I don't need you or anyone else to "protect me from the U.S. Government",
especially by kowtowing to their ludicrous demands. Knuckling under every
time the G-men hatch some half-baked plan to insidiously repeal our rights by
one hardly seems like protection, anyway. Believing that this applies to
only "a small number of our members", shows that you are either naive or
terminally myopic. By succumbing to their frivolous demands, you and your
spineless puppets have made legitimate a power that the government never had.
I can only assume that you lived through the excesses of the McCarthy era,
and I can only wonder how you survived that period without assimilating the
pertinent facts and deducing that every time the bureaucrats poke their
tentacles into a new area, the citizens must be "eternally vigilant" and
question their actions.
If you and your misguided cronies at the M.V.P.A.(Most Vehicles Preserved if
Approved) were the head of the N.R.A., I'm sure we'd have surrendered every
firearm down to our plastic water guns long ago. We'd all be subject to
random, full-body cavity searches in our own homes and you'd be up against
the wall thinking "Gee...it only started with banning the semi-automatics."
Do you really believe that the only vehicles that the government doesn't want
in the hands of the average citizen is limited to Hum Vee's, Gama Goats, and
M151A2's? Wake up and smell the roses. Let me make a prediction right now:
Next year you and your simpletons running the M.V.P.A. will get an official
notarized letter from the Federal Bureau of Nonsense stating not which
vehicles can't be judged, but which ones can. And I suspect the list will be
very short indeed.
See you at the election,
Rob Kiser
M.V.P.A.(Most Vehicles Preserved if Approved) member #17313
P.S. - When you get next year's "approved vehicles" list from the Feds, send
me a copy. I could use a good laugh.
P.S.S. - "Keep 'em Rolling...as long as no one's looking!"
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An open letter to MVPA members and MV hobbyists:
The MVPA was informed by federal government officials many months ago
that possession of ex-U.S. military M151A2s, Gama Goats, and HMMWVs
could present problems for our members. The government maintains that
none of these vehicles have ever been released to the civilian market
through legitimate channels.
After much discussion at a series of MVPA Board of Directors Meetings,
it was decided to temporarily decline advertising for these vehicles in
MVPA publications while an official policy was being formulated. In
response to recent events reported on MVPA ONLINE, in SUPPLY LINE and
elsewhere the prohibition was amended to include the 1997 MVPA Annual
International Convention in Memphis.
We're making good progress on development of a permanent policy which
will treat all military vehicles - and owners - fairly across the board.
Hopefully, we will have our new policy in place by the time of the
convention in July.
Our temporary M151A2/Gama Goat/HMMWV policy was enacted for the
protection of MVPA members and the national organization. The policy was
developed in the belief that it was in the best interest of the MVPA
membership and the MV hobby at large. We regret any inconvenience to
individual MVPA members as a result of our actions.
These issues have been fully discussed in SUPPLY LINE and for many hours
in open MVPA Board of Directors Meetings. Every MVPA Director will be
happy to discuss this topic, and others, with any MVPA member.
We'll survive this minor glitch - which really only affects a handful of
MVPA members - and be a stronger, better organization as a result of the
time and effort we are spending investigating this issue and formulating
a carefully-crafted policy.
Thank you for your patience and consideration, and, as always --
"Keep 'em Rolling!"
-- Jerry Cleveland, SUPPLY LINE Editor Military Vehicle Preservation Association www.mvpa.org