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Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer Blames Second Amendment For ATF/DOJ Gun Walking Mistakes
Townhall.com ^ | Novemeber 2, 2011 | Katie Pavlich

Posted on 11/02/2011 6:45:37 AM PDT by Kaslin

During a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing today on Capitol Hill, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, who is facing pressure surrounding his role in the Obama Justice Department’s Operation Fast and Furious, asked for more gun control and blamed law abiding gun shop owners for violence in Mexico.

Breuer declared that nearly 70 percent of guns found in Mexico come from the United States, a figure that has been disproven by the National Rifle Association, FactCheck.org, PolitiFact and by Senator Charles Grassley’s office multiple times.  Also during testimony, Democratic Senator Diane Feinstein pushed for more gun control and Breuer expressed his agreement with her statements that American gun laws are too “lax” and therefore result it more violent crime.

Feinstein asked Breuer if he thought a reporting measure for long gun rifles would be helpful to ATF. Breuer answered yes. Remember, the Department of Justice has already circumvented Congress by requiring the sale of multiple long gun rifles in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas be reported to the ATF. These new regulations were implemented in early July 2011:

The international expansion and increased violence of transnational criminal networks pose a significant threat to the United States.  Federal, state and foreign law enforcement agencies have determined that certain types of semi-automatic rifles – greater than .22 caliber and with the ability to accept a detachable magazine – are highly sought after by dangerous drug trafficking organizations and frequently recovered at violent crime scenes near the Southwest Border.  This new reporting measure -- tailored to focus only on multiple sales of these types of rifles to the same person within a five-day period -- will improve the ability of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to detect and disrupt the illegal weapons trafficking networks responsible for diverting firearms from lawful commerce to criminals and criminal organizations.  These targeted information requests will occur in Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas to help confront the problem of illegal gun trafficking into Mexico and along the Southwest Border.


“The problem is, anybody can walk in [to a gun shop] and buy anything,” Feinstein said.

This comment by Feinstein was particularly disappointing considering during Operation Fast and Furious law abiding gun shop owners expressed deep discomfort with selling massive amounts of high powered weapons to known drug cartel straw purchasers, yet ATF officials told them to do so anyway, saying they would be “serving their country” by helping ATF in the operation.


Breuer said the number one tool he needs is to know when guns are purchased, essentially what can be interpreted as a national reporting measure. What Breuer and Feinstein are missing is this: The Obama Justice Department in partnership with ATF is the largest American supplier of weapons to Mexican drug cartels through Operation Fast and Furious; not law abiding gun shops. See Obama DOJ Gave Cartel Enough Guns to Arm a Marine Regiment.

Also, Breuer tried to claim that when Operation Fast and Furious came to light publically in Spring 2011 through media reports, ATF officials “made it clear” they don’t condone walking guns. Not true, in fact William Newell, ATF Special Agent in Charge of the Phoenix Field Division at the time Operation Fast and Furious was implemented (he has since been promoted to a cushy position in Washington D.C.) and carried out, wouldn’t rule out the idea of conducting another program like Fast and Furious in the future when asked during Congressional testimony in July 2011.


As I wrote in July after a House Oversight Hearing about Fast and Furious:

Former ATF Special Agent in Charge William Newell would not condemn Operation Fast and Furious and allowing guns to walk into Mexico during testimony and questioning. In fact, Newell went so far as to say he was unaware of guns walking into Mexico, despite internal emails showing he did know. Newell admitted the agency made mistakes but would not admit the program was a bad idea and exposed that he was in communication with a member of the White House national security team. His testimony also conflicted with previous testimony given by Special Agent John Dodson of the Phoenix Field Division who said on June 15, “Allowing loads of weapons that we knew to be destined for criminals, this was the plan. It was so mandated.”

“At no time in our strategy was it to allow guns to be taken to Mexico,” Newell said, adding that at no time did his agency allow guns to walk.


“You’re entitled to your opinion, not your own facts,” Issa responded.

Yesterday Breuer came out publically to admit he had made a “mistake” by not telling Attorney General Eric Holder about gun walking that occurred under the Bush Administration through Operation Wide Receiver, saying essentially he should have sounded a warning about gun walking when it started to occur during Fast and Furious, but he remained silent. It is important to point out that under Wide Receiver, there was an effort to track 300 weapons in collaboration with the Mexican Government. Under Operation Fast and Furious, there was no effort to track 2,000 guns that were purposely walked in to Mexico and the Mexican Government was left in the dark about the operation. Today during testimony, Breuer said he, “Didn’t draw the connection,” between the tactics used in the two separate programs, which is hard to believe.


Breuer’s testimony and statements about “not making connections” between two separate but similar gunwalking programs and his claim he never told Attorney General Holder about his concerns or Fast and Furious at all, raise new questions.

Why is Breuer coming out with these revelations now? The House Oversight Committee Investigation into Fast and Furious has been going on for months, yet Breuer all the sudden regrets not sounding the alarm about the dangers of gunwalking when Operation Fast and Furious started in the Fall of 2009? While claiming he never told Attorney General Eric Holder about the program? Although Breuer claims he personally never told Holder about the tactics being used in Fast and Furious, five detailed memos about the lethal program dated July and August 2010 were addressed directly to Holder. Despite Breuer’s testimony, the question of “who authorized Fast and Furious,” remains unanswered.

 

"The American people—and especially the family of murdered Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry—deserve answers from the Justice Department about why they claim they didn’t know gunwalking was occurring in Operation Fast and Furious when the department’s fingerprints are all over it," Senator Grassley said during the hearing.

It looks like someone, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, is falling on a sword, and that sword happens to be Eric Holder’s.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Editorial; Front Page News; Government
KEYWORDS: 90percentlie; atf; banglist; batfe; batfeisajoke; bloodoftyrants; borderpatrol; breuer; castaway; cia; clinton; corruption; dea; democratcorruption; democrats; dhs; doj; dojisajoke; donttreadonme; ericholder; fastandfurious; feinstein; govtabuse; guncontrol; gunrunner; gunwalker; hillary; hillaryclinton; holder; ice; lannybreuer; obama; opfastandfurious; shallnotbeinfringed; statedept; waronliberty; williamnewell; youwillnotdisarmus
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To: Paladin2

Not only can the average person, ie, “anybody” NOT buy “anything”,

but the items and quantities bought in this scandal were specifically made allowance for outside the laws that DO apply to “anybody” else.

The ATF specifically told these gunshop dealers to let these suspicious activities go.


21 posted on 11/02/2011 7:25:41 AM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter knows whom he's working for)
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To: Kaslin

Another lying punk who needs his ass kicked. A freaking corrupt lawyer shouldn't be lecturing anyone on what laws are needed. He should be following the law himself!

22 posted on 11/02/2011 7:33:13 AM PDT by kcvl
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To: Kaslin

Let’s assume these Commie true believers are correct in quoting their hero, Mao - Political power comes from the muzzle of a gun.

Let’s assume that Patriots are correct in their assessment, which includes Mao’s truth as an ultimate statement - Political power is exercised by citizens first at the soap box, then the ballot box, and ultimately, as a last resort, at the ammo box.

Let’s assume the Commies, who have infiltrated our institutions carefully over the past century, have essentially deprived the citizens of a truthful soapbox, and fraudulently co-opted the integrity of the ballot box.

If these assumptions are correct, the only thing standing between the Commies and their dream of destroying and conquering this country - their stated goal - is that pesky little 2nd Amendment, which, BTW was put there in the Constitution exactly as a last line of defense against such tyranny.

Both the true believers and the useful idiots infiltrating our government swore an oath to defend the Constitution. For such people, however, swearing an oath with no intention of keeping it is merely a means, a necessary ruse justified by the end goal.

These people are all traitors. Unfortunately, the institutionalized corruption of Washington will insure that this charge is never brought against them, nor the appropriate sentence carried out.

Therefore, our best hope for now is to continue to use what remains to us of the soap box and the ballot box, and to keep our powder dry. The muzzle of a gun is indeed the ultimate source of political power, and therefore our ultimate defense against tyranny.


23 posted on 11/02/2011 7:39:56 AM PDT by dagogo redux (A whiff of primitive spirits in the air, harbingers of an impending descent into the feral.)
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To: Kaslin

“Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer...asked for more gun control and blamed law abiding gun shop owners for violence in Mexico.”

You mean a federal regulator wants more regulation of the thing he regulates? In completely unrelated news, recent trick-or-treating kids say they want more treats.


24 posted on 11/02/2011 7:41:34 AM PDT by Tublecane
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To: Enterprise

God, these people are simply shameless - still sticking to their talking points, months after they’ve been blown out of the water. They must have nearly complete faith in both the gullibility of the American people and the complicity of the mainstream media to keep moving forward with this diseased template (i.e., ‘we need more gun control because guns bought in America are being used by Mexican drug cartels.’)


25 posted on 11/02/2011 7:45:13 AM PDT by Basil Duke
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To: jagusafr

There are two great lines of disdain. One is “You are entitled to your opinion, not your own facts.” The other is “I can’t, I have to rearrange my sock drawer.”


26 posted on 11/02/2011 8:19:40 AM PDT by Enterprise ("Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." Voltaire)
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To: WayneS
“The problem is, anybody can walk in [to a gun shop] and buy anything,”

The problem is, most criminals do not buy their guns in a store, Feinstein!

27 posted on 11/02/2011 8:49:49 AM PDT by NRA1995 (Obama's presidency is shovel-ready; let's bury it in 2012!)
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To: KeyLargo

They - LSM - still insist upon calling it a “botched federal investigation,” don’t they?


28 posted on 11/02/2011 8:52:09 AM PDT by Noumenon (The only 'NO' a liberal understands is the one that arrives at muzzle velocity.)
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To: Kaslin

I’m laughing myself silly from this idiotic statement of the year, as far as I am concerned...

There is absolutely no way we can ever take this administration or this department serious again about anything...

I wish I could walk right up to Holder and Obama and laugh my head off at them, tell them what absolute idiots they really are...And it would be the truth!!!

Lock me up for what??? Telling the truth???

Tell you what...Lemme dial up the volumn some, maybe you didn’t hear me...

Investigate me for what??? Hehehe, Pump up da volumn!!!

Geesh, what interesting times we live in...


29 posted on 11/02/2011 9:20:22 AM PDT by stevie_d_64 (I'm jus' sayin')
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To: kcvl
Another lying punk who needs his ass kicked. A freaking corrupt lawyer shouldn't be lecturing anyone on what laws are needed. He should be following the law himself!?

Another lying traitor who needs to be hanged by the neck until dead...

the infowarrior

30 posted on 11/02/2011 9:20:52 AM PDT by infowarrior
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To: xzins

“...They belong in jail for treachery, treason, and murder...”

Padre, do you REALLY think that’s going to happen?

Way I see it, the two main culprits will walk, and flunkies like Breuer and others will take the fall, like the Good Little Comrade apparachniki they are.

We live in a world where what SHOULD happen doesn’t, and where good people pay the price for what the scum of the Earth do.

I don’t see that changing anytime soon.


31 posted on 11/02/2011 9:21:22 AM PDT by NFHale (The Second Amendment - By Any Means Necessary.)
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To: Kaslin

More proof - as if any more was needed - that the owebama administration is absolutely FULL of corrupt, anti-American d-bags who are truly evil through and through.


32 posted on 11/02/2011 9:21:28 AM PDT by 43north (BHO: 50% black, 50% white, 100% RED)
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To: Kaslin
It looks like someone, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, is falling on a sword, and that sword happens to be Eric Holder’s.

Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore!"


33 posted on 11/02/2011 9:26:55 AM PDT by Oberon (Big Brutha Be Watchin'.)
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To: NFHale

I don’t expect it to happen. There’s a real possibility some kind of complicity or negligent homicide charge could stick....eventually.


34 posted on 11/02/2011 9:37:48 AM PDT by xzins (Retired Army Chaplain and Proud of It! True Supporters of our Troops PRAY for their VICTORY!)
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To: xzins

I hope you are right.


35 posted on 11/02/2011 9:39:01 AM PDT by NFHale (The Second Amendment - By Any Means Necessary.)
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To: NFHale
Way I see it, the two main culprits will walk, and flunkies like Breuer and others will take the fall, like the Good Little Comrade apparachniki they are.

Way I see it, Holder, at least, is impeached next year, IMHO.

IIRC, Issa told Holder last May that Fast & Furios was felony stupid.

36 posted on 11/02/2011 12:05:12 PM PDT by neverdem (Xin loi minh oi)
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To: neverdem

“...Way I see it, Holder, at least, is impeached next year, IMHO...”

Again...hope you are correct.

Do You think the leaders-that-be in the GOP have the balls to do it?


37 posted on 11/02/2011 12:17:37 PM PDT by NFHale (The Second Amendment - By Any Means Necessary.)
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To: NFHale
Do You think the leaders-that-be in the GOP have the balls to do it?

If they have them plus brains, they will. This is without a doubt, the biggest political scandal in U.S. history. There are too many dead bodies including two federal agents. A Fast & Furious weapon was traced to Zapata's murder besides Terry's and all of those Mexicans.

Impeaching them in the House should be a no brainer. Except in states where they are safe, up to 16 rat senators that will have to defend a vote not to remove Holder next November. They are behind the eight ball, big time! The Cain witch hunt is just a smoke screen, IMHO.

38 posted on 11/02/2011 1:17:04 PM PDT by neverdem (Xin loi minh oi)
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To: neverdem

“...If they have them plus brains, they will. ...”

My friend...this is the first black Attorney General. They’re TERRIFIED of being called “racists” - even though the left calls all of us that on a daily basis.

Grown men afraid of a word...it’s pathetic.

But I do hope to God you are correct on this. I would dearly love to see this racist commie pr*ck frog-marched out in an orange jump suit, and THEN his equally worthless boss.

Time will tell.


39 posted on 11/02/2011 3:08:22 PM PDT by NFHale (The Second Amendment - By Any Means Necessary.)
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To: NRA1995

Feinstein is especially hypocritical on guns. She packs heat but does not think thta any of her subjects should. She is simply a dirty pig.


40 posted on 11/02/2011 5:12:34 PM PDT by jospehm20
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