-Caveat Lector- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! How Firearms Background Checks Backfire Wes Vernon Friday, June 1, 2001 WASHINGTON - The Brady anti-gun law has resulted in denial of a firearms purchase to a former policeman who is an honored war veteran. Why? A juvenile record from 42 years ago that was supposed to be "sealed” nonetheless came back to deny him the right to buy a gun for his wife’s protection. This is the story of Michael Bruce Williams of Jacobson, Minn., a veteran of 22 years of honorable active-duty military service. He was denied the right to buy a firearm even though he had had plenty of experience with firearms: in the Air Force (including a tour of duty in Vietnam), as a National Guardsman, as a policeman, and then back into the service - this time with the Navy for 14 years. In all of the above capacities, he served with honor and distinction. He now has a daughter, born while he was in Vietnam, who today serves as a chief petty officer in the U.S. Navy. Williams’ wife of 38 years, a long-distance bicyclist, felt vulnerable while riding to train for a 200-mile bike ride last summer. He suggested she attend self-defense courses sponsored by the local sheriff, get a "permit to carry" and carry a handgun. When he went to buy a handgun for her for Mother's Day last year, he was denied that right because the background check required by the Brady law found a juvenile conviction. It was spotted by the Justice Department’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). The conviction involved a juvenile burglary charge in 1959, when Williams was 16 years old. NewsMax.com has obtained a copy of a court order dated Sept. 12, 1960, wherein a judge in the Superior Court of Skagit County, Wash., acknowledged that the young Williams had behaved himself during the probation period. Therefore the court allowed him to plead not guilty to the crime. Further, the judge ordered that the charge "is hereby dismissed and the defendant is … released from all penalties and disabilities resulting from the filing of said charge.” The records were supposed to be sealed and expunged. But as the 59-year-old Williams told NewsMax.com Thursday, "You can’t expunge memories.” And a sheriff had neglected to destroy or discard a card file that remained and came back to haunt Williams more than 40 years later when he went to buy a handgun for his wife’s protection. When he protested to the feds, he got a letter last December from Monica Snyder, speaking for Timothy Munson, section chief for the NICS Program Office. The letter stated that the document showing the Order of Dismissal in 1960 was "insufficient to authorize your ability to purchase or redeem a firearm.” "Therefore,” it added, "you are ineligible to purchase or possess firearms.” Because Williams already possessed several guns, more or less as trophies from his military and police days, he moved all firearms from his residence, on the advice of his attorney. The very fact that he was suddenly told he could not even possess firearms after having used them over the years in so many official capacities seemed bizarre. All because of a youthful error back in 1959. "The only other blemish on my record," he told NewsMax.com, "is a ticket for going 65 mph in a 55 mph zone … while driving to the District 8 Republican convention.” The next thing the veteran and ex-policeman did was to hire a lawyer, Gary Jones, back in his native Washington state, where the youthful crime had occurred. The attorney wrote the federal authorities arguing that the denial "does not follow the Washington State law” regarding the Certificate of Rehabilitation that had been granted his client many years ago. Ultimately, Williams ended up having to go to his senators and congressman for help. Just within the last two weeks, he received a call from an aide to Sen. Mark Dayton, D-Minn., who told him the senator’s office had seen to it that the ancient record back in Washington state was expunged. When Williams said he would like to see that in writing, the senate aide told him to "go ahead and buy a gun. You’re clear.” As of this writing, he is awaiting the outcome of his latest attempted purchase. The point is that Williams should not have had to go to the time, money and headache of having to hire a lawyer or petition the office of a United States senator to achieve his Second Amendment rights. What if his wife had been harmed because he couldn’t get her a gun? Does this red tape make sense for someone who carried guns in serious professional pursuits as a member of the Air Force, the Navy, the National Guard and the Montevideo, Minn., police force? The latter position was achieved after he had been certified as a police patrolman by the state of Minnesota. This is what critics of the Brady law are talking about when they point to the "unintended consequences.” *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational purposes only.[Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ] Want to be on our lists? Write at [EMAIL PROTECTED] for a menu of our lists! <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. 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