Statement of John Michael Synder, Public Affairs Director Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, December 6, 1995 WASHINGTON -- Once again, we gather here together in an attempt to halt the further expansion of central government law enforcement activities. We represent diverse group of civil liberties and firearms owners rights organizations. We are concerned, deeply concerned, with threats to personal freedom and political liberty. These threats originate with the apparent continuing attempt on the part of some politicians and federal law enforcement officials to expand excessively the power of the central government. Indeed, it is most unusual that a group as diverse as ours even meets, let alone agrees, fundamentally, on the nature of the threat to political liberty and personal freedom with which we are confronted now by proposed federal legislation. It is this very threat which unites us. It is because of our love of personal freedom and political liberty that we are united. We do not oppose legitimate law enforcement activity. Indeed, we support it, we wholeheartedly support it. In fact, the continued existence of our form of government depends on public support for legitimate law enforcement. It is the unreasonable expansion of federal law enforcement activity at the expense of personal freedom and political liberty which undermines legitimate law enforcement. The American people recently have witnessed congressional hearings on heinous federal law enforcement activities at Waco and Ruby Ridge. The whole country now is in the process of digesting the information gleaned form these hearings and determining how to prevent such tragedies from occurring in the future. It is hypocritical for public officials to decry the Waco and Ruby Ridge tragedies while at the same time to promote expansion of the power of the federal agencies which were responsible for those very tragedies. It is outrageous, absolutely outrageous, for Congress even to consider further expansion of federal law enforcement authority without first doing what it can to prevent future federal law enforcement tragedies. At the very least, it should create a national commission to review the policies and practices of federal law enforcement officials before considering such expansion. Transmitted: 3/7/96 11:01 AM (n120695w) -- Stanton McCandlish
mech@eff.org

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