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Senate Now Planning To Extend FBI Fishing Expeditions......

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Tamet Gould:
Senate Now Planning To Extend FBI Fishing Expeditions Into Gun Sales Records -- Even as opposition has begun to coalesce!

Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
http://www.gunowners.org


ACTION: Things are happening in the Senate! If you have not contacted your Representative yet (as a result of yesterday's alert), here's your chance to contact your senators.

There are six senators who have said they may be willing to filibuster this legislation -- and one of them has even committed to do so through the Thanksgiving recess. That's why it's imperative that you contact your two senators.

Please urge them to oppose the conference version of the PATRIOT Act (H.R. 3199), and specifically, its provision to allow secret court orders to collect gun records.

You can use the pre-written message at the bottom of this alert and send it as an e-mail by visiting the GOA Legislative Action Center at http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm (where phone and fax numbers are also available).


Friday, November 18, 2005


Gun Owners of America contacted you yesterday about H.R. 3199, which will expand the ability of the FBI to compile a registration list of gun purchase records.

The Senate is now planning to vote on this PATRIOT Act reauthorization bill as soon as Saturday, as Majority Leader Bill
Frist is trying to ram the bill through the Senate before it recesses before Thanksgiving.

Under current law, Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act allows the FBI to get secret court orders to seize ANY business records it believes would be relevant to an anti-terrorism investigation... without having to make the case that the records they're confiscating have any connection to a suspected terrorist.

All along, the concern has been that "business records" can be interpreted to mean "gun records." The FBI has been making this assertion already, even though federal law doesn't specifically state they have the authority to do so. (In fact, the McClure-Volkmer law states that the feds cannot retain firearms records at all.)

Well, H.R. 3199 would change all that. The bill clearly states that "firearms sales records" are now fair game for the FBI, in essence, overturning the prohibition on gun registration.

But if H.R. 3199 were to be defeated, two things would happen:

1. The FBI would lose the ability to point to federal law and say that they can get a secret court order to grab your "firearms sales records," and,

2. Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act would sunset entirely, which means the FBI won't be able to get secret court orders for ANY of your records (including medical, library, financial, etc.).

Unfortunately, H.R. 3199 allows Section 215 to continue for another seven years, when it would then "sunset." But seven years is too long to allow these FBI fishing expeditions to continue.

Similar to yesterday, please use the pre-written letter below to direct your comments to your Senators, and urge all freedom-loving Americans you know to do the same.

-----Pre-written letter-----

Dear Senator:

The PATRIOT Act expansion bill (H.R. 3199) would allow the United States government to seize every lawful gun sale record in the country... solely on the basis of a bureaucrat's determination that a national registry of gun owners would be useful in an anti-terrorism investigation.

Registration leads to confiscation.

H.R. 3199 amends Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act to allow agents of the federal government to get secret court orders for "firearms sales records" which, in their opinion, are relevant to investigating terrorism.

FFL holders must retain copies of the 4473 forms (yellow sheets) filled out on every gun sale. Thus, an anti-gun administration could easily determine that such records would be useful in the fight against terrorism, and demand them all.

Even more ominous, the gun dealers would be required NOT to disclose the existence of the investigation to their customers, meaning that the dealer (rather than the gun purchaser) would be the only person who could contest this action. And why should he risk his livelihood on my behalf? This is massive gun control by simple executive fiat.


There is an illusory right to challenge the secrecy of the court orders, but it's just that... an illusion. If the government claims there is a national security issue at stake or that there's an ongoing criminal investigation, then the FBI's fishing expedition can remain a secret and remain unchallenged.

I believe that a national gun registry is a step this country cannot afford to take, and one that the citizenry will not abide.

I would ask you, in the strongest terms, to oppose this PATRIOT Act "reform" bill outright. Please vote against H.R. 3199 and support any effort to filibuster it as well.

Sincerely,


****************************

Pam Cantwell:
We are heading towards communism more and more.......anyone know how this turned out?  *:)

Bob Gould:
Any News?

Tamet Gould:
Your Efforts Have Scored An Enormous Pro-gun Victory In Congress
-- Please keep up the pressure

Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
http://www.gunowners.org

Tuesday, January 10, 2006


You told Congress you didn't want the BATFE, FBI and other federal
agencies to go on fishing expeditions through your gun records. It
appears that Congress may actually be listening!

By a vote of 52-47, the Senate failed to shut down the
liberal/conservative filibuster of H.R. 3199 -- including a provision
which would allow BATFE to goosestep through your gun records
(4473's, etc.) WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF ANY COURT. Under the Senate
rules, 60 votes would have been needed to end the filibuster on this
PATRIOT Act reauthorization.

Instead, this so-called "terrorism" legislation -- some of which is
relatively non-controversial -- was extended until February 3 in
order to allow negotiations to continue.

You might remember that 16 provisions of the PATRIOT Act were set to
expire on New Year's Day. To prevent this, Congress extended the
deadline for five weeks, into early February. Even if these 16
provisions expire, the underlying PATRIOT Act will still remain in
force. GOA is second to none in its desire to protect this nation's
security and prevent terrorists from attacking American citizens.

But we believe the best way to do this is to abide by the
Constitution. Freedom works. The Second Amendment works. Guns in
the hands of airline pilots on 9-11 would have prevented the
terrorist hijackings that day. Restricting liberty only makes us
less safe... and letting the BATFE and other federal agencies to
conduct unlimited warrantless searches of firearms purchase records
is not going to make us safer.

Now, there've been some interesting developments over the last couple
of days.

At least one Senate office has suggested that negotiators may be
willing to "deal" in order to completely exempt 4473's and other gun
records from federal agents' warrantless search powers. Under this
deal -- which would be total victory for gun owners -- the provisions
of the pro-gun McClure-Volkmer Firearms Owners Protection Act would
govern what gun records BATFE can and can't see.

We will continue working to exempt gun records from the "snooping"
provisions of H.R. 3199. But we're asking you to strengthen our hand
by continuing to pressure Congress. Since Gun Owners of America is
fighting a lonely battle to exempt gun records from the clause of the
PATRIOT Act, your activism is crucial. While you might want to ask
the other groups what they're doing to fight these provisions, we
definitely need you to contact the Congress right now.

ACTION: Please write your senators. Urge them to insist that
pro-gun language be inserted into H.R. 3199 which ensures that BATFE
is prohibited from conducting unlimited warrantless searches of
firearms purchase records. The vote on this legislation will take
place in less than one month. Negotiations on this bill are
occurring right now. It's imperative that you contact your Senators
right away!

You can visit the Gun Owners Legislative Action Center at
http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm to send your Senators a
pre-written e-mail message such as the one below.

Or, you can call your Senators toll-free at 877-762-8762.

--- Pre-written letter ---

Dear Senator:

H.R. 3199 would, in its current form, allow BATFE -- and other
federal agencies -- to go on virtually unlimited fishing expeditions
through gun records without the approval of any court.

As a supporter of Second Amendment rights, I can tell you that this
is THE provision in this act which has gun owners extremely upset.
So before you vote for cloture, please insist that language is
inserted to protect 4473's and other gun records from BATFE snooping.

I would like to hear what you intend to do. Thank you.

Sincerely,


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