From: "David Sagers" Subject: Fwd: Ron Paul Date: 01 Oct 1998 11:13:00 -0600 During election season we all receive a good deal of beg mail. Last night = I received one from Rep. Ron Paul. Appears he is being targeted by the = left because of his conservative views and activism. Many gun owners and conservatives believe that Ron Paul is one guy we = really need to keep. If you are interested in making a contribution, the = address is: Committee to Re-elect Ron Paul 837 W. Plantation Dr. Clute, TX 77531 1-800-RON PAUL http://Ron.Paul.org/=20 Corporate contributions prohibited. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: chardy@ES.COM (Charles Hardy) Subject: [Vin_Suprynowicz@lvrj.com: Oct. 7 column - John Ross] Date: 06 Oct 1998 10:40:17 -0600 ----BEGIN FORWARDED MESSGE---- FROM MOUNTAIN MEDIA FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DATED OCT. 7, 1998 THE LIBERTARIAN, By Vin Suprynowicz Now that's a Democrat of a different color I ran into John Ross at the Soldier of Fortune Expo in Las Vegas the other day. John's masterful novel of the ongoing persecution of America's gun culture, "Unintended Consequences," is now entering its fourth printing at little Acuracy Press, having sold 30,000 copies despite a virtual cone of silence lowered by the nation's libraries and mainstream book reviewers. The St. Louis investment adviser also managed to win the Democratic primary this summer, and is now the official challenger to incumbent Jim Talent in Missouri's Second Congressional District. With perhaps $75,000 to pit against the incumbent's $1 million -- in a year when Bill Clinton's dalliances are widely expected to keep Democrats home in droves -- Ross isn't bold enough to predict victory. Still, he's gotten a lot further than he did in 1996, and he figures the Year 2000 may be the charm. He's also a bit testy about Missouri media who refuse to talk to him about anything but guns. "Everyone knows where I stand on that," says Ross, who want the people of Missouri (one of the few states where a "civilian" can't carry a concealed weapon under any circumstances) to have "the same firearms freedoms as anyone else." Winding up an interview with a reporter for the weekly Riverfront Times recently, "I asked the reporter, 'Aren't you going to ask me about anything else?' and he said 'No, the editor says this is the story, a gun guy running for Congress.' I made him write down my positions on some other issues, but they relegated all of those to one little paragraph two inches long. Then his readers gave the editor hell, saying they wanted to know where this guy stood on the other issues." Why a Democrat? Ross explains his uncle was Harry Truman's press secretary, that political afifliations run deep in his part of the country. Besides, he contends, his pro-choice views fit in with the Democrats'. "The incumbent wants to make abortion a federal crime, but if you ban RU-486, people are still going to get it. At that point, any woman who has a miscarriage will be under suspicion of committing a federal felony. Can you imagine how big a police force we'd need to enforce that?" The GOP has been a tremendous flop at giving us a smaller government that interferes less in our lives, Ross argues. "With the Republican Congress we're eliminated (start ital)no(end ital) federal programs or departments. And the budget is (start ital)bigger(end ital) than it was in 1993. ... "The first thing I would do is disarm any tax or regulatory agencies. The BATF should do what the FCC has done with HAM radio licenses -- they've done things to encourage people to get licenses and pay their taxes. Let's have them encourage people to engage in legitimate business. They don't need guns to go see if Anheuser-Busch or Philip Morris have paid their taxes; it's the militarized nature of tax enforcement that is the problem. ... "I'd love to see federal funds spent on (shooting) range creation. In Switzerland every city above a certain size has to have a public, 300-meter rifle range; that would be a wonderful benefit to the populace. Having Americans as a group be competent and safe and skilled in the use of firearms would benefit the entire country. ... "On Social Security, after you've paid in for 20 years, I'd allow young people to opt out. You'd never get any benefits, but you'd never have to pay in again, either. That program is in no way shape or form based on investment principles. The way it's set up puts it at the mercy of birthrate and longevity." But what about the needy, people who get injured or fritter way their earnings and simply have nothing left to live on? "We need to resist being swayed by socialist arguments that have proved to be failures. What they should (start ital)not(end ital) be free to do is put a gun to someone's head and force them to help this guy who lost his leg." I told Ross he sounded like a Libertarian. "The Libertarian Party has removed itself from political reality, and has become a debating society." Ross says he will have enough funds to air a TV ad this fall: I come on and ask, "Have you ever said 'I want more federal regulations, more restrictions, higher taxes?' No? Well neither have I. I'm John Ross, and I'm running for Congress." Contributions are welcome at Ross for Congress, 7912 Bonhomme, Suite 375, Clayton, MO 63105. # # # It was also a pleasure to chat with Randy Weaver and his daughter Sara at the Soldier of Fortune Expo (where the magazine's "Humanitarian" award this year went to the richly-deserving retired Gen. Paul Tibbets, who one day in 1945 saved millions of lives, both American and Japanese, with a single mission of his B-29 Stratofortress, the "Enola Gay.") Sara Weaver is now a full-grown young lady of 23, who seems to have come through the trauma best known to the nation as "Ruby Ridge" with a better outlook than could reasonably be expected. Finishing high school in Iowa, she found she missed the mountains, and reports she and her fiance, David Cooper, have now relocated the remaining Weaver clan to Montana. Randy and Sara were in Las Vegas to promote their first-hand account of the murders of Vicky and Sammy Weaver at the hands of federal marshals and FBI snipers in Idaho in August of 1992. "The Federal Siege at Ruby Ridge," a modest 170-page paperback, sells for $16.95 -- $21.95 postpaid -- through Bookmaster, P.O. Box 388, Ashland, Ohio 44805; tel. 800-266-5564. Those interested in this watershed event on America's path to becoming a police state will want a copy of the book for the raw power of the events as recalled in the victims' own words. (What? The Weavers weren't "victims"? Is that why the federal government shelled out $3.1 million to compensate them for the wrongful death of their wife and mother, son and brother ... while a jury of 12 unanimously acquitted Randy and his friend, Kevin Harris, of any wrongdoing in the events of August, 1992, including the death of Marshal William Degan?) But it should be noted this book is a far cry from a comprehensive history of those events of the summer of 1992. For that, Sara Weaver agrees that readers would be well advised to pick up a copy of "Ambush at Ruby Ridge," by Alan Bock of the Orange County Register. Vin Suprynowicz is the assistant editorial page editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Readers may contact him via e-mail at vin@lvrj.com. *** Vin Suprynowicz, vin@lvrj.com The evils of tyranny are rarely seen but by him who resists it. -- John Hay, 1872 The most difficult struggle of all is the one within ourselves. Let us not get accustomed and adjusted to these conditions. The one who adjusts ceases to discriminate between good and evil. He becomes a slave in body and soul. Whatever may happen to you, remember always: Don't adjust! Revolt against the reality! -- Mordechai Anielewicz, Warsaw, 1943 * * * ----END FORWARDED MESSAGE---- -- Charles C. Hardy | If my employer has an opinion on | these things I'm fairly certain 801.588.7200 (work) | I'm not the one he'd have express it. LOCK, STOCK, AND BARREL - This phrase, denoting the whole thing, the entirety of it all, is an old expression, used as early as the American Revolutionary War. It comes from the three principle parts of a [muzzle loading] firearm: the barrel, "the pipe down which the bullets are fired," the lock, "the firing mechanism," and the stock, "the wooden handle to which the other parts are attached." Together, lock, stock and barrel referred to the entire gun and the phrase are now used to suggest the whole of anything. -- M.T. Wyllyamz; 1992; published by Price, Stern, Sloan, Los Angeles. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: scott.bergeson@ucs.org (SCOTT BERGESON) Subject: John Ross - Democrat? Date: 07 Oct 1998 18:31:00 -0700 .#200 FROM MOUNTAIN MEDIA FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DATED OCT. 7, 1998 THE LIBERTARIAN, By Vin Suprynowicz Now that's a Democrat of a different color I ran into John Ross at the Soldier of Fortune Expo in Las Vegas the other day. John's masterful novel of the ongoing persecution of America's gun culture, "Unintended Consequences," is now entering its fourth printing at little Acuracy Press, having sold 30,000 copies despite a virtual cone of silence lowered by the nation's libraries and mainstream book reviewers. The St. Louis investment adviser also managed to win the Democratic primary this summer, and is now the official challenger to incumbent Jim Talent in Missouri's Second Congressional District. With perhaps $75,000 to pit against the incumbent's $1 million -- in a year when Bill Clinton's dalliances are widely expected to keep Democrats home in droves -- Ross isn't bold enough to predict victory. Still, he's gotten a lot further than he did in 1996, and he figures the Year 2000 may be the charm. He's also a bit testy about Missouri media who refuse to talk to him about anything but guns. "Everyone knows where I stand on that," says Ross, who want the people of Missouri (one of the few states where a "civilian" can't carry a concealed weapon under any circumstances) to have "the same firearms freedoms as anyone else." Winding up an interview with a reporter for the weekly Riverfront Times recently, "I asked the reporter, 'Aren't you going to ask me about anything else?' and he said 'No, the editor says this is the story, a gun guy running for Congress.' I made him write down my positions on some other issues, but they relegated all of those to one little paragraph two inches long. Then his readers gave the editor hell, saying they wanted to know where this guy stood on the other issues." Why a Democrat? Ross explains his uncle was Harry Truman's press secretary, that political afifliations run deep in his part of the country. Besides, he contends, his pro-choice views fit in with the Democrats'. "The incumbent wants to make abortion a federal crime, but if you ban RU-486, people are still going to get it. At that point, any woman who has a miscarriage will be under suspicion of committing a federal felony. Can you imagine how big a police force we'd need to enforce that?" The GOP has been a tremendous flop at giving us a smaller government that interferes less in our lives, Ross argues. "With the Republican Congress we're eliminated (start ital)no(end ital) federal programs or departments. And the budget is (start ital)bigger(end ital) than it was in 1993. ... "The first thing I would do is disarm any tax or regulatory agencies. The BATF should do what the FCC has done with HAM radio licenses -- they've done things to encourage people to get licenses and pay their taxes. Let's have them encourage people to engage in legitimate business. They don't need guns to go see if Anheuser-Busch or Philip Morris have paid their taxes; it's the militarized nature of tax enforcement that is the problem. ... "I'd love to see federal funds spent on (shooting) range creation. In Switzerland every city above a certain size has to have a public, 300-meter rifle range; that would be a wonderful benefit to the populace. Having Americans as a group be competent and safe and skilled in the use of firearms would benefit the entire country. ... "On Social Security, after you've paid in for 20 years, I'd allow young people to opt out. You'd never get any benefits, but you'd never have to pay in again, either. That program is in no way shape or form based on investment principles. The way it's set up puts it at the mercy of birthrate and longevity." But what about the needy, people who get injured or fritter way their earnings and simply have nothing left to live on? "We need to resist being swayed by socialist arguments that have proved to be failures. What they should (start ital)not(end ital) be free to do is put a gun to someone's head and force them to help this guy who lost his leg." I told Ross he sounded like a Libertarian. "The Libertarian Party has removed itself from political reality, and has become a debating society." Ross says he will have enough funds to air a TV ad this fall: I come on and ask, "Have you ever said 'I want more federal regulations, more restrictions, higher taxes?' No? Well neither have I. I'm John Ross, and I'm running for Congress." Contributions are welcome at Ross for Congress, 7912 Bonhomme, Suite 375, Clayton, MO 63105. Vin Suprynowicz, vin@lvrj.com The evils of tyranny are rarely seen but by him who resists it. -- John Hay, 1872 The most difficult struggle of all is the one within ourselves. Let us not get accustomed and adjusted to these conditions. The one who adjusts ceases to discriminate between good and evil. He becomes a slave in body and soul. Whatever may happen to you, remember always: Don't adjust! Revolt against the reality! -- Mordechai Anielewicz, Warsaw, 1943 --- þ SPEED 2.00 [NR] þ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: chardy@ES.COM (Charles Hardy) Subject: [Vin_Suprynowicz@lvrj.com: Oct. 14 column - gun letter] Date: 08 Oct 1998 10:39:24 -0600 ----BEGIN FORWARDED MESSGE---- FROM MOUNTAIN MEDIA FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DATED OCT. 14, 1998 THE LIBERTARIAN, By Vin Suprynowicz Opening the October mailbag Though I usually distrust mail written under pseudonyms, the author of a letter which poured in recently in response to one of my columns on firearms rights is probably correct to worry that his musings might attract the unwanted attention of sundry G-men. So I withhold his name while reproducing the following, sobering missive: # # # Vin -- Your Oct. 2 commentary "And every other terrible implement of the soldier" hit home with me. I am deeply bothered by the felony penalties hinging on trivial features of a rifle. I am currently assembling an StG58, an obsolete and beautiful Austrian rifle that is a member of the FAL family. Austria no longer has use for the things, and is selling them off to U.S. importers. I bought a complete rifle, minus the receiver, which had been sawed off prior to importation as required by the BATF. Its stub was left attached to the barrel. I bought a brand new U.S.-made receiver in compliance with all local, state and federal laws. So far, so good. But it gets complicated once I mate the receiver to the rest of the rifle. here is a minefield of laws and regulations, and my future well-being hinges on their trivialities. I must remove the flash hider. And then I must either saw the threaded end off the barrel, or cover it with a "muzzle brake"... but only if I solder the muzzle brake in place with solder having a melting point of 1100 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. If I use solder with a melting point of 1000 degrees F, for example, it's off to jail with me. Or, I could pin the muzzle brake in place. But only if the pin is in a "blind" hole that doesn't reach through to the other side. And only if the pin is strong enough to withstand the shearing torque specified by the BATF, who will try to unscrew the muzzle brake to see if it is attached in a "legal" manner. If it unscrews with 120 foot-pounds of torque, I'm a felon. If it unscrews with 130 foot-pounds, I'm free. (I made up the torque numbers - I haven't been able to find out what the real ones are. They weren't in the "assault weapon" ban that Clinton signed. Nor was anything about muzzle brake attachment methods). Also, the muzzle brake must have a diameter greater than 22 millimeters. Why, you may ask? Because back when Austria used this rifle, they had grenades that would slide over the flash hider. A blank cartridge was then fired in the rifle, launching the grenade. So, depending on the diameter of my muzzle brake, I may, or may not, have replaced the original "grenade launcher" with a brand new "grenade launcher." Please don't ask where I might possibly obtain an obsolete Austrian grenade. And please don't ask why I am allowed to put a muzzle brake of "grenade launcher" diameter on any other rifle but the StG58. And I must replace many of the original, authentic and beautifully-made parts on the rifle with U.S.-made equivalents that look and operate just like the old ones. Why? Because if I don't, I will have assembled a "non-sporting" (start ital)imported(end ital) rifle and could be thrown in jail. By substituting enough U.S.-made parts, it becomes a "non-sporting" (start ital)U.S.-made(end ital) rifle and is perfectly legal. How do I tell if this rifle, or any other, is "non-sporting?" Simple. According to the law, if it is "not particularly suited for sporting purposes." No ambiguities there. The list of issues goes on and on. I am in communication with other collectors and shooters who are in similar fixes. We agonize over the legal details, sharing hearsay and rumors in valiant attempts to remain in compliance with the BATF's shifting and largely undocumented interpretations of the laws. What constitutes a pistol grip that "protrudes prominently" from the gun? What counts as a "thumbhole stock" and what doesn't? What if I put a plain, unthreaded barrel on the rifle, and its (outside) diameter happens to be the same as that of the illegal "grenade launcher"? We don't know. My opinion is that we are fools. The only reason I wade through the morass of obscure legalities is that everyone else does so, too. If we all simply ignored the absurdities, we would be free. They can't jail us all. For that matter, I wish they (start ital)would(end ital) try to jail someone. But they never do. Given a feeble excuse of the sort mentioned, the BATF will break into your home and confiscate anything resembling a firearm, firearm accessory, and probably your computer and filing cabinet to boot. But they will press no charges. They (start ital)know(end ital) the laws are absurd. They (start ital)know(end ital) there is no jury in the country that will send you to jail because one part on your rifle was attached with 1000 F solder instead of 1100 F solder, or because the rifle had one too few U.S.-made parts on it. They'll just ransack your house, seize your property, and ruin your life. You will not get your day in court. We should ignore them, but who will be the first to show up at the rifle range with a "flash hider"/"grenade launcher" on his rifle? Not me. I could lose my property and my life could be destroyed. Who, then, will lead the way? No one. What are the odds of (start ital)everyone(end ital) defying the laws, en masse, starting on a pre-arranged date? Zero. And that is the beauty of the system. The screws are tightened gradually, so people are pushed over the edge and into defiance one at a time, and are thus easily vanquished. We see the news items in the paper. "Illegal weapons cache seized." Perhaps he was the guy that had a muzzle brake with the wrong diameter, and lost everything. "Assault Weapon Found in Home." Was he the poor guy who had a bayonet lug on a rifle whose serial number implied that it was probably built the day (start ital)after(end ital) Clinton signed the celebrated Feinstein "assault weapon" ban? His neighbor, whose rifle was built the day before, was left unmolested, being a fine law-abiding citizen, you see. It's more than the technicalities of gun regulations. Think of "standoffs." One person hits the limit of tolerance for bull and quits playing the game. He starts living in defiance of the crushing burden of the laws and regulations under which we are all groaning. Now he's a "criminal" and his place is surrounded by the thin blue line for a few days until he's hauled off, shot, or burned. Each person has a different limit, and we hit them at different times, easily taken out by the authorities singly or in tiny groups. There will never be widespread open revolt. Modern bureaucracies have learned how to avoid that. I have never spoken my mind in public on this subject. I don't talk about this on Internet bulletin boards, or in e-mail. I am afraid to. I'm worried about sending this letter to you, even under a pseudonym. I'm not a newspaper editor. If my words attract the attention of the wrong people I could be the next faceless owner of an "illegal arms cache" that ends up as a news item at the bottom page 31. ... Please feel free to use any of this material in any way you see fit. "Both oligarch and tyrant mistrust the people, and therefore deprive them of their arms." -- Aristotle, "Politics" Vin Suprynowicz is the assistant editorial page editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Readers may contact him via e-mail at vin@lvrj.com. *** Vin Suprynowicz, vin@lvrj.com The evils of tyranny are rarely seen but by him who resists it. -- John Hay, 1872 The most difficult struggle of all is the one within ourselves. Let us not get accustomed and adjusted to these conditions. The one who adjusts ceases to discriminate between good and evil. He becomes a slave in body and soul. Whatever may happen to you, remember always: Don't adjust! Revolt against the reality! -- Mordechai Anielewicz, Warsaw, 1943 * * * ----END FORWARDED MESSAGE---- -- Charles C. Hardy | If my employer has an opinion on | these things I'm fairly certain 801.588.7200 (work) | I'm not the one he'd have express it. "The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not infringed; a well armed, and well regulated militia being the best security of a free country: but no person religiously scrupulous of bearing arms shall be compelled to render military service in person." - [This was Madison's original proposal for the "Second Amendment" -- James Madison, I Annuals of Congress 434 (June 8, 1789). - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: chardy@ES.COM (Charles Hardy) Subject: [Vin_Suprynowicz@lvrj.com: Oct 2 column - take them shooting] Date: 08 Oct 1998 11:25:01 -0600 ----BEGIN FORWARDED MESSGE---- FROM MOUNTAIN MEDIA FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DATED OCT. 2, 1998 THE LIBERTARIAN, By Vin Suprynowicz 'And every other terrible implement of the soldier' One of the great pleasures of collecting and restoring old firearms is hauling them out to the range and letting a visitor find out just how good some of our grandfathers' military engineering really was. It can be an even greater pleasure to introduce someone who's previously been a "Second Amendment agnostic" to the exhilaration that comes with learning how to safely and effectively handle these historic tools of freedom. Suddenly some appreciation dawns of what it must have been like to stand with the Minutemen on that town green in Lexington, or to dig the mud or snow out of your action, slam in a clip, and carefully squeeze off eight aimed rounds of 30.06 from the unstoppable Garand. These old-timers aren't dainty target rifles. You slam them closed with the butt of your hand. The weight of steel across your arms, the crack of bullets breaking the sound barrier (even through modern ear protection) are sobering. Then, once the newcomer develops that cake-eating grin that comes when you confirm it was him -- not the wind -- that really knocked down those cans at 60 yards, you point waaaay down the wash, and explain that the average infantryman was expected to hit a man-sized target over there, at 300 yards ... that a marksman was expected to do so at 800. "You mean you can hit something out (start ital)there(end ital)? I can't even (start ital)see(end ital) what's out there." "Yes. And I also mean that any trained soldier out there ... can hit you." Suddenly all this talk about banning "assault rifles" with "magazines that hold more than 10 rounds," or rifles with bayonet lugs or flash hiders (yes, that's why that collector's piece you're holding has been emasculated with a hacksaw, like an antique table imported with only three legs) start to come into focus. "They made them import this SKS without a bayonet? But they're obviously designed to carry the folding bayonet, like this older one here. Without it the cleaning rod rattles around and falls out. And how the heck does taking off the bayonet make the weapon any less deadly in a shoot-out? Who thinks up this stuff?" Any American can still learn to shoot safely, and then teach one more person, and then another. It's wonderfully subversive. Recently, a fellow who I took out was moved to recall that his father had qualified as a marksman in the army, but had died before he was able to teach his son that skill. So pleased was he to start re-learning his father's skill that he insisted on buying me dinner, to compensate me for my ammo costs. Two weeks later, the lad who grew up without a father won the Republican primary, and now stands a good chance of becoming our next congressman. Good luck selling your victim-disarmament bill of goods to him now, Ms. Feinstein, Mr. Schumer. # # # Of course, the downside of hauling a collection of arms out to the range always faced you that evening, when a half-dozen rifles leaned waiting against the wall, and you started figuring how long you were about to spend with cleaning rods, powder solvent, jags and patches. (And if you find a woman who loves the smell of Hoppe's powder solvent in her living room, fellows, marry her straight off.) Since this has been the fate of the rifleman for centuries, I will admit it was with the standard "Yeah, right" that I first noticed an ad in one of the firearms tabloids a few months back for a new product modestly named the "World's Fastest Gun Bore Cleaner," a patented rayon pull-through cord with phosphor-bronze bristles braided right into the front. Everyone knows the only way to clean a rifle barrel is to brush it out with a cleaning rod, run through cotton patches soaked in solvent, and then run through dry patches to remove the black soot, repeating again and again in a semi-hypnotic ritual of devotional labor. Pull some fancy cord once through the gun and rack it away? Ha! Then I dropped by the Soldier of Fortune Expo here in Las Vegas last month, and spotted a table full of these things, manned by the inventor, who explained how he got to wondering -- as he was clearing out some varmints in the frozen wilds of Idaho, cold enough to freeze your fingers to the barrel -- why in this day of space-age materials no one had invented a device that would clean a rifle barrel with one pull, no bent or broken steel rods to haul around, no gouging of the rifle's delicate crown, no chemicals. I bought one of the things -- which you can roll up and carry in your shirt pocket -- and Bruce Hedge made me a gift of a second one to fit my pistols (the Bore Cleaner is sized precisely by caliber), my total "compensation" for this rare and unsolicited product endorsement. Because, you see, they work. After that precision-sized brush stutters through (you want it to stutter -- that means the bristles aren't lying over sideways because they're too long), the braided cord swipes your lands and grooves with a surface area equivalent to 160 cotton patches. And when the cord is dirty, you just wash it out in soapy water, to the tune of 200 to 500 uses. Mr. Hedge's biggest problem? Other than finding enough salesmen to move his product, and butting up against some out-of-date military specs that are so far keeping our men in uniform from capitalizing on this breakthrough, that would be "setting aside the $100,000 we figure we're going to need to protect the patent." As the man said, "This changes everything." The "World's Fastest Gun Bore Cleaner" is from National Tech-Labs, 5200 Sawyer, Suite H, Boise, Idaho 83714; tel. 208-345-5674. If you shoot, you want some. # # # "Congress have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, (start ital)and every other terrible implement of the soldier(end ital), are the birth-right of an American." -- Tench Coxe, prominent Federalist and friend of James Madison, The Pennsylvania Gazette, Feb. 20, 1788. Vin Suprynowicz is the assistant editorial page editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Readers may contact him via e-mail at vin@lvrj.com. *** Vin Suprynowicz, vin@lvrj.com The evils of tyranny are rarely seen but by him who resists it. -- John Hay, 1872 The most difficult struggle of all is the one within ourselves. Let us not get accustomed and adjusted to these conditions. The one who adjusts ceases to discriminate between good and evil. He becomes a slave in body and soul. Whatever may happen to you, remember always: Don't adjust! Revolt against the reality! -- Mordechai Anielewicz, Warsaw, 1943 * * * ----END FORWARDED MESSAGE---- -- Charles C. Hardy | If my employer has an opinion on | these things I'm fairly certain 801.588.7200 (work) | I'm not the one he'd have express it. "The care of every man's soul belongs to himself. But what if he neglect the care of it? Well what if he neglect the care of his health or his estate, which would more nearly relate to the state. Will the magistrate make a law that he not be poor or sick? Laws provide against injury from others; but not from ourselves. God himself will not save men against their wills." -- Thomas Jefferson- October 1776 - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "David Sagers" Subject: Fwd: Official Petition to Impeach Date: 08 Oct 1998 17:22:07 -0600 Received: from wvc ([204.246.130.34]) by icarus.ci.west-valley.ut.us; Thu, 08 Oct 1998 17:14:08 -0600 Received: from fs1.mainstream.net by wvc (SMI-8.6/SMI-SVR4) id RAA03145; Thu, 8 Oct 1998 17:01:48 -0600 Received: (from smap@localhost) by fs1.mainstream.net (8.8.8/8.7.3) id TAA02166; Thu, 8 Oct 1998 19:12:47 -0400 (EDT) Received: from localhost(127.0.0.1) by fs1.mainstream.net via smap (V1.3) id sma001928; Thu Oct 8 19:08:18 1998 Message-Id: Errors-To: listproc@mainstream.com Reply-To: KGrubb@carnival.com Originator: noban@mainstream.net Sender: noban@Mainstream.net Precedence: bulk X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0 -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas X-Comment: Anti-Gun-Ban list Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: inline You may add your name to The Official Petition to Impeach the President on Tuesday, November 3, 1998. Please note this on your calendars. Ken Grubb Miami, FL - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: scott.bergeson@ucs.org (SCOTT BERGESON) Subject: Man shot to death at Taft gun shop Date: 09 Oct 1998 20:57:00 -0700 ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Reply-To: APFN@netbox.com http://www.bakersfield.com/top/i--1304325052.asp The Bakersfield Californian Man shot to death at Taft gun shop Filed: October 7, 1998 By FRED LUDWIG Californian staff writer e-mail: fludwig@bakersfield.com Kern County sheriff's officials refused to release details about a gun shop owner apparently killed Wednesday in Taft by police. Taft residents contacted by The Californian identified the victim as Darryl Howell, although that could not be confirmed. Law enforcement officials refused to confirm the identification. The fatal shooting was connected with an attempt by U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents to serve a search warrant, said Sheriff Carl Sparks. The Sheriff's Department is the lead agency investigating the shooting, Sparks said. Sparks said officials were withholding comment because details of the incident were unclear. Police officials typically release preliminary conclusions and available facts while investigations are ongoing. "There will be enough suspicion about this incident without releasing information that was not really correct," Sparks said. A press conference will be held at 2 p.m. today to provide details of the incident, Sparks said. "ATF is bringing in some of (its) high-level people," Sparks said. "They want to be there when the press conference is done." Eunice Howell, Howell's mother, said about 7:30 p.m. she was disappointed because officials had given her no official notice of the incident. "I just know my son is dead," she said. Taft resident Doug Benc said he has been a customer of Howell's store, and has known him informally for about a year and a half. Benc said he didn't know what happened Wednesday, but Howell seemed like a nice, law-abiding man. Bakersfield resident Kerry Bulls teaches corrections and firearms classes for Taft College and refers students to the gun shop. Bulls said he has seen Howell check firearms regulations if not sure about their provisions. "He was the type of person that was very meticulous on regulations regarding the sale of firearms," Bulls said. ### **COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: scott.bergeson@ucs.org (SCOTT BERGESON) Subject: BATF RAID IN TAFT, CA Date: 09 Oct 1998 20:57:00 -0700 ---------- Forwarded message ---------- UPDATE ON OCTOBER 7, BATF RAID IN TAFT, CA.: In a news conference held at 2 PM on October 8, 1998, the Kern County Sheriff's Department stated that they had entered the gun shop of Taft resident Darryl Howell to serve a search warrant. They were trying to restrain Howell when he broke free, got a .45 revolver from his counter and put it in his mouth and committed suicide. Thereupon, Taft Policeman (?) Whiting shot Howell three times. NO ILLEGAL GUNS AND CERTAINLY NO MACHINE GUN WAS FOUND. SO, we are to believe tha Howell was just waiting for them to raid his shop so he could commit suicide?????? IF YOU BELIEVE THAT ONE, THEN YOU MUST BELIEVE THAT LEE HARVEY OSWALD SHOT KENNEDY ALL BY HIMSELF. Howell had patriotic signs and bumper stickers displayed in his shop. Please don't let his death be in vain. Call and write to everyone that you can, where will we draw the line??? Blockbuster Video has an old film starring Spencer Tracy, called "THE SEVENTH CROSS" about a pamphleteer who escapes from a concentration camp in 1937 0r 38. He goes back to his neighborhood to tell the people what's going on and no one wants to hear or believe that the impending tragedy of the NAZIs is coming.......does this sound like us patriots??? GOD BLESS THE REPUBLIC, DEATH TO THE NEW WORLD ODOR BRENDA LYLES Bakersfield Californian http://www.bakersfield.com/ Friends skeptical of official account October 8, 1998 http://www.bakersfield.com/top/i--1304241419.asp By CHRISTINE L. PETERSON Californian staff writer e-mail: cpeterson@bakersfield.com Disbelief permeated the tight-knit communities of Taft and Ford City Thursday as residents and friends of Darryl Howell questioned law enforcement's account of his death in his gun shop. The Kern County Sheriff Department's version of the events -- that the gun shop owner grabbed a loaded .45-caliber handgun Wednesday, struggled with officers and then placed the barrel in his mouth and pulled the trigger -- just didn't fit with what they knew of the father of two. Sheriff's officials said a Taft police officer, not knowing where the expended round went, immediately fired three rounds that struck Howell, 45, on the right side of his body. He died at the scene. "Everyone in Taft knows this is stupid," said Shannon Ong, 34, Howell's niece. "They think the police officers are trying to make it seem like he was a criminal." Ong believes there could be nothing further from the truth -- that the man who grew up in Taft and graduated from Taft Union High School where yearbooks say he played football and was in the band was a wonderful man who ran an upstanding business. While at least one family member and friends said Howell was vocal in support of gun rights, they did not believe he would condone any illegal behavior or sell illegal firearms. "The way that press release makes him sound, well, he just would have never done anything like that," Ong said after reading a copy of a sheriff's news release on the incident. ATF agents went to Alpha Omega Surplus and Supplies Store as part of a four-year firearms trafficking investigation, said ATF special agent Tracy Hite. She said ATF was assisted in serving a warrant by the Taft Police Department and Kern County Sheriff's Department. "This was a lengthy investigation that led us to several locations," Hite said, explaining that there were search warrants for five locations and arrest warrants for three people in Kern County. Ong estimated her uncle had the business for 15 to 20 years, first within Taft city limits and then in the county. At the business Thursday, some family members and friends gathered at the shop. A bumper sticker on a window bore the message: "Only tyrants and criminals fear honest armed citizens." Recorded programs blared from speakers outside the shop. "I just don't understand it," said friend Jamie Walchock. She said that while she didn't share Howell's support of guns, she respected him because he looked on the bright side of life, listened to and worked with people on their problems and was satisfied with making ends meet. She said Howell talked about moving. "In the 12 years I have known him, I have never seen him upset," Walchock said. To her, Howell was a law-abiding citizen; she said he didn't like helmets so he stopped riding his motorcycle when the helmet law went into effect. "I know in a million years he wouldn't ever shoot himself or lunge at a police officer," Walchock said. Ken Bishop, who would sometimes visit Howell at his shop, said Howell was "somewhat of a patriot" and would share his opinions about guns. He said that law enforcement's statement that Howell had illegal firearms seems "off the wall." Mike Hodges, the publisher of Golden Empire Review, said Howell asked to have a column printed in the paper titled, "Notes from Moron." Taft was called Moron in 1908, according to "Kern County Place Names." The city changed its name to Taft in 1909. In the column, Howell quotes several passages from the Bible. The column Hodges attributed to Howell states, "It is not an honor to be in the Militia! It is our God-given duty! We are commanded to be his soldiers. It is time to lay aside our 'daily' jobs and return to duty! R&R is over! To arms, to arms! Where are His soldiers? "Right now, where are your squad members? Right now can you honestly state that you are aware of their location and their ability to respond to duty?" Hodges said after Howell died, he reread the column. "It gave me an eerie, shaky feeling," Hodges said. He said he didn't believe Howell would ever resist arrest. While Howell didn't agree with some gun legislation, he abided by it, Hodges said. "I know Darryl wouldn't kill himself and he wouldn't hurt someone else," Hodges said. "My personal experience is he was a real giving person." 10/07/98 Article Man shot to death at Taft gun shop http://www.bakersfield.com/top/i--1304325052.asp More info on ATF RADID: 10/08/98 Gun shop owner dead after ATF raid http://www.msnbc.com/local/KGET/16560.asp Without Justice, there is JUST_US! American Patriot Friends Network (APFN HOME PAGE) http://www.freeyellow.com/members5/apfn/ APFN EMAIL LIST SUBSCRIBE/UNSCBSCRIBE IN SUBJECT LINE TO APFN@netbox.com APFN ONELIST: http://www.onelist/subscribe.cgi/apfn APFN CONTENTS PAGE: http://esotericworldnews.com/apfncont.htm American Patriot Friends Chat Room - Message board preview: http://forums.delphi.com/preview/main.asp?sigdir=apfnchat [APFN] MEDIA & PATRIOT WEB PAGES: http://home.rica.net/CaptainNemo/pers/patsites.htm The congressional switchboard phone number is (202) 224-3121. For e-mail addresses of Members of Congress, see the Electronic Activist at: (This URL also gives State email contacts) http://www.berkshire.net/~ifas/activist/. **COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: scott.bergeson@ucs.org (SCOTT BERGESON) Subject: Dying For Our Rights - Howell Update Date: 10 Oct 1998 18:03:00 -0700 ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Support your local gun store owner - with arms. -Ed 3-year gun probe led to Taft shooting Filed: October 9, 1998 By JONATHAN NELSON Californian staff writer e-mail: jnelson@bakersfield.com Dana Lee, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, sat across from Mark L. Reed Feb. 2, 1995, and stared down the barrel of a Beretta .22-caliber pistol. "The Israeli Mossad carries the same weapon," Reed reportedly told the undercover agent. "With light subsonic ammunition and with a rag or pillow over the barrel you can't hear the muzzle report." The weapon lowered and Lee eventually walked from Reed's photo shop in Bakersfield with a $400 FEG 9-mm pistol he had just purchased illegally. The exchange three years ago began a long and detailed investigation into three gun enthusiasts who bought, sold, and built illegal guns, according to documents filed against the men in federal court. The investigation ended Wednesday and so did the life of 45-year-old Darryl Howell, owner of Alpha Omega Surplus and Supplies Store in Taft. As ATF agents wrestled with Howell, the gun dealer grabbed a .45-caliber handgun and fired a single fatal shot into his mouth, according to a report from the Kern County Coroner's office. Sgt. Ed Whiting of the Taft Police Department fired three more shots into Howell, an act that has angered the Taft community and drew comparisons to other ATF operations, such as Waco, Texas, and Ruby Ridge, Idaho. Whiting is on administrative leave and declined to comment. Police Chief Bert Pumphrey was out of the office Friday and unavailable for comment on Whiting's actions. A sheriff's official confirmed that Whiting did not pass a one-year probationary period to be a deputy with the Kern County Sheriff's Department in 1983. He joined the Taft department in 1985. Howell's shooting occurred as ATF and local police departments were serving several search warrants in Kern County. The investigation began with Reed and widened to include Howell and Richard M. Spielman. All three men are charged in federal court on a variety of weapon violations. The investigation began in August 1994 when an informant contacted ATF officials and claimed Reed was violating several gun laws, the documents state. The informant and Lee met several times with Reed to arrange the purchase of machine guns. Lee states in court papers how he bought a machine gun from Reed in 1996 and how the informant purchased two machine guns in 1995. During a meeting at Reed's photo laboratory on July 3, 1995 between the informant and Reed, Howell was also present. Reed told the informant he didn't need to worry about Howell. The investigation then expanded to include Howell and eventually Spielman. Between 1995 and 1998, an informant purchased two machine guns and several handguns from Howell, the federal documents state. The handgun sales were done without Howell filing the proper federal and state paperwork or the informant observing the required five-day waiting period after buying a handgun. Spielman's charges stemmed from his use of illegal gun dealer documents to buy 20 cases of Chinese ammunition and his purchase of a machine gun kit from 52-year-old Alvin Seal, court papers allege. Spielman then built the machine gun and sold it to the informant. Seal, who owns the War Bunker memorabilia and gun store in Oildale, was arrested in September for investigation of several weapon violations when ATF agents raided his store and seized more than 250 firearms. Along with the specifics of when gun sales occurred, the federal documents portrayed a world where guns are easily bought and sold by people who often espoused anti-government statements. During one conversation with informants and Lee, Howell called himself a militia member and Reed complained about a ban on assault weapons and the actions of President Clinton, Attorney General Janet Reno and U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Californian staff writer Christine L. Peterson contributed to this story. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: chardy@ES.COM (Charles Hardy) Subject: [Forwarded mail] Date: 12 Oct 1998 13:34:53 -0600 A little humorous, and downright good advice all in one... ----BEGIN FORWARDED MESSGE---- > > Facts of Life > > 1. Big companies don't do business via chain letter. Bill Gates is > not giving you $1000, and Disney is not giving you a free vacation. > There is no baby food company issuing class-action checks. You can > relax; there is no need to pass it on "just in case it's true." > Furthermore, just because someone said in the message, four > generations back, that "we checked it out and it's legit," does not > actually make it true. > > 2. There is no kidney theft ring in New Orleans. No one is waking > up in a bathtub full of ice, even if a friend of a friend swears it > happened to their cousin. If you are hellbent on believing the > kidney-theft ring stories, please see: > > http://urbanlegends.tqn.com/library/weekly/aa062997.htm > > And I quote: "The National Kidney Foundation has repeatedly issued > requests for actual victims of organ thieves to come forward and tell > their stories. None have." That's "none" as in "zero." Not even your > friend's cousin. > > 3. Neiman Marcus doesn't really sell a $200 cookie recipe. And even > if they do, we all have it. And even if you don't, you can get a > copy at: > > http://www.bl.net/forwards/cookie.html > Then, if you make the recipe, decide the cookies are that awesome, > feel free to pass the recipe on - sans the Neiman Marcus story. > > 4. We all know all 500 ways to drive your roommates crazy, irritate > co-workers and creep out people on an elevator. We also know exactly > how many engineers, college students, usenet posters, and people from > each and every world ethnicity it takes to change a lightbulb. > > 5. Even if the latest NASA rocket disaster(s) DID contain plutonium > that went to particulate over the eastern seaboard, do you REALLY > think this information would reach the public via an AOL chain-letter? > > 6. There is no "Good Times" virus. In fact, you should never, ever, > ever forward any email containing any virus warning unless you first > confirm it at an actual site of an actual company that actually deals > with virii. Try: > > http://www.norton.com or > http://www.nai.com/services/support/hoax/hoax.asp > > And even then, don't forward it. We don't care.[* Check out my > personal favorite at:*] > > http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html > > 7. If you're using Outlook, IE, or Netscape to write email, turn off > the "HTML encoding." Those of us on unix shells can't read it, and > don't care enough to save the attachment and then view it with a web > browser, since you're probably forwarding us a copy of the Neiman > Marcus Cookie Recipe anyway. > > 8. If you still absolutely MUST forward that 10th-generation message > from a friend, at least have the decency to trim the eight miles of > headers showing everyone else who's received it over the last 6 > months. It sure wouldn't hurt to get rid of all the ">'s" that begin > each line. Besides, if it has gone around that many times - I've > probably already seen it. > > 9. Craig Shergold in England is not dying of cancer or anything else > at this time and would like everyone to stop sending him their > business cards, Christmas cards, post cards and anything your version > of this story asks for. He apparently is also no longer a "little > boy" either, I think he's about 21 or 22 now. > ----END FORWARDED MESSAGE---- -- Charles C. Hardy | If my employer has an opinion on | these things I'm fairly certain 801.588.7200 (work) | I'm not the one he'd have express it. "The object of war is not to die for your country, but to make the other bastard die for his." -- General George S. Patton - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: scott.bergeson@ucs.org (SCOTT BERGESON) Subject: Today's real victims Date: 12 Oct 1998 22:58:00 -0700 ---------- Forwarded message ---------- MONDAY OCTOBER 12, 1998 WorldNetDaily file:///D|/eudora/attach/Geoff Metcalf's' weekly column in WorldNetDaily.htm Today's real victims by Geoff Metcalf Alexis de Tocqueville once observed, "Americans are so enamored of equality, they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom." Gee, was the man a mere observer of contemporary 18th century values, or a prophet? With the pending impeachment of a United States president, global economic catastrophe, crises in the Mideast, Korea, Russia, Y2K threats around the corner and a myriad of other assorted annoyances looming, it is easy to overlook the impact of incrementalism and government abuse of power under the color of authority on we the people. It is far too easy to focus on the macro-disorders and overlook the impact of bad/unconstitutional policy on individuals. In other words, the individuals--people, like you and yours, me and mine--are vulnerable to the myopia of those to whom we entrust our safety. Saturday morning I received an email from a victim of incrementalism. He noted, "Up until this week, I was only an observer as the government turned the Constitution on its head in its effort to crack down on what it perceives to be dangerous weapons. Now, this insanity has caught up and engulfed me." This self-described "average hard working stiff" who has been married to the same woman for 28 years and raised two sons to adulthood, now finds the same government he and his sons served, says he should be labeled a criminal--a felon. He is at risk of a year in state prison. He could be denied the right to vote, to possess a firearm, or have his wife own a firearm. What did this husband and father do to become entangled in the criminal justice morass? He broke the law. First, he failed to buckle his seat belt. That started the chain of events which put him in handcuffs and earned him a court date. The young female California Highway Patrol officer who stopped him saw and seized what she said was a "billy club" from inside his car. He tried (unsuccessfully) to explain it was a "Tire Thumper." In fact the name of the tool was stamped on the handle. He told the young officer that 32 years ago he had driven trucks and had kept his tire thumper as "both a still useful tool and a reminder of my experiences." "The officer claimed that unless I possessed a valid class A truck driver's license, that it was a felony to carry such a tool." I need to search the criminal code for that exemption. When he asked her if it would be a felony to carry a hammer instead, it approached absurdity. "She replied that, yes, if I wasn't a carpenter (apparently without sufficient documentation of trade), I would have some serious explaining to do!" - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: scott.bergeson@ucs.org (SCOTT BERGESON) Subject: UN MEETING RESULTS! (Gun Control) 1/2 Date: 12 Oct 1998 22:58:00 -0700 ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Hi gang! I just returned from Argentina late last night and my report 1 # is ready to go! Report 2 # will be ready for circulation in a few days. Please feel free to contact me for further clarification on this report. Donna Ferolie ================================================================ September 6, 1998 Report on the meeting of the open-ended intergovernmental ad hoc committee on the elaboration of the comprehensive international convention against organized crime (Buenos Aires, Argentina) HISTORICAL OVERVIEW Why should gun owners concern themselves with the United Nations? After all, what jurisdiction do the U.N bureaucrats have for sticking their noses into the Canadian, U.S.A, Brazil etc....debate? To answer this question one has to ask oneself another question: why are Canada and the U.S Congress passing one bill after another to disarm, one step at a time, the civilian populations of their countries? The United Nations has made it abundantly clear that it is serious about disarming American civilians (as well as other countries around the world). Involvement by the United Nations is actually quite convenient as long as voters do not object. Here is an example of a statement released by the UN on December 22, 1995. The UN announced the launch of a study of small arms. According to the UN, small arms "are increasingly associated with crime, accidents and suicides, and form a major source of illicit profits for transnational criminal networks.... while trade in major weapons is on the decline, small arms is spreading". The worldwide survey of firearm ownership is being financed by the Japanese government. The Canadian government is supplying a number of gun-control bureaucrats to assist in the UN project. In other words the Canadian government, as well as other member states, is trying to come through the back door in order to ram further restrictive gun control legislation down the throats of the international firearm community. Our own government is hiding behind the United Nations to carry out the civilian disarmament they did not think they could get away with by themselves. With the end of the cold war, the United Nations has shifted its focus to gun control and fighting drugs as a way of continuing to justify its existence. According to my conversation with the International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy (which is a neutral body within the U.N), many government delegates are very aware of the fact that any new international legislation will do absolutely nothing to fight crime, because it is the governments themselves who are responsible for the spread of military firearms. Governments including the U.S order large quantities of firearms with the same serial number for training purposes. When civil unrest arises in other countries these firearms are sold. The natural sequence of events leads to the trickling down of such firearms to the civilian populations. Governments are aware of this fact, but the hidden agenda is to control the civilian populations by targeting all small firearms. ATTENDANCE AT THE UNITED NATIONS MEETING IN BUENOS AIRES Fifty representative states with 155 delegates were present at the UN international convention concerning organized crime. This was a larger turnout than expected. Sadly enough there were only three pro-firearm organizations in attendance; they were the NRA, Sporting Shooters Association of Australia and myself (from Canada). ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE BUENOS AIRES MEETING The United States of America delegation proposed a recommendation for future confidentiality thus not permitting NGOs to participate. The chairman of the meeting allowed Tom Mason from the NRA to respond to this. Mr. Mason strongly encouraged the entire delegation to allow future NGO involvement considering that the United Nations is moving in the direction of greater transparency. This motion was supported by the chairman of the committee. This was a major feat considering the recommendation, if carried, would have blocked any future involvement. The Canadian delegation was shocked at my presence and as the days wore on they tried to distance themselves. On the third day I was asked where my NRA friend was seated, and there seemed to be an issue around me taking another delegate's seat. I had the opportunity to inform the majority of delegates that the Canadian Foreign Affairs Department would not approve my attendance at these meetings. Moreover, I had the opportunity to lobby many delegates while at this convention. I gathered information on their regional gun control legislation as well as what they were proposing internationally. Some of these conversations transpired during working hours and some were after hours. For instance, lunch with a Japanese delegate and supper with three delegates from Lebanon. I hope the Japanese delegation appreciated my photos which were taken at this year's Grand American Trap Shoot in Ohio; they had no idea of the extent of such clay target shooting! Other lobbying efforts were made to such member states as Brazil, South Africa, Netherlands, Finland, Argentina, Australia and Poland. According to the NRA our presence alone plays a vital role which can not be underestimated. In my opinion it was as though our physical presence served as a constant reminder of millions of sports shooters from around the world. In the last year I have been communicating with many countries from around the world that feel no different than we do. They are frightened by what they see coming down the pipe at the U.N. level. Attending this meeting allowed me the opportunity to speak on their behalf to their state delegates. The Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (S.S.A.A) made a submission to the committee to work with them throughout the process. To draw upon their expertise and warned that the high costs associated with registration would only serve to drive people out of the system and into the black market. The S.S.A.A would draw upon the expertise of gun collectors in order to establish a better tracing system. Keith Tidwell, National Executive Director, feels that it is better that we offer something to the committee in order to ensure future cooperation at these meetings. CANADIAN DISCUSSION PAPER The two Canadian delegates present at this meeting were; Keith M. Morrill, Department of Foreign Affairs, and Jamie Deacon, Director Anti-Organized Crime, Department of Solicitor General of Canada. It was quite interesting that the Canadian Foreign Affairs Department was ready to submit their discussion paper concerning firearms at this meeting. It further reveals the Liberal government's unwavering determination. A copy of the Canadian Discussion Paper CICP/CON/WP will be submitted in its entirety within the next few days. After reviewing the Canadian discussion paper concerning firearms, I had the opportunity to query Mr. Morrill. I asked him if he was responsible for writing the paper which he vehemently denied. Nevertheless I continued to lambaste him with question upon question. For example, I asked him to respond to the statement, "Agreement will be needed on which firearms are to be the target of the protocol ie: those proven to be of criminal interest." What the heck does this mean? What firearms are of interest to criminals? Does this encompass any repeating firearm? There was no explanation provided - simply a shoulder shrug. [ Continued In Next Message... ] - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: scott.bergeson@ucs.org (SCOTT BERGESON) Subject: UN MEETING RESULTS! (Gun Control) 2/2 Date: 12 Oct 1998 22:58:00 -0700 [ ...Continued From Previous Message ] Another statement from the paper was, "Canada also works closely with industry, non-governmental organizations and other interested parties in this area. Oh REALLY? What industry did Canada consult? What non-governmental organizations were involved? Wendy Coukier and her coalition? Again, Mr. Morrill was unable to respond. Will this universal registry system price us out of existence? Mr. Morrill did say that his government relies very little on NGOs' feedback considering they have all figures and facts at their fingertips. He also went on to say that "the Canadian government knows what is best for Canada." My response was "POOR CANADA!" I also reminded the distinguished delegate that if his government relies on government statistics they must get very confused considering that Statistics Canada's reports on firearms and offences do not correspond with the Justice Statistics and their statistics do not jive with the RCMP statistics. Other notes from the Canadian discussion paper included the following: * States should adopt effective methods of firearms identification and tracing. * States must improve cooperation and exchange of information and data for law enforcement purposes. * States must pursue greater international cooperation through mutual assistance regimes in prosecution relating to the illicit trafficking of and manufacturing of firearms, their parts and components and ammunition. Mr. Morrill also indicated that his government is not likely to alter from its course and the ONLY way to change their mission is by turfing the Liberals at the next election. Needless to say, I will be communicating with the Canadian Foreign Affairs Department within the week. It was confirmed by other delegates that Canada is most definitely leading the firearms control brigade! The Swiss delegation submitted a paper which requested the need for global firearm registration. They also focused on three techniques for marking weapons, ie: Laser marking within the material, stamp marking of raws and marking of colours or synthetics with glass bubbles. The U.K and Northern Ireland submitted a paper which emphasized the marking of firearms for the purpose of commercial sale within the importing country or permanent private importation, so that the source of the firearms can be traced. They encourage the need for a universal registry system. They encourage the adoption of appropriate measures to prevent the reactivation of deactivated firearms, when such reactivation is a crime under state's domestic laws. They are encouraging support and cooperation of manufacturers, dealers, importers, exporters and commercial carriers of firearms to prevent and detect the foregoing illegal activities. A copy of the Canadian and UK proposal as well as Mexico, Switzerland and Africa's responses is forthcoming. GOALS: To work closely with the NRA, and the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia in order to be a voice for millions of firearm enthusiasts around the world. Our continual presence will help balance the tables of justice so that both sides are equally presented at these UN workshops. OBJECTIVES: * To follow up with the various delegates within the next two weeks. This will further open the doors of communication but it will also foster relationship building and in turn this will encourage future reciprocal sharing of information. * Share results of the U.N meetings with the firearm community around the world. Otherwise the doors will remain closed to the general public. Remember these United Nations meetings are formulating public policy so it is vitally important that we are aware of their proposals. This was a preparatory meeting for what is to come in future. Basically the delegation banged up their framework and now they must fill it in. Many meetings are scheduled for the next two years; all can not be attended, but some kind of visable presence must be maintained. It is the goal of this committee to have all recommendations implemented by the year 2,000. Please feel free to share this information with various web sites, news groups and your local media. Additional information regarding this meeting's discussions and recommendations and the U.N initiative for global disarmament is forthcoming. Donna Ferolie 3043-20th Side Rd Hilton Beach, Ontario Canada POR 1GO UN - Alabama Committee to get us out of the UN http://themustardseed.home.mindspring.com GLOBAL GUN CONTROL http://www.chambana.com/~CCG/ccun.htm Watch the UN rag burn! http://www.aloha.com/~nonperzon/animates/unburn.htm *** UN - A Constitution for the united Nations of the World http://www.universalway.org/globalgvt.html +++ GUN CONTROL - 2ND AMENDMENT +++ *** The World Wide Web GUN DEFENSE CLOCK http://www.netstorage.com/pulpless/gunclock.html *** FIREARMS & SECOND AMENDMENT http://www.tfs.net/~grizz/page5.html *** CRIMINALS FOR THE PREVENTION OF FIREARM OWNERSHIP http://members.tripod.com/~NoGuns4U/ GunsSaveLives http://GunsSaveLives.com/ Dial 911 and DIE! http://www.jpfo.org/Dial911.htm GUN OWNERS OF AMERICA http://www.gunowners.org GUN - DISARM AMERICA STATE DEPT 7277 http://harvest-trust.org/7277.htm *** GUN - MORE GUNS LESS CRIME http://www.tsra.com/Lott.htm *** Second Amendment Journals http://www.2ndlawlib.org/journals/ *** Dedicated to the proposition that the Second Amendment applies... http://www.beast-enterprises.com/ *** PRIVATE FIREARMS STOP CRIME 2.5 MILLION TIMES EACH YEAR http://www.beast-enterprises.com/kleck.html *** HOLLOW POINT DIRECTORY -Updated July 6th, 1998 with over 1,800 LINKS *** AMERICAN FIREARMS INDUSTRY http://www.amfire.com/ http://www.hollowpoint.com/ American Patriot Friends Network (APFN) APFN EMAIL LIST SUBSCRIBE/UNSCBSCRIBE IN SUBJECT LINE TO APFN@netbox.com APFN ONELIST: http://www.onelist/subscribe.cgi/apfn http://www.esotericworldnews.com/apfncont.htm http://www.freeyellow.com/members5/apfn/ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: chardy@ES.COM (Charles Hardy) Subject: [Vin_Suprynowicz@lvrj.com: Oct. 13 column - govenrment shutdown] Date: 13 Oct 1998 10:30:06 -0600 ----BEGIN FORWARDED MESSGE---- FROM MOUNTAIN MEDIA FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DATED OCT. 13, 1998 THE LIBERTARIAN, By Vin Suprynowicz Call the White House bluff, and raise it one Late Monday, Oct. 12, congressional leaders announced they were near a budget deal with the White House, as lawmakers voted to keep the government open two more days while negotiations continued. Twelve days into fiscal 1999, appropriations bills controlling about $500 billion -- nearly one-third of the federal budget -- were still in play, with President Clinton demanding about $3 billion in additional pork, including $1.1 billion to give the federal government more control over hiring local elementary school teachers; money to further regulate private businesses in the name of "dealing with climate change"; and of course more taxpayer bailouts for the incompetent Communist robber-barons of Russia. Republicans had been offering nearly $2.5 billion, though the GOP wanted the $1.1 billion for new teachers returned to the states, allowing slightly local control of efforts toward "class size reduction." That was it, really -- a quibble over attempts to reduce President Clinton's Fiscal Year 1999 budget request by less than 1 percent (not to reduce the actual (start ital)budget(end ital), of course -- that continues to go up and up, forever.) And this in a day when the solidly Republican Congress is dealing with easily the most publicly debased and morally compromised Democratic president in living memory. President Clinton hardly dares show his face in public to defend the Democrats' increasingly absurd spending schemes. Yet so far have we sunk from the expectations of the so-called 1994 "Republican Revolution" that the current GOP "compromise" on the International Monetary Fund bailout of failed foreign dictators is: They can have the full $18 billion, providing the IMF "makes its proceedings more open." Oh, goody. About the last issue left unresolved Monday night was Mr. Clinton's request for more handouts for the absurdly oversized troll army of communist North Korea. What will the "compromise" be there, I wonder -- give them all the money if they'll agree to stop using Freon in their half-tracks? The White House's mechanism to again have its way with the supposedly "conservative" Republican Congress was a familiar one: Unless he got more loot, President Clinton simply threatened to veto the "inadequate" spending bills and once again "shut down the federal government" as he did in 1995, closing off access to the Washington Monument and the national parks, and blaming it all on the skinflint Republicans. No opposition party will ever be able to recapture the fiscal reins and give the American public the smaller, less intrusive government for which it has been voting (in increasing frustration) for a quarter of a century, until some congressional leader shows the creativity and the courage to call this bluff. This could be easily done, since these federal government "shutdowns" are really no more than transparent public relations schemes to inconvenience as many tourists as possible. If your local cable television provider shut down for two weeks to make repairs, you would expect to receive a monthly bill discounting the amount of time when you received no services, right? Well then: The next time a Democratic president speaks of "shutting down the federal government," the GOP congressional leadership should give the time-honored response of Br'er Rabbit. The Congress must order the IRS to instruct America's employers to withhold no taxes from any worker's paycheck for the time during which the federal government is declared "shut down" by the White House. The Congress must declare as a matter of law that -- for as long as the Democratic White House wishes to keep the federal government "shut down" -- Americans will remain on a tax-free holiday. Other than some allowance for active duty military personnel overseas, no federal paychecks shall issue, nor shall any federal taxes which would otherwise have fallen due during that period (start ital)ever(end ital) be assessed or collected, even retroactively. Stocks or real estate sold during the shutdown? Free of any capital gains tax. Machine guns sold, imported or manufactured? Another tax and paperwork amnesty. Freon and other imports? Race them across the borders, boys, it's a tariff holiday, too. The Congress need only enact such an override to existing tax laws, and then turn to the White House and say, "Oh please, Mr. President, whatever you do, (start ital)please(end ital) don't shut down the gubbimint." Would Americans tolerate "no federal government" if it meant an immediate and total hiatus in federal taxes and regulations, as well? Heavens, what if if turned out they (start ital)liked(end ital) it that way? Somehow, I suspect this is an experiment in which the Democrats would prove far less willing to join. Vin Suprynowicz is the assistant editorial page editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Readers may contact him via e-mail at vin@lvrj.com. The web site for the Suprynowicz column is at http://www.nguworld.com/vindex/. The column is syndicated in the United States and Canada via Mountain Media Syndications, P.O. Box 4422, Las Vegas Nev. 89127. *** Vin Suprynowicz, vin@lvrj.com The evils of tyranny are rarely seen but by him who resists it. -- John Hay, 1872 The most difficult struggle of all is the one within ourselves. Let us not get accustomed and adjusted to these conditions. The one who adjusts ceases to discriminate between good and evil. He becomes a slave in body and soul. Whatever may happen to you, remember always: Don't adjust! Revolt against the reality! -- Mordechai Anielewicz, Warsaw, 1943 * * * ----END FORWARDED MESSAGE---- -- Charles C. Hardy | If my employer has an opinion on | these things I'm fairly certain 801.588.7200 (work) | I'm not the one he'd have express it. "Who are the militia? Are they not ourselves? Is it feared, then, that we shall turn our arms each man against his own bosom? Congress shall have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birth-right of an American .. The unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state governments, but where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the People." -- Tench Coxe - 1788. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: chardy@ES.COM (Charles Hardy) Subject: [goamail@gunowners.org: Hammer RNC on the Smith Amendment] Date: 13 Oct 1998 13:41:46 -0600 ----BEGIN FORWARDED MESSGE---- Vote On Smith Anti-Brady Amendment Could be Tomorrow -- Time to Push the RNC Button Gun Owners of America E-Mail/FAX Alert 8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151 Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408 http://www.gunowners.org (Tuesday, October 13, 1998) -- Well, it turns out that the full (Sen. Bob) Smith language is NOT included in the Commerce-Justice-State conference report which will probably be sent back to the House and Senate for final consideration tomorrow. On Friday, Gun Owners of America sent a communication to legislators on the Hill asking them to vote against the Commerce-Justice-State bill, as a protest against the corrupting of the Smith Anti-Tax and Registration amendment. The conference version has dropped an extremely important part of the Smith amendment which would allow aggrieved private citizens to sue the FBI, and to collect monetary damages, including attorney's fees. As we noted last week, deleting this language from the bill means that gun owners may have to rely upon Janet Reno to rein in FBI officials who illegally retain gun owners' names-- an outrageous scenario. GOA is also dismayed that the provision requiring the "immediate destruction" of all gun owners' names has been deleted. Allowing the FBI to keep gun owners' names for 24 hours represents the first time in federal history that government officials would have explicit permission to retain gun owners' names for a period of time-- albeit a brief period. GOA on the Hill Gun Owners of America has been working through the leadership offices of both houses to get the full Smith amendment restored. We have also drafted letters for House Representatives to send to their leaders, such as Speaker Gingrich, demanding that the full amendment be added to the bill. Senator Smith himself has also been lobbying to get his amendment restored. GOA would ask that you keep trying to leave your opinions with the leadership offices if you haven't already. Many of you have not been able to get through by fax. But realize that when this happens, it is a GOOD sign. If their fax machines are not answering, it usually means that their paper trays have been emptied by gun owners. HERE'S WHAT TO DO * If you've already contacted the leadership offices, turn your "guns" (so to speak) on the Republican National Committee (RNC). The Republican leadership is prepared to cave in to Bill Clinton's threatened veto of the Appropriations bill if it contains the Smith Anti-Brady amendment. * It doesn't matter whether you're a Republican, Democrat or Independent. Tell the RNC that if the Smith amendment is weakened in any way, they can kiss your financial support good-bye! * Also, ask them why the Republican leadership would water down a pro-gun amendment like the Smith amendment, when they did nothing to weaken anti-gun legislation like the Lautenberg and Kohl gun bans. * These two gun bans-- which were added to appropriations legislation during the last Congress-- were not removed or significantly watered down one bit during the conference committee process. But now, the Smith amendment (which is the best piece of legislation that gun owners have seen in a LONG time) has been trashed by the conference committee, even though it passed overwhelmingly in the Senate with a veto-proof majority! What's wrong with this picture? HOW TO CONTACT THE RNC * Contact Jim Nicholson, Chairman of the RNC, in the following ways: Phone: 202-863-8500 or 202-863-8700 Fax: 202-863-8774 or 202-863-8820 Email: chairman@rnc.org Pre-written text is provided below. * The RNC is telling people that they are in support of the Smith Amendment. This is not enough. We want more than their support. We want the FULL Smith amendment; and not just support for a desecrated version of it! **** Pre-written text **** Dear Chairman Nicholson: I cannot believe that the Republican leadership is watering down the Smith Anti-Tax and Registration amendment! As you may know, the FBI has issued regulations stating their intent to register and tax gun owners. Senator Bob Smith offered an amendment to put a stop to this-- and the amendment passed overwhelmingly with 69 votes back in July. However, the appropriations conference committee has dropped an extremely important part of the Smith amendment which would allow aggrieved private citizens to sue the FBI, and to collect monetary damages, including attorney's fees. Deleting this language from the bill means that gun owners may have to rely upon Janet Reno to rein in FBI officials who illegally retain gun owners' names-- an outrageous scenario. And, the provision requiring the "immediate destruction" of all gun owners' names has been deleted. Allowing the FBI to keep gun owners' names for 24 hours represents the first time in federal history that government officials would have explicit permission to retain gun owners' names for a period of time-- albeit a brief period. Why would the Republican leadership water down a pro-gun amendment like the Smith amendment, when they did nothing to weaken anti-gun legislation like the Lautenberg and Kohl gun bans? These two gun bans-- which were added to appropriations legislation during the last Congress-- were not removed or significantly watered down one bit during the conference committee process. But now, the Smith amendment (which is the best piece of legislation that gun owners have seen in a LONG time) has been desecrated by the appropriations conference committee, even though it passed overwhelmingly in the Senate with a veto-proof majority! What's wrong with this picture? I hope you will pass on my views to House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott. I want the FULL Smith amendment passed as part of the omnibus spending bill. But if the Republicans are going to sell out my gun rights and continue to water-down the most significant pro-gun vote in the Senate for more than a decade, don't bother to ask me or any other gun owner for a contribution this year because we will send it to people who truly care about our rights as gun owners. You've taken gun owners for granted one time too often. Sincerely, **************************************************************** Did someone else forward this to you? To be certain of getting up to date information, please consider subscribing directly to the GOA E-Mail Alert Network. The service is totally free and carries no obligation. Your e-mail address remains confidential, and the volume is quite low, usually one or two messages per week. To subscribe, simply send a message (or forward this notice) to goamail@gunowners.org and indicate your state of residence in either the subject or the body. To unsubscribe, reply to any alert and ask to be removed. ----END FORWARDED MESSAGE---- -- Charles C. Hardy | If my employer has an opinion on | these things I'm fairly certain 801.588.7200 (work) | I'm not the one he'd have express it. "The object of war is not to die for your country, but to make the other bastard die for his." -- General George S. Patton - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: scott.bergeson@ucs.org (SCOTT BERGESON) Subject: Bureau Arson Terrorism Fascism: Taft Suicide???? Date: 13 Oct 1998 19:40:00 -0700 ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Friends, Below note from a friend, resident of Taft, CA, of Daryl Howell. Regards, Brian Hi Bill, I have gotten some new information on the shooting in Taft. As I have said, Darryl Howell was a friend of mine and a brother in Christ. I have known Darryl for for about 5 years. This was not something Darryl would have done. He did not deal in illegal weapons. I actually lived at his house and shop for 4 months in 1997, he was kind enough to give me a place to stay when I left my ex-husband. We were very close friends. He would not have done this. I have read the 'official account' of what had happened, and there are so many holes in it that it makes no sense. First of all, when they served the search warrant, he knew his store was clean, he would have smiled at them and told them to search on boys. As far as I know, from a family member who was given the search warrant after the incident, there were no arrest warrants issued. Why were they arresting him. His shop was clean. They found no illegal weapons on the premises. And when they claim, that he shot himself, placing a 45 in his mouth, he would have been dead instantly, dropping to the floor. If the cop that shot him was looking away at the time, when would he have time to shoot Darryl 3 more times? By the time Ed Whiting shot, Darryl would have been on the ground. Also, a shot to the brain would leave a big mess. Blood, brain tissue, and bone fragments everywhere. I spoke with his son, who is staying at his shop. He told me, there was no blood spray, or any brain tissue anywhere. The only blood there was, was a 9" pool of blood on the floor where Darryl had fallen. When you have a shot to the head, you have a huge pool of blood. The 9" pool would be conducive of the wounds in his side. And there was bad blood between Darryl and Ed Whiting which goes back years. Ed Whiting is a dirty cop. He runs drugs in town, everyone in town knows it. At the press conference, Sheriff Carl Sparks said that Ed Whiting requested to go along because he was a friend of Darryls, hogwash. Ed Whiting went there for one reason only, the hope of taking Darryl down. And we add to this, the sheriff's deputy that said that day (we have his badge #) that if he could he would take off his badge and uniform cause this was wrong. Darryl was clean. He was a christian and a patriot, and I personally believe he was executed. There is going to be an independent investigation done on this, because the facts do not add up to what went down. I will keep you updated, as the facts come out. In Christ Jesus, Sue Patterson - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: scott.bergeson@ucs.org (SCOTT BERGESON) Subject: Vermont carry questions Date: 13 Oct 1998 21:42:00 -0700 Anyone know the history of Vermont carry? Specifically dates, specific changes, effects on Vermont's crime rates, and what political factions enacted it? Chris Kozlowski asks: > > > And to think the NRA opposes Vermont carry! What a sellout crew! > > Please explain. What is the "Vermont carry?" I can guess, but I > > would like to know more. > Vermont carry is their law governing concealed gun carry that > makes it unlawful to carry a gun for unlawful purposes. > That is all. No permits, licenses, etc. Who passed this law, and when, and how was the firearm crime rate affected? - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Joe Waldron Subject: Re: Vermont carry questions Date: 14 Oct 1998 09:52:42 -0700 SCOTT BERGESON wrote: > > Anyone know the history of Vermont carry? Specifically > dates, specific changes, effects on Vermont's crime rates, > and what political factions enacted it? No political faction passed it. In 1903, the Vermont Supreme Court overturned a Rutland city ordinance prohibiting the carry of concealed weapons (State V Rosental). The Vermont legislature has seen fit to let that stand. NO STATE LEGISLATURE, including Vermont's, has passed "Vermont-style carry." Joe W - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: chardy@ES.COM (Charles Hardy) Subject: [goamail@gunowners.org: Switch Targets Re: Smith Amendment] Date: 14 Oct 1998 16:39:45 -0600 ----BEGIN FORWARDED MESSGE---- Still Time to Save the FULL Smith Amendment -- Tell Gingrich and Lott what you told the RNC Gun Owners of America E-Mail/FAX Alert 8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151 Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408 http://www.gunowners.org (Wednesday, October 14, 1998) -- Well, the Congress has put off the battle over government funding (and the battle over the final language in the Smith Anti-Brady amendment) for two more days. This gives us more time to make sure that the power centers in Washington know how folks in the heartland feel about their Second Amendment rights. We have 48 more hours to let the politicians feel the heat. Yesterday, GOA asked you to send a very important message to RNC Chairman Jim Nicholson. As a result, they have been flooded with phone calls, faxes and emails. Great work! Unfortunately, the NRC has been responding in-- shall we say-- "Clinton-speak." They have assured some people that the Smith amendment has the "full support of the RNC." Others have been told that the RNC "knows nothing" about the Smith amendment. But at the very least, we know that Jim Nicholson is getting the message. Now we need to make sure that this message is relayed to Capitol Hill. Yesterday, the RNC was receiving a solid 50 calls per hour in support of the Smith amendment-- and who knows how many faxes and emails. Let's do the same for the Republican leadership in the House and Senate. HERE'S WHAT YOU CAN DO: * Contact House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott. Give them the same message that you gave to the RNC yesterday. Tell Gingrich and Lott that if the Smith amendment is weakened or watered-down in any way, the RNC can kiss your financial support good-bye. (See the phone numbers below.) In fact, you might want to fax them the same message you sent to Mr. Nicholson. * We have also included the numbers for the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee. The former is tasked with electing Republican Senators; the latter, with electing Republican Congressmen. Sending them the message you already sent Nicholson could also multiply your efforts. Important Capitol Hill Numbers for Registering Your Opinion Phone: Fax: Sen. Trent Lott (ofc.) 202-224-6253 / 224-2262 Lott's leadership ofc. 202-224-3135 / 224-4639 senatorlott@lott.senate.gov Rep. Newt Gingrich (ofc.) 202-225-4501 / 225-4656 Gingrich's leadership ofc. 202-225-0600 / 225-7733 georgia6@mail.house.gov National Republican Senatorial Committee 202-675-6000 / 675-6058 National Republican Congressional Committee 202-479-7000 / 863-0693 Many of you have asked for the conference committee members, and thus, we are listing most of them here. You can reach them at 202- 224-3121. The conferees working on the Commerce-Justice-State bill include: Rep. Rogers (KY) Fax: 202-225-0940 Rep. Kolbe (AZ) Fax: 202-225-0378 Rep. Taylor (NC) RepCharles.Taylor@mail.house.gov Rep. Regula (OH) Fax: 202-225-3059 Rep. Latham (IA) latham.ia05@mail.house.gov Fax: 202-225-3301 Rep. Livingston (LA) Fax: 202-225-0739 Rep. Mollohan (WV) Fax: 202-225-7564 Sen. Campbell (CO) Fax: 202-224-1933 Sen. Domenici (NM) senator_domenici@domenici.senate.gov Fax: 202-224-7371 Sen. Gregg (NH) mailbox@gregg.senate.gov Fax: 202-224-4952 Sen. Hollings (SC) Fax: 202-224-4293 Sen. Hutchison (TX) senator@hutchison.senate.gov Fax: 202-224-0776 Sen. McConnell (KY) senator@mcconnell.senate.gov Fax: 202-224-2499 Sen. Stevens (AK) senator_stevens@stevens.senate.gov Fax: 202-224-2354 **************************************************************** Did someone else forward this to you? To be certain of getting up to date information, please consider subscribing directly to the GOA E-Mail Alert Network. The service is totally free and carries no obligation. Your e-mail address remains confidential, and the volume is quite low, usually one or two messages per week. To subscribe, simply send a message (or forward this notice) to goamail@gunowners.org and indicate your state of residence in either the subject or the body. To unsubscribe, reply to any alert and ask to be removed. ----END FORWARDED MESSAGE---- -- Charles C. Hardy | If my employer has an opinion on | these things I'm fairly certain 801.588.7200 (work) | I'm not the one he'd have express it. "To avoid domestic tyranny, the people must be armed to stand upon [their] own Defence; which if [they] are enabled to do, [they] shall never be put upon it, but [their] Swords may grow rusty in [their] hands; for that Nation is surest to live in Peace, that is most capable of making War; and a Man that hath a Sword by his side, shall have least occasion to make use of it." -- John Trenchard & Walter Moyle, "An Argument Shewing, That a Standing Army is Inconsistent With a Free Government, and Absolutely Destructive to the Constitution of the English Monarchy" [London, 1697] ("An Argument") - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: chardy@ES.COM (Charles Hardy) Subject: [Quote of the day....] Date: 15 Oct 1998 15:15:03 -0600 ----BEGIN FORWARDED MESSGE---- Nominated for quote of the year is the statement made by Representative Dick Armey, who, when asked if he were in the president's place, would he resign, responded: "If I were in the President's place I would not get a chance to resign. I would be lying in a pool of my own blood hearing Mrs. Armey standing over me saying, "How do I reload this damn thing?" ----END FORWARDED MESSAGE---- -- Charles C. Hardy | If my employer has an opinion on | these things I'm fairly certain 801.588.7200 (work) | I'm not the one he'd have express it. "Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys." - P.J. O'Rourke - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: scott.bergeson@ucs.org (SCOTT BERGESON) Subject: Taft shooting Date: 15 Oct 1998 20:50:00 -0700 ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Mr. Nelson, Thank you for your response. In no way was I implying that you had a bias. My repeated phrase--"You assert" was simply a declaration that the story "asserted" certain facts. The fact that they came from federal court documents was unclear, or if it was clear, I missed it. I am still not certain what "charges filed against Mr. Howell..." means. Had he been indicted by a grand jury? Had a warrant been issued for his arrest? I understand an affidavit for a search warrant. That includes sworn testimony, but I know of no cases where a police official has been prosecuted for filing a false affidavit, including the Waco Case mentioned in my letter. The reason that I wrote to you and Ms. Peterson is that you are in a position to find the facts of this story. I cannot. I am sure that the internet will be alive with rumors, innuendo, accusations, etc. Without some person or without people on the ground who provide unbiased information, the hype regarding a case like this can grow out of control. You say it is up to readers like me to draw conclusions. However, drawing conclusions without an adequate basis of facts is simply to rely on existing prejudice and bias. Those who despise the BATF will blame them. Those who hate guns and gun dealers will say, "Another one of them got what was coming to him." The problem we have in our society is that conclusions are too readily drawn based on inadequate or false information. One of the problems with the press is that due to deadlines and hundreds of demands (not to mention political pressure) the easiest way to do the job is to quote official sources who essentially hand you a story prepackaged. In a case such as this, when the authorities make up one side of the dispute, there is internal pressure on the system to spin press releases in the best possible manner. If the dispute involves to private parties, then perhaps police departments, courts, and agencies are inclined to be balanced. In a large police department with an established internal affairs division, perhaps an unbiased accounting could be officially rendered. (In Texas, this case would be turned over to the Rangers for investigation.) However, it would seem to me that in the situation described in your report, there are no official parties or agencies that have an interest in doing anything but making this thing go away. The BATF has a bad reputation and they are experts at spin control. The Taft Police Department is small, and I assume close knit, and the tendency is for LE to take care of their own. The Kern Co. SO has to work with the Taft department and it will affect relations for a long time if they take a hard stance in this investigation. Prosecutors hate to muddy their relationships with local police. In the end, if you (or someone like you) doesn't dig out this story, wherever it leads, it will be covered up. Has the search warrant affidavit been released? What were the specific charges against Mr. Howell? What kind of machine guns is he accused of selling? Were they actual guns or were they parts, when coupled with other guns, that could be made into fully automatic weapons? Under federal law, some small parts are defined as "machine guns" if other pieces are also in one's possession. The charge of selling machine guns is a technical offense. It can conjure up images of opening a violin case and handing someone a Thompson for a handful of cash, or it can be far more mundane. If Mr. Howell were truly aware of firearms law (as one of your paper's stories suggest) then he may not have committed an offense. And of course, just because someone is accused, it does not mean that they are guilty. If Mr. Howell were alive, he might be able to legally defend himself. But of course he is not. I suspect that you are aware that as a federally licensed dealer, Mr. Howell was subject to routine inspections. The BATF has a legal right to enter his store during business hours and examine his books and inventory. Why the raid format? (BTW, have you discovered how the officers were dressed for the raid? Was this a black-suited Ninja situation or one in which the officers were dressed in street clothes or maybe even "gang attire?" Were the SO and Taft officers in uniform?) Another question from your paper's report--one where you are reporting official sources, I am sure. Actually, this is from Fred Ludwid (10/08/98): "Darryl Howell broke loose from authorities trying to handcuff him Wednesday morning and grabbed a handgun behind the counter, officials said. After a struggle with a U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agent, Howell put the gun in his mouth and fired, officials said. Taft police Sgt. Ed Whiting, who had turned away and didn't realize what had happened, then fired three shots into Howell's body, they said." Later in the same article: "A pat-down search indicated Howell was unarmed, but Howell grabbed the .45-caliber handgun. Whiting, who did not see all of the ensuing struggle, fired after hearing Howell's suicidal shot, said sheriff's Sgt. Glenn Johnson. Howell offered no reason for the suicide, Johnson said." I can understand the second version. You come into the store. You pat down Mr. Howell. One or more officers are interviewing him. Other officers begin to look for evidence. Mr. Howell does something unpredictable, grabs a gun and shoots himself. But this does not square with the first report and its words trouble me. If there is a scuffle going on while the BATF is trying to handcuff him, what is Sgt. Whitting doing with his back turned and not paying attention? By reports, there are no other people in the store. I have been in situations where an arrest was being made and a fight breaks out. Everytime, the hairs on my neck are standing up and my eyes riveted on the suspect. There are just too many inconsistencies in the story. Your paper is the only news media to report anything that I have seen. Therefore, it is to your paper that I turn. I hope you will discover and report the answers. BTW, reviewing the obituaries in your paper, there is no mention of Mr. Howell. Does your paper not report deaths in Taft, or is the body still being held by authorities? Walter Lee Jonathan Nelson wrote: > Mr. Lee, > Thank you for your interest in the Taft shooting story and your e-mail. > I'd like to clarify just one point. In your letter you stated several > times assertions I made. I made no assertions. The information I based > my story on was came from federal court documents, which included the > affidavit for search warrant and charges filed against Mr. Howell, Reed > and Spielman. > Our earlier stories attempted to give people an idea of what happened at > the gun shop and what kind of a person Mr. Howell is, according to > friends. My story was again trying to give people a complete picture of > what transpired before, during and after the shooting. > I take no side on the issue, other than trying to give people a complete > and accurate story from the information I have available to me. It's up > to readers like you to draw your own conclusions and form your opinions > from those stories and any other avenue of information. > I and the other news orginzations will continue to follow the story and > follow every lead possible. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: scott.bergeson@ucs.org (SCOTT BERGESON) Subject: Re: Agents shut off rural post office Date: 16 Oct 1998 07:56:00 -0700 ---------- Forwarded message ---------- And here's another story of our BATF heroes .... times are dark. ---begin forwarded message--- Agents shut off rural post office The Red Bluff Daily News June 11, 1997 Marsha Dorgan & Bryon Burruss Some Paynes Creek residents will have to start making the trek to Red Bluff to get their mail. The U.S. Postal Police Tuesday afternoon temporarily shut down the post office at the Paynes Creek Store. ...Postal authorities are calling it an administrative investigation and audit and have been closed-mouth when it comes to giving reasons for the closure. "I cannot say anything more than this is an administrative shutdown," said postal spokesman Gus Ruiz in San Francisco... Paynes Creek Store owner, school board president and post office operator, Monte Manwill, believes the shut down stems from accusations he is opening some of the mail. "I got some complaints accusing me of opening people's mail," Manwill said. "It's a lie. I wouldn't do that. I have never done that. If a letter is open, it was that way when it got to the post office." Jennifer Ginn, treasurer of the Plum Valley Parents - a group of parents of Paynes Creek school children - sent mail she suspected of having been opened prior to delivery to postal inspector Patricia Glaude in Sacramento, Ginn told the Daily News. She wanted Glaude to check paper inside the envelope for fingerprints...Postal police arrived early Tuesday morning, said Ginn, and removed the postal boxes to the Paynes Creek community center for inspection. "There were all these guys in dark suits out here with rifles guarding the place," said Ginn. "They were serious." "Something has to be done immediately to reestablish mail service to box holders. It's about a 40-mile trip for them to Red Bluff,"... And now for the rest of the story... Monte Manwill is a former Marine, a huge man somewhere past 50, who also is a licensed gun dealer. He is not a man who wears his patriotism on his sleeve, but he is a constituionalist all the way. The agents that sealed off the area were carrying automatic weapons when they cordoned off the town. They entered the store looking for illegal weapons. They were BATF, but they did not have local police with them on their raid. No charges were ever filed, no irregularities were found in Manwill's record keeping, and the post office boxes were returned. Even though Monte didn't put a .45 caliber pistol in his mouth and commit suicide, he did get the message. Three months later he sold the Paynes Creek Store and moved out of state into retirement. Oh yes, he was politically active in the county and had made enemies of an extremely liberal county supervisor, who is also the chairperson of the Tehama County Democratic Party Central Committee. This same chairperson is also friends with U.S. Representative, Vic Fazio, (dem. Sacramento), and has an attorney husband who "studied" radical sociology in East Germany during the 1970's. One can assume that the tactics of intimidation were taught in Communist East Germany. Now they are being practised here. Posted by: redman () * 10/14/98 16:10:29 PDT - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: scott.bergeson@ucs.org (SCOTT BERGESON) Subject: Taft Update Date: 16 Oct 1998 22:31:00 -0700 ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Cc: pi@involved.com, mam-submit@black-helicopter.psychetect.com, fpe@egroups.com From IP. Mike P Source: Bakersfield Californian http://www.bakersfield.com/bak/i--1303723766.asp Taft man gets independent autopsy Filed: October 14, 1998 By STEVE E. SWENSON Californian staff writer e-mail: sswenson@bakersfield.com An independent autopsy conducted Wednesday morning on the body of Taft gun shop owner Darryl Howell confirmed he was shot in the mouth, "but it left a lot of unanswered questions," an attorney for Howell's family said. Howell's death Oct. 7, reportedly from a self-inflicted gunshot to his head - followed by three shots in his side fired by a Taft police officer reportedly to protect a federal agent - has raised suspicion among people who regarded Howell as a law-abiding citizen. That's why Howell's son, Jeremiah "Bucky" Howell, 21, and daughter, Judy Howell, 24, hired attorney James L. Faulkner to conduct an independent review of their father's death. Faulkner responded by securing an order Wednesday from Kern County Superior Court Judge Lee Felice to obtain investigation reports, photographs and other information completed before Oct. 20 about the events leading to the attempt to arrest Howell on weapons violations and the circumstances of his death. Faulkner declined to identify the out-of-town pathologist he hired to conduct the autopsy, or to elaborate on the questions raised by the head wound. The only reports publicly released so far are from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms that detail a three-year investigation - complete with tape-recorded conversations and surveillance - of Howell selling two illegal machine guns and two handguns without the required paperwork to a confidential informant. The reports say Howell used the code name "T-shirt" to refer to Sten machine guns that he sold to the informant for $800 the first time and $750 the second time; and that Howell sold a Smith and Wesson Model 940 Centennial 9mm handgun for $350 and a European American Arms Witness .45-caliber handgun for $475 in transactions without paperwork or the required waiting period. Those reports attached to federal warrants in U.S. District Court, Fresno, are at odds with friends and relatives of Howell, who said he always "went by the book" in their gun transactions. Supporters of Howell also doubt that Howell would ever resist arrest or try to kill himself. His aunt, Darlene Jenkins, said someone close to Howell committed suicide 15 years ago and Howell "told his family he would never do that." She added, "If he did put it (the gun) in his mouth, he had help putting it in there." But sheriff's Sgt. Glenn Johnson, whose department conducted the investigation of the killing, said Howell shot himself as an ATF agent tried to get the gun away from him. The ATF has refused to identify the two agents present at 10 a.m. Oct. 7 in Howell's cramped store, Alpha Omega Surplus and Supplies, 2011Ú2 Harrison St., where Howell was killed. Sgt. Ed Whiting was the Taft officer who shot Howell, and sheriff's Senior Deputy Bob Bendle was also present. Whiting could not see where the first shot was fired, but Bendle and the second ATF agent could and that's why they didn't fire their weapons which they had drawn, Johnson has said. An earlier autopsy by the Kern County Coroner's office showed that Howell was shot once in the head and three times in the side, but the bullets have not yet been analyzed. The head shot was reportedly from Howell's .45-caliber weapon while the body shots were from Whiting's .40-caliber weapon. A shooting review board headed by Taft Police Chief Bert Pumphrey and Lt. Ken McMinn is tentatively scheduled for Friday, but Pumphrey said late Wednesday he had not yet received the sheriff's investigation reports he needs for the review. Meanwhile, an outdoor memorial service for Howell has been scheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m. in Ford City Park at Cedar and Tyler streets. The family is asking that contributions to help pay funeral expenses be made to a Howell memorial account at Taft National Bank, 523 Cascade Place, Taft, 93268. Copyright© 1998, The Bakersfield Californian - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: scott.bergeson@ucs.org (SCOTT BERGESON) Subject: There's more to gun control than meets the eye Date: 19 Oct 1998 18:35:00 -0700 ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From -- Into the Outdoors Magazine - October 1998 issue page 23 There's more to gun control than meets the eye After reading your editorial in the August issue. I could not help but wonder after reading the last paragraph or two if you really would allow yourself to become a slave of the globist puppet masters by surrendering your firearms. Make no mistake about it, ladies and gentlemen, we are sitting in a pot of boiling water with the heat being turned up on us little by little. Your loss of your Constitutional rights to own firearms is on the horizon. To the guy from North Adams, Mass. who wonders if his sons will be members of the last generation of "hunters and gun owners," (Sept. 1998 issue), please allow me to answer that question for you: "Yes. they will be the last, that is, unless ALL of you don't wake up now. You wonder where your First Amendment rights will be attacked. Well, HELLO! people, all your Constitutional rights have been under attack for many decades. Our public officials have sold us out. Five thousand properties are seized weekly in the USA, some legally, most illegally. Your freedom of speech had better be politically correct. or be prepared to be labeled a domestic terrorist by the likes of Janet "the butcher of Waco" Reno. That is, unless you're a member of the "New Black Panther Party" who can attend funerals in Texas armed with full-auto AK-47s or go around like Dr. Abdul Mohammed from N.J. who vows to kill every white man, woman and child in the U.S., bury us, then dig us up and then kill us again. It's ok to speak out if you're a member of the brown beret "Communist Mexicanos" who vow to take back by force the southwest USA. Churches are 501(c)3 federally registered and regulated by Uncle Sam. What happens to our religious freedom? Need I go on? Most of you have no idea how corrupt your Communist controlled government really is, and that's not your fault. Your lack of knowledge of the truth of what really goes on in the USA is because you listen and watch CNN, (The Communist News Network), or you watch ABC, NBC or CBS, all government-controlled networks owned by your next vice-president. Jay Rockefeller, You know, the family that was responsible for the planned 1929 Stock Market Crash, just one of many Who control our government, who plan on crashing the market soon, And send the world into a Global Depression. These are the people that have just disarmed Australia; they are now disarming New Zealand as we speak, and soon the one world government, United Nations, a Communist controlled organization will begin its final step in disarming America. Right now in America the Republic there are thousands of foreign troops and tons of Russian-made vehicles throughout our country. Holloman AFB in New Mexico has been turned over to the German Air Force. Long Beach shipping port and Naval air station has been signed over to Cosco or the Chinese military. The same government that defeated our Army in Korea and Vietnam. Ft. Polk, La., is headquarters for the thousands of UN troops already in this country. Did anybody see the Boston paper with a photo of foreign troops armed with full-autos right in front of our state house in Boston? Do I have your attention yet? Well, good. Did you know our government has given away to the UN many of America's National Parks they call Biosphere program. The Heritage River Act is a treaty with the UN to control our nations waterways. I feel sorry for anybody who lives along the Connecticut River or any tributary thereof. You folks are about to have a lesson in property rights, or lack thereof. I challenge each of you to seek the truth. Subscribe to newspapers like The North Florida Advocate, call (904)454-4303 or the Idaho Observer by calling (208)777-7888. Or The Oregon Observer at (503)557-9180 and subscribe to the Free American magazine by calling (505)423-3250. Get yourself a short-wave radio and listen to truth radio. Tune in to Republic Radio International at 12.160 or tune your satellite receiver to Galaxy 7 Transponder 14, 7.71 audio and then consider shooting your TV set. Learn about your new national ID card that must be had by all Americans by I bet 2000??? That's public law # l04-I93 title code 42 USC 666. Could this be the so-called "mark of the beast." If I still haven't gotten your attention yet, then call 1-800-771-2147 ext. 25 and order your video tape about the planned chaos about to hit this country head-on. Learn the truth about the so-called Y2K problem. Do it today and get yourself prepared for now. Do not allow yourself or your family to become a victim. Learn how to be a victor. To those of you who don't own any firearms, you'd better reconsider your position. Chaos looms in the near future. Now is the time for your people to wake up, time is very critical. In conclusion, I say this to my brothers in blue: remember your oath to uphold the Constitution of the USA, and protect our Bill of Rights of all Americans. When the time comes, (notice I didn't say if, but when the time comes) and you must decide which side of the line you will stand on, then think about this. The Second Amendment is not about squirrel hunting. It's about guarding the Constitution of the United States of America. This amendment was Designed to preserve all our God-given rights. Never surrender your firearms. To those of you that will cave in and give up your arms, I say this to you. May your children and grandchildren filter through their kidneys their favorite beverage and urinate on your tombstone as they ponder with the thought of why they are now slaves of the globist one-world government. To those of you that can't take a stand, remember your partisan support will he needed. To any federal agent that may read this, I say this to: The gun you take from my cold dead fingers, just might be traced back to one of your fallen comrades. I hope there will he no hard feelings. Oh, by the way, to Dana Charbonneau who wrote the article about the 30-06 for deer hunting, it's right on, it's pure overkill. Just don't lose that 30-06, it has a great history for being a fine battle rifle and history always repeats itself, doesn't it? Gun control isn't about guns, it's about control. Forever Free. Earl Reopell Jr TPR Mass State Police SP Shelburne Falls Master Sargeant USAR Certified Battle Focus instructor Infantry, military police - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: scott.bergeson@ucs.org (SCOTT BERGESON) Subject: LIBERTARIANS BACKED BY GOA Date: 19 Oct 1998 18:35:00 -0700 It's About Time!!!! ---------- Libertarian Candidates Endorsed By Gun Owners of California Over Republicans LOS ANGELES, Oct. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- In a move that underscores the emerging importance of the Libertarian Party in electoral politics, the Sacramento-based gun rights organization Gun Owners of California endorsed 10 Libertarian candidates on the November 3rd ballot, the Libertarian Party of California announced today. "This is a historic day for Libertarians," declared Libertarian state chair Mark Hinkle. "We have been fighting for a long time to be taken seriously as a viable political party, and the dedication and hard work of our candidates is paying off. These endorsements are one small step for liberty and one giant leap for the Libertarian Party of California." What makes the endorsements especially satisfying, according to Hinkle, is that Libertarians were endorsed over Republican candidates, who are usually expected to receive the support of gun rights organizations. "Gun Owners of California is recognizing what we've been saying for years: that Libertarians fully acknowledge the constitutionally-protected right held by law-abiding citizens to protect themselves from violent criminals," noted Hinkle. "Republicans tend to forget that." For example, in the 36th Congressional race, Libertarian Kerry Welsh was endorsed over Republican Assemblyman Steve Kuykendall, and in the 24th Assembly race Libertarian Ray Strong was endorsed over Republican incumbent Assemblyman Jim Cunneen. The 10 candidates who received endorsements, and the offices they are seeking, are: * Congressional District 18: Linda M. DeGroat * Congressional District 26: Juan Carlos Ros * Congressional District 36: Kerry Welsh * Senate District 26: Bob Weber * Senate District 40: David N. Graham * Assembly District 22: Paul Rako * Assembly District 24: Ray Strong * Assembly District 39: Christopher "Kit" Maira * Assembly District 40: Kelley L. Ross * Assembly District 47: Eric Michael Fine Gun Owners of California represents 50,000 members statewide. The Libertarian Party of California is running 99 candidates for federal, state, and local office this November. SOURCE Libertarian Party of California CO: Libertarian Party of California; Gun Owners of California ST: California IN: SU: 10/16/98 11:04 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: scott.bergeson@ucs.org (SCOTT BERGESON) Subject: CNN - Gun-control advocates want gun shows regulated - October 16, 1998 Date: 20 Oct 1998 07:27:00 -0700 ---------- Forwarded message ---------- SNET , David Rydel http://www.cnn.com/US/9810/16/brady.bill/ Gun-control advocates want gun shows regulated October 17, 1998 [Guns] Web posted at: 12:05 a.m. The FBI will begin EDT (0405 GMT) running instant WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Just a background checks month before a new set of November 30 on people federal firearms restrictions who buy firearms takes effect, a national gun-control group is seeking regulations on public gun shows that it claims are a "supermarket for criminals." James Brady, former President Ronald Reagan's press secretary who was wounded in a 1981 assassination attempt, joined members of Handgun Control at a news conference Friday on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. They called for a new law that would require gun shows to be regulated in the same way as gun dealerships. Bob Walker, president of Handgun Control, said organized crime has increasingly turned to gun shows to buy and sell guns without complying with restrictions in the Brady law, a federal gun-control law named after Brady. The former press secretary remains in a wheelchair from injuries he received during John Hinckley's attempted assassination attempt on Reagan. Walker said a "gun show loophole" in the Brady law lets sellers avoid restrictions by simply stating that their weapons are part of a private collection. A new bill, sponsored by Rep. Rod Blagojevich, D-Illinois, would close the loophole and require gun show sales to be conducted in the same manner as sales at registered gun dealers. Expanded background checks begin November 30 On November 30, the FBI will [Reminder] begin running instant Reminders about the new background checks on people regulations are posted who try to buy firearms, a at gun stores system that's already in place in several states. Also, for the first time, the instant checks will be required for sales of rifles and shotguns, not just handguns. At gun stores, reminders of the new requirements have been posted, and there is some evidence sales are increasing as the deadline approaches. Once the FBI background-check system goes into effect, the five-day waiting period for handgun purchases now required by the Brady law will end, because Congress didn't take action to renew it. So except where state law requires a waiting period, people will be able to purchase a firearm if they pass the background check, which searches for evidence that a buyer has a criminal record or a history of mental illness. Despite some reservations, the National Rifle Association supported the instant background checks. But some gun- control advocates say the FBI checks might not cover all state records, and they want the waiting period to remain. In Georgia, the background-check system resulted in about 8 percent of would-be gun purchasers being turned down. Over the past five years, the Brady law has prevented almost 250,000 ineligible people from buying guns, according to gun-control advocates. Correspondent Aram Roston contributed to this report. Related stories: * Court strikes down part of Brady gun law - June 27, 1997 * Brady gun law marks 3rd anniversary - February 28, 1997 * Gun control foes take Brady complaints to Supreme Court - December 2, 1996 * National Rifle Association goes global - November 24, 1996 * Brady Law expansion -- smart politics, but good policy? - August 26, 1996 * Heading to Mexico? Leave the guns at home Related sites: * National Rifle Association * U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms' Firearms Programs page External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive. © 1998 Cable News Network, Inc. All Rights Reserved. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: scott.bergeson@ucs.org (SCOTT BERGESON) Subject: Europe vs US Crime Date: 20 Oct 1998 07:27:00 -0700 I wonder how accurate the attribution of decreasing crime in America and increasing crime in GB to imprisonment, rather than the proliferation of concealed carry in America and victim disarmament in GB, is. After all, "An avidity to punish is always dangerous to liberty." Forwarded-by: hdqrs@worldnet.att.net ---------- Forwarded message ---------- With the restrictive gun laws in those countries, burglars have little to fear from residents, and they have more "hot" burglaries than we do in the U.S. ------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- WSJ Interactive Edition, October 16, 1998 Commentary Europe Surpasses America--in Crime By MORGAN O. REYNOLDS The conventional wisdom is that the U.S. is the most crime-ridden of modern industrial democracies. Yet the truth is that in many respects we have less crime--and America's crime rate has been declining dramatically. Property crimes represent about nine out of 10 serious crimes. The burglary rate in Australia is 40% higher than that in the U.S., in Canada 12% higher and in England and Wales 30% higher. Sweden and the Netherlands, despite their reputations as nearly crime-free, have burglary rates 35% and 84% greater than the U.S. Only a few nations, including France and Switzerland, have lower burglary rates than the U.S. The picture is much the same for auto theft. What about crimes of violence? The picture is mixed, but the risk of minor violence is generally no higher in America than in other common law countries (i.e., descendants of the British legal system). The glaring exception is the U.S. murder rate, which is about six times higher than in other industrialized nations. But comparing a country with a diverse population such as the U.S. with other, largely homogenous populations ignores important demographic differences. Half the murderers and victims in the U.S. are African-Americans, whose victimization rate is seven times that of whites. The white homicide rate in the U.S. is about twice that in Europe, though the gap has been closing because the U.S. murder rate has been falling. This reflects a broader pattern: As our crime rates have fallen, serious crime rates in England have risen substantially, as a recent study from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics found. For example, victim surveys show that: * The English robbery rate was about half the U.S. rate in 1981, but was 40% higher than America's in 1995. * The English assault rate was slightly higher than America's in 1981, but more than double by 1995. * The English burglary rate was half America's in 1981, but nearly double by 1995. Why these dramatic increases in English crime rates, while Americans' lives and property grew safer? The obvious explanation has been too often downplayed or ignored: The U.S. has instituted tougher, more predictable punishment for crime. The study's authors attribute the trends they note to the increasing conviction rates and longer sentences meted out in the U.S., vs. the decreasing conviction rates and softer sentences in England and Wales. English conviction rates for rape, burglary, assault and aut>Social scientist Charles Murray points out that the England of 1954 operated on the assumption that the best way to keep crime down was to intervene early and sternly. Crime was very low, and the number of youths picked up by the police went down by about half as children matured from the early teens to their late teens. England today operates on the assumption that the way to deal with crime is to be caring and forgiving toward the young offender. Crime is very high, and the number of youths picked up For some time the U.S. criminal justice system also lacked the will or the ability to punish, especially in dealing with juveniles. For example, during the U.S. crime explosion in the 1960s and 1970s, the number of new commitments to prison by the courts for serious predatory crimes actually fell, to 37,000 in 1970 from 40,000 in 1960, while the number of serious crimes reported to the police nearly tripled, to 2.9 million from one million. As a result, the probability of imprisonment for committing a s But in the past few years deterrence has reasserted itself and has driven crime down. Since 1993 in the U.S.: * Murder has dropped 30% as the probability of going to prison for murder has risen 53%. * Rape has decreased 14% as the probability of imprisonment has increased 12%. * Robbery has decreased 29% as the probability of imprisonment has increased 28%. * Burglary has decreased 18% as the probability of imprisonment has increased 14%. Moreover, once in prison, criminals are staying there longer. The median time served by those released has risen since 1993 for every category of serious crime except aggravated assault. This doesn't mean "root causes" don't matter. Being born out of wedlock and raised in a fatherless household doubles the odds that a young male will become a criminal. But no matter how bad root causes may or may not be, a tough approach pays, especially over the long run. The growth of prison admissions eventually stopped America's rising crime rate and then began to push it back down. England and Wales are going in the opposite direction. For the safety of their citizens and their property, England and other developed countries should begin the long--and expensive--road back to law and order. And the sooner the better. Mr. Reynolds is director of the Criminal Justice Center at the National Center for Policy Analysis and a professor of economics at Texas A&M University. URL for this Article: http://interactive.wsj.com/archive/retrieve.cgi?id=SB90847924737906500.djm - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: chardy@ES.COM (Charles Hardy) Subject: [!!!To All Homeschooling Parents!!!--OFF TOPIC] Date: 20 Oct 1998 17:42:45 -0600 This is off topic, but may be of interest. Please pass along info to anyone to whom it may apply. ----BEGIN FORWARDED MESSGE---- >!!!To All Homeschooling Parents!!! > >Are there any parents out there who homeschool their kids because they don't >agree with the atheistic and/or sick values taught at school? > >Nadine Wimmer wants to interview you. Call Ruth Lehenbauer at 435 753 4866 >tonight. She will get names to Nadine TOMORROW MORNING. Here's your chance >to be a star and make a difference FOR GOOD at the same time. Eat your >heart out, Robert Redford! > ----END FORWARDED MESSAGE---- -- Charles C. Hardy | If my employer has an opinion on | these things I'm fairly certain 801.588.7200 (work) | I'm not the one he'd have express it. "The care of every man's soul belongs to himself. But what if he neglect the care of it? Well what if he neglect the care of his health or his estate, which would more nearly relate to the state. Will the magistrate make a law that he not be poor or sick? Laws provide against injury from others; but not from ourselves. God himself will not save men against their wills." -- Thomas Jefferson- October 1776 - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: scott.bergeson@ucs.org (SCOTT BERGESON) Subject: NRA-ILA endorsement Date: 22 Oct 1998 21:52:00 -0700 ---------- Forwarded messages ---------- I just received my NRA magazines today and they are urging NRA members to vote on all the Republicans. They don't even list any of us. The last request for contributions I received from the ILA (NRA's lobbying organization - I used to contribute) I returned telling them I'd start sending money again when they started supporting the only party which sees gun ownership as part of the solution, not part of the problem. I'd like to see a merged list of NRA and Libertarian Party membership. Do you think there might be a higher correlation than other parties? Not actual numbers, but percentage of Libertarians who are NRA members vs the other parties...? Charlie I was upset with the NRA-ILA endorsements of only Republicrats, so I am posting this letter tomorrow. NRA-ILA Grassroots Division Attention Grassfire Editor 11250 Waples Mill Road Fairfax, VA 22030-7400 Dear editor; I just received my November/December issues of The American Rifleman and The American Guardian magazines and I was dismayed to see that you had ignored a large group of pro-gun candidates. I challenge you to publish the following question and your response in the next edition of your feature: "Why do you list only Republican and Democratic candidates who will just bring us more of the same intrusive government and chipping away of our second amendment rights? I agree that your selected candidates may be a little less anti-second amendment than the opponents you listed, but they are still poor choices. The Libertarian Party is the only political party which considers responsible private gun ownership as part of the solution, not part of the problems in our society today. As a candidate for the Utah State Senate I believe that I should have been listed in your publication as a pro-second amendment candidate, along with other Libertarians." Thank you, Charles A. Bonsall Libertarian Candidate Utah Senate District #10 8887 South Ida Lane Sandy, UT 84093-3724 (801) 566-3673 Utsen10@aol.com - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Will Thompson Subject: Re: NRA-ILA endorsement Date: 23 Oct 1998 10:23:43 -0600 SCOTT BERGESON wrote: > > ---------- Forwarded messages ---------- > Date: Wed, 21 Oct 1998 19:05:53 EDT > From: CABONSALL@aol.com > To: lputah@qsicorp.com > Subject: Political activities > > I just received my NRA magazines today and they are urging NRA members > to vote on all the Republicans. They don't even list any of us. > > The last request for contributions I received from the ILA (NRA's lobbying > organization - I used to contribute) I returned telling them I'd start > sending money again when they started supporting the only party which > sees gun ownership as part of the solution, not part of the problem. > > I'd like to see a merged list of NRA and Libertarian Party membership. > Do you think there might be a higher correlation than other parties? > Not actual numbers, but percentage of Libertarians who are NRA members > vs the other parties...? > > Charlie > Actually....I would hope that the ratio of Libertarians to the others would be much below the population ratio. I would really hate to think that it's Libs who are making the NRA the "worlds largest gun control organization." Especially now that Chucky's out peeing in his back yard and campaigning for increased taxes to "save the chiiiiilllldrin" - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "David Sagers" Subject: Fwd: Fw: Liberal fill-in-the-blank test (fwd) Date: 23 Oct 1998 14:10:58 -0600 Received: from wvc ([204.246.130.34]) by icarus.ci.west-valley.ut.us; Thu, 22 Oct 1998 17:54:42 -0600 Received: from fs1.mainstream.net by wvc (SMI-8.6/SMI-SVR4) id RAA19179; Thu, 22 Oct 1998 17:42:05 -0600 Received: (from smap@localhost) by fs1.mainstream.net (8.8.8/8.7.3) id TAA00783; Thu, 22 Oct 1998 19:53:19 -0400 (EDT) Received: from localhost(127.0.0.1) by fs1.mainstream.net via smap (V1.3) id sma000511; Thu Oct 22 19:48:20 1998 Message-Id: <9810222232.0y02@xpresso.seaslug.org> Errors-To: listproc@mainstream.com Reply-To: noban@xpresso.seaslug.org Originator: noban@mainstream.net Sender: noban@Mainstream.net Precedence: bulk X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0 -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas X-Comment: Anti-Gun-Ban list Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: inline Here's one that might get you in trouble; But then again, it might wake a few people up, too.....:-) On Oct 22, Steve Silver wrote: [-------------------- text of forwarded message follows -------------------= -] The politically correct answer(s) follow each question. 1. Evidence exists that a Democratic administration: o uses the IRS to harass political opponents o sells missile technology to China for campaign contributions o illegally obtains hundreds of Republican FBI files o conspires to commit perjury and obstruct justice o systematically engages in blackmail, bribes and threats of violence These allegations should be thoroughly __________. -- denounced. 2. Thousands of media reports falsely claim that racists are burning black churches in the South. This is a good example of __________. -- consciousness-raising. 3. In a mid-term election, Republicans increase their representation in the House by 52 seats, and in the Senate by 7 seats. No Republican congressmen are defeated. This result can best be characterized as __________. -- anti-incumbent. 4. A Republican Speaker of the House suggests changes to Social Security. He is motivated by a desire to __________. -- impoverish and starve old people. 5. Two thugs rob and murder a gay man, and rob and beat two other men the same night. One of the murderers reportedly has several gay friends. This is a clear-cut example of __________. -- a hate crime. 6. After saying he wanted to kill some white people, a black man murders six whites and Asians on a train in New York. This is a clear-cut example of __________. -- the need for stricter gun-control laws. 7. A Republican Supreme Court nominee is accused by a former employee of having made sexually suggestive remarks ten years ago. The proper response is to __________. -- march in the streets. 8. A Democratic President lies under oath about an affair with a 21-year old employee to avoid liability in a sexual harassment case. He is also accused of sexually assaulting several other women. The proper response is to __________. -- forget it and move on. 9. An economic expansion occurs during a Republican administration. This period is known as __________. -- a decade of greed. 10. An economic expansion occurs during a Democratic administration. This period is known as __________. -- a booming economy. 11. Some people blow up a Federal Building. Responsibility for this heinous act rests with __________. --the Republican party, the National Rifle Association, all gun owners and all other conservatives. 12. An extremist environmental group destroys a $12 million ski resort in Colorado purportedly to protect the lynx population. Responsibility for this heinous act does not rest with Al Gore and other radical environmentalists, but with ______________. --the ski resort and its patrons for not immediately shutting down its operation in the interests of "protecting the environment." If you correctly answered all the above questions and weren't bothered for a second, here are two bonus questions: 13. All liberal initiatives of any kind are done __________. -- For the children. 14. Pointing out contradictions in liberal thinking is called __________. -- Hate speech. Scoring: All 14 -- Liberal 0 - 13 -- Fascist -- Steve Silver Vice President, The Lawyer's Second Amendment Society, Inc. 18034 Ventura Blvd., No. 329, Encino, CA 91316 * (818) 734-3066 For a complimentary copy of the LSAS's newsletter, "The Liberty Pole," e-mail your snail-mail address to: LSAS3@aol.com. The LSAS is a 501(c)(4) California non-profit corporation * * * GET THE TRUTH ABOUT GUNS. VISIT: www.guntruths.com [------------------------- end of forwarded message -----------------------= -] -- - ***** Blessings On Thee, Oh Israel! ***** ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------= - An _EFFECTIVE_ | Insured | All matter is vibration. | Let he who hath no weapon in every | by COLT; | -- Max Plank | weapon sell his hand =3D Freedom | DIAL | In the beginning was the | garment and buy = a on every side! | 1911-A1. | word. -- The Bible | sword.--Jesus = Christ ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------= - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: scott.bergeson@ucs.org (SCOTT BERGESON) Subject: NRA-ILA endorsement Date: 24 Oct 1998 19:03:00 -0700 ---------- Forwarded message ---------- I get your point, but I still suspect that there is a higher ratio of Libertarian members, or sympathizers, of the NRA than most other organizations. BTW, after an exchange with the Gun Owners of America, I found myself apologizing to them and joined them yesterday. They have evaluated, rated and published the ratings of all Libertarian candidates who returned their survey. If a Libertarian is not listed it is because they never received a survey, or did not return one they received. Because Brian Swim was not rated I forwarded the survey form on to him. Charlie - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: chardy@ES.COM (Charles Hardy) Subject: [goamail@gunowners.org: S.10 Dies!] Date: 26 Oct 1998 17:09:39 -0700 Pretty bad when you have to work against your own, supposedly conservative, pro-gun senator... ----BEGIN FORWARDED MESSGE---- Hatch's "Horror Bill" Is Finally Dead! -- Sen. Smith and gun owners team up for huge victory Gun Owners of America E-Mail/FAX Alert 8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151 Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408 http://www.gunowners.org (Monday, October 26, 1998)-- Last month, Gun Owners of America asked you to contact Senator Bob Smith (R-NH) once more to ask him for a huge favor. The result? Sen. Smith delivered about as well as slugger Mark McGuire would have done with a game on the line. GOA reported earlier last month how Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) hurriedly brought up his Horror Bill (S. 10) for a surprise vote, but was unable to get the required Unanimous Consent agreement. Senate Democrats would only "consent" to debate the bill if they were allowed to offer dozens of amendments-- many of them anti-gun. Senate staffers reported that Hatch, having been rebuffed on the Senate floor, then began scheming for ways to slip his anti-gun Horror Bill (S. 10) into a completely different bill-- without a vote-- and then to bring the bill to the floor in an unamendable form. That's when the GOA grassroots network went to work. The timing was crucial. Your calls, faxes, emails and letters-- from all over the nation-- spurred Senator Smith to continue his leadership role in defense of the Second Amendment. Senator Smith Goes To Bat For Gun Owners Nationwide --Earns The Senate MVP! And defend our rights he did. Sen. Smith confronted Hatch and adamantly declared that he would personally keep S. 10 from reaching the Senate floor. Smith promised to withhold the "consent" needed for Hatch to bring up S. 10 as long as the anti-gun provisions remained in the bill. Sources close to the Senate noted that Hatch was irate. Nevertheless, Sen. Smith refused to back down against the powerful Judiciary Committee Chairman. Unable to overcome the obstacles laid down by Senator Smith, Hatch put up the white flag. Well, sort of. Hatch agreed (once again) to revise his bill. But after looking at the new (supposedly clean) version, GOA attorneys discovered there were still provisions that would endanger the rights of law-abiding gun owners. Regardless, the clock has now run out on S. 10. Credit GOA Members For Getting SEVEN Senators To Drop Their Support Of S. 10 This is a tremendous victory. Early in 1997, Majority Leader Trent Lott listed S. 10 as one of the Top Ten "Must Pass" bills for the Congress. Most of the "experts" in Washington thought this bill was unstoppable. Nevertheless, GOA chose to conduct a full, frontal assault against the anti-gun bill. Lamenting our opposition to his bill, Sen. Hatch stated recently on the Senate floor that, "I have been involved in this fight [to pass a juvenile crime bill] for over three years now. Rarely have I found an issue over which interest group opponents were more determined to block [such a bill]." For almost two full years, your GOA alerted members and activists regarding the dangers in S. 10. Your response has been tremendous and has resulted in SEVEN cosponsors dropping their names from the Horror Bill. One of those seven cosponsors even went on to take up the cause against the bill. That was Sen. Bob Smith, who is the one Senator most responsible for killing the bill this year. We have come a long way. Clearly, your grassroots work has resulted in a massive victory. As originally introduced, S. 10 would have virtually eliminated the Second Amendment as we know it today. Prosecutors would have been given the tools to charge gun dealers under the RICO (racketeering) statute. Dealers could have faced 25 years in prison and the confiscation of their home and business for the 'vicious crime' of merely committing two recordkeeping offenses! "How many gun dealers would remain in business with that 'sword of Damocles' hanging over their heads?" asked GOA Executive Director Larry Pratt. "Not many to be sure. "The members and activists of Gun Owners of America deserve a pat on the back. Representative government still works, and you guys did your job to communicate your position to your elected officials," Pratt said. **************************************************************** Did someone else forward this to you? To be certain of getting up to date information, please consider subscribing directly to the GOA E-Mail Alert Network. The service is totally free and carries no obligation. Your e-mail address remains confidential, and the volume is quite low, usually one or two messages per week. To subscribe, simply send a message (or forward this notice) to goamail@gunowners.org and indicate your state of residence in either the subject or the body. To unsubscribe, reply to any alert and ask to be removed. ----END FORWARDED MESSAGE---- -- Charles C. Hardy | If my employer has an opinion on | these things I'm fairly certain 801.588.7200 (work) | I'm not the one he'd have express it. "Who are the militia? Are they not ourselves? Is it feared, then, that we shall turn our arms each man against his own bosom? Congress shall have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birth-right of an American .. The unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state governments, but where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the People." -- Tench Coxe - 1788. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "David Sagers" Subject: Fwd: GSL> History Channel Tonight Date: 29 Oct 1998 10:00:48 -0700 Received: from wvc ([204.246.130.34]) by icarus.ci.west-valley.ut.us; Thu, 29 Oct 1998 09:37:00 -0700 Received: from fs1.mainstream.net by wvc (SMI-8.6/SMI-SVR4) id JAA01311; Thu, 29 Oct 1998 09:24:13 -0700 Received: (from smap@localhost) by fs1.mainstream.net (8.8.8/8.7.3) id LAA22338; Thu, 29 Oct 1998 11:35:15 -0500 (EST) Received: from localhost(127.0.0.1) by fs1.mainstream.net via smap (V1.3) id sma019965; Thu Oct 29 11:30:23 1998 Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.19981029100621.007c3670@texoma.net> Errors-To: listproc@mainstream.com Reply-To: g.g.williams@mindspring.com Originator: noban@mainstream.net Sender: noban@Mainstream.net Precedence: first-class X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0 -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas X-Comment: Anti-Gun-Ban list Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: inline <<> Posted to texas-gun-owners by Gene Williams >Return-Path: >Delivered-To: gsl@majordomo.pobox.com >X-Originating-IP: [137.51.83.237] >From: "Melinda Gierisch" >To: gsl@listbox.com >Subject: GSL> History Channel Tonight >Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1998 10:26:24 EST >Sender: owner-gsl@listbox.com >Reply-To: gsl@listbox.com > >http://thePentagon.com/FullBookJacket ------------ http://GunsSaveLives.co= m > >The History Channel will air tonight, Thursday, October 29th, at = 7:00PM=20 >EST, a program entitled, "Gun Control: The Right To Bear Arms." Please=20 >pass this message on to friends. > >Melinda =20 > =20 > > > > >______________________________________________________ >Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com > >-------------------------- >GunsSaveLives Internet Discussion List > >This list is governed by an acceptable use >policy: http://www.wizard.net/~kc/policy.html >or available upon request. > >To unsubscribe send a message to >majordomo@listbox.com > >with the following line in the body: > >unsubscribe gsl > >GUNSSAVELIVES (GSL) IS A PRIVATE UNMODERATED LIST. >THE OWNER TAKES NO RESPONSIBILTY FOR CONTENT. ALL >RIGHTS RESERVED. > USPSA A-34943 IDPA A03155 NRA-NROI-GOA-LEAA ICQ 13576014 Member VRWC -- For help with Majordomo commands, send a message to majordomo@mailing-list.= net with the word help in the message body. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "David Sagers" Subject: Fwd: FW: GSL> History Channel Tonight Date: 29 Oct 1998 10:00:29 -0700 Received: from wvc ([204.246.130.34]) by icarus.ci.west-valley.ut.us; Thu, 29 Oct 1998 09:37:00 -0700 Received: from fs1.mainstream.net by wvc (SMI-8.6/SMI-SVR4) id JAA01310; Thu, 29 Oct 1998 09:24:13 -0700 Received: (from smap@localhost) by fs1.mainstream.net (8.8.8/8.7.3) id LAA22340; Thu, 29 Oct 1998 11:35:15 -0500 (EST) Received: from localhost(127.0.0.1) by fs1.mainstream.net via smap (V1.3) id sma020016; Thu Oct 29 11:30:26 1998 Message-Id: Errors-To: listproc@mainstream.com Reply-To: KGrubb@carnival.com Originator: noban@mainstream.net Sender: noban@Mainstream.net Precedence: first-class X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0 -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas X-Comment: Anti-Gun-Ban list Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: inline forwarded from GSL Ken Grubb Miami, FL > -----Original Message----- > From: Melinda Gierisch [SMTP:gieriscm@hotmail.com] > Sent: Thursday, October 29, 1998 10:26 AM > To: gsl@listbox.com > Subject: GSL> History Channel Tonight >=20 > http://thePentagon.com/FullBookJacket ------------ > http://GunsSaveLives.com >=20 > The History Channel will air tonight, Thursday, October 29th, at = 7:00PM=20 > EST, a program entitled, "Gun Control: The Right To Bear Arms." = Please=20 > pass this message on to friends. >=20 - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: scott.bergeson@ucs.org (SCOTT BERGESON) Subject: NRA-ILA endorsement Date: 29 Oct 1998 06:44:00 -0700 ----------- Forwarded messages ---------- Six years ago I ran against Rob Bishop for H2 and the NRA endorsed him (not even an NRA member) over me (Life Member, certified Rifle, Pistol, and Personal Defense Instructor). I called them up and chewed them royally. They gave some wimp excuse about "viable" candidates. Four years ago, when I ran a two-way race for S24 against John Holmgren, I was the only 3rd-party candidate in Utah endorsed by the NRA. Of course, I had worked closely with Scott Engen, the head of Utah Shooting Sports Council, and Bryan Judy, the NRA Field Coordinator. Since then, the USSC has been taken over by (of all people) Rob Bishop, who has effectively neutralized it as a force for defending the right to keep and bear arms, and the USSC and the NRA have both pushed restricting the right to petition (including Prop 5). The NRA also tried to push an instant background check bill in Georgia that was opposed by GOA. (GOA won.) Watch out for the NRA and USSC. Dick >From: CABONSALL@aol.com >Date: Wed, 21 Oct 1998 19:05:53 EDT >To: lputah@qsicorp.com >Subject: LPU: Political activities >Speaking of the political activities of churches... How about other >organizations...? >I just received my NRA magazines today and they are urging NRA members >to vote on all the Republicans. They don't even list any of us. >The last request for contributions I received from the ILA (MRA's >lobbying organization - I used to contribute) I returned telling them >I'd start sending money again when they started supporting the only >party which sees gun ownership as part of the solution, not part of >the problem. >I'd like to see a merged list of NRA and Libertarian Party membership. >Do you think there might be a higher correlation than other parties? >Not actual numbers, but percentage of Libertarians who are NRA members >vs the other parties...? >Charlie As I'm an NRA Life member, it would be pointless to quit (assuming there is a way to do that). As a Life Member, I have voting privileges and, in the last election for board members, I voted for every dissident candidate on the ballot. Unfortunately, NRA members seem to be as uninformed as the average American voter, and the result was that Charlton Heston was elected to head the NRA even though he endorsed the 1968 Gun Control Act. I will continue to oppose NRA's sinful behavior any way I can. Dick >Date: Sat, 24 Oct 1998 07:05:13 -0600 (MDT) >From: Scott Bergeson >To: Libertarian Party of Utah >Subject: LPU: NRA-ILA endorsement >---------- Forwarded message ---------- >Date: Fri, 23 Oct 1998 10:23:43 -0600 >From: Will Thompson >To: utah-firearms@xmission.com >Subject: Re: NRA-ILA endorsement >Actually....I would hope that the ratio of Libertarians to the others >would be much below the population ratio. I would really hate to think >that it's Libs who are making the NRA the "worlds largest gun control >organization." Especially now that Chucky's out peeing in his back >yard and campaigning for increased taxes to "save the chiiiiilllldrin" - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Will Thompson Subject: [Fwd: Fwd: Sallislaw, Oklahoma] Date: 29 Oct 1998 16:24:14 -0700 Received: from [192.40.29.55] by toro.phbtsus.com with SMTP (1.38.193.4/16.2) id AA11934; Thu, 29 Oct 1998 14:40:07 -0700 Return-Path: <#9@therighter.com> Received: from mars.aros.net by philipsdvs.com (SMI-8.6/SMI-SVR4) id OAA10643; Thu, 29 Oct 1998 14:36:35 -0700 Received: from sarahtho (dm6-43.slc.aros.net [207.173.24.44]) by mars.aros.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with SMTP id OAA05402; Thu, 29 Oct 1998 14:34:18 -0700 (MST) Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.19981029143428.008895e0@aros.net> X-Sender: righter@aros.net (Unverified) X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Pro Version 3.0.5 (32) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >> Police shooting puzzles woman from Sallisaw >> http://www.swtimes.com/ >> >> BY TINA TABER >> SOUTHWEST TIMES RECORD >> Fort Smith, Arkansas >> >> An area woman continues to recover from a shattered shoulder, still >uncertain >> why she was shot Friday by police in Sallisaw. >> >> Patricia Ann Eymer, 32, of Sallisaw was released from Sparks Regional >Medical >> Center Monday. Eymer underwent surgery after being shot once in the upper >> right shoulder. >> >> Lorna Palmer, public information assistant with the Oklahoma State Bureau of >> Investigation, said Eymer was shot by a Sallisaw Police officer who was >> executing a search warrant on Eymer's Sallisaw residence for drugs. >> >> Eymer said from her hospital room Tuesday she was shot as she was coming out >> of her bedroom around 7 a.m. with her hands raised and her 4-year-old >> daughter walking with her. >> >> "I heard them yelling 'This is the Sallisaw Police. Come out with your hands >> up.' I said, 'I'm coming out, I'm unarmed, and my 4-year-old daughter is >with >> me,'" Eymer said. "I came out with my hands up and saw two police officers >> standing in the hall. I looked at them; they looked at me. No one said >> anything, and boom I went down." -