Brett Bellmore
New member
I ran across this column while doing a search; Anybody heard anything about this?
CIA-NCBH Connection?
By NEAL KNOX
Washington, D.C. (Dec. 19) -- The curious connection between
President Nixon's CIA and the two leading anti-gun organizations,
reported in my new "Guns & Ammo" column, has caused an uneasy stir
among the CIA-hating hard left.
Particularly in the Nixon years, the left was convinced that
the CIA was trying to take over the country. In October 1973, when
President Nixon ordered the "Watergate" special prosecutor fired,
an almost hysterical acquaintance told me Nixon was ready to
mobilize the CIA and Army and declare himself dictator.
Even if the President had such notions, and I never thought
he did, American citizens would not have tolerated an overthrow of
the Constitution, and were adequately armed to make such a coup
impossible -- which is exactly what the framers of the Bill of
Rights had in mind when they guaranteed the Second Amendment right
to keep and bear arms.
But just for the sake of discussion, if someone within the
White House or the CIA had given serious thought to a "bloodless
coup," and been thwarted by the existence of an armed populace,
would they perhaps have tried to do something about removing that
roadblock?
However we might speculate upon that question, the fact is
that during the next few months both of the leading anti-gun
organizations were formed -- and a principle player in the
formation of both was one Edwin O. Welles, who had just "retired"
from the CIA.
As noted in Handgun Control Inc. Chairman Nelson Shields'
book, ex-CIA agent Welles was the first chairman of the National
Council to Control Handguns (later renamed HCI).
Further, according to Rev. Jack Corbett, who founded the
National Coalition to Ban Handguns under the auspices of the United
Methodist Church, Welles was a "guiding light" to NCBH -- an
ostensibly competing organization.
During 1974 (the year both groups were formed) I had several
telephone conversations/debates with Dr. Corbett. Once when he was
stymied by my recitation of facts that refuted his anti-gun
arguments, Corbett handed the phone to Welles -- to my utter
astonishment.
What particularly puzzled me about that conversation is that
ex-CIA Agent Welles didn't seem the sort of zealot that would help
form not one but two anti-gun organizations. Years later I
learned, through a mutual acquaintance, that at the time he started
HCI and helped form NCBH he owned two handguns (which he supposedly
buried in his back yard) and a Sharps-Borchardt rifle.
What brought this puzzle to mind was a fundraiser for NCBH
hosted at his Georgetown home last September by the man President
Nixon appointed as CIA Director, William Colby.
The "Liberals" love the NCBH about as much as they hate the
CIA, so the linkage of the two caused some puzzlement around
Washington.
Colby told a "Washington Post" gossip columnist that he had been
"quietly working with NCBH for the past several years," and that
he had "learned of the dangers of handguns during his years at the
CIA" -- from September 4, 1973 to January 30, 1976.
---
------------------
Sic semper tyranus!
CIA-NCBH Connection?
By NEAL KNOX
Washington, D.C. (Dec. 19) -- The curious connection between
President Nixon's CIA and the two leading anti-gun organizations,
reported in my new "Guns & Ammo" column, has caused an uneasy stir
among the CIA-hating hard left.
Particularly in the Nixon years, the left was convinced that
the CIA was trying to take over the country. In October 1973, when
President Nixon ordered the "Watergate" special prosecutor fired,
an almost hysterical acquaintance told me Nixon was ready to
mobilize the CIA and Army and declare himself dictator.
Even if the President had such notions, and I never thought
he did, American citizens would not have tolerated an overthrow of
the Constitution, and were adequately armed to make such a coup
impossible -- which is exactly what the framers of the Bill of
Rights had in mind when they guaranteed the Second Amendment right
to keep and bear arms.
But just for the sake of discussion, if someone within the
White House or the CIA had given serious thought to a "bloodless
coup," and been thwarted by the existence of an armed populace,
would they perhaps have tried to do something about removing that
roadblock?
However we might speculate upon that question, the fact is
that during the next few months both of the leading anti-gun
organizations were formed -- and a principle player in the
formation of both was one Edwin O. Welles, who had just "retired"
from the CIA.
As noted in Handgun Control Inc. Chairman Nelson Shields'
book, ex-CIA agent Welles was the first chairman of the National
Council to Control Handguns (later renamed HCI).
Further, according to Rev. Jack Corbett, who founded the
National Coalition to Ban Handguns under the auspices of the United
Methodist Church, Welles was a "guiding light" to NCBH -- an
ostensibly competing organization.
During 1974 (the year both groups were formed) I had several
telephone conversations/debates with Dr. Corbett. Once when he was
stymied by my recitation of facts that refuted his anti-gun
arguments, Corbett handed the phone to Welles -- to my utter
astonishment.
What particularly puzzled me about that conversation is that
ex-CIA Agent Welles didn't seem the sort of zealot that would help
form not one but two anti-gun organizations. Years later I
learned, through a mutual acquaintance, that at the time he started
HCI and helped form NCBH he owned two handguns (which he supposedly
buried in his back yard) and a Sharps-Borchardt rifle.
What brought this puzzle to mind was a fundraiser for NCBH
hosted at his Georgetown home last September by the man President
Nixon appointed as CIA Director, William Colby.
The "Liberals" love the NCBH about as much as they hate the
CIA, so the linkage of the two caused some puzzlement around
Washington.
Colby told a "Washington Post" gossip columnist that he had been
"quietly working with NCBH for the past several years," and that
he had "learned of the dangers of handguns during his years at the
CIA" -- from September 4, 1973 to January 30, 1976.
---
------------------
Sic semper tyranus!