jlf1961
Posts: 14840
Joined: 6/10/2008
From: Somewhere Texas
Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: kdsub
I know exactly what you are saying... you are not listening to the likes of Bama and what I am saying... I have mentioned on many occasions the need for change to the background checks only to receive the same tired enforce the laws we have bullshit.
Butch
Do you even have a grasp on the reality of the situation?
I have pointed out the flaws in the back ground check system for over 2 years.
I have also pointed out that those very flaws make enforcement of the Prohibited from purchase restrictions impossible.
I have made a point to explain why, with no uncertain or ambiguous terms that the reason the present laws are not enforced, and cant be enforced goes beyond the background check system.
I have also made it clear that, in essence (if not enforceability) that the present US code on gun ownership, sales, etc are the most comprehensive in the world that allow for private gun ownership, and when printed, goes about 2000 pages when you count every addendum and change made since the original gun control act of 1934 (yep, we been trying to fix the problem for 83 years) with the additions mandated by SCOTUS after the various court cases.
So, here lies the problem.
The ATF is part of the Department of Justice, and as such is dependent on the approved DoJ Budget, which has agency allocations dictated by congress. Now when the priority was the 'War on Drugs' which has failed in keeping drugs from being brought into the country as well as controlling drug trafficking inside the US, congress gave the DoJ their budget and along with a list of priority areas that needed to be enforced.
So, long story short, the DEA and FBI got the bulk of the money and the ATF got the short end.
Now, we have big concerns over terrorist attacks, both from outside the US and inside.
Which means congress approves a budget and tells the DoJ where to spend the money. So now the FBI is getting shit loads of funding, and the other DoJ agencies are getting scraps, including the ATF.
So you basically have 2000 plus pages of gun laws, a demand that they be enforced, investigated and violators prosecuted, and the ATF does not have the manpower to do the job it is required to do, and use a system that is basically designed not to work.
That is problem one.
Problem two, the current ATF backlog for cases to be investigated is years old.
But then you have to look at the current priority on domestic terrorism, and guys like Timothy McVeigh.
And now you are going to ask what does the McVeigh Oklahoma city bombing have to do with the gun problem.
Directly, nothing, indirectly everything.
Because the ATF, since the Oklahoma city bombing, has to put a priority on investigating any activity involving the individual components purchased in bulk that could be used to make explosives, with the exception of those purchases made by the big agricultural farms owned by the ag conglomerates.
So, when some private farmer goes out and buys a few tons of Ammonia Nitrate fertilizer and bulk diesel to fertilize his fields and run his tractors, the ATF has to send an agent out to make an inquiry, as to why so much was bought and what the intended use is.
The kicker is that Farmers have to have special permits to make bulk purchases like that so they can easily take a tax write off on operating expenses, and of course avoid paying state sales tax on the fertilizer and state and federal taxes on the fuel.
But, when that tax number is input, it only goes to the appropriate agencies that handle said taxes, nobody thought to set the system up to notify the ATF that farmers buy the stuff that can be used to make explosives in large quantities and use it to grow crops and operate tractors.
So twice a year you have a couple of thousand ATF agents running around the farm belt bugging farmers about stuff that has, technically, already been cleared and approved.
Further stretching and cutting into an already over stretched agent pool.
Then there are a couple of really stupid laws that were passed after a couple of fucked up ATF investigations that limit exactly how the ATF can investigate alleged firearms violations, the most noted is the Ruby Ridge incident.
You see, the ATF was informed that some guy was attempting to buy illegal firearms, and already had possession of some illegal guns.
Now, the ATF went to a judge and asked for a search warrant to really check it out, and the Judge denied the warrant due to hearsay evidence, all nice and proper.
So the ATF agent in charge came up with the brilliant plan to sell this guy an illegal firearm, let him take it home, then since they knew he had one illegal gun, get an warrant and search his home for the guns that they were told he had already.
We know how Ruby Ridge turned out, and all charges were thrown out since the basis for the case was ruled as entrapment. If the ATF agent selling the guy the illegal gun arrested him at the time of exchange, no shoot out and a warrant could have been gotten easily.
But no, some idiot had to get 'creative.'
So, a couple of new laws were passed that basically forbid the atf from acting on anonymous tips, the information has to come from a law enforcement agency, which then takes up to the Branch Davidian compound in Waco and well, enough said.
But that incident under Reno got congress to further limit the investigative abilities of the ATF.
So, in essence, the ATF got teeth pulled and put on a very fucking short leash.
You see, for the longest time, the ATF, like the IRS, operated with very few limits.
And now, both the NRA and gun lobbyists agree that the ATF is basically hamstrung which makes their job impossible to do.
Which is why the ATF has a lot of field agents running around bothering farmers and checking on home grown alternative fuel producers... yep the ATF has to check out people making alcohol to use in making biodiesel.
And all of this is being done instead of investigating gun regulation violations.
Which is why when you make your statement a lot of us respond with "enforce the present laws" because, and I hate to tell you this, if new laws are passed, there wont be enough agents to investigate and enforce them either.
_____________________________
Boy, it sure would be nice if we had some grenades, don't you think?
You cannot control who comes into your life, but you can control which airlock you throw them out of.
Paranoid Paramilitary Gun Loving Conspiracy Theorist AND EQUAL OPPORTUNI
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RE: Another day, another "small" mass shooting - 
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