NY Paper Sues Putnam County for Pistol Permit Records

*Source: Breitbart

(AP) NY paper sues Putnam Co. for pistol permit records
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.
A suburban New York newspaper has sued Putnam County to compel it to release its pistol permit records.

The Journal News says it sued Thursday after the county denied two Freedom of Information requests and a subsequent appeal.

The newspaper first requested information from Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties following the Newtown, Conn., shooting massacre. It made another request after the state passed a gun control law allowing permit holders to apply to keep their names and addresses private.

Putnam County officials declined to comment on the lawsuit because they had not yet been served with the papers. But County Executive MaryEllen Odell told the newspaper she's confident the county will prevail.

Westchester and Rockland counties provided the information to the newspaper, which published a clickable map on its website identifying residents there with handgun permits.

A Step in the Right Direction: Obama’s Gun Control Proposals Get Support From the Vatican.

*Source: The Blaze

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican praised President Barack Obama’s proposals for curbing gun violence, saying they are a “step in the right direction.”

The Vatican’s chief spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said Saturday that 47 religious leaders have appealed to members of the U.S. Congress “to limit firearms that are making society pay an unacceptable price in terms of massacres and senseless deaths.”

“I am with them,” Lombardi said, in an editorial carried on Vatican Radio, lining up the Vatican’s moral support in favor of firearm limits.

`’The initiatives announced by the American administration for limiting and controlling the spread and use of weapons are certainly a step in the right direction,” Lombardi said.

Obama is trying to rally support for reinstating a ban on assault weapons and requiring background checks on all gun sales. He faces stiff opposition in the U.S. Congress and from powerful gun lobbies.

Considering that Americans possess `’about 300 million firearms,” Lombardi said, `’people cannot fool themselves that it is enough to limit the number and use (of guns) to impede in the future horrendous massacres like that of Newtown that shook the conscience of America and world, as well as that of children and adults. `’

He was referring to the Newtown, Connecticut, elementary school where 20 children and six adults were killed by a sole attacker last month.

`’But it would be worse to be satisfied with words” of condemnation alone, Lombardi said. And while massacres are `’carried out by unbalanced or hate-driven persons, there is no doubt that they are carried out with firearms,” the Vatican spokesman said.

Lombardi renewed Vatican appeals for disarmament and encouragement for measures to fight “the production, commerce and contraband of all types of arms,” an industry fueled by `’enormous economic and power interests.”

President Obama Falsely Claims Fast and Furious Program "Begun Under the Previous Administration"

*Source: Yahoo News 



Reuters/REUTERS - U.S. President Barack Obama and co-anchor Maria Elena Salinas (R) takes part in a town hall hosted by Univision at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida September 20, 2012. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Asked about the Fast and Furious program at the Univision forum on Thursday, President Obama falsely claimed that the program began under President George W. Bush.

"I think it's important for us to understand that the Fast and Furious program was a field-initiated program begun under the previous administration," the president said. "When Eric Holder found out about it, he discontinued it. We assigned a inspector general to do a thorough report that was just issued, confirming that in fact Eric Holder did not know about this, that he took prompt action and the people who did initiate this were held accountable."

In actuality, the Fast and Furious program was started in October 2009, nine months into the Obama presidency.

Previous programs involving ATF agents allowing guns to "walk" across the border so as to trace them were run during the Bush presidency, but not this particular "field-initiated program."

White House officials did not respond to a request for comment after the falsehood was pointed out to them.

As for President Obama's discussion about the Justice Department Inspector General's report on Fast and Furious, it's true the Inspector General "concluded that although Attorney General Holder was notified immediately of (Border Patrol) Agent (Brian) Terry's shooting and death, he was not told about the connection between the firearms found at the scene of the shooting and Operation Fast and Furious.

We determined that Attorney General Holder did not learn of that fact until sometime in 2011, after he received Sen. Grassley's January 27 letter. Senior Department officials were aware of this significant and troubling information by December 17, 2010, but did not believe the information was sufficiently important to alert the Attorney General about it or to make any further inquiry regarding this development."

But this was not entirely an exoneration of the Justice Department run by Mr. Holder. "We found it troubling that a case of this magnitude, and one that affected Mexico so significantly was not directly briefed to the Attorney General," the report stated.

In addition to specific disciplinary measures, the Inspector General "made six recommendations designed to increase the Department's involvement in and oversight of ATF operations, improve coordination among the Department's law enforcement components, and enhance the Department's wiretap application review and authorization process. The OIG intends to closely monitor the department's progress in implementing these recommendations."

Read the Inspector General's report HERE.

-Jake Tapper

University of Colorado Allows Students to Carry Guns

*Source: RT

The University of Colorado is allowing its students to carry concealed guns with them on campus. As long as students are 21 or older and have a license to carry a weapon, they can bring guns with them to class, the bookstore, and the quad.

The state Supreme Court in March ruled against a 1994 campus ban on firearms. Guns are still banned from sporting events and in dorm rooms on the Boulder campus, but students who insist on having a gun with them at all times are able to request graduate level housing.

“Residence hall students who have a concealed carry permit or who obtain [one] under Colorado law during the housing contract period may seek to be relocated to a University Apartment (if space is available) or be released from the residence hall contract without financial penalty,” reads a statement by the university.

The new rules have caused concern among a number of parents and students of the university, who worry about their safety after gunman James Holmes shot 70 people in an Aurora theater this summer.

“I definitely would not feel safe if they allowed guns on campus, in the halls. I would not be comfortable with that at all,” Cindy Rosethal, a mother of a freshman at the university, told National Public Radio.

“Especially with what happened in Aurora a couple of weeks ago, and Virginia Tech, and all of the stuff that’s happened on college campuses now… You never know what’s going to happen,” said incoming freshman Joe Ramsburger.

On Tuesday, Professor Jerry Paterson threatened to cancel class if he knew of any of his students carrying a firearm in his presence.

In response, the university’s chancellor, Phillip DiStefano, threatened disciplinary action against faculty who prohibited their students from carrying guns in class.

“I believe we have taken reasonable steps to adhere to the ruling of the Colorado Supreme Court, while balancing that with the priority of providing a safe environment for our students, faculty and staff,” the chancellor said in a statement.

While some are fearful of a possible increased presence of guns on campus, others say that allowing guns is necessary for individuals’ safety – and that allowing concealed firearms would not cause a spike in firearm-related crimes.

“The Aurora theater where the Batman shooting occurred also had a gun-free policy,” said Jim Manley, an attorney who argued against banning guns on the Colorado university’s campus. “But these policies don’t disarm criminals, they disarm law-abiding citizens who see the sign and respect the law and say, ‘I’m not going to carry in this place because the law doesn’t allow it.’”

Deb Coffin, vice chancellor for student affairs, said those with a gun permit know how to use the weapon they carry, and thereby would be less likely to cause a shooting. She said the university’s concern is about those not experienced or trained in the use of a handgun.

The university also claims that 96 percent of its undergraduates living in dormitories are under the age of 21, and thus ineligible to have a permit for a firearm. The new regulations would therefore only affect a small portion of on-campus undergraduate residents, the statement read.

The majority of the more than 4,000 US colleges prevent carrying guns on campus, but about 25 schools already allow them, according to armedcampuses.org.

Obama Hides Behind ‘Executive Privilege’ In Damage Control Over Fast and Furious.

*Source: InfoWars

Patrick Henningsen
Infowars.com
June 20, 2012

The House Oversight Committee hearings have put both Eric Holder and the White House on their back heels this morning, further fueling a scandal which has now forced the White House into a rear-guard action.

In a move that is certain to fuel speculation about Barack Obama’s knowledge of the Federal government’s clandestine gun-running operation into the Mexican black market, the President has moved to claim ‘executive privilege’ regarding any documents relating to the notorious “Operation Fast and Furious.”

The case has reached a critical juncture as the House panel has finally moved to hold Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. in criminal contempt after he failed to comply with official Congressional requests to hand over thousands of cables and documents relating to the scandal.

According to reports this morning from the Washington Post:

In a letter sent to Obama late Tuesday, Holder urged Obama to exert executive privilege, because sharing internal documents with lawmakers could “have significant, damaging consequences.”

Sharing the documents “would inhibit candor of such Executive Branch deliberations in the future and significantly impair the Executive Branch’s ability to respond independently and effectively to congressional oversight,” Holder wrote to Obama.

Last night, the embattled US Attorney General Holder attempted to cut a deal with the House and Senate committees, hoping to walk free in exchange for handing over missing documents – but Holder’s offer was rejected by House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) who plans to move ahead with a motion for contempt.

The Washington Post details Holder’s attempt at a backroom escape from suffering contempt charges:

The attorney general met Tuesday night with leaders of the House oversight committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee in hopes of reaching an agreement that would have Justice hand over requested documents in exchange for the House panel dropping its plans to vote on contempt charges Wednesday.

If the House committee cites Holder for criminal contempt, it would open a process that would require House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) to schedule a floor vote. If passed by the full House, the matter would then move to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Ronald C. Machen Jr., who is an employee of the Justice Department.

Holding an Executive Branch official in contempt of Congress is rare, having occurred just four other times in the last three decades.

Since the scandal surfaced back in early 2011, some commentators had warning that the gravity of the arms trafficking crimes in question could make ‘Fast and Furious’ this White House’s Watergate moment, and a potentially devastating blow to the flagging Obama during the run-up to this November’s US Presidential election.

During a in-depth Infowars.com investigation into Fast and Furious, it was discovered that ATF, DEA and FBI agents working under the direction of the US Department of Justice, were illegally acquiring firearms through straw purchasers in states like Arizona, and then intentionally flooding the black market around the Mexican border regions with thousands of illegal guns – in order to demonize and regulate gun sellers in US border states. As a result, multiple lives were lost at the hands of gangs using Fast and Furious weapons including federal agents in the line of duty. The operation was ultimately designed to set the stage for further restrictions on the Second Amendment and increased gun restrictions in the near future.

Obama’s latest retreat towards executive privilege may be construed by the public and some media as an indirect admission of guilt by association, and will most likely lead to an increase in damage control from White House spin doctors – hoping to avert a similar fate suffered by Richard Nixon, whose cover-up went from bad to worse and eventually led to his humiliating resignation.

Ultimately, Fast and Furious could be the straw which breaks this administration’s grip on the strings of power in the White House

Watch this Infowars.com mini-documentary on ‘Fast and Furious’ from early May 2012:

Kalashnikov 5: Brand-New AK-12 Rifle Unveiled (video & photos)

*Source: Russia Today

Kalashnikov have unveiled the latest incarnation of their iconic assault rifle, the AK-47. The company says new generation firearm called the AK-12 combines reliability with precision, and can be used with one hand.

­The factory which developed the new rifle decided to stick with the classic layout of the AK-47, even though it is a completely new weapon.

The Kalashnikov makers claim its has better range, increased fire dispersion, better ergonomics, usability and a potential for configuration changes.

The new weapon is as reliable as the AK-74, the Izmash factory CEO Maksim Kuzyuk says, but the dynamic characteristics differ significantly. It considerably increases the accuracy of shooting. The rifle is capable of firing in three modes: single shot, three shots and automatic fire mode.

Also, AK-12 is capable of using magazines of various types and capacity.

The basic feature of the new rifle is its modularity. It will serve as a basic platform for designing of over 20 modifications of small-arms weapons of various purpose and calibre.

AK-12’s composition allows operating it single-handedly, and can be converted for left or right handed use.
The rifle can accommodate night vision and Holo-sights, target indicator, or a light grenade launcher.

The AK-12 is undergoing firing tests in extreme conditions which should be completed by the end of the year. The Russian Ministry of Interior has already agreed to test the AK-12 in its special police units after official certification of the weapon.

АК-12 Kalashnikov rifle

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АК-12 Kalashnikov rifle

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АК-12 Kalashnikov rifle

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АК-12 Kalashnikov rifle

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АК-12 Kalashnikov rifles

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АК-12 Kalashnikov rifles

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АК-12 Kalashnikov rifle