From: Gun Owners of America <goamail@gunowners.org>
Reply-To: Gun Owners of America <goamail@gunowners.org>
To: goamail@gunowners.org
Subject: Anti-Brady Bills In Congress
X-Mailer: Gun Owners of America's registered AK-Mail 3.0b [eng]
Sen. Smith and Rep. Coburn Introduce Anti-Brady Bills
-- Measures will rein in FBI's plans to register gun owners
Gun Owners of America E-Mail/FAX Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
http://www.gunowners.org
(Friday, March 12, 1999) -- One of the highest agenda items at Gun
Owners of America is to roll back the unconstitutional Brady law.
Taking a major stride toward that goal, Senator Bob Smith (R-NH)
told GOA yesterday that he was reintroducing his bill to keep the
FBI from taxing and registering gun purchases. That was the first
bit of good news. Then late in the day, GOA was notified by Rep.
Tom Coburn (R-OK) that he would introduce identical language.
GOA Executive Director Larry Pratt praised the actions of both men.
"Last year's Smith amendment was a good first step," Pratt said.
"Unfortunately, the restrictions the Senate passed on the FBI were
watered-down by a conference committee at the last minute, and the
restrictions that did remain will expire later this year. Congress
must put FBI back in its cage." [1]
Smith took to the floor yesterday to denounce the Clinton
Administration's "insistence" upon keeping gun owners' names.
"There is no reason why such private information on law-abiding gun
owners should be retained," Smith said.
Moreover, Smith told Senators that his bill (S. 597) will keep the
FBI from unilaterally taxing gun owners: "With [my last year's]
amendment, we told President Clinton 'no' to the gun tax. Let us
tell him 'no' again, once and for all, by enacting the Second
Amendment Rights Protection Act."
Like last year's Smith amendment, this year's Smith-Coburn bills
contain some teeth: private individuals will be specifically
authorized to sue the FBI for any violations of privacy under the
Brady Law. The Coburn companion bill to S. 597 should be assigned a
number next week. Please stay tuned.
FBI Violating Federal Law. In related news, the FBI is, perhaps,
becoming the best argument for passing the Smith-Coburn bill. On
March 3, the FBI submitted proposed regulations showing that they
intend to violate the very spirit of last year's Smith amendment.
Gun owners have until June 1, 1999 if they wish to introduce their
own comments.
In its new regulations, the FBI is seeking to do the following:
* Allow information concerning gun buyers which is obtained by the
unconstitutional Instant Check system to be retained for ninety days
(a reduction from its current illegal retention period of six
months);
* Specifically allow the FBI to share its illegally retained
information with BATF for the express purpose of allowing BATF to
conduct unrelated inspections of federal firearms dealers; and
* Specifically allow information concerning gun buyers to be
retained without a time limitation if deemed necessary to "pursue
cases of identified misuse of the system," even if the person whose
privacy is abused is not suspected of being a culpable party.
ACTION: Gun owners can read the March 3, 1999 regulations (Vol.
64, No. 41) promulgated by the FBI at
http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aces140.html on the web,
using "Page 10262-10265" as the search term. Activists who wish to
submit comments can write to Mr. Emmet A. Rathbun, Unit Chief, FBI,
Module C-3, 1000 Custer Hollow Road, Clarksburg, WV 26306-0147.
You can also call (304)625-2000 for more information.
[1] The mandate for the FBI to "immediately" destroy gun owners'
names was deleted from the Smith amendment by a House-Senate
conference committee. To no one's surprise, the FBI responded by
saying they would not immediately destroy records, but would keep
information on gun buyers for up to six months. Gun owners should
note that passing the Smith-Coburn bills would invalidate any and
all illegal FBI regulations of this type.
------------------
"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes"
Reply-To: Gun Owners of America <goamail@gunowners.org>
To: goamail@gunowners.org
Subject: Anti-Brady Bills In Congress
X-Mailer: Gun Owners of America's registered AK-Mail 3.0b [eng]
Sen. Smith and Rep. Coburn Introduce Anti-Brady Bills
-- Measures will rein in FBI's plans to register gun owners
Gun Owners of America E-Mail/FAX Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
http://www.gunowners.org
(Friday, March 12, 1999) -- One of the highest agenda items at Gun
Owners of America is to roll back the unconstitutional Brady law.
Taking a major stride toward that goal, Senator Bob Smith (R-NH)
told GOA yesterday that he was reintroducing his bill to keep the
FBI from taxing and registering gun purchases. That was the first
bit of good news. Then late in the day, GOA was notified by Rep.
Tom Coburn (R-OK) that he would introduce identical language.
GOA Executive Director Larry Pratt praised the actions of both men.
"Last year's Smith amendment was a good first step," Pratt said.
"Unfortunately, the restrictions the Senate passed on the FBI were
watered-down by a conference committee at the last minute, and the
restrictions that did remain will expire later this year. Congress
must put FBI back in its cage." [1]
Smith took to the floor yesterday to denounce the Clinton
Administration's "insistence" upon keeping gun owners' names.
"There is no reason why such private information on law-abiding gun
owners should be retained," Smith said.
Moreover, Smith told Senators that his bill (S. 597) will keep the
FBI from unilaterally taxing gun owners: "With [my last year's]
amendment, we told President Clinton 'no' to the gun tax. Let us
tell him 'no' again, once and for all, by enacting the Second
Amendment Rights Protection Act."
Like last year's Smith amendment, this year's Smith-Coburn bills
contain some teeth: private individuals will be specifically
authorized to sue the FBI for any violations of privacy under the
Brady Law. The Coburn companion bill to S. 597 should be assigned a
number next week. Please stay tuned.
FBI Violating Federal Law. In related news, the FBI is, perhaps,
becoming the best argument for passing the Smith-Coburn bill. On
March 3, the FBI submitted proposed regulations showing that they
intend to violate the very spirit of last year's Smith amendment.
Gun owners have until June 1, 1999 if they wish to introduce their
own comments.
In its new regulations, the FBI is seeking to do the following:
* Allow information concerning gun buyers which is obtained by the
unconstitutional Instant Check system to be retained for ninety days
(a reduction from its current illegal retention period of six
months);
* Specifically allow the FBI to share its illegally retained
information with BATF for the express purpose of allowing BATF to
conduct unrelated inspections of federal firearms dealers; and
* Specifically allow information concerning gun buyers to be
retained without a time limitation if deemed necessary to "pursue
cases of identified misuse of the system," even if the person whose
privacy is abused is not suspected of being a culpable party.
ACTION: Gun owners can read the March 3, 1999 regulations (Vol.
64, No. 41) promulgated by the FBI at
http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aces140.html on the web,
using "Page 10262-10265" as the search term. Activists who wish to
submit comments can write to Mr. Emmet A. Rathbun, Unit Chief, FBI,
Module C-3, 1000 Custer Hollow Road, Clarksburg, WV 26306-0147.
You can also call (304)625-2000 for more information.
[1] The mandate for the FBI to "immediately" destroy gun owners'
names was deleted from the Smith amendment by a House-Senate
conference committee. To no one's surprise, the FBI responded by
saying they would not immediately destroy records, but would keep
information on gun buyers for up to six months. Gun owners should
note that passing the Smith-Coburn bills would invalidate any and
all illegal FBI regulations of this type.
------------------
"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes"