Uncategorized

FoxNews On Project Gunwalker Hearings

June 10, 2011 by

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

The accompanying story reports that DOJ officials are in “panic mode” which they well should be. According to the story, the following will come out in the second hearing scheduled for Wednesday, June 15th:

– The ATF allowed and encouraged five Arizona gun store owners to sell some 1,800 weapons to buyers known to them as gun smugglers.

– It installed cameras inside the gun stores to record purchases made by those smugglers.

– It hid GPS trackers inside gun stocks and watched the weapons go south on computer screens.

– It obtained surveillance video from parking lots and helicopters showing straw buyers transferring their guns from one car to another.

– It learned guns sold in Phoenix were recovered only when Mexico police requested “trace data,” which is obtained from their serial number.

What has really caught my eye about this story is the third item on GPS trackers inside the gun stocks. Back in April, I had a couple of posts discussing GPS trackers after Michael Bane had speculated about it on his weekly podcast. I didn’t go further with this because I couldn’t find evidence of purchases by ATF of RFI tags or GPS trackers within a government contracting/purchases database. I should have looked harder because it appears our speculations were correct.

Uncategorized

Second Operation Fast And Furious Oversight Hearing Announced

June 9, 2011 by 1 Comment

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has announced a second hearing to be held into Operation Fast and Furious (aka Project Gunwalker) next week. According to the notice on the Committee’s website, the 2-hour hearing will take place Wednesday, June 15th.

The Full Committee hearing entitled, “Operation Fast and Furious: Reckless Decisions, Tragic Outcomes” will take place at 9:30am on Wednesday, June 15 in room 2154 RHOB.

The hearing will be streamed live at http://oversight.house.gov.

According to David Codrea’s National Gun Rights Examiner column there will be three panels of witnesses including ATF agents, Senator Chuck Grassley, members of Brian Terry’s family, and Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich.

The manner in which Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) is holding these hearings seems to be very wise. He starts by building the constitutional case for investigating ATF and DOJ and then goes to the consequences of their actions. I anticipate it will go from there and build into making the case that this was no rogue operation dreamed up by SAC William Newell out in Phoenix. Rather it was explicitly authorized by political appointees in the Obama Administration.

This seems to be the argument that Issa made yesterday when he was interviewed on the Hugh Hewitt Show. From the show’s transcript which can be found here. Definitely read the whole thing as Issa goes into other areas of oversight.

HH: … But when did this Fast and Furious program start that countenanced, basically, Americans selling guns with the effort to sting someone on the other side? When did it start?

DI: It started with this administration.

HH: It is?

DI: It started with, literally, the political appointees, many of whom had to approve specifics of this, including funding. And understand, there were agents at the ATF who have testified that they believe this was a good program. And there are agents who gave up their careers, basically, by refusing to be involved in it. So it was controversial. But it’s not about the agents in Arizona, or a similar program in Texas. It’s about the approvals all the way back in Washington. This is the Iran Contra decision. The Iran Contra decision was made by people around the President in the White House. This decision was made at least by people in the Office of Attorney General Holder. And they’re hiding behind every delay tactic they can, claiming that we’re going to interfere with an investigation. I’ve got to tell you, Hugh, I don’t want anyone to walk because of our investigation. But if some meth addict doesn’t get a strong sentence for buying guns, that’s probably not the worst damage if this kind of program continues, and we believe it continues to today.

Comparing it to Iran-Contra is probably correct. That said, I don’t expect the Obama Administration to produce an Ollie North or a Fawn Hall that can generate support and sympathy for the program. An Eric Holder, a Ken Melson, or a Lanny Breur just don’t inspire confidence or sympathy especially given the tragic outcomes. Stopping Communism in the Western Hemisphere hits a little closer to home than trying to build support for more gun control in the United States by helping the violence to increase across the border in Mexico.

Uncategorized

The Battle On the Second Front Has Opened

June 9, 2011 by

As Doug Ritter, chairman of Knife Rights, likes to say, they are the second front in the battle for the Second Amendment. At the 2010 Gun Rights Policy Conference he discussed the plans of his organization to eventually sue the City of New York and District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. over NYC’s vague knife laws.

The second front was opened today with a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The attorney of record is David Jensen who some may be familiar with from his work for the Second Amendment Foundation. Below is Knife Rights’ release announcing the lawsuit.

Knife Rights Sues New York City

Knife Rights today filed a federal civil rights lawsuit to stop New York City from arresting law-abiding citizens carrying common pocket knives.

The lawsuit challenges New York State law on “gravity knives” and “switchblades,” and New York County District Attorney Cyrus Vance’s attempt to mischaracterize the most widely-owned pocket knives in America as contraband. The case seeks a judicial determination that the law is unconstitutionally vague as applied to these ordinary pocket knives.

“District Attorney Vance is trying to advance his political career by exploiting a vague state law to demonize common pocket knives,” said Knife Rights Chairman Doug Ritter. “In the process, hundreds of law abiding knife owners are being arrested and Vance has extracted nearly $2 million from retailers to avoid prosecution on bogus charges. This lawsuit intends to put a stop to Vance’s abusive and unconscionable civil rights violations.”

“One-hand opening pocket knives are legal tools, used and carried every day by millions of law-abiding citizens for work, recreation and self-defense,” said Ritter. “Shame on D.A. Vance for demonizing common tools and turning honest citizens into criminals for purely political ends.”

If you are a retailer or individual who has been targeted for the sale or possession of so-called illegal knives (one-hand opening and assisted opening knives inappropriately claimed to be gravity knives or switchblades), we urge you to immediately contact Knife Rights at: email nycity@KnifeRights.org or call toll-free: 1-866-889-6268.
Joining Knife Rights as plaintiffs are two private citizens, John Copeland, an internationally acclaimed artist, and Pedro Perez, an artist and fine art dealer, both New York City residents. The defendants are New York County District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr., the New York State Attorney General, and the City of New York. Knife Rights is represented by attorney David Jensen. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Knife Rights is supported in this lawsuit by the Knife Rights Foundation Sharper Future Legal Fund™ whose major donors include at Platinum level: Benchmade Knife Co., Blue Ridge Knives, Buck Knives, Columbia River Knife & Tool, Taylor Brands and United Cutlery; Silver level: KnifeWorks.com and Wenger NA; Titanium level: Smokey Mountain Knife Works; Bronze level: Ethan Becker and KA-BAR Knives. Please support those who support your knife rights.

A copy of the complaint can be found here.

Uncategorized

Now We Know Why Dept Of Education Bought Those Shotguns (Updated)

June 8, 2011 by 4 Comments

Last spring there was a story going around the blogs concerning a solicitation to buy from the U.S. Department of Education for 27 short barrel shotguns.

Now we know what they planned to do with them. They went to their SWAT Teams for use in collecting student loans. Unfortunately, this isn’t a joke as this story from Stockton, California illustrates. (The Department of Education is now saying it wasn’t about student loans but may have involved fraud or bribery in connection with student loans.)

According to the story from Sacremento’s KXTV News10 ABC, the Department of Education did issue the search warrant and authorized the SWAT team due to defaulted student loans held by Mr. Wright’s estranged wife who no longer lived with him or their children.


According to the Department of Education’s Office of the Inspector General, the case can’t be discussed publicly until it is closed, but a spokesperson did confirm that the department did issue the search warrant at Wright’s home.

The Office of the Inspector General has a law enforcement branch of federal agents that carry out search warrants and investigations.

Stockton Police Department said it was asked by federal agents to provide one officer and one patrol car just for a police presence when carrying out the search warrant.

Stockton police did not participate in breaking Wright’s door, handcuffing him, or searching his home.

H/T WizardPC 

UPDATE: Links to the embedded video on KXTV are down. I’m not sure why but I have sent an email to KXTV’s news desk asking about the reason. This has been a very popular story on both blogs and Twitter today. Could be that their servers are overloaded.

I just updated the story link as KXTV has updated the story on their website.

UPDATE II: The video and story links have been updated to reflect the latest coming from KXTV News10. The Department of Education is still mum on why they thought they needed a SWAT team to execute a search warrant on the wrong guy.

UPDATE III: Here is a link to a redacted search warrant. There are allegations that Mr. Wright’s wife engaged in student loan fraud. Unfortunately, for Mr. Wright and his kids, the confidential informant wasn’t aware that suspect didn’t live there anymore.

Frankly, I don’t see any justification for a SWAT team on a white collar crime where there is no indication of violent actions. I am assuming that the sole reason that the Dept of Ed’s OIG used a SWAT team was to justify having one.

Uncategorized

Knife Rights Win In The Granite State

June 8, 2011 by

Knife rights just got a boost in the state of New Hampshire. Gov. John Lynch just signed into law a bill that provides state preemption on knives. From the Knife Rights release:

New Hampshire Governor Signs Knife Rights Preemption Bill

June 9, 2011: New Hampshire Governor John Lynch has signed into law the Knife Rights backed Knife Law Preemption Bill, HB 544. New Hampshire becomes the third state in the nation to enact Knife Law Preemption.

Congratulations to NH Rep. Jenn Coffey who sponsored this bill and who worked tirelessly with her colleagues, local advocates and our lobbyist to ensure the bill passed unanimously in both houses of the New Hampshire legislature. Rep. Coffey’s efforts enacted a strong preemption law which will protect knife owners from senseless local ordinances well into the future.

Rep. Coffey won Knife Rights’ Freedom’s Edge award last year for her successful effort to repeal New Hampshire’s prohibitions on switchblades, dirks, daggers and stilettos.

Knife Rights’ National Knife Law Preemption Campaign started successfully last year in Arizona. Earlier this year Utah enacted knife law preemption. Preemption prevents the creation of, or eliminates, a patchwork of ordinances and rules which serve to confuse or entrap those traveling within or through the state. A person traveling in a state without preemption laws could be charged with a violation of local law when they have no intention of violating the law. Preemption ensures citizens only have to know and abide by state law.

Preemption allows Knife Rights to focus its legislative efforts at the state level where it can more easily succeed in improving the legal environment for knife owners or opposing efforts to impose further restrictions on knives.

 As Doug Ritter of Knife Rights likes to say they are the Second Front in the battle for the Second Amendment.

Uncategorized

How They Voted On NC’s HB 650

June 8, 2011 by

HB 650 is one of the two important gun rights bills to pass this North Carolina State House so far this session. The first was HB 111 which allows concealed carry holders to carry in restaurants that serve alcohol (but not drink and carry) as well as carry in state, county, and municipal parks. HB 650 is the more important of the two because it contains the Castle Doctrine as well as a whole host of other improvements in North Carolina’s firearms laws. To get a section by section breakdown of all the bill does, go to A NC Gun Blog where Sean has a complete rundown on each section of the bill.

Because HB 650 is so important, it is critical to know who our friends were on the bill, who was against us, and who talks a good game but you can’t really trust with your gun rights. There were three votes of real consequence on the bill: the McGrady (A3) and Rapp (A4) Amendments and the vote on the Second Reading. Frankly, the vote on the Third Reading was mostly a pro forma vote with only one change – McGrady voting Aye instead of Not Voting – when compared to the Second Reading.

Amendment 3 – The McGrady Amendment

As discussed in more detail here, the McGrady Amendment removed the parking lot protections as well as protection from OSHA from the bill. A No vote on the amendment was the pro-gun vote.

Ayes

Democrat

Adams; Alexander, K.; Alexander, M.; Bell; Bordsen; Brandon; Brisson; Bryant; Carney; Cotham; Crawford; Earle; Farmer-Butterfield; Fisher; Floyd; Gill; Glazier; Goodman; Graham; Hackney; Haire; Hall; Hamilton; Harrison; Insko; Jackson; Jeffus; Keever; Lucas; Luebke; Martin; McGuirt; McLawhorn; Michaux; Mobley; Moore, R.; Owens; Parfitt; Parmon; Pierce; Rapp; Ross; Tolson; Wainwright; Warren, E.; Weiss; Womble; Wray

Republican

Brubaker; Daughtry; Dockham; Dollar; Guice; Howard; McCormick; McGee; McGrady; Rhyne; Stam

Noes

Democrat

Faison; Hill; Spear

Republican

Avila; Barnhart; Blackwell; Blust; Boles; Bradley; Brawley; Brown, L.; Brown, R.; Burr; Cleveland; Collins; Cook; Current; Dixon; Faircloth; Folwell; Frye; Gillespie; Hager; Hastings; Hilton; Hollo; Horn; Hurley; Iler; Ingle; Johnson; Jones; Jordan; Justice; Killian; Langdon; LaRoque; Lewis; McComas; McElraft; Mills; Moffitt; Moore, T.; Pridgen; Randleman; Sager; Samuelson; Sanderson; Setzer; Shepard; Starnes; Steen; Stevens; Stone; Torbett; Warren, H.; West

Not Voting

Democrats – None (Excused – Wilkins)
Republicans – Holloway; Murry; Tillis (SPEAKER)

Amendment 4 – The Rapp Amendment

The Rapp Amendment would have removed the protection given CHP holders on educational properties if they had a firearm in a locked car or locked case within the motor vehicle. Again, a No vote was the pro-gun vote. Unlike the McGrady Amendment, this one failed.

Ayes

Democrat

Adams; Alexander, K.; Alexander, M.; Bell; Bordsen; Brandon; Brisson; Bryant; Carney; Crawford; Earle; Faison; Farmer-Butterfield; Fisher; Floyd; Gill; Glazier; Goodman; Graham; Hackney; Haire; Hall; Hamilton; Harrison; Hill; Insko; Jackson; Jeffus; Keever; Lucas; Luebke; Martin; McGuirt; McLawhorn; Michaux; Mobley; Moore, R.; Owens; Parfitt; Parmon; Pierce; Rapp; Ross; Spear; Tolson; Wainwright; Warren, E.; Weiss; Womble; Wray

Republican

Guice; Holloway; Howard; Samuelson; Stam

Noes

Democrat

None

Republican

Avila; Barnhart; Blackwell; Blust; Boles; Bradley; Brawley; Brown, L.; Brown, R.; Brubaker; Burr; Cleveland; Collins; Cook; Current; Daughtry; Dixon; Dockham; Dollar; Faircloth; Folwell; Frye; Gillespie; Hager; Hastings; Hilton; Hollo; Horn; Hurley; Iler; Ingle; Johnson; Jones; Jordan; Justice; Killian; Langdon; LaRoque; Lewis; McComas; McCormick; McElraft; McGee; McGrady; Mills; Moffitt; Moore, T.; Pridgen; Randleman; Rhyne; Sager; Sanderson; Setzer; Shepard; Starnes; Steen; Stevens; Stone; Torbett; Warren, H.; West

Not Voting

Democrats: None (2 Excused – Cotham; Wilkins)
Republicans: Murry; Tillis (SPEAKER)

Second Reading

An Aye vote on the Second Reading is the pro-gun vote. Unlike the almost pro forma vote on the Third Reading, a vote on the Second Reading is the make or break vote.

Ayes

Democrat

Brandon; Brisson; Crawford; Faison; Graham; Hill; Lucas; McGuirt; McLawhorn; Owens; Spear; Wray

Republican

Avila; Barnhart; Blackwell; Blust; Bradley; Brawley; Brown, L.; Brown, R.; Brubaker; Burr; Cleveland; Collins; Cook; Current; Daughtry; Dixon; Dockham; Dollar; Faircloth; Folwell; Frye; Gillespie; Guice; Hager; Hastings; Hilton; Hollo; Horn; Howard; Hurley; Iler; Ingle; Johnson; Jones; Jordan; Justice; Killian; Langdon; LaRoque; Lewis; McComas; McCormick; McElraft; McGee; Mills; Moffitt; Moore, T.; Murry; Pridgen; Randleman; Rhyne; Sager; Samuelson; Sanderson; Setzer; Shepard; Stam; Starnes; Steen; Stevens; Stone; Torbett; Warren, H.; West

Noes

Democrat

Adams; Alexander, K.; Alexander, M.; Bell; Bordsen; Bryant; Carney; Cotham; Earle; Farmer-Butterfield; Fisher; Floyd; Gill; Glazier; Goodman; Hackney; Haire; Hall; Hamilton; Harrison; Insko; Jackson; Jeffus; Keever; Luebke; Martin; Michaux; Mobley; Moore, R.; Parfitt; Parmon; Pierce; Rapp; Ross; Tolson; Wainwright; Warren, E.; Weiss; Womble

Republican

None

Not Voting

Democrats: None (Excused – Wilkins)
Republicans: Boles; Holloway; McGrady; Tillis (SPEAKER)

Uncategorized

HB 650 Passes Third Reading

June 8, 2011 by

HB 650 has passed the Third Reading and is being sent to the Senate. While I didn’t expect it to happen tonight, it did. The final vote was 77 Ayes to 39 Nays.(corrected)

A fourth weakening amendment to the bill was proposed by Rep. Ray Rapp (D-Madison) who just happens to be my state representative and one of the Minority Whips. His amendment would have deleted that part of Section 4 (see below) which would have allowed a concealed carry holder to have his firearm in a locked car or locked container while on educational property.

(f1) It shall not be a violation of either subsection (b) or (f) of this section for any person to possess or carry a firearm on educational property or to a curricular or extracurricular activity sponsored by a school if the person has a permit issued in accordance with Article 54B of this Chapter or that is valid under G.S. 14-415.24 and the firearm is in a closed compartment or container within the person’s locked vehicle or in a locked container securely affixed to the person’s vehicle. A person may unlock the vehicle to enter or exit the vehicle provided the firearm remains in the closed compartment at all times and the vehicle is locked immediately following the entrance or exit.

Rapp’s amendment failed 55 Ayes to 61 Nays.

Hopefully, the Clerk of the House will have the roll-call votes available tomorrow so we can see who are our friends, who are just kinda with us unless they can find an alterative, and those who are against gun rights in general.

Uncategorized

More On HB 650 From GRNC

June 8, 2011 by

Grass Roots North Carolina’s leadership is pissed about the way certain Republicans including House Majority Leader Paul Stam are treating HB 650. Normally, the Third Reading is done almost immediately and is pro forma. Delaying the Third Reading is done when opponents want to put further amendments on a bill.

Dead-of-night sellout by some members of GOP stands to gut HB 650

Over the strenuous objections of HB 650 sponsor Rep. Mark Hilton (R-Catawba, GRNC ****), part of the Republican caucus is still hammering at HB 650. After first deciding to take up the third and final reading for the bill tomorrow, instead they are taking up the bill again with the intention of stripping language enabling concealed handgun permit-holders to keep firearms in locked compartments on educational property.

Earlier, under the direction of Reps. Paul Stam (R-Wake) and Chuck McGrady (R-Henderson), the following Republicans voted to remove the provision allowing concealed handgun permit-holders to keep guns in locked vehicles at places of employment. The anti-gun votes by Republicans were cast by: Brubaker, Daughtry, Dockham, Dollar, Guice, Howard, McCormick, McGee, McGrady, Rhyne, and Stam.