-=Continued from previous post=- 
     The Young bill, H.B. 642, would build on existing law by
defining what constitutes a "prudent person" -- a definition
requested by the Courts.  
     H.B. 642 defines a "prudent person" as someone who has had
some firearms training and is not disqualified from gun ownership. 
It also provides for the state's motor vehicle department to issue
a card stating that the applicant meets the qualifications to
carry, but the card is not a license and the state would not have
a record of who had obtained the cards.
     One of the principal creators of the Young bill, NRA Director
Sally Drews Brodbeck, said the greatest advantage of the "Prudent
Person Self Defense Bill is that it does not convert a right into
a privilege, as a licensing law would do.
====================
     Dec. 9 Knox Report -- Yesterday the BATF notified Knight
Muzzle Loading Rifles that they must obtain an Federal Firearms
License to manufacture and sell their "disc rifle" -- which is a
muzzle loader -- because it will accept either a percussion cap or
a No. 209 shotgun primer.
     BATF says that's because a primer is not an antique ignition
system, as defined by Federal law.  They're wrong.
     Modern rifle and pistol primers date to around 1870; the
patent for the battery cup 209-style primer was issued in 1877. 
That's more than two decades before the 1898 date that separates
modern from antique in the Gun Control Act.
     This is a far-reaching ruling that potentially brings all
caplocks under the law's definition of "Firearms," for virtually
all nipples could be modified to accept primers.  And all muzzle-
loading arms will accept Pyrodex, the Replica black powder, as a
principal charge;  it didn't exist as such prior to 1898.  
- ------------------
     There will be a knock-down, drag-out fight in today's House
Government Reform Committee into the campaign financing scandals at
the White House.  Chairman Dan Burton will hammer Attorney General
Reno for her failure to appoint an independent counsel, and praise
FBI Director Louis Freeh for saying she should.
     But we gun owners should be watching what is really going on -
- - by triggering a public spat with the White House, Director Freeh
is trying to inoculate himself from a summary dismissal.
     If Clinton fired Freeh now, he would be charged with trying to
cover up his bountiful sins.
     But it would be a service to the nation if Louis Freeh were
fired.  Consider:  the sloppy or worse work by the FBI lab, the
treatment of Olympic Park bombing suspect Richard Jewell (in which
Freeh was directly involved), Freeh's appointment as Deputy
Director of the person in charge of both Waco and Ruby Ridge, and
Freeh's recent decision that the FBI coverup of Ruby Ridge didn't
merit criminal prosecution -- except for the one of six senior FBI
officials who pleaded guilty to destroying evidence of the
unconstitutional actions at Ruby Ridge. 
     I have long considered Freeh the most dangerous man in
Washington, and he has a ten-year term.  And he hates gun owners
and our guns.  But I've had Conservative Congressmen and Senators
tell me what a fine FBI Director he is.
     We have a stake in this fight that goes far beyond campaign
reform.
- ----------------
     
     New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani took a real slap at newly elected
Houston Mayor Lee Brown.  He said "I hope he does a better job as
mayor of Houston than he did as police commissioner of New York."
     After his big win last month Giuliani is being touted as
Presidential material, and he's "keeping his options open."  Watch
him.
  I remember in 1981, when he was in the Reagan Justice Department,
he was asked about a Presidential Task Force that had recommended
handgun waiting periods, and whether that wasn't a conflict with
Reagan's public opposition to "gun control."
     Giuliani said on live national TV that there was no conflict
because "a waiting period isn't gun control."  Right.
     Dec. 11 updat -- There will be a hearing in Federal court
tomorrow in a suit brought by Modern Muzzleloading seeking to stop
BATF from shutting down their Knight disc rifle production line. 
The rifle can use either a standard cap or a shotshell primer,
which BATF says makes it a "Firearm" under the Gun Control Act.
     Monday BATF informed Modern Muzzleloading that they have to
have a firearms manufacturer's license, and can ship their guns
only to Federal Firearms Dealers.  The company filed its suit
yesterday.
     Dale Watley of Modern Muzzleloading and others from the black
powder industry were scheduled to meet with BATF this morning, but
BATF cancelled the meeting because they had filed suit, and
declined to meet with companies that are not a party to the suit.
     Those other manufacturers are not directly affected by last
month's ruling, but their customers are, particularly if they have
fitted a muzzleloader with an aftermarket accessory allowing it to
be fired with a primer.
- ---------------
     A new Cato Institute study shows that violent crime rates
dropped dramatically in the 24 states that have passed mandatory-
issuance "concealed-carry" laws, according to the Libertarian
Party.  It tracks closely with a study done at the University of
Chicago by Prof. John Lott last year.
     
        "At this point, the only people who don't support
concealed-carry laws are criminals," said Steve Dasbach, the
Libertarian party's national chairman.
     
        The Cato Institute study was timed to coincide with the
10-year anniversary of Florida's controversial concealed-carry law
- -- which was not the first of the shall-issue laws, but was the one
that triggered the most national press.
     The study found that in the 24 states with shall-issue
concealed-carry laws, murders dropped by 7.7%, rapes fell by 5.2%,
robberies decreased by 2.2%, and aggravated assaults were reduced
by 7%.
     
      "After accounting for all other factors," Dasbach said, "the
study calculated that in 1992 alone, 1,414 more people were
murdered."  In addition, he said, 4,177 were raped, 11,898 were
robbed and 60,363 more were assaulted solely because of denying
honest citizens the means to defend themselves.
=========================
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