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Inspector General Reports Blames Locals In Fast And Furious

August 28, 2012 by 2 Comments

Sharyl Attkisson of CBS News posted a report on the draft DOJ Inspector General report on Operation Fast and Furious yesterday. The report places most of the blame on Phoenix-based ATF officials including SAC William Newell, group supervisor David Voth, and the lead case agent Hope McAllister.

Those familiar with the contents say ATF Phoenix officials shoulder much blame, including then-Special Agent in Charge Bill Newell, the lead Fast and Furious case agent Hope MacAllister, and group supervisor David Voth.

Since the controversy was first exposed, a divide has developed between the ATF staff in Phoenix who oversaw and implemented Fast and Furious; and their supervisors at ATF headquarters and the Justice Department. The Phoenix officials say higher-ups approved of the case. But the higher-ups say it was all the brainchild of rogue ATF officials in Phoenix.

Also being singled out for blame in Project Gunwalker are former US Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke, his assistant Emory Hurley, and former Acting ATF Director Kenneth Melson.

The draft report is expected to be released within the next few weeks. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) has scheduled a hearing for September 11th on the report and has asked DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz to testify. In a letter sent to Horowitz on Friday, August 24th, Issa warned the DOJ about taking a longer than usual amount of time to review the draft report.

As to the conclusions of the draft report and who leaked it to Sharyl Attkission, Mike Vanderboegh had this comment:

Well, there’s a big surprise. You didn’t think Kevin O’Reilly’s name would come up, did you? Ask yourself just one thing. Who is in a position to read and leak the contents of this report which is not yet final and hasn’t been seen outside the executive branch? Someone who is interested in what the military calls, IPB — “Intelligence Preparation of the Battlespace.”

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Necessity Is The Mother Of Invention?

August 28, 2012 by 5 Comments

Necessity is supposed to be the mother of invention. I’m sure that was the case when it comes to the AK-47 shown below. Not only does it use a guitar strap for a sling but it has a rather unique buttstock to say the least.

 

This picture is from a post on The AK Forum which was seeking unique examples of AKs for a calendar. I believe the poster called this the Poppy Farmer Special. There are a lot of other nice examples but none so unique as the one above.

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Interesting Point

August 27, 2012 by 2 Comments

The Republican National Convention starts today in Tampa. The security in Tampa seems to be very tight according to this report from Roger L. Simon of PJ Media. One of the reasons security is so tight is the threat of violence by anarchists and other nihilistic lefties.

The area around the convention has been declared a “National Security Area” and Simon has some interesting thoughts about that.

If there’s one thing that has dominated the talk, not to mention the hearts and minds, of most people here in Tampa for the convention is the tremendously stringent security, far worse than what I remember from Minneapolis in 2008.

Only two routes, roughly a mile and a half apart, give you entry to the convention facilities. All other streets are blocked off with staggering numbers of security personnel – soldiers, police from various venues, secret service, other security services, private services, etc. – on horseback, motorcycle, bicycle, automobile and, of course, on foot. There appear to be vastly more of them than there are of us, media and delegates. At some angles from the convention perimeter, Tampa resembles a military encampment.

One insider in a position to know told me that over 60 security organizations were involved. What could be the reason for this? It’s hard to believe it’s the threat of those so-called anarchists who seem to be nowhere in evidence (or washed down a drain). Or could it?

(Yes, I know. According on to one report linked by Drudge, one group of 200 demonstrators, later reduced to 100, did show up somewhere – a minuscule number in a metropolitan area that approaches three million in a country of well over three hundred million. Ten times as many people are on line for pizza at Ray’s on a bad day.)

Here’s another interesting thing that same insider told me. This intense security was not instituted by the RNC or by the Romney campaign, but by the federal government that has declared Tampa a national security area. In other words, Obama’s people are in charge of the stringent security here. They instigated it. What do they fear?

I have two theories, not necessarily contradictory. One, they just want to make the Republicans look bad – police state types. Perhaps more importantly, the Obama folks don’t want anything violent to happen because they know convention violence most often comes from the left (cf. Chicago 1968). Violent left-wing demonstrators at the Tampa Republican Convention would be bad news for the Democrats.

Hmmm.

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A Heckuva Way To Lose Your Firearm Rights

August 27, 2012 by 7 Comments

As most people know, being convicted of a felony – violent or non-violent – will cause a person to lose their constitutional rights to keep and bear arms. Moreover, restoration of these rights is damn near impossible nowadays thanks to people like Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) who continually blocks funding for relief from disability reviews at BATFE. Thus, you just shake your head when you read about seven people charged with a third-degree felony for cheating in a fishing tournament.

From the Lone Star Outdoor News:

Some unladylike behavior in the Ladies Kingfish Tournament held in South Padre Island has left seven people facing felony accusations for cheating during the competition.

Willacy County Game Warden Oscar Castaneda was checking boats at the ramp with fellow warden Jason Duke when the suspicions first began.

“We’d had conversations with people in the area that they had possibly been cheating in different tournaments, and we both recognized the boat,” he said. “(Game Warden Jason Duke) went over for a water safety inspection, and they started unloading fish they were going to take to the weigh-in.”

The wardens noticed that some of the fish, including the trout, had red bellies, which Castaneda said raised a red flag that the fish had been kept in a basket instead of being recently caught. The wardens called ahead to the tournament directors to advise that the fish be studied carefully for legitimacy.

“About 45 minutes later we’re still checking boats, and we get a call from another game warden that said the team showed up with a flounder,” he said. “We said, ‘man, there’s no way they caught a flounder between here and there’ — she had as much as told me there wasn’t a flounder anywhere in the boat.”

An individual then came forward and told wardens that he had seen a flounder handed off in Arroyo City to Jose Cavazos, father of fishing guide Jose “Meme” Cavazos, whose boat was being used by the women for the tournament.

“For the Calcutta, you’re required to have that flounder,” Castaneda said. “The Calcutta pays out a ton, and with that fish they were tied for first and ended up second.”

The women won over $5,000 for second place.

“It’s just wrong on so many levels,” he said. “It’s the first saltwater fraud charges ever filed in the state.”

The decision to cheat has brought the defendants third-degree felony charges.

“The charge is fraud in a fishing tournament, section 66.023 of the Parks and Wildlife penal code,” said Cameron County Justice of the Peace Bennie Ochoa III.

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Quote Of The Day

August 27, 2012 by 2 Comments

The quote of the day comes from Tam and her discussion of the abysmally poor marksmanship of New York’s Finest on Friday.

That’s gotta suck for Bloomie. What appeared to be an ideal soapbox for a little blood-dancing national conversation on how America’s lax gun laws are hurting Mike’s fat-free, sugar-free, low sodium gun-free paradise turns into a national conversation on why the hell can’t Mike’s cops shoot?

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Putting The Cart Before The Horse

August 26, 2012 by 2 Comments

The gun prohibitionists were figuratively jumping for joy after the shooting in NYC outside the Empire State Building. I won’t even go into Mayor Bloomberg’s stupid comments.

The Violence Policy Center put the cart before the horse yesterday. They made many assumptions about the handgun used by the killer of his former boss without knowing the facts.

Washington, DC–Following the fourth high-profile shooting in little over a month, this time outside the Empire State Building in New York City and reportedly involving a 45 caliber handgun, the Violence Policy Center, a national non-profit educational organization working to stop gun death and injury, issued the following statement:

“How long are we going to ignore America’s gun crisis? Today’s shooting outside the Empire State building is the fourth high-profile shooting in little over a month, following the Aurora, Colorado theater shooting, the Oak Creek, Wisconsin, Sikh Temple shooting, and a shooting outside Texas A&M in College Station, Texas. One can only guess where the next shooting will occur–but we do know that it will occur. Today’s shooter reportedly used a 45 caliber handgun to end the life of a former co-worker, offering yet another example of how the ready availability of semiautomatic handguns that can be equipped with high-capacity ammunition magazines destroy lives and make everyone less safe. All Americans deserve the right to feel safe in public spaces–in theaters, their places of worship, and walking city streets. The deadly mindset propounded by the gun industry and the gun lobby that guns are the ultimate problem solver is stripping away the feeling of safety that communities across the country not only expect, but deserve. It is long past time to regulate the out-of-control gun industry that makes these horrendous public shootings possible.”

From all reports, the Spanish-made Star .45 ACP were purchased legally in Florida 20 years ago. Moreover, even assuming it was larger than the Star PD which only held 6 rounds, this pistol does not have a “high-capacity ammunition magazine.” At most, the pistol used by the killer held 8 round and more likely 7.

Normally I’d suggest that VPC think before they issue such press releases. However, in this case, I’m glad that they show their stupidity.

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Quote Of The Day

August 25, 2012 by

Peggy Noonan is one hell of a speechwriter. While I disagree with her vehemently on occasion, she does write well. The quote of the day comes from her column in today’s Wall Street Journal discussing Mitt Romney and the Republican convention in Tampa. As noted elsewhere, the Obama Administration, in a rather tasteless gesture, (and is there any other kind from their ilk) is sending Joe Biden to Tampa during the convention.

It is good that Joe Biden is going to the Republican National Convention to hold high the flag of his party. People make fun of his gaffes, of his embarrassing verbal forays, but he’s no fool and he knows how to take it to the other guy. The speech he is working on, to be given in the heart of downtown, just across from the convention site, will be stirring and stentorian: “All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Tampa, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words, ‘Ich bin ein Tampon.'”

I wish that were mine. It came in the mail from a Hollywood screenwriter, one of the gifted conservatives who quietly toil there.

I wonder if Joe does poorly in Tampa will they pull his string.

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National Knife Day

August 24, 2012 by 3 Comments

August 24th is National Knife Day. I had hoped to have a picture of my new Cold Steel Kukri Machete so I could say, “This is a knife”, but I’ve been lazy.

So in honor of National Knife Day, I’ll let Crocodile Dundee fill in for me.

On a slightly more serious note, Knife Rights is celebrating National Knife Day by giving away a Limited Edition Knife Rights S&W folder or ESEE Izula to the person who posts the coolest picture of themselves with a knife on their Facebook Page. Their page is here. If you like having and using knives you may want to make a donation to them as well. They are, as they say, the Second Front in the battle for the Second Amendment.

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Alternate Shooting Positions

August 24, 2012 by 1 Comment

The National Shooting Sports Foundation just released another of their shooting tips videos. This one features Ryan Cleckner who was an Army Ranger sniper team leader in an earlier life.

As Cleckner makes clear, you can’t always shoot from the prone position and you rarely have a shooting bench when you’re out in the field. He discusses and demonstrates a number of alternate rifle shooting positions including two sitting positions, kneeling, and standing using a tree as a brace. With many Southern states starting their deer seasons as early as next month, this is useful information.