Washington Post blames the NRA for BATFE gun running scandal?

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.

This reporter just comes out ranting too

THE GUN RIGHTS lobby has spent considerable time and energy in pursuit of one goal: crippling the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). It has largely succeeded — and with dire consequences.

Concerned to the point of paranoia about the erosion of the constitutional right to keep and bear arms, the National Rifle Association and far too many lawmakers have fought against virtually every proposal to empower the bureau to better track and crack down on illegal firearms. They have won reductions in the ATF’s already meager budget. They have restricted the bureau’s ability to share information with other law enforcement agencies. They have kept the bureau rudderless for the past six years by blocking confirmation of new directors. And they continue to fight new rules that would allow the bureau to track bulk sales of long guns that have played a major role in the drug-fueled violence in Mexico.

Read the rest of this dribble here

Anyway... maybe a couple members of the BATF are NRA members but the simple facts are field agents were ordered by higher ups to just let the weapons go... they knew who these straw buyers were... but the decision to let it happen came from up on high.... as if they knew something bad was going to happen and could use that to further their gun grabbing agendas... No the NRA hand no part of this... rather than rant they would be better served to ask the Obama admin... what they were thinking when they first came up with this stupid op???

What a stupid... stupid editorial piece. Just goes to show you where our MSM's brain is at.

How can you blame gun rights and the NRA for the screw ups of the ATF? I mean.. the ATF has more than once screwed the pooch so to speak and yet we keep throwing power and money at them.

When an organization is broken.. perhaps it is time to cancel that organization?

Someone made a comment on that article that said basically, we don't give bigger cars to drunk drivers so that they are safer in an accident. This piece is basically stating the same should be done for the ATF.

Sigh.....

Well honestly what do we expect from the Washington Post? They lean so far left they walk in circles Never mind the fact that operation Fast and Furious was encouraging the actions it was supposed to stop or that in all actuality the whole thing was actually a attempt at a publicity stunt. Let the guns walk, then swoop in and make the "bug bust", and then get your name in the news and be a big hero for stopping what you allowed to happen in the first place. Sounds like a bad Hollywood script don't it? Nope just fools with a agenda. Thanks Daddybare, you are one of the few that is keeping this issue in the sights of ATS!

Wow. Lots of folks have been saying that this abortion of an operation was somehow going to be used as an argument for gun control. Now we see the Wash Post seeding this into the scared American psyche. I bet this picks up steam.
Hopefully it won't, though. Even ultra liberals must admit that the logic in this editorial is beyond ridiculous.

Again, Stupidity knows no Bounds.

Who reads this crap expecting truth anyways?

This doesnt make any sense.

Lack of finding and support led to the ATF forcing retailers to sell to known straw purchasers and made them sit on their hands while they watched the guns cross into Mexico?

If anything the ATF is overly funded and has too much time on its hands if it can be cooking up ridiculous, half-assed and poorly planned schemes that cost lives.

reply to post by thisguyrighthere


here's the real question...

ATF forcing retailers to sell to known straw purchasers

If they knew... these were Straw purchasers buying guns to send to Mexico.... why didn't they just arrest them????

I don't think I've ever seen a more outrageous editorial in my life. Thanks for the posts on the Operation Fast and Furious debacle that you have provided on ATS, OP. This operation hasn't been given near the publicity it should have, and it should result in criminal charges for many officials, including Holder, as far as I'm concerned.

Originally posted by DaddyBare
reply to post by thisguyrighthere

 

here's the real question...

ATF forcing retailers to sell to known straw purchasers

If they knew... these were Straw purchasers buying guns to send to Mexico.... why didn't they just arrest them????

It was part of the master plan I guess. Follow the smuggling back to somebody higher up they had no ability to arrest.

I bet some nut over ot the ATF thought he had a great idea and wanted the ATF to get credit for bringing down all the great cartel bosses so they kicked off this scheme and only later realized they had no way to actually follow through with the plan.

Maybe that's the "power" we're supposed to be giving the ATF? The power to charge into foreign countries and arrest foreign nationals. Sounds like insanity to me.

Considering the nature of the operation, it's pretty clear that approval for this operation had to have been given on a number of levels in the government. Anyone with a brain should be able to see there wouldn't be any way this project wouldn't result in someone's death....and I wonder how many more deaths are yet to come that will be directly tied to it? Either we have the stupidest government officials on the planet, or the most corrupt.

what do you expect from the washington post the government has done more harm to gun rights than any "lobby group" has.

fact the laws are on the books too many in fact but its the batfe own incompetence that lead to the issues at hand.

the solution isnt tougher laws its enforcing the laws already there and for them not to break them since they are the writers and enforcers of said law.

the will never be happy til there is not one gun left in this country and they are trying their damndest to make that a reality.

we have had enough of unchecked corrupt government and their shills there needs to come and end to this

and make them understand what part of the second ammendment do they not get..

this is infuriating typical liberal bs.

If you're walking down the street, some guy pulls a knife on you, and demands your money, he has you at a disadvantage. He is considered a criminal, but, also, he is to be pitied because he has obviously been put in this position by some sort of -ism.

If the same scenario happens and you pull out a gun, you have just leveled the playing field, and have actually gained an advantage. A rational person would think that he is still the criminal and you are still the victim. But that's not what the anti-self defense people think. Now you have become the criminal for the simple fact that you have made yourself equal by brandishing a gun.

People on a particular side of the aisle have the thought that criminals are underprivileged, and because they have been "forced" onto the street to commit crimes against their fellow man, they are to be pitied and coddled. Gun owners are right-wing, anti-government nutbars because they believe in protecting themselves, and must be hated and reviled for daring to believe they aren't going to be victims.

The NRA is the big gun in the holster, and they encourage people to not be victims. If you can protect yourself from a criminal on the street, you can protect yourself from the government. And that just won't do.

/TOA