Friday, October 14, 2011

Fast and Furious Made Simple


Again, there’s no question that Fast and Furious represents a serious failure of federal law enforcement, and it shouldn’t surprise anyone if those responsible for that failure were less than eager to inform superiors in Washington about their mistakes. However, the inspector general’s investigation and the investigation by Issa’s committee should help lay out exactly what happened.

However, there’s something deeper going on here as well, and it’s reflected in the comments from LaPierre and others.

The flow of firearms across the U.S. border is a serious challenge. So far, some 65,000 guns confiscated in Mexico by authorities have been traced back to gun purchases made here in the United States. One single individual tracked during the Fast and Furious investigation bought more than 700 weapons for transfer to the Mexican cartels, in some cases purchasing 20 or more AK-47-type assault weapons in a single purchase.

However, when the Obama administration proposed a new regulation that would require border-state gun shops to notify officials if a single individual attempted to buy large numbers of guns, the NRA protested bitterly.

“This is just a shallow excuse to engage in a sweeping firearms registration scheme,” LaPierre wrote on the NRA’s website. At the NRA’s insistence, the House passed a resolution opposing that regulation, and the NRA has since filed suit against the rule.
Some of the pro-gun sites have dedicated themselves to making more of this than there is. I knew it was coming a while ago when Wayne La Pierre pretended to be emotional about the situation. That's all it takes for his minions to take up the cause and run with it.

This is all about ATF-hate, gun-control-hate and Obama-hate. That's all.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

4 comments:

  1. Somebody (or several) should be fired for this kind of screwup.

    But the regulation required by Obama makes good sense. I don't see the NRA offering any solutions to the 65,000 guns going across the border other than to help the NRA's real bosses, the gun manufacturers, sell more guns to people, which in turn will result in more guns going across the border.

    And the gun loonz pretend to care, when they remember to pretend, that they give a damn about guns used illegally, bu cartels south of the border, or by criminals here.

    IF they really cared they would be drafting and promoting sweeping firearms regualtion legislation, not fighting it.

    Anyone want to wager a side bet here that the NRA opposition in court is going to fail?

    ReplyDelete
  2. But the regulation required by Obama makes good sense. I don't see the NRA offering any solutions to the 65,000 guns going across the border.....

    Are you offering this 65,000 number as annual number?

    I was just curious where you got this number from?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hmmmmm... the 65,000 number is from the article on which the post is based. (Sometimes it helps to click on 'show original post'.)

    Para 3, 2nd sentence reads:

    "The flow of firearms across the U.S. border is a serious challenge. So far, some 65,000 guns confiscated in Mexico by authorities have been traced back to gun purchases made here in the United States"

    I'm delighted to answer your question.

    Could you provide me with any alternate solutions being proffered by the NRA and/or the legislators who are their puppets?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Fighting against that multiple-gun-sales reporting requirement tells the whole story.

    ReplyDelete