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“Dirty Harry” Moves To Shut Out Pro-Gun Rand Paul Amendment

By: Michael Hammond (Diary)  |  May 24th, 2011 at 10:32 PM  | 

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From the diaries by Erick

Remember the sleazy tactics used by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to pass ObamaCare? The secret meetings? The refusal to let the American people see the language? The “amendment tree” used to block Republicans from offering amendments on the floor? The use of a House-passed bill as a vehicle to circumvent Senate procedures?

Well, all of that sleaziness is back in connection with efforts to extend three anti-gun provisions of post-9/11 legislation.

In order to circumvent Kentucky Senator Rand Paul’s pro-gun amendment to the bill, Reid has now scuttled the Senate version of the 9/11 extension, tacked everything onto a motion to concur with a House-passed small business bill, and employed a procedure to lock out ALL Republican amendments, including Paul’s pro-gun amendment.

As you know, Rand Paul’s amendment would exempt 4473’s and other gun records from the blanket information demands which BATF can make under 9/11 legislation.

Without Paul’s exemption, it is theoretically possible that BATF could go to a secret (FISA) court, and, in a one-party (ex parte) proceeding, obtain an order to produce every 4473 in the country, ostensibly because a “terrorism investigation” requires it.

This is unacceptable.

It is a violation of gun owner protections enacted in 1986 as part of the McClure-Volkmer Firearms Owners Protection Act. Not surprisingly, BATF is already trying to violate McClure-Volkmer in its new proposed rules to require reporting of multiple semi-auto sales –- and to compile a gun registry from those reports.

Senate Republicans cannot allow Reid to pull another sleazy ObamaCare-type gambit, or they will spend the rest of the year shut out from any ability to have any influence on the issues and amendments considered by the Senate.

Do you remember when Senate Republicans swallowed two Senate rules changes at the beginning of the 112th Congress –- in exchange for a commitment by Harry Reid that he would not shut out Republican amendments on major pieces of legislation?

Well, this may be the first major piece of non-appropriations legislation of the 112th Congress, and Reid has broken his promise in order to use extraordinary procedures to shut out all Republican amendments.

If Republican Senators allow him to succeed, you will spend the seventeen months between now and November, 2012 -– with the Senate allowed to consider only those issues which will help Barack Obama’s reelection –- and which will help Reid retain Democratic control of the Senate.

Please, for your own sake, do not let this happen.

by Michael E. Hammond, former General Counsel Senate Steering Committee 1978-89.

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  • glaucon

    So much for transparency and open debate when the Democrats are running the show.

  • Doc Holliday

    who is bringing the chips?

    That used to be a joke, but I bet they add fried foods to their official name soon.

  • drfredc

    Well, with the current GOP LOSERship RINOs firmly in charge of the GOP Senate, seems it might be a good idea to run down and pick up a case of KY gel and practice bending over…. :-O

  • Michael Dugas

    Citizen in the nation isn’t up in arms (metaphorically speaking) and screaming at the top of there lung about their disenfranchisement from the political process when their representatives are denied access and the ability to represent their constituents! They LOCKED OUR VOICE out of the decision making….disowned half of the nation and made choices that effect all of us while refusing to allow half of us to take part. That’s true disenfranchisement, that’s true voter suppression … just post election.

    • myron_j_poltroonian
  • spinoneone

    at least for the Donkeys who want to control this nation forever. They know all too well that they can’t control and armed citizenry. As TJ said a long time ago, “He who beats his swords into ploughshares will soon be plowing for those who didn’t.” An armed citizenry is a democratic state; an unarmed citizenry is slavery.

  • sundaycombo

    The whole “Patriot Act” (with it’s absolute disregard of the 4th Amendment) ought to be let to expire and not renewed for another 4 years. What we KNOW that has been done under the guise of the “Patriot Act” is appalling enough. Lord only knows what has been done that we don’t know about.

    It’s sad that Sen. Paul has to get his support on this issue from folks like Bernie Sanders and Jon Tester. It’s all well and good to point out Reid’s parliamentarian shenanigans (it’s not the first time he has done it), but it looks like he is getting no opposition from McConnell or the GOP caucus either.

    • kinghenry

      and the Patriot Act is nothing compared to things the Founders did to secure our Liberty in their day.

      For most part the Patriot Act is nothing more than Political Theater, started by the ACLU left to hurt Republicans and now only an issue on the fringes now that the Dems on are in power and they can’t afford to get rid of it and risk another 9/11 on their watch.

      Read Andy McCarthy, most of what the Patriot Act is(and demonized over) is already existing Criminal Law that has been on the books for decades. The Govt. can already with reasonable suspcision seize your Library Records without the magically court warrant, AND do it easier than under the Patriot Act for Terrorism cases.

      • gpclaw

        and the Patriot Act is nothing compared to things the Founders did to secure our Liberty in their day.

        That’s right, the government needs the ability to violate your liberties, in order to protect them.

      • aesthete

        General warrants were the reason that the 4th was included in the Bill of Rights in the first place: it was common practice in England to issue non-specific warrants without the order of a judge that were very broad in nature, which is the case with the PATRIOT Act. The PATRIOT Act removes judges from the equation entirely (which is a violation of the 4th), as well as concepts like “probable cause”. It also requires banks to keep tabs on and report on their customers’ private dealings in the case of certain trigger behaviors, which once again circumvents the general process required by the 4th for a search of citizens. Your argument that current caselaw is similar is only more proof that most of what our government does is blatantly un-Constitutional: I would hope that you wouldn’t claim Medicare as Constitutional simply because it has been in place for X number of years!

        BTW, the PATRIOT Act cannot simultaneously be a very minor change to existing law and a critical tool without which we would have been attacked by terrorists several times over. They are mutually exclusive assertions.

  • alamo294

    but when I asked him whether he thought the average American is a terrorist he hung up on me.

    Told me a lot, right there.

    - – - – -

    drfredc, could you restrict your comments to things that aren’t so crude?

    Or am I the only one that cares about stuff like that?

    • cja99

      and that’s the exact reason why this country has to vote these bums out in 2012. Can you imagine, that is what they think, Americans are terrorists. Remember all of Pillosi’s comments about Tea Party people during the Obamacare debate, it was horrific what she was spewing.

    • 23rdamerical

      that we could get Scotty aka Mr. Scott to go to the Transporter Room and beam Harry Reid off out into the galaxy 14.3 trillion light years away and erase the coordinates? Nevada has truly given America one of the greatest gifts known to mankind! NOT!!! Harry is the terrible gift that just keeps on giving! This guy is ridiculouss! Or, as a fellow Repub calls Dems, RIDONKULOUS!

  • spiff

    Arizona NEEDS to remove Harry, or he should be impeached for breaking his Constitutional Oath of Office! The part about defending OUR Constitution!
    Spiff

    • atrueamerican

      If he were from Arizona, I doubt he would have been elected. However, he is from Nevada and even there I believe his support statewide isn’t secure. If you look at the “by district” map of the last election, virtually the entire state voted against him except for Las Vegas and Reno.

      • http://908StraightSt.wordpress.com/ mbecker908

        year he’d be unemployed today.

        • http://www.examiner.com/x-1597-Charlotte-Law--Politics-Examiner Mike gamecock DeVine

          I fear that the electorate we are appealing to may have reached the slouching towards Gomorrah tipping point years ago. I hope I’m wrong, but thanks to you and reality of the past 6 years have tempered my optimism re common sense American voters….2010 gives me hope.

  • aesthete

    trying to shutter Rand Paul’s proposed amendments.

    • aesthete

      “Just spoke with Senator Kyl’s office: ‘Senator Kyl believes that the Constitution already has enough protection for gun owners and will not be supporting Senator Paul’s ammendment.’ ”

      Kyl cannot retire quickly enough.

  • http://www.dirkworld.com dirkbelig

    You should have an asterisk leading to an explanation as to what the heck you’re referring to so non-gun dealer types can follow why this is a bad thing.

    From Wikipedia: A Firearms Transaction Record, or Form 4473, is a United States government form that must be filled out when a person purchases a firearm from a Federal Firearm License holder (such as a gun shop).

    The Form 4473 contains name, address, date of birth, government-issued photo ID, National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) background check transaction number, make/model/serial number of the firearm, and a short federal affidavit stating that the purchaser is eligible to purchase firearms under federal law. Lying on this form is a felony and can be punished by up to five years in prison in addition to fines, even if the transaction is simply denied by the NICS.

  • gunslingr45

    have been calling like a madman and blasting coats, the rino known as lugar and even harry (we don’t give a crap what the public thinks) reid. His office says the guy is looking out for our safety and I said NO THANKS!

    So many RINO

  • spiff

    And just how many individuals have been brought to trial and prosecuted in the 43 year since the 1968 BATF act was enacted?

    Spiff

  • mutantone

    The democrats are supporting the UN small arms Ban, as well as removing our rights as granted under the Constitution making it little more than a list of suggestions that they take for granted they can ignore, such as the use of American Troops in the Battle against Libya.