ACTION: The folks on Capitol Hill are taking notice of your efforts. But if you haven’t asked your Representative yet to cosponsor H.R. 2721, please do so today! (Ph: 202-225-3121.)

(June 26, 1998) – Four more cosponsors have signed on to Rep. Ron Paul’s bill (H.R. 2721) to repeal the Brady Law. Three of these new additions – Reps. Boehner (OH), Ney (OH) and Ryun (KS) – had pledged to GOA long ago that they would cosponsor a full repeal. Your efforts at targeting these Congressmen have brought them on board!

In fact, one Capitol Hill office recently complimented the effectiveness of Gun Owners of America and its grassroots for holding legislators accountable to the pledge they’ve taken. Great work; you guys deserve a lot of credit!

GOA mentioned in a previous alert that there are now two bills that deal with the Brady law. As promised, we are including a brief comparison of these two bills. Each bill takes a different approach. The bill introduced by Rep. Ron Paul repeals the law altogether; Rep. Bob Barr’s bill tries to limit the abuses in the system. As we stated in a previous alert, Barr’s bill is a step in the right direction, but it keeps the background check system intact. It is GOA’s contention that as long as these background checks are taking place, there will always be the POTENTIAL for government officials to keep gun buyers’ names, despite any prohibitions that are written into the law. Go to http://www.gunowners.org/bildp.htm to read the testimony that GOA recently submitted to Congress on this issue.

For the sake of comparison, both bills are briefly compared below. One should visit the GOA Webpage – at http://www.gunowners.org/bicomp.htm – to read a fuller analysis of the items below.

* H.R. 2721 stops gun owner registration by repealing the Brady Law in its entirety. H.R. 3949 contains language to stop this registration and to criminalize violations. But H.R. 3949 does not stop background checks from taking place; and that could still allow an open door. As long as government authorities have to check out gun buyers before the purchase of a firearm, the POTENTIAL for creating a registration list will always exist. As stated by the Justice Department in 1989, “Any system that requires a criminal history record check prior to purchase of a firearm creates the potential for the automated tracking of individuals who seek to purchase firearms.”

Indeed, there have been several recent examples of privacy abuses that have occurred both at the federal and state levels – all without reprisals or official sanctions. For example, under the Brady Law (Part I), some states – including Ohio and Texas – were shown to be keeping lists of gun buyers. To date, no prosecutions have resulted. At the federal level, the FBI abused the privacy of about 900 individuals in what has become known as “Filegate.” No prosecutions have ensued. Regardless of whether gun owners’ names are officially allowed to be kept for 24 hours (as under H.R. 3949) or for 18 months (as per the FBI regulations), can anyone really be sure the names of gun buyers will not indefinitely remain on a back-up disk somewhere?

New! GOA/GOF Secure Online Ordering

Activists can now join GOA, upgrade to Life membership, contribute towards specific legislative goals, and order resource materials through the GOA website.

GOA has received numerous requests to add this feature. We have waited until we could be certain that your transaction would be secure. The system uses SafeSell technology to encrypt credit card information during transit.

Membership or legislative support:
http://www.gunowners.org/ordergoa.htm

Books and videos:
http://www.gunowners.com/ordergof.htm