for the libertarians & govt haters ------- Forwarded Message Date: Sat, 04 Oct 1997 19:36:29 -0500 From: "Chris W. Stark - GOA Texas Rep." <gunowner@OnRamp.NET> To: ignition-point@majordomo.pobox.com Subject: IP: 60,000 Pistol Packing Feds - Up 2,436 in 1 year! ==== BEGIN FORWARD================================ 60,000 pistol-packing federal bureaucrats show why people fear the government WASHINGTON, DC -- A new report revealing that almost 60,000 federal employees now carry weapons has prompted the Libertarian Party to come out in favor of gun control -- for the federal government. According to a study by the General Accounting Office (GAO), an astounding 60,000 government employees in 45 different agencies now carry guns as a routine part of their job. And it's not just law enforcement agents: Poultry inspectors, park rangers, and disaster aid workers are all allowed to carry weapons -- in addition to special agents from the Small Business Administration, NASA, the Department of Education, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and even the Department of Veterans Affairs, noted Steve Dasbach, national chairman of the Libertarian Party. "Federal employees have gone nuts -- gun nuts," he said. "It's time to impose a waiting period on the federal government, while the American people conduct a background check on these armed and potentially dangerous bureaucrats." According to the GAO investigation, the number of federal employees with guns is growing rapidly -- up by 20% in the last 10 years. In fact, 2,436 armed personnel were added to the federal government's payroll last year alone. Even worse, federal employees are getting more powerful weapons. According to the GAO, the Energy Department now has access to machine guns, and other agencies can summon tanks and military helicopters. In addition, the Western Journalism Center discovered that the National Park Service and the Department of Health & Human Services now have their own SWAT teams. Machines guns? Tanks? SWAT teams? What's going on? Dasbach said he has a theory: "Congress has passed over 3,000 criminal laws, and federal agencies have churned out hundreds of thousands of regulations that carry criminal penalties. The result is that ordinary Americans run a constant risk of violating laws they've never even heard of as federal agents scramble to enforce those laws at the point of a gun." And Libertarians aren't the only ones who have noticed this disturbing trend, he said. For example, Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) last month blasted the "massive buildup of a virtual army of armed regulators." Larry Pratt, head of Gun Owners of America, described the 60,000 armed federal employees as "a standing army -- it's outrageous." And Greg Lojein, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, said the acquisition of "heavy equipment" like tanks and helicopters by federal agencies is "more characteristic of war than law enforcement." "No wonder Americans don't trust their government; their government doesn't trust them," said Dasbach. "But trust doesn't grow out of the barrel of a gun -- or from the sight of a pistol-packing poultry inspector. "If we want to live in an America where ordinary citizens don't have to fear their own government -- and where the government doesn't have 60,000 guns pointed at ordinary citizens -- the solution is to demand a government that obeys the Constitution and protects the liberties of its citizens," he said. "And the first step: Gun control for the federal government. Let's end this federal arms race, and turn the federal bureaucracy into a demilitarized zone." The Libertarian Party ======= END FORWARD ============================================= **************************************************************** Chris W. Stark Gun Owners of America - Texas Representative e-mail: gunowner@onramp.net Visit our Web Page at: http://rampages.onramp.net/~gunowner Support "The only no compromise gun lobby in Washington & Texas." ***************************** ***Become a member of GOA TODAY!*** ***************************** **************************************************************** "No class or group or party in Germany could escape its share of responsibility for the abandonment of the democratic Republic and the advent of Adolf Hitler. The cardinal error of the Germans who opposed Nazism was their failure to unite against it. ....the 63% of the German people who expressed their opposition to Hitler were much too divided and shortsighted to combine against a common danger which they must have known would overwhelm them unless they united, HOWEVER TEMPORARY, to stamp it out." -William L. Shirer, author of "The rise and fall of the Third Reich" p.259 .....they who do not learn from History are DOOMED to repeat it!! ********************************************** To subscribe or unsubscribe, email: majordomo@majordomo.pobox.com with the message: subscribe ignition-point email@address or unsubscribe ignition-point email@address ********************************************** http://www.telepath.com/believer ********************************************** ------- End of Forwarded Message