In a recent Camden, New Jersey Superior Court case, a Camden County Park Police sergeant who was suspended without
pay in 1996 after being charged with illegally possessing a "machine gun" was sentenced to one year probation
and fined $155.
RICHARD D. FRISCH, 45, of Erial, New Jersey, had resigned from the park police in February this year after entering
a guilty plea to having a prohibited fully automatic weapon. Superior Court Judge LINDA G. ROSENZWEIG gave FRISCH
the opportunity to make a statement at the sentencing, but he declined to comment.
The case stemmed from a New Jersey State Police investigation two years ago. Assistant Camden County Prosecutor
JOEL H. ARONOW said investigators linked FRISCH to two MAC-10 Avenger weapons, manufactured by Hatten Arms. The
two MAC-10s had been modified from semi-automatic to fully automatic, and accommodated oversize ammunition magazines,
which are prohibited in New Jersey.
Investigators stated that the weapons were used for target practice at the Sportsman's Loft, a gun shop and
firing range in Pennsauken. FRISCH was described by the police force as an "excellent officer."
NRA HELD IN CONTEMPT OF COURT AND FINED
New York Supreme Court Judge BEATRICE SHAINSWIT recently held the National Rifle Association in contempt of court
and levied a fine of $250 in the ongoing legal battle between NRA directors and candidates over the 1998 board
election.
The Supreme Court is the lowest state court in New York, even though the name is used elsewhere for the highest
court. This is not an appeals court. The court fight centers on the official notice of elections published in the
1998 Ballot Issue of NRA magazines. The notice identified the board's own candidates and distinguished them from
a competing slate. Plaintiff NRA director Howard J. Fezell and others, alleged that this violated a bylaw of the
organization.
The plaintiffs had sought to prevent the publication of the separate designations, and the court directed NRA
"not to designate candidates in the official ballots," The contempt citation resulted when NRA published
the ballots, which the court said "prejudiced the rights of the named plaintiffs to a fair election."
The court did not set aside the board election. However, the case goes on with more issues yet to be decided. And
it may be appealed.
FBI Gives Advance Details On Instant Check System Operations
The National Instant Check System (NICS) is scheduled to go online by Nov. 30, 1998. It replaces the five-day waiting
period on handgun purchases and substitutes an "instant" background check that will be expanded to include
background checks on purchasers of rifles and shotguns as well handguns. Curios and relics are exempted.
Gun owners have asked numerous questions about the new system. Following a recent meeting with the FBI, the
American Shooting Sports Council (ASSC) reported that some of those questions appear to be answered.
The FBI expects to release its proposed regulations for operating the new system this month. ATF had previously
published proposed final regulations for implementing the new system. The FBI assured ASSC that the system will
be up and running by the Nov. 30 deadline. In fact, the FBI intends to begin testing the system as early as June
in a few states.
In 31 states, licensed dealers will make an 800-number telephone call directly to the NICS.
The toll-free 800 NICS number will be manned from 9 a.m. to 2 a.m. Eastern time seven days a week. The fee will
be $13-16. In the remaining 19 point-of-contact states, the state will be responsible for conducting the check,
possibly meaning that the dealer will contact the state and the state will contact the NICS. In at least two states,
Wisconsin and Michigan, a state agency will run the check on handguns, while the dealer will call the NICS directly
for checks on long guns.
The FBI estimates that the average time for a check will be about two minutes, and that 80% of the responses
will be "immediate" with either an approval or a "delay in transfer" response which means the
dealer cannot complete the sale. In the latter case, the FBI has up to 72 hours to respond with either an approval
or a denial of sale.
NICS is set up to handle 9,000 inquiries an hour, with 450 workers assigned to take calls.
All federally licensed firearm dealers in 31 NICS states will be receiving from the FBI in the next few months
information for signing up with the NICS. A unique identification number and a password will be assigned to every
dealer. It is critical that dealers fill out the information and return it to the FBI well in advance of the Nov.
30 deadline.
Every firearm sale will be assigned a unique transaction number that will be included on the ATF Form 4473.
The new 4473 forms are in the process of being revised by ATF.
A dealer can submit multiple transactions on a single call to the system. Faxes will also be accepted but will
slow the process and response will not be immediate. While most dealers will be using the 800 number, larger retailers
such as chain stores will most likely be set up on a computerized system.
A single transaction check can be for more than one gun purchased by the same customer. However, once a response
has been processed for that transaction, further purchases even the same day will require a separate transaction.
Also, if the customer does not take delivery of the gun or guns within 30 days of a transaction approval, a new
background check will be required.
Concerns remain about the retention of records run through the NICS. The FBI expects to retain information from
the checks for at least 18 months for auditing purposes and to check the system's security and success of operation.
ANOTHER CDC "STUDY"
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have once again treated firearm fatalities as a health issue
rather than a law enforcement issue.
In the April 16 edition of the International Journal of Epidemiology, the CDC claims its "study" was
prompted by the World Health Assembly's declaration that "violence [is] a public health problem worldwide."
However, the CDC's study does not deal with violence or its causes, it deals only with firearm-related fatalities.
The study also appears to be highly selective about what the "world" is, covering 36 countries, but leaving
out more than 150 that have exceedingly high rates of violent death.
What's more, the countries in the study were listed as the 36 richest in the World Bank's 1994 World Development
Report. The CDC does not consider a violent death violent unless it is firearm related. That's a fallacy, as Florida
State University criminologist GARY KLECK examined the CDC's data and found no "significant ... association
between gun ownership levels and the total homicide rate." Professor KLECK also found that the "associations
with the total suicide rate were even weaker."
The CDC, furthermore, fails to recognize that the availability of firearms cannot be singled out as a contributing
factor to violent crime rates, since countries like Switzerland, New Zealand, Finland, and Israel all have relatively
low rates of violent crime, but high rates of gun ownership. The whole thing just doesn't add up scientifically.
But the CDC "study" does show one thing accurately: the CDC is after your guns.
White House Intent on Banning Gun Exports To Europe
The CLINTON Administration is cancelling firearms export licenses to Britain, Germany, France and Italy. Also,
new rules for international import and export trade in guns will be discussed at meeting of the G-7 nations and
Russia this month in Birmingham, England, according to a recent front-page story in The New York Times.
First it was import bans, now it's export bans. CLINTON ordered an import moratorium and suspension of import
licenses last November. That action was followed up with an executive order banning import licenses for 58 semi-automatic
firearms which had previously been legal under the 1994 Crime Bill's gun and large capacity magazine ban. A study
by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms was used to justify that action, which in turn had been prompted
by a letter from Sen. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D-CA) to the prime minister of Israel. Her letter claimed that the guns
were being imported because of a "loophole" in the 1994 law.
The Times story by RAYMOND BONNER used the "loophole" theme again, only this time on gun exports.
"CLINTON Administration officials, who are making a major effort to stem the illicit movement of firearms,"
BONNER wrote, "say they discovered the 'European Union loophole' as they call it, during negotiations this
year over a treaty to regulate the import and export of firearms." (See our Page 1 lead story.) BONNER also
claimed that the United States will present its proposals in Birmingham this month, at the summit meeting of leading
industrial countries, the so-called Group of 7, plus Russia.
The problem? "Despite United States laws intended to curb international trafficking in firearms, the CLINTON
Administration has discovered that Washington has virtually no control over where American weapons end up once
they are shipped to Europe, American and European officials say," BONNER wrote.
"As a result, law enforcement officials in Europe and the United States say, thousands of high-powered
and semi-automatic American pistols and rifles sold to Europe in the last few years have ended up fueling violent
conflicts in places that include Rwanda, the countries that once were part of Yugoslavia, Algeria and Turkey, and
in the hands of street criminals and organized crime syndicates." American firearms are also said to have
found their way to Iraq and Iran.
The State Department is set to revoke all outstanding licenses for firearms exports to British companies, BONNER
claimed, saying that there are currently 250 licenses for more than 14,000 US-made handguns outstanding.
After meetings in January and March of the G-7's subgroup on firearms, the American Embassy in London reported
in a message to Washington that the United States "should be concerned that firearms are not remaining in
the countries for which they are licensed." The Embassy said that "a basic cornerstone" of United
States policy "appears not to be supported" by European Union policy.
American law requires foreign purchasers of firearms and military equipment to sign an "end-user certificate"
attesting that they will not re-export the items without the authorization of the State Department, which issues
the export licenses under the Munitions Control Act. Under European Union law, however, there is no requirement
that a company wishing to re-export goods to another member country notify the export authority in the original
country, the Embassy reported.
According to The Times, the view of the European Union is that Washington's re-export restrictions are an infringement
on "territorial sovereignty," as European officials put it. "We object to anybody putting conditions
on UK companies," said STEVE WILLIAMS, an official in Britain's Department of Trade and Industry. He and other
British officials said British companies were advised they could ignore the law.
The CLINTON administration does not seem to be similarly concerned about U.S. "territorial sovereignty"
being compromised by U.N.-inspired regulations on American gun rights.
Now the question: Was The Times report just part of a "policy by news leak" strategy being pursued
by some of the same governmental and non-governmental organizations which have been pushing gun control at the
United Nations?
There may be reason to believe so. BONNER cited spokespersons for the British American Security Information
Council (BASIC) which made gun control its new international priority after successfully working on the land mine
ban.
"There is a total lack of transparency, an inability to get to the bottom of anything," said GERALDINE
O'CALLAGHAN, an arms trade analyst at BASIC, a non-governmental arms control organization with offices in London
and Washington. "Even a member of Parliament cannot find out who bought or sold what."
While the US State Department issued a "limited denial" of The Times report, it did not repudiate
the idea of an export gun ban. This new tactic of the CLINTON Administration is a diabolically ingenious way to
impose gun control on American soil. You can make the guns here, but don't sell them for export.
