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ATF Acting Director Brandon Campaigning for Gun Registry
Gun Watch ^ | 5 August, 2016 | Dean Weingarten

Posted on 08/14/2016 5:45:03 AM PDT by marktwain


An ATF spokesman who was intimately involved in the Fast and Furious cover up has been promoting a national gun registry on CBS.  On Sunday, 31 July, Deputy Director Thomas E. Brandon appeared on Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood.

Brandon was the ATF official who oversaw the discipline or more accurately the lack thereof, in the Fast and Furious operation. His role has been detailed in the americanthinker.com:

According to outgoing Director Jones's sworn testimony of April 2, 2014 before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Mr. Brandon was the person who determined disciplinary punishments for all of the ATF personnel involved in Fast and Furious. Brandon was "the ultimate decision maker." Director Jones confirmed that Thomas Brandon did not fire a single person for participation in Fast and Furious.
 Here is the testimony were Jones is forced to admit that no ATF personnel were fired over the Fast and Furious operation, and that it was the Deputy Director who made those decisions. The Deputy Director at that time was Thomas E. Brandon. From Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 2 April, 2014
Chairman Issa. Director, I understand. I am only asking did you influence or have an input into that call of his not being fired, his continuing to draw a paycheck and eventually retire at his high pay as an SES?

 Mr. Jones. I did not. 

Chairman Issa. You did not. Did your number two have that influence? 

 Mr. Jones. The process involves the Bureau deciding official and the ultimate decision-maker is the Deputy Director with appeal to me should the employee not be satisfied. 

Chairman Issa. But the employee was satisfied and number two made the call, is that fair to say for the public record? 

Mr. Jones. That is fair to say.
Thomas Brandon has now debuted as one of the Obama administration people pushing for more gun control.  In his appearance On CBS, he simply assumes a computerized database of all gun sales is "good".  He does not explain why. From cbsnews.com:
Yet, Brandon says, not having the database hurts. Indeed, after the San Bernardino shootings, it took 12 hours to find out who owned the guns used in the attack. He says a computer database would have helped, and adds that not having one simply doesn't make sense.

"There's a lot of things that don't make sense in this town, you know?" Brandon tells Schlesinger. "And, so, yeah, would it be efficient and effective? Absolutely. Would the taxpayers benefit with public safety? Absolutely. Are we allowed to do it? No."
Such a database amounts to a national gun registry.  But the position put forward by Brandon begs the question.  What is the point of determining where the gun came from? Why is that considered worthwhile?  It does not prevent any crime from taking place.  It is only worthwhile if you believe that you will somehow be able to stop criminals from obtaining guns by regulating legal sources.  It has not happened anywhere else in the world.

But as we have seen from numerous other countries, when you tighten controls on legal sources, it only pushes criminal supply into illegal sources.  Tighten the controls enough, and you create a underground supply of illegally made guns and ammunition, as in Brazil, Israel, the Philippines and India.  There is no evidence that this decreases crime rates.  It may make illegal guns more expensive; then again, it may make them more common.  In India, you can buy a "country made" pistol for $15- $20.

Even if we posit, for the sake of argument, that determining where the gun came from might be useful, what is the point of finding out where it came from 12 hours earlier?  The whole point of the current system was to allow tracing without creating a national registry.  Registration systems have failed, over and over again, at preventing crime.  They have one significant purpose; they make confiscation of guns, either incrementally over time, or all at once, much easier.

That is a good argument to eliminate the current tracing system.  It does not decrease crime, and it constantly serves as a temptation to be converted into a registration system.  When the Gun Control Act of 1968 was passed, Lyndon Johnson wanted a national registration system.  It is what the original bill preceding the GCA 1968 legislation called for. From Lyndon Johnson's speech after the passage of GCA 1968 ucsb.edu:
Congress adopted most of our recommendations. But this bill--as big as this bill is--still falls short, because we just could not get the Congress to carry out the requests we made of them. I asked for the national registration of all guns and the licensing of those who carry those guns. For the fact of life is that there are over 160 million guns in this country--more firearms than families. If guns are to be kept out of the hands of the criminal, out of the hands of the insane, and out of the hands of the irresponsible, then we just must have licensing. If the criminal with a gun is to be tracked down quickly, then we must have registration in this country.



The whole purpose of the tracing system was a political compromise to prevent registration.  As tracing does not aid in crime prevention, why keep it?

The basic assumption of a registration or a tracing system is that more guns are bad.  But that is an assumption has been shown to be false.  It makes more sense to devote resources to keep guns out of the hands of specific individuals who have been shown to be irresponsible, than to attempt to track all gun sales and all gun possession, 99.9 percent of which is harmless or beneficial.

If someone cannot be trusted with a weapon, put them in jail.  They are a tiny segment of society.

T/H to weaponsman.com 

©2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch


TOPICS: Government; History; Politics; Society
KEYWORDS: atf; banglist; batf; bhoatf; gunregistry; thomasbrandon; tyranny
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What is the purpose of a gun registry? To allow the government to confiscate guns. That is it. It is being used for that purpose in California as we speak.

There will not be a massive gun confiscation. all at once, unless it occurs when most guns have already been confiscated and the public conditioned to accept it.

Gun confiscation is occurring incremetally, little by little, as more guns are made illegal and more people made into prohibited possessors.

That is what is going on in California.

1 posted on 08/14/2016 5:45:05 AM PDT by marktwain
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To: marktwain

Marching to odumbo’s orders!


2 posted on 08/14/2016 5:47:53 AM PDT by DaveA37 (t)
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To: marktwain

My advice: do not register anything. Have a boating accident or place an ad in a publication stating you have guns for sale. No need to know whom you sold to, just that you sold them in most states. Tell them to KMA when they ask.


3 posted on 08/14/2016 5:48:02 AM PDT by Mouton (The insurrection laws maintain the status quo now.)
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To: marktwain

I am not, nor will I ever, REGISTER a gun with the federal government. Nor will I comply with any state efforts to do same. They will just have to come find them and take them away from me.

At the slightest hint of this as an actual possibility, they will be dispersed. Those that I have to keep because they are documented in some fashion will all be loaded to the gills with magazines and backups to boot.


4 posted on 08/14/2016 5:48:19 AM PDT by Gaffer
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To: Gaffer

#4473...


5 posted on 08/14/2016 5:54:06 AM PDT by Paladin2 (auto spelchk? BWAhaha2haaa.....I aint't likely fixin' nuttin'. Blame it on the Bossa Nova...)
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To: marktwain
Unintended Consequences
6 posted on 08/14/2016 5:54:12 AM PDT by Paine in the Neck ( Socialism consumes EVERYTHING!)
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To: marktwain

Once the gun registry is created....unless it says you have to present the weapons at some central county office to be noted (something likely not to occur)....it’ll be a post office form that you are simply told to fill out and send to some federal bureau office in Red Bay, Alabama. It’ll probably have sixty people to put the info from the cards into some federal database.

So, once you figure this game out....what keeps you from submitting 300 cards with fake serials, and even counting your kids BB guns? At some point, when they realize the database is worthless because there’s at least 300,000 BB guns registered....the whole thing falls apart.

Added to this game...what if they wanted you to show up with the guns to register, and you show up with the guns but NO ID card? You just say you are Jose Jose and live at such-and-such address. If you can vote without an ID...registering a gun without an ID should go along the same lines.


7 posted on 08/14/2016 5:54:37 AM PDT by pepsionice
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To: marktwain

Every FReeper already knows this has nothing to do with guns. It is all about turning the least violent, most law abiding segment of society into criminals. A la Aynn Rand. Just another step toward the destruction of America. Libtards are not Americans, they do not want to be Americans. Why do we continue to allow them to claim they are?

It has been obvious for decades two cultures cannot occupy the same space. We simply have to quit trying. We have allowed them to damage our country and culture for long enough. It has to stop.


8 posted on 08/14/2016 5:59:48 AM PDT by wastoute (Government cannot redistribute wealth. Government can only redistribute poverty.)
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To: pepsionice

Canada already wasted billions before admitting it was a waste of resources. Like all other aspects of Socialism our dimwit libtards think they can make it work.


9 posted on 08/14/2016 6:01:40 AM PDT by wastoute (Government cannot redistribute wealth. Government can only redistribute poverty.)
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To: Paladin2
#4473...

Aren't those supposed be be destroyed after so many years. There's a law preventing them from keeping a history database.

10 posted on 08/14/2016 6:02:20 AM PDT by Sirius Lee (If Trump loses, America dies)
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To: marktwain

That’s an enemy of the Constitution and the People right there. It is none of the government’s business what I own.


11 posted on 08/14/2016 6:03:55 AM PDT by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: Paladin2

I a COMPLETELY cognizant and aware of the impacts of a Form 4473. And, I am also telling you that you don’t have to complete a Form 4473, nor register, nor NICs check a PRIVATE sale in my state.

For the weapons I purchased with my CWCL, only a Form 4473 was completed. NO NICS checks whatsoever. Yes, Forms 4473 were completed and are stored by the seller until surrendered on going out of business. IT IS ILLEGAL PRESENTLY for the government to inspect, review and catalog these Forms 4473.

As for the person-to-person sales - that have absolutely no f@cking idea of the extent.


12 posted on 08/14/2016 6:04:48 AM PDT by Gaffer
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To: Sirius Lee

Kept forever AFAIK. When a store is closed the forms are sent in. Assuming they didn’t burn up in the fire....


13 posted on 08/14/2016 6:05:04 AM PDT by Paladin2 (auto spelchk? BWAhaha2haaa.....I aint't likely fixin' nuttin'. Blame it on the Bossa Nova...)
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To: wastoute

That’s the first quote on my FR profile page.


14 posted on 08/14/2016 6:05:38 AM PDT by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: Paladin2

The older a 4473 is, the less useful it really is to them. The whole point of forcing a registry is to get *current* information.


15 posted on 08/14/2016 6:06:01 AM PDT by M1903A1 ("We shed all that is good and virtuous for that which is shoddy and sleazy... and call it progress")
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To: Sirius Lee
Aren't those supposed be be destroyed after so many years. There's a law preventing them from keeping a history database.

Your naivete is endearing...but dangerous.

16 posted on 08/14/2016 6:12:17 AM PDT by Paine in the Neck ( Socialism consumes EVERYTHING!)
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To: marktwain

Registration always leads to confiscation.


17 posted on 08/14/2016 6:14:02 AM PDT by Republican1795.
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To: Gaffer
...IT IS ILLEGAL PRESENTLY for the government to inspect, review and catalog these Forms 4473.

It is illegal presently for felons to be in possession of a weapon and to use it to kill people. Felons don't care. Neither does government.
18 posted on 08/14/2016 6:20:37 AM PDT by Paine in the Neck ( Socialism consumes EVERYTHING!)
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To: Paine in the Neck

I understand the reality of your statement. but the one thing reasonable people have to account for is that our law enforcement, our government agencies and their operatives cannot operate above or outside established law.

Given a preponderance of evidence they do or will do this, then that makes the case for them to be overthrown by force if need be.


19 posted on 08/14/2016 6:23:15 AM PDT by Gaffer
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To: marktwain

Why is the person who oversaw F&F not in jail?


20 posted on 08/14/2016 6:24:11 AM PDT by coloradan (The US has become a banana republic, except without the bananas - or the republic.)
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