Posted on 12/21/2005 8:39:03 AM PST by jmc813
Twice, the leadership in the U.S. Senate has tried to run H.R. 3199 up "the hill." Twice it has failed.
On Friday, supporters of the bill failed to garner the 60 votes needed to stop the filibuster of the PATRIOT conference report. The final vote was 52-47.
At issue for gun owners is a provision that would allow the FBI to obtain "firearms sales records." The bill extends Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act and allows agents of the federal government to get "firearms sales records" which, in their opinion, are relevant to investigating terrorism.
These records would be obtained from gun dealers, who are required by law to keep the gun purchase records (4473 forms). Thus, an anti-gun administration could then easily compile gun owner registration lists -- an enterprise which has often been a prelude to gun confiscation.
Congressmen on both sides of the fence made reference to GOA's concerns last week when the House considered the latest version of H.R. 3199.
During the debate, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) stated that people "should take note of what is happening here because the expanded police powers of the Federal Government will be used against them. Our Second Amendment friends already understand that...."
And Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) challenged House Republicans to consider whether they are really comfortable with "allowing the FBI to access Americans' reading records, GUN RECORDS, medical records and financial records without judicial approval; [or] allowing the FBI to search someone's home without probable cause and without telling that person about the search."
In the Senate, Larry Craig (R-ID) and Russ Feingold (D-WI) led the opposition to the latest version of the bill. If a compromise is not reached, 16 provisions of the bill will expire on December 31 -- provisions that include the Section 215 "gun registration" language.
Much has been made of the expiration date later this month. People should understand that only 16 provisions of the original PATRIOT Act will expire on New Year's -- and these provisions are some of the most controversial ones in the original act, as they affect the Fourth Amendment protections that American citizens enjoy.
REGISTRATION OF GUN OWNERS
H.R. 3199 would extend provisions which the FBI claims would allow it to seize 4473 forms, without the approval of any judge.
This runs contrary to the protections that were gained in the Firearms Owners Protection Act of 1986, when it prohibited the establishment of any registration system with respect to firearms [18 USC 926(a)(3)]. It is also significant to note that federal code bans inspections of gun dealers records, excluding four, narrowly tailored exceptions [18 USC 923(g)(1)(b)]. Those exceptions are absent with regard to the FBI's current practice of soliciting 4473 forms under the PATRIOT Act.
The protections that were won during the McClure-Volkmer battle took years to achieve, and it would be a shame to see those protections superseded by another enactment of gun control -- all in the vain hope that gun owners' purchase records can somehow help authorities curb terrorism. (Gun registration certainly hasn't worked to curb crime in any of the states or localities that have implemented it.)
For this reason, Gun Owners of America has told Senators that we would like to see serious reforms in this bill, including language which further restricts the ability of a future, anti-gun administration to muster a gun owner registration list.
The status of H.R. 3199 is unclear at this time. But it is more than likely that the Senate will hold another vote later this week.
ACTION: Please contact your two Senators and urge them to vote against the House-Senate conference report on H.R. 3199, unless gun records are removed from the records which can be demanded under Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act.
You can visit the Gun Owners Legislative Action Center at http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm to send your Senators a pre-written e-mail message such as the one below.
-----Pre-written letter-----
Dear Senator:
Please vote against the current version of the PATRIOT reauthorization bill (HR 3199) because it would extend provisions which the FBI claims would allow it to seize 4473 forms, without the approval of any judge.
This runs contrary to the protections that were gained in the Firearms Owners Protection Act of 1986, when it prohibited the establishment of any registration system with respect to firearms [see 18 USC 926(a)(3)]. It is also significant to note that the law bans inspections of gun dealers records, excluding four, narrowly tailored exceptions [18 USC 923(g)(1)(b)]. Those exceptions are absent with regard to the FBI's current practice of soliciting 4473 forms under the PATRIOT Act.
You are certainly familiar with the rule of construction that deems more recent legislation to trump older legislation when there is a clear conflict between the two. The protections that were won during the McClure-Volkmer battle took years to achieve, and it would be a shame to see those protections superseded by another enactment of gun control -- all in the vain hope that gun owners' purchase records can somehow help authorities curb terrorism. (Gun registration certainly hasn't worked to curb crime in any of the states or localities that have implemented it.)
It is imperative that H.R. 3199 be amended to protect gun owner rights.
Please vote against cloture on H.R. 3199, unless gun records are removed from the records which can be demanded under Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act -- a move which would return the McClure-Volkmer protections as the operative law concerning when and where gun records can be demanded.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
What I don't understand is why you don't think onerous measures can be dealt with later? Fix later. There will be a huge outcry to get it fixed.
No I don't think anything goes. But the US Constitution was designed to give the Commander in Chief some leeway when dealing with threats. If you think the war isn't real, then you have additional problems.
Prior art alert in case some greedy idiot patents this.
I've been wanting to write a crypto shell where the user creates two passwords. The correct password gives you your data. The second, that which you would give to your interrogators, would either wipe your data or to avoid obstruction charges simply produce inane common data instead of the real stuff.
Look at right now, where there's a huge outcry to get it fixed, yet the Patriot Act continues to have many supporters. Later will always be later, and it will never be fixed.
How much "leeway" shall we give the most powerful leader in the world.
It's been done. That's why they'll normally take a dump of your disk first. There have also been discussions of dead-man switches in the software, so that if a correct phrase weren't entered during a specified period, your data would automatically get wiped out.
Personally, I like the idea of having a rather strong EM field on your doors so that any electronics being carted out would be automatically fried.
"Yep, the ATF doesn't need a warrant either."
They sure didn't during the Clinton administration, when there was no patriot act in force. Do you think they cared if they were violating any one's rights? Do you think they would care whether there was a law (patriot act) or not?
The Democrats think laws only apply to Republicans, and I guess Republicans think so too, since they don't ever go after Dems.
No, he doesn't. Which is why dumb criminals hang themselves in cyberspace, too. That's a good thing.
All you have to do is track the end points. So encryption is the easiest way to 'get noticed'.
Luckily, good encryption is getting more and more common, with VPN and SSH everywhere. It doesn't stick out like in the 90s when they were trying to jail Zimmerman over PGP.
It is this sort of rabidly incoherent, emotionally hysteric, 100%erism that is going to destroy this society. A complete inability to accept that "Gee my view is a minority view and cannot win so I guess I lose." NOW if you don't win you simply abuse the filibuster provision and filibuster anything you do not agree with 100%. THAT is a REAL abuse of power Senators.
So what is next? Gee someone may abuse the Military powers so lets abolish the Military? Gee someone way abuse the Boarder Patrol so abolish the Border Patrol? Gee someone may some day abuse the FBI so abolish the FBI? Just childish inchohenrece from emotional hysteric Afraid of Everything Caucus.
So, in other words, the apologists claiming it's all about "fighting terrorists" are full of it.
This is RICO II. Sold to the American people as a tool to fight organized crime, and later used to persecute peaceful pro-life protestors.
That's the trouble with a lot of people here. They are so determined to beat the Democrats on what they perceive as a partisan issue, they're willing to throw out the Bill of Rights in the process.
Sen. Craig's requests to modify the Patriot Act are modest and reasonable, and help to keep the America that we're supposed to be fighting to preserve.
"The ATF just get to rummage through the gun store files and the background check files then go get a warrant if they something they like. A distinction without a difference."
Having been a firearms dealer and worked for a major firearms manufacturer, I can say that the BATF never does that. It is against the law. We were well schooled in that fact since the BATF is known to try to pull that kind of illegal activity and we knew how to address it and how to get charges filed against any agent that tried it.
"LEOs also show up at gun shows and go out in the parking lot, write down license numbers and do a check. The highway patrol sets up DUI checkpoints and preforms a warrant less inspection of your current state of inebriation."
This is different than rummaging through a gun stores files... a sobriety checkpoint is on public property. As for gunshows, it depends on the venue. But the thing is this... the license plates are on public display on a vehicle. Again, very different than the 4473 files in a gun store.
Mike
She does not want you to have them!
The more power you give officials, the more abuse you will get from them. This percentage came while we had a Republican President, what's coming down the road when we have a Dim President?
>>"An analysis of the Justice Department's own list of terrorism prosecutions by The Washington Post shows that 39 people, not 200, as officials have implied, were convicted of crimes related to terrorism or national security."<<
>>this year the Feds have used the Patriot Act to conduct searches on 962 suspects, yielding "hits" on 6,397 financial records. Of those, two thirds (4,261) were in money-laundering cases with no terror connection.<<
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.