Arkansas gov says NO to S&W "deal"

D

Dennis Olson

New member
Anyone else see this?

April 13, 2000

The Honorable Eliot Spitzer
Attorney General
Office of The Attorney General
The Capitol
Albany, New York 12224

Dear Attorney General Spitzer:

I have received your letter of March 16, 2000 inviting me to join in your effort to encourage various state and local governments to award law enforcement gun contracts only to gun manufacturers agreeing to a "Code of Conduct" which dictates various business practices, safety features, marketing strategies, etc., for both gun manufacturers and gun dealers at the wholesale and retail level. I must respectfully decline your invitation.

First let me say, if I believed the safety of my constituents were truly the issue, I would be much more considerate of your request. But we are not living in a country flooded with "unsafe" guns. It is their illegal use that endangers us-that must be addressed through vigorous criminal
prosecution. Providing for guns safety locks is one thing and, in truth, only a small part of your "Code of Conduct." However, dictating how many guns a purchasers is allowed to take home on one day, banning sales at gun shows and prohibiting a minor from even entering a gun store without a parent or guardian are parts of a political agenda, not a push for "gun safety."

Coupling the safety issue with a strict regulation of business practices is merely a maneuver to advance a decidedly political agenda under the guise of "public safety." I am a strong proponent and defender of Americans' Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. I also make every effort to be a responsible manager of my constituents' tax dollars. I ask the director of the Arkansas State Police to make purchasing and requisition decisions based on quality, service and price. I will not ask him to award a lucrative government contract in order to further a political agenda geared at controlling and ultimately destroying the firearms industry. I want Arkansas State Troopers to protect our citizens and themselves using the best guns
available, not guns from the most "politically correct" manufacturer.

In 1999, I signed into law an act prohibiting Arkansas' local governments from suing firearms manufacturers seeking compensation for injuries and deaths resulting from the illegal use of these companies' products. To hold the gun industry accountable for crime is like holding our nation's farmers liable for the healthcare costs associated with obesity. The desire of some to blame the gun manufacturers for crime rather than prosecute criminals seems to me a sadly misguided attempt at protecting our citizens. It is also a rather thinly veiled attempt to vilify and control those who engage in a business which is eminently legal and necessary, yet not particularly smiled upon by the current administration in Washington.

I thank God previous administrations understood and appreciated not only the sanctity of the Second Amendment, but its necessity as well. Gun manufacturers make the Second Amendment a viable right rather than some theoretical proposition. I will not abuse my authority as Governor to pursue their demise or dictate their business practices through coercion. So the answer is a definite 'no," I will not seek the capitulation of firearm manufacturers through the use of asinine lawsuits or the doling out of taxpayer-funded government contracts. I regret that you feel either of these tactics to be worthwhile endeavors.

Sincerely yours,

Mike Huckabee
Governor
State Of Arkansas
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>I thank God previous administrations understood and appreciated not only the sanctity of the Second Amendment, but its necessity as well.[/quote]

So, Clinton once understood and appreciated the Second... Hmm... I wonder when he lost this ability. :confused:

Bravo Governor Huckabee!!


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RKBA!
"The people have the right to bear arms for their defense and security"
Ohio Constitution, Article I, Section 4 Concealed Carry is illegal in Ohio.
Ohioans for Concealed Carry Website
 
mike.huckabee@state.ar.us

This poor guy's gonna catch seven flavors of hell over this... it would behoove us to support him.
 
Dennis, do you have a link for the letter? I need provenance before I pass it on to some fence-sitting AG types.

[This message has been edited by Slowpoke_Rodrigo (edited May 10, 2000).]

[This message has been edited by Slowpoke_Rodrigo (edited May 10, 2000).]
 
Not yet. The board I swiped it from didn't have it posted. I'll go over there & ask for it....

And I think the reference to "previous administrations" referred to PRESIDENTS, not gov's. So it's doubtful that Klinton EVER "got it".
 
Hmm. Maybe Arkansas isn't that bad after all. May have to see if there is some way I can ship my tourist dollars their way.
 
The NRA-ILA has this letter on file at...
http://www.nraila.org/research/20000428-GeneralInfo-001.shtml


Here is another good letter...


From Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor
March 24, 2000

Honorable Eliot Spitzer
Attorney General of New York
Office of the Attorney General
Department of Law - The Capitol
2nd Floor
Albany, NY 12224

Dear General Spitzer:

Thank you for your letter dated March 16, 2000.

Your suggestion that attorneys general and other law enforcement agencies boycott the sales of quality firearms manufactured legally by companies that have not adopted a “code of conduct” negotiated by the Clinton administration, yourself, Attorney General Blumenthal, and a handful of mayors is troubling for several reasons.

First, your letter seems to invite law enforcement officials to ignore or deliberately violate federal and state competitive bid laws. As you know, competitive bid laws were enacted to protect taxpayers in the procurement of goods and services by government agencies. Limiting procurement to a single source of firearms, such as Smith & Wesson, would render competitive bid laws meaningless and increase the potential for fraud, favoritism, and corruption. As law enforcement officials, attorneys general have been and must remain enforcers and defenders of competitive bid laws.

Second, in a related way, your suggestion raises concerns about constitutional prohibitions against exclusive franchises and monopolies. These constitutional provisions were enacted to protect taxpayers, consumers, and public safety. To promote one manufacturer as the exclusive provider of firearms could run afoul of these constitutional provisions.

Third, in a poor state like Alabama, law enforcement agencies and citizens have interests and needs perhaps different from those of a wealthy state, like New York. It is essential to public safety in Alabama that law enforcement agencies and law-abiding citizens have access to quality firearms at reasonable prices. Your promotion of a code of conduct that obliges firearms manufacturers to incur additional costs that will be passed on to consumers without regard to the needs of consumers in a free market, will harm the law enforcement agencies and citizens of my state.

Fourth, your suggestion, of course, raises important separation of powers and public policy issues, many of which are reflected in state laws. In many states, and hopefully soon in Alabama, laws have been enacted to curtail or forbid government litigation against the firearms industry. Presumably, state attorneys general would not want to promote interests that are contrary to the public policies expressed in state statutes nor would they want to intrude on the province of the legislature to make laws.

I hope and trust that you will receive these concerns in the spirit in which they are offered -- the good faith promotion of the rule of law, the aggressive reduction of crime by well-equipped law enforcement agencies, and the preservation of the constitutional right to keep and bear arms for self-defense and the defense of a free society.

Sincerely,

Bill Pryor
Attorney General

cc: All State Attorneys General



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http://second.amendment.homepage.com
 
I'll bet a case of Bass Ale that this won't make the news and if it does, it'll only be in the usual vein:

"look at this ignorant, backwater, inbred, cousin-fscking, redneck, gun-nut `Guv'ner'."

No offense intended, but you know how it works... :(

I'm feeling particularly cynical today.
 
Just printed the letter and sent an email to Mike Huckabee to relay my thanks for his seeing the truth in this issue. I will be writing to my Gov and enclosing his letter. I hope to get some results. Though it will be tough here in Mass trapped behind the Iron curtain.

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"Some people spend an entire liftime wondering if they made a difference. Marines don't have that problem."
Semper Fi
 
When I read the letter again from the Gov. of Alabama, I see at least three possible law-suits. Wonder if we could get the states AG's of states not supporting Bill's agenda to file a class action suit for just those things. Hummmmmmmmmmm.
 
Allan, it's been a long day, I'm tired and I want to go home. Can you briefly give me the "skinny" on Huckabee that makes his letter worthless to you?

Thanks,

Dick
 
Monkeyleg, please don't read into my post something that isn't there. I never said his letter was worthless. I posted a letter to him last week at the URL I gave telling him I appreciated that letter effort as it was the only thing he has done worthwhile. Two or three years or so ago I also wrote him snail letter telling him about his balls in licensing a constitutional Right to"keep and bear arms". The truth is he has no clue of the meaning of the oath of office and the Constitution. I have known him and corresponded with him when he first got into politics in a run against the "worthless" bumpers for bumper's Senate seat, which you probably know huckbaby lost.

I voted for huckbaby twice but won't waste my vote on him again, nor any other republican or democrat. They are poison to this Republic and Liberty.
 
Allan:

I grew up in Arkansas and U.S. Senator Jay Dickey duck hunts with us. Both Dickey and Huckabee are going above and beyond the call to preserve our hunting and shooting rights----not by word but by action. For what Huckabee has faced since taking Office, he is doing a marvelous job. For example, when he first took Office, the Democrats nailed the doors shut on his office.

My father among others is fighting to keep an individual in Central Arkansas from pulling up submerged logs in the Saline River in South Arkansas. My father is in the timber business but this sort of thing will destroy a river system that is home to some of the best fishing, deer hunting and duck hunting in the country. Jay Dickey promised the people of South Arkansas that he would not allow the rivers to be sacrficed for the benefit of a few. He came all the way down to Monticello,AR at a local college recently at a symposium on the issue to stand up for the citizens who hunt and fish in the area. Yes, Jay Dickey's actions speak louder than his words.

Neither men are perfect, that I will grant you. They are better than what you could have and if you stop voting, you will do exactly what the liberal democrats want you to do. (With the utmost in due respect)

Compared to what Arkansas has had for Govenors in the past, Huckabee is a right-wing extremist. Thank God for him.

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"When guns are outlawed;I will be an outlaw."
 
Will Beararms, I hear you and for the most part agree. I don't get much info on Dicky, but by what little I know I do support him. I know more about Huckabee and agree he was treated very badly by criminal democrats in elected office. Those I speak of as criminals were proven to be so after Huckabee became governor. I use only one criteria in judging the elected and that is the oath of office. The most blatant offence committed by Huckabee was signing the unconstitutional concealed carry legislation into law. He nearly went ape over the citizens petition on property taxes, his stand was against the people's right to vote on the issue, to keep it off the ballot. He has raised taxes on an already over taxed people. He has appointed to public office democrats who are known enemies of the people of this State. Yeah, he has done a tiny bit of good for a few citizens at the expense of other citizens. I've had all the republicans and democrats I want, no more, enough went by some time ago. I'll vote third party and tell everyone I know to do the same.
 
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