From: owner-utah-firearms-digest@lists.xmission.com (utah-firearms-digest) To: utah-firearms-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: utah-firearms-digest V2 #150 Reply-To: utah-firearms-digest Sender: owner-utah-firearms-digest@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-utah-firearms-digest@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk utah-firearms-digest Monday, August 2 1999 Volume 02 : Number 150 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 29 Jul 99 11:20:00 -0700 From: scott.bergeson@ucs.org (SCOTT BERGESON) Subject: The reason for the Second Amendment 1/2 - ------- Date: Tue, 27 Jul 1999 18:31:01 -0500 From: Jim Hardin Subject: The reason for the Second Amendment Friends, First, this interesting fact. From: spiker Subject: GO FIGURE From: wolfeyes Ladies & gentlemen: Those liars at Handgun Control Incorporated never talk about Vermont. That's because Vermont has no restrictions, no limitations and no permits or fees for her law-abiding citizens to carry concealed weapons. If you are so inclined, you simply pack your favorite sidearm under your jacket or other suitable ensemble and go about your daily business. There are no wild-west style shootouts in the streets, in the bars or in the schools, and the folks who live in Vermont seem to be unusually polite, helpful and friendly. Oh, and by the way: Vermont was just named one of the ten best states in which to raise your children. Go figure. Carl F. Worden Also, the Battle Lines are forming in the Senate -- Senator Bob Smith forces colleagues to decide between God or gun control. Though you must tire of these endless alerts to stop more gun control laws, please ask your Senator to support Smith's filibuster of a "substitute" law embodying the language of the Senate anti-gun crime bill (S. 254). Jim Hardin The Freedom Page http://freedompage.home.mindspring.com To receive Freedom Page mail, put "Subscribe" as subject to freedompage@mindspring.com To be removed, put "Remove" as subject. Alabama Committee To Get Us Out of the UN http://themustardseed.home.mindspring.com From: "KFurrer" To: "J Hardin" Subject: My Views James, I came across this article today, and even though it is almost a year old, it bears repeating. As long as Americans blame everyone and everything except themselves for their problems, this country will continue to slide ever closer to a dictatorship. Mr. Keyes states that it is the DUTY of every American to keep and bear arms -- not to fight each other with--but to be prepared in case our government becomes tyrannical and oppressive. We cannot defend ourselves against a tyrannical, oppressive government without being armed. Kathy in Idaho fglass@cmc.net http://www.worldnetdaily.com/keyes/980814.comak.html FRIDAY AUGUST 14, 1998 Alan Keyes is a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host. His WorldNetDaily column appears every Friday. You can hear his radio program over the internet via Real Audio. The reason for the Second Amendment Sen. Bob Smith has succeeded in amending an upcoming appropriations bill to beat back the latest wave of Clinton administration disrespect for two key elements of a free citizenry -- privacy and the right to keep and bear arms. Smith's amendment to the Justice-State-Commerce appropriations bill would foil FBI plans to keep records of private identifying information on law-abiding citizens who buy guns. The amendment also forbids a proposed tax on gun purchases, and authorizes citizens to sue if the FBI doesn't observe these restrictions. Senator Smith is to be praised for keeping his eye on some balls that might have been lost in the smoke of scandal and misinformation that the Clinton Administration seems endlessly to emit. Actually, few things could make the need for vigorous defense of 2nd Amendment rights clearer than the ongoing spectacle of Clinton contempt for the citizens he is supposed to serve. For the 2nd Amendment is really in the Constitution to give men like Bill Clinton something to think about when their ambition gets particularly over-inflated. The Second Amendment was not put into the Constitution by the Founders merely to allow us to intimidate burglars, or hunt rabbits to our hearts' content. This is not to say that hunting game for the family dinner, or defending against personal dangers, were not anticipated uses for firearms, particularly on the frontier. But these things are not the real purpose of the Amendment. The Founders added the 2nd Amendment so that when, after a long train of abuses, a government evinces a methodical design upon our natural rights, we will have the means to protect and recover our rights. That is why the right to keep and bear arms was included in the Bill of Rights. In fact, if we make the judgment that our rights are being systematically violated, we have not merely the right, but the duty, to resist and overthrow the power responsible. That duty requires that we always maintain the material capacity to resist tyranny, if necessary, something that it is very hard to do if the government has all the weapons. A strong case can be made, therefore, that it is a fundamental DUTY of the free citizen to keep and bear arms. In our time there have been many folks who don't like to be reminded of all this. And they try, in their painful way, to pretend that the word "people" in the 2nd Amendment means something there that it doesn't mean in any one of the other nine amendments in the Bill of Rights. They say that, for some odd reason, the Founders had a lapse, and instead of putting in "states" they put in "people." And so it refers to a right inherent in the state government. This position is incoherent, and has been disproved by every piece of legitimate historical evidence. At one point in Jefferson's letters, for example, he is talking about the militia, and he writes, "militia -- every able-bodied man in the state. ..." The militia was every able-bodied man in the state. It had nothing to do with the state government. The words "well-regulated" had to do with organizing that militia and drilling it in the style of the 19th century, but "militia" itself referred to the able-bodied citizens of the state or commonwealth -- not to the state government. It would make no sense whatsoever to restrict the right to keep and bear arms to state governments, since the principle on which our polity is based, as stated in the Declaration, recognizes that any government, at any level, can become oppressive of our rights. And we must be prepared to defend ourselves against its abuses. But the movement against 2nd Amendment rights is not just a threat to our capacity to defend ourselves physically against tyranny. It is also part of the much more general assault on the very notion that human beings are capable of moral responsibility. This is a second and deeper reason that the defense of the 2nd Amendment is essential to the defense of liberty. [ Continued In Next Message... ] - - ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Jul 99 11:20:00 -0700 From: scott.bergeson@ucs.org (SCOTT BERGESON) Subject: FW: Update: Showdown On S. 254 - ----- From: Gun Owners of America Sent: Tuesday, July 27, 1999 10:36 AM Subject: Update: Showdown On S. 254 Battle Lines Forming in the Senate * Senator Bob Smith forces colleagues to decide between God or gun control Gun Owners of America E-Mail/FAX Alert 8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151 Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408 http://www.gunowners.org (Tuesday, July 27, 1999) -- What does one do when outgunned by the other side? Call for Divine help of course. Senator Bob Smith (I-NH), who is fighting a lonely battle in the U.S. Senate, has done just that. It still appears that on this Wednesday, Smith will force a showdown between two different approaches to fighting crime: one that emphasizes the role of the Ten Commandments and prayer (the House crime bill) and one that imposes even more gun control (the Gore-Lautenberg version passed in the Senate). Smith's parliamentary maneuvering resulted in yesterday's expected vote being cancelled-thus leaving the ultimate showdown for later this week. On Wednesday, the Senate will vote on whether to shut down Smith's filibuster of a "substitute" embodying the language of the Senate anti-gun crime bill (S. 254). If Senators Trent Lott (R-MS) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) are successful in overcoming Smith, then they will replace the House crime bill (H.R. 1501) with the anti-gun Senate version. IT IS CRITICAL THAT SENATORS VOTE IN FAVOR OF THE SMITH FILIBUSTER. The Smith filibuster is the ONLY thing keeping the anti-gun S. 254 language from advancing in the legislative process. Senators Lott and Hatch want to take the gun control language in S. 254 and substitute it into the House crime bill. The House bill contains language reaffirming the role of the Ten Commandments and prayer in public schools; prohibiting the release of dangerous criminals solely on the basis of prison conditions; and recognizing the role of media violence, the impact of certain music, and lack of school discipline in tragedies such as the one which occurred at Columbine. The House bill is not a perfect bill, but one can see the interesting dilemma that Senator Smith has put his Senate colleagues in to. As Smith is framing it, Senators must decide between choosing morality (in the House bill) or choosing a Senate bill that contains the Al Gore/Frank Lautenberg gun control provisions-including one that would almost certainly put gun shows out of business (see Talking Point #4 below). As far as Second Amendment rights are concerned, the ultimate yardstick is to STOP S. 254 AND THE "SENATE SUBSTITUTE" THAT EMBODIES IT!!! Thus, the message gun owners can relay to their Senators is that for every crime bill vote that arises in the next couple of weeks, they should always vote against the anti-gun Senate language. HERE'S WHAT TO DO: * Please call both of your Senators toll-free at 1-888-449-3511. You can also call them using the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. Ask your Senators to vote in support of the Smith filibuster and to vote AGAINST the S. 254 language at every point along the way. * Please forward this message to as many interested people as you can. * Many of you have already sent numerous faxes and e-mails to your Senators, and we thank you for that. But at this late date, it is imperative that we flood their offices with phone calls. TALKING POINTS (Gun control in the Senate bill, S. 254): 1. Young adult gun ban. This ban, introduced by Senator John Ashcroft (R-MO), could severely punish parents who allow their kids to even touch a so-called semi-automatic "assault weapon." While the amendment allows for certain exemptions, there are some imponderable questions which NO senator could answer, but which a parent would have to answer in order to avoid incarceration. For example: What is a "semiautomatic assault weapon"? The definition, plus exemptions, takes up six pages of fine print in the U.S. Code. While a gun manufacturer will pay handsome salaries to attorneys to decipher such convoluted definitions, it will be considerably harder for a parent to determine which of his family firearms are so-called assault weapons, and suspect under this provision. 2. Extending the ban on moderate-capacity magazines. This provision, introduced by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), would ban the importation of any magazine that can hold over 10 rounds-no matter when the magazine was manufactured. 3. Hatch-Kohl "Lock-up your safety" requirements. Senators Orrin Hatch (r) and Herb Kohl (D) introduced this amendment which forces gun sellers to include trigger locks with every handgun sold. 4. Banning private sales of firearms at gun shows. This amendment offered by Sen. Lautenberg of New Jersey would ban private sales at gun shows-sales between two PRIVATE individuals-unless the buyer first submits to a background registration check. Under this provision, even displaying a firearm at a gun show, and subsequently transferring that gun to a non-dealer (if it is displayed with a notice that it is for sale), will result in a two-year prison sentence-five years for the second violation. This amendment would also impose a series of restrictions and requirements upon gun show promoters-requirements that would almost certainly put gun shows out of business. For example, this Lautenberg provision allows gun show promoters to be imprisoned for two years for failure to notify EVERY attendee of his legal requirements. Finally, this provision grants BATF open-ended inspection authority to harass vendors at gun shows, and explicitly gives BATF the right to keep a gun owner registration list for up to 90 days. ************** Cheaper Than Dirt donates a percentage of your total order to GOA if you use http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/goa.htm to enter their online store. ************** Did someone else forward this to you? To be certain of getting up to date information, please consider subscribing to the GOA E-Mail Alert Network directly. There is no cost or obligation, and the volume of mail is quite low. To subscribe, simply send a message to goamail@gunowners.org and include the state in which you live, in either the subject or the body. To unsubscribe, reply to any alert and ask to be removed. - - ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 30 Jul 99 18:11:00 -0700 From: scott.bergeson@ucs.org (SCOTT BERGESON) Subject: FW: GOUtah! Alert #23 - 29 July 1999 1/2 GOUtah! Gun Owners of Utah Utah's Uncompromising, Independent Gun Rights Network. No Compromise. No Retreat. No Surrender. Not Now. Not Ever. Visit our website at www.slpsa.org/goutah! GOUtah! Alert #23 - 29 July 1999 Today's Thoughts on Liberty: "The framers saw the personal right to bear arms as a potential check against tyranny..." -- Judge Sam R. Cummings U.S. v. Emerson, If you wish to continue to receive this information under the GOUtah! banner, you need to do nothing. If you wish to be added to or taken off the GOUtah! list, please log onto our website at www.slpsa.org/goutah! or send an e-mail to GOUtah3006@aol.com or send a fax to (801) 944-9937 asking to be added to or removed from the GOUtah! list. If you wish to forward or share this copyrighted information with others, you are welcome to do so, on the condition that you pass along the entire document intact and unmodified, and that GOUtah! is clearly indicated as the original source of the material, unless otherwise noted. Utah Gun Owners Win a Major Battle! The War on Your Gun Rights Continues! Utah's gun owners proudly responded to the call to protect their rights and scored a major political win against Governor Leavitt, the Utah State Senate, House Democrats, educational and religious groups, the media and other anti-gun interests in a hard fought battle to protect the rights of self defense and gun ownership. The conservative and freedom loving members of the Utah House of Representatives, primarily Republicans, stood by your rights and held the line against this frenzied onslaught. When the smoke cleared, Utah's gun laws were left intact, but clearly the war is not won and we still have much to do. On Wednesday, 21 July, members of the House and Senate met at Interim Day to discuss gun control proposals and decide of the need for a Special Legislative Session. In all three committees, proposals from the Governor to impose further restrictions on Utah CCW holders were rejected. Professor John Lott of the University of Chicago carried the day in his testimony before the Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee with hard-hitting, in-depth research demonstrating the overwhelmingly-positive social benefits of private firearms ownership and liberalized concealed carry laws. Suggestions for barring purchase of firearms to the mentally ill and to violent misdemeanants were forwarded by the Judiciary Committee, but there is still opportunity to derail these suggestions. There was clearly a lack of support among a majority of House members for the Special Session, and in a closed caucus session, Governor Leavitt was forced to strike his colors on more gun laws for 1999. Legislators instead proposed a series of town meetings around the state where additional public input can be obtained. This is a tremendous opportunity for Utah gun owners to meet face to face with legislators and the media, to continue to spread the message the peaceable gun owners are not the problem, and as such their right should not be infringed. GOUtah! will provide you with the schedule and location of these meetings as soon as it becomes available. GOUtah! will also supply you with facts, figures and other information which will help you make your case in these meetings. Predictably, the Governor, Utah Democrats, the media and other anti-gun interests are having a field day bashing gun rights, gun ownership and concealed carry permit holders, along with those House members voting against the special session. However, the media's own polls are beginning to show a steady erosion of support for the anti-gun side of the debate, and the huge majorities of anti-gun sentiment seen earlier in the year are now within the margin of error for these surveys. We as gun owners will need to aggressively push back against this propaganda barrage with some propaganda of our own. Now is the time to make points for our side in the public opinion arena. Utah gun owners also need to take this time to further organize, build our own coalitions and support networks, improve our lines of cooperation and communication, and begin to make additional inroads into the mainstream political process and within the organization of all major Utah political parties. GOUtah! will have additional information and training available in the near future to help you in these efforts. Utah's gun owners have done very well in this effort! You should be very proud of your success, but also cautious that this early success does not turn into arrogance or complacency. Take a breather, give yourself a pat on the back, sharpen your political and information skills and prepare for the political battles soon to come! There is still much left to do. Here is what you as a GOUtah! activist must do! 1: Contact your Utah House and Senate members again. Thank them for holding firm against the political opportunism and hysteria of the anti-gun political agenda. Ask them to continue to hold firm against any further restrictions of your gun rights. Tell them you'll be involved in and monitoring this issue as the days and weeks progress. You should make the following points about the current gun control proposals: 1: A Referendum either by citizen petition or by Legislative bill is neither needed nor warranted. The Utah Constitution is specific that the Legislature has responsibility of Utah gun laws, not the Governor, the media, the PTA, the teacher's union, or a religious institution. 2: Establishment of a two-level permit system takes Utah gun owners right back to the abusive DPS/BCI 'proving need' situation we so long endured before earning 'shall issue' CCW legislation in 1995. The life of every Utah citizen has equal value. CCW permit holders are not second class citizens, and we will not be treated as such! 3: Any limitation on purchase or possession of a firearm by someone on the grounds of mental illness should only be after a full measure of due legal process, a capable and impartial medical evaluation, court adjudication and the physical confinement or state custody of the patient. 4: No further limitation on purchase or possession of a firearm for anything less than a felony conviction, ever. Promote the concept of ending plea bargain options for all crimes of violence, regardless if any weapon is involved. Reinforce that any loss of gun rights should also result in a loss of voting rights, holding public office, and similar restrictions. Any new restrictions based on past misdemeanor records constitutes an 'ex post facto' law by increasing punishment for a given behavior after the fact, and is unconstitutional. 5: Make it clear to Legislators that you will be watching their votes and their statements on this issue carefully, and you will be very active in party political activities as a delegate and in informing and organizing voters in their districts in the next election. Important Utah Legislative Contacts: Rep. Marty Stephens, 3159 N. Higley Rd, Farr West, UT 84404, (801) 731-5346 Res, (801) 538-1930 Off, (801) 594-8229 Fax. Email: mstephen@le.state.ut.us Sen. Lane Beattie, 319 State Capitol, SLC, UT, 84114, (801) 292-7406 Res, (801) 538-1400 Off, (801) 538-1414 Fax, Email: lbeattie@le.state.ut.us Gov. Mike Leavitt, State Capitol, SLC, UT 84114, (801) 538-1000, Email: gov_leavitt@state.ut.us [ Continued In Next Message... ] - - ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 30 Jul 99 18:11:00 -0700 From: scott.bergeson@ucs.org (SCOTT BERGESON) Subject: FW: GOUtah! Alert #23 - 29 July 1999 2/2 [ ...Continued From Previous Message ] Senator Lott's Betrayal of Gun Owners Nearly Complete - - Majority Leader rolls Sen. Smith and Moves Gun Control Forward From Gun Owners of America, 29 July 1999 "On the juvenile justice bill [S. 254], I could have gone through all kinds of contortions and gyrations to try to block that, but I thought . . . we ought to take it up. . . . I didn't run around out here trying to block [the anti-gun amendments]. Some of my colleagues said I should have done that."--Majority Leader Trent Lott on his role in pushing the anti-gun crime bill, July 26, 1999 (Thursday, July 29, 1999) -- It's official. Majority Leader Trent Lott has finally succeeded in breaking Senator Bob Smith's stranglehold on the anti-gun crime bill and has sent the bill forward to its next destination in the legislative process. The Senate voted 77-22 yesterday to break Senator Bob Smith's filibuster and then moved to send the legislation to a conference committee that will iron out the differences between the House and Senate crime bills. The Senate rules would have allowed Smith (I-NH) to continue filibustering the gun bill if he could garner 41 Senators to support him. Smith fell 19 votes short of stopping the Gore-Lautenberg gun control bill. Ironically, Democratic Minority Leader Tom Daschle (SD) praised Senator Lott for his leadership on this legislation. "I will say I support the effort made by the majority leader to move this bill to conference and the method he has employed to do so," Daschle said. "We have had a very good debate on this bill. [Democrats] have had an opportunity to offer amendments. I cite S. 254 as the model I wish we would follow on all bills." Indeed, Senator Lott has been instrumental in moving this gun control legislation at every point along the way. Consider that the Majority Leader: * Scheduled a vote on a crime bill during the midst of the hysteria following the Columbine shooting in May; * Voted for several of the anti-gun provisions when they were offered as amendments to the bill; * Voted for final passage of the anti-gun S. 254 on May 20; * Jump-started the whole gun control debate again this month by taking the anti-gun Senate language (S. 254) and substituting it in place of the relatively innocuous House crime bill (H.R. 1501); * Dusted off his arsenal of parliamentary tricks to prevent Senator Smith from offering constructive amendments to the crime bill during yesterday's vote; * Voted against the Smith filibuster yesterday; and finally, * Allowed the Senate to send notoriously anti-gun Senators like Ted Kennedy and Patrick Leahy to conduct negotiations in the conference committee, while specifically excluding Senator Bob Smith, who is also a member of the Judiciary Committee. While Senator Smith promised yesterday to filibuster the bill once it clears the conference committee, Senate rules will greatly restrict his parliamentary options for delaying the bill. [The Senate conferees are Hatch (R-UT), Kennedy (MA), Leahy (VT), Sessions (AL), and Thurmond (R-SC).] At this point, no one knows how long the crime legislation will remain in the conference committee. It is possible that it will remain there until after the August recess. Eventually, both Congressional houses will have to vote on an identical bill before they can send it to the President. Gun owners will stand the best chance at defeating this legislation in the House, seeing as how they succeeded in getting that body to defeat similar legislation (H.R. 2122) in May. Please stay tuned for further updates. Both Utah Senators Bennett and Hatch voted in favor of ending the Smith filibuster and against your interests as a gun owner. Call Senator Hatch to share your feelings about his betrayal vote at: Senator Orrin Hatch DC Office Phone: 202-224-5251 DC Office Fax: 202-224-6331 DC Judiciary Com. Phone: 202-224-5225 DC Judiciary Com. Fax: 202-224-9102 Toll-free phone: 1-888-449-3511 SLC Office Phone: (801) 524-4380 SLC Office Fax: (801) 524-4379 E-mail: senator_hatch@hatch.senate.gov DC Address: Sen. Orrin Hatch, SR-131 Russell SOB, Washington, DC 20510-4402 SLC: Sen. Orrin Hatch, Federal Building, 125 South State Street, Salt Lake City, UT 84138 GOUtah! Gun Rights (and Wrongs) Quote Watch "In a free society, making sure that the people control the government is a higher value than making sure the government controls the people" - -- David Kopel, The Independence Institute If you have a gun rights quote you'd like to share, please send it, along with a verifiable original source reference to GOUtah! This concludes the GOUtah! Political and Legislative Alert #23- 29 July 1999. We hope this information will be of assistance to you in defending your firearms rights. Remember that getting this information is meaningless unless YOU ACT ON IT TODAY. If you just read it and dump it in the trash, your gun rights, and the gun rights of future generations go in the trash with it. Get involved, get active and get vocal! Copyright 1999 by GOUtah! All rights reserved. - - ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 31 Jul 99 11:36:00 -0700 From: scott.bergeson@ucs.org (SCOTT BERGESON) Subject: FW: GOUtah on SLC Gun Turn-In GOUtah! Gun Owners of Utah Utah's Uncompromising, Independent Gun Rights Network. No Compromise. No Retreat. No Surrender. Not Now. Not Ever. Information Release to All Media- 29 July 1999 GOUtah! Suggests Informed Decisions and Economic Alternatives to the Latest Salt Lake City Gun Turn-In and Destruction Program As a broad-based network of responsible firearms owners in Utah, we are concerned that the upcoming Gun Turn-In and Destruction Program to be conducted by Salt Lake City from 3-13 August 1999 may not be in the best interests of either the individual firearm owner or the public at large. First, the firearms to be turned in will likely come from otherwise peaceable citizens, who pose no threat to the safety or security of the community. GOUtah! suggests that before anyone gives up their firearm without any compensation to the government for destruction, they first take it to a licensed firearms dealer for an appraisal of its current value. Many firearms, even those which are old, have been well used or even inoperable may still have a substantial dollar value to collectors, hunters, target shooters and other legitimate users of firearms. The licensed dealer will be able to give you a value of the firearm, and may even offer to purchase it from you or place it on consignment sale in their place of business. Licensed gun dealers city-wide are listed in the yellow pages of the telephone directory under "Guns." Another legitimate concern is the "No Questions" approach to this gun turn-in program. This may have the effect of allowing a significant piece of evidence to be destroyed without any attempt to identify or apprehend the criminal. Also, under Utah law 76-10-525, all law enforcement agencies in the state are required to determine the true owner of any recovered weapon and promptly return it to them. There is no indication as yet that the Salt Lake City program will obey this law, and thus many innocent individuals who have had their firearms stolen would then also have their property destroyed without compensation by the government, all in order to make a dubious political or social statement. - -end- - - ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 31 Jul 99 11:36:00 -0700 From: scott.bergeson@ucs.org (SCOTT BERGESON) Subject: FW: Filibuster Broken; Gun Control Advances Please note that by voting to end the filibuster, Senators Hatch and Bennett are in violation of the resolution passed by the Republican State Convention. Once again, they're in bed with Kennedy, Feinstein and Lautenberg! Senator Lott's Betrayal of Gun Owners Nearly Complete -- Majority Leader rolls Sen. Smith and moves gun control forward Gun Owners of America E-Mail/FAX Alert 8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151 Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408 http://www.gunowners.org "On the juvenile justice bill [S. 254], I could have gone through all kinds of contortions and gyrations to try to block that, but I thought . . . we ought to take it up. . . . I didn't run around out here trying to block [the anti-gun amendments]. Some of my colleagues said I should have done that." --Majority Leader Trent Lott on his role in pushing the anti-gun crime bill, July 26, 1999 (Thursday, July 29, 1999) -- It's official. Majority Leader Trent Lott has finally succeeded in breaking Senator Bob Smith's stranglehold on the anti-gun crime bill and has sent the bill forward to its next destination in the legislative process. The Senate voted 77-22 yesterday to break Senator Bob Smith's filibuster and then moved to send the legislation to a conference committee that will iron out the differences between the House and Senate crime bills. The Senate rules would have allowed Smith (I-NH) to continue filibus- tering the gun bill if he could garner 41 Senators to support him. Smith fell 19 votes short of stopping the Gore-Lautenberg gun control bill. Ironically, Democratic Minority Leader Tom Daschle (SD) praised Senator Lott for his leadership on this legislation. "I will say I support the effort made by the majority leader to move this bill to conference and the method he has employed to do so," Daschle said. "We have had a very good debate on this bill. [Democrats] have had an opportunity to offer amendments. I cite S. 254 as the model I wish we would follow on all bills." Indeed, Senator Lott has been instrumental in moving this gun control legislation at every point along the way. Consider that the Majority Leader: * Scheduled a vote on a crime bill during the midst of the hysteria following the Columbine shooting in May; * Voted for several of the anti-gun provisions when they were offered as amendments to the bill; * Voted for final passage of the anti-gun S. 254 on May 20; * Jump-started the whole gun control debate again this month by taking the anti-gun Senate language (S. 254) and substituting it in place of the relatively innocuous House crime bill (H.R. 1501); * Dusted off his arsenal of parliamentary tricks to prevent Senator Smith from offering constructive amendments to the crime bill during yesterday's vote; * Voted against the Smith filibuster yesterday; and finally, * Allowed the Senate to send notoriously anti-gun Senators like Ted Kennedy and Patrick Leahy to conduct negotiations in the conference committee, while specifically excluding Senator Bob Smith, who is also a member of the Judiciary Committee. While Senator Smith promised yesterday to filibuster the bill once it clears the conference committee, Senate rules will greatly restrict his parliamentary options for delaying the bill. [The Senate conferees are Hatch (R-UT), Kennedy (MA), Leahy (VT), Sessions (AL), and Thurmond (R-SC).] At this point, no one knows how long the crime legislation will remain in the conference committee. It is possible that it will remain there until after the August recess. Eventually, both Congressional houses will have to vote on an identical bill before they can send it to the President. Gun owners will stand the best chance at defeating this legislation in the House, seeing as how they succeeded in getting that body to defeat similar legislation (H.R. 2122) in May. Please stay tuned for further updates. Senator Smith Responds To Senators After Yesterday's Vote On Missing The Real Problem In Society. "What happened at Littleton was a terrible tragedy. People used this on the Senate floor and mounted an unprecedented assault on the second amendment rights of law-abiding American gun owners. Not one law-abiding American citizen had anything to do with Columbine, not one. . . . They cast the blame, though, on the law-abiding gun owner . . . . The problem is guns, they said, not the culture. It is interesting that we take prayer and values out of the schools. What comes in? Violence, drugs, condoms. Hello, America, wake up." --Congressional Record, July 28, 1999 On Trampling The Constitution. "[The Second Amendment] is pretty clear: 'A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.' Tell me where there is anything in that amendment that allows us to do this under the Constitution of the United States of America? I stood right there where the pages are sitting and took the oath twice when I came to the Senate to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, and that is what I am doing now, and that is what I will continue to do. "There is nothing in those words about background checks. There is nothing in there about the people having a right to keep and bear certain kinds of arms. There is nothing in there that says handguns can be kept or not kept where shotguns can. Nothing. I sure do not see anything in there that gives Congress any leeway whatsoever to infringe second amendment rights whenever some group of anti-gun zealots think what they like to call the 'public interest' requires it. The public interest is to preserve and protect the Constitution of the United States of America. That is what the public interest is and nothing else. You trample on the Constitution; you trample on the public interest." --Congressional Record, July 28, 1999 On His Intent To Continue Filibustering The Anti-gun Crime Bill. "I am proud to stand up for the second amendment in the Chamber of the Senate, and I will stand up here again and again, year after year, month after month, whatever it takes to make this case because I know I am right, and I am going to continue to do it. When this bill [S. 254] comes out of conference, I am going to filibuster it again for as long as I can. I am going to do everything I can to kill it, whatever I can do. I am only one person." --Cong. Record, July 28, 1999 - - ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 01 Aug 99 18:56:00 -0700 From: scott.bergeson@ucs.org (SCOTT BERGESON) Subject: Shinika on Tribune Polls http://www.sltrib.com/08011999/commenta/11956.htm Utah Gun Supporters Blast Tribune Public Opinion Poll By Shinika Sykes Whenever I read or hear about an opinion poll reflecting a point of view that is not in line with my own, my reaction is: "Oh really? Well, no one asked me." Utah concealed-weapons supporters seem to hold a similar belief. In what appeared to be an orchestrated campaign of Public Forum letters and phone calls to The Salt Lake Tribune, they deemed biased, flawed and without merit a recent survey which showed that a majority of Utahns want tighter gun laws. They claimed the objective of the survey was part of a "liberal media plot" to take away Second Amendment rights from law-abiding citizens. An opinion poll is defined as a survey to learn the attitudes, beliefs or opinions of a representative number of people. In all polls, only a small number of the population, randomly chosen, are actually questioned. If they have been scientifically selected, their opinions should accurately reflect those of the entire group. Public opinion polls are used regularly by the news media (newspapers, magazines, television and radio), politicians, businesses, government agencies and social scientists. The survey in question, conducted by Valley Research for The Tribune, showed that from a random statewide sampling of 511 Utah adults, 79 percent said no one other than law-enforcement officers should be allowed to carry guns in schools. "Did the [pollster] tell people that it is already against the law to carry weapons into schools? Has that stopped [some individuals] from killing kids in schools?" asked several callers. "Any survey that tries to place restrictions on law-abiding citizens should not be put on the front page masquerading as facts," said a reader in Payson. "Put it on the Opinion page, along with all the other liberal opinions." True, there are laws on the books that prohibit anyone from carrying weapons into schools. However, Utah concealed-weapon permit holders are exempt from such laws. That said, my purpose in addressing this issue is not to get in the middle the state's current gun debate. My goal is to give Tribune readers some pointers on what to look for when they are confronted with surveys and polls. According to the Washington, D.C.- based American Newspaper Publishers Association and the Pew Research Center, all polls are not equal. Therefore, some factors ought to be considered when their results are presented. For example: - -- Consider the objective of the polling firm. Newspapers and TV stations pay for polls taken by private companies. These surveys usually deal with subjects of broad public interest. A survey by an independent group has more credibili y than a poll from a group with a stake in the results. (The Tribune would have published the findings the poll about weapons in schools no matter what the outcome.) - -- A poll is accurate only at the time it is taken. If individuals do not have firm opinions about the issue, the results could vary widely from one day to the next. The low number of undecided responses (4 to 6 percent) indicates little ambiguity in the survey of guns in schools. - -- Polls deal best with simple questions. Complex questions are likely to produce distorted results. - -- A poll should have a margin of error that is based on the number of people polled, not the population. This is expressed as a range -- a certain number of percentage points -- above or below the reported findings of the poll. (The poll in question has a plus or minus 4.5 percent margin of error.) In other words, think of a poll as taking a sample spoonful from a pot of soup to test its taste. It is not necessary to eat the entire pot because a few sips from a spoon give an accurate indication of the whole pot. A scientific poll by an independent, reputable research firm, using a representative sampling of a specified population, can and does provide a credible point of view, whether or not we agree with the results. SNIP _________ The Reader Advocate's phone number is 237-2015. Write the Reader Advocate, The Salt Lake Tribune, P.O. Box 867, Salt Lake City, Utah 84110. E-mail: reader.advocate@sltrib.com. Copyright 1999, The Salt Lake Tribune - - ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 01 Aug 99 19:43:00 -0700 From: scott.bergeson@ucs.org (SCOTT BERGESON) Subject: FW: Stop Congress from Ending Gun Shows - ----- Date: Sun, 01 Aug 1999 12:26:31 -0400 From: Weldon Clark To: 2ndamendmentnews-owner@onelist.com Subject: [2ndamendmentnews] Stop Congress from Ending Gun Shows Stop Congress from Ending Gun Shows Call your Representatives and Senators and call the offices of the congressman appointed to the conference committee. Insist that the final Juvenile Justice Bill contain NO PROVISIONS against guns and gun shows. Point out to them what if just one of the women Yosemite Murder victims had a concealed gun the murders could have been stopped. What if just one of these Atlanta victims assaulted had a firearm to stop this murderous assault? (by Alan Korwin ACTING ON ITS OWN, FBI CLOSES GUN SHOWS NATIONWIDE Congressional Oversight Apparently No Longer An Issue In what seemed like an arbitrary and capricious attack on U.S. commerce, the FBI, without warning, closed gun shows and the firearms business in general on Sunday, by turning off its national instant background check system (NICS) for the day.) The Juvenile Justice Bill now in conference contains provisions which in practical terms will put an end to gun shows and which will follow private sales at gun shows. It is the registration of sale of firearms. Registration is the one thing that makes confiscation possible. The only reason the anti-gun politicians can steal the guns is that they have a record of firearms ownership. GET BETWEEN THESE RECORDS AND YOUR GOVERNMENTS ANY WAY YOU CAN. You are advised to call your congressperson at the following toll-free numbers US Capitol Switchboard 1-888-449-3511 You can also call them using the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. E-Mail Link To The U.S. Congress. http://in-search-of.org/ To spread the word call Rush Limbaugh at 1-800-828-2882 For the latest happenings at NRA contact www.2ndamendment.net For legislative updates contact www.nealknox.com and go to "Scripts from the Firearms Coalition Legislative Update Line" ***************************** SENATE conferees Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) HOUSE conferees - Fourteen (the majority of them anti-gun) are specifically authorized to discuss the gun sections. Republicans Henry Hyde (Ill.) Bill McCollum (Fla.) George Gekas (Pa.) Howard Coble (N.C.) Lamar Smith (Tex.) Charles Canady (Fla.), Bob Barr (Ga.) Democrats John Conyers (Mich.) Barney Frank (Mass.), Robert Scott (Va.) Howard Berman (Calif.) Zoe Lofgren (Calif.), plus substitutes on some gun issues Sheila Jackson-Lee (Tex.) Marty Meehan (Mass.). HOUSE conferees - The dozen not authorized to vote on gun issues are Bill Goodling (Pa.) Tom Petri (Wis.) Mike Castle (Del.) Jim Greenwood (Pa.) Jim DeMint (S.C.) William Clay (Mo.) Dale Kildee (Mich.) Carolyn McCarthy (NY) William Bliley (Va.) John Dingell (Mich.) Mike Bilirakis (Fla.) Billy Tauzin (La.) Neal Knox - House Appoints Juv. Justice Conferees The House appointed 26conferees to the House-Senate conference on H.R. 1501, the Juvenile Justice bill. The Senate appointed five on Wednesday. The House also voted 305-84 in favor of a motion by Judiciary Committee Ranking Democrat John Conyers, instructing the conferees to support a background check on all gun show sales but which does not "weaken the effectiveness of existing checks" or existing law, that all conference sessions be open, that amendments be allowed (raising the question whether Conyers intends to stack on something like one-handgun-per-month), and report a compromise bill before next week's adjournment for the rest of August. It's most unlikely that the conference committee would move that quickly. All such instructions are eyewash; the Senate also insisted on its version, as is usual. While the anti-gun crowd is calling for immediate action, nothing is likely to be agreed in conference until well after Labor Day. Then both Houses must agree to their version before the bill would go to President Clinton, who is threatening to veto anything less than the Senate-passed gun provisions. Interestingly, opponents of Conyers' motion included Majority Leader Richard Armey, Majority Whip Tom Delay and GOP Conference Chairman J.C. Watts. Fourteen of the conferees -- the majority of them anti-gun -- are specifically authorized to discuss the gun sections. They are Republicans Henry Hyde (Ill.), Bill McCollum (Fla.), George Gekas (Pa.), Howard Coble (N.C.), Lamar Smith (Tex.), Charles Canady (Fla.), Bob Barr (Ga.); Democrats John Conyers (Mich.), Barney Frank (Mass.), Robert Scott (Va.), Howard Berman (Calif.), and Zoe Lofgren (Calif.), plus substitutes on some gun issues Sheila Jackson-Lee (Tex.) and Marty Meehan (Mass.). The dozen not authorized to vote on gun issues are Bill Goodling (Pa.), Tom Petri (Wis.), Mike Castle (Del.), Jim Greenwood (Pa.), Jim DeMint (S.C.), William Clay (Mo.), Dale Kildee (Mich.), Carolyn McCarthy (NY). William Bliley (Va.), John Dingell (Mich.), Mike Bilirakis (Fla.) and Billy Tauzin (La.) Both Reps. Dingell and McCarthy authored gun show amendments that were accepted and rejected, respectively, but not included in the final bill. Usually on a massive, multi-part bill like this one, the conferees meet several times, and members participate in discussions in which they are authorized or particularly interested. I checked with the Speaker's office, Judiciary Committee and Mr. Dingell's office trying to determine if Mr. Dingell and Mrs. McCarthy will be allowed to speak on the gun issues. I was told it will be up to the conference committee when they meet. =============== Thank goodness the Atlanta killer committed suicide when he was cornered by police at a gas station. Instead of endangering anyone else, he performed the incredible feat of simultaneously shooting himself in the head with two guns. We've still heard nothing about where he got the guns he apparently used during the office killings, a Glock 9mm and Colt .45ACP ("which together hold 24 rounds," the press happily tells us). And there are reports that he had two other guns in his car when stopped by police. But we now know that he used a hammer to beat to death his present wife and two children, and that he was the primary suspect -- but was never charged -- with hacking to death his first wife and her mother in 1993. I wonder how many blows were left in that hammer? **************************** The 2ndAmendmentNews Team The way to protect your own rights is to protect the rights of others. Our right to own and use firearms is under attack. This list was created in a hurry due to the emergency presented by anti-gun politicians and the media dancing in the blood of those who died in the recent massacre. If you've received this as a forward and wish to subscribe please send a reply to me at wh.clark@cwix.com or behanna@fast.net Cordially Yours, The 2ndAmendmentNews Team 2ndAmendmentNews is published by volunteer activists who support the full original individual rights intent of the 2nd Amendment and oppose any appeasement on gun rights. The moderators include Chris Behanna, Weldon Clark (an NRA director), Russ Howard (past NRA director) and Steve Cicero. If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen. -- Samuel Adams, speech at the Philadelphia State House, August 1, 1776. - - ------------------------------ End of utah-firearms-digest V2 #150 ***********************************