Tag Archives: Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives

It’s Hard To Define Something That Has No Definition

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On Tuesday, Townhall posted an article about a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing where Steve Dettelbach, the man President Biden chose to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), was questioned on the definition of assault weapon.

The article reports:

Steve Dettelbach, the man President Biden chose to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), followed in the footsteps of other Biden administration officials who have been stumped by seemingly straightforward questions from lawmakers, questions that deal with subjects within what is supposed to be their purview.

On Tuesday, Director Dettelbach was asked by Rep. Jake Ellzey (R-TX) to give a brief, 15-second definition of the term “assault weapon,” the thing President Biden and Democrats have demanded must be banned within the United States in order to reduce the frequency of crimes committed by individuals with guns. Dettelbach, however, came up completely empty during his testimony in the House Appropriations Committee’s hearing focused on the ATF’s FY2024 budget.

This is how the political appointee danced around the question:

“I’ll go shorter than that because I, honestly, if Congress wishes to take that up, I think Congress would have to do the work, but we would be there to provide technical assistance,” Dettelbach told Ellzey. Huh? So, the man in charge of ATF doesn’t even have a guess when it comes to defining a firearm type that is mentioned and demonized almost daily by the White House?

“I, unlike you, am not a firearms expert, to the same extent as you maybe, but we have people at ATF who can talk about velocity of firearms, what damage different kinds of firearms cause, so that whatever determination you chose to make would be an informed one,” Dettelbach added, confirming that President Biden had put forward another entirely unqualified person to lead a powerful wing of federal bureaucracy.

Actually, I could have saved him the embarrassment–to the Democrats and the people who want to end the right enshrined in the Second Amendment–an assault weapon is any gun that is scary looking. My definition is as valid as his definition.

Hidden (or not so hidden) In Biden’s Budget Proposal

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On March 9th, The Daily Caller posted the following about President Biden’s budget proposal:

President Joe Biden’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2024 proposes increasing funding to the FBI, Department of Justice (DOJ), and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to crack down on guns.

The funding, which draws from a $17.8 billion “investment” in the DOJ’s federal law enforcement capacity, will be used to further regulate the firearms industry, create gun trafficking strike forces, enforce background checks and implement the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, according to the budget. The ATF alone will receive $1.9 billion, a $200 million increase from the 2023 budget.

Alongside the DOJ and ATF, the FBI will receive $51 million to support the continued implementation of enhanced background checks required by the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, implemented in 2022, provided funding for the implementation of red flag laws, expanded background checks and invested in state crisis intervention orders, according to the legislation.

The article concludes:

The ATF’s “zero tolerance” police has been criticized by Republican lawmakers and Second Amendment advocacy groups, as Federal Firearm License (FFL) revocations hit a 16-year high in 2022 under the rule. The increase in license revocations, 92 in 2022 alone, is due to the new policy and the updated procedure that the ATF follows, as they no longer always go through a multi-step process, often opting to pull licenses for a multitude of “willful” violations.

“That’s not how regulatory agencies are supposed to work in the sector that they’re supposed to regulate. They are supposed to help the companies, they’re supposed to ensure compliance but they’re not supposed to punish and destroy an entire industry based on just political opposition or political distaste,” Gun Owners of America’s director of federal affairs Aidan Johnston told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Many of the Democrats currently in power in Washington are working feverishly to overrule the Second Amendment and the freedom it protects. The only way to block this is through continuing court challenges to new regulations. There are a number of organizations that are pursuing these court cases as new regulations are put in place. Please do your research, find an organization challenging these laws, and support their work.

The Constitution Provides A Way To Protect Gun Rights Currently Under Fire

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On Saturday, Breitbart posted the following headline:

The Congressional Review Act Gives GOP House Opportunity to Stop ATF Stabilizer Brace Rule

The article reports:

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) announced the finalization of its stabilizer brace ban on Friday, and within hours, members of Congress were talking about using the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to block it.

The CRA was put in place in the 1990s as part of Speaker Newt Gingrinch’s (R) “Contract with America.” It grants Congress the ability to review a major rule and vote to block the implementation or effectiveness of the rule.

…The U.S. Government Accountability Office explains the CRA thusly: “The CRA allows Congress to review ‘major’ rules issued by federal agencies before the rules take effect. Congress may also disapprove new rules, resulting in the rules having no force or effect.”

Keep in mind that according to the Constitution, rules and laws were made in Congress and only in Congress.

The article reminds us that the ATF has attempted this ban in the past:

In July 2021, when the pistol brace rule was at the proposal stage, Rep. Richard Hudson (R) led 140 members of Congress in suggesting the proposed rule was a tax on “disabled combat veterans.”

Hudson called for the stabilizer brace proposal to be withdrawn, noting that the ATF had many times explained its position that such braces were “legitimate”:

The ATF has repeatedly stated, “the brace concept was inspired by the needs of disabled combat veterans who still enjoy recreational shooting but could not reliably control heavy pistols without assistance. Consequently, ATF agrees that there are legitimate uses for certain ‘stabilizing braces.’” If this is the stance of the ATF, then…[the proposed AR-pistol rule] is not an attempt to curb gun violence as suggested by this proposed guidance, but a direct tax on disabled combat veterans.

The article concludes:

The Congressional Review Act is in place for moments such as this and is apropos if, in fact, the stabilizer brace ban meets all the criteria of a “major” rule.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office explains: “The CRA allows Congress to review ‘major’ rules issued by federal agencies before the rules take effect. Congress may also disapprove new rules, resulting in the rules having no force or effect.”

A rule passed by un-elected bureaucrats who are not accountable to the voters should be immediately null and void.

 

Is This An Indication Of Things To Come?

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On Wednesday, NewsMax reported that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives acting Director Marvin Richardson is being demoted.

The article reports:

U.S. Attorney Gary Restaino will replace Richardson, multiple sources told The Reload.

…”The news that he was being replaced came as a shock to most of us within the agency,” one ATF official told The Reload.

Sources told The Reload that Richardson’s demotion likely resulted from perceptions inside the administration that he was too friendly toward the gun industry.

“This administration has some very strong opinions on guns,” a source told The Reload. “They may have some distaste with that. So, bringing in [Restaino] kind of negates that.”

The move comes after a recent New York Times article featured complaints from gun-control activists that Richardson was “an industry-friendly subordinate pumping the brakes” on President Joe Biden’s progressive gun-control initiatives.

Richardson, a veteran of more than 30 years with ATF, is being moved out of the acting director position months before a permanent director might be confirmed.

On April 11, Biden announced he was nominating former federal prosecutor Steve Dettelbach to run ATF. Administration officials acknowledge Dettelbach faces long odds in the Senate largely because gun-rights groups routinely oppose any nominee for the agency who regulates guns, CNN reported.

The article concludes:

“A lot of the tips that we would get on illegal firearms activity from straw purchasers to traffickers came from dealers,” the source told The Reload. “The reality is just a very, very small percentage of gun dealers are bad. So, those partnerships are important, and Marvin really did a great job at nurturing those relationships.

“The fact that he has those relationships may not have sat well with the current administration. And I’m sure that that might’ve helped them push him out.”

While one ATF source told The Reload that Richardson’s demotion was met with disappointment by many of the staff, another source said, “As a person, he was very well-liked. Marvin is a nice guy, but he’s not a strong leader.”

Restaino spent 18 years as an assistant U.S. attorney before being confirmed as the U.S. attorney for the District of Arizona.

The impact of this decision will be less tips from dealers about illegal firearms activity. This will result in a further uptick in gun violence which the administration will use to justify attempts to disarm Americans. Stay tuned.

When Potential Victims Are Armed, Crime Goes Down

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Breitbart.com posted an article today about the rise in concealed carry gun permits.

The article reports:

On May 22, Breitbart News reported that the demand for concealed carry permits witnessed its greatest surge ever between May 2016 and May 2017. Fox News referenced Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) data showing there were 14.5 million permit holders in May 2016 and approximately 15.7 million in May 2017.

Now the NRA is tweeting data which shows that the bigger picture is not just the one-year surge but a 215 percent jump in concealed carry permits between 2007 and 2015.

…It is interesting to note that the murder rate dropped by 14 percent while concealed carry permits surged. And “the overall violent crime rate” dropped by 21 percent. This is not what the left tells us will happen if concealed carry expands.

This is simply common sense–Grandma is less likely to be mugged if she might be packing!

The article further reports:

On December 4, 2013, Breitbart News reported a Congressional Research Study (CRS) which showed a similar correlation between gun ownership and plummeting murder numbers. Gun ownership climbed from 192 million firearms in 1994 to 310 million firearms in 2009, CRS found that murder rates fell sharply during the same time period. According to the report, the “firearm-related murder and non-negligent homicide” rate was 6.6 per 100,000 Americans in 1993 but fell to 3.6 per 100,000 in 2000. By 2011, the murder rate was 3.2 per 100,000.

Even if you disarmed every law-abiding citizen in America, criminals would still find a way to obtain firearms. At that point you would have armed the criminals and disarmed the victims–not a good idea. I would love to live in a world where guns and other weapons were not necessary at all, but unless human nature undergoes a drastic change, I don’t see that happening. Meanwhile, keep calm and carry.

A Victim Of IRS Targeting Speaks Out

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John Hinderaker at Power Line posted a story today about the testimony recently  given by Catherine Engelbrecht before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Some of Mrs. Engelbrecht’s testimony is reported in the article:

In nearly two decades of running our small business, my husband and I never dealt with any government agency, outside of filing our annual tax returns. We had never been audited, we had never been investigated, but all that changed upon submitting applications for the non-profit statuses of True the Vote and King Street Patriots. Since that filing in 2010, my private businesses, my nonprofit organizations, and family have been subjected to more than 15 instances of audit or inquiry by federal agencies.

* In 2011, my personal and business tax returns were audited by the Internal Revenue Service, each audit going back for a number of years.

* In 2012, my business was subjected to inspection by OSHA, on a select occasion when neither my husband nor I were present, and though the agency wrote that it found nothing serious or significant, it still issued fines in excess of $20,000.

* In 2012 and again in 2013 the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms conducted comprehensive audits at my place business.

* Beginning in 2010, the FBI contacted my nonprofit organization on six separate occasions – wanting to cull through membership manifests in conjunction with domestic terrorism cases. They eventually dropped all matters and have now redacted nearly all my files.

The story continues:

I also refuse to let a precedent be set that allows Members of Congress, particularly the Ranking Member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, to misrepresent this governing body in an effort to demonize and intimidate citizens. Three times, Representative Elijah Cummings sent letters to True the Vote, demanding much of the same information that the IRS had requested. Hours after sending letters, he would appear on cable news and publicly defame me and my organization. Such tactics are unacceptable. It is for these reasons that immediately after this hearing I am filing a formal complaint with the House Office of Congressional Ethics and asking for a full investigation.

If we as Americans continue to elect people who engage in this sort of behavior, we will all eventually pay the price. This is a direct attack on someone who was attempting to insure that an election was honest, and they were attacked by the government. Is that the country we want to live in?

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The Dog Ate My Homework

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In the Friday night document dump by the Obama administration this week, you will find all sorts of documents related to Operation Fast and Furious.

Late last night, Big Government reported on the document dump. The letters are supposed to show how the Department of Justice accidentally gave Senator Grassley on the Senate Judiciary Committee inaccurate information on Operation Fast and Furious.

The article reports:

In a letter last February to Charles Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Justice Department said that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms had not sanctioned the sale of assault weapons to a straw purchaser and that the agency makes every effort to intercept weapons that have been purchased illegally. In Operation Fast and Furious, both statements turned out to be incorrect.

 

The Justice Department letter was responding to Grassley’s statements that the Senate Judiciary Committee had received allegations the ATF had sanctioned the sale of hundreds of assault weapons to suspected straw purchasers. Grassley also said there were allegations that two of the assault weapons had been used in a shootout that killed customs agent Brian Terry.

When asked about the weapon used to kill Brian Terry, former U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke stated in an email that the weapon was purchased in a Phoenix gun shop before Operation Fast and Furious began. That was later shown to be false.

Please follow the link to Big Government to read the entire article. Also keep in mind that had Operation Fast and Furious not been uncovered and made public, the Obama administration would have used ‘the amount of American guns used in crimes in Mexico’ as an excuse to take away the rights of law-abiding gun owners. It wasn’t the gun owners who broke the law in Operation Fast and Furious–it was the federal government.

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If These Records Ever Get Unsealed They Will Be Dumped On Either A Friday Night Or Christmas Eve

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Mark Hemingway at the Weekly Standard Blog reported today:

The Obama Administration has abruptly sealed court records containing alarming details of how Mexican drug smugglers murdered a U.S. Border patrol agent with a gun connected to a failed federal experiment that allowed firearms to be smuggled into Mexico.

This means information will now be kept from the public as well as the media. Could this be a cover-up on the part of the “most transparent” administration in history? After all, the rifle used to kill the federal agent (Brian Terry) last December in Arizona’s Peck Canyon was part of the now infamous Operation Fast and Furious. Conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the disastrous scheme allowed guns to be smuggled into Mexico so they could eventually be traced to drug cartels.

This story has been a nightmare for the administration since the story first broke. On October 4, 2011, Big Government reported on a CBS reporter who had been yelled at by the Department of Justice for reporting on Operation Fast and Furious. These documents need to be made public and the entire story told.

 

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I Really Don’t Understand Who Knew What About Fast And Furious–Or When They Knew It!

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On Thursday, Real Clear Politics posted two transcripts–one of Eric Holder testifying before Congress in May saying he had first heard of Operation Fast and Furious “for the first time over the last few weeks” and another of the President in March saying “Eric Holder has — the attorney general has been very clear that he knew nothing about this. We had assigned an I.G., inspector general, to investigate it.”

I have no idea what the truth is here. My conclusion is that we need an independent investigator to find out why the U. S. Government was engaged in gun running to Mexico. Who knew, what they knew, and when they knew are all questions that need to be answered.

Please follow the link above to Real Clear Politics to read the entire interviews. The whole situation seems to get more confusing every day.

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More Bad News From Operation Fast And Furious

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22 – El Paso, Texas

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On Saturday the Los Angeles Times reported that 100 assault weapons acquired under Fast and Furious ended up in a home belonging to the purported top Sinaloa cartel enforcer in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, whose organization was terrorizing that city with the worst violence in the Mexican drug wars.

The article reports that three months into the Fast and Furious program, El Paso, Texas, began to emerge as a hub for the weapons traffic.

The article reports:

On Jan. 13, 2010, El Paso police stumbled upon 40 firearms after following a suspicious dark blue Volkswagen Jetta that backed into a garage at a local residence, according to federal court records.

The article further reports:

Two others, Ivan Chavira and Edgar Ivan Galvan, were subsequently charged in that gun recovery, along with the recovery of 20 Fast and Furious weapons on April 7, 2010, in El Paso. Those guns also were discovered by chance by local authorities, and ATF trace records show that the weapons were purchased in Phoenix two weeks before they were found in El Paso.

Notice that in both cases, the weapons were discovered by alert police officers–whatever tracing the government claims to have put on these guns was non-existent. The Los Angeles Times also posted a chronology of events regarding Fast and Furious through October 8. It is amazing to realize the scope of this program.

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Speaking Of Incredible Coincidences…

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Katie Pavlich at Townhall.com is reporting that the Department of Justice wants to eliminate the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The move would involve the firing of 450 ATF agents. Some of the duties of the ATF would be transferred to other government agencies; for example, the enforcement of explosives and gun laws would possibly be transferred to the FBI and the DEA.

The article points out that the idea of eliminating the ATF comes just as the investigation of Fast and Furious is uncovering embarrassing links to some of the major players in the Obama administration.

The article points out:

Up to this point, the Department of Justice has denied all allegations or involvement in Operation Fast and Furious, yet journalists and the House Oversight Committee have proved allegation after allegation to be true. For example, during a Congressional  hearing in July, former ATF Special Agent in Charge William Newell, who has since been promoted to a position within the Justice Department, denied that his agency was trafficking guns to Mexico, despite overwhelming evidence and testimony from other ATF agents proving otherwise.

Ms. Pavlich concludes:

Last week, ATF offered 400 agents buy outs to avoid budget cuts and is expecting 250-275 agents to take the offer through Voluntary Early Retirement. These buyouts come at a convenient time for the Justice Department, which can eliminate ATF, then say it’s because of budget cuts, when really, it’s to cover their tracks.

As much as I love the idea of actually getting rid of a government agency, I don’t think this is the time to talk about getting rid of the ATF. It may be the time to look at what the agency did in Operation Fast and Furious, but it isn’t a good idea to eliminate an agency in the middle of a Congressional investigation.

 

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A Rocket Launcher A Grenade Launcher And Explosives Were Found By Border Patrol Agents Near The Rio Grande

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A Texas newspaper called The Monitor is reporting that a rocket launcher, a grenade launcher, and what appeared to be C-4 explosives were found near the Rio Grande River on Tuesday.

Katie Pavlich at Townhall.com points out:

There are four main ways Mexican cartels can get their hands on rocket and grenade launchers:

-If the U.S. State Department were to sell those weapons to the Mexican government, then dissenters of the Mexican military (who make up the majority of cartel members) take the weapons with them when they leave

-Mexican cartels buy them on the black market

-Mexican cartels get them from a guy, who after admitting he was providing grenades to cartels, was released back to Mexico by ATF a la Grenadegate

-Mexican cartels work with groups like Hezbollah to obtain those weapons, cartels in Mexico grant easy access into the United States to Hezbollah in return, Hezbollah supplies them with weapons.

On September 3rd, I reported that Hezbollah has set up a center of operations in Cuba (rightwinggranny.com). We may be seeing the results of that action.

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The Death Toll Related To Operation Fast And Furious Grows

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CBS News reported yesterday that three more murders have been linked to guns bought as part of Operation Fast and Furious. The article posts portions of a letter from the Justice Department listing weapons that have been found at various crime scenes in Mexico. It is an unfortunate chapter in the history of America that we were involved in gunrunning operations to Mexico.

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A Federal Program Gone Horribly Wrong

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Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explo...

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Last Thursday the Los Angeles Times reported that a second violent crime has been linked to the Fast and Furious gun program.  Two Arizona undercover police officers attempted to stop two men in a stolen vehicle approximately five months after the Fast and Furious program began. The men in the stolen vehicle rammed their cars, threatened them with guns, and fled into the desert. The driver and passenger were caught. The driver was charged with aggravated assault on a police officer, driving the stolen vehicle and illegal possession of the weapons. The passenger, a citizen of Mexico, was charged with possession of narcotics and the stolen vehicle.

A Beretta pistol and AK-47 semiautomatic assault rifle were found in the stolen Ford truck, the police said.

The article reports:

The weapons found in the vehicle were the 9-millimeter Beretta, hidden under the front console, and the AK-47 in the back seat. Authorities in Arizona said they were told both weapons were illegally purchased under the Fast and Furious program that began in November 2009. Also in the truck were four boxes of ammunition for the AK-47, a box of 23 9-mm bullets for the Beretta, and four cases of Bud Light beer.

The article reports that about 2,000 weapons were allowed to be illegally purchased in the Phoenix area, and the vast majority were lost track of by ATF agents. The Fast and Furious program is a disgrace to this country, and those responsible for it need to be relieved of their authority.

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The Investigation Of Operation Fast And Furious Continues

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Greta Van Susteren, host of the Fox News progr...

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Fox News reported yesterday on an interview Darrell Issa gave Greta Van Susteren on her television show recently. Representative Issa stated that he is aware that Congress is being gamed by the Justice Department, but that Congress will finish its investigation of Operation Fast And Furious.

The Justice Department has recently shuffled its staff in response to the criticism regarding the operation.

The article reports:

Issa weighed in on the shakeup at the Department of Justice, which involved the demotion of ATF boss Ken Melson, hoping that some new blood might help the investigation move forward. He is hopeful that under a new U.S. attorney it can begin to go after those who were involved in the scheme. While Melson was cooperative and helpful during the investigation according to Issa, there was a need to have someone with independent eyes get to the bottom of Operation Fast and Furious.

There are some major problems with what went on in Operation Fast And Furious. I hope Congress can determine who knew what and when they knew it. This scandal is the kind of thing that causes Americans to lose faith in their government. That is not something we need right now.

 

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