Holder tells Senate Committee
Justice Department supports more ’gun control’
Archived from www.examiner.com
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JPFO initial archived article
November 21, 2009 10:57 AM
Gun Rights Examiner — David Codrea
In unmistakably clear admissions before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Nov. 18, Attorney General Eric Holder signaled strong administration support for additional "gun control" edicts.
Law Enforcement Alliance of America, the only national law enforcement organization to oppose Holder's confirmation, issued a press release warning:
Drawing reasonable conclusions from what Holder publicly said, we now know:
• Holder wants a national, permanent gun registration system administered by law enforcement. A registration of honest citizens that have cleared the federal background check for gun purchases with those records permanently retained by and shared among law enforcement.
• Holder wants new federal authority to prohibit any person on the federal watch list (reported to be 400,000 names) from buying guns and supports confiscating guns from those on the list who possess them.
I held off on bringing this release to the attention of Gun Rights Examiner readers because I wanted to corroborate the claims--which, unfortunately, the official transcript of Holder's prepared remarks, posted on the Justice Department website, do not.
So I contacted LEAA and spoke last night with their Chief Operating Officer and national spokesman, Ted Deeds. He told me they were reporting on remarks made during questioning, and sent me a transcript of the appropriate segments of AG Holder's testimony: See this PDF file.
Why is it that when Dianne Feinstein says "Excellent," the immediate image that comes to mind is a gleefully malevolent Montgomery Burns? And yes, I caught that this was supported by the Bush administration. Some of us were consistent in not giving him a pass when he was in power.
Click here to watch Holder's morning session testimony for yourself on C-SPAN, noting the time relevant exchanges begin from the above embedded document.
As we've discussed before, some of the opponents of repealing the Tiahrt amendment might surprise those who haven't been paying attention:
[T]he Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) has always supported language protecting firearm trace data, now known as the Tiahrt Amendment...
ATF itself has repeatedly gone to court to fight the release of its data, because the release can have a negative effect on its efforts to investigate illegal gun trafficking and threaten the safety of officers and witnesses.
And as we've seen before, that "no fly list" nets some peculiar catches:
U.S. Sen. Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy said yesterday that he was stopped and questioned at airports on the East Coast five times in March because his name appeared on the government's secret "no-fly" list.
Besides which, our entire criminal justice system is supposed to be based on presumption of innocence. But let's explore the rationale of those who think differently: If denying gun purchases to people on government suspicion lists is "good" (an no one thinks this will be limited to Al-Qaeda and not include "homegrown" persons of interest, do they?), then disarming these suspects and taking away their existing arms must be "better."
How would the federal government do that without using registration lists to enable confiscation? You know, what prominent media voices sneer at and dismiss whenever the possibility of it is raised...
And ask yourself why major "Authorized Journalist" outlets aren't reporting on this, and indeed, if you relied on some to answer if there is evidence the administration wants more gun control, their reply would be a scoffing "Absolutely none whatsoever."
Learn about LEAA:
The Law Enforcement Alliance of America (LEAA) is the nation's largest non-profit, non-partisan coalition of law enforcement professionals, crime victims, and concerned citizens united for justice. With a major focus on public education, LEAA is dedicated to providing hard facts and real-world insights into the world of law enforcement and the battle against violent crime. LEAA fights at every level of government for legislation that reduces violent crime while preserving the rights of honest citizens, particularly the right of self-defense.
Visit their website for more information.
UPDATE: Gun Owners of America has more.