MCSM -- Montgomery Citizens for a Safer Maryland -- www.mcsm.org
Greetings - We hope you will attend the next meeting of MCSM!
MEETING AGENDA
---> Tuesday, September 13th, 2005 <---
7:00 - 9:00 PM AMERICAN LEGION POST # 268
11225 FERN ST. WHEATON, MD 20902
For a map of where we meet: http://www.mcsm.org/location.html
Please visit the MCSM table at the Takoma Park Folk Festival on Sunday, September 11th, in Takoma Park!
11 AM to 6:30 PM Rain or Shine
The festival is at the Takoma Park Middle School, 7611 Piney Branch Road, which is one block north of the intersection of Piney Branch Rd and East-West Highway (note that East-West Highway is called Philadelphia Avenue as it passes through Takoma Park.) More information about the Festival at: www.tpff.org
1) Welcome and Pledge of Allegiance.
2) Introduction of any new guests or prospective members (brief).
3) "Manufacturer Protection" passes the Senate - House was to vote in September; has Katrina changed the schedule?
4) Report from the Takoma Park Folk Festival Bob Culver deserves a big round of thanks for being the main force behind MCSM's setup at the Festival!
5) BATFE improperly sharing gun-purchaser information from gun shows, and conducting "residence checks". Details about this have been coming out over the last few weeks. C&E Gun Shows, which runs the shows that come to Chantilly, found out about this at their recent show in Richmond; and now it is apparent that this has been going on since July 2004. Implications for Maryland? Excerpts of recent news update below.
6) From Paula Miller, Washington DC Second Amendment Sisters Coordinator: On Wednesday, September 28th, the French Embassy in Washington, DC is hosting a fundraiser for the Brady Bill. SAS is holding a protest outside the embassy and needs all the people power support it can get. Please mark your calendars for Wednesday, Sept. 28th and come out to the protest and show your pro-gun support. Location and time to be announced.
A letter to the French ambassador will be available for signature at the MCSM meeting.
We hope to see you at the meeting, Tuesday, September 13th!
www.mcsm.org PO Box 2563, Silver Spring MD 20915-2563
Gun-rights information web sites of note:
www.nraila.org www.myguns.net www.mcrkba.org
www.2asisters.org www.silveradogunshow.com www.gunsaint.com
www.blackmanwithagun.com www.secure-skies.org
Records Confirm at Least Seven ATF Gun Show 'Stings' By Jeff Johnson - CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer - September 01, 2005
(CNSNews.com) - Virginia State Police records confirm that at least seven gun show "sting" operations since July of 2004 have targeted gun buyers in the Richmond, Va., area. The documents support allegations that protected information may have been illegally shared with local police and gun buyers' relatives and neighbors.
Cybercast News Service previously reported that nearly 500 Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agents, state troopers, county and city police officers participated in an "ATF Task Force" targeting the Showmasters gun show in Richmond, Va., on Aug. 13 and 14.
Following that initial report, Cybercast News Service obtained Virginia State Police (VSP) records that show at least six other stings have been conducted in the Richmond area since the summer of last year.
According to a four page undated memo written by Virginia State Police (VSP) Capt. Robert G. Kemmler and obtained in a Freedom of Information Act request (FOIA), the law enforcement activities at the Showmasters gun show on Aug. 13-14 involved "the same method of operation as previous gun shows.
"The Department (VSP) has participated in numerous Gun Show Operations at the Showplace over the past year," the memo states. "This is the first operation at the fairgrounds and the first operation that included the Henrico (County) Police Department."
C&E Gun Shows holds several shows each year at The Showplace Exhibition Center, located inside the city limits of Richmond, Va. According to the VSP memo, gun show sting operations were conducted there on July 10-11, Oct. 16-17 and Dec. 4-5, 2004 and Jan. 15-16, March 5-6 and May 21-22, 2005. Nearly 1,000 man hours were dedicated to the activities.
According to the VSP memo, the gun show stings are part of "an active gang related firearm program to reduce the number of firearms being purchased (by) and transferred to prohibited persons who may be involved in criminal and gang related activities. ....
But Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, told Cybercast News Service that the VSP explanation is illogical.
"I think it's a joke because, according to the Department of Justice, 0.7 percent of guns used in crimes come from gun shows," Van Cleave said. "So, there's much better ways they could be spending their time." ....
Richard Gardiner, a lawyer specializing in firearms law litigation with more than 20 years experience dealing with the ATF, said he was curious about another section of the VSP memo, which stated that the law enforcement task force had "deterred" 21 individuals from purchasing guns.
"I'd like to know ... who those 21 people were; whether they were prohibited persons who never got as far as filling out the form and, therefore, couldn't be prosecuted for anything," Gardiner said, "or whether they were people who were black or women who the agents went up and had a chat with and they said, 'Forget it, I'm getting out of here. I don't want to stick around these guys,' even though it would have been perfectly lawful for them to purchase."
The Virginia State Police memo also details how the ATF retrieved information from each gun buyer's transaction form to determine where they lived so that a so-called "residence check" could be conducted.
"f the purchaser was located in a certain area of either the City of Richmond or the County of Henrico, ATF personnel would direct either the Richmond PD or Henrico PD Residence Check Team to go by the residence of the individual whose information was contained on the ATF 4473 form to determine if the individual resided at the residence," the VSP memo states.
Based on what the agents found, "they (ATF) would permit the transfer of the firearm or conduct further questions of the purchaser," according to the VSP document.
But Gardiner said the memo raises a number of questions about the legality of the actions taken by federal, state, county and local agents and officers.
"What is state and local law enforcement doing being 'dispatched' to people's houses to do that?" Gardiner asked. "They have no authority under the state law, that I'm aware of, to make that kind of investigation about whether somebody is a resident of the state."
Gardiner also believes the ATF agents violated federal law by providing the information to local police officials that in turn was used to conduct the residence checks. The statute authorizes information from those forms to be released only to state and local police "with respect to the identification of persons prohibited from purchasing or receiving firearms or ammunition who have purchased or received firearms or ammunition."
"ATF doesn't have any authority to give them that information, even assuming that the legislature had given both state and local police the authority to do stuff like that," Gardiner said. "There's no authority under federal law for ATF to make such a request."
Gardiner said that authorization to share information also imposes limits.
"Congress has specifically addressed this question of ATF's authority to give out information to state and local and, indeed, even to other federal law enforcement agencies and said, 'Here's what they can do,'" Gardiner explained. "And the long standing rules of law are that if the Congress specifically gives them this authority, it has denied them all other authority. So ATF had no authority to do what they were doing." ....
Gardiner believes such actions could result in lawsuits being filed against all of the agencies or officers involved.
"I think you would have an action against the state and local agents or officers for violation of your federal statutory rights," Gardiner said. "You can recover against individual federal agents for violation of your constitutional rights but not your statutory rights."
Greetings - We hope you will attend the next meeting of MCSM!
MEETING AGENDA
---> Tuesday, September 13th, 2005 <---
7:00 - 9:00 PM AMERICAN LEGION POST # 268
11225 FERN ST. WHEATON, MD 20902
For a map of where we meet: http://www.mcsm.org/location.html
Please visit the MCSM table at the Takoma Park Folk Festival on Sunday, September 11th, in Takoma Park!
11 AM to 6:30 PM Rain or Shine
The festival is at the Takoma Park Middle School, 7611 Piney Branch Road, which is one block north of the intersection of Piney Branch Rd and East-West Highway (note that East-West Highway is called Philadelphia Avenue as it passes through Takoma Park.) More information about the Festival at: www.tpff.org
1) Welcome and Pledge of Allegiance.
2) Introduction of any new guests or prospective members (brief).
3) "Manufacturer Protection" passes the Senate - House was to vote in September; has Katrina changed the schedule?
4) Report from the Takoma Park Folk Festival Bob Culver deserves a big round of thanks for being the main force behind MCSM's setup at the Festival!
5) BATFE improperly sharing gun-purchaser information from gun shows, and conducting "residence checks". Details about this have been coming out over the last few weeks. C&E Gun Shows, which runs the shows that come to Chantilly, found out about this at their recent show in Richmond; and now it is apparent that this has been going on since July 2004. Implications for Maryland? Excerpts of recent news update below.
6) From Paula Miller, Washington DC Second Amendment Sisters Coordinator: On Wednesday, September 28th, the French Embassy in Washington, DC is hosting a fundraiser for the Brady Bill. SAS is holding a protest outside the embassy and needs all the people power support it can get. Please mark your calendars for Wednesday, Sept. 28th and come out to the protest and show your pro-gun support. Location and time to be announced.
A letter to the French ambassador will be available for signature at the MCSM meeting.
We hope to see you at the meeting, Tuesday, September 13th!
www.mcsm.org PO Box 2563, Silver Spring MD 20915-2563
Gun-rights information web sites of note:
www.nraila.org www.myguns.net www.mcrkba.org
www.2asisters.org www.silveradogunshow.com www.gunsaint.com
www.blackmanwithagun.com www.secure-skies.org
Records Confirm at Least Seven ATF Gun Show 'Stings' By Jeff Johnson - CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer - September 01, 2005
(CNSNews.com) - Virginia State Police records confirm that at least seven gun show "sting" operations since July of 2004 have targeted gun buyers in the Richmond, Va., area. The documents support allegations that protected information may have been illegally shared with local police and gun buyers' relatives and neighbors.
Cybercast News Service previously reported that nearly 500 Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agents, state troopers, county and city police officers participated in an "ATF Task Force" targeting the Showmasters gun show in Richmond, Va., on Aug. 13 and 14.
Following that initial report, Cybercast News Service obtained Virginia State Police (VSP) records that show at least six other stings have been conducted in the Richmond area since the summer of last year.
According to a four page undated memo written by Virginia State Police (VSP) Capt. Robert G. Kemmler and obtained in a Freedom of Information Act request (FOIA), the law enforcement activities at the Showmasters gun show on Aug. 13-14 involved "the same method of operation as previous gun shows.
"The Department (VSP) has participated in numerous Gun Show Operations at the Showplace over the past year," the memo states. "This is the first operation at the fairgrounds and the first operation that included the Henrico (County) Police Department."
C&E Gun Shows holds several shows each year at The Showplace Exhibition Center, located inside the city limits of Richmond, Va. According to the VSP memo, gun show sting operations were conducted there on July 10-11, Oct. 16-17 and Dec. 4-5, 2004 and Jan. 15-16, March 5-6 and May 21-22, 2005. Nearly 1,000 man hours were dedicated to the activities.
According to the VSP memo, the gun show stings are part of "an active gang related firearm program to reduce the number of firearms being purchased (by) and transferred to prohibited persons who may be involved in criminal and gang related activities. ....
But Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, told Cybercast News Service that the VSP explanation is illogical.
"I think it's a joke because, according to the Department of Justice, 0.7 percent of guns used in crimes come from gun shows," Van Cleave said. "So, there's much better ways they could be spending their time." ....
Richard Gardiner, a lawyer specializing in firearms law litigation with more than 20 years experience dealing with the ATF, said he was curious about another section of the VSP memo, which stated that the law enforcement task force had "deterred" 21 individuals from purchasing guns.
"I'd like to know ... who those 21 people were; whether they were prohibited persons who never got as far as filling out the form and, therefore, couldn't be prosecuted for anything," Gardiner said, "or whether they were people who were black or women who the agents went up and had a chat with and they said, 'Forget it, I'm getting out of here. I don't want to stick around these guys,' even though it would have been perfectly lawful for them to purchase."
The Virginia State Police memo also details how the ATF retrieved information from each gun buyer's transaction form to determine where they lived so that a so-called "residence check" could be conducted.
"f the purchaser was located in a certain area of either the City of Richmond or the County of Henrico, ATF personnel would direct either the Richmond PD or Henrico PD Residence Check Team to go by the residence of the individual whose information was contained on the ATF 4473 form to determine if the individual resided at the residence," the VSP memo states.
Based on what the agents found, "they (ATF) would permit the transfer of the firearm or conduct further questions of the purchaser," according to the VSP document.
But Gardiner said the memo raises a number of questions about the legality of the actions taken by federal, state, county and local agents and officers.
"What is state and local law enforcement doing being 'dispatched' to people's houses to do that?" Gardiner asked. "They have no authority under the state law, that I'm aware of, to make that kind of investigation about whether somebody is a resident of the state."
Gardiner also believes the ATF agents violated federal law by providing the information to local police officials that in turn was used to conduct the residence checks. The statute authorizes information from those forms to be released only to state and local police "with respect to the identification of persons prohibited from purchasing or receiving firearms or ammunition who have purchased or received firearms or ammunition."
"ATF doesn't have any authority to give them that information, even assuming that the legislature had given both state and local police the authority to do stuff like that," Gardiner said. "There's no authority under federal law for ATF to make such a request."
Gardiner said that authorization to share information also imposes limits.
"Congress has specifically addressed this question of ATF's authority to give out information to state and local and, indeed, even to other federal law enforcement agencies and said, 'Here's what they can do,'" Gardiner explained. "And the long standing rules of law are that if the Congress specifically gives them this authority, it has denied them all other authority. So ATF had no authority to do what they were doing." ....
Gardiner believes such actions could result in lawsuits being filed against all of the agencies or officers involved.
"I think you would have an action against the state and local agents or officers for violation of your federal statutory rights," Gardiner said. "You can recover against individual federal agents for violation of your constitutional rights but not your statutory rights."
