FC: Congress about to approve Net-gun advertising restrictions

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,31824,00.html

                     Shooting the Messengers?
                     by Declan McCullagh (declan () wired com)

                     3:00 a.m. 14.Oct.99.PDT
                     WASHINGTON -- When a group of
                     Montana parents needed to raise money
                     to pay for their children's athletic
                     programs this week, they decided to
                     raffle off a Ruger rifle. In a message sent
                     to local mailing lists, they announced,
                     "The Missoula County Home School
                     Athletic Association is sponsoring a Ruger
                     M77 30-06 with a walnut stock and a 3x9
                     Tasco." 

                     Such a posting could send the parents
                     straight to prison unless their notice
                     complied with Internet advertising
                     restrictions added to the Senate version
                     of the Juvenile Justice bill, according to
                     some Second Amendment advocates. 

                     House and Senate committee staff are
                     meeting this week to resolve the different
                     versions of the crime bill, said a
                     spokeswoman for the Senate Judiciary
                     committee. "They're trying to get
                     agreements on things. We're getting
                     closer." 

                     "Basically, you will go to prison for one
                     year for attempting to sell a firearm over
                     the Internet if your email is pulled down
                     by anyone under 18 or any 'prohibited
                     person,'" says Mike Hammond, a
                     consultant to Gun Owners of America and
                     a former general counsel to the US
                     Senate steering committee. 

                     [...]


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