Any time someone says that they want “reasonable, common-sense gun control,” this memo that was leaked out of Handgun Control Inc (now the Brady Campaign) should give you an idea of the things that comprise what they really want. In short, the total annihilation of the Americans’ individual, pre-existing, Constitutionally-guaranteed right to self-defense, and the corollary right to own and carry weapons.
It’s a long read where blog postings are concerned, but these clowns intend to play for keeps.
Basically, they want to apply to guns and gun owners the same sorts of logic and rules that past administrations have used against certain drugs and users of those substances. Look at how well that’s working out – name a drug that’s deemed illegal (and thus immoral) by the Ruling Classwipes, and chances are it’s readily available in any inner-city public school that you care to name. It’s a good bet that the drug in question will also be available in most of the prison system, as well.
But criminal activity that involves one person harming another person isn’t what these people are interested in stopping. What they want is greater control over the general population.
What follows is their wish list from 1993 in trashing not only the Second Amendment, but also the First, Fourth, Ninth, Tenth, and Fourteenth Amendments, and the common-law presumption of innocence before being proven guilty. I suspect that the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth would (or will?) take a beating along the way, as well.
Parts of this have been introduced as legislation – they tried to sue firearms manufacturers from 1999 to 2005, they tried to shut down gun shows and private sales in 2001 with the McCain-Lieberman S.890. Several states (Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey) have licensing schemes in place. Chicago has had a near-total ban on handgun ownership in place (and one of the highest per capita rates of firearms-related death and crime in the nation) for decades. New York City has required a permit to own or carry a handgun since 1911, and the only people who get that permit are the rich and politically-connected types.
On some of the gun-banner “planks” or “talking points,” I’ve added comments in red – these are for things that they have already put in place or tried to implement.
- Ban of all clips holding over 6 bullets.
- Ban on all semiautos which can fire more than 6 bullets without reloading.
- Ban of possession of parts to convert arms into military configuration.
- Ban on all pump shotguns capable of being converted to more than 5 shots without reloading.
- Banning of all machine guns, destructive devices, short shotguns / rifles and assault weapons.
- Banning of Saturday Night Specials.
- Banning of Non-Sporting Ammunition
- Arsenal licensing (for possession of multiple guns and large amounts of ammunition)
- Elimination of the Department of Civil Marksmanship.
- Ban on possession of a firearm within a home located within 1000 feet of a schoolyard.
- Ban on all realistic replicas/toy guns or non-firearms capable of being rendered realistic.
- The right of the victim of gun violence to sue manufacturers and dealers to be affirmed and perhaps, aided with money from government programs.
- Taxes on ammo, Dealers licenses & guns to offset the medical costs to society.
- The eventual ban on all semiautomatics (regardless of when made or caliber).
WHAT WAS ONLY A DREAM TEN YEARS AGO CAN BE REALITY AS EARLY AS THIS YEAR
(After the meeting the following ideas were the result of a brainstorming session to guide the focus of gun control initiatives over the next five years. These may not be politically feasible for 1994, but we are confident that with continued pressure we can achieve most if not all of these goals within the next five years. The following list is condensed from our meeting in which we considered the best ideas for public safety expansion. The time is right for action.)
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FIVE YEAR PLAN
LICENSES:
1. NATIONAL LICENSING OF ALL HANDGUN PURCHASES
This is at the top of our list, however, the political climate may be right to initiate this step immediately. Please refer to our memo outlining our ideas on how this should be executed.
2. LICENSE FOR RIFLES AND SHOTGUNS
We should take our cues from Great Britain. Strict licensing should be mandatory – for all firearms whether handguns or not.
3. STATE LICENSES FOR OWNERSHIP OF FIREARMS
We want to take a workable idea from Great Britain, whereas, we should require the states to issue strict licenses for possession and require the licenses to be signed by at least three public officials ––i.e., the police chief, city attorney and mayor, for example, to eliminate ownership by dangerous individuals. It is reasonable to require that all individuals must prove to the signers that they require a firearm. This should be attached to any legislation requiring purchasers to show a need for a firearm.
Illinois, Massachusetts and New Jersey already require some sort of license for private citizens to own any sort of firearm.
4. REDUCTION OF THE NUMBER OF GUNS TO REQUIRE AN ARSENAL LICENSE
Right now the proposed Arsenal licenses which Senator Feinstein should be pushing for, requires an “Arsenal License” for those people who feel they need more than 20 guns and 1000 rounds of ammunition. We feel that number is too generous, due to the fact that any number of guns constitutes a grave threat to the safety of the community; we suggest Strongly that this license limit be reduced to possession greater than 5 guns and 250 rounds of ammunition.
5. ARSENAL LICENSE FEES
It is not unreasonable to require a yearly fee for an Arsenal license to be at least $300, with a cap of $1000. The money collected can be used to defray the immense medical costs directly attributed to these deadly weapons.
6. LIMITS ON ARSENAL LICENSING
No Arsenal Licensing to be permitted in counties with populations of more than 200,000.
The “Arsenal License” was part of a Brady II bill sponsored in May of 1994, after the success of getting the Brady Bill passed and signed in November, 1993. Click here for the text of it.
From Volokh.com (This article by David Kopel also explains in plain English the rest of the Brady II legislation sponsored in 1994.):
“Any person who owns 20 or more firearms or more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition or primers (e.g. two ‘bricks’ of rimfire ammo) would [have been] required to get an ‘arsenal’ license. To obtain a federal arsenal license, a person would need to be fingerprinted, obtain permission of local zoning authorities, and pay a $300 tax every three years. Her home would be subjected to unannounced, warrantless inspection by the government up to three times a year. ‘Arsenal’ owners would also have to obtain a $100,000 dollar insurance policy.”
See also this Google search: Arsenal License Brady II
7. REQUIREMENT OF FEDERALLY APPROVED STORAGE SAFES FOR ALL GUNS
We should follow Great Britain’s lead on this. All licensed gun owners should be required to have a storage safe which meets minimum federally mandated requirements. This step would reduce the tragic accidents which claim the lives of tens of thousands of children a year and make it more difficult for burglars to steal the guns.
8. INSPECTION LICENSE
Another good revenue source would be mandatory inspection licensing of all safes. Each safe would be registered with a specific serial number and the serial numbers and types of weapons stored would be on file with federal and state authorities. Since unannounced inspectors can insure that all declared weapons are being properly stored, all safe licenses should have an additional yearly fee to offset the cost of these spot inspections.
PUBLIC SAFETY REGULATIONS:
9. Ban ON MANUFACTURING IN COUNTRIES WITH A POPULATION OF MORE THAN 200,000
Guns are being built all the time and the number of licensed manufacturers it too great to justify the threat to public safety. This is a small step to reduce the number of these shops where, anything, even machine guns, are being built every day.
10. BANNING ALL MILITARY STYLE FIREARMS
The pending national ban on all Assault Weapons, based on a point system can be expanded to eventually cover any firearm with a remotely military appearance. We feel that this aggressive appearance appeals to the type of dangerous individuals who are a definite threat to public safety. We hope that this point system can eventually be expanded to high powered airguns and “paint ball” weapons, which can inflict great damage, and with a little effort can be converted to real guns.
11. Banning OF ANY MACHINE GUN PARTS OR PARTS WHICH CAN BE USED IN A MACHINE GUN
Periodicals such as “The Shotgun News” particularly cater to individuals who wish to build illegal machine guns. If Senator Feinstein’s courageous section of the crime bill is successful in banning all machine gun parts expect for police and military, then there would be no legitimate need for machine gun parts except to build illegal weapons.
F-Troop already does this to a degree, in that any parts that could be used to make a machine gun are deemed to be a machine gun by themselves, such that ∅1-2 worth of springs that could be sent through the mail in an envelope now constitute a “machine gun.” They are also reputed to do the same sort of thing with suppressor parts, such as wipes. What precisely is a “wipe” in a suppressor? It’s simply a piece of rubber or plastic shaped like a fender washer – in a circle with a much smaller hole in the center.
12. BANNING THE CARRYING OF A FIREARMS ANYWHERE BUT HOME OR TARGET RANGE OR IN TRANSIT FROM ONE TO THE OTHER
We should institute a federal mandate to the states to strictly regulate the carrying of a firearm.
13. BANNING REPLACEMENT PARTS (MFG, SALE, POSSESSION, TRANSFER, INSTALLATION) EXCEPT BARREL, TRIGGER GROUP
Thousand of people are building illegal weapons every day. We can put a dent in this by banning parts and parts kits, except those items like the barrel and trigger group, which are most likely to wear out due to use.
This is already part of the law for select-fire weapons. The Hughes Amendment to the Firearms Owners Protection Act of 1986 outlawed the transfer of machine gun receivers manufactured after 19 May 1986 to civilians. So when the existing receivers in civilian hands wear out . . . .
14. ELIMINATION OF THE CURIO RELIC LIST
A gun is a gun. Even an old gun can kill people. This a loop hole in the federal law which was allowed thousands of dangerous weapons to be distributed unchecked. This regulation, if enacted, would automatically eliminate the need for a Curio or Relic collector’s license. All handguns, rifles and shotguns would fall into the same category as their modern counterparts.
15. CONTROL OF AMMUNITION BELONGING TO CERTAIN SURPLUS FIREARMS
Senator Moynihan has already proposed a tax or ban on .22 LR, .32 ACP, and 9mm ammo, however, it has been pointed out to us that there is an extreme proliferation of high powered surplus rifles (i.e.,the Mosin-Nagant series and Enfield series) in which the wholesale prices are as low as $45 to $75. We suggest that to control the proliferation of violence associated with the large number of these types of weapons entering this country that we ban the importation of their ammunition. 7.62x54R and .303 surplus ammunition.
Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan repeatedly sponsored bills that would have taxed 9×19-mm Parabellum rounds at a rate of 10,000 % – he cited “epidemiology” as his rationale and likened this to the federally-mandated 55-mph speed limit of the time.
16. EVENTUAL BAN OF HANDGUN POSSESSION
This may be closer to reality than many of us think. Handguns are becoming increasingly unpopular and we think that within five years we can enact a total ban on possession at the federal level.
Republican Senator John Chafee of Rhode Island was noted for repeatedly sponsoring bills to outlaw civilian handgun ownership entirely.
17. BANNING OF ANY AMMO THAT FITS MILITARY GUNS (POST 1945)
With the proliferation of high powered weapons, including semiautomatics and automatics from World War II, we suggest following the lead of Mexico, by prohibiting the sale, manufacture, possession or transfer of any caliber fitting a military firearm in service with a recognized military force after 1945.
Italy and other countries have similar policies on their books
AMMUNITION AND EXPLOSIVES
18. BANNING OF ANY QUANTITY OF SMOKELESS POWDER OR BLACK POWDER WHICH WOULD CONSTITUTE MORE THAN THE EQUIVALENT OF 100 ROUNDS OF AMMUNITION
With the bombing of the World Trade Center, it has been made clear that we must reinforce the above proposed regulation with this additional notation. It is arguable that no one has any real need to have so much dangerous material on hand.
19. BAN ON THE POSSESSION OF EXPLOSIVE POWDERS OF MORE THAN 1 KILOGRAM AT ANY ONE TIME
Gun nuts are notorious for circumventing the intent of the law, so we can reinforce the above proposed regulation with this additional notation. This additional language can be useful in preventing “bomb-makers” and other dangerous individuals.
20. BANNING OF HIGH POWERED AMMO OR WOUNDING AMMO
In addition to the banning of military calibers, there is a plethora of dangerous rounds which are too high powered for sporting use. This includes the highest calibers of pistol and rifle ammunition (of note are the monster calibers for rifles and pistols, like the .50 caliber Desert Eagle Bullet). We should not forget the lessons learned with the insidious Black Talon Ammo. Hollow points, Glaser killing rounds and other types of ammunition designed specifically for maiming should be prohibited.
21. A NATIONAL LICENSE FOR AMMUNITION
This is an idea whose time has come. We should look at a Federal License for purchasing of ammunition of all kinds. A special form should be forwarded to a new federal office to track those who are purchasing too much ammunition. Remember that a gun is useless without ammunition.
22. BANNING OR STRICT LICENSING OF ALL RELOADING COMPONENTS
Ammunition regulation laws can be regularly bypassed by home loaders, creating an underground cottage industry of ammo manufacture. Possession or purchase of reloading equipment and machines should be restricted and those who wish to use specially loaded ammunition can go to a federally licensed reloader.
23. NATIONAL REGISTRATION OF AMMUNITION OR AMMO BUYERS
Fees collected from the national licenses should go toward a nationwide database of ammo buyers with a possible background check to eliminate the purchase of dangerous ammo by felons or mental patients.
24. REQUIREMENT OF SPECIAL STORAGE SAFE FOR AMMUNITION AND LICENSING
Like the storage safe for guns, there should be a national requirement for special safes to store ammo. These safes should be tamperproof and fireproof and be registered themselves so that on the spot inspections can be held. Again, the costs for these inspections can be absorbed by the license fees.
GUN RANGES:
Hoplophobes have been reported trying to shut down shooting ranges at the local level using zoning codes, nuisance and noise-abatement laws, things like that.
25. RESTRICTING GUN RANGES TO COUNTIES WITH POPULATIONS LESS THAN 200,000
The obvious threat to public safety of shooting ranges and stray bullets has been lost on many states and counties. We can initiate a federal mandate or incentives to get states to prohibit any kind of shooting range within a county with a population of more than 200,000.
26. SPECIAL LICENSING OF RANGES
Those ranges which conform to the previous requirement should get special licensing above and beyond that which is required now. Additionally each existing or new shooting range must get in writing the permission of all property owners within a radius of seven miles.
27. SPECIAL RANGE TAX TO VISITORS
Additional revenue can be a surtax on ranges, requiring the collection of a minimum of $85 per visit per person. This can be in addition to required membership fees, upon which the state and local governments get a sizable portion, to help defray the immense cost of gun violence.
28. WAITING PERIOD FOR RENTALS ON PISTOL RANGES
It has been suggested in the past that felons can acquire pistols and other automatic weapons without a background check by renting a gun on a target range. Deranged individuals are basically being given a license to practice hunting humans at these so called “sporting ranges.” We think that a national waiting period for gun rentals is yet another idea whose time has come.
ACTIVITIES WHICH PROMOTE GUN VIOLENCE:
29. BANNING GUN SHOWS
Illegal transfers and the sales of assault weapons and submachine guns is a common event at these so called gun shows. A huge dent can be made in the illegal trafficking of weapons by banning these shows altogether.
This is what McCain and Lieberman were working towards when they sponsored S.890 in 2001. Here’s the Library of Congress page for that one.
30. BANNING OF MILITARY REENACTMENTS
The questionable “historical” value of these events has escaped the public scrutiny for too long. Many of these so called historical events are mere excuses for gun nuts to blast the countryside with automatic weapons. What is to keep them from loading live bullets and having those stray bullets kill innocent children? What lives in the future will be lost due to this paramilitary training going on right under our noses? We propose the prohibition of survivalist/paramilitary, World War I and World War II and Civil War Reenactments on federal land, and hope to encourage the states to prohibit them from state and county lands as well.
31. MAKING UNLAWFUL THE ASSEMBLY OF MORE THAN FOUR ARMED INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE NOT PEACE OFFICERS OR MILITARY
Since most hunting parties consist of four, we recognize the need to eliminate the currently legal assembly of shooters for paramilitary training on private lands. This is just one good suggestion for our elimination of the “gun culture” from the mainstream.
The Southern Poverty Law Center and “Anti-Defamation” League would probably support something like this as part of their anti-militia spiel, if they haven’t already.
32. BEGIN TO CURB HUNTING ON ALL PUBLIC LANDS
Blood sports are an anathema to a civilized society, however, it has been a political reality that the hunters and their ilk have too strong of a stranglehold on Congress. We feel that the impending defeat of high tech assault “killing machines” will open the door to restrictions. With the diminishing number of hunters, we feel that perhaps in five years we can open up much more of our country to campers and hikers, and eliminate the threat to families and camping, by looking at much more restrictions as to what parcels of land will allow hunting. This will not infringe on sportsman’s’ rights to hunt on private land.
33. MAKING GUN OWNERS RECORDS AND PHOTOS MATTER OF PUBLIC RECORD
We would have to assemble a legal team in order to investigate the balance of the right to privacy and the right to safeguard public. We fully endorse the photographing and fingerprinting of all gun owners, however, the records are usually relegated to law enforcement only. We think that it would be a good idea to make these records public, so that the communities can have the knowledge of who poses a danger to their community before disaster strikes. We realize that this proposal would probably be controversial, thus a long public affairs campaign would have to be initiated in order to build public support and ease the transition of such an idea. We feel that this idea has merit, and can be justified via the past publication of the names of water wasters during the drought, customers for prostitution, and deadbeat parents who are delinquent on child support.
The Journal News in New York tried exactly this sort of thing recently, and received considerable backlash in response:
Journal News‘ gun-owner database draws criticism
The Journal News / LoHud.com assailed for publishing map of gun permit holders
Community Views: Anger at Journal News over gun-permit database
On page 2 of the second article, the paper’s staff reported that they had done something similar in 2006, although it wasn’t as much a blow-up on social media then as it was now. Still, the Journal News staff felt that the 2012-2013 backlash was substantial enough that they hired armed guards: Newspaper hires armed guards after publishing gun data
34. RANDOM POLICE CHECKS FOR WEAPONS (LIKE SOBRIETY CHECKPOINTS)
This idea was floated before in California in 1989, where some thought it would be a great deterrent to gang-related crimes for police to do sweeps for gang weapons. Right now this idea may have some resistance; however, the political climate can become right to initiate these random vehicle stop and checks at all levels and in all types of neighborhoods. If we continue to mainstream the pressure we can make this a reality.
There allegedly was an HB163 introduced in the 104th Congress (1996) that would have empowered law enforcement to do exactly this, especially near schools.
THE NEXT FIFTEEN YEARS:
With all that is going on, who knows what is possible in the next few years? With murders in the streets, the public fed up, and the once mighty thugs of the Gun Lobby whimpering in impotence we have an opportunity to change the face of America for the better! Previously we thought that it would take at least a century to eliminate dangerous weapons and guns from the public hands, but now with allies in the White House and Congress, we can accelerate this trend, and make the barbaric NRA extinct!!! Here are some ideas to consider for the long term:
BANNING OF MILITARY ACCOUTREMENTS
Essential to the Neanderthal gun culture are the typical military clothing, camouflage, pouches, boots and other combat gear. They euphemistically refer to this as “militaria.” Elimination of the future sale of these items will cripple the culture of violence well into the 21st century.
STRICTER GUIDELINES FOR VIOLENCE IN TELEVISION AND THE MOVIES
We should look at the possibility of victims of violence by copying an act on television and the movie or video screen, suing the makers of such shows for compensation to their suffering. If the industry cannot regulate itself, we may have to eventually look at an independent branch of government to determine which scenes cause more harm than good to the public and regulate the numbers of violent acts portrayed.
THE TOTAL ELIMINATION OF ARMS FROM SOCIETY
We cannot survive into the 21st century unless we remember the need to expand our wave to new thinking to the total disarmament of America. With much of the public we can become more like Great Britain, where we can also eliminate the need for much of our police to be armed. This would take a long time; however, a concerted public relations campaign can pressure local law enforcement to give up their arms, when the time comes. Weapons would be available to special units like SWAT or the military.
CONTROL OF DANGEROUS LITERATURE (BOMB MAKING,MACHINE GUN CONVERSIONS, ETC.)
Too much irresponsible material is purportedly covered by the First Amendment, however, the time will come when our nation has to agree that some literature does not belong in a safe society, like instruction manuals on how to kill, or how to make homemade explosives or nuclear bombs. We must realize that there can be such a thing as too much freedom where such literature poses a serious threat to the public safety.
1994 SOUNDS THE DEATH KNELL FOR THE BULLY TACTICS OF THE NRA AND THE CULTURE OF VIOLENCE IN AMERICA!!
We are pressing on all fronts and much of this can become reality sooner than we expect. With the loss of power and clout of the NRA and their various smaller crony organizations crumbling to dust, we eliminate a 200-year-old license to murder into history, and enter the 21st century a safer place for our children and children’s children.
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Attachment 1:
(Confidential Information for use by Lobbyists or Senior Officers ONLY!)
I. Proposed License Fees – 1994-1995 Gun Control Proposals
These listings and the documentation used to calculate these suggested fee schedules will be made available to federal law enforcement authorities and U.S. Department of the Treasury for review, when the time is right. Additional material will be made available to key politicians when proposing any fee-related legislation. These suggestions will be instrumental in determining the nature of future gun control legislation and proposals.
A. Handgun License Fees:
Year 1 to 2: $50-$75 annually.
Year 3 to 4: $150-$250 annually.
Year 5 to 8: $550-$625 annually.
B. Penalties for noncompliance:
i. Failure to acquire license –– $1,000/6 months jail, revocation of ability to own
ii. Failure to maintain license –– $5,000/12 months jail, revocation of ability to own
iii. Failure to turn over guns for destruction after lapse of license –– $15,000/18 months jail, revocation of ability to own.
C. Failure to renew license or notify issuing authority of change of status would be considered a felony. All firearms owned would be then considered contraband, and confiscated. State or local authorities would be prohibited from retaining or reselling any confiscated firearms. Record of destruction to be issued to federal government not later than 60 days after confiscation.
D. Rifle-Shotgun License:
Program begins at $30 or at cost to maintain federal records on ownership and registration.
Fee: $30-$148 annually.
E. State Licensing:
The Department of Justice for each state will initiate programs at state level, with fees equivalent to federal.
Fee: $74-$150 annually.
F. Local Licensing:
The cost of annual license to reflect the cost of records-maintenance and enforcement.
Fee: $48-$113 annually.
G. Arsenal License: (20 guns or 1,000 rounds ammo).
Fee: $300-$1,000 annually.
H. Penalty for Noncompliance of Arsenal Licensing Law:
$5,000/8 months jail, confiscation of all firearms-related property, revocation of ability to own firearms. (Disposition to be determined by Department of Justice and the state/federal legislatures.)
I. Safe License:
Fee: $228-$392 annually (based on calculations of set up of computerized records system, enforcement, registration processing).
J. Ammunition Registration & License:
Fee: $55-$117 for license to buy ammunition (based on calculations of set up of computerized records-keeping system, enforcement and registration processing).
K. Federal license for Reloading (or possession of reloading equipment) .
Fee: $130-$175 annually.
L. Ammunition Safe License.
Fee: $55-$75 annually.
M. Range License (new federal license on target, outdoor/indoor ranges).
Fee: $12,100-$15,500 annually.
N. Range Tax (imposed on Federally licensed gun ranges).
Fee: $85-$100 per person, per visit.
O. Inspection License: (verifying records of guns and storage) To defray cost of inspection and firearms safes in business or private homes.
Fee: $588-$678 annually.
II. Suggestions To Be Made Immediately Available to Key Politicians And Secretary of U.S. Treasury
A. Increase Dealers License (Federal Firearms License 01 and 02) to $600-$750 annually.
B. Increase Title 1 Manufacturing License to $6,200-$9,400 annually.
C. Increase Title 2 Manufacturing License to $13,405-$18,210 annually.
III. Estimate Of Fiscal Impact Of Licensing On Firearms Ownership
| |
|
|
Worst Case |
|
Best Case |
| |
Federal Handgun License: |
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$50 |
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$625 |
| |
Fed. Rifle & Shotgun License: |
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$148 |
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$148 |
| |
Local Gun License Fee: |
|
$48 |
|
$113 |
| |
State Gun License Fee: |
|
$74 |
|
$150 |
| |
Arsenal License Fee: |
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$300 |
|
1,000 |
| |
Safe License Fee: |
|
$228 |
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$392 |
| |
Ammunition License Fee: |
|
$55 |
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$117 |
| |
Reloading License Fee: |
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$130 |
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$175 |
| |
Ammo Safe License Fee: |
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$55 |
|
$75 |
| |
Ammo Inspection Fee: |
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$588 |
|
$678 |
| |
Total Annual Cost: |
|
$3,473 |
|
$3,473 |
This cost is not unreasonable, since it would offset considerably the estimated $60 billion dollars in medical and social costs related to gun violence.
IV. Reduction Of Gun Owner Population And Potential Yearly Revenue
The federal government estimates 65-75 million Americans own guns. These fees and the licensing requirements would allow us to take guns out of the hands of an estimate 30 million unsuitable or ineligible individuals. Fees for the remaining would reduce the number to about 14 million. Estimated revenue would constitute a minimum of $21.8 trillion dollars (worst case) to an estimated $48.6 trillion (best case) annually. Our eventual goal is to reduce the number of licensees to zero. The revenue itself can be utilized to achieve this goal.
V. Possible Uses for the Revenue
A. Institute mandatory national, comprehensive educational campaign in schools (K-12) to deglamorize guns and gun ownership and tell the truth about the Second Amendment.
B. A well-funded, concerted campaign to eliminate the Second Amendment via constitutional amendment.
Major Owens repeatedly sponsored such repeal bills while in the U.S. House for New York’s 11th District.
C. Provide revenue source for enforcement of new laws.
D. Provide offsetting monetary fund for medical and legal services to victims of gun violence.
E. Establish nationwide system of toll-free numbers for reporting violators of new gun restrictions and non-licensees, a sum set aside for cash rewards for tips resulting in conviction.
New York City has already implemented their own toll-free fink line, as well as the F-Troop.
Additional Revenue sources listed:
Range Licenses: $12,100 annually.
Range Tax: $85 per person, per visit.
Gun Dealer License: $600 annually.
Title 1 gun Mfg License: $6,000 annually.
Title 2 Gun Mfg License: $13,400 annually.
Revenue calculations concerning the above fees will depend on how the numbers of gun ranges, gun range visitors, gun dealers and gun manufacturers are affected by increased fees. It is not unreasonable to predict a 40% drop by the end of the first year, another 35% drop by the year after that.
VI. Legal action and possible new revenue sources
Pending issues to be given at the appropriate time to the LCAV office for investigation as to feasibility, implementation and public reaction. At no time should these suggestions be made public before we can ascertain the current public reaction and provide the results of these studies to the LCAV attorneys.
These are some ideas which are ahead of their time and would only be feasible through a concerted P.R. campaign over time. A P.R. campaign includes press releases, press conferences, direct lobbying and constant pressure via the national media. We must change the way America thinks in regard to guns and gun owners in order to achieve a safe society for our children in the upcoming century. We realize that one cannot implement every good idea overnight, however, the following proposals have been forwarded for investigation as to possible enaction within the next few years. A continued P.R. campaign with the general public as well as the legal and judicial community, will enable us to finally get groundbreaking rulings which can change the violent face of the American landscape for years to come.
Legal Point 1:
Making possible the suing of owners of guns, as a group, for monetary compensation for victims of gun violence:
Once gun owners in America have been identified through a verifiable source, i.e., the pending national computer registry, it would be possible to seek further compensation for victims of gun violence through legal means. As a group, gun nuts would constitute an identifiable entity for class-action suits and other legal actions for compensation to victims of gun violence.
The hoplophobes were working towards this by suing firearms manufacturers between 1999 and 2005 – this sort of thing spurred the enactment of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act of 2005. Basically, the idea was the same as the lawsuits against the tobacco industry – apply the third-party liability notion to guns as the Castano Group did against RJ Reynolds et al.
Legal Point 2:
Suing Gun Organizations under the RICO (Racketeer Influenced, Corrupt Organization) statute:
It would be expected that gun groups and lobbying groups such as the NRA would encourage noncompliance. Thus nationally recognized groups will be technically “organizing to break the law.” Once this can be proven, these groups will be vulnerable to lawsuits based on the RICO statute and drained of the financial resources through repeated legal action.
Legal Point 3:
Suing the makers of toy-replica guns, toy weapons and violent entertainment:
One of the purveyors of violence to society, companies which profit from violence would eventually be identified and made legally responsible for the violent acts inspired by their products. A study would have to be created to link these companies to those actions taken as a result of their products. Threat of legal action would convince many manufacturers and distributors that other nonviolence-related recreational materials and toys, would make them fiscally accountable for the cost to society incurred as a result of their merchandise. Items could include: violent video games, television shows, movies, videotapes, water guns, super soakers, electronic noise guns, replica guns, toy weapons like swords, batons, martial arts items.
Tort law as we know it may not have to undergo a change in order to facilitate these actions. As many people know, it is not necessary to actually win in order to affect change, since the constant threat of legal action will induce change in the way people do business. People all know that the real fiscal effect of repeated legal actions can bankrupt a peddler of violence just as well as winning a large settlement.
Any additional ideas or proposals should be directed to our Washington D.C. office for collation, investigation and discussion.
RECOMMENDED READING
- AR-15.com: Handgun Control Inc’s 5 year plan (long read, but well worth it)
- Fordham Urban Law Journal 22 (1995): 417 – The Battle Over the Brady Bill and the Future of Gun Control Advocacy By Richard M. Aborn (archived online by the Second Amendment Foundation)
- Google search – HCI Five Year Plan
- Thomas T. Thomas, Getting Serious About Gun Control – December 23, 2012: thomastthomas.com, thoughtsfromthomastthomas.blogspot.com
NOTES
- Reposted –
- Personal micro-blogs – Facebook / Google Plus / Twitter / Xanga
- Personal blogs – WordPress
- The Weekly Sedition – Facebook / WordPress
- NMPolitics.org / Tea Party Nation
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