======== The PROponent Peoples Rights Organization 3953 Indianola Ave Columbus, OH 43214 (614) 268-0122 ____________________________________________________________ Volume 9 April, 1997 Number 4 ____________________________________________________________ GUN REGISTRATION PROCEEDING NICELY... A pro-gunner remarked some years ago that there was no use fighting against gun registration, because all the guns in America were already registered! It's just that the government hasn't collected all the forms yet! But now the government IS collecting your name and registering your guns. The mechanism is quite simple and straightforward. YOU have already registered every gun you have purchased from a "licensed" FFL dealer. You filled out a 4473 "yellow sheet" giving all the information any gun "registrar" would need to know (OK, except maybe a copy of your fingerprints). The law states that when an FFL dealer goes out of business, those gun "registration" forms get turned into the government. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms wants your name in a computer database so badly their teeth hurt! You want proof of this? OK. The construction of such a database is totally illegal and contrary to the expressed will of Congress. But the BATF simply illegally went ahead and started computerizing the gun owners anyway. When Congress complained, they told Congress to take a flying leap. But Congress much to their credit, did NOT take a leap. They cut the ATF funding for doing this dirty work. But the gun-grabbers were not deterred. They pulled in IOUs and as PRO members recall, recently got the funding for this illegal registration activity restored. Also the registration net was widened by encouraging local law enforcement to break the "law" by keeping "Brady" information. Cleverly, while the "Brady" law makes keeping a database a "crime" there is no punishment provided for the "crime"! To get around the no database directives of Congress, the justice Department has invented the "FIST" software designed for local law enforcement to legally generate databases which can be accessed INTERNET-style by the Feds. Thus, technically, "they" are not keeping the records. The ATF has admitted the "computerization" of the yellow sheets, but tried to pass it off as "indexing" rather than what they obviously have been trying to do from the beginning. And now with money restored, "indexing" of you and I can proceed apace. And there is obviously a plan to help provide the raw materials of the gun registration list. The plan is to drive as many FFL holders as possible out of business, because every former gun dealer is required to turn in his collection of gun registration forms, "yellow sheets," to the ATF. From there it is one small step into the gun owners list of names file. An editorial in the February 5, 1997 Columbus Dispatch gloats over this victory. They noted that the number of FFL holders has dropped 56 percent in the last three years. The Dispatch editors didn't say so, but we are sure they understand that this could mean the registration of up to half the guns sold legally in the United States. Needless to say, the editor-whores at the paper instead of pointing out that registration of honest gun owners does nothing about criminal misuse of guns, choose to equate honest businessmen with criminals. They say: "It's impossible to say so with any certainty that there's a connection, but common sense would suggest that perhaps there is. Of course President Clinton is claiming credit in a statement that says, 'Fly-by-night gun traffickers no longer have the cover of federal law to peddle their weapons.'" This kind of calculated disinformation makes me so angry. Common sense indeed! What common sense tells me is that there clearly is NOT ANY DEMONSTRATED CONNECTION between honest licensed gun sales and criminal behavior such as murder. The number of guns owned has not decreased even though the number of licensed dealers has. And no one has yet to definitively show a connection even between the number of guns and the murder rate let alone between gun dealers and the murder rate! The editors at the Dispatch tout a "common sense" two steps removed from real data. So my "common sense" tells me that only two possibilities exist: 1. The editors at the Columbus Dispatch are some of the most ignorant human beings on the planet. or 2. The Dispatch editors are very well trained propagandists who like any common prostitute have sold their skills along with their morality to gain a few pieces of gold. I know my opinion, you make your choice. So why is the Dispatch crowing that FFL fees being increased from $10 to $200 has caused record gun dealer declines? They note, "The number of gun dealers in California has dropped by 15,000 to 8,827, while in Texas there are 9,187 gun dealers, 11,000 fewer than in 1993." Could the REAL reason be it's those stacks and stacks of registration forms? That's thousands and thousands of names and addresses to be used "when the time comes" for ninja-clad "jackbooted thugs" to start kicking in our doors because "the laws have changed". Are newspaper editors lovers of big brother dictatorial rule? Maybe. But our "ignorance" option holds some water here too. We'll bet that these editors are beating the drum for the "benefits" of totalitarian rule, thinking that by reason of their lengthy "service" to the power elite, they are going to be part of the ruling class "when the day comes". Fat chance! These clowns are so dumb that they can't even figure out that they are only of some value so long as they are needed to dupe the public and spread lies and propaganda. But when the power elite truly takes control, you can be sure that these media people will be disposed of as easily and as ruthlessly as they will [try to] dispose of us gun owners. You see, not only do they now have a growing list of gun owners with names and addresses, but those seeking power no doubt already have a complete list of the names and addresses of all newspaper editors too! ____________________________________________________________ The PROponent is published by: Peoples Rights Organization; 3953 Indianola Ave.; Columbus, OH 43214; Tel (614) 268-0122 Fax (614) 261-9100 (note new fax number!) EMAIL: Compuserve ID: 2PRO INTERNET: 2PRO@compuserve.com or dcarney@bronze.coil.com