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From: owner-utah-firearms-digest@lists.xmission.com (utah-firearms-digest)
To: utah-firearms-digest@lists.xmission.com
Subject: utah-firearms-digest V2 #111
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 Saturday, November 21 1998 Volume 02 : Number 111
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1998 11:14:01 -0700
From: chardy@ES.COM (Charles Hardy)
Subject: Re: Fwd: Information from a friend of a friend of a EMT
On Wed, 18 Nov 1998, "David Sagers" <dsagers@ci.west-valley.ut.us> posted:
>Be aware!!!
>Drug users are now taking their needles and putting them into the coin =
>return slots in public telephones. People putting their fingers in to the =
>slots to recover coins or just to check if anyone left some change are =
>getting stuck by these needles and infected with hepatitis, HIV and other =
>diseases. Keep this in mind when using a public telephone. =20
>
I'm not sure what this has to do with firearms, but if true is a good
heads up. FWIW, my girlfriend who draws blood for the Red Cross tells
me that medical professionals are far more worried about hepatitis
than about HIV simply because hepatitis is a far more robust virus
outside the body. And as she says, hepatitis C will kill you just as
surely and unpleasantly as will AIDS.
- --
Charles C. Hardy | If my employer has an opinion on
<chardy@es.com> | these things I'm fairly certain
801.588.7200 (work) | I'm not the one he'd have express it.
"Who are the militia? Are they not ourselves? Is it feared, then, that
we shall turn our arms each man against his own bosom? Congress shall
have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other
terrible implement of the soldier, are the birth-right of an American
.. The unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the
federal or state governments, but where I trust in God it will ever
remain, in the hands of the People." -- Tench Coxe - 1788.
- -
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1998 09:18:13 -0700
From: chardy@ES.COM (Charles Hardy)
Subject: [Vin_Suprynowicz@lvrj.com: Nov. 13 column - "lesser of two evils"]
- ----BEGIN FORWARDED MESSGE----
FROM MOUNTAIN MEDIA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DATED NOV. 13, 1998
THE LIBERTARIAN, By Vin Suprynowicz
'Not a nickel's worth of difference between 'em'
The mailbox has been full, of late.
One disgruntled Republican wrote in, responding to the column in which I
explained why I cast my U.S. Senate vote for Libertarian Michael Emerling
Cloud instead of Republican John Ensign -- my local congressmen who spent
four years backpedaling from the 1994 Republican promise to repeal some of
the more outlandish federal violations of my Second Amendment right to keep
and bear military-style arms:
"By trashing the Republican candidate in Nevada, you unwittingly gave your
support the socialist Democrat. You tout the conservative line but you're a
wolf in sheep's clothing. Your vote and 459 others could have made the
difference!"
Actually, the latest recount has reduced Democrat Harry Reid's victory
margin to 401 votes, out of more than 420,000 cast -- with more challenges
likely.
But my response to reader M.H. was a bit more forthright:
# # #
WHAT difference? The Republicrats are no different from the
Demopublicans, except they might increase the size of the WELFARE state
only 95 percent as quickly as the other half of the "Incumbent Party,"
while beefing up the POLICE state about 120 percent as fast.
It's the "freedom-loving, lower-tax, smaller government" Republican
Congress which has given us the new National ID cards, the so-called
national "deadbeat dad" and "child immunization" tracking centers to track
ALL Americans, national gun registration (coming Dec. 1), limits on how
much cash you can withdraw from your own bank account without explanation
to the government, new laws which will soon allow armed soldiers to patrol
our airports with M-16s, looking for "drug smugglers and terrorists" (the
former harmless, the latter non-existent ... so far), armed ATF agents
murdering California gun store owners in their shops, armed U.S. Marines
murdering little shepherd boys in Texas ... and which in its spare time has
passed the Clinton-Feinstein "gun-free school zone" bill ... twice.)
I have never "touted a conservative line." I'm a Libertarian, and proud
of it. Libertarians are not conservatives; we seek radical change ... back
to the pre-1912 free society of the Constitution.
I did not support the socialist Democrat. I voted for the Libertarian. If
a plurality of Nevadans voted socialist, it's not my responsibility. I keep
shouting as loud as I can, every week. If given the choice between feeding
your children to a bear or a tiger, are you telling me you would dutifully
make that choice as ordered -- that it would never even occur to you to
shoot the bear, the tiger, AND the guy who told you only had two choices?
It's "Democrat Lite" Republicans like you, with your "lesser of two
evils" rationalizations for giving our seal of approval to tyranny, who
have brought this nation to the brink of armed dictatorship, and/or violent
secession.
Which are the proud successes of four years of GOP congressional control
- -- in terms of restoring our lost liberties -- to which you would proudly
point? Name any.
As for "trashing the Republican candidate in Nevada," my newspaper
endorsed both Republican Senate candidate John Ensign, and Republican
congressional candidate Don Chairez ... and I personally wrote repeatedly
in favor of Don Chairez, a decent and thoughtful judge who took on the
political powers of this town to overrule an illegal eminent-domain
property seizure from a widowed Greek grandmother (among others.)
In fact, I recently wrote a column on the "six brightest new faces" in
Nevada politics in election 98, and not one was a Libertarian; every one
was a Republican.
On Nov. 3, all but one of those six lost -- and that one got elected to
the entirely ceremonial post of lieutenant governor.
It's not my fault these Republicans decided not to run on the kind of
libertarian issues (however modest and watered-down) that worked so well
for them in 1994. Many of us URGED John Ensign and Don Chairez to run on
issues like property rights and restoring the Second and 10th amendments.
But they (or their assigned handlers from the Republican National
Committee) were afraaaaid. They didn't want to be called "far-right
wackos." So they ran by claiming they wanted to "protect Social Security"
and "make public education better." In other words, they ran on the
platform of the WRONG PARTY.
At which point, having declined to identify themselves with any popular
libertarian issues (these guys weren't even willing to openly embrace
medical marijuana, a "controversial" measure which Nevada voters approved
by a whopping 59-to-41 percent margin), they opened themselves to being
defined by their opponents as nothing but "Democrats who hate homosexuals
and want to ban abortion." Oh, there's a winning formula!
As another commentator said last week, "When you hold an election between
a Democrat and a Democrat, you can pretty much assume it'll be won by a
Democrat."
Usually, the real one.
Vin Suprynowicz is the assistant editorial page editor of the Las Vegas
Review-Journal. Readers may contact him via e-mail at vin@lvrj.com.
***
Vin Suprynowicz, vin@lvrj.com
The evils of tyranny are rarely seen but by him who resists it. -- John
Hay, 1872
The most difficult struggle of all is the one within ourselves. Let us not
get accustomed and adjusted to these conditions. The one who adjusts ceases
to discriminate between good and evil. He becomes a slave in body and
soul. Whatever may happen to you, remember always: Don't adjust! Revolt
against the reality! -- Mordechai Anielewicz, Warsaw, 1943
* * *
- ----END FORWARDED MESSAGE----
- --
Charles C. Hardy | If my employer has an opinion on
<chardy@es.com> | these things I'm fairly certain
801.588.7200 (work) | I'm not the one he'd have express it.
"Who are the militia? Are they not ourselves? Is it feared, then, that
we shall turn our arms each man against his own bosom? Congress shall
have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other
terrible implement of the soldier, are the birth-right of an American
.. The unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the
federal or state governments, but where I trust in God it will ever
remain, in the hands of the People." -- Tench Coxe - 1788.
- -
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1998 09:19:24 -0700
From: chardy@ES.COM (Charles Hardy)
Subject: [Vin_Suprynowicz@lvrj.com: Nov. 15 column - felons with guns]
- ----BEGIN FORWARDED MESSGE----
FROM MOUNTAIN MEDIA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DATED NOV. 15, 1998
THE LIBERTARIAN, By Vin Suprynowicz
On the selective doling out of 'constitutional rights'
T.T. writes in, in response to the Nov. 5 column in which I admitted
being a one-issue voter, rejecting any politician who won't trust me with a
gun:
"Thank you, Vin, for raising the issue which has been bothering me for
quite a while: when I read through the Bill of Rights, I cannot understand
why a convicted felon WHO HAS SERVED HIS OR HER TIME is, under the present
selective 2nd Amendment rights-lifting, not automatically and permanently
stripped of ALL of his or her rights, and not just the Second, plus voting:
"Felon = no free speech, freedom to assemble, or, as you say, freedom to
go to the church of choice; no 3rd Amendment protections ... hey, quarter
those soldiers at will in the forever-felon's house! ... no 4th Amendment
protections, or 5th, or 6th (as you point out) nor 7th or 8th. And of
course, the 9th and 10th are moot, since they're long-gone anyway for
everyone, felon and misdemeanor and non-convicted alike.
"But if the power-geeks were to do this, why, then it would be too
blatantly obvious what was really happening, wouldn't it?
"Best wishes, and thanks for keeping the faith so eloquently."
I responded:
# # #
Yes. Does a felon, once he has "done his time" and "paid his debt to
society," again become a member of "the people" to whom all the rights in
the Bill of Rights apply, or not?
If NOT, then indeed any government agency should be able to arrest anyone
who has EVER been convicted of a felony -- even a 90-year-old guy who
tended bar in a speakeasy in 1930 -- hold him without bond and without
letting him confront his accusers, in some foreign jurisdiction, torture a
confession out of him, convict him without a jury trial, and then subject
him to a cruel and unusual execution, all in secret. No problem with the
Bill of Rights -- it DOESN'T APPLY.
Needless to say, under this evil premise, the government should also be
able to deny such a person the right to attend church, the right to publish
a newspaper or magazine, the right to own property which cannot be seized
on a bureaucrat's whim without compensation, etc.
On the other hand, if that is NOT the situation which does or should
prevail, then it seems to me any former felon who is no longer on "parole"
has a right to vote and bear arms, along with all his other pre-existing
rights ... which after all are only ACKNOWLEDGED by the Bill of Rights as
having been ordained by the Creator, not actually "granted" therein.
This business of creating different classes of citizens, with different
degrees of legal "disability," is the basis for virtually ALL the invasions
of our privacy -- up to and including the police numbering system on our
cars -- so frequently justified as "allowing us to check and make sure
you're not an escaping felon."
(Note what a police state South Africa became, based on the simple notion
that one should have to show one's "racial identity card" to any policeman
who asked, to determine whether one had a right to be on a given street at
a given hour of the day -- and the sad absurdities it created, as visiting
Japanese businessmen were given passports declaring they were "white" so
they wouldn't have to suffer the indignities visited on South Africa's
native east Indian merchants, who carried second-class INTERNAL passports
identifying them as inferior "Asians.")
There should be no NEED for me to ever "submit to a background check" to
prove I'm "not a felon." Felons should be in prison, or in the graveyard.
"Parole" is the French word for "promise." If you can't trust a convict
to keep his "promise" not to acquire and carry a gun until his sentence
expires, then don't let him out on "parole." It's not (start ital)I(end
ital) who should have to suffer inconvenience or indignity because the
government wardens can no longer tell the difference between me and all
these convicted thugs they're allowing to wander the streets in plain
clothes.
Start repealing one law a day until you have enough jail cells to keep
those guilty of violating our REMAINING laws (you might want to to keep
murder, forcible rape, and armed robbery on the books, while tossing out
drug use, "money laundering," and failure to pay gun "transfer taxes") in
stir for their FULL SENTENCES.
And set the rest of us free.
Vin Suprynowicz is the assistant editorial page editor of the Las Vegas
Review-Journal. Readers may contact him via e-mail at vin@lvrj.com. The web
sites for the Suprynowicz column are at
http://www.infomagic.com/liberty/vinyard.htm, and
http://www.nguworld.com/vindex. The column is syndicated in the United
States and Canada via Mountain Media Syndications, P.O. Box 4422, Las Vegas
Nev. 89127.
***
Vin Suprynowicz, vin@lvrj.com
The evils of tyranny are rarely seen but by him who resists it. -- John
Hay, 1872
The most difficult struggle of all is the one within ourselves. Let us not
get accustomed and adjusted to these conditions. The one who adjusts ceases
to discriminate between good and evil. He becomes a slave in body and
soul. Whatever may happen to you, remember always: Don't adjust! Revolt
against the reality! -- Mordechai Anielewicz, Warsaw, 1943
* * *
- ----END FORWARDED MESSAGE----
- --
Charles C. Hardy | If my employer has an opinion on
<chardy@es.com> | these things I'm fairly certain
801.588.7200 (work) | I'm not the one he'd have express it.
"Who are the militia? Are they not ourselves? Is it feared, then, that
we shall turn our arms each man against his own bosom? Congress shall
have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other
terrible implement of the soldier, are the birth-right of an American
.. The unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the
federal or state governments, but where I trust in God it will ever
remain, in the hands of the People." -- Tench Coxe - 1788.
- -
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1998 09:23:13 -0700
From: "David Sagers" <dsagers@ci.west-valley.ut.us>
Subject: Fwd: "Gregory" <gmeads@mail2.nai.net>: Re: Our Enemy Flaunts Our Losses
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Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1998 06:46:07 -0500
Subject: "Gregory" <gmeads@mail2.nai.net>: Re: Our Enemy Flaunts Our Losses
Message-ID: <19981119.064907.3510.0.SACRES@juno.com>
From: sacres@juno.com (Thomas A Chandler)
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- --------- Begin forwarded message ----------
From: "Gregory" <gmeads@mail2.nai.net>
To: <NRA-ILA-EVC@kendaco.telebyte.com>
Subject: Re: Our Enemy Flaunts Our Losses
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1998 01:25:13 -0500
Message-ID: <001101be11f3$099298c0$cd2096d1@eadsent.nai.net>
Well, apparently "we" need to get kicked so hard the wind is knocked from
"us" and we see "stars".
After the stupid Brady Bill (1993) and the stupid 'so-called Assault
Weapon
Ban', lot of idiots and toadstools woke up, stood up, got to the polls
and
turned Congress around for the FIRST time in over 40 FORTY !!!! Years.
Put Klinton so far back (I'm still "relevant") on his ass (20% approval
rating) that he had to have his black bag boys blow up the OKC Federal
Bldg.
THEN his approval rating went to the mid-60's....where it's stayed to
this
very day.
Are gunowners like ALCOHOLICS- IN DENIAL - until they HIT ROCK BOTTOM -
and
THEN decide that it's time to do something ????
Any refutations to the above theorem ?
Gregory
CT-6
Greetings Gregory
No refutation from here. Right now my people and I are reaching out to
everybody we can think of who appreciates the value of the Constitution
and Bill of Rights to help us form a phone tree of activist we can count
on to phone, write, fax or e-mail their legislators from their home
districts all over the state, when legislation comes up we need=20
supported or opposed. We are looking for people who appreciate or are
learning how central the Constitution and Bill of Rights are to our
rights and freedoms.We seek people who can understand the significance of
the attempt to deny the Second Amendment is an individual right much less
a civil right, and are willing to speak out on this before legislators
and the public, starting with letters to the editor and talk radio.
We have gone outside the traditional gun owner groups to the property
rights people and other Constitutional rights activist like the school
choice people, many of whom are trying to have their traditional values
reflected in the school they send their children to, as opposed to having
their values ignored, or ridiculed and denigrated as the popular culture
does.
To many people are willing to ignore the rule of law to excuse Clinton,
they have forgotten our country is a representative Republic ruled by
Laws that must conform to, and be limited by the Constitution and Bill of
Rights. We are not a Democracy ruled by the popular majority opinion of
the time. We are not an Oligarcy ruled by a priviledged elite, an elite
that uses a massive government and media controlled by elitist to make
decisions for "the masses". A public too ignorant to make the right
decisions for themselves.
O.k. we are an Oligarcy, but we are not supposed to be and Oligarcy.
Every time we buy into the argument that our fellow citizens are too
stupid to appeciate our arguments and do what needs to be done we not
only validate rule by privileged elite, we ignore the fact there is
reason for all the lies, bigotries and prejudice against us.
Many people are merely ignorant, not stupid. They don't know the truth
about our rights. If knowledge of the truth didn't matter then why the
expense and effort to lie about us and our situation. People's opinions
and action can be changed with knowledge.
We ask for any gun owners or sympathizers in the ranks of the
pro-individual rights activist to help us with the Second Amendment as
Civil Rights. An approach that helps reinforce the primacy of the
Constitutuion, the Bill of Rights and the Amendment or Amendments that
support their efforts as Civil Rights.
Most people can recognize the bigotry, and prejudice against gun
ownership when it is pointed out, and the subversion of the Bill of
Rights that is now common practice in the U.S.. The Second Amendment
example is high profile and something most people have been exposed to
and have an opinion on.=20
Please consider what we are doing and how the approach might help you.
I'll keep you posted as I can. We are still working on our Second
Amendment Civil Rights website at www.frontiernet.net/~billy/scope/ the
top of the SCOPE webpage.
Keep up the fight
Tom Chandler
NRA-ILA-EVC NY 21st CD
Chairman Capital District SCOPE
___________________________________________________________________
You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail.
Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html
or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]
****Owning a firearm is a RIGHT, not a privilege****
The NRA ILA EVC closed mailing list is NOT an=20
official list of the NRA, but is offered as=20
a tool by Jim Kendall (WA-1st District EVC) and Telebyte NW.
To subscribe or unsubscribe, send an email request to=20
NRA-1st@telebyte.com
*********** Victory 1998! ***************
- -
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1998 10:33:19 -0700
From: chardy@ES.COM (Charles Hardy)
Subject: Olympics--Guns
From today's SLTRIB. Note the part towards the end about "safe
games...positive impression...without compromising lifestyle..."
Gun laws by any other convoluted name!
Is this delay a good thing, or can we expect a deal to be hammered out
and agreed to before we even get any input?
Thursday, November 19, 1998
Lawmakers Push Back Review of Olympic Issues
BY MIKE GORRELL
THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
Legislators will wait until after next session to
look closely at state and local government dealings with
the 2002 Winter Games.
The Legislative Management Committee has endorsed a
recommendation to refer a dozen Olympics-related issues
to interim committees for review between the 1999 and
2000 sessions.
Suggested topics came from six legislators on the
Sports Advisory Committee, a board of state and
local-government officials created in 1989 to advise the
Utah Sports Authority, governor and Legislature on
governments' roles in building and operating
Olympic-related facilities with $59 million in sales-tax
revenue.
Those lawmakers also sought legislative leadership's
endorsement of a bill, to be introduced this session,
that would change the Sports Advisory Committee's name
to the ``Olympic Coordination Commission.'' The bill
would add two legislators and include members from all
Olympic-venue cities and counties.
Legislative leaders refrained from supporting the
concept before its details are spelled out, apparently
out of concern about Rep. Jordan Tanner's remarks the
changes would give legislators more control over the
Olympic-preparation process. House and Senate leaders
have said repeatedly that preparations are the
responsibility of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee
(SLOC).
Instead, the Legislative Management Committee
instructed Tanner, R-Provo, co-chairman of the Sports
Advisory Committee, to draft legislation that would be
subject to customary debate during the session.
Issues recommended for interim review, legislators
said, should focus on:
-- The ability of Utah citizens to participate in
Olympic activities.
-- State and local governments being repaid for
their contributions to the $59 million
facility-construction fund.
-- SLOC completing the Games with a balanced budget.
-- Olympic athletes and visitors enjoying a safe
Games that leaves a positive impression of Utah
``without compromising the lifestyle valued by its
citizens.''
-- Receipt of a $40 million legacy fund to operate
Olympic facilities after 2002.
To bring that about, recommended studies should:
-- Identify state services necessary for the Games
and ways to fund those services. This includes making
sure that revenue generated by the Olympics goes to
governments facing greater expenses providing services.
-- Detail SLOC revenues and expenditures and track
its ability to pay state and local governments $160
million for the sales-tax reimbursement, legacy fund,
and contributions to the Olympic Village and Rice-Eccles
Stadium at the University of Utah.
-- Review ways the state and local governments can
coordinate their approaches to the Games.
-- Examine the impacts of taxing several aspects of
SLOC's operations.
-- Consider what, if any, services, goods or
volunteers the state should provide to help SLOC welcome
visitors and involve Utahns in cultural or educational
events.
⌐ Copyright 1998, The Salt Lake Tribune
All material found on Utah OnLine is copyrighted The Salt Lake
Tribune and associated news services. No material may be reproduced
or reused without explicit permission from The Salt Lake Tribune.
Contact The Salt Lake Tribune or Utah OnLine by clicking here.
- --
Charles C. Hardy | If my employer has an opinion on
<chardy@es.com> | these things I'm fairly certain
801.588.7200 (work) | I'm not the one he'd have express it.
"All military science becomes a matter of simple prudence, its principle
object being to keep an unstable balance from shifting suddenly to our
disadvantage and the proto-war from changing into total war." --
Clausewitz (From the book "On War" by Raymond Aron, Doubleday, New York,
1959).
- -
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1998 17:30:42 -0700
From: "David Sagers" <dsagers@ci.west-valley.ut.us>
Subject: [Fwd: The John Birch Society Email Alert - Impeachment Hearings]
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Message-ID: <3654AC48.51D2@rmi.net>
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1998 16:39:52 -0700
From: "C. F. Inston" <hlmtfish@rmi.net>
Organization: Global Neighbourhood Watch, (http://www.rmi.net/~hlmtfish)
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Subject: [Fwd: The John Birch Society Email Alert - Impeachment Hearings]
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- -----------------------
The John Birch Society wrote:
>=20
> The John Birch Society Email Alert - November 19, 1998
>=20
> Judiciary Committee hearings
>=20
> The Judiciary Committee is holding impeachment hearings based solely on =
the Starr Report despite overwhelming evidence linking President Clinton =
to such serious scandals as "Chinagate" and "Filegate."
>=20
> Contact the Judiciary Committee immediately at 202-225-3951 or Judiciary@=
mail.house.gov and urge them to act upon the information found in the =
Judicial Watch Interim Report, entered into the official record of the =
committee on October 5, 1998.
>=20
> Full Judiciary Committee contact information available off the A.C.T.I.O.=
N. homepage at http://www.impeachment.org
>=20
> Let's send a clear message that no politician is above the law.
>=20
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
- -------------------------------
> To subscribe or unsubscribe from this list go to http://www.jbs.org/email=
frm.htm
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
- -------------------------------
> The John Birch Society
> P.O. Box 8040
> Appleton, WI 54913
> 1-800-JBS-USA1
> http://www.jbs.org
- --=20
Charles 'Chuck' Inston
"American patriotism is unique in history; it consists of devotion to=20
the rule of law, rather than personal allegiance to a ruler,
institutional=20
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government be bound by "the chains of the Constitution"; Americans were
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Date: Fri, 20 Nov 98 21:15:00 -0700
From: scott.bergeson@ucs.org (SCOTT BERGESON)
Subject: Institutional Perjury 1/2
- ---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1998 06:41:31 -0500
From: "Mark A. Smith" <msmith01@flash.net>
To: L & J <liberty-and-justice@mailbox.by.net>
Subject: Abuses of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms
http://www.access.digex.net/~croaker/batflies.html
Abuses of the BATF
Institutional Perjury...
Article by James H. Jeffries, III
[Note: The author is a retired U.S. Department of Justice lawyer and a
retired colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve practicing firearms law in
Greensboro, N.C. He is a 1959 graduate of the University of Kentucky and a
1962 graduate of the University of Kentucky College of Law, where he was
Note Editor of the Kentucky Law Journal. He is a life member of the North
Carolina Rifle & Pistol Association and does not think much of the BATF.]
On October 18, 1995, Thomas A. Busey, then Chief of the National Firearms
Act Branch of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (hereafter "BATF")
made a videotaped training presentation to BATF Headquarters personnel
during a roll call training session. "Roll call training" is weekly or
periodic in-house training for BATF officials -- a routine show-and-tell
whereby bureaucrats learn about each other's duties and functions.
Busey's national Firearms Act Branch administers the National Firearms Act
of 1934,1 the taxation and regulatory scheme governing machine guns,
silencers, short-barrelled rifles and shotguns, destructive devices, etc.
In his capacity of NFA Branch Chief, Busey was the official custodian of
the National Firearms Registration and Transfer record (NFR&TR) mandated
by 26 U.S.C. (S)5861.
Busey's presentation was anything but normal, routine or customary. In
describing the NFR&TR, Busey made the startling revelation that officials
under his supervision routinely perjure themselves when testifying in court
about the accuracy of the NFT&TR.
Every prosecution and forfeiture action brought by the United States and
involving an allegedly unregistered NFA firearm requires testimony under
oath by a duly-authorized custodian of the NFR&TR that after a diligent
search of the official records of which he/she is custodian, no record of
the registration of the firearm in question was found (or was found but
showed a different registrant than the person being prosecuted.2) An
alternative method of proving the same facts is by admission into evidence
of a certified copy under official Treasury Department seal of a similar
written declaration by the custodian.3 This is a critical element of the
government's proof and, according to Busey, occurred 880 times in 1995 alone
(presumably Fiscal Year 1995).
Busey began his roll call presentation by acknowledging that "Our first and
main responsibility is to make accurate entries and to maintain accuracy of
the NFRTR...." Moments later Busey makes the astonishing statement that
"...when we testify in court, we testify that the data base is 100% accurate.
That's what we testify to, and we will always testify to that. As you
probably well know, that may not be 100 percent true."
Busey then goes on for several minutes describing the types of errors which
creep into the NFR&TR and then repeats his damning admission:
"So the information on the 728,000 weapons that are in the database has to
be 100 percent accurate. Like I told you before, we testify in court and,
of course, our certifications testify to that, too, when we're not there
to testify, that we are 100 percent accurate."
How bad was the error rate in the NFR&TR? Busey again:
"...when I first came in a year ago, our error rate was between 49 and 50
percent, so you can imagine what the accuracy of the NFRTR could be, if your
error rate is 49 to 50 percent."
Does anyone recall the phrase, "Hey, close enough for government work"?
Consider this matter in its starkest terms: a senior BATF official lecturing
other senior BATF officials at BATF national headquarters in Washington,
D.C., declares openly and without apparent embarrassment or hesitation that
BATF officers testifying under oath in federal (and state) courts have
routinely perjured themselves about the accuracy of official government
records in order to send gun-owning citizens to prison and/or deprive them
of their property. Just who is the criminal in these cases?
All this was too brassy for even some BATF officials to stomach. Acting
on tips from several BATF officials (there are honest men and women in
government, even in BATF), I promptly filed a Freedom of Information
Act4 demand precisely describing the Busey tape. The first reaction was
predictable. After reviewing the incriminating tape, BATF officials
discussed whether they could get away with destroying it. Wiser heads
prevailed; obviously any outsider who knew of the tape probably would
learn of its destruction -- and I would have. Or perhaps all the official
shredders were on loan to the White House.
After much to-ing and fro-ing with a dismayed Department of Justice a
transcript of the Busey tape was sent to me in February 1996. The Department
of Justice was dismayed because the Busey tape was clearly Brady material.
Every defense lawyer knows that under the Supreme Court's 1963 decision in
Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, the government is required in all criminal
prosecutions to provide the defense, in advance of trial, with any evidence
tending to show the defendant's innocence. Failure to do so can result in
dismissal of an indictment, reversal of a conviction, or other sanctions.
Willful failure to produce Brady material can constitute contempt of court,
professional misconduct, or even a crime.
The Busey tape was clearly exculpatory and clearly implicated every National
Firearms Act prosecution and forfeiture in living memory. Worse yet, Busey
was only the tip of the iceberg. When the fog had cleared Justice learned
that the NFT&TR inaccuracy problems had been the subject of internal BATF
discussion since at least 1979. BATF's files were replete with minutes of
meetings, statistical studies, memoranda, correspondence, etc admitting the
problem. The only thing missing was any attempt to correct the problem, or
to reveal it to anyone outside the agency.5
Justice has now commenced the painful chore of advising every NFA defendant
in the country of the situation. It did this with a recent mass mailing by
United States attorneys to defense lawyers and defendants of relevant BATF
documents, including the Busey transcript.
[ Continued In Next Message... ]
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Date: Fri, 20 Nov 98 21:15:00 -0700
From: scott.bergeson@ucs.org (SCOTT BERGESON)
Subject: Institutional Perjury 2/2
[ ...Continued From Previous Message ]
The direct consequences of this institutional perjury are just now beginning
to occur. In Newport News, VA, on May 21, 1996, United States District Judge
John A. MacKenzie, after reviewing the Busey transcript, promptly dismissed
five counts of an indictment charging John D. LeaSure with possession of
machine guns not registered to him.6 LeaSure, a Class II NFA manufacturer, 7
had received BATF transfer approval for the five guns, but then decided to
void the transfers and keep the guns, as he was legally permitted to do. He
promptly faxed the voided Forms 3 to NFA Branch.8
BATF subsequently raided LeaSure and charged him with illegally possessing
the five NFA firearms which, according to the NFR&TR, were registered to
someone else. The government ignored the fact that on the date LeaSure said
he voided the transfers there was a 21-minute call on his toll records from
his fax number to NFA's Branch's fax number -- at a time when he could have
no idea he would one day be prosecuted for continuing to possess the guns.
Rather, the prosecution produced NFA Branch firearms specialist Gary
Schaible to testify as custodial of the NFR&TR that the government's
official records did not show any voided transfers and therefore LeaSure was
in illegal possession of the guns.9
In essence Schaible was testifying that "We can't find an official record
and therefore the defendant is guilty." What we now know is that Schaible
should have testified that "We can't find half our records -- even when we
know they're there -- and therefore we're not sure if anyone is guilty."
The government's case was not aided when Schaible was forced to admit on
cross-examination that two NFA Branch examiners were recently transferred
because they had been caught shredding NFA registration documents in order
to avoid having to work on them.10 Note that they were "transferred." Not
disciplined. Not fired. Not prosecuted. Not destroyed in place. Transferred.
Just who is the criminal in these cases?
And it is too early to predict how many new trials, appeals and habeas
corpus actions will result from this affair. Also of importance is the
number of convicted felons presently suffering legal disabilities11 from
flawed firearms convictions and what effect the Busey disclosures will have
on their situation.
The indirect consequences of BATF's conduct will not be so readily apparent
but are potentially devastating. All across the country assistant United
States Attorneys, United States District Judges, and other federal and local
law enforcement officials are going to learn what most defense lawyers and
gun dealers have known for years and what the aftermath of Waco and Ruby
Ridge starkly illustrated: BATF officers and agents lie, dissemble and cover
up on an institutionalized basis. These are not aberrations; they are an
institutional ethic, an organizational way of life. Just who is the criminal
in these cases?
Lawyers and defendants in NFA cases who have not received the "Busey"
package from the United States Attorney should be making prompt demands --
both for the package and for an explanation of why it was not timely
produced. I am acting as an informal clearing house for these matters. Those
lawyers or dealers with questions or problems, or with new information,
involving the Busey phenomenon, or its continuing aftermath, are invited to
contact me at (910) 282-6024.
End Notes:
1. Public Law No. 474, ch. 757, 48 Stat. 1236-1240 (Act of June 6,1934), 26
U.S.C. ss 1132-1132q; as amended by Act of April 10,1936, ch. 169, 49 Stat.
1192; as codified by chap. 736, Act of August 16, 1954 (Internal Revenue
Code of 1954), 68A Stat. 721-729; as amended by Public Law No. 85-859, Title
II, s203, 72 Stat. 1427,1428 (Act of September 2, 1958); as amended by
Public Law No.86-478, ss 1-3, 74 Stat. 149 (Act of June 1, 1960); as amended
by Public Law No. 90-618, Title II, s 201, 82 Stat. 1227-1235 (Act of
October 22, 1968); as amended by Public Law No. 94-455, 90 Stat.1834 (Act of
October 4, 1976); as amended by Public Law No. 99-308,s109, 100 Stat. 449,
460 (Act of May 19, 1986); and as amended by Public Law No. 100-203, 101
Stat. 1330 (Act of December 27, 1987); Internal Revenue Code of 1986, Title
26 United States Code, ch. 53,26 U.S.C. ss 5801-5872 (Title II of the Gun
Control Act of 1968).
2. See Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 27 and Federal Rule ofCivil
Procedure 44. See also Rules 803(8), 901(b), 902(1), (2),(4) , and 1005 of
the Federal Rules of Evidence.
3. Ibid.
4. 5 U.S.C. S552.
5. The first rule of a bureaucrat is "Never disturb a body at rest." The
second, "If I don't do anything, I can't do anything wrong." The third,
"When in doubt, mumble."
6. United States v. LeaSure, Criminal No. 4:95CR54 (E.D. Va., Newport News
Div.)
7. "Special Occupational Taxpayers" under 26 U.S.C. s5801 fall into one of
three categories: Class III dealers can possess, sell, and transfer NFA
firearms; Class II manufacturers can, in addition, manufacture and register
them; Class I importers can, in addition to all the forgoing, import them.
All SOTs are also required to possess Federal Firearm Licenses, which
themselves come in six different classifications. Throw in the import and
export licenses and permits required, the various taxes imposed, and the
state and local licensing and registration schemes involved, the mandatory
record-keeping required, and the shipping and transportation limitations
concerned, and you have a lawyer's paradise.
8. BATF forms 3 are used to authorize tax-exempt dealer-to-dealer transfers
and to re-register the firearm(s) involved to the transferee. There are
numerous other transfer and registration forms used depending upon the
nature of the transaction, the status of the parties involved, and the type
of firearm and its origin.
9. Violations of the NFA are all 10-year, $10,000 felonies. See 26 U.S.C.
s5871. NFA firearms, which carry some impressive sticker prices, are also
forfeit, if used in any violation of the NFA. See 26 U.S.C. s5872.
10. We are left to conjecture where the NFA Branch shredder is located in
relation to its fax machine.
11. In addition to the loss of civil rights imposed on convicted felons by
the laws of most states, felons permanently lose the right under the federal
law to possess firearms, as well as being potentially debarred from service
in the armed forces, civil employment in government, receiving security
clearances, bidding on federal contracts, etc.
If you have any comments on the material in these Web pages or if you have a
BATF incident to contribute, send email to croaker@access.digex.net
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End of utah-firearms-digest V2 #111
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