Uncategorized

Indictment In Brian Terry Murder Unsealed

July 9, 2012 by 3 Comments

The Justice Department today unsealed the indictment for the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. The FBI also announced a $1 million reward for information leading to the four men who were indicted that are not in custody. Two others are already in Federal custody and have been for some time.

Watch the latest video at <a href=”http://video.foxnews.com”>video.foxnews.com</a>

When asked about the unsealing of the indictment, Chairman Issa applauded the unsealing of it but questioned the timing of it. He thought the release of it now was an effort to divert attention from the House’s contempt citation of Attorney General Eric Holder.

From the Fox News report by William LaJeunesse and Megyn Kelly:

The 11-count indictment, originally handed up by a grand jury in November 2011, implicates five defendants in the killing. A sixth suspect has also been charged in a related incident.

The two men in custody are Manuel Osario Arellanes — who was wounded in the foot the night of the firefight — and his brother Rito. Rito, who was arrested two nights before the Terry shooting, allegedly helped provide weapons to the criminal gang used in the shooting. All six men named in the indictment are either related or friends.

The other four are believed to be hiding out in Mexico, and the U.S. is now offering a reward of up to $1 million for information leading to their arrest. They are: Jesus Rosario Favela-Astorga; Ivan Soto-Barraza; Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes; and Lionel Portillo-Meza.

The indictment charges Manuel Osario-Arellanes, Jesus Rosario Favela-Astorga, Ivan Soto-Barraza, Heraclio Orsorio-Arellanes, and Lionel Portillo-Meza with 1st Degree Murder, 2nd Degree Murder, Robbery, four counts of Assault on a Federal Officer, and Using and Carrying a Firearm during a Crime of Violence.

The indictment names all of the five men above plus Rito Orsorio-Arellanes with Conspiracy to Interfere with Commerce by Robbery. The indictment also charges Manuel Osario-Arellanes with two counts of a Felon in Possession of a Firearm. Finally, the indictment seeks forfeiture of the two AKs that have been linked to Operation Fast and Furious plus ammunition. The ammo to be forfeited includes boxes of 7.62×39 as might be expected plus a box of .45 ACP and two boxes of .223. You have to wonder if any of the firearms that used the latter were part of Operation Fast and Furious.

I have embedded the full unsealed indictment below:

USA v. Manuel Osario Arellanes et al

Uncategorized

NRA’s Firearmsfuture.com

July 9, 2012 by 8 Comments

The NRA has established a new website to support their “All in 2012” message for this election. To introduce it they just released this two minute video. I think the video is very well made and does get the message across.

At firearmsfutures.com, the NRA has a set of five videos concerning the UN Arms Trade Treaty, Operation Fast and Furious, border security, the narco-terrorists (or drug cartels, if you prefer), and the impact of gun control in the United Kingdom. As with the intro video, they are very well done and do get the message across.

The NRA is encouraging members and supporters to not only view these videos but to share them with friends, family, and neighbors. They provide links to share them ranging from Facebook and Twitter to Pinterest (the Complementary Spouse’s favorite).

Uncategorized

UN Watch: Iran Elected To UN Arms Trade Treaty Post

July 8, 2012 by

Illustrating the absurdity of the Arms Trade Treaty talks, Iran was elected to the Asian working group along with Japan and South Korea. Moreover, UN Watch reports that the Iran new agency IRNA is saying that Iran will be the deputy head of the ATT talks.

UN Watch is a Geneva-based NGO which seeks to monitor the United Nation’s performance based upon the UN’s own charter. It is affiliated with the American Jewish Committee.

UN Watch is asking that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemn the selection of Iran to the working group and to a leadership position in the Arms Trade Treaty talks especially given Iran’s role in smuggling of arms to Syria and other rogue nations.

“Right after a UN Security Council report found Iran guilty of illegally transferring guns and bombs to Syria, which is now murdering thousands of its own people, it defies logic, morality and common sense for the UN to now elect this same regime to a global post regulating the transfer of guns and bombs,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, a non-governmental monitoring group based in Geneva.

“This is like choosing Bernie Madoff to police fraud on the stock market. And the U.N.’s scandalous choice of Iran is exactly why we fear that Syria’s declared bid for a U.N. Human Rights Council seat is not impossible.”

UN Watch called on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who addressed the conference on the same day as the election, to condemn the decision to give Iran a position of responsibility in regulating the arms trade.

“He should remind the conference that the Security Council has imposed four rounds of sanctions on Iran for refusing to halt its probited nuclear program, and that Iran continues to defy the international community through illegal arms shipments to the murderous Assad regime,” said Neuer.

“Syria continues to be the central party to illicit Iranian arms transfers,” the Security Council report recently found, citing the discovery of Iranian shipments to Damascus of assault rifles, machineguns, explosives, detonators, 60mm and 120mm mortal shells and other items.

Neuer expressed concern that the UN’s election of Iran “injects ambiguity about the U.N.’s position on illicit Iranian arms transfers, fuels Iranian propaganda, and grants international legitimacy to a regime that tortures student activists, hangs gays and subjugates women.”

In one way it is good that a nation like Iran is elected to a leadership position at the Arms Trade Treaty talks because it illustrates vividly what an illegitimate exercise these talks have become. That the Obama Administration and the State Department are even participating in them is a disgrace.

Uncategorized

Arms Trade Treaty Talks – Day 4

July 8, 2012 by 1 Comment

Ginny Simone of NRA News discusses Day 4 of the UN Arms Trade Treaty talks with Tom Mason of the World Forum on the Future of Sport Shooting Activities. They discussed the organizational difficulties, the committees that will deal with the scope of the treaty as well as its preamble, the right to self defense (of the state and not the individual), and the refusal of many states to differentiate between military firearms and civilian firearms.

Dr. Ted Bromund of the Heritage Foundation has his summation of the day’s event’s here. Bromund says that Venezuela won “the crazy prize” for their rant against “imperialists”:

In previous sessions, Cuba, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia had all put in strong showings with speeches that were unprincipled and autocrat-friendly, but when it came to crazy, Venezuela lapped the field with a speech that will be tough to beat.

In a lengthy rant attacking the “maturity” of the assembled nations, it denounced the “imperial powers” for arming the Libyan rebels who overthrew Muammar Qadhafi, demanded that the world look seriously at controlling the “imperialists” (i.e., the U.S.) who had nuclear weapons, condemned foreign aid providers for insisting on the “downsizing” of governments, and stated that it needed arms to deal with internal threats (i.e., to continue to oppress its own population).

Uncategorized

I’m in Love With Halo – One Direction Parody

July 8, 2012 by 1 Comment

I don’t think I’ve ever played the video game Halo but the Complementary Spouse’s nephews are professionals at it. Literally.

Her nephews Kyle and Aaron were professionals on the Major League Gaming circuit until Halo was dropped from the lineup this Spring. Kyle, or as he is known in the gaming word, Elamite Warrior, and some of his friends put together the parody video below. I think they did a good job of it.

I know just enough about Halo to understand that Capture the Flag is one of the major scenarios in team play. The main reason I’m posting this is that Kyle is family and family is important. He’s trying to build the viewership of this video so take a look at it and share it with your friends.

One Direction, by the way, are the musical guests on SNL tonight.

Uncategorized

And They Want You To Believe In That Fairy Tale Called The UN, Too

July 7, 2012 by 3 Comments

The State Department is saying that the Arms Trade Treaty won’t handicap our Second Amendment rights according to a story in TheHill.com.

“The Arms Trade Treaty will not in any way handicap the legitimate right of self-defense,” Acting Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller said in a tweet.

The tweet links to a list of “redlines” the administration has established for the treaty, which aims to “establish common international standards for the import, export, and transfer of conventional arms to help prevent the acquisition of arms by terrorists, criminals, and those who violate human rights or are subject to UN arms embargoes.” The United Nations is scheduled to spend all month trying to devise a treaty that all its members can agree to.

The “redlines” as published on the State Department’s website include:

  • The Second Amendment to the Constitution must be upheld.
  • There will be no restrictions on civilian possession or trade of firearms otherwise permitted by law or protected by the U.S. Constitution.
  • There will be no dilution or diminishing of sovereign control over issues involving the private acquisition, ownership, or possession of firearms, which must remain matters of domestic law.
  • The U.S. will oppose provisions inconsistent with existing U.S. law or that would unduly interfere with our ability to import, export, or transfer arms in support of our national security and foreign policy interests.
  • The international arms trade is a legitimate commercial activity, and otherwise lawful commercial trade in arms must not be unduly hindered.
  • There will be no requirement for reporting on or marking and tracing of ammunition or explosives.
  • There will be no lowering of current international standards.
  • Existing nonproliferation and export control regimes must not be undermined.
  • The ATT negotiations must have consensus decision making to allow us to protect U.S. equities.
  • There will be no mandate for an international body to enforce an ATT.

Color me skeptical of both the State Department and the United Nations when it comes to arms control. As to the Second Amendment being upheld, given the prevailing opinion of many within this administration, Heller notwithstanding, that it only guarantees a collective right, this seems to me to be a throw-away for them.

The State Department also states that it is the position of the United States that the ATT include parts and components as well as a broadly defined list of armaments including “tanks, armored combat vehicles, artillery systems, military aircraft, military helicopters, naval vessels, missiles, missile launchers, small arms and light weapons, and combat support equipment.” If this is the case, then you can kiss parts kits for AKs, FN-FALs, and many other former military rifles and carbines good-bye.

Uncategorized

Filipino Gun Rights Organization Joins IAPCAR

July 7, 2012 by 3 Comments

The Second Amendment Foundation sent out a release this evening saying that A2S5 Coalition of the Philippines has joined IAPCAR – the international gun rights organization. Given the doings in the United Nations, the more national gun rights organizations that are members of IAPCAR, the better. This will make the 23rd organization to join.

IAPCAR WELCOMES PHILIPPINES GUN RIGHTS ORGANIZATION

BELLEVUE, WA – The A2S5 Coalition of the Philippines is the latest organization to join forces with the International Association for the Protection of Civilian Arms Rights (IAPCAR), raising their international membership to 23 member organizations in 15 different nations around the globe.

With member groups on every continent, IAPCAR executive director Philip Watson has been more than pleased with the positive response the group has received.

“With nine new member groups all from different countries since last fall, IAPCAR’s steady growth has been a welcome sign among those that love freedom and a warning to those that do not.” Watson also noted, “It proves that people in all corners of the globe believe in the right of personal security and the defense of one’s home and family. The human right of self-defense is a value we share across all international borders, regardless of race, nationality, or ethnic origin.”

“This is a significant development for us,” said Mike Melchor, the A2S5 Coalition’s director for strategic plans.

Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, who was instrumental in creating IAPCAR, was very happy to have A2S5 as IAPCAR’s newest affiliate in the Philippines.

“We are very excited to welcome our friends from the Philippines,” he observed. “Gun owners in the Philippines are currently faced with increasing regulatory actions on civilian ownership of firearms. We can be helpful to each other in our movement to protect firearms rights in our home countries and around the world.”

The Arms Trade Treaty is currently under negotiation at the United Nations and set to be signed the last week of July, placing many arms rights groups at odds with global gun control advocates. “IAPCAR strongly opposes any UN treaty infringing on national sovereignty or individual gun rights,” noted Julianne Versnel, director of operations at the Second Amendment Foundation, the second influential gun rights group instrumental in forming IAPCAR.

The International Association for the Protection of Civilian Arms Rights (http://iapcar.com/) is the only worldwide political action group focusing on the human right to keep and bear arms. Founded in 2010, IAPCAR has grown to 23 major gun-rights organizations and conducts campaigns designed to inform the public and promote the right of self-defense and gun-ownership.

Uncategorized

NRA-ILA On NC General Assembly Short Session

July 7, 2012 by

The NRA Institute for Legislative Affairs released a Legislative Alert this evening that summarized the wins – and losses – for gun rights in the “short session” of the North Carolina General Assembly. Their conclusion that this session fell short is on the mark given the bottling-up of HB 111 in the committee by the Republican leadership of the State Senate. The failure to pass HB 111 is one thing that cannot be blamed on the Democrats as the votes to pass this bill were there.

The North Carolina General Assembly adjourned on Tuesday, July 3, bringing an end to the “short session” of the 2011-2012 General Assembly. While the General Assembly made tremendous improvements for the pro-gun community during last year’s “long session”, the same cannot be said for their accomplishments in this year’s session. Raleigh did see passage of one pro-gun bill this year, however, another important piece of firearms legislation remained stalled in a Senate committee, which effectively killed that bill.

Unfortunately for gun owners, House Bill 111, which included language that would have removed the absolute prohibition on Right to Carry (RTC) permit holders carrying a concealed firearm into a restaurant licensed to sell alcohol for on-premises consumption, remained stalled in the state Senate this year despite passing the state House of Representatives last session. As reported here, this bill passed in the Senate Judiciary II Committee in early June, but was never brought to the Senate floor for consideration. The committee did use HB 111 to address an issue relating to the section of last year’s House Bill 650 (reported on here) that imposed restrictions on prohibiting RTC permit holders from carrying firearms in parks under the control of local governments. Because some local governments have gone beyond what HB 650 allowed, HB 111 was amended to impose tighter restrictions on these localities. If it had been enacted, this bill would have, along with providing for Restaurant Carry, clarified that local governments are restricted from prohibiting lawfully carried concealed firearms in such places as greenways, designated biking or walking paths, certain open areas and fields, as well as other areas. With HB 111 not passing, an important opportunity to advance the rights of law-abiding gun owners was missed.

On a more positive note, this session the General Assembly passed and Governor Perdue signed into law House Bill 843, which recognized law-abiding citizens’ right to self-defense during a declared state of emergency. Specifically, H 843 states that the restrictions section of the North Carolina Emergency Management Act “does not authorize prohibitions or restrictions on lawfully possessed firearms or ammunition.” This means that, if there is a declared state of emergency due to natural disasters or other problems that create a state of disarray and unrest that requires emergency procedures to be implemented by a government entity, the rights of law-abiding gun owners will no longer be subject to possible suspension, as previous law allowed.

The win in Bateman forced the exclusion on restrictions on firearms in HB 843. While it was nice that it was put down on paper, I believe Judge Howard’s decision would have invalidated existing restrictions.

Uncategorized

Arms Trade Treaty Talks – Day 1

July 6, 2012 by

Ginny Simone of NRA News ends the first day of the Arms Trade Treaty Talks with a recap featuring Tom Mason from the World Forum on the Future of Sport Shooting Activities. The day was consumed with the argument of whether or not the Palestinians would be seated at the talks. For them, this is a backdoor method of trying to get recognition as a state. The United States was opposed to the seating of the PLO.

The other issue was when NGOs – non-governmental organizations – such as the NRA and the Second Amendment Foundation were to speak. They had expected to speak near the end of the talks but their participation has been pushed up to this week. As Ginny notes, it looks like that they want to get the NGOs in and out so they can do whatever they want to do. Mr. Mason tends to agree with her on that.

Dr. Ted Bromund of the Heritage Foundation provides his take on Day 1 here.

Uncategorized

Arms Trade Treaty Talks – Day 2

July 6, 2012 by

On Day 2 of the Arms Trade Treaty Talks at the United Nations, Ginny Simone of NRA News speaks with Dr. Ted Bromund of the Heritage Foundation. Dr. Bromund has been blogging these talks and his post for Day 2 can be found here.

Day 2 was mostly consumed with the Palestinians and their efforts to be seated as an observer states.

Dr. Bromund makes a very good point in this video about all the nations who are pushing for the Arms Trade Treaty. They are insisting it is needed so that the standards for buying and selling arms are raised. If that is the case, Dr. Bromund asks why do they need a treaty to raise the standards when they can do it themselves. I think we know that the issue really isn’t standards but control.