The Wall Street Journal

Thursday, January 9, 1997
Letters to the Editor: Giving Gun Law Our Best Shot

There are two things that the National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) would like James Bovard
to know in reference to his Dec. 23 editorial-page article "Disarming Those Who Need Guns
Most": First, Mr. Bovard should be informed that the National FOP opposed the Lautenberg Act
from its inception, well before Rep. Bob Barr's (R., Ga.) amendment that did away with
exemptions under the law for law-enforcement agencies and the military. We did so because we
believed it to be unconstitutionally vague. Now, as we consider the statute without such an
exemption, we continue to have reservations about the constitutionality of this measure and are
further concerned that police officers may be penalized to a far greater degree than the general
populace. This fact is curiously missing from Mr. Bovard's treatment of law enforcement's
position under the Lautenberg Act.

Second, if Mr. Bovard is going to use statistics concerning research generated by the FOP, he
should check with us first so that he can use the numbers correctly and not misinterpret them as a
means to political ends.

The National FOP continues to work with the Clinton administration, Rep. Bob Barr, and others
to craft a legislative remedy for the deficiencies of the Lautenberg Act. Mr. Bovard got one thing
right. The issues concerning the impact of the Lautenberg Act are complex. It will take more than
simply spouting off to provide the necessary solution. The FOP, as the nonpartisan representative
of more than 277,000 law-enforcement officers, has been working toward that solution while Mr.
Bovard has been spouting off.

Gilbert G. Gallegos

National President

Fraternal Order of Police

Washington

BOVARD REPLY

The Wall Street Journal

Friday, January 17, 1997
Letters to the Editor: FOP's Return Fire Wide of the Mark

I was perplexed by the Jan. 9 Letter to the Editor from Gilbert Gallegos, national president of the
Fraternal Order of Police, kvetching about my Dec. 23 editorial-page commentary "Disarming
Those Who Need Guns Most." Mr. Gallegos was unhappy that I had cited a Fraternal Order of
Police survey showing that 82% of its members believed that domestic violence is a problem for
police families, insisting that I should "check with us first so that he can use the numbers correctly."

However, my source for the survey information was Deborah Richardson, the FOP's research
director, whom I interviewed and received a fax from on Dec. 17 with the survey results. Mr.
Gallegos was also upset that I had not stated in the article that the FOP "opposed the Lautenberg
Act from its inception." However, all the other groups who actively opposed the act -- the Law
Enforcement Alliance of America, the Gun Owners of America and the National Rifle Association
-- said that the FOP never made its opposition to the act known on Capitol Hill and were shocked
when I related the claim of an FOP staffer that his group had opposed the act early on. Perhaps
the FOP leaders were too busy loudly campaigning for President Clinton's re-election to bother
informing anyone of their opinion of the Lautenberg Act.

Jim Bovard

Washington