re: #146 Dark_Falcon

The ATF, as has been noted, advised dealers skeptical about a number of guns sales to let the sales through (merchants may refuse to sell someone a gun, so long as that refusal is not based on the prospective buyer’s race, religion, country of origin, sexual orientation…). That was clearly a mistake and it was a mistake made several times.

Even if that’s true, and it hasn’t been proven, what makes you think the ATF legally could have advised the merchants not to let the sales go through? That could easily be construed as illegal tortious interference by either the merchant or purchaser, a violation of their rights. ATF doesn’t have the kind of power you think they do to step all over an otherwise legal sales contract, especially with regards to non-NFA firearms, the potential negative consequences are too great. If it had come out that certain merchants were afraid to make bulk sales because an agent opposed legal sales then that would have been the story. This line of reasoning also seeks to absolve the merchant from any responsibility by allowing them to foist it all off on a shackled and bound ATF with a simple phone call. The merchants could have said no at any time, instead they chose to take the cash.

This is why I really find Issa’s lies and your repetition of them to be so intellectually disingenuous, it only takes a couple minutes of thought to realize that as far as the Republican party is concerned, there was literally no correct move for ATF to make.