“I remain optimistic that some compromise is possible,” said Hyde. “Senator Hatch and I have pulled together a proposal that closes the gun-show loophole and offers a number of other modest yet effective gun safety provisions.” But the truth be known, these proposals are neither modest nor effective– not to mention that they will not result in additional safety.

While different drafts are being discussed, all have one thing in common– they all contain gun control. One of the main sticking points is a waiting period requirement for private sales at gun shows. According to the New York Times, “The latest Republican offer includes a provision giving [the FBI] 24 hours to conduct the mandatory background checks, unless that check turns up a disqualifying arrest…. In that event, the [FBI] would have three days to complete the check” and find out the final disposition of the arrest.

There are other proposals as well, including a young adult gun ban, a trigger lock requirement, and an import ban on large-capacity ammo mags among other things. But regardless of the specifics, gun owners should urge their Congressman one last time to vote NO on the juvenile crime bill. (See ACTION below).

GOA Members Criticized By FBI As It Tries To Divert Attention Away From Its Dirty Laundry

Just a few miles away from Capitol Hill, the FBI issued an interesting report on Monday entitled Project Megiddo. The report tries to shift public attention away from the FBI’s long list of scandals to a problem of their own invention– namely, the threat of “right wing” terrorism at the turn of the century.

The report itself admits there are “very few indications” of specific threats to domestic security. Nevertheless, the report goes out of its way to take a whack at the President’s political opponents. Having said that, guess who is listed in the report as being crucial to “understanding the phenomenon of domestic terrorism”? You guessed it. You are.

In an attempt to demonize Clinton’s political opposition, the FBI has listed gun owners as part of the domestic terrorism equation. In fact, the report accuses GOA Executive Director Larry Pratt of helping to “fuel the already existing paranoia of militia and patriot groups.”

Hogwash. If the FBI is serious about not fueling existing paranoia, then it should stop maintaining files on leading Americans (remember Filegate?), and come clean on what it knows about Waco. The FBI took six years to discover they had withheld information about Waco from Congress, including their own use of pyrotechnic devises and the use of the military the day the Davidians were burned to death. For more information on this report and GOA’s brief response to it, go to http://www.gunowners.org/fs9904.htm at the GOA website. The entire report is available at http://www.fbi.gov/library/megiddo/publicmegiddo.pdf from the FBI; you will need Adobe Acrobat to read it.

ACTION: Tell your Congressmen that, in contrast to what the FBI is saying, decent gun owners are not the problem in this country. Let them know that we don’t need gun control; we need government control. Also, make sure they know that NO compromise gun legislation is acceptable in the juvenile crime bill (S. 254 / H.R. 1501). You can reach your Senators and Representative at 202-225-3121 or toll-free at 877-722-7494. Even the ACLU opposes the bill (albeit for different reasons). They have established a free Congressional fax service that can be accessed at http://www.aclu.org/action/juvenile106.html on their website. GOA’s Auto-Mailer at http://www.gunowners.org/mailerx.html can be used to send e-mail to Congress.