From Missouri First: There are only 2 months left in the Missouri General Assembly’s legislative session. Every passing day decreases the chances any bill has to pass, and our state legislature is on vacation this week. We must work while they are on break!.

The new attacks on our right to keep and bear arms are moving faster in Congress than the protection bills are moving in the Missouri legislature. The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee has passed bills to require universal background checks AND an assault weapon ban. Pundits say those bills won’t pass the full Senate or the House, but federal and state agencies are implementing programs that are eroding the right to keep and bear arms piece by piece. The actions of the Veterans Administration and the Missouri Dept. of Revenue’s collaboration with the Dept. of Homeland Security are prime examples.

To protect our rights to protect our families in Missouri, our goal MUST be to pass either HB 436 or SB 325 and put it on the governor’s desk within the next 30 days. Why 30 days? Missouri law requires the governor to either sign, veto, or let a bill become law without his signature within 15 days of receiving it from the legislature if there are more than 15 days left in the session. If he vetoes it, the legislature can, then, override the veto during the remainder of the session.

Take Action!

1. Download, print and post the “I support Missouri’s Second Amendment Preservation Act” poster (available here as a jpg & pdf). Especially post it where your state rep and senator will see it, like political gatherings and meeting. Do it this week, while they are back home in their district.

2. Send or hand deliver to your rep & senator a copy of the poster and ask them to post it in their office. Tell them that you expect them to deliver either HB 436 or SB 325 to the governor by April 17th, or you’ll lose all confidence in their commitment to protect our right to Keep and Bear Arms.

3. Do everything you can to publicize the controversy over the MO Dept.of Revenue’s collaboration with the Dept. of Homeland Security to steal our privacy, including reporting your concealed carry license status and biometric facial recognition data. Missouri legislators are rightly upset about this and they view it as an attack on the 2nd Amendment. We need to keep it a top priority issue.

For more on this issue:

• Lawsuit filed in Stoddard County & Article about that case
• Audio YouTube of the interrogation of the MO Dept.of Revenue
• Bill Hennesy on why we should be mad at the Dept. of Revenue
• Missouri Family Network explanation of the issue
• DHS Feb. 2012 REAL ID Progress Report
• DHS Aug. 2012 Report to Congress

Write letters to your local paper, expressing your concern and dismay that the MO DoR would be pursuing REAL ID, thus breaking the law, compromising our privacy, and playing into the hands of the radical gun control agenda.

Also, call or write your MO. rep and senator, demanding they act on this right away. They can punish the DoR with budget reductions if they don’t back down; they can pass laws to protect us while the legality of what DoR is doing is going through the legal process; and they can pass new laws to protect our privacy if the old ones aren’t strong enough.