I would like to take a moment to point out and discuss some of the most recent attacks on our right to keep and bear arms.

It has been argued that the Second Amendment applies only to the type of arms available in 1776, namely, single shot pistols and muskets. Using that argument, the socialist, liberal gun-grabbers would have us disarmed except for black powder muzzle-loaders.  

However, it would appear that they dont even want us to have those. Of course this is nothing new, but, these attacks should make every gun owner sit up and realize that our right to own, possess and use firearms are under attack as never before. Current proposed bills in Congress and the various state legislatures are designed to disarm us in the most insidious manner.

For example, the Gun Kingpin Penalty Act, S 2091 IS, introduced by Mr. Torricelli, states:

(z) It shall be unlawful for a person not licensed under section 923 to ship or transport, or conspire to ship or transport, 5 or more firearms from a State into another State during any period of 12 consecutive months, with the intent to transfer all of such firearms to another person who is not so licensed.'

 Also introduced by Mr. Torricelli, is the Dangerous Explosives Background Checks Requirement Act, S 2089 IS, which would require a permit and intrusive record keeping to purchase black powder.

Another bill the Electronic Commerce Crime Prevention and Protection Act HR 4101 IH introduced by Mr. Crowley would eliminate our ability to purchase ammunition by mail and require us to make all ammunition purchases face-to-face, and a record of the purchase would be maintained.

Then there is the Crackdown on Deadbeat Dealers Act of 2002 HR 4193 IH introduced by Mr. LANGEVIN

The Congress finds that--

(1) a small number of licensed firearms dealers account for a large proportion of the firearms traced from crimes;

(2) in 1998, 1.2 percent of licensed firearms dealers--1,020 of the approximately 83,200 licensed retail firearms dealers and pawnbrokers-- accounted for over 57 percent of the crime guns traced to licensed firearms dealers; and

(3) in 1998, just over 450 licensed firearms dealers had traced to them 10 or more guns that were used in crimes within 3 years after they sold the guns.

Also introduced by Mr. Langevin is the Gun Safety Incentives Act H.R.4512. This bill is a poor substitute for safety and comment sense.  It is the result of Mr. Langevins being shot and paralyzed by what I can only describe as an incompetent person, a police officer, who failed to observe basic gun handling practices.

Read the press release below:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 8, 2002	Contact:  Michael K. Guilfoyle (401) 732-9400
LANGEVIN ANNOUNCES GUN SAFETY AGENDA Rhode Island Congressman, Victim of Accidental Shooting, Aims to Strengthen Gun Dealer Record-Keeping and Require Chamber Load Indicators on New Firearms
(Warwick, R.I.)At the Warwick Police shooting range this afternoon, Congressman Jim Langevin announced three legislative proposals he has introduced that would provide additional safety and security for the general public and firearm owners. In 1999, the Centers for Disease Control reported that over 820 people were killed in the United States by accidental discharges of firearms and many more were injured. Shooting accidents occur far too often due to the unknown presence of a bullet in a firearms chamber, said Congressman Jim Langevin.  We must make use of technology like chamber load indicators that can prevent these mistakes from happening.  Furthermore, we need to ensure that gun dealers are keeping accurate records of firearms sales and impose stricter penalties for violations."  Langevin, himself a victim of an accidental shooting that left him a C-5/6 quadriplegic, has introduced the Accidental Shooting Prevention Act.  This legislation requires gun manufacturers to include chamber load indicators and magazine disconnect mechanisms on all firearms with removable magazines manufactured after 2005.  A chamber load indicator alerts the handler of a firearm when a bullet is in the chamber, while a magazine-disconnect mechanism prevents a gun from being fired when its ammunition magazine is removed, even if there is a round in the chamber.  Langevin also announced legislation he is introducing, the Gun Safety Incentive Act, which would provide tax credits to firearm manufacturers who package guns with chamber load indicators.  To address gun dealer record-keeping abuses, Langevin has also introduced the Crackdown on Deadbeat Gun Dealers Act.  According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), in 1998, over 50 percent of the firearms used in crimes nationwide were traced to just 1.2 percent of the nations gun dealers.  Through traces of guns used in crimes, the ATF can study why such a large number of firearms from this small proportion of dealers are used illegally and develop investigative strategies to address this growing problem.  The Crackdown on Deadbeat Gun Dealers Act would increase the permitted number of ATF inspections of firearms dealers from one to three per year; raise the maximum criminal penalty from 5 to 10 years for dealers who knowingly violate the law by committing serious record-keeping offenses that can hinder tracing crime guns; and authorize the ATF to suspend a firearms license after notice and the opportunity for a hearing for violations of the Gun Control Act of 1968.  Joining Congressman Langevin were Warwick Police Major Tom Carmody and retired Cranston Police Captain Richard Barber, who demonstrated different types of chamber load indicators.  At the age of sixteen, Congressman Langevin was left paralyzed when a police officers gun accidentally discharged and severed his spine.  Had the gun involved in Langevins accident been equipped with a chamber load indicator, the officer would have known the firearm was loaded and the accident could have been avoided.

Loaded chamber indicators only work when the person handling the gun checks the indicator. This is an act that should be done in any case. Whether there is a loaded chamber indicator on the pistol or not, the chamber should be physically and visually checked anytime a person unloads, examines, displays, cleans, stores, etc., any pistol.

Although a loaded chamber indicator is a handy feature, the presence of one should never be construed as a practical means of ignore safe gun handling procedures. A loaded chamber indicator may in fact be a liability, tending to give the owner a false sense of safety.

It would be interesting to know how many negligent discharges have occurred with the Walther P-38 or the Beretta Model 70, both of which have loaded chamber indicators. It would also be interesting to know how many negligent discharges have occurred with a Smith & Wesson M-59 or M-659, both of with have magazine disconnects.

As an additional note on magazine disconnects, one must consider that during a gunfight with a M-59, even with one round in the chamber, in a pinch, while reloading, the gun is totally disabled and that one round couldnt be fired if it were necessary to do so.

The inclusion of such a device in existing designs will be costly to the manufacturer, a cost that will be passed on to the consumer. It is also possible that some existing designs may have to be abandoned if a loaded chamber indicator or a magazine disconnect cant be incorporated in them.

Further, SCA 12 introduced by Senator Perata of the Socialist Peoples Republik of Kalifornia, would require a five cent tax on every loaded round of ammunition and all ammunition components, including brass, powder, primers and bullets.

Therefore, a five-dollar (plus tax) box of .22 LR ammunition would increase by five dollars.

A $22.00 box of lead bullets would cost $50.00. The price of a 1000 count box of primers would increase by FIFTY DOLLARS!

Attempts by Assemblyman Paul Koretz (D-West Hollywood), are being made in the Socialist Peoples Republik of Kalifornia to ban those massive .50 caliber rifles (AB 2222). In congress, DiFi is attempting to have these same rifles classified in a manner similar to sub-guns, requiring a permit to purchase one.

 

OK, I grant you that all this is not necessarily new to us.  Weve seen all this before, however, what you need to know is this; no matter who you are or for what purpose you own guns, hunting, target shooting, recreational shooting, or for self-defense, your right to own firearms, ANY firearm, will be lost as the gun-grabbers are attempting to disarm you in any way they can.

 

Therefore, along with writing, calling, faxing and e-mailing your congress-critters, we should all be doing the following:

 

            Buy as many guns as you can afford to buy

            Buy factory loaded ammo buy the truckload

            Buy and horde lead

            Buy bullets

            Buy powder (black and smokeless) (keep black powder in a magazine)

            Buy primers

            Buy brass

            Buy bullet molds

            Buy percussion caps

            Learn how to make black powder

            Learn how to cast bullets and reload your brass

            Keep your un-papered guns un-papered

Maintain two storage areas for your guns; one for papered guns, one for un-papered guns

 

Although I wasnt there I do recall reading about a time in the 1930s in Nazi Germany in which everyone had to have identity papers and travel permits.

This eventually led to certain groups of people being identified as being undesirables.

These so-called undesirables, were people of certain religious groups, people with particular social, political and sexual persuasions, as well as other deemed to be deviants and mental incompetents or thieves.

After being identified as such, many were required to wear identifying tags on their clothing. I dont know how many variations of labels existed, but I do know that Jews were required to wear yellow, six-pointed stars on their clothes and members of Jehovahs Witnesses wore purple triangles on their clothes.

These people, as we all know, were later relocated to secure facilities for the protection of society as a whole, given meaningful jobs to which their individual skills were suited, or if they had no skills of value, were infirm, too old, were totally eliminated from existence so as not to become a burden on the facilitys resources. After becoming residents in these secure facilities, people were issued permanent identity numbers. Some forward thinking bureaucrats thought it would be a good idea --for convenience saketattoo these ID numbers on the residents arms. In this manner, there would be a sure-fire method of identifying the residents. There would be no mistaking who was who.

As a result, millions of people simply disappeared.

In order for this to happen, the population had to be willing to submit to a series of innocuous laws. For example, Hitler, when he came to power, inherited gun registration records from the Kaisers government. Eventually, these records were used to identify potential sources of resistance and firearms were confiscated. The unarmed, (actually disarmed) population had no real means of resistance.

But, you say, this is twenty-first century America. This would never happen here. Our government would never relocate its own citizens. Yeah? Well, tell that to Americans of Japanese ancestry living in Hawaii or California in 1941, just 60 years ago.

Therefore, I suggested to DiFi that perhaps a better method of identifying legal residents of the United States would be the tattoo method or even implanting a subcutaneous electronic chip.

Think that idea is far fetched? Think again. Read the following article by William Safire and go to the links at the end for other related articles.

Threat of National ID
By WILLIAM SAFIRE
WASHINGTON -- A device is now available to help pet owners find lost animals. It's a little chip implanted under the skin in the back of the neck; any animal shelter can quickly scan lost dogs or cats and pick up the address of the worried owner.

That's a good side of identification technology. There's a bad side: fear of terrorism has placed Americans in danger of trading our "right to be let alone" for the false sense of security of a national identification card.

All of us are willing to give up some of our personal privacy in return for greater safety. That's why we gladly suffer the pat-downs and "wanding" at airports, and show a local photo ID before boarding. Such precautions contribute to our peace of mind.

However, the fear of terror attack is being exploited by law enforcement sweeping for suspects as well as by commercial marketers seeking prospects. It has emboldened the zealots of intrusion to press for the holy grail of snoopery a mandatory national ID.

 

Police unconcerned with the sanctity of an individual's home have already developed heat sensors to let them look inside people's houses. The federal "Carnivore" surveillance system feeds on your meatiest e- mail. Think you can encrypt your way to privacy? The Justice Department is proud of its new "Magic Lantern": all attempts by computer owners to encode their messages can now be overwhelmed by an electronic bug the F.B.I. can plant on your keyboard to read every stroke.

 

But in the dreams of Big Brother and his cousin, Big Marketing, nothing can compare to forcing every person in the United States under penalty of law to carry what the totalitarians used to call "papers."

 

The plastic card would not merely show a photograph, signature and address, as driver's licenses do. That's only the beginning. In time, and with exquisite refinements, the card would contain not only a fingerprint, description of DNA and the details of your eye's iris, but a host of other information about you.

 

Hospitals would say: How about a chip providing a complete medical history in case of emergencies? Merchants would add a chip for credit rating, bank accounts and product preferences, while divorced spouses would lobby for a rundown of net assets and yearly expenditures. Politicians would like to know voting records and political affiliation. Cops, of course, would insist on a record of arrests, speeding tickets, E-Z pass auto movements and links to suspicious Web sites and associates.

 

All this information and more is being collected already. With a national ID system, however, it can all be centered in a single dossier, even pressed on a single card with a copy of that card in a national databank, supposedly confidential but available to any imaginative hacker.

 

What about us libertarian misfits who take the trouble to try to "opt out"? We will not be able to travel, or buy on credit, or participate in tomorrow's normal life. Soon enough, police as well as employers will consider those who resist full disclosure of their financial, academic, medical, religious, social and political affiliations to be suspect.

The universal use and likely abuse of the national ID a discredit card will trigger questions like: When did you begin subscribing to these publications and why were you visiting that spicy or seditious Web site? Why are you afraid to show us your papers on demand? Why are you paying cash? What do you have to hide?

Today's diatribe will be scorned as alarmist by the same security-mongers who shrugged off our attorney general's attempt to abolish habeas corpus (which libertarian protests and the Bush administration's sober second thoughts seem to be aborting). But the lust to take advantage of the public's fear of terrorist penetration by penetrating everyone's private lives this time including the lives of U.S. citizens protected by the Fourth Amendment is gaining popularity.

Beware: It is not just an efficient little card to speed you though lines faster or to buy you sure-fire protection from suicide bombers. A national ID card would be a ticket to the loss of much of your personal freedom. Its size could then be reduced for implantation under the skin in the back of your neck.

http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=12529

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/zd/20011220/tc/why_the_idea_of_an_implanted_id_chip_makes_my_skin_crawl_1.html
http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-000100545dec19.story

http://www.counterpane.com/crypto-gram-0112.html#1

So, get the picture? Do you think the senior senator from the SPRK will change her mind? Dont get your hopes up.

Now, dont get me wrong, I generally support the governments efforts to protect us from terrorist attacks, but not at the expense of my freedom.

I urge you, if you value your freedom, especially your right to maintain firearms for self-defense, contact your congress critter (especially DiFi) and express your disapproval of a National ID Card.