Neal Knox - Dueling Gun Enforcement Bills Introduced

March 23 Neal Knox Report -- Republicans who know the public
supports more gun law enforcement, but think law enforcement should
be mainly a state matter, yesterday uncorked a bill to provide $100
million in grants over five years to states which have mandatory
five-year penalties for using a gun to commit a crime.

That much of the bill sounds effective, but the second part calls
for mandatory penalties for possession of a firearm by a felon --
without regard to the fact that some felonies aren't equal, and
without regard to the age of the conviction or the unlawful
gunowner.

The bill, announced at a press conference by Crime
Subcommittee Chairman Bill McCollum and other co-sponsors, is,
however, a better choice than the Democrat's bill announced the
previous day.

That bill, by Sen. Charles Schumer and Rep. Carolyn McCarthy
and others, would provide for 500 new BATF agents and 1,000 U.S.
Attorneys who would focus on enforcement of _all_ Federal gun laws.

NRA E.V.P. Wayne LaPierre, who last weekend narrowed his call for Federal
gun law enforcement to violent felons, drug dealers and gang
has indicated that NRA will not support the broader Democrat bill.
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During a press conference/pep rally yesterday Schumer,
McCarthy, HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo and big city mayors celebrated
the Smith & Wesson agreement -- which most of the press insists on
describing as "voluntary." It was about as voluntary as rape at
knifepoint.

The group called for government agencies to give preferential
treatment to S&W firearms, which Smith may need, but will require
considerable revisions of purchase requirements to implement.

Old friend Moose Lunenschloss told me a bit ago that early
this morning he advised the primary wholesaler for his sporting good
store in Madison, Wis., not to ship him any more S&W's. The
distributor told him he had received many such calls.
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An influential Congressman told me yesterday that he believes
the Juvenile Justice Conference will meet soon, but doesn't expect
an agreement.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Orrin Hatch is again talking about
stripping the gun provisions out of the bill and putting it on the
floor.

President Clinton said Tuesday that he will veto the
Juvenile Justice bill if it doesn't have the gun provisions he
wants on it -- which is no surprise, for Democrats have always
opposed the bill's tough-on-juveniles provisions.
-----------

And over in Maryland, Gov. Parris Glendening agreed to "dumb
down" his "smart gun" bill by not forbidding non-smart gun sales in
the state.

That has upset the anti-gun crowd, who say the resulting bill
would only be symbolic, because there have been over a half-million
registered in the state since 1985, and eight million non-"smart
guns" manufactured or imported nationally between just 1995 and
1998. Further, they grump, well-maintained guns will last for
centuries.
--------

I got whapped in the New York Times on Monday and Tuesday.
I've always been told it doesn't make any difference if they
spell your name right. But the august Times didn't.

Here's my letter to the Times:
-----------------------
Dear Editor,

Wow. I haven't made the New York Times on consecutive days
since 1997, when you demonized me, distorted my views and editorially
endorsed NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre.

Monday (March 21) White House correspondent Marc Lacey more or
less quoted me that no gun interdiction law has ever reduced crime,
and that unconstitutional laws shouldn't be enforced. He didn't
mention that I told him laws directed at criminal misuse of guns do
reduce crime.

He also wrote that I consider LaPierre "too moderate," which
was his characterization, not mine. But he didn't even spell my
name right.

In a Tuesday op-ed, Richard Ford, while disparaging LaPierre's
rhetoric about President Clinton, distorted a Mother Jones magazine
distortion of a satirical column I wrote six years ago.

No, I do not believe the JFK or MLK assassinations or other
atrocities with guns are a conspiracy to promote gun laws. But I
do believe that shameless politicians like Bill Clinton happily
wallow in such horrors to promote their political agendas.

Last June Bill Clinton and 195 House Democrats killed H.R.
2122, an NRA-endorsed bill (which I opposed) requiring trigger
locks, gun show background checks, banning imports of high-capacity
magazines, juvenile possession of some guns, and imposing a string
of other firearms restrictions that Clinton tearfully complains
were blocked by NRA and Republicans -- as the Times has falsely stated.
Neal Knox
Manassas, Va.
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It will be interesting to see how much of it runs.

This is "Neal Fox," signing off .

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Slowpoke Rodrigo...he pack a gon...

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