Lee Terry

[GunZup]

February 8, 2013

Dear Mr. Curtis:

   Thank you for taking the time to contact me about gun control and your opinions on this important issue. I am deeply saddened by the recent rash of gun violence throughout our country and especially at our schools and I am concerned about how our nation is going to react.

   As a society, we cannot stand by and not take action as a result of the deaths of innocent victims. The fabric of our culture was not woven to tolerate it. Congress must continue to be vigilant for opportunities to stem and eventually prevent violence. We have no choice but to trust our neighbors with instruments that are dangerous in the wrong hands. The consequence of individual freedom is our reliance on individual responsibility. lt is therefore incumbent on all of us to lead by example.

   I believe that an essential element to a free society is the right to responsible gun ownership. The Second Amendment to our Constitution binds me as your Congressman not to infringe on this right and I have no intention of doing so.

   Within the limits of the Second Amendment, I have settled on a four-point plan to ensure that a person who possesses a gun does so with no intention to harm innocent people, and to provide for the safety of our children. First, I support background checks at gun shows, I believe this would be a reasonable step to ensure that as many gun owners as possible come into ownership as responsible citizens. Second, I would support grant funds for police officers at schools. Third, I support certain mental health issues being part of a background check, For example, if an individual shows intent to perpetrate imminent violence during a mental health evaluation, this information should be shared to ensure that he or she could not carry out these intentions with a gun. Fourth, we should do more with the laws on the books and more vigorously pursue enforcement, For example, prosecutions for falsifying gun ownership applications have declined significantly over the past several years. We should reverse this trend and send a message that attempts to circumvent gun laws will be severely punished.

   America has been through a difficult period of gun violence recently with no real reason as to why it has suddenly escalated to the level it has. This issue must be dealt with properly without overreacting and I am confident that Congress will do the right thing in the end.

   Thank you again for the opportunity to respond to your concerns. Like you, I have spent a great deal of time thinking about how Congress can better facilitate a peaceful and free society. I look forward to hearing from you in the future.

Sincerely,
LEE TERRY
Your Representative in Congress

[maanbr]

Just received this same letter in the mail today.

[Hardwood83]

I contacted him a month ago and have heard nothing back yet.

I have two issues with his response: First, I am adamantly against background checks for private transfers (not thrilled with them for any transfer, actually). But the real issue is the Govt controlling & tracking the movement of guns. If I own something it isn't the govt's business to whom or when I sell it, ESPECIALLY a gun. I can see this becoming law- and I hope it is roundly ignored by everyone. Refusal to comply is exactly what caused Canada's boon-dogle registry to get repealed.

Second, I am not so sure we need 'vigorous enforcement' of all existing laws. Sure some, but many of the current laws are already a blatant infringement. What we need is an overhaul (and repeal) of most Gun laws.

Practically speaking I understand in the current environment there will be a lot of people taking this 'reasonable' stance. I believe we need to take the proper stance. Come on Lee, simply stating that these proposals are ineffective and un-Constitutional is all that is needed.

[A-FIXER]

Third, I support certain mental health issues being part of a background check, For example, if an individual shows intent to perpetrate imminent violence during a mental health evaluation, this information should be shared to ensure that he or she could not carry out these intentions with a gun.

NO!!!!! NOT GOOD AND IS WRONG. If they would do this ALL of us would be considered crazy.

First, I support background checks at gun shows, I believe this would be a reasonable step to ensure that as many gun owners as possible come into ownership as responsible citizens

Well Terry do they check your ID everytime you buy a bottle of liquor? Or get better yet have a breathalizer to start your car? Do they have you fill out a form to purchase a Knife? A boxcutter? A Hammer?

[Phantom]

I also got the same letter today via us mail



Phantom

[Grunt167]

I too received this exact letter today... His intent is completely unacceptable and if he follows this path we citizens need to ensure he faces a opponent who believes in the Constitution in the primary and sent to the dust bin of history.. Unless he changes his tune he has lost my vote...

[SS_N_NE]

You district 2 people need to jump on this guy.

Let him know right now that his ideas are not consistent with gun owners or the 2nd A and how any hope of support or re-election is a puff of smoke.

The whole background check thing will get distorted beyond anything imaginable as well as become another quagmire of unenforced red-tape doing nothing for the intended concept.

Putting mental health issues into a background check is something I can't even create words for yet. Letting some add some kind of arbitrary black mark to your "record" without any sort of due process and/or having to go through some process to clear your record of a mistake created by some zealot (at your own expense to the profit of lawyers and judges) is something that needs to be stopped now.

Obviously the POTUS has specified money for all and everyone is going to want a hunk of that action (about 5 billion in the recent executive order release on gun control). Let the teachers that want to get trained and CCW....let the nut cases guess at who can fight back.

The Administration is trying to push anything they can with great haste hoping to capitalize on the emotions and ignorance of things.

For everyone else (not in District 2) hit the NRA site, use the contact tool and send government a flood of email, faxes and snail mail...or call if you like.

http://www.ruger.com/micros/advocacy/index.html#  does the same thing if you are not using the NRA version.

Tell these people to vote NO on any gun ban...NO on any magazine limit...NO on criminalizing private firearms transfers...and NO on any gun registration scheme. Tell them that your future voting hinges on the outcome of these issues.

[Mudinyeri]

You district 2 people need to jump on this guy.

Done.  Feel free to borrow from my letter if you like.

Dear Lee,

Recently, a friend of mine shared with me your response to his concerns about recently proposed anti-Second Amendment legislation. I was surprised and disappointed to read your four-point plan. Apparently, I have made the mistake of thinking that I knew where you stood on the Second Amendment.

I've known you, although not well, for nearly two decades. Your wife showed my wife and I our first apartment after we got married. I've sat just a few rows from you in church ... I should have known what would happen by assuming that I knew your stance ....

Your four-point plan is no better than the plans proposed by the Dianne Feinsteins of the world. Your plan focuses on guns when guns are not the issue. Your plan suggests, ironically, that we need more laws to curb behavior by criminals willing to break the law by committing murder. Such legislation is nothing more than a smokescreen or a "we must do something" knee-jerk reaction with no cause/effect relationship with to the issues at hand. 

Your plan's first point mentioned background checks at guns shows. Firearms purchases at gun shows already require background checks. Any federally-licensed firearms dealer selling a gun, regardless of location, is required to perform a background check (or verify that a background check has been completed). Restricting commerce between private individuals by requiring additional, new background checks is nothing more than an additional infringement upon the Second Amendment - already one of the most infringed enumerated rights.

Grant funds for police officers in schools? Where do you propose to get these funds? We're already sixteen trillion dollars in debt and digging deeper every day. What programs/expenses do you intend to cut to provide these funds? Further leveraging our children's economic security for a tiny bit of additional school security is not an answer to the problem.

Blackmarking someone's record based on an *opinion* that they *may* be a danger to themselves or others .... Have you been watching the movie Minority Report recently? You're suggesting that we restrict or remove individuals' rights because of something they MAY do? I have no desire to live in such an Orwellian society.

Finally, while there are certainly a number of firearms-related laws on the books that need more vigorous enforcement, there are also a number of firearms-related laws on the books that do nothing more than infringe upon the rights of law-abiding citizens. These laws need to be repealed rather than being vigorously enforced.

Sadly, we will never be able to “facilitate [legislate] a peaceful … society”. Humans are, and always have been, a violent species. Further infringing on the rights of law-abiding citizens does nothing more than limit the second part of your statement about a peaceful and free society. I'm sure you know well what Benjamin Franklin said, “Those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither.”

I hope you will reconsider your stance along-side the anti-Second Amendment gang led by Ms. Feinstein and her ilk and stand up unflinchingly for our Second Amendment rights. I will certainly keep your actions, or lack thereof, in mind when it comes time to vote for my 2nd District Congressional Representative in a few years.

[Hardwood83]

Done.  Feel free to borrow from my letter if you like.

Very well said, I will borrow from you heavily....except the personal parts of course.

[abbafandr]

I got the same lame letter from him as well. 
1) No more invasive background checks
2) Schools should be allowed to make their own choices on safety, not mandated by D.C.
3)Mental issues are a slippery slope we don't need to start sliding down
4)If we don't enforce the gun laws on the books now, why add more?


 

[Chris C]

Same canned letter I got the other day.  Just had time now to send some feedback to him. 

[Lmbass14]

Got this from Sen. Johanns:

[A-FIXER]

Yes I got the same one as above too bad he supports a nut job Hagel.... for Sec. of Defense....

[A-FIXER]

Oh and very good letter Toby.

[SS_N_NE]

Excellent letter! I hope others flood in your lead. Terry needs to be hammered from all sides until a light goes on.

I am very amazed how our politicians are out of touch with the people they represent. They seem to THINK they understand but really do not. Request a reply to every concern you send and carefully read the reply. Is the reply generic or off track? Remember that your vote and support as well as funds sent to various lobby groups is serious ammunition that lends weight to your concerns. And, there is no limit on rounds. Question their reasoning. We need to out weight the anti-gun people or suffer great loss. Gun control legistlation is a money grab for politicians. Every solution a politician can create requires throwing money at a problem. Let them know that this is not an adgenda worth persuing.

[Mudinyeri]

Lee has always been something of a lukewarm centrist in my mind.  I've voted for him because (I thought) I knew him and where he stood, but I never really expected him to be a leader in Congress, taking on the difficult issues.

[Wesley D]

Speaking of Terry's position on background checks, the National Coalition to Stop the Gun Ban, of which the NFOA is a founding member, issued an open letter to Congress and the American People specifically addressing the "Universal Background Checks".  The NFOA sent the letter out as a press release late last week (http://nebraskafirearms.org/forum/index.php/topic,7707.0.html).  We'll include the letter in our next email members alert with legislative updates, but for now, you can also take a look at it here:  http://attachment.benchmarkemail.com/c80038/UBCLetter-020613.pdf.