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White House – No Comment On Project Gunwalker

March 7, 2011 by

If the Obama White House thought they could avoid questions on Operation Fast and Furious (aka Project Gunwalker) and the ensuing scandal, they were sadly mistaken. Chip Reid of CBS News was the first to ask the question of the new White House Press Secretary Jay Carney. You can see video of the exchange here.

Q. CBS has been pursuing a story over the past week or so about gunrunning in Mexico — hundreds and hundreds of guns going into Mexico, with the knowledge of ATF. They had hoped it would lead them to the big fish, but it didn’t work. And there are two developments on that today. There’s an IG investigation been ordered at Justice. And Mexico has asked for whatever details the United States can provide on that. Do you have any comment on the story and on these developments today?

MR. CARNEY: Chip, I don’t. Obviously, as the President pointed out when he spoke here with President Calderón, we take the issue of the flow of guns south very seriously, as we do the issue of the flow of drugs north. And — but beyond that I don’t have any comments.

Q Is he aware of the specific allegation that —

MR. CARNEY: I don’t know.

Q — hundreds of guns went into Mexico with the knowledge of ATF?

MR. CARNEY: I don’t know, Chip.

If Carney thought that put the matter to rest, he was mistaken because a few minutes later he got another question on that same issue from Peter Maer of CBS News Radio.

Q. Following up on Chip’s questions about this gun strategy that the ATF was running — given the President’s strong statements about the southward flow of weapons when the Mexican President was here, would he condone an ATF plan that uses — in effect, uses guns as bait?

MR. CARNEY: Peter, I just don’t have anything for you on that except to point you to his statements about his concerns, our concerns about the flow of guns south. But this — for other questions about this story I would point you to the Department of Justice.

Q Just to confirm, you don’t have anything because you weren’t aware of this or —

MR. CARNEY: I just don’t have anything to add to what I just said.

Q Can you take that question and perhaps be able to elaborate on it for us in terms of —

MR. CARNEY: If there’s something I can find out about it, I will. But asking me a hypothetical about whether the President would or would not —

Q Oh, it’s not hypothetical. The program exists, or existed.

MR. CARNEY: I’ll see what I can find out about it.

UPDATE: The White House posts video of their press briefings on YouTube. I was able to excerpt the second round of questions on ATF and gunrunning.

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Win!

March 7, 2011 by

In an alternative version of March Madness, Aaron Spuler has the monthly gun contests up on his blog. You can see the contests here.

Among the free guns are a number of 1911’s and a semi-auto “Tommy Gun”.

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2011 Gun Rights Policy Conference

March 7, 2011 by 2 Comments

Pre-registration for the 2011 Gun Rights Policy Conference put on by the Second Amendment Foundation is now open. The conference will be held September 23-25 in Chicago at the Hyatt Regency Airport hotel. You can go here to pre-register.

The Second Amendment Foundation puts on this conference annually and it is free. Let me repeat that – the cost to attend is free – and you come home with literally a pile of Second Amendment books, journals, and other resources.

Past GRPCs have outlined victory plans and made public the latest firearms trends. They allow you a first-hand chance to hear movement leaders–and make your voice heard.

This year we’ll take a look at critical issues such as: city gun bans, youth violence, “smart” guns, concealed carry, federal legislation, legal actions, gun show regulation, state and local activity. We’ll also preview the upcoming court cases and revisit the U.S. Supreme Court Heller Decision.

The full roster of GRPC 2011 speakers has not yet been set. Past speakers include: Alan M. Gottlieb, Joseph P. Tartaro, U.S. Representatives Ron Paul, Chris Cannon, Bob Barr & Jean Schmidt, Robert Levy, Esq. & Alan Gura, Esq., counsel for the Heller case, Wayne LaPierre, John Lott, G. Gordon Liddy, Michael Reagan, Larry Elder, Ken Hamblin, and many others.

Alan Gottlieb enjoys bringing the conference to the belly of the beast so to speak. Last year’s conference was in San Francisco which I had the pleasure to attend. You can see my reports on it here, here, and here.

In San Francisco, the local MTA had a policy prohibiting the showing of firearms in ads on their buses and bus stop enclosures. The SAF took this as a challenge and put up posters announcing the conference which featured an Oleg Volk photo with a woman and a shotgun. Frankly, I can’t wait to see what they do this year!

So if you live in the region or if you can get a plane ticket for a reasonable price, I’d certainly encourage you to attend. I met a lot of great people at the 2010 GRPC and I really hope to get back to the one in Chicago. I understand that a whole contingent will be coming from the Gun Rights Radio Network and that the plaintiffs in McDonald v. Chicago will be honored at this event.

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Another Nation Heard From

March 7, 2011 by 1 Comment

So far the government of Mexico has been fairly quiet on Project Gunrunner aka “Fast and Furious” aka Project Gunwalker. While the Mexicans have blamed American guns on a regular basis for their problems as they descend into a narco-terrorist state, they have not said much of anything on Project Gunwalker.

They have now.

First reported on a Mexican website yesterday and subsequently by CBS and the BBC, the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) has made a formal request to the United States for the details of the “Fast and Furious” operation. The BBC says about the request:

In a statement, the Mexican foreign ministry said it would follow US Justice Department and ATF investigations into the operation with “special interest”.

“The aim of the governments of Mexico and the US is to stop the trafficking of arms on the basis of shared responsibility, and both sides are working to strengthen bilateral cooperation on this issue,” it said.

As has often been noted and CBS’s Sharyl Attkisson has reemphasized:

ATF sources tell CBS News that Mexican officials were intentionally kept in the dark for fear that they would jeopardize the controversial program. The strategy drew fierce criticism from federal agents ordered to employ it, including John Dodson. Dodson told CBS News that that letting guns “walk” endangered too many lives.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) posted a notice of their request on the SRE website in Spanish. If someone with better Spanish than me would like to translate it, I’ll be glad to post their translation. That said, even though I last took high school Spanish over 35 years ago I can make out the gist of it.

Posición ante reportes sobre la operación denominada “Fast and Furious” de la ATF

Sábado 05 de Marzo | Comunicado # 065 | México, D.F.

En relación con la información dada a conocer por diversos medios de comunicación estadounidenses y mexicanos sobre una operación denominada Fast and Furious conducida por la Oficina de control de Alcohol, Tabaco, Armas y Explosivos (ATF) del Departamento de Justicia de Estados Unidos, la Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores manifiesta lo siguiente:

1. Se ha procedido a solicitar información detallada sobre este asunto a las autoridades estadounidenses.

2. El Gobierno de México seguirá con especial interés las investigaciones anunciadas tanto por ATF como por el Departamento de Justicia.

3. El objetivo de los gobiernos de México y de Estados Unidos es detener el tráfico de armas sobre la base del principio de responsabilidad compartida y ambos trabajan para fortalecer la cooperación bilateral en la materia. Dicha prioridad fue ratificada por los Presidentes de México y Estados Unidos el pasado 3 de marzo, en Washington.

Checking the State Department’s website, there is no word yet of any reaction to the Mexican Government’s request. That said, Mike Vanderboegh reports a rumor of a meeting today at the State Department to discuss the issue. I wonder if any undiplomatic language will be used at the rumored meeting.

UPDATE: The Washington Post is reporting this evening (March 8th) that legislators from all three major Mexican political parties are calling for a joint Mexican-US working group to investigate ATF’s Operation Fast and Furious. Moreover,

Congressman Humberto Trevino estimated Tuesday that 150 shooting injuries or deaths have been linked to guns that were allowed to proceed into Mexico as part of a U.S. effort to build cases against traffickers.

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Grassley – “Like A Skunk At A Picnic”

March 6, 2011 by 1 Comment

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) released a statement Friday on Project Gunwalker and on ATF Agent John Dodson’s on-camera interview with Sharyl Attkisson of CBS News.

ATF Whistleblowers Question SW Border Strategy

Last night, for the first time an agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) spoke publicly with CBS News and The Center for Public Integrity about his concerns that the agency he works for had knowingly let guns be purchased by straw buyers.

This whistleblower, and more than a dozen more ATF agents, tell me that their supervisors kept them from stopping gun traffickers with the normal techniques that had been successfully used for years. They were ordered to only watch and continue gathering information on traffickers instead of arresting them as soon as they could. In the meantime, the guns were allowed to fall into the hands of the bad guys, while the agents knew there was wrongdoing going on.

Many of the guns have subsequently been found in firefights along the border, including one firefight where Customs and Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed on December 14, 2010.

The ATF agents who spoke with my staff warned their supervisors that this kind of risky operation would get someone killed. Tragically, they were right. The ATF clearly had plenty of information on the bad guys. The problem was that they didn’t act on the information they had.

I’ve been hounding the Justice Department and the ATF to come forward and be accountable to the American people and the family of Agent Terry. There remain unanswered questions about what transpired at the ATF and the Department of Justice during this time period and the policy that allows guns to walk. Up to this point, I’ve gotten nothing but stonewalling to my five letters. Federal officials have given both me and the Terry family the cold shoulder. And, to make matters worse, they’ve made this whistleblower feel like a skunk at a picnic for simply telling the truth.

My oversight efforts won’t stop. I’ll be looking for answers to my inquiries and working to get to the bottom of how the ATF could let guns be purchased by known straw dealers and then transferred across the border. That practice should have ended long before the death of a federal agent finally forced it into the light of day.

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Close The Car Show Loophole

March 5, 2011 by 2 Comments

The following bit of satire was originally published on the Pro-Gun New Hampshire webpage. It is being reprinted with the kind permission of the author, attorney Evan Nappen.

Close the Car Show Loophole!

By Evan F. Nappen, Esq.

[Posted Monday, February 14, 2011, at 6:40 p.m.] At car shows and swaps throughout the United States, cars are sold in private sales with no dealer being involved. Car shows at which cars are exhibited or offered for sale or exchange provide a convenient and centralized commercial location where criminals and other wrongdoers obtain cars without credit background checks and without records that enable car tracing.

We all know that cars kill and that they are one of the biggest killers in the US. Cars cause accidents and facilitate crimes. Cars even cause mass murder and mayhem (like intentionally driving into a crowd). Cars are a menace that must be tightly controlled.

Some of these cars end up in criminal hands as get-away cars or are used by murderers, drug dealers or gang-bangers. Some cars are smuggled into Mexico and used by drug lords there. Convicted felons, mentally deranged persons, domestic abusers, and aliens unlawfully in the US can all buy a car at a show. Even those on the terrorist watch list can go to a car show and buy a car.

Many of these cars have transmissions which are automatic and/or semi-automatic. At these car shows various accessories are freely bought and sold, like extended gas tanks, folding seats and even mufflers. One can also buy “a shoulder thing that goes up,” also known as a safety belt.

Some cars are converted and many are customized. Why would anyone need such a car? The police are “out-carred” on a daily basis. Many departments say they need more horsepower, but can’t afford it. How many must die before we close the car show loophole?

Fortunately, Representative McCarthyism and Senator Lousenburp have filed bills to require all car transfers at car shows and swaps to go through a dealer. They have the full support of Mayor Bloomingidiot and C.M.A.Y.R. (Corrupt Mayors Against Your Rights) Some of the important features of the bill are as follows:

1) It will insure that a credit background check is run, a record is made and all paperwork will be done. Dealers can only sell to customers who have proper identification so a computer check can be done.

2) “Car event operators” must submit names of all “vendors” to the FBI, both before and after the show. It does not matter whether any vendors sold a car. A private citizen going to a car show hoping to sell or trade a car, but who does not find a buyer and leaves with his own car, would remain in a “vendor” file with the FBI forever.

3) It would require registration of car shows. This would allow the authorities to make sure event organizers have no paperwork violations. It would also allow government agents to question car owners who gather for purposes other than selling cars.

4) It allows inspection, at a car show, of a show promoter’s or dealer’s entire business records—including records of transactions that occurred at other shows or at a dealer’s licensed place of business.

5) It turns casual conversations into “car show sales.” A person could still agree to sell a car to a friend in a conversation at the local gas station; but if the same conversation took place at a car show, the credit check requirement would forever apply to that car. It even applies to a car that a seller and buyer talk about at a car show, but don’t have with them.

This should fix the car show loophole. Next to be fixed are the wedding show loophole, home improvement show loophole, sports memorabilia show loophole, coin show loophole, flower show loophole, model train show loophole, doll show loophole, boat show loophole, motorcycle show loophole, comic book show loophole, horse show loophole, golf show loophole, and of course the gun show loophole. If it saves just one life it’s worth it. We have to do it, for the children.

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Attorney Evan Nappen is the General Counsel for Pro-Gun New Hampshire. He practices law in Concord, New Hampshire, and Eatontown, New Jersey.

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WRAL On Gun Rights Legislation In The NC General Assembly This Week

March 5, 2011 by 1 Comment

Laura Leslie, Capitol Bureau Chief for WRAL-TV in Raleigh, NC, has a report on some of the gun rights legislation discussed in the North Carolina General Assembly this week. It is a fairly balanced report.

The only objection I have is the attempt to find “man on the street” comments objecting to concealed carry in parks. They interviewed someone in a park in Cary which is just outside Raleigh. Cary has been one of the fastest growing communities in the state for the past couple of decades with significant in-migration from Northern states. Unfortunately, many of the newcomers have brought their Northern attitudes especially towards guns with them. This has led to jokes about Cary standing for Containment Area for Relocated Yankees.

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Roundup Of Mainstream Media Reports On Project Gunwalker

March 4, 2011 by 1 Comment

After Sharyl Attkisson’s first report for CBS News on Project Gunwalker, the mainstream media yawned. However, after last night’s report which featured Sr. Agent John Dodson on camera and on the record, the mainstream media has started to wake up. I should clarify that last statement – some of the mainstream media are starting to wake up.

It is still a non-story to the New York Times. At the Washington Post, despite their big investigation into “The Secret Life of Guns” earlier this year, all they saw fit to do was reprint a story from the LA Times.

The Los Angeles Times, however, is reporting on the story in conjunction with Center for Public Integrity.
As part of the story they interviewed Sen. Chuck Grassley who has this to say:

“We still don’t have the documents we’ve asked for. Maybe we will get the documents. But right now it’s stonewalling,” Grassley said in an interview Thursday.

“Too many government agencies always want the big case,” he said. “They keep these gun-running sales moving along, even when they have people within the agency that say something bad’s going to happen. They had plenty of warnings … and the prophets turned out to be right.”

The rest of the LA Times story covered ground that was previously tilled by bloggers and CBS News. Nonetheless, it is important that a major newspaper has come out with the story.

What makes the involvement of the Center for Public Integrity so interesting is that they are a recipient of funding from the Joyce Foundation to develop stories on the “gun industry lobby.” However, given the hard-hitting nature of their latest report here  along with their assistance to the LA Times, I don’t think the Joyce Foundation can be too happy.

The Dallas Morning News ran an editorial on it as the investigation on gun walking has expanded to stores in Texas. Even CNN has a story out on Project Gunwalker this afternoon with extensive reporting of the Grassley investigation.

Fox News is covering it as well. They brought in Judge Andrew Napolitano, their senior judicial analyst, for his thoughts on it. He makes a good point that to really get to the bottom of this the investigation must be done by Congress and it must be in the House. A multi-agency review conducted out of the Department of Justice most likely will result in a whitewash and a Senate investigation could be hindered by the Democratic majority. Whether the House Judiciary Committee will take it up – and has the cojones to see the investigation through – is anybody’s guess.

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Campus Carry For Staff And Faculty Shot Down In Arkansas

March 4, 2011 by

A bill that would have have allowed faculty and staff – but not students – to carry concealed on university and community college campuses in Arkansas was shot down in committee yesterday. The Arkansas House Education Committee considered the bill and voted 8-8 on it. 11 votes are required for a bill to advance for consideration by the full House.

The bill, HB 1479, was sponsored by Rep. Charlie Collins (R-Fayetteville). The bill was explicit in that only full-time faculty or staff would be allowed to carry concealed on campus if they held a CCW. Part-time staff or faculty would not have had that same right. Nothing in the bill applied to students and was explicit that firearms could not be stored in a dormitory or residence hall.

HB 1479 would have applied to all public universities, community colleges, and private universities in Arkansas. However, if the private college or university had an express policy against firearms and concealed carry on campus, then faculty or staff would have been precluded from carrying concealed.

According to the news story by WREG News Channel 3 in Memphis, officials from the University of Arkansas, Arkansas State, and Ouachita Technical College spoke against the bill.

Given all the hyperbole about concealed carry on campus legislation down in Texas, the approach taken by Rep. Collins seemed a reasonable first step. By excluding students it mitigated all the angst thrown up by the anti-rights movement of having drunk frat boys shooting up dorms and parties. Moreover, it only applied to full-time or those with nine-month contracts so you would have had only longer term employees allowed to carry concealed. Presumably, these people were fully vetted when hired. If not, then what the heck are they doing in the classroom in the first place?