In a previous FAX Alert (see Vol. 7, No. 9), we reported that U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) admitted one of his goals is to shut down all gun shows. Unfortunately, the transcript on which we based our statement was not completely accurate. While it is clear that the net effect of the Lautenberg Gun Show amendment would indeed end gun shows as we know them today, Lautenberg is apparently not ready to admit this fact. Lautenberg's legislation defined a gun show so broadly that it would have included two friends discussing firearms in a home with a large gun collection. Our report on the Senator's admission was based on a transcript prepared by the Federal Document Clearing House (FDCH), which misquoted Lautenberg as saying his bill would "shut down gun shows." Lautenberg, however, claims he said "shut down the gun show loophole." Clearly the Senator's quarrel on this matter, therefore, should not be with NRA, but with the media. Nonetheless, Lautenberg chose to not only request a retraction from NRA for disseminating the quote in the good faith belief that the FCDH was accurate, but he also has chosen to claim in a press release that "NRA is distorting Lautenberg's message on gun shows," and that he had the video tape to prove it. Perhaps the Senator needs to issue his own retraction, and replace the letters N-R-A in his release with the letters F-C-D-H. Our understanding is that the FCDH transcripts are produced using voice recognition software, which clearly is as fallible as any human, and the Senator is probably aware that all people in public life are misquoted from time to time. NRA is obviously no stranger to this phenomenon. When NRA attempted to view the video tape of the press conference at the invitation of Sen. Lautenberg, however, we were denied. The Senator then posted a rather choppy video clip on his website that seemed to indicate that he did use the term "loophole," as he claims. And finally, after a written request to receive a copy of the tape, it is apparent that there was, indeed, an error in the original transcript. Therefore, even though we feel that the true goal of Senator Lautenberg remains wiping out gun shows, we do regret any inconvenience the FCDH error, and NRA's subsequent FAX Alert on the subject, may have caused the Senator.
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