The bill was named in honor of 18-year-old Aaron Sullivan, who was shot and killed by a SKS 7.62-caliber rifle in Seattle in July. The legislation focuses on “military-style” assault weapons, which can fire rapidly and carry large magazines of ammunition.

The SKS? Large magazines of ammunition?

And I won’t even mention “7.62-caliber,” which would be the main armament of a World War 2 heavy cruiser.

Mexican officials want a ban, saying that 90 percent of guns seized in drug crimes in Mexico and submitted for tracing to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives originate in the United States, including most assault rifles.

Whoa, cowboy. “Assault rifles”?

No assault rifles in the hands of Mexican drug gangs come from the US civilian market. Zip. Zero. Nada.

The panel also notes that by legalizing most of the illegal immigrants, Mexico should be able to control the flow of illegal immigrants.

Duh.

Why not remove all speed limits on all US roads to cut down on the number of people who violate speed limits?

Via Sebastian.

Even though police say they have not yet determined what weapon was used, Ralph Fascitelli, president of Washington CeaseFire, says he plans to cite [police officer Timothy] Brenton’s murder when lobbying for the bill in the next legislative session.

“Maybe this particular [police victim] wasn’t killed with an assault weapon, but the next one maybe will be,” Fascitelli says, adding that police safety was a key reason that automatic weapons were banned decades ago and that the International Association of Police Chiefs supports a ban on military-style semiautomatic weapons today.

Based on “the next one maybe will be”, this guy is going to take it to the state government. Must be nice to not need any proof or any evidence or even any case to back you up.

Smith & Wesson Corp., the legendary 157-year old firearms maker, announced today that it has commenced shipments of its M&P15 tactical rifles to Mexico’s Secretary of National Defense. The duty firearms will be distributed to police agencies including the Commission Federal de Electricidad (Federal Commission of Energy) and El Gobierno del Distrito Federal (Police of Federal District of Mexico).

Smith & Wesson has supplied 820 of its M&P15 tactical rifles to the Police of the Federal District of Mexico, as well as 1,500 of its M&P15 rifles to Mexico’s Department of Energy. The company has commenced armourer’s training for each agency, as well as range training for those specialized officers who will be authorized to carry the new patrol rifles.

The cynic in Murdoc wonders how long it will take for one of these to somehow turn up at a drug gang crime scene and be blamed on lax US laws about “assault weapons.”

Via Caleb

UPDATE: Bitter points us to Sestak coverage over at PA Gun Rights.

Not mentioned in the article about the meeting between US President Barack Obama, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon are the words “assault weapons ban”, which a “senior Mexican official” said Mexico is continuing to push in the United States.

Murdoc respectfully suggests Mexican officials get their own festering shithole in order before telling us how to run our own affairs.

However, in the name of diplomacy Murdoc is perfectly willing to make this concession to prevent the flow of illegal arms:

A heavy-duty wall topped by barbed wire and patrolled heavily 24/7/365 along the entire border is the best way to keep all those guns from flowing into Mexico.

Don’t say Murdoc won’t meet you halfway.

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:

Arkansas – The Honorable Dustin McDaniel
Alabama – The Honorable Troy King
Colorado – The Honorable John W. Suthers
Florida – The Honorable Bill McCollum
Georgia – The Honorable Thurbert E. Baker
Idaho – The Honorable Lawrence G. Wasden
Kansas – The Honorable Steve Six
Kentucky – The Honorable Jack Conway
Louisiana – The Honorable James D. Caldwell
Michigan – The Honorable Mike Cox
Missouri – The Honorable Chris Koster
Montana – The Honorable Steve Bullock
Oklahoma – The Honorable W.A. Edmonson
Nebraska – The Honorable Jon Bruning
Nevada – The Honorable Catherine Cortez Masto
New Hampshire – The Honorable Kelly A. Ayotte
North Dakota – The Honorable Wayne Stenehjem
South Carolina – The Honorable Henry McMaster
South Dakota – The Honorable Lawrence Long
Texas – The Honorable Greg Abbott
Utah – The Honorable Mark L. Shurtleff
Wisconsin – The Honorable J.B. Van Hollen
Wyoming – The Honorable Bruce A. Salzburg

The entire letter (PDF) is available HERE.

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.

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.”

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?