Printed in the USA.
The Gottlieb-Tartaro Report
Issue 055
July, 1999
GUN CONTROL AND THE ELECTIONS
Gun rights issues are already dominating early plans for next year’s elections — presidential and congressional.
President CLINTON has said he will lend political aid to Democratic lawmakers who risk their seats to vote for gun control.
CLINTON’s Chief of Staff, JOHN PODESTA, recently said, "We’ll go out and do anything we can to help people who vote the right way."
Some Democrats fear that a vote for gun control will unleash massive campaigns to defeat them in the next election. Democrats believe gun control was a factor that helped Republicans take control of the House in 1994.
Democrats are plotting a strategy of blaming Republicans for shootings, especially in the light of polls that showed the Littleton, Colorado, high school shootings boosted support for stiffened gun laws by 9 points.
But Democrats know that a lot more candidates have lost than won elections because of gun controls.
Minority leader DICK GEPHARDT (D-MO) said, "The problem is the 80 percent who are for gun safety just aren’t for it very much, they are not intense."
Nobody is very intense about anti-gun Vice President AL GORE, either. His formal announcement as a candidate for the presidency left him 18 percentage points behind pro-gun Texas Governor GEORGE W. BUSH, according to a recent Reuters poll.
BUSH, the leading Republican candidate and son of former President GEORGE BUSH, led Democratic front-runner GORE by 55 to 37 percent with 8 percent unsure. The poll of 1,006 likely voters was taken just after BUSH finished his first campaign swing and GORE made his formal announcement.
GORE led his sole Democratic rival for the nomination, former Sen. BILL BRADLEY of New Jersey, by 59 percent to 21 percent with 20 percent undecided.
BRADLEY originally made a total handgun ban part of his campaign, but retreated recently to a proposed ban only on "junk handguns," inexpensive firearms he claims are used in 81 percent of crimes.
BUSH led the Republican field with 50 percent. Former Cabinet secretary ELIZABETH DOLE rated 13 percent, and former Vice President DAN QUAYLE 4 percent.
DOLE has tried to soften her anti-gun stance to widen her appeal. She is now being advised not to talk anymore about guns. But she’s still for gun control.
DAN QUAYLE made himself visible in the campaign with a proposed "one strike and you’re out" policy for students caught carrying guns to classrooms, saying the government should crack down on gun carriers, not guns, to curb school violence.
The former vice president and member of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms advisory council is basing his campaign on tough-on-crime and family values issues.
In a campaign speech at a conservative Washington, D.C. think tank, the question and answer session brought audience questions about gun control three times. QUAYLE replied, "Will a few more laws, a few more regulations deal with gun violence appropriately? I don’t think so. Better enforcement of existing laws is the answer."
DEMOCRATS KILL THE LATEST GUN CONTROL BILL IN CONGRESS
By a vote of 280 to 147, the House recently rejected H.R. 2122, a gun control bill that would have imposed stricter requirements in some areas, but more reasonable ones in others.
One-hundred-ninety-seven Democrats voted to kill the bill.
Democrats voted against it because their disastrous gun show amendment didn’t get into the final bill, while Republicans voted against because it contained several unacceptable anti-gun measures.
After a tumultuous three-day debate and many amendments, the defeated final bill included gun control measures Democrats had pushed for:
• Mandatory transfer of a "gun safety" device with every retail transaction;
• A ban on juvenile possession of a so-called "assault weapon;"
• Requirement that guns pawned and returned go through a background check; and
• A ban on the importation of high capacity magazines.
But the bill also contained a gun show amendment that didn’t go far enough to put gun shows out of business, prompting a Democrat backlash.
The amendment Democrats wanted but didn’t get was offered by CAROLYN McCARTHY (D-New York), identical to a Senate provision requiring background checks at gun shows, regardless of how small or the number of guns sold. It would have put gun shows and flea markets out of business.
McCARTHY’s proposal lost 235-193.
That left the final bill with a reasonable gun show provision offered by the chamber’s most senior Democrat, JOHN DINGELL of Michigan. DINGELL is an avid hunter and former National Rifle Association board member.
DINGELL said McCARTHY’s amendment would have allowed government too great a role over the private lives of gun owners. To go beyond his amendment, DINGELL said, "is simply to harass innocent, law-abiding citizens and to hurt people who love to go to gun shows."
One-hundred-ninety-seven Democrats didn’t care, and killed the final bill containing DINGELL’s amendment, which also limited civil liability for gun show vendors.
Handgun Control, Inc. (HCI) immediately called the DINGELL amendment an "NRA-sponsored poison pill" and condemned the midnight vote that passed it. As insiders know, midnight votes are not uncommon in Congress, and have little to do with the outcome.
HCI claimed that the DINGELL amendment’s requirement that gun show background checks be completed within 24 hours "would have allowed 17,000 prohibited purchasers — criminals — to get guns in the last six months alone," a nonsense claim.
The Violence Policy Center (VPC) called the failed bill "spin control, not gun control," and complained that it was "a tangle of loopholes."
Both HCI and VPC applauded the bill’s defeat.
PRESIDENT CLINTON tongue-lashed the Republican leadership for refusing to instantly appoint a conference committee to reconcile the Senate and House versions of the "youth crime" gun control bills.
Republicans said the conference negotiators would be appointed with proper deliberation, not in haste.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman ORRIN HATCH (R-Utah) said, "The intention is to appoint conferees and have this matter resolved one way or the other. My goal is to have this conference report voted on before we go out for August recess."
The conference negotiations are the last chance to enact anti-gun legislation this year. Gun rights groups are monitoring the process closely.
UPDATE: THE ANTI-GUN LAWSUIT SITUATION
BOSTON JOINS THE LAWSUIT CRAZEMayor THOMAS M. MENINO recently announced that Boston is suing more than 40 firearms companies accused of flooding the city’s street with guns. Boston brings the number of cities and counties filing such lawsuits to 22.
The city is seeking more than $100 million in damages for police, fire and medical expenses caused by shooters, as well as for increased security costs and declines in real estate values. No shooters are being sued.
Among the companies named in the suit are Smith & Wesson Corp., Colt’s Manufacturing Company, Inc., and Browning Arms Corp.
BOSTON’S SUIT IS HAZARDOUS TO ITS HEALTH
The Dallas-based National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) responded to Boston’s lawsuit, saying, "If these lawsuits succeed, it would be bad public policy because guns prevent more harm than they cause."
H. STERLING BURNETT, a senior policy analyst for NCPA, has authored a study titled, "Suing Gun Manufacturers: Hazardous to our Health." It found that citizens' use guns in self-defense as many as 2.5 million times annually. In the vast majority of cases, merely showing the firearm prevents the crime.
That far exceeds the number of crimes committed with firearms each year, providing cities such as Boston a net social benefit from gun use. Accordingly, BURNETT calculates that guns save U.S. citizens between $1 billion and $38 billion annually.
LOUISIANA LEGISLATURE VOIDS GUN LAWSUIT
New Orleans won’t be suing gun manufacturers after all. The state legislature passed a law forbidding such liability suits.
Governor MIKE FOSTER signed the bill, saying, "The problem with all the national gun legislation is that it won’t stop violence. The way to stop violence is to put people in jail who use guns. There’s just not enough prosecution."
JOHN CHURCH, associate professor at the Louisiana State University Law Center, said the major legal question is whether the bill can be applied to a suit already filed.
Attorneys in the Legislature said other product liability laws have retroactive clauses such as the one in this bill.
LAWSUITS LEAD GUN MANUFACTURER TO FILE FOR CHAPTER 11 PROTECTION
Davis Industries, one of the ten largest makers of handguns, has filed for bankruptcy reorganization under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy law.
Chapter 11 does not put the company out of business, but protects it from debtors while the firm reorganizes under court supervision to get back on its feet.
It also stops lawsuits by transferring all claims to a federal bankruptcy court. Bankruptcy judges take over lawsuits and decide how to allocate company funds. They're more likely to act favorably to the gun company than urban juries in state courts.
ALAN STOMEL, a lawyer familiar with the case, said the firm faced several problems: the municipal lawsuits, wrongful-death and personal-injury suits by individuals, a messy argument between the two owners, JIM and GAIL DAVIS, who were recently divorced, and a bill in the California legislature that would ban the manufacture of inexpensive handguns, Davis’ main product.
CITIES FEAR GUNMAKERS FILING BANKRUPTCY
Cities suing gun manufacturers worry that all gunmakers will do as Davis did.
JOHN COALE, who sued gunmakers on behalf of New Orleans, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Newark, New Jersey, said, "The costs alone of defending these suits are going to eat up the gun companies."
COALE was one of the lawyers who sued the tobacco industry for tobacco-related diseases. The gun suits are modeled after the tobacco suits. Gunmakers are not as rich as tobacco companies.
COALE said, "So if you get too many cities and states suing, the manufacturers will go into bankruptcy protection."
DOUG PAINTER of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, said there is no indication gun companies are planning bankruptcy as a legal strategy.
AND NOW "THE BELL CAMPAIGN"
Another anti-gun group has signed in.
This one is called the Bell Campaign, not after a person named Bell, but for the ding-dong kind of bell, as in "a call to action."
It bills itself as "a victim-led, grassroots organization committed to preventing gun death and injury and supporting victims of gun trauma."
The Bell Campaign’s web site at www.bellcampaign.org says, "we favor stronger gun laws to protect our communities from gun-related trauma."
It operates out of San Francisco General Hospital and was founded by MARY LEIGH BLEK, whose son was killed in a 1994 robbery attempt. No financial information or list of officers is posted on the group’s web site.BLEK recently appeared on the ROSIE O’DONNELL show to ask people to join the Bell Campaign. O’DONNELL has become "The Queen of Anti-Gun TV" with her vicious attacks on guests who support gun rights and her generous air time for everyone who hates guns. We wonder who is funding the Bell Campaign.
VISUALIZE A CONDOM ON A .38 PISTOL!
That’s the headline adman STAN COTTON wrote when he created the visually outrageous "What do a condom and a gun have in common?" ad for the Parents Committee to Childproof Guns in America (PCCGA).
Below a provocative photograph of the condom-packing gun, the ad says, "As in the case of sexual diseases, an ounce of informed prevention and taking a moment to be responsible — can prevent a ton of heartbreak."
The ad closes with: "If this ad offends you and then moves you to action, we have achieved our objective."
The objective is to encourage parents to contact their local police departments for information on safe storage of firearms and ammo.
It’s a good cause, but the picture has backfired and created more snickers than offended readers who take action.
Its shock value is reduced by alternative — and ridiculous — ways to see the visual image: 1) guns with condoms on them are safe; or 2) a racier interpretation of the bizarre picture.
Americans are not as easy to offend as they once were and their sense of humor is alive and well. This ad was a little too over-the-top to shock people.
At least a number of people are calling for that safe storage information.
JUST A LITTLE THOUGHT
"One ironic legacy of the CLINTON administration is the "re-arming" of the American citizenry. So says LLEWELLYN H. ROCKWELL, Jr., president of the Ludwig von Mises Institute.
He said, "Each time CLINTON and his fiends in Congress threaten another round of anti-gun regulations, the American people respond by stocking up on as many guns as possible."
CLINTON LETS THE CAT OUT OF THE BAG
On a recent ABC Good Morning America segment, President BILL CLINTON said, "people ought to have to register guns like they register their cars."
JOHN M. SNYDER, named "dean" of gun lobbyists by the Washington Post and New York Times as well as other media, said of the remark, "CLINTON revealed his promotion of pending firearms legislation in reality is part and parcel of a piecemeal drive for radical gun control."
SNYDER, public affairs director of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, warned that the Senate has already passed a measure, the Lautenberg amendment, that takes another step towards gun registration: it requires "anyone who merely attends a gun show, even without bringing a gun to the show, and who discusses the possibility of selling a gun, to sign a ledger with identifying information."
The House still has time to eliminate the amendment during the House - Senate conference to reconcile their different versions of the juvenile justice bill.
WHAT DOES CANADIAN GUN REGISTRATION COST?
In 1995, Canadian Justice Minister ALLAN ROCK promised the new national gun registry system would cost $85 million over five years.
The Canadian Institute for Legislative Action recently learned that the cost of gun registry in the six months it has existed is $200 million!
And only 7,012 civilian firearms have been registered to 5,137 gun owners so far. The Institute calculates the cost per firearm registered is $28,665. The cost per owner registered is $39,128.
Canada has 21 million firearms. At this rate it will take 2,995 years to register them all, said the Institute.
Which probably won’t ever happen anyway, because numerous holdout individuals and organizations refuse to obey the law and register their guns.
Things aren’t looking good for gun registration in Canada.
CRITIC DRUBS SMITH & WESSON FOR GETTING STATE TRAINING GRANT
The state of Massachusetts awarded a $35,000 training grant to Specialty Services, a division of gunmaker Smith & Wesson. The division will train 110 workers to take the technology used to heat, harden and protect gun metal and apply it to lawn blades, automotive gears, golf clubs, and medical equipment.
The non-gun jobs can pay $14 an hour, important in a depressed urban area where English is often a second language.Non-gun business at Smith & Wesson is growing at 30 percent a year.
However, DERRICK Z. JACKSON, columnist for the Boston Globe, recently lashed out at the grant, saying Smith & Wesson "is still shamelessly aggressive about handguns. It is hard to see how the state can grant public funds to a company at a time when it is being sued by the state’s capital city for the devastation caused by its products."
In other words, no maker of firearms should receive state grants for training, no matter that the money is used for non-gun jobs.
ALERT: UNITED PARCEL SERVICE MAY CHANGE SHIPPING RULES FOR HANDGUNS
The G-T Report has received a report that UPS is apparently proposing a rule that would require all handguns and expensive jewelry be shipped next day air.
That would mean that all manufacturers would have to ship all handguns to dealers at higher prices.
The change would add approximately $15 to $30 to the price of each handgun at the dealer level. The cost would likely be passed on to the consumer.
As more information becomes available, we will follow up on this alert.
ELITE GET CHANCE TO CARRY CONCEALED WEAPONS IN L.A.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has set up a special "executive reserves" program that will allow celebrities, executives, star athletes and a variety of other notables to sign up with the department.
Sheriff LEE BACA said that if the new reservists complete 64 hours of training and pass the department’s background check, they will be given a badge and can carry a gun.
Those who do not complete the abbreviated academy course can still join the elite corps as "volunteers," but will not be able to carry a concealed weapon with the department’s blessing.
JAY LENO and STEVEN SEAGAL, according to L.A. Times writer TINA DAUNT, will probably opt for the "volunteer" rating.
The program is designed to involve more high-profile people in various Sheriff’s Department events.
Some department members say they are worried that the privilege will be abused by those seeking a backdoor way to secure a concealed weapons permit.
It sounds like the usual "discretionary" CCW permit process where the rich and powerful get to carry a gun for self defense and the commoners get to dial 911.
MASSACHUSETTS HIGH COURT SETS BAD PRECEDENT
The Massachusetts Supreme Court, in the first such ruling in the nation, held that the state attorney general has the power to use state consumer protection laws to require gun manufacturers to make their products safer.
The ruling overturned a lower-court decision that former Attorney General SCOTT HARSHBARGER had exceeded his authority under the law by imposing restrictions banning the sale of inexpensive handguns and requiring safety locks and other child-proofing of handguns.
The unanimous decision paves the way for implementation of the restrictions. Attorneys general in other states that have similar consumer protection laws are studying the ruling.
The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office had imposed the restrictions in 1997, saying guns had not been held to the same consumer safety standards imposed on other products.
Current Attorney General THOMAS REILLY said the high court ruling will allow the new regulations to bring "some common sense safety precautions to the sale of firearms in this state."
REILLY said the case will now return to Superior Court "to work out some of the actual details, whether it be child-proofing or requiring that so-called ‘junk guns’ be prohibited in this state."
THE TURN-IN-YOUR-NEIGHBOR PLAN
Perhaps the most worrisome legislative proposal in years has surfaced in Connecticut. The measure would allow police to get warrants to enter the residence and seize the firearms of a citizen who "poses a risk of imminent personal injury to himself or herself or to other individuals."
Among the factors that a judge would consider before issuing such a warrant are whether the person has made threats, brandished a firearm, engaged in "recent acts of cruelty to animals" or behaved erratically.
Within two weeks after the guns are picked up, a court must hold a hearing to determine whether the firearms should be returned or "held by the state."
What is to prevent neighbors from reporting gun owners to police as being erratic simply for acts that they dislike or find strange? Nothing.
What is to prevent people from making up stories for mere retaliation in everything from custody disputes to spats about barking dogs? Nothing.
What justifies such an informer law? JOSEPH SUDBAY, director of state legislation for Handgun Control, Inc., said he sees clippings all the time about people who kill with guns after giving off warning signs. "One of the recurring themes after these incidents is that people knew there was a danger but were at a loss for what to do. Connecticut is trying to at least provide a forum to address that problem."
No, it’s not impossible. It has passed two legislative committees. Governor JOHN ROWLAND, a Republican who seems to become more left-wing by the month, said he would sign the legislation if it passes the House and Senate.
CALIFORNIA’S SKS BUYBACK PROGRAM
You probably know that SKS Sporters were outlawed in California, and they’re buying them back from owners. The state put up a web site explaining it.
It says, "Pursuant to legislation enacted last year, you are required by law to turn in your SKS Sporter to the nearest Local Law Enforcement Agency if it meets the guidelines set forth in AB 48 (Statutes of 1998). You will receive a voucher for $230 when you turn in your gun."
But there’s something curious about the web site. If you do a WHOIS, that is, a special web search, you find that this California state web site is run from Australia. Honest. It sounds like the X-files, but it’s true.
See for yourself. Go to http://www.networksolutions.com/cgi-bin/whois/whois/ and search for sksbuyback.org. The administrative, technical and billing contacts are OzNic Technology Pty Ltd., Sunbury, Victoria, Australia. Hmmm....
CONCEALED WEAPON DETECTION TECHNOLOGY
A New Mexico company has announced that a breakthrough technology has been discovered and successfully tested as a method for long-range detection of concealed weapons.
Safe Zone Systems President RANDALL H. KEHL said that so far, tests of the radar-based technology have resulted in 100 percent accurate detection, in less than one second, of firearms concealed on humans from as far away as 30 feet.
Even when test subjects were carrying various objects to confuse the system, there were no false alarms.
Commercial applications now in development include a small, automatic, hand held unit for use by law enforcement officers and security guards, and a fixed, mounted unit that can be used to control access to public and private facilities.
THAILAND MAKING BULLETPROOF SILK
It may sound impossible, but researchers in a Thai university have developed a bulletproof vest and body armor made from tightly woven strands of Thai silk.
The protective devices were developed by engineers at the Rajamankala Institute of Technology in Bangkok, Thailand. They can stop .22 and .38-caliber bullets.
Only Special Forces units of the military and police are currently using the vests, which cost less than Kevlar equivalents. Kevlar vests cost about $270, while the silk vests cost $216, said Prof. SOMPRESONG PHASAPRATHED, of the Faculty of Engineering at Rajamankala. Mass production is expected to bring the silk product down to $108, he said.
Police are aware they may run into criminals with the firepower to penetrate the silk body armor. But they say some protection is better than none.
NEW GUN SAFETY PRODUCT UNVEILED
An Arizona company has announced an easily operated security device that disables the trigger of a gun without any awkward "add-on" pieces, and without the danger of standard trigger locks, which often allow a supposedly safe gun to be fired.
The device, called the Saf-T-Trigger, is permanently installed in the trigger housing. A special tool extends the device to prevent the trigger from moving.
To rearm the gun, the same tool is used to retract the device into its housing. Either move takes seconds.
Children and unauthorized adults without access to the specialized tool will not be able to rearm a firearm protected by the Saf-T-Trigger.
The Saf-T-Trigger can be built in or retrofitted to existing guns for about $35.
It is manufactured by Saf-T-Hammer Corp of Scottsdale, Arizona.
HOW DID THE GUN GRABBERS MISS THIS ONE?
In all the gun debate in Congress over the Columbine High School shootings, a sure-fire gun control measure never even made it out of committee.
It was for tighter controls on the semiautomatic .50-caliber rifle.
This 28-pound, rapid-fire rifle sells for $6,800 and is accurate at more than a mile.
Democrats recently issued a report complaining about the .50-caliber rifle. It’s easier to buy than a handgun. You have to be 18 and pass a background check to buy the .50-caliber, but you have to be 21 to buy a handgun.
Not a whole lot of crooks or crazy people are big enough to sneak around with a bulky 28-pound rifle hidden under a coat without somebody noticing.
Two Democrats on the House Government Reform Committee ordered the report, ROD BLAGOJECICH of Illinois and HENRY WAXMAN of California.
The report said that the Pentagon pays a West Virginia company to dispose of the surplus bullets, which are refurbished and sold to retailers for purchase by the public.
The Barrett Company sold more than 2,800 .50-calibers between 1987 and 1998. The report did not mention any shootings involving the rifle.
GUN CONTROL CHICAGO STYLE
We’re indebted to JOHN KASS, Chicago Tribune columnist, for details in the case of Chicago Police Sgt. MELVA BRADFORD. She was well-connected enough at City Hall to be placed on a special "merit promotions" list so she could become a lieutenant the easy way.
For years, she was in charge of the Police Department’s gun registration unit, recording ownership of all handguns and long guns in the anti-gun city. It’s illegal to own or register new handguns in Chicago, unless you’re a peace officer or unless you’re a top precinct captain.
But Police Superintendent TERRY HILLARD is now trying to fire BRADFORD for committing a Class 4 felony involving guns in Chicago.
According to police, Sgt. BRADFORD broke the law and department rules by tampering with documents — having a subordinate, Patrolwoman DIANE DYER NEELY, do the dirty work — to protect somebody charged with a gun crime.
The somebody was her son. A Chicago cop says that ROBERT T. BRADFORD pointed a gun at his face on the street March 12, 1995. ROBERT was arrested and found with ammunition in his pocket and a Glock-17 in the glove compartment of the car he was riding in.
After ROBERT BRADFORD was charged with unlawful use of a weapon and aggravated assault, BRADFORD’s lawyers said "Sgt. Mommy" would testify that the gun was registered.
She fixed the registration cards, according to the Chicago Police Board complaint. Police spokeswoman LAURI SANDERS said Sgt. BRADFORD ordered NEELY to back-date the registration of the gun to make it appear that it was legally registered.
Unfortunately for BRADFORD, the bogus registration was dated before that gun was even manufactured, police said.
What else is going on in the Chicago police department?
Cook County State’s Atty. RICHARD DEVINE’s office diluted the charges against ROBERT BRADFORD to a misdemeanor — unlawful possession of ammunition — and he pleaded guilty and paid only a $300 fine, for pointing a gun in the face of a cop.
To his credit, HILLARD brought the allegations against Sgt. BRADFORD to DEVINE’s office for prosecution. But DEVINE dropped the matter.
Because BRADFORD was the beneficiary of the phony "merit selection" promotion, her prosecution would make City Hall look stupid.
It would also call into question the politics of gun registration in a city where clout allows the connected to carry weapons. But not anybody else.
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