GOA: Intelligence Report: Memorial Day Recess
Mark2101
May 2000
GOA's Intelligence Report For The Memorial Day Recess
-- Congress to take up legislation affecting your gun rights after extended
break
Gun Owners of America E-Mail/FAX Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
(Wednesday, May 31, 2000) -- Congress is out of session this week, but your
representatives still need to hear from you. Below are two items of great
concern to our liberties.
Rep. Hostettler To Offer Amendments Stopping BATF From Enforcing Recent Gun
Restrictions
Remember the Clinton & Wesson agreement from back in March? Well, pro-gun
Rep. John Hostettler (R-IN) is still determined to stop the Clinton
administration from imposing backdoor gun control upon a good portion of the
gun industry through its recent deal with Smith & Wesson.
You will recall that the Clinton & Wesson agreement regulates the sales of
ALL firearms sold by dealers carrying S&W products -- including Glocks,
Berettas, Brownings, etc. Moreover, no gun can be sold by an S&W dealer
until the FBI gives a definitive "yes" or "no." Thus, if the FBI's computers
go down (like they did just a couple of weeks ago) no S&W dealer can
transfer a firearm until the government's computers go back online and the
FBI gives its verdict.
Since Clinton could not get Congress to do his dirty work, he pulled off a
legislative coup d'etat by enlisting the help of S&W and the BATF. But the
Clinton & Wesson deal can only work if the BATF gets funds to pay for their
involvement in the Oversight Commission created by the accord. That's where
Hostettler hopes to score big. He's ready to offer amendments to two
appropriation bills, defunding any BATF involvement in the pact. Without
funds for the BATF, the federal government cannot enforce the agreement.
Please stay tuned for future alerts, as GOA will keep you up to date with
Hostettler's plans. He will soon begin targeting both the HUD appropriations
bill and funding for the BATF in the Treasury-Postal appropriations bill.
(Both bills are still in committee and have yet to receive a legislative
number.)
Oppose Legislation Giving Clinton The Power To Conduct Secret Searches On
Your Property
Like a weed spreading through your garden, a provision proposing to give the
Justice Department frightening new powers keeps popping up in bill after
bill. Specifically, this "sneak and peek" provision would let the government
sneak onto your property while you were away, seize certain items from your
home and not tell you about it for months -- if at all.
Currently, the provisions are in two bills (the bankruptcy and
methamphetamine bills), but if the provision becomes law, it would apply to
all federal agents and all searches and seizures -- not just those affecting
bankruptcy and drug cases.
Dave Kopel of the Independence Institute has noted that:
When conducting searches, federal agents are currently required to announce
their presence before entering, and to provide an inventory of any items
they take. Because the person whose home or business is being searched knows
about the search, he can exercise his Fourth Amendment rights, and make sure
that the police have a properly-issued search warrant. He can also see if
the search is being conducted according to the warrant's terms -- i.e., the
police are searching only for items authorized by the warrant, they are
searching the right address, etc. But under a Secret Searches law, federal
police could enter a person's home surreptitiously, conduct a search, and
not tell the homeowner until months later. Even months later, the police
would not have to provide an inventory of 'intangible' items which were
taken in a search. So if the police entered your home secretly, and
photocopied your diary or made a copy of your computer hard disk, they would
never have to inform you of their actions.
Of course, one wonders what those sneaky Clinton officials will do when they
see certain "tangible" items in your home -- like that Remington 1100
hanging in the family room, or the 9mm Beretta in the top drawer of your
desk?
ACTION: Please ask your Representative and Senators to oppose any bill that
contains these Secret Search provisions. They have already been deleted from
one bill, but still remain in the bankruptcy reform bill (H.R. 833) and the
Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation bill (H.R. 2987). The former bill, H.R.
833, is in a House-Senate conference committee -- thus, both Senators and
Representatives will be voting on this bill again. It is expected that the
latter bill, H.R. 2987, will be voted on in the House in the near future.
You can use the GOA Legislative Action Center at
http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm to contact Congress and send messages.
The toll-free Capitol switchboard number is 1-888-449-3511. A pre-written
message is provided below.
The Clinton administration is strongly in favor of the Secret Search proviso
and is lobbying Congress to get it passed. If administration lobbyists are
thwarted in getting their expanded powers from these two bills, they will
certainly try to get the proviso planted in other bills as well. Encourage
your legislators to read the bills they vote for (a novel idea) and to vote
against any bill that allows for officials to conduct secret searches on
your property.
NOTE for Utah activists: Sen. Orrin Hatch is one of the prime backers of the
Secret Search proviso, and he has been fervently working at getting it snuck
into different legislation. Thus, one Republican Congressman has asked GOA
to please urge its members to let Senator Hatch know you oppose the "sneak
and peek" provision. If Sen. Hatch gets enough "heat" from his home state,
he may relent on this dangerous provision.
----- Pre-written message -----
Dear Representative or Senator,
Please oppose any and all attempts to enact "Secret Search" provisions. Such
provisions (as currently found in H.R. 833 and H.R. 2987) would give
frightening new powers to the Justice Department at the expense of
constitutional liberties.
The Fourth Amendment specifically protects a person from unreasonable
searches and seizures. However, "Secret Search" legislation turns that
amendment on its head by allowing completely surreptitious searches. Worse,
certain types of property may then be seized -- without any notification to
a homeowner whatsoever. Private records such as computer files could be
copied at will.
Such intrusive powers are usually associated with dictatorships, not free
societies.
There is no possible legislative vehicle that would be anything other than
an abomination if it contained such blatant abuses of power.
I request that you vote against any and all legislation, regardless of other
merits, that includes "Secret Search" provisions.
Sincerely,
******************************************
Mark "COSMOS" Renfro
u tsi s da lu gi s gi = (Brilliant)
u tsi s da lu gi s gv = (Shining)
a ga li ha = (Illuminating from within)
di tli hi = (Warrior)
My Cherokee name.
E-MAIL Mark...@email.msn.com
"As civil rulers, not having their duty to the people duly
before them, may attempt to tyrannize, and as the military forces
which must be occasionally raised to defend our country, might
pervert their power to the injury of their fellow-citizens, the
people are confirmed by the next article in their right to keep
and bear their private arms."
--Tench Coxe (1755-1824), writing as "A Pennsylvanian," in "Remarks
On The First Part Of The Amendments To The Federal Constitution,"
in the _Philadelphia Federal Gazette,_ June 18, 1789, p.2 col.1
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