From ca-firearms-request@corp.portal.com Mon Nov 4 12:38:04 1991 Received: by demon.corp.portal.com (4.1/ 1.13) id AA21332; Mon, 4 Nov 91 12:38:02 PST Errors-To: chan Errors-To: ca-firearms-request@corp.portal.com Sender: ca-firearms-request@corp.portal.com Precedence: bulk Return-Path: Received: from portal.unix.portal.com by demon.corp.portal.com (4.1/ 1.13) id AA21327; Mon, 4 Nov 91 12:38:01 PST Received: by portal.unix.portal.com (1.117) id AA24244; Mon, 4 Nov 91 12:31:58 -0800 Received: by nova.unix.portal.com (5.65b/4.1 1.50) id AA18124; Mon, 4 Nov 91 12:31:39 -0800 Received: from uunet.uu.net (via LOCALHOST.UU.NET) by relay1.UU.NET with SMTP (5.61/UUNET-internet-primary) id AA19386; Mon, 4 Nov 91 15:29:23 -0500 Received: from optilin.UUCP by uunet.uu.net with UUCP/RMAIL (queueing-rmail) id 152858.28878; Mon, 4 Nov 1991 15:28:58 EST Received: by optilink.UUCP (4.0/SMI-4.0) id AA13250; Mon, 4 Nov 91 11:07:00 PST Date: Mon, 4 Nov 91 11:07:00 PST From: optilink!cramer@uunet.UU.NET (Clayton Cramer) Message-Id: <9111041907.AA13250@optilink.UUCP> To: firearms-politics@cs.cmu.edu, uunet!corp.portal.com!ca-firearms@uunet.UU.NET, uunet!zephyr.ens.tek.com!orca.wv.tek.com!morpheus.wv.tek.com!rec-guns@uunet.UU.NET Subject: the smoking gun: CIA involvement in the formation of Handgun Control, Inc.; long range plans Status: R Some of you have seen the following item, that appeared on the net a couple of years ago: > The *President of Handgun Control, Inc.* Nelson Shields, said in an > interview in *New York* magazine "... I'm convinced that we have to have > Federal legislation to *build on*. We're going to have to take one step > at a time, and the first step is necessarily -- given the political > realities -- going to be very modest .. Our *ultimate goal -- total control > of handguns in the United States* -- is going to take time ... The first > problem is to slow down the increasing number of handguns being produced > and sold in this country. The second problem is to get handguns > *registered*, and the final problem is to make the possession of all > handguns, and all handgun ammunition *totally illegal!*" > > [July 26, 1976] Unfortunately, it's incorrectly attributed. It was actually in _The New Yorker_, not _New York_ magazine. Here's the full quote from Nelson T. Shields, for many years director of Handgun Control, Inc., properly located: "I'm convinced that we have to have federal legislation to build on. We're going to have to take one step at a time, and the first step is necessarily -- given the political realities -- going to be very modest. Of course, it's true that politicians will then go home and say, 'This is a great law. The problem is solved.' And it's also true that such statements will tend to defuse the gun-control issue for a time. So then we'll have to strengthen that law, and then again to strength that law, and maybe again and again. Right now, though, we'd be satisfied not with half a loaf but with a slice. Our ultimate goal -- total control of handguns in the United States -- is going to take time. My estimate is from seven to ten years. The problem is to slow down the increasing number of handguns sold in this country. The second problem is to get them all registered. And the final problem is to make the possession of *all* handguns and *all* handgun ammunition -- except for the military, policement, licensed security guards, licensed sporting clubs, and licensed gun collectors -- totally illegal." ["A Reporter At Large: Handguns", _The New Yorker_, July 26, 1976, 57-58] In the same article, Shields explains that the National Coalition to Control Handguns (HCI's old name), was founded by "Edward Welles, a retired C.I.A. official, who was doing the job for nothing." [*Ibid.*, 53.]