By Larry Pratt

Let me fully disclose my feelings about America Online. I do not like the company. I do not like its politics, and I do not like the service.

When I had America Online I frequently found it impossible to download big programs. They would take so long that the little dialog box would pop up and tell me when I wasn't looking that I had not been using the computer and would I like to stay connected? By the time I looked at the screen again, I was offline.

I concluded that America Online would be better named America Offline. So, I turned it off permanently.

Now I am urging you to do the same. Even if you like the quality of their service. By patronizing AOL you are aiding and abetting the enemy.

Please let me explain.

Reports are frequently received at Gun Owners of America that AOL filters out pro-Second Amendment websites.

Now, AOL has decided to escalate their war against our firearms freedoms. The Ogden, Utah, office has fired three men pretty much because they are gun owners.

Luke Hansen, Paul Carlson and Jason Melling were well aware of the anti-self defense prohibition of guns in their workplace at AOL. They respected this dangerous workplace requirement.

However, one day they were in the parking lot, which is leased, not owned, by AOL. On their own time, they were seen transferring firearms from one trunk to another for an expedition to the shooting range.

Because of that, they were fired. The three are now in court, but more should be done to support these three freedom fighters.

Sarah Thompson, a medical doctor and director of the Utah Gun Owners Alliance has called for a boycott of AOL. I agree.

I would urge that you do two things.

Contact the folks at keepandbeararms.com and sign up for their internet access service. If all you want is e-mail, that is free. The keepandbeararms.com Internet service is competitively priced with AOL and is for unlimited service.

Then, call to cancel your AOL service so that you can tell an AOL representative why they are losing your business. Be polite, but be firm. You could also call the AOL national representative in Northern Virginia who is covering this issue, Nicholas Graham, and tell him what you have done. His number is 1-703-265-1746.

You might ask him if his policy would have stopped the killing of the seven people in the Wakefield, Mass., dot-com office.

This is a "two-fer," folks; you're helping a great group at keepandbeararms.com (where you ought to be checking every day for firearms related news, anyway) and no longer will you be enriching a rabidly anti-gun company.

Larry Pratt is executive director of Gun Owners of America.