Cdn-Firearms Digest Tuesday, October 26 2010 Volume 14 : Number 152 In this issue: re: General Jack T. Ripper/Sterling Hayden TorStar - Man shot dead in Regent Park 2009 Commissioner of Firearms Report / Rapport 2009 du Re:"The town that law forgot" Cdn-Firearms Digest V14 #151 Re: Prisoner Williams-Cdn-Firearms Digest V14 #151 Online poll OT RE: General Jack T. Ripper/Sterling Hayden Letter to Toronto Star (just sent) -- As if! Shooting homicides dropped in 2009: StatsCan CTV - Shooting homicides drop in 2009, StatsCan finds Re: Social engineering StatsCan - Homicide in Canada WASHINGTON POST: Firearms watchdog on short leash ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2010 08:54:23 -0700 From: "Todd Birch" Subject: re: General Jack T. Ripper/Sterling Hayden This is a multi-part message in MIME format. - ------=_NextPart_000_0010_01CB7422.386EB2C0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable As I recall, 'Gen. Ripper', like Col. Williams, had a sexual fetish or = obsession. Remember the conversation he had with the RAF Squadron Leader so aptly = portrayed by British actor Peter Sellers? Sellers also played the US = President in the same movie. 'Gen. Ripper' was convinced that association with women sapped his "... = precious bodily fluids ..." and the inference was that Ripper was too = tightly wound due to sexual frustration. He wasn't obsessed with death = and that wasn't his motive for sending his bombers into the USSR. My favourite character was Slim Pickens who played the good ol' boy B-52 = pilot that successfully penetrated Soviet air space to drop his bomb, = riding it out of the bomber like a bronc. One of the other air crew = members was played by James Earl Jones, one of his first (if not his = first) roles in a movies. Later generations remember him for his = sonorous voice as Darth Vader in 'Star Wars'. [Moderator's Note: please send submissions to the CFD in "plain text" only. Thanks. BNM] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2010 11:24:04 -0700 (PDT) From: Bruce Mills Subject: TorStar - Man shot dead in Regent Park http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/article/880511--man-shot-dead-in-regent-park Man shot dead in Regent Park Published On Mon Oct 25 2010 A man was shot and killed in the south end of Regent Park early Monday. Police say they responded to a call for the sound of gunshots just after 3 a.m. at 423 Shuter St. When they arrived, they found a man in his mid 20s lying on the sidewalk with gunshot wounds. According to investigators, witnesses at the scene saw someone running away southbound on Sackville St. wearing a red and white sweatshirt. The man, whose identity has not been released, was pronounced dead on scene. This is Toronto's 51st homicide of the year and the third one this month in the neighbourhood. On Oct. 9, Jermaine Derby and Sealand White were shot as they were leaving a party in Regent Park. With files from Gloria Er-Chua lettertoed@thestar.ca ------------------------------ Date: Mon, October 25, 2010 12:33 pm From: "Dennis & Hazel Young" Subject: 2009 Commissioner of Firearms Report / Rapport 2009 du commissaire aux armes à feu Sender: owner-cdn-firearms@scorpion.bogend.ca Precedence: normal Reply-To: cdn-firearms@scorpion.bogend.ca - ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police Date: 2010/10/25 Subject: CACP Message 2009 Commissioner of Firearms Report / - FPT Justice and Public Safety Media Release 2009 Commissioner of Firearms Report: The 2009 Commissioner of Firearms Report on the administration of the Firearms Act has now been tabled in Parliament. The Report highlights the activities and achievements of the RCMP Canadian Firearms Program during the 2009 calendar year. For access to this document, please find the introductory message from Chief Superintendent Pierre Perron (Director General, Canadian Firearms Program, Policing Support Services, RCMP) and the 2009 Commissioner of Firearms Report. http://library.constantcontact.com/doc208/1102149891788/doc/Uw0NYshXY3KXo7ZN.pdf For your information, this report was previously sent as a hardcopy to law enforcement partners throughout the country. This is the first year that it is being delivered in electronic format. http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/cfp-pcaf/rep-rap/2009-comm-rpt/index-eng.htm Federal- Provincial-Territorial Meetings of Ministers responsible for Justice and Public Safety: The FPT meeting of Ministers responsible for Justice and Public Safety were held October 14-15, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia. A news release summarizing discussions on "Key Justice and Public Safety Issues Facing Canadians" was released on October 15, 2010 and summarizes discussions on a wide range of issues of concern to law enforcement. http://www.scics.gc.ca/cinfo10/830992004_e.html Sincerely, Timothy M. Smith Government Relations and Communications Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police timsmith2000@rogers.com - ---------------------------------- Rapport 2009 du commissaire aux armes à feu / Communiqué sur la réunion des ministres FPT de la justice et de la sécurité publique Rapport 2009 du commissaire aux armes è feu Le Rapport de 2009 du commissaire aux armes à feu sur l'administration de la Loi sur les armes à feu a été déposé au Parlement. Il décrit les activités et réalisations du Programme canadien des armes à feu de la GRC au cours de l'année civile 2009. Vous trouverez le message d'introduction du surintendant principal Pierre Perron (directeur général, Programme canadien des armes à feu, Soutien aux services de police, GRC) et le rapport 2009 du commissaire aux armes feu . http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/cfp-pcaf/rep-rap/2009-comm-rpt/index-fra.htm Dans le passé, des copies papier du rapport du commissaire aux armes étaient envoyées aux partenaires du milieu de l'application de la loi partout au pays. C'est la première année où le rapport est distribué sous forme électronique. Rencontre des ministres fédéraux-provinciaux-territoriaux de la justice et de la sécurité publique Les ministres FPT responsables de la justice et de la sécurité publique se sont rencontrés les 14 et 15 octobre 2010 à Vancouver. Un communiqué résumant les discussions au sujet de « grandes questions de justice et de sécurité publique » a été diffusé le 15 octobre; il aborde un vaste éventail d'enjeux intéressant le milieu de l'application de la loi. www.scics.gc.ca/cinfo10/830992004_f.html Cordialement, Timothy M. Smith Relations gouvernementales et communications Association canadienne des chefs de police timsmith2000@rogers.com Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police | 582 Somerset St. W. | Ottawa | ON | K1R 5K2 | ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2010 14:37:38 -0600 From: Larry James Fillo Subject: Re:"The town that law forgot" Cdn-Firearms Digest V14 #151 The case of Caledonia shows Canadians how fragile "the rule of law" is. How easy it is for government to abandon it's citizens. Under our founding political principles citizens would step in to enforce the law and to defend themselves and their community. In Caledonia, citizens found out the government had done more than abandon them, it had actually turned against them. The role of Julian Fantino in volunteering to write a letter of recommendation in favour of one of the leaders who engaged in criminal violence is disturbing. On 25-Oct-10, at 10:35 AM, Cdn-Firearms Digest wrote: > Date: Sun, 24 Oct 2010 16:30:09 -0400 > From: Lee Jasper > Subject: Caledonia: The town that law forgot [Fantino] > > Book excerpt > Caledonia: The town that law forgot > > Christie Blatchford > From Saturday's Globe and Mail Published Friday, Oct. 22, 2010 > 7:43PM EDT > Last updated Sunday, Oct. 24, 2010 8:09AM EDT > > http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/caledonia-the-town- > that-law-forgot/article1769901/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2010 15:01:16 -0600 From: Larry James Fillo Subject: Re: Prisoner Williams-Cdn-Firearms Digest V14 #151 Perhaps, the triggering factor was overconfidence, something that was given a big boost by his uninterrupted string of promotions. Lord Acton's dictum "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely." applies even more so to those with an underlying psycho- pathology. I'm waiting for someone to do a survey of women at the Trenton base to see how many of them think women should have access to personal side-arms for self-protection. On 25-Oct-10, at 10:35 AM, Cdn-Firearms Digest wrote: > Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2010 08:43:23 -0700 (PDT) > From: Mark L Horstead > Subject: RE: Prisoner Williams > > - --- On Sun, 10/24/10, Ed Sieb wrote: > >> From: Ed Sieb >> Subject: RE: Colonel Williams >> To: cdn-firearms@scorpion.bogend.ca >> Date: Sunday, October 24, 2010, 5:05 PM >> =20 >> Jim, >> =20 >> I'm certainly no expert in criminology,=A0 sexual >> psychopathology,=A0 or >> anything else in that >> field, but I'm quite convinced that Williams=A0 >> "mistakes" were in fact >> semi-intentional. He >> wanted to get caught. > > Or, more likely in my view given the progress of the non-deviant > side of > his life prior to that, was arrogant and over-confident to the > point where > he believed that he could outwit the police and did not believe > that he > would be caught. > > In any case, he is no longer a Colonel, just another convict. > > Mark ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2010 15:22:07 -0700 From: Capn' ECO Subject: Online poll OT OT, but important non the less IMHO. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/natives-talk-strategy-to-take-on-prosperity-mine-project/article1764525/ Ian ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2010 02:26:01 -0700 From: "Jim Pook" Subject: RE: General Jack T. Ripper/Sterling Hayden Check this out for info about the movie: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057012/ Jim Pook Vancouver Island-North - -----Original Message----- From: Todd Birch Sent: October 25, 2010 8:54 AM To: cdn-firearms-digest@scorpion.bogend.ca Subject: re: General Jack T. Ripper/Sterling Hayden As I recall, 'Gen. Ripper', like Col. Williams, had a sexual fetish or obsession. Remember the conversation he had with the RAF Squadron Leader so aptly portrayed by British actor Peter Sellers? Sellers also played the US President in the same movie. 'Gen. Ripper' was convinced that association with women sapped his "... precious bodily fluids ..." and the inference was that Ripper was too tightly wound due to sexual frustration. He wasn't obsessed with death and that wasn't his motive for sending his bombers into the USSR. My favourite character was Slim Pickens who played the good ol' boy B-52 pilot that successfully penetrated Soviet air space to drop his bomb, riding it out of the bomber like a bronc. One of the other air crew members was played by James Earl Jones, one of his first (if not his first) roles in a movies. Later generations remember him for his sonorous voice as Darth Vader in 'Star Wars'. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2010 11:48:36 -0400 (EDT) From: Rob Sciuk Subject: Letter to Toronto Star (just sent) -- As if! Ford needs to reach out ... (fwd) - ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2010 11:46:16 -0400 (EDT) From: Rob Sciuk To: Toronto Star Cc: Globe and Mail , National Post , Toronto Sun Subject: Ford needs to reach out ... Dear Sir/Madame, As a paid print subscriber to both the National Post and Globe and Mail, I have been "blessed" by the Toronto Star's demi annual hold that puppy campaign to get me to shell out for a subscription to the national paper of the ruling elite, and so your editorial in the aftermath of the municipal election hit my radar. As the self appointed arbiter of Truth (TM), Social Justice (TM) and Political Correctness (TM), the Star's list of approved candidates has proven to be a valuable resource for the great unwashed, but only in the inverse. So out of touch with the mood of the electorate the Star clearly felt that they could still influence the hard of thinking into signing up for more of the same, but thankfully the great unwashed were too smart for even the most elite of the ruling elites. As for the "congratulatory" editorial, the Star has demonstrated the bad grace not only to show a lack of remorse for getting it so wrong, but a not at all veiled vituperation for the new Mayor. As for your advice for Mr. Ford to play kissy-ass with The Star's one remaining political darling, Nanny Dalton McGuinty, I'd instead suggest that Mr. Ford focus strictly upon local issues for the next year, because in the aftermath of the upcoming Provincial election, it is likely to be a whole new ball game. I can only wonder if the Star will get that wrong too? As for me ever actually paying to read the Star's editorial dreck, I'd suggest that the editorial board start blogging as a group, because with the kind of insight you've demonstrated, the print version of the Star will most assuredly be a collector's item in the near future. In the meanwhile, perhaps I'll buy a budgie so the newsprint won't be entirely wasted. Sincerely, Robert S. Sciuk ------------------------------ Date: Tue, October 26, 2010 12:02 pm From: "Dennis & Hazel Young" Subject: Shooting homicides dropped in 2009: StatsCan GLOBE AND MAIL - OCTOBER 26, 2010 Shooting homicides dropped in 2009: StatsCan Ottawa- The Canadian Press - Published Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2010 9:18AM EDT http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/shooting-homicides-dropped-in-2009-statscan/article1773002/ A new study says there were fewer firearm-related homicides last year. Police reported 179 of Canada's 610 homicides were committed with a firearm in 2009; that's 21 fewer than in 2008. Statistics Canada says that, while the general homicide rate remained stable, the firearm-related homicide rate dropped 12 per cent, reversing an upward trend recorded between 2002 and 2008. Prior to 2002, rates of firearm homicides had been declining since the mid-1970s. Of the 179 firearm homicides, 112 involved handguns, 29 involved a rifle or shotgun and 14 a sawed-off rifle or shotgun. Declines were reported in all three categories in 2009. Handguns remained the most common type of firearm involved in homicides in Canada's major cities. Between 2005 and 2009, police recovered 253 firearms used to commit homicide where the registration status with the Canadian Firearms Registry could be determined. Of these, 31 per cent were registered and 69 per cent were not registered. Of those that were registered, 67 per cent were rifles or shotguns, 22 per cent were handguns and 12 per cent were sawed-off rifles or shotguns. Also during this five-year period, police were able to determine the ownership of the firearm in 212 homicide incidents. Of these, 49 per cent were owned by the accused, eight per cent by the victim and 43 per cent by someone else. The agency released its general crime statistics in July. - ------------------------- STATISTICS CANADA RELEASE Homicide in Canada 2009 http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/101026/dq101026a-eng.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2010 11:04:40 -0700 (PDT) From: Bruce Mills Subject: CTV - Shooting homicides drop in 2009, StatsCan finds http://calgary.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20101026/statscan-homicides-101026/20101026/?hub=3DCalgaryHome Shooting homicides drop in 2009, StatsCan finds Updated: Tue Oct. 26 2010 07:38:06 The Associated Press OTTAWA - A new study says there were fewer firearm-related homicides last year. Police reported 179 of Canada's 610 homicides were committed with a firearm in 2009; that's 21 fewer than in 2008. Statistics Canada says that, while the general homicide rate remained stable, the firearm-related homicide rate dropped 12 per cent, reversing an upward trend recorded between 2002 and 2008. Prior to 2002, rates of firearm homicides had been declining since the mid-1970s. Of the 179 firearm homicides, 112 involved handguns, 29 involved a rifle or shotgun and 14 a sawed-off rifle or shotgun. Declines were reported in all three categories in 2009. Handguns remained the most common type of firearm involved in homicides in Canada's major cities. Between 2005 and 2009, police recovered 253 firearms used to commit homicide where the registration status with the Canadian Firearms Registry could be determined. Of these, 31 per cent were registered and 69 per cent were not registered. Of those that were registered, 67 per cent were rifles or shotguns, 22 per cent were handguns and 12 per cent were sawed-off rifles or shotguns. Also during this five-year period, police were able to determine the ownership of the firearm in 212 homicide incidents. Of these, 49 per cent were owned by the accused, eight per cent by the victim and 43 per cent by someone else. The agency released its general crime statistics in July. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2010 11:06:37 -0700 From: Christopher di Armani Subject: Re: Social engineering On 2010-10-24 6:00 PM, Jules Sobrian wrote: > <"C-68 has nothing to do with gun control and everything about > > It was Sharon Carstairs as I remember. > > Jules http://www.whyfor.com/firearm/quotes.html#CARSTAIRS "C-68 has little to do with gun control or crime control, but it is the first step necessary to begin the social re-engineering of Canada." — Quote by Senator Sharon Carstairs (Liberal) 1996 January 26 - 11th Annual Community Legal Education Associations (CLEA) Conference, Winnipeg, Manitoba Several people witnessed her saying this, but it is denied by the senator. - -- Yours in Liberty, Christopher di Armani christopher@diArmani.com http://www.diArmani.com Sign up for Katey Montague's Rights and Freedom Bulletin today at http://KateysFirearmsFacts.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2010 11:07:13 -0700 (PDT) From: Bruce Mills Subject: StatsCan - Homicide in Canada http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/101026/dq101026a-eng.htm The Daily Tuesday, October 26, 2010 Homicide in Canada 2009 Police reported 610 homicides in Canada during 2009, virtually unchanged from 2008. The number of gang-related homicides fell by 10% from the year before, but still accounted for 1 in 5 homicides in 2009. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, October 26, 2010 12:08 pm From: "Dennis & Hazel Young" Subject: WASHINGTON POST: Firearms watchdog on short leash THE WASHINGTON POST - OCTOBER 26, 2010 - A1 Firearms watchdog on short leash By Sari Horwitz and James V. Grimaldi http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/25/AR2010102505588.html IN MARTINSBURG, W.VA. Trucks filled with boxes of gun-sales records pull up almost daily to a one-story brick building nestled in the hills outside this blue-collar town. Inside, workers armed with Scotch tape and magnifying glasses huddle over their desks, trying to decipher pieces of paper to trace the paths of guns used in crimes. The National Tracing Center is the only place in the nation authorized to trace gun sales. Here, researchers with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives make phone calls and pore over handwritten records from across the country to track down gun owners. In contrast with such state-of-the-art, 21st-century crime-fighting techniques as DNA matching and digital fingerprint analysis, gun tracing is an antiquated, laborious process done mostly by hand. The government is prohibited from putting gun ownership records into an easily accessible format, such as a searchable computer database. For decades, the National Rifle Association has lobbied successfully to block all attempts at such computerization, arguing against any national registry of firearm ownership. "Those who wonder what motivates American gun owners should understand that perhaps only one word in the English language so boils their blood as 'registration,' and that word is 'confiscation,' " according to an NRA fact sheet. Concerns about government regulation of gun ownership have limited the resources available to the ATF, led to strict regulatory restrictions and left the agency without leadership, according to interviews with dozens of former and current ATF officials and examination of thousands of pages of internal documents. The agency still has about the same number of agents it had nearly four decades ago: 2,500. The firearms bureau inspects only a fraction of the nation's 60,000 retail gun dealers, taking as much as eight years between visits to stores. By law, the ATF cannot require dealers to conduct a physical inventory to determine whether any guns have been lost or stolen. The ATF is supposed to regulate the gun industry, but many within the bureau say it is the industry that dominates the agency. Unlike the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Secret Service or the U.S. Marshals, the ATF must contend with a powerful lobby that watches its every move and fights its attempts to gain resources and regulatory power. This year's appropriations bill for several key law enforcement agencies reveals the limits imposed by Congress on the ATF. For the FBI, there are 19 lines of congressional direction. For the DEA, there are 10. For the ATF, there are 87 lines, including the requirement to keep the gun-tracing database hidden from the public. "We're a political football," said James Cavanaugh, who recently retired as special agent in charge of the ATF's Nashville office after a 30-year career. The NRA, which has about 4 million members, said its work over the years pushing legislation in Congress has been designed to protect the constitutional rights of gun owners and has not hampered law enforcement. The ATF "should focus their efforts on prosecuting bad people and not harassing gun dealers and, in a lot of cases, gun owners," said Chris W. Cox, executive director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action. "The only reason to register products is either to tax 'em or to take 'em." Gun tracers 'overwhelmed' The ATF allowed The Washington Post a rare visit to its secure tracing center in Martinsburg, about 90 miles from Washington, providing insight into an archaic process that Cavanaugh likens to a "horse and buggy." Tracing is an invaluable tool for law enforcement. ATF researchers at the center answer more than 300,000 queries a year from police who recover guns at crime scenes and want to know where they came from. When police contact the ATF, tracing specialists take identifying information about the gun, such as the serial number, make and model. In most cases, they have to contact the gun's manufacturer to find out where it was shipped from the factory. The researcher then follows the distribution chain to find the retail dealer that first sold the weapon. The researcher calls the dealer to get the identity of the first buyer, whose name should be on an ATF form "4473," the three-page buyer questionnaire that dealers are required to keep on file. Dealers are also required to report to the ATF when someone buys more than one handgun from them within five consecutive business days, a red flag for potential trafficking. The gun lobby has opposed a similar requirement for rifles and shotguns - a dealer can sell the same purchaser dozens of semiautomatic rifles, such as AK-47s, and not be required to report the sales. "They're less likely to be used in crime," said John C. Frazier, director of the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action. Depending on how well a dealer keeps records, a firearms trace can take hours or weeks. But one-third of all gun traces come from the records of out-of-business gun dealers. In those cases, there is no one to call. When firearms dealers close, they are required to box up their records and send them to the Martinsburg tracing center. Charles Houser, who oversees the center, and his staff are inundated by the thousands of boxes of records that come in on the trucks each month. They are stacked high along the walls and between cubicles. Last year, the backlog of boxes waiting to be sorted and digitally copied reached 12,000. "I was absolutely appalled and depressed at what they are going through out there," Rep. Alan B. Mollohan (D-W.Va.), chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science, told ATF officials at a hearing this year. "Literally you see pallets of these records come in, and they're just absolutely overwhelmed." ATF employees, many of them hunkered over folding tables, go through a tedious process of sorting, stacking, cataloguing and deciphering. From the boxes, they pull out gun-sales records on ink-smeared, yellowed index cards and dog-eared ledger books filled with faded pencil. If they are lucky, they find 4473s written in clear, legible handwriting. Inside the dealer's boxes, workers sometimes find ammunition, the odd gun part - or rat feces. Some records have languished in attics for decades. Others have been underwater. "Katrina was a mess," Houser said. Gun dealers all over the Gulf Coast region were driven out of business by the hurricane, and they sent their wet and mildewing records to Martinsburg. For months, paper files sat in the center's parking lot, drying in the sun. The difficulties at the tracing center have slowed efforts to trace guns seized from crime scenes all over the country - as well as in Mexico, where most of the seized weapons come from U.S. gun dealers, according to congressional reports. Traces are most useful within the first few days, but it took the ATF an average of about two weeks to complete traces of firearms recovered in Mexico between 2004 and 2008, according to a congressional report last year on the ATF's efforts to combat arms trafficking to that country. In addition, the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General said the ATF doesn't have enough Spanish-speaking personnel and has been slow in developing a tracing system in Spanish. Agency without a leader In addition to its problems with recordkeeping, the ATF, with a $1.4 billion budget, has not had a confirmed director in four years. The problem started soon after Attorney General John D. Ashcroft appointed Carl J. Truscott, a veteran Secret Service official, to head the bureau in 2004. After Truscott took the helm, Congress moved to make the ATF directorship comparable to that of the directors of the DEA and the FBI, who must be confirmed by the Senate. In an interview, Truscott said the move was also backed by the Justice Department and was possibly an effort to boost the prestige and clout of the position. Truscott resigned in 2006, accused of taking expensive trips with ATF agents, including a $37,000 journey to London. He spent $140 million to build a 438,000-square-foot headquarters on New York Avenue and planned to install a $65,000 conference table. Meanwhile, the change requiring Senate confirmation for an ATF chief allowed the gun lobby to have a say on Capitol Hill about the agency's leadership. Next up for the ATF job was Michael J. Sullivan, a former U.S. attorney in Boston nominated by President George W. Bush. He was blocked by three senators who accused the ATF of being hostile to gun dealers: David Vitter (R-La.), Michael D. Crapo (R-Idaho) and Larry E. Craig (R-Idaho). Craig, who has left office, was a member of the NRA's board of directors throughout his tenure in the Senate. They succeeded in keeping Sullivan in "acting" limbo until he resigned when Barack Obama took office. As president, Obama has yet to nominate a new director. In April 2009, the job of acting director was given to Kenneth Melson, a former Virginia prosecutor and director of the Justice Department's Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys. But Melson was demoted to deputy director under the Vacancies Reform Act, which limits how long acting chiefs can run federal agencies. He still runs the agency, but the top job sits vacant. In August, sources in the ATF said Andy Traver, a special agent in charge of the ATF in Chicago, was being considered for the job. Gun-lobby representatives immediately said they would oppose his nomination because they thought he was too close to gun-control activists. Lack of resources In 1972, when the ATF separated from the Internal Revenue Service and became its own bureau within the Treasury Department, it had about 2,500 agents. At the time, the FBI had 8,700, the DEA 1,500 and the U.S. Marshals 1,900. Thirty-eight years later, the FBI is up to 13,000, the DEA has more than tripled to 5,000, and there are 3,300 federal marshals. The ATF, now a part of the Justice Department, remains at 2,500. "We were always given just enough food and water to survive," said Michael Bouchard, former ATF assistant director for field operations. "We could barely just keep going. The ATF could never get that strong, because the gun lobby would get too concerned." The NRA said it has not lobbied against resources for the ATF. "We have not always agreed with some of ATF's priorities," Cox said. "We want to help ATF focus on its core mission . . . which is finding, apprehending, arresting and punishing people who break the law." In defense of its role investigating gun crime, the ATF pointed out that last year its agents made 10,892 arrests, including bringing cases against 4,076 gang members. But the ATF does not have enough personnel to fully inspect the firearms and explosives dealers under its charge. The bureau has about 600 inspectors to cover more than 115,000 firearms dealers - about 55,000 collectors and about 60,000 retail sellers. Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine found in 2004 that the ATF had inspected only 4.5 percent of U.S. gun dealers and rarely shuts one down. At that rate, he noted, inspecting all the dealers would take more than 22 years. Former ATF official James Zammillo said that when he assumed the newly created role of deputy assistant director of industry operations in the wake of the inspector general's report, he took steps to expedite and streamline oversight. He said he prioritized dealers for inspection in three- and five-year cycles based on several factors, including analysis of their gun traces and compliance histories. Since the report, the ATF has stepped up the pace of inspections, going from 5,000 in 2005 to 11,000 in 2009. By law, the ATF can inspect dealers for compliance only once a year. But despite improvements, officials acknowledge that, on average, dealers are inspected only about once a decade. "We are under-resourced," Melson said earlier this year at a Las Vegas gun show for manufacturers and dealers. "We don't have the people to do inspections every three years. It takes eight to nine years to inspect." The ATF's hands are often tied when it comes to regulating dealers, according to interviews with current and former agency officials, as well as thousands of pages of internal files obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests. When inspectors document persistent or severe violations, they can issue warning letters or hold warning conferences with licensees. When problems are critical, they can move to take away the license. Dealers, however, can drag out the process for years and sell guns the entire time, The Post found. On average, the agency revokes or denies renewal of 110 licenses annually, records show. Another 160 licenses on average are surrendered by dealers threatened with revocation. Overall, that's less than one-half of 1 percent of licensed dealers. Criminal prosecutions of corrupt dealers are even more rare, about 15 in a typical year, records show. Simply opening an investigation of a gun dealer requires clearing high bureaucratic hurdles, including the writing of a detailed proposal that must be approved by supervisory agents. "It's a lot easier to close a restaurant kitchen than a gun store," said Lew Raden, the former ATF assistant director for enforcement. Avoiding closure Willingham's Sports in western Alabama found a way to stay open even after the ATF revoked its license. Along a stretch of a highway in the small, riverfront city of Demopolis, the store lost track of more than 180 guns and failed more than 700 times to correctly log firearm sales over a dozen years, records show. The ATF took the rare step in early 2002 of moving to revoke the store's license. But licensee Jimmie R. Willingham appealed through the agency's internal process. He told an ATF hearing officer that he didn't mean to break the law. "It's all paperwork," Willingham said. "And it's been neglected. And it's our fault." The case wound through ATF channels for two years before the revocation was upheld. Willingham then turned to the courts. Almost a year and a half passed after that. It was mid-2005 before a federal judge and a court of appeals had both ruled for the ATF. "Willingham carelessly disregarded its recordkeeping obligations under the Gun Control Act for more than a decade," the district judge said. The ATF repeatedly authorized Willingham to sell guns while the revocation played out. Finally, in August 2006, more than a year after the courts ruled in favor of the ATF, Willingham's license extensions lapsed. The ATF visited to make sure Willingham understood that his license was no longer valid. He told them he was transferring his inventory to his father, who had worked with him at the shop and had secured his own ATF dealer's license for the location. ATF inspectors reported that the father told them he would operate his gun business "inside his son's sporting-goods store." To obtain a license, applicants need to be 21, cannot have ever been prohibited from owning a gun - as with felons and certain people with disabilities - and must have a fixed address. Initial fees are $200. Licenses last three years. In contrast with the years the agency may spend revoking a license, the ATF by law must approve eligible applicants in 60 days. Jimmie Willingham declined requests to discuss the licensing matter. "I'm the owner. I call the shots," he said. "In this day and time I don't want to [tick] them off any more than needs to be. It is worse than dealing with the IRS." Willingham's Sports has not been inspected since the ATF licensed the father in 2006, records show. Missing firearms One of the ATF's chief concerns is missing guns. Guns that stores cannot account for cannot be traced to buyers and are a red flag for potential off-the-books dealing. Nationwide, dealers lose track of an enormous number of guns. Since 2005, 3,847 inspections have documented 113,642 guns that cannot be found. (The Bushmaster rifle used in the D.C. sniper killings in 2002 had gone missing from a gun store in Tacoma, Wash.) The process is complicated because dealers by law do not have to take inventory. In a 2003 provision authored by Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), Congress prohibited the ATF from requiring dealers to do inventories. As a result, ATF inspectors sometimes have to spend days or weeks poring through a dealer's paperwork and physically matching it to the guns on hand. "An annual inventory is part of every business," said Zammillo, who retired this year after four decades with the ATF. "Congress said we forbid you to require a business to take an inventory. There is a clear need for it for public safety, based on the number of missing guns." The NRA said requiring inventories would impose a huge cost on the industry and raise prices for consumers. New legislation, pending before Congress, would further limit the agency's ability to regulate dealers, former and current ATF officials said. Pushed by the gun lobby and called the "ATF modernization bill," it would require a higher standard to prove violations by dealers. The agency, for the first time, would have to show that a dealer knew the law and intentionally disregarded it; in other words, the ATF would have to establish the dealer's state of mind at the time of the violation. The NRA said the law is necessary because dealers often are harshly punished for trivial paperwork errors. "ATF always has had and should always have the ability to punish dealers who have willfully broken the law, but short of that we have to inject some common sense," Cox said. But Zammillo said that inadequate manpower and restrictions on what the ATF can require of dealers have boxed in the agency, and that some of the new legislative proposals would make things worse. "Congress has tied the hands of the agency that they've charged with protecting the public," he said. horwitzs@washpost.com grimaldij@washpost.com Contributing to this report were staff writer David S. Fallis, staff research editor Alice Crites and staff researcher Julie Tate. ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V14 #152 *********************************** Submissions: mailto:cdn-firearms-digest@scorpion.bogend.ca Mailing List Commands: mailto:majordomo@scorpion.bogend.ca Moderator's email: mailto:owner-cdn-firearms@scorpion.bogend.ca List owner: mailto:owner-cdn-firearms@scorpion.bogend.ca FAQ list: http://www.canfirearms/Skeeter/Faq/cfd-faq1.html Web Site: http://www.canfirearms.ca CFDigest Archives: http://www.canfirearms.ca/archives To unsubscribe from _all_ the lists, put the next four lines in a message and mailto:majordomo@scorpion.bogend.ca unsubscribe cdn-firearms-digest unsubscribe cdn-firearms-chat unsubscribe cdn-firearms end (To subscribe, use "subscribe" instead of "unsubscribe".)