ews.umbc.edu!cs.umd.edu!gun-control
Subject: charter for rec.guns
Date: 1 Feb 1996 11:11:06 -0500

CHARTER  [Last updated 12-1-95.]

The charter of rec.guns is:

  1.  To discuss shooting sports, reloading and other recreational
      activities involving firearms.

  2.  To discuss training and safety information involving firearms.

  3.  To discuss home and personal defense involving firearms.

  4.  To announce firearms and accessories to buy/sell/trade.
      Non-commercial only, please.

  5.  To discuss laws pertaining to firearms ownership and use.

  6.  To carry information and announcements concerning political and
      legislative activities.  The focus here is on information, not debate
      or interpretation, which is the primary forus of other newsgroups.
      Politically sensitive articles are best kept short and to the point
      with a minimum of rhetoric.  For example,

.   "Congress will vote on a bill to ban all firearm sales in the
.   United States, retroactive to last year.  This could be very
.   inconvenient.  It's bill #666, please call your congressdaemon."

  7.  To carry new-product announcements, product reviews, safety alerts
      and other consumer services of interest to firearm owners.


BRIEF GUIDE TO POSTING

If the focus of an article is ..... then we might suggest you post
more oriented to .......it over in ...

  politics/legislation debate..talk.politics.guns
  militia matters...misc.activism.militia
  survivalist matters...misc.survivalism
  hunting....rec.hunting
  knives, blades, sharp things..rec.knives
  guns you can't tote yourself..sci.military.moderated
  bows and arrows...rec.sport.archery
  misc other weapons...rec.martial-arts
  explosives/bombs...rec.pyrotechnics
  paintball....rec.sport.paintball
  jokes.....rec.humor
  picture files....alt.binaries.pictures.misc
  sound files....alt.binaries.sounds.misc
  interesting programs...comp.sources
  home security....misc.consumers.house
  interpreting uninterpretable laws.misc.legal
  discussing police procedures..alt.law-enforcement
  discussing stuff "in the news".alt.current-events.*

Please have care about how much net bandwidth you use up.  When responding
to a previous post, try not to include an entire copy of the old text unless
its really necessary.  Every bit of editing you do will help the readers get
your point more efficiently, and conserve on the aggregate supply of network
bits at the same time.  Similarly, we hope you'll not go overboard on large
signature files and images.  I will generally feel free to prune excessive
signatures at the end of messages, though I hope posters will keep them small
to start with.   Typically, we excise large PGP appendages as well, for the
same reason.

When posting a question about a particular firearm, you may wish to avoid
citing the entire serial number.  It would be a shame if someone "lost" a
firearm of that number, reported it to the police as such, and then "found"
it by accident on the net.  I'll generally mask out the low-order digits of
the number if I notice it on text going out.

Also concerning attempts to reach particular individuals through the whole
news group:  please don't do this except as a last resort.  We want to keep
our signal to noise ratio attractive to all readers.  As a standard practice,
I will not post these without first trying to forward via mail using my own
mailers (such as I have time!); so if you *do* send a post intended for the
eyes of only one individual, then at least send along the addresses you tried
so I don't have to bounce it back to you right away.

Also in the interests of making good use of our bandwidth:  mass postings, 
sent to many target news groups at once, are likely candidates for pruning.
I generally assume the topic is getting adequate coverage elsewhere on the
net, and just allow the post to drop, unless it is particularly relevent to
our group (generally they aren't.)  The same is true for reposts of messages
from other widely-accessible mailing lists.

Please don't send material that is subject to some copyright restriction.
We don't have the resources to go and check for permission to use such text,
and so can't use anything that could be identified as being protected in
some way.  We have to be able to assume that everything sent is free to be
posted and archived openly, and cannot take material where there is some
clue suggesting otherwise.

Finally, I generally do not accept anonymous posts.   This doesn't mean we
go looking for anonymous posters to kill the text, or even notice in some
cases.  But I assume that each poster is accepting some minimal responsibility
for his or her contribution, and not having a way for me (at least) to get 
back to a poster is a sign that the group can't either; in this case, I just 
let the post drop.

A WORD TO THE WISE

Rec.guns is a public forum.  Don't post anything that you wouldn't want
printed in the newspaper (an international one, at that.)  Remember that
this group is monitored by both law-making and law-enforcing bodies alike,
so please help us uphold high standards of quality, for information as well
as the way it is presented.  Rational argument and citation of fact will do
more to promote the positive aspects of shooting and shooters than the
vitriole from both sides commonly found in other gun-related groups.

FAQ

The FAQ for rec.guns contains info donated from volunteers on net who address
many issues concerning firearms (both technical and non-technical), such as
defensive use, safety information, manufacturer information, and reloading
data.  The list is long.  If you have a question about firearms, check the
FAQ first.  If your question isn't answered to your satisfaction by the FAQ,
the people in rec.guns will welcome your questions and be as helpful as
possible.  Note that the FAQ is immense and thus only a FAQ pointer is
posted regularly.  Check in the news.answers, rec.answers, and rec.guns
newsgroups for the rec.guns FAQ pointer, or use one of the following:
Via FTP: ftp to flubber.cs.umd.edu and get the file /rec/FAQ/FAQ1
Via WWW: connect to the URL http://www.teleport.com/~dputzolu/
The rec.guns FAQ maintainer is David Putzolu and may be contacted at
...dputzolu@teleport.com


MODERATION

My goal is to moderate in moderation, that is, unintrusively.  I hope to
post anything that falls within the charter of the group.  On occasion, I
will touch up the headers, formatting and "included" text of articles, but
prefer to avoid extensive hacking of the text.  On rarer occasions, I will
ask the poster to shorten an article that would be inconveniently long for
the forum; in such a case, I would suggest the poster send a short note to
announce where on the net a reader could find the main text body.  One of
the benefits of being moderator is of course that I get first crack at wise
cracks, so on what I hope are innocent occasions I may insert some piece of
direction, guidance, witicism or wisdom; in such a case, I always label my
contribution as MODERATOR.

The software I have written to assist in processing messages will excise
almost all but the essential NNTP fields; this is to keep things uniform for
the world and sane for me.  Apologies if you miss seeing your own favorite
frivolous field in the headers.

In some cases, valid header lines are sent in, but with bogus values.  This
usually causes the news system to hiccup, and requires that I manually edit
the header to correct the format problem.  (Classic example:  sysops who set
up their Message-Id: field to be something cute.)  In this case, I'll fix it
if I have time, otherwise the post will go out as-is (which is to say, it is
effectively dropped.)

I do not reject an article without returning it to the author with a brief
explanation of why it was rejected.  In such a case, I almost always give a
suggestion of alternate groups where it could be submitted.  Often I find
messages from `regulars' that need redirection; in these cases, where I have
an understanding worked out ahead of time, I will redirect the message to
another forum without checking with the poster first.  Finally, we often get
requests for very simple pieces of information, such as ``How do I apply for
membership in the NRA?''  I often answer these directly without using up the
net bandwidth of a full posting.  Other times I'll just send back a message
about how to access the FAQ.

If you submit an article but neither see it in the newsgroup nor receive an
acknowledgement, then either your article or my reply was lost in the Great 
Network Void.  Therefore, it's a good idea to keep a backup copy of any long 
article you submit.  Currently I am able to process most messages within hours 
of their arrival here, so wait a day or two (to give the net a chance to catch 
up) before sending a follow up query.  Whenever I know I will be tied up with 
meetings (or matches!)  then I will send out a message a day or so ahead of 
time warning of sporadic response.

Some emerging net providers aren't providing news posts in what we would
call a `timely fashion.'  Readers at the end of long news feeds should be
sure to check whether posts they are replying to are old (as in up to weeks
out of date); if so, then you might check well ahead for other replies
before you post your own.  Often we find that a thread has run it's natural
course and been history for quite some time, but then our bandwidth gets
used up as the poorer providers send out an old batch of posts for their
readers to rediscover and respond to anew.  Usually we'll let such threads
die if there doesn't appear to be much new in them.

A brief note on huge files.... please don't post them.  Our forum is gated
to many other subnets and mailers, and sysops graciously allow us the use
so long as they have a good idea of what kind of usage to expect from us
(which is to say "little".)  Huge files, such as come from uuencoded sound
or image files, or from useful programs, really louse up our arrangements.
Try posting it elsewhere on the net, or set up an ftp server, then post a
brief pointer to it here in our forum.  These seems to work the best.

Comments and suggestions for improvement are always welcome.


LEGAL MATTERS AND CAUTIONS

We are not lawyers here, and even if so then we could not know the laws of
all 50 states, let alone numerous countries.  Some items offered for sale
in this group may not be legal in certain jurisdictions.  Similarly, some
activities discussed here may be illegal in some jurisdictions (e.g.,
concealed carry of firearms).  It is the reader's responsibility to learn
the relevant laws before acting.  No one in this group, and certainly not
the moderator, can be responsible if you act illegally.  If in doubt,
contact a good attorney.

A similar disclaimer applies to firearms safety.  Be sure you understand
what you're doing before following any advice posted to this group.  THIS IS
ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT WHEN HANDLOADING AMMUNITION.  Though many knowledgeable
and experienced people post to this group, typographical errors do occur,
and your situation may not be identical to that described in the posting.
YOU have primary responsibility for your actions.  If in doubt, check with a
competent gunsmith.


ADDRESSES

Most news software should be set up to submit postings via email to
...gun-control@cs.umd.edu

`Out of band' communication and requests not for general distribution should
be sent to
...magnum@cs.umd.edu

A digestified version of rec.guns is sent out to those who may not have
regular access to the netnews version.  Send an out-of-band request to me if
you find yourself in such a situation and I will add you to this list.  But
please, please, please --- only use it if you cannot get rec.guns at your
own site!  My mailer is loaded enough as it is.

If you miss seeing your posts, then the first thing to do is check with your
sysops or news feeds to ensure that your news database is configured to send
to the above addresses.  In the mean time, you can just email to the first
address, just like news will do.  We'll figure it out.

Archives of previous rec.guns discussions are available on the Internet.
Using "ftp", login in as "anonymous" to "flubber.cs.umd.edu" (that is
128.8.128.99 on your Internet listening dial.)  Change do the "rec/" sub-
directory and grab what you like.  We also carry back reviews, databases,
programs and other materials donated by the net.  We are not responsibile
for the accuracy or value of this donated text, but we provide it to those
who may wish to have it.

An FTP archive with articles describing the gun legislation in some non-US 
countries is maintained by Holger Reusch.  The articles are available via 
anonymous FTP from          ftp.vmars.tuwien.ac.at (128.130.39.16) 
in the directory /pub/misc/guns/gunlaw.  The README file there contains 
additional information.  To contribute to this archive, or for more 
information, contact Holger at holger@vmars.tuwien.ac.at.

An IPSC (International Practical Shooting Confederation) mailing list
is maintained to discuss the sport of practical shooting, technical
issues (guns, gear, reloading); matches; USPSA policies & elections, etc.
For detailed info, including how to subscribe,  email the list maintainer 
Rob Boudrie at "owner-ipsc@ipsc@world.std.com"

The network now has a WWW homepage for the NRA --   http://ftp.nra.org/

The cdn-firearms mailing list was established as an efficient way for
distributing information to Canadians who own, or are interested in owning,
firearms and/or are interested in firearms legislation.  The purpose of the
list is to propagate information about laws, regulations, and other issues
affecting Canadian owners.  The list is moderated and discussions are
allowed; even encouraged, but flame bait and rhetoric of any kind are not
forwarded to the other subscribers.  The aim is two-fold:  1) to provide a
source of information of particular interest and relevance to Canadians, and
2) to avoid the bickering and arguments that are often seen elsewhere.
To subscribe to the cdn-firearms list, send the message
.subscribe cdn-firearms your_full_name_here
to
.listproc@skatter.usask.ca
For more information, send mail to "skeeter@skatter.usask.ca".

