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S. 1249: Target Practice and Marksmanship Training Support Act

June 28, 2011 by 2 Comments

Senator Mark Udall (D-CO) is the primary sponsor of S. 1249 – the Target Practice and Marksmanship Training Support Act. According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, this bill would allow states more flexibility in the use of their Federal wildlife monies (Pittman-Robinson funds) so that they can use them to establish more places to shoot.

The text of this bill is not yet available but I will, of course, post it when it does become available. It was introduced by Senator Mark Udall on last Wednesday.

The bill currently has four co-sponsors including:

Sen Bennet, Michael F. [CO]
Sen Hagan, Kay [NC]
Sen Risch, James E. [ID]
Sen Tester, Jon [MT]

NSSF fully supports this bill and had a post on it yesterday. From what I can tell from their description of it, this is a bill that makes a lot of sense and deserves our support. I remember Michael Bane on his Down Range Radio podcast pushing for just this as much of the money from Pittman-Robinson excise taxes come from shooters who are not hunters.

NSSF Applauds Introduction of the Target Practice and Marksmanship Training Act in Senate

June 27, 2011 By Larry Keane

NEWTOWN, Conn. – The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the trade association for the firearms, ammunition, hunting and shooting sports industry, applauded the introduction of the Target Practice and Marksmanship Training Act by Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO). This bi-partisan legislation will give states greater flexibility to use more of their designated federal wildlife resources (i.e. Pittman-Robertson funds) to establish safe recreational shooting areas. More specifically, the legislation will help facilitate the construction and expansion of public target ranges, including ranges on federal land managed by the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management.

“We appreciate Sen. Udall’s leadership in fighting for safe, accessible shooting facilities,” said Lawrence G. Keane, senior vice president and general counsel of the National Shooting Sports Foundation. “This legislation clears the way for new shooting ranges and allows for the proper management of existing ones. Access to these facilities is paramount to continuing to pass on our hunting and shooting sports heritage to younger generations.”

A recent survey by the Responsive Management Company has show that the biggest obstacle to participation in hunting and the shooting sports is access. In addressing this concern, the Target Practice and Marksmanship Training Act will not only help sportsmen and target shooters, but wildlife and conservation efforts as well. Active participation in hunting and the shooting sports means increased production of firearms and ammunition. Manufacturers of firearms and ammunition pay a federal excise tax — 11 percent on long guns and ammunition and 10 percent on handguns — which is used to fund wildlife and conservation efforts. By giving gun owners better access to ranges, the Target Practice and Marksmanship Training Act will help to encourage participation in these pro-conservation pastimes.

By allowing the states more latitude in determining how excise tax dollars are used to enhance and develop public shooting facilities, wildlife conservation funding will increase. This benefits all sportsmen and is a strong return on investment.

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Local TV Station Undercovers Gunwalked Guns At Crime Scenes In Arizona

June 28, 2011 by 1 Comment

Reporter Lori Jean Gilha of ABC 15 in Phoenix has undercovered evidence that some of the gunwalked guns from Operation Fast and Furious are turning up at crime scenes in Arizona. The video below is a teaser for her longer story that will air Thursday evening.

So let’s tally this up. Two Federal law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty, an estimated 150 Mexican citizens killed in Mexico, and an unknown number of residents of Arizona killed by criminals using firearms that the ATF intentionally allowed to be walked in Operation Fast and Furious. Brilliant move there!

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Rep. Trey Gowdy On Fact Finding Trip To Mexico

June 28, 2011 by 3 Comments

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) represents the Spartanburg area of South Carolina. Prior to running for Congress in 2010, he served for many years as the elected Solicitor (prosecutor/DA) for the Spartanburg area. He serves on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and accompanied Rep. Darrell Issa to Mexico over the weekend as part of the investigation into Operation Fast and Furious (aka Project Gunwalker). He spoke with Ginny Simone of NRA News on Monday about the trip.

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Melson To Testify According To Report

June 28, 2011 by 1 Comment

The left-leaning on-line news site, The Daily Beast, is reporting that Senators Patrick Leahy and Chuck Grassley have brokered a deal whereby ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson will cooperate with Senate investigators and testify next month. In exchange, Senator Grassley released the hold he had put on three Department of Justice nominations.

The testimony—expected next month from Kenneth Melson, the acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives—was brokered as part of a deal between Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and the committee’s top Republican, Iowa’s Charles Grassley. Grassley and his fellow Republicans were given full access to ATF documents, Melson, and other key witnesses; and in return, Grassley agreed to release three Obama administration nominees he had been blocking, according to correspondence obtained by NEWSWEEK and THE DAILY BEAST.

Grassley had been fighting to get full access for months. He finally got it with a letter Leahy wrote to Attorney General Eric Holder requesting access for both his staff and Grassley’s investigators to the evidence and witnesses in the gun-sting investigation. In return, Grassley agreed to let proceed the nominations of Jim Cole to be deputy attorney general, Lisa Monaco to be assistant attorney general for national security, and Virginia Seitz to be head of the Office of Legal Counsel, the letter shows.

 Melson has been resisting pressure to resign claiming that he had done no wrong in Project Gunwalker and that it had been approved in DOJ. Rep. Darrell Issa and others have flatly stated that the approval goes to the highest levels of the Justice Department.

As head of the agency that conducted the controversial sting, Melson has faced calls for his resignation. But in private conversations with congressional investigators in recent days, Melson has indicated he does not believe he did anything wrong because he carried out his bosses’ wishes and is eager to testify to describe the full picture, according to sources familiar with those conversations.

Issa, who is among those to previously call for Melson’s ouster, is hopeful the acting ATF director can answer crucial questions about what was known above him. “Director Melson has had a long and distinguished career at the Department of Justice. But in the eyes of the public he is, so far, the highest-ranking official who [knew] about gun walking,” Issa told THE DAILY BEAST over the weekend. “[But] I don’t believe he was the highest-ranking official at Justice who knew about or authorized this operation.

“He may still have an opportunity to set the record straight for his agency and get away from being the focus of demands for accountability. We certainly want to hear his full story and see all the evidence about what happened,” Issa said.

I’m surprised that Senator Leahy went along with the agreement. He has always been fiercely partisan and his cooperation will more than likely lead to more trouble for the Obama Administration. If Attorney General Eric Holder survives Project Gunwalker after Melson’s testimony, I’d be surprised.

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Fired ATF Whistle-Blower Vince Cefalu On FoxBusiness

June 27, 2011 by 1 Comment

A day after Rep. Darrell Issa sent a letter to ATF Deputy Director William Hoover warning against the firing of any ATF whistle-blower, ATF Agent Vince Cefalu is fired. Cefalu is one of the founders of the CleanUpATF Forum which seeks to expose the incompetance of ATF management. Cefalu has spoken out forcefully about Project Gunwalker and the leaders that pushed it.

Cefalu blew the whistle on illegal wire-taps in the Road Dog Case and has been forced to twiddle his thumbs for a long while now. Prior to his whistle-blowing, he served undercover in operations targeting white supremecists and motorcycle gangs.
Another well-known whistle-blower, ATF Agent Jay Dobyns, had this to say about his firing: “Ultimately why is Vince being fired. Because he exposed corruption, blew the whistle and helped launch CleanUpATF. This is ATF’s payback.”

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Quote Of The Day

June 27, 2011 by

Saturday a week ago, TSA officials in Florida forced a 95 year-old woman who has terminal leukemia to remove her adult diaper to be inspected. They claimed to have found something “suspicious” on her leg.

Tam at View from the Porch had this to say about this outrage, TSA’s support of the ghoulish thugs who perpetrated this on an elderly woman, and a culture that would allow it.

Seriously, have we reached a point where we, as a nation, are so pants-pissingly scared of a bunch of self-immolating neolithic goatherds that we are willing to inflict any indignity on any citizen at any time rather than expose ourselves to the slightest bit of risk?

I couldn’t agree more. If our forefathers had this same level of risk aversion, we’d still be a colony and the National Anthem would be God Save the Queen.

H/T Markos

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Powerful Video On SWAT Team Excesses

June 27, 2011 by

I just saw this video this morning courtesy of Everyday No Days Off blog. It is produced by Reason TV.

In the light of the Jose Guerena murder (and yes, it was murder) by the Pima County Sheriffs Department SWAT Team, the Department of Education SWAT raid on the wrong house in Stockton, California, and all the other wrong house, wrong person, excessive force no-knock raids, this video deserves to be seen by a wider audience. Pass it on to friends, family, and co-workers.