Posted on 10/27/2006 9:50:10 AM PDT by kiriath_jearim
WASHINGTON, Oct. 26 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Law enforcement officials today joined with the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence to denounce the National Rifle Association's (NRA) campaign to weaken enforcement of federal gun laws. The NRA's attacks on federal law enforcement are profiled in a new Brady Center report, "The NRA: A Criminal's Best Friend," which chronicles decades of NRA assaults on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) that have greatly aided criminals seeking to obtain illegal firearms.
Chief Richard Pennington of Atlanta; Commissioner Sylvester Johnson of Philadelphia; Chief Gil Kerlikowski of Seattle; Police Foundation President Hubert Williams; and Jesse Lee, executive director of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives told a National Press Club gathering in Washington that police efforts to crack down on illegal gun trafficking were being directly and sharply undermined by the gun lobby's agenda.
"What the gun lobby is doing in Washington is making it harder for me to do my job in Atlanta," Pennington said. "Instead of handcuffing law enforcement, we should put political handcuffs on the NRA's lobbyists."
"If you look at what has been attempted and done to weaken common-sense measures to prevent gun violence, particularly over the past six years, it is obvious that the gun pushers have way too much influence over federal law enforcement policy," said Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Center. "As a newcomer to Washington, D.C., I'm particularly surprised at how little respect has been given to the concerns of the law enforcement community."
The report exposes the hypocrisy of the NR's refrain that there is no need to "pass new gun laws," just to "enforce our existing laws." "The NRA: A Criminal's Best Friend" shows how the NRA has fought to hamstring and intimidate federal law enforcement. NRA allies in Congress have required ATF to meet extraordinary burdens of proof to prosecute gun traffickers and revoke lawbreaking gun dealers' licenses, imposed severe restrictions on ATF inspectors, and allowed largely unregulated gun show sales to flourish.
The report reveals the NRA's aggressive campaign to undermine the landmark Brady background check law, from its unsuccessful lawsuits to strike down the law to its success under President Bush in mandating the destruction of crucial Brady background check records needed to prevent criminals from buying firearms. It chronicles the NRA's lambasting of federal ATF agents as "fascists" and "street thugs" who "murder law-abiding citizens," as well as the NRA's recent charges of ATF "abuses" in retaliation for successful ATF gun show stings in Richmond, Va., that disrupted widespread gun trafficking at the gun shows.
This year the NRA has intensified its anti-federal law enforcement efforts. It is supporting a package of legislation to make it virtually impossible to revoke the licenses of lawbreaking gun dealers (H.R. 5092), to prohibit the government from revealing the identities of rogue dealers to the public (H.R. 5005), and to repeal the longstanding prohibition on interstate sales of handguns at gun shows (H.R. 1384). The legislation was introduced shortly after NRA Board Member Sandy Abrams had his Baltimore gun shop's license revoked this year for 900 violations of federal gun laws. H.R. 5092 passed the House of Representatives last month despite law enforcement opposition and may come before the Senate in a lame-duck session next month.
"This report reveals the NRA's true colors as the criminal's best friend," said Daniel R. Vice, Brady Center staff attorney. "The NRA's tireless efforts to undermine enforcement of our gun laws has helped criminals and gun traffickers obtain illegal firearms and fueled the recent surge in gun violence."
"The NRA: A Criminal's Best Friend" is the latest in a series of Brady Center reports exposing the role of the gun industry and the gun lobby in aiding criminal access to firearms. All of the reports can be accessed at http://www.bradycenter.org/gunindustrywatch. Gun Industry Watch is a comprehensive research effort of the Brady Center to monitor the gun industry and expose industry practices that endanger innocent lives.
These so called "police officials" are simply carrying water for left wing politicians. No need to read any further.
---typical propaganda from urban political high-risers, dependent on a Demotraitor mayor for budgets and raises--
Good reading material for those who think with their uterus.
Police Administrators are POLITICIANS.
Ther cardinal rule is to be obsequious to those they think can further their careers, and pander to "Minorities" including sacrificing police officers on the alter of Political Correctness.
REAL street cops want good citizens to have and use guns.
Real Police Officers know that jurisdictions will not spend money on manpower, and response time to a 911 call can be hours.
One has to admire the sheer gall of the Brady scum in calling the NRA "A Criminal's Best Friend" -- no organization in the U.S. annually trains more cops than the NRA.
More lies from the left.
Rolling poor old Jim Brady out again ping.
This lengthy sentence does a nice job of illustrating the left's penchant for equating legal weapons sales with illegal gun trafficking. Because weapons are immoral to a liberal by definition, there's really no difference between legal and illegal sales.
Bingo!
Yeah, they ask Pennington.
They don't ask the chief in Roswell, or Sandy Springs, or Alpharetta, or Duluth, or . . .
That seems to be a regional issue and it is an attitude that is rapidly disappearing from the American landscape far and wide. Twenty years ago, I'd have unequivocally agreed with your assertion. However, given the corruption of the public schools by liberal influences that present a unified anti-gun agenda from kindergarten to senior high school, more and more potential cops are entering the academies with the elitist mentality that ONLY they should have guns.
Because the curriculums are so slanted to the left, they are unaware that such an attitude promotes the idea of a police state. Neither do they see the harm in this.
It used to be that conservatives would say that the police dept's and the military are the "safety net" of the 2nd Amendment. That any true attempt to seize the guns would be fought by these elements. But in the aftermath of KATRINA we see the lie.
Exactly. I can't find the article in the NRA's `America's First Freedom', but a while back the ATF issued citations to attendees leaving a gun show. They had done nothing wrong, except to attend the gun show.
The ATF is a government bureaucracy that can no longer justify its existence, except to harass law-abiding citizens.
This article is pure bovine excrement.
The Enemy within rears its ugly head again. These Brady Bunch traitors need to find a different country to p*ss on.
If the NRA (well, ok, GOA/JPFO) got its way, it would become impossible for criminals to obtain illegal guns, because there would no longer be such a thing as an illegal gun.
Of course these attacks won't even mention the 2A, and the sheeple won't put two and two together, but WE must recognize these coming attacks as what they are.
Of course, that begs the question: What are WE going to do about it?
The Brady Bunch are lying, quisling, traitors!
Fixed...
This is a perfect example of why one should NEVER vote for a politician that makes "law and order" their top priority.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.