H.R. 1022, Assault Weapon Ban Update

The push to pass H.R. 1022, the Assault Weapons Ban and Law Enforcement Protection Act of 2007, is gaining momentum with each passing day. In an earlier posting I asked if the bill was:

...a trial balloon, or is it a serious effort by the Dems to launch a new AWB? A nod to the trial balloon folks would be the fact that this bill currently has no co-sponsors. If it were a serious piece of legislation, the Dems would be crawling all over each other to get their names on it.

Well guess what, H.R. 1022 now has 26 cosponsors. That means 26 more congress critters are giving their active support to this bill. Below is the list of the so called representatives of the people who have signed on to this bill.

Rep Ackerman, Gary L. [NY-5]

Rep Berman, Howard L. [CA-28]

Rep Capps, Lois [CA-23]

Rep Clay, Wm. Lacy [MO-1]

Rep Crowley, Joseph [NY-7]

Rep DeGette, Diana [CO-1]

Rep Delahunt, William D. [MA-10]

Rep Eshoo, Anna G. [CA-14]

Rep Fattah, Chaka [PA-2]

Rep Filner, Bob [CA-51]

Rep Frank, Barney [MA-4]

Rep Grijalva, Raul M. [AZ-7]

Rep Hirono, Mazie K. [HI-2]

Rep Jackson-Lee, Sheila [TX-18]

Rep Maloney, Carolyn B. [NY-14]

Rep Markey, Edward J. [MA-7]

Rep McGovern, James P. [MA-3]

Rep Meehan, Martin T. [MA-5]

Rep Miller, Brad [NC-13]

Rep Moran, James P. [VA-8]

Rep Pascrell, Bill, Jr. [NJ-8]

Rep Schakowsky, Janice D. [IL-9]

Rep Schiff, Adam B. [CA-29]

Rep Slaughter, Louise McIntosh [NY-28]

Rep Van Hollen, Chris [MD-8]

Rep Wexler, Robert [FL-19]

It looks to me like they are starting to get serious. We also need to get serious. We need to respond to this attack against our freedom right now. We can not wait until this bill gains even more momentum. Once it gets out of committee, the Dems will push it forward. They have a sitting president who has stated that he will sign an AWB, they have the majority, and they need a victory on a bill like this to bolster their candidates in the '08 elections.

I added a button on the top of my side bar that helps to make it easy to contact your congress critter. At the minimum, you should write, fax, email and call your representative and let them know that legislation such as this will not be tolerated.

For extra credit, contact the House Judiciary Committee and ask them to prevent this bill for going forward.

Gun Law News has a good synopsis of the bill here.