Titled “Outgunned,†the 26-page report recommends stronger penalties for “straw purchasers†who illegally buy guns for others and a reporting requirement for multiple purchases of long guns, such as AK-47s. Cummings will hold a forum on the report Thursday on Capitol Hill.
It’s really puzzled me how multiple long-gun reporting would have helped this situation, given that ATF knew about these sales, because they were reported by dealers, and told the dealers to process them anyway. In short, even given what they knew about, they couldn’t mount a competent enforcement operation.
And increasing penalties against straw purchasing? How is that going to help when ATF is facilitating straw purchasing? The penalty for straw purchasing is ten years in prison. How exactly is that toothless? Well, it’s pretty clear why:
Larry Alt, a lawyer and senior ATF field agent, testified that “we don’t get traction with the U.S. attorney’s office. They don’t follow through. They don’t want to prosecute cases.â€
That’s Obama’s justice department, folks. Get a gun control supporting administration and suddenly prosecutions under gun laws fall… for people who are actually criminals.
Agents also said their efforts to combat the cartels would be strengthened with a federal statute criminalizing gun trafficking.
Isn’t gun trafficking already illegal? And pardon me if I’m not worried such a law is going to make it difficult for people like you and me to “traffic” firearms across state lines for the purpose of recreation and competition.
Sari Horwitz chooses to help deflect blame on to our gun laws because like many of our opponents, the only gun violence they really care about is that which can be used to advocate for new controls.
UPDATE: John Richardson notes that the report in question was available on the WaPo web site before it was available on .gov servers. More evidence the WaPo is just a mouthpiece.
The more I read about this fiasco the less it looks like incompetence and the more it looks like conspiracy.
According to John over at No Lawyers, Horwitz obtained the “report” from the Dem committee before it was publicly available on their website. Almost makes you think someone has somebody else on speed dial.
I never bought the stupidity defense. The field agents who actually want to stop trafficing and enforce the current laws were protesting through the chain of command from the start.
It was an operation aimed at me – and every other legal gun owner.
Too bad we cannot enforce the straw purchaser legal penalties against the ATF agents. Arrest and prosecute them (how many would be involved, I do not know) just to make the good point that government agents are not above or exempt from the law.
No need for new laws, just enforce the multitude we already have. Actually, I think most need to be eliminated, but that is another topic.
Oooh…. I haven’t had time to check John’s blog yet today. Let me link that.
Markie Marxist sez: “Yeah! That’s what we’re gonna do! We’re gonna have stronger penalties for “straw purchasersâ€! No more free rides to the border from ATF! From now on, those straw purchaser guys are going to have to supply their own vehicles! And we’re only giving them gas money! It’s a real crackdown! We’re getting tough on those guys!”
Regarding enforcement and penalties for straw purchases, there are really two separate issues:
First, ATF’s complaint mostly focuses on straw sellers – not buyers. ATF’s institutional clients are FFLs. These are the entities that they regulate; therefore, these are also the entities that they refer for prosecutions. ATF has little or no institutional charter to pursue straw buyers. When ATF complains about “paperwork violations,” what they really mean is they want to prosecute individual sellers who they believe have “engaged in firearms commerce without a license.”
Secondly, individual straw buyers typically possess demographics that cause most big city U.S. attorneys to avoid them. They are typically minority women who have been enlisted into buying weapons for male acquaintances (also colloquially known as “Baby Momas”). Most officials view these buyers as victims and not criminals. They perceive little if any gain from vigorous prosecution of these “unfortunate victims of gun violence.”
When ATF and others call for new and stronger laws on “gun trafficking,” what they are really asking for is a radical lowering of the threshold for criminality on any individual gun sale. Essentially, these calls are a backdoor attempt to “close the gun show loophole” and mandate that all firearms transactions nationwide be processed through FFLs.
To paraphrase the 70s classic movie Animal House, liberals and Dems want to put gun owners on “double-secret probation”…
[Dean Wormer’s plotting to get rid of Delta House]
– Greg Marmalard: “But Delta’s already on probation.”
– Dean Vernon Wormer: “They are? Well, as of this moment, they’re on DOUBLE SECRET PROBATION!”
Dann in Ohio