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	Note of Respect and Appreciation: This article was submitted to our news archives for publication. As soon as we saw it was Tanya's and that it was a recent FrontPageMag.com article, we went to the address provided. It wasn't there. And we couldn't find it ANYWHERE on their great site. And, because the BATF issue being addressed below is both important and very timely, and since we couldn't find the dang thing after searching all over FrontPageMag.com, we printed it. Tanya, you're doing great work. FrontPageMag.com, keeping on truckin', 2 thumbs up. The Real Conspiracy By Tanya Metaksa FrontPageMag.com \| 11/22/00 URL: http://www.frontpagemag.com/archives/guest_column/metaksa11-22-00p.htm THE ELECTION RESULTS have the conspiracy theorists on the Internet very, very busy. The latest rumors that are flying attempt to give credence to the notion that if Al Gore is successful in stealing the election from George W. Bush, there will be blood in the streets. The following quotation from The Sierra Times Report of November 12, 2000 has been circulated on almost every Internet gun-related list: While Gore supporters are holding protests in the streets, Bush supporters are buying bullets at gun shops. In the three days since the U.S. General Election, ammunition sales throughout the United States have jumped an astonishing nine hundred percent (900%). Americans are furious over massive, blatant and widespread vote fraud by supporters of Al Gore and many are openly talking about "blood in the streets." Although good hard numbers are difficult if not impossible to come by, my sources confirm the rumor that ammunition sales are up across the country. Yet, it is not a phenomenon that just started on November 7. The truth is that the price of imported ammunition has fallen to one of the lowest points in recent years. Thus firearms owners, who are notoriously frugal, are stocking up on a non-perishable commodity with a long storage life. After all, these people know that prices that come down dont stay down forever and can rebound quickly. In California, ammunition, especially at weekend gun shows, is selling well. But ammunition seems to sell well at California gun shows every year. What all those conspiracy theorists should concentrate upon is the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (BATF) tightening the regulations which most dealers and importers are required to follow. In the August 28th edition of the Federal Register, BATF gave notice of proposed rules. All comments on that proposed regulation must be received by BATF no later than November 27th. Anyone can send his or her comments by e-mail to nprm@atfhq.atf.treas.gov and all comments should include the reference notice number, Notice No. 902, somewhere in the e-mail to assure that it gets to the proper person. The ultimate result of these new proposals will be to increase the cost of purchasing firearms and parts that a federally licensed firearms (FFL) dealer might stock. What the proposed regulations do is to change the record-keeping requirements and the shipping operation of FFLs, both wholesalers and retailers. In the end, it is always the consumer who pays for outrageous government record-keeping requirements. BATFs alleged reasoning behind the regulations is to ensure that firearms and firearms parts are not stolen in transit. Several months ago, when UPS decided that it would only ship firearms if the shipper sent the firearm by overnight shipment, rather than by standard shipment, it cited a problem of firearms pilferage when guns were shipped using their standard shipping methods. The government bureaucrats at BATF have decided that they will help solve the firearms pilferage problem by ignoring any shipping company responsibility for eliminating theft and placing the burden on the shipper of the firearms - usually the distributor. Thus the regulations state that the person responsible for the gun is the shipper, until the gun or gun parts are logged into the books of the FFL dealer. As is the case with so many bureaucratic solutions to perceived problems, the people who cause the problems are never the ones who pay for the solution. The other onerous part of the proposed regulations deals with the issue of physical inventories and inventory inspections. BATF is proposing to require all licensed manufacturers, importers, dealers, and collectors to conduct an annual physical inventory. Additionally they want to allow other inventory inspections at any other time the Director of Industry Operations may in writing require. This could ultimately lead to a limitless number of inspections by BATF personnel. Again, BATF, which has suggested that it has found inventory discrepancies, is proposing to punish the entire industry for the discrepancies of a few unscrupulous dealers. They appear to shift some of the BATF inspection responsibilities to their clients, the licensees, and they are expanding BATF jurisdiction to encompass business practices of the licensees. The legislative intent of the original act never contemplated expanding BATFs jurisdiction to include the licensees commercial business practices or their business records. So if you havent let BATF know your feelings about these outrageous proposed regulations, you have only a few days left. Its time for the conspiracy theorists to look at how the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms over the past eight years have caused the firearms industry to shrink by making it more and more difficult to manufacture and sell a legal product -- firearms -- in this country. The Clinton administration has done more to interfere in the legal commerce in firearms through regulations than many previous Congresses ever contemplated doing. Its time to stop counting bullets sales and respond to odious, anti-gun regulations. KABA: Gun Owners of America put up an excellent report complete with instructions and contact information to tell these screwballs what you think about their stinkin' farce, right here: http://www.gunowners.org/a101200.htm