Last Tuesday, Peyton Knight, APC’s legislative director, testified on behalf of property rights advocates before the House Resources Committee’s Subcommittee on National Parks. The topic? Heritage Areas. It seems that several busy bodies in Congress can’t wait any longer to funnel pork into the coffers of green groups and the National Park Service at the expense of private property owners.

Here are the bills and their sponsors:

- H.R. 280: "The National Aviation Heritage Area" sponsored by Rep. David Hobson (R-OH)

-H.R. 1862: "The Oil Region National Heritage Area" sponsored by Rep. John Peterson (R-PA)

-H.R. 1618: "The Arabia Mountain National Heritage Area" sponsored by Denise Majette (D-GA)

-H.R. 1594: "The St. Croix National Heritage Area" sponsored by Rep. Donna Christensen (D-Virgin Islands)

Heritage Areas are de facto federal zoning. Federal money for Heritage Areas is administered through the National Park Service to preservation groups that are directed to "preserve everything within the Heritage Area that is relevant to the Heritage Area." In other words, the Park Service teams up with local greens to take away YOUR private property rights. Once an area becomes a Heritage Area, local control over zoning and land use is lost. (To read more on the dangers of Heritage Areas, go to: http://www.americanpolicy.org/prop/main.htm).

House Resources Committee Chairman, Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA), has done all he can to hold Heritage Areas at bay. But he desperately needs our help. Now, due to massive pressure from green groups, several Heritage Areas are beginning to creep forward. It’s time for property rights advocates to beat them back under the rock from which they crawled!

** Action to Take **

1. Call, write, and E-mail your Representative and tell him or her to fight against ALL Heritage Areas. Then, tell them to specifically reject the four Heritage Area bills mentioned above. Heritage Areas are unconstitutional expenditures that run roughshod over property rights and the ability of local communities to decide their own land use policies! Save local communities by rejecting Heritage Areas! Capitol Hill Switchboard: (202) 225-3121. Simply ask for your Representative by name. Or, you may Email your congressman by going to: http://www.americanpolicy.org/congresslinks.htm

2. Click here to send this APC Action Alert to up to TEN of your friends!

Rep. Ron Paul Takes Aim at Global Gun Control

Global socialists at the United Nations have been working feverishly for some time now to undermine just about every tenet of U.S. sovereignty—including the right to keep and bear arms. FINALLY, a member of Congress is directly addressing this threat from the U.N.

Just last week, Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) unveiled H.R. 3125, the "Right to Keep and Bear Arms Act of 2003." This bill would prohibit ANY U.S. tax dollars from being used to promote, support or aid any U.N. actions that could infringe upon the Second Amendment. The bill currently has 11 cosponsors, but needs more!

Upon introducing his bill, Rep. Paul stated:

"For more than a decade the United Nations has waged a campaign to undermine Second Amendment rights in America. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has called on members of the Security Council to address the "easy availability" of small arms and light weapons, by which he means all privately owned firearms. In response, the Security Council released a report calling for a comprehensive program of worldwide gun control, a report that admonishes the U.S. and praises the restrictive gun laws of Red China and France!… It’s no surprise that UN bureaucrats, who are predominantly European and third-world socialists, want to impose gun control worldwide. After all, these are the people who placed a huge anti-gun statue on American soil at UN headquarters in New York."

** Action to Take **

1. Call, write, and Email your Representative and tell them to support H.R. 3125, the "Right to Keep and Bear Arms Act of 2003." The U.N. has ZERO jurisdiction over the gun laws of the U.S. and U.S. taxpayers should not be forced to pay for U.N. schemes to undermine the Second Amendment! Capitol Hill Switchboard: (202) 225-3121. Simply ask for your Representative by name. Or, you may Email your congressman by going to: http://www.americanpolicy.org/congresslinks.htm

2. Click here to send this APC Action Alert to up to TEN of your friends!

House Votes NO to Tax Favoritism for
Green Land Trusts

We scored a BIG victory two weeks ago when the House of Representatives passed H.R. 7 (the "faith based" initiative) WITHOUT a provision that would have given green groups like the multibillion-dollar Nature Conservancy a special tax break when grabbing land. BUT THE FIGHT IS NOT OVER.

Recall that the Senate, in their version of H.R. 7, passed an amendment that would allow land trusts and federal agencies to offer a 25% capital gains tax break to those who sell to land to them. This would allow green groups to corner the market on land sales, as no one else would be able to compete with them. Property values would plummet and more and more land would be locked up in green and government hands.

Now, the House and Senate must conference and determine which version of the bill should go forward for President Bush to sign. Slick, green lobbyists are STORMING Capitol Hill in an attempt to make certain that the Senate version goes forward. WE MUST COUNTER THEIR ATTACKS!

For more details on the dangers of green tax favoritism, go to: http://www.americanpolicy.org/sledgehammer/main.htm

We’ve come so far. Don’t let this one get away!

**Action to Take**

1. Call, write, and Email your Representative and tell them to demand that the there be NO capital gains tax cut for those who sell property to land trusts or federal agencies in the faith based initiative! Capitol Hill Switchboard: (202) 225-3121. Simply ask for your Representative by name. Or, you may Email your congressman by going to: http://www.americanpolicy.org/congresslinks.htm

2. Call and write both of your Senators and tell them NO TAX FAVORITISM FOR LAND TRUSTS IN THE FAITH BASED INITIATIVE! Senate Switchboard: (202) 224-3121. Simply ask for your Senator by name.

3. Click here to send this APC Action Alert to up to TEN of your friends!

*Note: 2003 is showing itself to be a vital year for constitutional liberty. Good patriots are defending our freedoms on many different fronts. We want to make APC’s Action Alert System the most effective in the nation. If you know of activists who should be receiving these alerts—especially those with distribution lists of their own—please have them contact us at via feedback form or fax us at: (540) 341-8917.
Thank you.