Geeks With Guns » In America

Americans buy record numbers of guns for Christmas

HGIC — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 18:07:45 +0000

According to the FBI, over 1.5 million background checks on customers were requested by gun dealers to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System in December. Nearly 500,000 of those were in the six days before Christmas.

It was the highest number ever in a single month, surpassing the previous record set in November.

On Dec 23 alone there were 102,222 background checks, making it the second busiest single day for buying guns in history.

The actual number of guns bought may have been even higher if individual customers took home more than one each. ~ [Read more]

57 Senators Protest U.N. Small Arms Treaty

donttreadonme — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 02:35:41 +0000

U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) joined his colleague Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS) and 43 other Senators in expressing grave concern about the dangers posed to Second Amendment rights by the United Nations’ Arms Trade Treaty. In a letter to President Obama and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, the 45 senators said they would oppose ratification of an Arms Trade Treaty that in any way restricts the rights of law-abiding American gun owners. This is enough to block the treaty from Senate passage, as treaties submitted to the U.S. Senate require approval of two-thirds of Senators present to be ratified.

“Our Second Amendment is non-negotiable,” said Hatch. “We don’t need a bunch of bureaucrats at the United Nations dictating our liberties and freedoms. This Treaty should not be ratified and I will fight it tooth and nail.”-[source]

ATF Investigates Buyers Of 2 Rifles In 5 Days

donttreadonme — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 01:10:20 +0000

Two weeks ago, concerned about news reports that President Obama would order the investigation of citizens buying two or more rifles at a time, a licensed Texas gun dealer contacted his local Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) official to find out if the reports were true, so he could be in compliance. The ATF official assured him that he was aware of such legislation having been considered, but added, “The law is not going to pass, and we can’t enforce something that isn’t law.” This week, however, gun dealers and pawnshop owners across the country received a certified letter from the ATF requiring just such compliance…-[source]

Perry Blasts New Federal Rules For Gun Dealers

donttreadonme — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 22:48:47 +0000

Gov. Rick Perry Wednesday lambasted new DOJ reporting requirements for gun dealers in states on the U.S.-Mexico border, calling the new rules “misguided” and “constitutionally questionable.”

The new requirement from the BATFE, announced Monday, means firearms dealers from Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California will have to notify the federal government whenever an individual buys two or more semi-automatic rifles. Gun dealers are already required to notify the government of multiple handgun purchases.-[source]

GOA, Gun Rights, & The Debt Limit Fight

donttreadonme — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 04:59:37 +0000

You’ve heard a lot about the “debt limit” fight going on in Washington.

But have you ever wondered how it affects you and your Second Amendment rights?

First, a brief background: Since he took office, Barack Obama has increased the federal budget from a scandalous $3.1 trillion a year to an even-more-scandalous $3.8 trillion a year.

Even worse is what he’s done with the additional 2/3 of a trillion per year. Of interest to gun owners:

* Obama has begun to implement the first stages of ObamaCare, which would create a national medical database, which could be trolled by ATF in order to take away the gun rights of tens of millions of Americans;

* ATF has used its Fast and Furious operation (funded with $10 million from the stimulus bill) in order to put guns in the hands of Mexican drug cartels, ostensibly for the purpose of passing more gun control in Washington;

* ATF has moved forward on its illegal regulations to require the registry of multiple sales of many long guns; and

* ATF has moved forward on its efforts to impose an import ban on shotguns.

As far as we’re concerned, a government large enough to implement an anti-gun ObamaCare is much, much too large.

Now the bill has come due, and Barack Obama is trying to borrow $2 trillion to pay for his anti-gun agenda.

He cannot be allowed to succeed, unless the deal blocks the $2 trillion from being used to pursue ObamaCare and an anti-gun agenda.-[source]

Media Blames NRA For ATF Gunwalker Scandal

donttreadonme — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 23:55:09 +0000

I don’t know what it is about gun issues that makes people lose their minds, but this editorial from the Washington Post is pretty incredible. The post acknowledges that the ATF flooding Mexico with 2,500 weapons which were used in a variety of crimes — including the murder of a U.S. border agent — was pretty questionable, but the real culprits are the NRA who has dared to criticize the agency or something:-[source]

Chicago’s Top Cop: ‘Federal Gun Laws Are Racist’

donttreadonme — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 00:45:07 +0000

Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy claims that “federal gun laws are akin to ‘government-sponsored racism.’ ”

“I want you to connect one more dot on that chain of African-American history in this country, and tell me if I’m crazy: Federal gun laws that facilitate the flow of illegal firearms into our urban centers, across this country, that are killing black and brown children.”

Garry: you’re crazy.

Clayton Cramer shows how American gun control historically facilitated Black oppression. (Of Japanese and Indians, too.)

After the Civil War, White Democrats like Garry McCarthy sought to disarm Blacks, and for good reason.

I recently correlated Black homicide rates from the CDC with Brady Campaign report cards 2001-2007. Brady evaluated states on how well they implemented gun control laws. The result shows that more gun control correlates with higher Black homicide rates and lower Caucasian homicide rates.

Most of Brady’s reports graded states on “A” to “F”, though that’s recently been replaced with stars. In any case, it conveniently divided states into quintiles. When comparing Quintile 1 (most gun control) with Quintile 5 (least gun control), Blacks averaged 20.7% higher homicide rates in states with the most gun control, while Caucasian rates averaged 64.1% lower.

Gun control still benefits Caucasians and harms Blacks, just like it did before and after the Civil War.

Garry McCarthy just happens to be Caucasian. For that matter, so’s Brady presidentPaul Helmke.

Just a curious coincidence, no doubt.-[source]

Time To Close Down The ATF

donttreadonme — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 01:17:41 +0000

This week, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) beamed a spotlight on the criminal behavior of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, commonly referred to as the ATF. At Wednesday’s hearing, Issa took on Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich by asking him: “Who authorized this program that was so felony stupid it got people killed.”

Chairman Issa started off the interrogation of Weich by holding up one of the pages that the ATF had provided his committee. It was completely blackened, one of hundreds that had been totally redacted by the agency. Issa told Weich that this was unacceptable and that he was tired of the lack of cooperation at the Department of Justice.

Issa also caught Weich in a lie by pointing to a letter in which he denied any knowledge of Fast and Furious, when we now know that Weich did know about the program. Weich said that the letter had been written by a committee and that he did not know who had written that particular sentence. He refused to commit, however, to finding out who authored that lie and reporting back to Issa about it!-[source]

SAF FILES AMICUS IN COLORADO CARRY CASE

donttreadonme — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 21:49:46 +0000

The Second Amendment Foundation has been joined by 17 other firearms rights groups in an amicus brief filed in a case now before the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, challenging laws that prohibit the carrying of firearms by law-abiding non-resident U.S. citizens in Denver, Colorado.

The case, Peterson v. Garcia, was filed by Washington state resident Gray Peterson, who cannot exercise his right to bear arms because Colorado statute prohibits the issuance of a concealed carry permit to non-residents, and does not recognize Peterson’s Washington license or his Florida carry permit because he is not a Florida resident. Denver bans the open carry of firearms, leaving Peterson – who visits Colorado frequently – without any legal means of carrying a firearm for his personal protection.

“This is a case that affects citizens in at least 20 states and the District of Columbia,” noted Miko Tempski, SAF legal affairs director. “We’ve been joined by organizations from 16 of those states in this brief, because they all have members who may travel to Colorado and face the same problem if they enter the City of Denver.”-[source]

1st Gunwalker Hearing Offers No Surprises

donttreadonme — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 21:46:53 +0000

Monday’s opening session in what will likely become a series of hearings on Project Gunrunner and Operation Fast and Furious before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform demonstrated that Chairman Darrell Issa is laying a strategy to hold people accountable for an operation that sent thousands of guns illegally to Mexico.

During his initial questioning of witnesses before his committee, Issa noted his desire to not provide immunity to anyone who may be responsible for what appears to be a horribly botched gun sting mounted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

“We must avoid providing immunity to somebody we believe is guilty of a crime,” Issa observed. “The worst thing to do is get the kingpin and then let them off.”-[source]