AT LAST: A proper letter for your Congress Person

A

A. G. Russell

Joined
Mar 10, 2001
Messages
2,033
We just sent this to the 60,000 + folks who have given us permission to email them.

Customs threatens to make your folding knives illegal!

I am sending this e-mail to you because as a person interested in knives, you need to know about a proposal by U. S. Customs that would make a huge percentage of folding knives illegal in the United States. A couple of links are included below that will first give you much more information and secondly provide a site where you can find the information needed to contact the federal legislators for your state.

http://akti.org
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/

We ask that you at least send an e-mail to your two U. S. Senators and your U. S. Representative protesting this move by U. S. Customs. Go to http://delivery.agrussell.net/akti/letter.doc to download a sample letter that has been constructed by the American Knife & Tool Institute, of which I am a member, to help you draft your own letter to your legislator.

By the end of today, I will have personally emailed my own two Senators and my Congressman and then as many Senators and Congressmen in the Southern, Western and Mountain states as I can manage. ALL of their fathers and grandfathers carried knives everyday. In addition, we will make personal phone calls and send a faxed copy of our letter to the state office for the Senators and Congressman from our state with an attempt to make a personal contact with the Legislator.

Please email AKTI at akticustoms@gmail.com and tell us who you have contacted. This gives us weight when talking to Customs.

Best Regards

A.G. Russell, founder
A. G. Russell Knives

It is time consuming to email congresspersons but they are all that stand between us and the loss of all our freedoms.
 
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I can't get the link to open. But I have already mailed letters to my Senators and Reps.
 
I'm getting a time out on your letter.doc link also AG.
 
Mr. Russell,

Same here, "Time Out" error on my download attempts. Could you mirror it on the AKTI website?
 
I e-mailed them last night. Heck, I even e-mailed those who weren't in my district, but were still for my state. Why not.

Same thing with the time out btw Mr. Russell.
 
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E-mails already sent, though I'm sure it was a complete waste of time. They're all libtards.
 
offsetlover said:
I e-mailed them last night. Heck, I even e-mailed those who weren't in my district, but were still for my state. Why not.

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Because if you are not a constituent they don't read your email. Seriously.

They deal with the people the represent. Not people outside their scope.
 
Be advised that because of spamming campaigns, email carry little weight with politicians. Download the letter and snail-mail it.

I was able to download it and will personalize and send it this weekend.

Thank you, Mr. Russel for your help in this.
 
David Lowry said:
Because if you are not a constituent they don't read your email. Seriously.

They deal with the people the represent. Not people outside their scope.
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Point taken

knarfeng said:
Be advised that because of spamming campaigns, email carry little weight with politicians. Download the letter and snail-mail it.

I was able to download it and will personalize and send it this weekend.

Thank you, Mr. Russel for your help in this.
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Will do the same. Good idea.
 
knarfeng said:
Be advised that because of spamming campaigns, email carry little weight with politicians. Download the letter and snail-mail it.

I was able to download it and will personalize and send it this weekend.

Thank you, Mr. Russel for your help in this.
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Actually, you should use the contact form on the Senator or Representatives web page. Letters must now be irradiated (among other things) before they are delivered, so it can take several weeks for them to arrive.

If the issue is time sensitive (like this one.) the web form on the web page is probably the most effective way. Every senator / rep is different though, if you know that yours prefers snail mail, then by all means, snail mail!

Thanks,
Stephen Prater
A.G. Russell Knives
 
I sent out email, using the form provided on the individuals website to my Senators and Representative.
 
StephenP said:
Actually, you should use the contact form on the Senator or Representatives web page. Letters must now be irradiated (among other things) before they are delivered, so it can take several weeks for them to arrive.

If the issue is time sensitive (like this one.) the web form on the web page is probably the most effective way. Every senator / rep is different though, if you know that yours prefers snail mail, then by all means, snail mail!

Thanks,
Stephen Prater
A.G. Russell Knives
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I shall do both.
Thanks
 
I sent a simplified version that borrowed from A.G.'s letter:

Dear Senator McConnell:

Like most Kentuckians (including you, I am sure), I am a pocket knife owner. I am contacting you to ask you to oppose a recent decision by US Customs that I fear threatens our right to carry pocket knives in the future.

I am asking you to please oppose a U.S. Customs’ proposal to re-interpret the Switchblade Knife Act of 1958 – Customs proposes to criminalize modern Assisted-opening Knives by defining them as “switchblades” under the federal law. Criminalization of these useful tools is ridiculous. Although the law banning switchblade knives is more than 50 years old, these types of knives have never before been considered Switchblades. Assisted-opening knives are clearly different from those knives described in the Switchblade Act and there is no logical reason to twist the wording of existing laws to reclassify them as such.

This change in classification would make the mere possession of such knives a felony; thus rendering thousands of US citizens criminals under the federal law. Still, that's not the worst part, since the Customs ruling will initially only impact imported knives.

The proposed regulation change would set a dangerous precedent for domestic laws and rulings. My fear is that this is the first step down the slippery slope whereby all knives that can be easily opened with one hand (which includes the vast majority of pocket and hunting knives I own) will eventually be criminalized. I was afraid that the Obama administration would attempt to ban firearms, but I had no idea they would so quickly turn their attention to simple pocket knives instead!

I respectfully request that you please contact Secretary Napolitano of Homeland Security and Jayson P. Ahern, Acting Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. They have apparently directed Sandra L. Bell, Executive Director, Regulations and Rulings, Office of International Trade, to move forward with this policy change quickly and with a minimum of public input.

I realize that these are trying times and that the demands on your time are many, but you have always done a good job of fighting the craziness of Big Government intrusion before. Please give this matter the attention I feel it deserves.

Thank you,

Sean Elkins
 
Another round of e-mails sent to State politicos. The Governor got one too. Thanks AG and Doug:thumbup:
 
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