Katie Pavlich On The IG’s Report

Katie Pavlich of Townhall.com was a guest of Cam Edward’s on NRA News last night. She discussed Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report on Operation Fast and Furious. She makes a number of good points including how Eric Holder was claiming to be totally exonerated within minutes after the report was released.

Katie is always a good interview and she knows her stuff with regard to Project Gunwalker.

It was interesting to see the local news here in western North Carolina last night. The Inspector General’s report and Operation Fast and Furious were actually the subject of a report!

On Mil-Spec And Cop-Spec

Revolversmith extraordinaire and trainer Grant Cunningham had an excellent post up yesterday on the failure of logic associated with aspirational marketing. In this case, people who buy firearms and firearm accessories because it is “used” by the LAPD SWAT Team or SpecWarDevGru.

You need to make your purchasing decisions based on an honest assessment of your needs and the product’s suitability for your purpose, not internet loudmouths going by names like Geck045 who drone on about how their gun “must” be the best because “LAPD don’t buy junk!”

Yes, they do. Very often.

Read the whole post. Grant makes a lot of sense.

Assaulted: Civil Rights Under Fire

Dead Patriot Films is using Kickstarter to raise funds for a new pro-Second Amendment film production called “Assaulted: Civil Rights Under Fire.” In the last 15 days the producers have raised over $15,000 for the film. This includes contributions of $5,000 each from the Second Amendment Foundation and the CalGuns Foundation.

I have made a contribution and would urge you to consider doing so as well.  Getting this message out to what is not a traditional Second Amendment audience is important.

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The producers have posted this description of the film which they intend to distribute through Southern Oregon Public TV.

Assaulted – The Fight To Bear Arms

When the subject of
California’s gun control laws are discussed, rarely are they associated
with the civil rights movement and the quest for equal rights for
all. This film will compare the historical aspects of gun control
targeting the indigenous tribes of North America and emancipated slaves
through the Jim Crow era to today’s laws that favor elitists and denies
the rights guaranteed by the 2nd Amendment to the most vulnerable in our
society.

The film takes a critical look at the original intent
of the current California guns laws in contrast with crime and murder
statistics before and since their implementation; and compares these
laws to those of the adjacent states. Story threads also look at the
myriad of concealed carry permitting processes across the state to
illustrate that not all residents are treated equal.

A Few Threads of the Film

The threads below will be woven with current events in California and
Nationally that are creating demands for new assault weapons
legislation and ammunition sales restrictions. Are these law in the best
interest of public safety or infringement of our civil rights?

We will seek out interviews with leading constitutional historians,
anti-violence leaders, gun rights activists, law makers and gun owners
to create a film that will start a meaningful conversation, not add to
rhetoric.

Battle of Athens

When the 2nd Amendment is discussed, the concept of the citizens’
rights to defend themselves against a corrupt or tyrannical government
is sure to be included. The idea of the people rising up against the
government here in the USA seems farfetched. Just the stuff of a
Hollywood film, but it has happened.

In 1946, returning GIs from WWII faced off with a corrupt county
sheriff and his cronies in McMinn County, Tennessee. The film will look
at the causes of the conflict, and how the soldiers and the citizens
restored the rule of law to their county by the applied use of the 2nd
Amendment.

Deacons for Defense

The civil rights movement of the 1960’s is always associated with the
nonviolent actions of Martin Luther King, Jr. and civil rights workers
that spread out across the South. Rarely mentioned are the “Deacons for
Defense” and how a handful of armed black men protected the civil rights
workers, broke the stranglehold of the Ku Klux Klan in Louisiana and
secured civil rights for all citizens in the South.

Guns for the White Man only

Gun laws from the beginning of the United States of America have
always favored the wealthy white man. The first laws written barred
Native Americans and Blacks (freed or enslaved) from possessing firearms
and continued through the Jim Crow era.

World War II saw gun confiscations precede forced interment of
Japanese-American citizens just because of the fear of war empowered the
white man to do so. The fact that no German-Americans or
Italian-Americans had their firearms taken just supports that gun laws
have been written for the white majority.

The California Gun
Control Act of 1968 has been said to be a knee-jerk reaction to the
Black Panther’s use of loaded rifles in peaceful protest to bring
attention to white bigotry in the Oakland police department and abuses
by its white police officers against black citizens. Even today, the
majority of Concealed Carry Weapons (CCW) permits issued in California
are given to white males.

This racial trend in gun control has also jumped the color barrier to
only favor the rich who can financially afford their 2nd Amendment
right to bear arms and secure self-defense CCW permits through political
campaign donations while the single mother in the inner city can’t
legally acquire an affordable gun to protect her family.

Preparing For That “Cold Bore” Shot

The US Army Marksmanship Unit has produced some useful YouTube videos for the average shooter. In the video below, Sgt. Joe Hein, an International Rifle competitor, discusses how to prepare for the first shot from a cold bore. That is, the first shot of the day which for many hunters may be the only shot of the day.

Sgt. Hein illustrates the difference in grouping for a cold rifle with a clean bore versus one with a somewhat dirty bore. You tend to get more consistent groups from a cold rifle with a dirty bore.

It’s a short video but I learned something.

Grassley Statement On OIG Report

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) issued a statement today regarding the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General’s report on Operation Fast and Furious. He notes that much of what was contained in the report had already been reported by Sen. Grassley and Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Grassley noted that the wire tap applications still have not been made public nor have much of what was hidden under President Obama’s claim of executive privilege. Grassley called Obama’s actions “merely thumbing his nose” at Congress.

The full statement is below:

Senator Chuck Grassley, Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on the
Judiciary, which has jurisdiction over the Justice Department, made the
following comment after the Inspector General for the Justice
Department released its long awaited report on Operation Fast and
Furious.  Grassley first began investigating alleged gunwalking in
January 2011 after whistleblowers came forward to alert Congress about
gunwalking in Arizona.  The Justice Department and Attorney General Eric
Holder initially denied gunwalking occurred.

“At first glance, the Inspector General’s report reaffirms virtually
everything that Congressman Issa and I have already reported.  Operation
Fast and Furious was the height of irresponsibility on the part of a
number of people from the ATF Phoenix field office all the way up to the
Justice Department headquarters.  And, we still don’t know the full
extent of any White House involvement because they refused to be
transparent and provide documents requested by the Inspector General.  

“It’s clear that both the ATF and the Justice Department failed to
provide meaningful oversight of Operation Fast and Furious.  They
ignored warnings from employees, and frankly, failed to do their jobs. 
It took the death of our own Border Patrol Agent, action by a courageous
whistleblower, and intense scrutiny from Congress before they even took
note of what was happening under their own eyes.  Even then, they
wouldn’t come clean with how bad it really was until after they had sent
a false letter and retracted it eight months later.

“It’s particularly discouraging that this all could have been stopped
early on if people had just read the wiretap applications.  The
Inspector General noted that anybody reading those documents should have
seen the red flags. The law requires that certain senior officials
authorize those applications, and the Inspector General found that they
did so without reading them.  I’m glad that the OIG is joining me and
Chairman Issa in urging the Justice Department to move to unseal the
wiretap applications so that the American people can read them and make
up their own minds.

“The President also appears to be abusing his authority to exert
executive privilege.  The White House rightly allowed the Inspector
General to make public a small subset of the documents withheld from
Congress under his claim of Executive Privilege, but it continues to
shut out Congress’ access to the rest of the documents.  It proves that
this subset of documents could have been released earlier, and the
President was merely thumbing his nose at Congress by claiming Executive
Privilege on the eve of the contempt vote against Attorney General
Holder for withholding the documents.

“It’s time to hold people accountable.  Attorney General Holder is out of excuses for action.

“We’ll be reading the report in more detail.  We’ve already noticed that
the report contains a factual error that lets Assistant Attorney
General Lanny Breuer off the hook.  The report accepts Breuer’s version
of events, claiming that he hadn’t “proposed edits, commented on the
drafts or otherwise indicated he had read them.”  In fact, emails show
that he received drafts of the February 4 letter and commented on them
before it was sent, which he later denied to Congress. 


“Last but not least, I hope the report helps answer questions for the
Terry family.  They deserve more answers than they’ve received up to
this point from their government.”

Sharyl Attkisson On The DOJ OIG Report

Sharyl Attkisson of CBS News, one of the few journalists to take Project Gunwalker seriously, had a story this evening on the DOJ Inspector General’s report. Her story notes that both former ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson and Assistant Deputy Attorney General Jason Weinstein disagreed with the findings of the report.

In all, the inspector general faults 18 officials from the Justice Department, to the U.S. Attorney’s office on Arizona, on down to the Phoenix ATF agents who oversaw Fast and Furious.

The report says Holder was in essence let down by his deputies. Although he received numerous briefings on Fast and Furious, they didn’t specifically mention gunwalking and Holder said doesn’t recall reading them anyway.

I’m Sure They’re Consistent, Mr. Attorney General

Attorney General Eric Holder released a statement today on the Office of Inspector General’s report on Operation Fast and Furious. He said the key conclusions were “consistent” with what he had been saying “for months now”.

Oh, Eric, you live in such a fantasy land if you think a report by your appointed Inspector General which was delayed for months and months is enough to get you off the hook. As Mike Vanderboegh so rightly called it, it is a whitewash. I think Katie Pavlich is probably correct that you are “spiking the football” and doing a victory dance.

Kenneth Melson has “retired”, Phoenix ATF and USAO personnel are likely to be terminated, and Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jason Weinstein was, as the Instapundit put it, “GoatScaped”.

You can read the full statement below provided you don’t have a weak gag reflex.

Attorney General Eric Holder released the following statement today on the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General’s report on Operation Fast and Furious:

“I have reviewed the Office of the Inspector General’s report on Operation Fast and Furious and the key conclusions are consistent with what I, and other Justice Department officials, have said for many months now:


  • The inappropriate strategy and tactics employed were field-driven and date back to 2006;
  • The leadership of the Department did not know about or authorize the use of the flawed strategy and tactics; and


  • The Department’s leadership did not attempt to cover up information or mislead Congress about it.


“Beginning in 2011 – shortly after public concerns were first raised about Operation Fast and Furious – I referred this matter to the Office of the Inspector General (OIG). Throughout the next several months, I instituted significant policy reforms, stronger internal controls and made key personnel changes to prevent the flaws that plagued this investigation, as well as the earlier investigation, Operation Wide Receiver, from recurring. I’m pleased that the OIG report appropriately recognizes these reforms.

“Based upon the information in the OIG report and other related information, I am also announcing additional personnel changes today.

“First, Kenneth Melson, the former Acting Director at ATF, has retired from the Department, effective immediately. Ken has served the Department in several important roles for over thirty years, including as a United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia and more recently as an advisor on forensic science issues. I want to thank him for his dedication and service to the Department over the last three decades.

“Second, those individuals within ATF and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona, whom the OIG report found to have been responsible for designing, implementing or supervising Operation Fast and Furious have been referred to the appropriate entities for review and consideration of potential personnel actions. Consistent with the requirements of the Privacy Act, the Department is prohibited from revealing any additional information about these referrals at this time.

“Finally, I have accepted the resignation of Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jason Weinstein, a longtime career prosecutor who most recently served in the Criminal Division where he led our violent and organized crime, computer crimes and intellectual property enforcement efforts. Jason has dedicated much of his career to fighting violent crime and has led highly successful efforts around the country in this effort. The American people are safer because of his work. His commitment to the Department has been unwavering, and I deeply appreciate his 15 years of distinguished service here at Main Justice as well as in Baltimore and New York.

“It is unfortunate that some were so quick to make baseless accusations before they possessed the facts about these operations – accusations that turned out to be without foundation and that have caused a great deal of unnecessary harm and confusion. I hope today’s report acts as a reminder of the dangers of adopting as fact unsubstantiated conclusions before an investigation of the circumstances is completed.

“I want to assure the American people that I, and my colleagues at the Department, will continue to focus on our mission of protecting their rights and their security, and doing so in a manner that is consistent with the high standards of the Department of Justice. This includes continuing to seek justice on behalf of Agent Brian Terry and his loved ones.

“The FBI and the United States Attorney from the Southern District of California have been working for many months with Mexican authorities to identify and apprehend the fugitives involved in the murder of Agent Terry, who made the ultimate sacrifice in serving his country. We now have two men in custody and we will continue to aggressively pursue the remaining fugitives to ensure justice for Agent Terry, his family and his fellow law enforcement agents who put their lives on the line each day to keep this country safe.”

Happy Birthday, USAF

Today is the 65th birthday of the United States Air Force. They were formed from the Army Air Corps on this day in 1947when the National Security Act of 1947 established them as a separate branch of the military.

In one of those odd coincidences, today is also the Complementary Spouse’s birthday whose father was a serving Air Force officer when she was born and who went on to serve the Air Force as a civilian with the AF Environmental Technical Applications Center. To take the Air Force connection even further, the Complementary Spouse’s brother Larry served as an EF-111 pilot.

So Happy 65th, USAF!

Crimson Trace Releases Infra-Red Lasers

Crimson Trace is now offering infra-red lasers to the commercial market. According to their release (see below), they’ll be offering LaserGrips for the 1911 and Glocks, their RailMaster, and their vertical foregrip for rifles with Picatinny rails.

At first I was a little unsure how much use they would get in the commercial marketplace until they mentioned nighttime predator and hog hunting. It most certainly makes sense now.

Affordable InfraRed Laser Sights from Crimson Trace® – Available Now

(Wilsonville, OR) Drawing heavily on technology developed in support of America’s warfighters by its defense division, Crimson Trace is proud to introduce a line of InfraRed (IR) laser sights for the civilian market. Observable only through night vision equipment, these laser sights offer the user the ability to mark a target invisibly, which is a boon for predator control, security personnel or anyone involved in the growing sport of hog hunting. Due to ITAR restrictions, these new IR sights are available through select distributors, online retailers and direct from www.crimsontrace.com and are the most cost-effective solution for anyone who seeks to add a covert night sighting solution to their firearm, listing at MSRPs of between $299 and $599.

In order to assure the widest possible number of gun fitments, the IR lasers available include the award-wining MVF-515 vertical foregrip and the hugely popular Rail Master™ mini laser. The Rail Master fits almost any firearm with a Picatinny rail and adds less than 2oz to the overall weight, while incorporating the most powerful laser available by law. The MVF-515 has an incredibly long run time and offers the additional benefit of a blinding, 200 lumen white light to enable the use of daytime optics as well as night vision devices. Crimson Trace also introduces IR versions of its patented Instinctive Activation Lasergrips® for the 1911 and Glock pistols, assuring the same night vision compatible performance for sidearms.

The company subjected the new IR sights to the same rigorous testing protocols as their standard products, but in this instance went a little further. “Listening to our customers and the marketplace, adding these IR platforms to our commercial line up address consistent requests we receive as the market leader,“ said Kent Thomas, Director of Marketing for Crimson Trace. “In preparation for the launch, we field-tested the Rail Master’s performance on two Texas hog hunts this spring. In both cases, they turned in outstanding performances and surpassed our already high expectations on multiple weapon platforms in complete darkness.”

All Crimson Trace products are proudly designed, engineered and built in the USA. For further information contact;

Contact:

Iain Harrison
iainh@crimsontrace.com
1-800-442-2406 x1303

On Judicial Watch’s Suit Against DOJ For Fast And Furious Documents

This past Friday, Ginny Simone of NRA News interviewed Chris Farrell of Judicial Watch. They are suing the Department of Justice to try and force them to release more documents related to Operation Fast and Furious.

Farrell said that President Obama has personalized this by bringing it into the White House through his claim of executive privilege. He says the only way to resolve this is to bring it before a judge through a lawsuit. He says that Judicial Watch is using the courts to force the issue.

From Judicial Watch’s press release:

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:12-cv-01510)) against the Obama Department of Justice (DOJ) seeking access to Operation Fast and Furious records withheld from Congress by President Obama under executive privilege on June 20, 2012. Judicial Watch seeks the following records pursuant to a June 22, 2012, FOIA request filed with the Office of Information Policy (OIP), a component of the DOJ:

All records subject to the claim of executive privilege invoked by President Barack Obama on or about June 20, 2012, as referenced in the letter of Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole to the Honorable Darrell E. Issa, Chairman, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the U.S. House of Representatives, dated June 20, 2012. More specifically, the records requested herein are those records described by Deputy Attorney General Cole in his June 20, 2012 letter as “the relevant post-February, 2011, documents” over which “the President has asserted executive privilege.”

The lawsuit was filed yesterday, on September 12, 2012.

On August 6, 2012, OIP informed Judicial Watch that the Offices of the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General had determined that the documents responsive to Judicial Watch’s FOIA request should be withheld in full pursuant to FOIA Exemption 5 which protects “inter-agency or intra-agency memorandums or letters which would not be available by law to a party other than an agency in litigation with the agency.” Judicial Watch appealed the determination. By law, a response was due September 11, 2012. However, as of the date of Judicial Watch’s lawsuit, the DOJ had failed to respond.