Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc
From: [an 25970] at [anon.penet.fi]
Subject: Mondale on Guns
Date: Wed, 27 Apr 1994 12:06:14 UTC

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Call Tom Wyld, NRA Public Affairs

April 22, 1994

(703-267-3820)

OOPS!  CLINTON OFFICIAL CONFIRMS 

PRIVATE GUN OWNERSHIP IN AMERICA DETERS CRIME

NRA Chief Lobbyist:  "Gun bans don't disarm criminals.  They attract 
them." 

Washington, D.C. -- Days before the U.S. Congress holds hearings on 
whether to ban guns, a Clinton Administration official -- former Vice 
President Walter Mondale -- confirmed that private gun ownership in 
America deters crime and sends criminals packing.

In an April 20 message from the American Embassy in Tokyo, Ambassador 
Mondale reported that a twenty-member gang moved to Japan after finding 
criminal activity in this country "too dangerous because of the 
prevalence of guns in the homes.  After two dozen successful burglaries 
in gun-free Tokyo, they managed to mail over six million dollars worth 
of stolen cash and jewels" to conspirators in Colombia.

"Politicians eager to trash the U.S. Constitution by banning guns had 
better wake up and smell the Saki," said Mrs. Tanya K. Metaksa, chief 
lobbyist for the National Rifle Association of America.  "Gun bans being 
considered next week by the U.S. Congress are the worst sort of 
practical joke that leaves citizens fooled and lawful gun owners 
threatened with imprisonment.  Only politicians and criminals exit 
laughing." 

"Next week, I will introduce to Congressmen a law-abiding American who 
thwarted crime with one of the very firearms they wish to prohibit," 
Mrs. Metaksa continued.  "And I will also introduce them to a 
law-abiding woman who, because of a gun ban, faced the prospect of jail 
time.  Her crime?  A crime of appearance.  She owned a legal gun that 
looked illegal."

"As word spreads among the international criminal community," Mondale's 
message concluded, "more foreigners (including more Americans) may well 
come to Japan for the easy pickings."  "It's time to stop the charade," 
Mrs. Metaksa said.   "Gun bans don't d isarm criminals.  As Ambassador 
Mondale observed, gun bans attract them."
____________________

Resources for Correspondents:

For research on gun ownership as a crime deterrent, consult Point Blank 
(1991; NY:  Aldine de Gruyter) by Gary Kleck, Professor of Criminology, 
Florida State University.

For a critical review of international gun laws, see The Sumarai, The 
Mountie and the Cowboy  (Should America Adopt the Gun Controls of Other 
Democracies?)   (1992; NY:  Prometheus Books) by David Kopel. Kopel is 
with the Independence Institute of Colorado (303-279-6536).

                Downloaded from GUN-TALK (703-719-6406) A service of the 
                National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative 
                Action Washington, DC 20036


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