BATF doesn't check all purchases..

[bg]

Well here we go. IE. Richmond Va.
http://www.yahoo.com/s/617933

WASHINGTON - The ATF no longer routinely checks addresses of some buyers at gun shows after being accused of chilling sales at one show in 2005, the Justice Department reported Monday.

But the checks were part of ATF gun show investigations that appear to have been warranted, the 56-page report by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine concluded.

"We found that ATF's decisions to conduct investigative operations, including those in the Richmond area, were based on significant law enforcement intelligence from a variety of sources indicating that illegal activity was occurring or was about to occur at a specific gun show," the report concluded.

An ATF spokesman agreed with the report's findings, calling it "an objective assessment of ATF's investigative operations at gun shows."

The so-called blanket residency checks sought to verify addresses for gun show buyers living in certain targeted areas. They were conducted mostly by agents from the Washington field office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. That office also handles investigations in parts of Virginia, including Richmond.

Well what do you think ?

 

[illspirit]

Oh my. It sounds like the ATF wants to get back to their routine of following people home from gun shows to harass them. Awesome.

And what's this?

Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said studies show that as many as 40 percent of firearms sold at gun shows do not involve background checks.

"When there are no background checks, it's a lot easier for someone like the Virginia Tech killer to get guns," Helmke said. "We want to help ATF do its job, and we're glad to see that the inspector general is backing them up in their attempts in the past to crack down on illegal guns."

But, err, the VT killer didn't get his guns from a gun show and he passed the magical Brady background check! :banghead:

 

[Art Eatman]

It's not that they checked that was the problem. It was HOW they did it. The inept and heavy-handed manner was rude, crude, and unprofessional.

The excerpt looks like the usual face-saving bureaucratic CYA garbage.

Art

 

[Henry Bowman]

An ATF spokesman agreed with the report's findings, calling it "an objective assessment of ATF's investigative operations at gun shows."

Well, at least the spokesman agrees!

It seens that these "residency checks," even if notinept and heavy-handed, were way outside of their jurisdiction. No probable cause or even reasonable suspicion. Just arbitrary and capricious.

 

[geekWithA.45]

Wasn't there a congressional investigation into the ATF after those shows?

It's really simple, Agent Schmukatelli: When you do a good, professional job, respecting the rights and dignities of honest citizens, you get to keep doing it. When you act like a jack booted thug, we'll call you on, it, there will be congressional investigations, your cowards in charge will stop doing their jobs entirely, and then you'll be criticized for doing nothing.

 

[illspirit]

Yea, there was a congressional hearing, but in the new report (.pdf 156 KB) linked to from the article, the ATF justify harassing and interrogating family members and neighbors of gun buyers by saying their "geographic region" raised reasonable suspicion. Yet somehow they feel that's somehow better or different than racial discrimination. Well, that, and, people have and might at some point buy guns illegally at a fun show. Using that kind of "logic," why not allow the police to mail tickets to every person in the country because someone in the region has and might speed?

Anyhow, who wants to bet that residency checks will be the new "loophole" the antis start shrieking about? Should this AP article get picked up and hyped by enough outlets, I won't be a bit surprised to see legislation submitted within a year (or two) calling for home "safety inspections" like they have in the UK. Only under the guise of checking to make sure the buyer really lives there.

 

[bg]

Yea I'm still trying to figure out what the Gov considers "reasonable"
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...ll=chi-newsnationworld-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true

A January 2006 memo from ATF headquarters advised agents against conducting residence checks "without reasonable suspicion that criminal violations may exist," the report noted.

Moreover, the U.S. attorney's office in Alexandria, Va., found the checks "were resource-intensive and rarely resulted in prosecutions for only providing a false address on federal firearms transaction documents."

Personally, I feel none of this is "reasonable".