News and Views about Happenings in the Firearms Industry from Classic Arms Company, Inc.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Fewer Than 5 Lawmakers Given Authorization To Carry Guns At Capitol
POSTED: 5:21 pm PDT April 8, 2011 UPDATED: 6:10 pm PDT April 8, 2011
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- California Speaker of the Assembly John Perez has asked that authorizations for lawmakers to carry weapons at the Capitol be revoked, KCRA 3 has learned.
A source told KCRA 3 earlier this week that fewer than five lawmakers have been granted authorization to carry their own guns.
"Upon learning that those authorizations had been made by the Chief Sergeant of the Assembly, the Speaker asked the Chief Sergeant to revoke authorizations for any members pending a full review of safety and security measures," a representative for Perez said in a statement issued Friday.
The Speaker has asked that the authorizations be revoked pending a full review of safety and security measures, according to the statement.
The recent shooting of Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and threats against several California state lawmakers prompted officials who guard state Assembly members to carry handguns.
California Assembly sergeants previously were armed only when threat levels were high or during large events, Assembly spokeswoman Shannon Murphy said.
Beginning this month, they started carrying .40 caliber Smith & Wesson semiautomatic handguns whenever on duty.
Copyright 2011 by KCRA.com and The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Today marks the conclusion of a week-long protest at colleges and universities across the nation.
Thousands of college students organized under Students for Concealed Carry on Campus wore empty gun holsters on their hip for Empty Holster Protest Week in opposition of state laws and school policies that make it illegal for students with concealed weapons permits to carry handguns on campus.
Brian Tucker, a senior studying criminal justice at Grand Valley State University, is the president of Students for Concealed Carry on Grand Valley, a registered student organization.
He received his concealed carry permit three years ago and got involved in the campus group when he raised questions about the legality of storing his pistol inside his car while he went to class.
Since then he’s joined the group composed mainly of nontraditional students.
“I grew up in a family that always valued the importance of protecting yourself and others. When I got to Grand Valley and came across the group I thought what arguments they had made sense,” Tucker said.
According to the Office of the Attorney General, once issued, a concealed pistol permit allows a person to carry anywhere in the state except where legally prohibited or in the gun free zones, one of them being college classrooms and dorms.
Currently there are two bills in the House and Senate that would repeal all nine pistol free zones, including carrying a handgun on a college campus.
Michigan Students for Concealed Carry director Reid Smith said Empty Holster Protest Week started in 2007 after the Virginia Tech shooting.
“It started as a way to express frustration. If we were armed, we’d be safer on college campuses. It also gives students a chance to explain their beliefs,” he said.
But the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence says arming students equals a bad idea.
The organization which was founded in 1974 argues that the college years are the peak for engaging in gun crimes, abusing drugs and alcohol, attempting suicide and having other mental health problems, so it makes no sense to add a gun to the mix.
Brady Campaign president Paul Helmke said in a prepared statement the idea that colleges will be safer if loaded guns are permitted on campus is faulty and lethal logic.
“There’s a reason why this kind of wrongheaded legislation has failed 43 times in 23 states. Parents, faculty, university leaders, and students understand that forcing more guns in more places is dangerous and unnecessary.”
Tucker says the belief that more lives will be in jeopardy if guns are permitted on college campuses is based on ungrounded fears.
“Though they have a right to think that, they don’t have any of those issues in the states and 140 campuses in the U.S. that allow concealed carry. None of them have ever reported a single issue with concealed carry holders,” Tucker said.
Seven schools in Michigan took part in the protest: Grand Valley State University, Ferris State University, Central Michigan University, Oakland University, Northern Michigan University, Western Michigan University and Southwestern Michigan College.
Hope College has a policy in place prohibiting firearms, weapons or fireworks on campus. As a private institution, the school’s policy will remain in place regardless of any new state legislation, spokesman Tom Renner said.
The college’s student development office has not been approached by anyone wishing to become a recognized student organization affiliated with Students for Concealed Carry.
But it’s not the private schools that Smith is worried about, it’s the public schools he says that are breaking the law.
By making their own school-wide policies against firearm possession, Smith says they’re disobeying the letter of the law and Act 319 of 1990, Section 123.1102 which states that a local unit of government cannot enact or enforce any ordinance or regulation pertaining to the possession of pistols or other firearms.
“Under state law you can carry a concealed weapon anywhere on campus except in a classroom or dorm at which point it has to be open carry, or visible,” he said.
“Colleges just assume that they’re not a local unit of government, thus they can create their own rules. In my opinion, if a county, township and city are governed by the state law, then a college should be too.”
California Gov. Jerry Brown tells cops, 'I've got 3 guns'
Jerry Brown mentions that he own three guns — and one dog — while talking to a law enforcement group. A spokeswoman declines to specify the types of guns he owns.
By Jack Dolan, Los Angeles Times
April 7, 2011
Reporting from Sacramento —
Gov. Jerry Brown, who routinely confounds those tempted to write him off as a stereotypical left-wing intellectual, did so again Wednesday, telling a roomful of cops that he's the proud owner of a small arsenal.
Brown suggested that it's ridiculous for opponents of his plan to transfer thousands of felons from state prisons to county jails to lampoon it as the "get a dog, buy a gun" bill. It's perfectly natural for people to have those items in their homes anyway, he said.
"I've got three guns and one dog," he told the Alliance of California Law Enforcement.
Brown spokeswoman Elizabeth Ashford declined to say Wednesday afternoon what kinds of guns her boss possesses.
"We don't discuss the governor's arsenal in detail," she said.
A news report last year said Brown owned three guns that he used for target practice.
The dog is a small corgi — the breed frequently seen at the feet of the Queen Elizabeth II — and not much of a security asset. Brown referred to him recently as "half a rat."
In 2009, while attorney general, Brown filed a friend-of-the-court brief siding with the National Rifle Assn.'s attempt to overturn a gun ban in Chicago. Brown wrote to the U.S. Supreme Court that he feared "California citizens could be deprived of the constitutional right to possess handguns in their homes."
But during a 1992 presidential debate, he had promoted a moratorium on gun sales.
In the intervening years, he served as mayor of crime-ridden Oakland, where he frequently encountered drug dealers and addicts at night while walking his previous pet, a Labrador retriever named Dharma.
Brown has since abandoned his loft in gritty downtown Oakland for a quiet home in the safety of the city's hills. He also has a loft in Sacramento.
A gun-rights-advocacy group sued Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on Tuesday, claiming that the city fee for obtaining a home-handgun permit was so excessive that it impinged on the Second Amendment.
The group, the Second Amendment Foundation, based in Bellevue, Wash., is focusing on New York’s fees because, according to the group, the city is one of the few places in the country that requires people to obtain permits to keep guns in their homes.
The city’s fee is $340, plus a $94.25 charge for a fingerprint check. The fee in most other places in the state is $10, according to the foundation. Mr. Bloomberg has long been a staunch supporter of gun control and has made efforts to reduce the traffic in guns into the city through sting operations, lawsuits against gun dealers and other antigun measures.
The city’s fee for obtaining a home gun permit has long been in place.
The suit, filed in federal court, claims that the city’s fee is so exorbitant that it “impermissibly burdens the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms,” and the suit argues that because city residents are forced to pay more than others, the fee also violates the 14th Amendment’s equal-protection clause.
Last year, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment’s guarantee of an individual’s right to bear arms applies to state and local gun-control laws. Two years earlier, it applied Second Amendment protection under federal law.
In an interview, Alan Gottlieb, the executive vice president of the Second Amendment Foundation, said that New York City’s fee had been on the group’s radar for a while, and that the two recent Supreme Court decisions were “cornerstones for future Second Amendment litigation.”
“We needed those decisions to affirm that this right is protected in your own home,” Mr. Gottlieb said. “That’s what made it right to bring this lawsuit. This is an excessive fee being charged to exercise a fundamental right in your own home.”
A spokeswoman for the city’s Law Department said lawyers were reviewing the suit.
The Bloomberg administration announced nearly a year ago that it was moving to speed up and simplify the process for getting a gun permit, and reducing fees for permit renewals.
A spokeswoman for the state attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, who was also named in the suit, declined to comment.
The group also took issue with how the revenue collected from the fees is spent. “Not one penny of it goes to processing the application,” Mr. Gottlieb said. “It all goes to the police pension fund.”
Cynthia Wills, 54, has a medical marijuana permit to treat arthritis and muscle spasms. She also has a permit to carry a concealed handgun.
Oregon police, AP reports, have tried to take away Willis’s gun, prompting Willis to fire back with a lawsuit, joined by three co-plaintiffs. The case is pending in the Oregon Supreme Court.
“Under the medical marijuana law, I am supposed to be treated as any other citizen in this state,” said Willis, a retired school bus driver whose gun of choice is a Walther P-22. “If people don’t stand up for their little rights, all their big rights will be gone.”
State sheriffs, according to AP, say that federal gun laws prohibit firearm sales to drug addicts, a term that includes medical marijuana users, they contend.
“The whole medical marijuana issue is a concern to sheriffs across the country . . . because there is so much potential for abuse or for misuse and as a cover for organized criminal activity,” Washington County Sheriff Rob Gordon told AP.
Gordon’s office rejected three medical marijuana patients in the Portland suburbs who applied for concealed handgun permits.
If Willis loses, she plans to carry her pistol out in the open, in a holster on her hip, which is legal under Oregon law, according to AP.
'Fast and Furious' White House gun control Exclusive: Chuck Norris blasts feds for encouraging weapons trafficking to Mexico
April 04, 2011 1:00 am Eastern By Chuck Norris
Since the very first days of this president's administration, the drug-fueled cartel violence in Mexico has provided a stalking horse for the gun-control agenda. Early on, both Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Attorney General Eric Holder cited Mexican violence as a reason to renew the Clinton gun ban of 1994. After those trial balloons were shot down, the ball was passed to Mexican President Felipe Calderon, who has repeatedly blamed American gun rights for Mexican violence.
More recently, the BATF cited cartel mayhem as justification for an attempt to mandate the reporting of all multiple long gun sales in border states. This regulation would force dealers to immediately report all purchases of more than one long gun if they are magazine fed and larger than .22 caliber – effectively creating a registry.
But now, shocking revelations that grow bigger every day completely undercut the argument for additional restrictions. In fact, they illuminate bureaucratic arrogance, recklessness and hypocrisy of the highest order in the hallways of the Obama administration – including the spreading stench of a massive cover-up.
As it turns out, BATF was already aware of efforts by shady characters to undertake mass gun purchases in border states – because law-abiding gun dealers reported the attempted purchases voluntarily. But BATF agents acting on "orders from Washington" encouraged gun dealers to complete these transactions against the dealers' better judgment. Worse yet, the guns – thousands of them – were then allowed to be smuggled, or "walked," into Mexico and into the hands of drug cartels. And worst of all, these guns are now turning up at crime scenes – including the murder of at least one U.S. federal agent.
The operation is called "Fast and Furious," and it's absolutely appalling – but it's all true, and there is still much more to come. Attorney General Holder has attempted to deflect the call for an investigation by asking the inspector general of the Department of Justice to look into the matter. Sounds good on paper, but this is the same IG office that ignored the first expressions of concern from rank and file agents who have now turned whistleblower.
BATF has been stonewalling inquiries from Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, but now Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., has joined the fray – and he has subpoena power, as chairman of the House Oversight Committee. And CBS reporter Sharyl Atkisson is on the story like a bloodhound, in a performance decidedly atypical of the mainstream media. You can catch up on the major developments on her page.
I'm not a law enforcement officer – I just played one on TV. But you don't have to be Walker, Texas Ranger, to understand that there are very good reasons that law enforcement agents, as a rule, do not allow guns to "walk" into the hands of criminals. And to their credit, numerous rank and file BATF agents understood this truism as well, objecting to the "Fast and Furious" operation from the get-go. Their superiors told them, "You have to break some eggs to make an omelet," and then apparently threatened the agents with career discipline if they continued their objections.
The agents were also warned that the operation was approved at the highest levels of the Department of Justice – levels that are populated by presidential appointees, not career law enforcement officials. And now the Mexican government has elevated the scandal into an international incident, launching its own investigation and warning that "sanctions will have to be carried out with the full force of law to whomever could have been responsible."
Barack Obama himself was questioned about the scandal by a reporter from Spanish-language station Unavision. He quickly passed the buck, claiming ignorance of the operation and saying, "There may be a situation here which a serious mistake was made, and if that's the case then we'll find out and we'll hold somebody accountable." But a presidential effort to pin the tail on the donkey ignores the tremendous scope of "Fast and Furious," which apparently involved personnel not only from BATF and Justice, but also the Customs Service, Border Patrol and even the State Department. Any attempt to lay this massive botch at the feet of any one individual ignores systemic problems that "Fast and Furious" illustrates in the federal bureaucracy. (See my remarks above about arrogance, recklessness and hypocrisy.)
At least one federal bureaucrat was better prepared than Obama to launch the tactics of diversion. When this explosive story first began to unfold, BATF chief spokesman Scot Thomasson issued a memorandum to ATF field offices nationwide. The memo said, "ATF needs to proactively push positive stories this week in an effort to preempt some negative reporting, or at a minimum lessen the coverage of ("Fast and Furious") in the news cycle by replacing them with good stories about the ATF."
It's going to take a lot more than that to cleanse this stain. In the meantime, proponents of gun control – including the White House – should focus on bringing U.S. government agencies into compliance with our existing laws before pushing new restrictions on the rest of us.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Did the Obama White House Authorize Gun Smuggling into Mexico?
CBS News broke the story back in February. Agents of the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms appeared to have aided and encouraged the illegal purchase of high-powered firearms in United States gun shops, pushed the gun shop owners to sell the guns, and then aided the smuggling of the guns into Mexico.
The Obama White House apparently channeled more than $10 million of Obama Stimulus money to support this smuggling operation. A lot of money was made on this smuggling operation, and it is still unclear who authorized this apparent criminal activity and who were the recipients of this money.
These smuggled guns were used to kill members of rival Mexican gangs, apparently Mexican police and military, and even US agents. The excuse given by the Attorney General Eric Holder and his Department of Justice for this apparent criminal activity was that the gun smuggling was somehow for the purpose of tracking illegal guns in Mexico. Guns were smuggled into Mexico and sold. Apparently the serial numbers of the guns were recorded? It appears no satellite or other tracking devices were imbedded in the guns. Most of the guns simply disappeared into Mexico and have not been identified since.
“Project Gunrunner” was started in 2005, with apparent bipartisan support. The initial intent of the program was to stop smuggling of guns into Mexico. Sometime in the past few years the nature of the program was changed. It is not clear who authorized these changes, and President Obama denies that either he or Attorney General Eric Holder authorized the gun smuggling for profit. CBS reported,
Keeping American weapons from getting into the hands of Mexican gangs is the goal of a program called "Project Gunrunner." But critics say it's doing exactly the opposite. CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports on what she found.
December 14, 2010. The place: a dangerous smuggling route in Arizona not far from the border. A special tactical border squad was on patrol when gunfire broke out and agent Brian Terry was killed.
Kent, Brian's brother, said "he was my only brother. That was the only brother I had. I'm lost."
The assault rifles found at the murder were traced back to a U.S. gun shop. Where they came from and how they got there is a scandal so large, some insiders say it surpasses the shoot-out at Ruby Ridge and the deadly siege at Waco.
To understand why, it helps to know something about "Project Gunrunner" an operation run by the ATF the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
Attkisson went on to comment about the implications of Project Gunrunner and the indictment,
"Project Gunrunner" deployed new teams of agents to the southwest border. The idea: to stop the flow of weapons from the US to Mexico's drug cartels. But in practice, sources tell CBS News, ATF's actions had the opposite result: they allegedly facilitated the delivery of thousands of guns into criminal hands.
CBS News wanted to ask ATF officials about the case, but they wouldn't agree to an interview. We were able to speak to six veteran ATF agents and executives involved. They don't want to be quoted by name for fear of retaliation. These are their allegations.
In late 2009, ATF was alerted to suspicious buys at seven gun shops in the Phoenix area. Suspicious because the buyers paid cash, sometimes brought in paper bags. And they purchased classic "weapons of choice" used by Mexican drug traffickers - semi-automatic versions of military type rifles and pistols.
Sources tell CBS News several gun shops wanted to stop the questionable sales, but ATF encouraged them to continue. Jaime Avila was one of the suspicious buyers. ATF put him in its suspect database in January of 2010. For the next year, ATF watched as Avila and other suspects bought huge quantities of weapons supposedly for "personal use." They included 575 AK-47 type semi-automatic rifles.
ATF managers allegedly made a controversial decision: allow most of the weapons on the streets. The idea, they said, was to gather intelligence and see where the guns ended up. Insiders say it's a dangerous tactic called letting the guns, "walk."
One agent called the strategy "insane." Another said: "We were fully aware the guns would probably be moved across the border to drug cartels where they could be used to kill.
On the phone, one Project Gunrunner source (who didn't want to be identified) told us just how many guns flooded the black market under ATF's watchful eye. "The numbers are over 2,500 on that case by the way. That's how many guns were sold - including some 50-calibers they let walk.
50-caliber weapons are fearsome. For months, ATF agents followed 50-caliber Barrett rifles and other guns believed headed for the Mexican border, but were ordered to let them go. One distraught agent was often overheard on ATF radios begging and pleading to be allowed to intercept transports. The answer: "Negative. Stand down.
CBS News has been told at least 11 ATF agents and senior managers voiced fierce opposition to the strategy. "It got ugly..." said one. There was "screaming and yelling" says another. A third warned: "this is crazy, somebody is gonna to get killed.
Sure enough, the weapons soon began surfacing at crime scenes in Mexico - dozens of them sources say - including shootouts with government officials.
The Mexican government was not aware of the gun smuggling sanctioned by the Obama White House Justice Department. This apparently has cooled the United States relationship with Mexican President Felipe Calderon.
The Department of Justice has at the same time tried to blame inadequate gun control laws in the United States for the gun smuggling. Gun smuggling into Mexico has been promoted as a reason to limit gun ownership by law abiding US citizens.
As more information becomes available, I am certain the implication of White House complicity and corruption, including that of both Obama and Holder, will deepen and become clearer. For the present, Obama is denying any knowledge that people in his Department of Justice were helping to smuggle guns into Mexico.
The White House has been stonewalling the subpoenas of information on the gun smuggling. Michelle Malkin reported,
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), the Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform today announced the issuance of a subpoena to the Department of Justices’ Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) for documents related to the highly controversial “Project Gunrunner.”
“The unwillingness of this Administration – most specifically the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms – to answer questions about this deadly serious matter is deeply troubling,” said Chairman Issa. “Allegations surrounding this program are serious and the ability of the Justice Department to conduct an impartial investigation is in question. Congressional oversight is necessary to get the truth about what is really happening.”
The corruption and criminal activity apparently sanctioned by the Obama White House is staggering. The apparent fact that White House ATF agents have been smuggling guns into Mexico and the Department of Justice and politicians are using this smuggling as an excuse to place more restrictions on the ability of law abiding citizens to own guns is both appalling and criminal.
Can Representative Issa and others in our House of Representatives do anything to stop this? Can President Obama and his Administration be brought under control and made to obey the Constitution and our laws? Will Obama, Holder, and others ever be held accountable for this gun smuggling? http://lubbockonline.com/interact/blog-post/may/2011-04-03/did-obama-white-house-authorize-gun-smuggling-mexico
