Handgun Control: Killings Cited by NRA Official Demonstrate the Dishonesty

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Handgun Control: Killings Cited by NRA Official Demonstrate the Dishonesty of Their Own Agenda
U.S.Newswire, 3/16/2000 17:17

To: National Desk

Contact: Nancy Hwa of Handgun Control 202-289-5785

Web site: http://www.handguncontrol.org

WASHINGTON, March 16 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The National Rifle Association
has done it again. Last night, on ABC's World News Tonight, NRA Executive
Vice President Wayne LaPierre once again released the safety on his mouth
and shot himself in the foot. During an interview, LaPierre accused President
Clinton of having ''blood on his hands'' for failing to arrest Benjamin Nathaniel
Smith, a white supremacist who had been denied a gun from a gun store last
year. Smith later went on a shooting spree throughout the Midwest, targetting
ethnic and religious minorities, killing two and injuring nine others before he
killed himself.

Smith initially tried to buy a gun from a licensed dealer in Peoria Heights, Ill.
However, the sale was denied because a background check turned up a
restraining order against him. It is against the law for prohibited purchasers to
buy guns from licensed dealers but what LaPierre failed to say was that, in
Illinois, the state conducts the background checks, not the federal
government, so it was impossible for federal authorities to know Smith was
attempting to buy a gun, nor would it have been their responsibility to arrest
him.

''I didn't think it was possible for the NRA to sink any lower,'' said Michael D.
Barnes, president of Handgun Control, ''but Mr. LaPierre's remarks are only
the most recent and most offensive in a string of unwarranted attacks on the
President. The dishonesty shown by the NRA grows daily as they get more
desperate.''

LaPierre also failed to tell us how Smith was able to finally get a gun and carry
out his shooting spree: via a private sale from a gun trafficker. Not only that,
but the man from whom Smith purchased his gun, Donald Feissinger, sold
guns by taking advantage of the NRA-sponsored loopholes in our laws to sell
guns on the black market.

Over a two-year period, Donald Feissinger bought 65 cheap handguns from
one gun store in Pekin, Ill. Because gun stores must report sales of two or
more guns at one time to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF),
he purchased each gun one at a time, returning to the same store week after
week. He would then sell them by classified ad for nearly twice the price he
paid for them.

By the time Smith purchased two guns and was carrying out his killing spree,
Feissinger was already under investigation by the ATF, but only because the
Bureau happened to conduct the one yearly random inspection allowed by
law of the gun store where Feissinger purchased his guns. Authorities noticed
multiple receipts from Feissinger over a relatively short period of time and
launched an investigation. Oddly, the gun store never thought to question
these sales, even though Feissinger would buy similar types of cheap
handguns week after week, each time signing the required form swearing the
gun was for his personal use.

The Smith killings demonstrate the speciousness of the NRA's rhetoric and, if
nothing else, illustrate the hollowness of their arguments against any
reasonable gun laws.

-- The NRA vehemently fights any and all attempts to limit gun sales to one
handgun per person per month, despite the fact that such a measure has
been proven to reduce illegal gun trafficking in Maryland and Virginia. A
one-handgun-per-month law would have severely hampered Feissinger's
gun-selling activity.

-- The NRA opposes regulating private firearms sales. Currently, in most
states, a person can buy a gun from a private individual without having to
undergo a background check, and the seller does not have to report the sale
or maintain any records of his sales. This not only enables prohibited
purchasers to buy guns, but also makes tracing crime guns and detecting and
catching gun traffickers very difficult.

-- Thanks to the NRA, the ATF is not only underfunded and understaffed, it is
also prohibited from making more than one random inspection of gun dealers
per year. This limitation was imposed by the 1986 ''Gun Owners' Protection
Act,'' NRA-sponsored legislation that also created the ''gun show loophole''
and other weaknesses in our laws.

-- The NRA fights any efforts to reform the gun industry. The gun store that
sold guns to Donald Feissinger must have realized that his purchasing habits
were suspicious. The store had every right not to sell him so many guns and it
had a clear obligation to report his suspicious activity to authorities.

Furthermore, the Smith case illustrates the importance of background checks
as well as the need for local law enforcement involvement. In many states,
temporary restraining orders are not available to the federal National Instant
Check System (NICS) background check system, but Illinois' state-based
background check does detect such orders.

''It's ludicrous that the NRA would use the Smith shootings to try to deflect
attention away from the real issue: too many Americans dying from gunfire
and the need to strengthen our gun laws to prevent those deaths,'' said
Barnes. ''If these NRA-sanctioned loopholes had not existed, if the gun store
which sold that gun trafficker his guns had been more concerned about public
safety than making a quick buck, perhaps Smith would have not been able to
carry out his murderous plan. The NRA owes an apology to the President for
once again wrongly accusing him of being indifferent to our safety, to the
victims and their families in the Smith case for exploiting their tragedy for its
own ends, and to the American people for foisting its extremist agenda on this
great country.''

------

Handgun Control, chaired by Sarah Brady, was founded in 1974 by Dr. Mark
Borinsky and N.T. ''Pete'' Shields, two victims of gun violence. Based in
Washington, D.C., HCI works with law enforcement, public health, religious,
and community groups across the country to strengthen and protect federal,
state and local gun control laws, but does not seek to ban all guns.

HCI has more than 400,000 members nationwide, making it the nation's
largest citizens' gun control lobbying organization. More information about HCI
and its sister organization, the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence, can be
found on our Web site at http://www.handguncontrol.org.
 
So now the Clinton allies fight back.....well folks we are in for a fight of our lives with this issue being brought to the front for a presidential race. I hope we are all prepared for the outcome. Those of you who wanted to push it till it breaks, I think your gonna get your wish.....imo We've now entered a mine field were intense scruitiny is going to be applied, the problem I have is who is going to apply it. We have fractured gun groups and unifed anti gun groups supported by the media, and backing the president and his people. So far we have the Nra and its 3.2 million members.


so are we going to put aside our differences and come together and try to win this fight or are we to continue the attitudes that seperate us?

The war on the 2nd amend has reached a new level, I hope we are up to it....fubsy.
 
OR...
We all could just get on our collective knees and apologize to the Prez, HCI, and the Feds and promise that we'll never, ever do it again.
But please, just don't take our guns away.

GRRRR.... :mad: :mad: :mad:

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...defend the 2nd., it protects us all.
No fate but what we make...
 
Personally I am thrilled that the NRA is fighting back. And yes we will be subjected to the world's finest spin machine. Perhaps we will find out if the Constitution really is worth the parchment it is written on.

And then the Supreme Court might rule on the Emerson Case?

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Better days to be,

Ed
 
HANDGUN CONTROL INC IN FAVOR OF MORE GUN VIOLENCE!!!!

By achieving their ultimate goal HCI will greatly increase gun violence in the country. Proven fact.

So how are the elderly and women to defend themselves aganist an attacker???
 
I am not happy with the NRA.
La Pierre and Heston are speaking before they think. We don't need to enforce current unconstitutional gun laws, we need to show how the current laws need to be repealed. Project exile needs to be project repeal.
Truly enforcing the current laws would be much worst then anyone thinks. We need NRA leaders that will stay firm on our 2nd Amend. rights at all times and not give in when they feel it bennefits them. Their past comprimises have lead us partially where we are.

It may feel good to tell the guy who cut you off to go F*&# himself but does not make the situation any better.
Do we want to feel good or make the situation better?
Name calling in the eyes of the sheeple shows desperation. Especially when your opponant can maintain his cool during a 3 alarm fire.
I think the vote for new NRA leaders right now is as important as our presidential vote.

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"It is easier to get out of jail then it is a morgue"
Live long and defend yourself!
John 3:16
 
I heard on one of the talking head news shows that the NRA has increased its membership at a greater rate in the last few weeks than at any time in the past.

They're mainly running these commercials in the DC area, where talking heads and politicians are likely to see and talk about on national radio/tv. In other words, they're getting a huge bang for their/our buck.
 
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