The deadline is today for public comment on a proposal by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to require reporting of all multiple sales of long guns by retailers in four southwest states, ostensibly to help fight the flow of guns across the border into Mexico.
However, AmmoLand.com and the Firearms Coalition take caustic issue with that in a column pointing the finger at ATF for the large flow of firearms across the border. Specifically, the column asserts, ATF is the problem rather than the solution to illicit gun trafficking, thanks to Project Gunrunner and Operation Fast and Furious.
The ATF claims the reporting is necessary to combat the flow of firearms across the border into Mexico, but in light of the “Gunwalker” scandal currently being investigated in Congress and by the Justice Department Inspector General’s office, it looks like ATF is the problem, not the solution.—Firearms Coalition
This column has reported the details of the ATF operation that has taken on the appearance of a fiasco and resulted in two on-going Congressional investigations. As this column reported here, mid-June could see the first hearings on Gunrunner before Congressman Darrell Issa’s House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Issa has become frustrated with what he believes is an attempt by the Department of Justice and ATF to stonewall his investigation, and that of Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
ATF offered the long gun sales reporting plan earlier this year in what critics are suggesting is an exercise in irony. Issa even issued a subpoena for Gunrunner information when his less formal request was met with silence.
Beyond the complications of Project Gunwalker, the idea of requiring reporting of multiple long gun sales is clearly in conflict with established congressional mandates and restrictions on ATF’s authority. By attempting to push through this major regulatory change without congressional approval (which they could not get), ATF is seriously overstepping their legal authority.--Firearms Coalition
There is still no firm total on the number of firearms allowed to “walk” into the hands of gun traffickers by the ATF’s operation, but one firm number sticks in everyone’s mind: 2. That’s the number of federal civilian peace officers whose line of duty slayings have been linked to firearms that are associated with Project Gunrunner or Fast and Furious.
Estimates on the number of guns allowed to enter the illicit market range from the hundreds to more than 2,500, depending upon whose figures one believes.
Hearings before Issa’s committee could come as soon as the week of June 13, and more specifically, they may occur on June 15 or 16.
The Firearms Coalition even has a draft letter that gun owners can send, detailing objections to the ATF proposal.
Letters of opposition may be sent here.
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America Fights Back: Armed Self-Defense in a Violent Age
These Dogs Don’t Hunt: The Democrats’ War on Guns
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