Date: Mon, 26 Jun 1995 12:54:45 -0400 From: "Christopher W. Knox" To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: FCO 6-25-95 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- ======================================================================== Online Report to the F I R E A R M S C O A L I T I O N Box 6537, Silver Spring, MD 20916 ======================================================================== June 25, 1995 Vol. 2, No. 5 ======================================================================== In this issue: Current Hard Corps Report plus a few extras: Anti-Terrorism Bills Affect Gunowners Solidarity Shown At NRA Meeting Washington Post Doubts Self-Defense Bombing Forces Ban Repeal Delay Carry Bills Pass Texas, Oklahoma Waco, Ruby Ridge Hearings Scheduled Bush Resignation A Political Payback Quarter of Marines Would Shoot Civilians High Court Strikes Gun Free School Act Red-Faced Customs Gives Back Ammo Schumer's New Hero Rep. Stockman's Fax Telephone Updates (Call 301-871-3006) Shotgun News Columns ======================================================================== A note from Chris This bulletin is much-overdue thanks largely to a family gathering in southwestern Virginia where we furthered the cause of the Second Amendment by ignoring the world for a while and letting batteries recharge (I'm mostly speaking for myself -- Pop wrote two columns and dutifully clipped the Washington Post and Times before anyone else had a chance to read them). There being such a long gap, this issue obviously cleans up a sizable backlog. Please pardon the redundancies, particularly between the Shotgun News columns and the current Hard Corps Report. --- One of the joys of living in the Great State of Arizona is that I rarely soil my hands with the ink of the Washington Post. I was reminded of what a blessing that is when I saw on the front page of that publication a picture of a civilian militia member holding what the caption characterized as "hate literature." The item in question was the JPFO's (Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership) "Ask the experts; gun control works" picture of Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini. Anyone not familiar with the ad would assume it to be pro-NAZI literature. While that picture was undeniably a cheap shot, I have to wonder why the militia association leader would play right to the hand of a hostile media by showing up for a Senate hearing in woodland camoflage. If you work with a militia association, I'd suggest applying the principles of camoflage to media and legislative occasions. Suit and tie are the appropriate camoflage for the media war. They allow one to safely blend into the terrain. Woodland camoflage is better suited to woods. It sticks out -- and draws fire -- like an 18th century British soldier's red coat in an indoor setting. --- The hottest breaking news is that hearings on Waco, Ruby Ridge, and other abuses are slated to begin on July 12 in the House. I'd suggest contacting your elected servants to stress the importance of these hearings. The pivotal topic in these hearings promises to be the government's use of CS gas in the Waco debacle. The manner and quantities in which CS was used suggest incompetence at the very least. There are rumors that some law-and-order Republicans will team with the Clinton Justice Department to derail the hearings. The hearings need to be held. Suggest to your Republican servants that these hearings will demonstrate the reason that Americans should and do fear massive government power and will provide the impetus for rolling back big government. Approach Democrats from the civil liberties viewpoint. I doubt that Dailey's cops hurt or killed as many people throughout the 1960's as an out-of-control FBI did in a single incident, nor displayed half the contempt for due process and the rule of law. --- Finally, it's been a while since I inserted a fundraiser into this electronic newsletter. I've been letting you off cheap. Neal Knox is an officer of NRA and spends a great deal of time doing NRA's work. NRA does not pay its officers other than to cover some travel expenses. It certainly won't cover a mortgage payment, groceries, transportation and utilities. His columns in various firearms publications, including NRA magazines, make a nice side income, but they aren't a living. Neal Knox's primary income is you, the Firearms Coalition. In being part of making NRA an effective force in the fight for the Second Amendment, Neal Knox passed up a good deal of money. Ten years ago, he could easily have bolted the NRA in its dark days and left it on the road to becoming an apolitical sanctioning body for a dying sport. Instead, he chose to defend the Second Amendment. The most effective means he saw to do that was to force NRA to live up to its stated principles, for only NRA had the critical mass to wage an effective defense of the Second. Therefore, the Hard Corps Report provides coverage of NRA internal politics and takes positions on internal debates. Left to its own devices, NRA would likely have become irrelevant years ago. And the Firearms Coalition would likely have grown. But the Second Amendment would have suffered. Please contribute what you can. Remember to include your e-mail address. When Pop sees those cryptic little @ and % signs on contribution forms, it makes the online effort rise in priority. --- PGP Users: Be sure to remove the asterisks before the hyphens before using this key. *-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: 2.6.2 mQCNAy8Q4mIAAAEEALKdSCTF6BvTg4luk1IOYtiQyxPotnTjjijSawo9htwZeFS/ KU0WAPkeDuhgKSN3H5242irpkfUu8g84fAPBH6a6joaFN7OchRa49WXnz2dReT0V iT9xeec9rPSASH04dz+lEONeDZ17yh/JGt+tjYq0CIenFZ9JMCGz4I2lBJDFAAUR tCdDaHJpc3RvcGhlciBXYXJyZW4gS25veCA8Y2tub3hAY3JsLmNvbT4= =Sz/w *-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Disclaimer: Chris Knox wrote and is solely responsible for everything above this line (except where explicitly noted below). ======================================================================== The Firearms Coalition Neal Knox Associates P.O. Box 6537 Silver Spring, MD 20916 June 2, 1995 Dear Friend for Freedom, Fair-weather soldiers who thought last November's election meant the storm had passed were rudely awakened by the anti-gun fusillade that followed the Oklahoma City bombing. How did the bombing become a gun issue? By manipulating the public. There was a concentrated, deliberate effort to do just that by Rep. Charles Schumer, then bill Clinton, then the establishment news media. It's called propaganda. Schumer began immediately after the bombing by mentioning NRA every time he talked about his -- and Clinton's -- anti-terrorism bill. He said that NRA had led the opposition to adding identification "taggants" to explosives which would have determined the source of the Oklahoma City bomb. That was an outright lie. The key ingredient in the bomb was ammonium nitrate fertilizer -- of which 8 billion pounds is made each year. Neither fertilizer nor explosive grades of ammonium nitrate would have been tagged by Schumer's bill! President Clinton started out blaming talk show hosts for "creating the climate" that caused the bombing. They and their listeners -- and First Amendment devotees -- were outraged, so he switched to blaming "anti-government militias," simply because the accused bombers had supposedly attended a militia meeting. And because militias were angry over the semi-auto ban, Waco and Ruby ridge -- as is NRA -- the culprit is obviously NRA. Then ABC Nightline breathlessly announced that ILA Director Tanya Metaksa had met with leaders of the Michigan Militia (briefly, in the lobby/lounge of a Michigan hotel). Conspiracy! Someone posted an anonymous message on Tanya's computer bulletin board how to make bombs using baby food jars -- a posting pointed out to a Washington Post reporter before Tanya saw and killed it. (It was almost certainly a plant, for nothing like that had been posted in the board's 10-year life.) The press was fed a Wayne LaPierre fundraising letter that referred to _some_ Federal agents as "jackbooted thugs." Trouble is, he didn't say "some." But if the jackboots fit... The anti-NRA rhetoric escalated when former President George Bush resigned his membership -- never mind that he wanted to resign ever since NRA refused to endorse him in the 1992 campaign. And never mind that a lot of members wanted to resign from him in 1989 when he banned importation of 24 semi-autos immediately after being elected with gunowners' help. The virulence of the anti-NRA attack indicates that the press and pols have gone from merely hating us to fearing us -- because we're effective. Dogs don't bark at tombstones. NRA in general, and Tanya and I in particular, have been demonized with the same kind of venom that has been unleashed on Speaker Newt Gingrich and his "terrorist" attempts to "starve schoolchildren." I'm flattered by all the attention. In the last month there have been more vituperative anti-NRA articles than I could count and an incredible number attacking me personally (because I supposedly run NRA) -- in Time Magazine, the New York Times, Rolling Stone and many more. A friend from Capitol Hill told me after the Washington Post's latest blast, "You must be doing something right!" The press and pols have blamed the bombings on everyone but the bombers, and they want to talk about everything that NRA and/or I am doing except why we oppose the laws they're pushing: they're unconstitutional and don't work! I don't know how many NRA members the press may scare off, but judging from the way NRA members circled the wagons in Phoenix -- creating more unity that I've seen in many a year -- it won't be very many. And I'll bet next month's grocery bill that they haven't driven off even one of the Hard Corps. If they think I'll back off, they're mistaken. But hope springs eternal in the anti-gunner's breast. The gun- grabbers have prepared some 30 amendments to the anti-terrorism bills, many targeting guns, ammo and the "private arsenals" you and I call gun collections and reloading tools. So the fight goes on. To keep me in the fight, and on the attack, if you haven't recently contributed to our efforts I'll appreciate the help, for we need it. It's certainly satisfying that the press has recognized our work -- and has let my friends know what they think of it. Yours for the Second Amendment, (signed) Neal Knox ======================================================================== Anti-Terrorism Bills Affect Gunowners The anti-gun movement's best opportunity for additional firearms and ammunition laws this year are the Anti-Terrorism bills up for consideration without hearings on the Senate floor next week, and in the House Judiciary Committee next month. Although proposed by the Clinton Administration to expand government powers prior to the Oklahoma City bombing, that tragedy caused more domestic provisions to be added to what had been mainly an international bill, and put it on a fast track -- with the President futilely demanding that it to be on his desk by Memorial Day, while emotions were highest. Clinton also demanded that it not become a "political football," but his bill (S. 390/H.R. 806, by Biden and Schumer) came out of the chute with politically charged issues, more were added in the Dole-Hatch S. 735 -- particularly habeas corpus changes to limit death row appeals -- and more than 60 floor amendments have been filed or are being circulated. The proposed amendments include most of Handgun Control Inc.'s wish list, including gun registration, elimination of the Civilian Marksmanship Program, eliminating the possibility of even convicted tax evaders from having gun ownership rights restored, limits on the number of guns and ammunition that could be bought or possessed, prohibiting bullets or ammunition capable of penetrating bullet-resistant light armor, and much more. All the bills include some version of "explosives taggants," at minimum requiring addition of an "odorant" to allow the detection of plastic explosives, as called for by an international airline treaty. The military would have 15 years to add the material, but they're nervous about putting any foreign substance in their highly tuned explosives -- which have previously been exempted from taggants legislation. The biggest problem is how to get Libya's Omar Khadafi to add a detector to the more than three tons of plastique that he reportedly possesses -- a few ounces of which were said to have brought down the Pan Am 747 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Schumer wants to expand the tagging provision to require the addition of coded microscopic chips to each lot of explosives and/or "explosives source materials." Manufacturers and dealers would be required to maintain records of explosives similar to those on firearms, requiring another army of BATF inspectors and regulators. He has also proposed making the eight billion pounds of ammonium nitrate fertilizer non-explosive -- which isn't sitting well with farmers. The Dole bill calls for a "feasibility" study of identification tags to be conducted by BATF, which has been pushing that system for over 20 years. A similar study, to be conducted by the Justice Department, would be required by Judiciary Chairman Henry Hyde's (R-Ill.) bill, H.R. 1710. Aside from the immense cost, the major problem with taggants is safety. The Institute of Manufacturers of Explosives, which opposes I.D. tags on cost and safety grounds has found they "react" with TNT. Hercules found decreased performance and potential fires with nitroglycerin-based explosives, including double-base handloading propellants such as popular Bullseye and Unique. Biden/Schumer would allow the President to designate as terrorist groups organizations which had committed no terrorist act, and prohibit contributions to such designated groups. That raises all kinds of major civil liberties questions -- as do other expanded law enforcement powers in the bills. Of great concern is the gutting of Posse Comitatus Act prohibitions against using the military for law enforcement -- a law already weakened by allowing military to provide direct support for drug busts and interdiction. (Joint Task Force Bravo, an element of JTF-6 from Forth Hood, Texas, is presently supporting a drug enforcement effort near Boulder, Colorado. JTF-6 helped train the BATF assault team against the Branch Davidians at Waco.) The proposed language would extend the use of the military to include enforcement of laws concerning "weapons of mass destruction" -- a phrase which has been applied to so-called "assault weapons." ======================================================================== Solidarity Shown At NRA Meetings The swarm of national reporters confidently predicting discord and dissension at the NRA annual meetings in Phoenix were disappointed. With rare exception the 24,000 members who attended gave strong support to the leadership, and no comfort to the press. The exception, former Director Dave Edmondson, was almost continuously on television, and constantly accompanied by a gaggle of reporters -- who avoided mentioning a member resolution, passed about 1,200 to 12, declaring: "Mr. David Edmondson does not speak for the members of this Association." All of the 28 directors elected by mail ballot -- and the 76th director elected by the members at Phoenix -- had been selected by the Board's nominating committee, except for Rep. Don Young (R- Alaska), who was elected to an unexpired term. The Board then unanimously re-elected each of the incumbent officers. As re-elected 2nd Vice President Neal Knox told a reporter who had been expecting internal strife, "Just shows you can't believe everything you read in the papers." ======================================================================== Washington Post Doubts Self-Defense The Washington Post totally ignored the House Crime Subcommittee hearings on self-defense with firearms, though the Washington Times and New York Times featured those compelling witnesses on Page 1, with pictures of tiny Sharon Ramboz who defended her children and herself with an AR-15. A Post editorial two weeks later inadvertently explained why. They noted that one provision of H.R. 1488 would "allow anyone who believes his or her 'right' to self-defense is being violated by state or local laws to bring action in a federal district court to have those laws struck down." Every time the editorial mentions "a citizen's 'right' to protect himself," they put the word "right" in quotations -- clearly indicating they don't believe it exists. ======================================================================== Bombing Forces Ban Repeal Delay The Oklahoma City bombing had nothing to do with military-look rifles or over-10-shot magazines, but it forced a delay in consideration of H.R. 1488, the bill to repeal last year's ban. Part of the delay was Congress' usual tendency to immediately react to a gut-wrenching tragedy that nothing they could pass would have prevented, but most of it was skillful manipulation of the public by President Bill Clinton and his allies in Congress and the news media. Despite all the bad press and polls -- and the President's posturing about vetoing any repeal -- there has been little, if any, erosion of support for the gun ban repeal in the House. However, in the thinly held Senate, Dianne Feinstein's (D-Calif.) promised filibuster would even more difficult to break just now. H.R. 1488, the "Citizens' Protection From Violent Crime Act," repeals last year's ban on military-look guns and over-10-shot magazines, broadens prosecution of armed violent felons, and reaffirms the right to use a firearm for self-defense within one's home -- allowing civil suits against individuals or government agencies that deny that right. Though there has been criticism of the bill's provisions to allow armed state crimes to be prosecuted by Federal authorities, NRA's attorneys contend that authority would be limited. The leading critics, mainly at Gun Owners of America, were only a couple of months previously criticizing NRA for not demanding that the repeal bill be placed on the now-divided Republican crime package from the "Contract With America" -- which included the same Federal prosecution provisions to which they now object. Speaker Gingrich told the nation on ABC's "This Week" essentially what he told NRA leaders during our January meeting -- that if the bill is vetoed, as he fully expects, he intends to put it on the debt ceiling bill or other funding legislation which Clinton would have no choice but to sign. That could be done even if the bill is blocked in the Senate. Until the bombing, the House was laying a solid case for the repeal through three hearings in the Crime Subcommittee, and the floor vote was set for May 16. The House Judiciary had never heard anything like the panel of eight ordinary Americans who calmly told how they had used now- banned guns and magazines to defend themselves, their families, friends and a wounded lawman. The lead-off witness, Sharon Ramboz of Maryland, told how she had used an AR-15 to drive intruders out of her home. She said that she is Jewish, that Hitler had taken away the right of Jews to own guns before committing the Holocaust, and that she was going to do everything she could to prevent such a thing from happening here. David Joo, Korean manager of a Los Angeles gun store, had used a now-banned riot shotgun and high-capacity Beretta 92F to protect his store and rescue two women employees of a nearby jewelry store after they had been shot by looters -- as police fled; Bryan Rigsby used a Mini-14 and 30-round magazine to defend himself and a wounded friend from two shotgun-wielding robbers, killing one and wounding another, during a camping trip in Georgia; And disabled Korean War combat veteran Travis Neel fired three now-banned 15-round clips during a ten-minute shootout with a gang of car thieves who had shot a Houston deputy sheriff five times -- for which Neel was named Houston's Citizen of the Year and "Hero of the Hispanic Deputies' Association". Retired University of Illinois Sociology Prof. David Bordua discussed his research and that of a former student, Dr. Gary Kleck of Florida State, who has estimated private citizens use firearms in self-defense up to 2.5 million times per year. Dr. James Wright of Tulane discussed his 20 years of research into the effect of firearms laws -- which he summarized as having no effect on crime -- and the illogic of attempting to control the acts of a tiny percentage of society by restricting firearms to the half of U.S. households which own guns. On the second day of hearings April 5, line cops from all over the country, and their organizations, asked for the repeal and for prosecution of the often-ignored laws against violent criminals. The Subcommittee also heard from law professors Robert Cottrol of Rutgers, Nicholas Johnson of Fordham, and Daniel Polsby of Northwestern; and historian Dr. Joyce Malcolm, Bentley College -- all stating that the Second Amendment was intended to guarantee an individual right. H.R. 1488 was introduced by Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.) and three members of the Firearms Task Force: Reps. Roscoe Bartlett (Md.), Helen Chenoweth (Id.) and Steve Stockman (Tex.). Original Democrat co-sponsors are Reps. Harold Volkmer (Mo.) and Bill Brewster (Okla.). ======================================================================== Carry Bills Pass Texas, Oklahoma The best evidence that lawmakers and the public aren't confusing the Oklahoma City bombing and "gun control" was the near- passage of a concealed carry bill in Missouri (killed only by a filibuster that ran out the clock), and overwhelming passage of "shall issue" carry permit laws in Texas and Oklahoma. The Oklahoma law passed the Senate on the very day that the sad carcass of the Murrah Federal Building was destroyed just a few miles away from the State Capital. Four other states -- Utah, Arkansas, Virginia and Idaho -- have passed mandatory issue licensing laws this year. ======================================================================== Waco, Ruby Ridge Hearings Scheduled Joint hearings are scheduled to begin July 12 in Rep. Bill McCollum's (R-Fla.) Judiciary Crime Subcommittee and Rep. Bill Zeliff's Terrorism Subcommittee to investigate Waco, Ruby Ridge and other abuses by Federal law enforcement agencies. While the Crime Subcommittee will be looking for possible corrective legislation, the Zeliff Committee is focussing solely on investigation and oversight -- and running into significant roadblocks and footdragging from the affected agencies, Democrats who are trying to provide cover for the Administration, and law- and-order Republicans who aren't comfortable about appearing to chastise law enforcement agencies. The same conflicts are even more pronounced in the Senate, where Sen. Arlen Specter's (R-Pa.) planned Terrorism Subcommittee hearings have twice been roadblocked by Judiciary Chairman Orrin Hatch in a noisy, personal and highly public turf dispute, supposedly because Mr. Hatch didn't want to trouble Justice Department with Waco hearings while they were trying to solve the Oklahoma City bombing. Rep. Charles Schumer has been attempting to block the House hearings by calling for the joint committee to first investigate militia organizations. Similarly, White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta fumed that the proposed Waco hearings were an attempt to divert attention from the Oklahoma City bombings. He called them "despicable." But that was mild compared to President Clinton's tirade on "60 Minutes" in April: "... those people murdered a bunch of innocent law enforcement officials who worked for the federal government. Before there was any raid, there were dead federal law enforcement officials on the ground. "And when that raid occurred, it was the people who ran their cult compound at Waco who murdered their own children, not the federal officials." There is room for debate about the innocence of a helicopter- supported commando attack, with sprayfire into a lightly constructed building containing 60 women and children. But there can be no debate about the outrage of exposing them to 448 ferret CS grenades, plus drums of CS gas -- which military manuals warn against using in confined areas. If that is indeed what happened, it doesn't begin to justify the terrorism at Oklahoma, but it demands harsh punishment of those responsible. That could go to the very top, for the promotion of Waco and Ruby Ridge commander Larry Potts to Deputy Director of FBI was an "in your face" decision that had to have been approved by the Attorney General and probably the White House. The widow of deceased White House Counsel Vince Foster, who served as the Clintons' personal lawyer, said that Foster had been involved in the Waco decision and felt partially responsible for the deaths. ======================================================================== Bush Resignation A Political Payback Former President George Bush's highly publicized resignation from NRA -- supposedly because of a Wayne LaPierre fundraiser calling some Federal law enforcement officers "jackbooted thugs" -- was a political payback. Bush was furious when NRA refused to endorse him in 1992 -- just because he had repeatedly shafted gun owners -- and partially blames NRA for his defeat by Bill Clinton. Counseled not to resign during the campaign, he laid back until the resignation had the greatest impact. --- Quarter of Marines Would Shoot Civilians Results of a controversial, and sometimes denied, survey of Marines at Twenty-Nine Palms, Calif., have just been released. The survey -- done by LCDR Guy Cunningham for a master's thesis -- indicates that 26.34 percent of those surveyed were willing to fire on civilians who "refuse or resist confiscation of firearms banned by the U.S. government." The fact that the survey had been done was reported in numerous publications, including Dave Workman of Fishing & Hunting News who again talked to Cunningham last week. Cunningham had declined to release the survey findings until his thesis was published. --- High Court Strikes Gun Free School Act In a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the 1991 law prohibiting guns within 1,000 feet of a public school. The decision, based on the Tenth Amendment's much-ignored limitation on Congressional power, has the left wing in a panic -- not because it allows kids to take guns to school, which over 40 states prohibit -- but because it applied the brakes to 60 years of broadening Federal control. The ruling raises questions about many Federal gun, criminal and environmental laws, and will cause an amendment to NRA's lawsuit against last year's semi-auto and magazine ban. As in the "Gun Free Schools Act," that law made no mention of how the prohibited guns and magazines affect interstate commerce. ======================================================================== Red-Faced Customs Gives Back Ammo In a nationally covered major story, the U.S. Customs Service, accompanied by the FBI, BATF and state and local police on May 3 seized 74 million rounds of "illegal assault weapon ammunition" destined for "drug gangs and militias." A few days later, after producing evidence that the ammunition was legally imported and stored, almost all of it had been released. Don St. Pierre, owner of Eagle Exim, told us 85 percent had been cleared, with the remainder held up because of a charge that it was not produced at the particular Russian factory designated on the license. Customs is normally concerned only about the country of manufacture. Customs had claimed the ammunition, although marked as Russian, had been produced in China, whose ammo is prohibited from importation. ======================================================================== Schumer's New Hero PLO Chief Yasser Arafat must be Rep. Charles Schumer's new hero. Arafat recently issued an ultimatum: "Register your guns by May 11 or Palestinian police will forcibly collect the firearms." TEC-9 Manufacturer Faces Product Liability Suit A California state court ruled in mid-April that survivors of the murders in a San Francisco lawyers office can sue the manufacture of the TEC-DC9 that was used. The judge declared that the gun was dangerous while other guns aren't. Anti-gun groups have made repeated efforts to get the courts to uphold liability suits against the makers and sellers of guns. But they've never stuck for relatively few guns are misused. ======================================================================== Rep. Stockman's Fax Dan Rather on CBS, then other reporters, blasted Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Tex.) and NRA because Stockman received a fax with "vital evidence" about the Oklahoma City bombing, but instead of FBI, sent it to NRA "which sat on it for three days." In fact, the fax -- which consisted of early news reports -- was immediately sent to FBI, and the following day a Stockman staffer faxed a copy to an attorney friend at NRA. To be sure BATF had seen it, the NRA attorney sent it to BATF the following day. ======================================================================== Telephone Updates -- June 18 -- Happy Father's Day. Jay and I have been goofing off at Smith Mountain Lake for the past week, enjoying our grandchildren. When this gathering of the clan from Arizona, Texas, Ohio and Virginia was planned, I figured things would be happening this week. They were. --- House Judiciary Flirts With Bullet Ban The House Judiciary Committee has been considering their version of the Anti-Terrorism bill. Rep. Charles Schumer put a new sales pitch on the old Biaggi bill to allow the Justice Dept. to ban any handgun ammo that would penetrate a Kevlar bullet-resistant vest, such as worn by police. Though still called the "Copkiller Bullet Bill," there's never been a case of a police officer killed by penetration of his vest by an armor-piercing bullet. Existing law prohibits AP handgun bullets according to the type of metals used by armor-piercing bullets. The conniving Schumer pointed out that didn't include bullets made from plastic -- of which there are none -- so the thing to do, he said, was to ban bullets according to penetration ability. What that did was the same as prohibiting manufacture of a car that could exceed 55 mph. High performance handgun ammo couldn't be made. Schumer's proposal would have given the Attorney General the power to exempt those handgun bullets useful for "sport," but not for self-defense. Any bullet driven at high enough velocity will penetrate a Kevlar vest, which is why all center-fire rifles will do it -- and rifle ammo when chambered in a handgun. Waiting until five pro-gun votes were absent, Schumer slipped his amendment through with the aid of three Republican votes -- two of whom didn't know any better. As soon as they learned what they had done, they moved to reconsider, substituting an amendment to study what specific ammunition would be banned by such a bill. A lot of .357 Magnum owners will be shocked. It really makes no difference, for a .44 Magnum will kill someone wearing a Kevlar vest by blunt shock trauma even if it didn't penetrate. The solution is to prevent crooks from shooting at cops -- for it's crooks who are cop-killers. ======================================================================== Telephone Updates -- June 10 Anti-Terrorism Bill Troublesome S. 735, the so-called anti-terrorism bill approved by the Senate this week, has numerous provisions for the expansion of Federal law enforcement powers that trouble a lot of civil libertarians -- including me and the NRA. The bill provides for the addition of "taggants" to explosives -- specifically not including black powder and smokeless propellant. However, that provision was grossly oversold, since a lot of Congressmen mistakenly believe that the explosives registration tags would have allowed tracing of the ammonium nitrate-based bomb used at Oklahoma City. When the Clinton Administration first proposed the bill it had several anti-gun provisions and sections that were of great concern to anyone who values privacy. Majority Leader Bob Dole introduced his own bill which struck most of the worst provisions, but one by one they were put back in by a coalition of Clinton Democrats and law-and-order Republicans. Hopefully, the bill will be scaled back when the House considers their version this week. --- Bullet 'N' Board: 1985 - 1995 Back in 1985, Tanya Metaksa -- later an NRA Board Member and now the Executive Director of ILA -- bought an extra phone line and used one of her computers to set up the Bullet'N Board. It carried many of our reports and other writings over the years, and although I sometimes gave minor support to the BBS, it was always Tanya's. Any BBS, just like this voice bulletin board, requires a lot of time to monitor and maintain. Since becoming the head of NRA- ILA, which is a 26-hours-per-day job, Tanya hasn't been able to spend that time on her board -- though she spends an amazing amount of what would otherwise be sleeping time on the NRA Guntalk BBS and the Internet. After the Oklahoma City bombing, someone posted instructions on how to make small bombs in baby food jars. Then that posting was downloaded by a Washington Post reporter, probably tipped off by the same person who planted the bomb instructions. We feel it was a plant because nothing like those bomb instructions had ever been put on the Board in its 10-year history. In any event, Tanya decided that since she didn't have time to properly monitor the board she would shut it down. That's a great loss. She should be thanked for that pioneering BBS, the first-ever pro-gun bulletin board, and the only one ever to be publicized on national television. Bullet'N Board. Rest in Peace. ======================================================================== Telephone Updates -- June 5 Feinstein Withdraws Taggants Amendment Sen. Dianne Feinstein today proposed an amendment to the anti- terrorism bill which would require the insertion of taggants in explosives and require a study as to whether ammonium nitrate and similar explosive source materials could be made non-explosive. Late this afternoon, faced with Sen. Orrin Hatch's motion to table, she amended her proposal to exclude black powder and smokeless propellants for firearms. Sen. Hatch withdrew his objection and the amendment was approved 90-zip. The anti-terrorism bill is a magnet for all kinds of amendments, including much of Sarah Brady's wish list -- gun registration, one-gun-per-month, limitations on the number of guns and the amount of ammo, and other proposals. All told there are 97 proposed amendments. Majority Leader Dole said yesterday he would pull the bill off the floor if the amendments aren't withdrawn. --- Spirit of 1776 Gun Rights Rally Yesterday's Spirit of 1776 gun rights rally at the Lincoln Memorial drew less than half as many delegates as last year's, with estimates ranging from 2,000 to 4,000. I wasn't able to attend, although I had intended to, and had printed an extra box of Hard Corps Reports Saturday. The latest version just went in the mail today. C-Span broadcast it live, and was supposed to have rebroadcast it last night, but it wasn't on at the scheduled time. --- NRA Faces Fly-speck Level IRS Probe Yesterday's Boston Globe and a nationwide AP story reported that the NRA is being audited by the Internal Revenue Service. This is not an audit, which NRA is confident it could pass with flying colors. It is what the IRS calls a CEP, a Coordinated Examination Program. It is expected to require two or three years. Because the NRA is expected to provide office space for the IRS personnel, CEP means that agents of the Clinton Administration become part of the every-day corporate life of an Association. Considering that NRA was notified of this CEP within days of President Clinton having publicly blamed the NRA for having caused last fall's sea-change in Congress, only Pollyanna would believe that this isn't politically motivated. As I told the Boston Globe, I believe NRA was randomly selected like I believe in the tooth fairy. An IRS spokesman told the Globe "examinations are not usually done at random" and "most are done because there is something that has raised questions that we want to pursue." No kidding. ======================================================================== Shotgun News Columns NEAL KNOX REPORT Terrorism Bill Moving By NEAL KNOX WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 20) -- The House Judiciary Committee today approved -- by 23-12 -- a version of Chairman Henry Hyde's anti-terrorism bill, which is generally better than, but still too similar, to the Senate-passed bill and the original proposal of the Clinton Administration. The House floor debate, originally planned for next week, has been delayed until after the July 4 recess. Both bills include so many expanded powers for Federal law enforcement agencies that many Liberal Democrats and Conservative Republicans are nervous about potential civil liberties abuses. President Clinton's original bill would have given him sole authority to declare what constituted a "terrorist organization," allowing the group to have been covertly infiltrated, wiretapped and investigated under other provisions of the bill. Even donating to a designated "terrorist group" would be an offense. Much of the Clinton bill was eliminated in both the House and Senate versions, but parts were restored by amendments. One of the worst provisions in the House bill is an excessively broad definition of "terrorism" that would include the illegal use of firearms for other than monetary gain -- so armed robbery wouldn't be "terrorism," but vandalism with a gun and other firearms offenses might be. Unlike the Senate version approved two weeks earlier, the House bill does not include a requirement for registration "taggants" in explosives; both include a requirement for addition of an "odorant" to plastic explosives which would allow them to be detected by a "sniffer" device. Rep. Charles Schumer's effort to add "identification taggants" was rejected 19-11. During Senate debate Sen. Dianne Feinstein amended her "taggants" provision to stipulate that they would not be required in smokeless propellants or black powder used in small arms. But if taggants are required in high explosives, it's almost inevitable that they eventually would be required for propellants because of the large number of relatively low-powered, but nasty, bombs that can be and have be made with them. Rep. Schumer put the old "Biaggi Cop-Killer Bullet Ban" in a new advertising package and, for a day, attached it to the House anti-terrorism bill. His amendment, passed 16-14 while five pro- gun members were not present, would have prohibited manufacture of any handgun ammo capable of penetrating a Kevlar cloth vest. That would have eliminated all high performance or high- powered handgun loads except those specifically exempted by the Justice Department as "sporting" ammunition. Handgun Control Inc. coined the "Cop-Killer Bullet" moniker about 15 years ago although there has never been a case of a police officer killed by penetrating a Kevlar vest (which have been around since the early 1970's) with an armor-piercing handgun bullet (which have been around since the mid-1930's). In 1984, Rep. Mario Biaggi's (D-N.Y.) bill was amended to define armor-piercing according to the hard metals used as the core of AP ammo. That amended bill was endorsed by NRA -- which foolishly claimed it would save the lives of police officers -- and was passed in 1986. The anti-gun groups have alternately attempted to ban exposed lead expanding bullets (which they call "Dum-Dum" bullets) and non-expanding bullets. If both expanding and non- expanding bullets were banned, there would be nothing left -- which has always been their objective. The major adverse effect of the 1986 ban has been the prohibition of inexpensive steel-cored surplus military rifle ammo which fit handguns. A couple of years ago BATF banned millions of rounds of steel-cored 7.62x39 ammo because six experimental 7.62x39 handguns had been chambered by one maker. Rep. Schumer told the committee that because of the development of plastic bullets like the "Black Rhino" that will penetrate a Kevlar vest (they won't, though any high-velocity bullet will do it) the definition of armor-piercing should be changed to a performance-based standard -- just like now- convicted-felon Rep. Mario Biaggi originally wrote the bill. With some new committee members not present, and others not knowing any better, Schumer's amendment was accepted -- and the next day "reconsidered" and rejected -- to the extreme irritation of Rep. Schumer and the Washington Post. The proposal will be back when the bill reaches the floor. --- Tangle Over Hearings By Neal Knox WASHINGTON D.C. (June 10) -- A great tug-of-war continues over hearings into Federal law enforcement abuses in general, and the BATF and FBI outrages at the Branch Davidian compound at Waco in particular. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) has rescheduled his twice-blocked Senate Judiciary Terrorism Subcommittee for late June -- this time with the apparent blessing of Judiciary Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). Rep. Bill McCollum's (R-Fla.) House Judiciary Crime Subcommittee hearings have been broadened to Joint Hearings with Rep. Bill Zeliff's (R-NH) Government Reform and Oversight committee. The House hearings are tentatively set for July 12. Don't be surprised if those dates slip because there's great "non-cooperation" from the agencies involved, a staffer first told me more than a month ago. A coalition of left-wing organizations that "monitor the activities of right-wing extremists" (as the Washington Post describes them) is calling for the hearings to focus on militia groups instead. In a topsy-turvy twist, the left -- which boasts of concerns over civil liberties -- is attempting to roadblock investigations into abuses of civil liberties by BATF and FBI because the rights trampled were those of politically incorrect "religious nuts" and "White supremacists." The targets of the investigations are the darlings of the left because the BATF chases guns and Attorney General Janet Reno and FBI Director Louis Freeh share the left's view of what is wrong with America: conservatives who defend gun ownership and vote against the politicians and programs the left holds dear. The Crime Subcommittee will be looking for possible corrective legislation -- such as possible reduction in Federal law enforcement powers, instead of the Clinton Administration- inspired broadening of powers included in the anti-terrorism bill which the Senate approved this week. But the Zeliff committee is focusing solely on investigation of the agencies' performance -- and anyone who has taken even a cursory look into Waco and the Randy Weaver tragedy at Ruby Ridge is aware that there were, to put it charitably, some terrible screw-ups. White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta fumed on one of the national TV news shows that the proposed hearings were an attempt to divert attention from the Oklahoma City bombings. "That's despicable," he said. That was mild compared to President Clinton's frothing distortions on CBS 60 Minutes: "... those people murdered a bunch of innocent law enforcement officials who worked for the Federal government. Before there was any raid, there were dead Federal law enforcement officials on the ground. "And when that raid occurred, it was the people who ran their cult compound at Waco who murdered their own children, not the Federal officials." That's a dubious description of a helicopter-supported commando attack, with BATF agents videotaped firing randomly into a lightly constructed building containing 60 women and unquestionably innocent children. It ignores the outrage of exposing those children to 448 ferret CS grenades, plus drums of CS gas pumped in for hours by an Army tank. Military manuals warn against using even modest amounts in confined areas. One government expert, appalled by what happened, said the children would have suffered the most, vomiting and screaming, their lungs on fire for hours before their death. Janet Reno said the reason for the attack was to prevent child abuse. She has since acknowledged that the government had no evidence of child abuse, but what the FBI did -- and what she specifically approved -- amounts to child abuse beyond comprehension. The blame may go all the way to the White House, for the promotion of Waco and Ruby Ridge commander Larry Potts to Deputy Director of FBI was an "in your face" decision that had to have been approved by the Attorney General and probably by the White House. The widow of deceased White House Counsel Vince Foster, who served as the Clintons' personal friend and lawyer, said that Foster had been involved in the Waco decision and felt partially responsible for the deaths, which she thought may have contributed to his suicide. No matter what the United State Government did to the innocent children at Waco, it doesn't justify what was done to the similar number of innocent children -- or the 140-plus adults - -- at the Oklahoma City Federal Building. The difference between those two outrages is that one was done by a group of nutcakes; the other was done by the representatives of the people. --- Terrorism Bill `Vehicle' By NEAL KNOX WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 1) -- The anti-gun movement's best opportunity for additional firearms and ammunition laws this year are the Anti-Terrorism bills up for consideration without hearings on the Senate floor next week, and in the House Judiciary Committee next month. Although proposed by the Clinton Administration to expand government powers prior to the Oklahoma City bombing, that tragedy caused more domestic provisions to be added to what had been mainly an international bill, and put it on a fast track -- with the President futilely demanding that it to be on his desk by Memorial Day, while emotions were highest. Clinton also demanded that it not become a "political football," but his bill (S. 390/H.R. 806, by Biden and Schumer) came out of the chute with politically charged issues, more were added in the Dole-Hatch S. 735 -- particularly habeas corpus changes to limit death row appeals -- and more than 60 floor amendments have been filed. The proposed amendments include most of Handgun Control Inc.'s wish list, including gun registration, elimination of the Civilian Marksmanship Program, eliminating the possibility of even convicted tax evaders from having gun ownership rights restored, limits on the number of guns and ammunition that could be bought or possessed, prohibiting bullets or ammunition capable of penetrating bullet-resistant light armor, and much more. All the bills include some version of "explosives taggants," at minimum requiring addition of an "odorant" to allow the detection of plastic explosives, as called for by an international airline treaty. The military would have 15 years to add the material, but they're nervous about putting any foreign substance in their highly tuned explosives -- which have previously been exempted from taggants legislation. The biggest problem is how to get Libya's Omar Khadafi to add a detector to the more than three tons of plastique that he reportedly possesses -- a few ounces of which were said to have brought down the Pan Am 747 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Schumer wants to expand the tagging provision to require the addition of coded microscopic chips to each lot of explosives and/or "explosives source materials." Manufacturers and dealers would be required to maintain records of explosives similar to those on firearms, requiring another army of BATF inspectors and regulators. He has also proposed making the eight billion pounds of ammonium nitrate fertilizer non-explosive -- which isn't sitting well with farmers. The Dole bill calls for a "feasibility" study of identification tags to be conducted by BATF, which has been pushing that system for over 20 years. A similar study, to be conducted by the Justice Department, would be required by Judiciary Chairman Henry Hyde's (R-Ill.) bill, H.R. 1710. Aside from the immense cost, the major problem with taggants is safety. Hercules found decreased performance and potential fires with nitroglycerin-based explosives, including double-base handloading propellants such as popular Bullseye and Unique. Biden/Schumer would allow the President to designate as terrorist groups organizations which had committed no terrorist act, and prohibit contributions to such designated groups. That raises all kinds of major civil liberties questions -- as do other expanded law enforcement powers in the bills. Of great concern is the gutting of Posse Comitatus Act prohibitions against using the military for law enforcement -- a law already weakened by allowing military to provide direct support for drug busts and interdiction. (Joint Task Force Bravo, an element of JTF-6 from Forth Hood, Texas, is presently supporting a drug enforcement effort near Boulder, Colorado. JTF-6 helped train the BATF assault team against the Branch Davidians at Waco.) The proposed language would extend the use of the military to include enforcement of laws concerning "weapons of mass destruction" -- a phrase which has been applied to so-called "assault weapons." --- Joint hearings on Waco, Ruby Ridge and other Federal law enforcement abuses are tentatively scheduled for July 12 by Rep. Bill McCollum's (R-Fla.) Crime Subcommittee and Rep. Bill Zeliff's (R-NH) Government Reform and Oversight Committee. Rep. McCollum said the hearings will be "an exhaustive examination of the Waco tragedy so at the conclusion of the hearings, the American public will feel they have all the answers." Rep. Zeliff said "We will come to these hearings with an open mind, yet we intend to be tough, credible and fair." --- NRA Shows Solidarity By NEAL KNOX PHOENIX, Arizona (May 23) -- There were more than 300 reporters, photographers and members of TV support crews at this weekend's 124th Annual Meeting of the NRA. Most came early, eager to report that the organization was being destroyed from within by internal battles between officers, directors and staff, and by disagreements between the membership and leadership over NRA's political activities. The salivating press pack was triggered by the rule-or-ruin criticisms of former NRA Director Dave Edmondson and a few of his "Old Guard" cronies, fueled by former President George Bush's noisy resignation over an NRA fund-raising letter, and succored by the fervent hope that they might at last witness -- and assist - -- in the self-destruction and/or public condemnation of the hated NRA. NRA members, officers and the ubiquitous Edmondson -- and a swarm of NRA's enemies from President Bill Clinton on down -- were on every major news program and the front pages of every major newspaper before and during the convention. There were 15 television satellite uplink trucks jostling for parking space around the Convention Center. Cable Network News broadcast hourly live updates, giving the NRA meeting almost as much play as CNN gave to the bombing of Baghdad. But the more direct exposure they gave to NRA and its members, the more the story began to change. Despite the news media's best efforts, they found surprisingly few signs of disharmony and disagreement (except for the agitators), and unusually firm solidarity within the leadership and member support for the leadership. Faced by an all-out assault from a well-known enemy, the members and leaders circled the wagons. It was beautiful -- like scuffling brothers pausing to battle an intruder who had made nasty comments about mama and the family. The press found that most members agreed with Wayne LaPierre's clarification -- which the media trumpeted as an apology -- that when he signed a fund-raising letter referring to Federal law enforcement officers as "jackbooted thugs," he didn't mean all law enforcement officers, or even all Federal officers. Most shared the sentiments of my daughter Shan, who had said from the beginning of the controversy: "If the jackboots fit, march them into the Courts." By Saturday, some of the press began to report that the members they were seeing and talking with were ordinary mainstream Americans from every walk of life. For a lot of them -- and their viewers and readers -- it was a revelation. The truth began to penetrate when they accompanied the 1,600 or so members who had cowboy steaks and beans Friday night at the "reconstructed 1880's town of Rawhide." They saw a lot of good people have a lot of fun, applauding NRA member Louise Mandrell's terrific song and dance show, and cheering married-that-day NRA Director Jim and Gail Ramm -- both Columbus, Ohio, police officers. On the exhibit hall floor, and at Saturday's annual meeting of members, there were fewer-than-usual politically incorrect T-shirts and almost no camos, but there were heart-felt cheers for the officers and LaPierre's promise to clean Bill Clinton's clock in 1996. And with near-unanimity, the 1,500 members (only a dozen or so dissenting) passed a resolution that simultaneously recognized First and Second Amendment rights, condemned "irresponsible abuse of those rights" especially by the "establishment media ... in an effort to destroy" Second Amendment rights, and resolving that the assembled members "do firmly state that Mr. David Edmondson does not speak for the members of this Association." All of the 28 just-elected Directors had been nominated by the Nominating Committee, as had been the 76th Director elected by the assembled members. And at Monday's Board meeting, the palace revolt that the press had eagerly anticipated simply didn't happen. All of the officers were unanimously re-elected: Tom Washington as President, Marion Hammer as First Vice President and Neal Knox as Second Vice President. Wayne was again confirmed as Executive Vice President and Tanya Metaksa as Executive Director of ILA. Ditto each of the other officers. What further disappointed the press, NRA continued to rack up legislative victories on Capitol Hill and in state legislatures -- including passing concealed carry license laws this week in Texas and Oklahoma, the very day the sad carcass of Oklahoma City Federal Building was mercifully destroyed. --- Mr. Jefferson On Militia By NEAL KNOX WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 10) -- An armed people -- sometimes called a militia -- scares big government and the supporters of a big, powerful government. Thomas Jefferson, George Mason and James Madison and the other architects of this great nation planned it that way. They based their plan on the teachings of John Locke and Nicolai Machiavelli, implemented in the armed citizenry of Switzerland. (The Swiss experience is the topic of a forthcoming book by British friend Richard Munday, an Oxford man who for several years has been researching governments based on an armed citizenry. The book is aptly entitled "Most Armed, Most Free.") Thomas Jefferson wrote "The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms, is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against government tyranny." The beauty of the Founding Fathers plan is that an armed people is an insurance policy against tyranny. So long as the right exists, it is never needed. That is the same reason we build B-1 bombers which we pray will never bomb. That's why an armed people -- for defense of self, family and the nation -- is guaranteed by the Second Amendment and codified by the laws of most states. Also, Section 311 of Title 10, U.S. Code, the rewritten Militia Act of 1792, describes both the organized and unorganized militia, and -- by 1903 amendment - -- a third type of militia, the National Guard. A militia isn't necessarily a bunch of overage and overweight folks wheezing through the woods in camouflage, it's you and me with rifles, shotguns and handguns owned primarily for recreation or personal protection. Under the laws of most states and Federal law, there is a right to organize a militia, but a citizen gains no additional rights by doing so. We already are the militia -- even some of our anti-gun fellow citizens who have never touched a gun. As George Mason said, the militia is "the whole people, except for a few public officials." Glenn Harlan Reynolds, a law professor at the University of Tennessee and a strong supporter of the Second Amendment, wrote an incisive article about the militia movement in the January 30 Chicago Tribune. He wrote that although many militia groups are quite knowledgeable about the Second Amendment, and are correct that it was intended to preserve an individual right as a protection against tyranny, many don't understand the Founding Fathers' careful definition of tyranny -- mainly laid out in the Declaration of Independence. "A government that taxed its citizens without representation was thus no better than an outlaw," Prof. Reynolds wrote, "But revolting against taxation without representation is not the same thing as revolting against taxation." People who have the means of changing government through the ballot box, as was admirably demonstrated last fall, but who engage in armed conflict with government, would be considered mere rebels and insurrectionists by Thomas Jefferson. Mr. Jefferson would have been outraged by the bombing in Oklahoma City -- particularly if it was intended as a cowardly political statement. This evening a reporter told me he didn't understand how Oklahoma City had swung around to have something to do with "gun control." I do. The disciples of big government are furious about the role of the NRA in last fall's elections, and fearful about what will happen in 1996. And that's why NRA is so hated and reviled, because NRA is so feared. It's not because of our guns, and not because of the lawful ways we use our guns, or even because of the unlawful way that they claim NRA members -- or militia members who are also gun owners -- might misuse guns. It's because of the NRA's determination that all of the Bill of Rights shall be upheld, and that citizens shall remain free -- and not the feeders and subjects of an all-powerful government. ======================================================================== Copyright 1995 by Neal Knox Associates P.O. Box 6537 Rockville, MD 20916. 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