January 10, 2002
Gun-Grabbers Roost Like Crows In Search for Gun Show Measure

by Joseph P. Tartaro
Executive Editor

Twenty, 30 years ago, crows were usually not seen in great numbers in cities. Living mostly in the country, the birds were also cleaner then, as I recall. Time was—before a handful of crows conspired to get all crows protected by the federal government—one could hunt and shoot crows. In this part of the country we used shotguns, and the wily birds were not easy prey. In other states, friends report picking them off with flat-shooting centerfire rifles at prairie-dog distances when the birds were on the ground.

But in recent years, the big black birds have moved into cities in greater numbers. Perhaps not every city, but certainly in Buffalo—and I suspect many other cities. In the general neighborhood where the Gun Week offices are located and where I live, the crows gather not in handfuls, or even hundreds, but by the thousands. Near dawn or dusk, as they gather in roosts, the tops of trees are blackened by their presence and the vehicles, sidewalks and streets beneath them are whitened by their generous excrement.

Some people may like crows still, but I do not, and neither do most of our neighbors. They are filthy, omnivorous scavengers that make buzzards and other carrion eaters seem cleanly by comparison. When there is any semblance of daylight they will rip open trash and garbage bags, feasting on almost anything inside. What they don’t eat they scatter about as unsightly litter.

They raid the nests of songbirds and bully the adult cardinals, jays, starlings and even sparrows to such an extent that there has been a marked decrease in the bird populations that used to visit the neighbors’ feeders.

The crows are smart. They know that by living in cities they have the added protection of ordinances that prohibit the discharge of firearms or fireworks, the only sounds that are likely to frighten them away.

These hordes of crows are also noisy, especially in the hours before most people rise from bed. Smart, dirty, noisy and intrusive, the crows are very much like the anti-gunners.

Noisy Anti-Gunners
Like the crows, the voices of citizen disarmament raise an almost constant din. The anti-gunners intrude constantly on the rights that their neighbors cherish and are entitled to—just as the crows intrude and dominate the environment that they share with other birds. The anti-gunners are as cunning as the crows that bully their way into the leafy domain they share with the smaller bird species, greedily devouring the seeds and fruits that are nature’s bounty.

The incessant squawking of the anti-gunners is most common after some domestic or foreign sociopaths have dumped garbage on their innocent neighbors—whether that be a rare and random workplace or school shooting or an even rarer act of terrorism. The anti-gunners perch in large numbers in the higher branches of the print and electronic media squawking to anyone who will listen that this or that legislative proposal they have pushed for years would prevent future similar incidents.

That’s seldom if ever true. But the anti-gunners roosted in the public consciousness keep at it because the noise keeps wearing otherwise thoughtful people down, and because they have enjoyed some success—as in the passage of the Brady Act and the ban on military-style semi-automatic firearms and large capacity magazines.

There are two parts of the anti-freedom agenda of the anti-gunners that they prize above all others: an end to gun shows and national registry of all gunowners.

And the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, which have smeared our traditional sense of separation from a nasty world, have given them an excuse to scream about both.

Both Bills Bad
The ban on gun shows is the vehicle that will deliver both of their greatest wishes. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the bill introduced by Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) or the so-called compromise proposal co-sponsored by Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Joseph Lieberman (D-CT). Either of these bills will get the job done.

Either will severely restrict—if not completely eliminate gun shows as we have known them—as well as the secondary sales that take place in swap meets at major competitions, or at gun clubs and other places that gunowners may gather. Either bill also will take a giant step toward creating the national registry of gunowners, by requiring record checks and record keeping for private buyers and sellers.

Like the ugly crows that flock noisily to roost in quiet neighborhoods, the anti-gunners are exploiting the public’s fear and loathing of terrorists, and broadcasting questionable studies tailored to support their arguments. In addition to the previously-mentioned members of the US Senate, the squawk level has recently been raised by two key anti-gun organizations: Americans for Gun Safety (AGS) and the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence (BCPGV, formerly Handgun Control Inc.).

Just before Christmas, Americans for Gun Safety urged Congress to quickly approve the McCain-Lieberman gun show bill after a background check at an Oregon gun store led to the arrest of an apparent member of the terrorist group Hamas.

Ali Khaled Steitiye was arrested in Beaverton, OR, after he attempted to purchase a gun from The Gun Broker, a federally-licensed gun dealer in Tigard. Steitiye, a Lebanese native, has a long record of felony convictions from various states. Unlike under the Clinton-Reno Justice Department, Steitiye was indicted immediately by a federal grand jury for illegal possession of firearms and for lying on the federal form 4473 used to conduct a background check. In a search of his home, police found other weapons, ammunition, $20,000 in cash, fake citizenship documents, and fraudulent social security cards.

The search of his home also revealed even clearer evidence of Steitiye’s ties to terrorism: a plaque bearing the name of the terrorist group Hamas and a calendar with Sept. 11 highlighted.

AGS also claimed to have also uncovered three cases in which suspected terrorists used gun shows to avoid background checks in Michigan, Florida, and Texas. “We are deluding ourselves if we believe that terrorists operating in America are adverse to using guns,” said the AGS president. “In fact, an Internet website urging Jihad against this country tells terrorists to acquire guns in America.”

What AGS didn’t say was that the present system worked in all four cases in their study, and that in Steitiye’s case, particularly, he had enough felony convictions on his record that he shouldn’t have been wandering around loose in America.

It should be recalled that AGS—founded and funded by Andrew McKelvey, monster.com billionaire and former Handgun Control Inc. board member—was a major force behind passage of an Oregon ballot initiative in 2000, funding the TV campaign commercials featuring Sen. John McCain.

McCain has promised to bring his bill to the floor early next year. “The right to own a gun does not extend to terrorists and criminals and the only way to stop them is through a background check. That was proven this week in Oregon,” the AGS claimed.

More Trash
Not to be upstaged by AGS, the Brady Center added its strident cawing in support of a “gun show” bill, claiming terrorists are using weak American gun laws to amass firearms and commit crimes in the United States.

Michael Barnes, president of BCPGV, claimed America is the “great gun bazaar” for terrorists “around the world.”

The pre-Christmas Barnes press conference about his group’s “report” claimed, “. . . When terrorist training manuals single out the US for its easy access to firearms, and when gun runners testify that they ‘have nothing like this at home,’ we know we have a dangerous problem.”

With an eye toward the sunset date for the Clinton gun ban, the Brady Center also pushed Congress to permanently reauthorize and strengthen the Assault Weapon Ban and close the “parts kit” loophole that, they claim, allows terrorists and other criminals to purchase a gun by mail and assemble it at home.

At the same news conference, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism, announced that she will hold hearings on the BCPGV report soon. Feinstein also said she will introduce legislation next year to require background checks for all gun purchases, even those between private individuals.

If you had any doubts, the cawing of the anti-gunners is a signal that gun bills will have top billing in the Senate during 2002.