Hard-Left Center For
American Progress Joins GOP Calls to Eliminate ATF
by AWR Hawkins 21 May 2015
On May 19 the Center for
American Progress (CAP) joined GOP calls to do away with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives
(ATF) and the shuffle the agency’s current responsibilities to other
federal agencies.
On March 6–during the ATF-led push to ban the M855 round
from AR-15 use–Breitbart News reported on
Representative Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) 84%’s (R-WI) push to do
away with the ATF altogether. Sensenbrenner put forward the “ATF Elimination
Act,” describing the agency as one that is “largely duplicative” in its
operations.
Sensenbrenner stressed that the FBI and DEA could do the things the ATF
does, and save gun owners the pressure they face from a highly politicized
agency like the ATF.
CAP is taking the same position but for different reasons.
Whereas Sensenbrenner is worried the politicized ATF has gotten too strong–as
the attempted AR-15 ammo ban indicated–CAP believes the ATF has become
impotent, its hands tied by the successes of the gun rights movement.
ATF has faced some serious challenges in its efforts to be
the federal agency charged with enforcing the nation’s gun laws, combating gun
crime, and regulating the firearms industry. This report seeks to offer
recommendations for how to improve federal enforcement and regulation of guns
that recognize and build on the formidable assets that ATF already has—but it
does so while recognizing that the status quo is not enough. Although ATF has
had many successes, its capabilities are inadequate in relation to the scope of
the gun crime challenge in the United States. Therefore, this report does not
focus on a series of piecemeal recommendations to improve ATF’s current
operations. Prior evaluations, including ones written by authors of this
report, make such recommendations; some of them have been acted upon, and
others would certainly offer substantial benefits to the functionality and
success of the agency. But this report finds that something bigger needs to
happen to address the challenges that ATF faces.
The CAP report then moves to address a reality similar to
that outlined by Rep. Sensenbrenner; a reality in which the job being done by
the ATF can realistically be transitioned to other agencies:
[This reality] begins with a recognition that the United
States already has the world’s premiere national law enforcement agency: the
FBI. This report concludes that ATF, both its personnel and its mission
responsibilities, should be merged into the FBI. The FBI—bolstered by the
agents, expertise, and resources of a subsumed ATF—should take over primary
jurisdiction of federal
firearms enforcement.
Center
for American Progress (CAP)
Center
for American Progress calls for
heightened gun safety.
Note: Morton H. Halperin
was a senior fellow at the Center for
American Progress, a director at the Constitution
Project, and is a senior adviser for the Open Society Foundations.
Asa
Hutchinson is a director at the Constitution
Project, and was a director at the Drug
Enforcement Administration (DEA).
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Center for American Progress (CAP).
George
Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, and was a supporter for the Center for American Progress (CAP).
Melody
C. Barnes was the EVP for the Center for American Progress (CAP), a domestic policy council, director for the
Barack Obama administration, a principal for the Raben Group, and is Barack Obama’s golf partner.
Barack
Obama administration pledges improved gun safety.
Raben
Group is the lobby firm for Mayors
Against Illegal Guns.
Mayors
Against Illegal Guns is a gun safety
group.
Michael R. Bloomberg
is a co-chair for Mayors Against Illegal
Guns, was a contributor for the Americans
for Responsible Solutions, and was a benefactor for the Harlem Children's Zone.
Americans
for Responsible Solutions is a gun
safety PAC.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Harlem Children's Zone, and the Center for American Progress (CAP).
George
Soros was a benefactor for the Harlem
Children's Zone, the chairman for the Foundation
to Promote Open Society, a supporter for the Center for American Progress (CAP), a contributor for Priorities USA Action, is the founder
& chairman for the Open Society
Foundations, a director at the Drug
Policy Alliance (DPA), and a co-chair,
national finance council for the Ready
PAC (Ready For Hillary).
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Center for American Progress (CAP), and the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
DPA Blasts Gun Discrimination Against Marijuana Patients
By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ in Medical, News
Thursday, October 6, 2011 at 2:20 pm
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
(ATF) Says Medical Marijuana Patients Are
Prohibited From Owning Guns
Last month the federal Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives sent a letter to gun sellers saying
it is illegal for medical marijuana patients to own firearms.
"Any person who uses or is
addicted to marijuana, regardless of whether his or her state has passed
legislation authorizing marijuana use for medicinal purposes, is prohibited by
Federal law from possessing firearms or ammunition," says the letter from
Assistant Director Arthur Herbert.
"ATF's blatant
discrimination against Americans who use marijuana legally under state law is
outrageous," said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA).
Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
Amber A. Mostyn
is a national finance council member for the Ready PAC (Ready For Hillary), a shareholder in the Mostyn Law Firm, and married to J. Steve Mostyn.
J. Steve Mostyn
is married to Amber A. Mostyn, a
national finance council member for the Ready
PAC (Ready For Hillary), the founder of the Mostyn Law Firm, and was a contributor for Priorities USA Action.
Mostyn Law Firm
was a contributor for the Americans for
Responsible Solutions.
Americans
for Responsible Solutions is a gun
safety PAC.
Priorities
USA Action was a super PAC supporting the 2012 Barack Obama presidential campaign, and is supporting the 2016 Hillary Rodham Clinton presidential
campaign.
Hillary Rodham
Clinton is the candidate for the 2016
Hillary Rodham Clinton presidential campaign, and was a director at the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton
Foundation.
Soros Foundation
was a funder for the Bill, Hillary &
Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
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