and therefore the ability to accomplish its objects and purposes, depends entirely upon the support of loyal Americans who believe in the right to 'keep and bear arms.' The NRA brochure informs its readers that "The challenge to the right of reputable citizens to possess and enjoy firearms for lawful purposes is assuming greater and more threatening proportions," but, because the NRA legislative service kept its membership informed and alert, "NRA members reacted promptly, firmly, and in force." As part of this general campaign, the NRA has produced a motion picture entitled "To Keep and Bear Arms,' and the same theme was stressed on a float in the 1963 Tournament of Roses parade.

Although the NRA accepts only individuals or gun clubs as members and affiliates, it is generally assumed that every important gun manufacturer has an executive in the NRA. And the Minutemen, an anti-Communist guerrila organization that claims to have 25,000 members, urges its followers to join NRAaffiliated clubs in order to obtain the ammunition, targets, and surplus or rented weapons—including machineguns, flamethrowers, and aerial bombs-that the Defense Department issues to the NRA each year in order to improve civilian marksmanship. Robert B. de Pugh, national coordinator of the Minutemen, told a New York Times interviewer recently that it was "a common tactic" for Minutemen, never disclosing their affiliation, to organize or join gun clubs in order to gain access to rifle ranges and the Government ammunition. According to De Pugh, each Minuteman must fire at least 500 rounds a year to retain his marksmanship against the day when the Communists take over, which is expected in 1978. According to the Times, the Minutemen's recruiting booklet explains that "When murdering Communist bands come roaming through your community, they must not find a lazy, disarmed people, waiting like lambs for the slaughter. They must find instead a vigorous and well-armed civilian population." De Pugh expressed his belief that all gun legislation is backed by Communists seeking to disarm the populace.

The Defense Department's distribution of ammunition is authorized by a 1928 law that obliges the Secretary of the Army to promote civilian marksmanship. The program is run by the National Board for the Promotion of Rifle Practice, which is appointed by the Secretary of the Army from the various branches of the Armed Forces, the Coast Guard, the NRA, the Selective Service System, and the country at large. Of the 23 members of the Board, 11 are members of the NRA board of directors or executive council. It has been estimated that in fiscal 1963, more than 60 million rounds of ammunition were given away through this program. It has also been estimated that there may be from 300 million to 1 billion pistols, rifles, and shotguns, plus several billion rounds of ammunition, currently in the hands of civilians, thus providing every man, woman, and child with from 2 to 6 guns.

DODD OF ALL PEOPLE

The NRA's executive vice president, Franklin L. Orth, worked with the sponsors of the Dodd bill before it was introduced, and testified in favor of it before the Commerce Committee. For his efforts, Orth reportedly received several letters threatening to remove him from his job, and the NRA offices were deluged with membership resignations. Leading members of the NRA went before the Senate Commerce Committee to contradict Orth's testimony. The editorial policy of the NRA's magazine, the National Rifleman, reflected the split in the ranks, but an NRA leaflet set forth the view that "the best defense is a good offense." Members were advised to adopt a positive attitude toward the problem: set up safety programs, write letters to the editor, participate in local hearings, give talks before local businessmen's clubs and church and school groups: "The ultimate responsibility for bad laws," NRA members were reminded, "cannot rest on those who make the laws if the shooter-sportsman, the individual voting American, is indifferent or if he is silent before the threat of disarmament by careless persons with other interests."

Opposition to the Dodd bill was also quickly forthcoming from the publications that serve the gun industry. The February issue of Gun World ran a "special editorial" heavily outlined in black, which mourned the death of President Kennedy, commented on the bad equipment the assassin used, regretted that the weapon had become "the focal point of reaction," and pointed out that "the enemies of freedom, of our right 'to keep and bear arms,' are not removed by sublime character from seizing opportunity at this time of bereavement." It concluded that "this Nation's legion of shooting sportsmen" must act to protect

the Bill of Rights, and pointed out that there should be courteous letters to legislators, civic leaders, and newsmen. Last December's issue of Guns and Ammo warned in its editorial against the "misguided, fuzzy thinking and insidious characters" who want to tamper with the right to own firearms. (The magazine's readers were also offered an opportunity to purchase, in time for Christmas, the same kind of Italian carbine as Oswald's, which was displayed along with a number of similar items and a picture of Santa Claus.) The February issue of Muzzle Blasts, sponsored by the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association, featured on its front cover a boy outfitted in a Civil War uniform, wearing two holstered guns and a knife and holding a rifle. The caption was "My Right To Bear Arms."

During the same period, advertising by gun manufacturers underwent some interesting changes. One gunsight firm that usually shows how well its scopes can focus on deer and bears ran ads placing in the middle of a scope the slogan "Let's Aim for Good Gun Legislation." A company that usually advertises revolvers replaced them with a picture of a statue of a pioneer father showing his son how to hold a rifle, and a quotation: "To ride, shoot straight, and speak the truth-this was the ancient law of youth * None of the gun manufacturers who had worked with Dodd in forming the bill went before the Commerce Committee to testify on it. A vice president of one of the companies who wanted to testify in favor of the bill was voted down by his board of directors. The gunmakers apparently concluded that while the Dodd bill could have been worse and might be lived with, there was no reason for displaying enthusiasm about any form of Federal regulation.

The Commerce Committee's hearings, which went on from December 13 through March 4, in fact produced an overwhelming balance of testimony against the Dodd bill or any gun legislation. The only strong outside support came from the Treasury Department, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and the New York Police Department.

A number of wildlife groups declared themselves against the bill. Asked about this seeming anomaly, one Senator's aid said: "They spend their time stocking shooting ranges; you call that preservation?" (The National Wildlife Federation is joined with manufacturers, gun dealers, and gun magazines in the National Shooting Sports Foundation.)

The testimony of the opposition ranged from the argument that the bill would be ineffective to one that it would disarm the United States-sometimes both arguments in the same testimony. Witness after witness counseled the committee not to act out of hysteria. The record is replete with inferences that to be for the bill is to be against father and son enjoying the outdoors together or, worse, to be against man and his dog. It was argued that the Dodd bill amounted to firearms registration, and that we must never forget the plight of Great Britain, which found itself without an armed citizenry to stave off a German invasion. A delegation from Bagdad, Ariz., drove 2,500 miles across the country in 54 hours to warn that the bill was unconstitutional; that, in the words of one member, "This will be an unenforcible law and will create chaos which can only aid our enemies"; and that "the Dodd bill represents a further attempt by a subversive power to make us part of one world socialistic government." ("Me an instrument of the Communists!" exclaimed Dodd, who was an FBI agent for 2 years.)

The offices of Senators on the committee report that the mail generated against the guns law was indeed heavy. "We heard from everyone from hunting clubs to the same claque of nuts and Birchers who will write us about anything." said one staff man. "This is almost as emotional and irrational an issue as whether children ought to pray in school," said another. The mail against the legislation appears to have been much more impressive than any supporting it. "Dodd failed to stir up a public demand," said one office. Dodd himself explained that the bill was overwhelmed by the combined opposition of "legitimate sportsmen, decent people who were misled and misinformed; the crackpots and the vigilantes who fed the opposition; and the hard core-those with a vested interest in gun running." "Members are scared to death of pressure from the sportsmen," another Senator said. "They are very influential in politics, and usually are professionals who have stature in the community; they like dogs and children, they shoot 'dangerous animals,' and they didn't like the bill." The committee was still theoretically considering the bill when on June 24 the office of Senator Warren G. Magnuson, Democrat, of Washington, chairman of the Commerce Committee, sent out a press release announcing that Mag

nuson had been cited by an NRA convention in Los Angeles for "displaying leadership and calm judgment" in handling antifirearms legislation. "Only because of the calm and objective character of our Nation's statesmen in this time of great crisis," the citation read, "was the orderly transfer of the executive power and direction of our country accomplished without incident, and such impulsive attempts to disarm our law-abiding citizens and sportsmen avoided." But the bill could not really be pronounced dead until August 11, when the committee, without taking a vote, decided to defer action. No further action was taken. "There was," said one of those who attended the meeting, "an overwhelming sentiment for doing nothing."

The

Senator DODD. Let me point out here this committee does not write newspaper editorials. We have no control, don't want to have, and I assume you would not want us to have control over the press. difference between the point that you are making on these newspaper articles, and the difference that we have made about the National Rifle Association in its official publication, speaking for itself and misleading the public, is very wide and different.

Mr. FOOTE. Senator Dood, my purpose in bringing these out is simply to indicate that there has been misinformation from both sides on this issue.

Senator DODD. What do you mean both sides? What side are you proposing or presuming the Boston Herald and the Christian Science Monitor and whatever editorials it was you referred to are you suggesting they are on the side of the committee or my side? Mr. FooTE. These articles, sir, were supporting this type of legislation.

Senator DODD. I understand that. But I think it is quite a different thing for a sportsman's association and the NRA to purport to analyze this bill, put out official publications, and distort the facts of the bill-that is your side. And it is supposed to be accurate.

But the newspapers are not on our side. They are free and independent, and write what they want to.

Senator HRUSKA. Of course, Mr. Chairman, I don't understand that this witness is a representative of the NRA. If he is, it is something I had not heard of.

Mr. FOOTE. I am not.

Senator DODD. Well, he may not be. But he seems to pursue the line pretty accurately. The testimony I have read over is just about repetitive to what we have heard here, one after another, as anything could be. There is nothing new in it that I can see.

Go right ahead.

Mr. FOOTE. Hunting is an important recreational activity throughout these United States. Surveys indicate 13 to 14 million Americans purchase hunting licenses annually. We believe another 2 to 3 million hunt who are exempt for various reasons from the payment of license fees. The study of hunting in depth undertaken every 5 years by the Department of the Interior, and the importance of hunting pointed up by the comprehensive studies of the Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission should be studied by all interested in the field. License fees and firearms and ammunition taxes paid by those who hunt have important benefits for the entire conservation movement with side effects reaching far beyond immediate implications to the sportsmen. One of the interesting conclusions from the studies above indicates that participation in hunting tends to drop with the increas

ing urbanization of the country. This, of course, is for a variety of causes, including the availability and convenience of a place to hunt. We believe that if the acquisition, ownership, and transportation of sporting firearms is made more difficult by governmental action, this will further tend to decrease the overall number of those interested in participation in this sport.

We would comment on certain sections of S. 1592. In section 1, subsection 4, page 2, we would suggest that black powder weapons be exempted in the law. There is a legitimate sporting use for black powder muzzleloading weapons with a bore greater than one-half inch; certain early black powder breech loaders and heavy English sporting rifles fall in this same class. No one would argue that there is a legitimate hunting use to be made of devices such as bazookas and mortars, or that such weapons, with live ammunition, should not be in the hands of criminals, kooks, and paramilitary organizations. Without live ammunition, these pieces of military junk are inert curios. As such, there are two legitimate areas of possession for this type of hardware. One is in public and private museums in exhibiting the evolution of military weapons, the other is for display purposes on courthouse lawns, veterans' clubs, et cetera. We would suggest that the proper avenue of control in these instances be directed toward the sale of live fixed ammunition therefor. Black powder weapons should be exempt. In this connection let me submit an article from our State outdoor magazine, Outdoor Nebraska for October 1964.

This article tells of the activities of a group of black powder hobbyists, out in Trenton, Nebr., who meet once a month during the summer, enjoying their sport. These people are not fanatics, they are not criminals, they are not kooks-they are just Americans having fun. They have large bore black powder weapons. They even have a black powder cannon. There are similar organizations in many States-in the North-South Skirmish Association.

(The article referred to was marked "Exhibit No. 128" and follows on pp. 561-564.)

Mr. FOOTE. We were happy to see the comments on section 2(a) (1) in earlier testimony stating that it was not the intent of this section to control the individual transportation of rifles and shotguns in interstate commerce. We suggest that the language herein could be improved to most plainly indicate this. We object to the broad delegation of regulatory power to the Secretary of Treasury to control transportation by other than the owner. Definition of the term "lawful purpose" in this subsection should be accomplished.

In that line, we point out a danger in this bill-that an individual transporting a weapon to another State for a perfectly legitimate hunting trip, can all too easily, because of the differences between laws in different States, fall afoul of the law in that State for a relatively minor hunting law violation.

This would be not a lawful purpose-it would be an unlawful purpose that he did bring that weapon in for. Under the terms of this act, as I read it, this individual, for conviction of a misdemeanor in which a weapon is involved, could then be subject to extremely heavy penalties.

Senator DODD. Just a minute. Are you suggesting that we should wipe out all the State laws?

Yankee cannon; Rebel screams echo across NEBRASKAland prairie

N THE FOURTH Sunday of every month a group of Nebraskans becomes stinkers, black-powder variety. Proud of their odoriferous pursuits, they rally under the banner of the polecat and salute it with a replica of a Civil War cannon. The flag is a gag for the boys take their membership in the Massacre Canyon Black Powder Club seriously. They get their kicks from burning, smoke-belching, nostril-stinging black powder in everything from century-old muzzle-loaders to today's slide actions.

These modern Daniel Boones hold old-fashioned shooting matches on the canyon-slashed ranch of Bill Steinke near Trenton in southwest Nebraska. The riflemen blaze away at 50-yard targets while the smoothbore fans pulverize Blue Rocks. On a bluff above the range, the cannoneers buzz around their 11⁄2-pounder.

The cannon is no toy. It digests half a pound of peasize powder at a crack and hurls 11⁄2 pounds of lead some two miles across the prairie. When it roars into action, a cloud of acrid smoke rolls over the bluff and

EXHIBIT NO. 128.-October 1964, issue of Nebraskaland, article, "Massacre

Canyon Cap Snappers."