MAIG

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“So What Are You Waiting For?”

June 5, 2011 by 3 Comments

American-born Muslim jihadist Adam Yahiye Gadahn (born Adam Pearlman) released a video the other day that is making the rounds of the Internet. In the video, Gadahn calls on Muslims in the United States to attack Zionists and Crusaders. He says that “America is absolutely awash with easily obtainable firearms” He goes on to say that the jihadis can just go to any American gun show at the local convention center and come away with “fully automatic assault weapons with no background check” and no request for ID.

As one would come to expect, the gun prohibitionists have jumped on this video and are playing it on their websites. Below is a screen shot from Mayor Bloomberg’s Illegal Mayors “Fix Gun Checks” site.

Of course both Adam Gadahn and those gun prohibitionists who believe this live in La-La Land. The going cost of a fully automatic M-16A1 eligible for transfer under the National Firearms Act sells for approximately $16,000 – and includes a background check that can take up to 6 months, fingerprints, photos, a $200 tax stamp, and the approval of the local chief law enforcement official before the transfer takes place.

Those of us in the gun culture know this is a farce. Unfortunately, there will be some that are taken in by this sham.

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Why 70% Of Comments Received Were In Favor Of ATF’s Multi-Rifle Reporting Proposal

May 18, 2011 by 11 Comments

As reported by Reuters and commented on here, over 70% of the comments received by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives were in favor of instituting an additional reporting requirement for multiple sales of semi-automatic rifles in calibers greater than .22. As I said then, it just didn’t pass the smell test.

I was correct. It doesn’t pass the smell test. ATF is correct in that 70% of the comments received were in favor of it. However, examining the comments that have been made available on the ATF’s Freedom of Information Act page, it quickly becomes evident that most of the pro-reporting comments were form letters sent by a bulk mailer program. The comments are identical and just strip in the sender’s name and address. The only variation was whether the comment was addressed to “Dear Barbara Terrell” or omitted that.

It’s time that Obama administration does more to crack down on the gun smuggling carried out by the Mexican drug cartels.

I strongly support the ATF’s proposal to require dealers along the border to report bulk sales of assault rifles, just like they already do with handgun sales. The ATF must use its authority to collect this information and better enforce the laws already on the books.

With more than 30,000 people already murdered in cartel wars, this is an emergency that demands our government’s immediate attention.

It didn’t take much effort to find the source of these form letter e-mails. It was from a site set up by our old friend Mayor Bloomberg and his Illegal Mayors in conjunction with Salsa Labs and Democracy In Action. They have tied themselves into this “progressive network” which also does work for the Democrat Party, the AFL-CIO, and various other causes and political organizations.

Just examining the comments submitted in the A through D files, there were 2,291 identical pro-reporting comments. Below you can see screen shots of the top half and bottom half of the page. Please notice the pre-written “comments” and the logo of the Illegal Mayors.

I won’t say I didn’t find pre-written comments opposing the measure – I did – but they were not nearly as common as those from the Illegal Mayors. I would hope that the ATF does not just look at the number of comments in favor of the reporting requirement but rather at the actual comments. While I don’t have any expectation of this, at least Congress might.

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They Agree On One Thing

April 7, 2011 by 1 Comment

The two men running for Mayor of Jacksonville, Florida agree on one thing. They don’t want any part of Mayor Bloomberg’s Illegal Mayors unlike the outgoing mayor, John Peyton, who is a member.

According to a story in the Florida Times-Union, agreeing on non-participation in MAIG is about the only thing that Democrat Alvin Brown and Republican Mike Hogan do agree on.

Mike Hogan, the Republican, is currently the Tax Collector for Duval County and was formerly a Florida State Representative. Hogan, pictured below with his wife Judy, had this to say on his website about Mayors Against Illegal Guns and the Second Amendment.

Mike Hogan is the only candidate in this race with a proven record of fighting on behalf of Florida’s gun owners. He fought against legislation that would have virtually halted our gun shows and voted for legislation that prohibits state and local governments from suing gun manufacturers. Mike has an A Rating from the NRA.

As Jacksonville’s next mayor, Mike Hogan will continue to fight for the Second Amendment, beginning with an end to the City of Jacksonville’s affiliation with Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a deceptively-named national organization that often puts gun control over crime prevention.

Alvin Brown, the Democrat, is currently Executive in Residence at Jacksonville University’s College of Business and is a former advisor to President Bill Clinton, VP Al Gore, and NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo when Cuomo was Secretary of HUD. He calls himself a conservative Democrat. Brown, pictured below, at a press conference on his position opposing membership in MAIG as reported by the Florida Times-Union.

Brown, asked about (Hogan’s) website reference , said he believed that anything accomplished by the program could be handled locally and saw no need to spend resources to continue in the program.

Brown said he’ll first focus on keeping youths from having the need to seek out a gun that can only be purchased illegally.

“I would focus,” he said, “on making sure we prevent young people from becoming ex-felons in the first place.“

While Brown’s statements above are not as strong on the Second Amendment as those of Hogan, they both agree that participation in Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns is not in the future for Jacksonville, Florida.

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Mayors Upset Over OMB Delay Of Multi-Rifle Reporting Requirement

February 7, 2011 by 1 Comment

With the announcement from OMB that they are delaying the multi-rifle reporting requirement until February 14th, Mayors Bloomberg and Menino are upset. Reading their statements in the context of Operation Gunwalker shows how out of touch they have become.

I really don’t think ATF recognizes an emergency but rather an opportunity to push their agency even if a Border Patrol agent is killed in the process.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 5, 2011
No. 16

STATEMENT OF MAYORS AGAINST ILLEGAL GUNS CO-CHAIRS IN RESPONSE TO WHITE HOUSE DELAY OF ATF POLICY ON REPORTING BULK SALES OF SEMIAUTOMATIC ASSAULT RIFLES

White House Office of Management and Budget Rejected an Emergency Rule Proposed by The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF) to Require Certain Gun Dealers Along the Southwest Border to Report Bulk Sales of Rifles, Including Military-style Semiautomatic Rifles.

The Rejection of the Emergency Rule Could Delay the Implementation of the ATF’s Proposal for Months

Statement of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg

“The White House decided that the illegal trafficking of thousands of semiautomatic assault rifles from the U.S. to Mexico is not an emergency, our coalition of over 550 mayors strongly disagrees. These guns are fueling violence that has claimed more than 30,000 lives and putting our law enforcement officers at risk. ATF recognizes the emergency but we need the White House to give the agency the support it needs do its job effectively.”

Statement of Mayor Thomas M. Menino

“ATF’s emergency proposal to require reporting of bulk sales of long guns would give law enforcement meaningful intelligence about gun trafficking from the U.S. to Mexican drug cartels. According to the Justice Department’s Inspector General, these long guns make up nearly half of the guns recovered in Mexican crimes. ATF has said an overwhelming majority of these guns are traced back to the United States. It is disappointing that the Administration will not act swiftly to give ATF the investigative tools it needs to help stop these crimes.”

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MAIG And CredoAction Push Traver In Joint Website

December 20, 2010 by 1 Comment

Michael Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns and CredoAction have formed a joint website to push the nomination of Andrew Traver to head ATF. The website is called TopCopNow.org. They say that Traver:

Special Agent Andrew Traver has dedicated his career to keeping our families and communities safe from gun violence. He understands firsthand the challenges that the ATF faces and knows what our agents need to keep guns out of the hands of criminals.

CredoAction is a one of the parts of the liberal funding group Working Assets. The group promotes their credit card, cellular service, and long-distance telephone service as a way to support “progressive causes”. With regard to CredoAction, they say, “Our CREDO Action Web site plugs you into a network of like-minded citizen activists and provides easy and effective ways to take action on the issues you care about..” Among the other causes they are promoting currently is the START Treaty and opposition to the crackdown on Julian Assange and WikiLeaks.

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Bloomberg’s Mayors Endorse Andrew Traver

December 20, 2010 by

Somehow along the way I missed this press release from MAIG. They released it in November with their endorsement of Andrew Traver.

November 16, 2010
No. 9

STATEMENT OF MAYORS AGAINST ILLEGAL GUNS CO-CHAIRS BLOOMBERG AND MENINO ON PRESIDENT OBAMA’S NOMINATION OF ANDREW TRAVER AS ATF DIRECTOR

Joint Statement of Coalition Co-chairs Michael R. Bloomberg and Thomas M. Menino:

“On behalf of the more than 500 mayors who have been petitioning for tougher
enforcement of our nation’s gun laws, we commend the President on his nomination of Andrew Traver to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. Mr. Traver has dedicated his career to keeping guns out of the hands of criminals, and his nomination to this post as America’s top cop on illegal guns deserves careful and swift review by the U.S. Senate.”

About Mayors Against Illegal Guns

Since its inception in April 2006, Mayors Against Illegal Guns has grown from 15
mayors to over 500. Mayors Against Illegal Guns has united the nation’s mayors around these common goals: protecting their communities by holding gun offenders and irresponsible gun dealers accountable, demanding access to trace data that is critical to law enforcement efforts to combat illegal gun trafficking, and working with legislators to fix gaps, weaknesses and loopholes in the law that make it far too easy for criminals and other prohibited purchasers to get
guns.

Contact: Mayor Bloomberg’s Press Office (212) 788-2958
Mayor Menino’s Press Office (617) 635-4461

UPDATE: David Codrea at the National Gun Rights Examiner received a very interesting email from a confidential source regarding the Traver nomination. The bottom line is that this nomination is not good for ATF. As the source put it, “Appointing Traver has f***ed ATF royally.”

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The Mexican Gun Story …Again

September 8, 2010 by

As SayUncle notes, we haven’t heard about guns in Mexico in a while. We have ABCNews to thank for pushing the story again.

In a story breathlessly headlined, “Mexican Crime, American Guns”, they talk about a “shocking new report” that has been obtained by ABC News. They “obtained” the report from Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns. You can “obtain” it, too on the MAIG website here.

The study, based on Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) data and prepared by the advocacy group Mayors Against Illegal Guns, shows that three out of four guns used in crimes in Mexico and submitted for tracing were sold in the four U.S. states that border Mexico. (emphasis mine)

The key in all of this data is just which guns are submitted for tracing. The Mexican government is not going to submit the M-16s stolen or sold to drug cartels by the Mexican Army for tracing. This would show that the weapons were originally sold to Mexico under the Foreign Military Sales program. They are not going to submit the AK-47s that the cartels obtain from countries such as Venezuela as that would obscure the story that they are trying to promote. So while the average American is led to believe it is AR-15s and AK-47s submitted for tracing, it is more likely an old H&R Topper single shot 12 gauge that has been cut down.

When you use as the basis of your story a report that is entitled by the gun control organization’s authors as an “issue brief”, you are just as complicit in pushing an agenda as the gun control organization.

A couple of notes on the report itself. First, by using export rates, MAIG can skew the data to make it look like California with their restrictive gun laws is less of a problem than other border states with more relaxed laws. In reality, in 2009, more guns were traced to California than to Arizona, New Mexico, and Florida combined. Using “export rates”, they list Arizona as the “worst” state and California comes in at number five instead of number two.

Second, the efforts by Bloomberg and his allies to weaken the Tiarht Amendment are what allowed ATF to provide this information to MAIG.

The data analyzed in this report was provided by ATF to Mayors Against Illegal Guns on March 4, 2010. Until 2007, this data was not available because Congress had implemented restrictions, known as the “Tiahrt Amendments,” which prohibited ATF from releasing crime gun trace data. However, in 2007 and 2009, after national campaigns by Mayors Against Illegal Guns and over 30 police organizations, Congress relaxed these restrictions on sharing crime gun trace data. Although there are still significant restrictions on the use of ATF crime gun trace data, the recent reforms allowed ATF to provide the data set that is the basis for this report to Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

Providing aggregate level data is one thing. However, this reports shows that individual level data still needs protection from fishing expeditions by Bloomberg and his allies. With Todd Tiarht leaving Congress at the end of this term, we will need to be wary of attempts to weaken the Tiarht Amendment further.