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			    GENERAL-RKBA Digest 316
Topics covered in this issue include:
  1) GRASSFIRE: The Bigger Clinton Gun Ban by NRA Alerts 
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Topic No. 1
Date: Tue, 25 Nov 1997 21:49:07 -0500 (EST)
From: NRA Alerts 
To: general-rkba-real.nra
Subject: GRASSFIRE: The Bigger Clinton Gun Ban
Message-ID: 
                         NRA GRASSFIRE!
		
              The Official Newsletter of NRA-ILA
                         January, 1998
                   THE BIGGER CLINTON GUN BAN 
     Much as we predicted from the outset, the Clinton 1994 Gun
Ban was a precursor of things to come. On November 14, President
Clinton directed the Secretary of the Treasury to  begin an
immediate review to determine whether modified semi-automatic
firearms meet the "sporting purposes" import criteria. 
Additionally, this directive charges the Secretary of the
Treasury to suspend all outstanding import permits for a 120-day
period. It should be noted that all of these semi-automatic
firearms  conform in every way to the legal requirements set
forth in both the Clinton Gun Ban of 1994 and the 1989 import
ban. The directive currently affects some 600,000 outstanding
import permits.
     Anticipating this action, Representative Bob Barr (R-Ga.)
previously held a press conference on Capitol Hill with NRA
Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre, NRA-ILA Executive
Director Tanya K. Metaksa, and other pro-Second Amendment
congressmen, including, Jim Barcia (D-Mich.), Pete Sessions
(R-Tex.), Virgil Goode (D-Va.), and Wes Watkins (R-Okla.)  "The
Clinton Administration is introducing the Bigger Clinton Gun Ban
of 1998--still another prohibition that bans more guns and shows
more hypocrisy than ever before," emphasized Mrs. Metaksa. She
added, "From the White House to Handgun Control, Inc., every gun
ban advocate in America is busy confirming everything NRA has
ever said about the 1994 gun ban." Basically, that it's an
ineffective cosmetic ban and that Clinton's efforts to ban guns
in 1994 was only a precursor to bigger, more restrictive bans.
All NRA members are encouraged to contact your U.S.
Representative at (202) 224-3121 to urge him to oppose the
President's attempt to ban more semi-automatic
firearms--semi-autos that his 1994 ban previously "blessed!" In
the meantime, NRA-ILA will continue to update our members as we
learn more about Clinton's latest attack on America's law-abiding
gun owners.  
           HOUSE DEMOCRATS BREAK WITH PRESIDENT CLINTON
     Although they were unsuccessful in stopping this import
directive, on October 23, a host of House Democrats signed a
letter to the President urging him not to impose his misguided
initiative. The letter noted the signatories' beliefs that this
action "would adversely affect law-abiding gun owners in the
United States."  The pro-gun Democrats continue by stating, "the
criteria selected to differentiate banned guns was based on
cosmetic criteria with no relevance to the firearms' capability,
availability, or relevance to actual criminal misuse of a
firearm."  The letter concludes with, "We believe further pursuit
of this issue will unfairly label the Democratic party as
anti-gun, which we are not."  The letter was authored by Rep. Bud
Cramer of Alabama and co-signed by Reps. Goode (Va.), Klink
(Pa.), Sandlin (Tex.), Skelton (Mo.), Danner (Mo.), Boyd (Fla. ),
Barcia (Mich.), Holden (Pa.), Peterson (Minn.), Turner (Tex.),
Taylor (Miss.), Stenholm (Tex.), Rahall (W.V.), Hall (Tex.),
Hilliard (Ala.), Mollohan (W.V.), Wise (W.V.), and Tanner
(Tenn.). Constituents of these Representatives should be sure to
contact them to thank them for their support of our rights. A
similar letter to the President was also sent by Sen. Pat Leahy
(D-Vt.).
                      FEINSTEIN GOES GLOBAL
     In his directive, the President cited the work of Sen.
Dianne Feinstein (D-Cal.) to strengthen her so-called "assault
weapons" ban that passed as part of President Clinton's 1994
Crime Bill. A recent Los Angeles Times story, which read like an
editorial supporting Feinstein's latest initiative, reported that
the Clinton-Gore White House is being urged to help "close
loopholes that have facilitated the proliferation of thousands of
the fearsome, rapid fire guns."  The Senator's first goal mirrors
the Administration's directive--to convince U.S. officials and
the Israeli government to block the importation of semi-automatic
Uzi and Galil rifles, which have been lawfully modified to meet
U.S. import standards. Imported by popular gun maker Mossberg,
these firearms continue to be virtually non-existent at crime
scenes, yet Sen. Feinstein wrote directly to Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to impose further restrictions on
law-abiding American gun owners. Keep in mind that this charge is
being led by a senator who is rumored to be considering a run for
the California Governor's Mansion in 1998. 
     When confronted with FBI data showing that rifles of any
type are used in only 3% of homicides, Senator Feinstein told the
San Diego Union Tribune, "I don't doubt that at all...it is
probably less than 3%."  Make no mistake about it--this latest
attempt to close "loopholes" in the 1994 ban is nothing more than
political cover camouflaging the gun banners' calculated efforts
to ban as many firearms as possible. Hinting of her true
intentions, Sen. Feinstein said on CBS's 60 Minutes in 1995, "If
I could have gotten 51 votes in the Senate ... for an outright
ban, picking up every one of them, Mr. and Mrs. America turn them
all in, I would have done it." 
     Relatedly, a recent AP story from Jerusalem reported Israel
has acquiesced to Sen. Feinstein's wishes, and has declared a
three-month moratorium on the sales of certain modified
semi-autos to the U.S.  In announcing this moratorium, Israel's
     U.S. ambassador Eliyahu Ben-Elissar told Feinstein the move
was done for "humanitarian reasons... in light of the special
sensitivity of the issue in the U.S."
           U.N. PANEL RECOMMENDS STUDYING GUN LICENSING
     Recent developments within the United Nations confirm our
gun rights are definitely under attack at the world governing
body, thus illustrating the need for NRA-ILA's active
participation  in protecting freedom at the U.N. The Panel of
Governmental Experts on Small Arms, a 16-nation panel,
recommended that the U.N. convene a global conference on what is
being called "small arms trafficking."  In the hope of reducing
what the panel describes as the "excessive accumulation of guns"
in the world, the report recommended that the U.N.: a) support
the destruction of small arms left over once conflicts are
settled, b) study the feasibility of high-tech "marking" of
firearms from the time of manufacture, for the purpose of
tracing, and c) study the possibility of restricting the
production and trade of small arms to manufacturers and dealers
and establish a global database of licenses. While the United
Nations alone cannot dictate American policy without
Congressional consent (the U.S. Senate must pass
all international treaties by a two-thirds vote), this panel's
recommendations provide an alarming example of what international
gun control bureaucrats at the U.N. want to pursue. In apparent
support of the panel's directives, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi
Annan said, "This report recommends a set of practical measures
to reduce the weapons already in circulation and to prevent
future accumulations."       
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