Editor's Note by Weldon Clark – The US House of
Representatives will shortly be voting on the Hostettler
amendment to curb the powers of BATF. I first got involved
in the defense of the right to own and use firearms for
legitimate purposes when one of BATF's raid got Kenyon
Ballew shot. He was never charged or convicted of any
crime. He lost 40% of his brain. The same federal agency
now is going after an author for writing a work of fiction and a
maker of a kit from which a gunsmith could make a firearm.
This agency whether under Clinton or any other president
has violated the rights of ordinary people. Do you wish to live
in a police state or not?
Call your US Representative at (202) 225-3121 and your two
US Senators at (202) 224-3121 and at the Capitol
Switchboard. Write your CONGRESSMAN OR STATE
LEGISLATORS can now be accomplished at the speed of
light, thanks to WorldNetDaily's new Legislative Action
Center. http://congress.nw.dc.us/wnd/
Here is the URL for Congressional Telephone Directory: http://clerkweb.house.gov/106/mbrcmtee/members/teledir/me
mbers/cdframe.htm
Here's an e-mail link to Congress. http://in-search-of.org/ http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ http://www.gunowners.org/mailerx.html
The articles below are by Neal Knox who I have known for
over 20 years, Chris Stark who called the author's attorney
for verification and Angel Shamaya of keepandbeararms.org.
Read it all then ACT ON IT.
*****************************
Neal Knox Repot by Neal Knox
The attorney for John Ross, author of the best-selling
"Unintended Consequences," has written the Attorney
General and Treasury Department Inspector General
complaining that St. Louis BATF agents have contacted
Ross' estranged wife asking her to make comments against
him.
In late May, according to the letter from former prosecutor
James H. Jeffries III, two BATF agents approached her on
the street, identified themselves, and asked for her
comments on the book. A few weeks before, someone called
her new phone number, claimed to be a fan of the book and
asked if she agreed that it was "a manual for the murder of
federal agents."
Ross' wife, Carolyn, once confessed to John in my presence
that she had only read about half the lengthy book, which is
filled with the arcane minutia of ballistics and gun design that
have made it popular with gunowners. His firearms technical
dissertations are excellent; unlike much of his discussion of
airplanes.
The book also details, with reasonably good accuracy, the
history of "gun control," its effects in the U.S. and overseas,
and, with some artistic license, relates several BATF horror
stories. In an initially plausible plot that becomes fantasy, his
protagonist kills by mistake, then deliberately and
imaginatively, several BATF agents and anti-gun politicians.
When it first came out, I received several direct reports from
gun dealers who said BATF had threatened unspecified
"trouble" unless they quit selling the book in their stores.
Considering the way BATF undoubtedly feels about this
book, and the ham-handedness of some agents, I don't doubt
that Carolyn was contacted in hopes that she would act as a
disgruntled ex-wife and reveal violations of law by her
machine gun collector husband -- who, like his protagonist in
the book, enjoys safely shooting trap with machine guns in an
old quarry.
********************************************************
To begin receiving Neal Knox's bi-monthly newsletter, send a
contribution of $25 or more to The Firearms Coalition, 7771
Sudley Rd. No. 44, Manassas, VA 20109. For current news,
call 1-900-225-3006 (89 cents per minute) or visit http://www.NealKnox.com (free).
*********************************************
Chris W. Stark - Director GUN OWNERS ALLIANCE http://www.GOA-Texas.org
email: Director@GOA-Texas.org
MORE BATF HARASSMENT - John Ross is Target!
I have personally verified the letter below to be legitimate, for
I have personally spoken to it's author, Mr. James H. Jeffries,
III.
This letter can also be found at http://www.GOA-
Texas.org/ross-1.htm
Please call your Washington D.C. Congressman, and ask
them to investigate this blatant abuse of power by the BATF.
Their number is (202) 224-3121.
With Respect,
Gun Owners Alliance Chris W. Stark - Director
WebRing master
Gun Owners Alliance for a No-Compromise NRA http://www.GOA-Texas.org/webring/no-compromise.htm
***************************************************
JAMES H. JEFFRIES, III ATTORNEY AT LAW
3019 LAKE FOREST DRIVE GREENSBORO, NC 27408
TELEPHONE: (336) 282-6024 30 June, 2000
Honorable Bradley A. Buckles, Director
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
United States Department of the Treasury
650 Massachusetts Avenue, Northwest
Washington, D.C. 20226
Re: Mr. John Ross St. Louis, Missouri
Dear Mr. Buckles:
I represent Mr. John Ross of St. Louis, Missouri. Mr. Ross is
an investment broker and financial adviser with a respected
investment firm in St. Louis. He has degrees in English and
Economics from Amherst College. Mr. Ross is very active in
community and public affairs. He is the grandson of
President Harry Truman's press secretary, Charles Ross, and
was himself the Democratic Party candidate for the United
States House of Representatives from the Second District of
Missouri in 1998. In short, Mr. Ross is an upstanding and
productive member of his community.
Mr. Ross has had a lifelong interest in firearms and is both a
Federal Firearms Licensee and a Special Occupational
Taxpayer under the National Firearms Act. Of central
importance to the purpose of this letter is the fact that Mr.
Ross is also the author of Unintended Consequences, a
highly popular novel about the trials and tribulations of legal
gun owners and dealers in the United States. Although the
book is manifestly a work of fiction, it accurately depicts
documented historical events in the long and sordid history of
misconduct by personnel of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco
and Firearms. The book is in its fifth hardcover printing with
some 50,000 copies in circulation and has become
enormously popular among the gun owners of the United
States. Because the book is highly critical of the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, it appears that some in your
agency have undertaken to suppress it and to intimidate its
author.
Honorable Bradley A. Buckles - page two
For example, in 1997 the book's publisher became aware
that individuals purporting to be BATF agents had threatened
vendors of the book in at least three different states with
"problems" if they did not cease their sales of the book. A full-
page ad in Shotgun News offering a $10,000 reward for the
identity of these individuals put a stop to that particular
business.
Now we have learned that in late May of this year agents
from your St. Louis field office have engaged in an official
effort to enlist Mrs. Ross, who is amicably separated from her
husband as an informant against her husband. On or about
May 24 2000, at about 7:30 a.m. two agents approached
Mrs. Ross on the street while she was walking her dog,
identified themselves by displaying their BATF credentials,
and proceeded to inquire what she thought about her
husband's book. When she was noncommittal the agents
terminated the conversation and departed. This contact had
been preceded in previous weeks by pretext telephone calls
to Mrs. Ross, by what were undoubtedly your agents, in an
attempt to draw her out about her husband's book. An agent,
using the pseudonym of Peter Nettleson, and pretending to
be a great fan of Unintended Consequences, sought Mrs.
Ross's agreement that the book was, in fact, "a manual for
the murder of federal agents." [1]
I note in passing that best-selling author Tom Clancy in
recent books has murdered a Director of the FBI, the
President of the United States, the entire Congress, the
Supreme Court, the entire cabinet, the Joint Chiefs of Staff
and a few lesser functionaries. I presume he has not thereby
become subject to investigation by your literary critics.
1. As an experienced federal prosecutor I am fully aware
of what is going on here. Disgruntled former spouses are a
prime source of intelligence for law enforcement, having as
they frequently do both a strong bias against the subject of
the investigation and the proximity and intimacy to know
many things not available to others. A structured approach
such as this required, according to your manuals, formal
agency approval. It required the investment of time and effort
in setting up the approach: determining Mrs. Ross's new
address, learning her new telephone number, physical
surveillance to determine her routine so that she could be
approached in a way that she could not simply shut the door
and where there would be less risk of confirming witnesses,
the use of a female agent to lessen any apprehension at
being approached publicly by strangers, etc.
Honorable Bradley A. Buckles - page three
What kind of people are you? Is there no honor within the
ranks of your agency? It has long been clear, from repeated
court decisions and congressional committee reports, that
your agents have no familiarity with the Second, Fourth, Fifth
and Sixth Amendments to the United States Constitution.
Now it appears that they have not even been introduced to
the very first Article of the Bill of Rights.
I am writing to express our outrage about this conduct and to
formally demand that your agency cease and desist from this
unconstitutional abuse of power. I am contemporaneously
making formal Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act
demands upon BATF for the records and files pertaining to
Mr. Ross, his book, and these events.
By copies of this letter I am requesting the Inspector General
of the Treasury Department to formally investigate this
unlawful conduct and the Attorney General to investigate to
determine whether Mr. Ross's civil rights are being violated
by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
Sincerely yours,
[signed]
James H. Jeffries, III
cc: Attorney General of the United States Inspector General,
Department of the Treasury
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Help Support the work of Gun Owners Alliance! Go to: http://www.goa-texas.org/members.htm
TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR E-MAIL ALERTS, send an e-mail
to: subscribe@GOA-Texas.org
***********************************************
U.S. vs. STEWART -- ATF MISFIRES AGAIN TODAY'S
HEARING IN COURT REVEALS ATF INEPTITUDE
by Angel Shamaya Executive Director http://www.KeepAndBearArms.com
(Phoenix, Arizona) July 10, 2000
Bob Stewart will be sleeping in his own bed again tonight. All
arguments in the government's current case against him
have been heard, cross examinations of the only two expert
witnesses in today's hearing have been conducted, and the
judge is expected to offer his opinion as court reconvenes on
Thursday, July 13, at 10:30am in the 9th circuit court in
Phoenix.
If you've been on summer vacation for the last month and
missed this case, Mr. Stewart and his family were raided by
10 BATF agents and 3 Mesa police at their home in Mesa,
Arizona on June 16. Mr. Stewart has for the last several
years sold incomplete .50 caliber rifle kits bearing no serial
numbers. His position is that the kit is not a firearm as it is
incapable of firing a live round without significant
modification. The BATF raided his home in contention that
the non-firing kits are in fact guns because they are "readily
made functional as explosive devices which fire a projectile."
(You can read the past news reports on this case here: http://www.maadi-griffin.com/.)
Judge Anderson is a Vietnam veteran (according to AZ
libertarian party unaffiliated chair, Liz Andreasen, who was
present and taking copious notes to report for
SierraTimes.com.) The judge who fought in the war our own
President evaded is hearing a case that could lead to a
Second Amendment battle. And from what happened today
and in Mr. Stewart's June 22 hearing, it looks like the judge is
committed to issuing a fair opinion.
Following are detailed accounts of today's hearing for people
who wish to know more.
Today's arguments revolved around whether or not the 50
caliber kit is legally classifiable as a firearm. At issue is the
definition of the word "readily" as in "readily made to fire a
projectile". Mr. Stewart doesn't have a federal firearms
license and, if the court rules that he was selling guns without
a license, Stewart could be facing prison--again--and this is
where this case gets sticky. Mr. Stewart was convicted of a
felony in 1994 for manufacturing and transferring fully
automatic machine guns. Bob Stewart spent 1 year and 4
months of his life behind bars for what both he and his lovely
wife hold to this day as "a setup to run us out of business".
He is a convicted felon, and the government says a convicted
felon cannot have possession of a gun, period.
(Yes, that includes residents of Maine who get caught with a
lobster under the legal weight requirement, and yes, that
includes women who've been raped three times in
Massachusetts and get caught carrying a gun because they
aren't interested in there being a 4th. Felony means no gun in
your possession unless the felony is expunged from the court
records, sayeth King George. Please pardon my digression.)
But court rulings since Mr. Stewart's conviction are expected
to get his conviction overturned, so a legal web is weaving
itself in odd circumstances aplenty. Back to today's
hearing...
BATF's attorney, Mr. Welty, in his opening statements today
held up an assembled .50 Maadi-Griffin rifle kit and said,
"We're here today to answer the question 'Is this a gun?'"
The issue was not whether or not a converted Maadi-Griffin
kit is a gun; the issue hinges on whether or not a Maadi-
Griffin KIT is "readily" rendered into a workable firearm. The
judge let it ride, and so did Bob Stewart's defense attorney,
Mr. Haney. The opening statements otherwise seemed rather
bland. At one point, the judge urged both counsels to "get to
the reason we are here."
A partial kit that was stolen from Bob Stewart's home during
the raid on June 16 was entered as evidence. The kit that
BATF purchased through an undercover agent and
PARTIALLY (more on that in a moment) converted was also
admitted as evidence. The instruction manual for converting
the kit was admitted, as well.
And then the hair splitting began.
Each side called one expert witness apiece, and each side
cross examined the other's witness. BATF got first dibs and
called Curtis Barlett, the BATF Chief of Firearms Technology
from their D.C. office. Mr. Bartlett has been at his job
"classifying firearms" for 26 of his 27 years with the agency.
Though he claims he has testified in approximately 300 court
cases for his employer, the federal government, he cannot
remember the last time he has converted or heard of the
conversion of a kit for investigation-"maybe 10 years". In the
same breath, he testified that he knows of many similar kits
of various makes and models advertised in a magazine he
claims to read: Shotgun News.
Expert Witness Bartlett explained that he was able to
assemble the entire kit into a firearm in a total of 80 minutes:
15 minutes to read the manual, 35 minutes to cut and
otherwise modify the receiver, and 30 minutes to assemble
the contraption into a workable firearm. Here is where the
BATF exhibits a severe case or moronism: Mr. Barlett
explained that he then fired a blank cartridge (not a bullet, a
primer inside a .50 caliber shell casing) to "prove" that it was
now, after 80 minutes of focus, a firearm! Yes, you read that
right. He didn't fire the only ammo the gun is designed to fire
and traveled all the way across the nation at taxpayers'
expenses to testify on the conversion time of the kit he didn't
fully convert. Brilliant move, BATF.
Cross examination by defense attorney Haney posed an
obvious question: How much more time would you have put
into the job of converting this kit into a firearm if you were
going to fire a real round of live ammunition? Barlett's
response after much quibbling: probably twice as much time.
Further questioning of this "expert" government agent
revealed that several of the required modifications of the kit
were not made, either. These required modifications as
spelled out in the assembly manual of which BATF has
numerous copies include welding, determining proper fit
(headspacing) to assure safe firing of a live round, fastening
of the muzzle brake, and a couple of other things stated in
plain English in the instruction manual, suggesting that along
with having a propensity for invading people's homes in Nazi-
style no-knock raids and pointing unregistered machine guns
at little kids, BATF cannot read or follow simple instructions.
Agent Bartlett defended his lack of complete conversion by
stating that "as long as it can fire one round, it is a firearm,
and our conversion could be made to fire one round." How
much money we could collect in a pool to get him to fire his
incomplete conversion will forever remain a mystery, but I'd
put up my best rifle just to watch him shoot the partially-
modified "firearm"--but I'd be watching with interest from a
distance. I've never seen a government agent's head blown
off of his body due to utter incompetence, and I think that
would be worth a good rifle. The .50 caliber bullet holds as
much gun powder as a hand grenade; it is best to assemble it
properly.
The next witness was called by Bob Stewart's defense
attorney, Mr. Haney. Mr. Haney called Bill Richardson to the
stand. Mr. Richardson is a firearms manufacturer consultant
of 18 years, and apparently a specialist in the field of
computerized machining equipment. While Mr. Richardson
stated plainly that to do the job right on a conversion of a
Maadi-Griffin kit would require specialized skill or a good
amount of time for a novice, he did concede that the
machining of the receiver could be accomplished in the
amount of time it took the BATF's primer-firing Chief of
Firearms Technology if someone was skilled in the craft of
firearms conversion. Nothing seemed to be gained or lost on
either side from Mr. Richardson's testimony, but his bias
toward the defense of Mr. Stewart was readily apparent. Of
the 23 people in the courtroom audience, I also estimate that
18-20 of us were there in support of Bob Stewart, as well.
The judge was paying attention to this shenanigans displayed
by the BATF's "specialist" who didn't even finish the
conversion OR fire a real live round of real live ammo, and
his eyebrows went up more than once during Bartlett's
testimony. My personal opinion is that he will come back and
rule that a complete conversion was never made, because it
wasn't. (We will know for sure on Thursday.) But I don't think
this case will hinge on the amount of time it took for the feds
to partially convert Bob Stewart's kit. This case is going to get
much bigger than that. Bob Stewart believes his case is
going to require a ruling on the Second Amendment, and he
may just be right. Allow me to elaborate.
If the judge rules that the kit is NOT a firearm, according to
the rules of admissibility in the district court, the BATF will not
be allowed to admit any other evidence outside of the items
mentioned in the search warrant. Bob Stewart says he will
then sue the BATF for a host of infringements and infractions
against himself and his family. Pointing a gun at his 7-year-
old boy. Cuffing his wife, Naomi, in their front yard for all the
neighbors to see. Cuffing Mr. Stewart for two hours with two
thugs holding glock pistols to his head while they trashed his
home without ever bothering to show him the search warrant
he was vocally requesting, stole his computer, all his files and
records, the kits he was repairing for his customers, etcetera.
If Mr. Stewart was breaking no law, these guys screwed up
royally--and he intends to make them pay for their mistake in
money he says will go to set up a legal defense foundation to
help other gun owners who are similarly victimized by the
hired thugs of federal agencies.
On the other hand, if the judge rules that the Maadi-Griffin kit
IS a firearm, Bob Stewart intends to appeal based on his
Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. According
to Mr. Stewart, should the judge rule that the kit is a firearm,
when court rulings that have occurred since his conviction
overturn that conviction and restore his rights, he genuinely
believes he can ride this case to a jury trial--and win. Lofty?
Yes. Doable? Bob Stewart is convinced.
We shall see.
I will attend the judge's ruling on Thursday, June 13, and I will
offer a full report to all who are on our email list at that time.
If this report was forwarded to you, feel free to sign up for our
email reports on our site at http://www.KeepAndBearArms.com.
We are also offering a brand new, fully operational, all
stainless steel .50 caliber Maadi-Griffin to a lucky member of
our organization. As soon as we reach 2,500 members, we're
putting all the names in a hat and picking the lucky winner. All
you need to do to get your name in the hat is support our
organization by becoming a member for $29.95. We
genuinely require financial assistance, and we just made the
commitment to give 20% of every penny generated from this
membership drive from this day forward to the Bob Stewart
Defense Fund. You'll get a one-year membership with our
organization plus a chance to win a fine rifle plus a chance to
help Bob Stewart. Contrary to his earlier statements, he does
in fact need financial help if this case is to go much further.
Please help us press on. Please help us help Bob Stewart's
legal drive. Please join our organization and get your name in
the drawing to win the king of all rifles—the Maadi-Griffin
.50 caliber Stainless Model 89.
http://www.KeepAndBearArms.com/members/
SEE A PICTURE OF THE RIFLE WE ARE GIVING AWAY. http://www.keepandbeararms.com/newsarchives/XcNewsPlu
s.asp?cmd=view&articleid=280
************************************************************
For those of you in South Carolina who wish to receive
specific alerts please e-mail request to lcoble@netside.com
and/or visit www.scfirearms.org.
************************************************************
What To Do If The Police Come To Confiscate Your Militia
Weapons see www.2ndamendment.net
For legislative updates contact www.nealknox.com and go to
"Scripts from the Firearms Coalition Legislative Update Line"
***************************************************
From The 2ndAmendmentNews Team
www.citizensofamerica.org www.jbs.org
------------------
"those who sacrifice
liberty for security deserve neither"
Representatives will shortly be voting on the Hostettler
amendment to curb the powers of BATF. I first got involved
in the defense of the right to own and use firearms for
legitimate purposes when one of BATF's raid got Kenyon
Ballew shot. He was never charged or convicted of any
crime. He lost 40% of his brain. The same federal agency
now is going after an author for writing a work of fiction and a
maker of a kit from which a gunsmith could make a firearm.
This agency whether under Clinton or any other president
has violated the rights of ordinary people. Do you wish to live
in a police state or not?
Call your US Representative at (202) 225-3121 and your two
US Senators at (202) 224-3121 and at the Capitol
Switchboard. Write your CONGRESSMAN OR STATE
LEGISLATORS can now be accomplished at the speed of
light, thanks to WorldNetDaily's new Legislative Action
Center. http://congress.nw.dc.us/wnd/
Here is the URL for Congressional Telephone Directory: http://clerkweb.house.gov/106/mbrcmtee/members/teledir/me
mbers/cdframe.htm
Here's an e-mail link to Congress. http://in-search-of.org/ http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ http://www.gunowners.org/mailerx.html
The articles below are by Neal Knox who I have known for
over 20 years, Chris Stark who called the author's attorney
for verification and Angel Shamaya of keepandbeararms.org.
Read it all then ACT ON IT.
*****************************
Neal Knox Repot by Neal Knox
The attorney for John Ross, author of the best-selling
"Unintended Consequences," has written the Attorney
General and Treasury Department Inspector General
complaining that St. Louis BATF agents have contacted
Ross' estranged wife asking her to make comments against
him.
In late May, according to the letter from former prosecutor
James H. Jeffries III, two BATF agents approached her on
the street, identified themselves, and asked for her
comments on the book. A few weeks before, someone called
her new phone number, claimed to be a fan of the book and
asked if she agreed that it was "a manual for the murder of
federal agents."
Ross' wife, Carolyn, once confessed to John in my presence
that she had only read about half the lengthy book, which is
filled with the arcane minutia of ballistics and gun design that
have made it popular with gunowners. His firearms technical
dissertations are excellent; unlike much of his discussion of
airplanes.
The book also details, with reasonably good accuracy, the
history of "gun control," its effects in the U.S. and overseas,
and, with some artistic license, relates several BATF horror
stories. In an initially plausible plot that becomes fantasy, his
protagonist kills by mistake, then deliberately and
imaginatively, several BATF agents and anti-gun politicians.
When it first came out, I received several direct reports from
gun dealers who said BATF had threatened unspecified
"trouble" unless they quit selling the book in their stores.
Considering the way BATF undoubtedly feels about this
book, and the ham-handedness of some agents, I don't doubt
that Carolyn was contacted in hopes that she would act as a
disgruntled ex-wife and reveal violations of law by her
machine gun collector husband -- who, like his protagonist in
the book, enjoys safely shooting trap with machine guns in an
old quarry.
********************************************************
To begin receiving Neal Knox's bi-monthly newsletter, send a
contribution of $25 or more to The Firearms Coalition, 7771
Sudley Rd. No. 44, Manassas, VA 20109. For current news,
call 1-900-225-3006 (89 cents per minute) or visit http://www.NealKnox.com (free).
*********************************************
Chris W. Stark - Director GUN OWNERS ALLIANCE http://www.GOA-Texas.org
email: Director@GOA-Texas.org
MORE BATF HARASSMENT - John Ross is Target!
I have personally verified the letter below to be legitimate, for
I have personally spoken to it's author, Mr. James H. Jeffries,
III.
This letter can also be found at http://www.GOA-
Texas.org/ross-1.htm
Please call your Washington D.C. Congressman, and ask
them to investigate this blatant abuse of power by the BATF.
Their number is (202) 224-3121.
With Respect,
Gun Owners Alliance Chris W. Stark - Director
WebRing master
Gun Owners Alliance for a No-Compromise NRA http://www.GOA-Texas.org/webring/no-compromise.htm
***************************************************
JAMES H. JEFFRIES, III ATTORNEY AT LAW
3019 LAKE FOREST DRIVE GREENSBORO, NC 27408
TELEPHONE: (336) 282-6024 30 June, 2000
Honorable Bradley A. Buckles, Director
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
United States Department of the Treasury
650 Massachusetts Avenue, Northwest
Washington, D.C. 20226
Re: Mr. John Ross St. Louis, Missouri
Dear Mr. Buckles:
I represent Mr. John Ross of St. Louis, Missouri. Mr. Ross is
an investment broker and financial adviser with a respected
investment firm in St. Louis. He has degrees in English and
Economics from Amherst College. Mr. Ross is very active in
community and public affairs. He is the grandson of
President Harry Truman's press secretary, Charles Ross, and
was himself the Democratic Party candidate for the United
States House of Representatives from the Second District of
Missouri in 1998. In short, Mr. Ross is an upstanding and
productive member of his community.
Mr. Ross has had a lifelong interest in firearms and is both a
Federal Firearms Licensee and a Special Occupational
Taxpayer under the National Firearms Act. Of central
importance to the purpose of this letter is the fact that Mr.
Ross is also the author of Unintended Consequences, a
highly popular novel about the trials and tribulations of legal
gun owners and dealers in the United States. Although the
book is manifestly a work of fiction, it accurately depicts
documented historical events in the long and sordid history of
misconduct by personnel of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco
and Firearms. The book is in its fifth hardcover printing with
some 50,000 copies in circulation and has become
enormously popular among the gun owners of the United
States. Because the book is highly critical of the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, it appears that some in your
agency have undertaken to suppress it and to intimidate its
author.
Honorable Bradley A. Buckles - page two
For example, in 1997 the book's publisher became aware
that individuals purporting to be BATF agents had threatened
vendors of the book in at least three different states with
"problems" if they did not cease their sales of the book. A full-
page ad in Shotgun News offering a $10,000 reward for the
identity of these individuals put a stop to that particular
business.
Now we have learned that in late May of this year agents
from your St. Louis field office have engaged in an official
effort to enlist Mrs. Ross, who is amicably separated from her
husband as an informant against her husband. On or about
May 24 2000, at about 7:30 a.m. two agents approached
Mrs. Ross on the street while she was walking her dog,
identified themselves by displaying their BATF credentials,
and proceeded to inquire what she thought about her
husband's book. When she was noncommittal the agents
terminated the conversation and departed. This contact had
been preceded in previous weeks by pretext telephone calls
to Mrs. Ross, by what were undoubtedly your agents, in an
attempt to draw her out about her husband's book. An agent,
using the pseudonym of Peter Nettleson, and pretending to
be a great fan of Unintended Consequences, sought Mrs.
Ross's agreement that the book was, in fact, "a manual for
the murder of federal agents." [1]
I note in passing that best-selling author Tom Clancy in
recent books has murdered a Director of the FBI, the
President of the United States, the entire Congress, the
Supreme Court, the entire cabinet, the Joint Chiefs of Staff
and a few lesser functionaries. I presume he has not thereby
become subject to investigation by your literary critics.
1. As an experienced federal prosecutor I am fully aware
of what is going on here. Disgruntled former spouses are a
prime source of intelligence for law enforcement, having as
they frequently do both a strong bias against the subject of
the investigation and the proximity and intimacy to know
many things not available to others. A structured approach
such as this required, according to your manuals, formal
agency approval. It required the investment of time and effort
in setting up the approach: determining Mrs. Ross's new
address, learning her new telephone number, physical
surveillance to determine her routine so that she could be
approached in a way that she could not simply shut the door
and where there would be less risk of confirming witnesses,
the use of a female agent to lessen any apprehension at
being approached publicly by strangers, etc.
Honorable Bradley A. Buckles - page three
What kind of people are you? Is there no honor within the
ranks of your agency? It has long been clear, from repeated
court decisions and congressional committee reports, that
your agents have no familiarity with the Second, Fourth, Fifth
and Sixth Amendments to the United States Constitution.
Now it appears that they have not even been introduced to
the very first Article of the Bill of Rights.
I am writing to express our outrage about this conduct and to
formally demand that your agency cease and desist from this
unconstitutional abuse of power. I am contemporaneously
making formal Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act
demands upon BATF for the records and files pertaining to
Mr. Ross, his book, and these events.
By copies of this letter I am requesting the Inspector General
of the Treasury Department to formally investigate this
unlawful conduct and the Attorney General to investigate to
determine whether Mr. Ross's civil rights are being violated
by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
Sincerely yours,
[signed]
James H. Jeffries, III
cc: Attorney General of the United States Inspector General,
Department of the Treasury
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Help Support the work of Gun Owners Alliance! Go to: http://www.goa-texas.org/members.htm
TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR E-MAIL ALERTS, send an e-mail
to: subscribe@GOA-Texas.org
***********************************************
U.S. vs. STEWART -- ATF MISFIRES AGAIN TODAY'S
HEARING IN COURT REVEALS ATF INEPTITUDE
by Angel Shamaya Executive Director http://www.KeepAndBearArms.com
(Phoenix, Arizona) July 10, 2000
Bob Stewart will be sleeping in his own bed again tonight. All
arguments in the government's current case against him
have been heard, cross examinations of the only two expert
witnesses in today's hearing have been conducted, and the
judge is expected to offer his opinion as court reconvenes on
Thursday, July 13, at 10:30am in the 9th circuit court in
Phoenix.
If you've been on summer vacation for the last month and
missed this case, Mr. Stewart and his family were raided by
10 BATF agents and 3 Mesa police at their home in Mesa,
Arizona on June 16. Mr. Stewart has for the last several
years sold incomplete .50 caliber rifle kits bearing no serial
numbers. His position is that the kit is not a firearm as it is
incapable of firing a live round without significant
modification. The BATF raided his home in contention that
the non-firing kits are in fact guns because they are "readily
made functional as explosive devices which fire a projectile."
(You can read the past news reports on this case here: http://www.maadi-griffin.com/.)
Judge Anderson is a Vietnam veteran (according to AZ
libertarian party unaffiliated chair, Liz Andreasen, who was
present and taking copious notes to report for
SierraTimes.com.) The judge who fought in the war our own
President evaded is hearing a case that could lead to a
Second Amendment battle. And from what happened today
and in Mr. Stewart's June 22 hearing, it looks like the judge is
committed to issuing a fair opinion.
Following are detailed accounts of today's hearing for people
who wish to know more.
Today's arguments revolved around whether or not the 50
caliber kit is legally classifiable as a firearm. At issue is the
definition of the word "readily" as in "readily made to fire a
projectile". Mr. Stewart doesn't have a federal firearms
license and, if the court rules that he was selling guns without
a license, Stewart could be facing prison--again--and this is
where this case gets sticky. Mr. Stewart was convicted of a
felony in 1994 for manufacturing and transferring fully
automatic machine guns. Bob Stewart spent 1 year and 4
months of his life behind bars for what both he and his lovely
wife hold to this day as "a setup to run us out of business".
He is a convicted felon, and the government says a convicted
felon cannot have possession of a gun, period.
(Yes, that includes residents of Maine who get caught with a
lobster under the legal weight requirement, and yes, that
includes women who've been raped three times in
Massachusetts and get caught carrying a gun because they
aren't interested in there being a 4th. Felony means no gun in
your possession unless the felony is expunged from the court
records, sayeth King George. Please pardon my digression.)
But court rulings since Mr. Stewart's conviction are expected
to get his conviction overturned, so a legal web is weaving
itself in odd circumstances aplenty. Back to today's
hearing...
BATF's attorney, Mr. Welty, in his opening statements today
held up an assembled .50 Maadi-Griffin rifle kit and said,
"We're here today to answer the question 'Is this a gun?'"
The issue was not whether or not a converted Maadi-Griffin
kit is a gun; the issue hinges on whether or not a Maadi-
Griffin KIT is "readily" rendered into a workable firearm. The
judge let it ride, and so did Bob Stewart's defense attorney,
Mr. Haney. The opening statements otherwise seemed rather
bland. At one point, the judge urged both counsels to "get to
the reason we are here."
A partial kit that was stolen from Bob Stewart's home during
the raid on June 16 was entered as evidence. The kit that
BATF purchased through an undercover agent and
PARTIALLY (more on that in a moment) converted was also
admitted as evidence. The instruction manual for converting
the kit was admitted, as well.
And then the hair splitting began.
Each side called one expert witness apiece, and each side
cross examined the other's witness. BATF got first dibs and
called Curtis Barlett, the BATF Chief of Firearms Technology
from their D.C. office. Mr. Bartlett has been at his job
"classifying firearms" for 26 of his 27 years with the agency.
Though he claims he has testified in approximately 300 court
cases for his employer, the federal government, he cannot
remember the last time he has converted or heard of the
conversion of a kit for investigation-"maybe 10 years". In the
same breath, he testified that he knows of many similar kits
of various makes and models advertised in a magazine he
claims to read: Shotgun News.
Expert Witness Bartlett explained that he was able to
assemble the entire kit into a firearm in a total of 80 minutes:
15 minutes to read the manual, 35 minutes to cut and
otherwise modify the receiver, and 30 minutes to assemble
the contraption into a workable firearm. Here is where the
BATF exhibits a severe case or moronism: Mr. Barlett
explained that he then fired a blank cartridge (not a bullet, a
primer inside a .50 caliber shell casing) to "prove" that it was
now, after 80 minutes of focus, a firearm! Yes, you read that
right. He didn't fire the only ammo the gun is designed to fire
and traveled all the way across the nation at taxpayers'
expenses to testify on the conversion time of the kit he didn't
fully convert. Brilliant move, BATF.
Cross examination by defense attorney Haney posed an
obvious question: How much more time would you have put
into the job of converting this kit into a firearm if you were
going to fire a real round of live ammunition? Barlett's
response after much quibbling: probably twice as much time.
Further questioning of this "expert" government agent
revealed that several of the required modifications of the kit
were not made, either. These required modifications as
spelled out in the assembly manual of which BATF has
numerous copies include welding, determining proper fit
(headspacing) to assure safe firing of a live round, fastening
of the muzzle brake, and a couple of other things stated in
plain English in the instruction manual, suggesting that along
with having a propensity for invading people's homes in Nazi-
style no-knock raids and pointing unregistered machine guns
at little kids, BATF cannot read or follow simple instructions.
Agent Bartlett defended his lack of complete conversion by
stating that "as long as it can fire one round, it is a firearm,
and our conversion could be made to fire one round." How
much money we could collect in a pool to get him to fire his
incomplete conversion will forever remain a mystery, but I'd
put up my best rifle just to watch him shoot the partially-
modified "firearm"--but I'd be watching with interest from a
distance. I've never seen a government agent's head blown
off of his body due to utter incompetence, and I think that
would be worth a good rifle. The .50 caliber bullet holds as
much gun powder as a hand grenade; it is best to assemble it
properly.
The next witness was called by Bob Stewart's defense
attorney, Mr. Haney. Mr. Haney called Bill Richardson to the
stand. Mr. Richardson is a firearms manufacturer consultant
of 18 years, and apparently a specialist in the field of
computerized machining equipment. While Mr. Richardson
stated plainly that to do the job right on a conversion of a
Maadi-Griffin kit would require specialized skill or a good
amount of time for a novice, he did concede that the
machining of the receiver could be accomplished in the
amount of time it took the BATF's primer-firing Chief of
Firearms Technology if someone was skilled in the craft of
firearms conversion. Nothing seemed to be gained or lost on
either side from Mr. Richardson's testimony, but his bias
toward the defense of Mr. Stewart was readily apparent. Of
the 23 people in the courtroom audience, I also estimate that
18-20 of us were there in support of Bob Stewart, as well.
The judge was paying attention to this shenanigans displayed
by the BATF's "specialist" who didn't even finish the
conversion OR fire a real live round of real live ammo, and
his eyebrows went up more than once during Bartlett's
testimony. My personal opinion is that he will come back and
rule that a complete conversion was never made, because it
wasn't. (We will know for sure on Thursday.) But I don't think
this case will hinge on the amount of time it took for the feds
to partially convert Bob Stewart's kit. This case is going to get
much bigger than that. Bob Stewart believes his case is
going to require a ruling on the Second Amendment, and he
may just be right. Allow me to elaborate.
If the judge rules that the kit is NOT a firearm, according to
the rules of admissibility in the district court, the BATF will not
be allowed to admit any other evidence outside of the items
mentioned in the search warrant. Bob Stewart says he will
then sue the BATF for a host of infringements and infractions
against himself and his family. Pointing a gun at his 7-year-
old boy. Cuffing his wife, Naomi, in their front yard for all the
neighbors to see. Cuffing Mr. Stewart for two hours with two
thugs holding glock pistols to his head while they trashed his
home without ever bothering to show him the search warrant
he was vocally requesting, stole his computer, all his files and
records, the kits he was repairing for his customers, etcetera.
If Mr. Stewart was breaking no law, these guys screwed up
royally--and he intends to make them pay for their mistake in
money he says will go to set up a legal defense foundation to
help other gun owners who are similarly victimized by the
hired thugs of federal agencies.
On the other hand, if the judge rules that the Maadi-Griffin kit
IS a firearm, Bob Stewart intends to appeal based on his
Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. According
to Mr. Stewart, should the judge rule that the kit is a firearm,
when court rulings that have occurred since his conviction
overturn that conviction and restore his rights, he genuinely
believes he can ride this case to a jury trial--and win. Lofty?
Yes. Doable? Bob Stewart is convinced.
We shall see.
I will attend the judge's ruling on Thursday, June 13, and I will
offer a full report to all who are on our email list at that time.
If this report was forwarded to you, feel free to sign up for our
email reports on our site at http://www.KeepAndBearArms.com.
We are also offering a brand new, fully operational, all
stainless steel .50 caliber Maadi-Griffin to a lucky member of
our organization. As soon as we reach 2,500 members, we're
putting all the names in a hat and picking the lucky winner. All
you need to do to get your name in the hat is support our
organization by becoming a member for $29.95. We
genuinely require financial assistance, and we just made the
commitment to give 20% of every penny generated from this
membership drive from this day forward to the Bob Stewart
Defense Fund. You'll get a one-year membership with our
organization plus a chance to win a fine rifle plus a chance to
help Bob Stewart. Contrary to his earlier statements, he does
in fact need financial help if this case is to go much further.
Please help us press on. Please help us help Bob Stewart's
legal drive. Please join our organization and get your name in
the drawing to win the king of all rifles—the Maadi-Griffin
.50 caliber Stainless Model 89.
http://www.KeepAndBearArms.com/members/
SEE A PICTURE OF THE RIFLE WE ARE GIVING AWAY. http://www.keepandbeararms.com/newsarchives/XcNewsPlu
s.asp?cmd=view&articleid=280
************************************************************
For those of you in South Carolina who wish to receive
specific alerts please e-mail request to lcoble@netside.com
and/or visit www.scfirearms.org.
************************************************************
What To Do If The Police Come To Confiscate Your Militia
Weapons see www.2ndamendment.net
For legislative updates contact www.nealknox.com and go to
"Scripts from the Firearms Coalition Legislative Update Line"
***************************************************
From The 2ndAmendmentNews Team
www.citizensofamerica.org www.jbs.org
------------------
"those who sacrifice
liberty for security deserve neither"
)