N A T I O N A L R I F L E A S S O C I A T I O N OF A M E R I C A INSTITUTE FOR LEGISLATIVE ACTION 11250 W A P L E S M I L L R O A D FAIRFAX, VIRGINIA 22030

N RA
January 20, 2012 The Honorable Orrin G. Hatch 104 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C 20510 Dear Senator Hatch:

Office of the Executive

Director

C H R I S W. C O X

Recently, your Second Amendment record has been subject to outrageous and false attacks. I would like to take this opportunity to set the record straight. Certain groups are not only unjustly blaming you for the passage of anti-gun legislation; they're also attacking you for your role in defending gun owners' rights during most of the critical legislative debates on this issue over the past 25 years. Perhaps the most outrageous claims are that in the negotiations on the Firearms Owners' Protection Act of 1986 (also known as "FOPA," or as "McClure-Volkmer," after its Senate and House sponsors), you argued in favor of ATF's positions and against those of the late, great progun leader, Sen. Jim McClure of Idaho. According to the leaders of the NRA's lobbying team at the time, this is patently false. One of those leaders is current NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre, who puts it plainly: "Without Senator Hatch, we would not have had McClure-Volkmer." Another is the NRA's current Director of Federal Affairs, James J. Baker, who also unequivocally states: " I sat through all the negotiations with Senator Jim McClure, Congressman Harold Volkmer, Senator Orrin Hatch, and the U.S. Treasury Department, and never once did I see a representative of any other 'gun groups.'" hi truth, your leadership was critical to the passage of FOP A. And FOP A was critical to the fate of gun ownership in America, because among its most important reforms were those that protected firearms dealers from abusive enforcement tactics of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Your record has been questioned on a host of specific issues. On one of thesethe Coburn amendment to repeal the ban on carrying firearms in national parks and wildlife refuges statements attributed to you are simply false, as a review of the C-SPAN video makes clear. Not only did you vote "yes" on repealing the ban, but your position was consistent, since you had earlier joined a majority of your colleagues in signing a letter to then-Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthome supporting a repeal. On the other issues, you are being blamed for a difference of philosophy about legislative tactics. Like the NRA, you work to make a difference, not just make a statement.

Tel: (703) 267-1140 www.nraila.org Fax: (703) 267-3973

Finally, your critics fail to give you due credit for other major actions you've taken to defend the Second Amendment. Most notably, under your leadership, the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Constitution produced its 1982 report, "The Right to Keep and Bear Arms." That report was a milestone in the movement to recognize the Second Amendment as protecting an individual righta movement that culminated in the Supreme Court's landmark 2008 decision in District of Columbia v. Heller. You expressed your strong support for our fundamental, individual right to keep and bear arms by signing the historic congressional briefs before the court in both Heller and McDonald v. City of Chicago. Further you also backed up that belief by voting against the confirmation of two anti-Second Amendment Supreme Court nominees: Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. In short, without your legislative leadership, Americans would long ago have faced real obstacles to the exercise of their Second Amendment rights. And without your intellectual leadership, the Second Amendment itself might be a dead letter, neglected or rejected by the courts, histead, thanks to your strong and savvy support for the Second Amendment, gun owners today can celebrate a decade of federal victories, and look forward to further advances in the years to come. I look forward to our continued work on behalf of the Second Amendment and thank you for your past efforts in support.

Sincerely,

Chris W. Cox Executive Director, NRA-ILA