More lies etcetra from the usual suspects…
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As we reported on and since Jan. 28, May 1 is the deadline for public comments concerning a shotgun importation ban that has been proposed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. A working group within the BATFE has recommended that any shotgun (semi-automatic, pump-action or any other) that has any one of 10 specific features should be banned from importation, on the grounds that such shotguns are not “generally recognized as particularly suitable for a readily adaptable to sporting purposes.”
The Second Amendment isn’t about hunting or sporting…
In another chapter in the ongoing attempt to blame the American gun community for Mexico’s internal strife, CBS News reports that the Mexican government has retained the New York City-based law firm of Reid Collins & Tsai to examine its options for suing U.S. gun manufacturers and distributors. This report describes Mexico’s actions as a “novel approach,” in reality, such lawsuits have been used for decades as a tactic by anti-gun groups and governments in their attempts to bankrupt gun manufacturers and circumvent the political process.
That’s why Congress passed the “Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act” in 2005. This act protects firearms manufacturers, distributors, dealers and importers from suits brought about as a result of “the harm solely caused by the criminal or unlawful misuse of firearm products or ammunition products by others when the product functioned as designed and intended.” The outlook for a Mexican government suit looks dim; since the PLCAA was signed into law by President George W. Bush on Oct. 26, 2005, no federal court has allowed such a suit by a government plaintiff to go forward against a U.S. firearms manufacturer.
Two updates have developed in the continually-breaking story of scandal and corruption at the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives revolving around the U.S. guns-to-Mexico scheme that deliberately placed American firearms in the hands of drug cartels.
The Department of Justice has refused, yet again, to provide Senator Charles Grassley with the documents he has demanded concerning the illegal plot. Grassley took to the Senate floor last week to blast the Obama Administration and Eric Holder for their stonewalling on the issue and their continued failure to provide to Congress the materials necessary for an investigation.
Regarding that refusal, National Gun Rights Examiner David Codrea has filed a legal appeal challenging the DOJ-ATF.
A slideshow of the appeal can be found here.
Meanwhile, a second development indicates the origins of the Project Gunwalker scandal (also known as Operation Fast and Furious, and Project Gunrunner). Mike Vanderboegh has discovered documentation that gives the reader a look at the mindset, the motives, and the foundation of what led to the illegal operation.
The Government Accountability Office produced a report in 2009 that highlighted the problem with gun trafficking to Mexico and the lack of a coherent policy to address it. From there, things got out of control when addressing the problem became a central focus of The Department of Homeland Security, the ATF, and its umbrella bureau, the Department of Justice.
Vanderboegh explains:
Let me tell you what this was, and where it came from, based on a conversation I had with a long-time, well-informed veteran of American government intelligence operations the other day.
“Do you think,” he asked me, “that this happened accidentally in a vacuum?” Meaning that one day “Gunwalker Bill” Newell, Phoenix SAC, just got a wild hair and decided to invent his own foreign policy. “Things like this happen because of meetings. People sit in meetings and they decide what they want to happen. And then they take decisions, make policy and implement that policy to achieve those ends.” He added, “That’s why State is so nervous. They signed off on this. In a meeting.”
Gunrunner, I pointed out to him, predated the Obama administration. “Yes, but ‘walking guns’ didn’t.” I told him it seemed to me that given the dates on the documents that the meetings crafting this policy must have taken place sometime in mid-2009. “And who took power in January, 2009?” he replied.
He continued, summing up this way. The gun issue was known to be radioactive. Every time the Democrats embraced it they got killed at the polls the next election cycle. What was needed, in Rahm Emanuel’s parlance, was a good crisis to exploit, something to change the paradigm. The gun confiscationists had always danced in the blood (my term, not his) of every mass shooting and gotten nowhere, to their chagrin and frustration. What was needed was a game changer. Something that fit the meme of “we’ve got to tighten up on American gunowners, gun stores and gun shows because they are feeding the slaughter.” Mexico was perfect. The ATF controlled the reporting of the statistics, the headlines were lurid and if the rest of us gunnies knew that you don’t get automatic weapons, hand grenades and RPGs from gun shows and gun stores, most of the American people were too ignorant of the issue to care about the distinction. But the fact was, as the IG report and other sources concluded, the amount of weapons from those legitimate American sources did not meet the allegation. More importantly the statistics didn’t meet the policy need. So, how to “fix” that? Project Gunwalker. If there weren’t enough semi-auto “assault rifles” in Mexico, the ATF could fix that. And the murders would follow, justifying the policy change of cracking down on “assault rifles,” gun shows and the like.
“So,” I said, “you’re saying that this was a deliberate attempt by policymakers at the highest levels of the Obama administration to subvert the Second Amendment and further diminish the free exercise of firearm rights of honest citizens?”
“You got it. Sucks, huh?” He laughed bitterly.
In short, DOJ, ATF, and DHS needed an issue that would allow them to make a strong case to the American public that U.S. guns laws must be tightened significantly in order to address the problem of gun trafficking to Mexico. And they found that issue in Project Gunwalker. If the agencies mentioned above could somehow prove statistically that drug cartel firearms were coming primarily from the U.S., then they could insist on more gun control.
Things only went downhill from there.
Vanderboegh continues,
In the process of updating and expanding a previous timeline of the Gunwalker scandal, the question hit me once more, where did this come from? Something changed when the Obama administration took over, something that involved a lot of inter-agency coordination. And then it hit me, one other thing my spook friend told me that I hadn‘t reported, that up until now I‘d totally forgot. “Don’t worry about ‘following the money’ on this one,” he said, “follow the power — follow the paper, because paper is how power is transmitted in the federal government.” So I went and I looked and I found this, the real Rosetta Stone of this scandal, hiding in plain sight. Read it and I think you‘ll agree that whatever happened at ground level in the Gunwalker Scandal, it had its roots in this Obama change of policy.
One more thing. I think you, like me, will find confirmation of what I said earlier this month about EPIC — El Paso Intelligence Center: What did EPIC know about Project Gunwalker and when did they know it? Likely answer: Everything and early. The strong and extensive inter-agency coordination described in the document below makes it certain that EPIC, ICE, CBP, DHS and other agencies HAD to be cognizant at some command level of what was happening with the Gunwalker fiasco.
Documentation concerning these assertions can be found here and here.
Within the latter report, issued by the federal government, we find tale-tell statements such as these:
Enhance programs at EPIC targeting illegal weapons smuggling/trafficking. ATF’s Project Gunrunner utilizes the EPIC Gun Desk as the focal point for the collection, analysis, and dissemination of investigative leads derived from Federal, State, local, and international law enforcement agencies.
And these:
Rapidly share weapons seizure information among U.S. law enforcement agencies. Law enforcement organizations have a variety of intelligence collection capabilities and programs which are either directly or indirectly related to information on illicit weapons smuggling/trafficking. Such resources must be utilized in a coordinated and cohesive manner. The ICE Border Violence Intelligence Cell and ATF Gun Desk located at EPIC each utilize separate systems to collect and maintain information relating
to weapons seizures, such as TECS, ATF’s OnLine Lead, the National Tracing Center, Violent Crime Analysis Branch, and the U.S. Bomb Data Center. The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice will address options for establishing methods to rapidly share information derived from Federal, State, and local and Government of Mexico illicit weapons seizures.
By putting 2 and 2 together it is not difficult to see the game plan. Implement Operation Gunrunner, i.e., send U.S. guns to Mexico, and then rabidly share weapons seizure information among U.S. law enforcement agencies, information that would, of course, show that U.S. guns are arming the Mexican drug cartels.
Much more about this is provided at Vanderboegh’s site. Read it all.
Recently, the United Nations took the next step in negotiating an international arms trade treaty that has the full support of the Obama [1] administration. The goal [2] of this treaty is to impose “common international standards for the import, export and transfer of conventional arms” and ammunition, ostensibly because “too many arms still end up in the wrong hands.”
This high-sounding rhetoric demands further examination, especially since the UN group behind this meeting is called the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs.
Since the mid-1990s [3], the United Nations has proclaimed that global civilian disarmament will ensure worldwide peace and prosperity. But to comprehend their attitude towards civilian gun ownership, know that the United Nations believes you have no civil right of self-defense:
Be sure to read the full article, this is too good to just pass on.
Gads… Go on the road for a few months. Alright, more than a few, and what are the treasonous types up too?
You guessed it; No good! At least if you are any sort of decent American. Read on…
This is an effort to embody Barack Obama’s Arizona newspaper article into legislation — and to milk political advantage from the tragedy in Tucson. It would:
See All Firearms Legislation In The 112th Congress
This is yet another abomination being thrust upon the people of the United (apparently not so.) States of America.
Back a few, yes only a few years ago, a fellow called TexasFred started talking about a thing. It was called, or more properly became called, the Taxed Enough Already movement. The TEA PARTY. The idea being local control, and accountability of the various politicians. That is still the overriding mission of real TEA PARTY people. Keep it local, keep it hot, and hold those that we elect to their words and promises. All these “National” TEA Party types are forgetting the mission. The mission folks, is local needs, desires, and accountability. We, the local people, have a duty as well as responsibility to see that our wants, needs, and desires are supported by those that we elect as our leaders.
Then the cards fall as they were dealt. Yes. That was a Libertarian view. However, the TEA Party is not Libertarian in a philosophical sense. It is made up of a vast selection of peoples. It crosses racial and ethnic boundaries, political, and regional facets. It does include peoples of many stripes; As it were. We are called AMERICAN’S. For a reason… We are all different, and we combine the strengths of our backgrounds while never forgetting our weaknesses. From there, we go on. Never have we been perfect. Yet I would submit; We AMERICANS have established the finest of nations that this world has yet to see. Anyone that thinks different is more than welcome to post about a better place.
We; Americans, need to guard our liberty and freedom. Every day, every minute, from those that would steal our birthright. That being Liberty and Freedom. Think about it people!
Last; Please say a prayer for those folks plying Elk Mountain and Bordeaux Road. Truck drivers die every hour because states (corruption) refuse to close roads, driver managers preach safety yet send their charges into the gates of hell. All so that you can have your broccoli…
May God bless each and everyone; Keep your powder dry.
We have reported many times on the Brady Campaign’s rush to exploit tragedy for political gain. Since its inception as the National Council to Control Handguns over 30 years ago, the group has premised its entire agenda on this kind of exploitation for political gain, and on the notion that having more gun control laws and, therefore, fewer guns, means that crime must necessarily decrease.
Since the senseless January 8 attack on U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and her innocent staff and constituents, anti-Second Amendment groups have been working overtime to exploit the tragedy to resurrect their political agendas. The Brady Campaign’s most recent, tasteless ploy may represent a new low.
Urge Your Representative To Cosponsor H.R. 822, The National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act Of 2011: Congressmen Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) and Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) have introduced vital legislation that will enable millions of permit holders to exercise their right to self-defense while traveling outside their home states.
There are now only two states that have no clear legal way for individuals to carry concealed firearms for self-defense. Thirty-seven states have shall-issue permit systems that make it possible for any law-abiding person to obtain a permit, while most of the others have discretionary permit systems (Vermont has never required a permit).
Deadline Nears On BATFE Shotgun Ban Comments: As we reported on Jan. 28, May 1 is the deadline for public comments concerning a shotgun importation ban that has been proposed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. A working group within the BATFE has recommended that any shotgun (semi-automatic, pump-action or any other) that has any one of 10 specific features should be banned from importation, on the grounds that such shotguns are not “generally recognized as particularly suitable for a readily adaptable to sporting purposes.”
Recently, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) — who in the early 1990s was the House sponsor of the Brady Act and the federal “assault weapons” and “large” magazine ban of 1994-2004, and the ill-fated, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink “Brady II” bill — introduced S. 436, the multi-faceted “Fix Gun Checks Act of 2011.” Its simplistic and misleading title aside, this bill dispels any doubt about the goal gun control supporters have had in mind ever since they began harping about “closing the gun show loophole” more than a decade ago.
Schumer’s “fix” bypasses the question of gun shows altogether. In fact, the term “gun show” appears nowhere in his bill. S. 436 proposes that virtually all private transfers, regardless of location, be subject to National Instant Criminal Background Check System checks. The exceptions would be extremely narrow; in many cases, even lending someone a firearm would be subject to federal regulation.
Shortly, the U.S. Senate will consider legislation to take a number of key gun-related offices in the Department of Justice and remove them from the requirement of Senate confirmation. The legislation is sponsored by anti-gun zealot Charles Schumer (D-NY) and weak-kneed Republican Lamar Alexander (R-TN).
S. 679 would give Barack Obama the ability to fill major gun-related Department of Justice slots with anti-gun partisans, without the pesky inconvenience of having to comply with the Constitution’s requirements for Senate confirmation.
Consider the following:
Barack Obama has not hesitated to load up his administration with anti-gun crazies like Regulatory Czar Cass Sunstein (who thinks hunters should be sued in court because of the pain and suffering they inflict upon animals) and Andrew Traver (the nominee to head the ATF who never met a gun control proposal he didn’t like).
If he has been willing to pack his administration with anti-gun extremists — many of whom had to pass Senate confirmation — imagine what kind of lunatics Obama could nominate if the Schumer-Alexander legislation exempted major positions from constitutional advise-and-consent requirements.
To take posts like the official who composes statistics for the Justice Department (the Director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics) and the person who represents the Justice Department before Congress (Assistant Attorney General, Legislative Affairs) and turn them into “Political hack” positions is unacceptable.
ACTION: Contact your Senators. Urge them to filibuster S. 679, the Schumer-Alexander bill to exempt Justice Department gun-related posts from the Constitution’s advise-and-consent requirements. Click here to contact your Senators.
Seems a darned olde retired Paramedic can’t leave for even a few short months without the blog as well as the whole darned country falling apart. But, I digress…
First things first; update as it were. Got home, and the puter had gone the way of the passenger pigeon. So, a new, El Cheapo comp, via Wally’s World of Wonders. I will let folks know if this Acer actually does work… I already know that Windows 7 Home sucks, as does Mozillia Firefox 4… Or perhaps I am just not yet familiar enough with them.
Now, seems we have achieved Vermont style carry here in Wyoming. Believe it or not that is one hell of an achievement! Next on the list, apparently, will be an end to the “Free Fire Zones” that criminals and other miscreants enjoy at the expense of decent people. Not just here, but everywhere.
Here’s my take on things: Rights are not privileges. (Yes, that is a period!) Rights, as in the Bill of Rights; Should not be taken forever from anyone for less than felonious behavior or debilitating mental illness.
Political correctness be damned!
The right to defend oneself, one’s family, friends, state, and nation should not be determined by ones sex. Indeed, many a western farm / ranch wife of old would answer the politically correct argument about women being the weaker, fairer sex with a Winchester. So much for the overwhelming differences in arrests for “Domestic Abuse…” Not to mention the wholly Un-Constitutional Ex Post Facto aspect of the Lautenburg Abomination, and outright treason to his oath to uphold the Constitution…
Then we get to: The Taxed Enough Already movement… Well folks, I myself, am a bit disappointed… We, as in those that started the murmurs back in ought six? Like TexasFred, Basti, myself, and others? Have been co-opted. Now, that is to be expected, to be sure. What we need to do is keep the faith, and keep it local. Like Fred is doing with his ongoing series about the Mayor… Hold their (elected leaders) feet to the fire so that they do indeed do what they said that they would do.
WARNING!
Just as we the people formed what became known as “The Tea Party Movement” We the people can also form “The Tar & Feather Movement.” The idea there being that the Taxed Enough Already people? Do it local, and with force…
Must be the Jalapeno hotdogs truckers live on…
God bless each and all.
Drive straight, safe, and true!
GOA had managed to win some minor victories in the fight over this legislation last year. At that time, the very-liberal Slate magazine lamented that GOA had won a skirmish over ObamaCare:
Score one for the Gun Owners of America, a lobby group positioned well to the right of the National Rifle Association…. [T]o pacify GOA, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid [has inserted into the health care bill] a section titled “Protecting 2nd Amendment Gun Rights” [which prevents the] disclosure or collection of any information relating to gun ownership. (Slate, December 20, 2009.)
But even after being “cleaned up” for some of its anti-gun problems, the ATF can still use ObamaCare to troll a federal database for your medical information. It can identify people with common ailments such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) — and take away their guns by sending their names to the FBI as “prohibited persons.”
For these and other reasons, GOA is still committed to repealing the anti-gun ObamaCare law.
So GOA was not particularly thrilled when Republican leaders went on the Sunday talk shows right before the election to explain why they could not repeal ObamaCare because of the threat of a presidential veto.
In fact, some have speculated that these cowardly pronouncements could have cost Republicans control of the Senate.
But, never mind, say the Republicans. If they can’t repeal it, they can just “defund” ObamaCare.
So it came as a bit of a shock to us that Senate Republican Whip Jon Kyl appeared on the Greta Van Susteren program December 2 to announce that he would prefer to pass a stripped-down funding bill (a so-called Continuing Resolution) to fund the government until October 1, 2011.
In other words, money would flow for the next ten months — without ANY EFFORT WHATSOEVER TO DEFUND OBAMACARE. This would take the pressure off Congress to act on ObamaCare for almost a year.
Do you want proof that Congress doesn’t like to act unless they have a “gun” put to their collective heads? Consider a hot topic that’s been in the news lately: tax cuts. Congress has had almost 10 years to deal with this issue, but they’re only dealing with it now — as the time limit on the Bush tax cuts are about to expire on December 31.
We don’t want this to happen in our efforts to repeal the anti-gun health care law. Putting off this issue would undermine the efforts of incoming congressmen who campaigned on getting rid of ObamaCare! The will of the American people was made clear in the November elections. If Congress extends the funding of the government beyond the first few weeks of 2011, it will pull the rug out from under the newly elected members and be a slap in the face to millions of voters.
Moreover, if Congress puts off dealing with ObamaCare until next fall, momentum for repeal will wane and the President will have won a significant public relations battle. This may all sound a little like “inside baseball,” but if Congress passes another Continuing Resolution next October 1 — as they probably will — then it’s very possible that there will be no impetus to deal with repealing or defunding ObamaCare until after the 2012 elections.
This would allow Obama to run for reelection without the stain of public repudiation for his socialist policies.
The time to act is sooner, rather than later. If Senate Republicans are serious about defunding ObamaCare, they need to fight to prevent a bill that funds the government beyond January or February. If the funding measure is only for the short-term, then the new Congress can come to town and deal with nixing ObamaCare right away.
ACTION: Please urge your Senators to take action on repealing ObamaCare sooner, rather than later! There are two different pre-written letters for this alert — one for Republicans and one for Democrats.
If you go to GOA’s Legislative Action Center to contact your Senators, the correct pre-written letter will AUTOMATICALLY be chosen. If you choose to contact your Senators without going through the GOA website, then please make sure you choose the correct letter below for the correct Senator.
—– Pre-written letter to Republican Senators —–
Dear Senator:
Without question, repealing the anti-gun and anti-freedom ObamaCare legislation should be one of Congress’ top priorities next year.
Polls continue to show that an overwhelming percentage of the American people want to see this law repealed.
And this is why I was shocked to learn that Senate Republican Whip Jon Kyl appeared on the Greta Van Susteren program December 2 to announce that he would prefer to pass a stripped-down Continuing Resolution to fund the government until October 1, 2011.
Even worse, it would undermine the efforts of incoming congressmen who campaigned on getting rid of ObamaCare! The will of the American people was made clear in the November elections. If Congress extends the funding of the government beyond the first few weeks of 2011, it will pull the rug out from under the newly elected members and be a slap in the face to millions of voters.
Furthermore, if Congress puts off dealing with ObamaCare until next fall, momentum for repeal will wane and the President will have won a significant public relations battle. And, if Congress passes another Continuing Resolution next October 1 — as they probably will — then it’s very possible that there will be no impetus to deal with repealing or defunding ObamaCare until after the 2012 elections.
This would allow Obama to run for reelection without the stain of public repudiation for his socialist policies.
The time to act is sooner, rather than later. If Senate Republicans are serious about defunding ObamaCare, they need to fight to prevent a bill that funds the government beyond January or February. If the funding measure is only for the short-term, then the new Congress can come to town and deal with nixing ObamaCare right away.
Sincerely,
—– Pre-written letter to Democrat and Independent Senators —–
Dear Senator:
Without question, repealing the anti-gun and anti-freedom ObamaCare legislation should be one of Congress’ top priorities next year.
Polls continue to show that an overwhelming percentage of the American people want to see this law repealed.
Please do everything in your power to defund or repeal this law.
Sincerely,
Sign the Petition!
Please remember to stop by http://readtheusconstitution.org to encourage Congress to read the U.S. Constitution, out loud, upon convening in January. Way too often our elected officials act without even considering the source of their authority.
What a wonderful coming together of two diverse groups! We need more gatherings where the idiot activists are given warm, moist, aromatic welcomes like this one. This is why PETA usually protests women wearing fur rather than bikers wearing leather. Sounds to me like the old saying, “you mess with the bull, and you get the horns”. Gee, I guess these characters thought that Bikers where going to be politically correct like the rest of the wimpy world. HERE’S HOW POLICE FOUND ONE OF THEM.
Johnstown, PA (GlossyNews) – Local and state police scoured the hills outside rural Johnstown, Pennsylvania, after reports of three animal rights activists going missing after attempting to protest the wearing of leather at a large motorcycle gang rally this weekend. Two others, previously reported missing, were discovered by fast food workers “duct taped inside fast food restaurant dumpsters,” according to police officials.
“Something just went wrong,”said a still visibly shaken organizer of the protest. “Something just went horribly, horribly, wrong.”The organizer said a group of concerned animal rights activist groups, “growing tired of throwing fake blood and shouting profanities at older women wearing leather or fur coats,” decided to protest the annual motorcycle club event “in a hope to show them our outrage at their wanton use of leather in their clothing and motor bike seats.” “In fact,” said the organizer, “motorcycle gangs are one of the biggest abusers of wearing leather, and we decided it was high time that we let them know that we disagree with them using it. ergo, they should stop.”
According to witnesses, protesters arrived at the event in a vintage 1960’s era Volkswagen van and began to pelt the gang members with balloons filled with red colored water, simulating blood, and shouting “you’re murderers” to passers by. This, evidently, is when the brouhaha began.
“They peed on me!!!” charged one activist. “They grabbed me, said I looked like I was French, started calling me ‘La Trene’ and duct taped me to a tree so they could pee on me all day!”
Still others claimed they were forced to eat hamburgers and hot dogs under duress. Those who resisted were allegedly held down while several bikers “farted on their heads.”
Police officials declined comments on any leads or arrests due to the ongoing nature of the investigation; however, organizers for the motorcycle club rally expressed “surprise” at the allegations.
“That’s preposterous,”said one high-ranking member of the biker organizing committee. “We were having a party, and these people showed up and were very rude to us. They threw things at us, called us names, and tried to ruin the entire event. So, what did we do? We invited them to the party! What could be more friendly than that? You know, just because we are all members of motorcycle clubs does not mean we do not care about inclusiveness. Personally, I think it shows a lack of character for them to be saying such nasty things about us after we bent over backwards to make them feel welcome.”
When confronted with the allegations of force-feeding the activist’s meat, using them as ad hoc latrines, leaving them incapacitated in fast food restaurant dumpsters, and ‘farting on their heads,’ the organizer declined to comment in detail. “That’s just our secret handshake,”assured the organizer.
H/T to Neil, original source unknown.
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