JUSIPER

 
A real gun rights group

Posted by Sini

Gun Owners of America took a stand for civil liberties and second amendment rights against the Bush Administration's national ID bill.

During the Clinton years, the GOP talked a lot about civil liberties (not for unpopular political expression but for the violent and racist militia activities by the party base). Although the bill received limited attention, it represented an enormous opportunity for Democrats to back gun owners on an issue that much of the party base is sympathic to.

Rep. Ron Paul got it right. H.R. 418 is not about immigration control as much as it is about citizen control.

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 261-161 to send H.R. 418, the so-called "REAL ID Act of 2005," over to the Senate. The bill federalizes the issuance of drivers' licenses, an activity which until recently has always been a state function. Because no American will be able to fly, take a train or buy a gun from a dealer without a driver's license that meets the federal standards in the bill, H.R. 418 has effectively created a National ID card.

The bill's future in the Senate is uncertain at this time, although Rep. Paul's office has told Gun Owners of America that House leaders are contemplating whether to attach H.R. 418 as an amendment to the tsunami relief bill.

Lambasting the bill on the floor of the House last week, Rep. Paul noted that the legislation gives authority to the Secretary of Homeland Security to expand the required information that goes into drivers’ licenses, including "such biometric information as retina scans, fingerprints, DNA information, and even Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) radio tracking technology."

Should this happen, it would mean that the federal government "would know where Americans are at all times of the day and night," Paul said.

Moreover, H.R. 418 requires the U.S. government to share our personal information with Canada and Mexico. Paul was flabbergasted. "There are no limits on what happens to the database of sensitive information on Americans once it leaves the United States for Canada and Mexico -- or perhaps other countries," he said. Paul wondered if crooked Mexican officials would soon be able to sell thousands of identity files, including our Social Security numbers, to alien criminals.

Rep. Paul also informed his House colleagues about the dangers this bill poses to gun owners, noting that H.R. 418 contains no prohibitions against including "a person's appearance on a registry of firearms owners" in the National ID card.

"H.R. 418 does what legislation restricting firearm ownership does," Paul said. "It punishes law-abiding citizens. Criminals will ignore it.

"H.R. 418 offers us a false sense of greater security at the cost of taking a gigantic step toward making America a police state."

Paul is a libertarian. He was one of only eight Republicans to buck his party. Alongside a majority of Democrats, he voted against the bill.

The new, allegedly gun-lovin' DNC chairman should take this opportunity to reframe the party's image on an issue that has turned into a political albatross. The protection of civil liberties should be a point of agreement among Democrats and gun owners that that party can exploit to its advantage.

1:52 PM |