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utah-firearms-digest   Wednesday, December 31 1997   Volume 02 : Number 010




----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Wed, 24 Dec 97 08:03:00 -0700
From: [e-mail] (SCOTT BERGESON)
Subject: A Militia Christmas

- ---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 23 Dec 1997 22:33:34 -0800
From: "J.J. Johnson" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
CC: [e-mail]

T'Was The Night Before Christmas
By: J.J. Johnson

T'was the night before Christmas, when all through the land,
Not a firearm was legal, like the one in my hand;

The AK's were hung in the bedroom with care,
With full expectation that feds would be there.

Our friends were nestled all snug in the jails,
But they'll have no Christmas. They're held without bail;

And me with my Ruger and Ma's 45,
They won't take our guns, not while we're alive.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.
It came at the window; a grenade with a flash!
It tore up the shutters, and blew up the sash.

T'is I, the militiaman. T'is I who asked "Why?"
Then heard the voice say: "SURRENDER OR DIE!"

THEY make all the rules, THEY tax my last dollar,
Then THEY call me names when I stand up and holler.
THEY blow up my buildings, THEY shoot down my planes.
Burn children in flames, But T'is I who they blame.

I release my safety, our movements so smooth,
My whole family knows we have nothing to loose.

With M-60's and choppers, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment - this can't be St. Nick.
More rapid their fire, I won't play their game,
So my family joined in, and we called them by name:

"Now, Winchester! Now, Remington!, Now Colt, Smith and Wesson!
Just aim for the groin! That'll teach em' a lesson!

From the top of the porch! From behind the left wall!
We're not taking prisoners, so just kill 'em all!!

As more jackboots fall, when my bullets fly,
I see a black chopper buzzing in the sky.
One slithered behind me, 'till my daughter yelled "Dad!"
Then I finished him off with my 30-round mag.

And then in a twinkling, we heard on the roof,
More jackbooted thugs- Guess they needed more proof.

We peppered the ceiling, not wasting a round.
They fell past our windows, and bounced on the ground.

He was dressed all in black, from his feet to his head,
Two pulls from my trigger, and then he lay dead.
A bunch of new guns, new helmets and vests!
Then Grandpa's old M-1 was put to the test.

Their eyes-how they twinkled! They cried "PLEASE SHOW MERCY!"
But we just thought of Waco- And that anniversary!
Yes, even our dog got into the fray.
Spot went for their necks, keeping others at bay.

You call us extreme? You say we want war?
We just want our freedoms like we had before.
So take this, Bill Clinton! Take that, Mister Gore!
Try to ruin our Christmas? We'll even the score.

Their call of "RETREAT!" My gun barrel red,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

They don't need a warrant, they don't need a judge.
Just keep passin' more laws, then treat us like sludge.
But they came for MY family. They kicked in MY door.
Now they all know what the Bill of Rights' for.

Get out of my house! Go! Run from my city!
Cause you know this militia will show you no pity.
As they fled from the scene, my resolve they once doubted,
So I ran to my porch, and from there I shouted:

"NO KING BUT KING JESUS!" The true Reason for the Season.

... And you Jackbooted thugs are ALL guilty of Treason.

(It's just a joke, folks!)

Merry Christmas from:

J.J. & Nancy Johnson
500 N. Rainbow Blvd.
Suite 300
Las Vegas, Nevada  89107
[e-mail]
888.779.3347



- -

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 23 Dec 97 21:59:00 -0700
From: [e-mail] (SCOTT BERGESON)
Subject: IMPORTANT SURVEY/FIREARMS CRISIS!

- ---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 23 Dec 1997 11:20:11 -0500
From: "Mark A. Smith" <[e-mail]>

ATTENTION !!!
See the bottom of this email also.
Mark Smith
- ----------------------------------

Roger D. Cravens, Jr. (by way of mel's fern ) wrote:

Date: Sun, 21 Dec 1997 22:03:57 -0500
From: Nancy <[e-mail]>
Organization: REAL Pro SECOND AMENDMENT Activist-never give up
To: [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail]
Subject: IMPORTANT SURVEY/FIREARMS CRISIS!
Sender: [e-mail]

Please go to this web address and fill out the
questionaire that is located there. It directly affects us all.

http://www.centuryarms.com/survey.htm

================================================================
While BATF determines whether any of the above are "generally
recognized" as suitable for "sporting purposes", they have stated
that anyone wishing to comment on their suitability for "sporting
purposes" can have something in writing to them by January 9th, 1998.
Therefore we have undertaken this initiative to complete the following
survey which results will be forwarded to BATF before the deadline.

The bottom line is that we feel the public response to this survey can
make a difference in their decision in not banning this group of firearms and
who knows which group next year?

We have created a survey at: www.centuryarms.com/survey.htm which we
will collect and provide the results to BATF.

We are asking that you provide us a link on your front page of web site
and assist us in any other way you can during the short time we have
remaining, as this will effect everyone!

Please let me know how you can help. Time is of the essence.

Best regards,

Century Int'l Arms

****************************************************************
*  Liberty is NEVER an option ... only a condition to be lost! *
*  http://www.jbs.org                                          *
****************************************************************
*  Roger Cravens, SYSOP                                        *
*  South East Signals Intelligence Group BBS: (770-) 942-1089  *
*  Atlanta, GA                                                 *
****************************************************************
*  Signals Intelligence: "... the truth shall make you free"!  *
****************************************************************

I am going to include this letter which apparently is the government's
position on firearms ownership:
Mark Smith
- ----------
                                    U.S. Department of Justice
                                    Criminal Division
                                    Washington, D.C. 20530

                                    March 25, 1997

Ms. Deleted
Address: Deleted

Dear Ms. Deleted

     We received your letter of March 12, 1997, and are pleased
to respond to your question about the Second Amendment.

     In your letter, you relate a statement made by Sarah Kemp
Brady to the effect that the Second Amendment of the United
States Constitution does not guarantee the right of individuals
to possess firearms. This is, in fact, correct. Although those
who oppose any form of gun control commonly assert that the
Second Amendment confers the right to individual ownership of
firearms, this view is not sustained by case law interpreting
that amendment. The courts have uniformly held that the Second
Amendment protects only against federal attempts to disarm or
abolish organized state militia, and does not confer on an
individual the right to own or possess firearms. This has been
the consistent position of the Supreme Court and the eight United
States Courts of Appeals which have considered the issue.

     Thank you so much for your interest in this important issue
and we hope this information is helpful.

                            Sincerely,

                            Ronnie L. Edleman (sig.)
                            Principal Deputy Chief
                            Terrorism and Violent Crime Section

###



- -

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 29 Dec 1997 10:57:21 -0700
From: [e-mail] (Charles Hardy)
Subject: Letter to Editor in DN

From last week's DN

[Image]
[Image]

      [Image]

      READERS' FORUM
      [Image]
      Bust by A.F. was unfair
      [Image]
      [Image]

      [Image]
      Last updated 12/25/1997, 11:52 a.m. MT

            The modern nightmare for an old B-17 tail gunner was when a SWAT
      team, fully armed, drove with abandon to an area called Blue Lake in
      Tooele County. Lights flashing, sirens blaring to intercept the
      gunner's son and buddy who were hunting ducks on land granted to the
      state of Utah for that express purpose. One was thrown in the mud then
      handcuffed, the other was spread eagled across the hood of his
      vehicle. His glasses were knocked off, and both were put through a
      humiliating body search. All the while they were not given an
      explanation for the "bust." They subsequently were interrogated and a
      military citation issued.
            To get the entire picture in here, there were four young men
      whom my son and buddy spoke to, who went out to the outlet stream of
      Blue Lake, perhaps beyond the legal posted hunting area. A man on a
      four-wheeler caught up to them, warning them they had gone too far. By
      radio, he alerted Hill Air Force Base. Soon after this, the four
      hunters left the area entirely.
            When the SWAT team arrived, members inquired about these four
      hunters and were told they had left. Did frustration set in, and
      knowing they had to make a report on a 320-mile excursion without
      finding who they came to arrest, did the SWAT team then accost two
      innocent young men and make them scapegoats?
            A summons was signed by them, and a date was made on the spot
      for a hearing in the federal court house.
            We have contacted our attorney in this matter. I hope to hear
      from other hunters who hunt in the Blue Lake Area. Happy holidays,
      Hill.

      Wesley G. Eatchel
      Murray
      [Image]
      [Image]

      Return to front page
[Image]


- --

Charles C. Hardy        | If my employer has an opinion on
<[e-mail]>            | these things I'm fairly certain
801.588.7200 (work)        | I'm not the one he'd have express it.

"With reasonable men I will reason; with humane men I will plead; but
 with tyrants I will give no quarter, nor waste arguments where they will
 be certainly be lost." -- William Lloyd Garrison

- -

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 29 Dec 1997 16:31:15 -0700
From: DAVID SAGERS <[e-mail]>
Subject: Rep. Ron Paul's letter

Date: Sun, 28 Dec 1997 13:54:10 EST
From: EdgarSuter <[e-mail]>
To: Multiple recipients of <[e-mail]>
Subject An Important Recent Letter from Congressman Ron Paul (Texas):
Please forward freely!


 ---------- Forwarded message ----------

Check out what Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) said on national TV about
federal government power, about Ruby Ridge, about Waco, about
"federal police", about the size of the federal government ... and then
read of the incredible * FIRESTORM * that erupted thereafter, with Paul
being attacked by the media, leftists, Dems, many unions, establishment
Republicans (which means, what now, about 97.3% of the "Republican"
party), etc.  Paul dared to step over the line, and the jackals and hyenas
are now out for his carcass.  In WJC's America.  Where one can hardly
tell the difference between a Republican and a Democrat.  As 1998 and
2000 approach.


Congressman Ron Paul
House of Representatives
203 Cannon
Washington D.C.  20515
TEL [phone]
FAX [phone]

Dear Friend:

The other day, I made a huge "gaffe" on national TV:  I told the truth about
the crimes of the U.S. government.  As you can imagine, the ceiling fell in,
and a couple of walls too.

Congressmen are supposed to support the government, I was told.  Oh,
it's okay to criticize around the edges, but there are certain subjects a
member of the House of Representatives is not supposed to bring up.
But I touched the real "third-rail" of American politics, and the sparks sure
flew.

I was interviewed on C-SPAN's morning "Washington Journal," and I
used the opportunity, as I do all such media appearances, to point out
how many of our liberties have been stolen by the federal government.
We must take them back.

The Constitution, after all, has a VERY limited role for Washington, D.C. If
we stuck to the Constitution as written, we would have: no federal
meddling in our schools; no Federal Reserve; no U.S. membership in the
UN; no gun control; and no foreign aid.

We would have no welfare for big corporations, or the "poor"; no
American troops in 100 foreign countries;  no Nafta, Gatt, or "fast-track";
no arrogant federal judges usurping states rights;  no attacks on private
property;  and no income tax.

We could get rid of most of the cabinet departments, most of the
agencies, and most of the budget.  The government would be small,
frugal, and limited.

That system is called liberty.  It's what the Founding Fathers gave us.
Under liberty, we built the greatest, freest, most prosperous, most
decent country on earth.  It's no coincidence that the monstrous growth
of the federal government has been accompanied by a sickening decline
in living standards and moral standards.

The feds want us to be hamsters on a treadmill -- working hard, all day
long, to pay high taxes, but otherwise entirely docile and controlled.  The
huge, expensive, and out-of-control leviathan that we call the federal
government wants to run every single aspect of our lives.

[Page 2]

Well, I'm sorry, but that's not America.  It's not what the Founders gave
us.  It's not the country you believe in.  It's not the country I believe in.

So, on that TV interview, I emphasized not only the attacks on our
property, but also the decline of our civil liberties, at the hands of the
federal police.  There are not supposed to be ANY federal police,
according to the Constitution.

Then I really went over the line.  I talked about the Waco massacre.  Bill
Clinton and Janet Reno claim those 81 church members, including 19
children, burned down their own church and killed themselves, and good
riddance.  So they put the few survivors on trial, and threw them in
prison for 40 years.

We're not supposed to remember that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
and Firearms -- talk about an unconstitutional agency -- rather than
arrest David Koresh on his regular morning jog, called in the TV stations
for a big publicity bonanza, and sent a swat team in black masks and
black uniforms to break down his front door, guns blazing.  They also
sent in a helicopter gunship, to shoot at the roof of a church full of
innocents.

The Branch Davidians resisted, and after a heartless siege of almost two
months, and after cutting off food, water, and electricity, and playing
horrible rock and roll through huge speakers 24 hours a day, the feds
sent in the tanks to crush the walls of the church, and inject poisonous
CS gas.

Now, CS gas is banned under the Paris Convention on Chemical
Warfare.  The U.S. could not use it in a war.  But it could and did use it
against American civilians.

After the tanks did their work on the church, the place burst into flame,
and all 81 people -- men, women, children, and babies--were incinerated
in a screaming horror.

Did some feds set the fire?  Did the flammable CS gas ignite, since
without electricity, the parishioners were using lanterns? Did a tank
knock over a lantern, striking one of the bales of hay being used against
the thin walls as a "defense" against bullets?  Or did the Davidians, as
Clinton and Reno claim, kill themselves?

A new documentary -- Waco: The Rules of Engagement -- may show,
through FLIR infrared photography, FBI snipers killing the Davidians by
shooting through the back of the church, where no media cameras were
allowed.  This film won a prize at the famed Sundance Film Festival.  It
was made by people who took the government's side, until they
investigated.

Whatever the truth, there's no question that an irresponsible federal
government has innocent blood on its

[Page 3]

 hands, and not only from Waco.  And the refusal of corrupt and
perverse liberals to admit it means nothing.

In my TV interview, in answer to a caller's question, I pointed out that
Waco, and the federal murders at Ruby Ridge -- especially the FBI
sniper's shot that blasted apart the head of a young mother holding her
baby -- caused many Americans to live in fear of federal power.

Then I uttered the sentiment that caused the media hysteria:  I said that a
lot of Americans fear that they too might be attacked by federal swat
teams for exercising their constitutional rights, or merely for wanting to
be left alone.

Whoa!  You've never seen anything like it.  For days, in an all-out assault,
I was attacked by Democrats, unions, big business, establishment
Republicans, and -- of course -- the media, in Washington and my home
state of Texas.  Newspapers foamed at the mouth, calling me a
"right-wing extremist."  (Say, isn't that what George III called Thomas
Jefferson?)

I was even blamed for the Oklahoma City bombing!  And by the way, I
don't believe we've gotten the full truth on that either.

All my many opponents were outraged that a Congressman would
criticize big government.   "If you don't like Washington, resign!" said a
typical big-city newspaper editorial.  But the media, as usual, were all
wet.  (Do they ever get ANYTHING right?)

The average Congressman may go to Washington to wallow in power,
and line his pockets with a big lobbying job for a special interest (so he
can keep ripping-off the taxpayers).

But that's not why I'm in Congress.  It's not why I left my medical practice
as a physician.  It's not why I put up with all the abuse.  It's not why I
refuse a plush Congressional pension.
I'm in this fight for a reason.  I want to hand on to my children and
grandchildren, and to you and your family, a great and free America, an
America true to her Constitution, an America worthy of her history.

I will not let the crooks and clowns and criminals have their way.  I'm in
Congress to represent the ideas of liberty, the ideas that you and I share,
for the people of my district, for the people of Texas, for the people of
America.  That's why I'm working to stop federal
abuses, and to cut the government: its taxes, its bureaucrats, its
paramilitary police, its spending, its meddling overseas, and every single
unconstitutional action it takes.  And not with a pair of nail scissors, but
with a hammer and chisel.  Won't you help me do this work?

Not much of the federal leviathan would be left, if I

[Page 4]

had my way.  But you'd be able to keep the money you earn, your
privacy would be secure, your dollar would be sound, your local school
would be tops, and your kids wouldn't be sent off to some useless or
vicious foreign war to fight for the UN.  But Jefferson and the other
Founders would recognize our government, and our descendants would
bless us.

By the way, when I say cut taxes, I don't mean fiddle with the code.  I
mean abolish the income tax and the IRS, and replace them with
NOTHING.

Recently, I asked a famous Republican committee chairman -- who's
always talking about getting rid of the IRS -- why he engineered a secret
$580 million raise for the tax collectors.  "They need it for their
computers," this guy told me.  So the IRS can't extract enough from us as
it is!

The National Taxpayers Union says I have the highest pro-taxpayer
rating in Congressional history, that I am the top "Taxpayer's Best
Friend."  You know I won't play the Capitol Hill games with the Capitol Hill
gang, denouncing the IRS while giving the gestapo more of your money.
Or figuring out some other federal tax for them to squeeze out of you.

I also want to abolish the Federal Reserve, and send Alan Greenspan
out to get a job.  The value of our dollar and the level of our interest rates
are not supposed to be manipulated by a few members of the power
elite meeting secretly in a marble palace.

The Federal Reserve is unconstitutional, pure and simple.  The only
Constitutional money is gold and silver, and notes redeemable in them.
Not Fed funny money.

Without the Federal Reserve, our money could not be inflated, at the
behest of big government or big banks.  Your income and savings would
not lose their value.  Just as important, we wouldn't have this endless
string of booms and busts, recessions and depressions, with each bust
getting worse.  They aren't natural to the free market; they're caused by
the schemers at the Fed.
President Andrew Jackson called the 19th-century Fed "The Monster"
because it was a vehicle for inflation and all sorts of special-interest
corruption.  Let me tell you, things haven't changed a bit.

I also work to save our schools from D.C. interference.  Thanks to the
feds, new curriculums not only smear the Founders as "racist,
slave-owning elitists," they seek to dumb down our students so they will
all be equal.  "Look-say" reading and the abolition of phonics has the
same purpose, and so does the new "fuzzy" math, in which there are no
right and no wrong answers.

That must be what they use in the U.S. Treasury!  It's certainly what they
use in the U.S. Congress.

[Page 5]

But ever since the beginning of federal aid to education and accelerating
with the establishment of the rotten Department of Education, SAT
scores have been dropping.  Schools, with few exceptions, are getting
worse every year.

To save our kids, we must get the sticky fingers of the feds off our local
schools, and let parents rule.  That's what the Constitution says, and the
Bible too.

And then there's my least favorite foreign topic, the UN. World
government is obviously unconstitutional.  It undermines our country's
sovereignty in the worst way possible.  That's why I want us out of the
UN, and the UN itself taking a hike.

After all, the UN is socialist and corrupt (many votes can be bought with
a "blonde and a case of scotch," one UN ambassador once said).  It
costs many billions, and it puts our soldiers in UN uniforms under foreign
commanders, and sends them off to unconstitutional, undeclared wars.
When Michael New, one of the finest young men I've ever met, objected
to wearing UN blue, he was kicked out of the American Army.  What an
outrage.

Not one dime for the UN, and not one American soldier!  Not in Haiti, not in
Bosnia, not in Somalia, not in Rwanda.  I know it's radical, but how about
devoting American military efforts to defending America, and only
America?

Such ideas, said one newspaper reporter, make me a "maverick who will
never go far because he won't 'go along to get along.'"  Darn right.  What
does "go far" mean?  Get a big government job?  The heck with that.
And I won't sell my vote for pork either.

When I walked through the U.S. Capitol this morning, I got angry.  The
building is filled with statues and paintings of Jefferson, Madison, and the
other Founders.  Those great men sacrificed everything to give us a free
country, and a Constitution to keep it that way.

When I was first elected, I placed my hand on the Bible and swore an
oath to uphold the Constitution.  That's exactly what I'm fighting for.  But
such ideas drive the liberals crazy.  That's why I badly need your help.

I've been targeted nationally for defeat.  The Democrats, the AFL-CIO, the
teachers union, big business PACs, the trial lawyers, the big bankers,
the foreign-aid .lobbyists, the big media, and the establishment
Republicans want to dance on my political grave.  The Fed, the Education
Department, and the UN are anxious to join in.  They can't stand even one
person telling the truth.  And they're terrified when that truth gains the
people's support.

Right now, four well-funded Democrats are competing to try to beat me,
and a Republican is rumored to have been

[Page 6]

offered money at a secret meeting in Mexico(!) if he would try to knock
me off in a primary.

Won't you help me stay up here to fight? Frankly, I'm in trouble if you
don't.  My Texas district has 22,000 square miles (not a misprint).  I've got
to travel all over it, set up small offices to be manned by volunteers,
advertise, pay phone bills, and distribute video and audio tapes to the
people to get around the big-media lies.  As I know from my last election,
which I won by the skin of my teeth, the media will carry any smear,
repeat any libel, throw any piece of mud, no matter how untrue.  In fact,
the less true, the more they like it.

They are determined to silence me.  But you can help me overcome all
this.  Together, we can beat the bad guys arrayed against our country
and our freedom.  We can support the Constitution.  We CAN win.

Your generous contribution of $25 or $50 would be great.  $100, $250,
or even $500 or $1,000 would be magnificent.  Of course, any amount
would help, and in return, I will keep you up-to-date on this fight as a
member of my "kitchen cabinet."

What great men founded this country.  What great people have carried
on their fight.  That fight is not lost, not if you will join it.

Washington, D.C., is a loser, but among the people, our ideas are gaining
EVERY SINGLE DAY.

Keep the tide turning in our direction.  Please make your most generous
contribution.  Join this fight for the Constitution, and stop those who want
to rip it up, and throw it in the Potomac.  Together, we can join the
Founders, fight.  Together, we can make history.

Sincerely,

/s/ - Ron Paul
U.S. Congressman

P.S.
Without you, I may be lost, and they'll be breaking out the champagne in
D.C. PLEASE, DON'T LET THIS FIGHT FOR THE CONSTITUTION AND
LIBERTY FALTER.  HELP ME WIN IT.


- -

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 30 Dec 1997 17:12:41 -0700
From: DAVID SAGERS <[e-mail]>
Subject: Massachusetts "Gun Buy Back" Backfires -Forwarded

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From: Chris Ferris <[e-mail]>
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Subject: Massachusetts "Gun Buy Back" Backfires
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X-Comment: Anti-Gun-Ban list

Re-entered from THE BOSTON HERALD 12/30/97 (Page 5)

Authorities Allege "Captain Good" Turned Bad

By Joe Heaney

Things went very bad for Taunton Police Capt. Richard "Captain Good"
Pimental yesterday when 13 years in the slammer became possible.

The veteran lawman and television personality was indicted and later
suspended for allegedly swiping a lousy "Saturday Night Special" handgun
from a city gun buy-back program he once administered.

Also indicted in companion cases involving Pimental was John Colton,
former assistant clerk magistrate in Taunton District Court.

But the gloom kept coming on the captain's bad Monday - quicker than you
could say: Who dropped the dime?

Besides liberating the tin horn Jennings .22 semi-automatic and allegedly
"giving it to a family friend", Pimental was charged with filing a false
written report, interfering with a witness, obstruction of justice and
soliciting a bribe.

The bribe charge involves allegedly using his badge against a bar unless
the owners gave him free booze and a baseball jacket.

"The owner of that gun took it off the street for safety and a police
officer put it back in circulation," said Assistant Attorney General John
Grossman after the Bristol Superior Court indictment. "It's a sad case."

Prosecutors said Pimental also interfered with a witness in an unrelated
case against his nephew, August Pimental, Jr., who was accused of beating
a man during a 1992 barroom brawl.

The charges were allegedly dismissed because, according to a court
document signed by Colton, "the victim states this is the wrong defendant."

Pimental was suspended by Taunton Police Chief David Westcoat.

Pimental was not in court yesterday and faces arraignment Jan. 8.

If convicted of all charges, Pimental faces 13 years in prison.

<END OF NEWS STORY>

- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

No comment is necessary. This "gun buy back" story deserves wide
re-publication in appropriate media.


Best regards,

Christopher C. Ferris
Litchfield NH USA
[e-mail]



- -

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 31 Dec 1997 11:18:28 -0700
From: DAVID SAGERS <[e-mail]>
Subject: OPEN LETTER TO THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE

OPEN LETTER TO THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE

Sirs;

How did all this happen, when in 1994, we registered Republicans, voted
to stop the federal steamroller.  If only the Representatives and Senators
would read the bills that they are voting on, our nation not be in the
situation that it is in now.  The loss of personal freedom is now so great,
the only solution that I can foresee is, another American Revolution.

Sincerely,
David Parsons

    LAND-MINE LEGISLATION
    by Claire Wolfe

Let me run by you a brief list of items that are "the law" in America today.
As you read, consider what all these have in common.

1.  A national database of employed people.

2.  100 pages of new "health care crimes," for which the penalty is
(among other things) seizure of assets from both doctors and patients.

3.  Confiscation of assets from any American who establishes foreign
citizenship.

4.  The largest gun confiscation act in U.S.  history - which is also an
unconstitutional ex postfacto law and the first law ever to remove
people's constitutional rights for committing a misdemeanor.

5.  A law banning guns in ill-defined school zones; random roadblocks
may be used for enforcement; gun-bearing residents could become
federal criminals just by stepping outside their doors or getting into
vehicles.

6.  Increased funding for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms,
an agency infamous for its brutality, dishonesty and ineptitude.

7.  A law enabling the executive branch to declare various groups
"Terrorists" - without stating any reason and without the possibility of
appeal.  Once a group has been so declared, its mailing and membership
lists must be turned over to the government.

8.  A law authorizing secret trials with secret evidence for certain
classes of people.

9.  A law requiring that all states begin issuing drivers licenses carrying
Social Security numbers and "security features" (such as magnetically
coded fingerprints and personal records) by October 1, 2000.  By
October 1, 2006, "Neither the Social Security Administration or the
Passport Office or any other Federal agency or any State or local
government agency may accept for any evidentiary purpose a State
driver's license or identification document in a form other than [one
issued with a verified Social Security number and 'security features']."

10.  And my personal favorite - a national database, now being
constructed, that will contain every exchange and observation that takes
place in your doctor's office.  This includes records of your
prescriptions, your hemorrhoids and your mental illness.  It also includes
- - by law - any statements you make ("Doc, I'm worried my kid may be on
drugs......  Doc, I've been so stressed out lately I feel about ready to go
postal.") and any observations your doctor makes about your mental or
physical condition, whether accurate or not, whether made with your
knowledge or not.  For the time being, there will be zero (count 'em, zero)
privacy safeguards on this data.  But don't worry, your government will
protect you with some undefined "privacy standards" in a few years.

All of the above items are the law of the land.  Federal law.  What else
do they have in common? Well, when I ask this question to audiences, I
usually get the answer, "They're all unconstitutional." True.

My favorite answer came from an eloquent college student who blurted,
"They all SUUUCK!" Also true.  But the saddest and most telling answer
is: They were all the product of the 104th Congress.  Every one of the
horrors above was imposed upon you by the Congress of the
Republican-Revolution-the Congress that pledged to "get government off
your back."

    BURYING TIME BOMBS

All of the above became law by being buried in larger bills.  In many
cases, they are hidden sneak attacks upon individual liberties that were
neither debated on the floor of Congress nor reported in the media.  For
instance, three of the most horrific items (the health care
database, asset confiscation for foreign residency and the 100 pages of
health care crimes) were hidden in the Kennedy-Kassebaum Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HR 3103).  You
didn't hear about them at the time because the media was too busy
celebrating this moderate, compromise bill that "simply" ensured that no
American would ever lose insurance coverage due to a job change or a
Pre-existing condition.

Your legislator may not have heard about them, either.  Because he or
she didn't care enough to do so.  The fact is, most legislators don't even
read the laws they inflict upon the public.  They read the title of the bill
(which may be something like "The Save the Sweet Widdle Babies from
Gun Violence by Drooling Drug Fiends Act of 1984").  They read
summaries, which are often prepared by the very agencies or groups
pushing the bill.  And they vote according to various deals or pressures.
It also sometimes happens that the most horrible provisions are sneaked
into bills during conference committee negotiations, after both House and
Senate have voted on their separate versions of the bills.  The
conference committee process is supposed simply to reconcile
differences between two versions of a bill.  But power brokers use it for
purposes of their own, adding what they wish.  Then members of the
House and Senate vote on the final, unified version of the bill, often in a
great rush, and often without even having the amended text available for
review.

I have even heard (though I cannot verify) that stealth provisions were
written into some bills after all the voting has taken place.  Someone with
a hidden agenda simply edits them in to suit his or her own purposes.  So
these time bombs become "law" without ever having been voted on by
anybody.  And who's to know? If congress people don't even read
legislation before they vote on it, why would they bother reading it
afterward? Are power brokers capable of such chicanery? Do we even
need to ask?  Is the computer system in which bills are stored vulnerable
to tampering by people within or outside of Congress? We certainly
should ask.  Whether your legislators were ignorant of the infamy they
were perpetrating, or whether they knew, one thing is absolutely certain:


    The Constitution, your legislator's oath to it, and your inalienable
rights (which precede the Constitution) never entered into anyone's
consideration.

Ironically, you may recall that one of the early pledges of Newt Gingrich
and Company was to stop these stealth attacks.  Very early in the 104th
Congress, the Republican leadership declared that, henceforth, all bills
would deal only with the subject matter named in the title of the bill.
When, at the beginning of the first session of the 104th, pro-gun
Republicans attempted to attach a repeal of the "assault weapons" ban
to another bill, House leaders dismissed their amendment as not being
"germane." After that self-righteous and successful attempt to prevent
pro-freedom stealth legislation, Congress people turned right around and
got back to the dirty old business of practicing all the anti-freedom stealth
they were capable of.

    STEALTH ATTACKS IN BROAD DAYLIGHT

Three other items on my list (ATF funding, gun confiscation and school
zone roadblocks) were also buried in a big bill - HR 3610, the budget
appropriation passed near the end of the second session of the 104th
Congress.  No legislator can claim to have been unaware of these three
because they were brought to public attention by gun-rights groups and
hotly debated in both Congress and the media.  Yet some 90 percent of
all congress people voted for them including many who claim to be
ardent protectors of the rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment.
Why?

Well, in the case of my wrapped-in-the-flag, allegedly pro-gun,
Republican congressperson: "Bill Clinton made me do it!"  Okay, I
paraphrase.  What she actually said was more like, "It was part of a
budget appropriations package.  The public got mad at us for shutting the
government down in 1994.  If we hadn't voted for this budget bill, they
might have elected a Democratic legislature in 1996 - and you wouldn't
want THAT, would you?" Oh heavens, no I'd much rather be enslaved by
people who spell their name with an R than people who spell their name
with a D.  Makes all the difference in the world!

    HOW SNEAK ATTACKS ARE JUSTIFIED

The Republicans are fond of claiming that Bill Clinton "forced" them to
pass certain legislation by threatening to veto anything they sent to the
White House that didn't meet his specs.  In other cases (as with the
Kennedy-Kassebaum bill), they proudly proclaim their misdeeds in the
name of bipartisanship - while carefully forgetting -to mention the true
nature of what they're doing.  In still others, they trumpet their triumph
over the evil Democrats and claim the mantle of limited government while
sticking it to us and to the Constitution.  The national database of workers
was in the welfare reform bill they "forced" Clinton to accept.  The
requirement for SS numbers and ominous "security" devices on drivers
licenses originated in their very own Immigration Control and Financial
Responsibility Act of 1996, HR 2202.  Another common trick, called to my
attention by Redmon Barbry, publisher of the electronic magazine
Fratricide, is to hide duplicate or near-duplicate provisions in several bills.
 Then, when the Supreme Court declares Section A of Law Z to be
unconstitutional, its kissing cousin, Section B of Law Y, remains to rule
us.

Sometimes this particular form of trickery is done even more brazenly;
when the Supreme Court, in its Lopez decision, declared federal-level
school zone gun bans unconstitutional because Congress demonstrated
no jurisdiction, Congress brassily changed a few words.  They claimed
that school zones fell under the heading of "interstate commerce." Then
they sneaked the provision into HR 3610, where it became "law" once
again.  When angry voters upbraid congress people about some Big
Brotherish horror they've inflicted upon the country by stealth, they claim
lack of knowledge, lack of time, party pressure, public pressure, or they
justify themselves by claiming that the rest of the bill was "good".

The simple fact is that, regardless of what reasons legislators may claim,
the U.S.  Congress has passed more Big Brother legislation in the last
two years - more laws to enable tracking, spying and controlling - than
any Democratic congress ever passed.  And they have done it, in large
part, in secret.  Redmon Barbry put it best: "We the people have the right
to expect our elected representatives to read, comprehend and master
the bills they vote on.  If this means Congress passes only 50 bills per
session instead of 5,000, so be it.  As far as I am concerned, whoever
subverts this process is committing treason."  By whatever means the
deed is done, there is no acceptable excuse for voting against the
Constitution, voting for tyranny.

And I would add to Redmon's comments: Those who do read the bills,
then knowingly vote to ravage our liberties, are doubly guilty.  But when
do the treason trials begin?

    BILLS AS WINDOW DRESSING FOR AN UGLY AGENDA
The truth is that these tiny, buried provisions are often the real intent of
the law, and that the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of pages that
surround them are sometimes nothing more than elaborate window
dressing.  These tiny time bombs are placed there at the behest of
federal police agencies or other power groups whose agenda is not
clearly visible to us.  And their impact is felt long after the outward intent
of the bill has been forgotten.

Civil forfeiture - now one of the plagues of the nation was first
introduced in the 1970s as one of those buried, almost unnoticed
provisions of a larger law.  One wonders why on earth a "health care
bill" carried a provision to confiscate the assets of people who become
frightened or discouraged enough to leave the country.  (In fact, the
entire bill was an amendment to the Internal Revenue Code.  Go figure.)

I think we all realize by now that database of employed people will still be
around enabling government to track our locations (and heaven knows
what else about us, as the database is enhanced and expanded) long
after the touted benefits of "welfare reform" have failed to materialize.
And most grimly of all, our drivers licenses will be our de facto national ID
card long after immigrants have ceased to want to come to this Land of
the Once Free.

    CONTROL REIGNS

It matters not one whit whether the people controlling you call
themselves R's or D's, liberals or conservatives, socialists or even (I hate
to admit it) libertarians.  It doesn't matter whether they vote for these
horrors because they're not paying attention or because they actually
like such things.

What matters is that the pace of totalitarianism is increasing.  And it is
coming closer to our daily lives all the time.  Once your state passes the
enabling legislation (under threat of losing "federal welfare dollars"), it is
YOUR name and Social Security number that will be entered in that
employee database the moment you go to work for a new employer.  It is
YOU who will be unable to cash a check, board an airplane, get a
passport or be allowed any dealings with any government agency if you
refuse to give your SS number to the drivers license bureau.  It is YOU
who will be endangered by driving "illegally" if you refuse to submit to Big
Brother's procedures.  It is YOU whose psoriasis, manic depression or
prostate troubles will soon be the reading matter of any bureaucrat with
a computer.  It is YOU who could be declared a member of a "foreign
terrorist" organization just because you bought a book or concert tickets
from some group the government doesn't like.  It is YOU who could lose
your home, bank account and reputation because you made a mistake on
a health insurance form.  Finally, when you become truly desperate for
freedom, it is YOU whose assets will be seized if you try to flee this
increasingly insane country.

As Ayn Rand said in Atlas Shrugged, "There's no way to rule innocent
men.  The only power government has is the power to crack down on
criminals.  Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them.
One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for
men to live without breaking laws."

It's time to drop any pretense: We are no longer law-abiding citizens.  We
have lost our law-abiding status.  There are simply too many laws to
abide.  And because of increasingly draconian penalties and electronic
tracking mechanisms, our "lawbreaking" places us and our families in
greater jeopardy every day.

    STOPPING RUNAWAY GOVERNMENT

The question is: What are we going to do about it? Write a nice, polite
letter to your congressperson? Hey, if you think that'll help, I've got a
bridge you might be interested in buying.  (And it isn't your "bridge to the
future," either.)

Vote "better people, into office? Oh yeah, that's what we thought we
were doing in 1994.  Work to fight one bad bill or another?  Okay.  What
will you do about the 10 or 20 or 100 equally horrible bills that will be
passed behind your back while you were fighting that little battle? And
let's say you defeat a nightmare bill this year.  What, are you going to do
when they sneak it back in, at the very last minute, in some "omnibus
legislation" next year?  And what about the horrors you don't even learn
about until two or three years after they become law? Should you try
fighting these laws in the courts? Where do you find the resources?
Where do you find a judge who doesn't have a vested interest in bigger,
more powerful government? And again, for every one case decided in
favor of freedom, what do you do about the 10, 20 or 100 in which the
courts decide against the Bill of Rights?

Perhaps you'd consider trying to stop the onrush of these horrors with a
constitutional amendment - maybe one that bans "omnibus" bills, requires
that every law meet a constitutional test or requires all congress people
to sign statements that they've read and understood every aspect of
every bill on which they vote.  Good luck!  Good luck, first, on getting
such an amendment passed.  Then good luck getting our
Constitution-scorning "leaders" to obey it.

It is true that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance, and part of that
vigilance has been, traditionally, keeping a watchful eye on laws and on
lawbreaking lawmakers.  But given the current pace of law spewing and
unconstitutional regulation-writing, you could watch, plead and struggle
"within the system" 24 hours a day for your entire life and end up
infinitely less free than when you begin.  Why throw your life away on a
futile effort?

Face it.  If "working within the system" could halt tyranny, the tyrants
would outlaw it.  Why do you think they encourage you to vote, to write
letters, to talk to them in public forums?  It's to divert your energies.  To
keep you tame.  'The system" as it presently exists is nothing but a rat
maze.

You run around thinking you're getting somewhere.  Your masters
occasionally reward you with a little pellet that encourages you to
believe you're accomplishing something.  And in the meantime, you are
as much their property and their pawn as if you were a slave.  In the
effort of fighting them on their terms and with their authorized and
approved tools, you have given your life's energy to them as surely as if
you were toiling in their cotton fields, under the lash of their overseer.
The only way we're going to get off this road to Hell is if we jump off.  If
we, personally, as individuals, refuse to cooperate with evil.  How we
do that is up to each of us.  I can't decide for you, nor you for me.
(Unlike congress people, who think they can decide for everybody.) But
this totalitarian runaway truck is never going to stop unless we stop it, in
any way we can.  Stopping it might include any number of things: tax
resistance; public civil disobedience; wide-scale, silent non-cooperation;
highly noisy non-cooperation; boycotts; secession efforts; monkey
wrenching; computer hacking; dirty tricks against government agents;
public shunning of employees of abusive government agencies;
alternative, self-sufficient communities that provide their own medical
care and utilities.

There are thousands of avenues to take, and this is something most of
us still need to give more thought to before we can build an effective
resistance.  We will each choose the courses that are right for our own
circumstances, personalities and beliefs.  Whatever we do, though, we
must remember that we are all, already, outlaws.  Not one of us can be
certain going through a single day without violating some law or
regulation we've never even heard of.  We are all guilty in the eyes of
today's law.  If someone in power chooses to target us, we can all,
already, be prosecuted for something.  And I'm sure you know that your
claims of "good intentions" won't protect you, as the similar claims of
politicians protect them.  Politicians are above the law.  YOU are under it.
Crushed under it.

When you look at it that way, we have little left to lose by breaking laws
creatively and purposefully.  Yes, some of us will suffer horrible
consequences for our lawbreaking.  It is very risky to actively resist
unbridled power.  It is especially risky to go public with resistance
(unless hundreds of thousands publicly join us), and it becomes riskier
the closer we get to tyranny.  For that reason, among many others, I
would never recommend any particular course of action to anyone - and
I hope you'll think twice before taking "advice" from anybody about things
that could jeopardize your life or well-being.  But if we don't resist in the
best ways we know how and if a good number of us don't resist loudly
and publicly - all of us will suffer the much worse consequences of
living under total oppression.  And whatever courses of action we
choose, we must remember that this legislative "revolution" against #We
the People# will not be stopped by politeness.  It will not be stopped by
requests.  It will not be stopped by "working within a system" governed
by those who regard us as nothing but cattle.  It will not be stopped by
pleading for justice from those who will resort to any degree of trickery
or violence to rule us.

It will not be stopped unless we are willing to risk our lives, our fortunes
and our sacred honors to stop it.  I think of the words of Winston
Churchill:  "If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win
without bloodshed, if you will not fight when your victory will be sure
and not so costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to
fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance for
survival.  There may be a worse case.  You may have to fight when
there is no chance of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as
slaves."NOTES on the laws listed above:
1.  (employee database) Welfare Reform Bill, HR 3734; became public
law 104-193 on 8/22196; see section 453A.
2.  (health care crimes) Health Insurance Portability and Accountability
Act of 1996, HR 3103; became public law 104-191 on 8/21/96.
3.  (asset confiscation for citizenship change) Same law as #2; see;
sections 511-513.
4., 5., and 6.  (anti-gun laws) Omnibus Appropriations Act, HR 3610;
became public law 104-208 on 9/30/96.
7.  and 8.  (terrorism & secret trials) Antiterrorism and Effective Death
Penalty Act of 1996; S 735; became public law 104-132 on 4/24/96; see
all of Title III, specifically sections 302 and 219; also see all of Title IV,
specifically sections 401, 501, 502 and 503.
9.  (de facto national ID card) Began life in the Immigration Control and
Financial Responsibility Act of 1996, sections III, II 8, 119, 127 and 133;
was eventually folded into the Omnibus Appropriations Act, HR 3610
(which was itself formerly called the Defense Appropriations Act - but
we wouldn't want to confuse anyone, here, would we?); became public
law 104-208 on 9/30/96; see sections 656 and 657 among others.
10.  (health care database) Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act of 1996, HR 3103; became public law 104-191 on
8/21/96; see sections 262, 263 and 264, among others.  The various
provisions that make up the full horror of this database are scattered
throughout the bill and may take hours to track down; this one is stealth
legislation at its utmost sneakiest.

And one final, final note: Although I spent aggravating hours verifying the
specifics of these bills (a task I swear I will never waste my life on
again!), the original list of bills at the top of this article was NOT the result
of extensive research.  It was simply what came off the top of my head
when I thought of Big Brotherish bills from the 104th Congress.  For all I
know, Congress has passed 10 times more of that sort of thing.  In fact,
the worst "law" in the list-

#9, the de facto national ID card-just came to my attention as I was
writing this essay, thanks to the enormous efforts of Jackie - Juntti and
Ed Lyon and others, who researched the law.  Think of it: Thanks to
congressional stealth tactics, we had the long-dreaded national ID card
legislation for five months, without a whisper of discussion, before
freedom activists began to find out about it.

Makes you wonder what else might be lurking out there, doesn't it?

And on that cheery note - THE END
Copyrighted by Claire Wolfe.  Permission to reprint freely granted,
provided the article is reprinted in full and that any reprint is accompanied
by this copyright statement


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End of utah-firearms-digest V2 #10
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