More on the ATF at VA gun shows
CNSnews has a lot more. Read it all and be amazed. Some tidbits:
Agents of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), allegedly acting without warrants or legislative authority to do so, seized firearms from at least 50 gun show patrons in Virginia according to congressional testimony and an agency document made public Wednesday. Witnesses also testified that African-American and female gun buyers in Richmond, Va., and Pittsburgh, Pa., were profiled based on their race or sex and some in Pittsburgh were threatened with arrest by ATF agents for alleged actions that are not violations of law.
More:
“There’s a way to have a sting operation that’s legal. This dragnet, apparent dragnet, however, is not the way it ought to be done,” Scott said. “You have to show probable cause and it can be done. But you ought not just stop people without probable cause and without any indication of guilt.”
John White, a former law enforcement officer who is now an FFL operating under the business name “The Gunsmith,” said female customers who approached his sales area at the Richmond shows were immediately targeted by the “undercover” officers.
“If a woman showed up at my table, she was surrounded by law enforcement,” White recalled. “If the lady walked off and suddenly stopped, they would have bumped into each other. Their surveillance methods were pitiful.
“Every woman that makes a purchase, every woman who comes to my table to buy a gun was automatically [treated as] a straw purchaser,” White said. (A “straw purchaser” is a person who can otherwise legally purchase a firearm, but who does so with the intent to illegally provide it to an ineligible buyer such as a convicted felon or an illegal alien. “Straw purchases” are illegal.)
More:
“Did anybody mention that it is a federal crime to deny women or minorities their civil rights?” Feeney asked. “Did anybody mention to the ATF that denying civil rights, including the right to bear arms, is a federal crime?”
Feeney suggested that, since ATF had refused to comply with the Freedom of Information Act requests from the gun show promoters, the subcommittee should request the information they were seeking. Coble noted that such a letter had already been sent.
Something to hide, eh?
And, again, there has been no mainstream media coverage of this story. None, that I’ve seen. Completely silent. Where are you guys? Oh, still crying because Cheney didn’t call you. Feh.
February 18th, 2006 at 10:04 pm
And “These must be the dumbest ATF agents in the entire agency,” [Rep. William] Delahunt [D-Mass.] said. “I am absolutely shocked that they could be that stupid.[“] There’s no evidence for that, for all we know these are the BATFE’s best and brightest. Abolish the BATFE now. Think of the money we’d save, think of the children.
February 19th, 2006 at 9:37 am
So this is the first word that this was done elsewhere besides Richmond, eh?
“Did anybody mention to the ATF that denying civil rights, including the right to bear arms, is a federal crime?” -Rep. Tom Feeney (R-Fla.)
Unfortunately the record for real lasting change as a result of a congessonal-critter hearing^H^H “dog and pony show” is pretty piss poor. It might be a vehicle for some more legislation regulating the tobacco ninjas, there might be a bit of defunding somewhere, but no agents are going to be arrested or fired. No laws restricting the freedom of citizens are going to be repealed. No part of the federal bureaucracy is going to be dismantled. I have to assume newly elected critter Feeney is talking tough so he can get a “A” rating from the NRA.
February 19th, 2006 at 9:55 am
I have to assume newly elected critter Feeney is talking tough so he can get a “A” rating from the NRA.
Well, first elected in 2002, re-elected in 2004.
February 19th, 2006 at 1:25 pm
Spreading freedom abroad is useless if agencies like the ATF are going to crush it at home.
February 20th, 2006 at 7:17 pm
Hey Uncle, thought you might find my latest and greatest conversation with a BATF agent interesting: http://progunprogressive.com/?p=84
Those pesky ATF guys…refusing to go on the record after they admit what we already darn well know. They didn’t want to talk about Richmond much. =)
March 14th, 2006 at 4:08 pm
[…] That exact reason (and racism, apparently) is why the ATF is under investigation for its behavior at Richmond area gun shows: John White, a former law enforcement officer who is now an FFL operating under the business name “The Gunsmith,” said female customers who approached his sales area at the Richmond shows were immediately targeted by the “undercover” officers. […]