Glad to see National Review questioning the need for more gun laws to stop trafficking to Mexico considering the current scandal.
Category: Government
Are We Better Off Without ATF?
Robert Farago of Truth About Guns thinks ATF has seen better days. I think a lot of gun owners would come to regret this, to be honest. Why? Let me outline some points to think about:
- We’ve gone through the trouble to get ATF appointment to be subject to Senatorial confirmation. We’ve been able to block Andrew Traver as a result of that. If ATF is eliminated, enforcement of gun laws will fall to the FBI. Our ability to block an anti-gun FBI Director will be nearly non-existent, because FBI has such broad responsibility. There’s no special interests that are too worried people will start moonshining and smuggling cigarettes in the absence of an ATF Director. Lots of other interests are going to get real uppity if you hamstring the FBI.
- ATF are the Barny Fifes of federal law enforcement. The media doesn’t take them too seriously, or pay much attention to them. Congress does not take them very seriously. Other federal law enforcement doesn’t take them very seriously. On the other hand, the FBI has a very good reputation. Congress will listen to the FBI.
- ATF is stretched thin on resources, and have been for some time. This limits their ability to harass otherwise law abiding people with federal gun laws. Sure, ATF does this sometimes, but the FBI currently views guns as an ancillary mission. We’re not going to screw with FBI’s funding like we can ATF.
- Remember that the FBI was secretly keeping NICS data for years during the Clinton Administration. They are probably still doing it. Usually when ATF makes an aggressive move, it’s done with such bumbling incompetence that a scandal usually quickly ensues. The FBI will screw us in ways we probably won’t even realize, and even when we do realize, they’ll probably get away with it.
So this is another bandwagon I’m not going to get on, at least not unless we can seriously repeal a lot of federal gun laws. It might not seem like it sometimes, but the ATF wolf has largely been caged over the past couple of decades, mostly through appropriations riders, the agency’s own poor reputation, and subjecting the director to confirmation by the Senate. The FBI is a wolf we’re not going to cage, and that wolf has enough fox in him to be dangerous.
Inspiring Confidence
These days if someone finds a powdery substance somewhere, it pretty clearly has to be tested. This happened at NASA recently, and it was found to be cocaine. This wouldn’t be of much note if the same thing hadn’t happened last year:
In January 2010, about 200 Kennedy Space Center workers were tested when a small bag of cocaine was found inside a space shuttle processing facility where Discovery was being readied for flight. That case was closed, and there were no arrests.
Good to know that the employees of NASA are flying high as they prep the space shuttle to fly high. Maybe it helps take the edge off those budget cuts, and impending unemployment caused by the end of the shuttle program.
US Embassy in Mexico Releases Statement
They say Gunwalker is “an operation that dismantled a major arms trafficking ring that has been called Fast and Furious.” Read the whole sad thing. Their damage control is pathetic. From what we’ve seen so far, there was enough evidence to bust those rounded up and indicted for quite some time now. Why did it take this long to make an actual bust?
More on Bean Bags
Looks like the Department of Homeland Security is responding that border officers also have plenty of lethal firepower available to them:
“When the suspected aliens did not drop their weapons, two Border Patrol Agents deployed ‘less than lethal’ bean bags at the suspected aliens,” Hunter wrote. “At this time, at least one of the suspected aliens fired at the Border Patrol Agents,” striking Terry, Hunter wrote.
The question would be what are the protocols? To me, once the officers noticed that the suspects were carrying rifles, bean bags should have been off the table. No one carries a rifle unless they are anticipating trouble. At that point, they should have been ready to return rifle fire as soon as they announced police presence to the suspects. That they were not is either a problem with training or protocol. Simply saying they had lethal options available to them tells us nothing of what they were trained to do in this situation. That’s the question that needs to be answered.
Don’t Take Beanbags to a Gunfight
ATF Has Some Competition
Grassley on Cam and Company
Cam Edwards interviews Senator Grassley (R-IA), who’s been spearheading the Project Gunrunner scandal investigation. Grassley is the Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee, which is the highest minority party position. The Committee is chaired by Democrat Patrick Leahy of Vermont.
NRA Calling for Hearings into “Fast and Furious”
In a letter dated today to Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, and Ranking Member Charles Grassley, and House Judiciary Chairman Rep. Lamar Smith and Ranking Member John Conyers, NRA is calling for a Congressional investigation and hearings on Operation Fast and Furious.
Like a Cheap Bourbon
ATF’s not-so-fast and not-so-furious has been aging four the past four years like a cheap bourbon no one wants to drink (especially not the Mexicans, who, rumor has it, are going to declare ATF’s liaison to that country persona non grata.) Uncle notes that the Mexican gun canard started up around the same time.