🚀 go-pugleaf

>>"Hiro Protagonist" scrawled:


>>I take it you have never had a class on "the US Government".  The Supreme
>>court does _not_ decide what is "right or wrong" nor what is a "good law or
>>bad law", rather it determines whether a law is constitutional -- nothing
>>more -- nothing less.  The Brady bill case (or its constitutionality) has
>>nothing to do with guns and background check. 
>>



>Capt. Meat wrote:

>Good law is constitutional.
>Bad law is unconstitutional.
>While the Supreme Court left intact a good portion of the 
>Brady Bill, they struck down the Fed's attempt to force
>mandatory backround checks, which would be executed and 
>paid for by the states. 
>
>Show me the chapter you apparently
>skipped over, and read to me where I fucked up.


>> It is about the federal
>>governments right to force states to use state resources to enforce federal
>>laws.


>See above.


>>  Its was struck down on these grounds alone and personally I think
>>this was not only the right decision but most important decision of the
>>week. 


>Out of all the rulings last week that in one way or another 
>gave more voice to the throats of the states, you're enthralled
>with one redneck's crusade to avoid the service charges of checking
>out John Q. Hayseed's rap-sheet, huh? 
>

>> Think of the bigger picture here-


>Yeah, and when you finally open yer eyes, look around,
>and think "Tobacco Settlement" and realize you're
>so far off-base, you're out of bounds...
>
>Corporations run states. And the state runs you.


Capt. Meat also said:

Seeing as I ran across a seemingly factual article concerning
the reason why you felt I was in dire need of instruction
(Reminds me of some comedian's bit about getting busted 
for "smuggling books" into Kentucky), I'm enclosing
the following fish-wrap...

Regardless, you're still wrong. And what's funny is yer
arrogance and condescending tone, which usually accompanies
a certain amount of wit and insight, yet it appears you're
forgetting to put the horse IN FRONT of the cart again.

You can bring a punk to water, but you can't make him bathe...



Capt. Meat



*****From the Green Bay News Chronicle*****



                              Background checks and
                          paperwork are still the law in
                                Wisconsin despite a
                            weakening of the federal
                            Brady handgun law by the
                               U.S. Supreme Court 

                          By Nick Wood 
                          Chronicle Reporter

                          Despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling
                          Friday striking down part of the
                          federal Brady gun law, Wisconsin
                          residents who want to buy a handgun
                          will still have to undergo a criminal
                          background check and 48-hour
                          waiting period. But any cagey
                          criminal will tell you he can still buy
                          a gun, legally, even in Wisconsin. 

                          The court ruled unconstitutional the
                          federal government forcing local law
                          enforcement officials to conduct
                          background checks on prospective
                          handgun buyers. The requirement was
                          a key provision in the Brady law to
                          prevent convicted felons from
                          buying handguns. 

                          The decision does not affect
                          Wisconsin, however, because the
                          state already had a law requiring a
                          background check and 48-hour
                          waiting period for all handgun sales
                          when the Brady law was passed in
                          1993. 

                          Since 1991, Wisconsin has conducted
                          more than 206,000 background
                          checks; some 1,400 sales have been
                          denied to convicted felons. 

                          WHAT THE GUN LAW 
                          MEANS TO YOU 

                          Under Wisconsin's current law,
                          anybody wanting to buy a handgun
                          from a licensed gun dealer has quite
                          a bit of paperwork to do first.
                          There is the federal form, which
                          asks nearly a dozen questions about
                          prior brushes with the law; there is
                          the store registration form which
                          describes the gun, price, and the
                          name, address and phone number of
                          the buyer; and there is the state
                          form which asks many of the same
                          questions as the federal form. 

                          If the buyer answers "yes" to any
                          questions about felony criminal
                          activity, the sale is denied.

                          Once all the paperwork is done, the
                          dealer calls the person's name into
                          the state's Handgun Hotline. The
                          background check takes about five
                          minutes and costs the buyer $8. If a
                          person passes the that, there is a
                          48-hour waiting period, and then the
                          transaction is made.

                          MAJOR LOOPHOLES 

                          The hotline only checks for felony
                          convictions. And there is no way to
                          know whether a person truthfully
                          answered questions about crimes not
                          showing up as convictions, for
                          example, whether the person had
                          ever been found not guilty of a crime
                          by reason of mental disease or
                          defect, juvenile crimes that would
                          have been felonies if the person had
                          been an adult at the time, or cases
                          where a court has prohibited the
                          person from possessing a firearm due
                          to domestic abuse or harassment
                          charges. 

                          While the state background check
                          has stopped many felons from buying
                          handguns in the past five years, it is
                          by no means foolproof since it only
                          covers a portion of the total handgun
                          sales. 

                          State and federal law is silent on the
                          question of private sales, according
                          to Jim Haney, spokesman for
                          Wisconsin Attorney General James
                          Doyle. 

                          ''The background check only applies
                          to federally licensed gun dealers,''
                          Haney said. ''(Private selling) is not
                          a loophole, it's just not covered.'' 

                          Haney said records of total handgun
                          sales are not kept, so there is no way
                          to know what percentage of handgun
                          sales are conducted by gun dealers
                          and what percentage are sold
                          through classified ads, garage sales
                          or other private transactions. 

                          Ted Willems, a sales representative
                          for Gun List Magazine, a national
                          publication of classified gun ads
                          based in Iola, said the publication
                          lists thousands of handguns. If the
                          guns are sent across state lines, they
                          have to be handled by a federally
                          licensed firearms dealer, but if the
                          transaction occurs between two
                          people in the same state, there is no
                          requirement for a waiting period or
                          to conduct a background check. 

                          ''It's very hard to regulate private
                          sales. There's no paperwork if (I'm
                          in Iola) and I sell a gun to you in
                          Green Bay,'' Willems said. 

                          Norm Joppe, manager of the gun
                          department at Martin Hardware
                          Store, 1221 E. Mason St., said the
                          state's background check system is a
                          valuable tool to let gun dealers know
                          who they are selling handguns to, but
                          it's no silver bullet. 

                          ''The law controls the general honest
                          population, but half the time the law
                          hinders the honest person and does
                          nothing to control the criminals.
                          That's the scary part,'' he said. 

                          Since neither the federal or state
                          governments require handguns to be
                          registered, Joppe suggests private
                          sellers get a signed receipt showing
                          they transferred ownership of the
                          gun. Otherwise, the only record of
                          the gun will show the original buyer
                          as its owner. 

                          Willems said Pennsylvania is looking
                          at ways to require all private
                          handgun transactions to go through a
                          licensed dealer, but there are no
                          such laws on the books yet.


      
                                     ###