Legislation That Actually Needs Your Support - And No, It's Not The Bailout

The B.A.T.F.E. is a renegade federal agency

It uses tactics against law-abiding gun owners which are not only outrageous, but unlawful. They routinely tamper with evidence, use paid criminal informants, and lies to convict law-abiding citizens. They are trampeling our Constitutional gun rights.

From using paid "informants" to provide false testimony, to physically altering firearms to turn them into "machine guns," to abusing and harassing mom and pop gun shops who cannot afford to legally defend themselves, this agency appears not only to have little or no regards for the rights of citizens, but is clearly willing even to ignore the rulings of the Supreme Court.

You may or may not know, Gun Owners of America is helping to defend David Olofson, a recent victim of BATFE abuse who has been sentenced to 30 months in the Federal Correctional Institute at Sandstone, Minnesota for the alleged crime of knowingly transferring an unregistered machine gun.

GOA submitted an appeal on August 25, 2008, to get him released from prison.

GOA took on the case when they learned that the so-called "machine gun" that Olofson owned was, in reality, one of thousands of ordinary semi-automatic rifles made by Olympic Arms. It happened to misfire a few extra rounds when a friend was using it at a range -- thus drawing the attention of the feds. However, it only became a machine gun when the BATFE, behind closed doors, mechanically tampered with the rifle.

Getting guns to malfunction is a favorite technique of the BATFE as it gives them a great opportunity to rack up convictions on the possession or selling of "machine guns," which requires a special type of license.

As a result, David Olofson has been robbed of all his freedom, not just his right to keep and bear arms. He has lost his liberty, his family, and his life outside of prison.

It is just a turn of fate that it is David Olofson -- not you or any other semi-auto owner you know -- who is rotting away in prison.

The Fairness in Firearms testing bill, H.R. 1791, will require the B.A.T.F.E. to use honest, open, and legitimate testing procedures for suspected firearm problems and investigations. The investigations would be required to be filmed and reviewed by lawyers and gunsmith professionals. Support H.R. 1791!

The Observer