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- Back Door Politics -
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McCarthy bill to give FBI access to records in order to seize your guns
Anti-gun zealot Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) has launched her most recent effort to use Orwellian Big Government in order to seize your guns. In fact, her anti-gun bill was recently reported out of a House subcommittee. 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. They are all F-rated Representatives. HR 1415 -- the McCarthy bill -- would require states to "make electronically available to the Attorney General records relevant to a determination of whether a person is disqualified from possessing or receiving a firearm under [federal law" [Section 102(c)(1)(A)]. Among other things, the bill will help FBI officials to effectively stop thousands upon thousands of Americans from purchasing a firearm. Already, millions of Americans have been disarmed by the Lautenberg Gun Ban which President Bill Clinton signed in 1996. Because of the Lautenberg ban, people who have committed very minor offenses that include pushing, shoving or, in some cases, even yelling at a family member have discovered that they can no longer own a firearm for self-defense. Consider just some of the many examples: * A Delaware member of GOA testified in Congress as to how the Lautenberg gun ban had disarmed him for life -- simply because he swatted his child with an open hand on the buttocks. At the time, this father was going through an ugly divorce, and so his estranged wife, with the encouragement of her mother, reported the man to the police for child abuse. After a nasty court battle, this father was forced to accept a domestic violence misdemeanor conviction. He has sold his firearms collection and is now disarmed for life by the Lautenberg gun ban, simply because he spanked his child. * In Fairfax County, Virginia, a wife (Judy) was carted off to the police station for slightly tearing her husband's pocket -- even though her husband refused to press charges. The husband, Tom, states he had only called the police to get "documentation in a custody dispute." Nevertheless, Virginia's zero-tolerance law requires the police to press charges in such cases. For Judy to plea-bargain to a misdemeanor and pay a minimal fine means that she forfeits her Second Amendment rights forever because of the Lautenberg ban. * The Lautenberg gun ban has even slapped sons and daughters with a lifetime gun ban, for nothing more than the slightest of infractions. The Washington Post Magazine reports that twenty-one year old Lora lost her temper and flung an empty water bottle and her car keys. Unfortunately for her, the car keys landed near her mother. For that, Lora was arrested, booked, and told she must not have any contact with her mom for three days, even though she was still living at home. Officer Mike Twomey, who assisted in the arrest, remarks that "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 violence MISDEMEANOR gun ban, the "new days" means that if Lora pays a $25 fine -- just to get the issue "behind her" -- she loses her gun rights forever. These examples are just the tip of the iceberg. But the anti-gun nuts in Congress are upset because many of the states' criminal records are incomplete. As a result, the FBI does not access all of these records when screening the background of someone who purchases a firearm from a gun dealer. So HR 1415 will grant millions of dollars to the states to improve their criminal records. Specifically, the bill would send taxpayer monies to the states so they can provide the FBI with the names of those people who are disqualified by the Lautenberg gun ban. Obviously, this starts with a huge computer network of felonies and misdemeanors -- with the FBI trolling through records of bar fights or domestic disputes to determine if you spanked your kids or yelled at your husband and are therefore disqualified from owning a gun under the Lautenberg amendment. Congress should be repealing the Lautenberg gun ban, not extending it to disable even more people from owning 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 ALL American citizens, employment records, or even library records -- all in the name of making sure that you're not an illegal. * And did you know that veterans who have suffered from post-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 of veterans to the FBI for inclusion into the NICS background check system. The bottom line is this: The "Instant check" program has hardly worked well enough to justify giving the Attorney General the right to go on a fishing expedition through EVERY personal record on every citizen in your state. This bill would expand the power of the federal government in the most ridiculous of ways. But McCarthy, who could care less about raising the debt limits in this country, would take an already financially-overburdened government and slap it with additional burdens, requiring millions of dollars to be spent on tracking the personal information on millions of law-abiding Americans. That's the "carrot" for the states: update your records, provide them to the federal government, and get millions of dollars in return. Well, if the Second and Tenth Amendments were to be obeyed, the Federal government would be prohibited from passing laws that allow the FBI to search through the records of HONEST, LAW-ABIDING citizens. Never mind the fact that all this data is handled with less care than the records of a farmer's livestock. Consider that CNSNews.com reported last week that 25 million Social Security number records of veterans were recently hacked. The more that our private data gets added into government computers, the more likely we are to have our identity compromised. ACTION: Please contact your representative and ask him to oppose HR 1415. 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 your friends, acquaintances and family members can also contact their Senators and Representatives. Congressmen must hear that this legislation is unacceptable. To identify your Representative, as well as to send a message via e-mail, see the Legislative Action Center at http://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 more Americans from owning guns with her HR 1415. This bill spends millions of dollars to further prop up the unconstitutional Brady Law, but there is no authority for the Federal government to do this under the Second and Tenth Amendments. Section 102(c)(1)(A) of H.R. 1415 would allow the federal government to troll through state misdemeanor, diversion, psychiatric, tax, and even library records -- all for the purpose of finding new reasons to seize guns from law-abiding Americans. The Instant Background Check should be banned, not expanded. We should be focusing attention on crooks, not on law-abiding citizens like my friends, my family and me. And Congress should be repealing the Lautenberg gun ban, not extending it to disable even more people from owning guns. H.R. 1415 is a simply an extension of the hated Lautenberg gun ban. Please oppose H.R. 1415. I would appreciate hearing whether you plan to oppose this bill. Gun Owners of America will keep me informed about any votes on this dangerous measure. Sincerely,
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