Let's pretend the registries are not illegal

08/19/01


The government established a registry of weapons owned by private citizens, so the government would know where to seize the weapons if that became necessary.

It became necessary when the people began to resist what the government wanted to do, so authorities were sent to confiscate their weapons. (Thanks to the registry, the authorities knew right where to find them.) The authorities did not prevail, however, because they did not have the overwhelming advantages enjoyed by government today.

That confrontation became known as the Battles of Lexington and Concord and the shots fired at British troops attempting to confiscate the guns of colonials were the opening shots of the American Revolution.

America began, as a nation, on the issue of gun control.

It was specifically because of that conflict that the Founding Fathers made sure no law-abiding American could be deprived of the right to bear arms. They made it the second item in the Bill of Rights, right after establishing the freedom of religion, assembly, speech and the press. As many of the Founding Fathers said at the time, the main purpose of the Second Amendment was to guarantee that citizens, individually or in groups, could protect themselves against any possibility of tyranny by government.

Although some people believe the wording of the Second Amendment is ambiguous, it clearly was not to protect the rights of the National Guard or other forces of government, as claimed by gun control nuts.

The Pennsylvania Constitution is even more explicit. "The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the state shall not be questioned," it says, unambiguously.

King George III, the tyrant who imposed gun registries in 1775, has been replaced by the state police here in the birthplace of America's Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

The issue of gun registries maintained by the state police has been around for many years, but it seems to be coming to a head this year.

In January, ruling in a lawsuit brought by the Lehigh Valley Firearms Coalition and others, Commonwealth Court Judge James Kelley refused to interfere with the registry, despite ample proof it is illegal. He apparently bought the state police semantic argument that a registry is not a registry at all. Aw shucks, it's just a "record-of-sale database."

The debate took another turn last week, when it was reported that the FBI told the state police their registries, or whatever, are illegal.

An Associated Press story said an FBI audit found the state police registries raised "areas of concern."

Cont

The audit found violations of a state law that says records of gun ownership must be destroyed 72 hours after criminal and mental health checks, and violations of federal law, which has a 180-day limit.

"We do not believe the record-of-sale database is a violation of either state or federal law," state police spokesman Jack Lewis was quoted as saying. He said the state police will continue to maintain the records.

Also, the AP said, the state police say the 72-hour requirement applies only to long guns, not to handguns.

The other day, when I got back from vacation, I looked at a letter sent to the state police by FBI official Ralph Sieg. It cites four types of illegal activity by the state police, but let's look at just one.

Sieg's letter quotes a state law as referring to "possessing a firearm," with no mention of long guns, and says data on firearm sales by state police "shall be destroyed within 72 hours of the completion of the criminal history, [etc.] background check." The letter also cites the federal law's 180-day limit on such registries.

"This practice must cease immediately," Sieg's June 15 letter says.

So it seems Pennsylvania's most eminent law enforcement establishment is telling all the kiddies that it is all right to commit illegal acts, as long as we pretend they are legal.


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Columnist Paul Carpenter

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Ha Ha! BUSTED!

Kharn