

THE INSIDE STORY ON LEGISLATION THAT AFFECTS YOUR FIREARMS OWNERSHIP

     >The anti-gun forces still haven't revealed where-or what-they will strike
first.  The only thing we know for sure is that when the attack comes it will
be in waves, and on all flanks.  More than three dozen gun bills are pending,
ranging from an unadorned waiting period on handguns, to registration of all
firearms, to prohibitions on purchase of certain semi-autos, to bans on
posession of most semi-autos, to an outright ban on posession of any hand-
gun, to repeal of the Constitution's guarantee of the right to keep and bear
arms-to affirmations of the Second Amendment and guarantees of the right to
self defense with firearms.

     >Sen. Howard Metzenbaum's (D-OH) version of the "Brady Bill,"s.414, is on
the Senate calendar; meaning it could be brought to a vote at any time under a 
rule that allows legislation to be considered without hearing (since most of
it passed the last session).  However, Metzenbaum seems to have backed away
from his plan for an early Senate vote, possibly at the urging of the White
House.  President Clinton's popularity is in a nosedive because he has already
too many divisive tax, economic and health care issues on his plate-plus pro-
motion of a "peacekeeping" war to which a young Clinton would have refused
to go.

     >In the House, a hearing on "interstate gun running" (translation: one-
gun-per-month purchase limits) has been pending in Rep. Charles Schumer's (D-
Crime Subcommittee for weeks, but nothing has been scheduled as this goes to 
press.  Schumer continues to talk about legislation requiring identification
"taggants" in explosives, initially or eventually including black powder used
by muzzle-loader shooters and smokeless propellants used by hand-loaders.
(Taggants are an obsolescent mid-1970s technology to "register" and "trace"
a minority of commercial explosives, but not military or homemade explosives
such as used in the New York Trade Center terrorist bombing.)
     >There has been absolutely no movement on H.R. 1025, Schumer's House 
version of the "Brady Bill."  The hangup, according to insiders, is the in-
ability of the still-unstaffed Clinton Justice Department to decide whether
to move the bill as stand-alone legislation as the left wing, including the 
WASHINGTON POST wants, or incorporate it into a new omnibus crime bill.  The
left is afraid that to pass additional gun laws, they would have to swallow a de
ath penalty bill (which is genarally supported by the opponents of "gun controt"
).  Those two divisive issues with opposite constituencies have been linked in
crime bills in the last two Congresses, with the result that nothing sig-
nificant has been enacted in either area.



     FOR MORE INFORMATION,  PICK UP YOUR LATEST ISSUE OF GUNS AND AMMO


We don't give a damn if you enjoy this quality file leeched from...

         E  X  T  R  E  M  E
      ------------+------------      Ŀ
                 /|\                                                   
                / | \                    Portland Metro All Text BBS   
               /  |  \                                                 
              /   |   \                      14400: 503.775.0374       
             /    |    \                       SysOp: Thing One        
            /     |     \                                              
           /      |      \           
            d r e a m e s

