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Tag:

Regulation

From the Desk of Bob Barr

FAA Stifling Private Drone Use and Innovation

by Liberty Guard Author March 18, 2015
written by Liberty Guard Author

Amateur drone hobbyists, beware! If you happen to make one red cent from any video filmed with your small drone – or if Uncle Sam thinks you are — you might soon receive an unwelcome notice in the mail or an ominous visitor at your door. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is cracking down on what it deems to be “commercial use” of drones or “Unmanned Aerial Vehicles” (UAVs), as it prefers to call them. The agency is turning amateur hobbyists and small business owners into potential outlaws should they ignore the FAA’s demands to “cease and desist” from operating any drone in what its regulators deem to be a “commercial” manner.

Founded in 1958, the FAA’s primary – and extremely important – responsibility is to keep the airspace safe and navigable for aircraft. Indeed, in recent years the FAA has done a commendable job at this important task. However, in the finest of bureaucratic fashions, it always searches for new areas in which it can meddle, and for which – of course – it can justify larger budgets. Its latest target: small drones.

Small UAVs — those under 55-pounds — are becoming increasingly popular among hobbyists and small businesses. Rather than embracing this new technology and developing safety regulations that foster innovation while protecting public safety, the FAA apparently has instead decided simply to do whatever it can to stifle development and innovation of this emerging and exciting technology. The regulatory fog thus created has caught amateur drone enthusiasts and small businesses in an untenable situation.

Consider Jayson Hanes who, since 2013, has flown drones as a hobby; capturing stunning views from Tampa and surrounding areas, which he then posts to his popular YouTube channel (his most popular video has nearly 100,000 views). However, without any evidence that Hanes had received one thin dime for his drone videos, the FAA sent him a formal letter accusing him of operating a drone for “commercial purposes,” which would place him in the same regulatory class as commercial jumbo jets.

Hanes’ story is similar to that of Maine drone hobbyist, Steve Girard, who was contacted by the FAA nannies earlier this month and told to take down his website, which sold drone-shot aerial footage. “We just want to do a small business,” Girard told his local news. “We know how to fly it and respect people’s privacy. We do it safely.”

The FAA claims it is looking further into how, and why, both these citizens were contacted, but these are far from the only incidents in which the agency has used scare tactics, such as “cease and desist” letters and legal threats, to force hobbyists and small businesses to stop using drones. Notably, the FAA’s demands are being made without any evidence whatsoever that these “commercial” drones pose any danger to life or property.

As Vice.com technology reporter Jason Koebler noted last year, more than a dozen businesses have received threatening letters from the FAA about their drone use. This bureaucratic harassment is particularly troubling given that the FAA’s supposed ban on “commercial use” of drones is itself legally dubious, and has been virtually unenforceable since it was first concocted in 2007.

Troubling also is the impact of such tactics on the overall development and growth of the drone industry. One UAV industry report released in 2013 estimated that drone integration in the US economy could create more than 70,000 jobs in the first few years, with an economic impact in the tens of billions of dollars. Proposed uses for UAV’s include everything from inspecting farm crops and cattle ranches, to inspecting buildings, bridges and pipelines; all at far lesser cost in dollars and risk to humans.

To be fair, the benefits of UAV use are not completely lost on the FAA. Last month, after more than half a decade of inaction, the agency finally released its proposed rulemaking on the use of small UAVs for commercial use. While the proposed rules constitute an important step forward in providing at least some clarity and notice for current and future private drone users, the underlying desire to control by the FAA remains obvious in its regulatory outline, and presents serious challenges for future economic development and deployment of UAVs.

It is not a question of whether the FAA has a role to play in ensuring that drones are deployed with due regard for public safety; and the agency should in fact be moving more expeditiously in that regard so drone users are properly are on notice as to the legitimate safety regulations with which they must comply. But the FAA should keep its regulatory mitts away from questions of why citizens use drones, especially when constitutional rights such as those protected by the First Amendment are concerned.

The public comment period for the FAA’s proposed rulemaking on small UAVs closes April 24th, so those concerned with this issue must hurry to make their voice heard.

March 18, 2015 0 comment
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From the Desk of Bob Barr

ATF Hand In the Cookie Jar Slapped Down

by Liberty Guard Author March 11, 2015
written by Liberty Guard Author

Yesterday, March 10, 2015 was a Red Letter Day. No; it had nothing to do with Hillary’s e-mail “coming out party” at the United Nations. And, no, ISIS has not forsaken its bloodlust ways. It’s perhaps even more remarkable.

A federal government agency has backed down!

Specifically, on Tuesday, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (affectionately known simply as “ATF”) publicly admitted failure and backed away from its misguided and disingenuous attempt to ban one of the most popular ammunition rounds in civilian use.

However, before we break open a bottle of The Bubbly, it must be kept in mind that this victory may be only temporary. As we know from actual experience over the past six years, the Obama Administration consistently and repeatedly has failed to live up to its self-styled status as the most honest and “transparent” in history.

This latest foray into heavy-handed regulatory warfare began a month ago when ATF – reversing a 29-year old decision – issued a “proposed” rule change that would designate .223-caliber “green tip” rifle cartridges (also known as “M855” ammunition) as “armor piercing.” The regulation would do this by removing the ammunition from the list of ammunition “exempted” from being considered “armor piercing.” The change would have made it unlawful for citizens – who use these cartridges by the millions in the widely-popular rifle platform known as the “AR-15” – to purchase or possess M855 ammunition.

M855 ammunition is used by target shooters and other sportsmen because of its accuracy, relatively reasonable price, and wide availability. It has never been documented to be have been used in handguns by criminals against law enforcement; despite claims by ATF that it is has been thus employed (which was the Bureau’s stated reason for the ban).

Unsaid in ATF’s proposed ban is the fact that the AR-15 rifle, which uses the M855 round, has long-been the “poster boy” for demonizing firearms by the gun-control crowd. This crowd, using the intimidation and fact-distortion tactics common to Liberals in politics and the media, has tried repeatedly in recent years to pass legislation limiting the availability of the AR-15. Unfortunately for them, and fortunately for those of us who understand and support the Constitution’s Second Amendment protections, gun-control efforts in this regard have failed.

But, the gun control folks have a friend in ATF; and through regulatory sleight-of-hand, the Bureau tried to slip one over on the American people. The Bureau had gone so far as to publish a newly-revised regulatory manual explaining that M855 ammunition was now considered an unlawful “armor-piercing” round – even before the public comment period for the proposed regulation was ended. That proved to be a “Bridge too Far.” A massive, public anti-ban comment avalanche, coupled with several bipartisan letters in opposition to what ATF was doing from the Congress, has forced ATF to rescind its proposed ban.

Clearly, however, the leopard has not changed its spots. This Administration, including the current leadership of the ATF in particular, remains strongly committed to restricting, rather than protecting, the people’s right to keep and bear arms – including ammunition. If the dozens of members of Congress who publicly stood in opposition to this latest “executive action” by President Obama, and if the tens of thousands of average citizens who did the same, think that the battle is won and they can take their eye off the ball and rest easy, think again.

Just as Obama and his Department of Justice (which is about to get a protégé of Eric Holder as his replacement) have thumbed their nose at the rule of law in other areas, including immigration, if left to their own devices even for a moment, they will not hesitate to find some other way to accomplish what ATF was unable to do this go round.

March 11, 2015 0 comment
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Liberty Updates

Liberty Update – Net Neutrality

by Liberty Guard Author March 5, 2015
written by Liberty Guard Author
March 5, 2015 0 comment
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Liberty Updates

Wasteful Wednesday – Obama’s Crony Energy Policies

by Liberty Guard Author February 11, 2015
written by Liberty Guard Author
February 11, 2015 0 comment
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From the Desk of Bob Barr

The Emperor’s New Climate

by Liberty Guard Author September 24, 2014
written by Liberty Guard Author

Last weekend, an estimated 300,000 “climate change” evangelists flooded the streets of New York City, creating traffic jams and leaving the streets littered withtrash and waste. Their publicly-stated goal? — to raise awareness about “climate change,” as if decades of yelling, bullying, and name-calling has not left the public well-aware of the movement’s agenda. As expected, the march attracted its usual suspects clothed in their standard green hypocrisy. Al Gore left the march in an SUV. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an environmental lawyer, got testy with a reporterwhen asked if he was going to “lead by example” and give up his cell phone.

Even employing its self-avowed standards of calculating the “environmental impact” of actions, the march itself, with hundreds of thousands of people from across the globe descending upon the city, was an environmental disaster.

Of course, facts, history and logic are not elements readily apparent within this crowd, especially among those who dare not question the fanatical claims about the consequences if immediate action is not taken to put a stop to what used to be known as “global warming,” but now is referred to more vaguely as “climate change.” Furthermore, the “immediate action” for which these environmental zealots clamor is well known as liberal-speak for “government regulation;” their panacea for everything under the sun.

The fact is, “environmental conservation” is not a social good owned exclusively by liberals. Every hunter and sportsman appreciates the importance of protecting Earth’s natural resources. It is also one of the many important lessons taught over the past century by the Boy Scouts. “Appreciation for our natural environment and a knowledge of the interrelationships of nature bolster our respect and reverence toward the environment and nature,” say the Scouts.

The common-sense notion of personal environmental stewardship as practiced for generations by the Scouts reflects a community effort to keep our environment clean, and leaving the world better than when we found it. Unfortunately, true concern for the environment is not the objective of today’s environmental warriors, like those who marched in the Big Apple last weekend.

Radical environmentalism, not unlike many of the Left’s other crusades, is a thinly veiled cover for a brand of forced living standards and mandated anti-capitalism not at all unlike traditional Communism. Today, “environmentalism” is less about taking common sense, personal steps toward environmental stewardship, than it is throwing a monkey wrench into the industrial world and bringing technological progress to a grinding stop, regardless of the impact on humanity.

This anti-corporate, anti-freedom “progressive” movement is made effective not by rational argument, but by acid rhetoric, propaganda, and both academic and monetary fraud. Its proponents use these tools purposefully to create a false dichotomy in which the only “moral” position is to agree with them, lest one be labeled a climate change “denier” or “skeptic” – environmentalist jargon used by the Mainstream Media to insinuate that global warming critics are Neanderthals who reject “proven science.”

It is a modern day version of the old tale of the Emperor’s New Clothes.

Of course, even when significant, and damning, progress is made by critics atdebunking the junk science used by global warming alarmists to justify all manner of social re-engineering, the goalposts are simply moved, and the script is altered to keep their game alive. It does not matter that the Earth has been cooling over the last decade — they simply change the nomenclature of the debate from “global warming” to “climate change,” according to which you will always be right because the climate always will change, even if not known in what direction. In this environmental Bizarro World manipulation is condoned because the laudable goal of these “scientists” is to save the planet.

Periodically, Hollywood A-Listers will step forward to hold fund-raisers, bloviate about how they love Planet Earth, and spend millions making another sci-fi spectacular about how political and corporate bad guys have destroyed Earth. Man-made global warming may be a myth, but the agenda of these enviro-socialists is very real.

In the short term, the goal of these anti-capitalist crusaders is a global initiative, marked most recently by Obama’s visit on Tuesday with U.N. leaders to address a “global framework” for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. President Obama has shown little restraint in using costly, job-killing environmental regulations (or, in the case of the Keystone Pipeline, taking no action at all) to appease his liberal base. In an election year in which Democrats are struggling to paper over the vast failures of this Administration, it is virtually certain American businesses and taxpayers will be hit with even more of this costly and counter-productive environmental chicanery.

September 24, 2014 0 comment
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From the Desk of Bob Barr

Liberal “Faux Patriotism” On Display Against Burger King

by Liberty Guard Author September 3, 2014
written by Liberty Guard Author

The King is looking to move his court to Canada, and this has some of the villagers grabbing their pitchforks — digital pitchforks, that is. Sourcesclose to the recently-announced deal by Burger King suggest taxes actually had very little to do with the fast-food giant’s decision, adding it is more likely a concession to appease Canadian authorities. Facts, however, rarely get in the way of liberal critics of all things corporate; and in this instance, have not silenced a chorus of anti-American accusations being leveled at the company. “Add @BurgerKing to the tax traitor list,” tweets one Twitter user, as another user accuses the fast food company of moving to Canada to “avoid paying their fair share in taxes.”

Remarks such as these, based solely on the issue of taxes, illustrate clearly that for many, today’s measure of “patriotism” has little if anything to do with loyalty to America’s spirit of individualism and freedom, and far more to do with unquestioning fidelity in support of government. This “faux patriotism,” also explains why so many liberals still support President Obama despite irrefutable evidence of the President’s own betrayal of American values. The choleric, superficial howling with which many have responded to Burger King’s tactical move harkens to the days of the American Revolution, when Tories — those loyal to the British Crown — attempted to shame their next-door neighbors for opposing the Intolerable Acts cast upon Colonists by a vindictive King.

Loyalty to King and Crown now has morphed into Loyalty to President and the federal Tax Code.

Of course, few hurling insults at Burger King care to even define what is considered to be one’s “fair share” in taxes. The fundamental fact remains that looking at corporate tax rates across the globe, at 39.1 percent the United States in fact has the “least fair” tax rate of any modern industrialized nation. Even factoring for deductions and other write-offs, America’s corporate tax rate still is higher than countries like Ireland (12.5 percent), the United Kingdom (23 percent), and Canada (26.1 percent). Just as millionaires are fleeing liberal, high-tax states like New York and New Jersey for more reasonable tax climes in Republican-controlled states like Texas and Florida, American businesses increasingly are questioning the efficacy of doing business in a country where politicians have made it harder and more expensive to operate profitably; and where any effort lawfully to reduce such tax burdens are met with charges of “unpatriotic” or worse.

These “Tax Patriots” also fail to ask a very important question at the root of the debate over “inversion” — where companies move their headquarters outside the U.S. for tax reasons: Why is America’s corporate tax rate so high? Since large corporations typically bring in sizeable profits, they, along with wealthy Americans, have long been targeted by liberals in Congress as a revenue stream to fund bloated federal budgets. And, rather than find new ways to cut government spending, Democrats continue to invent new ways to make corporations pay more, evengoing so far as to making it more difficult for companies to relocate outside of the U.S. — the same as Obama has done for U.S. citizens wishing to renounce their citizenship, increasing those fees more than 400 percent.

“My attitude is I don’t care if it’s legal, it’s wrong,” Obama said in July, referring to companies that have moved their headquarters outside the U.S.; adding that he views them as “corporate deserters.” So, rather than addressing the problems that are leading to more people and companies wishing to leave the U.S. because of high tax rates, Obama hopes to trap them here with a regulatory version of the Berlin Wall; cheered on the whole way by people who appear to believe such coercion is patriotic.

“A man’s country is not a certain area of land, of mountains, rivers, and woods, but it is a principle,” wrote George William Curtis, a famous American writer and public speaker in the 19th Century, “and patriotism is loyalty to that principle.”

America is more than just land, mountains, rivers and woods. And, American “patriotism” is far more than a demonstration of loyalty to our country as a geographical or political entity. When we talk of patriotism, we should refer to the idea of America as a land of opportunity; opportunity that comes from the principles of free markets and capitalism, which can only thrive when regulations, taxes and the heavy hand of government are held to a minimum.

So, rather than shame businesses and business leaders for seeking lower taxes elsewhere, we should shame America’s deplorable tax system that chases corporations away. More than this, we should work to replace the “tax and spend” liberals responsible for these taxes in the first place; along with a number of Republicans in the House and the Senate, who refuse also to meaningfully simplify the Tax Code and reduce tax rates. Only by making America more competitive in the global marketplace, as a competitive marketplace, will the trend of inversion be stopped.

Politicians who raid the coffers of business, both small and large, are the true “traitors” to the American way. Not companies like Burger King.

September 3, 2014 0 comment
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From the Desk of Bob Barr

Uber Vs. The Status Quo

by Liberty Guard Author August 27, 2014
written by Liberty Guard Author

Police officials in the beautiful and historic South Carolina city of Charleston have identified a major new public safety menace requiring their immediate attention. This latest threat — being met by the authorities with an aggressive public awareness campaign and “sting” operations coupled with hefty fines in excess of $1,000 — is not drugs, gangs, or illegal immigration. The threat posed the good citizens of Charleston is: Uber!

Uber is a fast-growing, popular digital app for smart phones that provides consumers in Charleston and many cities across the country and around the world with an alternative to traditional taxi services. It is just one of many new digitally-based innovations having a major impact in the marketplace — entrepreneurial-based businesses creating new options for consumers in everything from online commerce (Bitcoin), to how you get around (Lyft), to where to stay on vacation (Airbnb). Even food trucks, a mobile spin on the concept of street food, have exploded with the formation of digital communities and communications.

So why is Uber seen as a public-safety threat rather than a benefit to consumers and businesses? Simple. Uber challenges the establishment; it is a threat to the status quo; it must be . . . regulated and controlled. And what better way to do this than through police power; in this particular case, the police power of the City of Charleston.

Welcome to the brave, new world that the Land once of the Free has become. Products and services like Uber are revolutionizing markets and marketing; shifting power long-dominated by large and powerful corporations and cartels, to individual entrepreneurs and start-up businesses. They are challenging the most powerful force in the universe – the force of the status quo.

Consumers are embracing these new technologies with open arms and open wallets; ready and willing to pay for new products and services that offer what they want, when they need it. But, in the same way that automobile manufacturers and dealers are fighting to keep upstart Tesla from competing against them on a level marketing playing field, government-empowered regulators whose mission is to protect the taxi industry from competition, are fighting Uber, and enlisting the support of the police to aid them.

The public rationale for this abuse of government police power is – of course – “public safety;” despite there being no evidence whatsoever that, for example, Uber poses any threat in that arena. It is not only Uber finding itself in the crosshairs of government agents and agencies. Regulators and law enforcement are targeting Lyft, mobile food trucks, and many other new products and services — also without any evidence that the public generally, or consumers specifically who wish to take advantage of such products and services, are threatened in their safety by doing so.

The lack of any credible threat to public safety – aside from inevitable and almost-always isolated incidents common to any business in any industry – illustrates clearly for anyone truly interested in free enterprise, what is going on here. For example, in the case of Uber in Charleston, police jumped to action only after meeting with local taxi companies. Similarly, Boston City Councilor Sal LaMattinarecently raised concern about Airbnb, where homeowners can rent their property on a short-term basis, after being “educated” by the local hotel industry as to the potential impact by this upstart business on that industry!

This unholy relationship between government regulators and the cartels of long-regulated industries is what business analyst Larry Downes refers to as “regulatory capture.” It occurs when regulators and industries are often the only two players interacting each other, which over time leads to a dangerous “customer-provider relationship” where each groups has “a vested interest in continuing the regulatory system long after the public interest benefits have been vastly outweighed by the anti-innovation costs.”

“The regulator becomes the industry’s cheerleader, and regulations shift subtly from protecting the public interest to protecting the status quo,” says Downes.

This increasingly prevalent display of government/industry cronyism seriously threatens innovation by creating regulatory barriers that prevent new technology from entering the market, even as they drive up costs, diminish quality and increase inefficiencies.

Uber, Airbnb, Bitcoin and other such services may not be perfect; and some almost certainly will be overtaken and ultimately replaced by competitors offering more efficient and responsive products. But this is precisely as it should be. Marketcompetition, not government-directed and law enforcement-protected regulation to skew the marketplace, is the time-proven process by which consumers enjoy lower prices and better products.

Any passenger stepping into a foul-smelling cab which he is forced to board by a government-licensed dispatcher at Reagan National Airport, for example, with a driver barely conversant in the English language, readily can attest to what a lack of competition can lead to in an industry. That same consumer just as readily can articulate why he is willing to pay a slight premium for a late-model, clean Uber vehicle, driven by an articulate, well-dressed driver who shows up within minutes of the customer activating his app and who knows exactly the best route to traverse.

Uber is not the threat; the status quo is.

August 27, 2014 0 comment
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