The following letter of mine was published in an anti-gun newspaper. Yes, it can be done:
Quote:
The letter by [deleted] demanding more gun control [Gazette, June 24] is a nice example of spin. She claims that enforcement of gun laws has become more strict in the Clinton administration. But, like all apologists for Mr. Clinton, she cannot quite tell the truth. The very USA Today study she cites to prove the law enforcement prowess of the administration really proves both that the administration has been lying and that prosecution is laughable.
The administration says 250,000 "violent felons" have been prevented from buying guns in the years 1994 through 1998. But the study found that only 832 of those have been convicted of the crime of lying on the federal form that gun buyers must fill out. Why so few? We know that Mr. Clinton would never be so crass as to want an issue, not a reduction in crime, and we surely know that Mr. Clinton abhors a lie.
But federal prosecutors say that many of those supposed 250,000 are people whose "crimes" were non-violent, minor, and committed long ago and long forgotten. U.S. Attorneys, sensibly, would not try to bring such silliness into court. Many more were rejected due to similar names, incorrect information, or arrests without conviction, but were later approved. They, too, are included in the magic 250,000 as "violent felons." One case USA Today mentions in which there was no prosecution was that of a black man convicted 40 years ago, under a Jim Crow law, of possessing obscene playing cards. How many of those 250,000 had been convicted of similar "crimes"?
Are these the "violent felons" Mr. Clinton brags have been denied guns? Are these the people who are dangerous to our society? If lying about such innocuous "crimes" will not be prosecuted, let's change the law to apply to only the truly dangerous. Of course the gun control gang could never accept that. On the contrary, they now propose to deny possession of guns to anyone who ever received a traffic citation or was guilty of overtime parking. This nonsense is designed, they say, to "reduce the gun culture". And create even more "violent felons."
Unquote
(Note - not part of original letter. In a letter to the Washington Post this morning, Eric Holder has raised the figure to 400,000 violent felons. The rejection rate will soon pass the population of the world!)
Jim
Quote:
The letter by [deleted] demanding more gun control [Gazette, June 24] is a nice example of spin. She claims that enforcement of gun laws has become more strict in the Clinton administration. But, like all apologists for Mr. Clinton, she cannot quite tell the truth. The very USA Today study she cites to prove the law enforcement prowess of the administration really proves both that the administration has been lying and that prosecution is laughable.
The administration says 250,000 "violent felons" have been prevented from buying guns in the years 1994 through 1998. But the study found that only 832 of those have been convicted of the crime of lying on the federal form that gun buyers must fill out. Why so few? We know that Mr. Clinton would never be so crass as to want an issue, not a reduction in crime, and we surely know that Mr. Clinton abhors a lie.
But federal prosecutors say that many of those supposed 250,000 are people whose "crimes" were non-violent, minor, and committed long ago and long forgotten. U.S. Attorneys, sensibly, would not try to bring such silliness into court. Many more were rejected due to similar names, incorrect information, or arrests without conviction, but were later approved. They, too, are included in the magic 250,000 as "violent felons." One case USA Today mentions in which there was no prosecution was that of a black man convicted 40 years ago, under a Jim Crow law, of possessing obscene playing cards. How many of those 250,000 had been convicted of similar "crimes"?
Are these the "violent felons" Mr. Clinton brags have been denied guns? Are these the people who are dangerous to our society? If lying about such innocuous "crimes" will not be prosecuted, let's change the law to apply to only the truly dangerous. Of course the gun control gang could never accept that. On the contrary, they now propose to deny possession of guns to anyone who ever received a traffic citation or was guilty of overtime parking. This nonsense is designed, they say, to "reduce the gun culture". And create even more "violent felons."
Unquote
(Note - not part of original letter. In a letter to the Washington Post this morning, Eric Holder has raised the figure to 400,000 violent felons. The rejection rate will soon pass the population of the world!)
Jim