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House Moves McCarthy Bill To Give FBI Access To Billions Of Your Personal Records.... |
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Written by Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert
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Thursday, 01 June 2006 |
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Page 1 of 2 There she goes again!
Anti-gun zealot Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) has launched her most recenteffort to use Orwellian Big Government in order to seize your guns.In fact, her anti-gun bill was recently reported out of a Housesubcommittee.
But when you look at the list of cosponsors on this bill, you find a"Who's Who" of the anti-gun Democratic elite: Reps. Howard Berman(D-CA), John Conyers (D-MI), Diana DeGette (D-CO), Barney Frank(D-MA), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), and Pete Stark (D-CA) among others. Theyare all F-rated Representatives.
HR 1415 -- the McCarthy bill -- would require states to "makeelectronically available to the Attorney General records relevant toa determination of whether a person is disqualified from possessingor receiving a firearm under [federal law" [Section 102(c)(1)(A)].
Among other things, the bill will help FBI officials to effectivelystop thousands upon thousands of Americans from purchasing a firearm.Already, millions of Americans have been disarmed by the LautenbergGun Ban which President Bill Clinton signed in 1996.
[read the rest]
Because of the Lautenberg ban, people who have committed very minoroffenses that include pushing, shoving or, in some cases, evenyelling at a family member have discovered that they can no longerown a firearm for self-defense. Consider just some of the manyexamples:
* A Delaware member of GOA testified in Congress as to how theLautenberg gun ban had disarmed him for life -- simply because heswatted his child with an open hand on the buttocks. At the time,this father was going through an ugly divorce, and so his estrangedwife, with the encouragement of her mother, reported the man to thepolice for child abuse. After a nasty court battle, this father wasforced to accept a domestic violence misdemeanor conviction. He hassold his firearms collection and is now disarmed for life by theLautenberg gun ban, simply because he spanked his child.
* In Fairfax County, Virginia, a wife (Judy) was carted off to thepolice station for slightly tearing her husband's pocket -- eventhough her husband refused to press charges. The husband, Tom,states he had only called the police to get "documentation in acustody dispute." Nevertheless, Virginia's zero-tolerance lawrequires the police to press charges in such cases. For Judy toplea-bargain to a misdemeanor and pay a minimal fine means that sheforfeits her Second Amendment rights forever because of theLautenberg ban.
* The Lautenberg gun ban has even slapped sons and daughters with alifetime gun ban, for nothing more than the slightest of infractions.The Washington Post Magazine reports that twenty-one year old Loralost her temper and flung an empty water bottle and her car keys.Unfortunately for her, the car keys landed near her mother. Forthat, Lora was arrested, booked, and told she must not have anycontact with her mom for three days, even though she was still livingat home. Officer Mike Twomey, who assisted in the arrest, remarksthat "in the old days, the proper response would have been to say,'hey, ladies, cool it.' Now, arrest is the only option."
Let's not forget, that because of the Lautenberg domestic violenceMISDEMEANOR gun ban, the "new days" means that if Lora pays a $25fine -- just to get the issue "behind her" -- she loses her gunrights forever.
These examples are just the tip of the iceberg.
But the anti-gun nuts in Congress are upset because many of thestates' criminal records are incomplete. As a result, the FBI doesnot access all of these records when screening the background ofsomeone who purchases a firearm from a gun dealer.
So HR 1415 will grant millions of dollars to the states to improvetheir criminal records. Specifically, the bill would send taxpayermonies to the states so they can provide the FBI with the names ofthose people who are disqualified by the Lautenberg gun ban.
Obviously, this starts with a huge computer network of felonies andmisdemeanors -- with the FBI trolling through records of bar fightsor domestic disputes to determine if you spanked your kids or yelledat your husband and are therefore disqualified from owning a gununder the Lautenberg amendment. Congress should be repealing theLautenberg gun ban, not extending it to disable even more people fromowning guns.
But the problem goes much broader than that:
* Federal law prohibits illegal aliens from owning guns [18 U.S.C.922(g)(5)]. But, in order to identify illegal aliens, "relevant"records could mean that the FBI would demand state tax returns of ALLAmerican citizens, employment records, or even library records -- allin the name of making sure that you're not an illegal.
* And did you know that veterans who have suffered frompost-traumatic stress disorder have been deemed as mentally"incompetent" and are prohibited from owning guns under 18 U.S.C.922(g)(4)? Records of those instances certainly exist; and, in 1999,the Department of Veterans Administration turned over 90,000 names ofveterans to the FBI for inclusion into the NICS background checksystem.
The bottom line is this: The "Instant check" program has hardlyworked well enough to justify giving the Attorney General the rightto go on a fishing expedition through EVERY personal record on everycitizen in your state. This bill would expand the power of thefederal government in the most ridiculous of ways.
But McCarthy, who could care less about raising the debt limits inthis country, would take an already financially-overburdenedgovernment and slap it with additional burdens, requiring millions ofdollars to be spent on tracking the personal information on millionsof law-abiding Americans. That's the "carrot" for the states:update your records, provide them to the federal government, and getmillions of dollars in return.
Well, if the Second and Tenth Amendments were to be obeyed, theFederal government would be prohibited from passing laws that allowthe FBI to search through the records of HONEST, LAW-ABIDINGcitizens.
Never mind the fact that all this data is handled with less care thanthe records of a farmer's livestock. Consider that CNSNews.comreported last week that 25 million Social Security number records ofveterans were recently hacked. The more that our private data getsadded into government computers, the more likely we are to have ouridentity compromised.
ACTION: Please contact your representative and ask him to oppose HR1415. This is legislation that we've been able to kill in the past,but it's important for us to rise in opposition once again.
Please forward this alert to as many as you can, so that yourfriends, acquaintances and family members can also contact theirSenators and Representatives. Congressmen must hear that thislegislation is unacceptable.
To identify your Representative, as well as to send a message viae-mail, see the Legislative Action Center athttp://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm on the GOA website.
----- Pre-written letter -----
Dear Representative:
I am outraged that Rep. Carolyn McCarthy is trying to prohibit moreAmericans from owning guns with her HR 1415. This bill spendsmillions of dollars to further prop up the unconstitutional BradyLaw, but there is no authority for the Federal government to do thisunder the Second and Tenth Amendments.
Section 102(c)(1)(A) of H.R. 1415 would allow the federal governmentto troll through state misdemeanor, diversion, psychiatric, tax, andeven library records -- all for the purpose of finding new reasons toseize guns from law-abiding Americans.
The Instant Background Check should be banned, not expanded. Weshould be focusing attention on crooks, not on law-abiding citizenslike my friends, my family and me. And Congress should be repealingthe Lautenberg gun ban, not extending it to disable even more peoplefrom owning guns. H.R. 1415 is a simply an extension of the hatedLautenberg gun ban.
Please oppose H.R. 1415.
I would appreciate hearing whether you plan to oppose this bill. GunOwners of America will keep me informed about any votes on thisdangerous measure.
Sincerely,
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Special Note For Virginia Gun Owners
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And if you are a Virginia gun owner who hasn't been getting theiralerts, please consider doing so. In either event, a simple e-mailmessage to
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with "VGOC" as the subject line is allthat is required.
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