Ashcroft: Under Attack
for Obeying the Law
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"...[T[he anti-gun community's cynical attempt to force
AG Ashcroft to violate federal law should be vociferously rejected..." |
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A.G. Ashcroft |
Once again, shameless gun-ban extremists are using the specter of
terrorism to promote their anti-gun agenda. The gun-ban lobby formally
known as HCI and the obscure gun-ban organization known as the
Violence
Policy Center (VPC), along with numerous anti-gun editorialists, have
all launched a coordinated attack on
Attorney General John Ashcroft.
This time, they object to him obeying the law!
Specifically, Ashcroft's Department of Justice (DOJ) has
stated that the
records generated by the
National Instant Check System (NICS) that do
not result in an individual being denied the ability to purchase a
firearm cannot be used for anything other than what the Brady Act - which
established NICS - allows. The gun-ban community, however, insists that
Ashcroft violate federal law by allowing non-denials through NICS to be
used in a fishing expedition for possible connections to the attacks of
September 11. In reality, however, gun-ban groups are using the issue
to promote their agenda to expand NICS towards a national registration
scheme of all law-abiding gun buyers.
NICS Command Center |
While the gun-ban advocates at HCI and VPC demand federal law be
violated - shamelessly invoking "homeland security" to advance their
agenda - Ashcroft has
stood his ground, and correctly stated the Brady Act
forbids using records on transfers that are not denied through NICS for
anything other than auditing the system. The Act, as passed in 1993,
even includes language that calls for the destruction of all records of
transfers that are not denied, although the law does allow for the
retention and use of records on transfers that are denied.
If any of
the individuals who are currently being detained are prohibited from
purchasing a firearm, and they were run through NICS, the system should
have denied them.
>B>NRA fully supports prohibiting the illegal transfer
of firearms to alleged terrorists, as well as any other prohibited
individual. Unfortunately, NICS was designed and implemented by the
anti-gun Clinton Administration, and it has serious flaws that must be
corrected. The Bush Administration has committed to fixing the system,
but in the meantime, the anti-gun community's cynical attempt to force
AG Ashcroft to violate federal law should be vociferously rejected.
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