House Passes NICS Improvement Bill: The House Wednesday passed what
could become the first major federal gun control law in over a decade,
spurred by the Virginia Tech campus killings and buttressed by National
Rifle Association help. The bill, which was passed on a voice vote,
would improve state reporting to the National Instant Criminal
Background Check System to stop gun purchases by people, including
criminals and those adjudicated as mentally defective, who are
prohibited from possessing firearms.
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2007/6/13/113044.shtml?s=lh
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/14/washington/14guns.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=/Culture/archive/200706/CUL20070613b.html
---
Democrats Likely To Stay Mum On Firearms In 2008: Leading Democratic
presidential candidates probably will leave gun control out of their
campaign issues, experts said at a U.S. forum this week. (Unfortunately,
the fact that they won't discuss it openly doesn't mean it's not part of
their agenda.)
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/usa/features/article_1317215.php/Dems_won%60t_push_for_gun_control
---
Tiahrt Responds To Bloomberg Group: U.S. Representative Todd Tiahrt
(R-Goddard) today blasted the organization behind a comprehensive
campaign aimed at repealing current law that prohibits public release of
critical data related to ongoing criminal investigations. In addition to
a full page ad in USA Today last week, Internet ads and a series of
television ads, Mayors Against Illegal Guns has now hired someone to
drive a truck up and down busy streets in Wichita falsely claiming the
so-called Tiahrt Amendment "puts police at risk."
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/ks04_tiahrt/2007/MAIGResponse.html
---
Nevadans Protest Gun Ban: Nye County residents packed a VFW hall to
protest a proposed ban on firearms at meetings of the county
commissioners, town board, and regional planning commission. The meeting
at the VFW was organized by Tanya Metaksa, a former Washington lobbyist
for the National Rifle Association.
http://www.pahrumpvalleytimes.com/2007/Jun-13-Wed-2007/news/14891634.html
---
Ohio To Consider Stand-Your-Ground Bill: Trying to build on success that
began in Florida and spread to 17 other states, the National Rifle
Association started a push in Ohio on Wednesday that would give people
more authority to use deadly force to defend themselves both in and
outside their homes.
http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/state/17364521.htm
http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/article3795.html
---
Another Ohio "No Guns" Sign Comes Down: Chris Chumita points out that
many Ohio business owners have been misled into thinking that they are
required to post "no guns" and may remove the signage if customers
discuss it with them.
http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/article3792.html
---
History Of Gun Control, Part 2: Sandra Froman looks at the role of LBJ
in making infringement of the RKBA a federal issue and the role of
Harlon Carter in establishing the NRA-ILA and shifting the NRA into a
more political role. (Froman appears to overlook the unconstitutional
National Firearm Act of 1934, which placed what were then prohibitive
taxes on machine guns and sound suppressors. As I recall, the Gun
Control Act of 1968 is technically an amendment to the NFA.)
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56156
---
Oops!: A police office in Georgia appears to have shot herself in the
wrist, while sleeping, with her service pistol, kept under her pillow.
(I know of a very few case in which a handgun under a pillow proved to
be a lifesaver but I believe that in all those cases the intruder gained
rapid access to the bedroom because a window had been left open. At
home, my handguns go into the headboard at night. When I travel, they
are place, grip up, in my shoes, next to my bed, along with a flashlight.)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070612/ap_on_fe_st/odd_officer_pillow_shot
---
From The Firearms Coalition: (This one came as a surprise to me.)
In a surprise move, the US House of Representatives today passed a bill
which provides incentives for states to enhance and computerize criminal
and mental health records and make such records available to the FBI's
National Instant Check System (NICS).
While The Firearms Coalition has consistently opposed previous versions
of this bill, we do not oppose the bill as it was passed by the House today.
H.R.2640, sponsored by New York Democrat Carolyn McCarthy, is a
modified version of a bill Rep. McCarthy has offered in each of the past
several sessions of Congress. This version of the bill was just
introduced this past Monday (June 11) and differs from previous versions
in that it includes several provisions for the removal of names
arbitrarily added to the NICS list and to ensure ways for a person who
is on the list to regain their rights. These provisions were negotiated
by the NRA over the past several weeks.
This bill is Congress' response to the murders of 32 students at
Virginia Tech last month and was fast-tracked straight to the House
floor, bypassing the normal committee process - and public scrutiny.
The Senate is expected to deviate from their traditional, drawn out
deliberative process and vote on the bill in the next few days. It is
clear that the skids are greased and I would be very surprised if the
Senate doesn't pass this bill and send it up to the President for his
guaranteed signature.
There has been much argument within the gun-rights community about this
bill, NRA's support for past versions, and their participation in
reaching a passable "compromise." Much of the opposition seems to be
more concerned with the idea of dealing with long-time enemies than with
the actual impact the bill will have.
The Firearms Coalition has opposed passage of McCarthy's previous
"NICS Improvement" bills because we are opposed to the entire concept of
the NICS program, oppose throwing another Billion dollars at this
expensive placebo with little, if any, impact on crime, and we were
concerned about language which would snare more individuals into
prohibited status. We were critical of NRA and NSSF for supporting the
bills and critical of GOA for over-hyping the potential negative impacts
of the bills.
With the negotiated language of the new bill, reduced negative impact,
and inclusion of some very specific, positive improvements to the NICS
system, we feel that, though it is still a large-scale waste of taxpayer
money, this is not a gun control bill and the good in this bill
outweighs the bad.
We would like to have seen implementation of the financial incentives
included in this bill predicated on a thorough study of the efficacy of
NICS in reducing crime and a thorough cost/benefit analysis, but the
window for such a requirement has likely closed.
There has never been a serious study to determine what - if any - impact
the multi-Billion dollar NICS program has had on violent crime and
criminal misuse of firearms. Instead, every evaluation of NICS has been
based on the number of transactions and denials the system processes and
how quickly they do their job. Stopping sales does not necessarily
equate to reducing crime and it is well past time for the Government
Accounting Office and the Justice Department to examine the true value
of this expensive intrusion on civil rights.
Since NICS already exists, this bill contains no new or expanded
restrictions on firearms ownership, and there is little likelihood of
gaining the included, much needed reforms in any other way, therefore it
is prudent and responsible to accept this bill as it is written.
Until NICS is completely repealed, it makes sense to take real
improvements when we can get them.
As always, we will keep you posted as the - probably brief - debate over
this bill plays out.
Yours for the Second Amendment,
Jeff Knox
Director of Operations
The Firearms Coalition
--
Stephen P. Wenger
Firearm safety - It's a matter
for education, not legislation.
http://www.spw-duf.info
