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The Result Of Chicago Dragging Its Feet

August 20, 2011 by

Chicago resident Jesus Duenas has a FOID card and after the New Chicago Gun Law was enacted in response to the city’s loss in McDonald v. Chicago, he purchased a handgun legally. (As an aside, my guess is that his handgun was a Taurus Judge as the story mentions it fired a .410 shotgun shell.) However, at the time because he couldn’t find a range in the City of Chicago to get the required training, he didn’t get a Chicago permit nor did he register the handgun with the city. Of course he couldn’t find a range in the city because they were forbidden by law at the time!

Fast forward to March of this year. After neighbors called the police because of a party at his house, he was arrested when the police entered his home without a warrant in search of a firearm. When they asked him where his gun was, he showed them where it was in the bedroom in a locked case. His arrest was for being in violation of Chicago’s gun laws.

Yesterday, a judge in Chicago dismissed the charges against him. While he now has his Chicago registration card, the police are now trying to revoke it because he purchased the gun before he got the permit.

While the story doesn’t say anything about this, it is my impression that many in Chicago purchased handguns as soon as the city lost McDonald and enacted the New Chicago Gun Law. All they heard in media reports from the time was that the city now had to allow handguns and the onerous requirements to get a permit were glossed over. Of course, ignorance is no excuse but neither is creating so many impediments to lawful compliance that virtually no one could own a handgun legally within Chicago.

Man Wins Handgun Lawsuit Against Chicago: MyFoxCHICAGO.com

H/T Josh

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The Peter Principle With White Chalk Outlines

August 19, 2011 by

Bob Owens, the Confederate Yankee, was a guest of Cam Edwards on NRA News on Wednesday. He discusses the promotions or “lateral transfers” of Bill McMahon, Bill Newell, and David Voth to new jobs in Washington. In a wonderfully snarky aside, he refers to their promotions as the Peter Principle with white chalk outlines.

He also discusses an email exchange with ATF whistleblower Vince Cefalu about the promotions. Cefalu considers them lateral transfers to keep those who could speak out in Washington in ATF HQ so they can be controlled. Bob also mentions rumors that there is testimony that Operation Fast and Furious may be higher up the food chain than previously thought.

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Quote Of The Day

August 18, 2011 by

Speaking about the appearance of impropriety of naming William McMahon as the Deputy Assistant Director in charge of ATF’s Office of Professional Responsibility and Security Operations (Internal Affairs) given his testimony in July before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and his previous role in supervising field operations in the western U.S., “Doc Holliday”, a moderator on CleanUpATF.org had this to say:

Isn’t placing McMahon in charge of Internal Affairs after his testimony last week somewhat like placing Tex Watson, Squeeky Fromme and Linda Kasabian on Charles Mansons parole board?

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Splitting Hairs

August 18, 2011 by 2 Comments

In an article posted yesterday evening, Richard Serrano of the L.A. Times writes that the ATF is denying that William McMahon, William Newell, and David Voth were given promotions.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said Wednesday that three supervisors in its controversial Fast and Furious gun-trafficking investigation were transferred to lateral jobs, not promoted.

“They did not receive salary or grade increases, nor did they assume positions with greater responsibility,” the agency said in a short statement.

The Times reported Tuesday that William G. McMahon, William D. Newell and David Voth, three key supervisors in the Phoenix-run investigation that went awry, were promoted to management positions at the ATF’s Washington headquarters.

This is splitting hairs. Both McMahon and Newell have Senior Executive Service status and I’m guessing that Voth is a GS-14 at the minimum. The base pay for SES positions is $119,554 and the bottom rate for a GS-14 is $84,697. This does not take into account the extra amount GS-14s get paid for being located in Washington, D.C. as opposed to the boondocks.

If you or I had so royally screwed up in our jobs that people got killed, we would have been fired if we were lucky. If we weren’t lucky, we’d be looking at either a lawsuit or jail time.

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So Explain To Me The Rationale Behind The Multi-Rifle Reporting Requirement In The Southwest

August 17, 2011 by 3 Comments

Mike Vanderboegh pointed out a story from McAllen, TX this morning.  It featured comments by Special Agent in Charge Robert R. Champion made to the KRGV.com. In it he said:

“You have guys that are money man, one guy is in charge of getting the straw purchasers,” he says.

Champion says the ATF is now seeing a change in the way the cartel operates. Instead of buying weapons locally they’re getting them from all over the country and using the drug routes in reverse to get them back to Mexico.

“The straw purchasers will come back to the guy that gave them the money. He accumulates the firearms. Another individual comes as the transporter to pick up the firearms and move them to different locations,” says Champion.

Champion then adds that “the ATF can’t do much to stop the transport” once it is in the smuggler’s hands.

If the theory behind the new ATF reporting requirement for sales of certain semi-automatic rifles that went into effect on August 14th in the four Southwestern border states was that the straw purchases were happening there and the reporting requirement would let ATF intercept these illegally purchased firearms quicker, then doesn’t what SAC Champion has to say undercut the entire rationale?

I have been told by drug enforcement detectives working here in western North Carolina that most of the meth sold here comes from Mexico by way of Atlanta. They rarely find meth labs anymore. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that the same route drug traffickers use to bring the meth to the mountains can also be used to bring a truckload of AKs back to a safe house in McAllen or DelRio or Brownsville. With meth being an equal-opportunity drug, the traffickers could just as easily use Joe Bob or Earl or Bubba instead of one of the local Latinos to make the straw purchase at Pawn World.

Moreover, doesn’t concentrating so-called enforcement in one area or region just encourage the traffickers to spread out and get more discrete about it? In other words, by focusing on McAllen or Phoenix or other Southwestern areas, hasn’t the DOJ and ATF just pushed the crime to other areas of the country?

It would be nice if the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee brought SAC Champion in to testify about trafficking in his neck of the woods. He might have learned a thing or two about gun walking while he was a Group Supervisor earlier in his career in Phoenix. And while they are at it, they might want to ask him about his role in the botched raid in Waco.

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Lead Shot Allowed For Dove Hunting In Iowa

August 17, 2011 by 1 Comment

The NRA-ILA released this message on dove hunting in Iowa this evening. Traditional or lead shotgun ammunition will be allowed for dove hunting in Iowa this season after the legislature’s Administrative Rules Committee overruled the Natural Resources Commission. This is that state’s first dove hunting season in 93 years.

Iowa: Administrative Rules Committee Strips Dove Rule of Traditional Ammunition Ban!

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Today, the Administrative Rules Committee met to review the National Resource Commission’s (NRC) final rule for Iowa’s first dove hunting season. In a nine-to-one bipartisan vote, legislators overwhelmingly rejected the NRC’s underhanded attempt to include a traditional ammunition ban in the final dove rule. This vote allows for a “session-delay” of the lead ammunition ban, meaning the legislature will have to act during the next legislative session to remove the ban from the final dove rule. However, Iowa’s first dove season will proceed and will not include a traditional ammunition ban.

During a recent NRC meeting last month scheduled to set bag limits and the length of Iowa’s first dove season in nearly a century, commissioners launched a surprise attack by passing a ban on the use of traditional ammunition while hunting doves. The appointed seven-member, commission flagrantly usurped the authority of the legislators who debated the same ban and overwhelmingly rejected it.

Here are three reasons why the use of traditional ammunition should NOT be banned:

  • No scientific studies regarding traditional ammunition have been shown to have any population-level impacts on doves or other species. In fact, doves are the most popular and abundant game bird hunted in America with population levels at all-time highs.
  • The price of non-traditional ammunition with similar performance characteristics is significantly higher and will keep many hunters from taking part in the historic dove season, especially in these dire economic times.
  • In addition to the lack of sound science, the Commission enacted the lead ammunition ban in an underhanded fashion with no public comment or notice.
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ISSC-Austria Releasing Their M-22 Pistol In New Colors

August 17, 2011 by 1 Comment

I received this press release today about the ISSC-Austria M-22 .22LR pistol today. I haven’t shot it but after seeing Jeff Quinn’s review of it, I think that might change. It is a “Glockish” pistol with a very similar silhouette. The difference is that it is not striker-fired but rather it is hammer-fired. It also has an external safety.

WARE, MA (August 2011) – ISSC-Austria, exclusive importer and distributor of the M22 range pistol and MK22 Modern Sporting Rifle, will commence shipping the M22 pistol in Olive Drab starting the final two weeks in August. The M22 OD will be available in ISSC’s proprietary Ti-clad black and Two Tone finish which protects the pistol from harmful elements and chemicals. The M22 pistol is the ideal range pistol designed to use inexpensive, high-velocity 22LR ammunition, while providing a highly accurate, defensive pistol feel in handling.

The ISSC M22 pistol offers shooters the economical alternative to practicing with high-priced ammunition. Using inexpensive .22LR, the M22 pistol provides the shooter with the same rapid fire performance of a traditional centerfire pistol. Built using the combination of a Lothar Walter match barrel, adjustable sights and a very crisp 4-lb single-action trigger, the M22 is the new standard in training pistols. MSRP starts at $299.95.