From: rats@cbnewsc.cb.att.com (Morris the Cat)
Subject: Firearms Coalition Report of Dec '92
Organization: AT&T
Distribution: usa
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 18:25:34 GMT
Followup-To: talk.politics.guns
Keywords: NRA,Knox


The Firearms Coalition

Neal Knox Associates
P.O. Box 6537
Silver Spring, MD 20916

December 18, 1992

Dear Friend and Supporter,

The next four years -- particularly the next few months -- are
going to be mighty tough. The Washington Post picture of Sarah
embracing Bill Clinton makes that crystal clear.

We're girding for a pitched battle -- on more fronts than we've
seen since the Carter Administration days -- but there's no need
for the "woe is us" tears and hand-wringing that I've been hearing
from some quarters.

We picked up just enough votes in the House to make the battles there
much closer. It isn't "Clinton-proof," but it is "Clinton-resistant"
-- though made less so by last week's cute House Democratic Caucus
ploy to give themselves five more votes from Washington, D.C. and
the territories.

In the Senate, where it takes 41 votes to sustain a filibuster, we're
on the razor's edge -- thanks to Paul Coverdell's win over Georgia
Sen. Wyche Fowler (for which you and Coverdell can thank the NRA
Political Victory Fund). His victory gives us 40 probable filibuster
supporters. Close.

The newspapers are treating the "Brady Bill" and a so-called "assault
weapon" ban as if they were all but enacted. Not yet.

However, you can expect a major push to give local police a veto over
who and whether there will be any gun dealers. Also, according to 
highly placed sources on Capitol Hill, we're going to see a resurrected
effort to create a national registration system -- the necessary prelude
to Sen. Chafee's handgun ban.

What we haven't seen in recent years is the coming all-out war with the
bureaucracies. Not just BATF, which is angling to increase its size
and authority through enhanced dealer controls.

The new attacks will come from Health & Human Services, where bureaucrats
consider homes with guns unfit for children; and from its Center
for Disease Control which wants to eradicate guns as the cause of the
epidemic of violence.

They will come from the Environmental Protection Agency, where classifying
lead as a poisonous substance could eliminate shot and bullets. And
it'll come from Interior, which can and has damaged gun owners, and
particularly hunters, in many ways.

The bureaucrats and their regulations will be turned loose by the
appointment of anti-gun Rep. Leon Panetta -- Charles Schumer's housemate
-- as head of the Office of Management and Budget, the watchdog agency
over regulations.

Thankfully, the NRA is immensely stronger -- and immensely tougher minded
-- than just a couple of years ago. They're much better prepared
for the fight that is to come.

For that, I thank you and your fellow members of the Firearms Coalition.
Not only have you hammered NRA when they went astray, you kept me
in the fight on the Hill -- and nipping at NRA's heels. And you
helped put me on the NRA Board, and supported other directors who
believe in Second Amendment Action.

But being on the NRA Board doesn't pay a penny. Neither do the many hours
-- and days -- spent on NRA-related matters allow as much time for
writing and other paid efforts that help put groceries on the table.

Quite frankly, Jay and I have been in a bit of a financial pinch all
year. And we're finishing 1992 with the lowest bank balance in
years -- both personal and for the Firearms Coalition.

I hate fund-raising letters; that's why I seldom write them. But I've
always told you the facts. And these are the facts.

Unfortunately, unless you're in the gun business, you can't deduct
your contributions. If you are a gun dealer, retaining a lobbyist can
be a routine 1992 business expense. Since lobbying is part of my business,
those contributions are taxable income to me (though Christmas gifts
to Jay and me are not.).

Some of you, and your clubs, have been steady supporters for years. I'm
not asking that you increase your sacrifices, but I do ask help from
those who haven't contributed lately. We must cut costs by culling
non-contributors from our next mailing; I hope you'll decide to continue
receiving our reports.

Realistically, the battles of the next year are going to require us to
be on sound financial footing, so we will be able to make the mailings
and do the other things that are necessary to protect our gun
rights.

Right now, we're not properly prepared. With your help, we can be. And
we'll be able be able to keep on winning.

Yours for the Second Amendment,

Neal Knox

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			H A R D  C O R P S  R E P O R T
			
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Report No. 51 to the Firearms Coalition - Neal Knox Associates,
P.O. Box 6537, Silver Spring, Maryland - December 18, 1992
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		    Gun Owners Stronger in Congress - Maybe
		
Gun owners came out of the 1992 elections significantly stronger in the
new Congress, though not necessarily strong enough to stop all gun bills
proposed by President-elect Bill Clinton - who has surrounded himself
with anti-gunners.

NRA has estimated a net increase of about 30 "A-rated" seats in the House,
while Gun Owners of America has said "more than a dozen." The best bet
is a net gain of 20 to 25 seats, which is not close enough to assure
defeat of all gun bills, but would allow the defeat of most.

In the Senate, the Georgia runoff defeat of Sen. Wyche Fowler by NRA-backed
Paul Coverdell brings NRA's count to 40 "A's" - just on the edge of the
41 needed to assure holding a filibuster (which is how the "Brady Bill"
was blocked in the last Congress).

How the election results will affect Federal gun legislation is a major
guessing game among pro-gun activists.

Applying a reasonable increase of 20 pro-gun Congressmen to the 239-186
vote by which the H.R. 7 Brady Bill passed in 1991 would give the anti-gun
forces a paper-thin 209-206 margin, assuming the 20 members again didn't
vote.

With such a close margin and a guaranteed whip-sawing between
pro-gun and anti-gun lobbyists, the press, and the White House, the outcome
of any gun bill is simply too close to call.

Another factor is how many Congressmen who went against gun owners
in 1991 may have been scared back into the fold by NRA's strong showings
in the 1992 elections.

To recoup their losses the House Democratic Caucus has voted to
allow the District of Columbia and the four U.S. territories, each which
has a non-voting delegate, to vote on most controversial issues on the
floor.

If that outrageous power grab becomes a House rule - and there is some
question whether it will - those five votes could tip any close anti-gun
vote, for all five are Democrats and anti-gun.

The greatest disappointments in the Congressional election were that
proven pro-gun Congressional leaders such as H.L. Richardson, Frank
LiBiondo and Tom McClintock failed to unseat anti-gun incumbents.

The predicted "anti-incumbent fever" didn't develop, despite Congressional
scandals and widespread re-districting. About 95 percent of incumbents
who ran were re-elected - yet Congressional term-limiting initiatives
easily passed in 14 states. Voters still think everyone in Congress
needs to be fired except for their Congressman.

Another state initiative closely watched by gun owners was Prop. 200
in Arizona, which was worded to prohibit all lethal methods of taking
fish and game. It lost by 62-38 percent.

The Congressionally demanded D.C. death penalty referendum was soundly
defeated - by the same church leaders and politicians who have led
the fight for gun laws in the District.

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		Clinton Appointments Promise New Problems
		
President-elect Clinton's appointment of Texas Sen. Lloyd Bentsen as
Treasury Secretary was intended to soothe Wall Street and Congress.
BATF's new boss isn't likely to go out of his way to hammer gun owners
- though neither is he likely to pay much attention to what the agency
is doing.

But giving positions such as Environmental Protection Agency and Health
& Human Services precedence over major appointments like Secretary of
State and Attorney General, is raising eyebrows and causing concerns
about special interests being in charge of the White House.

Sen. Bentsen was a co-sponsor of the original McClure-Volkmer "Gun
Decontrol Act" which would have reined in BATF, but he began voting 
against gun owners with the 1990 DeConcini semi-auto ban, and voted
for the "Brady Bill" in 1991.

The appointment of Rep. Leon Panetta (D-Calif.) as head of the Office
of Management and Budget puts a solid "F"-rated Congressman at the reins
of the agency which has final say on all Federal regulations - when
a slew of "new law" regulations directly affecting gun owners and
hunters are expected from BATF, HHS, EPA, Bureau of Land Management
and other alphabet agencies.

Rep. Panetta shares a house with prominent anti-gunners Rep. Marty
Russo (D-Ill.), George Miller (D-Calif.) and Crime Subcommittee Chairman
Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.).

Another worrisome appointment is the selection of Hillary Clinton's
successor as president of Children's Defense Fund, former university
president Donna Shala to head Health & Human Services. An HHS
agency, the Center for Disease Control, has been campaigning against
firearms as "a major contributing factor of the epidemic of violence."
Under Reagan and Bush the CDC has been treating criminal acts as an
infectious disease, and funding biased "studies" of firearms ownership
and the costs of treating gunshot wounds.

HHS is the sponsor of "Healthy People 2000," a national planning
group that includes some 300 national medical associations, health
insurance associations, state health departments and related groups.
Their plan calls for, by the year 2000, "Reduc(ing) by 20 percent the
proportion of weapons that are inappropriately stored and therefore
dangerously available."

The plan defines "dangerously available" or "immediate access" as 
"the ability to retrieve a loaded firearm within 10 minutes."

The Hillary Clinton/Shala child welfare group has helped push welfare
agencies to declare homes with firearms unfit for children.

As this issue goes to press, Billary Clinton has not yet appointed
the Attorney General, but it is a certainty that the appointee will
not be friendly to gun owners.

The Justice Department will select candidates for more than 100 existing
vacancies in the Federal Court system, plus candidates for the expected
two early vacancies on the Supreme Court (Justices Blackmum and
White).

Clinton will be the first Democratic President since Lyndon Johnson
to make a Supreme Court appointment.

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		Arizona Governor, NRA Near Accord
		
NRA this week lost the first round of its lawsuit against Phoenix to
preserve Arizona's firearms preemption law, but will appeal.

Gov. Fife Symington and NRA are expected to soon introduce a jointly
supported statewide "kids and guns" bill in the Arizona legislature.

Last fall Phoenix (and four other cities) passed an ordinance requiring
notarized parental permission for a minor to possess a firearm.

The permission had to be given on a Phoenix police form listing the
model and serial numbers, even if the minors were from another city,
transporting match rifles through Phoenix.

Neal Knox met with the Arizona governor, attorney general and law
enforcement groups on behalf of NRA President Bob Corbin in September
to discuss a law that would prevent gun-carrying by gang members without
adversely affecting the law-abiding.

Gov. Symnington, NRA, Knox and others have been in substantive agreement
concerning the bill's major provisions for weeks. The final bill is
expected to be announced by the governor prior to the opening of the
legislature, possibly in a few day.

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				Correction
				
The House Votes Key in the 1985-1992 congressional voting table
mailed in October did not include the explanation for the last
vote, "K." The key should have concluded: "(K) Volkmer amendment to
strike from H.R. 3371 crime bill those provisions banning over-7-shot
magazines and 13 military-style guns; anti-gun sections killed by
241-177 vote Oct. 17, 1991."

Corrected copies of the voting guide are available on request.

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		Dealer Licenses Targeted By Media Campaign
		
Judging from the media buildup, a high-priority bill in the new Congress
will be extensive modifications of the Gun Control Act to give BATF
more authority to restrict dealer licenses and to give local law
enforcement a de facto veto over whether and how many FFL's will be issued
in an area.

The criminal misuse of FFL's has already been featured in the Washington
Post and on ABC "20/20" (where Hugh Downs commented that he hoped the
program would result in changes in the law.). Former National Coalition
to Ban Handguns staffer Josh Sugerman, who now has his own "anti-violence"
group, has written a "special report" on FFL issuance - the same kind
of report he wrote to kick off the "assault weapon" fight in 1988, six
months before the Stockton schoolyard killings.

The police veto over FFL's was included in Crime Subcommittee Chairman
Charles Schumer's (D-N.Y.) little-noticed, committee-passed H.R. 5633
last year. It also requires dealers to file multiple sales reports
if anyone bought two handguns within 30 days, rather than the present
week.

Charles Schumer has said resurrecting the 1992 crime bill won't occur
until after the Clinton Administration's first 100 days, because it's
not a first-priority, and the Governor may want to put his own touches
on the bill.

But some form of "Brady Bill" is likely to be introduced the day
Congress formally convenes, Jan. 5. The bill will probably be considerably
broader, and contain more "hooks," than either H.R. 7 (the "pure 7-day
waiting period which passed the House in 1991) or the more-complex
Dole-Metzenbaum version (which was approved by both houses as part
of different crime bills).

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		'Knox on Gun Rights' Video Tapes Available
		
VHS video cassette copies of a 30-minute discussion on gun rights between
Neal Knox and Pittsburgh TV hostess Marjorie Provan are available from
Knox Associates for $20, including postage and handling.

The program was intended to be usable whenever aired, and does not
specifically mention any pending legislation. It is suitable for
rebroadcast on local access cable channels or showings at meetings.

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			Personal Note From Neal Knox
			
Many of you heard the outrageous charges from defeated Old Guard Directors
like Paul Daniels that I am deliberately trying to bankrupt NRA.

Director Mary Maguires writes that "The New Directors that Knox has
gotten on the Board are spending money like drunken sailors."

In fact, NRA has spent a lot of its reserves trying to dig out of a hole
left by the previous administrations, and because of the unusual
opportunities - and threats - offered by the 1992 elections. But
most of the deficits is due solely to the old board. The eleven of us
seated in 1991 didn't vote on an NRA budget until January 1992. (It
was unanimous.) The second wave of Knox-endorsed directors, seated
in April 1992, has never voted on an NRA budget!

Because our team helped elect the 1993 Nominating Committee I'm
supporting their selections, as indicated by our Second Amendment Action
ad next to the ballot in the February American Rifleman/Hunter.

Though I would be happy to serve with any of those 30, the ones I know
best are Arvas, Bennett, Carone, Mrs. Carter, Cushman, Davison, DiBiaso,
Dillon, Dixon, Eyman, Fernandez, Hodgdon, Innis, Land, Lanford, Lee, Lujan,
Pace, Porter, Purcell, Rench, Robinson, Slavonic, Stegkemper,
Thomas and Till.

We will appreciate your continued support. -- N.K.

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		College Murderer Waited For Ammo
		
There is much conflicting information over the acquisition of the
gun and ammo used by an 18-year-old student to kill two, and wound
four, at an elite Great Barrington, Mass. arts college Dec. 14.

According to a BATF spokesman, the gun, an SKS semi-auto rifle, was legally
purchased the day of the shooting from a Pittsfield, Mass., gun
shop. However, the student, Wayne Lo, had ordered the ammo from out-of-
state, and apparently went to the gun shop to purchase the gun when the
ammo arrived, after a several day wait.

Lo was a full-time resident student from Montana. Massachusetts law allows
a non-resident to purchase a rifle or shotgun in compliance with the
laws of his home state. Residents must obtain a firearms license, which
requires several weeks; there is no provision for a non-resident
license.

The Dec. 17 Boston Herald quoted the Great Barrington police chief as
saying he believed Lo had been planning the attack for "several
months."

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		Gun Per Month Pending in Virginia
		
Virginia Gov. Doug Wilder is calling for a law to limit citizens to one
handgun per month, and to allow computerized state handgun purchase
records to be kept for a year.

The ostensible reason is to prevent out-of-state gun smugglers from
using Virginia residents with clean records from making multiple handgun
purchases. Criminals started using such "straw men" when the state's
"instant check" law began screening gun buyers' backgrounds.

The bill is considered a "model" that will be introduced in other
states.

At three hearings in the past six weeks, several hundred gun owners have
shown up to protest their being placed under new restrictions because
of the failures of the prohibitive gun laws in Washington, D.C. and
New York.

Advocates of the law are citing a New York 17-year-old courier caught
at the D.C. train station with 20 guns, purchased by five paid "straw
men" at a Richmond gun show earlier this month.

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		Appeal Dropped in California Suit
		
After extensive internal debate the NRA declined to appeal to the
Supreme Court its Federal challenge to the Roberti-Roos law, in favor
of one or more state lawsuits.

Prominent Second Amendment scholars disagree on whether that particular
case should have been appealed, or whether the Supreme Court would
have agreed to hear it. The Court has refused to hear any Second
Amendment case brought by NRA or others (See "The Embarrassing
Second Amendment, Levinson, Yale Law Journal, Vol. 99, 637, 1989).

Handgun Control Inc. immediately boasted that the NRA were afraid
of a Supreme Court ruling, but when NRA requested a hearing on the
Farmer suit against the 1986 machine gun ban two years ago, HCI asked
the court to refuse to hear it.

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[END]