by Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) was another member of the House Judiciary Committee who asked pointed questions on Operation Fast and Furious during the House Judiciary Committee hearing yesterday.
Eric Holder
Darrell Issa Puts Eric Holder On The Hot Seat
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to watch the live feed from the House Judiciary Committee hearings this morning. From the video just put up by CBS News, it looks like there were some fireworks!
In the prepared statement submitted to the Committee, Holder made no mention of Operation Fast and Furious and only brief mention of anything to due with the border with Mexico.
Over the last year the Department has continued to aggressively combat violence along our country’s Southwest border. We have dedicated significant anpower resources towards working with our Mexican government counterparts to ssist their crime-fighting capacity, and prosecute the cartel members whose drug trade is the root cause of violence in that region.
With regard to firearms, he made only one brief mention and it was only in the context of protecting law enforcement officers.
At the same time, we must work to prevent gun crimes before they occur. I am committed to strengthening systems that prevent individuals who are legally prohibited from possessing firearms from obtaining weapons. This is a critical public safety goal we can achieve without infringing on the rights of lawful gun owners.
If the Judiciary Committee releases a transcript of the hearings, I will post relevant excerpts as they pertain to firearms and Project Gunwalker.
UPDATE: A less edited version of Issa grilling Eric Holder can be found on YouTube. Unfortunately, embedding has been disabled so you will have to watch it here.
UPDATE II: Here is a hot link to Mike Vanderboegh’s report along with reactions from ATF agents to Holders testimony today.
AG Holder Questioned On ATF At Appropriations Hearings
The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and Science held appropriation hearings on the Department of Justice’s FY 2012 budget requests. It marks the first time that Attorney General Eric Holder has been called on to testify under oath since the Project Gunwalker scandal has really erupted.
A video webcast of the hearings can be found here.
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) is the Ranking Member on this subcommittee. She expressed her reservations about ATF’s Operation Gunrunner in her opening remarks (38:15 – 39:25). When it was her turn to question Holder, she asked him directly about Operation Gunrunner (53:45 – 56:00). He responded that “letting guns walk is not acceptable” and that he had made that clear to U.S. Attorneys and field ATF offices. He noted that firearms are different than drug or money laundering cases where investigators might want to follow the money or drugs.
Later in the hearings, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) tried to get Holder to commit to supporting both a ban on standard capacity magazines and the “gun show loophole” (83:30 – 86:30). In both cases, Holder said they should examine the ban and private sales but wouldn’t commit to endorsing Lautenberg’s measures. He said the administration was looking at measures that would “respect the Second Amendment yet still protect law enforcement officers.” Lautenberg also threw out some poll numbers saying 69% of Americans support closing the “gun show loophole”. I presume these come from the same discredited polls put out by Bloomberg and his Illegal Mayors.
The website MainJustice.com also has a report on these hearings.
UPDATE: CBS News has better video of Holder’s answer to Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison’s question about Project Gunrunner.
SAF Sues Holder and FBI Over Misdemeanor Gun Rights Denial
The Second Amendment Foundation released the following this evening:
SAF SUES ERIC HOLDER, FBI OVER
MISDEMEANOR GUN RIGHTS DENIALBELLEVUE, WA – Acting on behalf of a Georgia resident and honorably discharged Vietnam War veteran, the Second Amendment Foundation today filed a lawsuit against Attorney General Eric Holder and the Federal Bureau of Investigation over enforcement of a federal statute that can deny gun rights to someone with a simple misdemeanor conviction on his record.
The lawsuit was filed in United States District Court for the District of Columbia. SAF and co-plaintiff Jefferson Wayne Schrader of Cleveland, GA are represented by attorney Alan Gura, who successfully argued both the Heller and McDonald cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.
In July 1968, Schrader, then 21, was found guilty of misdemeanor assault and battery relating to a fight involving a man who had previously assaulted him in Annapolis, MD. The altercation was observed by a police officer, who arrested Schrader, then an enlisted man in the Navy, stationed in Annapolis. The man he fought with was in a street gang that had attacked him for entering their “territory,” according to the complaint.
Schrader was ordered to pay a $100 fine and $9 court cost. He subsequently served a tour of duty in Vietnam and was eventually honorably discharged. However, in 2008 and again in 2009, Mr. Schrader was denied the opportunity to receive a shotgun as a gift, or to purchase a handgun for personal protection. He was advised by the FBI to dispose of or surrender any firearms he might have or face criminal prosecution.
“Schrader’s dilemma,” explained SAF Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb, “is that until recently, Maryland law did not set forth a maximum sentence for the crime of misdemeanor assault. Because of that, he is now being treated like a felon and his gun rights have been denied.
“No fair-minded person can tolerate gun control laws being applied this way,” he added. “Mr. Schrader’s case is a great example of why gun owners cannot trust government bureaucrats to enforce gun laws.”
The complaint is not yet up on the Federal Courts Pacer site. As soon as it is, I will post the complaint.