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Once again, because this is hot, I'm pushing it out post-haste.  This
will appear in Shotgun news in about 4 weeks.  
Chris
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NEAL KNOX REPORT
                   'Instant Check' Regs Absurd
                          By NEAL KNOX
     WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 20) -- BATF's proposed regulations
for the permanent phase of the Brady Act, which is to go into
effect Nov. 30, will substitute an "Instant Check" on all
firearms buyers for the present five-working-day waiting period
on handgun purchasers.
     The proposed regulations say the Justice Department will run
a records check on every gun buyer -- which can take up to three
business days -- even if the state has its own "Instant Check"
system.
     That provision could be used to shut down gun show sales,
which are typically held when state offices are close.
     An FBI spokesman recently said the fee for the check will be
$13 to $16 -- a considerable chunk on a used $50 .22 rifle.
     One of the cuter proposed regulations is an "optional"
request for the buyer's Social Security number -- which
supposedly would help the buyer by eliminating rejections due to
the computer finding a felon with similar name and birth date. 
     The all-important question of how those Federal records are
kept, and whether the "instant check" is used to create a
national firearms registration system, isn't addressed in the
proposed BATF regulations -- which may be publicly commented on
until May 20, 1998.
     BATF says security of the lists will strictly be up to the
Justice Department, which doesn't have BATF's long-standing
prohibition against using appropriated funds to maintain a
computerized database of gun owners or gun buyers.
     The law itself prohibits using dealer records to create a
national registration system, but the Justice Department has
developed devious ways to get around such provisions by
encouraging states to set up the registration system, so Federal
agencies can "access" local purchaser lists.
     Despite the Brady Act's prohibitions, every time the Justice
computers are checked, a record of the name and reason for the
check is kept -- supposedly to prevent abuse of privacy, but
destroying gun purchasing privacy.  
     Some local and state agencies have been keeping records of
purchasers, such as in Ohio, where every gun buyer checked was
being permanently kept with a "B" for Brady -- until the
legislature stopped it.
     BATF says the new regulations don't have to be justified as
to effectiveness or usefulness because they don't constitute "a
significant regulatory action."
     Right!  By BATF's official estimate, the regulations will
"only" affect 10,273,851 firearms purchasers each year, and
completion will "only" require 199,357 hours -- at their estimate
of 1 1/4 minutes worth of record-keeping and delay.  Ridiculous!
     Comment before May 20 to: Chief, Regulations Division; 
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; P.O. Box 50221;
Washington, DC 20091-0221; ATTN: Notice No. 857.
     Don't bother protesting about the checks being extended to
rifle and shotgun buyers -- make that protest to your Congressman
and Senator, and insist they at least knock out the long gun
requirement in the Instant Check law.
                       'SECOND CINCINNATI'
     Major issues affecting the future of NRA, including whether
the 76-member Board of Directors should be cut to "no more than
24," will be decided on the floor of the members' meeting at
Philadelphia June 6.  
     The number of Directors, broader reporting of financial
relationships with NRA (opposed by a majority of the Board), and
even term limits will be debated as amendments to the Articles of
Incorporation, which corporate law says can only be amended at
the annual meeting.  
     Although Bylaws Article XVI requires publication of proposed
amendments to the corporate charter if received by Dec. 1, the
leadership notified three voting members who submitted amendments
that they would not be published and couldn't be brought up at
Philadelphia.  
     That decision was reversed last week after NRA management
was required by a New York court to follow the letter of a bylaw
prohibiting their publication of the method of nomination of
candidates.  
     (Because NRA subsequently published the names of the
obviously petition candidates who challenged publication of the
Nominating Committee list, the judge has ordered NRA to "show
cause" why it should not be held in contempt of court, and why a
new election should not be required.)
     Given the background of member anger over excessive
fundraising letters, concerns for the financial condition of NRA,
and dismay over evidence that NRA First Vice President Charlton
Heston worked with President Lyndon Johnson to pass the Gun
Control Act of 1968, it may be the most lively meeting since the
Cincinnati Member Revolt in 1977.
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(You can cut your long distance phone charges to a flat dime per
minute anytime and help support these Neal Knox Reports by
signing up with Excel Communications through the Firearms
Coalition, Box 6537, Silver Spring, MD 20916.)
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