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Reporting Requirement For Semi-Auto Rifles Originally Intended For More States

August 1, 2012 by 10 Comments

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released the first of three parts on its Final  Joint Report on Operation Fast and Furious yesterday. The report itself is 211 pages long while the three appendices comprise another 2,148 pages. To say it is detailed is an understatement.

It will take days before anyone can digest everything that is contained in the report and appendices. That said, a quick browse turned up a very interesting memorandum from then-Acting Director of ATF Kenneth Melson to Attorney General Eric Holder. (See Appendix III, page 173). The memo, received on March 26, 2010, was making the case to Holder for approval of a pilot project to use demand letters to Federal Firearms Licensees in certain states to force them to report multiple sales of semi-automatic rifles in a caliber greater than .22 and with the ability to accept detachable magazines.

This request was sent months before the Department of Justice Inspector General had released a report criticizing the effectiveness of ATF’s Project Gunrunner. Among the recommendations of the OIG’s reports was that reporting of multiple sales of long guns be explored. Melson concurred with this recommendation but said at the time “that this may require a change to the Gun Control Act which is beyond ATF’s and the Department’s authority.”

As we now know, ATF did get permission to do their one year pilot program to require reporting of multiple sales of certain rifles. It went into effect on August 14, 2011 in the Southwest Border states of Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas.

What makes Melson’s letter particularly interesting is that he was requesting authority from the Attorney General to not only request demand letters in the four border states but an additional eight more. These eight additional states included Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Washington State. The rationale given is that these (and the Southwest Border states) were the top 12 source states for firearms recovered and traced in Mexico in FY2009.

I think it has been assumed that the impetus for the multi-rifle reporting requirement was the Office of Inspector General’s report. As the Melson memo makes clear, ATF was pushing for this almost nine months earlier. Moreover, it was not limited to just states that bordered Mexico but major Mid-Western states such as Illinois and Southeastern states such as Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina. When you add in a state like Washington which is as far from Mexico as you could get, it doesn’t take too much of an imagination to assume that the so-called pilot program was meant to be a predecessor to rolling this out nationwide even though the Gun Control Act of 1968 did not give ATF this authority. Perhaps this is what Obama meant when he said to Sarah Brady that they were working “under the radar” on gun control.

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NC Wildlife Commission Proposed Regulations Have Some Good News For Gun Owners

August 1, 2012 by

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission has announced their proposed regulation changes for the 2013-2014 seasons. The 68 proposed changes range from reclassifying certain trout streams to captive deer regulations. The Commission will begin statewide hearings on these proposed regulation changes starting September 11th in Dublin and conclude on September 27th in Rocky Mount.

Within the list of the 68 proposed changes are some that should be of particular interest to gun owners and those that carry either concealed or openly.

Under “Wildlife Management” category:

H2. Remove restrictions on carrying firearms during the deer bow-and-arrow season and pistols during the muzzleloader season in accordance with state law. Allow hunting with muzzleloading pistols.

Under the “Dog Training” category:

H7. Allow hunters to carry firearms while dog training.

Under the “Game Lands” category:

H9. Allow open carry of firearms anytime on state-owned game lands and conservation areas.

Finally, while not gun related, they are proposing another change that might be considered a sign of the economic times.  That is the ability to keep road-kill.

H21. Reduce restrictions on keeping wildlife killed accidentally or found dead. Specifically: Allow a person to request authorization to keep a deer or turkey found dead of natural causes or due to a vehicle collision; Allow a person to keep dead raptors and nongame migratory game birds if the person gets a federal permit; and Allow possession of any other species of wildlife found dead without Commission authorization, except bears and protected species may not be possessed at all.

 Not that I’d encourage it but there are a number of cookbooks devoted to road-kill. The granddaddy of them all seems to be this book by Buck Peterson.

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NRA Life Membership…At Half Price

July 31, 2012 by 1 Comment

The NRA is running a promotion for the next 48 hours offering Life Memberships for $500. This is half of the normal $1000 cost of Life Membership. The 48 hours started this morning at 6:30am.

From the NRA:

The NRA is currently offering half off Life Memberships ($500) for a limited time. This is a promotion we are doing on our facebook page as a thank you to all of our fans who helped us reach 1,550,000 likes! This promotion began today at 6:30 a.m. and is available for 48 hours ONLY. You can find the promotion on our facebook page at: www.facebook.com/nationalrifleassociation

If you’ve been thinking of upgrading your membership, this is a good time to do it.

As an aside, the NRA has more people merely liking this offer than any of the gun prohibitionist groups have followers on Facebook. Hmmm.

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Illinois Governor Proposes AWB

July 31, 2012 by

The Springfield (Illinois) State Journal-Register is reporting late this morning that Gov. Pat Quinn (D-IL) is proposing a ban on so-called “assault weapons” (sic) in Illinois.

The Democrat will use his amendatory veto power Tuesday to include the ban in a bill related to ammunition sales. It would then be up to lawmakers to accept his changes or reject them.

The report states that his proposal faces “big hurdles” noting that other gun control measures have recently failed in the Illinois General Assembly. From a constitutional standpoint, such a law would be on shaky ground as the AR-15 is the highest selling rifle in recent years and should be considered in “common use.”

UPDATE: The Illinois State Rifle Association is taking Gov. Quinn’s proposal very seriously. The bill he hijacked was a pro-gun bill. They sent out the following early this morning:

GOVERNOR QUINN TEAMS UP WITH MAYOR RAHM EMANUEL TO PROPOSE BILL TO TAX AND BAN YOUR GUNS

YOUR IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED

As many of you know, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn today utilized his amendatory veto authority to hijack a pro-gun bill and convert it into a ban on so called assault weapons. Quinn claims that his bill would “…make Illinois a safer place.”

Of course, lawful Illinois firearm owners know better. We know that Quinn’s true aim is to obliterate private firearm ownership in the state. Closer analysis of Quinn’s bill reveals a host of opportunities for Quinn and his buddy Emanuel to make life miserable for the state’s lawful firearm owners.

Here is just a partial list of what this bill would do, if passed:

1. Ban the manufacture, possession or sale of nearly every semiautomatic rifle, pistol and shotgun you own.

2. Specifically ban Glock pistols since they share a common design with the Glock 18, a select fire handgun.

3. Require you to register every semiautomatic firearm and every magazine you own that exceeds 10 round capacity. The kicker is that, under Quinn’s proposal, the State Police can charge you unlimited fees to register your guns. Thus if Quinn’s bill passes, you could very well find yourself paying $100 or even $1,000 per firearm per year to comply with the law. Additionally, you could find yourself paying $50, $100 or even $500 per year for each “high capacity” magazine you own. Can’t pay? Well then you would have to surrender your guns to the State Police for destruction.

This is just a taste of what you could expect from Quinn’s gun ban. Twists and turns in the bill would certainly open up the doors to taxation, regulation, and outright bans on every civilian owned firearm in the state.

Oh, and one thing is for sure, you can forget about concealed carry if Quinn’s gun ban passes.

HERE IS WHAT YOU NEED TO DO TO PROTECT YOUR GUN RIGHTS:

1. Call your State Senator ASAP and politely tell him or her that you are a law-abiding Illinois firearm owner and that you expect him or her to vote against Quinn’s gun ban should it come up for a vote. If you do not know who your State Senator is, please follow this link:

Illinois Board of Elections District Official/Search:
http://www.elections.state.il.us/DistrictLocator/DistrictOfficialSearchByAddress.aspx

2. Pass this alert on to all your friends and family who own firearms. Tell them to make calls to the senate as well.

3. Post this alert to any and all Internet blogs or bulletin boards to which you belong.

4. If you’re not already a member of the ISRA, then it’s time you signed on to protect your gun rights. To join the ISRA, follow this link: www.isra.org/join

5. Make a generous donation to the ISRA today so that we will be able to fight on against gun grabbers like Pat Quinn and Rahm Emanuel: www.isra.org/fight_4_your_rights.

If you live in Illinois, now is the time to act. If you have relatives or friends in Illinois, let them know about this attack on their gun rights.

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The Bill Of Needs?

July 31, 2012 by

Kurt Hofmann, the St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner, recently posted a column entitled, “Gun rights: Of rights, needs and ‘sporting purposes'”. In it, he examines the responses from the gun prohibitionists including Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and  Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Rep. Carolyn McCarty (D-NY) to the shooting in Aurora, Colorado.

As Kurt notes, the common thread among all three is their claim that we don’t “need” whatever they want to prohibit.

Never mind the fact that it is not the place of Congress to determine what we “need.” Never mind the fact that when being attacked by dozens of assailants (as can happen right here in St. Louis) a person most definitely does need the ability to fight off more people than can be accounted for with a 10-round magazine. Never mind that Lautenberg and McCarthy apparently believe that police officers–even retired ones–do have such a need.

 Read the whole column here. It is well worth it.

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They Always Have To Turn It Into A Discussion Of Black Swan Events

July 31, 2012 by 1 Comment

I didn’t see CNN’s Piers Morgan Tonight with the interview of Kim Rhode. All I could find of the interview was this clip in which Morgan is asking Kim about the Aurora shooting. While Kim gave an excellent answer, it is sad to think that this is the only thing that CNN deemed worthy of excerpting. There is nothing about her record-breaking performance, nothing about how hard she trained to get there, and nothing really about the shotgun sports.

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The United States Is 2 For 2 In Olympic Skeet

July 31, 2012 by

Following on the heels of Kim Rhode’s gold medal in Women’s Skeet, Sgt. Vincent Hancock became a back-to-back winner of the gold medal in Men’s Skeet. Hancock took his first gold at the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008 and repeated this year in London.

In the course of winning this gold medal, Hancock broke his own Olympic record by scoring 148 out of 150 clays. He dropped one clay in each of the two qualifying rounds but was perfect in the finals. The silver medalist, Anders Golding of Denmark, had a 146 while the bronze medalist, Nasser Al-Attiya of Qatar, had a 144.

Sgt. Hancock is a member of the US Army Marksmanship Unit. According to this profile of him, he shoots a Beretta DT-10 with a Ergosign stock.

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Kim Rhode On NRA News

July 31, 2012 by 1 Comment

John Popp of NRA News interviewed gold medalist Kim Rhode on her record-breaking win in London. Unlike some of the other media interviews which have tended to be a little superficial, this interview got into things like social media, the impact of her win on the shooting sports, and the positive attention it has brought to shooting. One of the interviews that Kim mentioned she will be doing is with Piers Morgan of CNN.

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The Concealed Carry Holster Fashion Show

July 31, 2012 by 33 Comments

The First Annual Concealed Carry Holster Fashion Show was held Saturday a week ago. Not only did it attract the media but it was a sold out event. It was held in the New York State town of Hudson which, as the name might indicate, located in the Hudson River Valley about 30 miles south of Albany. The show was a fundraiser for a domestic violence center, REACH of Columbia and Greene Counties, but it was also an event designed to educate (and entertain) women about responsible gun ownership and use.

Gracie McKee of Packing Pretty had a full write-up of the show yesterday with tons of pictures. Gabby of ArmedCandy has assembled a slide show of the event which can be seen here.

I’m glad to see events like this and think that more are needed. If there are a Million Moms carrying concealed, the gun prohibitionists can start hanging it up. Moreover, self-protection and self-defense with a firearm becomes the “women’s issue” that it rightly should and only misogynistic politicians would stand in the way of this.

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Naming Names

July 31, 2012 by 1 Comment

Richard Serrano of the LA Times writes that a report that should be released later this week by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee names five BATFE officials as collectively responsible for Operation Fast and Furious. The report also states that they attempted to hide from the Mexican the fact that is was walked guns that were used in the murder of the Mexican attorney general’s brother.

This report is the first of three to be released. The other two will detail the failure of supervision and leadership by Justice Department officials and will go into the obstruction of the Congressional investigation by the highest levels of the Justice Department. This report is co-authored by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA).

The officials named in the report include William Newell, William McMahon, Mark Chait, William Hoover, and Kenneth Melson.

They found that William Newell, the special agent-in-charge in Phoenix, exhibited “repeatedly risky” management and “consistently pushed the envelope of permissible investigative techniques.” The report said “he had been reprimanded … before for crossing the line, but under a new administration and a new attorney general he reverted back to the use of risky gunwalking tactics.”

His boss, Deputy Assistant Director for Field Operations William McMahon, “rubber stamped critical documents that came across his desk without reading them,” the report alleged. “In McMahon’s view it was not his job to ask any questions about what was going on in the field.”

They added that McMahon gave “false testimony” to Congress about signing applications for wiretap intercepts in Fast and Furious.

His supervisor, Mark Chait, assistant director for field operations, “played a surprisingly passive role during the operation,” the report said. “He failed to provide oversight that his experience should have dictated and his position required.”

Above Chait was Deputy Director William Hoover, who the report said ordered an exit strategy to scuttle Fast and Furious but never followed through: “Hoover was derelict in his duty to ensure that public safety was not jeopardized.”

And they said Melson, a longtime career Justice official, “often stayed above the fray” instead of bringing Fast and Furious to an “end sooner.”

The report, while naming Melson as one responsible officials, said that Justice Department officials tried to make him the scapegoat for the operation after his testimony to the committee on July 4th of 2011.

To date, all the men named in the report still hold positions within BATFE headquarters or the Justice Department in the case of Kenneth Melson.