Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns
From: [ACUS 05] at [WACCVM.SPS.MOT.COM] (Paul Anderson)
Subject: Senator McCain's Reply
Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1993 20:22:53 GMT

After faxing a letter to Senator John McCain (R-AZ), I received the
following positive reply:

Dear Mr. Anderson:

Thank you for contacting me to tell me you oppose the Brady Handgun
Violence Protection Act.  I agree with you.

As you know, I have voted against legislation in the past and I continue
to oppose it.

I believe waiting periods would do more to impinge upon the Second
Amendment rights of honest citizens than curb the flow of illegal
firearms to criminals.

First, criminals don't purchase guns through legal channels.  According
to the National Institute of Justice, among the incarcerated felons
surveyed who admitted to owning firearms, 84% had obtained them on the
streets and not from licensed dealers.  Cities such as Washington, D.C.
and New York City should teach us something.  These are areas that have
among them the strictest gun control measures in the country.  They are
also plagued with some of the highest violent crime rates in the nation.

Second, according to the Department of Justice, the largest category of
people ineligible to purchase firearms are unlawful users of controlled
substances.  Criminal records don't exist for many of these people.
Therefore it would not be possible to perform effective background checks
on the overwhelming majority of felons who may attempt to purchase
firearms.

Finally, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms estimates that
approximately 7.5 million firearms are sold at the retail level each
year.  Required local law enforcement to perform background checks on
each of these sales would divert substantial resources from more
effective law enforcement activities.

In last year's crime legislation, we had a genuine opportunity to
attack violent crime through better enforcement, and stronger penalties.
However, that opportunity was squandered when those who don't share
our belief in the Second Amendment turned the crime bill into a gun
control bill.

I find these attacks on our Second Amendment rights to be unacceptable.
Please be assured that I will continue my efforts to protect your Second
Amendment rights, and seek effective means for addressing the problem of
violent crime.

Again, thank you for contacting me.  Please do not hesitate to do so in
the future.

Sincerely,
/s/ John McCain