Last week, a federal judge in Washington handed the gun industry a painful legal setback in its efforts to prevent the Obama Administration from attacking the highly-profitable trafficking of assault rifles to the Mexican drug cartels.
Judge Rosemary Collyer -- who, incidentally, was appointed by George W. Bush -- upheld the Administration's new policy of requiring federally-licensed gun dealers in four border states to notify federal law enforcement authorities whenever there is a multiple purchase of certain semi-automatic rifles. Judge Collyer found this modest reporting requirement "reasonable" in light of evidence that "certain powerful long guns are weapons of choice of Mexican drug cartels" and "multiple sales of such guns is a strong indicator of gun trafficking."
The industry's reaction was a study in hypocrisy. The National Shooting Sports Foundation -- the industry trade association that brought the lawsuit -- issued a statement expressing its disappointment in the ruling, but emphasizing that "members of the firearms industry take great pride in their longstanding cooperative relationship" with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Yes, the industry is so "cooperative" that it took the ATF to court because retailers could not abide having to tell ATF when someone walks out of a Texas gun shop with ten semi-automatic assault rifles. I guess it's easy to be "cooperative" with ATF until the Bureau actually requires you to cooperate to fight gun trafficking.
The industry's strategy of contesting the reporting rule in court has clearly backfired. The gun industry has enthusiastically joined the National Rifle Association in denying that U.S. gun dealers are a primary source of guns for the Mexican cartels. Ironically, the industry's own lawsuit has given the government an opportunity to present the full range of evidence that the cartels are arming themselves with American guns, evidence the industry was unable to overcome.
For example, Judge Collyer cited a General Accountability Office report concluding that a "large proportion of the firearms fueling Mexican drug violence originated in the United States, including a growing number of increasingly lethal weapons." Judge Collyer relied on actual crime gun traces indicating that over 20,000 firearms seized by Mexican authorities and traced between 2004 and 2008 originated in the United States, mostly from the border states. This is likely a vast undercount since not all crime guns seized in Mexico are traced. Contrary to the gun lobby' s denial of reality, Judge Collyer found that "the states bordering Mexico have been shown to be major sources of guns related to crime in Mexico."
Indeed, the gun lobby has so distanced itself from reality on the issue of gun trafficking to Mexico that it now claims that the ATF's misguided "Fast and Furious" operation, in which ATF allowed some 2,000 guns to move from the U.S. to the cartels in an effort to get at cartel leaders, was itself a conspiracy to justify the rifle reporting rule. In the paranoid universe of the gun lobby, there was no trafficking of guns to Mexico until ATF authorized it during the Obama Administration to justify more gun restrictions.
This absurd theory struggles to explain the fact that the Bush Administration used similarly flawed tactics to combat the tidal wave of guns moving to Mexico long before the "Fast and Furious" operation was implemented. Given that "Fast and Furious" has come under fire because ATF may have allowed guns to "walk" into Mexico, it is odd that the NRA and the gun industry would object to a reporting requirement that would enable ATF to better stop trafficked guns before they get to the border.
Let's face it. Although there are some gun dealers responsible enough to voluntarily inform the authorities about suspicious transactions, the industry is dominated by manufacturers, distributors and retailers who profit so handsomely from high-volume sales to traffickers that they will fight any serious effort to curtail them. In Judge Collyer's ruling, the industry's hypocrisy is laid bare for all to see.
Dennis Henigan is the Acting President of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the author of Lethal Logic: Exploding the Myths That Paralyze American Gun Policy (Potomac Books 2009).
Given that "Fast and Furious" has come under fire because ATF may have allowed guns to "walk" into Mexico
Wow. talk about apologetics. 'May' have allowed? Seriously? That's the angle they're going to stick w/ even after the ATF has admitted to allowing it to happen, just not who in their agency to blame?
How long until the lights get shut off in the Brady offices?
http://daysofourtrailers.blogspot.com/2012/01/what-that-flushing-sound-is.html
There is no such thing as "semi-automatic assault rifles". Doesn't matter how many times Dennis repeats this lie, they still do not exist .
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/01/16/1055314/-Gun-control-newspeak:-assault-clip?via=user
* crickets *
De Oppresso Liber
Old SF MJT
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/20/nypd-police-officer-dies-after-suicide-queens_n_1218743.html?ref=new-york#comments
would the first amendment and his cell phone be to blame or the nra and the second amendment...
Jus sayin...
Generally, you are correst. That said, Mack's anology is still spot-on!
Oh, by the way, ST, what about those SCOTUS desicions I cited for you OVER HALF A YEAR AGO and asked you to comment on?
De Oppresso Liber
Old SF
The ATF is breaking the law in the reporting requirements. They are empowered to build a multiple handgun purchase registry, and are banned from making a registry for long guns, but they did it anyway. Spin it however you want, these are the facts.
Unless of course you're just regurgitating talking points.
The NRA is a FEAR based movement.
The interesting part of the story is that even though the guy had been to jail previously, had an extensive arrest and conviction record, with more than a few involving illegal possession of a firearm, he NEVER went to jail for illegal possession of a firearm. That charge had always been "negotiated" away in plea bargaining. So even though the guy had just recently got out of jail, the first thing he did was illegally purchase a firearm, because previous experience had taught him that, even though it was illegal, he would never be punished for it.
Now the kids dead, and he will go to jail for Manslaughter or some such charge. Whose fault is that? His for the irresponsible/illgale ownership? Or ours, for not enforcing the laws we make, and teaching him their is no punishment?
That's a good one, ST. You're on top of your game tonight.
How does that rate compare with twenty years ago?
How old are those "kids"? Are you guys over at the VPC still including men and women up to age twenty-four as "kids" so you can inflate your numbers?
what a sad position to adopt
Keep dancing, frank.
At least the "gun industry" was IN court to argue the case. Unlike, well........
http://www.nssfblog.com/brady-center-runs-out-of-time-suffers-stinging-defeat-in-lawsuit-against-a-firearms-retailer/
That sound you hear is the gun control movement's continual spiral into irrelevancy.
Well, something similar was spiraling in a similar manner.
Mexico's ambassador reported that most of the cartel's firepower is from the international black market and flowing across his border with Central America. El Salvador's ambassador reported that the cartels were buying weaponry from rogue El Salvadoran troops as well as stealing the weapons from military installations.
The RPGs, hand grenades, 50 cal machine guns, full-auto AK’s, etc. favored by the cartels are NOT coming from US sporting goods stores. No misguided US gun ban or registration scheme will fix the problem of international DTO's obtaining firearms illegally.
The DTO's ravaging Latin America have their own air fleet, ships, submarines, caravans, etc. and do business all over the world. To suggest that DTO are filling out federal paperwork and undergoing FBI background checks for civilian sporting rifles as their main source of armament is ridiculous. Why would a DTO pay $1,000 for a sporting rifle when fully-automatic machine guns can be bought by the boat-load from the international black market for as little as $50 each.
Blaming sporting goods stores and civilian firearms for the violence of the International DTO's is simply foolish.
A bunch of middle aged, overweight and under trained guys, armed with deer rifles and semi autos, are going to go up against the most highly trained, professional, well armed and technically advanced military machine in the world and come out victorious??
Fat chance.
Here’s what I see happening. The gunsters will be all gung ho for a day or two until the have to sleep in the mud, go without toilet paper and Budweiser and miss the game on TV. Then it will be mass desertion.
But that might be a good thing, because when the Apache helicopters come those deer rifles will be about as much protection as toilet paper…
PS I own lots of guns and I'm a veteran.
It's absurd.
And, in Afghanistan, the military wants to win. That would not necessarily be the case were a President to order the military to oppress the American people.