On Wednesday, the House of Representatives is set to vote on a massive 1.2 trillion spending bill called an "omnibus" bill. An omnibus bill is a package of legislation to fund the entire government.
Since it is a 'must pass' bill, legislators on both sides of the aisle rush to add their own amendments to the bill in the hope of getting them passed. Usually, these are issues that are too controversial to pass on their own, but when attached to important legislation, they are allowed to hit the President's desk.
Last week, we reported that Congress was gearing up to vote on the Fix NICS Act, a bill to reform the firearm background check system to make sure criminals and the mentally ill aren't allowed to buy guns at gun shops.
This legislation already passed the House last year, but it did so attached to the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act. This is the bill that would grant nationwide reciprocity to Americans with concealed carry permits. When that bill came up for a vote, the GOP establishment decided at the last minute to attach the background check bill as an amendment. They believed that was necessary to get the moderates to vote for the bill.
Immediately after this bill -- the biggest pro-gun bill in American history -- passed the House, Paul Ryan admitted he was not going to pressure the Senate to pass it. He was ok with letting it die.
After the Parkland shooting, many in the GOP started to flip. They wanted new gun control.
We learned last week that the GOP leadership was going to attach this gun control bill to the Stop School Violence Act. In doing so, they would be abandoning the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act. Without Fix NICS attached, then there wouldn't be enough GOP votes to pass it...
I warned you about what was happening and you answered the call. Together, our community sent more than a quarter million FaxBasts to Congress demanding that they stop this surrender.
And do you know what happened? They backed down.
But it's not time to celebrate just yet... The same anti-gun politicians are now moving to add this gun control bill into the massive omnibus spending bill behind your back!
They are abandoning concealed carry reciprocity and trying to sneak new gun control through. What is even worse is that if the bill gets added to the package, it will have enough votes to pass.
This is what John Boehner used to do. He would take a bunch of items off the liberals' wish list and add it to the spending bill. Then, he would pass it with the help of the Democrats. This was how he pushed through politically unpopular things while still allowing his party to claim that they didn't vote for it. It is the ultimate betrayal because it relies on the voters not paying attention to the details...
If the Fix NICS bill passes, then concealed carry reciprocity is dead. That was Paul Ryan's goal from the beginning. He never wanted American gun owners to be able to carry in all 50 states. He never wanted to restore the right to carry for Americans living in anti-gun states like New Jersey and California.
Republicans know better than to schedule a gun control vote. You put the fear back into them last week and got them to stand down. But they also know that when a omnibus spending bill is 1500-2000 pages, the average voter isn't going to read all of it. And even if the bill contains a gun control package, Republicans will be able to (correctly) say they didn't vote for it.
It gives the GOP establishment what they want without forcing party members to make a controversial vote.
But you aren't the average voter. You know their game and with that knowledge comes a responsibility to act!
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