WASHINGTON - November 12 - Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, sent a letter to Senator Richard Burr (N.C.) today, responding to the Senator's recent attack on Helmke and the Brady Campaign because of comments about his bill that would put guns in the hands of thousands of veterans previously determined to present sufficient risk that they should be denied firearms.  In his letter, Helmke calls for Sen. Burr to withdraw his bill.

• Read Paul Helmke's original comments here: http://www.bradycampaign.org/media/press/view/1193
• Read Senator Burr's comments here: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/11/06/senator-accuses-anti-gun-group-exploiting-fort-hood-massacre
• Read today's letter from Paul Helmke here: http://www.bradycampaign.org/xshare/pdf/letters/S-669-Burr-PaulHelmke.pdf

An excerpt from Helmke's letter is here:

[W]e referenced our opposition to your bill, S.669, to automatically permit gun possession by over 100,000 veterans found by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Justice Department to be ineligible to possess firearms under current federal law.  Your bill would allow veterans determined to be 'mentally incapacitated, deemed mentally incompetent, or experiencing an extended loss of consciousness' to possess firearms by removing their names from the Brady Law's National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).

Contrary to your reported assertion that our opposition to your bill is a matter of my 'personal agenda,' or to secure some 'personal triumph,' the issue is the safety of our veterans, their families, and the nation they have so valiantly served.  In the wake of a mass shooting committed by a serviceman on a heavily-fortified Army base, it is hardly 'exploitive' to have an honest debate about your proposal to allow guns in the hands of thousands of individuals already determined to present sufficient risk that they should be denied firearms.