Mexico wants to sue U.S. gun makers

[KillShot]

American law firm retained by Mexico to explore filing civil charges against U.S. gun manufacturers over the flood of guns into the country Read more by CBS News Investigates on CBS News' CBS News Investigates.

Source: CBS News

 

[DutchWrangler]

American law firm retained by Mexico to explore filing civil charges against U.S. gun manufacturers over the flood of guns into the country Read more by CBS News Investigates on CBS News' CBS News Investigates.

Source: CBS News

American workers need to explore filing criminal charges against the Mexican government over the flood of illegal aliens crossing the border into the United States, causing loss of jobs and increases in crime. :lol:

 

[steak]

American workers need to explore filing criminal charges against the Mexican government over the flood of illegal aliens crossing the border into the United States, causing loss of jobs and increases in crime. :lol:

+1

 

[drmitchgibson]

Funny how a BATFE nightmare is the perfect reason to sue an unrelated target, manufacturers. Sounds like they got an American law firm, all right. So typical.

 

[Scott Hearn]

If I were the CEO, CFO, etc. it would be a cold day in hell before they saw one thin dime.
What would happen if they just didn't bother to show up in court to present a defense? If I were forced to, the countersuit from hell would be thrown right back at them.

Just another attempt to bankrupt the gun manufacturers since they can't legislate or regulate guns out of existence.

 

[keyser328]

This feels like car manufactures suing cell phone manufacturers for car wrecks. Sorry folks, the issue isn't the hardware, it's the morons you have using it inappropriately.

 

[stroker-c10]

American workers need to explore filing criminal charges against the Mexican government over the flood of illegal aliens crossing the border into the United States, causing loss of jobs and increases in crime. :lol:

This feels like car manufactures suing cell phone manufacturers for car wrecks. Sorry folks, the issue isn't the hardware, it's the morons you have using it inappropriately.

QFT

 

[stan686]

This is a copy of an email sent to me by a friend of mine. I think he is right on target.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


In another chapter in the ongoing attempt to blame the American gun community for Mexico's internal strife, CBS News reports that the Mexican government has retained the New York City-based law firm of Reid Collins & Tsai to examine its options for suing U.S. gun manufacturers and distributors. This report describes Mexico's actions as a "novel approach," in reality, such lawsuits have been used for decades as a tactic by anti-gun groups and governments in their attempts to bankrupt gun manufacturers and circumvent the political process. That's why Congress passed the "Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act" in 2005. This act protects firearms manufacturers, distributors, dealers and importers from suits brought about as a result of "the harm solely caused by the criminal or unlawful misuse of firearm products or ammunition products by others when the product functioned as designed and intended." The outlook for a Mexican government suit looks dim; since the PLCAA was signed into law by President George W. Bush on Oct. 26, 2005, no federal court has allowed such a suit by a government plaintiff to go forward against a U.S. firearms manufacturer.


In my opinion Reid, Collins, & Tsai are on the verge of committing treason in aiding a foreign entity to cause harm to the citizens of the United States through an open attack on our basic constitutional rights allowed to us through the Second Amendment and an open attack on our already volatile economy by threatening our free market system.

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

http://www.nraila.or...ad.aspx?id=6927

Friday, June 17, 2011


The congressional hearings held this week by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform revealed that the gun smuggling investigation known as “Fast and Furious” that was implemented out of the Phoenix Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) office was conducted in a reckless manner that led to the illegal sale of thousands of firearms. Many of those firearms ended up in the hands of Mexican drug cartels and other criminals, and may have contributed to the death of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry.

Some of the most important findings of the hearing and the investigative report compiled by the Committee staff include:

BATFE knowingly allowed as many as 2,500 firearms to be sold illegally to known or suspected straw purchasers. One of those purchasers accounted for over 700 illegal guns.
BATFE ordered its agents working the program not to arrest illegal gun buyers or to interdict thousands of guns that were allowed to “walk” into criminal hands.
Senior BATFE officials in Washington were regularly briefed on the operation and approved of the tactics employed.
BATFE agents who opposed the operation and who raised objections were told to “get with the program” and threatened with job retaliation if they continued their opposition.

A number of BATFE agents who were assigned to “Fast and Furious” testified about the operation.

Special Agent John Dodson, in his prepared testimony, stated: “Simply put, during this operation known as Fast and Furious, we, ATF, failed to fulfill one of our most fundamental obligations, to caretake the public trust; in part, to keep guns out of the hands of criminals.”

Dodson, along with Special Agents Olindo James Casa and Peter Forcelli each voiced strong opposition to the tactics employed that allowed so many firearms to be sold illegally. In each case, their objections were repeatedly dismissed by BATFE superiors.

In fact, Special Agent Casa testified that BATFE officials sent out an e-mail rebuking those who opposed the plan with thinly veiled threats of professional retaliation. “Based on my eighteen years of experience with ATF,” testified Casa, “I did not think the e-mail was an empty threat and took it very serious. It has become common practice for ATF Supervisors to retaliate against employees that do not blindly toe the company line, no matter what the consequences.”

Agent Casa stated that agents were ordered not to take action against illegal gun buyers or to seize the firearms. Instead, surveillance was regularly terminated without further action.

Agent Casa went on to describe the operation as recklessly planned and implemented with the purpose of allowing firearms to be illegally trafficked.

Other testimony contradicted the long held position of anti-gun politicians that U.S. gun stores are part of criminal gun trafficking. In truth, gun dealers regularly cooperate with law enforcement and are a crucial ally in fighting gun traffickers.

As Agent Forcelli put it: “The gun dealers were our friends. They helped us make a lot of these cases. … But the problem is then, by getting them mixed up in this thing and encouraging to sell -- encouraging them to sell guns when they decided to stop did not help our reputation with the gun industry.”

In total, the witness statements and the findings of the staff report paint a shocking picture of an operation that intentionally allowed thousands of guns to end up in the hands of some of the most violent criminals in North America. It also showed that senior officials of the BATFE, and not just regional or field supervisors, approved of the operation and received regular reports on its progress.

The failure of the BATFE to conduct its law enforcement duties in a responsible manner and the failure of senior leadership to heed the warnings and objections of field agents directly increased the level of violence in the southwest border region and increased the threat by ruthless drug cartels to law enforcement officers and private citizens, both in the U.S. and in Mexico.

The hearings and report also show two additional serious problems.

First, since the story of this reckless operation became known, the Department of Justice has refused to fully respond to congressional inquiries. Both Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee have repeatedly requested full disclosure and been rebuffed. After nearly six months, DOJ continues to stonewall. Chairman Issa pointed out that even the information that was provided to the committee was heavily redacted, with most of the key information blacked out.

This exchange between Rep. Issa and Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich clearly shows the ongoing refusal of the DOJ to cooperate:

Chairman Issa: "Who authorized this program that got people killed? Who here in Washington authorized it?"

Weich: "We don't know."

“We don’t know” is also the answer Attorney General Eric Holder provided to that same question when asked a few weeks ago. But after six months of scandal and scrutiny, it seems hard to believe the Attorney General still cannot answer this simple question. Or is it that he will not?

The hearings also revealed just how far the anti-gun apologists for the Obama administration will go to change the subject and try to use any crisis to advance their anti-gun agenda.

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, attempted to turn the hearings into a discussion of our gun laws. He announced that the Democrats on the committee will hold their own hearings to bring in witnesses that will argue for more gun laws.

Even in the face of overwhelming evidence of the reckless misuse of law enforcement authority by the BATFE and the agency’s intentional failure to stop the illegal sale of firearms to criminals, Rep. Cummings and other anti-gun politicians still believe that more gun laws are needed. In fact, the investigation of this scandal proves that federal and state law enforcement, including BATFE, have all the tools they need, except the leadership needed to conduct criminal investigations in a responsible manner. Clearly, in the case of operation “Fast and Furious” that leadership failed spectacularly.

For more information on the hearing, please see the following materials:

http://www.nraila.or...tstffreport.pdf

http://www.nraila.or...gtranscript.pdf

http://www.nraila.or...s/CGrassley.pdf

http://www.nraila.org/pdfs/SACasa.pdf

http://www.nraila.or...fs/SADodson.pdf

http://www.nraila.or.../SAForcelli.pdf

http://www.nraila.or...fs/AAGWeich.pdf

News links:

http://thehill.com/h...ould-be-ashamed

http://www.foxnews.c...r-agents-death/

http://online.wsj.co...3640546672.html

http://dailycaller.c...n-control-push/

http://www.cnn.com/2...ious/index.html

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

Gun Ban Groups Hold "Fast and Furious" Forum

http://www.nraila.or...ad.aspx?id=6973

Friday, July 01, 2011


Working with the nation's top anti-gun activists to divert attention from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' "Fast and Furious" scandal, U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), ranking member on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, held a "forum" on Thursday, June 30 to address what he sees as too narrow a focus in the ongoing investigation of the controversial program and by the committee's chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.).

Not surprisingly, Rep. Cummings and his allies contend that Mexico's violent crime problem is due to the supposed lack of gun control laws in the U.S. NRA and others have refuted this ridiculous claim on numerous occasions.

The forum comes just weeks after Chairman Issa held a series of hearings on the reckless operation that pushed Arizona gun stores to sell thousands of guns to suspicious buyers, despite objections from dealers and BATFE field agents alike.

Among those participating in the forum were anti-gun stalwarts Kristen Rand, legislative director of the Violence Policy Center, and Paul Helmke, the soon-to-be-ex-president of the Brady Campaign. Unsurprisingly, the groups tried to exploit the Mexican crime situation in an effort to advance their anti-gun political agendas and attempt to gain relevancy. For example, according to a FoxNews.com story reporting on the forum, the Brady Campaign's Helmke blamed America's gun laws for the illegal flow of U.S. guns into Mexico, saying, "As the six-month anniversary of Tucson approaches, we have still seen no change in our nation's weak or non-existent gun laws. We still have no federal law criminalizing gun trafficking, banning assault weapons and magazines or closing the loopholes in our Brady Background Check system that help arm dangerous killers and supply gun traffickers."

Perhaps most absurdly, during the forum's question and answer session, VPC's Rand claimed that "No one wants to ban 'standard' rifles, shotguns or handguns." VPC itself, of course, has long supported a ban on handguns, and the group's director, Josh Sugarmann, is a former staff member of another handgun ban group.

The Fox News article further reports that Rep. Issa is questioning Rep. Cummings' timing and motive in holding the forum.

"This is a predictable maneuver from a minority that has sought to obstruct the investigation into Justice Department sanctioned gunwalking," Issa spokeswoman Becca Glover Watkins told FoxNews.com. "It will not affect the committee's continued focus on a reckless operation that has been linked to deaths on both sides of the border."

That investigation should continue until it gets full answers to the many troubling questions "Fast and Furious" has raised so far.

Here we go again!

 

[Ksmirk]

Ya know I'm about 3 feet from being totally pissed with all this gun this and gun that ****! if these politicians would get thier heads out of thier ass they might be able to figure out what the real problem is and quit sucking the asses of dip shits just to get votes. When is America going to get a backbone again and tell some folks to "F" off other than being politically correct?

Should we all get a suit going aganinst Mexico for letting how many million illegal's come into the US or a suit for all the drugs they ship up here. I say we bring everyone back from all these countries and protect ours, "F" with us and we'll come kick your ass and take your toys but that's just my opinionbut I'm really getting tired of hearing all this **** about how bad a person I am for having a gun, maybe just maybe people should let me do what I think is right and butt the hell out of forcing me to to do what THEY think is right.

Sorry guys I just had to vent a touch! have a wonderful 4th to the some of that still recall it's meaning. Later,

Kirk

 

[Ksmirk]

Ya know I'm about 3 feet from being totally pissed with all this gun this and gun that ****! if these politicians would get thier heads out of thier ass they might be able to figure out what the real problem is and quit sucking the asses of dip shits just to get votes. When is America going to get a backbone again and tell some folks to "F" off other than being politically correct?

Should we all get a suit going aganinst Mexico for letting how many million illegal's come into the US or a suit for all the drugs they ship up here. I say we bring everyone back from all these countries and protect ours, "F" with us and we'll come kick your ass and take your toys but that's just my opinionbut I'm really getting tired of hearing all this **** about how bad a person I am for having a gun, maybe just maybe people should let me do what I think is right and butt the hell out of forcing me to to do what THEY think is right.

Sorry guys I just had to vent a touch! have a wonderful 4th to the some of that still recall it's meaning. Later,

Kirk