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QUICK SHOTS
Quick Shots 1999
JANUARY 1998
Five animal rights activists were arrested in front of the White House early last month, according to THE WASHINGTON
POST. U. S. Park Police said they were charged with defacing government property and demonstrating without a permit.
The demonstrators, organized by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), were protesting the use of
leg-hold traps. The protest took place as President Clinton met in the White House December 5 with European Union
representatives to discuss the subject.
Police said about 25 protesters took part in the demonstration. Some wore fur like garments and hid bottles of
red paint underneath them. When they lay down, red paint squirted out and seeped onto the sidewalk in front of
the Executive Mansion.
In endorsing pro-gun Congressman Bob Barr’s call with H. Res. 304 for an inquiry of impeachment against gun grabbing
President Bill Clinton, the influential INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY editorialized that "sooner or later, Congress
has to fish or cut bait. Through hearings into fund raising abuses and other scandals, it has unearthed plenty
of evidence that points to illegal conduct by the President. If nothing comes of this, the public will know that
a President can break laws with impunity. Congress would be no better than the President if it lets the matter
end there...
"The easy response to Barr’s challenge is to write him off as a fringe figure. But as Speaker Newt Gingrich
was compelled to note, Barr is a ‘serious man.’ A former U. S. Attorney who once successfully prosecuted a GOP
Congressman, he also knows a case of corruption when he sees one.
"We think Barr is just arriving early at a choice that the rest of Congress will sooner or later realize it
has to make. And at least he has a plan of action, which is more than the rest of Congress has."
POINT BLANK readers who support H. Res. 304 should contact their own U. S. Representative and ask him or her to
become a cosponsor of it. Also contact Speaker Newt Gingrich, House Majority Leader Richard Armey, House Majority
Whip Tom DeLay, House Rules Committee Chairman Jerry Solomon and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde
and ask them to get on board. All of them may be reached by calling (202) 224-3121 or by writing them at the U.
S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. 20515.
In September, according to WASHINGTON CITY PAPER for December 12, 1997, inmate Michael F. Schmitz, 45, serving
two years in the Kentucky State Reformatory for drunken driving, filed a $1.9-million lawsuit against the Lexington,
Kentucky Police Department complaining that officers had been too "nice" when they arrested him in 1996.
According to the lawsuit, when the police found a loaded so-called "assault rifle" in Schmitz’ car and
could not figure out how to dismantle it, they uncuffed the obviously inebriated Schmitz and had him take it apart.
Schmitz says he "could have shot most everyone standing around watching this escapade" and thus contends
that the police endangered the public.
When the North Carolina legislature debated the concealed carry issue in 1995, State Sen. Leslie Winner of Mecklenberg,
an extremist anti-self-defense politician, predicted that "as more people carry guns, more will use them."
However, statistics have proved that she and other critics of her ilk are wrong, according to the CHARLOTTE NEWS
AND OBSERVER. Statistics throughout the state show decreasing crime rates and safe handling by permit holders.
Charlotte-Mecklenberg Police Chief Dennis Nowicki said "the concerns that I had - with more guns on the street,
folks may be more apt to square off against one another with weapons - we haven’t experienced that." The most
significant drop in crime rates, according to the newspaper, have occurred in the counties with the heaviest per
capita concentration of permit holders in the Carolinas. That’s in the suburbs around Charlotte, where in some
places the rate is as high as 11 per 1,000 adults.
Pistolsmith Richard Heinie of Quincy, Illinois, recently donated $3,200 collected from a pistol auction to the
Mason District Hospital Foundation, according to THE MASON COUNTY DEMOCRAT of Havana, Illinois. STI, Inc., a pistol
component manufacturer, and Gun Games Magazine of California teamed up to promote the pistol auction for charity.
STI and Gun Games Magazine recruited eight of the top pistolsmiths in the country to each make a pistol for sale
at an auction where the proceeds go to a charity of each pistolsmith’s choice. Heinie was chosen as one of the
eight "Dream Team" pistolsmiths. His pistol, a .40 caliber practical/competition pistol, brought the
most of the eight, at $3,200. He chose to donate the money to Mason District Hospital. "I wanted the money
to go to an organization that would help its community, and I knew Mason District Community Hospital would utilize
the money to do just that," he said.
Richard’s pistol shop, Heinie’s Specialty Products, is on 301 Oak Street in Quincy. He currently is backlogged
for over six years with custom pistol orders. He and his wife, Marilyn, have three children, Jeff, Annette and
Janet. Jeff is a pharmacist in Quincy. Annette works for the University of Illinois medical research team in East
Peoria. Janet is a chemist for Exxon in Baton Rouge.
GO BACK TO TOP
FEBRUARY 1998
"Sarah ‘Crybaby’ Brady" is how Tom Marr of radio station WCBM in Baltimore, Maryland referred to the
Chairwoman of Handgun Control, Inc. Marr refused to back down from the characterization during a radio talk show
confab. "What happened to her husband is a great tragedy," said Marr, referring to the wounding of former
presidential press secretary James Brady during an assassination attempt on President Reagan in 1981, "but
she’s a big crybaby and gets far more media exposure than people who believe in the right to bear arms."
Some leaders of the firearms manufacturing industry are opting "to follow the ‘alcohol industry model’ rather
than the ‘tobacco industry model’ by responding to safety concerns rather than just automatically resisting"
attacks on them and their products, reports Leslie Wayne in THE NEW YORK TIMES for December 18, 1997.
"Just as liquor executives thwarted critics by campaigning against drunken drivers," writes Wayne, "gun
makers say they want to convince the public that they are dedicated to making safer weapons and saving lives.
"‘On every possible front, there is an attack’ from gun control advocates, said Robert Ricker, a lobbyist
for the American Shooting Sports Council, the industry trade association. ‘They are trying to demonize our products
and make it politically incorrect to be a gun owner, just like it is to be a smoker. So we, as an industry, have
to become pro-active and look at these problems differently than the tobacco industry did.’"
Wayne reported further that "the two billion dollar firearms industry, battered by slumping profits and a
poor public image, has already made it clear it does not want to suffer the same fate as the tobacco industry.
"‘Everyone can vividly remember seeing those tobacco executives parade up to Capitol Hill and deny that tobacco
was habit forming,’ said Mr. Ricker, the lobbyist. ‘Everyone knew it was ridiculous. We are not going to go before
Congress and say that guns are not dangerous and that kids are not killed with them.’"
U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT indicates "both sides in the Nation’s long-simmering debate over gun control
are about to clash on a new battleground: preventing theft from gun stores and manufacturers."
The weekly news magazine states that "officials at Handgun Control, Inc. say they will lobby heavily...for
legislation that would strengthen the physical security requirements at firearms manufacturing facilities and federally
licensed firearms stores, which have been plagued by a rise in smash-and-grab burglaries."
"Some localities have their own regulations," reports the publication. "New York City requires gun
dealers to have an alarm system. The dealers must also remove handguns from display cases and lock them in a secure
place at the end of the day. Industry groups say most dealers already have stringent security. They oppose legislation
but have met with federal officials to explore the idea of tax or insurance breaks for enhanced security."
Betty Montgomery, the Attorney General of Ohio, and the U. S. Department of Justice, worked out a deal December
18 to settle a dispute over checking the criminal histories of handgun buyers, reported The Associated Press.
"The Franklin County Sheriff’s Department in Columbus (Ohio) will be paid to perform Brady Act checks throughout
the State," stated AP.
Ms. Montgomery had made the background checks voluntary last year after the United States Supreme Court ruled that
Congress could not require states to conduct the reviews. "With the agreement," reported AP, "Arkansas
is the only state refusing to check the background of handgun buyers, although some 100 local jurisdictions, mostly
with populations of 10,000 or less, have refused to voluntarily conduct the checks."
The Brady Act mandates a five-day waiting period during which local police may check the backgrounds of prospective
handgun purchasers. The Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional a provision requiring local police to actually
conduct the checks.
Under the new arrangement in Ohio, the State will check for criminal histories of handgun buyers who sign a form
permitting it, and Franklin County will check on people statewide who refuse to sign the waiver. As an "incentive,"
those who sign the waiver and clear the background check may pick up their guns in 48 hours, rather than having
to wait five days. The county will be paid five dollars per background check.
"Our two day check will continue to cover the majority of handgun purchasers who agree to a background check,
while this federal-state-local cooperative agreement will check the backgrounds of the remaining five to 10 percent,"
Ms. Montgomery said.
The five day handgun purchase waiting period in the Brady Act is slated to sunset later this year when the instant,
point-of-purchase criminals records checking system is supposed to be in place. Watch for gun grabbers to attempt
to extend the life of the waiting period.
In New York State, Congressman Charles Schumer, the most anti-gun member of the Unites States House of Representatives,
reportedly has salted away over eight million dollars in a campaign war chest for his attempt to succeed Republican
Sen. Al D’Amato, who is running for reelection. Schumer, however, has to defeat at least two other Democrats in
that party’s primary to get a crack at D’Amato. The two other Democrats are former Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro,
who was her national party’s vice presidential nominee in 1984, and Mark Green, New York City’s Public Advocate.
GO BACK TO TOP
MARCH 1998
Assemblyman Tom Bordonaro of California stopped by our Washington, D. C. office early last month to say hello and
to reassure us of his total support of the individual Second Amendment civil right to keep and bear arms.
Tom has been nominated to succeed the late U. S. Rep. Walter H. Capps of California’s 22nd congressional district
in a special election to be held this month.
On the international firearms legislative front, John Michael Snyder, CCRKBA Public Affairs Director, met in Washington,
D. C. recently with a member of the national legislature of Venezuela, Congressman Luis Carlos Serra Carmona, who
is Chairman of a special committee to restructure Venezuelan gun laws.
Serra Carmona said through an interpreter that he believes in freedom, especially since in his own lifetime his
countrymen had thrown off a dictatorship, and in the right to keep and bear arms. He also said he believes in the
responsibility of government to keep criminals from getting guns and that government, therefore, should be able
to keep track of firearms and firearm owners.
Snyder told Serra Carmona that maintaining the individual right of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms is
one of the ways societies can prevent tyrannical governments from taking and consolidating political power, that
general registration and licensing in the past often has led to citizen disarmament and subsequent genocide, and
that criminal acts with firearms, rather than firearms ownership in and of itself, is actually the proper object
of criminal law in a free society.
Serra Carmona said he had never before realized this and asked Snyder to send him some further information, which
he did.
In Maryland, hunters donated more than 7,500 pounds of venison to food banks throughout the state during the past
deer season, according to THE WASHINGTON TIMES.
Several private groups organized venison giveaways last fall to replace Hunters Harvestshare, an earlier statewide
program that had grown too big and costly to maintain.
A statewide program raised $4,450 to process and distribute over 4,200 pounds of deer meat.
Hunters Feeding the Hungry, a Hagerstown, Maryland organization, distributed at least 3,250 pounds of processed
venison.
Dr. Tim Wheeler of Doctors for Responsible Gun Ownership in a POINT BLANK interview last month questioned the ethics
of recent publication of anti-gun survey propaganda in a supposedly professional medical journal. He also questioned
as most unlikely the generalized accuracy of the purported findings.
The disputed survey in the ANNALS OF INTERNAL MEDICINE purported to find that 87 percent of surgeons and 94 percent
of internists across the country believe it is time to consider gunshot wounds a public health menace, akin to
AIDS, alcoholism and tobacco use.
A position paper accompanying the disputed survey argued that doctors should play a more active role in trying
to prevent the injuries, whether by supporting more restrictive gun control laws or by counseling patients.
President Bill Clinton, who has set up the most anti-gun administration in history as far as law-abiding American
citizens are concerned, hypocritically has failed to stem the flow of weapons of mass destruction and missiles
around the world, according to a recently released Senate report.
The report, based on a series of findings by the U.S. Senate Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Proliferation,
provides detailed examples of how nations such as Russia, China and North Korea have been selling nuclear, chemical
and biological weapons technology and missile know-how.
"The Clinton Administration has not been willing to take the tough actions necessary to back up its rhetoric
in executive orders and other statements," Subcommittee Chairman Thad Cochran of Mississippi, a CCRKBA Congressional
Advisor, stated in a Capitol Hill press conference to release the 111-page report.
GO BACK TO TOP
APRIL 1998
In Sacramento, California, a state appeals court last month struck down the heart of a state law that banned 62
models of so-called "assault rifles," saying the ban violated the equal protection provisions of the
Constitution because many of the guns were no different from guns sold legally.
"The listed guns are no more dangerous in the hands of criminals than the functionally indistinguishable guns,"
said the decision, issued on March 4 by the Third District Court of Appeal, in Sacramento.
The ruling, written by Justice Fred Morrison, also suggested that other provisions of the law might be unconstitutional,
and asked a lower court to review them.
"This is the death knell" for the statute, said Chuck Michel, a Los Angeles lawyer who represents the
gun maker Colt Manufacturers, one of the plaintiffs. "This is a victory for any citizen who doesn’t like symbolic,
feel-good laws that are filled with technical flaws."
The law was enacted in 1989 after a crazed gunman armed with a so-called "assault rifle" killed five
pupils at an elementary school in Stockton.
Also in California, pro-gun Assemblyman Tom Bordonaro lost a special election for the U.S. congressional seat left
vacant by the death of Rep. Walter Capps. Capps’ widow, Lois, won the seat. Bordonaro, though, announced he would
run again for the congressional seat in the regular election later this year.
In Washington, D. C., the U. S. House of Representatives, by a roll call vote of 350 to 59, agreed to the motion
to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 424) that would impose mandatory minimum sentences for possession
of a gun while committing a violent crime or drug-trafficking offense.
The measure’s supporters said it is designed to correct what they consider a flawed interpretation of the 1994
crime law by the U. S. Supreme Court.
The original crime bill created a mandatory minimum sentence of five years for anyone who "uses or carries"
a firearm in the commission of a crime. In the 1995 decision Bailey v. United States, the Court ruled that government
prosecutors must demonstrate "active engagement" of the firearm in commission of a crime.
The new measure would stipulate that the provision would apply not only to those criminals who brandish or fire
a gun, but also to those who just "possess" one while committing a violent crime. The 1994 law covered
those who "use or carry" a firearm.
In addition, it would impose new mandatory minimum sentences beyond those for possessing a gun during a crime.
Brandishing a firearm during a crime would be punishable by a 15-year minimum sentence. Firing it would result
in a sentence of 20 years. In the case of a second conviction for possession, criminals would face 20 years in
jail, while a second offense for brandishing a weapon would result in a 25-year sentence.
Rep. Bill McCollum of Florida, Chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, responding to concerns that
the legislation would affect negatively citizens who use guns in self-defense or those who possess a gun in proximity
to a crime scene, said "the answer is no."
"The government must prove," he said, "that the gun furthered or was used during and in relation
to the commission of a federal violent crime or drug-trafficking offense."
Rep. Phil Crane of Illinois, holder of CCRKBA Gun Rights Defender of the Year and CCRKBA Lifetime Achievement Awards,
said the bill "gets tough on the right people."
In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, gun-grabbing politicians are considering filing an unprecedented lawsuit against
gun manufacturers that they say is designed to recover costs of firearms violence.
Anti-gun Mayor Ed Rendell reportedly is eager to speak with other cities interested in doing the same.
A draft of the proposed Philadelphia suit, reports Joyce Howard Price in THE WASHINGTON TIMES, shows it would be
modeled after actions that dozens of state attorneys general brought against the nation’s largest tobacco manufacturers
to recover the costs of treating smoking-related illnesses.
If filed, the Philadelphia suit, which would target the nation’s nearly four dozen gun manufacturers, would argue
that gun makers have created a "public nuisance" by knowingly flooding cities with more handguns than
they could expect to sell to law-abiding citizens.
Tom Wales, a federal prosecutor who chaired the unsuccessful campaign for the anti-gun Initiative 676 in Washington
State last year, defending the campaign as promoting safety, wrote in THE WASHINGTON POST that "the most obvious
lesson may be that a statewide campaign will be successful only if efforts go forward in several states simultaneously
or are launched in contentious election years."
Commenting on Wales’ column, Dave Jensen wrote in THE WASHINGTON POST that "I-676 was not about safety. It
was about licensing gun owners, and about some government body deciding who can retain his civil rights and who
cannot.
"Although some big city elected officials called ‘police chiefs’ endorsed I-676, the majority of rank and
file law enforcement in Washington State rejected it as bad law."
The defeat of I-676 was a major victory for the CCRKBA National Headquarters Staff in 1997.
GO BACK TO TOP
MAY 1998
"There’s one enemy, and that’s the gun, period," stated Michael Stephenson of the group Stop Firearms
Violence, according to the March 27 issue of USA TODAY.
The same article indicated that, following the March 24 tragedy in Jonesboro, Arkansas, in which "hunting
rifles" were used, gun control advocates will be seeking "new territory" for gun legislation and
that "hunting rifles might be drawn in."
The USA TODAY article cited John Michael Snyder, CCRKBA Public Affairs Director, as saying that "the goal
of some gun control advocates is to ban all guns."
Now is a good time to start thinking about participating in the national, 13th annual Gun Rights Policy Conference
(GRPC), slated to be held this year September 18, 19 and 20 in Seattle, Washington, at the Double Tree Hotel -Seatac
Airport.
Sponsored by CCRKBA and the Second Amendment Foundation in cooperation with the National Rifle Association of America
and the American Shooting Sports Council, the GRPC theme this year conveys a grass roots victory message: Protecting
our freedom by fighting for it.
Each year, leaders of the national gun rights movement gather at GRPC, the premier firearms rights activist gathering
of the year. Together with hundreds of state and local activists from across the nation, we review the preceding
years’ activities in this unified forum. GRPC provides you with insights on how the pro-gun organizations network
and operate.
Join with over 450 other activists in helping to set the agenda and shape the strategies for the coming year.Registration
is free.
For further information, please write John Barnett, 1998 GRPC Coordinator, 12500 N. E. Tenth Place, Bellevue, Washington
98005, phone him at (425) 454-4911, fax him at (425) 451-3959, or e-mail him at info@saf.org
Anti-gun Sen. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois introduced S. 1917, which he calls the Child Firearm Access Prevention
Act, and which has been referred to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary.
If enacted into law, the measure generally would provide that any person who keeps a loaded firearm, or an unloaded
firearm and ammunition for the firearm, within any premise that is under the custody or control of that person,
and knows or reasonably should know that a juvenile is capable of gaining access to the firearm without the permission
of the parent or legal guardian of the juvenile, shall, if a juvenile obtains access to the firearm and thereby
causes death or bodily injury to the juvenile or to any other person, be subject to imprisonment for up to one
year or fined up to $10,000, or both.
Exceptions would be made if the person uses a secure gun storage or safety device for the firearm, the person is
a peace officer or member of the military and the juvenile obtains the firearm during or incidental to the performance
of the official duties of the person in that capacity, the juvenile obtains or obtains and discharges the firearm
in a lawful act of self-defense or defense of one or more other persons, or the person has no reasonable expectation
that a juvenile is likely to be present on the premises on which the firearm is kept.
Original cosponsors of S. 1917 are Sens. Barbara Boxer of California, and John H. Chafee and Jack Reed of Rhode
Island.
President Clinton "says there are two many guns in the hands of too many criminals," noted THE WASHINGTON
TIMES following Clinton’s announcement of his latest firearms import ban, which in turn followed the March 24 tragedy
with the misuse of stolen guns in Jonesboro, Arkansas. "But criminals," editorialized the TIMES, "almost
by definition, ignore executive orders banning politically incorrect weapons. Law-abiding citizens do obey them,
denying themselves at the least, favored hunting weapons and predator controls, and at most, weapons of self-defense.
"The President need not worry about such things. He has the luxury of round-the-clock guards. But most Americans
can’t take such things for granted. Least of all can they subscribe to the theory that by limiting the importation
of ugly-looking weapons, they can control crime in Jonesboro or anywhere else."
After THE WASHINGTON TIMES reported that the Clinton White House is keeping "special" files on the President’s
political opponents, a possible violation of the 1974 Privacy Act, Congressman Bob Barr of Georgia, Chairman of
the House Firearms Legislation Task Force, stated "this Administration has abused power and obstructed credible
investigations time and time again.
"This is yet another example of the abusive tactics of an administration so consumed with holding onto power
that it recognizes few - if any - limits on its conduct. Such abuses of power should be of concern to all Americans,
not just those of us who are being targeted by the White House. This is very reminiscent of Watergate, where one
of the most serious charges against President Nixon was his keeping an enemies list in the White House."
Rep. Barr, the 1997 CCRKBA Legislator of the Year, notes that POINT BLANK readers could contact their own U. S.
Representatives and urge them to cosponsor his resolution, H. Res. 304, calling for an inquiry of impeachment of
Clinton.
GO BACK TO TOP
JUNE 1998
When WABC Radio in New York City early last month interviewed John Michael Snyder, CCRKBA Public Affairs Director,
about the hullabaloo following the showing of the anti-gun movie, "The Long Island Incident," on NBC
television May 3, Snyder said he thought the most important thing about the movie was what it left out.
It left out, he said, any discussion of the fact that, because of the strict anti-gun laws in the New York area,
there apparently was not a single armed law-abiding citizen on the Long Island Rail Road train in 1993 when crazed
gunman Colin Ferguson murdered six people.
Snyder said that anti-gun laws obviously don’t prevent criminal types from perpetrating violent criminal acts but
do prevent law-abiding citizens from being able to protect themselves and others from those very criminals.
Among those murdered in the Long Island incident was Dennis McCarthy, whose widow, Carolyn, was able to turn public
sympathy for her into a successful run for a congressional seat. That was a focus of the movie, for which Hollywood
celebrity Barbra Streisand was the Executive Director.
Movie actor Charlton Heston, NRA First Vice President, blasted the movie, saying it misrepresented the Second Amendment,
and challenged Streisand to a public debate on the issue. Streisand declined.
The movie’s release seven months before the election, in which anti-gun Rep. McCarthy will be running, caused Joseph
Mondello, Chairman of the Nassau County, New York Republican Party, to complain that "that’s one hell of a
campaign advertisement."
In Springfield, Massachusetts, anti-gun protesters marched May 2 outside handgun manufacturer Smith & Wesson
to demand "safeguards" they say will reduce the thousands of deaths they say result each year from the
use of firearms.
The protest was one of several outside the country’s gun makers in Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts
and Virginia.
The "Silent March" protesters, as they call themselves, want handgun manufacturers to make guns "childproof,"
drop laser sights and hollow-point bullets, display prominent warning labels on firearms, reduce production, and
raise prices.
On the same day, a dozen anti-gun activists gathered in the rain to place 109 pairs of shoes in front of an Alexandria,
Virginia gun importer, Interarms, saying the footwear represented the 109 children killed by the use of guns in
Virginia in 1995.
Jim Sollo, of Virginians Against Handgun Violence, told those who attended the protest that gun manufacturers and
distributors should be held responsible for "gun violence" and should be pressured to make guns safer
by adding trigger locks and other "improvements."
An Interarms spokesman said of the protest that "I’d have to say no comment. We don’t generally dignify that
sort of stuff."
The Federal Aviation Administration said May 6 it has taken security measures to prevent people from boarding airplanes
with tiny new guns that look as harmless as a key chain.
The 20-dollar gun is three inches long and an inch wide, but it can fire two .32 caliber bullets and would be deadly
from 20 yards away, according to the Associated Press.
The gun is cocked by pulling on the ring and fired with the push of a button.
"It doesn’t look like a weapon. If you showed it to airport security, they would probably think it’s a key
ring,"
Brian Hurrell, Director of Customs in Perth, Australia, told THE NEW YORK TIMES, which first reported about the
gun.
Its simple shape also makes it difficult for X-ray machine operators to identify the gun as a weapon.
The FAA, which is charged with U.S. aviation security, said it was warned about the gun earlier this year by Greek
officials and has since warned all airlines and airport managers.
The guns, which are widely available in southern Europe, have turned up in airports in Australia, England and Greece
since September.
An Interpol official said the gun apparently is manufactured in Bulgaria.
Anti-gun Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg of New Jersey introduced S. 1984, a bill to prohibit the transfer of a handgun
by a licensed dealer unless the transferee states that the transferee is not the subject of a restraining order
with respect to an intimate partner of the transferee, child of the transferee, or a child of an intimate partner
of the transferee. It was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Firearms are a part of many teenagers’ lives, according to a NEW YORK TIMES/CBS NEWS Poll conductedApril 2 through
7 by telephone with 1,048 teenagers throughout the United States.
Nearly four in 10 say a member of their household owns a gun, and 15 percent say they themselves own one.
Thirty-one percent have had instruction in shooting. The TIMES reported on the survey in its April 30 edition.
By 56 percent to 31 percent, Americans believe that juveniles under 13 who commit murder should be tried as adults,
according to a WALL STREET JOURNAL/NBC NEWS Poll conducted by Peter Hart and Robert Teeter and reported in the
JOURNAL on April 24.
In the poll, 75 percent of Americans back a proposal that would hold adults criminally responsible if they let
young children have access to firearms used to kill or injure. By 55 percent to 39 percent, according to the Hart-Teeter
poll, the public favors a bill to limit handgun purchases to one a month or 12 a year.
GO BACK TO TOP
JULY 1998
W. Riley, the latest (as of this writing) Clinton-Gore Administration flunky to criticize publicly Americans’ gun
rights, said early last month that pro-gun rights spokesmen "need to stop defining themselves as ‘victims
of media manipulation’ and help keep our children from becoming the victims of gun violence in our schools, in
our homes and on our streets."
Secretary Riley told 450 school officials involved in the federal Safe and Drug-Free Schools program that "as
long as this society continues to glorify violence, continues to make it easy for young people to get guns - and
as long as we continue to hide our heads in the sand or fail to reach out when a young person is truly troubled
- we will have to confront tragedies like Springfield and Jonesboro."
The U. S. Supreme Court ruled on June 8 that drug dealers can be sentenced to an extra five years for carrying
a gun even if they keep it in a trunk or locked glove box instead of a holster.
"The word ‘carry,’...used in its ordinary sense, keeps the same meaning whether one carries a gun, a suitcase
or a banana," the Court said in a 5-4 decision affecting federal cases.
The question for the Court in the case, Muscarello v. United States, No. 96-1654, was whether traveling in a car
with a gun in a locked glove compartment or trunk - as opposed to carrying a gun on one’s person - met the law’s
definition of carry. The narrow majority, in an opinion by Justice Stephen G. Breyer, said that it did.
Justice Breyer, in an opinion upholding rulings by federal appeals courts in New Orleans and Boston, was joined
by Justices John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day O’Connor, Anthony M. Kennedy and Clarence Thomas.
In dissenting, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote that if Congress intended to add five years for transporting a
weapon in a vehicle instead of carrying it on the person, it clearly would have said so. She was joined by Chief
Justice William H. Rehnquist and Justices Antonin Scalia and David H. Souter.
"You know, quite frankly, I’m a little more worried about the crime rate among suburban white teenagers,"
Julian Bond, Chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), said recently
during a speech at the National Press Club in Washington, D. C.
"It seems to me," he continued, "there’s kind of a pathology out there, some kind of love of guns,
a gun culture out there that’s dangerous and insidious. You know, if this were black kids doing this, you’d see
op ed pieces...talking about a pathology of violence loose in the community, about some dangerous elements being
unleashed, about the breakdown in family values, about - come on, give me a break. It’s guns. It’s guns. Does nobody
believe that it’s guns...
"You know, I’m happy living here in the District of Columbia, but I’m a little afraid to go out in the suburbs
here because, you know, these people will just shoot you down like flies. Give me a break."
"My nephew was one of the kids shot at Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon," wrote Ricky Montgomery
in THE WASHINGTON POST. "He took a bullet in the arm. Seeing him on the evening news being carted away on
a gurney was difficult. Also upsetting is how much of the media, the President and the other politicians are again
blaming guns and gun ownership for the recent rash of school shootings.
"The bullet that tore through my nephew’s arm was shot from a gun that was aimed by a deranged killer. The
killer is to blame, not the gun. The guns used in the Oregon shooting were illegally obtained. The killer premeditated
the actions he took that morning.
"As youths in a Los Angeles suburb in the ’60s and ’70s, my peers and I had access to guns. None had trigger
locks, and we knew where they were kept. We knew that to aim at an innocent victim and pull the trigger was murder,
and we did not conceive of using a gun in a fight. I never heard of school shootings while growing up.
Something is changing in society, and it is not the availability of weapons to kids.
"According to family friends, the parents of the killer asked the authorities to keep him in custody the day
before the shooting. The killer had brought a gun onto campus and been caught. The killer had a troubled and violent
past, and the parents knew the killer had crossed the line. The authorities refused to help him. The parents are
now dead, as are two students. It happens over and over; criminals are released and continue to commit crimes.
"Place blame on the individual or society, but not on the existence of guns. Providing ‘safety’ with more
restrictive gun control laws is a feel-good fallacy that has failed in the past."
In Paris, France, the National Assembly voted this spring to tighten already rigid restrictions on the private
ownership of firearms. The bill must go to the Senate, which is expected to take it up in the autumn. The bill
would ban the purchase or possession of firearms or ammunition without official approval and would limit gun ownership
to hunters and collectors.
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AUGUST 1998
Maryland Governor Parris Glendening signed an executive order last month directing state troopers to trace and
run ballistics on every gun seized by police in connection with a crime, making Maryland the first state to attempt
such a comprehensive program to attack illegal firearms trafficking, according to state and federal officials.
State officials hope that by tracking every seized gun to a gun dealer and its original purchaser they will be
able to develop a complete picture of the state’s black market in firearms. Officials say this would allow police
to identify scofflaw dealers and trafficking rings which may be funneling thousands of guns onto the streets, as
well as individual "straw purchasers."
"This is a completely different tack for Parris (Glendening) to take," said Bob McMurray, Legislative
Vice President of the Maryland Rifle and Pistol Association. "Previously, he’s concentrated on bashing law-abiding
gun owners, and we’ve testified that he ought to be enforcing existing laws against criminals. If they want to
check ballistics and trace every crime gun seized, we have no problem with that."
Told of Glendening’s plan, Ellen R. Sauerbrey, Glendening’s probable pro-gun gubernatorial opponent this fall,
asked why he hadn’t done it sooner. "It seems to be a curious coincidence that he’s discovered the importance
of this with an election a couple of months away," she said.
In Charlotte, North Carolina, the 210th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), by a vote of 393
to 120 on June 18, resolved to call upon all Presbyterians "to intentionally work toward removing all handguns
from our homes and our communities."
In a national anti-gun media blitz on television networks, local stations, magazines and billboards sponsored by
Cease Fire, the pet project of Jann Wenner, Publisher of ROLLING STONE magazine, Wenner "has mobilized a small
army of media heavyweights," according to THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.
Wenner "has loaded Cease Fire’s advisory board with the likes of Walter Cronkite, Barry Diller, Michael Eisner,
Paul Newman and Michael Douglas, who in turn proceeded to ‘round up the media,’ as Mr. Wenner puts it," according
to the JOURNAL.
"Mr. Douglas, who narrates the ads, called officials at CBS. Time Warner Chief Executive Gerald Levin has
suggested that all of the company’s cable systems run the ads. Tom Freston, chief executive of Viacom’s MTV unit,
not only agreed to carry the ads on MTV networks, but helped obtain commitments from cable networks A&E and
Lifetime. HSN Chairman Barry Diller called executives at News Corp.’s Fox and Tele-Communications Inc.
And Ellen Levine, the editor of GOOD HOUSEKEEPING, agreed to carry ads in her magazine and helped to win pages
from several other Hearst periodicals.
"Rather than a political message pushing legislation, ‘we’re trying to change perceptions,’ Mr. Wenner says.
‘The reason most men buy handguns is because they think they can protect their family. But it doesn’t work. Handguns
are much more likely to bring harm.’"
In Washington, D. C., the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime approved H. R. 218, by Rep. Randy Cunningham of
California, which would allow sworn law enforcement officers the right to carry a concealed firearm while off duty
in any state in the nation. It also approved an amendment to H.R. 218 offered by the Subcommittee Chairman, Rep.
Bill McCollum of Florida, which would allow individuals who have been issued state carry permits to carry concealed
in other states which have right to carry laws.
The McCollum amendment does not go as far as H. R. 339, by Rep. Cliff Stearns of Florida, which would allow holders
of a permit to carry concealed issued by any state to carry concealed in any state. However, it would improve greatly
upon the current situation.
H.R. 218 first must be approved by the whole House Judiciary Committee, under the chairmanship of Rep. Henry Hyde
of Illinois, and the House Rules Committee, under the chairmanship of Rep. Jerry Solomon of New York, before going
to the full House floor for a vote.
"Gun ‘safety’ is advanced in one deft promotional shot by a safe company," reports THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.
"Sheriff William Polhemus of Ocean County, New Jersey, wanted some sort of safety device so his officers could
lock up their guns at home, keeping the weapons out of the hands of children and others. So he called Sentry Group,
Inc. a safe manufacturer in Rochester, New York.
"The timing was good. Sentry is introducing a small safe for home use and, as a kickoff gesture, donated 80
of the bolt-down safes to the Ocean County force - one for each officer. It adds it will sell the safes at a substantial
discount to other police. ‘These guns will be locked down and safe,’ says the sheriff, adding: ‘It just felt perfect.’"
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SEPTEMBER 1998
Sen. Patty Murray of Washington State, with over 50 cosponsors, introduced S. Res. 264, to provide that the Senate
designate October 8, 1998 as the Day of National Concern About Young People and Gun Violence, and authorize and
request the President to issue a proclamation calling upon the school children of the United States to observe
the day "with appropriate ceremonies and activities." It was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Rep. Peter A. DeFazio of Oregon introduced H.R. 4441, to require firearms to be manufactured with child safety
locks, H.R. 4442, to "better regulate" the transfer of firearms at gun shows, H.R. 4443, to provide for
the automatic revocation of the license of any licensed firearms dealer who willfully sells a firearm to a minor,
and H.R. 4444, "to prevent children from injuring themselves and others with firearms." Reps. Earl Blumenauer,
Elizabeth Furse, Darlene Hooley, all of Oregon, are original cosponsors. The four measures were referred to the
House Judiciary Committee.
In Kentucky, it became legal as of July for Kentucky ministers and church officials to carry handguns inside houses
of worship as long as they have a permit to carry concealed.
The change came through an amendment passed this year by the Kentucky General Assembly.
A law enacted in 1996 authorized state residents with CCW permits to carry concealed weapons but specifically banned
weapons from a number of places, including schools, government buildings and houses of worship. There were some
exceptions, such as judges in their courtrooms and legislators at work.
The Rev. Willie Ramsey of the Somerset Church of Christ campaigned to extend the exception to men and women of
the cloth and to other church officers.
"It’s a matter of equal rights and equal protection under this gun law," said Rev. Ramsey, who would
not say whether he would carry a concealed firearm in church.
He says that churches are robbery targets because of the offerings they collect. Though his church has never been
robbed, reports the Associated Press, he is worried by the two dozen burglaries, thefts and vandalism incidents
at area churches in the past two years.
By a vote of 54 to 44, the U. S. Senate rejected an attempt by Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California to ban importation
of ammunition feeding devices with a capacity of over 10 rounds made prior to enactment of the 1994 ban on certain
semiautomatic firearms. Feinstein’s attempt came during Senate consideration in July of a government appropriations
measure.
In response to a question appearing in THE WASHINGTON TIMES’ "Sgt. Shaft" column, John Fales wrote last
month that "you and many other active military types must now carry a barrister’s beeper number instead of
a weapon to protect your careers. Your concerns are well-founded as even now Department of Defense legal beagles
are floundering around attempting to implement the Lautenberg amendment to the Gun Control Act of 1968.
"The amendment, which became law on September 30, 1996, makes it a felony for any person who has been convicted
of a misdemeanor or crime of domestic violence to ship, transport, possess or receive firearms or ammunition. Until
September 30, 1996, military personnel were exempted from the provisions of the law. Inclusion of military personnel
has made the services implement policies consistent with the Lautenberg amendment.
"The Army released a message in January 1998 that directed commanders to notify all soldiers that it is unlawful
to possess firearms and ammunition if they have been convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.
Commanders are required to have personnel records reviewed against the Lautenberg amendment criteria and report
personnel data on those identified through command channels to the Department of the Army.
"Commanders were further directed to detail soldiers whom they believe have a conviction for a misdemeanor
crime of domestic violence to duties that do not require the bearing of weapons or ammunition. Further adverse
administrative action and bars to reenlistment may be imposed for an act of domestic violence that resulted in
a conviction after September 30, 1996. Commanders must also take action to secure personal firearms and ammo of
soldiers under this law.
"Personnel who have a civil misdemeanor conviction for domestic violence that was never reported to military
authorities may now be asked to provide that information. Those who decline to report such adverse information
may later be subject to administrative action for falsifying documentation or misrepresentation. It would be most
appropriate for personnel who have never reported such incidents to get legal advice.
"The old sarge, like the Defense Department, finds the bill misguided with regard to military personnel. From
1969 to 1996 Congress was wise to adhere to the Pentagon’s request to exempt military personnel from the legislation.
Now that the military services are required to reassign these personnel from positions requiring the use of arms
and munitions, there may be an adverse impact on the country’s combat readiness."
Reps. Rod R. Blagojevich of Illinois and Patrick J. Kennedy of Rhode Island introduced H.R. 4114, to prohibit Internet
and mail-order sales of ammunition without a license to deal in firearms, and require licensed firearms dealers
to record all sales of 1,000 rounds of ammunition to a single person. It was referred to the House Judiciary Committee.
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OCTOBER 1998
As Capitol Hill buzzed with word of the possibility of impeachment proceedings against Bill Clinton, the most anti-gun
President in American history, Congressman Bob Barr of Georgia, Chairman of the House Task Force on Firearms and
CCRKBA 1997 Legislator of the Year, more Representatives had become cosponsors of H. Res. 304, his measure to provide
for a formal congressional impeachment inquiry.
Cosponsors of H. Res. 304 as of this writing include Reps. Cass Ballenger of North Carolina, Roscoe Bartlett of
Maryland, Tom Campbell of California, Helen Chenoweth of Idaho, Larry Combest of Texas, Barbara Cubin of Wyoming,
John Doolittle of California, Lindsay Graham of South Carolina, Duncan Hunter of California, Sam Johnson of Texas,
Jack Kingston of Georgia, Ron Lewis of Kentucky, Jack Metcalf of Washington, John Mica of Florida, Ron Paul of
Texas, Richard Pombo of California, Frank Riggs of California, Dana Rohrabacher of California, Matt Salmon of Arizona,
Bob Schaffer of Colorado, Pete Sessions of Texas, Chris Smith of New Jersey, Linda Smith of Washington, Mark Souder
of Indiana, Cliff Stearns of Florida, Bob Stump of Arizona, Todd Tiahart of Kansas and Don Young of Alaska.
"Last November," said Barr, "I introduced legislation to begin an impeachment inquiry, because it
is the only constitutional way to resolve serious allegations of abuse of power by our nation’s highest elected
leader.
"I am pleased to see more and more other Members realizing that until we complete an impeachment inquiry,
our nation will continue to suffer from a lack of leadership as the President is left to twist slowly in the wind.
If he has abused his office, an inquiry will be the first step in his removal from office.
"An impeachment inquiry is now a virtual certainty. Further delay will only postpone the inevitable and further
damage the power and prestige of the office of the Presidency and of the United States."
In Lawrence, Massachusetts, THE EAGLE-TRIBUNE editorialized against the Bay State’s new anti-gun law, claiming
its supporters are "living in a state of delusion."
The new law, according to the TRIBUNE, "requires gun owners to lock their weapons up or install trigger locks.
They face felony charges if they fail to do so.
"The law also bans the sale of certain ‘assault weapons,’ guns with high-capacity magazines and cheap handguns
like the so-called ‘Saturday Night Specials.’ It makes illegal sawed-off shotguns and guns that cannot be detected
by metal detectors. It prohibits those convicted of certain crimes from owning guns and imposes tougher sentences
on those committing crimes with guns "It attacks law-abiding gun owners, dramatically increasing the fees
on the permits required to own firearms.
"Our legislators believe that if they just pass the right mix of laws, no one will ever die, or be hurt, or
be poor or suffer in any way. Too many of us have the save misguided faith.
"There is merit to some aspects of the law – making gun owners responsible for safe storage is one.
"But those who believe the new gun law means there will be no more deaths by gunfire in Massachusetts are
living in a state of delusion."
In St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada, members of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary, bowing to safety concerns,
are carrying guns for the first time in its 127-year history, reports THE WASHINGTON POST. The 315-member force
halted recently the tradition of responding to calls unarmed. Constables now carry their revolvers in holsters
instead of the trunks of their cars, officials said. The force is the last on in North America to begin carrying
weapons.
"Nothing excites the derision of progressives more than hunters, particularly those with guns, "Alexander
Cockburn commented recently in THE NATION. "I must say I’ve become more benign toward the gun-toters over
the years," continues the controversial writer. "A couple of weeks ago ‘Gary Trudeau had a cartoon ridiculing
Charlton Heston, now President of the NRA, for admitting to possession of 12 guns. I saw this on returning from
a chat with an 82-year-old neighbor down the road here in Petrolia, Curly Wright, who hauled down his gun safe
to display an arsenal of 19 rifles of one sort of another, with numberless handguns on the upper shelf, two or
three shotguns and no doubt enough ammunition to blow us halfway to Japan.
"Aside from the matter of the Second Amendment – I’ll give them that, if they give us the other ones – I find
the hunters more appealing and often more skeptical of established order than the bikers bounding along the path
munching their Power Bars."
From Kansas City, Missouri, Kevin L. Jamison, Attorney at Law for the Western Missouri Shooters Alliance, writes
that "a referendum on a concealed carry permit system has been scheduled for a referendum in Missouri. WMSA
fought the proposal to put CCW to a referendum.
"Despite our opposition, the decision has been made, we will have a referendum. There is no point in continued
argument, and many points to putting aside differences.
"Gun owners cannot afford to lose this referendum. A loss on this referendum will kill chances to pass CCW
in Missouri, and probably nationally, in our lifetime. If we lose, our movement will be seen as being weak, the
legislature will swing its support to the prohibitionists, and we will begin to lose the rights we still have.
"The WMSA Board of Directors has unanimously voted to rejoin the Missouri Legislative Issues Council (MoLIC)
and to vigorously and without reservation support the referendum. We will raise money for the referendum; we will
argue in support of the referendum, we will mobilize our members to vote for the referendum. We will coordinate
our efforts for the referendum through MoLIC and carry out any possible action which will aid the referendum for
CCW in Missouri."
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NOVEMBER 1998
When the U. S. House of Representatives voted last month to begin an inquiry of impeachment of President Bill Clinton,
the most anti-gun politician ever to serve in he Oval Office, John Michael Snyder, CCRKBA Public Affairs Director,
expressed initial satisfaction.
"A lot of people are coming to realize what we have known for some time," he said, "and that is
that Clinton can not be trusted. Although he has sworn blithely to uphold the Constitution, he has not hesitated
to undermine one of the integral parts of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and especially the Second Amendment.
Throughout his presidency, he has used the power of his office to promote legislation to undermine the right to
keep and bear arms, the right to self-defense, the right to protect life, the very right to life itself. He also
has used his executive authority to promote administrative regulations to the same end.
"It’s about time this character and, for that matter, the entire Clinton-Gore Administration, is called to
account for his heinous attacks on the civil rights of law-abiding American citizens. Our only regret is that it’s
coming so late in the day but, as they say, ‘better late than never.’
"I’ve supported the impeachment of Clinton since the day after his presidential inauguration – his first presidential
inauguration. I have supported the inquiry of impeachment of President Clinton proposed by Rep. Bob Barr of Georgia
since he introduced the resolution a year ago, even though it was not given much of a chance at the time. So I,
for one, am glad that the House of Representatives has taken the action it has on this matter up to this point."
In a move which knowledgeable gun control advocates long had expected, a National Research Panel said October 8
in Washington, D. C. that there are no proven ways to tag or mark gunpowder to make it more easily detectable or
to deter its use in bombings.
The panel also stated the state of tagging technology, which has not been extensively researched, and the relatively
low level of threat from illicit explosives using black and smokeless powders, do not support suggestions to immediately
start marking these materials, reported Warren E. Leary in THE NEW YORK TIMES.
The 14-member committee said current methods for detecting gunpowder bombs, including metal detectors and X-ray
systems that spot devices containing the explosives, and trained dogs, are relatively effective.
"In order to guard against future threats, however, the committee believes that the government should study
more complex detection and identification methods so that policy makers are better able to react if circumstances
arise that warrant a more aggressive response," it said.
The Clinton Administration campaigned for wide use of chemical markers in common explosives. Congress rejected
these proposals after gun lobby groups opposed putting markers into black or smokeless powder, questioning the
effectiveness of tagging such widely used products and expressing concern that foreign chemicals might affect the
gunpowder’s performance.
The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 authorized the Treasury Department to study tagging explosives
either for early detection or to help trace explosives after bombings. The Department’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco
and Firearms asked the National Research Council, part of the National Academy of Sciences, to examine the issues
and it convened two committees to conduct studies.
In a report released in March, the first committee looked at commercial high-grade explosives, like dynamite and
military plastic explosives and chemical fertilizer used to make explosives, and concluded that it was impractical
to put markers into this material. It called for more research into cost, safety and effectiveness before considering
such additives for wide use.
The second committee, which released its report October 8, reached similar conclusions concerning black and smokeless
powder.
Nearly one fourth of American households have handguns in them, according to a survey conducted by the National
Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago and the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research.
According to the report, nearly 40 percent of Americans have a gun in the house. The figure has fallen from 49
percent in 1973, but the decline has been in shotguns and rifles. The proportion of households with handguns climbed
from 20 percent to 24 percent over the same period.
Half of all American men have a gun in the house. One in 10 Americans has carried a gun away from home during the
past year. On any given day, one adult in 50 will be carrying a handgun.
As some indication of the kind of anti-gun legislation which Second Amendment may expect to be introduced in the
next (106th) Congress, consider some of the legislative activity of anti-gun Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg during the
latter days of the current (105th) Congress.
On October 2 and October 5, Lautenberg included in the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD materials connected with a so-called
"one gun a month forum" held on September 2.
The forum was held to promote Lautenberg’s bill, S. 466, the so-called "Anti-Gun Trafficking Act," which
would prohibit an individual from buying more than one handgun in a month’s period.
Lautenberg noted that Virginia, Maryland and South Carolina already have passed such legislation and indicated
he will press for federal legislation in the same vein in the months to come.
He was joined at the forum, he said, by Sens. Charles S. Robb of Virginia and Paul S. Sarbanes of Maryland.
He said forum witnesses included Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell, who also is the Chair of the Conference of Mayors
Task Force on Gun Violence, James and Sarah Brady of Handgun Control, Inc., Captain R. Lewis Vass of the Virginia
State Police, and Captain Thomas Bowers of the Maryland State Police.
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DECEMBER 1998
Anti-gunners in New York State lost no time in continuing their assault on gun rights.
"Elected officials throughout New York State should be warned by the voters’ resounding repudiation of Senator
Alphonse D’Amato, who remained in the grip of National Rifle Association extremists to the bitter end," wrote
Nancy Regaldo of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence in THE NEW YORK TIMES for November 10.
"Mr. D’Amato voted against the Brady Bill, which sought to prevent convicted criminals from buying guns; he
voted against the assault-gun ban, against trigger locks and against protecting doctors and patients at health
care clinics. Now New Yorkers have voted against him and for Charles E. Schumer, who led the way on all these bills.
"The N.R.A. must not retain its stranglehold over Albany (the State Capital). An overwhelming majority of
the state’s voters wants sensible laws to reduce gun violence. The voters want legislation requiring gun owners
to lock up their weapons. They want Gov. George E. Pataki to sign the bill passed by the Legislature that raises
penalties on illegal gun trafficking."
In New Orleans, Louisiana, Mayor Marc H. Morial filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit October 30 against leading gun
companies and trade groups, saying they should be held financially responsible for the cost of handgun violence.
The suit was designed to entangle gun manufacturers in the same sort of litigation that has cost the tobacco industry
billions of dollars and forced tobacco companies into battle in courtrooms across the country, reported THE WASHINGTON
POST. Although the suit was brought in the city’s name, it was backed by anti-gun activists and prepared by some
of the same lawyers who attacked the tobacco companies.
Declaring that the gun industry’s "day of atonement" has arrived, Morial and others called for other
city and state governments across the country to follow New Orleans’ lead in taking to court the manufacturers
of handguns.
"Guns must now become the next tobacco," said Dennis Henigan, a lawyer in the case who works for the
Center to Prevent Handgun Violence.
Jack Adkins of the American Shooting Sports Council called the New Orleans case "litigation tyranny promoted
by the trial lawyers and advocacy groups using the courts to try to establish public policy." The Council,
a defendant in the case, represents more than 350 gun makers, distributors and retailers.
"The firearms industry is not the tobacco industry," said Adkins, indicating that when firearms are "used
responsibly and legally, the benefits far outweigh the cost of their misuse."
Among the defendants are Smith & Wesson Corporation, Sturm Ruger, Beretta USA Corporation, Colt’s Manufacturing
Company, Glock Inc., Taurus International Marketing Inc., Sigarms Inc., Lorcin Engineering Company, Bryco Arms,
B. L. Jennings Firearms Inc., Phoenix Arms, Davis Industries Inc., Navegar Inc., Arms Technology Inc., and several
trade groups and New Orleans pawn shops where guns are sold.
"What industry will be next?" asked Steven P. Gilchrist of Bethpage, New York in a NEW YORK TIMES letter
responding to the New Orleans anti-gun lawsuit. "Will cities sue the auto industry to recover money they have
spent on improving emergency trauma care or salaries for police, emergency medical technicians, 911 operators or
ambulance personnel who respond to accidents?"
"Gail H. Hoffman, a former aide to Attorney General Janet Reno and legislative director of Handgun Control,
Inc., has a client that fits into her long-standing worries about handguns," reports Bill McAllister in THE
WASHINGTON POST. "Hoffman, who runs the Hoffman Group," he continues, "is representing Saf-T-Hammer,
a Scottsdale, Arizona company that has devised a removable hammer that can disable a handgun that has an external
hammer.
"Hoffman, who was Reno’s director of public liaison and intergovernmental affairs, is out to convince Congress
that any proposal for requiring a safety device or lock on handguns should include the Arizona invention, which
is not in production yet."
In Massachusetts, Michael Yacino, Executive Director of the Gun Owners’ Action League, announced that a coalition
of pro-gun individuals, groups and businesses filed a lawsuit to overturn the Bay State’s newly enacted anti-gun
law.
Yacino said "this law is too vague to understand, too obscure to enforce, and too unintelligible to obey."
The suit charges the new law would "punish with draconian, mandatory prison terms but does not sufficiently
define, the innocent possession and transfer of sporting firearms which the Act characterizes as ‘large capacity
weapons,’ ‘assault weapons,’ and ‘large capacity feeding devices.’ The provisions are vague, violate the rights
to due process and equal protection, violate the rights to free speech and to freedom of association, and are otherwise
inconsistent with the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution."
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