You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby

No, I’m not talking about women’s rights, suffragettes, or even cigarettes – though I am from North Carolina. I’m actually talking about bloggers and gun bloggers in particular.

Bloggers are considered by the media to be the crazy cousins in the attic obsessed with their Shih-Tzu’s or the Royal Wedding. (Oh, wait, it is the mainstream media that was obsessed with that last thing.) Still, it can be truthfully said that bloggers are given little respect by the mainstrain media.

At 10am or so this morning, NRA Executive VP Wayne LaPierre is expected to call on U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to resign, in part, due to the fallout from Operation Fast and Furious (aka Project Gunwalker).

Without two gun bloggers – David Codrea of WarOnGuns/Gun Rights Examiner and Mike Vanderboegh of Sipsey Street Irregulars – we would not have known of this sordid affair. When they broke the story last December that the weapons found at the murder scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry were linked to an ATF operation, it was ignored by the mainstream media. There were no headlines in the Washington Post who had been doing a whole series of feature stories on firearms and crime. There was nothing in the New York Times though their editorial page had been active in pushing for “common-sense” gun control. It was ignored by the networks.

Fast forward to the present. All three major gun rights organizations are on board. Congressional investigators from the offices of Rep. Darrell Issa and Sen. Chuck Grassley are in Arizona probing the Phoenix Field Division for answers. Sharyl Attkisson of CBS News has done a number of on-camera and on-record reports with ATF whistle-blowers such as Senior Agent John Dodson and former ATF Attache to Mexico Darren Gil (among others). Contempt of Congress proceedings may be forthcoming from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee for the failure of ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson to respond to a subpoena from the committee.

I’m sure David and Mike had hopes in those cold gray days of December and January that Project Gunwalker would been seen for what it is. However, I think even they at times would have said the chances were somewhat slim. So when Wayne LaPierre speaks at the Members Meeting this morning and calls for Holder to resign, I will be thinking of them and saying to myself  “You’ve come a long way, baby.”

Quote Of The Day

While taking the shuttle bus from the David Lawrence Convention Center to where our car was parked, I overheard the following comment.

I just bought my first gun so I thought I should join the NRA to protect my rights.

This was from an unknown guy who had just been asked why he joined the NRA from his seatmate.

NRA- ILA On Reporting Requirement

The NRA-ILA has responded to ATF’s proposed new reporting requirement for dealers in the SW.

BATFE Requests Comment Period Extension for Proposed Multiple Rifle Sales Reporting Rule

Friday, April 29, 2011

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives today republished its proposal to require firearm dealers to report multiple sales of various rifles. Compared to its initial request in December, which was rejected as an “emergency” request, the new notice clarifies that the proposed requirement would apply only to dealers in four southwestern states, and would apply only to semi-automatic rifles of a caliber greater than .22 (including .223) and that can use detachable magazines. The notice fails to address the NRA’s comments, which pointed out that the agency has no legal authority to demand this information.

The BATFE estimates that roughly 2,500 dealers would be required to file such reports, about one-third of all dealers in the four affected states, and compliance with the requirement would take the average dealer about 1.5 hours annually.

The BATFE says that comments should address whether the information in the reports would be useful and whether the BATFE correctly estimated the burden that a multiple sales reporting requirement would impose on dealers.

Given the information provided in the Wilson Center’s report, the answer to the question about the usefulness of the information would appear to be “no.” Comments may be faxed to oira_submission@OMB.eop.gov (note the underscore after “oira”) or faxed to 202-395-7285 until May 31. Disturbingly, the comments on the first proposal ran more than 2-1 in favor of this useless and unauthorized bureaucratic fishing trip; the new notice gives gun owners the opportunity to correct that situation.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

ATF’s Multi-Long Gun Reporting Proposal

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives opened the 30-day comment period on their proposed requirement that Southwest FFL’s submit reports of multiple sales of certain semi-automatic rifles. The full proposal is below and the comment period is open until May 31st.

If they aren’t misstating the prior comments, then the gun control groups were able to get many more comments submitted than those who believe in freedom. Time to start writing!!

In addition to submitting a comment, make sure to write your Congressman about supporting Sen. Jon Tester’s S. 570 which would prohibit ATF from tracking multiple sales of long arms.


[Federal Register: April 29, 2011 (Volume 76, Number 83)]
[Notices]
[Page 24058-24059]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr29ap11-114]

———————————————————————–

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives

[OMB Number 1140-NEW]

Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection
Comments Requested: Report of Multiple Sale or Other Disposition of
Certain Rifles

ACTION: 30-Day Notice.

———————————————————————–

The Department of Justice (DOJ), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) will be submitting the following
information collection request to the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995. The proposed information collection is published
to obtain comments from the public and affected agencies. This proposed
information collection was previously published in the Federal Register
Volume 75, Number 242, page 79021 on December 17, 2010, allowing for a
60-day comment period. ATF received 12,680 comments from this
collection (8928 commenters support the collection, and 3752 commenters
opposed to the collection).
The purpose of this notice is to allow for an additional 30 days
for public comment until May 31, 2011. This process is conducted in
accordance with 5 CFR 1320.10. To ensure that comments on the
information collection are received, OMB recommends that written
comments be faxed to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs,
OMB, Attn: DOJ Desk Officer, Fax: 202-395-7285, or e-mailed to oira_
submission@omb.eop.gov. All comments should be identified with the OMB
control number [1140-NEW]. Also include the DOJ docket number found in
brackets in the heading of this document.
Comments and suggestions from the public and affected agencies
concerning the proposed collection of information are encouraged. Your
comments should address one or more of the following four points:

–Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the
proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether
the information will have practical utility;
–The accuracy of the agency’s estimate of the burden of the proposed
collection of information, including the validity of the methodology
and assumptions used;
–The quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected;
and
–The burden of the collection of information on those who are to
respond, including through the use of appropriate automated,
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or
other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic
submission of responses.

Overview of This Information Collection

(1) Type of Information Collection: New.
(2) Title of the Form/Collection: Report of Multiple Sale or Other
Disposition of Certain Rifles
(3) Agency form number, if any, and the applicable component of the
Department of Justice sponsoring the collection: Form Number: ATF F
3310.12. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
(4) Affected public who will be required to respond, as well as a
brief abstract: Primary: Business or For-Profit. Other: None. Abstract:
The purpose of this information collection is to require Federal
firearms licensees to report multiple sales or other dispositions
whenever the licensee sells or otherwise disposes of two or more rifles
with the following characteristics: (a) Semi-automatic; (b) a caliber
greater than .22 (including .223/5.56 caliber); and (c) the ability to
accept a detachable magazine, to the same person at one time or during
any five consecutive business days. This requirement will apply only to
Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs) who are dealers and/or pawnbrokers in
Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas.
(5) An estimate of the total number of respondents: ATF estimates
that 8,479 respondents will be subject to the reporting requirement.
However, ATF anticipates fewer than 30% of the potential respondents
will be required to report multiple sales of the subset of rifles that
is the subject of this collection. This estimate is based upon the fact
that, during fiscal year 2010, 2,509 FFLs in the affected states
submitted reports of multiple sales of hand guns. ATF estimates that a
similar number of FFLs are likely to submit reports of multiple sales
of the subject rifles.

[[Page 24059]]

(6) The estimated average burden per respondent: In fiscal year
2010, 36,148 reports of multiple sales of hand guns sales were
submitted by FFLs in the four southwest border states. Because the
specified rifles ((a) semi-automatic; (b) a caliber greater than .22
(including .223/5.56 caliber); and (c) the ability to accept a
detachable magazine) are a subset of the long gun category, we estimate
we will receive 18,074 reports of multiple sale of the specified rifles
from FFLs located in the four southwest border states. We estimate that
each report will take 12 minutes to complete. If we receive 18,074
reports from 2,509 licensees the total burden is 3,615 hours. The
estimated annual burden per respondent is 1 hour and 26 minutes.
If additional information is required contact: Lynn Murray,
Department Clearance Officer, United States Department of Justice,
Policy and Planning Staff, Justice Management Division, 2 Constitution
Square, Room 2E-808, 145 N Street, NE., Washington, DC 20530.

Dated: April 25, 2011.
Lynn Murray,
Department Clearance Officer, United States Department of Justice.
[FR Doc. 2011-10355 Filed 4-28-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-FY-P

ATF Continues With Multi-Long Gun Proposal

Reuters is reporting that ATF will be publishing a proposed rule in Friday’s Federal Register concerning the reporting of multiple sales of certain semi-automatic rifles. This is the same proposal from late 2010 that was postponed for further comment.

The proposal to be published tomorrow will open up a 30-day comment period on the reporting requirement.

Within the Reuters story was this note about the response from the prior 60-day comment period.

It was first published in December and had a 60-day comment period that garnered almost 13,000 responses. About 30 percent opposed the reporting requirement and 70 percent favored it, ATF said.

70% of comments in favor of this requirement just doesn’t pass the smell test. Frankly, unless I could see each and every comment submitted to verify this, I think either Reuters misunderstood what ATF told them or ATF has misstated it for their own bureaucratic purposes.

I will publish the comment requirements as soon as it is released.

If I can get a comment from the NRA on this tomorrow, I will post it.

From The West

If you are going into downtown Pittsburgh for the NRA Show from the west – airport area, Carnegie, Green Tree, etc. – by way of I-376 East, make sure to give yourself plenty of time!

We have been here since Wednesday and the traffic heading into Downtown has always moved at a snail’s pace. It is also bumper to bumper.

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