gnu@toad.com (John Gilmore) (06/01/89)
The bogonz in congress assembled are at it again. Three years in jail for selling a pager to a minor? If you didn't believe when Abbie Hoffman said that the drug hysteria was just an excuse for more control of the citizens, think again. "Pagers don't commit crimes, Congressmen do." From: rgt@beta.lanl.gov (Richard Thomsen) Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns Subject: The future is now - future bans are being considered Keywords: drugs, beepers, bans Message-ID: <25244@beta.lanl.gov> Date: 30 May 89 19:16:49 GMT There were some articles guessing what would be banned next, after guns were banned and did not have an effect on the war on drugs. I was given a copy of _USA_ _Today_, and saw a "face-off" on the issues. According to this article, Representative Kweisi Mfume (D-Md) says the following (reprinted without permission, spelling errors are probably mine): The drug business is using the latest technology to promote its deadly trade. One such advance, the paging device, or beeper, is now appearing in classrooms and schoolyards. I have introduced the Beeper Abuse Prevention Act to curtail the use of beepers by young people who deal drugs. It would require the Federal Communications Commission to prescribe regulations that would restrict the possession and use of paging devices by persons under age 21. Law officers say dealers and suppliers send coded messages via beeper to youths in school. The codes translate into messages like "meet me at our regular place after class to pick up the drugs." Drug traffickers are even using 800 numbers now available with regional paging services. A supplier could actually conduct a transaction in Baltimore from Miami, for example. My bill, H.R. 1504, would require any person selling or renting paging devices to verify the identification and age of every customer; encourage parents and businesses to take more responsibility in their children's or employees' activities; make it unlawful for a person to knowingly nad willfully rent, sell or use paging devices in violation of rules prescrived by the FCC (there are provisions for stiff fines and up to three- year prison terms for adults who illegally provide beepers to youths); and require parents or businesses who allow the use of beepers to state that intention with and affidavit at the time of purchase. He goes on to say that he recognizes that there are legitimate uses of beepers, but we can no longer stand by and watch drugs flow into our neighborhoods. The opposite side is taken by Lynn Scarlett, from Santa Monica, CA. She asks what beepers have to do with the drug trade, and regulating their use will not put a dent it it. She also says that there is little evidence that gun control keeps guns out of the hands of gangsters, and it will take a good dose of wizardry to keep beepers away from bad guys. She finishes with: The logic of the Beeper Abuse Prevention Act opens the door for laws to make us sign promises that we won't, we swear, use these things for illicit acts when we buy them. De Tocqueville, that eminent observer of our nation, waned that our loss of freedom would sneak in through passage of quiet, seemingly innocuous and well-intended laws -- laws like H.R. 1504. So all of you who were guessing the next thing to be banned did not guess the real truth. I saw no guesses that it would be beepers. Before you ask, I cut the article out of the newspaper, and did not cut out the part that shows the date of the paper. But it was last week, which means from 22 to 26 May. It was probably the Wednesday or Thursday (21 or 22 May) issue, on the opinion page at the bottom.