eTrace Comments
Following our alert of November 13th ("Time for Honest Answers"), here are two of the responses we have received. One, a forthright message pulling no punches (below) and the other, a modified copy of the original letter we showed to be used as a sample letter of inquiry to politicians.
(Index of associated material)
Dear JPFO,
We have to stop the debate and the rationalizing on the Second Amendment. Period. We have to draw the line in the sand and simply be done with it. No more. No more dealing with the de facto bullshit government. They need to know that we have no intention of becoming their victims and that the guns simply are not going anywhere, not now, not ever--so deal with it! This, in so many words, is what I am telling everyone I meet these days. We simply must STOP this nonsense of negotiating our Rights with these government criminals and the Citizens and organizations who support them.
Even gun owners who support any kind of Gun Control whatsoever are dead wrong and need to understand that they are in fact part of the problem and not at all, in any way shape or form, part of the solution. Gun owners and Citizens are every bit to blame as the government and they need to know this. They are hurting us more than they are helping us and they need to be lumped in with the government criminals.
I can’t decide who is worse, the bully, the thug who takes away and/or supports the taking away of Rights, or the slimy piece of crap who stands by and allows them to do it without putting up a fight.
Gun Control is Genocide on behalf of your government and the Citizens who support it.
Gun Control is Genocide. Period.
Thanks for all you guys do! Hats off to the Liberty Crew!
Ted S
Gentlemen,
I sent the eTrace letter, but edited it to communicate a more appropriate level of accountability and seriousness. Below is a copy FYI:
Dear Senator Cornyn, Senator Hutchison and Representative Smith:
Please do not disclose my name in connection with this inquiry.
Is the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives subject to the laws of the United States, much less our Constitution? If so, then why is Congress failing to uphold its own legislation? Why is BATFE disclosing names and addresses of law abiding American gun owners to corrupt Mexican police? Why are they training and allowing corrupt Mexican police to use the BATFE eTrace system which is breaking our own laws by creating a massive gun registration system *in violation of the Gun Owners Protection Act of 1986 (18 U.S.C. 926(a))? *
BATF’s eTrace system does not distinguish between legitimate, erroneous, false, fake, fraudulent or phony traces, and reveals names and addresses of innocent Americans who legally bought a firearm at some time in the past - even many years ago. This is a grave disservice to Americans and is reminiscent of NAZI methods—a fact which you are either naïve about or complicit to…either of which are totally unacceptable. BATFE has created a huge centralized Firearms Registration System (called the Firearms Tracing System) containing over 100 million records of firearms, firearm owners, firearm transactions and firearms dispositions in direct violation of the Gun Owners Protection Act of 1986 (18 U.S.C. 926(a)). eTrace has full access to those records. BATFE claims they only trace "crime guns", but this is false. They trace any gun chosen by ATF or other law enforcement whether used in a crime or not, and have no control over traces by Mexican or other foreign police.
The Mexican Army recently disarmed corrupt Mexican Police in the cities of Tijuana, Nuevo Laredo, and Matamoros, and arrested corrupt Police Commanders in Mexico City - the same cities where BATFE conducted eTrace training sessions in FY08 and 09 (GAO Report 09-709). The Mexican Government reports, "Almost half of Mexican police officers examined this year (2008) failed background and security tests, a figure that rises to nearly 9 of 10 cops in the border state of Baja California" (AP). Mexican President Felipe Calderon admitted that corruption permeates Mexico’s low-paid police at all levels. The Mexican Army also has corruption issues. The most corrupt police in all of Mexico have been trained by BATFE to retrieve American gun owners personal information with names and addresses. Worse yet, BATFE plans to give eTrace to all 31 states within Mexico (William Hoover, Assistant Director, ATF Field Operations, Feb. 7, 2008).
Years ago, if you innocently bought a new Colt AR-15 (or any other gun), later sold it, and it’s found in Mexico, BATFE gives your name and address to corrupt Mexican police, and you will be placed on a Mexican and BATFE gun trafficker suspect list. Your innocence is irrelevant. According to BATFE, a traced name and address is never removed.
Should we be uneasy because corrupt Mexican police officials have our personal information as a result of erroneous or fraudulent traces? The next time we travel in Mexico, will the Mexican Police take a special interest in us because of false traces? When we cross the border, will corrupt Mexican Police pass along our name and address so a drug cartel can visit our homes to collect our firearms while we are gone? Allowing corrupt foreign police access to the eTrace system places Americans at risk when we travel to foreign countries.
In addition to Mexico, BATFE opened a special eTrace center in Columbia - where the police openly admit that many dirty cops work for organized crime. BATFE allows access to American gun owner names and addresses through direct eTrace access in the following countries: Mexico, Columbia, Suriname, Tobago, Guyana, Canada, Germany, Bahamas, Jamaica, The Dominican Republic, Barbados, Anguilla, Antigua, Barbuda, Aruba, Curacao, Dominica, Grenada, St Vincent, The Grenadines, St. Lucia, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama, St. Kitts, Nevis, several other Caribbean police forces, Britain, Australia, and Japan. How many of these countries also have corruption issues - or have a special interest in identifying American gun owners?
These issues are very important to all gun owners, so I respectfully request a quick response to my letter. In three weeks, I will release this letter and your response (if any) in a public disclosure to all gun owners in our state who have so far been sold out by their current leaders in this regard.
With appropriate concerns that I hope you share and will respond to with specific action,
Charles F