The anti gun folks are losing it. Why are they silent on "gunwalker"?

Anti-gun groups silent on ‘Project Gunwalker’

From David Codrea we get this report.

http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-national/anti-gun-groups-silent-on-project-gunwalker?CID=examiner_alerts_article

“Since 2006, 14 U.S. Custom and Border Patrol Agents have been killed, most recently Brian Terry, fatally wounded in December of last year with an AK-47,” Brady Center Vice President Dennis Henigan writes in The Huffington Post.

At least he gets the numbers right. That's the only thing he's right about.
Here's his misinformed spew.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dennis-a-henigan/house-gun-vote-shows-hypo_b_827578.html

He's still spewing the 60,000 gun number. Numbers that have been proven wrong time after time. He's also upset about guns purchased by traffickers. He goes on to rant.

"Take the case of Sean Steward, an indicted trafficker who, over two days in early December, 2009, bought 50 assault rifles at two stores and then, on Christmas Eve, bought another 40 at a store in Glendale, Arizona. Another accused trafficker, Uriel Patino, made multiple purchases of assault rifles on 20 separate occasions, including buying 40 on one day, 26 on another, and 16 on another."

The ATF coerced the gun shops to go ahead with these sales. He conviniently left that little detail out. He is trying to vilify the shop owners when the ATF approved the sales. Then he starts in on the new "rule" the ATF wants. A rule to require reporting of 2 or more long gun purchases. Then he goes on to ask a silly question.

Why is the NRA so opposed to the proposed rule?

Here's a simple answer. It amounts to registration. The ATF has always wanted a list of all gun owners. This is a way to get one and make the public think everything is OK, it's for the benefit of the people. I call bullshit. It's defacto registration.

Then, he tries to pass off the big lie.

"The proposed ATF rule would apply this same reporting requirement to some semi-automatic rifles, but only those sold by dealers in four states and only for a period of one year."

Anyone want to buy some Arizona beachfront property? If he believes this, he's the only one. They would expand this the first chance they got.

He rails about the gun traffickers, yet he's silent on the "gunwalker" scandal.

David responded with this challenge to the Brady bunch.

Since Henigan invoked Agent Terry’s name, let’s see if he’s capable of joining with some of those “courageous officers” he lauds who have put their necks on the block to do the man’s memory justice. I call on him and Brady Campaign President Paul Helmke to issue a public statement demanding full and public Congressional hearings into allegations that higher-ups within the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), with cognizance of the Department of Justice:

* Intentionally allowed perhaps as many as 3,000 firearms to "walk" across the U.S. border into Mexico with the purpose of boosting the statistics of seized firearms with American commercial provenance from Mexican crime scenes.
* Instructed U.S. gun dealers to proceed with questionable and illegal sales of firearms to suspected gunrunners.
* Intentionally withheld information about U.S.-sanctioned gun smuggling from the Mexican government.
* Are intentionally avoiding releasing information about monitored rifles found at the murder scene of CBP Agent Brian Terry, specifically if one of those firearms has been determined to be the murder weapon.
* Are involved in covering up ATF and DOJ culpability by various means including the unlawful threatening of current-serving ATF agents with personal knowledge of the case.


http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-national/a-journalist-s-guide-to-project-gunwalker
You can go here and read the time line of "gunwalker" starting with the death of CBP agent Brian Terry.

David finishes up with this admonishment and challenge to the Brady bunch.

Is it not in the interest of furthering the Brady’s purported goals to establish the truth in this? At least the ones they're willing to publicly disclose?

If not, Mr. Henigan, “please spare us the phony talk about the need to” give a Bureau that is so obviously broken even more power and authority before finding out exactly what’s wrong with it and fixing it. And “please spare us the phony talk about” how imposing even more restrictions on Americans who are already obeying “the laws on the books” is just the ticket for curing Mexico’s narcoterrorism woes.

That last sentence is the crux of the issue. We abide by the law and yet the Bradys and other want even more restrictions on a right that is not supposed to be infringed.

Project "gunwalker" is getting intense.

From Dave Workman in Seattle we get this report.

http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-seattle/bellevue-v-beltway-gottlieb-tells-holder-investigate-atf-or-resign-1?CID=examiner_alerts_article

Bellevue v. Beltway: Gottlieb tells Holder ‘Investigate ATF or resign’

"Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Bellevue-based Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, is demanding a full-scale investigation by Attorney General Eric Holder, or Holder’s resignation as the nation’s chief law enforcement officer."

I'm with Alan on this. Holder has been nothing but a embarrassment when it comes to the peoples rights under the 2nd Amendment. He wants more and more infringement. That's some of that Chicago thug mentality.

"That demand comes after Wednesday’s CBS Evening News report on the scandal that suggested at least 2,500 guns were allowed to enter an illicit pipeline by ATF officials, over the objections of their own field agents. Two of those guns were recovered from the scene of a fatal gun battle last December that took the life of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry."

From David Codrea we get this.

Gun group to Holder: Investigate ‘Project Gunwalker’ or step down
http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-national/gun-group-to-holder-investigate-project-gunwalker-or-step-down?CID=examiner_alerts_article

“Washington State’s leading gun rights advocate wants heads to roll over the ‘Project Gunrunner’ scandal, which was launched in 2009 ostensibly to curb the flow of American guns"

And is has been a rousing failure. ATF officials have coerced gun shop owners in the South West to proceed with questionable gun sales. Even against the better judgment of the operators. They did this to inflate the numbers of weapons "recovered" in Mexico so they could beg for more money by saying "look what we have done". Unfortunately, For agent Terry, their plan backfired when Mexican nationals, in a gunfight with CBP agents on American soil, killed him. Now, the terrorists, and that is what they are, are about to be deported back to Mexico. What better way to get rid of witnesses. Two rifles were recovered at the scene, both traced back to one of the "questionable" sales that the ATF insisted on letting go through.

Also in Alan's report is this.

“Senator Grassley’s inquiry has been met with stonewalling, but with these new revelations, the time for silence has passed. ATF officials in Phoenix who allowed this travesty to continue, over objections from field agents who knew better, should be fired. Acting ATF Director Kenneth Melson should go immediately, and a new director, from outside of the agency, should be appointed to clean up this mess. If Eric Holder is not willing to hold ATF officials accountable, he should resign.”

There are several ATF agents that responded to Senator Grassley's original inquiry that got the ball rolling. David Codrea and Mike Vanderboegh. Were instrumental in getting the ATF agents in touch with the right people. This has been brewing for months and only now is it being acknowledged by the main stream media.
Finally, CBS has aired a report on the situation.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7357550n&tag=cbsnewsMainColumnArea;cbsnewsMainColumnArea.1

Maybe now that CBS has aired some of the information something will get done. All DOJ has done is stonewall Senator Grassley's requests and refused to answer the letter he has sent them.

Right now, the best thing for every concerned citizen to do is contact your Representatives and Senators and demand an inquiry. That our own government would allow this to go on is beyond belief.

An Open Letter to Those Who Would Disarm The Innocent

The History of “Shall Issue” Firearms Carry Laws Juxtaposed Against U.S. Violent Crime Rates:
An Open Letter to Those Who Would Disarm The Innocent
Michael Volesky, Feb. 2011


For all those fearful people who seem to be more afraid of armed law abiding citizens than of criminals, those not sure of the future outcome of Iowa’s new “Shall Issue” weapons permit law, and those who question a citizen’s justification for carrying a gun to defend themselves or their family, consider this (The following are crime stats for the U.S. in 2009 from http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/uscrime.htm, which is compiled data from the 2009 FBI Uniform Crime Report):

Total Violent Crimes: 1,318,398; including 15,241 murders, 89,000 forcible rapes (is there any other kind?), 408,217 robberies and 806,843 aggravated assaults.

Interestingly enough, the trend toward "shall-issue" carry permits started in 1986 when there were just 8 "shall issue (SI)" states, 26 "may issue (MI)" (Discretionary issue, arbitrarily ranging from no-issue to shall issue. Iowa was in this category), 15 "no issue (NI)" and 1 "unregulated (UN)" (Vermont has no law regarding the carrying of weapons, and it is therefore legal for anyone not otherwise prohibited from possessing a gun to carry it, open or concealed). In 1986 there were 620.1 violent crimes per 100k people in the United States.

Just 5 years later (1991) violent crime per capita reached the all time high of 758.1/100k people. In 1991 the U.S. had 16 SI, 19 MI, 14 NI and 1 UN states, a small increase in SI states, but a huge increase in violent crime (up 22.3% in 5 years!). Four years later the "right to carry" trend was in full swing, and by the end of 1995 there were 27 SI, 14 MI, and just 8 remaining "no issue." In 1995, violent crime had FALLEN to 684.5/100k, and from then on has been falling fast.

Fast forward to 2009, where we have 37 SI, 9 MI, 2 UN/Constitutional Carry (AK and VT), and just 2 NI states remaining (WI and IL). Yet by some miracle, the violent crime rate had dropped to 429.4/100K (for a drop of a whopping 43.4% since the peak in 1991). This against the dire predictions of the anti-gun Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the Violence Policy Center about these shall issue laws (e.g. "rivers of blood flowing in the streets," "shootouts at the OK Corral on every block," "people killing each other over parking spaces," "gun nuts waving their guns around," "people pulling their guns over minor arguments," “bodies piled like cordwood,” et cetera, ad nauseam... I have heard it all). It is also despite the expiration of the 1994 "Assault Weapons Ban" (which included magazine capacity limits, just like the ones being reintroduced by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, timed to capitalize on the fear and grief of the Tucson Massacre, to push through an agenda that has been demonstrated historically to have absolutely no effect on violent crime... but I digress...).

The point is that gun control is failed policy. The bad guys will always have guns, no matter how hard we try to make it for them by tightening the restrictions on lawful gun owners. Even if we banned all guns outright, and attempted to confiscate those already in circulation, a long standing desire of gun control advocates, the criminals would still get them via the black market. As long as there is a demand, there will be a supply and a supplier, legal or not (Has the "War On Drugs" stopped countless tons of illegal drugs from flowing into our country? They are all illegal, right?).

The facts bear out that allowing the citizens to exercise their right to arm themselves for whatever lawful purpose they choose does NOT, in any way, increase crime. In fact, despite the relaxing of gun laws across the country over the last 20 years, the crime rates have steadily fallen to a low that hadn't been seen since 1968 (which, interestingly, is the year the Gun Control Act of 1968 was passed, after which crime rates began to swiftly and steadily rise until the peak in 1991).

So, as of 2011, Iowa has joined the majority of the country becoming the 41st state to allow her citizens the equal right to carry arms for self defense (38 SI, 7 MI, 3 UN/Constitutional Carry, and just 2 NI states). Lawful carry is nothing new in this country, and as a “social experiment,” the likes of which the so-called “progressives” are quite fond of (which are almost always failures), it has been a resounding success.

All of the terrible things predicted by the anti-gun fear-mongers on the left have not happened. We’ve had almost 2 months of “shall issue,” and nothing has changed. We haven’t had any road rage shootings, no permit holder has gotten drunk and pulled his gun over a bar squabble, we have not seen widespread open carry, and the little open carry that has happened has been peaceable. Put succinctly, nothing has happened that would suggest that the law needs to be changed to be more restrictive.

It’s time for all the panicked sheeple to calm down, collect their wits, and stop being more afraid of your lawfully armed neighbors than you are of illegally armed criminals. Hopefully, when the dust has settled and the truth is clear, those who oppose this law out of irrational fear, and those rational folks that are on the fence, will realize that allowing law abiding citizens to arm themselves is actually a good thing. A permit holder is no more likely to pull their weapon and shoot you down than they are to run you down with their car (Interesting side note; Drivers licenses are “shall issue” too, and motor vehicles kill more folks than guns, by a long shot, despite the much higher training and testing standards imposed on licensed drivers. Pun intended.).