There’s a movement in Congress to pass something called the Stop Online Piracy Act or SOPA. It’s a bill that would ostensibly protect America’s intellectual property, stopping the sale of counterfeit goods and shutting down illegal file sharing. We here at TTAG understand how hard it is to generate original content and the need to protect that property. But like much legislation that has been passed against firearms owners in the last 40 years SOPA is a bill that reaches too far. If it passes websites could be blocked without any due process and no real way to appeal the decision, the first step on the slippery slope to the kind of censorship that is seen in China these days. Today a number of websites have been blacked out in protest of this bill, and while we would love to join them there’s just too much news that we need to report on. So in exchange for us staying open today please take five minutes to go to this website and urge your representative to do the right thing by stopping this bill.
The first amendment is the most important piece of language ever authored by Man, and we need to preserve, protect and defend it at all costs. Even if it means inconveniencing yourself for a few minutes today.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled SHOT show madness.