                       NRA-ILA FAX NETWORK
              NRA Institute for Legislative Action
           11250 Waples Mill Road * Fairfax, VA  22030
Special Vol 2, No. 31                                     7/19/95
            Phone: 1-800-392-8683 * Fax: 703-267-3918

                   STAY ON TOP OF THE ACTION! 

Daily Waco Hearing Updates Now Available Through NRA-ILA FaxLine

     The long-awaited Congressional hearings on the 1993 Waco raid
are officially underway!  During the eight days of testimony, we
anticipate that the facts surrounding the operation will at last be
brought to light. Unfortunately, we also anticipate the media's
coverage of this event may be scant.  

     Rest assured, however, that NRA-ILA is working to ensure that
you get the whole story on this tragedy and the hearings
surrounding it.  And we've employed our 24-hour fax-back system,
NRA-ILA FaxLine, to bring you the latest, most accurate and up-to-
date information available on the hearings.

     Each day, information on the hearings will be posted and made
available to you via NRA-ILA FaxLine.  Simply dial (703) 267-3734
from your fax machine and follow the voice instructions, and within
minutes you'll have information on the day's developments. 

     As an additional service to NRA members and NRA-ILA
supporters, complete transcripts of the hearings will be available
to NRA members at a special discount rate from the Federal News
Service.  Daily transcripts will be available for $95.00 per day. 
For your copy, please call Jack Graeme at the Federal News Service
toll-free at 1-800-969-3677.  Be sure to mention you're an NRA
member to secure the special rate!

     So Stay On Top Of The Action!   Utilize NRA-ILA FaxLine and
get the information you need in minutes!  Remember, you only pay
for the cost of the telephone call.  For more information on NRA-
ILA FaxLine, or if you experience any problems with the system,
please call NRA-ILA at 1-800-392-8683.

     As an example of the information available via NRA-ILA FaxLine
on the Waco hearings, highlights of today's activities follow:


     WACO HEARINGS, DAY ONE: INVESTIGATION & WARRANT SERVICE

               "White House aide Rahm Emanuel ... was put in
               charge of coordinating the White House public
               response [to the Waco hearings], joining a team of
               Treasury Department aides working with some
               outside advice from John Podesta, the departed
               White House damage control czar."
                    -- Washington Post, July 19, 1995

The most reported testimony on day one of the Waco hearings was
the most troubling.  Former Davidian member, Kiri Jewell,
described in vivid detail how Davidian leader David Koresh
sexually assaulted her when she was only ten.

"David Koresh has never been a hero to me," responded U.S. Rep.
Steve Schiff.  "I think it's obvious that he broke laws.  In my
view, if he'd have surrendered, at some point, the greatest loss
of life which did occur may well not have occurred.... And I want
to say to you, Kiri, personally, that I'm very sorry that you
were not protected from David Koresh.  I'm very sorry that you
were not protected during this hearing, because it could have
been arranged that you testify with no cameras going if we had
known what your testimony would have been, but I can only say to
you I'm very glad you weren't in that compound in February of
1993, and later when it burned down."

Focusing on the Issue

The Congressional panel was created to resolve central questions
on federal power and abuse of power:  Did BATF act appropriately
and lawfully in obtaining the warrant, serving the warrant, and
enlisting the U.S. Military -- and did the FBI handle the siege
and negotiation properly and lawfully.

Majority members of the Crime and Criminal Justice Subcommittee
and the National Security, International Affairs and Criminal
Justice Subcommittee explained that their joint review of the
tragedy near Waco, Texas, in 1993 is not a matter of condemning
the already-discredited Davidian leader but clarifying the role
and power of federal law enforcement.

"The difference between David Koresh and [BATF and FBI] is that
David Koresh was not working for the federal government in 1993,
but the FBI and the ATF were all federal employees in 1993," said
Congressman Schiff.  Federal agencies "have an accountability to
the government and to the people at all times, no matter what
kind of people they are dealing with, so in my judgment, Mr.
Koresh's personal practices, however despicable they obviously
were, has nothing to do with a hearing on how [BATF] handles a
firearms violation case."

Clinton's Damage Control Team

But if opening day of the Waco hearings is any indication, the
Clinton Administration damage control team is hard at work with
two tools in the toolbox:  diversion and distraction.

U.S. Rep. Charles Schumer lost no time in blurring the panel's
central focus by charging NRA of unethical involvement in the
hearing process.  (For NRA's response, see the July 11 release
titled "WHY DID JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SAY 'NO' TO X-RAY OF GUNS?"
and the July 17 release titled "NRA CRITICIZES 'DIVERSIONARY
TACTICS' AS WACO PROBE NEARS.")  Schumer also devoted much of his
time to the needless task of condemning David Koresh.  Young Kiri
Jewell's testimony painted Koresh as a villain, and no one in
Congress was disagreeing.

Key Issues in Warrant Service

This first day of hearings centered on the adequacy of the
investigation and search warrant stage of the operation.  Several
facts were established.  First, the affidavit was built on stale
heresay, some of it four years old at the time the warrant was
served.  Second, it was based on comments by people with no
expertise in firearms.  Third, there was no attempt to bolster
its credibility.

Said Gerald Goldstein, President of the National Association of
Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Waco tragedy is a reminder that
Americans need to put teeth back into the Fourth Amendment.

Yet many key issues were not brought to conclusion.  For example,
when questioned by Schumer, former McLennan County Sheriff's
deputy Lewis Barber stated that his office had investigated
complaints of alleged automatic weapons fire at the Mount Carmel
Center.  No one followed-up with questions about that
investigation.  Several sources have indicated that the
investigation was prompted not by full-auto fire, but by legal
trigger devices to mimic full-auto fire.  When complaints were
received, the Davidians took the trigger devices, called "ACT"
devices, to the sheriff who confirmed their legality.  Koresh
later told former gun dealer Henry McMahon that the Davidians no
longer used them due to neighbor complaints.

A Summary of Comments

Co-Chairman Bill Zeliff stated the reason for these hearings, he
emphasized is that there will be "no more Waco's" and urged his
colleagues to eliminate "political rhetoric" so that these
questions can be resolved fairly, truthfully and in a bipartisan
manner. 

Co-Chairman Bill McCollum concurred:  before they close the book
on those 90 human beings that died, we had better be sure we know
exactly what happened.  McCollum promised to (1) probe the
lingering questions, (2) uncover the errors; (3) find out who
should be held accountable; and (4) craft reforms to prevent
these mistakes from happening again.

Congressional Schumer said that from the beginning these hearings
had an odor of bias hanging over them. Over the last week, he
said they have discovered where that smell is coming from -- the
NRA.  He cannot say that this hearing will be fair, impartial or
unbiased, because of a "black cloud of taint."

U.S. Rep. Cardiss Collins from Illinois said that these hearings
are completely tainted by the NRA.   U.S. Rep. John Conyers said
that this is just an extension of the attack on the assault
weapons ban, and he does not want to lend any credibility at to
these hearings because of the NRA's tainted actions.  U.S. Rep.
Tom Lantos said that he was appalled by the involvement of the
NRA.

But U.S. Rep. William Clinger said hearings are not a front for
the NRA but rather for a serious look at federal law enforcement. 
He suggested that one possible consideration would be to
consolidate law enforcement functions into fewer agencies.

The Prosecutor:  First Voice of "Panel B"

At day's end, the Congress turned to "Panel B," a ten-person
panel of witnesses consisting of a prosecutor, ATF and FBI
personnel.  U.S. Rep. Bob Barr's experience as a U.S. Attorney
was brought to bear in an incisive interview of the first witness
of "Panel B," assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Johnston.  Johnstron
began by strongly disputing reports in the press that he
expressly approved a search warrant solely for a "dynamic entry."

Prompted by Congressman Barr, Johnston then explained the
importance of the Texas Rangers in investigating the raid: "If
ATF had done this investigation themselves -- as I say, I have no
reason to think they would have coached their own agents or would
have suggested answers to their agents -- but I thought it would
have been a real easy thing to criticize ... because ATF was
under attack so strongly they may have banded together in
interviews.

"I don't know  -- I don't think they would have done it
intentionally but it was extremely important to have objectivity. 
My desire for the Texas rangers to do it was to seek the truth in
the most un-intimidating circumstance possible.  So that the
Rangers could ask ATF agents, one-on-one, which they did, and
audiotaped everything that happened.

"I felt the ATF agents would be comfortable talking to the
Rangers whereas they may not be comfortable talking to ATF
supervisors and its Treasury Review -- there was conflict in ATF
by this time.  A lot of the agents at the staging area felt the
element of surprise had been lost -- that there was a lot of
conflict.  The shooting review teams are often comprised of
people involved in supervisory capacities.  There was conflict 
between line agents and supervisors and I felt to give it the
best chance of it being a truthful interview from each agent, the
Rangers should do it, sir."

"These [matters] certainly will be looked into," Congressman Barr
promised.

Tomorrow: a continuation of the FBI and ATF personnel on "Panel
B" as Day Two of the Waco Hearings commences -- a service of the
NRA-ILA FaxLine! 

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