-
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. (http://capwiz.com/gunowners/issues/alert/?alertid=47806511) 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.
-
I've supported his father for a long whike, and I now support him. Way to go!
-
Sent. Thanks for looking at this for us.
-
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.
-
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. (http://gunowners.org/a05252011.htm)
-
And to think the NRA started out backing Harry Reid last fall!
-
Personally, I am a little concerned about Rand Paul. Interestingly he voted with the Senate RINOs yesterday against Paul Ryan's Medicare Reform portion of the proposed budget. Yes, not gun-related, but still concering being voting with whom he did.....
-
IT's NOT ABOUT RAND PAUL geeez
-
Well today Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson voted to table the ammendment.
-
With Only Hours to Spare, Senate Passes Extension of Patriot Act Provisions, Sends to House
http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2011/05/with-only-hours-to-spare-senate-passes-extension-of-patriot-act-provisions-sends-to-house.html (http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2011/05/with-only-hours-to-spare-senate-passes-extension-of-patriot-act-provisions-sends-to-house.html)
The vote came after Senate leaders reached an agreement with Sen. Rand Paul, R-KY. The agreement stipulated that a final vote on passage of the Patriot Act extension could occur if the Senate also voted on two amendments offered by Paul.
One of his amendments sought to clarify that the authority to obtain info under the Patriot Act did not include the authority to obtain certain gun records....
Ultimately, both of Paul’s amendments failed to advance in the Senate.
:angry:
-
At least he tried, nobody else seems to give a crap. :angry:
-
Well today Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson voted to table the ammendment.
So did Sen. Johanns.
-
Personally, I am a little concerned about Rand Paul. Interestingly he voted with the Senate RINOs yesterday against Paul Ryan's Medicare Reform portion of the proposed budget. Yes, not gun-related, but still concering being voting with whom he did.....
Sorry to Dan W but just my two cents. Rand said "No" because the budget plan being voted on still raises the deficit...he votes alot like his father, on principle. You may see a questionable vote, but I see someone standing firmly on his principles, popular or not. He isn't compromising, he wasn't sent there for compromise, he was sent to affect change.
-
Personally, I am a little concerned about Rand Paul. Interestingly he voted with the Senate RINOs yesterday against Paul Ryan's Medicare Reform portion of the proposed budget. Yes, not gun-related, but still concering being voting with whom he did.....
Good for him, I'm starting to like him. He's right about the so-called patriot act also. I'm not voting for ANYONE who wants to take away my medicare in a few years.... And I don't give a damn what party they are affiliated with.
-
Dan W....you may choose not to allow this post and I understand, but I will refrain from being too ugly about Clint's entitlement mentality...."my Medicare" other than your welcome from a BIG tax payer. God Bless you and good luck for putting your trust in the Gov for your healthcare. As a doctor who deals with this crap day in day out....I am certainly not planning on such, but I digress.
Dan W... I admit I am not completely familiar with all the details of the vote and have my own concerns about the Patriot Act. My point was simply concerned when someone casts a "Hagel" vote i.e. votes with the most liberal wing of the Repubilican Party members and the whole lot of Dems.....
-
I wont disallow any posts, I am just trying to keep the thread on point, it was not about cheerleading for Rand Paul, but about the de facto firearm registration we are getting imposed on us whenever a police officer decides to write up his own warrant for "terrorist activities" so he can view 4473's at any FFL's store.
There is plenty of room here for all political persuasions, just the point I was making was not about candidates for president.
As to Rand Paul, my understanding of his NO vote on that budget plan was that it was not nearly conservative enough to garner his support.
In my opinion Medicare has already failed, so anyone relying on it has his head deep in the sand.
-
http://gunowners.org/a05272011.htm (http://gunowners.org/a05272011.htm)
Friday, 27 May 2011 17:23 The Senate, by an overwhelming 85-10 vote, tabled an amendment by Senator Rand Paul which would have protected 4473’s and other gun records from blanket searches by the ATF under the PATRIOT Act.
A mere 24 hours earlier, Democratic Leader Harry Reid went through parliamentary convolutions in order to prevent a vote on the Paul 4473 amendment, fearing that a vote on his language would have devastating implications for his Democrats running for reelection.
But Reid had some important allies in the Republican leadership. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and his second-in-command, retiring Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ), used their “Republican whip” apparatus to mischaracterize the Paul amendment and try to force Republicans to vote against it by spreading misinformation and lies.
For instance, they claimed that had the FBI been investigating the 2009 Fort Hood shooter, and the Paul amendment had been in effect, authorities would not have had the necessary tools under the Patriot Act to conduct an investigation.
But the terrorism legislation was fully in force at the time of the Fort Hood shooting, and did nothing to prevent it! The answer to every government inadequacy is not simply to grant it more power.
Republican leaders also claimed that there was no evidence that the PATRIOT Act has been abused on a “widespread” basis, either in general or with respect to the Second Amendment.
But given that all investigations are SECRET and it is a crime to disclose them, it is hypocritical to argue that we don’t know all the abuses.
Here’s what we do know: First, we know of thousands of illegal phone records which were procured by the FBI.
Second, the Obama administration is pushing to illegally seize 4473-type information through its illegal regulations on multiple semi-auto sales in the Southwest –- a demand which is being made under the rubric of “national security.” This effort to register gun sales along the border just underscores how easily the ATF could use the excuse of “terrorism” to register gun sales across the entire country.
Opponents of the Paul amendment claimed that gun owners are protected under the PATRIOT Act, because a request for gun records must be relevant to a terrorism investigation and must first be approved by the Director of the FBI or a select few high-ranking officials.
But this argument does not address the fact that the standard of “relevance” is a low standard ripe for abuse, and it is not much of an assurance at all when you have an administration (like Obama’s) that is hostile to the Second Amendment.
Reid had one additional ally: the National Rifle Association. In the end, the NRA helped both Democrat and Republican leaders by not taking an "official position" on the bill.
-
Both parties want big government, they just don't want their ox gored. Apparently 85 senators don't want to be on record as having repealed this law in the event that there is another attack. I think this has more to do with keeping themselves in office than fighting terrorism or upholding the Constitution.
There will be attacks. Times Square, the shoe bomber, and others were only foiled by their own incompetence. No amount of sacrificing our freedom will make us completely safe.
As for Paul, I don't always agree with him, but he is principled most of the time. His position on Medicare, however, may have more to do with his experience as a doctor and not wanting to lower reimbursements. Like I said, it all depends on whose ox is being gored.
-
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
--Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759.