Obama May Finally Stand Up to NRA & Gun Lobby
By Dennis Henigan
Is the Obama Administration finally ready to stand up to the gun lobby?
Since the midterm elections, the Administration has made two moves it must have known would draw heavy fire from the National Rifle Association.
First, shortly after the elections, the White House announced its nomination of a new Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) – Andrew Traver – whose experience at ATF gives every indication he will be a strong enforcer of federal gun laws. The NRA predictably blasted Traver. For the NRA, he had committed a mortal sin by serving as an advisor to the International Association of Chiefs of Police and its gun violence reduction efforts. The NRA’s hostility to IACP is just the latest evidence of the gun lobby’s longtime and shameful antipathy toward law enforcement.
Second, last week the Obama Justice Department responded to the growing crisis of gun trafficking from U.S. dealers to the Mexican drug cartels by announcing new reporting requirements on gun dealer multiple sales of high-capacity rifles to single buyers. The requirements apparently would apply to approximately 8,500 licensed gun dealers in the border states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California, and only for a one-year period.
Since 1968, federal law has required dealers to report multiple sales of handguns to ATF because they are such strong indicators of gun trafficking. However rifles – even high-capacity semiautomatic assault rifles like the AR-15 and the AK-47 that are the favored killing machines of the Mexican cartels – are not subject to multiple sale reporting. Last week, The Washington Post reported one instance where a suspected trafficker bought 14 AK-47s in one day from a single dealer. A reporting requirement would either deter such brazen high-volume purchases, or enable ATF to move quickly against the buyers. The new requirement closes an important loophole, at least temporarily in the states where the dealers are the prime source of Mexican crime guns.
Yes, it’s only a small step. But it is a step in the right direction, with political significance that may far eclipse its policy impact. For two years, the guiding principle of the Administration’s approach to gun violence has boiled down to this: “Whatever we do, don’t rile up the gun guys!” This policy was no doubt motivated by a perceived need to appease the gun lobby in order to protect the “blue dog” Democrats in Congress, who were given a free pass to help carry the NRA’s legislative water.
As it turned out, the appeasement strategy was a lose-lose proposition, with little political pay-off for the Democrats. By ignoring (and in some cases violating) campaign pledges to strengthen gun laws, the Administration certainly contributed to the “enthusiasm gap” that played a part in losing so many races – and control of the House. At the same time, catering to the gun lobby did not protect the “blue dogs”. Fifty-nine percent of the losing Democratic incumbents had “A” ratings from the NRA and more than half received the NRA’s financial support. Some of the NRA’s most steadfast supporters among the “blue dogs” – like Travis Childers of Mississippi, Zack Space of Ohio and Rick Boucher of Virginia – went down to defeat.
On the other hand, 82% of the Democrats who won reelection did so without NRA support. In some close races in key suburban districts where gun policy became an issue, identification with the pro-gun ideology may have cost the Republican candidate dearly. This likely was the case in Northern Virginia, for example, where Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) won a narrow victory over Keith Fimian after the Republican had to apologize for his remark that the Virginia Tech massacre could have been prevented if “one of those kids in those classrooms” had been “packing heat”. The NRA, of course, is intent on ensuring that kids in classrooms are “packing heat”.
I somehow doubt that the Administration’s recent moves on gun policy are disconnected from the now-apparent political failure of its appeasement strategy. The new ATF initiative to fight Mexican gun trafficking has crossed a line – and the Administration knows it. For the first time since taking office, the President seems ready to do the right thing on guns, regardless of the virulent opposition of the gun lobby.
The NRA has denounced the new gun dealer reporting requirements as a “sweeping expansion of federal recordkeeping on gun owners” and an attempt to create a gun “registry”. For the NRA, this is the ultimate battle cry.
As it has in the past, the NRA and the gun industry will launch an all-out attack on ATF in the new Congress. It will push legislation to make it virtually impossible for the Bureau to sanction lawbreaking gun dealers who aid and abet the traffickers arming the cartels in Mexico and the gangs in our own country. It will try to ensure that never again will ATF get notice that a gun dealer has just sold 14 assault rifles to a single buyer.
But this time the Administration has made its own investment in a stronger ATF. This time the Administration already has done the right thing in the face of certain gun lobby retaliation. This time we now have reason to hope that President Obama will be prepared to fight. If he does, all Americans who seek sanity in our nation’s gun policy should be ready to help him.
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http://www.garnernews.net/view/full_story/11126408/article-Para-military-groups-help-strengthen-forces-?instance=secondary_sports_left_column
http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-national/knox-reports-on-project-gunwalker
The ATF has been smuggling guns to Mexico so they;ll exaggerate the "gun-running" problem; getting gun shops to make what amount to illegal sales for the same reason; lying to cover it up, and contributing to the death of a federal employee, Border Patrol officer Terry.
One possible reason semi-auto rifles found in Mexico are being traced back to the U.S.: The ATF is smuggling them there to pad the numbers. Internal emails seem to confirm it. Gun shops being encouraged by ATF to follow through on multiple sales to questionable buyers despite their better judgment. Made to break the rules to show that the rules don't work.
http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-national/does-texas-gun-shop-tie-with-project-gunwalker
We won't be registering our semi-autos or turning them in, regardless of any law or extralegal agency regulation. That's next, after the multiple-sale registry. Or maybe before, if a renewed semi-auto ban minus the grandfather clause is made law.
This is not Australia. This is not Britain. This is not even California (compliance rate 2%). Remember, CA said "You can keep them if you register them." Then, once you did, "Gotcha! We lied." I think there was an "emergency" to justify that, too. Patrick Purdy, Stockton, California, shooting up a playground.
No one was prepared to stop him. Guns and children don't mix. An old story.
On many issues, President Obama has shown he is a reasonable man. If the BATF needs more information about gun sales to bust the individuals who are supplying the Mexican cartels, he can offer the gun lobby a bone in return for their agreement. National recognition for state-issued concealed carry permits might be one incentive.
As for why Americans need to own rifles which (except for the full-auto capability) operate like the M-16 and AK-47, well, that's because the M-16 is our national service rifle, and the AK-47 is the rifle used by most of our potential enemies. As the Union officers who started the NRA learned during the Civil War, the military has neither the time nor the resources to inculcate the high standards of marksmanship needed by a nation of riflemen.
They want and get german HKs full auto. The real weapons are very available to them, cartels do have the $ for real weapons. Why would they want an outdated semi auto AR with no bells and whistles? As far as AK47s go, you cant get a real russian made AK in the US. Cartels would get those from FARC, or some other connection. This is the first move in a gun grab, hyped up with media nonsense. The gun laws are ok. If a dealer sells a firearm to someone, there is a record. If that gun wind up in the hands of a bad guy, investigate and arrest the guilty. Dealers are held to standards, if they cannot uphold the standard, revoke their license.
Consider the words of James Madison in Federalist 46:
Let a regular army, fully equal to the resources of the country, be formed; and let it be entirely at the devotion of the federal government; still it would not be going too far to say, that the State governments, with the people on their side, would be able to repel the danger . . . a militia amounting to near half a million of citizens with arms in their hands.19
The greatest good that the Brady Campaign provides is the annual Brady Scorecard. It rates each state by the amount of gun control. The state with the most gun control laws has a murder rate over four times greater than the state with the very least gun control.
Dennis will not admit it, but it is true. Where you find states with extreme gun control you find higher murder rates. The six states with the lowest murder rates have ALL adopted "shall issue" concealed carry policies.
President Obama's home town of Chicago is the city with the most extreme gun control and they have huge problems with violent crime . Mexico has extreme gun control and an extremely high murder rate. Simply put, GUN CONTROL KILLS. By denying people self defense, the doors are thrown open to the criminals.
And I am..... E. Zach Lee-Wright
E Zach Lee-Wright
Obama has a agenda to try and disarm as many Americans as possible. Look at his voting record from the Illinois Senate. Look at his picks for Attorney General, another rabid anti-gun person. Most everyone he has nominated or made a "czar" has a anti-gun agenda. Look at the idiot Cass Sunstien, he believes animals should be able to sue hunters. And this is the fool in charge of rules and regulations? The only reason they haven't acted sooner is to appease the gun owners. Now that he is virtually a lame duck, look for the gloves to come off.
I'm glad to see that you still believe the 80% lie. Most of the cartels weapons come from the overseas black market. what would you rather buy, a 900 dollar semi auto AR 15 or a full auto AK for 200 dollars? The American full auto guns they are finding came from the biggest arms dealer in the world, The U.S. Government. Soldiers flee the military in Mexico and take their government issued full auto M16s with them.
Dennis please verify your facts, that new gun laws or in fact old gun restricting laws have worked. And for those that always slam Liberals for being anti-gun, I know many strong far right individuals who shoot sporting clays and skeet with semi automatic shotguns, but can not understand why people need AR-15's or Ak 47 type weapons. And when I explain to them, that what they use for sport, is no different then the semi autos they rail against, they get that deer in the headlight look. So quit stereotyping all liberals as anti-gun, and that all republicans are pro gun rights.
A little something about gun laws in Texas. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C1YqAPN6fw