The NRA Weinermobile, stalled on the way to Darrell Issa's office to discuss the Project Gunwalker Scandal.Issa silence on ‘Project Gunwalker’ enabled by NRA inaction.
Gun rights activists have been trying for weeks to get Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) to use his position as Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, one The Washington Post credits with “almost limitless subpoena power,” to initiate hearings on the “Project Gunwaker”* scandal. Their efforts were given fresh impetus by Rep. RaúlLabrador (R-ID), who pledged to encourage Issa to conduct such hearings.
So far, Issa has been silent on the issue, which is curious when you consider his good record on gun issues, and also a pledge he made when he first decided to run for public office in the 1998 United States Senate campaign.
Friends of mine from the now-defunct The Lawyer’s Second Amendment Society used to host monthly ATF Night dinners at a Los Angeles-area restaurant . . Candidate Issa attended one such dinner in 1997, and was presented with a document LSAS was using to determine commitment to the tight to keep and bear arms, the “Pre-Oath of Office” . . .
By signing this document, Issa freely acknowledged his “duty and responsibility to protect the inalienable natural arms rights of the people.” Knowing how the entire “Mexican crime guns” issue has been exploited to not only call for new restrictions on that right, but also to bestow new powers and provide more resources to those who are abusing what they now have in order to help achieve those goals, there is no way Rep. Issa can plausibly avoid investigating the Gunwalker scandal.
So why has Issa not stepped up to the plate yet?
David has a good idea. Go to the link above and read his column. Here's the pledge Issa signed.
Darrell Issa. He's still pondering whether or not to have hearings on the Project Gunwalker Scandal.
6 comments:
David asked "So why has Issa not stepped up to the plate yet?"
Short answer: "Cause he's a politician" - not a species generally known to have cojones or to do things solely because they are the right thing to do. The man's been in DC a good while now, knows a cushy deal when he sees it and is loathe to queer the deal.
OR he has enough skeletons in his closet that he is afraid of pissing off the wrong people.
Or maybe he REALLY IS studying the issue in preparation for having hearings.
DAMN! but it would be hard to say that and keep a straight face!
Bad Cyborg X
I'll say it again: the NRA is far too chummy with the administration of BATF to want to come out in support of Gunwalker. They have more in common with the Office of the Chief Counsel than with their own (NRA's) members.
I predict you will never see the NRA take a strong stand on this scandal, this debacle. I'd be surprised if they even "go through the motions" to the extent of expressing outrage at ATF's behavior and attempts at a cover-up.
Issa is a blowhard who will say anything to stay in office. He is no more a champion of our rights than Obama. He is simply a better politician and knows when to pretend to be a supporter of liberty.
Perhaps--but in the time it took both of you to leave negative comments, you could have contacted Issa.
May I assume you did, and just didn't mention it?
I'm sure Mike and I aren't expected to do this all by ourselves while "supporters" tell us why it can't be done...
Or are we? So many duties come with all this, I may have overlooked that one.
David,
I have done so on my own, and I also use GOA's legislative site to contact my own representatives on these issues. I contacted Grassley's office as well.
David, my comment is germane. Did you hear me say not to participate? When I speak the truth about the NRA and Issa, it is not the "defeatist" mantra you _assume_, but perhaps I should have been clearer and stated that any results will come from other sources than these two.
It is my belief that the only way Issa will move on this is if and when media pressure - which is building nicely thanks to you, Mike, Dodson, etc. - gets high enough to force him to do so. It will never happen out of the goodness of his heart or his sense of what is right.
And too many of us cling to the misguided notion that the NRA is useful to our cause. That because they are the "800 pound gorilla" in the room that they will do something useful and right. I'd like to wake people up to the realization that they do nothing that doesn't increase their "position" in the Washington crowd and/or increase their income. Better to spend our time and efforts elsewhere.
David,
One more thing. I have supported both you and Mike. praised your efforts, and defended you on the blogs of those who belittle what you have done.
Please attack my message, if you disagree with it. Don't belittle me when you disagree.
Reg
David,
I don’t express myself as well as I would like. Please don’t see my cynicism as a rebuke of your efforts, or as any kind of criticism. My comments are not meant that way, and I apologize if that is how you have been reading them.
If I sound defeatist, if I say I don’t think anything will come of a certain course of action, I do not intend to make you believe inaction is desirable. What I mean is that other methods need to be used as well.
Everything you and Mike, et al, have done is of incredible service to the cause of liberty and an attempt to restore us to a Constitutional Republic. Being a cynic - a position fully supportable based on what we see from government every day - I will be amazed if we see any lasting _direct_ results from this, such as an end to ATF. But I remain ever so thankful all of you have made this attempt. As I stated in another post, bringing the light of day upon this debacle might serve to wake up more of our fellow citizens, educating them into the knowledge of how far gone we are from the ability to utilize our natural, G-d given rights.
My fear is that, trying so hard to achieve one result - say, for example, the shut-down of ATF, or the downfall of those within ATF responsible for such travesties as GunWalker, David Olofson, the harrassment of Len Savage, etc. - we miss other opportunities or modalities for attacking the problem. Working toward certain desirable results (that the cynic in me feels are probably unattainable) and waiting to see the outcome when we could also be doing other things more likely to succeed.
I am not smart enough to know what those things might be, so I do rely upon folks like you and Mike to lead the way, to come up with other answers. I’m sorry to have to leave that to folks like you, to have others do that work for me. But I do try to support those of you who are doing this, both verbally and with donations.
I openly apologize if my cynicism made you believe I do not value all that you, Mike, and everyone else involved have done and continue to do on behalf of me and everyone else. That was never my intent.
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