Andrew Traver

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BATFE And Proposed “Two-A-Day” Long Arms Regulation

December 20, 2010 by 1 Comment

The Washington Post is reporting that the BATFE is requesting an “emergency regulation” that would require Federal Firearms Licensees along the Mexican border to report any sale of two or more semi-automatic rifles in a caliber greater than .22 that may accept a detachable magazine within any five consecutive day period. The actual language from the Federal Register reads:

The purpose of the information is to require Federal Firearms Licensees to report multiple sales or other dispositions whenever the licensee sells or otherwise disposes of two or more rifles within any five consecutive business days with the following  characteristics: (a) Semi automatic; (b) a caliber greater than .22; and (c) the ability to accept a detachable magazine.

The Post headlines the article “Proposal calls for gun dealers to report bulk sales of assault weapons” which makes it seem like BATFE is talking about crate sized sales of AK’s and AR’s sold in Arizona. Despite what the Post would have you believe, it doesn’t matter if you live in Tucson, Arizona or Talkeetna, Alaska the requirement is the same.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation calls the Post on this and has some suggestions for commenting on this proposed “emergency regulation”:

ATF to Require Multiple Sales Reports for Long Guns
December 17, 2010 By Larry Keane

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is moving to require federally licensed firearms retailers to report multiple sales of modern sporting rifles beginning January 5, 2011. Specifically, the ATF requirement calls for firearms retailers to report multiple sales, or other dispositions, of two or more .22 caliber or larger semi-automatic rifles that are capable of accepting a detachable magazine and are purchased by the same individual within five consecutive business days.

Today’s Washington Post suggests that the reporting mandate would be limited to retailers along the Southwest border; however, the Federal Register Notice does not limit the geographic scope of the reporting requirement.

This ATF “emergency” mandate was originally pushed by the anti-gun Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG) coalition, headed by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, more than a year and a half ago. And the Post reports that the Department of Justice has “languished” over this plan for several months. Given this timetable, it’s hard to see exactly where the “emergency” is.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation opposes this reporting requirement because it further burdens America’s law-abiding firearms retailers with yet another onerous regulation that will do nothing to curb crime. Multiple sales reporting of long guns will actually make it more difficult for licensed retailers to help law enforcement as traffickers modify their illegal schemes to circumvent the reporting requirement, thereby driving traffickers further underground. This is not unlike how criminals maneuvered around one-gun-a-month laws in states like Virginia – which is still considered an “exporting source state” by anti-gun organizations like the MAIG despite its restrictions on the number of firearms law-abiding residents may purchase.

Multiple sales reporting for long guns is an ill-considered mandate and one that ATF does not have the legal authority to unilaterally impose. In fact, ATF has not specified under what legal authority it presumes to act. The decision as to whether ATF can move forward with this agenda-driven mandate will be left to Cass Sunstein who heads the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). This is the same Cass Sunstein who in a 2007 speech at Harvard University said, “We ought to ban hunting, if there isn’t a purpose other than sport and fun. That should be against the law. It’s time now.”

NSSF will be submitting comments in opposition to this registration scheme and is encouraging all firearms retailers, sportsmen and enthusiasts to do the same.

Please voice your concern by doing the following:

1. Call the Office of Management and Budget, Office of Information and Regulation Affairs, Department of Justice, Desk Officer at (202) 395-6466.

2. E-mail Barbara A. Terrell, ATF, Firearms Industry Programs Branch at Barbara.Terrell@atf.gov

3. Call your Senators and Representative: United States Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121

Points to make:

1.Multiple sales reporting of long guns will actually make it more difficult for licensed retailers to help law enforcement as traffickers modify their illegal schemes to circumvent the reporting requirement. Traffickers will go further underground, hiring more people to buy their firearms. This will make it much harder for retailers to identify and report suspicious behavior to law enforcement.

2.Long guns are rarely used in crime (Bureau of Justice Statistics).

3.Imposing multiple sales-reporting requirements for long guns would further add to the already extensive paperwork and record-keeping requirements burdening America’s retailers – where a single mistake could cost them their license and even land them in jail.

4.Last year, ATF inspected 2,000 retailers in border states and only two licenses were revoked (0.1%). These revocations were for reasons unknown and could have had nothing to do with illicit trafficking of guns; furthermore, no dealers were charged with any criminal wrongdoing.

5.According to ATF, the average age of a firearm recovered in the United States is 11 years old. In Mexico it’s more than 14 years old. This demonstrates that criminals are not using new guns bought from retailers in the states.

6.Congress, when it enacted multiple sales reporting for handguns, could have required multiple sales of long guns – it specifically chose not to.

This “emergency regulation” goes along with the Department of Justice Inspector General report on Operation Gunrunner released back in November. At the time, Deputy Director Kenneth Melson said he concurred in the recommendation to require reporting of multiple long arm sales but thought it required a change in the law. Now that Andrew Traver has been nominated as Director and I presume is now the Acting Director of ATF, I guess how the law reads is of no great importance as long as the words “emergency” and “Mexico” are used in conjunction.

See also Sebastian’s post regarding the statutory authority for BATFE to do this. There is none.

UPDATE: Thanks to Kurt Hofmann, .45Superman, who pointed out that the caliber restriction is for calibers greater that .22 which presumably means an AR-15 in .223 would be covered. I had originally read it as .22 or above. I guess they were afraid of irritating people who were merely buying Ruger 10/22’s for their twin sons.

UPDATE II:  David Codrea put up a special Gun Rights Examiner column on this issue. It is well worth reading. With regard to the ATF’s notice in the Federal Register, he says:

That’s funny. I don’t see anything in there about “Assess where in the Constitution such authority in data-gathering is determined consistent with the intent of the Founders that ‘the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.’” I guess that kind of archaic thinking generally results in a scornful “Are you serious?” rejection these days…

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Is Harry Reid Greasing The Skids For Andrew Traver?

December 19, 2010 by

According to a post from the NFA Owners Association, it seems that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has not scheduled any hearings or votes on the nomination of Andrew Traver to head ATF.

From their post:

“Pinky” Reid is showing his true colors again.
He is stealthily, but very clearly, supporting anti-gun zealot Andrew F. Travers, to become the new head of BATFE. He has to do this by stealth in order to maintain the myth that he is a strong supporter of our RKBA.

Reid has NOT made any real effort to ensure the Traver nomination is voted on before congress adjourns.

This is typical of him.

He will let Traver become a recess appointment, then continue to claim that he “really does” support our RKBA. If anyone complains he will deny all responsibility, probably blaming the republicans for time running out.

Readers here might remember that one of the claims for allowing Reid to remain in office was that he is SENATE MAJORITY LEADER, and a (claimed) supporter of our RKBA. IF he TRULY wanted Traver’s nomination to be scheduled and voted on it would be.

I checked with his DC and local office, asking when a hearing would be held.
They could not give me a direct answer. The D.C. office insisted they did not know, and transferred me to a busy signal. The Carson office promised to send me a written response, which I expect to get several days after the question is moot.

We can let him slide on this, or we can demand that he actually make more than a token effort to REPRESENT US on this!

Contact info:

Senator Harry Reid (D) NV.
Web site: http://reid.senate.gov
Mail: United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510-2803
Ph. (202) 224-3542, Fax (202) 224-7327

Carson City – Ph. (775) 882-7343

Reno – Ph. (775) 686-5750

Las Vegas Ph. (702) 388-5020

Rural Mobile – Ph. (775) 772-3905

Using senate rule 14 Reid could easily bring the Travers nomination to a vote before the “Lame Duck” session’s end.

That he is NOT doing so confirms for me that he intends to see ATF headed by an anti-RKBA zealot via “Recess Appointment”, and deny all responsibility for it.

I checked status on this before posting, as of today there is still no hearing scheduled for the Travers appointment.

While this does make some sense and would make it easier for Traver to be a recess appointment, I have to say I doubt that not scheduling a vote on Traver is akin to pushing Traver. Reid has plenty of other things on his agenda before the end of this session that are of greater importance to both Reid and Obama than Andrew Traver. Indeed, Reid has threatened to not recess the Senate in order to get it all in before the new Congress forms in January.

Full hearings in the Judiciary Committee take time for any nomination. Checking the committee’s website, no hearings of any sort have been scheduled for the month of December. They also have a number of judicial nominees that have had their hearings waiting for confirmation.

The last hearings held by the full committee were on November 17th which was the same day that Traver’s nomination was sent to the Senate. The hearings on the 17th were for judicial nominations from May.

Frankly, I hope Harry Reid carries through with his stupid obstinate refusal not to recess because it prevents any recess appointments. Let’s face it, castrating the U.S. military’s nuclear capability is more important to Obama and Reid than Andy Traver.

H/T SayUncle

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Rahm and Andrew Traver

December 18, 2010 by

In a story in the Washington Post that I linked to yesterday about the BATFE’s proposal to require reporting of multiple purchases of certain rifles was a little tidbit about who pushed the nomination of Andrew Traver in the Obama Whitehouse. Turns out it was Rahm Emanuel according to Ben LaBolt who is a spokesman for Emanuel’s mayoral campaign.

LaBolt said that Emanuel recommended Andy Traver of Chicago to be nominated by Obama to be director of the ATF and was the “point man” in the Clinton administration when Congress passed an assault weapons ban and required background checks for gun sales. Clinton later blamed those bills for the GOP takeover of Congress in 1995.

The plot thickens.

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Alumni Magazines Always Say Nice Things

December 11, 2010 by

The Northern Illinois University online magazine NIU Today put out a “puff piece” on NIU alumnus Andrew Traver this week. They described him as a “great friend” to the Sociology Department.

Obama nominates NIU alum to head ATF

An NIU alumnus and “great friend” to the sociology department has been nominated to a key post in the administration of President Barack Obama.

Obama nominated Andrew Traver, a native of Naperville, to head the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

Traver, who currently serves as the agency’s special agent in charge at its Chicago field office, graduated summa cum laude from NIU in 1985. He majored in sociology with an emphasis in criminal justice.

Jack King, internship placement coordinator for the Department of Sociology, described Traver as a “great friend of the department” who has visited campus two or three times a semester in recent years to speak with students.

“This semester he spoke in my Introduction to Sociology class and in a criminology class. He has also spoken at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Lifelong Learning Institute,” King said.

“ATF has also provided internships for sociology majors for the past four years,” King added. “We have an intern with the agency this semester.”

Traver has spent 23 years with the ATF, starting with the Chicago branch in 1987 before taking positions in Philadelphia, New Orleans and San Francisco. He is most known for his attempts in clearing Chicago’s city streets of gang violence.

ATF has not had a permanent director since Carl Truscott’s resignation in 2006. Traver is the first ATF special agent to be presidentially nominated.

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WIFLE Endorses Andrew Traver

December 9, 2010 by

Women in Federal Law Enforcement or WIFLE have issued a press release urging the Senate to confirm Andrew Traver to head ATF and Michele Leonhart to head DEA:

Women in Federal Law Enforcement (WIFLE) support Top Justice Department Nominations

By Margaret Moore, President, WIFLE

Dated: Dec 08, 2010

Michele Leonhart, the nominee for the Drug Enforcement Administrator, and Andrew Traver, the nominee for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Director, has the support of the Women in Federal Law Enforcement, (WIFLE).

WIFLE believes that these nominees are the best choices to lead their respective agencies. We urge the Judiciary Committee to support these important nominations.

“It is critical that ATF and DEA have confirmed leaders. With drug violence and gang violence permeating our country, Congress is leaving two essential Justice Department agencies’ top positions vacant. This is not
an effective way to combat violence in a comprehensive manner. WIFLE urges congress to act now and do justice to the men and women of ATF and DEA who risk their lives every day to protect our nation from the scourge of violence and drug abuse. It is not fair to the citizens of our country–or to the agents and support personnel who are on the front lines–to leave these important agencies without permanent leadership. We implore the Judiciary Committee to provide ATF and DEA with much needed stability and
confirm Andrew Traver and Michele Leonhart.”

I have never heard of WIFLE whose name reminds me of a game I used to play as a kid. Their prime website as found in Google, http://www.wifle.org/, has a placeholder from their website provider.

From policeone.com about WIFLE:

The two WIFLE organizations work in tandem to promote and support women in federal law enforcement. The WIFLE Foundation, Inc., incorporated in 2006, is the educational entity providing for the Annual Leadership Training Conference, the Scholarship Program, research, and other programs. The WIFLE Scholarship Fund provides scholarship monies to students pursing educational opportunities in law enforcement related fields. Women in Federal Law Enforcement, Inc. was incorporated ten years ago in June 1999 to serve as a professional organization for women and men in federal law enforcement. It is an outgrowth of the former Interagency Committee on Women in Federal Law Enforcement created in 1978 and cosponsored by the U.S. Departments of Justice and Treasury. Together, these three tax-exempt organizations form WIFLE’s unique identity supporting federal law enforcement.

The WIFLE endorsement seems aimed as much at getting that organization some new coverage as it is on pushing the nomination of Andrew Traver.

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No Surprise Here – IACP Endorses Traver To Head ATF

December 8, 2010 by

In what should come as no surprise to anyone, the International Association of Chiefs of Police announced their endorsement of Andrew Traver to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. The announcement was made on Thursday, December 2nd.

Given his membership in the organization and his past involvement with their gun control efforts and conferences, you would have expected them to announce this over two weeks ago when Traver was nominated to fill the position. It makes you wonder if they were waiting for the furor to die down so they could sneak this in under the radar.

Their press release of the endorsement said:

Police Chiefs Announce Support for Traver Nomination
IACP calls Andrew Traver Ideal Choice to Lead ATF

Alexandria, VA: The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) today announced its strong support for the nomination of Andrew Traver to serve as the Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

Stated IACP President Mark Marshall, Chief of the Smithfield, VA Police Department, “A career law enforcement professional like Andrew Traver is an ideal selection to lead ATF. Throughout his career, Special Agent Traver has demonstrated an unyielding commitment to protecting public safety. His 23 years of experience at ATF have provided him the opportunity to work with law enforcement agencies throughout the United States. He has gained a unique understanding of the challenges and complexities they face in combating firearms violence, gang crime and other threats to our communities.”

Continued Marshall, “The IACP believes that Special Agent Traver’s years of experience, his expertise and his record of success are evidence of his outstanding qualifications to serve as the next Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The IACP urges the Judiciary Committee and the members of the United States Senate to confirm Special Agent Traver’s nomination in a timely fashion.”

Founded in 1893, the IACP is world’s oldest and largest association of law enforcement executives with more than 20,000 members in over 100 countries.

###

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GOA on Traver Nomination

November 30, 2010 by 5 Comments

Gun Owners of America has weighed in on the nomination of Andrew Traver to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. I am a bit surprised that they waited so long to issue a statement given that the NRA and the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms issued strong statements within a few days of the nomination.

From GOA:

Obama Nominates Rabid Anti-gunner to Head the ATF
— Ask your Senators to Support a Filibuster

Monday, November 29, 2010

It was not a good sign that Barack Obama kept his nominee to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives a secret until after the midterm election –- and then quickly announced that anti-gun zealot Andrew F. Traver would be named to fill the slot.

After being blasted before November 2’s election by the liberal New York Times for failing to beef up the ATF by appointing a director –- for fear of the wrath of the “gun lobby” -– Obama gets right past the election and, presto chango, a nominee appears. How ’bout that?

And not just any nominee.

As special agent in charge of Chicago’s ATF field division, Traver had taken the lead in calling for a ban on semiautomatic firearms.

And Chicago, of course, has been the epicenter of anti-gun government activism. It is not surprising that Traver has also been active in the virulently anti-gun International Association of Chiefs of Police, which has worked to empower Handgun Control-type activists and has commissioned panels to:

* support one-gun-a-month and lock-up-your-safety laws, as well as “ballistic fingerprinting” files on all firearms;

* espouse an “effective” ban on .50-caliber firearms, and a redefinition of “armor-piercing” ammunition that could effectively ban handgun use;

* mandate gun-destruction policies for law enforcement and enhanced funding to go after guns;

* prohibit all private gun sales and make “prohibited persons” out of a much wider variety of persons committing simple misdemeanors;

* back a repeal of the Tiahrt amendment; and,

* allow federal health and safety oversight of the firearms industry (through agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control, the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Food and Drug Administration).

It is disconcerting that ANY organization espousing these views would be taken seriously. That an activist in such an organization would be put in charge of the ATF is truly troubling.

On their website, they have a pre-written letter that you can use to request your state’s Senators oppose the Traver nomination. It can be sent as an email directly from their site.

While good in signaling raw numbers opposed to the nomination, I don’t think that is the most effective means of getting the message across. A personal letter hand delivered to the local office would have much more impact in my opinion. I think if you include with that letter a folder containing the statements of the NRA, CCRKBA, and GOA along with other information on Traver to bolster your argument it would add to the impact.

In the pre-9/11 and pre-anthrax days, a handwritten letter sent to the Senator’s office would have sufficed. With all the mail, email, and faxes that they receive daily, I think even that gets lost in the shuffle. It is much harder to ignore a person standing in front of your staff than it is one letter or email out of thousands received in a day.

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Traver on the AK-47

November 23, 2010 by 5 Comments

View more news videos at: http://www.nbcchicago.com/video.

According to The Truth About Guns blog, this video of Andrew Traver and a reporter shooting an AK-47 which has been circulating on the Internet disappeared for a while. It is back up and worth watching again.

If there were firearms experts on that range, then why was the reporter from NBC Chicago allowed to handle it in such an unsafe manner? Did they purposely have the reporter shoot from the hip in an effort to make a propaganda point?

If a ten year old child soldier in some banana republic in Africa can effectively handle an AK-47, why can’t the reporter? Am I supposed to believe that some warlord would provide better firearms training than the ATF?

I’m sure this video played well on the Chicago Gold Coast but to anyone with any experience with firearms the conscious and deliberate display of unsafe gun handling in an attempt to score political points is an abomination.

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Old Politicians and Old Press Releases Really Never Die

November 20, 2010 by

It is sometimes amazing what documents you can find that are still available on the Internet. I’m not talking about historical documents related to our country’s founding that might be found in the National Archives. Rather I came across this old press release from someone that the State of Illinois would rather forget – then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 14, 2005

Governor Blagojevich launches effort to fight gun trafficking
Governor sets up gun crime unit in State Police; New Gun Trafficking Unit will work with Indiana, Mississippi and federal agencies to stop flow of crime guns into Illinois

CHICAGO – In a new effort to stop the flow of illegal guns into Illinois, Governor Rod Blagojevich today announced the creation of an elite gun trafficking police unit that will work with federal authorities and law enforcement agencies from two other states to detect and capture gunrunners and dealers.

“Most guns used in crimes come from out of state. The more we can stop the flow of illegal guns into Illinois, the less gun crime and gun violence we’ll see. That’s why we’re creating an elite gun crimes unit to reduce the flow of crime guns into the hands of criminals. We’re going to track illegal guns to their sources and crack down on the sale and distribution of illegal guns,” Governor Blagojevich said.

More crime guns flow into Illinois from Indiana and Mississippi than from any other state. According to recent data, 777 crime guns from Indiana and 532 crime guns from Mississippi were located in Illinois. Crime guns from these two states alone nearly equal the total number of crime guns from the next 10 states combined.

Nationwide, close to 90 percent of guns used in crimes are trafficked. In Chicago, for the past two years more than 75 percent of murders involved guns.

Trafficking is when a gun is passed from a legal buyer or seller, to a person or group who are not permitted to have a weapon. Trafficking also takes place when a gun is stolen, sold by a corrupt dealer to a criminal, sold to a legal buyer who gives it to a criminal, or inadvertently sold to a criminal. In Illinois, almost half of traced gun crimes were trafficked from another state.

“Illinois is flooded with a deadly tide of crime guns that come from states that have very lax gun laws. This initiative will have a greater impact on reducing Illinois crime than any other gun safety measure currently being proposed,” said Jim Kessler, Policy and Research Director for Americans for Gun Safety.

The gun-tracing unit will work with authorities in Indiana and Mississippi, coordinating information on purchases, allowing law enforcement to take action. The unit will also analyze federal data to detect trends and patterns and prevent criminal activity.

The unit will be led by a Master Sergeant and will include five new intelligence analysts to study crime gun data and help lead agents to gun traffickers. The state troopers assigned to this unit will be trained by the federal bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF).

The Governor also sent a clear message to those who want to make guns more easily accessible. “Bills that would preempt the home rule and take away the power of cities to enact gun control laws, or that would make Illinois a conceal and carry state, or that would destroy records that will make it harder for law enforcement to trace gun crimes, are bills that would weaken our gun laws and increase crime. If any of these bills reach my desk, let me say it right now: they are dead on arrival.”

Illinois State Police Director Larry Trent, Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics Director George Phillips, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Division of the ATF Andrew L. Traver, and the leadership of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police as well as legislators and leaders from state and national gun control advocacy groups including Americans for Gun Safety, the Chicago Chapter of the National Brady Campaign and the Northern Suburban Chapter of the Million Mom March joined the Governor at the press conference.

Blago, as he has become know in new headlines, was impeached and convicted by the Illinois General Assembly in 2009. He was later tried on Federal corruption charges. Blagojevich was convicted on one count of lying to the FBI when a mistrial was declared on the remaining 23 charges as the jury couldn’t reach a decision. He will be retried on those charges in April 2011.

It is important to remember that Blagojevich always made gun control a central part of his political campaigns. Running for reelection in 2006, he pummeled his Republican opponent mercilessly on gun control especially her opposition to a new assault weapons (sic) ban.

I’m sure that is one news conference and one disgraced politician that Andrew Traver and those supporting his nomination to be the Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives would sooner forget. The beauty (and the curse) of the Internet is that things are never really forgotten.

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CCRKBA Joins Fight Against Nomination of Traver

November 19, 2010 by

This was released yesterday by the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms regarding the nomination of Andrew Traver to head ATF:

CITIZENS COMMITTEE OPPOSES TRAVER NOMINATION TO HEAD BATFE
Thursday, November 18th, 2010

BELLEVUE, WA – The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms today is announcing its opposition to the nomination, by President Obama, of Andrew Traver as director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

Traver is currently special agent in charge of Chicago’s BATFE field division, where he has a history of working with gun prohibitionists. He served as an advisor to the International Association for Chiefs of Police on that group’s 2007 “Gun Violence Reduction Project,” in cooperation with the anti-gun-rights Joyce Foundation. This project involved several high profile anti-gun-rights advocates, but there was not a single representative from the firearms community on the advisory panel.

“The nomination of Andrew Traver is more proof that Barack Obama has complete disregard for the Second Amendment and the rights of firearms owners,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “We have serious concerns that the agency, under his leadership, will maintain any semblance of cooperation with the firearms industry, over which BATFE exercises considerable control.”

Traver helped develop the IACP/Joyce Foundation report, which recommended banning an array of modern sport-utility rifles and .50-caliber rifles used in long-range competition. The report also encouraged Congress to repeal the Tiahrt Amendment that protects sensitive trace data used by law enforcement in criminal investigations from being misued in frivolous municipal lawsuits that have consistently lost in court, and urged the adoption of restrictive gun show regulations that would effectively force them to close.

“Mr. Traver appears to be joined at the hip to various gun control and gun ban efforts,” Gottlieb observed. “The Citizens Committee, its members and supporters across the country oppose this nomination because Traver’s history clear shows that he is not the right man for such an important job.”