With President Obama readying an overhaul of the nation’s gun laws, a liberal think tank with singular influence throughout his administration is pushing for a sweeping agenda of strict new restrictions on and federal oversight of gun and ammunition sales.That's not really news, everyone considers that the first main improvement that's needed. This is news though about the ATF.
The Center for American Progress is recommending 13 new gun policies to the White House — some of them executive actions that would not require the approval of Congress — in what amounts to the progressive community’s wish list.
CAP’s top recommendation is to require criminal background checks for all gun sales, closing loopholes that currently enable an estimated 40 percent of sales to occur without any questions asked. The organization also wants to add convicted stalkers and suspected terrorists to the list of those barred from purchasing firearms.
One of CAP’s suggestions to toughen federal regulation of gun sales is to make the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which is currently an agency within the Department of Justice, a unit of the FBI. CAP says absorbing the ATF into the FBI would better empower the ATF to combat gun crime and illegal trafficking.The more this discussion develops the clearer it becomes that the gun-rights movement is the criminals best friend. In their self-centered pursuit of expanding and never restricting gun rights, they are playing right into the hands of criminals who thrive on gun availability.
“It is a beleaguered agency lacking leadership and resources,” said Winnie Stachelberg, senior vice president of CAP. “It needs to be a well-functioning federal law enforcement agency, and we need to figure out ways to ensure that happens.”
Fortunately, the whole country has awoken from its lethargy.
The whole country? A lot of us are not anywhere near lethargy. We're actively fighting you.
ReplyDeleteEveryone? I'm willing to give you background checks, in exchange for something I want, but not for nothing.
As far as I'm concerned, the ATF should be a convenience store, not a government agency. It should cease to exist right now. But hey, if the Center for American Progress wants the FBI to lose funding and have fights every time a new director is appointed, fine by me.
It seems like a good idea to prohibit convicted stalkers from purchasing firearms.
ReplyDeleteIt is a really bad idea to prohibit suspects from being able to purchase anything. We have a principle in this country called due process. And the fact that some government bureaucrat suspects someone of something is not sufficient basis to deny the "suspect" their rights.
The fact that Teddy Kennedy ended up on the terrorism watch list should give gun control people a moment of pause.
DeletePerhaps they've improved their methods after all the hype about the Ted Kennedy thing. Due process can be utilized in determining who goes on the list.
DeleteI don't care what administrative procedures they put in place around the list, you don't take rights away from people just because they are "suspects." You need a conviction, a court finding of incompetence, etc.
DeleteDue process, despite what Eric Holder says, does mean Judicial process. The executive does not have authority to act as prosecutor, judge, and jury.
Exactly, Tennesseean. The whole idea of a secret list that strips away rights from people who have been convicted of no crime is an affront to the concept of liberty. No person who believes in individual rights in any form can support such a list, nor could such a person advocate for putting more names on it or for taking away more rights because of it.
DeleteMikeb wrote, "The more this discussion develops the clearer it becomes that the gun-rights movement is the criminals best friend. In their self-centered pursuit of expanding and never restricting gun rights, they are playing right into the hands of criminals who thrive on gun availability."
ReplyDeleteCriminals will always acquire and use objects as weapons to attack their victims. And experience from around the world tells us that criminals will acquire firearms regardless of government policies. Thus policies which prohibit good people from having the means to defend themselves and their families is morally wrong.
Gun control simply enables criminals to attack good people with more confidence -- especially women and the elderly. How can you live with yourself being an accessory to rapists?
That's a simplistic and mistaken view. Criminals do not get guns that are not available. Proper gun control diminishes the availability. It always works, but it's a matter of degrees. The fact that SOME criminals will always get SOME guns is not a good reason for not trying to reduce availability.
DeleteThen explain Mexico. That country has what you call proper gun control laws. Explain Puerto Rico. That territory has the same kind of laws.
DeleteFacts:
1. Guns can cross borders as easily as any other kind of contraband. Guns be easier to move, since we don't have cosmoline-sniffing dogs at present.
2. This country already has 300,000,000+ guns. Unless you can explain how those will be removed, they would be available for a vast black market.