Posted on 01/02/2011 8:58:14 AM PST by AuntB
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (still known as ATF) is considering a pilot program that would require gun dealers in the borders states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California to report each sale of two or more rifles. Jim Pruett of Jim Pruett’s Guns and Ammo in Houston considers such a move simply a back door to gun registration. “It [would go] on record with the ATF forever,” Pruett says of the reported sales. “There’s no mention of purging the system. So what you basically have is ad-hoc gun registration.”
It is hard to argue with Pruett’s logic. “Notification” is, for all intents and purposes, “registration.” And, as Pruett also pointed out, gun registration was used by the rulers in Nazi Germany (and in many other totalitarian regimes) to then confiscate the firearms and render the populace incapable of resisting tyranny.
The rationale for this federal usurpation of constitutional rights is that our border states are experiencing escalating crime and violence from Mexico. Though that is undeniable, it is foolish to think that reporting each sale of two or more rifles will in any way inhibit the perpetrators of that violence — Mexican drug cartels. The drugs lords possess huge amounts of money and access to whatever sort of weapons they wish, regardless of what American federal law requires. Indeed, as these Latin American cartels have mustered what are effectively armies, their purchasing rifles from a legitimate American business would seem to be pointless.
The proposed federal regulatory grab will, as always, affect only peaceable, law-abiding American citizens. The federal government could, of course, do a great deal to reduce the border violence by simply rigorously enforcing our national borders and asserting the federal right to guard our national sovereignty. Though states such as Arizona are begging the federal Executive Branch to comply with its duty to the sovereign states by protecting their borders, such requests seem only to cause political heartburn in our nation’s capital. The federal government could also seriously reconsider the decriminalization of drugs, as their criminalization has been about as effective as Prohibition (and with the same predictable effect of the ascendancy of criminal organizations).
Instead, the ATF seems to be following the path of bullying law-abiding Americans and expecting them to believe that such draconian tactics will somehow make them safer.
A recent Wikileak shows how Mexico gets some of its weapons:
[snip'"In another recent document, U.S. diplomats voiced concerns that Mexican drug dealers could end up buying certain high-tech weapons that Russia had sold to Venezuela. Such weapons are capable of shooting down U.S. combat helicopters.
The document said U.S. officials feared that members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) would obtain the weapons for the Mexican cartels."
http://homelandsecuritynewswire.com/mexico-cannot-control-border-wikileaks-documents
Then after they accomplish this, they will push to have ALL states be under the same rules to be "fair".
This has absolutely nothing to do with Mexico arms sales.
It's an attempt at putting another "chink" in the armor of the 2nd amendment.
Mexico needs the 2nd amendment, instead some politicians would wipe it out in the US.
Another recent article: t’s a stark observation: There is only one gun store in all of Mexico.
[snip]”The only gun store in Mexico is not very busy,” says Booth, who notes that it’s operated by the Mexican military on a military base with strict security access. All the clerks are soldiers dressed in “pressed green camouflage.”
The store, known officially as the Directorate of Arms and Munitions Sales, is located in Mexico City, so anyone wishing to own a gun legally in Mexico has to go there, even if you live in deadly Cuidad Juarez 1,300 miles away. Then you have to meet the requirements to own a gun, which make gun ownership requirements in this country look like a free-for-all picnic.
To buy a gun, clients must submit references and prove that their income is honestly earned, that their record is free of criminal charges and that their military obligations, if any, have been fulfilled with honor. They are fingerprinted and photographed. Finally, if judged worthy of owning a small-caliber weapon to protect home and hearth, they are allowed to buy just one. And a box of bullets.
What Booth doesn’t get into is corruption and dysfunction in Mexico’s government, military and legal system, and though hard numbers might be hard to pin down, it’s certainly relevant to the staggering loss of legitimacy of Mexico’s government to its citizens and those who follow Mexican affairs.
Curiously, Booth notes that the Mexican government doesn’t release data on the guns captured and then traced, which would lead some to conclude that the reason they don’t is because it may reveal how many of those guns in the hands of drug gangs were supplied by the Mexican military and police. How many? Many? Not many? Admitting any form of corruption, however small, isn’t a common practice in government, any government, including our own.
It is also true that U-S firearms exports are big business and shipments of firearms to Central and South America have numbered in the tens of thousands annually for years. Only Cuba, and more recently Venezuela, get none. This raises an additional question about transparency: Is the reason the Mexican government doesn’t release data on the guns captured and then traced because they will lead us back to firearms sales exported by our own government? Maybe there is more than one government trying to save face here.
http://www.examiner.com/populist-in-national/in-all-of-mexico-there-is-only-one-gun-store
” This has absolutely nothing to do with Mexico arms sales.
It’s an attempt at putting another “chink” in the armor of the 2nd amendment. “
BINGO!
No. Just no ATF. We have rights and they are non-negotiable.
Fictitious/redundant government agency looking for a purpose.
Organizations like this are dangerous.
They step on the toes of their peers whom they are trying to take scope from (now they want to dabble in explosives too) ATF(e).
They are poorly trained
They have lower standards
They have less institutional experience and structure/doctrine
They tend to be compartmental and not share information
They tend to be over zealous as in Ruby Ridge or Waco.......
The ATF scares me. They have great potential to do stupid things, and they will execute their stupidity with the FULL force of the law.
Defund the jack-booted thugs.
Congress can do it if we demand it.
As stated numerous times. Put it in a 7-11 and make some money.
Another straw-man out up by the 0bama regime...
It would be a time consuming pain, but definitely worth while to buy your guns singly, over five days apart, and possibly from different sources to get around the ruling.
Every time such considerations are announced I would think that people go out and buy more guns.
Oh, they do. And ammo, too.
No, it won't be under the banner of "fairness." It will be "to avoid a patchwork of laws around the country." The state with the most stringent gun laws will be accommodated.
Take a look at the postings of “freedomwarrior998” on this thread [ http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2649578/posts ] and that fear will be further solidified. {Take a look, especially, around posts 200 to 220.}
His arguments epitomize and affirm my suggestion/observation that “case law” is nothing more than the Judiciary playing the Children’s-game ‘Telephone’ with our rights.
How would this law work for gun dealers who travel from city to city, setting up gun shows, just need money and you have a weapon ?
Time to buy some extra ammo.
IF our government kept Mexican nationals — illegal aliens-— out of this country, our guns wouldn’t get into Mexico.
ICE: 3 arrested, 28,000 rounds seized at Tucson home
Posted: Dec 29, 2010 1:22 PM Updated: Dec 29, 2010 1:22 PM
Web Producer: Brian Pryor
TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - Three men are in custody and facing federal weapons smuggling charges after being caught with 28,000 rounds of ammunition by ICE agents on Tuesday.
Agents with the Homeland Security Investigations division in Nogales began investigating a weapons smuggling operation in the 1500 block of West Aztec Court. Agents began surveillance on the home and followed a white minivan traveling towards Nogales.
A DPS officer developed probable cause on the van and stopped the vehicle. Inside police found 9,240 rounds of various calibers.
Alejandro Ruiz-Escalante, 23, and Christian Gallegos-Arizmendi, 19, both citizens of Mexico, were arrested on federal weapons smuggling charges.
Based on information developed from the traffic stop, agents obtained a search warrant for the Tucson residence. Officers with the ICE Arizona Special Response Team discovered and seized an additional 19,750 rounds of ammunition, one .223 semi-automatic rifle and two .22 caliber rifles.
Agents also arrested Jesus Lopez, 35, a U.S. citizen with an extensive criminal history and outstanding warrants for domestic violence and drug possession at the residence. Lopez is also facing federal weapons charges.
http://www.kgun9.com/Global/story.asp?S=13755905
IF our government kept Mexican nationals — illegal aliens-— out of this country, our guns wouldn’t get into Mexico.
ICE: 3 arrested, 28,000 rounds seized at Tucson home
Posted: Dec 29, 2010 1:22 PM Updated: Dec 29, 2010 1:22 PM
Web Producer: Brian Pryor
TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - Three men are in custody and facing federal weapons smuggling charges after being caught with 28,000 rounds of ammunition by ICE agents on Tuesday.
Agents with the Homeland Security Investigations division in Nogales began investigating a weapons smuggling operation in the 1500 block of West Aztec Court. Agents began surveillance on the home and followed a white minivan traveling towards Nogales.
A DPS officer developed probable cause on the van and stopped the vehicle. Inside police found 9,240 rounds of various calibers.
Alejandro Ruiz-Escalante, 23, and Christian Gallegos-Arizmendi, 19, both citizens of Mexico, were arrested on federal weapons smuggling charges.
Based on information developed from the traffic stop, agents obtained a search warrant for the Tucson residence. Officers with the ICE Arizona Special Response Team discovered and seized an additional 19,750 rounds of ammunition, one .223 semi-automatic rifle and two .22 caliber rifles.
Agents also arrested Jesus Lopez, 35, a U.S. citizen with an extensive criminal history and outstanding warrants for domestic violence and drug possession at the residence. Lopez is also facing federal weapons charges.
http://www.kgun9.com/Global/story.asp?S=13755905
” IF our government kept Mexican nationals — illegal aliens-— out of this country, our guns wouldn’t get into Mexico.”
My! What a novel concept! ;-)
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