Politics – Page 143 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Text of Trafficking Law

It’s hard to see any gotcha’s with the text of this proposed anti-trafficking law, in terms of ensnaring otherwise law-abiding individuals, but as the commenter who posted it noted, it’s also hard to see what this criminalizes that’s not already criminalized. Disposing of one firearm, let alone two firearms, to someone the person knows, or has reasonable cause to believe, is prohibited from possessing the firearm, is a felony punishable by ten years. The proposed crime reaches the organizer of such sales, but it’s hard to see how conspiracy wouldn’t reach those individuals under current laws.

The only place I can see this coming into play, where current laws don’t necessarily apply, is if you’re transferring the firearm to someone who you know will use or dispose of it unlawfully, but is not otherwise prohibited from purchasing a firearm. But again, it’s hard to see how this could not be reached by conspiracy.Â If you know, or have reasonable cause to believe, that your act is going to aid in the furtherance a crime, you’re reachable under conspiracy.

So this statute is, to be blunt, a joke. I can’t see this has any purpose short of trying to divert attention away from the Fast and Furious scandal, and to try deflect blame for the DOJ’s criminal mishandling of the program, and their abysmal record of prosecuting traffickers under existing law. This is a dog and pony show put on by the Democrats to try to blame Fast and Furious on the gun laws, and it’s blatantly transparent.

Fast and Furious a Gun Control Plot

John Richardson has a link to the smoking gun, and Katie Pavlich is reporting on this topic as well. On this, recall that our opponents called this “hyping ridiculous conspiracy theories to attack the Obama administration,” and suggesting it was something we created from whole cloth.

The emperor would appear to have no clothes.

Threats to Local Public Officials

One thing I learned, from my parents being relatively active in the town I grew up in, is that state and local politicians, and particularly town or borough council meetings, are like flypaper for the mentally unstable. It’s unfortunate that one of our local reps is finding himself in this situation. I first noticed this article at MSNBC yesterday, which spoke of the guy’s demands:

â€œI want my name cleared,â€ he said. â€œ Mario Andretti and A.J. Foyt (famous race car drivers) can vouch for me. I may run for president,â€ said a rambling Buehl.

This looks to me like yet another failure of our mental health system. This guy should probably be in a mental hospital, or, at least monitored to ensure he’s taking his prescribed medication.

Bozo

Just because she votes the right way doesn’t make her any less of one. These are people I’d rather not have on my side. The media seems to keep harping on the gun not having a safety. I don’t care whether it has a safety or not, you don’t point it at people. I also don’t care whether the the reporter, as Klein claims, sat in front of her line of sight. If someone walks in front of the muzzle, you point it in a safe direction immediately. It’s hard for me to imagine a scenario where I let someone walk in front of my muzzle. It’s also, equally hard, to imagine a scenario where I agree to show off my loaded pistol to a reporter, or anyone. If someone asks to see the gun you’re carrying, the responsible answer should be “NO,” and the next question is how the person knew you were carrying in the first place.

UPDATE: SayUncle notes that her side of the story is different, namely that she cleared the pistol first.

Civil Rights Victory in New Jersey

Evan Nappen is reporting a win in Court in New Jersey. You can see the case here. The police removed the firearms permit of a man for being a habitual drunkard. Despite seeking treatment, and having recovered from his addiction, they refused to re-issue him a permit. The Court in this case appears to have dodged the Second Amendment question, and reached a verdict based on the trial court improperly denying the man the ability to present evidence as to his recovery.

For quite some time the branches of government in New Jersey responsible for enforcing the state’s gun laws have routinely not followed them, and have generally been arbitrary and abusive in regards to gun owners. The courts in the Garden State previously have taken little interest in putting a stop to it, not only allowing the abuses to continue, but adding their own string of abuses and usurpations.

This is an indication that may be changing, if only so they can dispose of the case without addressing the Second Amendment implications. This can only go on for so long. In other words, the courts in New Jersey can try to run, but they can’t hide. Justice will come.

Meanwhile, on Gunwalker …

All the excitement about Ezell, I forgot to mention this development in a timely manner. It would seem that Melson has decided to sing like a songbird. He will not be the one falling on his sword, and the hot potato goes upwards to Acting Deputy AG James Cole.

Yet Cole was not confirmed as the deputy attorney general until June 28 â€” and only after Senator Grassley agreed to lift his objection to Cole because Justice agreed to allow oversight into Operation Fast & Furious. But it seems obvious that at the time Grassley made this agreement with the Justice Department, neither Cole nor anyone else at Justice had told Grassley about the vital information it was withholding, particularly the possible involvement of the FBI and the DEA.

So now the question will be whether Cole will fall on his sword to shield Holder, and thus the Administration. Â It would seem Melson’s testimony aims squarely at Cole, so my guess is that he will be the one to fall on his sword is anyone will.

Pool Mystery Explained

Remember the story from a few days ago about a woman drowning in a pool in Fall River Massachusetts? But the body wasn’t found for two days. And the pool was open. It would seem this mystery has an explanation:

An initial investigation showed the water in the pool was murky from the time the pool opened for the season last Saturday. Visibility tests conducted Wednesday revealed a diver couldn’t be seen at a depth of 3 1/2 to 4 feet below the surface of the water.

Unfortunately I was eating when I read that.

“He did tell two lifeguards – one said she was on break, and had to leave and the other told him they were going to do a pool check,” the woman told the newspaper. “But he told me they never did.”

So it would seem the Commonwealth of Massachusetts can’t even run a public swimming pool, yet folks want us to believe they are competent enough to control all our health care?

An Analogy for Fast and Furious

From Tam, who thinks Rep. Cummings is proposing the opposite of a solution:

Given the revelations on Operation Fast & Furious, this is like finding a guy climbing through a broken window in your living room wearing a ski mask and an ADT uniform, and when you shine the flashlight in his face, having him pull his mask off and try to sell you a burglar alarm system because of the rash of break-ins in the neighborhood. Seriously, this is the Justice Department equivalent of the proverbial fireman that moonlights as an arsonist so he can heroically put out fires.

The only purpose of this operation is one of two things, to create a problem that will then require more funding and more bureaucrats to solve, or was a deliberate attempt to run the numbers up to justify further restrictions. This probably isn’t really an and/or situation though, and if I had to put money on it, the primary goal was the former, and if it made the case for the latter, that would have just been icing on the cake.

Dangerous Insurrectionists

Someone call CSGV, because the North Carolina legislature and Governor have shown themselves to be dangerous insurrectionists militia whack jobs.

NRA News Interviews Fired Whistleblower

It looks like the retaliations against ATF “Fast and Furious” whistleblowers are continuing. NRA News has an interview with one of the whistleblowers who was recently fired, illegally, in retaliation: