-Caveat Lector-
Next Wave
by Benedict D. LaRosa
The Real Reason Behind Gun Control
With public attention riveted on the murder/conspiracy trial of the
Branch
Davidians, little attention has been paid to the Treasury
Department's
investigation of the conduct of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and
Firearms
(BATF). Most of the media quickly saw through the veneer of
objectivity
and
rightly ignored the report released last September. However, as with
most
government documents, there is some truth hidden among the
chaff.
Appendix G of the report is a brief history of federal firearms
enforcement.
It is startling in its candor in revealing the real reason behind the
gun
control movement in this country.
Gun control is being sold to the American people as a crime fighting
measure.
(There are also attempts to make it an environmental and health
issue.)
Sarah
Brady has publicly admitted that the Brady Bill signed into law
November
30
will have little effect on crime. But, she added, it was a
necessary
first
step.
President Clinton warned, "This is the first step. There is more to be
done.
We cannot stop here." To what are Sarah Brady and President
Clinton
referring?
Appendix G provides the answer.
The report admits that the BATF raided the Branch Davidian
community at
Mt. Carmel to enforce contemporary gun control laws. It adds:
In a larger sense, however, the raid fit [sic] within an historic,
well-established
and well-defended government interest in prohibiting and breaking
up all
organized groups that sought to arm or fortify themselves From
its
earliest
formation, the federal government has actively suppressed any
effort by
disgruntled or rebellious citizens to coalesce into an armed group,
however
small the group, petty its complaint, or grandiose its ambition.
Appendix G relates how the experience of Shay's Rebellion (1786-
87), the
Whiskey Rebellion (1794), Fries Rebellion (1799), the fugitive slave
rescues
of the 1850s, John Brown's raid on the Harper's Ferry federal
arsenal
(1859),
the Civil War, Southern resistance to Reconstruction, the Pullman
Strike
(1894), etc., created an intolerance to organized, armed groups on
the
part
of the federal government. This paranoia led Congress to pass the
National
Firearms Act of 1934, not "to curb the gangsters' ability to arm
themselves"
with automatic weapons and sawed-off shotguns as advertised, but
"to
discourage ownership of such weapons without outlawing them." It
admits
that "No self-respecting gangster would want to register, much less
pay
the tax, on his Tommygun." It goes on to say:
The passage of the National Firearms Act of 1934, the first federal
effort
to control ownership of firearms, grew out of this historic fear of
armed
organizations In recent times, the federal government has shown
itself
even less patient with armed groups As both history and recent
events
clearly show, the United States has never tolerated armed groups
residing
within its borders. The intent of the particular organization, whether
ideological
or criminal, mattered little ATF's enforcement focus retains the
flavor
of
that historic concern with armed organizations.
The Branch Davidians were not criminals and cults are not illegal. It
was
not criminal activity that brought the Branch Davidians to the
attention
of
the federal government, but the fact that they were an organized,
armed
group dissatisfied with the status quo. Government agents created
the
impression of illegality to justify their suppression of the Davidians
and
to
dissuade similar dissenters. This is why Attorney General Janet
Reno
warned that "more Waco-like standoffs will occur in the near future.
I
hope
an example has been set ... to discourage those who are tempted
to join
cults." The Brady Bill and the even more draconian gun control
measures
in the upcoming crime bill are but the latest steps dating back to
colonial
times to disarm the American people, not criminals, in defiance of
the
Second Amendment.
http://www.constitution.org/col/san940127.htm
The Democrats are the ones who will give you a loan. The
Republicans are the ones who will guarantee you a loan.
The Libertarians are the ones who will leave you alone.
-- Cal Ludeman
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