Let’s end gun safety hypocrisy

[SecularMotion]

Those who oppose gun safety legislation often contend that the president and Congress should enforce existing gun laws before considering any new ones. National Rifle Association President Wayne LaPierre has said that under current federal law, President Obama “could take every felon with a gun, drug dealer with a gun, and criminal gang banger with a gun off the streets tomorrow and lock ’em up for five years or more”; House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., who holds great power over whether gun legislation sees the light of day, has said that “the federal government is not doing the job they should be doing in enforcing our current gun laws.”

We should call their bluff. The truth is that Congress routinely blocks the power of the federal agency responsible for overseeing and investigating firearms sales: the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The ATF is unable to carry out its mission because of the multiple obstacles placed in its path. For example, a 2004 budget amendment blocked the agency from providing data on the tracing of guns used in crimes for any state license revocation action or civil lawsuit. Gun-trace data are critically important for sourcing illegally trafficked firearms and identifying corrupt gun dealers. Another amendment that year banned any requirement that gun dealers keep a physical inventory of their wares. In 2012, Congress said that the ATF couldn’t deny applications to import any shotgun simply because it lacked a sporting purpose. The list goes on.

So what if we didn’t pass new gun safety laws, but instead simply returned to the ATF the authority and autonomy to fully perform its duties? What if this key agency were enabled “to protect communities from violent criminals . . . the illegal use and trafficking of firearms . . . [and] acts of terrorism,” as its mission statement reads, without interference?

Tuesday I introduced the ATF Enforcement Act, which would restore the agency’s ability to enforce existing gun laws by removing legislative limitations on its operations, enforcement and day-to-day functions. My bill would also allow the person picked to be ATF director to bypass the Senate confirmation process by moving the appointment power to the attorney general. For years, congressional allies of the gun lobby have blocked nominees by both Democratic and Republican presidents. Only one nominee has been confirmed since the position was made subject to Senate approval in 2006.

http://www.newsleader.com/story/opinion/columnists/2016/04/14/end-gun-safety-hypocrisy/83039164/

[Human101948]

1. Sounds like a reasonable plan...

Which means the NRA and its enablers will be vehemently opposed.

[gejohnston]

3. Bloomberg and follower use "safety" only because it plays better with

focus groups. They don't teach safety at all. Also, you could give the ATF all the money they want and they still wouldn't do their jobs right.

[flamin lib]

4. Why don't we give that a try and see? nt

[gejohnston]

6. We did

Quick history lesson. The ATF was part of the Misc. Tax Unit in the IRS. It was the unit the IRS used as a dumping ground for various undesirables because it was easier than firing them. This is where the racists, sexists, power freaks, went until they quit or retired. In 1972, Nixon gave them guns and arrest powers and made these people the initial cadre of ATF. A few decades later, they were management and the corporate culture of EEO complaints, civil rights abuses, and good old fashioned incompetence took hold. Granted, there are a lot of professional and decent officers there, but the stench is still there. the civil rights abuses is what led to the blow back and the 1986 amendment to the Gun Control Act.

Even if the ATF does their job, we still have the problem of US attorneys not doing theirs. Why have federal gun crime prosecutions dropped, especially in the Chicago area, over the past five years?

[sarisataka]

5. Yes, let's do that

and have groups that offer no safety training, distribute no safety products call themselves gun control rather than be disingenuous and call themselves gun "safety" groups.

Without such basic honesty, it is hard to believe anything these groups say

[Nuclear Unicorn]

7. If they're so concerned about safety why not publish articles on safely handling guns and

provide a list of certified gun safety workshops?