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Ashcroft won't tell who urged gun policy
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Ashcroft won't tell who urged gun policy
Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is once again squaring off against congressional investigators over access to government records - this time involving a controversial proposal that could make it easier for criminals to buy weapons illegally, according to a report re-leased Thursday.
Attorney General John Ashcroft wants to begin having the FBI destroy records of all gun sales within 24 hours of a purchase - a significant departure from the current 90-day standard. But a preliminary review by the General Accounting Office suggests that the change would allow hundreds of disqualified buyers, including felons and the mentally ill, to bypass safeguards and illegally purchase guns each year.
What the brief GAO report does not mention, however, is that senior congressional investigators have been tussling with the Justice Department behind the scenes for months in an effort to get far more documentation about the issue. Investigators want to know how Ashcroft, a staunch supporter of the Second Amendment, arrived at his proposal and who weighed in. The Justice Department is refusing to turn over such material.
"Their response is, 'That's not appropriate for release.' We don't particularly agree with that, but that's where we stand," said Dan R. Burton, an assistant GAO director.
http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/nation/3048222.htm
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is once again squaring off against congressional investigators over access to government records - this time involving a controversial proposal that could make it easier for criminals to buy weapons illegally, according to a report re-leased Thursday.
Attorney General John Ashcroft wants to begin having the FBI destroy records of all gun sales within 24 hours of a purchase - a significant departure from the current 90-day standard. But a preliminary review by the General Accounting Office suggests that the change would allow hundreds of disqualified buyers, including felons and the mentally ill, to bypass safeguards and illegally purchase guns each year.
What the brief GAO report does not mention, however, is that senior congressional investigators have been tussling with the Justice Department behind the scenes for months in an effort to get far more documentation about the issue. Investigators want to know how Ashcroft, a staunch supporter of the Second Amendment, arrived at his proposal and who weighed in. The Justice Department is refusing to turn over such material.
"Their response is, 'That's not appropriate for release.' We don't particularly agree with that, but that's where we stand," said Dan R. Burton, an assistant GAO director.
http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/nation/3048222.htm
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878