's decisions with respect to my medical  care.

But of even greater concern to gun owners is the fact that a  government-coordinated database will now contain all records of  government-provided and private psychiatric treatment.

Last year's "NICS Improvement Act" codified ATF's attempts to  make a  person a prohibited person on the basis of a government psychiatrist's  finding that he is a "danger" -- without a finding by any  court. Well,  roughly 150,000 battle-scarred veterans have already been unfairly  stripped of their gun rights by the government.

Now, this new government-coordinated database threatens the gun rights  of people who, as kids, were diagnosed with Attention Deficit  Disorder... seniors with Alzheimer's... police with Post-Traumatic  Stress Disorder... and many other law-abiding Americans.

Please vote against cloture on HR 1 until this provision is removed.

Sincerely,

Subject: [WETHEPEOPLE_UNITED] GOA: Bailout Could Ban Guns Big Time!