Dear Colleagues, The July 2001 Issue of NRA's America's First Freedom magazine featured a cover picture of John Ashcroft and highlighted the story of Ashcroft's letter indicating that "the Constitution protects the private ownership of firearms for lawful purposes." The magazine (at pp. 35-37) exults in the reversal of Justice Department policy on the Second Amendment. That's great. On page 37, the NRA reprints Ashcroft's letter -- as though it were *in full* -- but omits the footnote that exists in Ashcroft's actual letter. As you know, Ashcroft also said in that footnote in his letter that the Constitution "does not prohibit Congress from enacting laws restricting firearms ownership for compelling state interests, such as prohibiting firearms ownership by convicted felons." The NRA omitted a key element of Ashcroft's position -- and then published the letter as though it were complete. That omission is a terrible distortion -- and seriously damages NRA's credibility with those of us who know the whole truth. What else might the NRA choose to omit, where the omission serves a PR purpose? Are their reports from the UN correct? Their reports about lobbying efforts and the positions taken by NRA-backed candidates? I wonder who at the NRA thought it was a good idea to distort the facts, and conceal the somewhat negative truth, just to advance the appearance of NRA success? That's the conduct we came to expect from HCI & Co. ... now it has infected the NRA. Members like me should demand the NRA publish an accounting of this mistake, fire the person who made the mistake, apologize and repent from such conduct. --Richard Stevens (my personal views only) ************************************************************************** Subscribe to Freematt's Alerts: Pro-Individual Rights Issues Send a blank message to: freematt@coil.com with the words subscribe FA on the subject line. List is private and moderated (7-30 messages per week) Matthew Gaylor, (614) 313-5722 ICQ: 106212065 Archived at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fa/ **************************************************************************