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December 2011
Best Investigative Bloggers of the Year
Sipsey Street Irregulars and David Codrea share "best investigative bloggers of the year". It certainly was well-earned, given their work on Fast and Furious!
Circle K clerk disarms robber -- and gets fired
Story here. Aggravating it is that one of the robbers was urging the gunman to shoot him. Apparently company policy is that clerks are expendable.
Permalink · Self defense · Comments (6)
DC gets tagged for $1.1 million in the Heller case
Ouch! They and other cities will have to start thinking twice before play games with the Constitution.
The power of the internet
New York Times runs a typically biased and inaccurate story on concealed carry, and two days later Instapundit can do a roundup of all the blogger's critiques of it.
Permalink · media · Comments (0)
Never bring a club to a bow fight
Story here.
Permalink · Self defense · Comments (1)
Best of the Worst Reporting awards
Right here. Paul Krugman takes first place. Click on entries in the left margin to see the runners-up.
Permalink · media · Comments (0)
A Christmas song played a new way
Ah, for Christmas in the good old days!
Hat tip to Sixgun Sarah...
Permalink · humor · Comments (0)
Fast and Furious bumper stickers
Right here.
Fast and Furious ... more to come
Previous over at CleanUpATF.org.
"Dear B. Todd [current acting director of ATFE], I attempted to notify you of a second "bomb". I had to talk to Greg Serres. I tried to get an appointment with you but Greg wouldn't have that. He was insulting, condescending, and hostile. It doesn't sound like the atmosphere on your floor as changed as further evidenced by your quotes in this article. Rather than avert the public disclosure of yet another "bomb", Greg hung up on me.
This second bomb involves another whistleblower. The whistleblower has been silenced by G. Elaine Smith which I believe is obstruction of justice. The information this whistleblower has involves corruption in another U.S. Attorney's office. You may personally know the U.S. Attorney involved in the corruption. I wouldn't think it would make you very comfortable to hear what this whistleblower has to say. However, I am still willing to disclose this second "bomb" to you quietly. Have Greg Serres call me but tell him to be nice. He has been naughty enough. We'll need arrange a meeting face to face because the Chief Counsel's Office refuses to let me use the video conferencing."
So much for government protection...
LAPD sets up 300 crime cameras... but over half are broken, or were never plugged into the system.
Website devoted to Fast and Furious
It's impressive. The latest post discusses acting director Melson's statements to Congressional investigators.
Permalink · BATFE · Comments (2)
Obama Administration discovers the Constitution
Apparently they have a version that allows the Executive to spend unappropriated money if it serves his "constitutional responsibility" to wield power and hire friends.
I can't find that clause in my own copy. I just find "No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law." Maybe I've got an outdated version. But I'm sure my copy of the anti deficiency act is up to date. So is the provision making violation a felony.
Embarrassment for Bloomburg group?
One of its members draws a concealed pistol on a burglar -- and seems rather reticent to discuss whether he has a CCW permit.
Permalink · antigun groups · Comments (0)
The Revolutionary origins of the Second Amendment
David E. Young has a new article on the subject. Very interesting analysis of the situation in Pennsylvania, and of George Mason's triad, a concept he originated.
Permalink · Framing of Constitution · Comments (1)
Graph on correlation between "shall issue" and homicide rates
Over at No Lawyers, Only Guns and Money. Essentially, as "shall issue" rapidly spread, homicide rates rapidly fell. They draw, I think, the sound conclusion that "Violent crime is a complex issue, but national data is clear that there is no positive correlation between liberalized concealed carry laws and increased violent crime." Coincidence doesn't prove causation, but lack of coincidence certainly raises serious questions about lack of causation.
Permalink · CCW licensing · Comments (5)
Strange firearms accident
According to news reports, a hunter fired a muzzleloader in the air, and killed an Amish girl over a mile away. I don't think a round ball would go that far, let alone arrive with lethal force. Perhaps a modern saboted projectile could do it -- although those are essentially pistol projectiles, and I believe the max (not max lethal) range of a .45 is 1.1 miles. As I recall, increasing the muzzle velocity only slightly extends range, since it's largely offset by higher wind resistance.
Fast & Furious: a reply to "but it was done under Bush, too."
It's a pretty good response.
Interesting thoughts on recess appointments
Publius Huldah makes an interesting point. The custom has been for presidents to make recess appointments (requiring no Senate confirmation, but good only until the end of the next Senate session) whenever a job is open and the Senate goes out of session. But the constitutional provision relates only to vacancies that occur while the Senate is in recess, not to filling vacancies that existed before then. The purpose wasn't to circumvent the confirmation requirement, but to enable it to be sidestepped if the Senate were not in session to consider the nominee. It shouldn't be usable where the vacancy existed while the Senate was in session, and the Senate either declined to confirm, or the president neglected to nominate.
Permalink · General con law · Comments (9)
The Lincoln letter
I found this in the Library of Congress, manuscripts division, and by pure coincidence. October, 1856: Lincoln is writing the editor of the Illinois Republican newspaper. He's commencing his rise -- he'd been chosen as head of the new Illinois Republican Party just six months before. But he's thinking in national terms: the Dawes to whom he refers is a Massachusetts antislavery congressman.
Click on the thumbnail to read it. Lincoln folded the paper over as if it were a pamphlet, so you read it in the sequence 2-3-4-1.
Self-defense: two legged predators aren't the only kind
Defender uses .45 to stop dogs from savaging woman. Good shooting, after a 200 yard run.
Permalink · Self defense · Comments (0)
Research
Blogging has been light since I'm in DC, hitting the Library of Congress' manuscript collections. Very interesting finds. (1) FDR's Attorney General planned a major push for national gun control, putting handguns back in the NFA (where they had been proposed for listing, but it was edited out in committee) and ultimately going for a permit system modeled on that of Great Britain. (2) Some materials on Dred Scott that I don't believe have been seen before. (3) In the course of looking for that, I actually got to hold and copy a letter by Abe Lincoln. As soon as I get back home I'll put it online.
No tolerance for pizza
At least if, partly eaten, it resembles a gun.
No tolerance for pizza
At least if, partly eaten, it resembles a gun.
A lawyer's Christmas card
Here, from Chuck Michel.
Permalink · humor · Comments (1)
Going out in style
For some reason, they got fired rather quickly.
Dave Kopel's latest paper
"How the British Gun Control Program Precipitated the American Revolution". I suggest downloading the paper, not only because it's interesting, but also because that drives up the paper's SSRN statistics. If you get a high enough readership, you make "top ten" in Con Law downloads, and all subscribers to SSRN get an email announcing that, which gives a paper wider exposure.
Permalink · Framers to the Civil War · Comments (2)
Speechless...
On Fast and Furious, Mayor Bloomberg seems speechless, for once, on gun control.
Robber takes on martial artist
The booking photo tells all you need to know.
Permalink · Dumb crooks · Comments (3)
Fast and Furious hearings get pretty fired up
From the end of the hearing:
"ISSA: Yesterday, Mr. Attorney General, we became aware that e- mail between Lanny Breuer and the deputy -- his deputy, Jason Weinstein, about Fast and Furious in March time frame, that they exist. Some of these -- actually all of these have been withheld from the committee. Will you agree to turn over those communications in the March time frame between Lenny Breuer and his deputy, Jason Weinstein?
HOLDER: March of what year?
ISSA: 2011.
HOLDER: As I have indicated, we are not going to be turning over materials after February.
ISSA: Are you aware that you are in fact, by doing so, in the fact that we already issued from the Oversight Committee a subpoena, you are standing in contempt of Congress unless you have a valid reason, that you express it, that you provide logs, which you've refused to provide for the -- the other information? Otherwise you will leave the committee no choice but to seek contempt for your failure to deliver or to cite a constitutional exemption.
SMITH: The gentleman's time has expired. The attorney general will be allowed to respond.
HOLDER: We will respond in a way that is consistent with the way in which the Justice Department has always responded to those kinds of requests.
ISSA: That's not the question, Mr. Attorney General.
(UNKNOWN): Regular order, Mr. Chairman.
SMITH: Please proceed, Mr. Attorney General.
HOLDER: We'll respond in a way that other attorneys general have, other Justice...
ISSA: John Mitchell responded that way, too, Mr. Attorney General.
. . . . . .
HOLDER: Ms. Adams asked me about -- Congresswoman Adams asked me about political points. The reference to John Mitchell, let's think about that. Think about that. At some point, as they said in the -- it was the McCarthy hearing, at some point have you no shame, you know?
In any case, I will say that with regard to that, we have made our point clear how we will respond.
Permalink · BATFE · Comments (5)
Justice Oversight Hearings today
Mostly desultory. The most clash came at the end of the second segment:
CHAFFETZ: I have a hard time believing, Mr. Attorney General -- with all due respect, my time is short. Twice, the president of the United States has gone before the American people and said that you had nothing to do with this; you weren't involved, that you weren't engaged in it, yet you say you've never spoken to the president.
How is it that he would know that you haven't been -- you weren't involved in this, and he could make such a claim, if you've never even spoken to him about it?
HOLDER: Well, the president gets information from the Justice Department in a variety of ways. We interact with the White House counsel's office very frequently. I don't know exactly what the flow of information is within the White House, but he can find out about my state of involvement in matters connected to the Justice Department without speaking directly to me.
CHAFFETZ: Let me move on to -- you have access to obviously the e-mails of Dennis Burke. On Wednesday, November 24th, 2010, he sent an e-mail that said, quote, "Some of the weapons bought by these clowns in Arizona have been directly traced to murders of elected officials in Mexico by the cartels. So Katie bar the door when we unveil this baby," end quote.
How is it that you've never had a discussion with your counterpart in Mexico about this?
In fact, in a Los Angeles Times article dated September 19th of this year, quote, "At no time did we know or were we made aware that there might have been arms trafficking permitted. In no way would we have allowed it because it is an attack on the safety of Mexicans."
It goes on in the article -- actually the paragraph before, "And to this date, she said, U.S. officials have not briefed her on the operation gone awry, nor have they apologized."
What is unacceptable is that you and everybody in your organization, according to the higher-ups, know about this investigation; you don't have 15 minutes to pick up the phone, and we have still never talked to these people in order to solve this problem, because, as you say, it's going to go on for some time.
HOLDER: We have taken steps -- I have taken steps to solve this problem in that I've ordered an examination of this to determine exactly what happened. I have issued directives that this should never happen again. We have put in place measures at ATF so that this kind of thing won't happen again. What Todd Jones has done with regard to the reforms that he has put in place, I think, are going to be extremely effective. And I've made personnel changes with regard to....
CHAFFETZ: You haven't fired anybody. Nobody's been fired.
SMITH: The gentleman's time has expired. Does the gentleman want to respond to the last question?
HOLDER: I just was trying to say that I have made personnel changes with regard to the agencies that have been involved, and these are initial determinations that I have made. It is not all that I am possibly going to do.
There is an impatience here, and in some ways I understand it. But the reality is that you have to do these things on the basis of evidence, on the basis of findings that are factually grounded. And when I am in that position, I will take the appropriate action. But I want to assure you and the American people that people will be held accountable for the mistakes that were made in Fast and Furious.
. . . . .
ISSA: A point of inquiry. Do political appointees of the presidents and the attorney general serve at the pleasure of the president or the attorney general, or do they need to have -- have to be fired for cause?
Permalink · BATFE · Comments (3)
Gun give-away contests
Aaron Spuler blogs his extensive list of pending gun give-away contests.
Permalink · shooting · Comments (0)
International Red Cross: do videogames violate the Hague Convention?
I'm serious. From its Daily Bulletin:
"While the Movement works vigorously to promote international humanitarian law (IHL) worldwide, there is also an audience of approximately 600 million gamers who may be virtually violating IHL. Exactly how video games influence individuals is a hotly debated topic, but for the first time, Movement partners discussed our role and responsibility to take action against violations of IHL in video games. In a side event, participants were asked: “what should we do, and what is the most effective method?” While National Societies shared their experiences and opinions, there is clearly no simple answer"
Hat tip to reader Counsel Dew....
Yes, there is. Go away. One more reason my spare cash goes to the Salvation Army rather than the Red Cross. (The first reason dates back to my father's experience during WWII. Yes, we hold grudges.
UPDATE: Dad's experience came after his father died while he was serving. Red Cross had promoted a program that supposedly covered getting a serviceman home for a parent's funeral. He applied, and found requirement after requirement -- assign your tiny salary to us, do this and that, fill in more forms, etc.. Finally the company gambler/loanshark said this was all BS and loaned him the money with no interest. Dad said it was a heck of a situation when the company loanshark is more helpful than a major charity!
I read in William Manchester's recollections of war in the Pacific that he was angry at the RC, too, since they would collect cigarettes donated by civilians for servicemen, and then charge the servicemen full price for them.
CBS news picks up on internal emails -- using Fast & Furious to promote regulations
Story here. It's been covered on blogs, bur now it's reaching the MSM. The supervisors handling the gunwalking scheme exchanged email over some of the sales (which they were authorizing and encouraging) and resulting traces could be used to justify long-gun reporting.
Permalink · BATFE · Comments (2)
Mythbusters shells homes in CA
Story here, and check out the video. The report is that they were trying to ascertain the cannon projectile's velocity (which can easily be found from charts), but it sounds more as if they were trying to measure its penetration, and aimed way too high. (A 5 degree elevation is all it takes to bring the ball down around a mile away). It must have been one heck of a big gun -- the holes are said to be 8", which might be consistent with a 32 pounder (bore diameter 6.41").
A great Glock ad
On youtube , here.
Palm Beach County sues Florida over strict pre-emption
Story here.
Permalink · State legislation · Comments (0)
State Department and guns to Mexico
Kurt Hoffman blogs the latest CBS revelation, the State Department's "direct commercial sales program." It allows foreign government units to order guns (from what I can see, semi-autos) directly from US manufacturers. The authorizations have expanded from 2,476 in 2006 to 18,709 in 2009 (State won't reveal 2010 or 2011 figures). State Department audits found that around 26% of the guns thus shipped quickly wound up in the wrong hands. But it keeps on authorizing them.
Permalink · BATFE · Comments (1)
More Guns, Less Crime
Here's the story, on Fox News. I wish they'd gotten better background video, tho.
Permalink · shooting · Comments (0)
Did Fast & Furious violate the "kingpin act"?
The principal drafter of that statute says "yes."
And on related fronts, it turns out that DEA has helped launder cartel profits.
Permalink · BATFE · Comments (3)
This wasn't the bar you were looking for...
Omaha: man tries to rob a bar, the owner throws down on him, then owner and patrons chase him down and tackle him.
Permalink · Self defense · Comments (0)
Quote of the day
From January 2011, about a month before the story of "Operation Fast and Furious" began to break:
""Our office is committed to stopping the illegal flow of guns into Mexico," Dennis K. Burke, U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona, says. "The massive size of this operation sadly exemplifies the magnitude of the problem -- Mexican Drug Lords go shopping for war weapons in Arizona.""
And another memorable utterance:
"This investigation is further proof of the relentless efforts by Mexican drug cartels, especially the Sinaloa Cartel, to illegally acquire large quantities of firearms in Arizona and elsewhere in the U.S. for use in the ongoing Mexican drug war," Bill Newell, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF Phoenix Field Division, says in a statement.
Permalink · BATFE · Comments (0)
Whistleblower BATF agent will be on TV tonight
Jay Dobyns will be on "Justice w/Judge Jeanine," tonight at 10pm, ET (live). It's carried by Fox News. I am told it may get pretty lively.
Permalink · BATFE · Comments (0)
Justice reveals how Holder letter to Grassley came about
Story here. Apparently, when Sen. Grassley wrote Holder asking if guns were being "walked," the US Attorney for Arizona emailed Justice HQ that "Grassley's assertions regarding the Arizona investigation and the weapons recovered at the "murder scene are based on categorical falsehoods. I worry that ATF will take 8 months to answer this when they should be refuting its underlying accusations right now."
Since he had personal knowledge that guns were being walked, that would explain his sudden resignation. It's interesting that (1) Holder declined to state this when asked about the letter and (2) that it took this much prying to get the information out. I suspect the US Attorney has something to hold over HQ's head, or this would have been given up immediately. "I was lied to by a guy whom I demanded resign," is a quick and easy answer.
This would never have come to light but for a lot of persistence by Grassley and Issa, which tells you how easily an agency can lie to a senator and get away with it.
UPDATE: Unbelievable. The US Attorney for Arizona, Dennis K. Burke, was assuring HQ that Sen. Grassley was a "stooge for the gun lobby" and that he was "personally outraged by Senator Grassley’s falsehoods," and the mythical gun lobby was "lobbing this reckless despicable accusation..."
See that bus? ... be under it.
Hat tip to David Codrea.
ANOTHER update: Politico thinks Dennis Burke's career in AZ politics just capsized and sank. He noted "“No commentary by Grassley on the lax laws, nor greedy gun shop owners, nor careless straw purchasers..."
Permalink · BATFE · Comments (3)
Retired Border Patrol Assn calls for independent counsel
The National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers has joined in the call for an Independent Counsel, over Operation Fast and Furious.
BP Agents aren't known for mincing words, and their statement lives up to that. They are "appalled and infuriated by what is coming to light about Operation Fast and Furious."
"We call it a scheme for we will not dignify it by calling it an investigation."
"The departures from acceptable investigative practices were many, but in short, ATF allowed and encouraged and in some cases apparently coerced, U.S. gun dealers, whom they license, to abet violations of federal gun control laws"
"Due to the number of agencies and the political and professional stakes involved, it is no surprise that, at best, the administration is being uncooperative in Congress' inquiries into the matter. At worst, it appears that a cover-up is underway. Normally, the Department of Justice and agency Inspectors General would look into what has gone on. However, the conflicts of interest and the high stakes make it nearly impossible to expect that any of those entities would produce and unbiased, truthful finding."
"That misdeeds, felonies, in fact, have been committed and condoned by government agents is incontrovertible. Now, we must find out who is responsible. To do otherwise would be a miscarriage of justice."
Permalink · BATFE · Comments (0)
Guns a big item on "Black Friday"
The FBI reports 129,166 background checks that day, an all-time record, and 32% above that day last year. The tide has turned.
Permalink · shooting · Comments (5)
Fast and Furious-- Agent Terry murdered because an FBI informant was a double agent
Story here. This is a real bombshell. Also, the likelihood that FBI and DEA knew the "rip crew" was out raiding that night, and didn't bother to tell Border Patrol.
Permalink · BATFE · Comments (4)
OF&F: promoting the guilty, harassing the whistleblowers
The Washington Times has the story.