Whys and Wherefores

Now, let’s pose some questions for readers to consider.  First, why are these pages marked SECRET/NOFORN (No Foreign Nationals)?  Second, if you were Paddock, why would you voluntarily choose to shoot an AR-15 with a bump stock in a crime you intended to perpetrate when you could shoot a fully automatic weapon?  Third (and I’ll keep asking this until I get an answer), why did the FBI refuse to allow the ATF to examine the crime scene weapons? [More]

Here we go inventing wild-eyed conspiracy theories again.

No?

If the conspiracy theories I'm hearing are true, some powerful and dangerous people don't want answers getting out.  But rather than repeat them, I'll have to stick with what can be proven at this point, and see if we can prove any more.

What gets me is how some of the loudest and most vocal dismissals of that come from the ostensible "pro-gun" side.

UPDATE: Here's the FOIA release.

Government FOIA Flouting Responsible for One Bump Stock ‘Conspiracy Theory’

I’m not trying to imply anything. I’m merely repeating the government’s words. If anyone infers more to it, that could quickly be cleared up if DOJ wanted to give some straight answers and not play games with FOIAs.  Especially since they’ve given us more reasons to scratch our heads. [More]

The game they're playing is bizarre and only adds to the speculation as to why we have to take legal actions and still can't get a simple straight answer. It's also bizarre how many gun forum loudmouths hiding behind screen names vent their hostility at those asking the questions.

More on the Bump Stock FOIA

Herschel has the letter that contains the genesis for the "cuteness" I referred to. [More]

I'll explain when I'm ready. Not today, because I'm working on something else and there's only one of me.

Compliance Monitoring

FOIA Request Confirms Zero Standard Capacity Magazines Turned In to NJ State Police [More]

This is one reason some of us say "peaceable gun owners" instead of "law-abiding." I forget who I heard that from years ago, but it makes sense.

You Gave Them Eyes

What kind of sauce comes with that serving of red herring? Straw man with roquefort to accompany it? ... Conspiracy theory much? What is this even trying to suggest? The shooter used actual MGs and the FBI covered it up and blamed bump stocks? Just stop. [More]

All we are doing is making public the results of our FOIA production documents showing that ATF, by its own admission, did not internally examine the weapons and cannot confirm "whether or how" bump stocks were used. It's the government doing the saying, not us. It's not our fault if the facts as admitted in the response lend themselves to subjective speculation. 

The real question is, why do some disparage and make inferences of their own about the motives of those investigating, uncovering, reporting and asking about those facts?

Just stop, indeed.

About Those Bump Stocks

Another document production response to our FOIA:

P. 31:

[I already wrote about this here.]

P. 34:

[Right click/open in new tab to enlarge]

p. 36:

[Right click/open in new tab to enlarge]

P. 49:

Hey, it's not us inventing a "conspiracy theory."

Seeing as how everybody in the media seems to "know" they were used, and a couple hundred thousand citizens risk becoming felons over this, when do they think it might be a good time to stop dragging their feet on this? Everybody realizes this has been going on longer than the Warren Commission, right?

That Sinking Feeling

[More]

Satire aside, I'll be curious to see what the compliance rate is. My guess is the number actually surrendered to ATF will be negligible. Perhaps a FOIA in a month or so will be instructive.

Maybe nobody in Rhode Island owned one? Then again, the state does have plenty of coastline...

Then there are those who have shown us what we can expect from them when ordered to surrender.  As for ATF grinding them up, maybe somebody didn't get the memo.

What Frank 'Knows'

Frank Haera is the Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the ATF’s Nashville field office. “A lot of people got hurt with these things in the wrong hands,” Haera said. [More]

Since ATF on-scene personnel were not ALLOWED to examine the recovered weapons for internal modifications and no report of technical examination has been issued to date, it's fair to ask what Frank knows that we don't, or if he's just talking out of his @$$ to "real reporters" parroting his every word without question.

If he can make that statement authoritatively, perhaps another FOIA request is in order-- either that or a complaint about why that information has been withheld from us.

FOIA Seeks ATF Documents after Technical Expert Admits ‘Machinegun’ Ruling Political

"...However, Acting Director Sullivan decided, against the advice of the Chief Counsel’s Office, to declare the Akins Accelerator a machinegun." [More]

So, per a sworn declaration, the genesis of this latest experiment in tyranny is because several years back Maximum Mike ignored the technical and legal experts and abused his (appointed) authority to impose his will. And that history was deliberately buried in this latest round of "rulemaking."

Lawsuit Filed against FBI for Denying Las Vegas Shooting FOIA Request

Another reason given by the FBI for denying information was “ongoing ‘law enforcement proceeding,’” Stamboulieh observed. “The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department basically said ‘case closed,’ so, what is … proceeding?” [More]

What “core values” are demonstrated by denying the requested information?

A Public Works Project

San Francisco Launching New ‘Poop Patrol’ to Deal With Dirty Streets [More]

Be fun to do a FOIA to see if their practices comply with EPA and OSHA mandates...

And look at the ever-despicable Gavin Newsom's list of "basic human rights" with "entitlements" that require dragooning someone else to provide.

[Via Michael G]

Las Vegas Bump Stock FOIA Claims ATF Not Allowed to Examine Weapons

“DOJ is manipulating the APA to make sure that information will NOT be used to shoot down the rule,” Savage concludes. “Does ATF prosecute its firearms cases like it promulgates rules, without ever looking at the evidence? ATF is currently attempting to criminalize an industry and a large swath of the population and NEVER looked at any evidence? They claim they were ‘not allowed'? By whom?” [More]

ATF's revelation seems like quite the “however,” especially considering they're pushing for a rules change.

State Production on Terry FOIA Lawsuit Leaves Key Questions Unanswered

So even if Clinton had been kept in the dark (and that has not been definitively established), the question remains why State did not pursue violations by DOJ – and who was involved in making (ordering) that outcome. [More]

Curious -- just like in the beginning, no one from Congress or the media seems very interested even though there are plenty of identified threads to pull...

Modus Operandi

Records from ATF on Reclassification of AR-15 Ammunition - For More Than Three Years ATF Evaded FOIA Request; Agency Withholding 1,900 Pages of Records [More]

Ain't it great now that Jeff Sessions is over at Justice?

[Via Greg K]

Exclusive Insights

Mine finally posted.  I included all the FOIA material received from the ATF re: bumpstocks. [More]

Stephen Stamboulieh provides a wealth of information you will not see from anyone else.

State Response to FOIA Lawsuit Questions ATF Arms Export Criminality

Put another way, what did Hillary Clinton know and when did she know it? If the answer is she knew, then where are the authorizing documents and why was the ATF attaché to Mexico kept in the dark and told to “stand down” (see pg. 36 of Joint Staff Report) when he found out? If the answer is Clinton did not know and no such authorizing documents exist, why have charges not been filed against ATF officials as “principals” who “induced” or “willfully caused” offenses? [More]

More to the point: Why is no one in jail?

And yeah, I caught the "email" redundancy in the first sentence -- the mod will take it out shortly.

Back into the Gun Safe

"Boulder has traditionally tried to welcome different people to the community," Caldara says. "It had a registry for same-sex couples before they could legally marry, so it helped people get out of the closet. But what Boulder is doing now is putting gun owners back into a closet. And that goes against everything Boulder claims to stand for." [More]

I hope he's not advocating for a registry or any form of authorizaton.

I remember when I first came out of the gun safe.  San Francisco sicced the cops on me.

There's another element to that story that's pretty funny and shows what a pussy Gavin Newsom is  that I found out about through a FOIA and need to write up.

[Via cydl]

'FBI ... Not Processing Appeals as Required by Law'

We submitted a FOIA regarding NICS and the appeals process in April 2016.  Today we received documents responsive to that request.  The documents produced demonstrate that the FBI and NICS were not processing appeals as required by law as alleged in all of our 18 USC 925A cases we have filed to date.  On page 50 of the attached, it says "The AST has five business days to tell a denied individual the reason for their denial.  However, the AST Examiners are not performing any appeal work due to the increased volume."  On page 57, someone wrote this email: "We stopped processing front-end [appeals] mail on 11/25/2015."  [More]

It links at the end to a pdf of the production.

Guiding Light

The Firearms Policy Coalition and the Firearms Policy Foundation have started a website called K12speech.com and a 21-page guide for parents and students meant to protect pro-gun students. I've read the guide and it is very well done. It contains sample letters and emails, documentation including relevant court rulings, tips on how to make FOIA requests, and instructions on how to document your interaction with school officials. You can download the guide here. There is also a legal action hotline and dedicated email address in order to seek help. [More]

Here's the guide.

[Via Felix B]

Questions

There are some good ones. [More]

Don't expect "Authorized Journalists" to ask them, so don't expect answers.

Expect instead to see ad hominem attacks against the credibility of the source and the forum sharing his views. Questioning those is not necessarily irrelevant, but shifting the focus to that cannot be allowed to derail investigating legitimate concerns that are raised.

And expect those following up to be marginalized and ignored.

Don't look for FOIA requests to produce anything but redacted pages. Don't look for Congress to investigate without credible whistleblowers, and then expect stonewalling with no resolution.

Sorry to sound so cynical, but "experience hath shewn"...

[Via Kirk D]