How in the world could such an initiative be considered a threat to the 2nd Amendment? How it could be useful for law enforcement is obvious.Last week, the House of Representatives voted 277 to 149 to block the Obama administration from implementing a proposed rule intended to help the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) stem the flow of weapons to Mexican cartels. The proposed rule would require gun shops near the Mexican border to report multiple sales of assault-weapons, such as AR-15s and AK-47s, to the ATF. The reporting rule has repeatedly been delayed, despite calls by U.S. law enforcement and the Mexican government to address the southbound flow of weapons.
By siding with gun lobbyists over law enforcement officials, 236 Republicans and 41 Democrats demonstrated that, in the halls of Congress, NRA priorities trump law enforcement needs.
Ayes Noes NV
Republican 236 2 2
Democratic 41 147 5
Independent
TOTALS 277 149 7
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
Now if they would only fix the border. My idea is to replace Border Patrol with National Guard.
ReplyDeleteWell, gun guys? What possible reason can you invent to justify voting against this? Why would anyone want to buy multiple assault rifles down near the border unless it is for illicit sales to Mexico?
ReplyDeleteMaybe because Congress has discovered the abuses and mis-management of the ATF and their "Project Gunwalker" scandal - Where the BATF for several months had been ALLOWING thousands of guns to be trafficked across the border to boost their numbers (to justify their existence and budget, I guess), and a border patrol agent was killed with one of the guns they let go across the border.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-national/project-gunwalker-charges-surfacing-on-fox-news
BATF needs to be disbanded. They have abused the people and their authority for far too long. They're nothing more than armed tax collectors, after all.
...Orygunner...
Baldr Odinson:
ReplyDeleteWell, gun guys? What possible reason can you invent to justify voting against this?
There is no rational reason to vote against it, and that's why it's so gratifying that 236 Republicans, and even 41 Democrats, voted for the measure to block the BATFE's illegal power grab.
Good to see that Congress appears to be acquiring the moral courage to stand up to the executive branch's oppressive, unconstitutional agenda.
By the way, while we're talking about the BATFE, and their supposed efforts to attenuate "gun violence" in Mexico, what do you think of this?
ReplyDeleteFrom the text:
In late 2009, ATF was alerted to suspicious buys at seven gun shops in the Phoenix area. Suspicious because the buyers paid cash, sometimes brought in paper bags. And they purchased classic "weapons of choice" used by Mexican drug traffickers - semi-automatic versions of military type rifles and pistols.
Sources tell CBS News several gun shops wanted to stop the questionable sales, but ATF encouraged them to continue.
. . .
ATF managers allegedly made a controversial decision: allow most of the weapons on the streets. The idea, they said, was to gather intelligence and see where the guns ended up. Insiders say it's a dangerous tactic called letting the guns, "walk."
And those sick, evil thugs are the people to whom you want to give more power, more funding, more information about who is buying guns?!
Fuck that.
This is just the beginning. This is Watergate, but with people getting killed.
That's bullshit, Zorroy. What they did, however distasteful to your delicate sensitivities, is just what undercover cops do all the time. Don't you watch TV, man?
ReplyDeleteThat's bullshit, Zorroy. What they did, however distasteful to your delicate sensitivities, is just what undercover cops do all the time.
ReplyDeleteUndercover cops buy contraband in order to make a case. Are you claiming that they actually facilitate the illegal commerce from the supply end, and then let the stuff get away from them?
Don't you watch TV, man?
Not much, and I certainly don't let cop shows inform my understanding of how the real world works. I, keep in mind, am not the guy who decided torture was OK, based on an episode of "24."
Project Gunwalker.....HAHAHAHAHAHA
ReplyDeleteThat's just an NRA plot to try to move the spotlight off of their buddies who are selling their military grade weapons on a cash basis in the SW, and onto undercover agents doing what undercover agents do.
Guntubbies, it's time to hang up the guns and get a life. Then you might get laid for once.
@BantheNRA, so the ATF deliberately allowed guns to "walk," and you claim the NRA is behind it.
ReplyDeleteWas the NRA on the grassy knoll, too? Maybe they were the ones really behind 9/11?
The facts tell the truth, the BATFE has screwed up, not just letting guns "walk," but throughout their history. These armed tax collecting thugs need to be disbanded.
...Orygunner...
I think you gun guys, especially some of the bigger gun bloggers loke Codrea are spearheading a campaign to harm the ATF. One of their guys got killed, they're in the shit up to their necks, not becasue they facilitated anything but because that's how you fight crime by getting right down there in the shit.
ReplyDeleteBesides, let's say you're right. Let's say the entire organization os out of control. Isn't that a good reason to nominate Travers as their boss.
The CBS story was the tip of the iceberg. Wait until we see how high in the DoJ this went. Holder-high? Don't bet against it.
ReplyDeleteWait until we start hearing from former Mexico attache Darren Gil, who was forced into early retirement late last year, because he objected to doing this shit without telling the Mexicans. Wait until we find out how high in State Department that was approved. Hillary-high? Don't bet against it.
Wait until it's established that not only did the BATFE goons sanction the straw sales, when gun shops wanted to turn them down, but even paid at least one dealer to do it, with a confidential informer-type arrangement.
Codrea and the man you love to hate are "spearheading" something, alright--spearheading the vast improvement of the U.S., through the bitch-slap (to end all bitch-slaps) of the BATFE, and very possibly much more of this gangster government administration than that.
A thing of beauty.
By the way, whom do you think you're kidding with your attempt to portray Traver as the honest piano player in the whorehouse?
ReplyDeleteBesides, let's say you're right. Let's say the entire organization os out of control. Isn't that a good reason to nominate Travers as their boss.
He's the sleazy, lying motherfucker who tried to claim that the expiration of the "assault weapons" ban flooded the streets of Chicago with fully-automatic AK-47s. What possible reason could there be to expect him to clean up the sewer that is the BATFE?
I hope his cancer comes back, and kills him, after a few years of utter agony.
So how do you you feel about your favorite thugs now, eh?
ReplyDeleteSenior agents including Dodson told CBS News they confronted their supervisors over and over.
Their answer, according to Dodson, was, "If you're going to make an omelette, you've got to break some eggs."
There was so much opposition to the gun walking, that an ATF supervisor issued an e-mail noting a "schism" among the agents. "Whether you care or not people of rank and authority at HQ are paying close attention to this case...we are doing what they envisioned.... If you don't think this is fun you're in the wrong line of work... Maybe the Maricopa County jail is hiring detention officers and you can get $30,000 ... to serve lunch to inmates..."
Helping arm the drug syndicates is supposed to be fun, and murdered Mexicans are "broken eggs."
Those are your fucking heroes.
I do admit I owe the actual heroes here--the whistleblowers like Agent Dodson, who have done more to neuter the BATFE beast than anyone in history.
And Mike Vanderoegh and David Codrea made it happen. True American heroes.