Temporary Victory, Of Sorts, In California: SB 357, the bill that would
require serial numbers on bullets, is being tabled, pending study of the
actual costs of implementation; it may be resurrected next year. AB 352,
the bill to require that autoloading handguns microstamp a code on
ejected cases still appears to be alive.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050824/news_1n24bullets.html
---
Larry Elder vs. Michael Moore: Larry Elder, "the Sage from South
Central," has produced a film entitled "Michael & Me." In it he counters
Michael Moore's arguments for firearm prohibition.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45964
---
Alan Gottlieb vs. San Francisco Gun Ban: The chairman of the CCRKBA
speaks out against the pending ballot proposition that would ban all
private ownership of handguns in San Francisco as well as future sales
of all firearms and ammunition to private citizens.
http://www.michnews.com/artman/publish/article_9207.shtml
---
Once Again, From The Firearms Coalition:
ATF at it Again
(Manassas, VA, August 24, 2005) In 1978, Neal Knox took over as
Executive Director of NRA-ILA and declared war on the Bureau of Alcohol
Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) and the Gun Control Act of 1968. ATF was
using the provisions of GCA '68 to harass and abuse gun owners and Neal
did much to put a stop to that.
Now, 27 years later, ATF is at it again.
The following story from Jeff Johnson of CNS News gives the details. Our
friends at the Virginia Citizens Defense League are riding this closely
since it happened in their back yard.
A little noise made to lawmakers would not be inappropriate.
JAK
------------------------------
ATF, Virginia Police Accused of 'Persecuting' Gun Shows
By Jeff Johnson
CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer
August 23, 2005
(CNSNews.com) - The federal agency that regulates U.S. gun dealers
stands accused, along with at least three Virginia law enforcement
agencies, of trying to shut down legal gun shows through alleged
intimidation of gun buyers and sellers. The law enforcement
organizations also allegedly broke the law by sharing gun buyers'
information with members of the public.
Annette Gelles, owner of gun show sponsor Showmasters.us, told Cybercast
News Service that at least 30 agents from the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) along with nearly 500 Virginia
State Police, Henrico County Police and Richmond City Police officers
were assigned to the ATF operation targeting her gun show on Aug. 13 and
14 at the Richmond International Raceway and Fairground Complex, outside
Richmond, Va.
Gelles said four marked police cars were stationed at the main entrance
to the raceway parking lot and more than 50 marked and unlabeled but
obvious law enforcement vehicles were positioned just outside the public
entrance to the building. The officers' presence, Gelles said, was
intended to intimidate her customers.
"It's just a persecution thing. It's not really an attempt to solve
crimes or stop them," Gelles said. "It's their way of trying to get rid
of gun shows. That's the only way you can explain that large a police
presence at the gun shows."
Gelles said ATF Resident Agent in Charge Brian Swann told her that the
officers were part of a "Virginia State Police, ATF task force" and
represented the "same amount of force that we've used in all the shows."
The only difference in Gelles' case, Swann told her, was that the
command post was established at the site of her gun show.
Virginia State Police (VSP) spokeswoman Corinne Geller told Cybercast
News Service that her agency does participate in a task force with ATF
and other Virginia law enforcement agencies. As part of the agreement
that created the task force, Geller said, VSP agreed to refer questions
regarding its operations to ATF.
Richmond Police spokeswoman Kirsten Nelson e-mailed her response to
questions about the apparent sting operation.
"I have done some checking and as I said on the phone, the gun show was
not in our jurisdiction," Nelson wrote, "so I have no record of our
officers' participation."
Gelles said the participation of Richmond Police officers in the
operation has already been documented, by Richmond Police officers.
"My own Richmond City Police officers that are there, that I hire for my
security purposes, told me that they saw 14 (Richmond City Police
officers) on Saturday in plain clothes," Gelles said.
Lt. Doug Perry with Henrico County Police acknowledged that his
department's officers took part in the operation, but he would not say
how many participated.
"We wouldn't normally release that anyway. That's part of our
operational plan, the number of officers involved," Perry said. "We're
not on overtime when we're doing that so it wouldn't be public
information."
One gun show exhibitor said he counted 72 uniformed and plainclothes
officers and agents in and around the vehicles near the entrance to the
building. Gelles claimed that an unidentified officer tried to stop the
exhibitor from counting the number of law enforcement personnel present,
but walked away when the exhibitor refused.
While normal attendance at her two-day show is nearly 4,000, Gelles said
she attracted approximately 2,300 the weekend of Aug. 13 and 14, costing
Showmasters.us more than $7,000.
'There's no way that's legal'
"They did something else, which is highly illegal," Gelles charged.
"They did something called a residency check."
Gelles explained that, when gun dealers took the paperwork to the
Virginia State Police on-site office to complete the background checks
on prospective buyers, ATF agents copied the names, home addresses and
telephone numbers of the applicants.
Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League,
told Cybercast News Service that he has received numerous complaints
alleging that as handgun buyers were waiting for their National Instant
Check System (NICS) background investigations to be completed, ATF was
secretly conducting the so-called "residency checks."
According to the complaints he received, Van Cleave said officers were
dispatched to the homes of the prospective gun buyers to speak with
family members, asking for example: "Gee, did you know your husband was
going to a gun show today? Do you have his cell phone number? Did you
know he was buying a gun?
"If people weren't home they, in some cases, went to neighbors" to ask
the same questions, Van Cleave said.
"I'm not an attorney but, I'll tell you what, in my opinion that would
be a violation of federal law," Van Cleave said. "To go off on a fishing
trip with that information, much less sharing information like that with
neighbors, there's no way that's legal."
Title 18 Section 923 of the U.S. Code concerns the licensing of gun
dealers and appears to support Van Cleave's position. It contains the
following restrictions on the information collected during the process
of a gun purchase:
"(g)(3)(B) Except in the case of forms and contents thereof regarding a
purchaser who is prohibited by [federal law] from receipt of a firearm,
the department of State police or State law enforcement agency or local
law enforcement agency of the local jurisdiction shall not disclose any
such form or the contents thereof to any person or entity, and shall
destroy each such form and any record of the contents thereof no more
than 20 days from the date such form is received."
VSP's Geller could not comment on the "residency checks," but said the
ATF did not get gun buyers' addresses from her agency. "I can assure
you, they weren't getting it from our records," Geller said, "because we
don't take addresses."
In fact, the "Department of State Police - Virginia Firearms Transaction
Record" form asks for the purchaser's name, date of birth, Social
Security or driver's license number and citizenship status. No other
identifying information, such as addresses or telephone numbers is
requested.
But ATF Form 4473, the "Firearms Transaction Record Part I -
Over-The-Counter," does request the purchaser's address. Those forms are
kept together as part of a "buyer's packet" when the VSP form is
submitted for the NICS check.
Erich Pratt, communications director for Gun Owners of America (GOA),
told Cybercast News Service that these types of allegations against ATF
are exactly why GOA members opposed the NICS background check when it
was initially proposed.
"Whenever you force good people to jump through hoops before they
exercise their rights, you give rogue bureaucrats a chance to harass
decent citizens," Pratt said.
"We have a Bill of Rights because government does not always act in our
best interest," he continued. "Rather than being spied upon, the
American people should be the ones questioning family members and
neighbors - not of gun owners - but of these rogue bureaucrats."
ATF agent allegedly 'got quite rude' with gun show customer
James Lalime, who works part time for a gun dealer, was attending the
Richmond show on his own. He had brought two firearms and part of a
third from his personal collection to offer for sale at the show, which
is legal and does not require a federal firearms license (FFL) or local
business license.
Lalime claims a man approached him and verbally identified himself as an
ATF agent but did not show his credentials or badge.
"He was accusing me of running a business and telling me that I needed
to get a business license if I was going to sell firearms," Lalime charged.
The agent allegedly had state police check Lalime's driver's license and
learned that it was suspended. He said he was placed in the back of a
police car and questioned by the agent while the suspension was
investigated.
"He kept asking me all kinds of questions: 'How often do you buy guns?
When do you buy guns? When was the last time you bought a gun? How many
guns did you buy the last time you bought guns?'" Lalime continued. "All
that is irrelevant and I told him that. I said, 'That's my personal
business.'"
Lalime was released when it was learned that his license was valid and
the alleged suspension was caused by a computer error. He went back into
the gun show and told Gelles about the encounter and she suggested that
Lalime get the agent's name.
When he found the agent, who identified himself as Special Agent Brian
McComas, Lalime claims McComas tried to intimidate him.
"He said, 'You know you're making a big deal about nothing,' and I said,
'No sir, I am not,'" Lalime explained. "Then he got right in my face,
almost touching his chest to mine, in real threatening posture, and
said, 'You're making a real big mistake.'"
Lalime claims Swann interrupted the confrontation and the two federal
officers walked away. "Once I got over the initial shock, it really made
me angry," Lalime said.
ATF is 'out of the residency check business'
Gelles and her attorneys were in Washington, D.C., Aug. 15 to meet with
ATF officials and seek an explanation for what happened over the
weekend. After talking with several people in the ATF headquarters,
Gelles said she finally spoke with a supervisor, whom she would not
identify, who assured her that ATF "is out of the residency check
business, effective immediately."
She was hesitant to give further details about the meeting in the event
that a lawsuit is filed over the agency's actions.
In addition to the $7,000 she said she lost from reduced attendance at
the show, Gelles added that she has already spent more than $12,000 in
legal fees trying to prevent a repeat of the ATF operation of Aug. 13
and 14 and other previous incidents of what she considers improper
agency behavior.
Van Cleave said his groups will be "watching in Virginia with a
microscope to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again.
"If they do it again, we'll get active in contacting the ATF, the police
and the media," Van Cleave warned. "If they break their word on this and
start this crap again, then we will be in touch with the media."
After more than a half-dozen calls by Cybercast News Service seeking
comment for this article, an ATF spokesman said the agency was "still
gathering information" about the events of Aug. 13 and 14 and would not
be able to comment until sometime on Tuesday.
---
Slow news day
--
Stephen P. Wenger
Firearm safety - It's a matter
for education, not legislation.
http://www.spw-duf.info
