Via the NRA-ILA:

On June 11, the top law enforcement officials of nearly half the states signed a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, expressing their opposition to reinstatement of the federal ban on semi-automatic firearms.

“We share the Obama Administration’s commitment to reducing illegal drugs and violent crime within the United States. We also share your deep concern about drug cartel violence in Mexico. However, we do not believe that restricting law-abiding Americans’ access to certain semi-automatic firearms will resolve any of these problems,” the letter said.

The letter notes congressional opposition to bringing back the ban, and calls for increasing enforcement of existing laws.

We encourage NRA members to let these state officials know we appreciate them standing up to the incessant clamor for gun control that is currently coming from anti-gun groups and their media allies.

The 23 state Attorneys General, in alphabetical order, by state, are:
(more…)

The Peanut Farmer

But none of us wants to own an assault weapon, because we have no desire to kill policemen or go to a school or workplace to see how many victims we can accumulate before we are finally shot or take our own lives.

In case anyone wonders if he was just unclear and didn’t really mean that killing police officers is all that “assault weapons” are for, he closes with:

We can’t let the N.R.A.’s political blackmail prevent the banning of assault weapons — designed only to kill police officers and the people they defend.

At least the guy is consistent about always being on the wrong side.

Letter to the Editor in the Arizona Republic:

I’m a Vietnam veteran, a former Navy SEAL with over 70 combat operations, most of which I served as an automatic weaponsman.

I’m also a former federal law-enforcement ranger for the Park Service. I clearly understand how dangerous machine guns and assault rifles are.

While necessary for the military and certain law-enforcement activities, such weapons have absolutely no place in general American society. They are antithetical to responsible hunting, afford no realistic additional protection for individuals, and in spite of the shrill rhetoric of some ideologically blinded gun-rights groups, are not protected by the Constitution’s Second Amendment.

For the greater good, safety and sanity of the American people, I urge Congress, particularly Arizona’s delegation, to support the renewal of an assault-weapons ban that expired in 2004. – Kim Crumbo, Grand Canyon.

The first reader comment online:

Nice letter. I too am a veteran – US Army airborne infantry. I don’t think the average Joe needs automatic weapons for home defense.

You would think that the guys with military experience would realize that the AWB doesn’t apply to “machine guns,” “assault rifles,” or “automatic weapons.”

On the Bloody Border:

Meanwhile, Americans like El Paso County sheriff Richard Wiles want the U.S. to renew the assault-weapons ban that George W. Bush and the U.S. Congress allowed to expire in 2004. If it doesn’t, they fear, the few Black Hawk helicopters that Washington ships to Mexico’s antidrug warriors won’t make up for the thousands of AK-47 rifles and even rocket-propelled grenades pouring into the hands of the gangs. “It’s a shame,” says Wiles, “that it’s taken so many killings in Juárez to make Washington consider that.”

RPGs? Where did they get those? At a gun show via the loophole?

You know what I’d like to know? I’d like to know how many of those 17% (not 90% like Obama keeps saying) of the seized guns that originated in the US arrived in Mexico legally after being sold to the Mexican government. I’ve seen practically no one ask this question, and no one answer it.

If automatic weapons, grenades, and RPGs are in the hands of Mexican gangsters AND they originated in the United States, a claim that nearly every Mexican and American official parrots every chance they get, my guess is that the majority of them belonged at one time to the Mexican government. They make much hay out of the fact that they can confirm the weapons came from the US, and if they can do that they can tell who it was originally sold to. If it was sold to the government, the serial numbers are on a list somewhere, relatively easy to check.

I’m sure President Obama and AG Holder will let us know the answer right away.

Regarding the “bloody border,” I’ve been thinking about that and might have a creative solution to the problem. In fact, it’s so elegant that I can’t believe no one has thought of it before.

Why not build a fence or something?

Is That an Anti-Aircraft Gun in Your Pocket?

On April 14, Mexican federal police proudly displayed firearms seized from a cache thought to belong to the Beltran Leyva drug cartel. One of the weapons labeled by Mexican authorities as an anti-aircraft gun was featured in a Daily Mail article, while the other, mounted behind a crude armored shield, was the subject of another series of images.

The problem with the narrative presented by the Mexican federal police is that while these guns are indeed capable of causing great destruction, these weren’t the weapons presented to the world’s media, which unfortunately lacks the editorial talent or experience to know it is being duped.

Or, as I increasingly suspect, is simply willing to play along.

UPDATE: I really do think we’re past the stage where media ignorance of the subject and tight lids on intel can explain the media’s storytelling.

Around the time of the invasion of Iraq, the media played up reports of chemical weapons discoveries by the military. Later, they fell all over themselves blaming the military and the Bush administration for “tricking” them into thinking that rusty old rockets and factories were the WMD motherlode, but I didn’t really see any of that at the time. At some point the MO became to basically ignore someone’s sensationalist claims about finding the big cache of anthrax or nerve gas or missiles that could carry nuclear warheads because everyone realized that the big find just wasn’t going to happen and had never been there in the first place. Everyone blamed Bush for the deception, which was at least partially correct.

When will the media reach that same point with US military guns in Mexico?

Spotted at Alphecca:

White House senior adviser David Axelrod said on Sunday that a new ban on assault-style weapons is not “dead,” but now is not the time to push it in Congress.

My. How reassuring.

Sounds a bit like the “Even if I want to take them away, I don’t have the votes in Congress” statement from Obama during the campaign…meaning that things might change if the votes come around in the future.

Don’t pretend for one minute that the AWB won’t be back on the shortlist the moment that the administrations feels it is the time to “push it in Congress.”

Obama blames U.S. guns in Mexico

Meeting face-to-face with Mexican President Felipe Calderon, President Obama on Thursday said the U.S. is to blame for much of Mexico’s drug violence, and he set up a major congressional gun-control battle by calling on the Senate to ratify a treaty designed to track and cut the flow of guns to other countries.

Mr. Obama said he wants to renew a ban on some semiautomatic weapons but that it is not likely to pass Congress. Instead, he called for the Senate to ratify a decade-old hemispherewide treaty that would require nations to mark all weapons produced in the country and track them to make sure no weapons were exported to countries where they were banned.

Obama again stated that 90% of the guns used recovered from criminals in Mexico originated in the United States. I thought that the 90% number referred to guns confirmed by the ATF after originally being submitted as originating in the US. The actual number originating in the US was 17%.

I’ve been unable to keep up with things lately. Did I miss something? Was this bogus and the number really is 90%? Or is the President just lying again?