Date: Thu, 16 Mar 1995 11:29:34 -0500 From: Craig Peterson To: firearms-alert@shell.portal.com Subject: [bglover@netcom.com: NRA-TV summary 3/15/95] From: bglover@netcom.com (William Glover) Subject: NRA-TV summary 3/15/95 To: craig@Mainstream.com Date: Thu, 16 Mar 1995 06:46:17 +0000 (GMT) NRA-TV broadcast summary ... 3/15/95 Background... NRA-TV is the official NRA TV channel. NRA bills it as the weekly magazine of news and views for gun owners. NRA-TV is on Galaxy 7 transponder 20 at 10:00 PM EST, broadcast weekly on Wednesday. The network that NRA-TV is on is called NET(National Empowerment TV), the phone number is 800-5000-NET. NET is a non-profit TV channel and will gladly accept donations at the above phone number. AND THEY LISTEN...NRA's NET people have a new internet e-mail account, NET@NRA.org for feedback on the show. My editorial comments are in brackets[]. This is a summary report, not a verbatim transcription. Archives of these summaries are available from; http://www.portal.com/~chan/nra/tv/ or ftp://ftp.shell.portal.com/pub/chan/nra/tv/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- INTRODUCTION SEGMENT... Following the Lamplugh's report of BATF abuse last week, another family terrorized by BATF will be discussed on tonight's show Defeat of Jack Brooks, long time NRA supporter who went too far in support of Bill Clinton's crime bill...the victor, Steve Stockman, guest on tonight's show. News update: GA: 5 day Brady gone, instant check now in effect. GA Governor invited the NRA's Metaksa to "come on down, we have a bill to sign." Governor played a key role in getting the bill through. Local preemption bill ready for signature. Governor of Oklahoma is poised to sign a CCW bill. Texas CCW, Senate passed a separate bill, House had passed it's version, now needs reconciling in conference and a new vote on the reconciled bill in both houses. Waco, two people who sold firearms to David Koresch suing BATF over false charges filed by the BATF. Asking 42.5 million in damages. Charges against BATF; False arrest, false imprisonment, loss of privacy etc.. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- NEWS SEGMENT...Ginny Simone, Special Correspondent Louis and Kim Katona home raided by BATF. Police officer, firearms collector, and firearms instructor. Became a target for local BATF investigation. Had a large collection of military style firearms, all legal he says. BATF said he had a warrant to search for illegal weapons. BATF picked him up at worked and forced him to go to his house. The guns were locked in a vault in his basement. He had a lot of steel gun safes with the guns in them. It was a collection that he and his dad had jointly started. BATF used abusive language and threats to force him to "show us where the guns are." He had built a room with a vault door, with gun safes inside the vault room. Because of the number of the guns he had, he had built a special room to prevent theft. He had some Communist memorabilia from the Vietnam war that was given to him as a gift. The BATF made a BIG DEAL of photographing this stuff, but omitted photos of the other awards and stuff he had, like firearms training plaques and Boy Scout medals etc.[More good than bad, by a lot] Louis writes for several national gun magazines, police organizations and free lance writing work. Wife lost an unborn child after the raid. She was 7 months pregnant at the time of the raid. The BATF agent pushed her into a wall. Abusive speech and implied threats. That night, Kim had a miscarriage and lost the child. It was to have been their second child. All of the guns were taken by the BATF. A year went by, Louis got several threatening phone calls and harassment. Louis was indicted for allegedly forging the police chiefs name on purchase forms. He was buying the firearms with the knowledge of the police chief. BATF took it to court and the judge asked "where is the beef" and tossed the case out, and ordered the guns returned. The BATF argued that the guns not be returned. The judge ordered all items returned, or the judge would pursue the BATF. All firearms were returned, none were found to be illegally obtained or used. Louis was fully acquitted of all charges. [Louis is a very knowledgeable and informed person...not a criminal, he appears to be a firearms professional type. He is also a policeman] Since he was buying firearms regularly, he had asked the chief to sign a bunch of blank forms to limit the time hassle. Nothing was illegal about this, the chief acknowledged doing this. How do you raid a mans house for forging documents when the BATF had not even found out if the documents were a forgery.{They weren't] Louis used a home video camera to document a lot of the BATF actions. Internal BATF documents say that the case was bogus from the start. The judge said that the BATF knew it, and went ahead anyway. A fax from the chief shows this was the case.[These guys didn't learn a thing from Waco] BATF, even after losing the first round, the BATF filed charges against Louis' father saying he also forged documents to purchase firearms. [This appears to be a pressure tactic to get Louis to drop his civil suit] [Video and discussion about brutish unprofessional conduct pursuing the citizen, not the criminal. BATF is focused on guns not crime.] Legal battle now been going on for two years. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MAIN STORY SEGMENT...Tony Makris, Ginny Simone, interview with... Steve Stockman (R-TX)[He beat Jack Brooks, the "dean of the House"] Makris: Steve is a member of House firearms task force. Main thrust is the discussion of the 2nd amendment. The gun ban repeal was to be attached to one of the rime bills, but the task force and hearings are the trade-off that was reached with the task force and the NRA. Simone: Even Congress does not understand the 2nd amendment, and the Constitution for that matter. Many congressmen don't seem to understand the BORs. What is the 2nd task force. Stockman: House created a task force to clear up the meaning of the 2nd amendment. Introduced a repeal of the "scary weapons ban."[a good catch phrase] Simone: Does it surprise you to find out what people don't know about the 2nd amendment. Stockman: Congressmen Bartlett was quoting from the second amendment on the House floor when a question from a fellow House member asked "What are you quoting from? He replied, "the second amendment to the US Constitution." Stockman: Steve Stockman and George Nethercutt(beat Foley) talked and said their elections were won on 2 nd amendment issues.[Hear that DF8'ers?] People in Steve's district who own one or more guns, his survey showed they were twice as likely to vote as non-gun owners. Makris: President said 20 seats, we think 30 seats, turned on the second amendment and the gun ban vote. Why did Brooks and others walk the plank? Recent Poll of police chiefs showed less than 3% of the chiefs said any form of gun control would do anything to decrease crime. Stockman: The irony of the President making these congressmen jump off a cliff on the gun issue is beyond belief. Makris: For Clinton to stand up at the state of the union speech and say he is going to serve up more congressmen... Stockman: There will be a vote on the repeal of the gun ban later this year. So we plan on calling his bluff and making the President serve up more congressmen to remove in '96.[get ready, take notes] Simone: Where are we going on the crime issue? All: [Talked about Inhofe dance party as what is wrong with the liberal approach to crime. Guns have not changed, people and how we deal with crime is what has changed. Needs to be fixed. If you haven't seen the commercial, it is a real classic, picture a bunch of thugs doing a ballet and the voice over saying, this is how liberals intend to fight crime.] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- PHONE CALLS FROM VIEWERS SEGMENT...Simone, Makris, Stockman Show is live... Stockman had to go off stage and vote on a budget cut item. Caller:...Caller is a ex-law enforcement officer BATF segment, why did they do what they did to these people? From his viewpoint, when you commit a crime go to jail. Answer:...Simone question to caller, when you see a gun collection like Louis had does this concern you? Caller answer; No, not at all. He is an instructor, works with police training and why should it bother anyone what guns he has? Citizens have a right to own guns, not commit crimes. Caller:...Are there going to be oversight hearings to deal with the types of incidents like Waco, Lamplugh's and Katona? Answer:...This is hopefully what the hearings in Congress will do. Caller:...Can you do a "made for TV" movie or news segment on Weaver case? Answer:...Good idea, will look into it. Makris: In the Katona case, why was the accuracy of the form with the chief's signature on them the only issue the BATF had to go on? Simone: Police chief had something of a vendetta against Katona, and when the police chief was being called into question by the BATF, the police chief acknowledged the signature were valid, handwriting analysis also showed the signatures valid. [who swears out these bogus warrants?] The chief admitted to the BATF he in fact had signed the blank forms for Louis to use in acquiring the firearms.[got to hot for the police chief?] Caller:...Democrats are pursuing Stockman for any dirt they can find. Do you feel the BATF is becoming a rogue agency? Why do the agents follow the BATF leadership? He has been contacting Congress to hold hearings on Waco and Ruby Ridge. Answer:...Makris: What happened to Katona's is regrettable and inexcusable. [Stockman came back from voting] Caller:...Where does the government get the right to come into your house and take our firearms? Answer:...Stockman: Wrote a letter to appropriations to cut the funding of BATF. Is pursuing having the BATF done away with. Lack of training and lack of understanding of American citizen's rights. Discussion; Makris: Steve what is wrong with the BATF leadership? Someone is misleading the BATF agents. Stockman: The BATF has a lot less training, a lot less professionalism. The piece you showed tonight further exemplifies the problem. Stockman talked with some FBI agents about the BATF training problems. Simone: Rewards are all backwards at BATF. Stockman: BATF doesn't seem to understand. Caller:...Could the congressman comment on what is going on with the interstate identification index of criminals? Answer:...Stockman: not currently working on this as he is preparing for upcoming hearings. Just too many things hot right now. Simone: What are the chances of having a special prosecutor for the BATF abuses? Stockman: Hearings in Idaho, Waco, maybe CA. Wants to hold them in local areas communities. Caller:...Did you know that Kennedy believes his body guards can carry their guns even in the Senate. Answer:...Makris: Kennedy bodyguards brought machine guns to the Senate. Stockman: Yes this happened. Caller: Why can't we stress the fact that 73% of violent crime is caused by 6% repeat criminals. Why can't we focus on this? Stockman: The new crime bills passed includes truth in sentencing. In Texas murder draws an AVERAGE TIME IN JAIL OF 5 1/2 YEARS. A real disgrace. We should focus on these people, not inanimate objects. A lot of the social spending money is rescinded in the new bills. With should focus on these people. [Stockman knows what he is talking about when it comes to firearms and citizens rights. Easy to see why he won election, great Congressmen.] Caller:...Just found NET/NRA-TV, great job. He is still angry over Waco. Isn't Orin Hatch chairman of the senate Judiciary? Answer:...Yes, Hyde is the chairman of the House Judicial and has said he will hold hearings on Waco all over again. [Talked about Waco and how ridiculous the whole thing was, how needless was the deaths. When do citizens become criminals, who decides? Why was a military style operation mounted against these people in Waco when the suspect could have been arrested when he was out jogging on a deserted county road?] Stockman: I think Clinton wanted to do Waco as a big media event; to kick off his push for Brady and more gun controls. [Stockman said this, not me. When you look at how Waco went down, the cattle car with the agents, the TV cameras on scene, makes you wonder what was really going on. But then again, Clinton would never stage a media event to prove his point] End show... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bill .... bglover@netcom.com ======================================================================= Being a citizen is a full-time job. If we wish to reclaim our rights, we first must begin by reclaiming our responsibilities. Factoid on CCWs: "They are following the lead of Florida, which passed such a law in 1987. According to FBI statistics, handgun-related homicides in Florida have dropped twenty-nine percent since the law became effective." source - 1994 FBI crime data from ABC news 3/12/95. =======================================================================