Feinstein may have inadvertently confirmed Gunwalker ulterior motive
In a breaking news report concerning the Gunwalker scandal, Seattle Gun Rights Examiner Dave Workman indicates that Senator Dianne Feinstein, D-California, may have inadvertently confirmed the ulterior motive behind the scheme known as 'Operation Fast and Furious.'
During a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism late today, former Assistant Attorney-General Lanny Breuer provided testimony that confirms that the information presented to Congress by the Department of Justice, that guns were not being allowed to walk, was false.
Breuer's defense, however, is that he had only reported what he had been told by officials in the ATF and the DOJ, although that information turned out to be untrue.
The acknowledgment that false information had been provided to Congress came in response to questioning by Senator Charles Grassley, R-Iowa.
However, when it became Senator Dianne Feinstein's turn to question Breuer, the focus immediately changed to the 'need for gun control' and bans of so-called 'assualt weapons.' The California Democrat wasted no time in zeroing in on the common meme parroted by numerous Administration officials that the flow of guns across the border into Mexico from the United States must be stopped:
FEINSTEIN: Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate that. Mr. Breuer, in June of this year, I received a letter from the ATF. This was in response to a letter I had asked them from Acting Director Melson, stating that 29,284 firearms recovered in Mexico in '09 and 2010, and submitted to the ATF tracing center. With those weapons, 20,504, or 70 percent, were United States sourced. A country of origin for the remaining firearms apparently could not be determined by ATF, meaning that the number could be much higher. What info -- what actually is the number? Now this was back in June. Is that the most current number? Is it fair to some that 70 percent of the firearms showing up in Mexico are from the United States?BREUER: Thank you, Senator, for the question, and for your leadership on this issue. You have, of course, identified the paramount issue that we have to face as we deal with transnational organized crime from the Mexican cartels. From my understanding, 94,000 weapons have been recovered in the last five years in Mexico. Those are just the ones recovered, not the ones that are in Mexico. Of the 94,000 weapons that have been recovered in Mexico, 64,000 of those are traced to the United States. We have to do something to prevent criminals from getting those guns, Senator. That is my understanding of the most accurate numbers.FEINSTEIN: Well, you see, this is a deep concern for me. And I know others disagree, but we have very lax laws when it comes to guns. I think this, to some extent, influences the ATF in how they approach the problem, as to whether they have political support or not. But I think these numbers are shocking. And I think when you know the number of deaths these guns have caused, used by cartels against victims, it's in -- literally up in the tens of thousands. So the question comes, what can we do? And I'd really rather concentrate on the constructive rather than other things. And so the question comes, do you believe that if there were some form of registration when you purchase these firearms that that would make a difference?Not only did Feinstein immediately jump into the subject of gun control, but she repeated the very falsehood the Administration used from the beginning to justify its illegal operation in the Gunwalker scheme--that the vast majority of the guns used by Mexican drug cartels come from the United States.
But Feinstein's statement depicts the growing discrepancy on the figures used by the Administration to attempt to justify gun bans. Early on it was 90% of the guns came from the United States. This was repeated by Barack Obama, Janet Napolitano, Hillary Clinton, and others. Now, however, the figure has mysteriously dropped to 70%.
Why? Even the 70% figure is wrong. But the Administration obviously now sees that it shot itself in the foot by overreaching on the figures. The 90% figure is patently and grossly false. Thus, the figure was lowered. But even the 70% figure cannot be justified by the facts.
The key to understanding the 70% mantra is the phrase, "Of the weapons recovered." The firearms that have been recovered in Mexico represent only a small fraction of the total number of weapons used in criminal activity in the country.
In addition, an analysis provided by Pajamas Media indicates that a more realistic figure is that only 8% of guns recovered in Mexico came from licensed U.S. gun dealers, as reported to Congress by ATF management. Here are the correct figures:
Of the 100,000 weapons recovered by Mexican authorities, only 18,000 were determined to have been manufactured, sold, or imported from the United States, and of those 18,000, just 7,900 came from sales by licensed gun dealers.That figure has been confirmed by ATF Deputy Assistant Director Bill McMahon.
In spite of Feinstein's all-too-obvious attempt to turn Breuer's testimony into a gun ban love-fest, Workman says it didn't seem to go anywhere:
Feinsteinâs attempt to change the subject and the focus toward gun control does not appear to have impressed anyone. Breuerâs assertion that âvery few huntersâŠor sports peopleâŠreally need to have semiautomatic weapons or long gunsâ may come as a shock to the presidents of Winchester Repeating Arms, Browning, Remington, Mossberg, Benelli, Beretta, Sturm Ruger and others, who annually sell thousands of semi-auto shotguns to hunters, competitors and sport shooters.In other words, sportsmen and hunters love those types of weapons so much that gun manufacturers have trouble keeping up with the demand. And, Feinstein just may well have proved that Fast and Furious was nothing more than the illegal handiwork of gun ban hysterics who needed a reason to enact more gun control, even if that reason were trumped up.
http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-national/feinstein-may-have-inadvertently-confirmed-gunwalker-ulterior-motive?do_not_mobile_redirect=1 Edited by user
14 years ago |
Reason: Not specified
