ACLU joins with Gun Owners group to oppose the Patriot ACT

[el_gato]

this was origninally posted in GD by bigtree
but it clearly deserves to be in this section as well



Diverse Groups Line Up To Fight Patriot Act's Extension
by Beth Wilson
May 5, 2004
Amarillo Globe-News

(snips)

Passed just 44 days after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the act has drawn critics from all sides.

At the top of that list is the American Civil Liberties Union.

Will Harrell, executive director ACLU of Texas, said the Patriot Act represents the greatest erosion of civil liberties since the group began. It attacks, among other liberties, the right to privacy, freedom of association, and is a violation of the equal protection clause, he said.

Members of the Gun Owners of America, a 300,000-member group that relies heavily on its members to lobby congress directly, have weighed in with support of the Safe Act and with opposition to the Patriot Act's renewal or any expansion, Executive Director Larry Pratt said.

"Gun owners are sensitive to having their privacy respected," he said. "Weakening the Fourth Amendment's protections of privacy in the name of fighting an enemy most gun owners agree needs to be fought, we're not persuaded the remedy is an appropriate one."

http://www.infoshop.org/inews/stories.php?story=04/05/05/8161519