The Article's link & about 1/2 way down for:
"Group blasts ACLU's "selective outrage"
Second Amendment activists have been cop targets for years
by Wayne Laugesen
Activists, newspapers and civil libertarians are outraged at recent revelations that the Denver Police Department keeps files on activists who primarily represent environmental and anti-war causes. The ACLU formally opposes the practice, and has spoken out against it as an infringement on the right to peaceably assemble as protected by the United States Constitution.
The outrage in response to the files is all a bit shocking to another group of activists who routinely picket, protest and peaceably assemble in defense of the Second Amendment.
For the past 18 months, pro-gun activists in Boulder County have complained to various parties-including the ACLU, local media organizations and the Mountain States Legal Foundation-about files kept on them by local police.
"For some reason, the ACLU is all upset to find out that police keep files on left-wing activists," says Steve Ziegenhagen, a Second Amendment activist from Fort Collins. "But they didn't seem to understand the significance of this when we were the ones targeted. That's because we're not politically correct. We're not the people they want to mention when they're bragging it up at their New York cocktail parties."
Gun activists learned that police were keeping files on them in March of 2000, during a Charlton Heston speech at the University of Colorado. Anti-gun activists lined one side of the street outside of Macky Auditorium, and pro-gun activists lined the other. Pro-gun activists reported that police seemed to know them by name. They later found that the Longmont Police Department had been keeping files on members of the Tyranny Response Team, a loosely-knit group of Second Amendment activists, and sharing the files with other agencies throughout the metro area.
At one assembly in Boulder, activist Alan Albertus was confronted by an officer who knew his wife's name and other personal details about his life. The files showed up in the hands of officers at other assemblies in Fort Collins, Longmont and Denver, says Ziegenhagen.
At two Million Mom March rallies in Denver, police used files gathered on the Second Amendment activists in order to segregate them into a special "Free Speech" zone. Ziegenhagen says ever since the "Free Speech" zones were established at Million Mom March functions, Second Amendment activists have been identified in crowds and segregated away from a variety of other public gatherings including the most recent visit of President Bush.
"We've been taped, and photographed and surveiled by cops in every way imaginable for the past two years," says Bob Glass, former chairman of the Tyranny Response Team. "It's blatant, and it's obvious, but nobody gave a **** when it was just us."
Critics say the situation calls to mind a quote by Martin Niemöller, the Lutheran minister who spent time in Dachau concentration camp for plotting to assassinate Hitler. It goes: "First, they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out for me."
Glass says a member of his group specifically asked for help from Barry Satlow, chairman of the Boulder County chapter of the ACLU.
"I don't remember talking to anyone about this," Satlow says.
Satlow says he would be concerned to hear about police keeping files on defenders of the Second Amendment-even though he doesn't believe the amendment was intended to protect individual gun ownership. Satlow, however, says people who carry guns may get less sympathy than peace activists for a reason.
"If the police were to say they were looking at something beyond peaceful activism, and trying to detect militia activity, then I think that's something we would want them to be doing," Satlow says. "If these are merely gun owners, who are exercising free speech to defend their beliefs, then it may be a concern." "
"Group blasts ACLU's "selective outrage"
Second Amendment activists have been cop targets for years
by Wayne Laugesen
Activists, newspapers and civil libertarians are outraged at recent revelations that the Denver Police Department keeps files on activists who primarily represent environmental and anti-war causes. The ACLU formally opposes the practice, and has spoken out against it as an infringement on the right to peaceably assemble as protected by the United States Constitution.
The outrage in response to the files is all a bit shocking to another group of activists who routinely picket, protest and peaceably assemble in defense of the Second Amendment.
For the past 18 months, pro-gun activists in Boulder County have complained to various parties-including the ACLU, local media organizations and the Mountain States Legal Foundation-about files kept on them by local police.
"For some reason, the ACLU is all upset to find out that police keep files on left-wing activists," says Steve Ziegenhagen, a Second Amendment activist from Fort Collins. "But they didn't seem to understand the significance of this when we were the ones targeted. That's because we're not politically correct. We're not the people they want to mention when they're bragging it up at their New York cocktail parties."
Gun activists learned that police were keeping files on them in March of 2000, during a Charlton Heston speech at the University of Colorado. Anti-gun activists lined one side of the street outside of Macky Auditorium, and pro-gun activists lined the other. Pro-gun activists reported that police seemed to know them by name. They later found that the Longmont Police Department had been keeping files on members of the Tyranny Response Team, a loosely-knit group of Second Amendment activists, and sharing the files with other agencies throughout the metro area.
At one assembly in Boulder, activist Alan Albertus was confronted by an officer who knew his wife's name and other personal details about his life. The files showed up in the hands of officers at other assemblies in Fort Collins, Longmont and Denver, says Ziegenhagen.
At two Million Mom March rallies in Denver, police used files gathered on the Second Amendment activists in order to segregate them into a special "Free Speech" zone. Ziegenhagen says ever since the "Free Speech" zones were established at Million Mom March functions, Second Amendment activists have been identified in crowds and segregated away from a variety of other public gatherings including the most recent visit of President Bush.
"We've been taped, and photographed and surveiled by cops in every way imaginable for the past two years," says Bob Glass, former chairman of the Tyranny Response Team. "It's blatant, and it's obvious, but nobody gave a **** when it was just us."
Critics say the situation calls to mind a quote by Martin Niemöller, the Lutheran minister who spent time in Dachau concentration camp for plotting to assassinate Hitler. It goes: "First, they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out for me."
Glass says a member of his group specifically asked for help from Barry Satlow, chairman of the Boulder County chapter of the ACLU.
"I don't remember talking to anyone about this," Satlow says.
Satlow says he would be concerned to hear about police keeping files on defenders of the Second Amendment-even though he doesn't believe the amendment was intended to protect individual gun ownership. Satlow, however, says people who carry guns may get less sympathy than peace activists for a reason.
"If the police were to say they were looking at something beyond peaceful activism, and trying to detect militia activity, then I think that's something we would want them to be doing," Satlow says. "If these are merely gun owners, who are exercising free speech to defend their beliefs, then it may be a concern." "
). What I do not understand is how they gloss over the gun-control issue ("if we can regulate cars we can regulate guns" is a near-direct quote from their site). Their logic does not pass the laugh test in this area. Lessee..."you have a right to free speech, provided you obtain a permit, don't say certain things, don't use words that are too big, and don't raise your voice." Would they be ok with those restrictions? Methinks no. And that enumerated right is just one heading up in the Bill of Rights.