Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com The number of ATF cases recommended for prosecution dropped by a third since 2004, according to data compiled by Syracuse University, the Washington Times reports. Federal investigators and gun law experts said the decline is attributed to a policy change in the Obama administration, which has changed its focus to regulatory-type cases….
By Brad Heath USA Today WASHINGTON — The nation’s top gun-enforcement agency overwhelmingly targeted racial and ethnic minorities as it expanded its use of controversial drug sting operations, a USA TODAY investigation shows. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has more than quadrupled its use of those stings during the past decade, quietly…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Chicago is getting seven more ATF agents to help quell an outbreak violence, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. The decision was made recently by Attorney General Eric Holder, who had met with the Chicago mayor. The Windy City now has 52 ATF agents. “They wanted to bring more resources to Chicago to combat…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com The Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA) on Thursday denounced Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner’s proposal to eliminate ATF and have it absorbed by another agency. “Violent gangs, gun traffickers and active shooters will not take pause while Congress attempts to engage in an unwarranted bureaucratic maneuver that would waste taxpayer dollars and leave the public at risk,” said FLEOA President Jon Adler…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com The ATF recovered and traced more machine guns in Pennsylvania than in the past four years combined, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. The ATF issued the alarming report, which states that the ATF reported 132 machine gun traces in the past year in Pennsylvania. By contrast, the agency traced 110 machine guns between…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Overturning an FBI policy that is as old as the bureau, the Justice Department is now requiring the FBI in most cases to make audio or video recordings while interrogating suspects in custody, the Arizona Republic reports. Since the FBI’s creation in 1908, agents have been barred from making audio recordings of…
By Seattle Times Editorial Board Revelations about the sloppy, arrogant business practices of a nationally known Skagit County retailer with a lethal inventory are stunning. To know that Kesselring Gun Shop had been arming generations with virtually no regulatory oversight, even after grotesque violations were discovered, made Seattle Times reporter Mike Carter’s story all the…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com It took eight years for the ATF to shut down a gun store in Washington state that had nearly 2,500 guns stolen or lost, Raw Story reports.To put that into perspective, there were fewer than 200 combined guns missing at the state’s other 1,093 stores. “Stunning,” James Zammillo, a former ATF deputy…
