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Sen. Rand Paul Seeks Gun Exemption in so-called Patriot Act Legislation

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Dan W:
Gun Owners of America  Sen. Rand Paul Seeks Gun Exemption
in so-called Patriot Act Legislation    The House and Senate Republican and Democratic leadership have reached a “deal” on extending three expiring provisions of post-9/11 legislation for four years. Following a procedural vote on Monday night, the real battle begins on the bill.
 
Gun Owners of America worked with Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) on legislation to exempt 4473’s (the form all buyers fill out when a gun is purchased from a licensed dealer) from that statute’s broad provisions. Sen. Paul will offer that amendment this week, assuming Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is not able to block the amendment from being offered.
 
 Here’s a major concern: Assume the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) goes to the “secret court” (the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or “FISA” court) and argues, without anyone else in the room, that ALL 4473’s should be seized as “business records” because they are relevant to a terrorism investigation.
 
 Can it do that? It’s certainly a big enough danger to warrant our concern and that of Sen. Paul.
 
 In 1986, Congress enacted the McClure-Volkmer Firearms Owners Protection Act to limit BATFE access to 4473’s and other gun records. Such records can only be viewed as part of a “bona fide criminal investigation,” in connection with a trace, or pursuant to an annual inspection.
 
 But under McClure-Volkmer, the BATFE clearly could not seize every 4473 in the country because of a generalized terrorism investigation.
 
 The Paul amendment would make it clear that McClure-Volkmer is still applicable law and was not overturned by 9/11 legislation.
 
ACTION: Click here to contact your two Senators. Ask them to support the Paul amendment and to oppose any effort to invoke cloture (shut off debate) on the bill in order to make the Paul amendment out of order. 

KGillen:
I've supported his father for a long whike, and I now support him. Way to go!

SeanN:
Sent. Thanks for looking at this for us.

Dan W:
Gun Owners of America
We’re Making Progress on Exempting 4473’S From Blanket Government Demands Under 9/11 Bill

Yesterday, we wrote to you about Senator Rand Paul’s amendment to exempt 4473’s and other gun records from the blanket information demands which the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) can make under 9/11 legislation. An extension of three provisions of that legislation is currently pending on the Senate floor.

Without the exemption, it is possible that BATFE could go to a secret court, and, in a one-party (ex parte) proceeding, obtain an order to produce every 4473 in the country, ostensibly because a “terrorism investigation” requires it.

This is unacceptable. It is a violation of gun owner protections enacted in 1986 as part of the McClure-Volkmer Firearms Owners Protection Act. Not surprisingly, BATFE is already trying to violate McClure-Volkmer in its new proposed rules to require reporting of multiple semi-auto sales -– and to compile a gun registry from those reports.

Senate insiders report that Sen. Paul’s “gun issue” is the single remaining hang-up on the reauthorization. Not surprisingly, anti-gun Democrats running for reelection do not want to vote on this.

But YOU cannot allow them to escape accountability.

ACTION: Call your Senators. Tell them that you insist on a vote on the Rand Paul gun amendment to the 9/11 bill currently pending on the Senate floor.

 

Dan W:
Harry Reid Employs Sleazy Tactics to Block Pro-gun Rand Paul amendment  He’s at it again.  Senator Harry Reid is abusing his role as Majority Leader of the Senate to block a pro-gun amendment that Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is attempting to add to the so-called Patriot Act.   We alerted you yesterday to Rand Paul’s amendment that would exempt 4473’s (the form all purchasers fill out when they buy a firearm from a licensed dealer) and other gun records from the blanket information demands which the ATF can make under the 9/11 legislation.   In order to circumvent Sen. Paul’s efforts to protect gun rights, Reid scuttled the Senate version of the 9/11 extension and instead tacked it onto an unrelated House-passed small business bill.  He then employed a procedural scheme to lock out ALL Republican amendments, including Paul’s pro-gun amendment.   Please click here to read the full story and to contact your Senators in support of Rand Paul's amendment to protect gun records.

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