From: [i--s--t] at [delphi.com]
Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns
Subject: Real Reason Behind Gun Control
Date: Wed, 23 Feb 94 19:17:10 -0500

The following is the text of an article which appeared in the SA News,
Jan 27-Feb 10, 94 edition, which is distributed free in the San Antonio,
Texas, area. It is printed with permission of the publisher, and it may
be copied with attribution on a non-profit basis. To contact SA News,
write to 6900 San Pedro #147-325, San Antonio, TX 78216, or phone
210/699-8831. The fax is 210/699-0550.
=======================================================================
The Real Reason Behind Gun Control
by Benedict D. LaRosa
 
  With public attention riveted on the murder/conspiracy trial of the
Branch Davidians, little attention has been paid to the Treasury
Department's investigation of the conduct of the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms (BATF).  Most of the media quickly saw though the
veneer of objectivity and rightly ignored the report released last
September.  However, as with most government documents, there is some
truth hidden among the chaff.  Appendix G of the report is a brief
history of federal firearms enforcement.  It is startling in its candor
in revealing the real reason behind the gun control movement in this
country.
  Gun control is being sold to the American people as a crime fighting
measure.  (There are also attempts to make it an environmental and
health issue.) Sarah Brady has publicly admitted that the Brady Bill --
signed into law last November 30 -- will have little effect on crime.
But, she added, it was a necessary first step.  President Clinton
warned, "This is the first step.  There is more to be done.  We cannot
stop here."  To what are Sarah Brady and President Clinton referring?
Appendix G provides the answer.
  The report admits that the BATF raided the Branch Davidians community
at Mt. Carmel to enforce contemporary gun control laws.  It adds:
 
    In a larger sense, however, the raid fit [sic] within an
    historic, well-established and well-defended government
    interest in prohibiting and breaking up all organized groups
    that sought to arm or fortify themselves....  From its
    earliest formation, the federal government has actively
    suppressed any effort by disgruntled or rebellious citizens
    to coalesce into an armed group, however small the group,
    petty its complaint, or grandiose its ambition.
 
  Appendix G relates how the experiences of Shay's Rebellion (1786-87),
the Whiskey Rebellion (1794), Fries Rebellion (1799), the fugitive
slave rescues of the 1850s, John Brown's raid on the Harper's Ferry
federal arsenal (1859), the Civil War, Southern resistance to
Reconstruction, the Pullman Strike (1894), etc., created an intolerance
to organized, armed groups on the part of the federal government.  This
paranoia led Congress to pass the National Firearms Act of 1934, not
"to curb the gangsters' ability to arm themselves" with automatic
weapons and sawed-off shotguns as advertised, but "to discourage
ownership of such weapons without outlawing them."  It admits that
"No self-respecting gangster would want to register, much less pay the
tax, on his Tommygun."  It goes on to say:
 
    The passage of the National Firearms Act of 1934, the first
    federal effort to control ownership of firearms, grew out of
    this historic fear of armed organizations....  In recent times,
    the federal government has shown itself even less patient with
    armed groups....  As both history and recent events clearly
    show, the United States has never tolerated armed groups
    residing within its borders.  The intent of the particular
    organization, whether ideological or criminal, mattered little....
    ATF's enforcement focus retains the flavor of that historic
    concern with armed organizations.
 
  The Branch Davidians were not criminals and cults are not illegal.
It was not criminal activity that brought the Branch Davidians to the
attention of the federal government, but the fact that they were an
organized, armed group dissatisfied with the status quo.  Government
agents created the impression of illegality to justify their suppression
of the Davidians and to dissuade similar dissenters.  That is why
Attorney General Janet Reno warned that "more Waco-like standoffs will
occur in the near future.  I hope an example has been set ... to
discourage those who are tempted to join cults."  The Brady Bill and
the even more draconian gun control measures in the upcoming crime
bill are but the latest steps dating back to colonial times to disarm
the American people, not criminals, in defiance of the Second Amendment.