Posted on 07/01/2012 7:18:48 PM PDT by maggiesnotebook
Alcohol, tobacco and firearms are legal in the United States, but there is a long history of the government classifying those who sell alcohol, buy alcohol, sell tobacco, use tobacco, sell firearms and possess firearms as a lower order of being. Democrats want anti-gun leadership at ATF - by the nature of what is legal and what is not, promoting an anti-gun-stance Agency Director is a Constitutional conflict. If proof of criminality isn't there, the BATFE-ATF will hound you anyway. For years, the ATF was under the Treasury Department. In 2006, a new law placed the ATF under the Justice Department, with the Directorship requiring the confirmation of Congress. And since 2006 and the new law, we haven't had a single successful confirmation. Every Director since that time has been an "acting" director. Democrats say that Republicans have stopped confirmations, leading to a lack of leadership - but someone led furiously in Operation Fast and Furious.
When Ken Melson, the acting director during the period of Fast and Furious was forced to resign, Barack Obama nominated Andrew Travers (Nov. 2010). Congress sent the nomination back to him. He resubmitted Travers' name, and it remains sitting in the Senate Judiciary Committee, where they likely do not have the votes to stop the debate and vote.
Traver is anti-gun and anti-Second Amendment Rights. He is allegedly a member of the anti-gun International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), has an anti-assault rifle stance, conveniently confuses assault rifles with machine guns, signed-off on the Liberal Joyce Foundation study, and has received the NRA’s “strong” opposition.
But the idea of an ATF director who hails from Chicago, a city without gun shops, and who has conflated black market automatic weapons with legal semi-automatic "assault-style" rifles is causing Second Amendment defenders to worry that President Obamaintends to blast away at gun rights by force of bureaucracy, if not law. Source CS MonitorInteresting that Chicago has had a ban on handguns for 28 years, yet for 2009 the murder rate in Chicago is THREE TIMES that of New York City, and crimes in general are twice as violent as in Los Angeles. Only Philadelphia has a higher murder.
In June 2010, SCOTUS declared the ban on handguns unconstitutional. The murder rate in Chicago is down 4 percent (maybe due to citizens being able to protect themselves and their families), but in the South Side of Chicago, where Michelle Obama admires the tradition of family values and wants to pass them on to her daughters, the murder rate is still out of control
While Travers' nomination lolled, Holder named Kenneth Melson to acting director. Travers asked to be transferred from Chicago to the Denver division at a cost of $1 Million to get him there, taxpayer paid.
In 2007, Michael Sullivan was nominated by G. W Bush. Republicans blocked the confirmation due to an alleged "indifference" to the rights and plight of small gun dealers. Sullivan became the "acting" director and served until January 20, 2009. Ronald Carter served as acting director for a brief 4 months, until Holder appointed Melson as acting director.
Under Democrat control, taxes protect tobacco and alcohol use - the government has to have the revenue. Under Democrat control, no one but government and criminals will have firearms, if and when a Nancy Pelosi/Harry Reid/Barack Obama-type government have a chance to whittle away at firearms, one regulation, one rule, one Executive Order at a time.
As a public servant, an ATF Director, (and hopefully an ATF "acting" director) takes this oath of office:
I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.Leadership must uphold the law, not make the law fit the personal whims of Liberals.
Republican control of both Chambers can give us a Senate-confirmed ATF Director who will respect our rights under the law, not punish us relentlessly for living our lives - with undue paperwork, licenses, and privacy abuses and ATF Agents' noses poked under our tent.
In the meantime, let us not forget that Ken Melson was Holder's pick, and rather than a lack of leadership, we got a bold and lawless assault on the Second Amendment, at least one dead American, and an imperious coverup that makes WaterGate look like nothing more than abusing mandatory watering restrictions in a severe drought.
Candidates must claim which of the Bill of Rights they are against. High score wins, RINOs sign off.
Candidates must claim which of the Bill of Rights they are against. High score wins, RINOs sign off.
Candidates must claim which of the Bill of Rights they are against. High score wins, RINOs sign off.
Bump
The ATF is completely unnecessary, shut it down.
So the ATF are no longer tax revenuers working for the Treasury? They serve as Eric With-Holder’s Injustice Department’s police force?
The democrats view BATF as part of their personal army.
It’s decades past time to close down that rogue agency.
>> The ATF is completely unnecessary, shut it down.
The 6th branch...
Maybe if Republicans gain control, the Pres. can appoint Larry Pratt (GOA) as Director of BATF? Works for me...
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