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by Release Of FOID Card Holders Names On Hold
This was sent out about an hour ago by the Illinois State Rifle Association which was challenging the release of FOID card holders names to the AP.
STATE RIFLE ASSOCIATION SECURES TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER AGAINST RELEASE OF FIREARM OWNERS’ PERSONAL INFORMATION
PEORIA, IL – – The following was released today by the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA):
The ISRA is pleased to announce that it has secured a temporary restraining order against the release of personal information belonging to persons holding Illinois Firearm Owner Identification cards (FOID). The ISRA and four additional plaintiffs filed for the temporary restraining order after Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced that her office believes that release of FOID information to the public is proper under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act. The ISRA is very concerned that public release of personal information from the FOID database will jeopardize the safety of law-abiding firearm owners.
The temporary restraining order was granted by judge Scott Shore of the 10th Judicial District, Peoria County. Judge Shore has scheduled a status call for March 15th, at which time a date will be set for hearing arguments regarding the issuance of a preliminary injunction. With the temporary order in effect, your FOID information is safe, for now.
“Law-abiding Illinois firearm owners can breathe a little easier today,” commented ISRA Executive Director Richard Pearson. “Judge Shore’s order will prevent the Illinois State Police from releasing personal information on FOID holders to news organizations, gun control groups, gangs, and other criminals”.
Another Raid In Columbus, New Mexico
The border town of Columbus, New Mexico just seems to attract raiders.
First it was Pancho Villa in 1916. That raid became the stuff of legend. It led to the Punitive Expedition commanded by General John J. Pershing which chased around Mexico after Villa for a couple of years without catching him.
Now it is the ATF (assisted by DEA) that has raided Columbus, New Mexico. Unlike the Pancho Villa raid, no one was killed. However, the mayor, police chief, one council member, and eight others were all arrested on drug and weapons charges. Firearms reportedly were crossing the border in an unmarked Columbus Police Department truck.
A copy of the 26-page indictment can be found here.
Ad That Just Makes Me Laugh
This ad for the Benelli Super Vinci featuring Phil Robertson, The Duck Commander, just makes me laugh. My first impression of it was ZZ Top meets hot chick meets duck hunters.
H/T Firearm Blog
Chris Cox On NRA-ILA’s Call For Independent Investigation
Chris Cox was on Cam & Company last night with Cam Edwards and Ginny Simone discussing the NRA-ILA’s call for an independent investigation by Congress into Project Gunwalker among other things. Cox said it is not only important to find out what happened but why it happened.
NSSF Opposes Nominee Tied To Eliot Spitzer
The NSSF released this about an hour ago on their blog about Caitlin Halligan who is nominated as a Circuit Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is slated to vote later today on the nomination of Caitlin Halligan to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Ms. Halligan previously served as Solicitor General under then-New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer while he was suing members of the firearms industry. As New York’s Solicitor General, Halligan signed the brief in People of the State of New York v. Sturm, Ruger & Co, Inc., et al arguing that the lawful and highly regulated sale of firearms somehow created a ”public nuisance.” The New York appellate decision roundly rejected her arguments and upheld the dismissal of the case. Later, she filed an amicus brief in City of New York v. Beretta U.S.A. Corp. in support of the Giuliani/Bloomberg lawsuit against members of our industry arguing that the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) was unconstitutional. Every appellate court in the nation has rejected that argument and not a single federal court judge has ever agreed, not even Brooklyn, N.Y., federal court judge Jack B. Weinstein whose ruling Halligan was seeking to have overturned.
Her specious arguments as Solicitor General in support of baseless lawsuits designed to destroy America’s firearms industry raise important questions about whether Ms. Halligan is qualified to serve as a federal appellate court judge.
Unfortunately, the Senate Judiciary Committee has held the vote on Halligan and approved her nomination by a 10 to 8 vote. I am presuming it was along party lines. Of the votes taken during their business meeting, the vote on Halligan was the only one with a roll call vote. If her nomination is to be stopped, it will be on the floor of the Senate.
AG Holder Questioned On ATF At Appropriations Hearings
The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and Science held appropriation hearings on the Department of Justice’s FY 2012 budget requests. It marks the first time that Attorney General Eric Holder has been called on to testify under oath since the Project Gunwalker scandal has really erupted.
A video webcast of the hearings can be found here.
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) is the Ranking Member on this subcommittee. She expressed her reservations about ATF’s Operation Gunrunner in her opening remarks (38:15 – 39:25). When it was her turn to question Holder, she asked him directly about Operation Gunrunner (53:45 – 56:00). He responded that “letting guns walk is not acceptable” and that he had made that clear to U.S. Attorneys and field ATF offices. He noted that firearms are different than drug or money laundering cases where investigators might want to follow the money or drugs.
Later in the hearings, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) tried to get Holder to commit to supporting both a ban on standard capacity magazines and the “gun show loophole” (83:30 – 86:30). In both cases, Holder said they should examine the ban and private sales but wouldn’t commit to endorsing Lautenberg’s measures. He said the administration was looking at measures that would “respect the Second Amendment yet still protect law enforcement officers.” Lautenberg also threw out some poll numbers saying 69% of Americans support closing the “gun show loophole”. I presume these come from the same discredited polls put out by Bloomberg and his Illegal Mayors.
The website MainJustice.com also has a report on these hearings.
UPDATE: CBS News has better video of Holder’s answer to Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison’s question about Project Gunrunner.
Indictment At Center Of Operation Fast And Furious
On January 25th, Dennis Burke, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona, announced a grand jury indictment of 20 people on gun-running and drug charges. These charges were based upon the Operation Gunrunner (now Fast and Furious) investigation by the Phoenix Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. It seemed like a big bust at the time and it got a lot of publicity – as it was intended to do. We now know that this was only the tip of the iceberg.
Reading through the indictment of Jaime Avila, Jr. and the other defendents is interesting. By my rough count, the defendents purchased 717 firearms while only 123 were recovered by police and other law enforcement agencies. The majority of the firearms were sold by Lone Wolf Trading of Glendale, AZ. Indeed, I count 618 AK rifles and AK Draco pistols sold by them alone.
My conclusion on reading the indictment is that no FFL would have sold anything in that sort of quantity without the permission (and encouragement) of ATF.
Second, red flags had to be going off in Clarksburg, WV where the FBI was processing all those NICS checks before allowing the sales to go through. The FBI has not been mentioned in connection with Operation Gunwalker previously but these sales could not have been processed without their assistance. This leads to the question of what the FBI knew about this investigation and were they ordered by higher-ups in the Justice Department to provide assistance to ATF’s ongoing investigation. If so, who?
H/T The Firing Line forum
ATF – AVILA, Jaime Indictment – USBP Agent Terry Murder
That Didn’t Take Long
It was only yesterday that Chris Cox of the NRA-ILA called upon the House Judiciary Committee to hold an expedited investigation into Operation Fast and Furious (aka Project Gunwalker). By last night, Rep. Lamar Smith and 13 Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee released this statement regarding the letter they sent to Attorney General Eric Holder with a demand for answers.
Republicans Want Answers on ATF Gun Trafficking Program
Washington, Mar 9 –
Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) and 13 Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee today sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder regarding recent allegations that ATF may have been complicit in the illegal transfer of firearms into Mexico. The members requested information regarding the Phoenix-based program known as “Fast and Furious,” which according to reports intentionally allowed straw buyers for criminal organizations to purchase thousands of guns so that ATF could track them across the border.
Smith and the members criticized ATF’s alleged actions saying, “We find it ironic that the government allowed guns to be trafficked into Mexico as part of a program designed to stop guns from being trafficked into Mexico. We are also troubled that ATF engaged in activities that may have facilitated the transfer of guns to violent drug cartels while simultaneously attempting to restrict lawful firearms sales by border-area firearms dealers.”
According to the Center for Public Integrity, ATF allowed nearly 2,000 guns—valued at over one million dollars—to cross the border to known criminal organizations. Two of the guns from the program were found at the murder scene of Customs and Border Protection Agent Brian Terry in December.
The Department of Justice has requested that the Inspector General investigate the allegations. But more questions for the Department remain, including who authorized and directed the program.
While it doesn’t ask about the ATF and DOJ responses to earlier questions from Sen. Chuck Grassley, it is a start.
HB 111 – Concealed Carry In Restaurants And Parks Passes Out Of Committee
HB 111, the bill in the North Carolina State House that would allow concealed carry in restaurants that serve alcohol and would allow concealed carry in parks, passed out of the House Judiciary A Subcommittee today.
Grass Roots North Carolina issued a full report on the subcommittee hearings including news on all amendments this evening.
In a bruising battle fought by both legislators and GRNC’s Legislative Action Team, HB 111, “Handgun Permit Valid in Parks & Restaurants” fought its way out of the NC House Judiciary A Subcommittee and now heads for a floor vote as early as tomorrow. Both strengthening and weakening changes were made to the bill.
REP. HILTON’S SUBSTITUTE
Working with GRNC, bill sponsors Mark Hilton (R-Catawba, ****), Jeff Barnhart (R-Cabarrus, ****) and Fred Steen (R-Rowan, ****) produced an enhanced version of HB 111 which included concealed carry not only in municipal parks, but in state parks as well. The substitute was quickly adopted as the working vehicle for the bill.
COMMITTEE FIGHT
Anti-gun Reps. Deborah Ross (D-Wake, GRNC 0-star), Bill Faison (D-Durham, **), and Larry Hall (D-Durham, 0-star) tried to tie up the bill with repeated questioning and with contradictory and shifting amendments. Ross demanded that, in restaurants, servers ask diners ordering alcohol whether they are carrying firearms. In a confusing array of amendments to amendments, ultimately the committee passed an amendment to the bill under which restaurants MAY but are not REQUIRED to ask those ordering alcohol of their status. As noted below, GRNC will vociferously oppose even this weakened language on the House floor.
An equally confusing series of amendments was offered by Faison, who tried to remove both municipal and state parks from the bill. After Hilton, Barnhart and Steen opposed Faison’s proposals, they ultimately failed in an 8-5 vote.
In an effort to tie up the bill, Faison repeatedly dogged bill sponsors with questions about why permit-holders need to protect their families in restaurants, demanding unavailable crime statistics and complaining “Where’s the problem?” Hall painted fanciful pictures of shootouts between patrons in restaurants, and demanded exclusion of parks for the sake of “youth groups,” saying he didn’t want permit-holders “further endangering” kids.
But leading the charge to subvert gun owners’ ability to protect themselves was Ross, who claimed support for her weakening amendment from the Restaurant Association (whose lobbyist then stood to oppose the Ross amendment), and whined that concealed carry is specifically exempted from the right to keep and bear arms enumerated in the North Carolina Constitution.
UPDATE: Gary Robertson of the Associated Press has more on the bill passing out of committee and the opponents reactions to the bill.