House Panel OKs Tougher Gun Checks

WASHINGTON (AP) - Peter Troy's history of mental illness made it illegal for him to own the gun that police say he used to spray bullets at a Long Island church, killing the priest and a worshipper.

But the database used by the FBI for background checks is so incomplete that Troy was approved to buy a rifle even though he been committed to a mental institution at least twice.

The FBI's system is supposed to identify felons, drug addicts, domestic abusers, illegal immigrants, people who were involuntarily committed to a mental institution and others legally barred from having a gun. It relies on states and other federal agencies to provide criminal, mental health and other records, but many are incomplete or outdated.

The bill to improve the system is named "Our Lady of Peace," after the church where Troy opened fire March 12. It authorizes Congress to spend more than $1.1 billion for states and courts to comply with the law.

"If the FBI had access to New York's records, the senseless act of violence at Our Lady of Peace church in my district could have been averted," said Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., the bill's sponsor.

McCarthy teamed with Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., a senior member of the House who is often her foe on gun legislation, to help push for the bill's passage.

Dingell is in the midst of a primary campaign against Rep. Lynn Rivers, who has criticized him for voting against gun control and previously serving on the board of the National Rifle Association.

The NRA supports the bill with reservations. The group says the legislation would speed background checks that can delay gun purchases, but it is concerned that there are no penalties for states that don't supply records to the FBI's database.

Most background checks are completed in a few minutes, but some take up to three days as police are supposed to find paper records that have not been entered in the database. After three days, the gun must be sold to a buyer if the check has not been completed.

"I want to see to it that an honest citizen doesn't lose his Second Amendment rights because of the fact that the state, local and federal people are so inept that the instant check system does not work," Dingell said.

Background checks for prospective gun buyers have been required since February 1994 under the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act. More than 689,000 people have been denied a gun for failing a background check.

But faulty records allowed at least 9,976 prohibited buyers to buy a gun from December 1998 to June 2001, according to a report by Americans for Gun Safety.

"The entire lynchpin of our system to keep guns out of the wrong hands is the records in the background check system, and those records are in deplorable shape," said Jim Kessler, policy and research director of Americans for Gun Safety. "This will make a difference."

Pentagon launches United Nations mock battle… Largest military exercise in history under way in California and Nevada

Mock battle in SoCal and Nevada to test battle technology

By SETH HETTENA Associated Press Writer

Published 3:10 p.m. PDT Thursday, July 18, 2002

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Preparations are underway in Southern California and Nevada for the largest military experiment in U.S. history.

The Millennium Challenge 2002, which begins next week, was mandated by Congress to help U.S. forces prepare for future wars.

About 13,500 troops from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines will use the latest in military hardware in a simulation of what planners believe the battlefield could look like in five years.

Over three weeks, troops will play out a scenario that echoes real-world events involving simulated weapons of mass destruction, urban warfare, the United Nations and humanitarian relief.

The Joint Forces Command, operating in Suffolk, Va., is coordinating the experiments from July 24 through Aug. 15 off the coast of San Diego and at bases in Southern California and Nevada. Top military brass, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the chief of Naval operations, will attend.

The experiments are the fruits of a drive to transform the military from a heavy, mechanized force designed to fight the Soviet Union into mobile, high-tech troops that can deliver swift hammer blows to a different kind of enemy.

"In the Persian Gulf, it took us months and months to stage forces and stockpile logistics," said Tony Billings, a spokesman for Joint Forces Command. "New concepts are designed to cut down on that preparation time dramatically and position U.S. forces so that they're capable of rapidly and decisively striking at the enemy's center of gravity."

Just as remarkable is the fact that all four branches of the military - often riven by intraservice rivalries - are working on the same page.

"It's like you're playing baseball all these years but the infield never worked with the outfield," said Dan Goure of the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Va., who specializes in transformation issues. "Now you've got them all in the field trying to go through a couple of innings."

Two years of planning have gone into the experiment to test how the U.S. military can respond to an international incident that can rapidly spin out-of-control into all-out warfare.

"The question for us is how do we bring all our resources to bear to prevent that from occurring," said Cmdr. Jack Hanzlik, spokesman for the Navy's Third Fleet based in Coronado.

The hypothetical scenario begins with a military coup in a country stricken by a massive earthquake. At the same time, a decision by the World Court over disputed territory outrage the coup leaders and prompts a military buildup and a shipping blockade. In response, the United Nations votes to impose sanctions.

As part of the simulation, parts of which are classified, the U.S. Marines and special forces will destroy a hypothetical weapons of mass destruction site at the former George Air Force Base in Victorville. That will be followed by a 96-hour urban combat exercise that shifts Marines between all-out fighting and peacekeeping.

Off-the-shelf technologies will be tested including Dragon Eye, a five-pound unmanned aerial vehicle that troops in the field can use to scout terrain over surrounding hills. The Navy will test a high-speed vessel capable of maximum speeds of 55 miles per hour.

--- On the Net:

http://www.jfcom.mil/about/experiments/mc02.htm

Congress instead needs to pass a referendum opposing the fact that none of the parishioners were armed. The first two shots out could have been the last thing this nut case did and only one innocent life, at most, would have been lost.

Here is what is wrong with this "responsible, gun-safety legislation." John Doe receives a death threat from the rapist whose ass he kicked the day before while protecting a teenage girl from having her innocense stolen. He, out of fear for his life, as well as his family's lives, wants to buy a simple rifle (not even a handgun). The system messes up, and it is going to take 72 hours for this man to get his weapon (a rifle, not an "evil handgun). 65 hours later, a man bursts through his front door and kills him, rapes his wife, and molests his little girl. Now is that responsible or safe? Didn't think so.

Or, in this case; same senario, they updated the system so well that it brings up the time, 16 years ago, he and a few buddies on leave from the military, got into a bar room scuffle. He plead guilty, even though he didn't start the brawl, in order to get back on base without being court martialed for the unbecoming behavior, without ever knowing that the "delayed" consequence would be a loss of his constitutional rights 16 years down the road. Again, 65 hours later, a man bursts through his front door and kills him, rapes his wife, and molests his little girl. This could have been avoided if only he had been able to read the future, 16 years earlier, when using a legal manuever in order to get his troubles over and behind him.

The sad thing is that liberal President Bush won't veto this when it comes to his desk.

The hypothetical scenario begins with a military coup in a country stricken by a massive earthquake. At the same time, a decision by the World Court over disputed territory outrage the coup leaders and prompts a military buildup and a shipping blockade. In response, the United Nations votes to impose sanctions.

No Soldier, Sailor, or Airman signed-up to do the bidding for the World Court or U.N. See below:

STATUTE Each person enlisting in an armed force shall take the following oath:

''I, _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

So help me God!"

I don't See the words UN or World Court anywhere.

What we have here is another attempt to use the systems iin place to affect another gun-law that has niether the psycic ability to foresee tragedy, or any any enforcement criteria. It is a $1.1 billion government program to prove you are a law-abiding gun-owner.

AND IT WILL STILL NOT BE "INSTANT" and more prone to delays, which are frequent instead of unusual,regardless of what the article says.

This is true here in the SW. We have a gun show on the weekends and POOF!, the system is down, or delayed, or won't answer. As an FFL that means a lost sale.

Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y should look into fixing the problems with the existing system instead of creating an avenue for more restrictions on gun-owners. What a nit.

And watch out, the usual suspects will try to hang every piece of anti-gun legislation on the back of this, including a permanent assault weapons ban, more restrictive gun-show "loophole" closer, registration for gun-show promoters and ATTENDEES, much like S.90.

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