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utah-firearms-digest       Tuesday, May 19 1998       Volume 02 : Number 058




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

Date: Fri, 15 May 98 22:24:00 -0700
From: [e-mail] (SCOTT BERGESON)
Subject: Politics as usual

- ---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 03:23:45 -0600
From: Ron Amos <[e-mail]>
To: Libertarian Party of Utah <[e-mail]>,
    Libertarian Self-Reliance <[e-mail]>
Subject: Politics as usual

Politics as Usual Dept.

[Thanks to Tim Rhodes for this tidbit]
Representative Tim Moor sponsored a resolution in the Texas House of
Representatives in Austin, Texas calling on the House to commend Albert de
Salvo for his unselfish service to "his country, his state and his
community."

The resolution stated that "this compassionate gentleman's dedication and
devotion to his work has enabled the weak and the lonely throughout the
nation to achieve and maintain a new degree of concern for their future.

He has been officially recognized by the state of Massachusetts for his
noted activities and unconventional techniques involving population control
and applied psychology."

The resolution was passed unanimously.

Representative Moore then revealed that he had only tabled the motion to
show how the legislature passes bills and resolutions often without reading
them or understanding what they say. Albert de Salvo was the Boston
Strangler.

- --
Ron Amos, Libertarian Candidate
Utah State House District #27
Liberty is Our Destiny
http://www.netcom.com/~ramos3/district27.html



- -

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

Date: Fri, 15 May 98 22:24:00 -0700
From: [e-mail] (SCOTT BERGESON)
Subject: FEAR: Who's next? You? Me? -- The Danger of Dissent in the USA

- ---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "R. J. Tavel, JD" <[e-mail]>

Willy Chaplin published an interesting piece in the ezine, PissedOff
(http://www.pissedoff.com/cgi-pissedoff/hn/get/forums/secret.html),
a couple of days ago. In the essay there is a link to the May, 1998,
issue of the magazine Liberty and to a very disturbing article by the
author Peter McWilliams, "The DEA Wishes Me a Nice Day" (an on-line
copy is at http://www.libertysoft.com/liberty/issues/65issue.html),
wherein he describes a visit paid to him by the DEA last December. In
the pre dawn hours on one December morning, they came into his home
with guns drawn, handcuffed Mr. McWilliams, proceeded to search his
home and his business and to confiscate his personal property,
including his computer, his current book in progress and all backup
copies. A warrant was only produced later and even then, no reason
was given. (They don't have to give a reason any more thanks to one
of the latest raft of annual "crime bills" passed by our ever caring
congress).

We could speculate that the reason for this devastating intrusion into
Peter's life is because he wrote a very enlightening but politically
critical book a few years ago entitled, Ain't Nobody's Business If You
Do: The Absurdity of Consensual Crimes in Our Free Country (available at
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0931580536/002-7099641-9910800).
Or it could be because he is apparently using medically prescribed
marijuana because he is dying of AIDS and cancer. While this practice
is legal in California, the Feds apparently do not condone such laws
and are making life miserable for any California citizens who chose to
ignore federal drug policy -- the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution
notwithstanding.

No, the reason the DEA has decided to make Peter's life miserable and
the reason Peter is resigned to spending the rest of his life in prison,
is DISSENT. Yeah, I know that folk wisdom has it that in the USA with
its democracy that is the envy of the world, dissent is not only accepted
but is even encouraged. Try it. Sure, you can openly complain about the
trivial things, but experience has shown that on the big, big issues --
like the Vietnam war, the Cold War, and now the Drug war, expressing
opposition can get you in a bunch of trouble.

But Mr. Chaplin has made this claim much better than I can and I
strongly recommend you take a look at his essay, "Secret Police" at
http://www.pissedoff.com/cgi-pissedoff/hn/get/forums/secret.html .
I quote Mr. Chaplin:

"Then it hit me...like a thunderbolt! We have EXACTLY such a [police]
force RIGHT NOW! It exists and is growing stronger, more repressive and
more dangerous each year. It is called the Drug Enforcement Agency and it
is explicitly formed and authorized to fight opposition to a war...the
War on Drugs. It's tactics are unconstitutional, secretive, ruthless and
brutal. Despite the fact that it has NEVER been the slightest bit
effective in stemming drug use or abuse, it HAS BEEN ALMOST COMPLETELY
EFFECTIVE IN SUPPRESSING DISSENT!" If this is true -- and I believe it
is -- we are all at risk. Not because we are taking un-approved drugs but
because we actively express our disapproval about what the government is
doing to the citizens and its abuse of the Constitution.

So, the old-timers would say, what else in new? Dissent has always been
dangerous. Maybe, it would be prudent to just keep our mouths shut (as
the German citizens did before WW2). But that is hard to do when we read
what Mr. McWilliams has to say about it: "If the DEA has seized my
computer to silence me, it has failed, as I hope this article illustrates."
A good point.

[Posted by Leon Felkins]


- -

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

Date: Fri, 15 May 98 22:24:00 -0700
From: [e-mail] (SCOTT BERGESON)
Subject: Idaho Judge Lodge Linked to Hansen Nightmare 1/2

- ---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 14 May 1998 20:22:54 -0600
To: "New Republican Discussion List" <[e-mail]>
From: spiker <[e-mail]>

To All,

The corrupt District Federal Judge detailed in this newspaper article
is the same man who dismissed the court case against Lon Horiuchi,
the murderer of Randy Weaver's wife and son.

Truth Surfaces in Hansen Ordeal
Banker's Political Prisoner
http://www.conghansen.com/backg.htm

(EDITOR'S NOTE: This article contains graphic descriptions of
torture that some may find offensive)

Dept. of Finance/Judge Lodge Linked to Hansen Nightmare

by Don Harkins and Edward Snook

Diesel Therapy:
A prison term which describes the most inhumane, degrading and
painful of punishment; normally reserved for the most violent and
uncontrollable of prisoners. A prisoner is shackled at the feet
and handcuffed at the wrists, reinforced with a box-like structure
which stiffens the chains and locks the wrists at a 90-degree angle.
The handcuffs are connected to a waist chain that is connected to
another chain which connects the shackles. Once this shackling is
complete, a prisoner can barely move. The tightened manacles pinch
the nerves and restrict the flow of blood causing severe pain and
swelling. Legs swelling with blood are particularly damaging to
the feet, as toenails under pressure from blood-blisters press up
against shoes for long periods of time and soon become infected and
deformed, causing such excruciating pain that they require surgery
or the pulling of the nails out by the roots.

Diesel therapy gets its name, not from the "cruel and unusual"
bondage, but from being forced into bus after bus and onto plane
after plane, shackled as described, and being shuttled from one
prison to another, for weeks on end, 20 hours per day in chains,
for no other reason than to cause pain and suffering and give
the prisoner a "message."

Welcome to diesel therapy and the world of seven-term Congressman
George Hansen who was found guilty in the court-room of the infamous
Federal Judge Edward Lodge on bogus charges of bank fraud which were
manipulated into an issue by the Idaho Department of Finance which
illegally used the same agents previously employed by the IRS in
their failed attempt to "get Hansen."

People who have been reading past editions of The Idaho Observer
and The Oregon Observer will recall that the Judge Lodge/Idaho
Department of Finance connection has already been uncovered in
the bogus securities laws violations charges levied against Boise
businessman and winemaker Petro (Pete) Eliopulos. "After Ed Snook
of The Oregon Observer and I met with Hansen and he told me in a
six-hour meeting what had happened to him, I was more shaken than
I have ever been in my life. If (West One) bank officers Knox and
Neaville had not subsequently been convicted of crimes which came
to light in the bogus investigations of me and my businesses, they
could have done to me what they did to Hansen," said Eliopulos,
who was shocked that a U.S. Representative, or anybody for that
matter, could be treated this way in America. What could an esteemed
member of the U.S. Congress have done to deserve such treatment?
Judge Lodge prescribed torture for Hansen.

Congressman Hansen found innocent of crimes manufactured to thwart
congressional accountability.

After four years of imprisonment, after ten years of persecution,
after being ruined professionally and financially and after being
permanently damaged physically, in December, 1995, the 9th Circuit
Court of Appeals vacated Hansen's sentence for bank fraud because
the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled on May 15, 1995, that Hansen's
previous conviction as a member of Congress had been overturned.

A series of events were triggered to allow crimes to be manufactured
which led to the imprisonment and torture of Congressman George Hansen.
Idaho District Federal Judge Edward Lodge, who has been used by bankers
and government officials for a decade to "legalize" their unethical
and criminal activities, was given the job of putting Hansen away and
seeing to it that he learned a lesson. Judge Lodge saw to it that
Hansen received "diesel therapy" coming and going to prison from the
judge's court at great cost to the government, even though Hansen
should have been allowed to make such trips at his own expense.

On the way from his hometown of Pocatello to federal prison in
Petersberg, VA , Hansen was bused and flown, nearly immovably
shackled, at taxpayer expense, to jails all over the country.
Not Hansen's lawyer, his wife, nor his allies in Congress were
able to locate him. Hansen had simply disappeared for a month
into the custody of the Federal Marshal's Service.

Hansen's wife didn't know whether he was dead or alive. And even
when the Supreme Court overturned Hansen's original case and the
Appeals Court vacated his current sentence, Hansen still got the
Judge Lodge treatment of another dose of diesel therapy from
Virginia back to Idaho.

What had Hansen, who was a model prisoner, done to deserve the
most brutal, torturous and barbaric type of treatment this country's
penal system is capable of inflicting on a prisoner?

Congressional Accountability Project

Retired Congressman Tom Kindness (R-Ohio) stated , "I believe that
George's recent trial and conviction on charges of "bank fraud" was
the direct result of a campaign by various members of the bureaucracy
to stop the CAP." CAP, the Congressional Accountability Project, was
being launched by Hansen and a group of investors interested in good
government. CAP was going to utilize nation-wide television and a
national 900 number to make congresspersons instantaneously accountable
to the American people for their votes on the House and Senate floors.


- -

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

Date: Fri, 15 May 98 22:24:00 -0700
From: [e-mail] (SCOTT BERGESON)
Subject: Idaho Judge Lodge Linked to Hansen Nightmare 2/2

"This was a project which would, in my opinion, have had a major
impact on the votes of congressmen since it would have made them
instantaneously responsible to the people by making their votes
known immediately after being cast," commented journalist John Voss.
Hansen and his associates were on the verge of making CAP fully
operational and accessible to the American public when the government,
through the Idaho Department of Finance with the illegal help of
former IRS agents, a revenge-minded Justice Department and the
corrupt Judge Lodge, manufactured bank fraud charges against him.
Judge Lodge's provably compromised court ultimately found Hansen
guilty and prescribed diesel therapy to teach him a lesson.

Why did the "Honorable" Judge Lodge treat Hansen like Public Enemy #1?

George Hansen was the only member of Congress able to pull the
strings necessary to visit the hostages in Iran in 1979 and expose
the big-bank scam behind the crises. George Hansen was the author
of the book To Harass Our People, an indictment of the IRS, wherein
he demanded its dismantling. George Hansen was the congressman who
was so outraged by what he discovered about the IRS while researching
his book that he wrote and helped to pass the Taxpayers' Bill of Rights.
George Hansen was the first man to propose the flat tax as a damage
control alternative to protect the people from IRS abuses. George
Hansen was the man who took on OSHA, WPPSS, and the INS, and George
Hansen was the man who fearlessly and repeatedly made public his
findings when investigations turned up government corruption and
citizen abuse.

The "system" decided it had to teach Congressman Hansen a lesson
because, had he been allowed to continue serving on Capitol Hill,
he would soon likely be the chairman of the powerful House Banking
Committee.

So, why did Judge Lodge, whose personal reasons for needing to
keep the well-documented criminal nature of the banking industry
below public scrutiny, with the help of the Idaho Department of
Finance, trump up a bank fraud conviction by denying the admission
of exonerating evidence in court in order to throw Hansen in prison
and make sure that he was punished severely with diesel therapy?

Was it because Congressman Hansen was getting close to the truth
and accumulating the political power it would take to finally and
totally expose the banking industry and government for its criminal
abuses of the American people?

Judge Lodge's Court of Kangaroos

CAP was apparently the final straw and abusive criminal government
had to put Hansen down. On the eve of CAP becoming fully operational,
powerful special interests and political enemies derailed the project
and forced a domino effect of financial repercussions upon Hansen and
his associates. The government then took the situation it had created
and indicted, prosecuted and convicted Hansen of bank fraud. Though
the treachous Judge Lodge and the government disdained the patriotic
financial sacrifices made by Hansen's supporters for good government
and callously prevented his efforts to re-pay them, it did not prevent
Hansen from publicly pledging that these law breaking government
bullies could never seal his lips, nor stop him from somehow paying
back the people he owed and thereby keeping his word. Every attorney
who has read the court transcripts is concerned and confounded as to
how George could have been convicted on bank fraud charges when the
supervising bank officers were not only acutely aware of his
financial operation and transactions, but were actively assisting
him in his efforts for over ten years! "George defrauded no one and
we can prove it," stated Congressman Kindness.

Hansen was not really imprisoned and tortured by "our" government
for bank fraud, though that was the government's excuse to lock him
up and shut him down. Hansen was actually a political prisoner who
was guilty of attempting to provide the American people with the
ammunition of knowledge so they could successfully fight back against
the senseless encroachment of government oppression which more and
more is ruining the lives of all of us. Hansen dedicated his civil
service to facilitating a return to a "our" government that felt
threatened enough by his noble activities to see to it that he was
imprisoned and tortured for daring to tell citizen/taxpayers the
truth. Hansen was the only U.S. statesman who cared enough to risk
his own safety and political career to visit the hostages in Iran
in 1979. While in Iran, Hansen saw first hand what happens to
political prisoners, who were beaten mercilessly, who had finger
and toe nails ripped out by the roots and who had been shackled
until they were permanently disabled physically.

Hansen has also experienced first hand the same inhumane torture and
it happened to him in the most "civilized" nation on earth, the only
difference being that Hansen was denied treatment and pain-killers
and had to rip his own deformed and infected toenails out.

If there has ever been a time when your country needed you to stand
up for everything it means to be an American, that time is right now.

Subscribe to Truth in Journalism; subscribe to The Idaho Observer

____ $20.00 for 12 issues
____ $35.00 for 24 issues
____ Contribution of $___________
Name: __________________________________________________

Address: ________________________________________________

City: ___________________________ State: _____ Zip: _________

Phone: _________________________ Email: __________________

Print, clip, and mail to:

The Idaho Observer
PO Box 1806
Post Falls ID 83854



- -

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

Date: Sat, 16 May 1998 23:11:16 -0600
From: "S. Thompson" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Dr. Finnell Takes On CDC. TV interview Monday

Val Finnell, M.D. Takes on the CDC:

> I will be a guest on "Endangered Liberties," a talk show on America's
> Voice (cable) on Monday, May 18th at 10:00 pm to discuss the Centers for
> Disease Control's (CDC) support of the biased and incompetent medical
> "research" on the issue of gun ownership.
>
> The show is broadcast live and accepts call-ins and e-mail:
> [e-mail]
>
> Please tune in if you have cable.  If you don't, you can still view the
> broadcast in RealVideo using RealPlayer at the following website:
>
> http://www.americasvoice.com/
>
> Just click on the button that says, "Watch Now."
>
> You can download the RealPlayer free at:
> http://www.real.com/products/player/index.html
>
> Again:
>
> Endangered Liberties on America's Voice cable network at 10:00 pm,
> Monday May 18th. Watch on TV or on the web.  Call in-and e-mail.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Val


Val is a friend and fellow member of Doctors for Integrity in Policy
Research.  If you have the ability to check this out, please do.

Sarah


- -

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

Date: Mon, 18 May 1998 14:34:45 -0700
From: DAVID SAGERS <[e-mail]>
Subject: RNC / New York Times -Forwarded

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Date:         Mon, 18 May 1998 15:54:49 -0400
Reply-To: Sean Henry <[e-mail]>
Sender: RNC Press List <[e-mail]>
From: Sean Henry <[e-mail]>
Subject:      RNC / New York Times
To: Multiple recipients of list PRESSLIST <[e-mail]>

This is a very important summary of how the Clinton Administration has
sold US security interests -- and why.  Please forward it to your own
lists.

Mike Collins
RNC Press Secretary
[phone] (Voice)
[phone] (Fax)
[phone] (Pager)
E-Mail: [e-mail]
Visit Our Web Site: http://www.rnc.org

ESSAY / By WILLIAM SAFIRE
U.S. Security for Sale

WASHINGTON -- A President hungry for money to finance his re-election
overruled the Pentagon; he sold to a Chinese Military Intelligence front
the technology that defense experts argued would give Beijing the
capacity to blind our spy satellites and launch a sneak attack. How soon
we have forgotten Pearl Harbor.

October 1996 must have been some tense month for Democratic
fund-raisers. The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles
Times had begun to expose "the Asian connection" of John Huang and
Indonesia's Riady family to the Clinton campaign.

The fix was already in to sell the satellite technology to China.
Clinton had switched the licensing over to Ron Brown's anything-goes
Commerce Department. Johnny Chung had paid up. Commerce's Huang had
delivered money big time (though one of his illegal foreign sources had
already been spotted). The boss of the satellite's builder had come
through as Clinton's largest contributor.

But public outrage was absent. The F.B.I. didn't read the papers and
Reno Justice did not want to embarrass the President. And television
news found no pictorial values in the Asian connection.

Stealthily, the Clinton Administration held back the implementation of
the corrupt policy until Nov. 5 -- the day the campaign ended.
Now the reporting of Jeff Gerth and The Times's investigative team is
putting the spotlight of pitiless publicity on the sellout of American
security.

We begin to see how the daughter of China's top military commander
steered at least $300,000 through the Chung channel to the D.N.C.
(Apparently Mr. Chung skimmed off a chunk and may be spilling his guts
lest he have to face his Beijing friends.)

We begin to learn more of the Feb. 8, 1996, visit of the arms dealer
Wang Jun to the Commerce office of Ron Brown, and Wang's "coffee"
meeting that day with the President, the very day that Clinton approved
four Chinese launches -- even as China was terrorizing Taiwan with
missile tests.

Clinton's explanation, which used to slyly suggest that China policy was
not changed "solely" by contributors, has now switched to total
ignorance: shucks, we didn't know the source of the money. But this
President's D.N.C. did not know because it wanted not to know;
procedures long in place to prevent the unlawful inflow of foreign funds
were uprooted by the money-hungry Clintonites.

Today, two years after this sale of our security, comes the unforeseen
chain reaction: as China strengthens its satellite and missile
technology, a new Indian Government reacts to the growing threat from
its longtime Asian rival and joins the nuclear club. In turn, China
feels pressed to supply its threatened ally, Pakistan, with weaponry
Beijing promised us not to transfer.

This makes Clinton the Proliferation President.

Who has helped keep this sellout of security under wraps? In the Senate,
John Glenn was rewarded with a space flight by Clinton for derogating
the leads to China of the Thompson committee. Fred Thompson's warnings
about China's plan to penetrate this White House were then scorned by
Democratic partisans; his Government Operations Committee should now
swarm all over this.

The House's aggressive agent of the Clinton cover-up, Henry Waxman of
California, is finally "troubled" by the prospect of damning evidence he
prevented the Burton committee from finding. At least three Democratic
partisans who foolishly followed Waxman in blocking the testimony of
Asian witnesses may have difficulty explaining their cover-up vote to
even more troubled voters in their districts.

The Gerth revelations lead to more questions: Where were the chiefs of
the C.I.A. and the National Security Agency, their intelligence so
dependent on satellites, on the satellite technology sale to China?
Is anybody at Reno Justice re-examining testimony taken by independent
counsel investigating corruption at Commerce before Ron Brown's death?
Does Brown's former lawyer claim "dead man's privilege" on notes? Did
N.S.A. tape overseas calls of suspect Commerce officials? Who induced
Commerce to lobby Clinton for control of satellite technology?
And the most immediate: Will homesick prosecutor Charles LaBella,
beholden to Janet Reno for his political appointment in San Diego, dare
to offend his patron by calling for independent counsel?


- -

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

Date: Mon, 18 May 1998 14:38:47 -0700
From: DAVID SAGERS <[e-mail]>
Subject: Repercussions of military killing of civilian teen-ager  along border - LONGish -Forwarded

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- ---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 17 May 1998 13:41:44 -0400
From: Leroy Crenshaw <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: L&J: Repercussions of military killing of civilian teen-ager along border

Repercussions of military killing of civilian teen-ager along border
12.34 p.m. ET (1635 GMT) May 17, 1998

By Eduardo Montes, Associated Press

EL PASO, Texas (AP) -- As the Marines approached, Esequiel Hernandez Jr.
writhed on the ground in agony, dying from the military-issue M-16 bullet
that had torn into his side.

On that rainy evening one year ago, the 18-year-old goatherd became the
first American civilian casualty of U.S. troops enlisted to fight the war
on drugs.

He may have been the last. The military suspended its drug patrols along
the border two months later and not one armed soldier has returned since.

"We don't know when and if those missions will be reinstated. To be very
honest, we don't believe they will. The entire operation was put under
scrutiny. I just don't see us going back into that business,'' said Lt.
Col. Jere Norman, spokesman for Joint Task Force Six, the agency that
coordinates anti-drug missions between the military and civilian
authorities.

The Pentagon created the El Paso-based JTF Six in 1989 after the White
House declared drugs a national security threat, opening the door to
limited military  involvement in interdiction efforts.

Civil rights advocates quickly protested, arguing the move eroded the
1878 Posse Comitatus act prohibiting the military from performing
civilian law enforcement functions.

It was "against the democratic values and beliefs of this country since
the Declaration of Independence,'' said Maria Jimenez, director of the
Immigration Law Enforcement Monitoring Project, a watchdog group.

Critics also said the government was inviting tragedy, and Hernandez's
death on May 20, 1997, seemed to prove them right.

Hernandez, who lived in Redford, a remote border town 200 miles southeast
of El Paso, had been grazing his goats near the Rio Grande when he
crossed paths with a four-man Marine patrol assigned to keep watch on a
suspected drug smuggling route.

What happened next has been a subject of debate.

The Marines said Hernandez fired at them twice with his .22-caliber
rifle, prompting the camouflaged soldiers to trail him for about 20
minutes.

When he raised his rifle a third time, Cpl. Clemente Banuelos, fearing
a fellow Marine was in danger, fired a single shot that struck Hernandez
under the right armpit. Within the hour, the teen-ager was dead.

Family members say Hernandez would never have knowingly fired at the
Marines and that he carried the rifle only to shoot targets and protect
his goats from wild dogs. Local and federal authorities acknowledge he
wasn't involved in any wrongdoing when he was killed.

The military maintains Banuelos and his three fellow Marines acted
appropriately.

Banuelos was cleared by two grand juries, one federal and one convened
by Presidio County.

The decision outraged Hernandez's family and many Redford residents.

"It's something that you can't understand, why it happened, why they
had to kill him, why it had to be done,'' said Hernandez's older
brother, Margarito. "We can't accept they had a reason to kill him.
It was wrong.''

The Hernandez family is pursuing a claim against the government and has
been negotiating with the Justice Department for compensation, said
family attorney Bill Weinacht.

And Presidio County District Attorney Albert Valadez is considering
whether to reopen the case because he feels the county grand jury's
examination left unanswered questions.

Margarito Hernandez and civil rights advocates are pleased that the
military missions have been discontinued, but they fear the Pentagon
could reverse the decision. And in any event, JTF Six will still be
involved with police, including training them in military tactics.

"It's a different threat,'' said Tim Dunn, author of "Militarization
of the U.S.-Mexico Border.''

"It's a more severe threat if they're out there with guns,'' he said.
"But if the other facets of the relationship ... continue, that's still
dangerous.''

Supporters of military involvement see a different threat.

"We should not unilaterally retreat from the war on drugs because there
is a tragedy,'' said Paul Marcone, chief of staff for Rep. Jim Traficant,
D-Ohio. "The (suspension's) net effect is that we have more cocaine and
heroin coming into the United States.''

Traficant plans to reintroduce legislation this year to allow increased
military participation.

But Norman, the JTF Six spokesman, said he's not sure civilian agencies
want soldiers to return.

"If it became available to us, we'd have to take a long hard look at
it,'' said Tomas Zuniga, a Dallas-based spokesman for the Immigration
and Naturalization Service. "Shame on me once, but not shame on me
twice.''



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

Date: Mon, 18 May 1998 16:00:37 -0700
From: DAVID SAGERS <[e-mail]>
Subject: BATF Proposed regulations: Immediate action needed!  -Forwarded

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Date: Sun, 17 May 1998 23:59:29 -0600
From: Dave Post <[e-mail]>
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Subject: BATF Proposed regulations: Immediate action needed!
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Posted to rkba-co by Dave Post <[e-mail]>
- -----------------------
This is about the *proposed* permanent Brady Bill regulations  The BATF
comment period is about to end ( midnight May 20, 1998. )

If you wish to be taken off my distribution list, I will immediately honor
your wishes.
===
I am sorry that this is redundant for subscribers to RKBA-CO.  But I wanted
to thank those subscribers ( you know who you are.  ) If it wasn't for
them, Gun Owners of America and Jews for the Preservation of Firearms
Ownership many of us would not have found out about this.

The NRA is asleep at the wheel.  I e mailed my concerns, along with the
proposed regulations to Tanya Metaska, NRA/ILA three weeks ago and have
heard nothing back.

The proposed regulations are available from me or the government
( Government Printing Office ) at:

    http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dbsearch.html
    link: Federal Register
    link: GPO Access Search Page
    http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aaces002.html

    Federal Register, Volume 63, (1998) was already selected in a form

    searched for "alcohol, tobacco and firearms"

    http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/multidb.cgi

    fr19fe98P Implementation of Public Law 103-159, Relating to the Permanent

This issue cannot wait!  No time to procrastinate.  The commentary period
is nearly over.  I have attached a sample letter that you can use and
modify.  In the letter are the mailing address and important reasons the
proposed regulations should be withdrawn.

Please act now.  Don't wait for the 'good ol' boys' at the NRA.

David Post    [e-mail]       These opinions are mine and mine alone.
============================================================================


                                                   May 17, 1998
                                                   3954 Boxelder Dr.
                                                   Loveland, CO 80538


Chief, Regulations Division
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms
P.O. Box 50221
Washington, D.C.  20091-0221

Attention: Notice No. 857 (proposed regulations to implement
           the "instant check" provisions of the "Brady Act").

To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing to express objections to the proposed regulations.

The proposed regulations defer citizens privacy to the hands of the Justice
Department, but the DOJ has not been prohibited from keeping databases of
firearm purchases.  They have no obligation to secure their records or
maintain citizen privacy.  This is an attempted end-run around laws designed
to regulate the BATF.  The Batf has overstepped it bounds.

The original intent of the Brady Bill was for the BATF to implement a check
if, and only if, the states did not implement it or it was not adequate.
Therefore the BATF check is not necessary.

The proposed regulations appear to apply to all firearms, handguns and long
guns.  This is completely beyond the scope of the Brady Bill.  Again, the
BATF oversteps its bounds.

The Brady Bill intent was to exempt states which had implemented their own
instant check system.  The proposed regulations fail in this respect.

Finally, the proposed regulations should be directed, not toward areas of
state law, but toward the very poor record of booking those violators of
federal law who attempt to purchase a firearm when they have been
prohibited by previous criminal activity.

These proposed regulations should be withdrawn, and rewritten according to
the above guidelines.


                                                   David F. Post


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

Date: Tue, 19 May 1998 16:09:37 -0600
From: "S. Thompson" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Forfeiture Hearing on Wednesday

I've taken the liberty of forwarding this message from Arnold Gaunt because
I believe asset forfeiture is an issue of concern to firearms owners.  I
have no information other that what Arnold has written, so please direct
questions to him.

Sarah

>Date: Mon, 18 May 1998 20:08:36 -0700
>From: "Arnold J. Gaunt" <[e-mail]>
>Reply-To: [e-mail]
>Organization: XMission
>X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.04Gold (Win16; I)
>To: [e-mail]
>Subject: Forfeiture Hearing on Wednesday
>
>This is another reminder of the civil asset forfeiture hearing by the
>Business, Labor, and Economic Development Interim Committee.  The
>hearing is scheduled for 3:35 PM on Wednesday, May 20, in Room 403 of
>the State Capitol.  This is our opportunity to inform the Legislature
>that asset forfeiture is unjust.  Please plan to attend if you possibly
>can.
>
>I will be presenting to the Committee a summary of some of the worst
>forfeiture abuses that have occurred in Utah.  Other topics that are
>worthy of consideration and might be presented and developed by others
>are:
>
>1.  The inherent presumption of guilt in forfeiture proceedings
>
>2.  The use of confidential informants, paid with asset forfeiture
>proceeds, and the distortion of justice which results.
>
>3.  How drug dealers can use their assets as a trade for reduced charges
>and sentences.
>
>4.  Since drug dealers make their money from junkies who steal from
>innocent people or from those who effectively are stealing from their
>families, why are police entitled to forfeiture proceeds instead of
>victims of the drug trade?
>
>5.  Why should drug users continue to be treated as victims when their
>choice to use has caused the supply problem?  Users of drugs ought to be
>treated as the cause of supply rather than its victims.  If the
>Legislature must do something about drugs, then let's eliminate demand
>instead of pursuing foolish and proven ineffective "supply side"
>approaches which involve and threaten the liberty of all.  Under "supply
>side", all are directly or indirectly participants in drug commerce.
>
>6.  If we don't allow our soldiers to loot from the enemy, nor allow our
>tax auditors to earn commissions on successful audits, why do allow the
>police to confiscate the property of innocent owners?
>
>7.  If asset forfeiture is all about Pablo Escobar (now deceased) and
>his billions, then why can't the police/prosecutors produce statistics
>to back this phony assertion?
>
>8.  Since the police have seized many homes for alleged meth lab
>operations, why was not the Red Lion Hotel seized on the same basis?
>
>9.  With regard to real property, why shouldn't owners be entitled to
>the same protection as banks who can avoid forfeiture by showing they
>didn't know of the alleged misuse of the property.
>
>10.  How can the police and prosecutors be so certain of guilt when no
>one is ever charged with a crime in most forfeitures?
>
>11.  Why should prosecutors have greater incentive to pursue forfeiture
>cases than murder or robbery cases, since they are reimbursed with
>proceeds on successful forfeiture actions.
>
>I'm aware that some of you may have objections to some of these topics,
>but they are intended merely to promote deeper consideration of this
>issue and possibly motivate you to address the Committee.
>
>See you on Wednesday.
>
>
>
>http://www.le.state.ut.us/~1998/interim/html/0520blea.htm
>
>

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