White House delayed rule on guns to Mexico
Justice Department officials had asked for White House approval to require thousands of gun dealers along the border to report the purchases to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. ATF investigators expected to get leads on suspected arms traffickers.
Senior law enforcement sources said the proposal from the ATF was held up by the White House in early summer. The sources, who asked to be anonymous because they were discussing internal deliberations, said that the effort was shelved by then-White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, a veteran of battles with the gun lobby during the Clinton administration.
The plan - which officials knew would be strongly opposed by the National Rifle Association - was perceived as too volatile just before midterm elections, the sources said.
Last month, ATF Deputy Director Kenneth Melson asked the Justice Department to try again, law enforcement officials said.
"We appreciate the support of the Department of Justice and the administration as we seek to stem the flow of firearms to Mexico," ATF chief spokesman Scot Thomasson said.
On Friday, the ATF published the emergency proposal in the Federal Register. The proposal requires dealers to report to the bureau anytime they make two or more sales over a five-day period of semiautomatic rifles that have a caliber greater than .22 and a detachable magazine. It would be valid for six months.
Dealers have been required for decades to report the sales of multiple handguns to the ATF.
In May, Obama assured Calderon that the administration would assist Mexico in curbing drug cartel violence, which has led to 30,000 deaths in Mexico.
LaBolt said that Emanuel recommended Andy Traver of Chicago to be nominated by Obama to be director of the ATF and was the "point man" in the Clinton administration when Congress passed an assault weapons ban and required background checks for gun sales. Clinton later blamed those bills for the GOP takeover of Congress in 1995.
Border Patrol agent Killed
An elite Border Patrol squad was pursuing a gang that preyed on drug smugglers when agent Brian Terry was shot and killed Tuesday night in a remote canyon south of Tucson, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Friday.
"They were seeking to apprehend what's called a 'rip crew,' which is a name given to a crew that is organized to seek to rip off people who are drug mules or traversing the border illegally," she said during a meeting with The Arizona Republic's editorial board. "That's why they were in that area."
Her comments were the first official confirmation that Terry and other members of the Border Patrol's specially trained tactical unit known as BOR-tac were pursuing bandits in a remote canyon west of Rio Rico the night the 40-year-old agent was killed in a gun battle.
So how's this gonna be 'spun'? To me, it sure sounds like another Heroic sacrifice by one of the "Sheep Dogs" we've been talking about here. But how politically incorrect is it to sympathize w/ illegal undocumented crossers & drug mules. It comes as a pretty big surprise to me that there's SWAT like teams out there trying to kill the baddest of the bad guys.
Border Patol Agent Brian A. Terry, who was killed was armed with "bean-bag rounds."
The following reports are unconfirmed 2nd or 3rd hand accounts, but come from three different sources that have all been credible in the past.
I'll spare you the next link, but World Nutter Daily is also running w/ a similar meme... "homeland security/Napalotano/Obama forces BP agents to use rubber bullets"
meanwhile...
Tucson TV station K-GUN news quotes the family
The guy (bandit) had to sneak behind him and shoot him with an AK47? It went through his back spun out the side. And, (the bullet) came out the front through his vest. He's (Brian) shooting with an M14. They got AK47s, a much more powerful rifle. KV note: the AK47 isn't a more powerful rifle.
This is a perfect example of how Bi-partisan repugs are always ready, willing & able to put a perverted spin on everyone & thing that happens.
Have they no shame?
Need a last minute Christmas gift? Then print out this page and tell the person that Amazon screwed up the order:
Badass LEGO Guns: Building Instructions for Five Working Guns
Badass LEGO Guns shows you how to build five impressive weapons entirely from LEGO Technic parts. With the help of rubber bands, some sanding, and a touch of Krazy Glue, you'll build five complex and functional guns that shoot plastic LEGO bricks or rubber bands at high speed with surprising accuracy. The easy-to-follow building instructions include complete parts lists, assembly tips, and a discussion of general design principles.
Excellent article from the Economist on the Battle of Towton, part of the Wars of the Roses, which took place in 1461. Here's a bit that I thought would be of interest:
Arrows were not the only things flying through the air that day. Some of the first bullets were, too. The Towton battlefield has yielded up the earliest lead-composite shot found in England. Mr Sutherland thinks he may have found a fragment of a handgun, which was small enough to be carried around and probably set down on a trestle table or small carriage to be fired.