National Alerts

Problems With Enforcing Existing Laws

Written by Gun Owners of America Published: 28 January 2000

Tell Your Congressmen To Stay Off The Anti-gun Bandwagon
— Gun owners must oppose push to “enforce existing anti-gun laws”

Ask your Congressmen to oppose Clinton’s latest anti-gun proposal!

(Thursday, January 27, 2000) — Well, the President is the latest one to jump on the “let’s-just-enforce-the-existing-gun-laws” bandwagon. Last week, he asked Congress to give him 500 new BATF agents and inspectors (!), plus 1,000 more prosecutors focusing on gun crime at all levels. And it is expected that he will renew that call tonight during his State of the Union address.

Gun owners should be the first people to object to this horror. After all, hasn’t the gun rights community as a whole OPPOSED every federal gun law that has been passed in the last century as an unconstitutional infringement of the Second Amendment? Haven’t we asked the anti-gun Schumers and Clintons of the world “What part of infringed don’t you understand?”

So why do some gun owners think it’s great that Clinton is now going to enforce these infringements with 500 new BATF agents — the very agency that is notorious for violating the rights of American gun owners? Consider the BATF’s track record over the last 25 years:

* Shredding The Constitution. The BATF “has trampled upon the second amendment by chilling exercise of the right to keep and bear arms by law-abiding citizens. It has offended the fourth amendment . . . [and] ignored the Fifth Amendment.” (Source: Report of the Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution, February 1982, pp. 22-23.)

* Going After Mom And Pop. “Approximately 75 percent of BATF gun prosecutions were aimed at ordinary citizens who had neither criminal intent nor knowledge, but were enticed by [BATF] agents into unknowing technical violations.” (Ibid., p. 23.)

* Called “Jackbooted American Fascists” By Congressman. “I have described [the BATF] properly as jackbooted American fascists. They have shown no concern over the rights of ordinary citizens or their property. They intrude without the slightest regard or concern.” (Source: Rep. John Dingell, Congressional Record, February 8, 1995, p. H1382.)

Let’s put the Clinton proposal in perspective. Enforcing the existing anti-gun laws means that average citizens could face the horrors of:

* More Ruby Ridges. Ordinary citizens who make technical (non-violent) infractions-like Randy Weaver did — can be viciously assaulted and fired upon by federal agents.

* More Wacos. Gun owners who use firearms in self-defense can still be prosecuted in federal court for technical possession charges. That was the lesson of the Waco trial, where the jury effectively ruled the Davidians acted in self-defense — but then sent many to prison on firearms possession charges!

* Fewer Heroes Like Joel Myrick Of Mississippi. Remember assistant principal Joel Myrick who used his gun to save the lives of several students from a gun-wielding teenager in 1997? Well, more BATF agents means that teachers or assistant principals who keep firearms at school, like Joel Myrick did, could be hauled out of their classrooms and sent to prison for 5 years for the terrible “crime” of simply possessing a firearm. Some teachers have already been dragged out of their classrooms when it was discovered that they possessed a firearm on school property — even though they only possessed the firearm for self-defense and no violent crime was ever committed.

* More Harassment Of Gun Owners. Del Knudson of Colville, Washington was at work when BATF agents raided his home. Del’s wife, Malisa, was bathing their 21-month-old daughter when 30 agents piled out of a van and swarmed over their property. Malisa was forced to come outside in spite of her repeated requests to first get her baby out of the bathtub. For three hours the house was searched and Malisa was interrogated about the family’s religious and political views. Agents seized all of Del’s firearms, but after finding them all legally owned, they were eventually returned.

* More Entrapments Of Gun Owners. Gun Owners Foundation defended Wayne Scott of Florida, who was arrested on three felony counts under the National Firearms Act. The jury acquitted Scott of all charges and determined that the BATF had employed tactics of entrapment on a law-abiding citizen. The BATF informant was subsequently jailed for attempting to extort money from Scott.

* More Lies, Lies, Lies. The BATF was instrumental in charging Sgt. James Corcoran of the Pennsylvania State Police with “machine gun” offenses. The firearms involved were semi-automatic AR-15 rifles sold by Corcoran. The judge threw the case out after learning that the BATF, not Corcoran, tampered with the rifles, making some of them double fire.

ACTION: Ask your Congressmen to oppose this latest assault on the Second Amendment. Violent crime — and that includes violent gun crime — is a state issue. It’s not a job for the federal government, at least not constitutionally.

Passing technical gun possession laws only criminalizes good, decent gun owners. That’s a problem that we should be working to correct. We should NOT be asking the President to now enforce those unconstitutional laws which, if recent history is any indication, the BATF will spend a good amount of time enforcing against non-violent, decent Americans.

You can reach your Congressmen toll-free at 1-888-449-3511; or at 202-225-3121. Fax and e-mail contact information can be found on the GOA website.

Get Armed With The Facts!

For more examples of BATF abuse — like the ones mentioned above — you can order Breaking the Law in the Name of the Law: The BATF Story from Gun Owners Foundation.

This video presentation documents the harassment and intimidation tactics employed by this agency. Live interviews with victims of the persecution reveal the shocking truth about the obvious anti-gun mentality of the bureaucrats, their arrogant disregard of the law, and how they have destroyed the lives of many innocent law-abiding citizens. David Koresh had a copy of this video. He showed it to, among others, the undercover BATF agent in Mt. Carmel. When the BATF went for their search warrant, the affidavit gave as a reason to raid Mt. Carmel that Koresh had this tape!

With a credit card in hand, you can call GOF at 1-888-886-GUNS (4867) and press #1 to order the videotape. The cost is $19.99. And of course it is available online at http://www.gunowners.com/resource.htm on the GOF site.

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