Weekly Update - A publication of the Michigan Militia Corps. Volume 3 Issue 16 July 4 - July 11, 1996 DANGER TO THE COUNTRY A federal judge ordered six suspected anti-government plotters put under virtual house arrest and ordered six more held in jail, saying they posed a threat to the country. Judge Barry Silverman set a trial date of Aug. 20 for - all 12 members of the so-called "Viper Militia" to face - charges of conspiring to blow up federal and local government buildings. After a six-month undercover investigation, U.S. officials arrested the 10 men and two women last week in series of raids in the Phoenix area. The 12, some of whom also face weapons charges, were described as members of a paramilitary group seeking to resist supposed threats to individual liberty from what they viewed as steps toward a supra-national "One World Order." After a bond hearing lasting almost four days, Judge Silverman denied bail for six of the militia members and ordered them held in jail pending trial. He said the six, who also face weapons charges, posed a danger to the country. He allowed five of the other six free without bail. However, they will be under virtual house arrest according to the conditions he set releasing them to third parties. They must remain at home, report daily to authorities and not make contact with other members of the Arizona-based militia. The final member will also be freed into home confinement pending reports being filed with pre- trial services, Silverman said. Video Showing Canceled Prosecutors, who last week showed a video in which militia members were seen firing weapons and detonating bombs in remote areas of Arizona, withdrew a request for a second video to he shown at the bond hearing. The government contends the video, reportedly showing how to make bombs and "collapse" buildings, proved the militia planned to spark civil unrest. The government said it withdrew the request to show the video because it did not want the bomb-making instructions to be made public. It also feared for the safety of two informants who had infiltrated the Vipers. Reuters July 10, 1996 NATIONAL GUN-TRACKING COMPUTER SYSTEM President Clinton Monday announced an initiative to track the illegal sale of guns to young people through a national computer system as he stepped up election-year efforts to look tough on crime. Appearing with the father of a Boston youth shot to death by a stray bullet in 1993, Clinton said, "We need a national campaign to cut off the flow of guns to teens who commit crimes." Under the initiative, police chiefs and prosecutors from 17 cities signed an agreement pledging voluntarily to provide information on every gun they seize from a juvenile during a crime. The date will be fed into computer system run by the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. The objective of the 82 million-a-year program is to trace each gun back to its seller in an attempt to find out who is selling guns to juveniles. The traffickers will then be prosecuted. Administration officials said Clinton would like to expand the program from 17 pilot cities to others across the country. It was Clinton's latest attempt to portray himself as tough on crime, which is traditionally a Republican stance. Staffers on Republican Bob Dole's presidential campaign said the program actually dates back to 1993. They produced a San Francisco Examiner article from Nov. 6, 1993 quoting ATF director John Magaw as saying the agency's highest immediate priority will be tracing the source of guns used by juveniles during crimes. Reuters July 9, 1996 DOLE DROPS BID TO REPEAL ASSAULT WEAPON BAN Republican presidential contender Bob Dole Tuesday abandoned his bid to repeal a ban on assault weapons, saying many of the weapons were readily available anyway. Dole, visiting the computer center for the Virginia State Police, criticized President Clinton for failing to set up a national computer system to check the criminal record of would-be firearms buyers. In a speech, Dole backed off a promise he made to the National Rifle Association in March 1995 to work for repeal of a ban of 17 types of assault weapons. "Let's be realistic " Dole said, "of the 17 weapons that were specifically outlawed, 11 are already back on the market in some form. We've moved beyond the debate over banning assault weapons." Instead of debating assault weapons or repealing the ban Dole said the United States ought to emphasize a computer check system nationally on would-be weapons purchasers. Dole noted he has been a backer at a national computer check system for all states for 17 years. Under the so-called Brady law for a five-day waiting period for would-be gun buyers, a national computer firearms checking system is due to go into effect by the end of 1988. In addition to a background check on convicted felons, fugitives, illegal aliens, drug addicts, military people discharged dishonorably, mental incompetents and others, Dole said he would propose adding a new category of people with records as violent juveniles. Reuters July 9, 1996 CLINTON - SOFT ON DEFENSE? The Senate approved a $255 billion defense bill Wednesday that would prepare the United States for a terrorist germ or chemical attack, if the bill clears the full Congress and a veto battle with President Clinton. The senate approved, 68-31, the authorization bill for U.S. defense programs in 1997. House and Senate negotiators must now work out a compromise with a version approved earlier by the House of Representatives. President Clinton has threatened to veto congress' defense bills, primarily because all versions are about $10 billion more than he asked and would buy an array of ships, warplanes and missiles he does not want. The senate bill would begin preparations for a terror chemical or biological weapons attack in the United States that several senators said was likely within several years. The bill includes a program that would train local authorities throughout the country to recognize and treat victims of such weapons attacks and improve equipment at U.S. borders to try to keep the weapons out. It calls for periodic air raids to test U.S, preparedness and would increase aid to help former Soviet republics destroy weapons so they cannot fall into terror groups' hands. The Senate bill would also repeal the ban Congress approved last year against abortions in U.S. military hospitals around the world. The Senate bill includes: --$300 million more than Clinton requested to speed up the development of an anti-missile defense for the U.S. But a Republican proposal to order construction of the defense by 2003 despite Clinton's veto threat is in a separate bill. --$351 million more than Clinton requested for V-22 planes that lift troops off ships. --$249 million more than Clinton wanted for C-17 military transport planes. --S230 million more for Navy F/A-18E/F fighter-bombers. The bill also includes $2.1 billion Clinton requested for 12 new F/A-18F/E'F fighter bombers despite a congressional General Accounting Office finding that the new version offers little improvement over existing ones. Reuters July 10, 1996 SENATE PASSES MINIMUM WAGE INCREASE The senate overwhelmingly passed an increase in the minimum wage to $5.15 an hour from $4.25 Tuesday, in an important election year political victory for President Clinton and the Democrats. The bill, passed by a bipartisan 74-24 vote after a months-long-fight, must now be reconciled with a similar measure approved earlier in the House. The final vote came after five Republicans joined Democrats to reject 52 to 46 what Clinton had called a "poison pill" amendment barring millions of workers from getting the increase. Clinton said he would have vetoed the bill had it come to him with the amendment. Some Republicans were lured away from the amendment by the reinstatement of a wide-ranging $14 billion, 10-year tax cut for small businesses. It will be paid for in part by reinstating a 10 percent tax on airline tickets, which applies to tickets purchased seven days after the bill becomes law. But the complex tax cutting measure -- which permits small businesses to deduct $25,000 annually for the purchase of new equipment, up from $17,500 and extends individual retirement accounts for non-working spouses among dozens of provisions played second fiddle politically to the minimum wage. Once the two houses agree and the bill reaches the White House, Clinton will sign it immediately. The nation's minimum wage workers would immediately see a $0.50 per hour increase to $4.75, with another 40-cent increase on July 1, 1998. However, teen-agers would continue to be paid a sub-minimum wage of $4.25 during the first 90 days of work at any job. Reuters July 9, 1996