From: owner-utah-firearms-digest@lists.xmission.com (utah-firearms-digest) To: utah-firearms-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: utah-firearms-digest V2 #216 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 Tuesday, September 11 2001 Volume 02 : Number 216 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2001 09:24:44 -0600 From: "David Sagers" Subject: Times for Saturday Hi Charles Do you know what time the festivities start on Saturday Morning? Thanks David - - ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2001 11:10:00 -0600 From: Charles C Hardy Subject: Re: Times for Saturday Credentialing starts at 9. I think the convention starts at 10. If you'd like to help any candidates, we can use help as early as 7. Let me know. Charles On Thu, 23 Aug 2001 09:24:44 -0600 "David Sagers" writes: > Hi Charles > > Do you know what time the festivities start on Saturday Morning? > > Thanks > David > > > - > > ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. - - ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Aug 2001 12:00:01 -0600 From: Charles C Hardy Subject: Fw: [UTGOA] Great Convention - THANK YOU! Thank you to those who participated and helped in any way with the convention. It turned out to be a good day for gun rights. Here is UTGOA's report... - --------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Sarah Thompson To: utgoa@yahoogroups.com Date: Sun, 26 Aug 2001 16:49:26 -0600 Subject: [UTGOA] Great Convention - THANK YOU! Thanks to all of you for your help in making yesterday's Republican State Convention a rousing success! Election results (provided by Dana Dickson) Joe Cannon - 1091 Glen Davis - 762 Frank Guliuzza - 883 Candace Daly - 845 Miriam Harmer - 1016 Camille Cook - 528 Mike McCauley - 1568 Kyle Larsen - 205 Congratulations to the new officers. We look forward to working with you. Resolutions Gun Rights Resolution - PASSED Jury Plank Resolution - PASSED American Sovereignty Resolution - PASSED Constitution & Bylaws State Central Committee C&B amendment(opposed by UTGOA) - DEFEATED Dickson C&B amendment(supported by UTGOA) - REFERRED to C&B committee Closed primary amendment (no UTGOA position) - PASSED Rules Voting Rules amendment - PASSED Quorum amendment - FAILED (but the quorum was kept throughout the Convention, so this had no effect) Instant Runoff Voting - PASSED (and was used very successfully) Safe Storage Safe Storage of weapons at the convention was a resounding success! There were 25 weapons checked by 24 people - mostly firearms, but also a few knives. There were no problems whatsoever. To our knowledge this is the first time citizens have been able to bring firearms to an event attended by the president or vice president. We hope that we've successfully demonstrated that there is no conflict between the right of ordinary citizens to carry firearms for their own safety, and the ability of the Secret Service to protect visiting dignitaries. We encourage gun owners throughout the rest of this great nation to insist on similar arrangements whenever such events are scheduled. In addition to local media coverage in the Salt Lake Tribune, Deseret News, and the Spectrum, there was national coverage from the New York Times and Associated Press. See http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/26/politics/26CHEN.html for the NY Times story and http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61756-2001Aug25.html for the AP report as it appeared in the Washington Post and http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010825/pl/life_guns_dc_1.html for the Reuters story. THANK YOU! Victories of this magnitude take the hard work of a great many people. Utah Gun Owners Alliance would like to thank the following people: Republican State delegates, especially those of you who kept your commitment to stay to the end of the 7 hour convention - often without lunch, or even a break. You have earned the gratitude and respect of all Republicans and all gun owners. Our many WONDERFUL volunteers who stood out in the hot sun making sure delegates got copies of our Utah Gun Owners Alliance Convention Guide. We were especially happy to have so many young people who cared enough to help. The 24 people who checked weapons, proving that safe storage is needed, and that it poses no threat to anyone. Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, for arranging for (and paying for!) the safe storage lockers and security. Jade Pusey of the Attorney General's office and Clark Aposhian of US-DIN for manning the safe storage area, and helping everything to go smoothly. The Secret Service, the Sandy City Police, and Utah GOP Executive Director Scott Parker for their cooperation. The sponsors of the many excellent Rules proposals, Constitution & Bylaws amendments and Resolutions. The candidates for State Party offices - especially those who cared enough to complete the UTGOA questionnaire. ALL of you - our UTGOA members and supporters for your active involvement and ongoing commitment to protecting and restoring our gun rights. Without your phone calls, emails, letters, and your moral and financial support, we would not be able to accomplish anything! THANKS! WE APPRECIATE YOU! Copyright 2001, Utah Gun Owners Alliance, Inc. and Sarah Thompson PO Box 1185 Sandy, UT 84091 801-566-1625 http://www.utgoa.org Director@utgoa.org PLEASE SUPPORT UTAH GUN OWNERS ALLIANCE! JOIN US TODAY! Did someone forward this to you? Please SUBSCRIBE NOW! That way you'll receive our FREE alerts as soon as they're released. During the legislative session, we send urgent, time limited alerts. Don't risk missing important information because someone else neglected to forward important information. Our alerts are low volume and average less than one alert per day. To subscribe to the UTGOA list, send a blank email to utgoa-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or use the form on our web site, http://www.utgoa.org. For more information, see http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/UTGOA. Utah Gun Owners Alliance is completely dependent on your generosity to cover our operating costs. Please consider joining us or sending a donation. Membership information is at: http://www.utgoa.org/pages/join.html Donations may be sent to: PO Box 1185, Sandy, UT 84091 Checks should be made payable to Utah Gun Owners Alliance, Inc. or UTGOA. Thank for your support! UTGOA is written and distributed by, Utah Gun Owners Alliance, Inc. www.utgoa.org, and Sarah Thompson, M.D. All information contained in these alerts is the responsibility of the author, unless otherwise attributed. Permission is granted for distribution of these alerts so long as no changes are made, UTGOA is clearly credited, and this message is left intact. Archives of the UTGOA alerts can be found at: http://www.utgoa.org/cgi-bin/alerts Utah Gun Owners Alliance, Inc. is a Utah non-profit corporation. ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. - - ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Aug 2001 23:34:23 -0600 From: charles hardy Subject: Federal census suit This message is in MIME format. Since your mail reader does not understand this format, some or all of this message may not be legible. - ----__JNP_000_0c5f.7e9a.18f5 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Not a gun issue, but of interest... At 9:00 am tomorrow (8/29), Utah State will be appearing in Federal District Court in Salt Lake (Rm. 420) before a three-judge panel to argue round two of our case against the US Census Bureau for their arbitrary and unlawful actions which unquestionably denied Utah its fourth Congressional seat. This is the suit that argues Utah lost the 4th seat due to the use of "imputation" (statistical sampling) in NC. If you get this in time and want to show up, it may be interesting and a nice show of support. - ---------------- Charles Hardy - ----__JNP_000_0c5f.7e9a.18f5 Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Not a gun issue, but of interest...
 
At 9:00 am tomorrow (8/29), Utah State will be appearing in Federal= =20 District
Court in Salt Lake (Rm. 420) before a three-judge panel to= =20 argue round two of
our case against the US Census Bureau for their = arbitrary=20 and unlawful
actions which unquestionably denied Utah its fourth=20 Congressional seat.  
 
This is the suit that argues Utah lost the 4th seat due to the use of= =20 "imputation" (statistical sampling)
in NC.
 
If you get this in time and want to show up, it may be interesting and= a=20 nice show of support.

----------------
Charles Hardy
<utbagpiper@juno.com>
- ----__JNP_000_0c5f.7e9a.18f5-- ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. - - ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2001 14:23:58 -0600 From: Charles C Hardy Subject: GOP Closes primaries This is not strictly a gun issue. However, if you consider yourself a Republican it may affect your ability to vote in primary elections. You may have read in the paper or heard on the news that at last Saturday's State Republican Convention, the delegates chose to "close" the Republican primaries. What does that mean? Not a whole lot, but a little history will put it into perspective and, I hope, dispel some of the fear and anger that some reporters seem to want to spread. Until now, primary elections in Utah were "open." This meant that anyone, of any, or no official, political affiliation could vote in the primary election of any party. When you went to your polling place on primary election day you were simply handed a ballot. Once you were inside the voting booth you could decide which primary (Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, etc) you wanted to vote in. You could only vote in one party's primary, but you could pick ANY one party you wanted to. This has allowed for what is known as "cross over voting." Because the Democrats (and most smaller parties) often do not have enough candidates for office (or eliminated all but one candidate in their convention) they frequently do not have a primary election. So it was becomming common for Democrats and others to "cross over" to vote in the Republican primary. Republican delegates have decided they don't want non-Republicans helping to pick which Republican will appear on the general election ballot. As one Republican has said, "When I played High School football, we never asked our cross-town rivals to help us pick our team captains. Why should Republicans be letting Democrats help pick our party's standard bearers?" By "closing" their primary (as allowed under State law), the Utah Republican Party will now only let *Registered* Republicans vote in their primary elections. In other words, rather than being handed a ballot and allowed to vote in any primary race, a voter will now be handed a specific ballot and allowed to vote in the Republican primary only if the voter is registered Republican. To those who have lived in other States, this is completely normal and natural. But to Utahns it is a bit of a change. Somethig like 70% of our registered voters are officially unaffiliated. Unless you are *actively* involved in a political party--such as delegate or precinct officer--odds are pretty good that you are officially unaffiliated. The fact that you may have voted for Bush (or Gore) in the last election does not matter. Your actual votes are (always have been and will continue to be) secret. The only way to register with one party or another is on an official, voter registration form. This does not cost anything (other than 2 minutes to fill out the form and a stamp if you choose to mail it in) and anyone may register with any party. If you are not sure whether you are registered with a party, call your county clerk (see below for link to contact info). For the 2002 primary election only (the primaries this year are all non-partisan so this change does not affect them) you will be able to register as a Republican at your polling place immediately prior to voting, if you want to vote in the Republican Primary. However, barring a change to State law, come the 2004 primary (the next Presidential election year), you will have to have been registered as a Republican for several weeks prior to the primary in order to vote in the Republican primary election. None of this affects general elections in any way. You will not need to be registered with any party to vote in the general elections. At this time, the Democrats and other parties continue to have "open" primaries so anyone is free to vote in those primaries on the somewhat rare occassions they occur. If you consider yourself a Republican, I urge you to go ahead and update your voter registration to declare affiliation with the Republican party so you will know that you are all set to vote in the GOP primary next year. Regardless of affiliation, I urge you to vote in whatever primary your party has. The primary elections have VERY low voter turnout and so, a relatively small number of gun owners voting (or choosing to stay home and not vote) can easily affect the outcome of the race. Show up at the primaries so that you have a good, pro-gun candidate on the general election ballot. It is frustrating to show up to a general election and have to select between a gun grabbing Democrat and a gun hating Republican simply because good, pro-gun candidates were eliminated in the primary election. An official voter registration form that is good for anywhere in the State is available at . It will need to be printed, filled out, signed, and mailed to your county clerk. A list of addresses for all county clerks is available at . For more information you can call your county clerk, the State elections office at (801)538-1041 or 1(800)995-VOTE, or reply and I'll see if I can help. Charles Hardy ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. - - ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2001 11:35:19 -0600 From: Charles C Hardy Subject: Fw: Sniper rifles: the lethal - and legal - weapons of war The latest "evil gun" tactics. Look for legislation to ban or over-regulate these weapons, probably based on something like simply caliber. Then next thing you know, your .50 cal Desert Eagle or maybe even your .45 is considered a "pocket rocket" and banned. Just because you may not own, or ever want to own such a weapon, don't let the antis get us again with divide and conquer. First it was short shot guns and fully automatic weapons. Next it was semi-auto scary-looking guns like the AR and SKS. Let them take out .50 cal rifles today, and your children will wake up to find that their 30.06 scoped hunting rifle has been reclassified as a dangerous sniper rifle. Charles - --------- Forwarded message ---------- Care for a dose of statist propaganda? Sniper rifles: the lethal - and legal - weapons of war By Tom Diaz KNIGHT RIDDER TRIBUNE Have you heard about the booming sale of .50-caliber sniper rifles on the civilian market? Consider what one writer had to say about these guns, capable of slicing through an inch of armor plate as if it were so much butter: "How can anyone exaggerate .50-caliber performance? Here's a bullet that even at 1 1/2 miles crashes into a target with more energy than Dirty Harry's famous .44(-caliber) Magnum at point-blank. But tremendous energy can hardly be surprising for a cartridge that's five times larger than a .30-06 - indeed, its 750-grain projectile is almost twice that of many elephant gun cartridges. "Overpenetration concerns? Dave Bush, an Indiana City, Michigan, loader of custom .50-caliber match rounds, reports he test-fired his bullets at simulated wooden frame houses and found they blew completely through six houses - not six walls, six houses!" Six houses? Oh, come on. But wait a minute. This quote isn't the ranting of some gun control advocate in full hysteria. This is matter-of-fact descriptive prose, straight from "The Ultimate Sniper," a magisterial book by Maj. John J. Plaster, widely acknowledged as an expert within the burgeoning sniper community. Plaster is right. It is indeed almost impossible to exaggerate the lethality of these weapons of war. Barrett Manufacturing, a pioneer maker of the big sniper rifles, calls them "heavy firepower for light infantry." It brags that its rifles "allow sophisticated targets to be destroyed or disabled by a single soldier. Armored personnel carriers, radar dishes, communications vehicles, aircraft . . . are all vulnerable to the quick strike capability of the Barrett 82A1." Translate that into civilian terms and you have the perfect weapon for assassination and terrorism, for taking out armored limousines, shooting down helicopters, and destroying physical infrastructure. And yet .50-caliber sniper rifles sold by Barrett and a growing field of companies are less regulated than handguns. A youth of 18 can legally buy a .50-caliber sniper rifle. But only an adult of 21 can buy a handgun. Most ordinary, normal Americans - even gun owners - are shocked to learn these weapons of war are the hottest new item in the American civilian gun market. They are selling like hot cakes, all over America, and the price is dropping precipitously. If you can't find one in your local gun shop, you can find one in five minutes over the Internet. Or buy a video that demonstrates how to make one at home. What is going on here? Simply a new verse of an old song. The gun industry is the last consumer product industry completely free of health and safety regulation. Toy teddy bears are subject to more product design regulation than any gun sold in America. As a result, the gun industry is free to design and sell almost anything it wants to boost its profits. Over and over again, it turns to increased lethality - more firepower, more killing power - to rejuvenate its stagnant and failing markets. The .50-caliber rifle is the unthinkably dangerous extreme at the "bigger is better" end of the gun marketing spectrum. The so-called "pocket rocket" is the reckless extreme at the opposite end, the region of the mindless "more guns make us all safer" mantra. Pocket rockets are tiny, high-powered, very concealable handguns. (The term was coined by the Austrian company Glock, a major importer of handguns into the United States). They are specifically designed to be carried on the person and to have maximum killing power for their size. A pocket rocket is a homicide waiting to happen. The gun industry in America is like a shark. There is nothing personal about what a shark does to survive. It just does what is in its nature to do. The gun industry is the same way. It is full of otherwise perfectly nice people who will nevertheless keep on designing, making, and selling more and more deadly killing machines until we bring the industry under control. The best way to bring the gun industry under control is to treat it like every other consumer product industry in America. Firearms should be subject to the same basic standards for health and safety that we impose on every other consumer product from pesticides to baby cribs to motor vehicles. We need an independent federal agency - preferably in the Treasury Department, which already has gun expertise - with broad authority to apply those basic standards and balance the public health and safety risks that specific models of guns impose on the public against the benefits they offer Guns would not disappear under such a system, just as pesticides haven't disappeared under the same kind of regulation. There would be plenty of guns for recreation, hunting, and home defense. But Second Amendment pornography like .50-caliber sniper rifles and pocket rockets would be kept under the rocks where it belongs, and out of the civilian marketplace. Tom Diaz is the senior policy analyst at the Violence Policy Center and author of "Making a Killing: The Business of Guns in America." ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. - - ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2001 11:30:03 -0600 From: Charles C Hardy Subject: FW: Concealed weapons law praised This message is in MIME format. Since your mail reader does not understand this format, some or all of this message may not be legible. - ----__JNP_000_63f7.7097.6934 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit - ----- Forwarded Message ----- Concealed weapons law is praised CHARLESTON (AP) - When the state's concealed weapons law was passed in 1996, critics feared gunslingers would be strolling the streets of South Carolina, but authorities say the program has worked effectively. The law allows any South Carolina resident 21 or older with a clean criminal record to obtain permits to carry guns in handbags, briefcases or holsters. They must pass a training class and pay a $50 fee for a background check and processing. Many locations still prohibit concealed guns, including schools, legislative buildings and any place with a liquor license. Last year, nearly 11,000 people applied for the permits, and many of those were license renewals. "People are very aware of their right to have a permit and to carry a firearm," said Capt. Joe Dorton, who oversees the State Law Enforcement Division's regulatory department. "They are very attentive to keeping their permit in good standing." Former Gov. David Beasley signed the concealed gun bill into law in 1996 despite concerns from critics that it would add trouble to the state's gun culture. Dorton, however, said very few permit holders have abused the privilege since the law was enacted. "We have had a couple of instances of pointing a firearm, and one instance where a firearm was fired at an acquaintance after a fight," Dorton said. In all the cases, the owner's permit was revoked, he said. Rep. Jeff Young, R-Sumter, the original sponsor of the bill, said the legislation is working. "The people who have gotten them have been very responsible," he said. "Now you have 30,000 people trained with guns who may not have been trained before. And the criminal still doesn't know who's carrying." Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, originally opposed the bill because she feared it would lead to more armed citizens walking the streets. But she said Thursday that if "there's no evidence of abuse, I don't have any opposition to the law remaining in place." University of South Carolina criminologist Geoffrey Alpert said it's still unclear whether the state's concealed weapon law is an effective tool for deterring crime. That's because violent crime is down in most categories, and no one seems to have done any in-depth research into the issue since it became law. Dorton said he didn't have any data to support why the program is gaining in popularity, although SLED suspected it was bound to happen. "We don't do anything to encourage or discourage" people signing up, he said. But he added, "we knew there would be a pretty sizable base" given the enthusiasm of gun owners. - ----__JNP_000_63f7.7097.6934 Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable FW: Concealed weapons law praised
 
-= - ----=20 Forwarded Message -----
 
 
Concealed weapons law is praised

CHARLESTON (AP) - When= =20 the state's concealed weapons law
was passed in 1996, critics feared= =20 gunslingers would be strolling
the streets of South Carolina, but=20 authorities say the program has
worked effectively.

The law = allows=20 any South Carolina resident 21 or older with a clean
criminal record = to=20 obtain permits to carry guns in handbags,
briefcases or holsters. = They=20 must pass a training class and pay a
$50 fee for a background check = and=20 processing.

Many locations still prohibit concealed guns, = including=20 schools,
legislative buildings and any place with a liquor=20 license.

Last year, nearly 11,000 people applied for the permits, = and=20 many
of those were license renewals.

"People are very aware of= =20 their right to have a permit and to carry a
firearm," said Capt. Joe= =20 Dorton, who oversees the State Law
Enforcement Division's regulatory= =20 department. "They are very
attentive to keeping their permit in good= =20 standing."

Former Gov. David Beasley signed the concealed gun bill= into=20 law
in 1996 despite concerns from critics that it would add trouble = to=20
the state's gun culture. Dorton, however, said very few permit
= holders=20 have abused the privilege since the law was enacted.

"We have had = a=20 couple of instances of pointing a firearm, and one
instance where a=20 firearm was fired at an acquaintance after a fight,"
Dorton said. In = all=20 the cases, the owner's permit was revoked, he
said.

Rep. Jeff= =20 Young, R-Sumter, the original sponsor of the bill, said the
= legislation is=20 working.

"The people who have gotten them have been very = responsible,"=20 he
said. "Now you have 30,000 people trained with guns who may not=20
have been trained before. And the criminal still doesn't know who's=20
carrying."

Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, originally = opposed=20 the bill
because she feared it would lead to more armed citizens = walking=20
the streets.

But she said Thursday that if "there's no = evidence of=20 abuse, I don't
have any opposition to the law remaining in=20 place."

University of South Carolina criminologist Geoffrey Alpert= said=20 it's
still unclear whether the state's concealed weapon law is an=20
effective tool for deterring crime.

That's because violent = crime is=20 down in most categories, and no
one seems to have done any in-depth=20 research into the issue since
it became law.

Dorton said he = didn't=20 have any data to support why the program is
gaining in popularity,=20 although SLED suspected it was bound to
happen. "We don't do anything= to=20 encourage or discourage" people
signing up, he said.

But he = added,=20 "we knew there would be a pretty sizable base"
given the enthusiasm = of gun=20 owners.





- ----__JNP_000_63f7.7097.6934-- ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. - - ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 07 Sep 2001 09:25:41 -0600 From: Scott Bergeson Subject: URLs ACLU says gun questions erode rights - ---------- Civil liberties advocates criticized a Denver appeals court for eroding Fourth Amendment protections by allowing police to ask stopped motorists whether they have a gun. "How many of these things have to happen before we realize we're living in a police state," asked an ACLU attorney. (09/07/01) http://www.newsok.com/cgi-bin/show_article?ID=749039&pic=none&TP=getarticle Political science - ---------- by Dave Kopel & Glenn Reynolds A National Academy of Sciences panel which will study the effects of firearms violence does not include in its goals searching out the benefits of gun ownership. Another example of politically rigged government science, write the authors. (08/29/01) http://www.nationalreview.com/kopel/kopel082901.shtml - - ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 7 Sep 2001 10:23:00 -0600 From: Charles C Hardy Subject: Fw: [LPUtah] FW: ALERT: Another Anti-gun Amendment Coming - --------- Forwarded message ---------- Calls Needed to Sink Another Anti-gun Schumer Amendment (Thursday, September 6, 2001) -- They're baaack! Yes, the Congress is back, and our liberties are under fire once again. You will remember that in July, Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) offered an amendment to force the FBI to keep gun buyers names for at least 90 days. After you guys contacted your Representatives, the Moran amendment failed miserably by a vote of 268-161. Now, Mr. Anti-Freedom himself -- Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer of New York -- wants to require the FBI to register gun buyers. Attorney General John Ashcroft recently reduced the registration period to 24 hours, but Schumer & Co. want to ratchet that time period back up to at least 90 days. Sen. Schumer is reportedly looking to offer his amendment to the Senate's Commerce-Justice-State budget bill (S. 1215). Gun owners should ask their Senators to vote AGAINST the Schumer amendment. Obviously, the best answer would be for Congress to repeal the unconstitutional Brady registration law. Short of that, Congress should enact the original Smith amendment which passed the Senate by a 69-31 vote in 1998. The Smith language calls for the "immediate destruction" of ANY and ALL information that might help identify lawful gun buyers. Moreover, the bill specifically authorizes private individuals to sue the FBI for registering gun owners and specifically offers to compensate them for legal fees when they sue the FBI. ACTION: While the Senate could vote as early as today on this amendment, it probably will not get to it until at least next Tuesday. Please use the prewritten text below to help direct your comments to your Senators. You can call your Senators at 202-224-3121. To identify your Senators, as well as to send a message via e-mail, see the Legislative Action Center at http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm on the GOA website. - ----- Pre-written message ----- Dear Senator: Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is planning to offer an amendment forcing the FBI to violate the privacy of thousands upon thousands of law-abiding Americans. The Senator wants the FBI to keep the names of decent gun buyers for at least 90 days. I urge you to oppose this amendment should Sen. Schumer offer it to the Commerce-Justice-State bill (S. 1215). I think the Senate should reenact the Smith amendment from 1998 -- an amendment which passed by a 69-31 vote. His language required the "immediate destruction" of ANY and ALL information that might help identify lawful gun buyers. Gun Owners of America will be keeping me updated on this issue. Sincerely, ************** Price Reduction! The F.L.I.R. Project is the new film by Michael McNulty. It continues the award-winning documentary work found in Waco: The Rules of Engagement and Waco: A New Revelation. Former Senator John Danforth's Special Counsel "investigation" of the events at Waco absolved the government of wrongdoing. But the details of its staged re-enactment, crucial to its findings, are highly suspect. The F.L.I.R. Project includes a proper re-enactment to examine the Forward Looking Infra-Red evidence, reaching conclusions which cannot fail to convince a reasonable person that once again, the government has covered up what really happened. You can purchase this film from Gun Owners Foundation at http://www.gunowners.com/videost.htm for the newly-lowered price of only $15.00. Or, elect to purchase all three films in the series for a money-saving $49.99. ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. - - ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 08 Sep 2001 15:25:59 -0600 From: Scott Bergeson Subject: FW: 2ndAmendmentNews * * * * 2ndAmendmentNews * * * * WHITE HOUSE UNRESPONSIVE ON GUN BAN SUNSET By Weldon Clark This affects the nation. So far the Bush White House has refused to answer the following letter from South Carolina Representative Dwight Loftis. It is published here with his permission. They have also refused to answer my personal letter on the same subject. It is up to you to send in your letters to President Bush and your own congressman to get them to stand up for our rights. E-mail will not do the job here. DO NOT ASSUME THEY WILL TAKE OUR SIDE. Place them on record with your own US mail letter. Also send your own letter to your own Congressman. This ban effects almost all the rifles used in rifle competition (except small bore) including the state and national matches, collecting and guns used for hunting. From The 2ndAmendmentNews Team Writing your CONGRESSMAN OR STATE LEGISLATORS can now be accomplished at the speed of light. Use URLs as follows: http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ Contacts for federal & state legislators http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm You can call your two Senators at (202) 224-3121 and your Representative at (202) 225-3121 at the Capitol Switchboard. Here are the URLs for the United States Congress Official list of House of Representatives members by state http://clerkweb.house.gov/107/olm107.php3 Official list of House of Representatives members with phone numbers http://clerkweb.house.gov/107/mcapdir.php3 Official list of House of Representatives members mailing addresses http://clerkweb.house.gov/107/mbrcmtee/mailinglists/ASCIImemberlabels.txt Here are the URLs for the United States Senate Official list of members by state http://www.senate.gov/senators/senator_by_state.cfm Official list of members alphabetically dig on name to get address Phone fax and e mail (the individual Senators have different pages) http://www.senate.gov/senators/index.cfm U. S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, U.S. Depart. Of Justice 950 Pennsylvania Ave., NW Washington, DC 20530-0001 mailto:AskDOJ@usdoj.gov President George W. Bush, The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20500 mailto:president@whitehouse.gov Under Secretary Bolton U. S. Department of State 2201 C Street NW, Washington, DC 20520 (202) 647-4000 mailto:Secretary@state.gov To spread the word call Rush Limbaugh at 800-282-2882 and callers may call in from 12 noon to 3PM EST, M-F Letter from House of Representatives State of South Carolina Dwight A. Loftis District No. 19 – Greenville County August 16, 2001 - ----------------- President George W. Bush 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Washington, DC 20500 Dear President Bush: It has come to my attention that some of your White House staff has indicated that you support continuation of the so-called assault weapons ban of 1994. I understand this band will sunset in 2004. In 1994 Congress passed an importation and manufacture ban on the very type firearms that the U.S. Supreme Court said were protected by the Constitution in their U.S. vs. Miller decision in 1939. The America people rewarded this unconstitutional behavior in Congress by electing Republican majorities in both Houses in 1994 for the first time in 40 years. Your Attorney General John Ashcroft was reported to have said that an exception to allow support of firearms laws is of compelling government interest. I submit to you that in the case of the so-called assault weapons ban, no such compelling government interest exist. In the South Carolina General Assembly, I was the House sponsor of a successful repeal of a ban on the ownership and possession of rifles, pistols and shotguns that were made under contract to the United States Government. This law covered many more firearms than the law in California and the federal ban on so-called assault firearms. Firearms owners were very pleased and there was no protest from the media or anyone else. No additional crimes were credited to this repeal. Nothing bad happened. I would ask your consideration to allow this ban to sunset as scheduled in 2004. Sincerely, Dwight A. Loftis * * * * * DIRECT ACTION is grassroots activism at its best! 2ndAmendmentNews is part of the growing network of state and local groups fighting for our rights. To subscribe or unsubscribe from 2ndAmendmentNews, please send your request with correct email address included to mailto:sanews-request@direct-action.org To reach the publishers with your alerts or suggestions for future articles, please mailto:sanews@direct-action.org with correct email address. Please feel free to forward and circulate this newsletter! And check out these other grassroots projects in the network .... To receive Neal Knox's bi-monthly newsletter, send a contribution of $25 or more to The Firearms Coalition, Box 3313, Manassas, VA 20108. For current news and legislative updates contact, call 1-900-225-3006 (89 cents per minute) or visit http://www.NealKnox.com/ (free) and go to "Scripts from the Firearms Coalition Legislative Update Line". Learn "What To Do If The Police Come To Confiscate Your Militia Weapons" at http://www.SecondAmendment.net/ The Georgia Sport Shooting Association wants you! A free shooting events list is published every two weeks. Sign up at http://www.gssa.com/ Be sure to track the battle for our rights in the front-line state of Maryland at http://www.direct-action.org/ - - ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Sep 2001 14:15:13 -0600 From: "Scott Bergeson" Subject: FW: MORNING OF HORROR - -------- Original Message -------- Date: Tue, 11 Sep 2001 08:51:32 -0600 From: "L. Neil Smith" To: "AAA JOHN C. TAYLOR" Subject: MORNING OF HORROR My server's claiming "too many recipients", which keeps me from sending it to my address books. This worries me. Please pass this on, far and wide. N. MORNING OF HORROR By L. Neil Smith Special to _The Libertarian Enterpise_ First of all, expect never to learn the truth about what happened at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and elsewhere this morning of September 11, 2001, any more than we did with regard to the murders of Jack and Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King, at Ruby Ridge, Waco, or Oklahoma City. Ambiguity and uncertainty serve far too many political interests. Another certainty is that, although I'm told 50,000 people worked in the World Trade Center, more innocent individuals will die as a result of what the Old Media are lovingly referring to as a "lockdown" of Manhattan and other places, than any acts of terrorism that may have occurred. The military has just said they'll shoot down any plane they see flying. Only one civilian plane is in the air this morning, Air Force One; that's as grim a warning of things to come as I can think of. "Collateral" deaths won't just happen as a consequence, say, of somebody with a heart attack being unable to get to a hospital, but whenever and wherever some dumb kid in an army uniform gets startled by a car backfiring and starts spraying everybody and his pet poodle with automatic rifle fire. Or to whomever the martial lawyers decide it's safe to liquidate using this foul mess as a cover. Or, vastly more ominously, to people in the not-so-distant future who decide they must resist the police state that will inevitably result from these events. It's extremely difficult to think coherently about long term effects, let alone to get it all down in writing, when you learn that, not only were hijacked commercial aircraft used to commit these unspeakably evil acts, but that 90 passengers died helplessly in the first plane, and others yet unnumbered may have died in subsequent attacks. _Somebody_ has to think about it, though, or this situation will be used to turn the Bill of Rights off forever. Depending on the planning behind it, or who did the planning, it may already be too late. All airports have been shut down today, and I shudder to think about what flying will be like from now on. The Clintons, Schumers, and Waxmans will try to shut down the Internet, calling it a breeding ground for terrorism. The Bushes and Cheneys will "reluctantly" go along. Rush Limbaugh will cheer them on. What should those who value their freedom do? Every chance you have, from this moment on, whether it's on talk radio, or on the letters to the editor page, on the Internet while it's still possible, or in communication with everyone you know -- it's time for even the most apolitical to write to senators and congressmen - -- emphasize two points: First, inform them that closing down the First or Second or any other Amendment is not an appropriate response to what's happened, and that any politician or bureaucrat in office who attempts to capitalize on today's horrors is committing the same sort of blatantly criminal act I've always insisted must be punished under Bill of Rights enforcement. Second, these things happen to nations with imperial ambitions. There has never been a major act of terrorism I know of that hasn't resulted from an act of government that violated somebody's rights. The way to keep this sort of thing from happening again is to stop those violations. Hideously enough, my new novel _The American Zone_, scheduled to be published next November by Tor Books, begins with an act very similar to this one, carried out to force the creation of a strong central government in the governmentless "North American Confederacy" that figures in so many of my books. As anybody who knows my work can safely predict, the evil scheme doesn't work and the villains are defeated. Life isn't as predictably pleasant as fiction. Happy endings are few and far between. But it's important to act swiftly if we're to preserve anything resembling the freedom that made this civilization great. Pass the word. http://www.smith2004.org/ - - ------------------------------ End of utah-firearms-digest V2 #216 ***********************************