[118737] in Cypherpunks
IP: Fw: The REAL Reason Behind Gun Control
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Robert Hettinga)
Wed Oct 6 23:01:38 1999
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Date: Wed, 6 Oct 1999 22:30:17 -0400
To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
From: Robert Hettinga <rah@shipwright.com>
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Date: Wed, 06 Oct 1999 18:10:11 -0700
From: Olga Jones <oj@teleport.com>
To: undisclosed recipients <oj@teleport.com>
Subject: IP: Fw: The REAL Reason Behind Gun Control
Sender: owner-ignition-point@precision-d.com
Reply-To: Olga Jones <oj@teleport.com>
Next Wave
by Benedict D. LaRosa
The Real Reason Behind Gun Control
With public attention riveted on the murder/conspiracy trial of the
Branch Davidians, little attention has been paid to the Treasury
Department's investigation of the conduct of the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, and Firearms (BATF). Most of the media quickly saw through
the veneer of objectivity and rightly ignored the report released
last September. However, as with most government documents, there is
some truth hidden among the chaff. Appendix G of the report is a
brief history of federal firearms enforcement. It is startling in its
candor in revealing the real reason behind the gun control movement
in this country.
Gun control is being sold to the American people as a crime fighting
measure. (There are also attempts to make it an environmental and
health issue.) Sarah Brady has publicly admitted that the Brady Bill
— signed into law November 30 — will have little effect on crime.
But, she added, it was a necessary first step. President Clinton
warned, "This is the first step. There is more to be done. We cannot
stop here." To what are Sarah Brady and President Clinton referring?
Appendix G provides the answer.
The report admits that the BATF raided the Branch Davidian community
at Mt. Carmel to enforce contemporary gun control laws. It adds: In a
larger sense, however, the raid fit [sic] within an historic,
well-established and well-defended government interest in prohibiting
and breaking up allorganized groups that sought to arm or fortify
themselves.... From its earliest formation, the federal government
has actively suppressed any effort by disgruntled or rebellious
citizens to coalesce into an armed group, however small the group,
petty its complaint, or grandiose its ambition.
Appendix G relates how the experience of Shay's Rebellion (1786-87),
the Whiskey Rebellion (1794), Fries Rebellion (1799), the fugitive
slave rescues of the 1850s, John Brown's raid on the Harper's Ferry
federal arsenal (1859), the Civil War, Southern resistance to
Reconstruction, the Pullman Strike (1894), etc., created an
intolerance to organized, armed groups on the part of the federal
government. This paranoia led Congress to pass the National Firearms
Act of 1934, not "to curb the gangsters' ability to arm themselves"
with automatic weapons and sawed-off shotguns as advertised, but "to
discourage ownership of such weapons without outlawing them." It
admits that "No self-respecting gangster would want to register, much
less pay the tax, on his Tommygun." It goes on to say: The passage of
the National Firearms Act of 1934, the first federal effort to
control ownership of firearms, grew out of this historic fear of
armed organizations.... In recent times, the federal government has
shown itself even less patient with armed groups.... As both history
and recent events clearly show, the United States has never tolerated
armed groups residing within its borders. The intent of the
particular organization, whether ideological or criminal, mattered
little.... ATF's enforcement focus retains the flavor of that
historic concern with armed organizations.
The Branch Davidians were not criminals and cults are not illegal. It
was not criminal activity that brought the Branch Davidians to the
attention of the federal government, but the fact that they were an
organized, armed group dissatisfied with the status quo. Government
agents created the impression of illegality to justify their
suppression of the Davidians and to dissuade similar dissenters. This
is why Attorney General Janet Reno warned that "more Waco-like
standoffs will occur in the near future. I hope an example has been
set ... to discourage those who are tempted to join cults." The Brady
Bill and the even more draconian gun control measures in the upcoming
crime bill are but the latest steps dating back to colonial times to
disarm the American people, not criminals, in defiance of the Second
Amendment. http://www.constitution.org/col/san940127.htm
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-----------------
Robert A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
