A Roundhouse Kick To Chuck Norris' Gun Trafficking Myths

[villager]

A Roundhouse Kick To Chuck Norris' Gun Trafficking Myths

Behind Chuck Norris' beard, there is only another fist. Behind his latest column are a variety of National Rifle Association (NRA) myths about gun trafficking between the United States and Mexico and the Obama administration's latest attempt to curb that problem.

Norris is a fervent supporter of the (NRA), cutting ads and serving as honorary chairman of their voter registration efforts in 2010. So it's no surprise that he devotes much of his column to echoing claims recently offered by his friend and the executive vice president of the NRA, Wayne LaPierre.

Norris' piece is filled with absurd hyperbole. He declares that President Obama is "trying to eliminate our Second Amendment rights" and "restricting the right to bear arms, "which he says "primarily ties the hands of good guys." Norris also accuses Obama of trying to "demonize good, law-abiding American gun dealers."

Norris' argument makes no sense at all, unless the goal is to enrage gun owners rather than inform them; the rule Norris is attacking will not prevent a single American from purchasing a gun. All it does is require gun dealers in the Southwest border states to inform the ATF when the same person purchases two or more certain types of rifles - including AK-variant assault weapons - in a five-day span. They can still buy as many of the guns as they want as quickly as existing law allows; gun dealers will just have to inform law enforcement, helping them establish patterns that can help detect trafficking.

<snip>

http://mediamatters.org/blog/201108230014

[TheWraith]

1. Perhaps if the ATF hadn't been directly party to trafficking thousands of guns across the border...

...they would have more credibility. As it is, they directly approved thousands of felony smuggling operations which they could have shut down just by arresting five people, and forced reluctant dealers to sell weapons which have later been used to kill Border Patrol agents among others.

[villager]

3. dealers are always so "reluctant" to sell guns!

Clearly - goes with the territory!

[spin]

5. You know what is strange ...

When I go to my gun store he never has any fully automatic rifles, hand grenades or RPGs in stock.

I guess either the Mexican drug cartels have bought out his whole supply or they are getting these weapons from somewhere else.

Soldiers seize arms belonging to Mexican drug cartel
June 3, 2011 9:17 PM

(AP)

MEXICO CITY - Mexican soldiers found a buried cache of weapons apparently stockpiled by a drug cartel, including 154 rifles and shotguns and more than 92,000 rounds of ammunition, the Defense Department said Friday.

The cache included four mortar shells, two rocket-propelled grenades, dozens of assault rifles, sniper rifles and two bows.

***snip***

It was not the first such mass seizure in recent months. In May, soldiers seized 83 assault rifles and shotguns, five grenade launchers and more than 18,000 bullets as well as hand grenades and 18 pistols following a confrontation with a 17-vehicle convoy of suspected cartel gunmen in the northern border state of Tamaulipas.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/06/03/501364/main20068847.shtml

[TheWraith]

7. You've read the documentation, right?

The case histories on repeated situations where dealers directly raised concern to the ATF over suspected gun traffickers, and were ORDERED to make the sales anyway?

[biermeister]

4. let's try not to confuse the issue with facts

maybe the ATF or the Justice Dept should spend the time & effort to pursue & convict those officials that allowed those weapons to be sold in the first place.

FYI to those who don't purchase guns- every purchase (through a dealer) is already documented. All the AFT has to do is to compile the info they already receive from the dealers instead of pushing the burden of policing off on them.

just more BS

[EC]

2. Maybe he and his friends are trafficking

since the new regs upset them so badly...

[Butch350]

6. His political views are as bad as his acting.