• Today, Jan.22.1998,I Interrupt this update To inform you That The Clinton "Cesspool"Is Working Hard At Damage Control,"which is an uptown slang meaning "getting your lies together."
• I hope to use this update to inform you on the media,s reporting of firearms issues.
• And in many cases, not reporting!
• Hopefully it will be updated often
• Hopefully all who read this update will profit from it.
• Some of this information is provided as a service of the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action, Fairfax, VA.

The residents of this small community, population 685, seems to have turned down Warner Bros. request to shoot a movie there. Noting the dangers of Hollywood immorality, residents rejected the request."Message In A Bottle" is described as a romance and was set to begin filming exterior scenes in April.

But Warner Bros. had to first get the permission to shoot on town property

Tangier, in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay, is about 14 miles from the nearest point on the mainland.

After reviewing the scripts, the council voted unanimously to say "no" to the studio.Of course the questionable language and sex in the script means nothing to the studio, but in Tangier where many of it's residents are church going Methodists, their decision was based on the cursing, drinking and sex in the script.

I have a suggestion to Warner Bros., Take your lock ,stock, and barrel to Arkansas, where you will most likely be received with open arms.I am sure old buddy Bill will give you all the help you could possibly use.

And if you find out you are not quite "up to snuff" on the script I am equally sure 'old Bill will roll his sleeves up (or something to that effect) and pitch in and bail you out, so to speak.

BARBRA STREISAND IS "HANOI JANE" OF ANTI-GUN MOVEMENT, HESTON CHARGES

(BEVERLY HILLS, CA) Charlton Heston, legendary actor and civil rights activist, today in a news conference told reporters that Barbra Streisand was the "Hanoi Jane" of the anti-gun movement.

Heston, flanked by NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre, held the news conference to counter deliberate misrepresentation about the Second Amendment right to own a firearm in the television movie, "The Long Island Incident," produced by Streisand and aired Sunday night on NBC.

"Ms. Streisand has become the Hanoi Jane' of the anti-gun movement," Heston, First Vice President of the NRA, said. "She has used her power as a producer to promote her own anti-gun agenda, a position that is out of step with the overwhelming majority of Americans who believe in the Constitutional right to own a firearm."

During the film, anti-gun characters discussing the Second Amendment charge that this provision of the Bill of Rights does not guarantee the individual right to own a firearm. The film goes further, even accusing the NRA of perpetuating a "myth" that the Second Amendment does indeed guarantee an individual right.

The characters in the film rely on a comment made years ago by former Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger. In fact, during the news conference, the director of the movie accused the NRA of being guilty of fraud and indicated there was no legal validity to the Second Amendment.

"I've been asked to portray a number of great men," Heston said, "Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, several saints, and of course, Moses. But I've never been asked to play Justice Burger. He, like all of us, is capable of making mistakes and being in error from time to time. "

Indeed, Heston pointed out that the Founding Fathers wrote diligently about the Second Amendment as an individual right of every American citizen. "Those wise men who forged our nation understood the value and importance of that individual right to a free society. That's why the same phrase, the right of the people, refers to an individual right... just as that same phrase used in the First, Fourth, and Ninth Amendments refer to an individual right."

"If Ms. Streisand doesn't understand that, then perhaps she also does not believe that Freedom of Speech or Freedom from Unlawful Search and Seizure are also individual freedoms."

LaPierre, head of NRA since 1992, pointed out that Ms. Streisand, her co-producers, and even NBC have a distinct political agenda coupled with the desire and resources to impose that agenda on the American people. "They are openly anti-gun, and they have no qualms about misrepresenting the NRA and the Second Amendment in an effort to push their agenda," LaPierre said.

"If ever there was a reason for Congress to reject efforts to prevent citizen advocacy groups like the NRA from speaking out, it is to allow such groups of Americans the ability to, in some small way, counter the entertainment conglomerate's political agenda. And the NRA will continue to do that at every opportunity."

During the news conference, Heston challenged Ms. Streisand to an open, face-to-face debate on the Second Amendment.

"I am happy to meet her anytime at any place of her choosing to debate the meaning of the Second Amendment, which she apparently misunderstands," Heston said.

However, following the news conference, a spokesman for Ms. Streisand indicated that the actress was not interested in such a debate.

This information is provided as a service of the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action, Fairfax, VA.

"More than one in three British men has a criminal record by the age of 40. While America has cut its crime rate dramatically Britain remains the crime capital of the West.

Since 1979 the number of crimes in England and Wales has doubled - rising faster than any western country and 10 times faster than in America, apparently all the violence on the television and cinema screens, makes for a safer country.!?

In 'contact crimes', involving violence, England and Wales is just ahead of America with a rate of 3.6% of the population being victims.

In France the rate is 2.2%; in Austria 1.6%.

Critics Say NRA Uses Safety Campaign to Lure Children, blared a recent New York Times headline of a story detailing a new study by the gun ban group the Violence Policy Center (VPC) which criticized NRA's award winning Eddie Eagle gun safety program.

The VPC's latest study would be laughable if it wasn't so patently false and offensive. For the anti-gun lobby to criticize NRA, which has spent $100 million over the past eight years on gun safety, demonstrates that the anti-gunners will stoop to the lowest of lows to further their gun ban agenda.

In its claims, the VPC preposterously accuses NRA of promoting the program to boost future gun sales! As anyone familiar with the program knows, since its inception in 1988, Eddie Eagle's life-saving message has reached 10 million school children and has been taught by more than 500 law enforcement agencies nationwide including the FBI!

Rest assured, NRA will not sit idly by while the VPC attacks one of our most effective gun safety programs a program which, incidentally, has received numerous accolades and awards, and has led to a reduction in the number of accidental gun fatalities among children.

In fact, NRA President Marion Hammer and Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre directed legal counsel to explore a number of options NRA may have. The questions the media should be asking are: What have groups like VPC done? and How much have they spent on firearms safety and education?

We believe the answers to those questions would be far more telling than the outrageous conclusions of this latest ruse of a study.

Members are encouraged to write their local newspapers and spread the word about the effectiveness of NRA's Eddie Eagle gun safety program and call the opponents of gun safety on the carpet!

Robert Blonder's long-gun collection was the work of three decades- old weapons bought at gun shows or flea markets and from friends,then lovingly repaired and restored. He hung the guns,many of them from two world wars, on the basement walls of his Owings Mills home,proudly displaying a collection valued at $25.000.

Now it's gone,confiscated Dec.31 by Baltimore County police officers who noticed it when they came to arrest his son on charges of resisting arrest and hindering a police officer.

Police say the weapons are evidence in a case against Brian David Blonder,whose three felony convictions bar him from owning guns.The only way Robert Blonder can get his collections back,the police say ,is to go to court.

Robert Blonder is puzzled by the seizure and worried about his collection."I've never had a problem with the police", said the 48-year-old auto mechanic, who owns a car-repair business in Mount Washington.

For several years,he said, he was a gunsmith with the required federal license issued after the FBI checked his background. Now, he says,he does not repair guns for money, so he let the federal licence lapse.

Instead,he collects guns and works on them for a hobby.Only two of the confiscated guns have been fired in the last 19 years,he said.

Robert Blonder doesn't understand why the guns were confiscated.He said his son,29 has not lived at the family home for 11 years and does not live there now.

"The son is the focus now, and the guns are evidence in the case against the son," said police spokesman Bill Toohey. "If he wants them back, he will need to get a court order."

The events surrouding the seizure do not appear (italics mine) to be in dispute.

Brian Blonder's criminal history stretches back a decade, court records show.He has been convicted of spousal abuse once and burglary twice.Guns were not involved in any of the crimes, nor has he been arrested on any weapons charge.

In December, Brian Blonder was named in an outstanding warrant on a charge of indecent exposure that was bought after police said he urinated on a patrol car.

On Dec.23, two officers observed him in a McDonalds parking lot "acting nervous" according to a report filed by the officers.They stopped him, asked for identification and told him to stand with his hands on the hood of a car while they checked his record.The check turned up the outstanding warrant,information Brian Blonder overheard from the radio worn by one of the police officers,Toohey said.

Brian Blonder broke away from the police and ran, eluding the pursuing officers, according to their report. A warrant was issued later that day charging him with resisting arrest and hindering a police officer.

Early on the morning of Dec.24, Brian Blonder was arrested in the Garrison Precinct on the indecent -exposure charge, Toohey said.He was released on his own recognizance. The new charges,resisting arrest and hindering a police officer,had not reached the commissioner on duty,Toohey said.

On Dec 30, Brian Blonder spent the night with his parents, something he does infrequently, his father said.He slept on a mattress in the basement,where the guns were kept.

"It just happened Tuesday night he slept at my house," his father said.Brian Blonder has not lived at his parents home for 11 years,his father said, while acknowledging that when he was arrested,Brian Blonder had given his fathers's Owings Mills address as his own.

When police arrived shortly after 10 a.m. Dec. 31, Brian Blonder was there,police arrested him and took him into custody.

That evening, police returned to the Blonder residence, showed a warrant and carried the 74 long guns in Robert Blonder's collection out of the house and into a pickup truck,he said.

Police said they did not need to confiscate his handguns, which are kept under lock and key,Blonder said. can anyone see where we are headed here? (Italic's mine)

They did take a muffler Robert Blonder was making for his lawn mower.

"I was making it because I have an old mower and I can't get parts for it," he said. Now I want everyone to read this next sentence at least two times.(Italic's mine)."The detective said,"It looks like a silencer," and he took it," despite Robert Blonder's explanation of the metal tube's intended use.

Police verified that they returned to the house and took the guns and a metal tube.

"There are federal and state laws prohibiting felons and guns from connecting," said Toohey,the police spokesman. "Our cops say Brian was living there."

Brian Blonder was released from custody Jan 2,jail officials said.He is not living at his parents house, his father said.

Robert Blonder has retained attorney Harry L. Chase to help him get his guns back.Leo W.Ottey Jr. an associate of Chase's who is working on the case, said the matter might not have to go to court.

"We are hoping that the matter can be resolved amicably," Ottey said. "We think that the police did not have the relevant facts at the time of seizure."

Robert Blonder wonders why his gun collection was confiscated at all."It doesn't seem like there was a real reason."he said.

And I say, "Find out where the ORDER came from to confiscate Robert Blonder's collection?"---------------

A study in the December issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine by researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of public health discusses how many serious medical mistakes are never reveled to patients

"Many, if not the majority ," of medical mistakes are kept secret by both the perpetrator and by medical personal witnessing the error, said Dr. Albert Wu, lead author of the study.Questioning medical residents , Dr. Wu found that they reported such mistakes to their supervising physicians in only half the cases, and told patients or their families less than a quarter of the time.

He cited an earlier Harvard study that found that in 4% of all U.S. hospital stays , there was an "adverse event" caused by a mistake, and approximately a quarter of those incidents might be judged to involve negligence.

Mochtar Riady and his son, James, who control the Indonesian-based Lippo Group conglomerate and have been friends and supporters of President Clinton since his days as Arkansas governor, "have had a long-term relationship with a Chinese intelligence agency," according to an unclassified final draft of a report by the Senate committee that last year investigated campaign finance abuses.

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