Subject: NEAL KNOX: Online Report, 3/25/94 Message-ID: <199403290812.AAA04047@jobe.shell.portal.com> From: chan@shell.portal.com (Jeff Chan) Date: 29 Mar 94 08:11:58 GMT Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana Lines: 603 >From: "Christopher W. Knox" >Subject: FCO 3-28-94 >To: cknox@crl.com (Blind CC sent to the Firearms Coalition Online) >Date: Tue, 29 Mar 1994 00:13:30 -0700 (MST) -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- ======================================================================== Online Report to the F I R E A R M S C O A L I T I O N Box 6537, Silver Spring, MD 20916 ======================================================================== March 25, 1994 Release 1.6 ======================================================================== In this issue: * House and Senate have gone home. Now's the time to talk to 'em. * House and Senate action (from Shotgun News). * BATF wants to narrow "curios and relics" exemption. * Schumer and Bradley introduce even more. * Hearings on "Brady II" -- the sequel is always worse. * HCI five year plan a hoax? What difference does it make? * States challenge the Brady Law. * Knox backs NRA Nominating Committee candidates. * Notes on Waco. * State News -- Texas and Maryland. A Note From Chris If you're reading this, odds are that you're interested in the right to keep and bear arms. But interest in the issue is one thing. Making a difference is another. If you value your gun, whether it's the battered surplus M1 carbine your uncle brought back from Korea, the Model 870 you keep propped behind the bedroom door, the AR-15 Sporter you shoot in Service Rifle competition, or the museum-quality Colt Single Action you bought at the last Christie's auction, then you need to be more than interested. Bills moving in Congress right now will affect _you_. If you've never made a call to your elected servants in Washington, then now's the time to start. If someone you know is "interested" in this issue and has never called or written a politician, now's the time to start. We are right on the edge of a strategic win that will give us all a breather for the rest of the year and that could pay dividends in the coming elections, or a disastrous loss with corresponding losses in November. ======================================================================== House and Senate Break for Easter/Passover March 26 update -- The House and Senate have adjourned for the Passover/Easter holiday. They will return April 12. The House Rules Committee wrangled for almost two days over what amendments would be in order on the crime bill, which Speaker said will have No. 1 priority when they return. Rules committee reportedly will meet during the recess. The speaker remains opposed to any gun provisions being added to the crime bill. Odds are that there will be a vote on a standalone version of the Senate-passed Feinstein Amendment, or a non-binding resolution to instruct House conferees to keep it off the eventual House-Senate Conference version of the crime bill. Handgun Control Inc. is trying to delay the vote until after a television network blitz which CBS is attempting to organize for the last week of April. ======================================================================== Action: What You Need To Do Your Congressman and Senators are likely to be home for the holidays this week. Now is the time to pull out all the stops. You need to write and call, and attempt to set up a personal meeting, either one-on- one, or with a delegation of people from your club. Many members of Congress have been led to believe that the Feinstein amendments would affect only a few guns. That's false. The named guns are only a fraction of the guns that will be affected. Your representatives need to know the facts. Tell your Congressman that: (1) You insist on a record vote on the so-called "assault weapon" semi- auto ban as an amendment to the crime bill. (2) You oppose any crime bill that includes any gun ban. Point out he would not eat a rotten fish no matter how much tartar sauce was on it. Congressmen have been told H.R. 3527 concerns few gun owners, but it would affect the one-third to one-half of 65 million Americans who presently own, or are likely to buy, a rifle or pistol with, or designed for, an over-10-round magazine ~ or an after-market magazine like the commonly seen Ramline mags which increase the capacity of the popular 10-shot Ruger 10-22. The 19 named so-called "assault weapons" in the bill are merely openers. The list includes the Colt AR-15, but not the Colt Sporter. But in a letter to Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho), BATF admits that the generic description fits at least 26 more "currently advertised" models including the Sporter and Springfield M1A. However, Peter Kokalis, in a Jan. 14, 1994 Gun Week article lists 184 models whose owners are directly affected. If you own a banned model, either one of those 19 listed models or the 165-plus not named, you would have a 90-day amnesty period in which to register it with a gun dealer and obtain a copy of the Form 4473, which would have to be kept with the gun forever, with all subsequent owners noted. If you sold the gun, you would have to obtain a Form 4473 from the new buyer, and forever keep it. If you failed to exactly comply, you would be subject to a $1,000 fine and six months in prison ~ and you would be forever prohibited from possessing any firearm. The named models -- 10 percent of the guns that would be affected -- include the Intratec TEC-22, TEC-9, TEC-DC9; AK-47S from several makers; Uzi and Galil; Beretta AR-70; SWD M10, M11, M11/9 and M12; Colt AR-15; FN/FAL, FN/FLR, FNC; and Steyr AUG. Also banned are lookalikes of any caliber. More importantly, since ten times as many guns are affected by the generic descriptions, the bill would ban: - -- Semi-auto pistols which have a detachable magazine and two or more features such as a barrel shroud, threaded muzzle, or magazine other than in the grip, or which weigh over 50 ounces unloaded; - -- Semi-auto rifles with a detachable magazine and two or more features such as a folding or telescoping stock, protruding pistol grip, bayonet mount, flash suppressor, grenade launcher attachment, or threaded barrel muzzle; -- Semi-auto shotguns with at least two of the following features: a fixed magazine over five rounds, an ability to accept a detachable magazine or drum, with a pistol grip extending below the action, or with a folding or telescoping stock. This legislation is only the leading edge of Handgun Control Inc.'s massive "gun control" package, which include registration and licensing of handguns, bans on over-six-round magazines, ban firearms sales at gun shows, require a "firearms arsenal" Federal permit to possess more than 20 guns or 1,000 rounds of ammo, increase excise taxes on handguns to 30 percent and 50 percent on handgun ammo, and much more. If we don't beat the Feinstein Amendment, we already know what the next fights will be. ======================================================================== Gun Bills Moving By NEAL KNOX (Shotgun News column) WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 20) -- There's going to be action on both sides of the Hill in the coming week -- and it's likely to be just as hot and heavy through April or May. If we start losing, it's going to be happening all year. This Wednesday Sen. Paul Simon's Senate Constitution Subcommittee is holding the first of two sets of hearings on Howard Metzenbaum and Handgun Control Inc.'s registration, licensing and everything else bill. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders is the lead-off witness, followed by a string of ban-all-guns physicians and crime victims. I didn't even ask to testify, for it's better to respond in kind: Dr. Ed Suter and other medical professionals who oppose attacks on firearms instead of criminals, and victims of criminals who insist that they have the right to be armed for self-defense -- like Dr. Suzanna Gratia who could only watch in horror as her parents were among 20 defenseless people killed in Luby's Cafeteria in Killeen, Tex. On the same day the House will take up their version of the crime bill which, as it came out of Judiciary Committee last week, has no firearms provisions. We're attempting to keep it that way by forcing a vote on Rep. Charles Schumer's version of the Senate-passed Feinstein ban on so-called "assault weapons" -- so we can defeat it. Schumer -- and Sarah Brady -- don't want to vote right now for they're not sure they can win. So Sarah and Schumer are trying to delay the vote until a coordinated network television blitz in late April, unless they can add it to the final crime bill without a separate House vote. Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) told the New York Times last week that he would insist on including the Senate-passed Feinstein ban in the House-Senate Crime Conference Committee, of which he will be co-chairman. Although the House Judiciary Chairman (who will be co-chair of the conference) is opposed to the gun ban, he may be outnumbered. If the Feinstein ban becomes part of the conference committee compromise, the House -- and Senate -- would have only one up-or-down vote on the entire package. So the only House vote on the semi-auto ban would be fuzzed by the rest of the package -- including provisions for more cops, more prisons and "three strikes you're out." The ranking minority member on the critical House Rules Committee, Rep. Jimmy Quillen (R-Tenn.), is attempting to be sure there is a clean vote on the semi-auto ban -- so it can be defeated. Thankfully, Mr. Quillen is one of those stalwarts who insists that no matter what good things are in the crime bill, if any gun ban gets hung on it, the entire bill must be killed. The Senate-passed bill bans future production of all magazines over ten rounds, requires over-ten-round mags to be treated as firearms, and lists 19 models that could no longer be made. But as BATF has admitted, the bill's generic definition would prohibit manufacture of 26 additional "currently advertised" guns. The bill's generic definition puts at least 184 makes and models into a "restricted" class whose owners could keep them only if they registered the guns with a dealer within a 90-day amnesty period. If so registered, and the required procedure were exactly followed, the affected guns could be subsequently transferred. Trouble is: Anyone possessing or transferring one of the 184 models without having registered it, then following the exacting procedures, would be subject to a $1,000 fine, six months in jail, and permanent loss of the right to own any firearm. If the Feinstein/Schumer ban passes, "we will see the beginning of a landslide which the NRA thugs will not be able to stop," to quote a supposed Handgun Control Inc. document which has been broadly circulated since early January. Whether that purported HCI document is genuine makes no difference, for the bulk of their "confidential plan" is already being pushed in Congress and the states. ======================================================================== BATF Seeks End of Curios and Relics Exemption One of the nastiest provisions of H.R. 3925/S. 1878, Charles Schumer's massive followup to the Brady Act, is the $300, three- year "arsenal license" required of anyone with more than 20 firearms or 1,000 rounds of ammo, or primers. _IF_ the local police give permission for the license, BATF could inspect your home without warrant three times per year. When I told the advanced collectors about it at the annual Baltimore Gun Show last weekend, some told me it didn't affect them because their guns were made before 1898, and aren't considered "firearms." Firearms prior to that year are classified as "curios and relics" under the 1968 Gun Control Act. The BATF apparently intends to try to change that, judging by a March 7 article in the Topeka Capital-Journal. A BATF agent complained that black powder firearms aren't covered by the Gun Control Act of 1968. Some of you younger folks are unaware that the earlier bills tried to include all firearms, all cartridge firearms after 1870, or all modern replicas. ======================================================================== Schumer-Bradley Bill Unveiled On Monday, Crime Subcommittee Chairman Charles Schumer of New York and New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley will announce a new bill requiring handgun licenses issued by the states after a thorough background check and basic firearms instruction. It would require registration of all handgun transfers, including private transfers; limit licensed buyers to one handgun purchase per month; etc., etc. Schumer has said the bill will eliminate the restrictions on BATF imposed by NRA as part of McClure-Volkmer. The bill sounds like the handgun section of the Schumer/Metzenbaum bill, H.R. 3925/S. 1878/S. 1882 except that it provides for the license for handgun dealers to be boosted to $3,000 per year -- instead of "only" $1,000. ======================================================================== First Hearings on "Brady II" Sens. Howard Metzenbaum and Paul Simon held the first hearings March 23 on Brady II -- Handgun Control Inc.'s registration, licensing, banning and limiting bill. The supposed focus was the emotional and financial cost of gunshot wounds to children. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders led off, followed by the American Pediatric Association and Marian Wright Edelman of the Children's Defense Fund. Those three witnesses took over two hours of the three-hour hearing. Two anti-gun medical doctors were allowed to be challenged by two pro-gun rights physicians -- Dr. Edgar Suter and Tim Wheeler. For no good reason the HCI President was allowed on the panel. Dr. Suzanna Gratia, whose parents were murdered in the Luby's Cafeteria massacre in Texas, was allowed to testify only after a knock-down, drag-out argument behind closed doors. She had Sen. Simon squirming when she blamed legislators for denying her the means to defend herself. It was unfair, but they were smart to make her go last -- when no other Senators were there to be influenced by her testimony. ======================================================================== HCI's "Secret Plan:" A Hoax? So What? Everybody in the country seems to have gotten a copy of a supposed secret Handgun Control Inc. 5-year plan. I don't know if its a hoax or not, but the first guys that showed it to me in early January claim that it's real. One version has a distribution list that includes the former HCI President and the former chairman, who is dead. So I wonder. But as ILA Director Tanya Metaksa told me, it doesn't make any difference, for the claimed plan is precisely what they've introduced in Congress or various states, or are publicly talking about doing. ======================================================================== The Brady Law Challenge By NEAL KNOX (Shotgun News column) WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 10) -- In the week after the Brady Act went into effect, requiring local police chiefs and sheriffs in 34 states to perform records checks on handgun buyers, NRA- aided lawsuits by sheriffs in four states have challenged the law on Tenth Amendment grounds. And Arizona Gov. Fife Symington, who is bringing a similar suit against the national government in the U.S. Supreme Court, had received 54 protests of the suit by this afternoon -- and 280 telephone calls and letters supporting the challenge. (Attorney General Grant Woods, who must bring the case, can't be too happy about it for he is quite "soft" on gun rights, particularly for someone who runs statewide in Arizona.) The thrust of the lawsuits is that the Constitution does not delegate the power to the national government to order local police to perform Federal services, and that the Tenth Amendment reserves all undelegated powers to the people and the states. Last year the Supreme Court ruled, in New York v. U.S., that "The Federal Government may not compel the States to enact or administer a federal regulatory program." That is precisely what the Brady Act does require. During House Crime Subcommittee hearings last fall Rep. Steve Schiff (R-N.M.) argued that the national government should pay the local agencies to perform the record checks, give them an option as to whether to perform them, or else have the FBI do them. Chairman Charles Schumer sniffed that the FBI had more important things to do. Rep. Schiff shot back that so did New Mexico's police and sheriffs -- as decided by the state legislature when they rejected such a law. Because few local agencies are equipped, or have the manpower to perform this chore, many city and county councils and governing boards have authorized their law enforcement agencies to charge a fee for doing the search. But there is nothing in the Brady Act to require dealers to pay it, for dealers are not required to obtain any positive response from police; they simply cannot deliver the gun if police give a negative report. And if police prevent a transfer without cause, their agencies may be sued (though the individual officers cannot be). The challenges to Brady were filed by Forrest County, Miss., Sheriff Billy McGee; Ravalli County, Mont., Sheriff Jay Printz; Iberia Parish, La., Sheriff Romero; and Val Verde County, Texas, Sheriff J.R. Koog. NRA-ILA and the Firearms Civil Rights Legal Defense Fund is providing financial assistance in all except Sheriff Romero's case, where they provided legal assistance. Graham County, Arizona, Sheriff Richard Mack brought the first of the suits the day the bill went into effect. In an interesting twist, Sheriff Mack, through his attorney David T. Hardy, also charged Congress with violation of the 13th Amendment - -- which prohibited slavery. Sheriff Mack contends that the Brady Act forces him into involuntary servitude -- because the Feds don't pay him, yet Congress forces him to do their bidding under threat of criminal prosecution. The reason for multiple suits is to bring the challenge in different Federal court circuits, for the Supreme Court is more likely to consider an issue when appellate courts have conflicting opinions. However, since the U.S. Supreme Court is the "court of original jurisdiction" in disputes between states and the national government, we could see a relatively quick decision on whether the Brady Act is constitutional. ======================================================================== Knox Endorses NRA Nominating Committee Selections Several have asked me who I'm supporting for the NRA Board. I'm supporting myself and any 24 others of the 27 nominating committee recommendations listed on page 64 of the American Rifleman. ======================================================================== The Waco Tragedy The Federal government was slapped -- though not as hard as I pray those responsible for the raid and its conclusion will be -- when a San Antonio jury acquitted all the Branch Davidian defendants of murder and conspiracy to murder (though six were convicted of voluntary manslaughter). Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Johnston of Waco cried. He had reason to. It was Johnston who had prepared the search warrant -- insisting that it be delivered with a commando- style raid. Without murder convictions for the Davidians his career and perhaps his total wealth were at stake. U.S. District Judge Walter Smith Jr. quashed weapons convictions against seven of the defendants. Unfortunately, yesterday Judge Smith reversed himself, reinstating those convictions. Be careful when you argue "Enforce the gun laws on the books." Remember Waco and Randy Weaver. ======================================================================== State News [Several of you have asked me about expanding this section, usually with an eye toward including a word about their local pet project or problem. Very tricky, these gunnies -- they'll take advantage of any media they can get their hands on. I'll include items of national significance, say news of a House or Senate election, but I don't do this full time and I have to sleep once in a while. There is a way to get, and post, good information that ages quickly. It's the rkba-alert mailing list. To subscribe, send mail to: listproc@Mainstream.com In the body of the mail, put the following: subscribe rkba-alert That's your real name, not necessarily in brackets. Used correctly, this list can be a great tool in the good fight. It is reserved for time-sensitive messages that have a direct bearing on the civil right to self defense. It is _NOT_ a chat line. The list is currently unmoderated, anyone can post to it, but users have generally shown admirable judgment and self control. But then, I'd expect that. Thanks to Craig Peterson who is bringing this project together. - --cwk] Texas Rep. Craig Washington of Texas -- who has led the Congressional Black Caucus effort to substitute harsh gun laws for tough laws against criminals -- was defeated in a primary. We knew that Washington could be defeated, but figured that anything that gun owners, particularly NRA, did overtly would do him more good than harm in his central Houston district. Maryland The Maryland Senate yesterday passed a much watered-down ban on so- called assault weapons. It now goes to the House, where the vote will be close. When the vote was taken, a Maryland gun owner silently unfurled an upside down American flag in the Senate gallery. He was removed by order of Senate President Mike Miller, arrested, and hauled down to state police headquarters personally by State Police Col. Lawrence Tolliver. Although things in Maryland are now better than they first appeared, I am ready to pack my bags. I would like to work with a Northern Virginia architect or draftsman, should you know one who's on the right side of the gun issue. ======================================================================== -##- To subscribe to the Firearms Coalition Online Report send email to cknox@crl.com with "subscribe" as the subject line. ======================================================================== Copyright 1994 by Neal Knox Associates P.O. Box 6537 Rockville, MD 20916. Reproduction and distribution of this bulletin by any means is encouraged so long as this statement is retained. ======================================================================== - -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: 2.3 mQCPAi1tPEUAAAEEALs5MUajMVKA9QQkiibPXDLzUOzXvgIkTY5/pU4iczGolC/T JjBcUuzFXXVSAeJkoJTJNbI/OKVGJrAeoqNdCpHkKXaWg6J3dCxZikkHHSoO2tRW GeVsJHT9+q5KozqqVGxisIoyQvF6MmfGalJY7jnfwacxi2SY3Q5t55+a10qVABEB AAG0J0NocmlzdG9waGVyIFdhcnJlbiBLbm94IDxja25veEBjcmwuY29tPg== =rsvv - -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- We recommend encrypting e-mail that contains sensitive data such as credit card numbers. ======================================================================== Dear Neal, Enclosed is my retainer for your services as my Capitol Hill lobbyist: $500 [ ] $250 [ ] $50 [ ] $25 [ ] Other:____ [ ] Bill my MasterCard [ ] Visa [ ] Quarterly [ ]; Monthly [ ]; Once [ ] Card No. ______________________ Expiration Date _______ Mr. [ ] Mrs.[ ] Ms. [ ]____________________________________________ Signature_______________________________________________________________ Address __________________________________________ Phone _______________ City _____________________________________________ State ____ Zip_______ Email Address ______________________ Print and mail, or send via e-mail to cknox@crl.com Firearms Coalition Box 6537 Silver Spring, MD 20916 ======================================================================== -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.3 iQCVAgUBLZdtmQ5t55+a10qVAQFE7wP9F2tlqRYBNpp0RDSu8HQ1DZQquq4qw0DQ gBlaa2E/ypxHTLhaem7J8Om2QND0ndRd+t3qUDoTIfA6OZBM2t7iyzFHCbeFxA2U WvlNkNimF7VrqZ2kBHauqXerj+32O4NKQ6T6abTp1GHWlTyKzCP7Ci1AzeTSwNq/ wmRef+g8iQU= =XZ8B -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- And the rifle? Wouldn't go out naked of a rifle. When shoes and clothes and food, when even hope is gone, we'll have the rifle. -- The Grapes of Wrath Send mail to cknox@crl.com to receive the Online Firearms Coalition Bulletin. finger cknox@crl.com for more information and for PGP Public Key.