An Impertinent Question In The Wake Of The Call For Universal Checks

I suppose it is impertinent to ask why we need universal background checks when the Obama Administration won't even prosecute cases involving straw purchases. The correct answer is that we don't. These laws, if passed, will become another of what Michael Bane calls "flypaper laws". That is, laws that make it difficult not to violate the law.

Fox New's William LaJeunesse, who did superb reporting of Project Gunwalker, now turns his attention to the lack of enforcement of the law against straw purchases. In 2010, only 62 people were prosecuted for it and only 13 were convicted or pled guilty. This lack of prosecutions led Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and the Republican members of that committee to send a letter last week to President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder asking why they weren't bringing prosecutions for violation of the existing law.

You can see the video of LaJeunesse's report here.

We Need To Clone Jessie Duff

Champion shooter Jessie Duff appeared on Fox New's Justice with Judge Jeanine speaking about firearms and the Second Amendment. She was poised, she was confident, she knew her stuff, and she looked fantastic. It is an image that needs to repeated over and over to break the barely articulate, old overweight white guy in camo stereotype that the media and the enemies of gun rights wishes to perpetuate.

Judge Jeanine Pirro served first as a county judge and then as the District Attorney of Westchester County, NY for 12 years. She lost the race for Attorney General of NY to current Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2006.




Paul Erhardt, writing in today's The Shooting Wire, points out the value of a Jessie Duff and how well she had done.

One bright spot in recent days has been by Jessie Duff, the Taurus sponsored national champion shooter who hosts her own show (along with husband Matt) on the Outdoor Channel. She appeared on Fox News Channel three times in the last week to 10 days and has done an excellent job.

Putting Jessie out front on the gun issue is a great move and there are a few more women from the competition world that could, and should be, utilized the same way.

However, imagine how much more effective Jessie and other women shooters would be if the industry invested in them well before all this with media training and messaging - assuming there was an actual message. We might be in a slightly better position.

 Erhardt is right. We need to be better at getting our message out and we need to be better prepared.

Sen. Chuck Grassley On IG Report And Hearings

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) was interviewed on Fox News this afternoon about the Inspector General's report and the hearings into them. He said the report was fairly good. He attacked the Obama Administration's claim of executive privilege. He noted that there was a lot of stuff covered under executive privilege that wasn't even shared with the DOJ IG even though they are both in the executive branch. However, he said that the IG's report did provide an opening as over 300 pages of documents previously sealed by the claim of executive privilege were used in the production of this report.

Grassley nails Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer over what he knew or should have known of Operation Fast and Furious and is disappointed that the report absolved Breuer.

OIG Report On Fast And Furious Delivered To Holder For Review

Katie Pavlich of Townhall.com and Dave Workman of the Seattle Gun Rights Examiner are both reporting that DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz has delivered the Inspector General's report on Operation Fast and Furious to Eric Holder for review.

From Dave Workman:

Sources told Examiner Wednesday that the Inspector General’s report was transmitted to the Justice Department this week for “review” and one source indicated the report could be released sometime in the next two weeks. Release just before the Labor Day weekend could bury any damaging aspects, and it could become further removed from public attention by the Democrat convention in early September.

From Katie Pavlich:

According to sources, the long awaited Department of Justice Inspector General Report on Operation Fast and Furious has been delivered to DOJ "shot callers," including Attorney General Eric Holder, this morning. It will be reviewed today and in the coming weeks. No cell phones, Ipads or computers are allowed in the review room. After it is reviewed, it will be released to the public in 30 days.

Keep in mind, the DOJ Inspector General up until May was Cynthia A. Schnedar. Schnedar served under Holder during his time as the U.S. Attorney for D.C. In May, Schnedar was replaced with Michael Horowitz, who sources say is an "even handed" guy. The bulk of the IG report throughout the past 20 months was done by Schnedar. Holder called for an IG investigation into Fast and Furious in early 2011.

William LaJeunesse of FoxNews also has more on the Inspector General's report:

The new allegations come as Holder reviews the long-awaited internal report detailing what happened in -- and who is to blame for -- Fast and Furious, in which the U.S. knowingly let some 2,500 weapons slip into the hands of the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico, failing to track the guns as planned.

Sources tell Fox News the Office of Inspector General delivered the report to the Department of Justice on Tuesday. Under existing protocols, the department has a month to respond to the report's findings, after which, the inspector general typically releases the document to the public.

The allegations that LaJeunesse refers to involve former ATF Assistant Deputy Director William McMahon. It appears that McMahon was given a paid leave of absence until December of this year to allow him to get his full pension. In the meantime, McMahon is working in the Philippines for JP Morgan Bank as a highly-paid security consultant. There are Federal regulations that would prohibit this sort of double-dipping.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) sent a letter today to Acting ATF Director B. Todd Jones asking for answers.

Arms Trade Treaty Catches The Attention Of Fox News

The major media outlets have been rather quiet about the Arms Trade Treaty talks going on at the UN in New York. This short report from Fox News seems to be the first one that I've seen on it outside of NRA News.

As part of the the story they interview Chris Cox of the NRA-ILA. Cox pointed out that shotguns, pistols, and rifles are what's meant by "small arms".

Bar Ethics Complaint Against Holder Makes Fox News

The formal ethics complaint filed with the DC Bar by Mike Vanderboegh and David Codrea got some airtime today on Fox News.



William LaJeunesse of Fox discussed the complaint with Brian Darling of the Heritage Foundation and Michael Frisch of Georgetown Law Center. Frisch was formerly senior assistant bar counsel to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. As might be expected, they differed in the seriousness of the ethics complaint and how it would be treated by the DC Bar.

Darling, who is a Senior Fellow for Government Studies at Heritage, thought the complaint was on solid ground. However, he didn't expect them to take it up until next year.

"It is clearly a reasonable basis for a complaint against Eric Holder to say 'you are in charge of the Justice Department, the Justice Department is refusing to produce documents that were subpoenaed by Congress and as a result you were held in contempt to Congress not once, but twice'," he said.

Frisch, who is an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown, didn't think the DC Bar would take the complaint seriously and would likely dismiss it.

"Because this particular complaint is written as if the attorney general had already been convicted of a crime, I think it will likely be rejected on its face," said Michael Frisch, former member of the D.C. Bar Counsel and current Georgetown Law School professor.

Frisch goes on to add that the DC Bar has the option of deferring any action until such time as a parallel proceeding such as a civil proceeding is completed.

Mike and David fired a shot across the bow and it was a brilliant strategic move. Whether it is squashed or not by the DC Bar is actually irrelevant because it has kept the issue of Holder and contempt alive in the mainstream media.

Jason Chaffetz On Contempt Vote Tomorrow

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) was interviewed today by Fox's Megyn Kelly about the vote scheduled for Thursday on the contempt of Congress resolution for Attorney General Eric Holder. He said that he expects the vote to occur around 5 pm EDT tomorrow and that he sees there is no way of avoiding it.

He acknowledged what we have known or suspected for a long time that the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee already has copies of documents, memos, and emails given them by whistleblowers that implicate the political leaders of the Department of Justice. The purpose of the subpoena is to confirm the authenticity of the documents and allow them to be entered into the record.



The accompanying article estimates that approximately 20 Democrats will also vote to hold Holder in contempt. Other estimates that I've read are as high as 35 so we really won't know until the votes are tallied.

Issa About The Failed Meeting

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) was interviewed by Greta van Sustern of FoxNews about the abortive meeting with Eric Holder yesterday. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will be meeting in a few minutes to consider a contempt citation for Holder.

Lou Dobbs Interviews Rep. Patrick Meehan On Draft Contempt Citation

Lou Dobbs had Rep. Patrick Meehan (R-PA) on his show tonight to discuss the draft of the contempt citation for Attorney General Eric Holder. Meehan is a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee which has been investigating Operation Fast and Furious.

Meehan said he expects that Chairman Issa will formally present the draft contempt citation to the Oversight Committee next week when Congress returns to Washington. Meehan said that the investigation could have been completed already if the Department of Justice had been compliant with the committee's information request but instead they have just stonewalled.

FoxNews On Possible Contempt Citation Of Holder

William LaJeunesse, one of only two network reporters who have consistently followed Project Gunwalker, had a report earlier today on the draft contempt citation for Eric Holder that the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has started circulating among House members. LaJeunesse says the draft lays out the case for the citation and notes that no documents have been received by the committee in 12 categories.

LaJeunesse speculates that Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) would not have started to circulate this draft contempt citation unless he had the backing of Speaker John Boehner and the votes on the committee to pass the citation. He does note that others are saying that John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor are still not on board with the contempt citation. If the latter is correct, I say it is past time for them to get on board with it.

About Those Big Fish The ATF Was Pursuing...

Ostensibly the purpose of ATF's Operation Fast and Furious was to use the little fish (aka straw purchasers)as a means to reach the big fish of the Mexican drug cartels. After it came out last week that the ATF let Manuel Celis-Acosta, ringleader of the illegal gun buyers, off when they had him in custody at the US-Mexican border, we now learn that the so-called big fish were informants for the FBI.

According to DEA and Congressional reports, the two men were the primary cartel contacts used to finance the illegal gun trafficking ring. Jim Needles, the assistant Agent in Charge of the Phoenix ATF office estimated the brothers spent $250,000 on guns tracked by his agency while conducting Operation Fast and Furious. Needles called it “a disappointment” the FBI didn’t bother to tell his agency of the connection.

“You are getting at the very basis of this investigation,” Senator Charles Grassley said Friday.

“But I have to wait till we have all the information before we bring down the hammer.”

Grassley first revealed in September 2011 the FBI, knew, but failed to tell the ATF, it’s informants were part of the gun trafficking ring. Then in February, Grassley called them “the big fish” ATF had been looking for the entire time.

Both the FBI and DEA know the Miramontes brothers’ role and identity, but declined to tell the ATF during a “deconfliction” meeting Dec. 15, 2009. Nor did either agency speak up at any of the joint meetings all three agencies attended of the Southwest Border Initiative. The DEA and ATF’s Group 7 shared the same floor of the same building and the same ‘wire room’ to listen to wiretaps of suspects.

Eventually and under pressure, the FBI invited top ATF officials to a classified briefing in El Paso in the late summer of 2010 and described the Eduardo and Jesus Miramontes as "a national security assets". The two men were "off limits, untouchable and indictable" said a source familiar with the briefing.

Mike Vanderboegh offers this analysis of the news:

Is it becoming clearer? Black operations are compartmentalized. The only thing that is required is the ability to deflect interest from other agencies and supervisors within a given agency who might be meddlesome. "National security" goes a long way. What is also required are back-channel means of communication and control. Can you say from "old friends" like the State Department's Kevin O'Reilly serving on the National Security Council and "Gunwalker Bill" Newell in Phoenix? I knew you could. And remember the one thing in Phoenix which would be required would be someone in control who could issue the proper orders and put them in a nice legal-looking frame -- Janet Napolitano's lickspittle, anti-gun zealot Dennis K. Burke. Personnel is policy.

Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich is leading a counter-attack by accusing Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), and their investigators of "impeding the Department's efforts to hold individuals accountable for their illegal acts." Moreover, as David Codrea notes, Weich's objections center around the fact that ATF knew Manuel Celis-Acosta was trafficking in firearms and still let him go despite that knowledge. His attempt at deflection on the leaks coming from the Department of Justice is a day late and a dollar short given what we now know.

Like I Said - An Attractive And Effective Spokesperson For Gun Rights

Emily Miller of the Washington Times was on Fox and Friends Weekend this morning to speak about the rise in gun ownership and gun use by women. I think she is correct when she attributes it to the desire for increased self-protection.

I think she did an excellent job in her interview. As I wrote earlier in the week, the unintended consequence of D.C.'s draconian gun laws was the creation of a new spokesperson for gun rights.

The Unintended Consequences Of Putting Up Roadblocks To Emily Getting Her Gun

I doubt the District of Columbia City Council knew what was in store for them when Emily Miller started her path towards gun ownership. She just wanted a handgun for protection and they made it incredibly hard. Little did they realize that the roadblocks that they had erected to prevent gun ownership in the District would create such an attractive and effective spokesperson for gun rights.

If getting a handgun in the District had been as easy as it was in Virgina, Emily may have written one story and that would be that. The unintended consequence of their recalcitrance has been a 30-part series in the Washington Times, television interviews with Fox News and News Channel 8, testimony at a Council hearing on gun policy, and multiple interviews in the gun media ranging from NRA News to Tom Gresham's GunTalk Radio.

Emily's latest interview aired today on Bret Baier's Special Report and is now the featured story on the Fox News site as I write this. The DC Council is reaping what they sowed.

Fox Legal Analyst On Holder's Testimony

Fox News Legal Analyst Peter Johnson finds it a bit incredulous that on one hand Attorney General Eric Holder is "a hands-on" leader aware of what is going on in his department but yet has never discussed Operation Fast and Furious with the President. Johnson also discusses lying, perjury, and misstatements to Congress.

I tend to agree. I think it strains belief that Holder and Obama have not discussed this operation especially since two U.S. law enforcement officers have been killed with weapons from it.

Sen. Chuck Grassley On When Holder Knew About Project Gunwalker

In the video interview on Fox News, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) discusses how he met with Attorney General Eric Holder and gave him a letter with details on Operation Fast and Furious.

Darrell Issa On FoxNews About Melson And Burke

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, was interviewed last night on Greta van Sustren's On The Record. He said his real concern is that no one involved in Operation Fast and Furious has been held accountable to the point of facing criminal charges for their actions.

Hannity Special On Operation Fast And Furious - DOJ Involvement

In Part II of the Hannity special report on Operation Fast and Furious, FoxNews reporter William LaJeunesse examines who knew what, when, and where about Project Gunwalker within the Department of Justice.

As the former U.S. Attorney for Arizona Melvin McDonald notes, the current U.S. Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke was "obviously versed in it, told about it but this is a decision that is made in Washington and is made at the highest levels of the government." It also should be remembered that before he became the U.S. Attorney, Mr. Burke was the Chief of Staff for Secretary for Homeland Security Janet Napolitano.

LaPierre: New Reporting Regulation Smokescreen To Cover Up Fast And Furious

Wayne LaPierre, Executive VP and CEO of the National Rifle Association, was interviewed on Saturday morning's Fox and Friends. Among his contentions is that the new multiple rifle reporting requirement for firearms dealers in the Southwest is nothing more than a smokescreen to divert attention from what happened in Operation Fast and Furious.

Fox News does try to give gun rights a fair shake. However, I wish when they are doing a story on semiautomatic rifles with detachable magazines that they not use video clips of people shooting pistols and handling a bolt action rifle. Jeez! At least it was better than their video interview of LaPierre from Friday when they used pistols and what looks to be a M-60 machine gun.

Kirsten Powers Is An Airhead

Fox viewers voted that they wanted the topic of Fox's Friday Lightning Round to be about Operation Fast and Furious. The panelists included Jonah Goldberg from the National Review, Democrat political analyst Kristen Power, and syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer. It was moderated by Bret Baier.

Goldberg, Baier, and Krauthammer made some good points. Goldberg pointed out that if the economy wasn't so much in the tank and the unemployment rate at 9.2% this would be getting a lot more press. Krauthammer opined that he thought this will continue on into the fall and become an "Autumn Scandal" as well as a summer scandal. Baier continued to bring up the Tampa Field Division and their involvement in walking guns to MS-13 in Honduras.

FoxNews has a lot of attractive and smart blondes on their network. Kirsten Powers is not one of them. I realize that Kirsten Powers' main role for Fox is to spout the official Democrat Party line. That said, she comes across like an airhead whose sole goal was to deflect attention from Eric Holder and try to make the story about Rep. Darrell Issa. She was totally unbelievable and displayed incredible ignorance about the whole scandal. I guess I should be happy because it showed just how weak the arguments being put out by the White House and the Democrat Party really are.

You Don't Get Grenades From Gun Shops In Arizona