For Sen. Feinstein, Gunwalker Still an Excuse to Push Gun Control
On Tuesday, Senator Dianne Feinstein used a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Operation Fast and Furious to advocate for gun control:
“My concern, Mr. Chairman, is there’s been a lot said about Fast and Furious, and perhaps mistakes were made, but I think this hunt for blame doesn’t really speak about the problem,” Feinstein said during the Tuesday hearing. “And the problem is, anybody can walk in and buy anything, .50-caliber weapons, sniper weapons, buy them in large amounts, and send them down to Mexico. So, the question really becomes, what do we do about this?”
“I’ve been here 18 years,” Feinstein continued. “I’ve watched the BATF get beaten up at every turn on the road. And, candidly, it’s just not right.”
“The problem” that the California Democrat wants to gloss over is that agents of the federal government, acting under orders from officials and appointees from the Obama administration, walked more than 2,020 firearms to the Sinaloa cartel, and now they refuse to say who concocted the plot, who signed off on it, or what the real purpose of the operation was. Operation Fast and Furious is just one of ten gunwalking operations in five states, including at least one operation in the Midwest that supplied weapons to domestic criminal gangs.
Senator Feinstein has long had an irrational interest in large-caliber, long-range firearms. She specifically mentioned .50-caliber weapons and “sniper weapons” during the hearing, even though these prohibitively expensive and specialized firearms are almost never used in crimes.
In 2007, Feinstein introduced S. 1331: Long-Range Sniper Rifle Safety Act of 2007 in an attempt to have .50 BMG rifles classified as “destructive devices.” The bill died in committee.
The senator’s press release claimed at the time:
U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), today introduced legislation to regulate the transfer and possession of .50 BMG caliber sniper rifles, which have extraordinary firepower and range (more than a mile with accuracy, with a maximum distance of up to four miles). These combat-style weapons are capable of bringing down airliners and helicopters that are taking off or landing, puncturing pressurized chemical storage facilities, and penetrating light armored personnel vehicles and protective limousines.
The senator and her allies claim that these rifles are capable of bringing down airliners and helicopters. That is possible on a theoretical level. Yet a goose getting sucked into an engine is a far more realistic threat to air safety.
To date, there has never been a .50 BMG rifle used to down an aircraft in the United States, and only one incident in Mexico where a .50 BMG rifle was able to hit a slow and low-flying government helicopter — forcing it to land, not crash.
The simple fact: .50 BMG rifles do not fire explosive shells, so are no more lethal than any other rifle caliber for aircraft.
This is the rough difference between the diameter of a .50-caliber bullet (left) and the extremely common .30-caliber rifle (right):
The larger diameter of the .50-caliber round is hardly significant when you’re discussing the skin of an aircraft, and is more than offset by the fact that .50 BMG rifles have a very limited magazine capacity and mobility. The greatest potential difference is that a .50 BMG rifle may expend greater energy than a smaller round, but most of the energy will be retained by the bullet as it simply punches through the aircraft like a tiny cookie cutter and continues downrange.
As for armored vehicles, chemical storage tanks, and train cars, well, that seems to be simple fantasy as well:
When asked about the alleged threat of .50cal rifles to his railcars, Mr. Darymple said that they have long tested their cars against almost every form of firearm, to include .50BMG and larger. When asked what happens when a .50 hits one of his tanks he said with a shrug: “It bounces off.” He went on to point out that railcars are designed to survive the force of derailing, and collision with other railcars at travel speeds. By comparison, the impact of a bullet, any bullet, is like a mosquito bite.
The senator’s understanding of .50 BMG rifles seems to be primarily drawn from Hollywood, and not from the real-world application of these firearms.
It is true that the .50 BMG rifle is extremely powerful as far as a rifle cartridge goes, but it is not nearly as powerful as the hand grenades, RPGs, 40mm grenades, and LAW rockets that cartels have in greater abundance. Nor is it more powerful than the improvised explosive devices (IEDs), mines, and homemade bombs that the cartels and other terrorists can obtain more cost-effectively, deploy more unobtrusively, and activate with far more devastating effect.
As the cartel foot-soldiers far prefer compact fully-automatic assault rifles that are both easier to hide and deploy at the close ranges of most firefights, one may be forgiven for wondering if the .50 BMG weapons that haunt Democrat dreams made it to Mexico by design.
As for Senator Feinstein herself, she seems utterly unconcerned with the actions of the Obama administration:
After the hearing, Feinstein’s staff refused to answer when The Daily Caller asked how gun control laws would have prevented the abuses in Operation Fast and Furious when the law enforcement agents responsible for upholding gun laws were the individuals giving the weapons to drug cartels.
They also refused to say whether Sen. Feinstein wanted to hold Obama administration officials accountable for shipping guns into Mexico, for Border Patrol agent Brian Terry’s murder, or for the murders of countless Mexican citizens directly resulting from the failed gunwalking program.
Firearms walked by the Obama administration to the Sinaloa cartel have been used to murder more than 200 people so far — including American federal agents. Yet gun-control fetishists like Senator Feinstein seem only capable of facing the bogeymen of their own creation, and won’t even pretend to seek justice for those murdered by Obama administration-walked guns.
Meanwhile, the cartels will get their preferred automatic weapons the way they always have — through corruption, graft, and theft.
What a sad state of affairs.
You should research Senator Feinstein’s behavior when she was Mayor of San Francisco. If I recall correctly, she had a personal carry permit issued to herself. It’s was just all of her fellow citizens who couldn’t be trusted.
Feinstein was promoted from President of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors to Mayor when her predecessor, George Moscone, was murdered by a fellow Supervisor, Dan White;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Moscone
White then went on to be convicted of the lesser charge of manslaughter by claiming that he was temporarily deranged by too much sugar in his diet; now known as the “Twinkie defense”. Somehow, this has never bothered Feinstein.
Feinstein went from a CCW permit (one of only a very few issued in SF prior to a court case that SF and LA lost) to armed bodyguards. In her exalted class, VIPs don’t touch “evil” guns; they have people to carry- and use- them for them.
The amazing thing is that the people of California keep sending this totalitarian-wannabee ballot mouse back to Washington. Do they somehow believe she can do less damage there?
clear ether
eon
On behalf of the few sane people in California I’d like to apologize to the rest of the country for being part of a state that hasn’t the collective sense to realize what insane buffoons Senators Feinstein and Boxer are.
And I’d like to apologize for Washington State sending two of the most idiotic Senators in history back to DC..
“Dingbat in tennis shoes,” Patty Murray;
and “I can’t vote for anything that is not liberal, but I’ll have my company snoop in on your music stream,” Maria Cantwell.
Chris and Steve,
It’s not much fun having your nutjobs out here, but I can sympathize with CA and WA citizens who have jumped at the chance to send those four to the other side of the country: “re-elect Senator Feinstein! Otherwise, she’ll move back”
Ah, I see DiFi’s approach to gun rights is much like Rosie O’Donnell’s. Rosie was/is adamantly opposed to individual gun ownership and frequently aired her opposition on her television show. Then it was learned she had armed security guards protecting her home. She explained how that was permissible because they were only on the perimeter and there were no guns actually in her home. In other words, in Rosie’s USA, you’re entitled to use guns to protect and defend your family only if you can afford to hire them (and the people who come with them) and then keep them on the perimeter. Those of us who can’t afford to hire them or don’t have a perimeter are just SOL, I guess. Most grating was the clear implication that as a celebrity, O’Donnell has special needs and therefore requires special privileges. On Rosie’s animal farm, all animals are equal except some animals are more equal. If you were a celebrity, you’d understand.
Her reelection time after time only goes to prove Americans are stupid. We know a person is doing damage..if we’re paying attention..yet they get reelected…just as Obama will..because democrats will stick together right or wrong, and republicans will split their vote because of petty crap , so obama will waltz back in and complete his mission of destruction.
remember our country, take pictures, write about it for your children, grandchildren…with the way we are allowing things to go, it won’t be standing for many more years as the fantastic shining example of what life can be…until you don’t pay attention and the worms come in…
also on another note..looks like jessee jackson is ready for a little race baiting at the OWS “riots”…and causing trouble. Obama completely owns this mess. But he will lay it at the feet of the republicans and where the republicans should raise a stink that could be heard all over the world…they’ll mumble a few nays..but no one with any authority will have the balls to stand up and fight back..no one in authority, no one..and the Feinsteins of the US will keep on chuggin along…
Her defense for her California carry permit, was that she had been trained by the police in the use of her weapon. That completely ignored the fact that many, many citizens have taken handgun training courses, and thus, could be considered just as proficient and deserving of a California carry permit as her. The reality was and is, that she thinks that because she is a politician, her life is more valuable than the average citizens, and thusly she deserves a carry permit, while the rest of us rabble, do not.
Wishing she would be voted out of office is probably useless dreaming, as the lemmings in California will just elect another far left liberal to replace her.
Feinstein is a flaming Liberal, of course her life if more important than any of us mere mortals. Boxer is just a flaming idiot as is Pelosi. Sadly we’ve got one that’s making all of them look totally sane. Michael Honda, a definate HARD Left Commie, he’s my ‘representative’….I’m using that term VERY loosely of course his district is here in the SillyCoin Valley, home of way too many stupidly rich.
wGraves thats the reason california is in the shape it’s in. electing people like her and jerry brown.
I don’t know where Sean Penn is on the gun control issue, but he’s got a concealed carry permit too, issued in San Francisco of all places (you just don’t get a ccw permit in San Francisco unless your Mr. or Mrs. Got Rocks with political juice). He had a few guns stolen out of his car in Oakland while schmoozing with the beautiful people who are currently reliving the “people’s park” riots of the sixties. In the early ’70s we had a patrol helicopter shot out of the sky by a standard bolt action 30’06 hunting rifle; the bullet came up through the floor, through the deputies femur, and out the bubble. The shooter was a dentist’s son having a bad mental health day rather than a Weather Underground type, a social type, ironically, that seems to be in charge at DOJ at the moment. Yup, that probably explains the moral poverty of Fienstein’s actions or lack there of; the ends always justify the means, except when its Dan White blowing away Mayor Moscone and Harvy Milk with a 357 magnum revolver. I don’t know what was worse for Diane, those twin killings that made her mayor or schmoozing with Jim Jones and then his going rogue killing 900 at Jones Town doing the electric acid cool aide test. You would think these people would figure it out by now; when you lay down with dogs you get up with fleas. However, if your just a no account citizen with no political connections but a well trained in weapons Vietnam Veteran with practical experience in pulling the trigger you can forget about getting a CCW permit in San Francisco and most other liberal big cities in California.
It probably comes from the knowledge that the M2 Browning is a .50 cal. Do you really expect someone who doesn’t know the difference between automatic and semi-automatic to differentiate between a .50 cal rifle and a .50 machine gun? I sincerely hope somebody sets her straight on this crap.
Not that it makes any difference to our 2nd amendment gun rights but I wonder about the claim that a 50 cal would bounce off a rail tanker. Really? There is a variety of rounds for 50 cal like any other caliber but I have a hard time believibg an armor piercing round would just bounce of a tanker.
I am skeptical as well but then where would one get 50 cal BMG armor piercing rounds?
One demerit for an excellent reporter: a reader must go to the hyperlink to learn of an name in the article. No where is Mr. Tom Darymple introduced in the writing, so old guys like me search and search, figuring our memory failed us. Nope. Mr. Darmyple is Senior Vice President of Engineering for the prestigious Trinity Rail Group, which designs and manufactures many of the chemical railcars running today.
Having worked on the weapon’s technical assessment years ago, I would dispute his claim that a normal rail tanker is immune to this round. Scores of WWII P-47 pilots would also disagree. They shot up a lot of tank cars with a 50 cal.
However this is small beer to the atrocious, callous, disregard for human life that Senator Feinstein has exhibited. Mistakes were not made, apparently crimes were commited, by DOJ executives and the Senator does not care to overview the DoJ/ATFE. She is blind to one fact of life: Evil is not in the caliber; it is in the soul of the person who squeezes the trigger, or who supplied the weapon to killers.
WWII German rail cars didn’t have the same safety standards as US rail cars.
A .50 caliber round will stop a locomotive in the right place. In the engineer’s head. So will any other round.
Given 50 bad guys and 50,000 of disposable income to commit evil, I would rather have them buy .50 caliber rifles at 5000$ each. First, there would only be 10 bad guys with guns and no bullets, or if you prefer, 9 bad guys with guns and at 5 dollars per bullet, only 1000 bullets.
90 guys shooting 100 bullets each would at least be partially trained, so now we have 100 bullets left for evil.
The first time one was used, it would lead to a trace from the factory to the buyers, and all 9 would be quickly picked up.
There are more effecient approaches to evil. Like ACORN hiring protestors for Occupy Wallstreet.
DonM beat me to it. Ya, maybe todays rail cars would hold up where those of 60 years ago didn’t. Interesting detail but as you say, beside the real point. I personally see no reason law abiding citizens should be restricted from any gun including fully automatic 50 cal. I don’t buy that Feinstein is evil. Her thinking is just run-of-the-mill Statist belief that only government can protect us. At a price, of course – giving over our freedom to ignorant fools like her.
Mexico, the BATF sold them. Just tell them that Holder sent you.
That might be possible if her problem were mere ignorance.
Feinstein is not merely ignorant. She is evil.
Even if someone presented her with the facts, she would not change one thing she says.
She certainly is evil. The triumphal expression on her face as she carried that huge gavel said it all.
Sorry…I had her mixed up with Nancy Pelosi. That’s what happens when I’m up commenting past my bedtime…
Two random points -
1. On her website, the honorable senator notes her chairmanship of the Senate Intelligence Committee;
Intelligence. No kidding. I’m not comforted.
2. Three dozen weeks ago, addressing an Executive Business Meeting of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, regarding the Nomination of Edward Chen to be U.S. District Judge, the honorable senator assured the nation that “(M)y statements do not usually lend themselves to hyperbole.”
My skepticism abides.
“My concern, Mr. Chairman, is there’s been a lot said about Fast and Furious, and perhaps mistakes were made, but I think this hunt for blame doesn’t really speak about the problem.”
Don’t you just love it when Democrats really, really, screw up they always say things like “Perhaps mistakes were made,” but when Repbulicans screw up, as in the laughable case of Scooter Libby, that it’s always a “High crime against this nation” and they scream that “He must pay for those crimes.” In Fast and Furious we have a dead American border agent plus a lot of dead Mexicans, and all the democrats are willing to say is “Ooooops! PERHAPS mistakes were made.”
Scooter Libby has a conversation about some laughable “spy,” a conversation that it was eventually proved never even “outed” Valerie Plame (that was actually done by a guy named by Richard Armitage), and the Democrats want Libby to go to jail for life. Something is really, really, wrong here. Democrats have absolutely no desire for either the truth or justice and are just protecting their own skins until the next election. Feinstein should be ashamed of herself for even bringing up this topic and would be better served to just keep her mouth shut until the people responsible for Fast and Furious actually do go to jail (although I’ll probably never see that in my lifetime).
Yes, justice. That would be a refreshing change for once in Washington. But people like Feinstein are never interested in that.
Libertyship. the people who should be ashamed of themselves are those IDIOTS who keep going to the poles and voting for a damned democrat,
Besides, those people in Poland couldn’t care less what the people in California think. Oh, you meant polls… Never mind.
Vagabond you are right, but if those voters had any personal pride, they would not vote for Boxer Feinstein Brown and that wrecking crew with the words “Change Agents” on the side of their trucks. There is no longer a Democrat party. It is the Communist Party, and communists consider citizens useful idiots… that’s the official name they use.
How long will a loon like Feinstein be allowed to shoot off at the mouth without anyone calling her on her lies? She seems so typical of the pols out there in Californication. . . . how can any freedom loving individual put up with it?
Too bad the Repubs don’t have the loyalty to each other (in spite of differences) that the dems have for themselves.Feinstein knows in her heart she belongs to the party of shitbags, but will defend them to the death, no matter how large the offense. Meanwhile, the Repugs tear each other apart, leaving the scraps for a dirtsack like oblammo to easily sweep into the gutter. . . . what is wrong here?
Left-liberals’ dedication to outlawing citizens’ access to guns is on the order of a religious commitment: It’s not based in facts or reasoning, and so it cannot be reasoned away. For someone like Feinstein, the only cure is removal from office. It won’t change her mind, but it will eliminate her power to damage Americans’ rights.
Unarmed citizens are at the complete mercy of the government. QED so far as Feinstein is concerned since that is her personal and political goal.
Gun laws are useless, as fully demonstrated by the AFT agents in this case, when Federal officers order gun dealers to make otherwise illegal sales.
I get Despots like Feinstein, simple minded Despots.Of course she doesn’t want The People to have access to these guns.
DiFi has once again proven that California holds the prize for stupidest politicians in America. She is part of a triumvirate of idiots that is composed of: herself, Barbara Boxer, and Nancy Pelosi. As a native Californian and proud resident of same, I only wish that the Suffragettes had failed in the early 20th century. Then we wouldn’t have been burdened with these three, at least. My only hope is that someday we can split this state into three or four parts. If it weren’t for the glut of moronic liberal voters on the coast the inland (flyover) part of the state would be able to elect sensible, intelligent people. Like my representative, Dan Lundgren.
dont sell the sanchez hags short
Californians (I was born one) don’t seem to get that there is an ugly ripple effect in space-time every time they re-elect a Dianne or a Nancy or a Babs.
And we won’t even mention Maxine, will we ?
Or the re-election of Jerry Brown ?
My memories of Jerry go back to his small Earth/Linda Ronstadt/pot daze.
“As a native Californian and proud resident of same, I only wish that the Suffragettes had failed in the early 20th century.”
I’m a native Californian and a woman. I voted for those hags. Worst mistake I’ve ever made. I remember it was the year of the woman that year.
I have since left the state, vote conservative and tend to agree with you that women have contributed absolutely NOTHING to either the law or politics. I’m really ashamed of those representing my gender.
I wish that were true, but I think their contributions have been MASSIVE.
Almost all bad, but still, massive.
What women (as a class – of course there are exceptions) have contributed is an environment where emotional appeals, devoid of fact or reason, can be very successful.
The results of that have been devastating to America.
Yes, indeed. I stand corrected.
“Year of the woman.” That’s how it happens all right. Michelle Bachmann campaigning for Jimmy Carter was “year of the Evangelical” I suppose. People need to get over their fvcking precious identity groups. Now we’ve got those sanctimonious hags in office and there’s no dislodging them.
On the good side, there is nothing tougher and brighter than a tough, bright, conservative woman, and a few are coming up. Nikki Haley, Elizabeth Cheney, and Rebecca Kleefisch come to mind.
It’s not necessarily the woman gender as it is the brain dead gender, a lot of whom happen to be female.
Some of the explanation lies in what an infamous radio personality calls the “chickification” of our education and of our society, the political correctness, the “everybody gets a blue ribbon” mentality attempting to deny that while there is equality of opportunity, equality of outcomes there is not. And then there are all those inane women’s studies courses that real women recognize as largely a waste of time and not conducive to intellectual growth.
Poster child suprema for the phenomenon is democrat party chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz. She flatters Barack and he says she’s “cute”, it’s a mutual admiration society.
Another scary soul, Patty Murray (D-Washington state) who is on the super-committee that is spozed to solve all the universe’s problems by the end of November.
Ummmm, please: that’s Patty “Osama the Daycare Provider” Murray, if you please!
” . . . sensible, intelligent people. Like my representative, Dan Lundgren.”
You’d better check out Mr. Lundgren’s past problems with the Second Ammendment before giving him any kudos.
I am also a native Kali and left that communist bastion twenty years ago due to the political climate.
Point taken. I mentioned him mainly to demonstrate my point that it’s the coastal areas that are full of Democrat hacks. Here in the Sierra Nevada we have a little more sense.
This map and description http://lungren.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=7§iontree=7 shows why Dan has to moderate somewhat. Eighty percent of his district’s voters are in the suburbs of Sacramento, where hordes of state government workers live. While he may not have the 2nd Amendment record that makes him stand out nationally, he’s in a state with some of the most restrictive gun laws in the land. So he must do some catering to the urbanites of Sacramento. Given my druthers, the state would be split from north to south, and Sacramento would be an island, like East Berlin, that belonged to the coastal section.
What part about the ATF pushing these things to the cartels did she miss?
Not only that; the firearms dealers involved flagged almost every improper sale, reported it to the authorities as required, and were specifically told to carry through with the sales.
“…perhaps mistakes were made, but I think this hunt for blame doesn’t really speak about the problem”
Many of our older Congresscritters (ones who have been there since Methuselah) get bees in their bonnets that go round and round.
DiFi has something buzzing up there that amounts to a fixation on “gun control”, so any hearing or encounter that involves the word “gun” sets those particular bees a’buzzing inside the old cranium.
As you indicate, DiFi doesn’t even begin to grasp the real “problem” swirling around Gunwalker. Worse, apparently she’s not even particularly concerned at the illegal and horrific secret attempts by many agencies of this government to, very likely, undermine the Bill of Rights.
Not to mention, Mythbusters put tracer rounds through car gas tanks and propane tanks — nothing happened.
I watched Feinstein’s testimony thinking at the time her idiotic performance only reinforces the plausibility that those who at the outset instinctively believed “”Fast&Furious”/”Gunwalker” was not a major bureaucratic snafu but an utterly cynical ploy by Obama, Holder, et al to justify a greater crackdown on the 2nd Amendment rights of American citizens are entirely correct.. If she was gullible and stupid (or cynical) enough to bite on the “America-as-source-of-violence-in-Mexico-thru-unregulated-gun-sales” ploy in the face of all the by now highly publicized evidence to the contrary, what does anyone think her decibel-level in calls for greater restrictions on gun ownership would be if this plan had gone undetected? And how many willing “useful idiots” in Congress would have joined her in a heart-beat? That she could make the statements she did with a straight face in the face of all the evidence not only takes a Lake-Superior sized vessel full of unmitigated gall, it proves once again the power of ideology to blind to reality–and proves that Obama/Holder et al were right–all they had to do was fool “enough of the people enough of the time” in order to pull their ploy off. “None are so blind as those who will not see.”
“Lake-Superior sized vessel full of unmitigated gall…”
I can use that phrase, right ?
I also seek your permission to use that “catchy” phrase
And to think Whitman and Fiorini were rejected by California voters? (Whitman has now been hired to return HP to a leadership company. Strange that Governor Moonbeam was not considered?) I have an acquaintance in Riverside with a gun dealers license in 4 states outside of California but can’t get a CCW. He said California CCW permits are handed out to the political elite and the movie stars. It is easy to apply on line but he is repeatly rejected as a lowly California taxpayer. California gets what it deserves when the voters in one district near LA voted for a recently deceased California representative. Not much difference between the recently deceased and those that can rise to the podium and move their lips.
CA is a discretinary issue state. It’s up to the county sheriff or PD to issue permits. In some counties they act as shall issue- approving any law-abiding citizen and considering self-defense as sufficient justification. Other sheriff’s act as ‘no-issue’ refuse to issue based on self defense; some even refusing to issue to women who’ve been beaten/almost killed under continuing threat from their assailant (husband/bf either free or serving short sentence for prior attack/threats).
This disparity/lack of standards is being challenged by the Second Amendment Foundation. I think CA’s response if they lose in court will be to tighten up vice loosen. I.e. adopt the standard that self-defense isn’t sufficient justification for all counties vice accepting it as SAF wants. We’ll see.
I little bit of hypocrisy here if it hasn’t already been mentioned:
DiFi has a concealed carry permit.
I love it. ‘Mistakes were made…possibly’. 200 people have died as a result of that crack-brained ‘Fast And Furious’ scheme by her fellow gun-controllers. That’s 200 Mexicans who the delightful Senator Fonebone (D-China) would happily give US citizenship and food stamps to if they werent pushing up daisies as a result of her misguided policies. I guess the two US law enforcement types who were mowed down are part of the ‘mistake’. This senile genius is up for reelection next year even though she walks sideways and drools as she babbles her left-wing nonsense. No outrage is too gross to upset the Democrat electorate here in the Moldin’ State. The public employee unions just have to spend a few million bucks showing those brainless critters a photo of a baby polar bear and then blame everything on George W Bush and Fonebone’s in like Flynn.
I wonder if the cartels contributed to Obama’s or DiFi’s campaigns to ensure that they got the guns in the first place. I know it sounds like crazy conspiracy theory, but then I look at Solyndra.
The point is the ATF forced the gun stores to break federal law and breach all the protections that have already been in place to prevent what Feinstein is worried about. If she is arguing that maybe the ATF shouldn’t be in the business of strong arming private businesses to break the laws on the books, maybe she’s on to something. But obviously that isn’t what she’s saying.
Come the next administration a number of people are going to prison over this. They would be well advised to have the current administration prosecute rather than the next, but they won’t.
“Firearms walked by the Obama administration to the Sinaloa cartel have been used to murder more than 200 people so far…”
Why that cartel in particular?
They gave the biggest fundraiser?
For the same reason they are shutting down Kali medical marijuana sales. Here’s an explanation: http://dagnyd.wordpress.com/2011/10/20/fast-and-furious-favors-2/
Cheers -
The Gunwalker scandal has demonstrated yet another reason why we can’t trust the Government in general, Democrats in particular and most especially wherever firearms are concerned.
I trust a monkey with a machine-gun before I would Congress with a spitball.
Yawn..oh, what’s that? The Bushturds are still trying to push that “Gun Sleeper” non-event? You people are crazier than Mother Theresa. All I ever hear from you people down in the South (everywhere below Manhattan) is that the government needs to keep its hands “off my guns!” Well, here we have a situation where the government actually allows guns to be sold to a bunch everyday people, and all I hear is “look what Obama did, he let people have guns!”. It’s the purest hypocrisy I’ve ever seen. Especially since Bush did the same thing, as did your God-Figure Ronald Reagan. Oh, don’t remember that Contra thing, do you? You know, that little things where Reagan gave a bunch of murderous thugs some Iranian made missiles and guns so that the Contras were able to snuff out a true people’s movement? As long as it’s YOUR guy giving away guns and anthrax, it’s okay. But a mulatto guy? Never! Prunes.
Um…maybe you should get out of Manhattan more?
RG- repeat after me “I will not feed the trolls. I will not feed the trolls.”
I disagree with your line of reasoning. What if an aircraft is shot down with a 50 cal rifle? Would you agree to ban it then? And if so, why object to Feinstein wanting to ban it now, before that happens? What if .50 cal rifles were not “prohibitively expensive”? I don’t know about you, but a 10 round magazine for a 50 caliber is not limited…but what if they made one with a 20 round magazine.
The gun is a gun. You don’t have to make excuses for civilian ownership of this under the Second Amendment. That’s one reason I have also objected to the characterization by friends of guns that these walked guns are powerful, military style, semiautomatic, preferred by criminals, etc…because if we sensationalize the superficial attributes of the weapons to try and drum up attention to the scandal, then we are essentially doing what the left has done for years…try to base gun control on superficial characteristics. Down that path lies total confiscation of all guns, eventually.
The scandal is bad enough as it is. It doesn’t matter what guns the government was running…it should not have done it with a single one.
This is the same idiotic woman who tried to get handguns completely banned from citizens in San Francisco while she was mayor. Of course, she has one of the only carry permits in the City. When asked about this hypocrisy, she always has the same excuse: She feels safer with a gun and there is always a threat of an assassin or some sort that is out to get her. Why she won’t allow anyone else to feel safer is beyond her small mind. But she and her evil twin, Boxer, are lucky enough to have people who are stupid enough to keep electing them in California.
This once great State is cooked.
Thanks to DiFi, I went and sold the wifes car, and went to the local firearm purveyor and bought myself a .50 caliber sniper rifle, and a case of ammo.These
Democrat/Socialist have opened a can of whoopass they cannot control.See you on
the gun range baby.
If the voters of California had any brains, they would have kicked this harpy out of office a long time ago.
I’d also add, if the California Republican Party had any brains (or backbone or numerous other body parts) this harpy would have been gone long ago.
There is no Republican party in California. They have a “me too!” big-government party that tries to foist some anti-2AM prostiticians on voters during state elections, in order to carry on the fantasy of a 2 party system. They have Ahnold, who would be a moderate Democrat here in Texas. But Republican? No, it’s more like the national GOP, with all its RINOs, sell-outs, country club elitists, and liars who play along with the Dems in some sort of Punch and Judy Kabuki, keeping the herdenmenschen entertained while they restore a feudal society.
Feinswine represents the group (un)conscious of California. That’s why she’s re-elected.
“… anybody can walk in and buy anything, .50-caliber weapons, sniper weapons, buy them in large amounts, and send them down to Mexico. So, the question really becomes, what do we do about this?”
NO, not ANYBODY can do this. Only folks being guided/sheparded/protected by the FBI/ATF to ensure that negative background checks are ignored, and that suspicious multiple purchases reported by gun dealers aren’t investigated. Also ensure that the obvious straw purchasers reported by the gun dealers aren’t investigated. People with connections to DHS/DEA to be guided/sheparded/protected in getting the guns to folks in Mexico.
I can guarantee you anyone reported by gun dealers as suspicious multiple purchasers/straw purchasers during the same time from got a full and complete follow up from the FBI/ATF right down to an anal probe looking possible hidden armor piercing bullets. Those folks might have been connected to disaffected military, christian organizations, milita movements or even perhaps the Tea Party. You know, the really, truly dangerous folks the DHS is concerned about.
PC liberals, do as I say not as I do, and until people realize that they are not working in the people’s best interest, we will keep getting this type of BS coming from Sacramento and Washington.
As other say, we are looking for a person that says what he means, and means what he says.
And Rosie O’Donnell was another of the prime PC liberals against guns, that hired an armed bodyguard.
I suggest we share Feinstein’s and O’Donnell’s wealth to get body guards for low income people in crime infested areas. Oops forgot, we have police, oops forgot, they don’t actively work as hard in high risk areas because they get called on the carpet for wanting to shoot the bad guy, while the PC liberals think that police should take the first bullet, or that a person asked to stop and put down his gun, doesn’t and gets shot, but we find out later it was a toy.
Police? It’s not their job to protect anyone, according to the US Supreme Court in multiple cases. Self-defense, again according to the US courts, is an individual responsibility.
Warren vs District of Colombia
Gonzalez vs Castle Rock
http://hematite.com/dragon/policeprot.html
Yep, the criminal’s weapon of choice. Any mugger could walk into a gun store, plop down between $2,500 for an Armalite and $4,000 for a Barrett, stuff that 24 lb to 34 lb, 60-inch concealed weapon in his waistband, and go do some crimes. Don’t worry, I didn’t forget his $4 per round ammo.
Liberals are just as they claim – freaking geniuses. They make me step back in awe at their intellectual grandeur.
I love and dodge bullets in Honduras. Honduras has laws that make it difficult and very expensive to own guns legally. Reported murder rate 82.1 per 100,000. Many especially in rural areas are not reported.
In the United states where we have the 2nd amendment, and guns are more easily obtained and less expensive, reported murder rate is 5 per 100,000. This takes into account that many murders in the U.S. are committed by illegals from Mexico and Central Americans. I rest my case.
If you’re a teacher in DiFi’s home state, here’s what you should be doing:
Recommendations from your eddukators at the California Teachers Association
DonM: during WW II, P-47s took out many steam locos by strafing. The .50 cal bullets riddled the boiler, causing explosions or disabling steam leaks.
According to Our Fighting Planes (1946), Lt. Edward Syszmanski “in three days… scored thirteen locos blown up, four steam spewers, one enemy tree branch captured (and brought home in his engine cowling).”
Yeah, they had to get close, but it was effective.
Yes, and that’s one of the reasons our railroads no longer use steam engines as prime movers.
It’s also why in the 1950s the railroads in the U.S. upgraded their safety standards on railcar construction. Not only to make them more resistant to attack (at the time, a protracted conventional war with the USSR was seen as a very real possibility), but also to reduce the probability of escape of hazardous materials during a purely accidental derailment.
Yes, you can certainly punch holes in an ordinary boxcar with a .50 BMG caliber weapon. You can also do it with a .30 caliber rifle. .223 has some problems getting through 3/16″ cold-rolled steel, which is the default material for boxcar sides. Between the frames, that is, which are even thicker and tougher, and about two feet on center.
Tank cars, gondolas, and other cars which carry bulk or toxic materials are built of thicker and tougher steel, to meet DOT safety standards and (surprise!) EPA “hazmat” containment standards. Cars used for really serious stuff, like nuclear materials or military ordnance (think; CBW munitions) are built like Fort Knox- literally. Forget “fifties”- they can survive not only direct hits from anything short of 120mm main-gun rounds from an Abrams, but even a hit from one of those won’t rupture the internal containment. Exactly what it is is classified, but railroaders are fully briefed on what it can take, in case of a “fence-corner meet”.
The actual “guts” of any railcar, in the staying-on-the-track department, is the wheel and suspension assembly, known as the “trucks”; those big steel wheels with flanges underneath. Those trucks, and the frames they are attached to (serves the same purpose as the frame of an automobile) have always been built to take heavy loads, heavy stresses, and serious damage and keep running. Shooting at them with just about anything short of a TOW or Hellfire anti-tank missile is pretty much a waste of time. The best you’ll do is rupture a brake pressure line- which will automatically dump the brakes and bring the car to a screeching halt. The old “no brakes and down the hill to a crash” thing is strictly movie stuff, and has been since George Westinghouse first put hydraulic/pneumatic brakes on railcars in this country- in the 1880s.
European railroad rolling stock wasn’t nearly as tough as ours up to World War Two. Since then, most of that in Western Europe has been built to U.S. specifications, because even the European countries recognized that railroading is something we know a thing or two about.
In short, Feinstein is full of “it”.
BTW, according to a childhood friend of mine, now deceased, who flew P-51 Mustangs with the 351st FS, 8th AF, the primary weapon for “train-busting” was the tube-launched 4.5 inch spin-stabilized rocket, with a warhead packing as much HE as a 155mm howitzer shell. A P-51D Mustang or P-47D Thunderbolt normally carried two three-round launch tube “clusters”, with either lightweight plastic (M1) or aluminum (M15) tubes, one cluster on each of the two underwing bomb hardpoint pylons (just outboard of the main landing gear on each side). There was a steel-tubed version as well, the M10, but it was never used operationally because it weighed 190 pounds empty, about twice as much as either of the other two types. Fighter pilots hate excess weight hanging off the airplane, for obvious reasons.
Fired in pairs or “ripples”, one or two 4.5 inch “spinners” would generally blow a steam loco into fragments in one pass. The fighter jocks preferred to use them, or 500 pound standard HE bombs for train-busting; the bombs would not only blow up the engine, but generally take out fifteen or so yards of track at the same time. The tracks would be blown off the ties and twisted like licorice whips, the ties reduced to toothpicks, and the roadbed itself cratered like a New York City pothole.
With these sorts of options, you can probably see why the pilots generally saved the cal .50 ammo for dealing with anti-aircraft cars, truck convoys, and the odd obstreperous Focke-Wulf FW-190.
cheers
eon
Diane won’t be to Fein when Orly gets the nomination to run against her liberal agenda. This progressive, UN, socialist agenda is enough. The people want their country back. You know the one that had values and some ethics back when it was founded. Not perfect but a semblance of esteem for moral values. Ugh? Duh? WHat are those? Exactly, nearly invisible today in every public office GOP or DEM.
That’s why a citizen needs a gun.
Feinstein and Boxer are excellent examples for the argument that females should not be permitted to hold public office; and, reflexively, for the contention that females should not be allowed to vote.
By using this criminal conspiracy to undermine the Second Amendment, Senator Feinstein has violated her oath of office to uphold and defend the Constitution and should be removed from office.
“I’ve been here 18 years,” Feinstein continued. “
I’ve watched the BATF get beaten up at every turn on the road.And, candidly, it’s just not right.”I fixed it for her.
i don’t for a minute think obiwon and company wants to do away with the 2nd amendment because of any moral dilemma or sudden enlightenment they are having. remember what he preached on during his campaign, in 2008? to implement his agenda on this country he needs to have an army as well trained and well armed as our military. where does he get it?
1. south of the border? there are what, 20 million or so mexicans living illegally here in the U.S. already? and he won’t close the border for any good reason. however, i doubt if many of them are trained in the use of firearms well enough to deal with us rednecks.
2. arm the cartels? they cannot overthrow us. not enough of them. they wouldn’t even make it past the border states. however, they could cause a lot of mayhem and murder. maybe enough, along with the obamanites rioting to give him reason to declare martial law.
3. nullify our armies? keep the bulk of our armies away fighting very expensive, frustrating, tiring, continuous and undeclared wars. he knows our sons are not going to fire on us, so they have to be kept far away. he wouldn’t even be bringing them home from iraq now if he hadn’t gotten us thrown out. and don’t expect them to stay here long. has anyone checked to see how many of the commanders being promoted and assigned here in the U.S. are odummy’s drones?
the japanese emperor diring WWII said they couldn’t invade us after Pearl because there would be a gun behind every bush. our commie in chief has to find a way to beat us, the people, during the next year, 2012, to rule over us. this is their time, or never, and they know it. they won’t get another chance like this in our lifetimes.
no i don’t think his personal feelings or some moral stance he champions is the reason he is stirring things up about our guns. he doesn’t really believe he can win, as was demonstrated in the last election, so he is resorting to plan ‘B’. use his powers as prez to try to seize power any which way he can. we must stand firm and be ready to defend our country if need be.
This story cuts both ways. Conservatives have assumed this was a win/win but it may not be. Anytime you are complaining about guns, you might be playing into the liberals’ hands. Wouldn’t the criminals have just gotten the guns from somewhere else? I think the conservatives may be inadvertently making the liberals’ argument for them.