Posted on 01/30/2012 7:01:19 AM PST by marktwain
Recently, a federal district court in Washington, D.C. issued a ruling upholding an Obama administration policy that requires federally licensed firearms retailers in states bordering Mexico to report multiple sales of semi-automatic rifles. The case was brought by two NRA-backed firearm retailers and by the National Shooting Sports Foundation acting on behalf of its affected members. Plaintiffs have already filed an appeal—but while we await the outcome, your help is urgently needed in seeking congressional action to end this illegal policy.
Devised by Attorney General Eric Holder’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the plan requires all of the 8,700 firearm dealers in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas to report all sales of two or more semi-automatic rifles within five consecutive business days, if the rifles are larger than .22 caliber and use detachable magazines.
In July 2011, the Justice Department announced that it would proceed with the controversial reporting procedure. During consideration of the FY 2012 Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations bill, pro-gun U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.) offered an amendment in committee to prohibit the use of funds for the unauthorized reporting plan and the amendment was passed by a vote of 25-16. Unfortunately, the Rehberg amendment did not make it through the appropriations process.
Much has transpired since then regarding BATFEs’ failed “Operation Fast and Furious,” and evidence is now clear that “Fast and Furious” was used as justification to force the multiple sales reporting requirement.
In early December 2011, CBS News reported that BATFE “discussed using their covert operation “Fast and Furious” to argue for controversial new rules about gun sales.” In particular, agency officials wanted guns to fall into Mexican drug cartel hands and be traced back to gun dealers in the U.S. to make a case for requiring the multiple sales reporting.
According to CBS, “Emails show they discussed using the sales, including sales encouraged by ATF, to justify a new gun regulation called Demand Letter 3. That would require some U.S. gun shops to report the sale of multiple rifles or ‘long guns.’”
CBS singled out a July 14, 2010 email sent by BATFE Field Operations Assistant Director Mark Chait to Bill Newell, the agency’s Special Agent in Charge in Phoenix, where “Fast and Furious” was based. In the email, Chait asked Newell to “see if these guns were all purchased from the same [licensed gun dealer] and at one time. We are looking at anecdotal cases to support a demand letter on long gun multiple sales.”
Last March, U.S. Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Richard Burr (R-N.C.) introduced S. 570 -- "a bill to prohibit the Department of Justice from tracking and cataloguing the purchases of multiple rifles and shotguns." The bill would prohibit the use of federal money to fund the multiple sales reporting requirement.
It is imperative that you contact your U.S. Senators and ask them to cosponsor and support S. 570. You can find contact information for your elected officials by using the "Write Your Representatives" tool at www.NRAILA.org, or you can call your U.S. senators at (202) 224-3121.
S. 570 currently has 33 cosponsors. To see if your senators are cosponsors, please click here: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:SN00570:@@@P
Again, it is critically important that you contact your U.S. Senators as soon as possible and urge them to cosponsor and support S. 570. Ask your Senators to defund, and defeat, the Obama/Holder Gun Registration Scheme.
It is crazy to set up a huge expensive bureaucratic system, require everyone to jump though hoops and prove that they are *not* criminals in order to try, ineffectively, to prevent the few individuals who are not responsible, from having legal access to guns. This is a failed paradigm, and it should be abandoned. To accept the idea that the all gun sales should be monitored by the government, and only allowed to those it deems satisfactory is fundamentally wrong.
The entire idea of the enterprise has always been the death of a thousand cuts, where the restrictions on who can buy, and where, and how and what are continually increased until the number of gun owners is reduced to political insignificance.
I always felt that the selling of guns by the Fed Govt in Mexico was a plot to do away with 2nd Amendment. They had been saying for months that the Mexican government was concerned because the cartels were buying guns in the states. Remember Hillery and Obama both blamed the violence in mexico on gun runners fro the states. When it was our own government doing the selling. I believe they wanted to cause an anti gun outrage where the American people would let them abolish guns. Obama and Holder both ought to go to prison over that crap.
I’ve never understood the idea of Mexicans wanting to buy guns in the U.S. Wouldn’t buying weapons from Imbel or some other South American company be simpler and less expensive??
It would, along with buying from the ocean of soviet and chicom weaponry that has flooded the entire world. But Obama wants enough US sales to show that every gun store in America has a hand in selling expensive American guns at full retail price to Mexican druggies. Then clamp down on Americans to save the poor Mexicans from our guns.
***...if the rifles are larger than .22 caliber and use detachable magazines. ***
Interesting that California is on this list as they ban the sale of these type of rifles.
Not suprised that Tester is doing this. A commie Dim in a red state needs to be re-elected as a ‘conservative’ Dim. No doubt, NRA will endorse Tester in his re-election bid which could cost the GOP the Senate. I wonder if the NRA will be happy with Dim committee chairmen from states like NY and NJ that have oversight on gun legislation? I wonder if Tester would oppose SC nominees that oppose gun rights?
Sometimes you have to wonder whether the NRA really wants to win the war for gun rights or do they merely want an endless battle?
The NRA’s politics regularly show how we are devolving into a country wherein it’s every man for himself. Rather that stand fast upon one’s principles, we more and more tend to look out for ourselves at the expense of the larger society. Thus, NRA bigshots doing what they can to become personally more important and more wealthy at the expense of supporting politicians that want to destroy gun rights.
There, fixed it.
bttt
Surplus WWI and WWII rifles minus the BAR. Easily defeated.
These liberals are so stupid they often make me ashamed to be the same species.
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