Printed in the USA.
The Gottlieb-Tartaro Report
Issue 063
March, 2000
CLINTON'S WAR ON GUNS
With President CLINTON dramatically stepping up his war on guns, Congress is bracing for an all-out battle over gun control throughout this election year. In his State of the Union speech this year, President CLINTON called for laws requiring a photo ID to obtain a gun license. In addition, CLINTON wants to increase the size of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in order to conduct a large investigation of some 1,000 gun dealers.
The Democratic presidential candidates are also battering each other to see who can be the biggest gun control advocate. Former Senator BILL BRADLEY even tried to paint Vice President AL GORE as a stooge of the National Rifle Association for his voting record during the 1970s when he was a House member representing a conservative rural district in Tennessee.
BRADLEY recently stood in a Los Angeles synagogue and at a middle school with parents of children killed by gunmen. There he released documents showing that GORE had received high grades from the NRA for voting against a 14-day waiting period for buying new handguns, for voting against restrictions on the sale of guns across state lines, and for cutting the budget of the BATF.
CHRIS LEHANE, GORE’s spokesman, touted the vice president’s more recent anti-gun record, saying “The gun issue itself changed. Times change and solutions change.”
The differences the two Democrats are arguing about seem ridiculous to gun owners, but here’s a quick comparison:
BRADLEY would require that all handguns be registered and that all handgun owners take a safety course and get a license.
GORE does not call for registering guns but would require photo ID for new buyers of handguns. Both men support banning all inexpensive handguns.
BRADLEY proposes banning gun dealers from operating in residential neighborhoods. GORE goes beyond BRADLEY in proposing tougher laws for people who sell guns. Both want to end gun shows. Both ran anti-gun ads in the Washington State primary that backfired. BUSH & McCAIN got 63% of the votes cast in a Democrat state due to the ads.
BRADLEY was far behind GORE among traditional Democrats in California, and he knew that the anti-gun card plays well to them. His school visit in Los Angeles included weeping parents telling about how their children were killed by shooters, and one woman held a miniature coffin and snapped it shut at a dramatic moment for punctuation.
Basketball superstar MICHAEL JORDAN backed BRADLEY by appearing in a television advertisement endorsing the former ballplayer. KRISTEN LUDECKE, a BRADLEY spokeswoman, said of JORDAN, “He declares his support for BRADLEY based on his commitment to health care for children, curbing gun violence and other issues.”
Politics often makes odd bedfellows, but many are shaking their heads at gun-toting PUFF DADDY and his $1,000 donation to anti-gun HILLARY CLINTON’s New York senatorial campaign. The rap star is in the middle of gun possession charges involving a fight in a New York club. HILLARY’s campaign spokesman HOWARD WOLFSON said of the legal charges, “We believe in the presumption of innocence.”
CLINTON USES PUBLIC HOUSING PLOY TO PROMOTE ANTI-GUN AGENDA
President CLINTON is trying to sell his gun control program to Congress with a new study cooked up by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development showing that public housing residents are twice as likely to be victimized by criminals with guns as other Americans.
The study estimated that 10 out of every 1,000 people in public housing are victimized annually by criminals with guns, compared with a rate of four of every 1,000 in the nation as a whole.
The study counted only certain crimes involving guns, including rape, aggravated assault and robbery. Homicides were not included in the estimates because the nation’s 66 largest housing authorities reported only 360 homicides in 1998.
A reasonable person might conclude that there are more criminals in public housing than there are elsewhere.
MIKE RUSTIGAN, a criminologist at San Francisco State University said, “Housing projects tend to be hot spots. There are still pockets of poverty in this nation, and where you find that and people without a stake in the community, you’ll find some violence.”
But that is not what the CLINTON administration wants us to think about.
CLINTON proposes to impose upon everybody — not just the criminals in public housing — licenses for handgun buyers, background checks on gun-show weapons sales, banning violent juvenile offenders from owning guns when they turn 21, and requiring child safety locks to be sold with handguns.
Exactly how that agenda makes public housing safer is not clear.
USA TODAY quoted ALAN GOTTLIEB of the Second Amendment Foundation: “You are probably two times more likely to be whacked by a baseball bat or cut by a knife in the nation’s projects.
“The answer is not to ban guns, but to put more police in the areas where crime is rampant.
“They deserve the same level of protection people get in the suburbs.”
MORE FROM COLUMBINE HIGH
Anti-gunners are using more news about Columbine High School in their gun control rhetoric. In Littleton, Colorado, two Columbine High students were shot to death at a sandwich shop about two blocks south of the school. A 15-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl were found dead with gunshot wounds. Police have not found a weapon or a motive, but ruled out a murder-suicide.
Conversely, anti-gunners are not talking about the non-gun arsenal of ERIC HARRIS and DYLAN KLEBOLD, the Columbine killers, which included 48 carbon dioxide bombs, 27 pipe bombs and 11 1.5 gallon propane containers.
Across the country, two New Jersey movie directors were arrested on weapons charges for shooting a film simulating the Columbine High School massacre without permission to use guns on the school grounds.
WILLIAM APRICINO, 26, and JOSEPH R. MILLER, 21, shot the video last summer on the grounds of E. G. Hewitt School in Ringwood, New Jersey. Two shotguns were used in the video, which was marketed on the Internet.
Bergen, N.J. Detective Sgt. BERNARD LOMBARDO said, “The videotape is not really illegal, but as far as the guns, we can’t tolerate having guns on school property.”
APRICINO and MILLER were each charged with possession of a weapon on school property. Both men said the guns were not loaded and turned them over to police.
“SMART GUNS” IN THE NEWS
Maryland Governor PARRIS N. GLENDENING has proposed to mandate that only so-called personalized “smart” guns be sold in the state after 2003.
The sole firearms manufacturer in his state, Beretta USA, is alarmed by the proposal because the technology isn’t yet feasible.
Beretta should know: they’re researching it themselves. “Smart” guns would require that some sort of electronic lock be disabled before they can be fired. Some prototypes have used radio transmitters, others scan fingerprints. None works well enough to go to market.
Company owner UGO GUSSALI BERETTA told the Washington Post, “It is something that doesn’t exist in the market today. We worry about the new legislation.”
Beretta has generally avoided politics, but is now fighting the governor’s proposal, lobbying lawmakers and making campaign contributions.
ADDING INSULT TO INJURY
The governor has given Beretta more than reasonable cause to fight back: he’s insulting them in public.
Beretta’s general counsel JEFFREY K. REH added, “The governor saying in his State of the State address that the gun industry was not going to do what is right until we make them do it was very offensive to us.”
Gov. GLENDENING has proposed offering $3 million in research grants to Maryland companies for smart guns in the next three years. Since Beretta is the state’s only gun maker, it could easily seek the money. REH, however, said the company wasn’t interested if it came with a mandate to make only smart guns.
Other gun manufacturers, including Colt’s Manufacturing Co. and Smith & Wesson, have acknowledged they are working on prototypes for new electronic locks on their guns, though both say the technology was nowhere near ready and may never be.
Beretta won’t discuss its research, and has told government panels that the technology isn’t possible.
REH said Beretta is convinced that the electronics necessary for smart guns could not survive the repeated stress of a gun being fired.
LOOKING FOR MR. GOOD GUN
Other gun manufacturers are more optimistic about smart gun technology, Smith & Wesson among them.
KEVIN FOLEY, vice president of product engineering at Smith & Wesson, said that Mytec Technologies Inc. of Toronto has successfully integrated its biometric technology in their smart handgun project.
The Canadian company working with Smith & Wesson has developed a fingerprint recognition technology that is a necessary step to a workable smart gun.
Mytec’s technology involves a scanner on the gun handle that reads the fingerprint and converts it into digital format.
Within milliseconds, the scanner compares the fingerprint with an authorized one stored inside. If it matches, the gun unlocks and can be fired.
FRANK CHEN, executive vice president of business at Mytec, said, “We have to miniaturize the scanning device and make it more user-friendly.”
Further development will depend on whether Smith & Wesson receives a federal grant for the purpose. President CLINTON has proposed $10 million in grant money to develop smart gun technology.
KEN JORGENSON, director of public and media relations at Smith & Wesson, said the company was seeking about $3 million in grant money.
JORGENSON said a “smart” gun might reach the market by 2002, but would cost more than conventional guns. How much more was not stated.
No one is criticizing gun makers for researching smart guns. Critics focus their complaints on whether fingerprint technology will actually prevent unauthorized people, such as children who find their parents’ gun or an intruder who steals a homeowner’s firearm, from firing the gun. If it won’t, we’re wasting a lot of money.
COMMISSION URGES MERGER OF BATF AND DEA INTO BIGGER FBI
Citing grave concerns about a lack of coordination of the government’s top police agencies, a blue ribbon panel has recommended a wholesale restructuring of federal law enforcement agencies into one big cop shop.
The Commission of the Advancement of Federal Law Enforcement, chaired by former FBI director WILLIAM WEBSTER, said that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Drug Enforcement Administration should be merged into a larger, more powerful FBI.
Attorney General JANET RENO joined with Treasury Secretary LAWRENCE SUMMERS to reject the proposal, saying it was “unnecessary” and “detrimental.” The FBI and DEA are part of the Justice Department, while the BATF is under the Treasury Department.
Vice President AL GORE’s 1993 National Performance Review called for the repositioning of the BATF under the FBI in the Justice Department. Also in 1993, calls to dismantle the BATF came in the wake of criticism of the agency’s handling of the Branch Davidian standoff in Waco, Texas.
CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL FIND GUN-RELATED DEATHS LOWEST IN 30 YEARS
Gun deaths in the United States dropped 21% between 1993 and 1997 to the lowest level in more than 30 years, and firearm-related injuries fell 41 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Experts cited tougher gun control laws, a booming economy, better police work and gun safety courses. They did not cite widespread Right To Carry laws on the books in many states where people can defend themselves from criminals.
The CDC study counted gunshot wounds reported at emergency rooms, including intentional, accidental or self-inflicted.
The number of fatalities dropped from 39,595 in 1993 to 32,436 in 1997.
The number of non-fatal shootings fell from 104,390 in 1993 to 64,207 in 1997.
VIRGINIA CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT COULD ENSHRINE THE RIGHT TO HUNT
With animal rights and anti-hunting groups clamoring to outlaw hunters, the Virginia House of Delegates recently voted 72 to 27 for an amendment giving constitutional protection to hunting, fishing and harvesting game.
The state Senate and Virginia voters must still approve it.
This is possibly the first “rural survival” measure to be considered by a state. Rural-based lawmakers fear that the cities and suburbs that increasingly dominate Virginia will mean a rise in support for environmentalist restrictions on all natural resource use and gun control, and the erosion of a cherished way of life.
Delegate JACKIE T. STUMP (D-Buchanan) said, “There’s people who would take away all your guns. There are people who wouldn’t let you hunt, take down another tree or even go in the woods.”
More than half of the no votes on the amendment were from urban Northern Virginia. Urbanites are already trying to eradicate rural activities through gun control and prohibition of hunting on school trust lands.
Rural lawmakers say urban and suburbanites just don’t get it when it comes to hunting and fishing. Many lawmakers from nonrural areas voted for the proposed amendment merely because they were convinced it would have little effect.
In fact, five other states have a right to hunt written into their constitution with few apparent problems, according to KELLY ANDERS of the National Conference of State Legislators.
If the Virginia Senate approves the measure, as it did in a preliminary vote last year, the issue will be on the November ballot.
The ballot question would ask whether the state constitution should say: “The people have a right to hunt, fish and harvest game, subject to such regulations and restrictions as the general Assembly may prescribe by general law.”
A majority would put the language into the state constitution.
CITIBANK / CITIGROUP BLACKLISTS GUN DEALERS, FACES BOYCOTT
Last month the Nevada Pistol Academy received a letter from Citibank stating that their recently approved account would be closed in ten days “due to Citibank not maintaining accounts for businesses that deal in weapons.”
This letter revealed an otherwise secret policy of refusing accounts from lawful federally licensed firearm-related businesses.
While this arbitrary discrimination was originally thought to be only a regional decision, Citibank vice president of public affairs, MARK RODGERS, made the policy known:
“Citibank’s consumer business has a long-standing policy of not engaging in financial relationships with ... businesses that manufacture or sell military weapons, military munitions or firearms. In keeping with this ... policy, the account in question should not have been opened. The customer was notified that we would close the account, because it was not in compliance with this policy.”
JAMES W. WINCHESTER, a former assistant U.S. attorney who is now vice president of the Colorado State Shooting Association, said, “This is basic discrimination — political correctness run amok. It says that we are not good citizens because we are associated with firearms.”
The discovery of Citibank’s arbitrary and discriminatory policy has reverberated throughout the gun community.
In response, the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) has called for a nationwide boycott of Citibank and all other members of the CitiGroup Conglomerate.
JOHN BARNETT, executive director of SAF, said, “Let’s make ourselves heard as a unified voice to protect free enterprise and our basic civil rights.”
BARNETT called for a boycott of their businesses by all gun owners.
“If they discriminate against firearm businesses, then individual gun owners should boycott all of the businesses. Lost revenue does wonders to change biased, discriminatory business practices.”
Citibank is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of CitiGroup, a worldwide corporation that handles credit cards, as well as corporate and consumer banking accounts. A boycott is called for against all members of CitiGroup:
Citibank
CitiGroup Foundation
CitiFinancial
Saloman Smith Barney
SSB Citi Asset Management Group
Travelers Property Casualty Corp.
Travelers Life & Annuity
Global Corporate & Investment Banking
Primerica Financial Services“With firearms in half the U.S. households, Citibank is risking a great deal of business. The goal now is to educate the American people about this despicable act and force Citibank to withdraw its offensive policy,” said BARNETT.
In addition to cutting up Citibank credit cards, people should contact Citibank to voice their displeasure. Go straight to the top:
SANFORD I. WEILL, co-chairman and co-CEO, or
JOHN S. REED, co-chairman and co-CEO
Phone 212-559-1000
FAX 212-793-3946
Toll free 1-800-285-3000
SEIZURE LAW ANGERS CONNECTICUT GUN OWNERS
A new state gun law in Connecticut could allow the search and seizure of firearms from homes on unsubstantiated reports from anonymous neighbors, says the Cos Cob Rifle & Revolver Club.
The first and only enforcement of the law so far involved the confiscation last October of almost a dozen guns from THOMPSON BOSEE of Old Greenwich, which sparked heated controversies among civil-rights groups and gun control groups.
The sportsmen in the Club say the gun seizure law not only violates a gun owner’s constitutional right to bear arms and against unreasonable searches and seizures, but also lends itself to abuse. It could easily become a “turn in your neighbor” law that anti-gunners and hostile judges could use against gun owners.
CITY COUNCILMAN SUES TO STOP CINCINNATI’S ANTI-GUN LAWSUIT
After losing a vote to stop the Cincinnati City Council from appealing the dismissal of a lawsuit against gun makers, Councilman CHARLIE WINBURN sued the city to prevent it from spending any more money on the suit.
WINBURN called the city’s appeal a “wasteful and illegal expenditure of municipal funds in pursuit of frivolous litigation against the firearms industry.” He also wants the Hamilton County Common Pleas Court to prohibit further litigation against gun manufacturers.
Common Pleas Judge ROBERT RUEHLMAN threw out the city’s suit last October, saying the misuse of firearms is beyond gun makers’ control, and rejected the city’s claim that manufacturers were negligent in their design of handguns because they failed to include adequate safety devices. The city has appealed the dismissal, which prompted Councilman WINBURN’s suit.
Mr. WINBURN’s lawsuit alleges that the “net effect” of suits against the gun manufacturers is to drive up the costs of firearms which are passed on to the customer.
NEGLIGENCE TOSSED OUT IN CHICAGO ANTI-GUN SUIT
A Cook County judge has dismissed a key element of Chicago’s suit against the firearms industry, ruling that he saw no basis in the law to support the city’s claim of “negligent entrustment” that the industry is responsible for criminals using guns.
Circuit Judge STEPHEN A. SCHILLER ruled that “negligent entrustment” is mainly used to redress wrongs between two private parties and doesn’t apply between a government and a private party.
The lawsuit also charges the gun industry with creating a public nuisance by oversupplying suburban gun stores with firearms, knowing they would eventually make their way back into the city.
Judge SCHILLER allowed Chicago’s claim of “public nuisance” to remain in litigation.
City attorneys said they believe their case still has merit given that the public nuisance claim was not dismissed.
The suit is moving forward, but Chicago’s case has been seriously crippled.
300 PRO-GUN ADVOCATES RALLY AT COLORADO GOVERNOR’S MANSION
About 300 marchers recently protested in front of the Governor’s Mansion in Denver, opposing new legislation.
The pro-gun activists rallied against Governor BILL OWENS’ package of gun control proposals that is making its way through the Colorado Legislature.
Rally organizer BOB GLASS, who owns Paladin Arms and publishes Partisan magazine, said the protest was a grassroots response to Gov. OWENS’ overly restrictive proposals.
OWENS’ proposals would require background checks at gun shows, including juvenile records in background checks, raise the minimum age for buying guns from 18 to 21, allow local prosecution of people who buy guns for criminals or children, and require parents with guns to store the safely.
The gun-storage proposal was defeated the same day as the protest.
OWENS has repeatedly said since last August that the storage issue was a key part of his anti-gun program. He wants to make it “explicitly clear that firearms should be kept away from children’s reach when not in use.”
BILL DETRICK, legislative director of the Colorado Sports Shooting Association, said the bill was so broad it could allow prosecutors to charge someone who has his gun stolen by a juvenile.
“I don’t want to be held responsible if some kid breaks into my home, steals my gun and uses it to kill someone,” said DETRICK.
GUN NEWS TICKER: SHORT TAKES ON GUNS
• A poll by Zogby America has found that by almost a two to one margin, 1,201 adults want better law enforcement of current gun control statutes rather than more gun control laws. Six in 10 said they agreed with the statement, “There are enough laws on the books. What is needed is better enforcement of current laws,” while 34.7% said more laws were still needed.
• Movie icon BRUCE WILLIS recently told a USA Weekend interviewer, “Everyone has a right to bear arms. If you take guns away from legal gun owners, then the only people who have guns are the bad guys.”
• The CLINTON administration has formally named the White House press briefing room after JIM BRADY, the press secretary who was severely wounded in the 1981 assassination attempt against President RONALD REAGAN. His wife SARAH BRADY is the chair of Handgun Control, Inc., an anti-gun group.
• With a handgun ban and tough anti-gun laws, Canada recently reported that three teenagers were wounded when two males with handguns came into a Toronto high school and started shooting. Last year a 14-year-old student at a Taber, Alberta, high school killed one 17-year-old student and wounded another in an attack considered a response to bullying.
• An Illinois Republican congressional candidate is raffling off a .50-caliber sniper rifle over the Internet to raise money for his campaign, calling it “a ROD BLAGOJEVICH Special.” It’s a dig by Dr. MICHAEL CURTISS at the Democratic congressman from Chicago who is trying to outlaw high-caliber firearms such as the ArmaLite AR-50 in .50BMG caliber.
• Illinois state Senate Democrats have proposed new gun laws that would require prospective gun owners to undergo four hours of training and pay twice as much for a firearms owners identification card. The Democrats also propose a civil liability for injuries caused by guns sold illegally and stiffer penalties for using a gun within 500 feet of a place of worship, a measure spurred by the BENJAMIN SMITH shootings at a Los Angeles Jewish center.
• A badly written Toledo, Ohio city ordinance outlawing certain guns has caused a flood of calls to police from gun owners who are confused by the lists of outlawed guns. Is my gun legal? is the first question they ask. Then, How do I prove I’ve owned my weapon for years? The law contains a grandfather clause that protects people who owned their guns before the ban took effect. A convoluted gun ownership declaration form has confused most of the 6,000 estimated gun owners in the city.
• Maryland Gov. PARRIS N. GLENDENING (D) has proposed to require firearms manufacturers to record the “ballistic fingerprints” of all new handguns sold in his state so that police can more easily trace ammunition recovered from crime scenes. The provision was a little-noticed section of the Governor’s “smart gun” bill (see story on Page 3).
• A 66-year-old woman won a Beretta 9mm semiautomatic pistol in a recent Republican Party raffle that raised $13,000 and provoked anti-gunner outcry. HELEN ROOP, a registered Republican and retired Carroll County finance department workers, opted for the handgun and shooting class over the alternative first prize of $500. She must pass a background check before getting the pistol.
• The Supreme Court of Canada has begun hearing a challenge by Alberta and five other provinces to the nation’s gun-registration law. Critics say it merely penalizes hunters and farmers. The provinces are basing their case on the narrow legal argument that the federal government is invading their right to regulated private property.
• The CLINTON administration is suspending the export of guns and ammunition to Canada, claiming they might be flowing back into the United States. The United States began nine months ago to require licenses to export weapons to Canada. Since last April, licenses have been issued for 115,000 handguns, 25,000 rifles and 200 million rounds of ammunition. Canadian officials were startled at the numbers, wondering where so many guns could be going with such strict anti-gun laws in the nation. The doubts spurred the Canadian government to request the suspension.
AMENDMENT TARGETS FIREARMS INDUSTRY
The concept of equal protection under law is fundamental to American society. An amendment to the Senate Bankruptcy Reform Bill recently proposed by Senators Carl Levin (D-MI) and Richard Durbin (D-IL) seems to have forgotten about that.
The Levin Amendment, as it is known, would prohibit gun makers and dealers from erasing debts in bankruptcy that arose from successful lawsuits against them.
The prohibition would not equally affect all persons in bankruptcy.
Sen. Levin justified his discriminatory measure by noting that some two dozen U.S. cities and municipalities have sued gun makers and distributors. “The firearms industry should not be able to evade judgments by going bankrupt.”
Now let’s see if we’ve got this straight:
Firearms makers who went bankrupt would still have to pay judgments if cities sued them and won.
Ok, we understand that.
But other businesses that are politically correct — let’s say anti-gun newspapers — would not have to pay judgments if harmed parties sued them for libel and forced them into bankruptcy.
Ok, we understand that.
Final answer? People that Sen. Levin admires could evade judgments by going bankrupt and people he doesn’t admire couldn’t?
Understand that?
No, but we do understand the malice behind that kind of twisted thinking.
Anti-gun advocates are so self-righteous they don’t even want their opponents to have equal protection under law.
Their goal to put the firearms industry out of business is so compelling to them that they lose all sense of decency and fair play.
The fact that the Levin Amendment would encourage anti-gunners to file junk lawsuits against the firearms industry is beside the point. They don’t want settlements and they don’t want damages. They want to eradicate a whole industry.
Consider that carefully.
Anti-gun advocates will even pervert the law to get their way.
We simple folk outside the Beltway would just shake our heads and say, “Hey, you can’t do that in America.”
We’d be right.
The Senate shot down the Levin Amendment by a vote of 68 to 29.
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