From ba-firearms-request Mon Mar 14 00:45:56 1994 Received: from localhost (daemon@localhost) by jobe.shell.portal.com (8.6.4/8.6.4) id AAA09626; Mon, 14 Mar 1994 00:45:42 -0800 Errors-to: ca-firearms-request@shell.portal.com Sender: ca-firearms-request@shell.portal.com Precedence: bulk Received: from localhost (chan@localhost) by jobe.shell.portal.com (8.6.4/8.6.4) id AAA09621; Mon, 14 Mar 1994 00:45:40 -0800 Date: Mon, 14 Mar 1994 00:45:40 -0800 From: Jeff Chan Message-Id: <199403140845.AAA09621@jobe.shell.portal.com> To: ca-firearms, firearms-politics@cup.hp.com Subject: KNOX: Firearms Coalition Online Report 3/6/94 Status: R [Sorry for the delay in getting this out; I'm still catching up. BTW am making progress on firearms-alert on several fronts. -- Jeff C.] ----- >From: "Christopher W. Knox" >Subject: FC 3-6-94 >To: cknox@crl.com (Blind CC sent to the Firearms Coalition Online) >Date: Tue, 8 Mar 1994 21:20:04 -0700 (MST) -----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 ======================================================================== March 6, 1994 Release 1.6 ======================================================================== In this issue: * House version of Feinstein Semi-Auto Ban expected around April 1 -- this one is no April Fool's joke. * Schumer and Metz roll out HCI's daydream bill. * Suits against Brady -- involuntary servitude? * BATF bans shotguns, ammo in strange and stretchy rulings. * Clinton budget includes registration funding. * NRA news -- elections under way. * Remembering Ed Topmiller. * State legislatures, kids & guns, now and then. * State news. Hawaii going down, New York style laws in Connecticut, Maryland hanging on, "assault weapon" bills stopped in Florida and Kansas. Roberti gets support from HCI pals. ======================================================================== A note from Chris Pass this on to your club. In case you hadn't noticed, the Second Amendment is in the fight of its life. If you take any interest at all in the future of lawful firearms ownership, you'd be well-advised to sit up and pay attention. They're after your Colt, SASS. They're after your Model 1100, ATA and Ducks Unlimited. They're after your Contender, IMHSA. They're after your .25 Auto, Grandma. IPSC, you already _know_ where you stand. In short, all you folks who figured this "assault weapon" business was about somebody else's guns had better take a break from doing what you like to do something you don't like. You need to get involved. You need to make a couple of phone calls. You need to write a few letters. Because if you don't, you're going to find something else you like to do. It won't be shooting, except maybe an air rifle or a .22 single single shot. -##- A note for PGP users. If you verified the signature on my last update, you noticed a problem. Yes, I hosed up my public key. A corrected version appears here or by finger. For the mystified, PGP provides industrial-strength encryption for the masses. The government (State Department, anyway) thinks encryption technology is an arm. Seems appropriate to use it. -##- Plate passing time. Asked by a reporter how he paid the bills, Neal Knox once described as an itinerant preacher for the gun rights movement. A pretty accurate statement, actually. He travels about preaches sermons to the faithful, and passes out tracts expounding on doctrine. If you use this information in the fight for the Second Amendment, thank you. You are a member of the Firearms Coalition. Make an offering of whatever you think proper. You may sing a song if you wish. And now to our sermon. ======================================================================== - From the desk of Neal Knox March 4, 1994 Dear Friend and Supporter, I am amazed they are so cocky. Only a month before the House floor fight on H.R. 3527 (the Feinstein/Schumer semi-auto and magazine ban), Handgun Control Inc. induced BATF to use the 26-year-old Gun Control Act to reclassify two military-look shotguns as if machine guns. Regardless of the ruling's legality, it eliminates a pair of the most evilly photogenic shotguns that would be banned by H.R. 3527 -- weakening the "need" for the Feinstein/Schumer bill. And on the same day, HCI gets the bill's sponsor, Rep. Charles Schumer (and Sen. Howard Metzenbaum) to introduce "the next step" -- their dream list of gun laws, including handgun registration, licensing, restricting private transfers and limiting how many firearms and how much ammo a citizen may own! HCI's huge new Schumer/Metzenbaum bill, H.R. 3932/S. 1878, does a lot more -- including a 50 percent ammo tax, a $300 three- year license for "arsenals" of over 20 firearms or 1,000 rounds of ammo (or primers), plus a prohibition on both low-powered handguns and high-powered handgun ammo. In the next few weeks, maybe this month, Schumer will be pushing H.R. 3527 and its ban on over-10-round magazines. But his new H.R. 3932 would limit mags to six rounds! He and they sure can't claim Feinstein/Schumer "is all we want." We no longer have to tell Congress where the anti-gunners intend to go. Sarah Brady has drawn the road map! A cynic might think they were trying to kill the Feinstein/ Schumer "assault weapon" bill to keep HCI's fundraising machine in high gear. One thing for sure, their otherwise inexplicable tactics are making it harder for them to pass their so-called "assault weapons" bill. No Congressman -- particularly those who don't want to vote on any gun bill -- wants to be told he's going to have to vote on a series of increasingly restrictive bills. If we defeat the Feinstein/Schumer semi-auto ban -- and it will be close -- the rest of the year should be relatively quiet. But ... If we lose the ban bill, we -- and Congress -- are already staring at what's coming next. HCI has introduced the kitchen sink. European-style total people control will be the agenda. That's the message you need to give your Congressman, and other Congressmen -- and women -- all across your state. They need to understand that you will not tolerate any gun ban -- even if it did affect "only 19 assault weapons" -- though H.R. 3527 actually requires the immediate registration and special transfer procedures on 184 guns. Congress also needs to understand that even if they vote against the semi-auto ban, if it becomes part of the crime bill and they vote for it, they're still voting for a gun ban. If any gun ban is in the crime bill, the crime bill must be killed. Period. No matter how many desirable features a bill may have, what counts is whether it infringes on the rights of law-abiding citizens. Tartar sauce won't make a rotten fish edible. If Congress wants this gun ban, they're going to have to cram it down our throats. And we'll never forget it. That is the message Congress must receive. We're trying to get that message to them. And though our costs are up, I know that yours are, too. If you have to make a choice between helping our efforts and making more phone calls to Congress, please make the phone calls. This is a make-or-break vote. Win it and we'll have a breather -- and the satisfaction of hearing the media splutter. Lose it, and Sarah, Schumer and Metzenbaum have shown us what's coming. Yours for the Second Amendment, Neal Knox P.S. Call your Congressman's local office and through the Capitol switchboard, 202-224-3121. ======================================================================== House Vote On Semi-Auto Ban April 1 The deviously drafted Feinstein/Schumer semi-auto ban -- which passed the Senate as part of the S. 1607 crime bill last fall -- is expected to be voted on as a separate bill (H.R. 3527) on the House floor around the first of April. If passed, the bill would be added to whatever crime bill the House finally approves, then sent to a House-Senate Conference. The crime bill's fate will depend on how many of the Senate's tough criminal provisions survive the growing opposition from the Black Caucus and the left wing (which is pushing for less personal responsibility and even more "gun control"). But if H.R. 3527 passes, and the crime bill falters, count on Feinstein/Schumer being sent to the Senate -- where it was approved 56-43 last fall. H.R. 3527 goes a long way toward meeting President Bill Clinton's objective, spelled out on page 201 of his proposed 1995 Budget: "The Administration also supports a ban on semi-automatic firearms." The bill parallels other actions of the Clinton Administration, which on Feb. 28 arbitrarily declared the 12 gauge Striker, Streetsweeper and USAS-12 as "Destructive Devices," making them subject to the same $200 transfer tax and registration requirements as machine guns. All three would be banned by H.R. 3527. Only a few days earlier BATF banned the sale of steel-cored 7.62x39 ammo on the basis that it met the definition of banned "Cop-Killer" handgun ammo -- because one manufacturer had made six handguns in that caliber, using AR-15 frames. Because H.R. 3527 prohibits new 10-round magazines, it would affect the one-third to one-half of 65 million Americans who presently own, or are likely to buy, a rifle or pistol with, or designed for, such magazines -- or an after-market magazine like the commonly seen Ramline mags which increase the capacity of the popular 10-shot Ruger 10-22. Mr. Schumer clearly won't be satisfied with the 10-round magazine limit in his bill, since his (and Sen. Howard Metzenbaum's) new bill, H.R. 3932/S. 1878, prohibits magazines over six rounds. The 19 named so-called "assault weapons" in the bill are misleading. In a letter to Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho), BATF admits that the generic descriptions in Feinstein/Schumer fits at least 45 "currently advertised" models, including the Sporter and Springfield M1A. Peter Kokalis, in a Jan. 14, 1994 Gun Week article lists 184 models whose owners are directly affected. Owners of banned guns, either one of the 19 listed models or the 165-plus not named, would have a 90-day amnesty period in which to register it with a gun dealer and obtain a copy of the Form 4473 -- which would have to be kept with the gun forever, with all subsequent owners noted. Registered guns could be sold, but the seller would have to obtain a Form 4473 from the new buyer, and forever keep it. Anyone failing to exactly comply would be subject to a $1,000 fine and six months in prison -- and would be forever prohibited from possessing any firearm. The named models -- 10 percent of the guns that would be affected -- include the Intratec TEC-22, TEC-9, TEC-DC9; AK-47S from several makers; Uzi and Galil; Beretta AR-70; SWD M10, M11, M11/9 and M12; Colt AR-15; FN/FAL, FN/FLR, FNC; and Steyr AUG. Also banned are lookalikes "of any caliber." The bite is in the generic definitions: -- Semi-auto pistols which have a detachable magazine and two or more features such as a barrel shroud, threaded muzzle, or magazine other than in the grip, or which weigh over 50 ounces unloaded; -- Semi-auto rifles with a detachable magazine and two or more features such as a folding or telescoping stock, protruding pistol grip, bayonet mount, flash suppressor, grenade launcher attachment, or threaded barrel muzzle; -- Semi-auto shotguns with at least two of the following features: an ability to accept a detachable magazine or drum, a folding or telescoping stock, a fixed magazine over five rounds, or a pistol grip that "conspicuously protrudes" below the action. There is no mention of length of shells. A trap-dressed Model 1100 with a radical Monte Carlo stock loaded with Ely 2-inch shells is a stretch fit for this definition - -- but no more a stretch than others we've seen this year. ======================================================================== HCI 'Kitchen Sink' Introduced By Neal Knox (Shotgun News Column) WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 1) -- When the "reasonable" Brady Bill was pending, we told the world that radical, unreasonable gun laws were waiting in the wings. We were called paranoid, at best, and liars, at worst -- by HCI, Congress, the news media and even some of our fellow gun owners. On February 28, the day the Brady Act went into effect, Sen. Howard Metzenbaum (D-Ohio), Rep. Charles Schumer and Handgun Control Inc. proved us right by introducing their "comprehensive gun control" package, H.R. 3932/S. 1886. Dubbed "Brady II," massive bill is European-style gun_owner_ control. The best evidence that the anti-gun crowd is trying to hamstring the law-abiding is a requirement for a $300 Federal "arsenal license" for anyone who has more than 20 firearms and/or more than 1,000 rounds of ammo (or the components from which it could be loaded: a carton of shotshell primers, a couple of bags of shot and one three-pound can of propellant). Local law enforcement would have to give permission for such "arsenals," and BATF could inspect those homes three times per year to verify that all record-keeping and security requirements were being met. It has every provision on the anti-gunners' wish list short of a total handgun ban. They're satisfied, for now, with a ban on merely some handguns -- for it creates the total registration and licensing system necessary to implement the eventual confiscation law. The same day Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen announced that they were using the "Destructive Devices" section of the 1968 Gun Control Act to put the "non-sporting" Streetsweeper, Striker and USAS-12 shotguns under the same registration and $200 transfer tax applicable to machine guns under the National Firearms Act. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that if this ruling sticks, exactly the same 26-year-old provisions will be used to do the same thing to pistol-grip-stocked Remington 870's and Winchester 1400's, and tens of thousands of surplus Model 12, Model 97 and Model 37 "riot guns" -- with their evil barrel shrouds and bayonet lugs. Only a few days earlier BATF banned steel-cored 7.62x39 ammo on the basis that it met the definition of "Cop-Killer" handgun ammo -- because one manufacturer had made, but hadn't sold, six handguns in that caliber, based on AR-15 frames. (Note: No police officer has ever been killed by an armor-piercing bullet penetrating lightweight body armor, but soft-nosed 7.62x39 ammo would penetrate the vests, as will any rifle cartridge.) HCI's huge new Schumer/Metzenbaum bill -- the text is 32 narrow-margin typewritten pages -- is much too complicated to analyze completely here. But we'll hit some of the high spots. It includes handgun registration, licensing of their owners (after fingerprinting and a minimum of two hours safety training by police), firearms storage requirements, and it restricts private transfers. Anyone not following the transfer requirements could be civilly liable for criminal acts with the gun. Despite the extensive licensing procedure to assure only law-abiding citizens could buy any firearm, they would be limited to one handgun purchase per month and have to wait seven days for delivery of each additional gun. HCI has dropped the pretense that they are only trying to affect criminals. It requires a $300 Federal "arsenal license" for anyone who has more than 20 firearms and/or more than 1,000 rounds of ammo (or primers). Local law enforcement would have to give permissions for such "arsenals," and BATF could inspect those homes three times per year to verify all records and security requirements were being met. It includes full value deduction for guns donated to a "qualified gun exchange program," and allows corporations to deduct up to five percent of their taxable incomes to support such programs. The Attorney General is to develop a model business-sponsored gun exchange program. It bans firearms possession by anyone ever convicted of a "violent misdemeanor" -- defined so broadly as to include a night in the brig for a fist fight during World War II. Not content with the ban on magazines over 10 rounds in H.R. 3527 (Schumer's House copy of the Senate-approved Feinstein "assault weapons" ban), the bill bans all magazines over six rounds. It defines as "Saturday Night Specials" the Colt Single Action and clones, any lightweight (less than 18 ounces) pistol in .22 Short, .25, or .32 caliber, many high quality small pistols. It defines as "nonsporting ammunition" handgun ammunition that generates more than 1,200 foot-pounds of energy, which is near the minimum for many big game hunting pistols. Also gathered in the "nonsporting ammunition" net are .50 BMG ammunition, and any handgun ammunition with a diameter of more than .45 inches. Both "Saturday Night Specials" and "nonsporting ammunition" are classified in the bill as "prohibited weapons" and treated with the same draconian restrictions imposed on machine guns. Further, all barrels, stocks, magazines and action parts would be considered firearms. And dealers -- whose license fees would go to $1,000 per year -- would be forbidden from conducting business except at their licensed business premises -- so no dealers at gun shows. The bill would outlaw the production or importation of semi- auto pistols that did not have a loaded chamber indicator; any detachable magazine firearm that did not have a magazine disconnect safety; and contain an integral part that would "prevent a child of less than 7 years of age from discharging the firearm by reason of the amount of strength, dexterity, cognitive skill, or other ability required to cause a discharge." Say what? Because it also includes a 30 percent tax on handguns and a 50 percent tax on handgun ammo, the bill has been assigned to the Senate Finance Committee, chaired by Patrick Moynihan, who has been pushing for 10,000 percent taxes on handgun ammo. The full amount of the tax -- including the present taxes going into the Pittman-Robinson conservation fund -- would go into a Health Care Trust Fund. Considering that Sen. Metzenbaum acknowledged that it would take years to pass everything in the package, it's a puzzle why he, Schumer and HCI chose to introduce it within a month of the H.R. 3527 "assault weapon" vote. (Capitol Hill observers expect the House vote around the first of April.) And why did they weaken the "need" for that bill by interpreting existing law to restrict three of the most evilly photogenic guns banned by Feinstein/Schumer. A cynic might think they were trying to kill the Feinstein/ Schumer "assault weapon" bill to keep HCI's fundraising machine in high gear. ======================================================================== Brady Lawsuits Filed The NRA celebrated the Feb. 28 effective date of the Brady Act by backing a lawsuit which declares it unconstitutional, filed by Graham County, Ariz., Sheriff Richard Mack. In addition, with encouragement from NRA President and former Arizona Attorney General Bob Corbin, Arizona Gov. Fife Symington ordered a similar suit filed in the Supreme Court on behalf of the state against the United States. Both suits cite a 1992 Supreme Court ruling under the Tenth Amendment that "The Federal Government may not compel the States to enact or administer a federal regulatory program." NRA, through its Firearms Civil Rights Legal Defense Fund, expects to file several such suits in various court circuits. In an interesting twist, Sheriff Mack also charged Congress with violation of the 13th Amendment, placing him in involuntary servitude since Congress -- which does not pay him -- attempts to force him (and other officers) to perform a service under threat of criminal action. Numerous cities and counties passed ordinances allowing chiefs and sheriffs to charge dealers for performing background checks, but the Brady Act does not require dealers or their customers to pay it. Dealers are merely required to notify the chief or sheriff. It's up to law enforcement to "make a reasonable effort" to determine whether the person is disqualified from making a legal purchase. If they fail to do so, they are subject to criminal punishment. Ohio Attorney General Lee Fisher, an active member of Handgun Control Inc., ordered dealers to call a 900 number to have background checks performed, for which the phone company would charge $15. When pressed by a newspaper, Fisher admitted that dealers would not be required to use his system unless the state passed appropriate legislation. The Brady Act requires that police destroy the notification forms and information taken from those forms within 20 days, a fact not mentioned on the form and barely mentioned in the tear- off instructions. Similarly, police in all states are to receive the multiple- sales reports now going to BATF, but law enforcement agencies are not informed that the information must be destroyed. (A worthwhile club project would be to periodically inquire if local police are illegally retaining those forms and records of purchases.) ======================================================================== BATF Bans 7.62x39 Ammo, Shotguns In Odd Rulings Treasury Department, using dubious interpretations of the law, has banned importation and sale of steel-cored 7.62x39 ammo and, at the instigation of Handgun Control Inc., has placed the Striker, Streetsweeper and USAS-12 shotguns under the National Firearms Act. The ammo was banned under 1986 "Cop-Killer Handgun Bullet" legislation which applies to hard-cored ammo which "may be used in a handgun." (The affected armor-piercing ammo has never killed a cop by penetrating lightweight bullet armor). BATF prohibited the 7.62x39 because one manufacturer had made, but had not sold, six 7.62x39 handguns using AR-15 frames; another had made one X-numbered experimental gun. Similarly the shotguns were declared "destructive devices" under a questionable interpretation of Title 26, Sec. 5845(f)(2), a 1968 Gun Control Act amendment. It places under the National Firearms Act "any type of weapon ... the barrel or barrels of which have a bore of more than one-half inch in diameter, except a shotgun or shotgun shell which the Secretary ... finds is generally recognized as particularly suitable for sporting purposes." As evident in the bill's Findings and Declaration, that section was intended to ban then-available (though ammo was not) surplus bazookas, mortars and anti-tank rifles of over .50 caliber. As written in S. 1, the 1967 Dodd bill, there were no exceptions to the half-inch bore limit, which would have caused it to restrict "elephant rifles" like the .600 Nitro, and all larger gauge shotguns. Sen. Dodd (father of the present Senator) agreed to exempt those recognized sporting rifles, and shotguns with multiple projectiles (shot). According to Neal Knox's recollection, which is being researched, Dodd subsequently agreed to specifically exempt "a shotgun or shotgun shell," but the second comma was left off. If BATF's interpretation is used, all over-.50 elephant guns would have to be placed under the NFA, and all U.S. surplus Winchester, Remington and Ithaca "riot guns" -- commonly available and cheap in 1968 -- are subject to being banned, particularly since all were short barrelled and many had "dangerous" barrel shrouds and bayonet lugs. ======================================================================== Registration Fund In Clinton Budget The Treasury Appropriations budget for 1995 includes $1 million to computerize the out-of-business dealer records beginning to flood into BATF because of the higher license fees and pressure from BATF to give up the FFL's. The budget again seeks to strike a prohibition against using any of their funds to create any form of registration system. A similar provision is in the 1986 amendments to the Gun Control Act, which Rep. Charles Schumer is attempting to eliminate. During Tuesday's hearings, Sen. Dennis DeConcini (D-Ariz.) said he will oppose Treasury's proposal to increase the FFL to $600, saying the initial $200 with $90 renewal imposed by the Brady Act is the most many small businesses can afford. ======================================================================== NRA Election Underway The March American Rifleman/Hunter contain ballots for Life and continuous members for five or more years, who may vote for directors. Neal Knox, who is up for re-election this year, and is endorsed by the Nominating Committee, reports he will make his selection of 25 from among the Nominating Committee list. ======================================================================== Ed Topmiller Dies Ed Topmiller, "the best red clay lobbyist in Georgia," died March 5. Top, a retired U.S. Border Patrolman, wrote the Georgia mandatory carry license law in 1975, which has been the model for many other states. A member of the NRA Board for many years, and one of the few Directors to support the members at the 1977 Cincinnati meetings, he was elected by the Board to the Executive Council last spring. ======================================================================== State Legislators Tightening Screws By NEAL KNOX (Shotgun News Column) WASHINGTON, D.C. (Feb. 20) -- With 42 state legislatures in session, averaging about 30 restrictive gun law bills apiece, NRA-ILA's State and Local Division, local pro-gun groups and individual activists are busier than the proverbial one-armed paperhanger. The Hawaii Senate has passed a bill outlawing the purchase and transfer of handguns, plus the addition of long guns to the 10-day purchase permit and registration lists. Several states are pushing bans on military lookalikes and guns and/or magazines with capacities over six or ten rounds. And big city legislators in states with preemption laws are trying to repeal them or carve out exemptions, to allow nasty local ordinances to be passed. So far, with the exception of Hawaii, our folks seem to be holding their own -- and in Colorado a liberalized concealed carry law is close enough to passage that even the national news media is nervous. Because of the tremendous amount of crime being committed by young people there are numerous bills banning possession or transportation of handguns by persons under 18 or 21. Federal law already prohibits purchases by those under 21, so 16-year- olds have a five-year waiting period (though juvenile crime was one ostensible reason for passage of the Brady Law). I don't get too exercised over restricting firearms possession by youngsters under 18, provided there are adequate exceptions for legitimate uses like hunting, training, competition and other lawful activities that have parental consent. But I sure don't like extending those restrictions to 21; 18-year-olds are allowed to vote, serve in the military, and are subject to adult statutes against unlawful carrying as well as felony offenses like rape, robbery and murder. There should be a reform of the "juvenile delinquency" laws (how quaint that phrase sounds in today's world) to allow publicizing juvenile records the first time that a person is convicted of a serious adult offense. Such information isn't even available to judges and sentencing juries, much less police and prosecutors who often don't know the kind of person they are dealing with. As for juveniles having guns, the nation's news media and politicians profess to be horrified by polls showing that over half of high school seniors "know where to get a gun." Big deal. One hundred percent of my graduating class at Vernon, Texas, High School knew where to get a gun. Looking through my old annual just before our class reunion last fall, I noticed that All-School Favorite Ramon Towry (and subsequently a greatly respected high school coach) was wearing a fancy Western suit -- in keeping with the book's cowboy theme -- with a cocked and locked, un-cowboy-like Colt .45 semi-auto stuck in his waistband. The snapshot section showed a Mossberg bolt action shotgun suspended under the dash of "Hongry" Ancel's '49 Chevy, which was always parked just outside the east door of VHS. What caused comment -- and the photo -- wasn't the ever-present gun (common for ranch kids to carry in their cars and pickups), but that he had stuck his senior ring on the barrel. Guns were as familiar as cars to us. And though we lost kids in school -- and since then -- in car wrecks, drownings, electrical accidents, and the usual array of diseases that plague the nation; and though some of my classmates later got on the wrong side of the law; to the best of my knowledge we never lost anyone to a gun accident or murder, and no one committed a violent crime with a gun. If the availability of guns caused crime, we'd have all been criminals. It doesn't, and we weren't. Despite all the hype about "the proliferation of guns," they were far more available then than today -- thanks to a series of ever-more restrictive laws that haven't had the slightest effect upon crime. Prior to 1968 anyone could buy any kind of gun he or she wanted (short of a machine gun, but including anti-tank rifles and bazookas) simply by sending in a money order, and having it delivered by Railway Express, no questions asked -- even into gun-banned New York city. The crime rate was a fraction what it is today. The difference between now and then is that most kids and most adults had respect for ourselves and others; the hoodlums who make the news today do not. And all the gun laws in the world won't change psychopaths into responsible citizens -- but they will change responsible citizens into easier victims. ======================================================================== Other State News With 42 state legislatures in session, and the news media in full cry, gun owners are slugging it out over anti-gun bills ranging from silly to outrageous -- bans on toy guns to prohibition of handguns. Hawaii seems to be in the worst shape, for a ban on the future sale and importation of handguns passed the Senate Feb. 22; a House hearing is set for March 10. Gov. Lowell Weicker is pushing a series of New York City style laws for Connecticut, including gun registration and licensing, repeal of the state's relatively liberal concealed carry law, restrictions on private sales, and mandatory training before purchase. A hearing is set for March 8 at the state capital. Meanwhile, so-called "assault weapon" bills were stopped in Florida and Kansas this week, and a much-watered-down version is teetering in Maryland. In San Diego the council has agreed to greatly liberalize the issuance of handgun carry permits. And in Sacramento, Sen. David Roberti -- subject of an April 12 recall engineered by grass roots gun activists -- had planned a vote March 3 on his high-capacity magazine ban. But he must have counted too few noses on his side, for he has said he will further water it down and bring it up again in about two weeks. The Los Angeles Times reported last week that the Roberti recall has "made the gun owners point," cast a chill across the state capitol, and made any harsh anti-gun legislation most unlikely. Congratulations to Russ Howard, Rick Carone, Bill Dominguez and others for bringing us this far. Sarah Brady will be in L.A. March 10 for a $250 per plate fundraiser for Roberti. He and the establishment conspired to hold opposition candidates down to five, but he'll still have a hard time surviving. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.3 iQCVAgUBLXu3sA5t55+a10qVAQFQBwQAqxkr6XYtdu/c4+FtQgi8ks9jk/52DD/9 G0Zvd4bmhIEPKF8hzQrP+0HR9mJk/k2UdgHfjqLd0Dn90tasx9uliLErS6p6EoaM kdsQvd3GEj7MPDhYU/kSDsUbx70yAsD906ZJ6HhLVUgqtdyqQC6gWd1PfjZtJCGQ HNQOI1mectY= =Pxi6 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- And the rifle? Wouldn't go out naked of a rifle. When shoes and clothes and food, when even hope is gone, we'll have the rifle. -- The Grapes of Wrath Send mail to cknox@crl.com to receive the Online Firearms Coalition Bulletin. finger cknox@crl.com for more information and for PGP Public Key.