The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will hear testimony from six current and former Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms agents regarding the bureau’s botched “Fast and Furious” operation. The hearing will focus specifically on the effect the operation had in Mexico. Operation Fast and Furious involved the sale of thousands of firearms to straw buyers, who then brought those weapons into Mexico where they were sold to criminal organizations. The operation has set off a firestorm of controversy, and the Oversight Committee has been at the forefront of investigations into …
Several comments have taken issue with my post on the recent Washington Post article on the supposed prevalence of gun smuggling from the U.S. to Mexico. I’m glad to respond to their concerns. Let me begin by pointing out that it is not possible to prove absolutely that, of all the guns in Mexico, only the 17,000 guns I cite in my post, and no others, came from the United States. That is known as seeking to prove a negative. I should also point out that the burden of proof …
In his speech before a Joint Session of Congress yesterday, President Felipe Calderon of Mexico made a bold claim. He asserted that: Just to give you an idea, we have seized 75,000 guns and assault weapons in Mexico in the last three years. And more than 80 percent of those we have been able to trace came from the United States — from the United States. The media immediately picked up on this claim. As Reuters summarized the President’s remarks: [He] said more than 80 percent of [the guns] came …
Just when you thought the Second Amendment would be the only issue we wouldn’t debate this summer. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9X2VbhSH9o&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
Today’s Washington Post reports an often heard but highly inaccurate statement: 90% of guns employed in the drug cartel killing spree come from the U.S. It is a factoid prominently stuck in the minds of leaders and the media, some of whom use this misrepresentation in support of reimposing extensive federal gun restrictions. The Post reports that Mexican law enforcement seized 35,000 weapons between December 2006 and the present. Of that total, the Post reports that 13,149 weapons were then reported to the U.S. by our southern neighbor. That leaves …
Each morning, District of Columbia special police officer Dick Heller reports to his job protecting the Federal Judicial Center, where he takes possession of a handgun that he carriers throughout the day. Despite the fact that the city trusts Heller to carry a handgun all day in order to protect the courthouse, the city denied him a permit to keep a gun at home in order to protect his family. The District of Columbia has one of then nation’s most draconian handgun bans, and yesterday the Supreme Court struck down …
In a landmark opinion by Justice Antonin Scalia, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the right to keep and bear arms, recognized in the Second Amendment, is an individual right of all Americans unconnected with service in a militia. (Read the decision.) Americans may use arms like handguns for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home. Six District of Columbia residents originally brought suit challenging the gun ban that virtually forbids the ownership of any handgun and outlaws the functional storage or use of any long gun within …
If today’s oral arguments in the D.C. gun ban case are any indication, the nation’s most restrictive gun-control law could soon be ruled unconstitutional. Today’s hearing before the Supreme Court revealed that Justice Anthony Kennedy is far more inclined to support an individual right to keep and bear arms than anyone might have suspected. Supreme Court reporter Lyle Denniston of SCOTUSblog offered this take on the oral arguments: The Supreme Court’s historic argument Tuesday on the meaning of the Constitution’s Second Amendment sent out one quite clear signal: individuals may …
Since the District of Columbia first instituted its ban on handguns, there has been only one year (1985) that the homicide rate in the city fell below what it was in 1976. Worse, in 15 of the 29 years since the ban went into effect, D.C. had either the first or second highest murder rate among the nation’s 50 largest cities. In 2003, D.C. special police officer Dick Heller joined five other D.C. residents and sued to challenge D.C.’s handgun ban. Heller carries a handgun while on duty as a …
In anticipation of the Match 18 oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court on the D.C. v. Heller gun-ban case, Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) told an audience at The Heritage Foundation that the Second Amendment is as plainly an individual right as the right to free speech, religion and assembly: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqxy6W-ftU8[/youtube] Tester also touched on how the Second Amendment protects our rights and on how the D.C. gun ban hurts law-abiding citizens. Tester is one of 55 senators and 250 representatives to sign an amicus brief arguing the Second Amendment …
