House 9/11 Bill Will Set Up A Database On All Americans, Create National ID Card

[R. A. Hettinga]

<http://www.gunowners.org/a100404.htm>

www.gunowners.org
Oct 2004


GOA Alert-- October 04, 2004

 House 9/11 Bill Will Set Up A Database On All Americans, Create National
ID Card

 Gun Owners of America
 8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102
 Springfield, VA 22151
 (703)321-8585

 Monday, October 4, 2004

 What part of "Constitution" don't they understand?

 In a frightening move, House Republicans -- members of the party that
supposedly favors "limited government" -- are pushing an Orwellian
nightmare in Congress in the name of "national security."

 In the wake of the 9/11 Commission's recommendations, the Senate -- unlike
the House -- has prepared legislation which would closely track that
Commission's findings by reorganizing the intelligence services in the
federal government. The Senate bill is relatively innocuous compared to the
House version, HR 10.

 Unfortunately, many of the so-called Republicans in the House are pushing
this nightmarish legislation which would:
 * Create a massive government database containing personal information on
every American man, woman and child;
 * Standardize (i.e., nationalize) the process of issuing driver's licenses
-- thereby taking the final step toward creating a national ID card; and
 * Set up a system whereby any employer or industry identified by the
Attorney General would have to submit employment applicants to the
government for approval -- complete with fingerprints or other "biometric
identifiers."

 Now, let's look at how each of these problems could affect your rights --
gun rights in particular:

 (1) The government database is created by section 2173 of HR 10, a bill
introduced by House Speaker Dennis Hastert. It would allow airline
passengers to be screened against lists containing "all appropriate
records." What would be "appropriate" would be within the exclusive
discretion of the bureaucrats, but could include medical records,
confidential financial records, library records, and gun records.

 (2) The driver's license standards are in section 3052. They would allow
the federal government to set standards as high as desired to determine who
may or may not obtain a driver's license. Please note that you need a
driver's license (or similarly regulated state-issued photo ID) to purchase
a gun from a dealer. But, increasingly, you also need it to travel on any
form of transportation (airplane, bus, train, car), to get a job, to open a
checking account, to cash a check, to check into a hotel, to rent a car, or
to purchase cigarettes or alcohol. If the federal government can set
standards so high as to deny you a driver's license or photo ID, it has
effectively turned you into a non-person.

 (3) Section 2142 would allow the U.S. attorney general to promulgate any
regulations he desires concerning (a) what employers must submit the names
and fingerprints of all employment applicants to the FBI, (b) what
standards the government will use in approving or disapproving the
employment applicants, and (c) whether or not the government's
"disapproval" will prevent the applicant from being hired.

 There is nothing in section 2142 which would prohibit an anti-gun attorney
general from (a) requiring the resumes and fingerprints of every employment
applicant in the country, (b) disapproving them on the basis of gun
ownership or, for that matter, any factor he viewed as not being
politically correct, and (c) prohibiting any employer from hiring an
applicant thus blacklisted.

 ACTION: Write your representative. Ask him, in the strongest terms, to
vote against any "9/11 legislation" that (1) creates a government database
of personal information on law-abiding Americans, (2) moves toward the use
of a driver's license as a National ID Card, or (3) sets up a system for
fingerprinting and approving job applicants in the private sector.

 You can use the pre-written message below and send it as an e-mail by
visiting the GOA Legislative Action Center at
http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm (where phone and fax numbers are also
available).

 ----- Pre-written message -----

 Dear Representative:

 Movement toward an oppressive government does not make me feel more "secure."

 Therefore, I would urge you, in the strongest terms, to please vote
against HR 10, The 9/11 Recommendations Implementation Act, if it:

 * Creates a massive government database containing personal information on
every American man, woman and child [section 2173];

 * Standardizes (i.e., nationalizes) the process of issuing driver's
licenses -- thereby taking the final step toward creating a national ID
card [section 3052];

 * Sets up a system whereby any employer or industry identified by the
Attorney General would have to submit employment applicants to the
government for approval -- complete with fingerprints or other "biometric
identifiers" [section 2142].

 Frankly, the ideas which are being floated with respect to this
legislation are simply horrible, and are surely unworthy of those who have
sworn to protect the Constitution.

 Sincerely,

 ***************************

 GOA Candidate Ratings Now Online

 The 2004 version of GOA's famous Candidate Ratings Guide has now been
posted at http://www.gunowners.org/votetb04.htm on the web.

 A survey was mailed to every identifiable candidate nationwide for this
year's Congressional elections. And every incumbent was rated based on his
or her gun rights voting record while in office. The result is a truly
comprehensive voter's guide that will prove invaluable to gun owners this
November. Be sure to take note of where your candidates stand on the Second
Amendment!

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Copyright, Contact and Credits

-- 
-----------------
R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'