Al's ultimate objective would be to abolish all fire arms privacy.
By Dave Kopel
Independence Institute
What's in the future for the anti-gun agenda, should Al Gore be elected President? Just drop by the website for Handgun Control, Inc., to find out.
There's only a short interval from the keyboards at HCI
to the lips of the President and Vice President. On the
site, you'll find details about what comes next - but not
what comes after that. Nor will you find any details on
what HCI Chair Sarah Brady says are her long-term objective:
a "needs- based licensing" system, in which gun ownership is
allowed only when the police determine that the would-be
owner "needs" the gun.
How does one get from the current Clinton/Gore/HCI
program to the needs-based licensing system? In other
words, what would a Gore administration push for, if it
achieved the current items on the anti-gun agenda?
Perhaps the best guide is the 1994 report of the White
House Working Group, a secret memo which was uncovered by
U.S. News and World Report. Here's the long-term strategy:
Complete Gun Licensing and Registration First, the
attack on the non-existent "gun show loophole" is only a
warm-up. The ultimate objective is to abolish all firearms
privacy. Every firearms transfer - including a Christmas
gift from one's cousin - would have to be routed through a
federally-licensed dealer, and recorded by the federal
government.
A government license would also be needed to purchase
ammunition.
All currently owned firearms would have to be regis-
tered with the federal government, and non-registration
would be a federal crime. During the Democratic primaries,
Bill Bradley called for national gun registration, while
Gore rejected Bradley's plan as politically unrealistic.
Gore was correct; for registration to be politically possi-
ble, it needs to be built on an existing system of licens-
ing. Salami tactics are the essence of successful gun
control.
The Clinton/Gore proposal for a national ID card for
handgun purchasers is a sensible "moderate" and "common-
sense" step toward the goal of total licensing and registra-
tion for all guns. Politically speaking, it is best if the
initial stages of gun licensing can be implemented liberally
(as rifle licensing was in Britain in the 1920s and 1930s)
so that most people can get the license. Once licensing is
in place, the bureaucracy can take care of gradually tight-
ening the licensing process (without ever needing to ask the
legislature to change the law), so that hardly anyone quali-
fies for a license (as rifle licensing currently is enforced
in Britain).
Hunting Restrictions While the White House licensing
and registration system would apply to all guns, especially
strict rules would be imposed on owners of handguns and for
self-loading long guns (such as the Marlin Camp Carbine or
the Ruger .22 rifles). Appropriating a term of art from
Canadian gun law, the White House would designate all
handguns and all self- loading long guns as "restricted
weapons." Owners of "restricted weapons" could possess them
only at home, at work, or at a target range.
In other words, it would be a federal crime to go bird
hunting with a Remington 1100 shotgun. Handgun hunting,
which is legal in every state in the Union, would vanish.
President Clinton and Vice President Gore strenuously
insist that none of the laws which they have signed, and
none of the regulations they have created, have interfered
with hunting. Although Clinton and Gore are not correct in
their claim, their "restricted weapons" agenda would remove
their pro-hunting mask, and take away the primary sporting
arms of millions of American hunters.
Bans on Defensive Gun Use and Possession It would also
be a federal crime to carry a handgun in public for protec-
tion - even for people with state licenses authorizing them
to carry.
The White House memo also recommends consideration of a
federal law to outlaw "the carrying of firearms in...work
sites." The White House proposal would override current laws
of many states, which allow a person who runs a dry cleaning
shop that stays open late to choose to carry a concealed gun
for protection. Or an accountant who stays at work late
during March and April, can choose whether to keep a handgun
in her desk, and carry it with her when she walks to the
parking lot late at night.
The White House Working Group praises the 1976 Bartley-
Fox law in Massachusetts. This law imposes a mandatory one
year term in prison for carrying a gun without a permit. In
one notorious case, the law was applied to a man who started
carrying a gun after a co-worker assaulted him, and repeat-
edly threatened to kill him. The co-worker did attack
later, and the victim successfully defended himself. The
crime victim was then sentenced to a mandatory one year in
prison for carrying a gun without a permit. This is the
kind of law that the Clinton/Gore administration wants to
apply nationwide.
Banning More Guns The Clinton/Gore memo states that
domestic manufacture of guns should be brought under the
federal government's regulatory standards for product
designs. The White House memo predicts that such regulation
would outlaw "Many handguns now manufactured in the United
States for civilian use." With great applause from the White
House, a forerunner of the White House plan was recently
imposed in Massachusetts, by the administrative edict of the
state Attorney General. The result of the new standards was
to ban the sale of all handguns except the Smith & Wesson
models.
By Dave Kopel
Independence Institute
What's in the future for the anti-gun agenda, should Al Gore be elected President? Just drop by the website for Handgun Control, Inc., to find out.
There's only a short interval from the keyboards at HCI
to the lips of the President and Vice President. On the
site, you'll find details about what comes next - but not
what comes after that. Nor will you find any details on
what HCI Chair Sarah Brady says are her long-term objective:
a "needs- based licensing" system, in which gun ownership is
allowed only when the police determine that the would-be
owner "needs" the gun.
How does one get from the current Clinton/Gore/HCI
program to the needs-based licensing system? In other
words, what would a Gore administration push for, if it
achieved the current items on the anti-gun agenda?
Perhaps the best guide is the 1994 report of the White
House Working Group, a secret memo which was uncovered by
U.S. News and World Report. Here's the long-term strategy:
Complete Gun Licensing and Registration First, the
attack on the non-existent "gun show loophole" is only a
warm-up. The ultimate objective is to abolish all firearms
privacy. Every firearms transfer - including a Christmas
gift from one's cousin - would have to be routed through a
federally-licensed dealer, and recorded by the federal
government.
A government license would also be needed to purchase
ammunition.
All currently owned firearms would have to be regis-
tered with the federal government, and non-registration
would be a federal crime. During the Democratic primaries,
Bill Bradley called for national gun registration, while
Gore rejected Bradley's plan as politically unrealistic.
Gore was correct; for registration to be politically possi-
ble, it needs to be built on an existing system of licens-
ing. Salami tactics are the essence of successful gun
control.
The Clinton/Gore proposal for a national ID card for
handgun purchasers is a sensible "moderate" and "common-
sense" step toward the goal of total licensing and registra-
tion for all guns. Politically speaking, it is best if the
initial stages of gun licensing can be implemented liberally
(as rifle licensing was in Britain in the 1920s and 1930s)
so that most people can get the license. Once licensing is
in place, the bureaucracy can take care of gradually tight-
ening the licensing process (without ever needing to ask the
legislature to change the law), so that hardly anyone quali-
fies for a license (as rifle licensing currently is enforced
in Britain).
Hunting Restrictions While the White House licensing
and registration system would apply to all guns, especially
strict rules would be imposed on owners of handguns and for
self-loading long guns (such as the Marlin Camp Carbine or
the Ruger .22 rifles). Appropriating a term of art from
Canadian gun law, the White House would designate all
handguns and all self- loading long guns as "restricted
weapons." Owners of "restricted weapons" could possess them
only at home, at work, or at a target range.
In other words, it would be a federal crime to go bird
hunting with a Remington 1100 shotgun. Handgun hunting,
which is legal in every state in the Union, would vanish.
President Clinton and Vice President Gore strenuously
insist that none of the laws which they have signed, and
none of the regulations they have created, have interfered
with hunting. Although Clinton and Gore are not correct in
their claim, their "restricted weapons" agenda would remove
their pro-hunting mask, and take away the primary sporting
arms of millions of American hunters.
Bans on Defensive Gun Use and Possession It would also
be a federal crime to carry a handgun in public for protec-
tion - even for people with state licenses authorizing them
to carry.
The White House memo also recommends consideration of a
federal law to outlaw "the carrying of firearms in...work
sites." The White House proposal would override current laws
of many states, which allow a person who runs a dry cleaning
shop that stays open late to choose to carry a concealed gun
for protection. Or an accountant who stays at work late
during March and April, can choose whether to keep a handgun
in her desk, and carry it with her when she walks to the
parking lot late at night.
The White House Working Group praises the 1976 Bartley-
Fox law in Massachusetts. This law imposes a mandatory one
year term in prison for carrying a gun without a permit. In
one notorious case, the law was applied to a man who started
carrying a gun after a co-worker assaulted him, and repeat-
edly threatened to kill him. The co-worker did attack
later, and the victim successfully defended himself. The
crime victim was then sentenced to a mandatory one year in
prison for carrying a gun without a permit. This is the
kind of law that the Clinton/Gore administration wants to
apply nationwide.
Banning More Guns The Clinton/Gore memo states that
domestic manufacture of guns should be brought under the
federal government's regulatory standards for product
designs. The White House memo predicts that such regulation
would outlaw "Many handguns now manufactured in the United
States for civilian use." With great applause from the White
House, a forerunner of the White House plan was recently
imposed in Massachusetts, by the administrative edict of the
state Attorney General. The result of the new standards was
to ban the sale of all handguns except the Smith & Wesson
models.