The NRA and Rand Paul’s Gun Bill
In an update to this and this, Rachel from NRA emails:
As often happens with complex issues, NRA’s position on Sen. Rand Paul’s defeated PATRIOT Act amendment is being mis-reported by those who either don’t understand the facts, or prefer their own version of “facts.”
This amendment was rejected by 85 Senators, which included many of the strongest Second Amendment supporters in the U.S. Senate. Unfortunately, Senator Paul chose not to approach us on this issue before moving ahead. His amendment, which only received 10 votes, was poorly drafted and could have resulted in more problems for gun owners than it attempted to fix. For this reason, the NRA did not take a position on the amendment.
To be more specific about the amendment and its problems, the amendment would have prohibited use of PATRIOT Act legal authority for any “investigation or procurement of firearms records which is not authorized under [the Gun Control Act].” There have been no reports of the current PATRIOT Act being abused with respect to firearms records, however supporters suggested a far-fetched scenario in which every firearms sales record in the country–tens or hundreds of millions of documents dating back to 1968–could be sought. Again, we nor anyone else is aware of any case in which this authority has been used to abuse gun owners. (In fact, published reports indicate that few of these orders are ever sought for any reason.)
In particular, the amendment appeared to be aimed at so-called “section 215 letters”–orders from the FBI requiring the disclosure of “tangible things” such as records and documents.
Under the current PATRIOT Act, an application for this type of order with respect to firearms sales records has to be approved no lower than the director or deputy director of the FBI, or the Executive Assistant Director for National Security. The application is made to a federal judge based on “a statement of facts showing that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the tangible things sought are relevant to an authorized investigation … to obtain foreign intelligence information not concerning a United States person or to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities.” The judge has the power to modify the order and must direct the use of “minimization procedures” to protect the privacy of Americans.
If the Paul amendment were adopted, the FBI would have used other ways to access whatever firearms records it might need for intelligence or anti-terrorism investigations. This is especially troublesome for gun owners.This would result in United States Attorneys simply demanding the same records through grand jury subpoenas, which require no judicial approval before issuance. Fighting a subpoena after the fact can be very costly and carries legal risks of its own, including possible charges for obstruction of justice.
Even worse, the government would have used the Gun Control Act’s provision that allows the Attorney General to “inspect or examine the inventory and records of [a licensee] without … reasonable cause or warrant” during a criminal investigation. That means by simply characterizing its activities as a “criminal investigation,” it would enter a licensee’s premises and demand these records without “reasonable cause or warrant”–in other words, without judicial oversight of any kind, and without any of the procedural limits imposed by the PATRIOT Act.
Therefore, given all of these potential problems for gun owners, the NRA could not support this poorly drafted amendment.
As I said, not seen the amendment but that sounds reasonable to me.
May 27th, 2011 at 9:41 am
Unfortunately, Senator Paul chose not to approach us on this issue before moving ahead. His amendment, which only received 10 votes, was poorly drafted and could have resulted in more problems for gun owners than it attempted to fix. For this reason, the NRA did not take a position on the amendment.
Chose not to approach us… Sounds like that is the meat of the support… Paul tried to go cowboy and the NRA made sure it died….
May 27th, 2011 at 9:51 am
That “did not approach us” bit jumped out at me also. Sounds like they feel THEY are the gatekeeper for all legislation.
I also was struck by the assertion that there has been no abuse of the PATRIOT Act with respect to gun records. There have been abuses with other aspects of the Act, so I find it interesting that the reed the NRA chose for cover is that there haven’t been any abuses YET in this narrowly defined field. Well, that and “they might do something else instead!”
The whole act is a disaster and most of Congress supported it (Democrats and Republicans.) SNAFU
May 27th, 2011 at 11:10 am
Well, if there hasn’t been any Abuses (by the NRA standards) by this Administration, just wait a little while. They have a lot on their plate, after all. Destroy the Health Care System, Allow Illegal Immigrants to cross the Border, Set up their Internet Trolling and Outing Operation, Print more Money, they are awfully busy. But I’m sure that the Friends of Harry Reid will be shocked when He supports the Anointed One’s efforts to destroy the RKBA when it’s time.
May 27th, 2011 at 11:24 am
It hasn’t been abused yet because there are other methods the feds can use that don’t require judicial approval, while the PATRIOT Act method does. After all, all they have to do is get the BATFEces to go to a dealer and say “We’re investigating something, give us all your records,” and the FFL is required by law (GCA ’68, I believe) to give them up.
Why would they bother involving a judge?
May 27th, 2011 at 11:53 am
Jake you forget the fbi and dea are not exactly on speaking terms with the batfuckers the rivalry still lives….
May 27th, 2011 at 12:44 pm
While one can argue the substance, I think this illustrates that there are rational arguments against the amendment in question. I don’t see the need to blow up the idea of a turf war.
May 27th, 2011 at 9:02 pm
Let’s just face it guys, the NRA is for the establishment. Just watch the NRA’s American Values event to see how closely alined with the status quo they are. I stood up for the NRA many times on the platform that they thought they could compromise with anti gunners in the past and did. But this leads me to believe they are not the protectors of the 2A, but more interested in gaining power and influence with the status quo at the cost of our rights.
It’s time to let my membership lapse, but luckily I still have accounts with JPFO, SAF and GOA.
May 28th, 2011 at 11:38 am
AJ187. Nothing like putting your support into groups that have no presence in state legislatures or on Capitol Hill where legislation is considered. JPFO and SAF don’t employ anyone to lobby in the states or in Congress. GOA takes positions on every conservative issue imaginable like immigration, healthcare, the federal budget and even occasionally guns. Given 85 of 95 voting senators opposed GOA, you’ve hitched your wagon to a real winner.
May 30th, 2011 at 6:47 pm
I think GOA is a winner. They do take positions on Constitutional issues and Bill of Right issues. As Senator Rand Paul explained, ALL of the Bill of Rights must be protected, not just the 2nd Amendment.