From: owner-utah-firearms-digest@lists.xmission.com (utah-firearms-digest) To: utah-firearms-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: utah-firearms-digest V2 #154 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 Thursday, August 19 1999 Volume 02 : Number 154 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 18 Aug 99 13:21:00 -0700 From: scott.bergeson@ucs.org (SCOTT BERGESON) Subject: FW: Firearms Facts at a Glance for 1999 1/2 - ---------- From: Gavin Wallace To: GOUtah3006@aol.com Subject: Firearms Facts at a Glance for 1999 Date: Tue, Aug 17, 1999, 4:46 PM GOUtah! Gun Owners of Utah Utah's Uncompromising, Independent Gun Rights Network. No Compromise. No Retreat. No Surrender. Not Now. Not Ever. Firearms Facts at a Glance for 1999 (Source(s) Citation Follows in Parenthesis) U.S. Firearms Ownership in General Privately-Owned Firearms In U.S: More than 200 million total firearms, including 65-70 million handguns.(BATF) Firearms Owners In U.S: 60-65 million overall, including 30-35 million handgun owners, or nearly half of U.S. households. Firearms ownership in Utah is reported at about 65-70% of households statewide, varies by location.(BATF, Ut. St. Health Dept. and other estimates) Firearms as Used in Lawful Self Defense Firearms Owners Having Used a Gun for Self Defense In U.S: 11% of all individuals owning firearms, and 13% of those owning handguns. Use of a firearm is proven as the most effective method for a victim to deter, defend against and/or avoid injury from a violent criminal assault, exceeding both cooperation with assailant and the use of any other instrument or method of self defense.(FBI, US DoJ, Bureau of Justice Stats, Crime Victimization Survey) Number Of Protective Uses Of Firearms In U.S: Projected at a minimum of 2.5 million cases annually, equal to 1% of total U.S. population each year. Criminal assailants are killed by their victims or others in only about 0.1%, and wounded in only about 1.0% of incidents as described above. Most such crimes are prevented by mere presence of a firearm in the hands of an intended victim.(Dr. Gary Kleck, PhD, Florida State University, Targeting Guns, 1998) Lawfully-Permitted Concealed Carry (CCW) of Firearms for Self Defense Nationally: 31 of 50 states currently have 'shall issue' laws allowing private citizens the ability to legally carry a concealed firearm for lawful self defense. Half of U.S. population currently lives in 'shall issue' states. States with 'shall issue' CCW laws enjoy 18% overall lower violent crime rates than those states without such 'shall issue' CCW laws. Overall, homicide rates are 21% lower, robbery rates 33% lower, and aggravated assaults 11% lower in the 'shall issue' states than in 'non-issue' states.(FBI UCR) National studies conclude such 'shall issue' laws decrease crime rates, deter violent criminal behavior, and do not contribute to an increase in firearm accident rates. If the 'non-issue' states had adopted 'shall issue' laws in 1992, projections indicate 1,570 murders, 4,177 rapes and 60,000+ aggravated assaults would have been avoided in those states each year. The estimated economic benefit to society from such reduced crime rates, reduced victim injury costs and other savings would be a minimum of $6.214 billion dollars annually. A CCW permit holder is statistically less likely to be arrested or involved in acts of violence or other criminal behavior than a member of the general population.(Lott and Mustard, Crime, Deterrence and Right to Carry Concealed Handguns, University of Chicago study 1997) In Utah: Utah has been a 'shall issue' state since 1995. Permits are issued by Utah DPS/BCI only after an extensive background check, fingerprinting, checking personal references and certification of the applicant's familiarity with firearms safety, firearms laws and 'use of force' laws. A history of violence, moral turpitude, substance abuse or other similar behavior will disqualify an applicant. A Utah CCW permit has been valid statewide 'without restriction' since 1986. Nearly 30,000 Utah CCW permits are currently issued, to about 3 % of the eligible adults in the state. Non-residents may also be issued a CCW permit under Utah law. A valid Utah CCW permit exempts holder from Utah's Brady background check requirement at point of purchase. Utah currently honors CCW permits issued from AK, AR, AZ, HI, LA, NC, NV, OK, SC, TN and TX. Utah CCW permits are currently valid in AK, AR, AZ, ID, IN, KY, MI, OK and WY. (DPS/BCI, Ut.Code 53-5-701 to 53-5-711) Since 1995, no discernible, documented pattern of abuse has developed among Utah's nearly 25,000 CCW permit holders. No Utah CCW permit holder is currently known to have been convicted of a serious crime of violence in which their concealed firearm was used.(DPS/BCI) Firearms as Used in Crime Annual Criminal Abuse of Firearms Nationally: Less than 0.2% of all firearms, and less than 0.4% of all handguns. More than 99.8% of all guns, and 99.6% of all handguns are NOT used in criminal activity in any given year.(BATF, FBI) Crime in the United States Chance of Any Single Individual Being a Victim of Violent Crime In Their Lifetime: Currently about 65 to 70%, depending on age, profession, lifestyle, geographic and demographic factors.(US DoJ, FBI UCR) U.S. Crime Rate and Incarceration: From 1960 to 1980, the number of U.S. prison inmates per 1000 violent crimes dropped from 738 to 227, and the crime rate predictably tripled. Nationally, each year more than a quarter-million felons, convicted by state courts, are not incarcerated as part of sentencing. Only 29% of convicted felons are now incarcerated, with 71% on some form of conditional release, and now on the streets. On average a imprisoned criminal will only serve one-third of their sentence before early release. The average career criminal commits more than 180 crimes per year, and thus contributes to the nearly 14 million violent and property crimes annually. On average nationwide, convicted criminals on probation or parole commit 14 murders, 48 rapes and 578 robberies daily.(US DoJ, Rand Corp, FBI UCR) In Utah: Currently Utah has one of the lowest rates of incarceration of all the states, at only 218/100M population, compared to 433/100M nationally. The average Utah criminal actually serves only 16% of their sentence, the lowest ratio of sentence-to-time-served in the nation. Utah has the highest percentage of prisoners with prior felonies, highest percentage of parole violators and highest rate of parole recidivism of any state. Utah spends only 2.8% of state budget on corrections, compared to a 4.8% national average. Since 1993, Utah's overall index crime rate ranking has jumped from 21st to 9th among the 50 states. Utah ranks 1st in theft, 6th in property crimes, 12th in rape, 21st in burglary, 22nd in auto theft, 35th in aggravated assault, 39th in robbery and 43rd in murder nationally.(FBI UCR, Ut. Bar Journal, Feb.1999) Firearms Accidents and Firearms Safety Education Fatal Firearms Accidents for All Ages Annually: 1,134 nationwide in 1996. Rate of 0.4 per 100M population. Represents a roughly 90% decrease from record high in 1904. Accident rate is down by 65% since 1930, while U.S. population has doubled and number of privately-owned firearms has quadrupled. Compare to other types of fatal accidents, for all ages: Motor Vehicles 16.7/100M, Falls 4.8/ 100M, Poisoning 4.0/100M, Drowning 1.7/100M, Fires 1.6/100M, Choking 1.1/100M. (Nat'l Safety Council, Nat'l Center for Health Statistics, BATF, US Census) Fatal Firearms Accidents for Children 14 and Under Annually: 138 nationwide in 1996. About 3% of all fatal accidents under age 14. Represents a 75% decrease from record high of 550 in 1975. Compared to other types of fatal accidents for children: Motor Vehicles 44%, Fires 16%, Drowning 14%, Choking 4.5%.(Nat'l Safety Council, Nat'l Center for Health Statistics) [ Continued In Next Message... ] - - ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Aug 99 13:21:00 -0700 From: scott.bergeson@ucs.org (SCOTT BERGESON) Subject: FW: Firearms Facts at a Glance for 1999 2/2 [ ...Continued From Previous Message ] In Utah: Average of 1 to 1.5 unintentional fatal shootings annually among those 18 and under, a number which has remained fairly constant over the last decade.(Ut. St. Dept. of Health) Education, beginning at an early age, in firearms safety helps develop responsible attitudes toward lawful firearms ownership, and are demonstrated to be the most effective measures available for preventing firearms accidents. Foremost among such programs are those developed by the National Rifle Association of America, including Eddie Eagle and other firearms safety programs, and are used by schools, law enforcement and youth groups nationwide. NRA has nearly 40,000 certified firearms safety instructors nationwide.(NRA) Firearms Commerce and Economic Issues National Economic Impact: The hunting and shooting sports market generates in excess of $30.9 billion dollars of primary economic activity nationally each year, creating and sustaining 986,000 American jobs. There are 31.9 million hunters and recreational shooters in the country. (National Shooting Sports Foundation, National Sporting Goods Association, 1998) In Utah: Several major firms, including Browning Arms, Barnes Bullets, LAR Manufacturing, North American Arms, Liberty-National Security Safe, Rocky Mountain Safe, Pro-Steel Safe, Ft. Knox Safe, and many others provide high paying, skilled jobs to many hundreds of Utah residents, and contribute to a viable sales and property tax base for their communities. Existing Gun Laws and the Brady Background Check for Retail Firearms Purchase Federal Brady Law: Since early 1994, Brady has mandated a criminal background check at point of sale on buyers of all handguns, and since late 1998, for all firearms, new or used (rifle, shotgun or handgun) when purchased from a federally-licensed dealer (FFL). The National Instant Check System (NICS) has now largely replaced a 5-day wait, except where individual state laws impose a waiting period or state records are non-compliant with federal requirements. FFL dealers at gun shows, pawn shops, exhibitions and all other sales locations have complied with this requirement since early 1994. FBI is now widely reported as retaining Brady records in violation of existing federal law, to establish a Federal gun owner database. In Utah: Compliance with Federal Brady mandate has been satisfied by Utah BCI Instant Check system since early 1994. Total annual checks for 1999 currently projected at about 75,000 to 80,000. In 1997 the rejection rate (for handguns only) was 2.4%.This means almost 98% of all Utah gun buyers are required to pay a state fee to prove they have no disqualifying record before the exercise of a constitutional right. In 1997, reasons for Brady rejections were divided about equally for criminal record, outstanding warrants and domestic violence record/protective orders.(DPS/BCI Crime in Utah, 1997, with 1999 projections based on updated Brady stats for Dec 1998, Jan, Feb. and Mar. 1999) Actual Effect on Criminals: Since early 1994, Utah has not arrested, charged, prosecuted, convicted or incarcerated a single disqualified individual for 'attempt to purchase' a firearm in violation of Brady laws. Nationally convictions for 'attempt to purchase' by disqualified individuals under Brady now total 7 since early 1994. There are now in excess of 20,000 federal, state and local gun laws on the books, yet few if any have proven clearly effective in reducing violence or a criminal's access to firearms. Some 93% of firearms used in crime are reported as stolen or come from some other uncontrollable source.(DPS/BCI, US DoJ, BATF) Selected Resources for Further Information Major Studies, Annual Reports and Research Publications FBI Uniform Crime Report, published annually by the US DoJ & FBI. National Crime Victimization Survey, published annually by US DoJ, Bureau of Justice Stats. Crime in Utah, published annually by Utah DPS, Bureau of Criminal Identification. Dr. Gary Kleck, PhD, Florida State University, multiple research studies including Targeting Guns, Aldine De Gruyter. NY. 1997 Prof. John R. Lott, David B. Mustard, Crime, Deterrence and Right-to-Carry Concealed Handguns, University of Chicago study, 1997 Prof. John R. Lott, William W. Landes, Multiple Victim Public Shootings, Bombings, and Right To Carry Concealed Handgun Laws: Contrasting Private and Public Law Enforcement, University of Chicago School of Law, 1998. (Available online at http://www.law.uchicago.edu/Publications/Working/index.html) James Wright, Peter Rossi, Armed and Considered Dangerous, US Department of Justice study, 1986 Books More Guns, Less Crime, John R. Lott Jr. 1998, University of Chicago Press. USA Second Amendment Primer, Les Adams, 1996, Palladium Press, Birmingham, Alabama, USA Guns, Crime and Freedom, Wayne LaPierre, 1994, Regnery Publishing, Washington DC, USA Gun Control and the Constitution, Sources and Explorations of the Second Amendment, Robert J. Cottrol, Ed., 1994 Garland Publishing, New York and London Criminal Justice? The Legal System vs. Individual Responsibility, Robert James Bidinotto, Editor, 1994, Foundation for Economic Education, Irvington-on-Hudson NY, USA That Every Man Be Armed, The Evolution of a Constitutional Right, Stephen Halbrook, 1984, Independent Institute, Oakland, CA, USA Online Resources Gun Owners of Utah: e-mail to GOUtah3006@aol.com, http://www.slpsa.org/goutah! National Rifle Association of America: http://www.nra.org, http://www.nraila.or Gun Owners of America: http://www.gunowners.org Citizens Committee for Right to Keep and Bear Arms: http://www.ccrkba.org Neal Knox Associates: http://www.NealKnox.com Version 2.0. This information is current as of 1 August 1999. Copyright 1999 by GOUtah! All rights reserved. - - ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Aug 99 13:21:00 -0700 From: scott.bergeson@ucs.org (SCOTT BERGESON) Subject: CA May Seize "Assault Weapons" - ----- Date: Tue, 17 Aug 1999 22:23:18 -0600 From: "Jim Dexter" To: lputah@qsicorp.com Subject: CA May Seize "Assault Weapons" Why doesn't anyone tell them about Australia and Great Britain? - ----------------------------------------------------------- Calif. Shifts on Assault Weapons By DOUG WILLIS Associated Press Writer SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - The state attorney general agreed Tuesday to drop his predecessor's appeal of a lawsuit over gun registration, clearing the way for the state to order owners of about 1,600 assault weapons to surrender them to law enforcement. Attorney General Bill Lockyer will ask the Legislature to provide funding to compensate owners who turn in the weapons, valued at $750 to $1,500 each, spokesman Nathan Barankin said. A June 1989 state law prohibited the sale and possession of 62 models of military-style assault weapons. But it let residents who owned the weapons at that time keep them if they registered them with the state by March 30, 1992. Lockyer's predecessor, Dan Lungren, let people who owned the guns before June 1989 register them without prosecution or confiscation after the 1992 deadline. Handgun Control and the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence sued Lungren and won a ruling from a San Francisco judge in 1997 that any registration of the banned weapons after March 1992 was invalid. Lungren appealed. Lockyer, a Democrat who succeeded the Republican Lungren as attorney general eight months ago, plans to ask a state appeals court this week to approve the settlement, Barankin said. Lungren did not respond to a message left Tuesday on his home answering machine by The Associated Press seeking comment on Lockyer's decision. Luis Tolley, the Western director of Handgun Control, called Lockyer's proposal a victory. ``Gun smugglers and others who broke the law are now on notice that the assault weapon law will be enforced and those caught with illegal, unregistered assault weapons will be held accountable,'' Tolley said in a written statement. Sam Paredes, deputy director of Gun Owners of California, accused Lockyer of going after owners who registered their weapons in good faith. ``It is unreasonable to have citizens who tried to obey the law and who followed the directions of the attorney general to be forced to surrender their guns. That is ridiculous,'' Paredes said. Nearly 50,000 assault weapons were registered by the 1992 deadline. - - ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Aug 99 13:21:00 -0700 From: scott.bergeson@ucs.org (SCOTT BERGESON) Subject: FW: Gun rights lawsuit FYI, format as received. - ----- Date: Tue, 17 Aug 1999 23:35:54 -0700 From: "Dr. Ken Larsen" Subject: Gun rights lawsuit As promised, here is the copy of the verified complaint I will file at the Federal Court House 250 South Main in Salt Lake City tomorrow (Wednesday the 18th at 10:00 a.m.) VICTOR MARSHALL GORDON #5851 ATTORNEY FOR PLAINTIFF 944 West 600 North SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH 84116 TELEPHONE: (801) 440-6775 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DR. KENNETH R. LARSEN ) Plaintiff ) ) VS. ) VERIFIED ) COMPLAINT UNITED STATES, ) STATE OF UTAH, ) SALT LAKE COUNTY, ) SALT LAKE CITY ) Defendants. ) COMES NOW the Plaintiff, by and through counsel of record, complains and alleges as follows: 1. All events herein alleged occurred within the State of Utah, Salt Lake County, and Salt Lake City. 2. That on or about the 16th of August, 1999, Dr. Ken Larsen entered the premises of Capitol Jewelry and Loan at 1450 South Main, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, State of Utah and attempted to purchase a handgun. At that time, he was not allowed to purchase the gun because of existing Federal, State, County and City statutes that require personal information and or a background check prior to the sale of a firearm. Dr. Larsen was informed that he could purchase an archery set capable of killing with no surrender of personal information. The information required for the purchase of a handgun included: name, address, birthdate, Social Security number, sex, height, weight, eye color, hair color, along with two forms of identification. 3. That the enforcement of such laws constitutes an infringement of the civil right to keep and bear arms as guaranteed in the United States Constitution, Amendments II and III, and the Utah State Constitution, Article I, Sections 1, and 6. 4. That the infringement of such Constitutionally guaranteed civil rights under color of law is actionable under 42SC 1981, 1982 and 1983. 5. That any infringement of any Constitutionally guaranteed civil right cannot be tolerated without jeopardizing all such rights. DATED this __18th__ day of AUGUST, 1999. [signature] VICTOR MARSHALL GORDON [signatuare] DR. KENNETH R. LARSEN I, The undersigned, do hereby certify that a true and correct copy of the foregoing was mailed or delivered this ___18th___ day of _____AUGUST_____, 1998, to: US ATT Richard G. MacDougall FAX 9-524-6925 COR LD NTC US Attorneys Office, Utah [signature] VICTOR MARSHALL GORDON - - ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Aug 99 13:21:00 -0700 From: scott.bergeson@ucs.org (SCOTT BERGESON) Subject: FW: Horowitz on the NAACP's Anti-Gun Suit 1/2 - ----- Date: Wed, 18 Aug 1999 10:05:44 -0600 From: "Jim Dexter" To: lputah@qsicorp.com Subject: FW: Horowitz on the NAACP's Anti-Gun Suit Telling like it is. - ---------- BY DAVID HOROWITZ When the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People announced plans recently to file an injunctive class-action suit "to force [gun manufacturers] to distribute their product responsibly," the NAACP president, Kweisi Mfume, noted that gun violence takes a disproportionately high toll among young black males. According to an NAACP press release, African-American males between the ages of 15 and 24 are almost five times more likely to be injured by firearms than are white males in the same age group. "Firearm homicide has been the leading cause of death among young African-American males for nearly 30 years," it stated. Am I alone in seeing this as an absurd act of political desperation by the civil rights establishment? What's next? Will Irish-Americans sue whiskey distillers, or Jews the gas company? That last analogy only works, of course, for those who think the Holocaust was a self-inflicted wound. In fact, black leaders have already accused white and Korean liquor vendors of "invading" black communities and intoxicating their inhabitants. Boycotts have followed these charges, and anti-white, anti-Korean race riots as well. But who forces alcohol down reluctant throats? And who makes guns shoot in ways that victimize blacks more than whites? How can the NAACP even make the comparison between gun deaths of blacks and whites, if not as a racist insinuation that whites are somehow the cause of those "disproportionate" violent deaths, just as whites are the implied cause of nearly every other social pathology that afflicts the African-American community? In the sociology of the left, including the NAACP, there cannot be a wound the black community inflicts on itself that is not ultimately the responsibility of malicious whites. To think otherwise would be to "blame the victim." Only mean-spirited conservatives (like me) would even think of doing that. The fact is that while blacks make up only 12 percent of the population, they account for 46 percent of total violent crime and 90 percent of the murders of other blacks. It is they, not whites or gun manufacturers, who are responsible for the disproportionate gun deaths of young black males. Firearms don't kill people. Sociopaths do. It takes a human brain to pull the trigger. If young black males abuse firearms in an irresponsible and criminal fashion, why should the firearm industry be held accountable? Why not their parents? Why not themselves? Unfortunately, as a nation we have become so trapped in the melodrama of black victimization and white oppression that we are in danger of losing all sense of proportion. If blacks are oppressed in America, why isn't there a black exodus? Why do all those black Haitians want to come here? To be oppressed? In the grips of a politically inspired group psychosis, we find it natural to collude with demagogic race hustlers in support of a fantasy in which African-Americans are no longer responsible for anything negative they do, even to themselves. If blacks constitute just under half the prison population, for example, that cannot be allowed to suggest that the black community might have a problem when it comes to raising its children as law-abiding members of society. Oh no. Such a statistic can only be explained by the racism of a criminal justice system that is incarcerating too many blacks. Nonsense like this is proposed daily by the entire spectrum of the civil rights leadership from racist bloviator Al Sharpton to urbane Urban League President Hugh Price. Against the intimidating atmosphere this consensus creates, to suggest the obvious-that too many blacks are in prison because blacks commit too many crimes-is to be identified as an apologist for racism, and perhaps even a closet racist oneself. The NAACP's anti-gun lawsuit comes on the heels of the crusade to defend crack dealers because 90 percent of them are African-American and their sentences are considered "too harsh." This insipid campaign was launched by Jesse Jackson at the Washington rally of race-hater Louis Farrakhan. That 90 percent of crack cocaine dealers are black cannot be seen, of course, as a moral stain on those crack dealers or as a massive social problem for the community that produces them. It can only be the result of a white legal system that stigmatizes crack as a more dangerous and more culpable drug than the powder cocaine it uses itself. Forget that the heavier penalties were originally demanded by black leaders who claimed that crack was associated with street violence in the black community and the white criminal justice system did not care enough about its destructive consequences to make the penalties harsh. That was then, this is now. And now, lessening the sentences that were previously raised has become a crusade for "social justice" that overshadows the need to combat the crime wave itself. Because racial oppression is the main enemy, the villainy of the crack trade is transformed into yet another symbol of white unfairness. This kind of race baiting has now intruded into the presidential contest as a means of smearing the Republican leader, George W. Bush, who is distinguished by his outreach to minority communities and by his support among blacks. Is there a vast left-wing conspiracy that sees Bush's black support as a political threat? Well, of course there is. It is precisely because Bush is perceived as a candidate who can break the vicious stereotyping of Republicans as anti-black that he has to be smeared. Bush was thus labeled Governor Death in a Christopher Hitchens column. The clear implication of Hitchens' attack was that Bush is collusive in a racist justice system in Texas that executes blacks in disproportionate numbers. "Perhaps you wonder if capital punishment is unevenly applied, as respects race and class, in the state of Texas," wrote Hitchens. "Wonder no longer. Just read the Amnesty report Killing With Prejudice: Race and the Death Penalty in the USA." Well, Christopher, I read the Amnesty report. Maybe you should, too. The Amnesty report does not even mention racial or class statistics in Texas and could not possibly be used to draw such a conclusion. Moreover, a perusal of the report reveals no self-evident truths even nationally. Rather, it is a slovenly produced, inflammatory document. Under the heading "Racist Representation of Indigent Defendants," for example, it offers this evidence: "Gary Burns, black, executed in Indiana on 20 November 1997, was described to the jury by his white attorney as an 'insignificant, snivelly little street person.'" End of example. What is this supposed to prove? That someone else must have done the dirty work because Burns was too weak to be guilty of it himself? Who can tell from this example? Most of the report consists of unsystematic and frustratingly brief snippets of cases like this, combined with a sprinkling of unanalyzed statistics that are arrayed to serve a partisan agenda. [ Continued In Next Message... ] - - ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Aug 99 13:21:00 -0700 From: scott.bergeson@ucs.org (SCOTT BERGESON) Subject: FW: Horowitz on the NAACP's Anti-Gun Suit 2/2 [ ...Continued From Previous Message ] It is true that the number of blacks executed in Texas (and nationwide) is greater than their proportion in the population. But it is also true that the proportion of black murderers far exceeds the proportion of blacks in the population at large. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics 1996 report (released May 1999), blacks commit 54 percent of the homicides in America even though they constitute only 12 percent of the population. An individual black male is eight times more likely to commit murder than an individual white male. Thus, in the most equitable system imaginable, a black male would be eight times more likely than a white male to be executed for murder. In fact, however, convicted white murderers are more likely to be executed for their crimes than convicted black murderers. In 1996-97, whites accounted for 62 percent of the convicted murderers executed in Texas. According to statistics provided by the Justice Department, the proportion of whites presently on death row compared to the total white population is almost four times that of the comparable proportion of blacks on death row in terms of the total black population. Whatever these statistics prove, it is not that justice in America is systemically biased against blacks. But the desperation to prove white turpitude is so great that instead of celebrating this as a triumph of civil rights reform in the law, the race baiters merely shift their focus to the victims of capital crimes. Thus the statistic with which Amnesty opens its case is this: "Of the 500 prisoners executed between 1977 and 1998," according to Amnesty, "81.8 [percent] were convicted of murdering a white person, even though blacks and whites are the victims of homicide in almost equal numbers nationwide." No attempt is made of course to explain how the criminal justice system might systematically discriminate in favor of white victims but not against black defendants (except by this indirect method). What the report's raw statistic fails to take into account is that the death penalty is only imposed in aggravated circumstances, which can include the violence of the crime, whether it is committed in the course of another crime or whether the perpetrator has a prior criminal record of violent crimes. All these factors are ignored in the Amnesty report. It so happens that black felons commit 43 percent of aggravated assaults, 66 percent of armed robberies, 27 percent of rapes and 85 percent of interracial crimes of violence, mainly against whites (this last figure from a Justice Department report for 1993). Since juries generally don't demand the death penalty for crimes of passion, where the victim is known to the killer, and since blacks are far more likely to commit violent crimes against whites than are whites against blacks, the disparity that offends Amnesty may not imply a racial bias on the part of prosecutors and juries at all. The report does not even acknowledge this as a problem. The defense of criminals as a civil rights cause is only an extreme manifestation of what has apparently become the very essence of the civil rights movement. Do black children fail to achieve in school? White oppression explains their failure. (Nothing else could without blaming the victims.) Poor black academic performance cannot be seen as a failure of black families to educate their children, or of the black community to support educational values, which are often referred to derisively as "thinking white." Black failure can only be the result of some lingering residue of the white perfidy involved in slavery and segregation. Call it "institutional racism." Of course, those who invoke the phantom of "institutional racism" are too sophisticated to claim that there are actual racists lodged in our liberal education establishment who refuse to admit black children to legally integrated schools or refuse to teach them when they get there. Instead, the concept of "institutional racism" is made to encompass an entire system of oppression that invisibly conspires to keep black children down. It may do so through culturally rigged tests; or through the failure to provide black role models in positions of authority; or by providing only underfunded schools to black neighborhoods; or as a result of the pervasive negative pressure exerted by an environment of poverty that cannot be countered with a mere six hours of school. (And, indeed, compulsory preschool is already being proposed by Al Gore and the left as a new social cure-all.) In reality, the failure of African-American children to make the educational grade cannot be explained by any of the above factors. Statistics analyzed by the New York Times (July 4, 1999) dispel the poverty argument by establishing that impoverished white children whose parents earn less than $10,000 a year score higher on standardized SAT tests than black children whose parents earn more than $70,000. None of the above arguments, moreover, can explain why Vietnamese children who are poor and discriminated against, whose schools are underfunded and who are culturally at a greater disadvantage than blacks, and have even fewer "role models" to inspire them, still manage to be educationally competitive. While the oppression theme dominates public discourse, no attention is paid to the real problems that hold African-American children back. There is a symbiosis, in fact, between the political mumbo jumbo of the Kweisi Mfumes and Jesse Jacksons (abetted mightily by patronizing white liberals) and the seemingly intractable social problems of the black community. The myth of racial oppression, invoked to explain every social deficit of blacks, is an exercise in psychological denial. Crying racism deflects attention from the actual causes of the problems that afflict African-American communities. Its net result is to deprive people and communities who could help themselves of the power to change their fate. Nearly 70 percent of black children are born out of wedlock. A child raised in a single-parent, female-headed household is six times more likely to be poor than a child of any color born into a two-parent household. Seventy percent of youth violence is committed by males from female-headed households, regardless of race. If the NAACP and other black leaders want to end the terrible scourge of gun violence committed by young inner-city blacks, they should launch a campaign to promote marriage and family formation in the African-American community; they should issue a moral plea to the community to stigmatize fathers who abandon their children and parents who have more children than they can afford. Instead of waging war against law enforcement agencies and supporting destructive racial demagogues like Al Sharpton, they should support the Rudy Giulianis and other champions of public safety, whom they now attack. They should campaign for a tripling of police forces in inner-city areas to protect the vast majority of inhabitants who are law-abiding and who are the true victims of the predators among them. But to take these remedial steps would require rejecting the bogus charge of white oppression. It would mean abandoning the ludicrous claim that white America and firearms manufacturers are the cause of the problems afflicting African-Americans. It would mean taking responsibility for their own communities instead. Copyright * 1999 Salon.com All rights reserved. - - ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Aug 1999 17:33:19 -0600 From: "larry larsen" Subject: Re: Gun rights lawsuit Must not pay too much attention to the form (ATF F 4473) that is to be filled out, because you left out RACE which is something I cant even ask someone who is looking for a job, and also place of birth, just to name a few things you left out. larry - -----Original Message----- From: SCOTT BERGESON Date: Wednesday, August 18, 1999 4:33 PM Subject: FW: Gun rights lawsuit > >FYI, format as received. > >----- >Date: Tue, 17 Aug 1999 23:35:54 -0700 >From: "Dr. Ken Larsen" >Subject: Gun rights lawsuit > >As promised, here is the copy of the verified complaint I will file at the >Federal Court House 250 South Main in Salt Lake City tomorrow (Wednesday >the 18th at 10:00 a.m.) > >VICTOR MARSHALL GORDON #5851 >ATTORNEY FOR PLAINTIFF >944 West 600 North >SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH 84116 >TELEPHONE: (801) 440-6775 > >IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT > >DR. KENNETH R. LARSEN ) > Plaintiff ) > ) >VS. ) VERIFIED > ) >COMPLAINT >UNITED STATES, ) >STATE OF UTAH, ) >SALT LAKE COUNTY, ) >SALT LAKE CITY ) > Defendants. ) > >COMES NOW the Plaintiff, by and through counsel of record, complains and >alleges as follows: > >1. All events herein alleged occurred within the State of Utah, Salt Lake >County, and Salt Lake City. > >2. That on or about the 16th of August, 1999, Dr. Ken Larsen entered the >premises of Capitol Jewelry and Loan at 1450 South Main, Salt Lake City, >Salt Lake County, State of Utah and attempted to purchase a handgun. At >that time, he was not allowed to purchase the gun because of existing >Federal, State, County and City statutes that require personal information >and or a background check prior to the sale of a firearm. Dr. Larsen was >informed that he could purchase an archery set capable of killing with no >surrender of personal information. The information required for the >purchase of a handgun included: name, address, birthdate, Social Security >number, sex, height, weight, eye color, hair color, along with two forms of >identification. > >3. That the enforcement of such laws constitutes an infringement of the >civil right to keep and bear arms as guaranteed in the United States >Constitution, Amendments II and III, and the Utah State Constitution, >Article I, Sections 1, and 6. > >4. That the infringement of such Constitutionally guaranteed civil rights >under color of law is actionable under 42SC 1981, 1982 and 1983. > >5. That any infringement of any Constitutionally guaranteed civil right >cannot be tolerated without jeopardizing all such rights. > >DATED this __18th__ day of AUGUST, 1999. > >[signature] >VICTOR MARSHALL GORDON > >[signatuare] >DR. KENNETH R. LARSEN > >I, The undersigned, do hereby certify that a true and correct copy of the >foregoing was mailed or delivered this ___18th___ day of _____AUGUST_____, >1998, >to: >US ATT Richard G. MacDougall >FAX 9-524-6925 >COR LD NTC >US Attorneys Office, Utah > >[signature] >VICTOR MARSHALL GORDON > > > >- > > - - ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Aug 1999 21:25:04 -0600 From: "Will Thompson" Subject: RE: Gun rights lawsuit Yes, race is there, but it has been ruled "unlawful" to require that information be given. > -----Original Message----- > From: owner-utah-firearms@lists.xmission.com > [mailto:owner-utah-firearms@lists.xmission.com]On Behalf Of larry larsen > Sent: Wednesday, August 18, 1999 5:33 PM > To: utah-firearms@lists.xmission.com > Subject: Re: Gun rights lawsuit > > > Must not pay too much attention to the form (ATF F 4473) that is to be > filled out, because you left out RACE [..snip..] > larry - - ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Aug 1999 22:56:02 -0600 From: charles hardy Subject: Re: Fwd: Gun Rights Rally On Wed, 18 Aug 1999 18:04:02 -0700 "Dr. Ken Larsen" writes: >Well, Charles, the friendly tirade continues ;-) . Actually, no. At this point it ends. At least from my side. In my last post on this topic I said I'd not offer any further arguments. I conclude by giving you the last word, if you want it and wishing you well in both the cruising and the gun suit. (I suspect you've got a VERY good chance with the cruising suit if the defendants and/or courts do not find or employ some way to keep the case from ever reaching a jury.) If you'd really like to continue this discussion, re-send your last post to me after the gun suit is concluded. And best of luck with your mayoral race. Utah, and especially SLC, could use some high ranking elected officials who are willing to do what you say you will do if elected. Charles - ---------------- Charles Hardy ___________________________________________________________________ Get the Internet just the way you want it. Free software, free e-mail, and free Internet access for a month! 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