lution by the Bonus Marchers, Army veteransrnwho knew how to use machinernguns.rnhi the spring of 1941, gun registrationrnlaws—like those that had been enactedrnin Europe before World War 11—werernpending in 40 state legislatures. Thernpurported reason was the need to controlrn”Fifth Columnists.”rnThe justification for “gun control”rnoften changes, but the reason is alwaysrnthe same: people control. The race riotsrnof the 1960’s and “Burn, Baby, Burn,”rnmuch more than the murders of thernKennedy brothers and Martin LutherrnKing, Jr., caused the 1968 Gun ControlrnAct.rnIn 1986, Congress prohibited morernprivateh’ owned, legal machine guns,rnalthough there is only one known casernof a registered owner (a cop) using onernin a crime. In 1994, Congress bannedrnevil-looking semiautomatic rifles withrn”dangerous” features like bayonet lugs,rnthough less than one percent of crimesrnare committed with such guns, and therernhas never been a documented case of arnbayonet charge between drug gangs.rnNo city, no state, no nation has everrnreduced its crime rate by passage of arngun law. So why are ever-more-stringentrnlaws continuously proposed? Peoplerncontrol. In January 1968, when thernSupreme Court ruled that a prohibitedrnperson could not be required to registerrnan illegal gun in United States v. Haynes,rnthe city of Chicago immediately modifiedrnits registration law to exempt criminalsrnand the mentally deranged fromrnhaving to register their guns. Only thernlaw-abiding need comply.rnIf a law cannot, does not, and will notrnreduce crime, and can be legally ignoredrnby its claimed targets, it is not a reasonablernlaw—and gun laws are not. It is arnquestion of freedom, and the right tornprotect self, family, and communityrnfrom criminals, whether elected or not.rnWithout freedom there will be nornfirearms among the people; withoutrnfirearms among the people there will notrnlong be freedom. Certainly there are examplesrnof countries where the people remainrnrelatively free after the people havernbeen disarmed, but there are no examplesrnof a totalitarian state being createdrnor existing where the people have personalrnarms.rnPrivately owned guns are an insurancernpolicv. The fact that their owners havernno desire to use them against a criminalrnor a criminal government is as immaterialrnas the fact that we keep our homeowner’srninsurance in force though wernhave no desire for our house to burn.rn—Neal KiioxrnVice President, National Rifle AssociationrnSilver Spring, MDrnCULTURAL REVOLUTIONSrnJ O E O C C H I P I N T I continues to berndenied justice. As Greg Kaye reported inrnthe October 1993 Chronicles, Occhipintirnwas the highly decorated undercoverrnagent for the Immigration and NaturalizationrnService who was framed, tried,rnconvicted, and sentenced to prison forrndoing his job too well. Fluent in threernlanguages, Occhipinti had distinguishedrnhimself as an expert on Dominican organizedrncrime—i.e., drug dealing, gunrunning,rnmoney laundering, and the counterfeitingrnof Food Stamps and GreenrnCards for illegal aliens—especially as itrnoperates in the crime-infested area ofrnupper Manhattan known as WashingtonrnHeights. But when his intelligence workrnled to so many arrests in the late 1980’srnthat the Dominican drug trade in thisrnarea was being seriously hindered, thernheat came down on Occhipinti. It seemsrnthe Federation of Dominican Merchantsrnand Industrialists of New York—a reputedrnfront for the Dominican drug cartel—rnhad donated large sums of money tornMayor David Dinkins, and ever responsi’rne to the needs of his constituency,rnDinkins led the fight to stifle Occhipinti.rnOcchipinti was arrested and chargedrnwith violating the civil rights of the Dominicanrndrug dealers—specifically, hernwas accused of having mishandledrnsearch warrants—and was convicted andrnsentenced in 1992 to 37 months inrnprison. When Occhipinti appeared onrnthe ]ackie Mason Show to protest thernconviction, Judge Constance Baker Motleyrnabrogated Joe’s assignment to a minimum-rnsecurity prison in Tennessee, orderedrnhim shackled in body chains andrnleg irons as a “dangerous criminal,” andrnsent him to a maximum-security facilityrnin Oklahoma, where he was released intornthe “general population,” meaning Occhipintirnwas left to fend for his lifernamong drug dealers and murderersrnwhom he himself had arrested yearsrneariier. After seven months of this nearrndeath sentence, friends of Occhipintirnconvinced George Bush, in one of his lastrnacts as President, to commute Joe’s sentencernin January 1993.rnToday, Joe Occhipinti seeks a new trialrnthat will clear his name, release his federalrnpension, and restore his rights as anrnAmerican citizen, which continue to berndenied him because his sentence wasrnmerely commuted: he was not pardonedrnby President Bush. Judge Motley, however,rnhas blocked his efforts. In his motionrnfor a new trial, Occhipinti requestedrna change of ‘enue, away from New fork’srnSouthern District, where he had uncoveredrncorruption in the U.S. Attorney’srnoffice. He also requested that JudgernMotley recuse herself for conflict of interest.rnMotley—the first black femalernfederal judge and longtime “civil rightsrnactivist” who, according to Kaye and thernOcchipinti defense team’s Decemberrn1995 press release, was exposed by SenatorrnJames Eastland of the Senate InternalrnSecurity Subcommittee as a formerrnYoung Communist League organizer—rnfirst dela}’ed her decision on the motionrnfor over a year and then denied it withoutrnexplanation. Though this politicallyrnpowerful judge holds the dubious distinctionrnof being the most “overturnedrnon appeal” jurist in New York’s SouthernrnDistrict, a Gourt of Appeals refused laternlast year to overturn her decision on thisrnparticular case.rnNew evidence concerning the conspiracyrnto frame Occhipinti has also surfacedrnsince our first coverage of this story. Arnfellow who has held numerous diplomaticrnpositions for the Dominican Republic,rnincluding Ambassador to Jamaica andrnConsul General to the United States, hasrncome forward and signed two sworn affidavits.rnWhile he was stationed in America,rnDominican drug lords in New YorkrnAPRIL 1996/5rnrnrn