Today's (6/10/07) Washington Post has reported that the NRA has, once again, cut a
"deal" with the anti-gunners in Congress
over your gun rights.

According to the Post, "Senior Democrats have reached agreement with the National
Rifle Association on what could be the
first federal gun-control legislation since 1994, a measure to significantly
strengthen the national system that checks the
backgrounds of gun buyers."

As many Oregon residents have learned, the background check system, a prior
restraint on your rights, is a failure.

This system, which assumes you are guilty and requires you to prove your innocence
before exercising a God-given,
Constitutional right, has delayed and denied countless Coloradans attempting to make
legal firearms purchases.

If Congress and the NRA have their way, things are about to get a whole lot worse.
In a deal the Post calls "a marriage of
convenience for both sides," and NRA lobbyist Chris Cox calls "good politics," the
failed National Instant Check system is
poised to be expanded even further. Furthermore, the proposed legislation will
punish states that do not supply all the
private mental health records the Feds will be demanding.

Cox reportedly said "if the legislation becomes a 'gun-control wish list' as it
moves through Congress, the NRA will
withdraw its support and work against the bill" But this is the same line they used
on their second attempt to pass
liability protection for gun dealers and manufacturers That bill became a "gun
control wish list" and the NRA not only
supported it, but demanded that it pass with all the gun control that was tacked on
to it
(http://www.rmgo.org/alerts/2005-s397.shtml<http://www.rmgo.org/alerts/2005-s397.shtml>)

What do gun owners get in return for this vastly expanded intrusion into their
privacy? According to the Washington Post
"Individuals with minor infractions in their pasts could petition their states to
have their names removed from the federal
database, and about 83,000 military veterans, put into the system by the Department
of Veterans Affairs in 2000 for alleged
mental health reasons, would have a chance to clean their records. "

Individuals with minor infractions, and military veterans don't get their names
removed from government "no-buy" lists,
they get the "chance" to "petition" to have their names removed.

We are quite confident predicting that process will be a nightmare if it can be done
at all. The recent implosion of the
passport issuing system is a perfect example of the kind of morass that all
government databases become.

According to the Washington Post "Under the bill, states voluntarily participating
in the system would have to file an
audit with the U.S. attorney general of all the criminal cases, mental health
adjudications and court-ordered drug
treatments that had not been filed with the instant-check system".

If that does not terrify you it should. The current background check system is an
intrusive, error-riddled mess. Now NRA
and the anti-gunners in Congress want to expand a system that can't keep criminal
records straight, and add vast new
amounts of data about people's "mental health" records. The abuse and misuse of
people's private information is nothing
new and it's a very short trip from "court-ordered drug treatments" to "has attended
an AA meeting."

No one supports arming people who are a danger to themselves or others, but
adjudicating someone's mental health is an
inexact science at best. And there is no reason to believe that this latest attack
on your right is going keep dangerous
people from getting guns.

One of the legislators responsible for this "deal," anti-gun Congressman John
Dingell (who has voted with his anti-gun
colleagues 96.8% of the time), said "No law will prevent evildoers from doing evil
acts, but this law will help ensure that
those deemed dangerous by the courts will not be able to purchase a weapon." But of
course, that's preposterous All this
law will bring us is more invasions of our privacy, more government databases, and
more denied purchases.

Dudley Brown
Executive Director