"Imagine for a moment that you received the following:
|
Dear Mr Jones, An investigation has revealed that you may have violated Title 18 U.S.C. Section 924 (a)(1)(A), a crime punishable by imprisonment for up to five (5) years. The firearm that you purchased is being taken into ATF custody.
Please appear a the below location, date and time to discuss this matter: ... |
This is no hoax
In fact, scores of your fellow gun owners have already received this outrageous notice from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE).
I'm talking about law-abiding citizens just like you and me, who began their day looking forward to attending a local gun show - but who found themselves caught up in a massive sting operation, under scrutiny for no crime except exercising their Second Amendment rights.
And before you become one of BATFE's next innocent victims, I am asking for your help in reining in out-of-control BATFE agents who - in their ignorance of your freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution - are treating law-abiding gun buyers like common criminals.
What's happened sounds like a story out of North Korea or China or Cuba - but it's taking place right here in America, and you and I are the only ones who can stop it.
It started last August [2005], when agents from the BATFE descended in force on the "Showmasters Gun Show" in Richmond, Virginia - an annual event that thousands of local residents look forward to year after year.
But instead of finding a great deal on a hunting rifle or target pistol, those who attended this show found themselves on the receiving end of a BATFE-inflicted nightmare - victimized by police-state harassment and intimidation tactics that have no place in America or in any free society.
According to Congressional testimony and official government documents, BATFE agents surrounded and roughly interrogated dozens of potential gun buyers who apporached the tables where firearms were offered for sale.
Firearms were confiscated with no probable cause and no evidence that any laws had been broken.
Acting on nothing other than their own authority and their apparent ignorance of the Constitution and the freedoms we have under the Second, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments, BATFE agents demanded that gun sellers surrender personal information from 4473 forms that gun buyers complete for each purchase from a federally-licensed firearms dealer.
Not only did they copy down information from these private documents, intended for use only in bona fide crime investigations, but they used this information to make unannounced visits to the homes and neighbors of gun buyers - knocking on doors and questioning family members and friends about the "gun-buying habits" of those who attended the show!
They asked wives if they knew where their husbands were - About their gun-buying habits and why they might be purchasing a firearm. And if no one was home, they asked neighbors these same questions!
Last but not least, and on NO legal authority whatsoever, BATFE gave dozens of letters - like the one above - to gun buyers who'd had their guns seized.
These letters demanded - without apprizing them of their legal rights - that citizens appear before BATFE at a specified date and time, or else risk arrest on a felony charge that carried a possible five-year sentence.
NOT an Isolated Incident
I wish I could tell you that this harassment and intimidation campaign in Richmond was simply one isolated incident - that BATFE had admitted its mistakes - and that those responsible for this outrage had been properly disciplined.
But that couldn't be further from the truth.
In fact, the BATFE brass has done everything in its power to stonewall members of Congress, media sources, investigators hired by the NRA and others - refusing to comply with Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests or even to issue a public comment on the bully tactics of its agents.
Not only that, but similar reports out of Pittsburgh - detailed by BATFE's latest victims in Congressional hearings - make it clear that this Richmond case was NOT and isolated incident but part of a larger BATFE campaign - a campaign to shut down gun shows by intimidating those who dare to exersice their right to purchase firearms.
It's time for NRA members like you to fight back. And the first thing I am asking you to do is to get in touch with your elected officials in Washington, D.C. and demand in no uncertain terms that they take legislative action to halt these BATFE abuses and force out-of-control agent to abide by the Constitution and obey the law. ...
As soon as I heard of this situation in Richmond, I immediately sent a team of investigators to gather the facts and interview those whose rights were violated. Then, we took this information to the U.S Congress - resulting in a series of hearings to shine a bright light on BATFE so that none of their anti-freedom actions could be swept under the rug. ...
Chris W Cox
Executive Director
NRA-ILA
P.S.
Acting without warrants and without legislative authority, BATFE agents stopped and interviewd 206 Richmond gun show participants and confiscated firearms from another 50. The purchasers were then ordered by official letter to appear at the local BATFE office - and threatened with arrest and a prison sentence if they failed to comply.
Let me be perfectly clear. This must never happen again anywhere in the United States of America. No government agency is above the law and we cannot allow BATFE to act outside the law. ... "
Constitution Party of Michigan - www.ConstitutionPartyMI.net