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Gun Control Advocate Traver to Head ATF
Obama has nominated a Chicagoan with no senior executive level experience to run the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
President Barack Obama has nominated Andrew Traver to lead the the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), and based upon the reaction to the nomination by the shooting industry, you might have thought he nominated a pedophile to run the local PTA. There’s a good reason for that.
Traver isn’t just any nominee, but the special agent in charge (SAC) of the ATF’s Chicago field division, after previous stints in Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., New Orleans, and San Francisco. He lacks any prior experience as a senior-level executive, and considering his Chicago ties, there is every reason to believe the nomination is entirely political in nature, providing the president an opportunity to enact gun control measures without risking his already dismal approval ratings.
Inexperienced and politically connected, Traver has developed a reputation as a gun control advocate. Like President Barack Obama, Traver has been tied to the left-wing Joyce Foundation, which bankrolls various anti-gun organizations and which counts among its many initiatives an attempt to subvert Second Amendment scholarship. Traver lent his voice to a deceptive NBC News article, purposefully blurring the lines between fully automatic military machine guns and civilian-legal semi-automatic rifles that fire one bullet when the trigger is pulled. Traver is also member of the anti-gun International Association of Chiefs of Police.
As noted by Only Guns and Money, Traver was a participant in the 2007 Great Lakes States Summit on Firearm Violence, which generated a report titled “Taking a Stand: Reducing Gun Violence in Our Communities.”
Recommendations in the report involved a string of liberty-infringing proposals, including:
- Requiring that all gun sales take place through federal firearms license (FFL) holders with mandatory background checks.
- Enacting an effective ban on military-style assault weapons, armor-piercing handgun ammunition, .50 caliber sniper rifles, and other weapons that enable criminals to outgun law enforcement.
- Repealing the Tiahrt Amendment, which hinders investigation of illegal gun trafficking.
- Destroying guns that come into police possession once their law enforcement use has ended.
- Mandating safe storage of firearms by private citizens and providing safe facilities where gun owners can store their weapons.
- Mandating reporting of lost and stolen firearms.
- Developing a best practices protocol for voluntary gun surrender programs.
- Congress should restore funding for the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant Program for state, local, and tribal agencies to investigate and prosecute cases of gun trafficking and gun violence.
- The federal government should increase funding to ATF for personnel and technical assistance to combat gun violence.
- Congress should enact legislation to allow federal health and safety oversight of the firearms industry.
Bob Owens blogs at Confederate Yankee.
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Obama has nominated a Chicagoan with no senior executive level experience to run the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
Battle lines are clearly drawn regarding the Traver nomination.
The anti-gun Brady Center is strongly behind the nomination, stating: “If Mr. Traver is confirmed, we are hopeful that he will be a strong voice for the strengthening and effective enforcement of our gun laws.”
The National Rifle Association and other Second Amendment groups are predictably opposed to the Traver nomination, with the NRA going so far as to warn President Obama to withdraw the nomination.
But the most damning charges against Traver don’t come from outside groups, but from ATF watchdog message boards (again documented at Only Guns and Money). At CleanUpATF.org, Traver has been heavily criticized by ATF agents most familiar with his work. They cite his inexperience and, most damningly, his alleged lack of professionalism.
Andrew Traver promises to bring inexperience, arrogance, bad judgment, radical politics, and the “Chicago way” to Washington, D.C. The ATF has been an object of widespread scorn and derision since the incompetence displayed at Ruby Ridge and the disaster at Waco, in which a botched ATF investigation, raid, and siege led to the deaths of 80 Branch Davidians (including 25 children) in their Mount Carmel compound. ATF’s reputation for bizarre and sometimes absurd rulings since then has continued to tarnish the agency’s image.
With Traver at the helm, the beleaguered agency’s reputation can only get worse.
Bob Owens blogs at Confederate Yankee.
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9 comments:
If we underline everything then it must be true because then people's eyes will hurt too much for them to read the whole thing and then we win by default.
No executive experience? Mr Traver's career arc:
1987 - Chicago Field Division, Criminal Investigator and a member of the Entry Control Team.
1993 - Philadelphia Field Division, Group Supervisor
1998 - Assigned to ATF Headquarters, Washington, DC
2000 - Assistant Special Agent in Charge, New Orleans Field Division
2002 - Assistant Special Agent in Charge, San Francisco Field Division
2004 - Special Agent in Charge, Chicago Field Division
2006 - Promoted to Senior Executive Service, still SAC, Chicago Field Division
you might have thought he nominated a pedophile to run the local PTA
Except they react that way to whatever Obama does, so screw em. It might be a lot more accurate to say that he nominated a cop to do a cops job. Makes sense to me.
Look out! Obama got elected, so he's comin' to take yer guns!
Look out! Obama got his other agenda items out of the way, so he's comin' to take yer guns!
Look out! Obama is appointing a senior officer of the ATF to the head post, so he's comin' to take yer guns!
Any day now!
Really!
"you might have thought he nominated a pedophile"
Well then he'd be a Republican, so hooray for your team.
As a multiple gun-owning, left-libertarian, I will say the following: there is nothing here to be particularly upset about.
I have no problem with mandatory background checks on gun purchases, restrictions on armor-piercing ammunition and semi-automatic .50-cal sniper rifles, investigations of illegal arms trafficking, the destruction of police-confiscated firearms, the mandated reporting of lost or stolen weapons, programs to combat gun violence, and greater oversight of the firearms industry.
A return of the 1990s assault weapons ban as it existed back then, however, would be silly, impractical, and politically problematic.
I would like to see a more organized, consistent, and efficient ATF, but that's just my personal preference.
Anonymous #1 read my mind. Seriously, I can't make it through one sentence of this mess.
Brought to you by the Gunz 'n Ammo industry: it's Xmas, rednecks, git out 'n buy yer gunz 'n ammo quik 'n buy a LOT cuz that damn "n" word in the White House is sur ta take away yer gunz sum day, really, sur, do it now, buy today!!!11!!!1111!!
Hi,
I think you made a very fine analysis of this situation. Thanks for sharing! I hope all your readers will vote for truth.
Well that's certainly one of the more interesting trolls we have had.
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