The biggest battle of the year to keep our gun rights has begun in Washington, D. C. With generous and broad-based media support, the Clinton Administration has pushed the notion that some sort of gun control legislation must be passed. With just a little over a year left in office, President Clinton will do whatever it takes to get his gun control agenda passed. He has referred to it as his presidential legacy. He will bank on the emotional response to certain tragic events, rather than on the reality that gun control would not have prevented them.

It is more important now than ever to remind your Senators and Representatives that they should not follow Clinton down this slippery slope. Even if your particular Representative is staunchly anti-gun, you must show that there are constituents who care about the Second Amendment and the civil rights of law-abiding citizens. The best way to do this is by writing letters. Handwritten letters have the greatest impact. They show that 1 you put thought, time and effort into the correspondence. Form letters, as well as form e-mails, should be avoided. E-mail is not as effective as a letter, so do not rely solely on it. Follow up with a hand-written letter. Phone calls generally are as effective as e-mail.

Be polite and to the point: The proposed new anti-gun legislation does not solve anything. It actually would hurt the law-abiding citizens of this country. If there are other issues about which you wish to express your opinion, write a separate letter. Letters dealing with more than one issue are not as effective as single-issue letters. The sooner you can write the letters the better.

You can find your legislators’ addresses in the “blue” government pages of your local telephone directory, or you can call CCRKBA at (425) 454-4911.