(4) It seeks to disarm all law-abiding citizens and to set up a registration system so that location of the guns of all law-abiding citizens may be known. (5) It seeks to prohibit the sale of firearms to anyone but the resident of the State where the purchase is made.

(6) It does not adequately prevent the use or possession of firearms in the commission of a crime.

(7) The provisions of the bill practically prohibit, or at least make it difficult, for the law-abiding citizen to load ammunition for his own use or that of a companion or associate.

(8) The effect of the bill as drafted penalizes law-abiding citizens without adding adequate provisions preventing an armed criminal from possessing or using firearms in the commission of a crime.

The bill delegates authority to the Secretary of the Treasury, or to his delegate, to make and promulgate "regulations," and there is no restriction on his authority to delegate the authority which is proposed to be delegated to him. This is delegation of authority gone rampant and is objectionable, as well as unconstitutional. See Schechter Poultry Corporation v. U.S., 295 U.S. 495; 79 Law Ed 1570. In the present form, the bill delegates authority to the Secretary of the Treasury to such an extent that he, under the terms of the bill, has authority under regulations to be promulgated by him or his delegate to require the registration of all firearms.

The license fees established under the bill with respect to a dealer, manufacturer and importer, are unreasonable. It would appear that it is aimed to make this bill a bill to raise revenue, or make the fees so exorbitant as to be prohibitive rather than to regulate. If Congress feels it is necessary to establish a gun licensing measure, then the fee should be reasonable, ranging from $1 to $10 a year.

The bill, in defining the term "firearms," is so broad as to embrace toy air guns and other toys of a similar nature, since some of these toys "expell projectiles by the action of an explosive," that is, the release of air or gas under explosive pressure.

The provisions of this act make it very difficult for a person residing in one State to go hunting (or target shooting) in another State unless he first registers with a delegate of the Secretary of the Treasury and comes within the purview of such regulations as the Secretary, or his delegate, may promulgate. The same applies to the transportation of any pistol or revolver. It would appear that the aim of the bill is to disarm all law-abiding citizens, or make it so difficult for them to obtain arms that target shooting, hunting and other sports activities would be practically eliminated.

The provisions of section 2(b) (1), (2), (3), put such a burden on the firearms dealer that for all practical purposes, he sells a firearm at his risk, unless he first establishes the purchaser's age (by a birth certificate?) identity, and place of residence. Section (c) places the burden on the firearms dealer to determine if the purchaser is under indictment or has been convicted in any U.S. court of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term of 1 year or longer, or is a fugitive from justice.

Section 2(f), (g), (h), (i) places carriers and persons at their risk to determine whether firearms or ammunition have been stolen before accepting or offering the same for transportation. Section 6 delegates unwarranted authority to the Secretary, or his delegate, to try certain classes of cases arising under the act, granting him judicial authority to make determinations with respect to the bill's violations.

All of these provisions are subject to regulations to be made by the Secretary of the Treasury, or his delegate. Thus, the Secretary may promulgate such regulation as to make an act criminal that Congress has not specifically provided shall be a crime. This is objectionable from a constitutional standpoint. Panama Refining Co. v. Ryan, 293 U.S. 386-388; 79 L. ed 446.

If the committee believes that legislation is needed to attack the causes of crime, then the bill could be redrafted so it will not disarm the law-abiding citizen. Congressman Bob Casey's bill, H.R. 5642, places a real penalty (25 years imprisonment) on gangsters and dangerous criminals who carry firearms while committing armed robbery, assault, rape, and murder. A provision of this character goes to the heart of the misuses of firearms.

There have been a number of statements made by news authorities and others with respect to Oswald securing delivery of a gun through the mail which was

used in the murder of President Kennedy. I do not know the facts in connection with this situation, but there is a law at the present time which prohibits the sending of both firearms and ammunition through the U.S. mail. One might order a gun by sending a letter to a dealer through the U.S. mail; likewise, he might place his order by long-distance telephone or Western Union telegram, or he might have delivery of the order made manually. But the present statutes prohibit the delivery of firearms by mail. (Title 18, p. 1715.)

The law violator who intends to use a gun in the commission of a felony will pay very little attention to whether the firearms that he intends to use is licensed or unlicensed, but if there is a severe penalty imposed on his possession of a firearm when committing felonies, then the possession and use of firearms in the commission of such felonies may in fact be discouraged.

If Congress intends to require firearms registration and thereby penalize sportsmen, hunters, antique gun dealers, collectors, and target shooters, then it ought to provide explicitly for such drastic regulation and not conceal this purpose by delegating authority to the Secretary of the Treasury, or his delegate, to set up such regulations as will have the effect of taking guns away from lawabiding citizens, sportsmen, hunters, antique gun dealers, collectors, and target shooters.

McNeil said:

[From the Houston Post, May 26, 1965]

SLAYING SUSPECTS

"I got on the bus and when I got to the driver I pointed the pistol at him. He asked me what I wanted and I told him the money changer and the green box."

He said the driver gave them to him and he handed them to Ballard, then ordered the driver to stand up and give him his wallet and the money from his shirt. Then he started to leave the bus, he said.

"As I was getting off the bus this colored lady said to me, 'Are you really going to keep that money? I turned and looked at her and this was when the bus driver grabbed my arm that I had the pistol in," McNeil said.

"The driver and me started to tussling and I fell off the bus and the driver fell on top of me. The gun went off one time in the bus and once outside when the driver was on top of me.

"When the gun went off, the driver was on top of me then the man stopped tussling."

McNeil said he pushed the driver off him, then ran.

"I didn't know I shot him until this morning when I saw the paper," he said. Asked what he thought when he heard Edwards was dead, McNeil replied, "I just started shaking."

Ballard's statement said he was at a grocery about 8 p.m. Monday when McNeil approached him and asked if he wanted to make some money.

Ballard said McNeil told him that he (Ballard) would have to find a gun because McNeil did not have one. Ballard borrowed the .22-caliber pistol from

a friend, he said.

Ballard said they waited for a bus to come along but passed up the first one because McNeil said it had too many people aboard.

About 10:30 p.m., Ballard said, another one came by and stopped.

"I told Burnie to be sure and not hurt anyone and he laughed and said he would not hurt anybody," Ballard said.

Then, he said, McNeil boarded the bus.

Ballard said that when he saw Edwards stand up and reach for his pocket, he did not know whether the driver was going for more money or a gun, so he set the box and money changer on the ground beside the bus door and started toward the back of the bus.

"I saw the bus driver and Burnie wrestling and I heard a shot and I broke and ran," Ballard said.

He said both he and McNeil ran south toward a construction site for Interstate Highway 10, then hid the green box under a railroad bridge.

Ballard said McNeil gave him two rolls of nickles, two half dollars, and 10 dimes. He said he heard nothing more until he was arrested at his home at 4 p.m. Tuesday.

Homicide Capt. L. D. Morrison, Jr., said the arrest came after police received information that two boys answering the descriptions of Ballard and McNeil were involved in the hijacking and murder.

Juvenile Officer Thomas Blake arrested McNeil as he walked along Lavender Street after using about $13 of the $14 taken in the hijacking to purchase a pellet gun.

Homicide detectives J. A. Pierce and Charles Lynn arrested Ballard.

Ballard told police he had never been involved in a hijacking before, but McNeil talked him into it.

McNeil, who said he has been handled by the juvenile division 11 times in the past for "just about everything," was also arrested by Blake on February 20, 1965, for a bus robbery, also of Edwards, which netted the hijackers $100.

McNeil denied any connection with that hijacking, however. He was turned over to the probation department, then released. Two older youths were charged in connection with the earlier hijacking of Edwards.

STATEMENT OF G. MARVIN SHUTT, ON BEHALF OF NATIONAL SPORTING GOODS ASSOCIATION

My name is G. Marvin Shutt. I am executive director and secretary of the National Sporting Goods Association, 23 East Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, Ill. I would like to thank this subcommittee for the opportunity to present the following statement:

The National Sporting Goods Association is an organization with both regular and associate members. Our regular members are sporting goods retailers and other retailers selling sports equipment, located in all of the 50 States. Our associate members are manufacturers and importers of all types of sports equipment normally sold through sporting goods stores. Our associate members do not have a vote.

The National Sporting Goods Association was founded in 1929 and is one of the largest associations in the sporting goods industry. We are vitally concerned with all phases of hunting and shooting in the United States. The association is engaged in all of the normal activities of a retail trade association. Among other things we put on the industry's largest sporting goods convention and trade show and have done so since 1930. Included in this show is the largest display of hunting equipment and accessories anywhere in the United States or in the world. The National Sporting Goods Association works with nonprofit organizations interested in all kinds of sports, recreation, and conservation.

Associate members are interested in manufacturing and importing all types of firearms, ammunition, accessories, hunting clothing, boots, and everything for the hunter and shooter. Our regular members are, of course, the final link in the distribution of this equipment to the sportsman.

The National Sporting Goods Association has met with this committee and its representatives for a number of years in an attempt to work out reasonable legislation. The record will show that the National Sporting Goods Association has always been in favor of what it considers to be reasonable firearms legislation. In fact, during the past few years it has supported many of the proposals which have been advocated by Senator Dodd and the members of this committee.

The National Sporting Goods Association and its members at the local level have always supported legislation that would attack the causes of crime.

Upon careful consideration, the board of directors of the National Sporting Goods Association has gone on record in favor of legislation to control the traffic in guns by mail, which in many cases has lead to circumvention of existing local laws and regulations.

The National Sporting Goods Association would have been able in all good conscience to have supported most of the provisions of the previous bills introduced by Senator Dodd on this subject. However, it is the feeling of the board of directors and its members that S. 1592 goes far beyond the controls needed to achieve the desired ends and as it now stands would place undue restrictions on millions of responsible citizens. Virtually everyone concerned with the bill has indicated that it is not intended to curtail the ownership of guns or to deprive people of guns used either for sports or for self-protection. The preceding statement is a paraphrase of Attorney General Katzenbach's statement on May 19, 1965, before this subcommittee.

Since this is the intent, then it is our recommendation that the subcommittee consider either rewriting the bill as it currently stands or substituting a new bill. Surely the Members of Congress and of this subcommittee are not interested in penalizing sportsmen, antique gun dealers, collectors, reloaders, and target shooters. There have been a number of statements placed into the record covering the technical aspects of the bill and we do not feel it necessary to go over these, other than to say that in this regard the National Sporting Goods Association supports the statement made on June 2, 1965, by Howard Carter, Jr., on behalf of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, Inc., before this subcommittee. We do feel that if the Congress decides that certain regulations should be Established governing the control of shipment of guns of all types, the conditions and regulations should be set forth in the bill itself and not be left to the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury. Although this subcommittee might be very sure as to just what it meant and what it felt should be done in the administration of this bill, it still is necessary for the bill to spell out these provisions or else it can be a matter of administrative interpretation. There is always the possibility that such could go far beyond the purposes or the intent of the bill as it is written.

The National Sporting Goods Association does agree with Senator Dodd that "fly by night" operators should be eliminated from the sale and distribution of firearms and ammunition. As a result, it supports an increase in the Federal firearms license fee. However, a flat $100 fee would be excessive for a small retailer in firearms and ammunition, particularly in a rural area or a small city or town. As a result, it is the recommendation of the National Sporting Goods Association that this license fee on the retailer be scaled from $10 to $100 based upon population.

The National Sporting Goods Association feels S. 1592 includes many restrictions on responsible sportsmen and uses many vague definitions and leaves much to be spelled out later by regulations to be issued by the Secretary of the Treasury. As a result, we feel that the bill in its present form is objectionable. We shall, as in the past, be very pleased to work with the subcommittee in developing a bill which would provide an acceptable solution to the problem at hand.

STATEMENT OF RABBI HAROLD P. SMITH OF CHICAGO, ILL., REPRESENTING
RABBINICAL COUNCIL OF AMERICA

As national chairman of the Commission on Legislative Matters of the Rabbinical Council of America, I represent approximately 900 orthodox rabbis. As cochairman, also, of the Legislative Committee of the Chicago Board of Rabbis, I speak for 150 rabbis of Chicago-reform, conservative, and otrhodox-who have authorized me to represent them here.

They have asked me to express here our strong endorsement of Senate bill 1592, proposed by the Honorable Senator Dodd, of Connecticut.

I have a strong feeling that I express also the conviction of millions of American citizens who are deeply convinced that this kind of legislation is a critical necessity for our Nation's welfare, but who simply are not oriented to the idea of taking pen in hand and writing to a Senator to let him know how they feel about any particular issue at hand. They don't write simply because they don't write. In the meantime, certain organized groups who mistakenly in our judgment-deem it to their interests to oppose this legislation, have been quite vocal in their opposition.

However much we honor their right to express such views, we cannot remain silent and fail to express our distress at, and dissent from, such views, which, in our judgment, are not to the overall good of our great country.

There is a moral and religious issue here, and it involves no less than the sanctity and protection of human life. As such, we can hardly permit this to be decided on the balancing off of vested interests-real or imagined-of those who weigh the possible effects of this legislation on their vocations or avocations.

Tragedy, remorse, broken hearts, and shattered lives have needlessly been the lot of many in the past-and are still needlessly in store for many others in the future because some irresponsible person-whether a criminal, madman, or immature youth-will have found it possible to purchase a deadly weapon by mail order procedure; unless such a bill as this one will prevent it from happening.

I make the categorical statement that in our judgment no conceivable consideration whatsoever can constitute legitimate cause for opposition to this bill. All the business interests-all the sporting interests-all the rifle associations— all must morally accept and affirm that the next child's life to be snuffed out by the irresponsible hand of an immature or unbalanced trigger puller of a mailorder gun which this bill would have kept from him, is, in itself, a far stronger argument for this bill than all the possible arguments that can be mustered against it.

We have read letters and statements in our newspapers charging that the assassination of our beloved President Kennedy is being used to whip up supercharged emotions for such a bill as this. Indeed it should. It would constitute a moral disgrace to our country if it were not so.

Are we being asked to forget, and to overlook one of the main causes for, such a national tragedy, such a frightful world calamity? Are we asked to believe that there is any consideration in the world weighty enough to warrant our failure or unwillingness to prevent such shocking tragedy from befalling us again?

We strongly concur with Attorney General Katzenbach's contention before this committee that insufficiently regulated sales of guns by mail makes murder indefensibly easy.

We feel, also, that the words of Senator Robert F. Kennedy merit the emphasis of reiteration-those meaningful words which he uttered before this committee and which came from the depths of an aggrieved heart:

"It would save hundreds of lives in this country and spare thousands of families all across the land the grief and heartbreak that may come from the loss of a husband, a son, a brother, or a friend. It is past time that we wipe this stain of violence from our land."

Yes, indeed.

The next time some stricken mother holds a lifeless child in her hands, killed by a bullet from a gun that should never have been in the possession of the irresponsible person who fired it—and brokenheartedly asks the question: "Why didn't somebody do something to prevent this terrible thing from happening?"there will be no morally satisfactory answer if Senate bill 1592 shall have failed of passage.

We pray that this will not be the case. As clergymen, we contend that while the U.S. mail delivers every kind of service, one service it ought not to deliver is a funeral service. It is our judgment, honorable gentlemen, that the bill of Dodd is the will of God.

Please pass it. Thank you.

ADDENDUM TO THIS STATEMENT BY RABBI HAROLD P. SMITH

If my position on this matter needed any bolstering it was provided with precisely that, when I recently sent a letter to the Chicago newspapers endorsing this bill and urging all my fellow citizens to do likewise.

I suddenly started to receive fury-saturated letters from people with fire in their "correspondential" eyes and a stream of invective having flowed from their pens, completely convinced that I wanted to "sell out" our country to the Communists and was merely trying to prevent the patriotic citizens from defending the United States from such a conspiratorial takeover. Somewhere along the line they have unpatriotically-failed to remember that we have an Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force, and that we are not completely depending on them, to defend our country, and that in time of emergency, should they be drafted into service, the U.S. Government would provide them with arms. Still other letters come from people who, pathetically, are obviously possessed of disturbed minds. I am now more convinced than ever that such people should not be having guns; yet they are apparently among those who do, or the subject would not have so thoroughly aroused them.

This is not to imply that all or most gun and rifle enthusiasts are irresponsible or dangerous. It is merely a recognition that some might be; and this is more than sufficient reason for the type of control which this bill so admirably advocates.