My name is Larry Pratt. I am Executive Director of Gun Owners of America and appreciate the opportunity to submit this statement on behalf of our 200,000 members.
I am very pleased that the subcommittee is looking into the abuses that are now resulting from the passage of the ill-advised Brady Law in the Democratic Congress of 1993. Almost five years ago, I presented testimony to this very Committee regarding the impending passage of the Brady law.
I was concerned then that this law could be used to register the names of gun buyers. Unfortunately, the FBI’s recent draft regulations have validated my initial concerns. On September 30, 1993, I told this Committee that,
The "instant check" system, integrated into Brady . . . can easily be converted into a gun owner registration scheme of all or actual gun owners. Once a name is entered into the [federal] central computer to check if the individual is a felon or otherwise unable to purchase a firearm, the name is easily retained in the computer for future use.
Congress’ Office of Technology Assessment commented on the Virginia instant check system saying, "The Virginia transaction log does not include the names of firearm purchasers, but the potential exists regardless of legal prohibitions."
Unfortunately, these words have all but come true. As long as the instant check continues in operation, there will always be the potential for gun owner registration. The recent FBI regs (issued June 4, 1998) are only the most recent example of how Brady background checks have resulted in officials trying to illegally keep the names of gun buyers in government computers.
The bill currently under review (H.R. 3949) will, in some ways, take us closer to removing the unconstitutional yoke that has been placed around gun owners’ necks. However, while this bill takes us forward in some ways, I think it would be wise to consider the benefits of fully repealing the Brady Registration Law. Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) has introduced H.R. 2721, "The Second Amendment Restoration Act," which among other things, will repeal the unconstitutional Brady Law in its entirety.
Please consider how each bill (H.R. 2721 and H.R. 3949) would treat the areas below that are of great concern to gun owners.
Repealing the illegal Brady tax
Congress has appropriated virtually unlimited funds to build the National Police Computer known as NCIC. The citizen-checking portion passed under the Brady law has its own allotment of $200 million.
Despite this, the "authorities" plan to tax the public for each use, but only if local police aren’t cooperating—states with FBI-approved police "instant" checks will pay no tax. The tax is imposed by the FBI, although issued as a BATF regulation, a concept that raises its own disturbing concerns. There is no authority for the tax in Brady Part 1 or Part 2. Both H.R. 2721 and H.R. 3949 would end this illegal tax.
Definitively stopping the registration of gun owners
H.R. 2721 stops gun owner registration by repealing the Brady Law in its entirety. H.R. 3949 contains language to stop this registration and to criminalize violations. But H.R. 3949 does not stop background checks from taking place; and that could still allow an open door.
As long as government authorities have to check out gun buyers before the purchase of a firearm, the POTENTIAL for creating a registration list will always exist. As stated by the Justice Department in 1989, "Any system that requires a criminal history record check prior to purchase of a firearm creates the potential for the automated tracking of individuals who seek to purchase firearms."
Indeed, there have been several recent examples of privacy abuses that have occurred both at the federal and state levels – all without reprisals or official sanctions. For example, under the Brady Law (Part I), some states – including Ohio and Texas – were shown to be keeping lists of gun buyers. To date, no prosecutions have resulted. At the federal level, the FBI abused the privacy of about 900 individuals in what has become known as "Filegate." No prosecutions have ensued.
Regardless of whether gun owners’ names are officially allowed to be kept for 24 hours (as under H.R. 3949) or for 18 months (as per the FBI regulations), can anyone really be sure the names of gun buyers will not indefinitely remain on a back-up disk somewhere?
Ending the harassment of long-gun buyers
Part II of the Brady Law forces buyers of long-guns to go through the background check as well. The BATF regulations issued in February make this point very clearly: "While the interim provisions apply only to handguns, the permanent provisions of the Brady law will apply to all firearms." (Emphasis added.) H.R. 2721 is the only bill that ends background checks on both handgun buyers AND long-gun buyers.
Stopping the feds from collecting Social Security numbers of gun owners
In February, BATF officials made it clear in their proposed regulations that they want gun dealers to collect the Social Security Numbers of gun buyers. The BATF explains it needs this information because, "by providing a social security number, the transferee might avoid confusion with a prohibited buyer who has the same name and date of birth as the transferee." Regardless of the BATF’s reasoning, the giving of people’s social security numbers could certainly facilitate the compilation of a registration list.
H.R. 2721 – by repealing this onerous law – would stop the BATF from collecting this "registration" information. Brady "registration" checks would still continue under H.R. 3949.
Precluding the "instant" check from becoming a three day check
The BATF regulations make it clear that the federal bureaucrats will have "up to three business days" to respond to each background check request. Since weekends are not typically considered business days, the "three business days" can easily impose a five day waiting period for weekend gun sales – or a six day waiting period if there is a holiday on a Friday or Monday. This would adversely impact gun dealer sales at all weekend gun shows. Once again, repealing the entire law (as H.R. 2721 does) eliminates this problem.
Stopping the infringement of a Constitutionally protected right
The Second Amendment states, in part, that the "right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." That means no waiting periods, no background checks (a prior restraint), and no taxes, fees or bans. Clearly, this amendment is protecting against infringing the rights of individual citizens, and is undoubtedly what the Founding Fathers had in mind when they referred to "the people."
On this very point, the Supreme Court stated in U.S. v. Verdugo-Urquidez (1990) that,
'The people' seems to have been a term of art employed in select parts of the Constitution. . . . [and] it suggests that 'the people' protected by the Fourth Amendment, and by the First and Second Amendments, and to whom rights and powers are reserved in the Ninth and Tenth Amendments, refers to a class of persons who are part of a national community or who have otherwise developed sufficient connection with this country to be considered part of that community.
To be sure, honest gun owners should not have to request permission from, or prove their innocence to, the government before exercising a Constitutionally guaranteed right – any more than a preacher or journalist should have to prove their worthiness before exercising their First Amendment rights.
Any scheme that violates this principle is just plain wrong. H.R. 3949 will leave in place a law that forces law-abiding gun owners to first get permission from government officials before exercising their rights. According the General Accounting Office, the Brady law resulted in only three criminals being sent to jail after its first year and a half in operation. Why should we leave a law on the books that penalizes honest citizens, but rarely punishes criminals?
I hope the subcommittee will examine H.R. 2721, and bring it up for a vote. It repeals the illegal tax being imposed by the FBI. It definitively stops the registration of gun owners and prevents federal officials from getting gun owners’ social security numbers. It ends the harassment of long-gun buyers and keeps the "instant" check from becoming a three-to-five-day waiting period. Moreover, it repeals the unconstitutional requirement that forces honest gun owners to prove their innocence to government bureaucrats.
In sum, H.R. 2721 conclusively protects the rights of gun owners. Thank you very much.