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Time For Action On ATF Proposal On Multiple Rife Sales Reporting

May 26, 2011 by 3 Comments

The comment period for objecting to the proposed ATF requirement that FFL’s in the Southwest border states report multiple sales of certain semi-automatic rifles is May 31st. The gun prohibitionists flooded the ATF with comments the first time and are geared up to do it again.

Comments need to be sent by May 31st to oira_submission@omb.eop.gov

I have a couple of examples of letters that can be sent. You just need to cut and past this into your email program, add your name and address, and send it. Feel free to edit the letters as you wish. The keys are to submit it by May 31st, to send it to the address above, and to include the control number – OMB Control Number 1140-New.

If I can find any form letter generators with this info, I will post it.

Long Letter

Re: OMB Control Number 1140-New

I am writing to oppose the Information collection action to register multiple sales of certain rifles with BATFE from the 04/29/2011 Federal Register: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-04-29/pdf/2011-10355.pdf.

This information collection is both illegal and unnecessary.

* The action proposed is outside the statutory grant of authority to record information about multiple sales of firearms. Title 18 U.S.C. § 923(g)(3)(A) specifically grants the authority to collect multiple sale information on handguns and revolvers. Other firearms are excluded and there is no implied authority to extend this reporting requirement to rifles or any other type of firearm.

* Analysis of the number of firearms seized shows that Mexico is being primarily supplied with firearms by South American countries, NOT the United States. In fact, a STRATFOR report indicates that fully 90% of of the firearms traced in Mexico are NOT coming from the United States, contrary to assertions in the mainstream media: http://wwwprod-1756134246.us-west-1.elb.amazonaws.com/index.php?q=weekly/20110209-mexicos-gun-supply-and-90-percent-myth.

Additionally, Wikileaks cables have shown the US Government is at least partially responsible for supplying Mexico from the United States: http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/bill-conroy/2011/02/pentagon-fingered-source-narco-firepower-mexico. These firearms are NOT from the US commercial market.

* Source documents of the BATFE uncovered by US Senator Grassley and US Representative Issa show that BATFE has been complicit in supplying Mexican Narco-terrorist forces with firearms: http://www.scribd.com/doc/49971654/2011-03-03-CEG-to-DOJ-ATF.

* ”FFL” holders are already required by law to respond to BATFE requests for information on firearms distribution pursuant to criminal investigations: Title 18 U.S.C. § 923(g)(7).

* The regulation contains no provision for the destruction of information collected, which establishes a nationwide registry of “certain types of firearms” as proposed. Because of this the regulation, as proposed, is illegal under Title 18 U.S.C. § 926(a). ”No such rule or regulation … may require that records required to be maintained under this chapter or any portion of the contents of such records, be recorded at or transferred to a facility owned, managed, or controlled by the United States or any State or any political subdivision thereof, nor that any system of registration of firearms, firearms owners, or firearms transactions or disposition be established.”

There is a grave potential for this regulation to unduly burden citizens who are collectors or must obtain purchase permits at the local or state level to possess firearms. The proposed regulation does not say what the agency intends to do with the information but ostensibly it would be for criminal investigations. Subjecting law abiding gun owners to this type of investigation under the guise of “information collection” is an overt attempt to prevent them from exercising their 2nd Amendment rights to purchase and own firearms.

This regulatory action should not be approved.

Short Letter

Re: OMB Control Number 1140-New

I am writing to oppose the Information collection action to register multiple sales of certain rifles with BATFE from the 04/29/2011 Federal Register: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-04-29/pdf/2011-10355.pdf

This information collection is both illegal and unnecessary.

Specifically addressing your request for comments on 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 collection of this additional data will impede the proper function of ATF field operations.

Even when firearm’s dealers in the Southwest voluntarily provided information on multiple semi-automatic rifle sales to the ATF in an effort to prevent straw purchases and illegal sales, the ATF could not keep up with the volume of information. Adding a requirement that ALL dealers submit this information will create information overload. Because of this it would not have practical utility and would impede proper performance of the agency.

This regulatory action should not be approved.

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Brady’s Prepared For ATF Comments On Multi-Rifle Reporting

May 26, 2011 by 1 Comment

The Brady Campaign is prepared for the May 31st deadline for comments on the ATF proposal to require dealers in the Southwest to report multiple sales of semi-automatic rifles with detachable magazines in calibers greater than .22. Dennis Hennigan of the Brady Campaign posted this note on their website:

Tell ATF to Fight Assault Rifle Smuggling to Mexico!

Dear Friend,

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has proposed an important new step to curb gun smuggling to Mexico.

ATF wants to hear from you and has asked for the public to weigh in with comments on its new idea.

Please tell ATF that you support its proposal to require reporting of multiple sales of weapons, such as semi-automatic military-style assault rifles, by gun dealers in the Southwest border states of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

The comment period closes May 31, so please click here to take action today!

America’s gun laws are so weak that gun dealers don’t even have to inform law enforcement when they sell dozens of these weapons of war in one sale.

The violence fueled by our weak gun laws is killing thousands both here and in Mexico, and gun trafficking to Mexico threatens to cause a major foreign policy crisis for the U.S.

Please make your voice heard and help ATF crack down on gunrunners to Mexico and contribute to security in Mexico and the United States.

After you’ve taken action, please also forward this message to your family and friends.

Sincerely,
Dennis Henigan, Vice President
Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence

Within that letter is a link to a form letter generator. Unfortunately, while the message can be personalized a bit, they have frozen the parts saying you support the proposal to require the reporting. Otherwise we could just use their generator to send mass amounts of letters opposing the ATF proposal. Their letter reads:

Support the Proposal to Require Reporting of Multiple Sales of Certain Long Guns (OMB control number 1140NEW)

Dear [Decision Maker],

I am writing to offer my comment in support of the Proposal to Require Reporting of Multiple Sales of Certain Long Guns (OMB control number 1140NEW).

America’s weak gun laws have contributed to massive numbers of guns, including military-style assault weapons, being sold by gun dealers to gun traffickers in the U.S. These guns harm Americans and are smuggled to Mexican drug cartels who wreak havoc on citizens, visitors, law enforcement, and government officials in Mexico.

Reporting multiple sales of weapons such as semi-automatic assault rifles will provide ATF with crucial notification of bulk gun sales to traffickers, giving law enforcement an opportunity to promptly investigate and stop a potential trafficker.

Under current law, ATF and other law enforcement agencies have neither the tools nor the resources to adequately stem the flow of trafficked guns from the United States into Mexico. Congress needs to provide law enforcement the tools it needs to keep guns out of the hands of criminals, including requiring background checks for all gun sales, giving ATF increased enforcement authority to crack down on corrupt gun dealers, and restricting the sale of military-style weaponry, such as large capacity ammunition magazines. The proposed reporting requirement is an important first step to stopping gun trafficking.

I urge you to support the Proposal to Require Reporting of Multiple Sales of Certain Long Guns (OMB control number 1140NEW).

Of course, it is utter bullshit. However, it emphasizes the need for our side to get its act together and submit comments. May 31st is only five days away if you count today. I will have a sample letter up with instructions a little later this morning.

If anyone knows of a form letter generator with a message opposing this proposal, please put it in the comments. I will make sure to publicize it.

H/T Josh

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Blatant Mistruths From Anti’s On NC’s HB 650

May 25, 2011 by 1 Comment

The anti-gun group, North Carolinians against Gun Violence (NCGV), has issued their “report” on HB 650 which amends various North Carolina gun laws.

Sean at A NC Gun Blog has been reporting on HB 650 and what it would do. He takes apart their attack on the bill bit by bit and shows them for the desparate group that they have become.

While North Carolina specific, it is shows how to dissect and take apart the gun prohibitionists’ arguments as well as showing how they will lie to stop reform.

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Range Protection Bill Passes NC State Senate

May 25, 2011 by

SB 560 – the Sport Shooting Range Protection Act – passed the North Carolina Senate yesterday by a 36-13 vote. According to Grass Roots NC, the rules were suspended which allowed a single vote for both the 2nd and 3rd readings of the bill. It now goes to the NC State House. More importantly, it was passed prior to the crossover deadline of June 9th which means the bill can still be considered for passage anytime between now and next year. It does not have to pass the House before the probable adjournment of this session in July.

The breakdown of the vote is below.

Ayes: Senator(s): Allran; Apodaca; Berger, D.; Berger, P.; Bingham; Blake; Brock; Brown; Brunstetter; Clary; Daniel; Davis; East; Forrester; Garrou; Goolsby; Gunn; Harrington; Hartsell; Hise; Hunt; Jackson; Jenkins; Kinnaird; Meredith; Newton; Pate; Preston; Rabon; Rouzer; Rucho; Soucek; Stevens; Tillman; Tucker; Walters

Noes: Senator(s): Atwater; Clodfelter; Dannelly; Graham; Jones; Mansfield; McKissick; Nesbitt; Purcell; Robinson; Stein; Vaughan; White

Exc. Absence: Senator(s): Blue

Those voting against the bill were all Democrats while the majority in favor was a mixture of both Democrats and Republicans.

The bill as passed was amended in committee to specify that to be considered in continuous operation the range had to relocate within the same county. If it moved to another county, it was now subject to the ordinances in effect when the property was purchases.

SECTION 1. G.S. 14‑409.46 is amended by adding two new subsections to read:

“(f) For the purposes of this Article, a sport shooting range that relocates to another location within the same county due to condemnation, rezoning, annexation, road construction, or development:
(1) Is still considered to be continuously in existence since beginning operation at its previous location; and
(2) Is not considered to have undergone a substantial change in use as the result of the location.
(g) A sport shooting range that is exempted from liability under this Article and that relocates to a new location in a different county shall comply with ordinances in effect at the new location as of the date property is purchased to establish the range at the new location.”

Range protection is important. The days of shooting in your backyard so long as you lived outside the city limits are all but over in a lot of places. Even in rural areas in states with strong range protection laws, the establishment of a new range is not an easy task as seen in this story from Missouri. Attacking shooting ranges is a backdoor attack on the Second Amendment as the Ezell case in Chicago makes clear.

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My Kind Of Gun Shop

May 24, 2011 by 2 Comments

I am in Murphy, NC on business and ran across this wonderfully named gun shop. It was closed by the time I got here. With luck, I’ll be able to drop in tomorrow. Just peeking in the window, it looks like a good store.

The name of the store is enough to put the gun prohibitionists into an apoplectic rage. Good!

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

UPDATE: I got a chance to visit the gun shop this afternoon and speak with the owner. The shop has been open about a year and a half. Business is good enough that it supports his family and he can expand little by little which is good to hear. I asked the owner about the name and he said he did it to goad the anti’s a bit. I like his sense of humor!

The shop has an interesting selection of older and new guns with more emphasis on the second-hand stuff. I saw an absolutely pristine Smith and Wesson M&P .38 Special revolver from the 1940s. They even have the original box that it came in. It had been put away in a closet and rarely shot.

If you are ever in Murphy, North Carolina stop in at Back Alley Arms. It is located about half a block from the center of town.

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An Interesting Take On The Supreme Court Ordering The Release Of Prisoners

May 24, 2011 by

Josh Blackman in his blog by the same name has an interesting take on a Supreme Court case decided today. Brown v. Plata effectively orders the release of 46,000 prisoners in the State of California to comply with court-ordered limits on the number of prisoners held in the state’s prisons.

Josh tries to reconcile the votes of Justices Ginsburg, Breyer, and Sotomayor in Brown v. Plata with their votes on McDonald v. Chicago. He ends up with this:

Let’s walk through this. The Court today orders 46,000 dangerous prisoners be released into society. Let’s assume this results in an increase in violent crimes, as Justice Alito suggests (I think his causation/correlation analysis is flawed, but let’s put that aside for now). Society becomes more danger, with all these violent criminals running amok. Prisons, unable to house new prisoners, decrease the feasible number of prosecutions. Statistics are generated that show a steep increase in crime. Based on these findings, the state enacts new restrictive gun control laws to reduce violence.

You really must wonder if something this Machiavellian went through the liberal Justices’ minds when deciding this case. If it did, we are in big trouble as a republic and the presidential election of 2012 becomes even more critical.

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Why One Should Not Depend On Aging Rock Stars For The Facts

May 23, 2011 by 1 Comment

The Irish rock group U2 played a series of concerts last week in Mexico City. The band’s leader Bono made news when he said that most murders in Mexico are committed with automatic firearms smuggled in from the United States. From the band’s website:

‘I want you to send a message of love along the border to the good and the great people of the United States of America.’ announced Bono, during ‘Pride’ at the third show in Mexico tonight. ‘ I want you to send a message to people of conscience.

‘Ask them to answer the question. Why is it that all we hear on the news is how drugs are smuggled through Mexico to the United States ?

‘And we don’t hear about all the automatic weapons that are being smuggled into Mexico from the United States. Nine thousand registered arms dealers on the other side of the border. Nine thousand.

‘Most of the murders committed here are from weapons sold in the United States of America.

In the video embedded below (which I have also posted on YouTube), you can listen to the comments made by Bono and the change in lyrics he made to their song Pride (In the Name of Love).

Arthur Chrenkoff writing for Pajamas Media says Bono makes good music but uses bad numbers.

I can’t exactly blame you. You have probably heard the “statistic” that 90 percent of guns used to commit crimes in Mexico come from the United States from Hillary Clinton herself. Or Senator Dianne Feinstein. Or maybe even from William Hoover, assistant director for field operations at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. After all, if anyone knows, the ATF should, right?

The problem is, as with many other factoids which gain a life of their own and enter the general circulation through media and internet, this is simply not true.

Thanks to the NSSF, we have this graphic showing that for 2008 – the latest year for which figures are available – only 12% of firearms seized in Mexico came from the United States. Of course, with all the firearms that went to Mexico due to Project Gunwalker, the numbers could be higher in later years.

The bottom line is that we’d be a lot better off if rock stars, actors, and other assorted glitterati stuck to music or acting or just looking pretty and save us from having to hear their pronouncements about matters on which they know nothing.

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VPC Dances Over Tragedy

May 23, 2011 by 2 Comments

VPCinfo Violence Policy Cent
PA: Family annihilator shoots and kills wife, two daughters, self with .357 handgun. http://fb.me/ZT2NLwEV

The Violence Policy Center posted the above Tweet about 15 minutes ago. It would appear that Josh Sugarman, Kristen Rand, and their crew are trying to make up for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence’s suspension from Twitter by dancing in the blood of a family tragedy.

It involves a murder-suicide that happened sometime on Sunday in the Pittsburgh area. A man killed his wife and two young daughters and then himself. The family had recently moved to the rented house in Shaler Township 3-4 weeks ago.

Shaler Township Police Chief Jeff Gally said, “We have no indication as to what caused this tragedy.”

As Chief Gally says further in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the only people who know for sure are gone.

This is most certainly a tragedy. Why it happened we probably will never know for sure. The tool was a .357 revolver but it just as easily could have been a baseball bat, a kitchen knife, or even the bathtub in the master bedroom. However, if it had been any one of the later items, VPC would not have seen fit to Tweet about it. They are selective on the violence they wish to publicize. They certainly are not reticent in using inflammatory language when they refer to the murderer as the “family annihilator”.

H/T J. D. Berger

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SAF And CalGuns Sue California Over “Assault Weapons” Arrest

May 23, 2011 by

This was just released by the Second Amendment Foundation and the CalGuns Foundations:

BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation and Calguns Foundation have filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in California, seeking to have the state’s definition of so-called “assault weapons” declared unconstitutionally vague.

Joining SAF and Calguns in the lawsuit is Brendan John Richards, an Iraq combat veteran who served as a U.S. Marine, and whose arrest and six-day incarceration in the Sonoma County jail – and subsequent dismissal of all charges – was the catalyst for this legal action. Named as defendants are California Attorney General Kamala Harris, the California Department of Justice, the City of Rohnert Park and police officer Dean Becker.

Richards was jailed in May 2010 after Officer Becker, investigating a disturbance at a motel where Richards was staying, learned that Richards had two pistols and a rifle, all unloaded, in the trunk of his car. Becker, arrested Richards for unlawful possession of an assault weapon. However, in September of last year, the charges were dismissed by the Sonoma County District Attorney’s office, based on a report from the state Department of Justice that showed none of the guns met the state’s definition of an assault weapon.

“California’s law allows possession of a variety of firearms that do not meet the state’s assault weapons definition, which we believe is unconstitutionally vague,” noted SAF Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb. “Mr. Richards was jailed for almost a week, when he had broken no law because a police officer had a conflicting view and the District Attorney’s office believed him.”

“California attempts to make a distinction among firearms where no natural one exists,” noted Calguns Executive Director Gene Hoffman. “The generic definition of so-called ‘assault weapons’ was simply an attempt to prohibit possession of guns that look scary.”

Plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Don Kilmer of San Jose and Jason A. Davis of Mission Viejo. Kilmer said the case is indicative of the way things have become in California.

“Now that the right to keep arms has correctly been recognized as fundamental and applicable to California,” Kilmer said, “gun owners can’t be faced with the practice of ‘arrest them first and let the courts sort it out’ for exercising constitutional rights. That is just how things are done in our country.”