Two-month delay will give public a chance to comment on assault weapons sales reportingWhite House staffers bowed to shrill protest from the gun lobby and the shooting public and ordered a two-month delay to an emergency rule proposed by ATF to report sales of two or more assault weapons in 5 days.
The delay will assure the public will have until Feb. 14 to comment on the proposal.
It's the second time the rule has gone down to defeat. Former Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel ordered a hold on the emergency request last year when the NRA and gun dealers in the four border states – California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas – protested the new requirement vigorously.
Acting Director Kenneth Melson, who proposed the rule on Dec. 20 of last year, had said the new requirement would provide an “invaluable intelligence tool” that would provide information on sales of assault weapons in those states.
That opinion was echoed by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on a recent visit to Foreign Affairs Minister Patricia Espinosa in Mexico City. In fact, she used the same term, referring to new “tools,” when it came to the question of alleged assault weapon traffic across the border in weapons obtained from Federal Firearms Licensees, particularly in Texas.
ATF agents operating in Mexico, military experts, and gun freedom activists have put the lie to the notion, saying that most of the weapons that are turning up in Mexico are select fire, capable of fully automatic operation and were manufactured under government contract for the U.S. military.
They allege they have been obtained either through military aid from the Department of Defense, then sold by deserting soldiers of the Mexican army; through sales from Vietnam, which confiscated all M-16's when the ARVN of South Vietnam surrendered; or from Central American republics where the government sent the weapons during the 80's to assist in the Contra wars against communist aggression.
It's all part of a new executive order signed into law by President Barack Obama, according to Meg Reilly, spokeswoman for the Office of Management and Budget.
Designed to curb excessive regulation, it “is consistent with the president's call for more transparency and opportunities for public participatioin in his recent executive order.”
The new rule was stimulated by such actors as Christopher Steward of Phoenix, who allegedly purchased more than 100 AK-47's in one month.
ATF officials busted 17 people in the Phoenix area last week for cross-border smuggling in “Operation Gunrunner.”
ATF agents operating in Mexico have alleged there is a sub rosa plot by ATF executives to smuggle assault weapons under their control across the border in order to “pad” the record in what they call “Operation Gunwalker.”
One such weapon was allegedly used to murder Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry during a desert stakeout near Nogales. He and other agents had deployed just inside the border in rugged terrain to help interdict bandits who prey on illegal immigrants trekking through the canyons on their way to jobs in the U.S.
Republican Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa has promised hearings of the Senate Judiciary Committee to examine the allegations in depth.
ATF agents operating in Mexico have alleged there is a sub rosa plot by ATF executives to smuggle assault weapons under their control across the border in order to “pad” the record in what they call “Operation Gunwalker.”
One such weapon was allegedly used to murder Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry during a desert stakeout near Nogales. He and other agents had deployed just inside the border in rugged terrain to help interdict bandits who prey on illegal immigrants trekking through the canyons on their way to jobs in the U.S.
Republican Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa has promised hearings of the Senate Judiciary Committee to examine the allegations in depth.
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