A Plea for Restoring Sanity

 

Mark W. Danielson

The above photos show a dog riddled with twenty-nine BBs.  If they came from birdshot, it means she was shot twice.  If it was from a BB gun, then she was shot twenty-nine times.  Amazingly, she survived and went on to be adopted by my daughter who had no knowledge of this horrific act until her dog had X-rays.  As of now, there is no plan to remove them due to the possibility of inflicting more damage.  Sadly, there is no way to predict how long her dog has been suffering or if it was lead shot that could lead to lead poisoning, but the two of them share a very close bond.  Truly they were meant for each other. 

When my daughter sent me these X-rays, I angrily wondered what kind of monster squeezes the trigger on an innocent and defenseless dog, and then I realized it’s the same type that shoots kids and teachers in elementary schools, high schools, or randomly shoots from college towers.  Clearly the first solution in preventing more killing sprees is to identify people like this dog shooter and give them psychological help before they explode and cause another massacre.  As a minimum, they should never have access to a firing range or weapons.

I am a strong believer in the right to bear arms, but unless we are facing a Zombie Apocalypse, I fail to see why any individual needs a large-magazine, rapid-firing assault weapon.  For the purpose of this article, I will arbitrarily define large magazine as anything over nine rounds, and classify any weapon having more than nine rounds as an assault weapon because no one needs more than that to go hunting.  But as the NRA will point out, the real danger behind any weapon is the person pulling the trigger.  I agree, and go on to say that our system has failed miserably in identifying people with violent tendencies.  Even worse, the records of those who have been clinically identified as disturbed are sealed to protect their civil rights, which means there is no way authorities can be proactive.  Only after a mass murder like the Connecticut shooting are the details of the deranged assailant’s background revealed.  If we started seeing these people as domestic terrorists, we might have a shot at preventing future killings.  When we finally realize that protecting the general public is more important than protecting a potential murderer’s civil rights, we might have a fighting chance.  Agree or not, this is definitely something to think about the next time you cast your ballots.  

The great irony is those who fear authorities will be delving into their personal information willingly share their life’s story on social media sites.  They complain about Big Brother’s security cameras and then rant when criminals are released because video didn’t record their crimes.  Neighbors complain to authorities when they were not warned that convicted rapists and child molesters are living among them and yet these same people rush to protect criminals who claim their civil rights were violated.  What will it take to realize that only those people who violate the law have reason to fear increased scrutiny? 

 

The first step in restoring order is to enforce existing laws, not create new ones as a reaction to public outcry.  The second is to restore censorship to enhance decent core values.  People are far less tolerant now than when I was a child, and a big reason is electronic stimulation and media sensationalism.  Thanks to texting and social media, bullying has gone from school playgrounds to cyberspace.  Movies, television shows, and video games have not only become increasingly violent and graphic, they encourage disrespectful behavior.  Music has gone from innocent teen romances to explicit commentary on abusing women, doing drugs, killing bitches, and language so foul they require warning labels, and yet we protect all of this in the name of Freedom of Speech.  So before we blame everything on the criminally insane, it’s time we identify how we can restore sanity.  Before this can happen, we must first accept the blame for letting our society go mad.  Until we regain our work ethic and refine our scruples, more mass killings will be coming to a theater near you. 

By nature of their jobs, law enforcement and military personnel will always have a need for improved multi-magazine assault weapons.  On the contrary, someone who shoots a young dog may also possess the mental capacity for riddling humans with bullets.  If you are against assault weapons, then ask your elected officials to explain why they lifted the ban.  With the New Year upon us, now seems like a good time for meaningful change.     

    

Fraud, Waste, Abuse & Misconduct

by Ben Small

You may have noticed the report issued by the BATFE and Eric Holder a year or so ago that most of the assault weapons captured in Mexico during the cartel wars were smuggled in from the United States.

The report was fraudulent. Not only untrue -- very few weapons captured in Mexico are turned over to the United States for tracking -- but now we learn that the Justice Department and BATFE were actively engaged in assisting gun smuggling throughout the Southwest and into Mexico. Even over the strong objections of their own agents.

The BATFE also made a public announcement last year, carried in newspapers, radio and television that they'd arrested and shut down some gun dealers in Texas and Arizona who'd run 2500 or more assault weapons into Mexico. Yes, the same guys who had contacted the ATF, told them they thought these guns were being smuggled, and were told to let them go.

Needless to say, when charges are dismissed, Justice and the BATFE rarely issue press announcements.

The man pictured above is Kenneth Melson, Acting Director of the BATFE. Melson admits he was instructed to supervise Operation Gunrunner's Fast and Furious program, the operation to smuggle these weapons thought a good idea by the Justice Department. Some BATFE agents who complained against the program were threatened or disciplined.

Now Melson says the Justice Department is stonewalling its own Inspector General investigation into Fast and Furious and that of Congress, which has been investigating the program ever since news of it popped after the murder of Border Agent Brian Terry. At least one of those rifles was used in the fusillade Agent Terry faced.

The official explanation for Operation Gunrunner's Fast and Furious program is that the BATFE and Justice wanted to track these firearms into dirty cartel hands. But they installed no transponders into the stocks, no GPS, no tracking device or mechanism whatsoever, and in fact, no tracking occurred... until Agent Terry's death. Ever since, these weapons have been showing up at Southwestern and Mexican crime scenes. Agents complained, and after Agent Terry's murder, some went public.

Suddenly BATFE and DOJ had a media relations problem.

Could there have been a different agenda, a political one, say, to drum up support for new gun ban laws? Consider that both Eric Holder and Barack Obama are adamant gun-banners, who if they had their way would strip our Second Amendment rights entirely. But these two have had a hard time finding support for their programs, especially after over sixty Democratic Congress members -- including Gabriel Giffords, a gun owner herself -- wrote a letter just after Obama was elected saying they fully support Second Amendment rights. But there's another player here, a treaty up for adoption in the Democratically controlled Senate. The U.N. Small Arms Treaty. Adoption of that treaty would mean an easier road for gun control legislation -- a treaty obligation.

There's also the Inter-American Convention Against the Illicit Manufacturing and Trafficking of Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives and Other Related Materials, currently languishing in Congress.

The question naturally arises: Was Operation Gunrunner's Fast and Furious program a political set-up for additional gun control measures? For the life of me, I can't think of any other purpose, given the lack of any tracking at all and the certain knowledge on the part of our leaders, hopefully, that BATFE had no means of tracking them. You don't make decisions knowing they will cost lives without asking about stuff like that.

The fact that the Acting Director of the BATFE, an agency already regarded as the lowest branch of the Justice Department (especially after Ruby Ridge and Waco fiascoes), is pointing his finger at Daddy makes one demand to know who at Justice approved this program. It had a budget of some $25 million. Melson says that number came from DOJ; the money came from DOJ.

Funny thing is, Eric Holder said recently he learned what BATFE was doing on Fast and Furious in March, but he mentioned the program two years ago.

So what is the truth? Who knew about this program and when? These were criminal acts ordered by the BATFE and DOJ, acts that caused how many deaths? Will anyone ever be put under the criminal scope for this? Will anyone be disciplined? Were any MMS officials who forged and submitted false inspection reports on the Horizon oil rig ever criminally punished? They committed fraud and lied to public officials. Look hard; you won't find it. Was anyone even demoted, suspended or fired. Again, you won't find it.

So now, the DOJ, part of the administration that candidate Barack Obama said would be the most transparent ever, is stonewalling any investigation of Operation Gunrunner's Fast and Furious operation.

I went to the Justice Department's Inspector General's website, its hotline especially, where citizens are encouraged to report government waste, fraud, abuse or misconduct either by filling in their form or via email. I tried both relative to Fast and Furious. The form wouldn't let me get past my name and address, and the email address wasn't in service. Don't believe me? You try it.

We need a Special Prosecutor. I doubt anything less will ever answer these questions.