From: [m c pherso] at [lumina.ucsd.edu] (John McPherson) Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns,alt.politics.libertarian Subject: SD Militia: forwarded Crime Bill editorial Date: 3 Sep 1994 05:44:50 GMT [Forwarded from the San Diego Militia <[m--i--a] at [tomlinson.com]>, please respond to this address directly ... I'm only passing this on. -- JM] ====================================================================== >Date: Fri, 2 Sep 94 14:32:11 PDT >From: [j--ll--r] at [orincon.com] (John Wallner) >Subject: SDM: forwarded editorial Enclosed is a forwarded editorial regarding the recently passed crime bill. It is well worth perusing. (Forwarded from rkba-alert. Details follow article.) John Wallner [m--i--a] at [tomlinson.com] ********************************************************* September 1, 1994 Washington Times Editorial The Crime Bill Whodunit by Mrs. Tanya K. Metaksa We came close. Both the crime bill and its chief salesman were pushed and shoved nearly over the brink. And now, as a politically wounded Bill Clinton and his crime of a bill are wheeled into the Rose Garden, bandages and all, Americans want to know: Whodunit? Yes, 3.4 million NRA members pushed and pushed hard. But so did many Democrat and Republican Members of Congress. Conservative think-tanks and the New York Times editorial page. The Cato Institute and USA Today. Americans for Tax Reform and the Wall Street Journal. Also pushing hard were the professionals who make up the entire spectrum of public servants who fight crime -- from rank-and-file police officers to district attorneys and correctional officers. Many hands pushed hard. Politicians who want to give NRA full credit for the attack say the reason is guns. Not so. The biggest shove came from the American people, and the reason is simple: Americans love the open road, but we hate being taken for a ride. Americans knew the bill was fraud, and we haven't changed our minds. Before the bill stumbled in the House August 11, a poll by Frank Luntz demonstrated that the more Americans learned about the bill, the more they disliked it. Just yesterday, the Washington Times reported that area police still feel the same way. Referring to one local chief, the Times wrote, "the more he learns about the provisons of the crime bill, the less hopeful he becomes." In short, Americans are still learning and still disliking. The bill's political makeover was just that: cosmetics. Even on gun control, Americans know the score. Deep down, Americans sense what's been proven by criminologists, seen by street officers and demonstrated by the bitter statistics of Washington, D.C.: gun bans don't work. Constitutionally wrong, criminologically unsound, this particular ban is also downright stupid. A firearm is no longer a device that expels a projectile by rapidily burning propellant. The crime of a bill now re-defines firearm to include a magazine -- an inert piece of sheet metal, a couple of rivets and a spring. This is not about 19 guns or the nearly 200 guns the bill actually bans that are rarely used in crime. Americans know precisely what this Orwellian newspeak is all about: it is about their guns and their rights and their freedom. It's also about their money and their safety. Americans know that for every dollar spent on a prison bed, nearly two dollars in victimization costs are averted. But the crime bill money-changers have other ideas. In this bill, American crime victims still spend nearly a dollar for experimental social projects for every dollar in prisons. Yes, federal crime fighters are still committed to reforming tomorrow's John Wayne Gacy by fitting him for a tutu. But it's far worse than dance lessons. When the politicians settled on the bill's makeover, they not only pulled Bill Clinton back from the precipice but left crime victims teetering on the edge. In "Alternative Sentencing: Selling It To The Public," a former governor of Delaware wrote in 1991 that he put "an end to the old-fashioned and inaccurate concept that criminal justice means prisons and only prisons." To fight against prison-building, he urged other politicians to use sound bites tailored not to crime victims but to "a typical consumer, someone struggling to balance a checkbook and make ends meet. Think about how ... your child's teacher would react if you told them how much money is being taken out of their pockets ... to take care of criminals." The author is Michael Castle. That same champion of the anti-prison movement is now the U.S. Representative who fought to save the President and his crime of a bill. It's no surprise that the makeover crime bill incorporates the worst the anti-prison movement has to offer -- "alternatives to incarceration" -- alternatives that look good, sound good and kill good. Judge for yourself: The bill's so-called "prison provisions" for young offenders specifically prohibit building new correctional facilities for criminals up to age 22. Instead, the bill sentences criminals in their most "productive" years to "innovative projects" - in other words, anything other than the concrete and steel of incapacitation. Indeed, the "compromise" doesn't require one cent of the nearly $8 billion be spent on any new prison beds. All eight billion dollars can be used to "improve" prison conditions, expand square footage per inmate or generate more "alternatives to incarceration." What are these "alternatives to incarceration"? Whatever name politicians put on them, they amount to the same thing: More criminals back on our streets. How well do they "work"? Ask a victim: Tried and convicted criminals on some form of release mu rder 14 people, rape 48 women and rob 578 Americans every day. This year, 60,000 criminals will be convicted of a violent crime, and see "alternatives to incarceration," not prison. NRA was proud to play a key role in opposing this dangerous fraud. Unfortunately, as the president is fond of saying, it was a win for the special interests -- this time, popularity and reelection, the special interests of politicians. Next time, we expect the special interests of Americans will prevail: justice and the constitution. You can trust that NRA will play a key role that day, too. Mrs. Metaksa is the executive director of the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action. -- This information is presented as a service to the Internet community by the NRA/ILA. 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