The Uninvited Ombudsman Report – No. 36

Taken from the most recent “Page Nine” Alan Korwin’s “The uninvited Ombudsman Report”

$3 Billion Guntax
The lamestream media told you:
Nothing.
The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that:
The National Shooting Sports Foundation reports that the 15-year total excise tax on guns and ammo, which is dedicated to conservation measures, has just topped $3 billion. The incredible achievement was missed by lamestream news outlets everywhere. State wildlife conservation and habitat restoration programs get the money, the single largest source of conservation funding.
Gun-tax collections by the Treasury Dept., paid by firearm and ammunition manufacturers and passed on to consumers, was a whopping $76.6 million in the second quarter of 2006, up 36% over the same period a year earlier. The reason the stunning increase was missing in "news" reports was unknown, but maybe they lacked space, one expert suggests.
Although the tax increase is huge, it is also a sign of robust health in the gun industry, a fact that lamestream reports keep hidden from people who don't receive Page Nine reports (or info from NSSF), both of which are free.
.
"Strong handgun sales, up 44.8 percent, long-gun sales, up 37 percent, and ammo sales, up 29.2 percent," lead the surge, reports NSSF. "It is projected that $715.5 million in sales was generated in the quarter, not including retail markup or final retail sales." In other news, people are still fighting over Anna Nicole's baby.
Click on 'Read More' to continue reading.

2- New Ray Gun
The lamestream media told you:
Known as an Active Denial System, the U.S. military debuted its still secretive, new truck-mounted dish-shaped "ray gun." It delivers an energy beam that makes people feel like they have caught on fire and rapidly retreat, without causing them any harm probably. The extreme pain is felt through clothing and windows, but not thick walls, and currently has a range of 500 yards. Initial deployment in Iraq is expected soon.
The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that:
Civilian possession of the new "Silent Guardian" defensive weapon system has not been discussed, but will become an issue when improvements evolve and hand-held versions are developed.
The Founding Fathers, in their wisdom, refer to "arms" in the Second Amendment, not "firearms," reflecting an understanding that cavalry swords and other hand implements of a soldier were crucial and to be protected. This makes the common anti-rights argument, "So do you support people owning tanks?" specious, since the dividing line was understood to be "small arms" of an infantry soldier, as opposed to cannons on caisons and navy ships.
A hand-held ray gun of defensive character would clearly qualify as militia-style arms, though federal agents might be prone to argue the point, because that's their job. Cost and a delivery date for such a device is completely unknown, but put me down for two.
4- Gun Lobby Power
The lamestream media told you:
The NRA, the most powerful lobby in Washington, dictates its deadly policies to Congress, which is helpless to stand up against the massive power of the brutish heat-packing gun-toters.
The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that:
Since "the most powerful" anything is an editorial statement, presented in this context without any guidelines for comparison, Page Nine readers should immediately spot this unethical media deception and refuse to accept it just on its face.
If "powerful" is measured by bills passed and taxes allocated, the military is top dog.
The NRA does indeed wield influence and sometimes succeed in getting bills passed or defeated in an effort to protect the right to keep arms and the right bear arms, rights which Americans have always had and exercised. It is almost a tragedy that such a basic human right needs a lobby in a free country, but it surely does. Like any lobby, NRA wins some and loses some for its members and the nation as a whole.
Applying a form of measurement to the media's characterization -- money spent on lobbying activities -- the NRA doesn't make the top ten. Reporters, as they often admit, are generally not real good with numbers, and lack a good understanding of economics, but continue to report anyway.
As common sense might suggest, the tiny gun industry, for all its zeal and ardent support, doesn't come close to the spending and influence America's major players have over Congress. In true power-politics style, the most powerful lobbies are outfits you never heard of.
The top 10 lobbies measured by money spent are dominated, as you might expect, by energy, drugs, telecom and business, with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce holding the number one position by a slim margin over the American Medical Assoc. The only other industry in the top 10 is tobacco (Philip Morris) at number three. Pack reporters consistently fail to check the easily found statistics in their unbiased and honest rush to label NRA as the baddest boy on the block.
A bit more diversity slips into the next 20 top lobbyists, with automakers, realtors, Boeing and social-security lobbyists added to other business/power/telecom brokers, but still no gun lobby.
After that it's a free for all, with IBM, chemical makers, railroads, seniors, banks, unions, broadcasters, Microsoft, insurance, agriculture, investment and even Fannie Mae, the tax-funded government mortgage operation, spending the big bucks to bend congressional policy, down to the top 50 lobbyists.
The gun lobby doesn't show up until #78, after the forest industry, Walt Disney, and the Mississippi Band of Chocktaw Indians.
The Indians, called "Native Americans" by the "news" media, typically lobby to get gambling monopolies, and for other purposes. The Uninvited Ombudsman, though born in America, is not a member of the Native American lobby.
It just sounds so powerful to denigrate the gun lobby as the powerful gun lobby, why let a little thing like facts stand in the way. No reporters have been indicted for the phony editorializing disguised as news, but they are lobbying hard for a federal shield law to protect them in the future.
http://www.opensecrets.org/pubs/lobby00/topspenders.asp

If you would like to read this type of reporting in your local paper, send the editor a note asking them to reprint the "Page Nine." If enough of us ask, we may be pleasantly surprised by the results.

Page Nine is now a blog! You can sign up for automatic RSS feeds and find a wealth of interesting information at PageNine.org.