OCTOBER 2002 NEWSLETTER

**NEW YORK STATE NEWS**
State court rules on gun security (October 25, 2002)-AP — ALBANY — A man who hid an illegal, loaded gun in his home isn’t guilty of endangering the welfare of a child, even though a boy died while playing with the pistol, the Court of Appeals ruled Thursday. But the court found that a licensed gun collector who kept unloaded, legal weapons unsecured in his home is guilty of the same crime when children took a pistol, loaded it and accidentally shot a playmate. By weighing the lengths at which gun owners attempted to protect their weapons from misuse, the court avoided making an automatic criminal liability in accidents involving their weapons, wrote Judge Howard Levine. The decision says the misdemeanor of endangering the welfare of a child hinges on whether a defendant “knowingly” acted in a way that was “likely” to injure a child. Terrence Hitchcock, a licensed gun dealer from Cattaraugus County whose charge was upheld, had argued that he shouldn’t be held liable for his stepson’s misuse of his weapon. In the other case, Alex Duenas’ 11-year-old brother found and accidentally fired a handgun that had been wrapped in rags and hidden behind clothes, bags and a table.
Tom Golisano gets "A" rating from NRA by OCShooters.com In a surprise move, the NRA gave Tom Golisano an "A" rating, their highest, in the NY Governor's race. Many had expected the NRA to remain silent in this race because it is going to be hard for Tom Golisano to win and rumor has it that Gov. Mario Pataki has threatened retaliation if gun owners do not support his re-election. Gov. Mario Pataki expected us to support him even though he has passed gun control bills that we oppose and did it without contacting any NY pro-gun group for a comment, and has not offered any support for legislation that we support. Some of the laws that were passed would have been supported by the general gun community if some minor changes had been made. Golisano has received A ratings from SCOPE and The New York State Rifle And Pistol Association while Gov. Mario Pataki has been given an "F-"
CoBIS, aka "Gun DNA" programs a big waste. April 2002, CoBis Update It has been proven that the so called "Gun DNA" program is a waste of time and money but because of the .223 shootings around DC all of the anti-gunners are calling for the program to be a national one covering all handguns and long guns. I have had several articles about the failure of the program that I have listed above. Why does everyone think that the program is such a good idea? Because the press and the anti-gun groups are lying and not telling the full story and "GUN DNA" sounds great but unlike real DNA that does not change with time and can be matched with the smallest amount of material, a gun's "DNA" does change with use and can be changed in just a few moments with a little effort. Anti-gun supports do not need accurate information to support any program that will raise the cost of guns, make all firearms harder to get or make some type of registry. Join Together, (an anti-gun group, funded by grants from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Boston University School of Public Health joined the anti-gun crowd after it got a grant from the Joyce Foundation and has gotten additional funding from the David Bohnett Foundation,) published an article on 12/5/2001 titled, Shell Markings Help Solve Crimes. The article contained the following quote: " "As the database grows in size and in time, we'll have more opportunities, and we'll hopefully start seeing some success," said Lt. Mark Heller of the State Police Forensic Investigation Center." But as we all know, no crimes have been solved even though the total number of guns registered in NY State are over 30,000. NY State is unique in that every legal handgun is already registered so the State Police always know who owns any legal gun. To make the system work like they would want it to work, every rifle would also have to be registered at all times. No matter what law is passed now, the anti-gun crowd will just be back as soon as it passes to "close the loopholes". If they do not do that the database will not be worth very much. They will also have to include after market barrels and parts. If a gunsmith works on my gun and rebuilds it, are they going to have to pass a law that states the he will have to take the gun to have it test fired? If I buy the parts and put them in myself, will they pass a law saying that I have to take in the gun to be retested? Are they going to make it against the law for me to clean my gun? What is to prevent a gun dealer from just switching barrels or parts from the new guns he gets in. On October 11, 2002, the Times Herald-Record editorial was: Trying to track a deadly sniper, A comprehensive database of bullet 'fingerprints' would help a lot. The editorial contained the statements, "Like people, each weapon's fingerprints are unique," and "But hunting rifles were exempted in Maryland when rural voters objected to being included. Legislators somehow bought the argument that rifles would not be used to kill people." The article called for "a national database for bullet fingerprints from handguns and rifles." One can only guess how much such a program would cost. NY pays over $200 for each legal handgun. Since less than 1% of all guns are ever used in crimes and only the very smallest fraction of that would ever need the system. Is that the best way to spend the money? What is to prevent someone from going to a range some where and just picking up used brass and leaving it at the crime site? Anyone can buy "once fired brass" over the internet. Is UpChuck Schumer going to call for a law banning the sale or shipping of "once fired brass"? How stupid is this going to get? The big question that no one is talking about is the "chain of evidence." If they finally match a crime gun to a person who still has the gun and has not changed it and that is the only evidence, how are they going to prove that the file on record is the one from that gun? NY law requires that the spent brass be sent in after the gun is sold. That means that a gun with the evidence is sitting on a store shelf for any where from a day to years. How can anyone come up with a system that they could prove was 100% reliable each and every time that would prevent the brass from one gun being switched with the brass from another gun? Let us say that all the problems were solved and the police could match the gun that someone had with multiple murders. If that was the only evidence, would that be enough to put someone away for life or to give them the death sentence? CLICK HERE TO GO TO A SPECIAL PAGE THAT I HAVE SET UP WITH LOTS OF INFO.

NEW YORK STATE NEWS

State court rules on gun security

(October 25, 2002)-AP — ALBANY — A man who hid an illegal, loaded gun in his home isn’t guilty of endangering the welfare of a child, even though a boy died while playing with the pistol, the Court of Appeals ruled Thursday. But the court found that a licensed gun collector who kept unloaded, legal weapons unsecured in his home is guilty of the same crime when children took a pistol, loaded it and accidentally shot a playmate.
      By weighing the lengths at which gun owners attempted to protect their weapons from misuse, the court avoided making an automatic criminal liability in accidents involving their weapons, wrote Judge Howard Levine. The decision says the misdemeanor of endangering the welfare of a child hinges on whether a defendant “knowingly” acted in a way that was “likely” to injure a child.
      Terrence Hitchcock, a licensed gun dealer from Cattaraugus County whose charge was upheld, had argued that he shouldn’t be held liable for his stepson’s misuse of his weapon.
      In the other case, Alex Duenas’ 11-year-old brother found and accidentally fired a handgun that had been wrapped in rags and hidden behind clothes, bags and a table.

Tom Golisano gets "A" rating from NRA
by OCShooters.com

In a surprise move, the NRA gave Tom Golisano an "A" rating, their highest, in the NY Governor's race. Many had expected the NRA to remain silent in this race because it is going to be hard for Tom Golisano to win and rumor has it that Gov. Mario Pataki has threatened retaliation if gun owners do not support his re-election. Gov. Mario Pataki expected us to support him even though he has passed gun control bills that we oppose and did it without contacting any NY pro-gun group for a comment, and has not offered any support for legislation that we support. Some of the laws that were passed would have been supported by the general gun community if some minor changes had been made.
Golisano has received A ratings from SCOPE and The New York State Rifle And Pistol Association while Gov. Mario Pataki has been given an "F-"

CoBIS, aka "Gun DNA" programs a big waste.
April 2002, CoBis Update

     It has been proven that the so called "Gun DNA" program is a waste of time and money but because of the .223 shootings around DC all of the anti-gunners are calling for the program to be a national one covering all handguns and long guns. I have had several articles about the failure of the program that I have listed above.
     Why does everyone think that the program is such a good idea? Because the press and the anti-gun groups are lying and not telling the full story and "GUN DNA" sounds great but unlike real DNA that does not change with time and can be matched with the smallest amount of material, a gun's "DNA" does change with use and can be changed in just a few moments with a little effort.
     Anti-gun supports do not need accurate information to support any program that will raise the cost of guns, make all firearms harder to get or make some type of registry. Join Together, (an anti-gun group, funded by grants from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Boston University School of Public Health joined the anti-gun crowd after it got a grant from the Joyce Foundation and has gotten additional funding from the David Bohnett Foundation,) published an article on 12/5/2001 titled, Shell Markings Help Solve Crimes. The article contained the following quote: " "As the database grows in size and in time, we'll have more opportunities, and we'll hopefully start seeing some success," said Lt. Mark Heller of the State Police Forensic Investigation Center." But as we all know, no crimes have been solved even though the total number of guns registered in NY State are over 30,000. NY State is unique in that every legal handgun is already registered so the State Police always know who owns any legal gun. To make the system work like they would want it to work, every rifle would also have to be registered at all times. No matter what law is passed now, the anti-gun crowd will just be back as soon as it passes to "close the loopholes". If they do not do that the database will not be worth very much. They will also have to include after market barrels and parts. If a gunsmith works on my gun and rebuilds it, are they going to have to pass a law that states the he will have to take the gun to have it test fired? If I buy the parts and put them in myself, will they pass a law saying that I have to take in the gun to be retested? Are they going to make it against the law for me to clean my gun? What is to prevent a gun dealer from just switching barrels or parts from the new guns he gets in.
    On October 11, 2002, the Times Herald-Record editorial was: Trying to track a deadly sniper, A comprehensive database of bullet 'fingerprints' would help a lot. The editorial contained the statements, "Like people, each weapon's fingerprints are unique," and "But hunting rifles were exempted in Maryland when rural voters objected to being included. Legislators somehow bought the argument that rifles would not be used to kill people." The article called for "a national database for bullet fingerprints from handguns and rifles." One can only guess how much such a program would cost. NY pays over $200 for each legal handgun. Since less than 1% of all guns are ever used in crimes and only the very smallest fraction of that would ever need the system. Is that the best way to spend the money?
     What is to prevent someone from going to a range some where and just picking up used brass and leaving it at the crime site? Anyone can buy "once fired brass" over the internet. Is UpChuck Schumer going to call for a law banning the sale or shipping of "once fired brass"? How stupid is this going to get? The big question that no one is talking about is the "chain of evidence." If they finally match a crime gun to a person who still has the gun and has not changed it and that is the only evidence, how are they going to prove that the file on record is the one from that gun? NY law requires that the spent brass be sent in after the gun is sold. That means that a gun with the evidence is sitting on a store shelf for any where from a day to years. How can anyone come up with a system that they could prove was 100% reliable each and every time that would prevent the brass from one gun being switched with the brass from another gun? Let us say that all the problems were solved and the police could match the gun that someone had with multiple murders. If that was the only evidence, would that be enough to put someone away for life or to give them the death sentence?

CLICK HERE TO GO TO A SPECIAL PAGE THAT I HAVE SET UP WITH LOTS OF INFO.

**NATIONAL**
*Oct. 25: Arming America* book author Michael Bellesiles Resigns from Emory Faculty** October 25, 2002, Robert A. Paul, Interim Dean of Emory College, "I have accepted the resignation of Michael Bellesiles from his position as Professor of History at Emory University, effective December 31, 2002." Although we would not normally release any of the materials connected with a case involving the investigation of faculty misconduct in research, in light of the intense scholarly interest in the matter I have decided, with the assent of Professor Bellesiles as well as of the members of the Investigative Committee, to make public the report of the Investigative Committee appointed by me to evaluate the allegations made against Professor Bellesiles (none of the supporting documents, however, are being made public). The text of the report is now available online at http://www.emory.edu/central/NEWS/Releases/Final_Report.pdf." Selected sections from the report: The most egregious misrepresentation has to do with his handling of the more than 900 cases reported by Alice Hanson Jones. When critics pointed out that Jones’ data disagreed with his, Bellesiles responded by explaining that he did NOT include Jones’s data in his computations because her inventories, taken during the build-up to the American revolution, showed a disproportionately high number of guns! Here is a clear admission of misrepresentation, since the label on column one in Table One clearly says "1765-1790." If Professor Bellesiles silently excluded data from the years 1774-1776, as he asserts, precisely because they failed to show low numbers of guns, he has willingly misrepresented the evidence. This, compounded with all the other inconsistencies in his description of his method and sources and the fact that neither he nor anyone else has been able to replicate any part of his data, suggest that there is a real discrepancy between the research Professor Bellesiles did and his presentation of that research in Table One. ... In summary, we find on Questions 1 and 2, that despite serious failures of and carelessness in the gathering and presentation of archival records and the use of quantitative analysis, we cannot speak of intentional fabrication or falsification. On Question 3, we find that the strained character of Professor Bellesiles’ explanation raises questions about his veracity with respect to his account of having consulted probate records in San Francisco County. On Question 4, dealing with the construction of the vital Table One, we find evidence of falsification. And on Question 5, which raises the standard of professional historical scholarship, we find that Professor Bellesiles falls short on all three counts.
HCI HYSTERICAL THAT SNIPER IS BEHIND BARS HCI' S, (aka BRADY CAMPAIGN,) pushing to use shootings to push for more $$$ & gun control (WARRNING: You might need a BARF bag to read this.) URGENT MESSAGE FROM SARAH BRADY TO: BRADY CAMPAIGN SUPPORTER FROM: SARAH BRADY BRADY CAMPAIGN TO PREVENT GUN VIOLENCE DATE: 24 OCTOBER 2002 RE: SNIPER SHOOTINGS IN NATION'S CAPITAL; EMERGENCY LEGISLATION INTRODUCED TWO SUSPECTS HAVE BEEN ARRESTED IN THE KILLING OF TEN PEOPLE AND THE WOUNDING OF THREE OTHERS IN MARYLAND, VIRGINIA AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. THESE COMMUNITIES, FOR THE LAST THREE WEEKS, HAVE LIVED IN FEAR -- CHILDREN WERE "LOCKED DOWN" IN SCHOOLS, OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES WERE CANCELED, PEOPLE WERE AFRAID TO PUMP GAS. UNLESS YOU AND I ACT IMMEDIATELY, CONGRESS WILL ONCE AGAIN DENY LAW ENFORCEMENT THE RESOURCES AND TECHNOLOGY IT NEEDS TO CATCH KILLERS LIKE THE SUSPECTS IN THE DC AREA SNIPER CASE. WHY? BECAUSE THE NRA DEMANDS IT -- AND TOO MANY MEN AND WOMEN IN CONGRESS TAKE THEIR MARCHING ORDERS FROM THE NRA. EVEN IF THE SUSPECTS ARRESTED THIS MORNING ARE PROVEN TO BE THE SNIPERS BY THE TIME YOU READ THIS, THAT DOES NOT LET CONGRESS OR THE NRA OFF THE HOOK WITH MORE COMPREHENSIVE GUN AND AMMUNITION RECORDS, THE POLICE WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER ABLE TO STOP THIS RAMPAGE AND SAVES LIVES! BUT THE NRA -- AND ITS ACCOMPLICES IN CONGRESS -- HAVE STOPPED LAW ENFORCEMENT'S EVERY ATTEMPT TO CREATE A NATIONAL BALLISTICS DATABASE, WHICH MIGHT HAVE IDENTIFIED THE SNIPER AFTER THE FIRST VICTIM WAS KILLED. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! I AM SICK AND TIRED OF THE NRA PUTTING OUR CHILDREN AT RISK. AND I'M FED UP WITH A CONGRESS AND ADMINISTRATION THAT SO SHOCKINGLY TOE THE NRA LINE -- EVEN OVER THE WISHES OF OUR NATION'S LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS. IF YOU ARE FED UP TOO, I URGE YOU TO CLICK HERE OR CUT AND PASTE THE FOLLOWING LINK: www.bradycampaign.org/xxxxxx TO RUSH AN EMERGENCY GIFT TO THE BRADY CAMPAIGN TODAY. YOUR GIFT WILL BE PUT TO IMMEDIATE USE TO PASS SENATE BILL 3096 THAT WOULD FINALLY GIVE POLICE THE RESOURCES THEY NEED TO CATCH KILLERS LIKE THE SERIAL SNIPER. EVERY GUN LEAVES A UNIQUE "FINGERPRINT" ON THE BULLETS IT FIRES. THIS NEW LEGISLATION WOULD CREATE A NATIONAL BALLISTICS DATABASE TO KEEP A RECORD OF THE "FINGERPRINT" OF EVERY GUN MANUFACTURED. POLICE WOULD BE ABLE TO MATCH THE BALLISTICS EVIDENCE RECOVERED FROM A CRIME SCENE TO AN INDIVIDUAL GUN -- AND ITS PURCHASER. FOR YEARS, POLICE HAVE CALLED FOR THE CREATION OF SUCH A DATABASE. IF ONE EXISTED, THE POLICE HUNTING FOR THE SNIPER WOULD HAVE BEEN ABLE TO TRACE THE MURDER WEAPON DAYS AGO ... .. AND AT LEAST NINE LIVES MIGHT HAVE BEEN SAVED. BUT, IGNORING THE PLEADINGS OF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND THE WELL-BEING OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, THE NRA HAS SUCCESSFULLY OPPOSED ALL OF OUR ATTEMPTS TO CREATE A NATIONAL BALLISTICS DATABASE. AND IT IS ALREADY IN FULL ATTACK MODE TO KILL THIS LATEST BILL. THIS IS THE LAST STRAW! THE NRA'S PARANOIA AND ITS CYNICAL DOMINATION OF THE U.S. CONGRESS IS COSTING LIVES, PLAIN AND SIMPLE. AND THE PRESIDENT IS DUTIFULLY SPOUTING THE NRA'S PARTY LINE. BEFORE THE 2000 ELECTIONS A NRA OFFICIAL BRAGGED THAT THEY WOULD BE WORKING OUT OF THE WHITE HOUSE IF BUSH WERE ELECTED -- HE WAS RIGHT. IF, LIKE ME, YOU'VE HAD ENOUGH OF CONGRESS LETTING THE NRA PULL ITS STRINGS WHILE INNOCENT AMERICANS CONTINUE TO DIE FROM SENSELESS, PREVENTABLE GUN VIOLENCE, THEN I URGE YOU MAKE AN EMERGENCY CONTRIBUTION TO THE BRADY CAMPAIGN TODAY BY CLICKING HERE OR CUTTING AND PASTING THE FOLLOWING LINK: www.bradycampaign.xxxxx BECAUSE NOW IS OUR CHANCE TO FORCE CONGRESS INTO ACTION, AND GIVE POLICE THE TOOLS THEY NEED TO CATCH KILLERS LIKE THE ONE CUTTING A SWATH THROUGH THE NATION'S CAPITAL. BUT TO DEFEAT THE NRA, AND HELP MAKE SURE THAT THE DEATHS IN MARYLAND, VIRGINIA AND D.C. ARE NOT IN VAIN, THE BRADY CAMPAIGN URGENTLY NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT. PLEASE MAKE AN EMERGENCY CONTRIBUTION TO SUPPORT THE BRADY CAMPAIGN'S EFFORTS TO PASS THIS LIFESAVING LEGISLATION. THANK YOU. PLEASE LET ME HEAR FROM YOU WITHOUT DELAY. Send this e-mail on to your friends and family. We must act together to make a safer America. Please do it today! Please call or write today, and pass this message along to your friends, family and colleagues so that they too can take a stand against the NRA! "Thumbs up to all of you for your generous support! Together, we will build a safer America." - Jim "The BEAR" Brady
Supreme Court hears FFL License Case Congress complicates debate on felon's gun license October 17, 2002, Courts Justices are told the ATF, not judiciary, should decide such cases, but Congress has tied the agency's hands. By SHANNON McCAFFRE, Knight Ridder Newspapers WASHINGTON – The Bush administration told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that a federal agency, not the courts, should decide whether convicted felons can own guns - even though Congress has banned the government from acting on their applications. Lower federal courts in Texas ruled that Thomas Lamar Bean should have his license to own and sell guns reinstated. His lawyer, Thomas Goldstein, urged the justices to uphold those decisions. At stake is how the federal government handles appeals from felons seeking to restore their gun licenses. Bean had a clean record until four years ago when a night out in Mexico after a gun show in Laredo, Texas, went spectacularly awry. Bean inadvertently crossed the border with 200 bullets in his car, which he says were left there by an assistant. He was tossed into a Mexican jail for four months, convicted of smuggling ammunition, which at the time was a felony in Mexico. He was eventually returned to the United States under a treaty with Mexico. U.S. law bans anyone with a felony conviction from obtaining a gun license, even if the conviction wasn't on U.S. soil. But until 1992 felons had been able to appeal to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. That year Congress, worried that felons were rearming themselves and costing taxpayers some $3,700 per appeal, cut off funds for the program. While the law permitting felons to appeal is still on the books, Congress has said every year that no federal money can be used to investigate their applications. When Bean wrote to the ATF to get his license back, he was told the agency was unable to act on it because of the funding ban. Federal courts traditionally have heard appeals from those rejected by the ATF, so Bean filed suit in federal district court. Arguing for the administration, Deputy Solicitor General Edwin Kneedler said Wednesday that the court lacked jurisdiction in the case because judicial review is allowed only when there had been a denial. "We think it is not denial," Kneedler said. Goldstein said that, by not acting on Bean's case, the ATF had in effect denied him. Some justices bemoaned Congress' roundabout way of legislating through the pocketbook. Chief Justice William Rehnquist wondered why Congress hadn't just repealed the law. "Because they didn't have the votes?" Rehnquist asked. "This is a very bad way to repeal a statute," Justice Stephen Breyer added. "If they want to repeal it, repeal it."
After first year Mich. "Shall Issue" law works, anti-gunners forced to complain about minor arrest by license holders. CLICK HERE FOR THE WHOLE ARTICLE CLICK HERE FOR: Michigan State Police concealed weapon permit report Michigan was forced to start handing out "Shall Issue" concealed handgun licenses a year ago. The anti-gunners cried that blood would flow in the streets and the highways would be full of bodies from drivers who's minor fender benders and road rage would lead to license holders pulling their guns and shooting everything in sight. The results: Seventeen concealed weapon permit holders were charged with brandishing a gun during the first year of the state's concealed carry law, a new Michigan State Police report says. Only one person charged with brandishing a gun was convicted of that crime during the first year of the law covered by the report. It was unclear how many of the 17 charged were convicted of another charge they may have faced, Turner said. In the first year of the new law, 62,902 people across Michigan applied for a permit, 53,000 received one, 830 were denied, 55 were revoked and 9,072 were pending when the report was released last week. Overall, 53 concealed weapon permit holders were convicted of a crime in the first year of the law, the report said. The largest group, 11, were convicted of drunken driving, it said Rod Collins, spokesman for the Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners, the group that pushed for the new law, said the group expected a low percentage of criminal charges among permit holders. "It tells people that the fears expected by some of the groups ... did not come true," he said. "It just shows we were right all along." Carolynne Jarvis of the Michigan Partnership to Prevent Gun Violence, the group that challenged the law, said she doesn't feel safe knowing that 92 concealed weapon permit holders were charged with a crime in the law's first year. "Criminals don't say they will stop being criminals because there are more people who might be armed," she said. "They say, I need to be armed.' It's always more and not less." (My 2¢: So why not call for the police to disarm, then the criminals would not have a reason to carry any guns?)
HCI's newest alert. Call Today: Tell The House Of Representatives To Reject The Gun Lobby's Attack On Gun Violence Victims Next week, the U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to VOTE on legislation, sponsored by the NRA gun lobby (H.R. 2037 and H.R. 123), that would prevent gun violence victims from seeking justice in our nation's courts and give special legal immunity to the gun industry. We need your help to defeat this outrageous bill in the House. Please call your House Representative and the House Leadership TODAY and tell them to oppose all attempts to strip gun violence victims of their legal rights! Call Your House Representative Call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at: (202) 225-3121. Tell them your zip code and ask to be connected to your Representative. Call the House Leadership Call Majority Leader Dennis Hastert at (202) 225-2976. AND Call Minority Leader Dick Gephardt at (202) 225-2671. What to tell them "I oppose all attempts to strip gun violence victims of their legal rights. I urge you to oppose HR 2037 and HR 123 or any other version of these bills." The House of Representatives needs to know that we are watching them and that we will not idly stand by as they do the bidding of the NRA gun lobby. Please call today. Background on the Legislation HR 2037 and HR 123 are different versions of legislation that would give special legal immunity to the gun industry. These bills are gaining momentum in the House of Representatives. Earlier this month, the Energy and Commerce Committee passed an amended version of HR 2037, Representative Stearns' bill, while the Judiciary Committee passed a modified version of HR 123, Representative Bob Barr's bill. The bills are slightly different, but the end result would be the same: gun violence victims would be prevented from holding the gun industry accountable in our courts, and gun manufacturers, sellers, and even gun trade associations would get special legal protection unlike any other American industry. This is an outrage! Please call or write today, and pass this message along to your friends, family and colleagues so that they too can take a stand against the NRA! "Thumbs up to all of you for your generous support! Together, we will build a safer America." - Jim "The BEAR" Brady October 7, 2002
Rep. Mink,(D) Hawaii, death 2 days after deadline causes extra elections in Hawaii. 10/3/02 ROLL CALL, By Ben Pershing In a span of two months, voters in Hawaii's 2nd district could go to the polls three times to choose from three completely different slates of candidates to fill the seat of deceased Rep. Patsy Mink (D). The 74-year-old lawmaker died Saturday following a month long hospitalization for viral pneumonia brought on by a bout with chickenpox. Because Mink passed away two days after the deadline for state Democrats to substitute another candidate, her name will appear on the Nov. 5 ballot along with that of the Republican nominee, state Rep. Bob McDermott. Hawaii Democrats have suggested that voters cast their ballots for Mink as a "tribute" to her long service. If she garners the most votes, a Jan. 4 special election will be held to fill the seat in the 108th Congress. But regardless of whether Mink or McDermott wins Nov. 5, another special election will take place Nov. 30 just to select someone to represent the district through the end of the 107th Congress, even if the House has already adjourned. And because of the current set of competitive statewide races and some overlapping filing deadlines, the candidates for each of the two special elections likely won't be determined until the results of the previous contests are known. Hawaii politicians were hesitant to talk about campaigning this week until Mink's funeral, which is Friday. But if the January special occurs, political observers expect that candidates who lose in November will jump on the ballot. Current lieutenant governor candidate Matt Matsunaga (D), the son of former Hawaii Sen. Spark Matsunaga (D), could make the race, as could the loser in the gubernatorial contest between Linda Lingle (R) and Mazie Hirono (D). Lingle is currently ahead in the polls, but the race will likely go down to the wire. One thing that is clear is that Democrats expect Mink to win Nov. 5 despite McDermott's presence on the ballot. McDermott was in Washington this week on a previously scheduled trip to raise money and awareness for what had been considered a long-shot campaign. McDermott has expressed confidence that he can win and has suggested that Democrats are being crass and disrespectful when they ask Hawaiians to pay tribute to Mink by voting for her. Democrats, in turn, privately allege that it is McDermott who is being crass and opportunistic. They leveled similar charges at him during Mink's hospitalization, when her family and staff declined to release information about her health and he complained that voters had the right to know her condition. Though he has raised less than $100,000 so far, McDermott believes that the exposure he has gotten in recent days in the local press could boost his candidacy. It is not clear whether Republicans in Hawaii and Washington really believe that he is viable and whether they would back him if he lost Nov. 5 and chose to run again in January. Hawaii is one of the most Democratic states in the nation. Mink won her last race by 26 points, and then Vice President Al Gore (D) took the 2nd district by 20 points in 2000. If Mink wins on Nov. 5, the ballot for the Nov. 30 and Jan. 4 special elections will likely not feature the same names. The filing deadline for the Nov. 30 election is Oct. 15, meaning that all of the candidates now running statewide would be unlikely to file before they know the outcomes of their current races. Further complicating matters, filing for either of the specials requires only a small number of signatures. There is no primary and a plurality of votes wins, meaning that both races could attract a large number of candidates. "The Democratic bench in Hawaii is so much deeper than the Republican bench that you could have eight Democrats and one or two Republicans and that could make it very, very close," said a Democrat involved in state politics. In addition to Matsunaga, Lingle and Hirono, several other names have been floated in Hawaii as possible January candidates. They include former gubernatorial candidate Ed Case (D), ex-Gov. John Waihee (D), Dalton Tanonaka, who lost the Republican primary for lieutenant governor this year, and Russ Francis (R), who lost to Mink in 2000. John Mink, Patsy Mink's husband, could also choose to run in either late-November or January, though he has said nothing publicly about whether he is interested. The winner of the Nov. 30 special election would not be the first Hawaii lawmaker to serve such a short tenure. Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D) held the 1st district for a similarly brief amount of time in 1986 after an even more complicated set of elections. That year, Rep. Cecil Heftel (D) left the House to run for governor. A special election was called in September to fill his seat until the winner of the general election could take office in January. And to further complicate matters, the September special was held on the same day as the already scheduled primary. Abercrombie, then a state Senator, won the special election with 30 percent of the vote, beating out Patricia Saiki (R) at 29 percent and Mufi Hannemann (D) at 28 percent. But Hannemann beat Abercrombie in the Democratic primary on the same day. So Abercrombie served for just three and a half months before handing the seat over to Saiki, who had trounced Hannemann in the November general election. Abercrombie won the seat back in 1990 when Saiki ran for Senate. She lost that race to then-Rep. Daniel Akaka (D).
Gun Strategists Are Watching Brooklyn Case By WILLIAM GLABERSON - NY Times NY Sportsmen Alert A Brooklyn lawsuit has become a pivotal test that could affect civil suits against the gun industry nationally because the plaintiffs have, for the first time, obtained comprehensive government information tracing gun sales. The information given to the plaintiffs' lawyers in the Brooklyn case by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms includes the sales history of guns used in crimes. Critics of the gun industry have long sought the information to try to fill what some courts have said has been missing from their cases: evidence that manufacturers knew how their guns were channeled toward illegal uses and an indication that they could have stopped the trafficking. From coast to coast, a contention of many of the nearly 30 suits against the gun industry is that some manufacturers' handguns are used in crimes so frequently that their sales strategies amount to a violation of the public's right to safety and peace. Experts on liability law and the firearms industry say the information tracing gun sales may give the plaintiffs their best chance at trying to prove what they say is a "hear no evil, see no evil" policy by gun makers toward the distribution of their products. The information, gathered by the bureau when it traces guns at the request of law enforcement officials, shows the path of guns from manufacturers to specific wholesalers and retailers and then, in many instances, to shootings. "The trace data is the Rosetta stone of following gun crime," said Jim Kessler, policy director of Americans for Gun Safety, a group that supports gun rights and stronger laws to limit improper uses of firearms. The federal government has long resisted release of the information, saying it could be harmful to each of more than one million criminal investigations reflected in the database. The Justice Department is now asking the United States Supreme Court to review a ruling in a Chicago case that would release the same information under the Freedom of Information Act. On Sept. 27, after an agreement in United States District Court in Brooklyn, the government turned over the information to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which filed a suit against the gun industry in 1999. In a court hearing yesterday, lawyers agreed to begin the trial in February or March. Lawyers for the firearms bureau declined to comment on why they agreed to release the information. But lawyers involved in the case said the judge, Jack B. Weinstein, had indicated that he was likely to give the information to the plaintiffs as part of their discovery request. The bureau then made its unusual deal to provide the information, but insisted on a court order requiring that no identifying details be released, even during testimony in the case. Lawyers for the gun industry said the data would not establish any liability because it could show only that manufacturers and their distributors sell a legal product through legal means. "What the plaintiffs are trying to do is bootstrap a case out of a misuse of data," said James P. Dorr, a Chicago lawyer who represents Sturm, Ruger & Company, one of the country's largest gun makers. But as word spread of the agreement by the bureau to provide the information in recent days, many experts said the legal battle could be a watershed for the lawsuits against the gun industry. Anthony J. Sebok, a professor at Brooklyn Law School who has written about the gun cases, said the new information could build a devastating case against the gun industry. But he also said that if the plaintiffs fail in the Brooklyn case, that could be a setback for all the lawsuits across the country. "It could end the campaign to use litigation as a method of achieving gun control," he said. Elisa Barnes, the chief lawyer for the N.A.A.C.P. in the Brooklyn case, said the 11 years of gun-sales data she obtained from the federal government is being analyzed by experts on marketing, the gun industry and statistics who are working with her on the case. In filing the suit in 1999, the N.A.A.C.P. said its goal was "to protect the well-being and security of its membership, which has been disproportionately injured" by illegal handguns. Some incomplete and dated information from the firearms agency has been available in the past, but Ms. Barnes said she expected the most useful material will be from newly released gun-tracing records from 1996 to 2000. Critics of the gun industry say it may be a gold mine, because more and more thorough investigations of gun sales are believed to have taken place during that period than ever. Ms. Barnes acknowledged that the turn in her case presented a test for the strategy of taking on the gun industry in court. "I think it is the one important moment in this type of litigation," she said. Ms. Barnes was the chief lawyer in the only case against the gun industry as a whole that ended with a verdict for the plaintiffs. That case, also before Judge Weinstein, ended in February 1999, with a finding that nine gun manufacturers were liable for shootings in the New York City region. That verdict was overturned in an unusual appeal that went to New York State's highest court, the Court of Appeals, because the federal court was interpreting state personal-injury law. In its opinion, that court said Ms. Barnes's 1999 case failed, but some lawyers said the decision left the door open to another case with more solid evidence connecting the gun industry to the distribution of guns used in crimes. Liability, the court said, "should not be imposed without a more tangible showing that defendants were a direct link in the causal chain." Ms. Barnes said the new case will provide that tangible evidence. But lawyers for the 165 gun makers and distributors named as defendants have said that her arguments are flawed. Timothy A. Bumann, a lawyer for a half dozen of the companies, said one weak point is Ms. Barnes's claim that the firearms bureau's data will prove that manufacturers whose guns regularly end up in illegal uses had a reason to know how that occurs. Mr. Bumann said the fact that the bureau keeps its information confidential would undercut any argument Ms. Barnes makes to the jury. "If it's never seen the light of day before," he said, "how are the defendants supposed to have reacted to it?" Critics of the gun industry have long argued that manufacturers know how many of their guns are traced by the bureau, because the bureau contacts the manufacturer to begin each trace. Ms. Barnes made several strategic decisions that make the current case different from her 1999 case. Instead of seeking damages for the families of gun victims, for example, the current case seeks an injunction that would establish new restrictions on the marketing and distribution of handguns. Although the trial is expected to include a great deal of evidence about statistical and marketing issues, Ms. Barnes said she would call some members of the N.A.A.C.P. who could testify about the legacy of gun violence. One of them is scheduled to be Gladys Gerena, whose 16-year-old son, Shaun, went to the store one day in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to buy a sandwich and never came home. Neither the gun nor the man who shot him to death on Sept. 1, 1995, has been found. In an interview, Ms. Gerena said she was taking part in the suit to try to establish some accountability. "I don't think anybody should make money from people dying," she said, "and they're dying because of these illegal guns on the street."
National Carry Bill, HR950, to be introduced. A very important bill is about to be introduced in the Senate and the U.S. House. It could well affect security for you, the reader. Called HR950 (The Safe Act) Secure Access to Firearms Enhancement Act of 2001, it would allow thousands of pre-screened, concealed-weapons gun owners to pack across all 50 states, instead of being restricted to a general area. Terrorists and other cowards are less likely to commit a crime when they don't know who's armed. Call your congressman, and support Gun Owners of America at www.gunowners.org to pass this bill.

NATIONAL

Oct. 25: Arming America book author Michael Bellesiles Resigns from Emory Faculty

October 25, 2002, Robert A. Paul, Interim Dean of Emory College, "I have accepted the resignation of Michael Bellesiles from his position as Professor of History at Emory University, effective December 31, 2002."
Although we would not normally release any of the materials connected with a case involving the investigation of faculty misconduct in research, in light of the intense scholarly interest in the matter I have decided, with the assent of Professor Bellesiles as well as of the members of the Investigative Committee, to make public the report of the Investigative Committee appointed by me to evaluate the allegations made against Professor Bellesiles (none of the supporting documents, however, are being made public). The text of the report is now available online at http://www.emory.edu/central/NEWS/Releases/Final_Report.pdf."

Selected sections from the report:
The most egregious misrepresentation has to do with his handling of the more than 900 cases reported by Alice Hanson Jones. When critics pointed out that Jones’ data disagreed with his, Bellesiles responded by explaining that he did NOT include Jones’s data in his computations because her inventories, taken during the build-up to the American revolution, showed a disproportionately high number of guns! Here is a clear admission of misrepresentation, since the label on column one in Table One clearly says "1765-1790." If Professor Bellesiles silently excluded data from the years 1774-1776, as he asserts, precisely because they failed to show low numbers of guns, he has willingly misrepresented the evidence. This, compounded with all the other inconsistencies in his description of his method and sources and the fact that neither he nor anyone else has been able to replicate any part of his data, suggest that there is a real discrepancy between the research Professor Bellesiles did and his presentation of that research in Table One.
...
In summary, we find on Questions 1 and 2, that despite serious failures of and carelessness in the gathering and presentation of archival records and the use of quantitative analysis, we cannot speak of intentional fabrication or falsification. On Question 3, we find that the strained character of Professor Bellesiles’ explanation raises questions about his veracity with respect to his account of having consulted probate records in San Francisco County. On Question 4, dealing with the construction of the vital Table One, we find evidence of falsification. And on Question 5, which raises the standard of professional historical scholarship, we find that Professor Bellesiles falls short on all three counts.

HCI HYSTERICAL THAT SNIPER IS BEHIND BARS
HCI' S, (aka BRADY CAMPAIGN,) pushing to use shootings to push for more $$$ & gun control
(WARRNING: You might need a BARF bag to read this.)

URGENT MESSAGE FROM SARAH BRADY
TO: BRADY CAMPAIGN SUPPORTER
FROM: SARAH BRADY
BRADY CAMPAIGN TO PREVENT GUN VIOLENCE
DATE: 24 OCTOBER 2002

RE: SNIPER SHOOTINGS IN NATION'S CAPITAL; EMERGENCY LEGISLATION INTRODUCED

     TWO SUSPECTS HAVE BEEN ARRESTED IN THE KILLING OF TEN PEOPLE AND THE WOUNDING OF THREE OTHERS IN MARYLAND, VIRGINIA AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. THESE COMMUNITIES, FOR THE LAST THREE WEEKS, HAVE LIVED IN FEAR -- CHILDREN WERE "LOCKED DOWN" IN SCHOOLS, OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES WERE CANCELED, PEOPLE WERE AFRAID TO PUMP GAS.
     UNLESS YOU AND I ACT IMMEDIATELY, CONGRESS WILL ONCE AGAIN DENY LAW ENFORCEMENT THE RESOURCES AND TECHNOLOGY IT NEEDS TO CATCH KILLERS LIKE THE SUSPECTS IN THE DC AREA SNIPER CASE.
     WHY? BECAUSE THE NRA DEMANDS IT -- AND TOO MANY MEN AND WOMEN IN CONGRESS TAKE THEIR MARCHING ORDERS FROM THE NRA.
     EVEN IF THE SUSPECTS ARRESTED THIS MORNING ARE PROVEN TO BE THE SNIPERS BY THE TIME YOU READ THIS, THAT DOES NOT LET CONGRESS OR THE NRA OFF THE HOOK
WITH MORE COMPREHENSIVE GUN AND AMMUNITION RECORDS, THE POLICE WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER ABLE TO STOP THIS RAMPAGE AND SAVES LIVES!
     BUT THE NRA -- AND ITS ACCOMPLICES IN CONGRESS -- HAVE STOPPED LAW ENFORCEMENT'S EVERY ATTEMPT TO CREATE A NATIONAL BALLISTICS DATABASE, WHICH MIGHT HAVE IDENTIFIED THE SNIPER AFTER THE FIRST VICTIM WAS KILLED.
      ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! I AM SICK AND TIRED OF THE NRA PUTTING OUR CHILDREN AT RISK. AND I'M FED UP WITH A CONGRESS AND ADMINISTRATION THAT SO SHOCKINGLY TOE THE NRA LINE -- EVEN OVER THE WISHES OF OUR NATION'S LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS.
      IF YOU ARE FED UP TOO, I URGE YOU TO CLICK HERE OR CUT AND PASTE THE FOLLOWING LINK: www.bradycampaign.org/xxxxxx
      TO RUSH AN EMERGENCY GIFT TO THE BRADY CAMPAIGN TODAY. YOUR GIFT WILL BE PUT TO IMMEDIATE USE TO PASS SENATE BILL 3096 THAT WOULD FINALLY GIVE POLICE THE RESOURCES THEY NEED TO CATCH KILLERS LIKE THE SERIAL SNIPER.
      EVERY GUN LEAVES A UNIQUE "FINGERPRINT" ON THE BULLETS IT FIRES. THIS NEW LEGISLATION WOULD CREATE A NATIONAL BALLISTICS DATABASE TO KEEP A RECORD OF THE "FINGERPRINT" OF EVERY GUN MANUFACTURED. POLICE WOULD BE ABLE TO MATCH THE BALLISTICS EVIDENCE RECOVERED FROM A CRIME SCENE TO AN INDIVIDUAL GUN -- AND ITS PURCHASER.
      FOR YEARS, POLICE HAVE CALLED FOR THE CREATION OF SUCH A DATABASE. IF ONE EXISTED, THE POLICE HUNTING FOR THE SNIPER WOULD HAVE BEEN ABLE TO TRACE THE MURDER WEAPON DAYS AGO ...
.. AND AT LEAST NINE LIVES MIGHT HAVE BEEN SAVED.
      BUT, IGNORING THE PLEADINGS OF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND THE WELL-BEING OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, THE NRA HAS SUCCESSFULLY OPPOSED ALL OF OUR ATTEMPTS TO CREATE A NATIONAL BALLISTICS DATABASE.
      AND IT IS ALREADY IN FULL ATTACK MODE TO KILL THIS LATEST BILL.
      THIS IS THE LAST STRAW!
      THE NRA'S PARANOIA AND ITS CYNICAL DOMINATION OF THE U.S. CONGRESS IS COSTING LIVES, PLAIN AND SIMPLE. AND THE PRESIDENT IS DUTIFULLY SPOUTING THE NRA'S PARTY LINE. BEFORE THE 2000 ELECTIONS A NRA OFFICIAL BRAGGED THAT THEY WOULD BE WORKING OUT OF THE WHITE HOUSE IF BUSH WERE ELECTED -- HE WAS RIGHT.
      IF, LIKE ME, YOU'VE HAD ENOUGH OF CONGRESS LETTING THE NRA PULL ITS STRINGS WHILE INNOCENT AMERICANS CONTINUE TO DIE FROM SENSELESS, PREVENTABLE GUN VIOLENCE, THEN I URGE YOU MAKE AN EMERGENCY CONTRIBUTION TO THE BRADY CAMPAIGN TODAY BY CLICKING HERE OR CUTTING AND PASTING THE FOLLOWING LINK: www.bradycampaign.xxxxx
      BECAUSE NOW IS OUR CHANCE TO FORCE CONGRESS INTO ACTION, AND GIVE POLICE THE TOOLS THEY NEED TO CATCH KILLERS LIKE THE ONE CUTTING A SWATH THROUGH THE NATION'S CAPITAL.
      BUT TO DEFEAT THE NRA, AND HELP MAKE SURE THAT THE DEATHS IN MARYLAND, VIRGINIA AND D.C. ARE NOT IN VAIN, THE BRADY CAMPAIGN URGENTLY NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT.
      PLEASE MAKE AN EMERGENCY CONTRIBUTION TO SUPPORT THE BRADY CAMPAIGN'S EFFORTS TO PASS THIS LIFESAVING LEGISLATION.
      THANK YOU. PLEASE LET ME HEAR FROM YOU WITHOUT DELAY.
Send this e-mail on to your friends and family. We must act together to make a safer America. Please do it today!
Please call or write today, and pass this message along to your friends, family and colleagues so that they too can take a stand against the NRA!
"Thumbs up to all of you for your generous support! Together, we will build a safer America." - Jim "The BEAR" Brady

Supreme Court hears FFL License Case

Congress complicates debate on felon's gun license October 17, 2002, Courts Justices are told the ATF, not judiciary, should decide such cases, but Congress has tied the agency's hands.
By SHANNON McCAFFRE, Knight Ridder Newspapers

     WASHINGTON – The Bush administration told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that a federal agency, not the courts, should decide whether convicted felons can own guns - even though Congress has banned the government from acting on their applications.
      Lower federal courts in Texas ruled that Thomas Lamar Bean should have his license to own and sell guns reinstated. His lawyer, Thomas Goldstein, urged the justices to uphold those decisions. At stake is how the federal government handles appeals from felons seeking to restore their gun licenses. Bean had a clean record until four years ago when a night out in Mexico after a gun show in Laredo, Texas, went spectacularly awry. Bean inadvertently crossed the border with 200 bullets in his car, which he says were left there by an assistant. He was tossed into a Mexican jail for four months, convicted of smuggling ammunition, which at the time was a felony in Mexico. He was eventually returned to the United States under a treaty with Mexico.
      U.S. law bans anyone with a felony conviction from obtaining a gun license, even if the conviction wasn't on U.S. soil. But until 1992 felons had been able to appeal to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. That year Congress, worried that felons were rearming themselves and costing taxpayers some $3,700 per appeal, cut off funds for the program. While the law permitting felons to appeal is still on the books, Congress has said every year that no federal money can be used to investigate their applications. When Bean wrote to the ATF to get his license back, he was told the agency was unable to act on it because of the funding ban. Federal courts traditionally have heard appeals from those rejected by the ATF, so Bean filed suit in federal district court. Arguing for the administration, Deputy Solicitor General Edwin Kneedler said Wednesday that the court lacked jurisdiction in the case because judicial review is allowed only when there had been a denial. "We think it is not denial," Kneedler said. Goldstein said that, by not acting on Bean's case, the ATF had in effect denied him.
      Some justices bemoaned Congress' roundabout way of legislating through the pocketbook. Chief Justice William Rehnquist wondered why Congress hadn't just repealed the law. "Because they didn't have the votes?" Rehnquist asked. "This is a very bad way to repeal a statute," Justice Stephen Breyer added. "If they want to repeal it, repeal it."

After first year Mich. "Shall Issue" law works,
anti-gunners forced to complain about minor arrest by license holders.
CLICK HERE FOR THE WHOLE ARTICLE
CLICK HERE FOR: Michigan State Police concealed weapon permit report

Michigan was forced to start handing out "Shall Issue" concealed handgun licenses a year ago. The anti-gunners cried that blood would flow in the streets and the highways would be full of bodies from drivers who's minor fender benders and road rage would lead to license holders pulling their guns and shooting everything in sight. The results:

Seventeen concealed weapon permit holders were charged with brandishing a gun during the first year of the state's concealed carry law, a new Michigan State Police report says. Only one person charged with brandishing a gun was convicted of that crime during the first year of the law covered by the report. It was unclear how many of the 17 charged were convicted of another charge they may have faced, Turner said.
In the first year of the new law, 62,902 people across Michigan applied for a permit, 53,000 received one, 830 were denied, 55 were revoked and 9,072 were pending when the report was released last week. Overall, 53 concealed weapon permit holders were convicted of a crime in the first year of the law, the report said. The largest group, 11, were convicted of drunken driving, it said
Rod Collins, spokesman for the Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners, the group that pushed for the new law, said the group expected a low percentage of criminal charges among permit holders. "It tells people that the fears expected by some of the groups ... did not come true," he said. "It just shows we were right all along."
Carolynne Jarvis of the Michigan Partnership to Prevent Gun Violence, the group that challenged the law, said she doesn't feel safe knowing that 92 concealed weapon permit holders were charged with a crime in the law's first year. "Criminals don't say they will stop being criminals because there are more people who might be armed," she said. "They say, I need to be armed.' It's always more and not less." (My 2¢: So why not call for the police to disarm, then the criminals would not have a reason to carry any guns?)

HCI's newest alert.

     Call Today: Tell The House Of Representatives To Reject The Gun Lobby's Attack On Gun Violence Victims
     Next week, the U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to VOTE on legislation, sponsored by the NRA gun lobby (H.R. 2037 and H.R. 123), that would prevent gun violence victims from seeking justice in our nation's courts and give special legal immunity to the gun industry.
      We need your help to defeat this outrageous bill in the House. Please call your House Representative and the House Leadership TODAY and tell them to oppose all attempts to strip gun violence victims of their legal rights!
      Call Your House Representative
      Call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at: (202) 225-3121. Tell them your zip code and ask to be connected to your Representative.
     Call the House Leadership
      Call Majority Leader Dennis Hastert at (202) 225-2976. AND Call Minority Leader Dick Gephardt at (202) 225-2671.
      What to tell them "I oppose all attempts to strip gun violence victims of their legal rights. I urge you to oppose HR 2037 and HR 123 or any other version of these bills."
      The House of Representatives needs to know that we are watching them and that we will not idly stand by as they do the bidding of the NRA gun lobby. Please call today.
     Background on the Legislation
     HR 2037 and HR 123 are different versions of legislation that would give special legal immunity to the gun industry. These bills are gaining momentum in the House of Representatives. Earlier this month, the Energy and Commerce Committee passed an amended version of HR 2037, Representative Stearns' bill, while the Judiciary Committee passed a modified version of HR 123, Representative Bob Barr's bill. The bills are slightly different, but the end result would be the same: gun violence victims would be prevented from holding the gun industry accountable in our courts, and gun manufacturers, sellers, and even gun trade associations would get special legal protection unlike any other American industry. This is an outrage!      Please call or write today, and pass this message along to your friends, family and colleagues so that they too can take a stand against the NRA!   "Thumbs up to all of you for your generous support! Together, we will build a safer America." - Jim "The BEAR" Brady October 7, 2002

Rep. Mink,(D) Hawaii, death 2 days after deadline causes extra elections in Hawaii.
10/3/02 ROLL CALL, By Ben Pershing

     In a span of two months, voters in Hawaii's 2nd district could go to the polls three times to choose from three completely different slates of candidates to fill the seat of deceased Rep. Patsy Mink (D). The 74-year-old lawmaker died Saturday following a month long hospitalization for viral pneumonia brought on by a bout with chickenpox.       Because Mink passed away two days after the deadline for state Democrats to substitute another candidate, her name will appear on the Nov. 5 ballot along with that of the Republican nominee, state Rep. Bob McDermott.   Hawaii Democrats have suggested that voters cast their ballots for Mink as a "tribute" to her long service. If she garners the most votes, a Jan. 4 special election will be held to fill the seat in the 108th Congress.   But regardless of whether Mink or McDermott wins Nov. 5, another special election will take place Nov. 30 just to select someone to represent the district through the end of the 107th Congress, even if the House has already adjourned. And because of the current set of competitive statewide races and some overlapping filing deadlines, the candidates for each of the two special elections likely won't be determined until the results of the previous contests are known.
      Hawaii politicians were hesitant to talk about campaigning this week until Mink's funeral, which is Friday.   But if the January special occurs, political observers expect that candidates who lose in November will jump on the ballot. Current lieutenant governor candidate Matt Matsunaga (D), the son of former Hawaii Sen. Spark Matsunaga (D), could make the race, as could the loser in the gubernatorial contest between Linda Lingle (R) and Mazie Hirono (D). Lingle is currently ahead in the polls, but the race will likely go down to the wire. One thing that is clear is that Democrats expect Mink to win Nov. 5 despite McDermott's presence on the ballot.   McDermott was in Washington this week on a previously scheduled trip to raise money and awareness for what had been considered a long-shot campaign.
      McDermott has expressed confidence that he can win and has suggested that Democrats are being crass and disrespectful when they ask Hawaiians to pay tribute to Mink by voting for her. Democrats, in turn, privately allege that it is McDermott who is being crass and opportunistic.   They leveled similar charges at him during Mink's hospitalization, when her family and staff declined to release information about her health and he complained that voters had the right to know her condition.
      Though he has raised less than $100,000 so far, McDermott believes that the exposure he has gotten in recent days in the local press could boost his candidacy. It is not clear whether Republicans in Hawaii and Washington really believe that he is viable and whether they would back him if he lost Nov. 5 and chose to run again in January.   Hawaii is one of the most Democratic states in the nation. Mink won her last race by 26 points, and then Vice President Al Gore (D) took the 2nd district by 20 points in 2000.
      If Mink wins on Nov. 5, the ballot for the Nov. 30 and Jan. 4 special elections will likely not feature the same names. The filing deadline for the Nov. 30 election is Oct. 15, meaning that all of the candidates now running statewide would be unlikely to file before they know the outcomes of their current races.   Further complicating matters, filing for either of the specials requires only a small number of signatures. There is no primary and a plurality of votes wins, meaning that both races could attract a large number of candidates.
      "The Democratic bench in Hawaii is so much deeper than the Republican bench that you could have eight Democrats and one or two Republicans and that could make it very, very close," said a Democrat involved in state politics.   In addition to Matsunaga, Lingle and Hirono, several other names have been floated in Hawaii as possible January candidates.   They include former gubernatorial candidate Ed Case (D), ex-Gov. John Waihee (D), Dalton Tanonaka, who lost the Republican primary for lieutenant governor this year, and Russ Francis (R), who lost to Mink in 2000.   John Mink, Patsy Mink's husband, could also choose to run in either late-November or January, though he has said nothing publicly about whether he is interested.
      The winner of the Nov. 30 special election would not be the first Hawaii lawmaker to serve such a short tenure. Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D) held the 1st district for a similarly brief amount of time in 1986 after an even more complicated set of elections.    That year, Rep. Cecil Heftel (D) left the House to run for governor.   A special election was called in September to fill his seat until the winner of the general election could take office in January. And to further complicate matters, the September special was held on the same day as the already scheduled primary.
      Abercrombie, then a state Senator, won the special election with 30 percent of the vote, beating out Patricia Saiki (R) at 29 percent and Mufi Hannemann (D) at 28 percent.   But Hannemann beat Abercrombie in the Democratic primary on the same day.    So Abercrombie served for just three and a half months before handing the seat over to Saiki, who had trounced Hannemann in the November general election. Abercrombie won the seat back in 1990 when Saiki ran for Senate.   She lost that race to then-Rep. Daniel Akaka (D).

Gun Strategists Are Watching Brooklyn Case
By WILLIAM GLABERSON - NY Times
NY Sportsmen Alert

     A Brooklyn lawsuit has become a pivotal test that could affect civil suits against the gun industry nationally because the plaintiffs have, for the first time, obtained comprehensive government information tracing gun sales. The information given to the plaintiffs' lawyers in the Brooklyn case by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms includes the sales history of guns used in crimes. Critics of the gun industry have long sought the information to try to fill what some courts have said has been missing from their cases: evidence that manufacturers knew how their guns were channeled toward illegal uses and an indication that they could have stopped the trafficking.   From coast to coast, a contention of many of the nearly 30 suits against the gun industry is that some manufacturers' handguns are used in crimes so frequently that their sales strategies amount to a violation of the public's right to safety and peace. Experts on liability law and the firearms industry say the information tracing gun sales may give the plaintiffs their best chance at trying to prove what they say is a "hear no evil, see no evil" policy by gun makers toward the distribution of their products. The information, gathered by the bureau when it traces guns at the request of law enforcement officials, shows the path of guns from manufacturers to specific wholesalers and retailers and then, in many instances, to shootings. "The trace data is the Rosetta stone of following gun crime," said Jim Kessler, policy director of Americans for Gun Safety, a group that supports gun rights and stronger laws to limit improper uses of firearms. The federal government has long resisted release of the information, saying it could be harmful to each of more than one million criminal investigations reflected in the database. The Justice Department is now asking the United States Supreme Court to review a ruling in a Chicago case that would release the same information under the Freedom of Information Act.
      On Sept. 27, after an agreement in United States District Court in Brooklyn, the government turned over the information to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which filed a suit against the gun industry in 1999. In a court hearing yesterday, lawyers agreed to begin the trial in February or March. Lawyers for the firearms bureau declined to comment on why they agreed to release the information. But lawyers involved in the case said the judge, Jack B. Weinstein, had indicated that he was likely to give the information to the plaintiffs as part of their discovery request.    The bureau then made its unusual deal to provide the information, but insisted on a court order requiring that no identifying details be released, even during testimony in the case.
      Lawyers for the gun industry said the data would not establish any liability because it could show only that manufacturers and their distributors sell a legal product through legal means. "What the plaintiffs are trying to do is bootstrap a case out of a misuse of data," said James P. Dorr, a Chicago lawyer who represents Sturm, Ruger & Company, one of the country's largest gun makers.   But as word spread of the agreement by the bureau to provide the information in recent days, many experts said the legal battle could be a watershed for the lawsuits against the gun industry. Anthony J. Sebok, a professor at Brooklyn Law School who has written about the gun cases, said the new information could build a devastating case against the gun industry. But he also said that if the plaintiffs fail in the Brooklyn case, that could be a setback for all the lawsuits across the country. "It could end the campaign to use litigation as a method of achieving gun control," he said.
      Elisa Barnes, the chief lawyer for the N.A.A.C.P. in the Brooklyn case, said the 11 years of gun-sales data she obtained from the federal government is being analyzed by experts on marketing, the gun industry and statistics who are working with her on the case. In filing the suit in 1999, the N.A.A.C.P. said its goal was "to protect the well-being and security of its membership, which has been disproportionately injured" by illegal handguns.   Some incomplete and dated information from the firearms agency has been available in the past, but Ms. Barnes said she expected the most useful material will be from newly released gun-tracing records from 1996 to 2000. Critics of the gun industry say it may be a gold mine, because more and more thorough investigations of gun sales are believed to have taken place during that period than ever. Ms. Barnes acknowledged that the turn in her case presented a test for the strategy of taking on the gun industry in court. "I think it is the one important moment in this type of litigation," she said.
      Ms. Barnes was the chief lawyer in the only case against the gun industry as a whole that ended with a verdict for the plaintiffs. That case, also before Judge Weinstein, ended in February 1999, with a finding that nine gun manufacturers were liable for shootings in the New York City region. That verdict was overturned in an unusual appeal that went to New York State's highest court, the Court of Appeals, because the federal court was interpreting state personal-injury law. In its opinion, that court said Ms. Barnes's 1999 case failed, but some lawyers said the decision left the door open to another case with more solid evidence connecting the gun industry to the distribution of guns used in crimes. Liability, the court said, "should not be imposed without a more tangible showing that defendants were a direct link in the causal chain." Ms. Barnes said the new case will provide that tangible evidence. But lawyers for the 165 gun makers and distributors named as defendants have said that her arguments are flawed.
      Timothy A. Bumann, a lawyer for a half dozen of the companies, said one weak point is Ms. Barnes's claim that the firearms bureau's data will prove that manufacturers whose guns regularly end up in illegal uses had a reason to know how that occurs. Mr. Bumann said the fact that the bureau keeps its information confidential would undercut any argument Ms. Barnes makes to the jury. "If it's never seen the light of day before," he said, "how are the defendants supposed to have reacted to it?"  Critics of the gun industry have long argued that manufacturers know how many of their guns are traced by the bureau, because the bureau contacts the manufacturer to begin each trace.
      Ms. Barnes made several strategic decisions that make the current case different from her 1999 case.   Instead of seeking damages for the families of gun victims, for example, the current case seeks an injunction that would establish new restrictions on the marketing and distribution of handguns. Although the trial is expected to include a great deal of evidence about statistical and marketing issues, Ms. Barnes said she would call some members of the N.A.A.C.P. who could testify about the legacy of gun violence. One of them is scheduled to be Gladys Gerena, whose 16-year-old son, Shaun, went to the store one day in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to buy a sandwich and never came home. Neither the gun nor the man who shot him to death on Sept. 1, 1995, has been found.   In an interview, Ms. Gerena said she was taking part in the suit to try to establish some accountability. "I don't think anybody should make money from people dying," she said, "and they're dying because of these illegal guns on the street."

National Carry Bill, HR950, to be introduced.

A very important bill is about to be introduced in the Senate and the U.S. House. It could well affect security for you, the reader. Called HR950 (The Safe Act) Secure Access to Firearms Enhancement Act of 2001, it would allow thousands of pre-screened, concealed-weapons gun owners to pack across all 50 states, instead of being restricted to a general area. Terrorists and other cowards are less likely to commit a crime when they don't know who's armed. Call your congressman, and support Gun Owners of America at www.gunowners.org to pass this bill.

Times Herald-Record	ALBANY, NY TIMES UNION	Newspaperlinks.com
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