Front Sight, Press

The Department of Justice finally made a tepid but significant response to Mayor Bloomberg’s felonious campaign to drive out-of-state gun dealers out of business with lawsuits. In a letter, they said:

“Although a decision has been made not to move forward with case filings in these matters, there are potential legal liabilities that may attach when persons outside of law enforcement undertake actions typically reserved for law enforcement agents,” Department of Justice spokesman Bryan Sierra said Thursday. [That legal risk is] “particularly acute when such persons misrepresent that they are the actual purchasers of the firearms,” he said. Source

The “actions typically reserved for law enforcement agents” refers to the illegal straw purchases made by Bloomberg’s “undercover” operatives who were not law enforcement officers but who committed federal felonies by performing “straw purchases” at out-of-state firearms dealers.

In a further rebuke, Justice announced that it would not be pursuing charges against the fifteen dealers who were the victims of Bloomberg’s criminal campaign:

According to a letter sent to City Hall, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and various U.S. attorneys’ offices have determined the city’s findings against the 15 dealers “do not rise to a level that would support a criminal prosecution.”

The letter - sent Tuesday by Michael Battle, director of the executive office for United States Attorneys at the Department of Justice - also scolded City Hall for engaging in sting operations involving persons “without proper law enforcement authority,” saying that could put the city in legal jeopardy. Battle added that City Hall could “unintentionally interrupt or jeopardize” criminal probes. Source

Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler dismissed the Department of Justice’s suggestion that investigators in such stings could be breaking the law.

“When illegal guns are sold in our city, that’s putting people at great physical risk, and that’s more important,” he said Thursday. “The city has followed the law, and there’s no reason we shouldn’t continue to do these operations… We continue to believe that this is the preferred solution,” he said. Source

What is truly outrageous about this whole episode is that if you or I, John Q. Citizen, went out and hired some friends to go out of state to make straw purchases of firearms, we would be charged with so many federal firearms felonies and RICO violations that we would never again see the outside of a jail cell. The media would call us a “gang of gunrunners” and a “terrorist conspiracy.” Think about it. And with that, the best that Justice can come up with is, “there are potential legal liabilities that may attach when persons outside of law enforcement undertake actions typically reserved for law enforcement agents.” “Potential????” Can you say “lame,” boys and girls? I thought you could. Because Bloomberg is a wealthy RINO mayor of a major U.S. city, does that mean that the law does not apply to him and his goons?

The BATFE says that they are “investigating.” What is there to investigate? Bloomberg’s gang filmed what they did. Subpoena the tapes and charge them. Unless The Department of Justice is willing to obey the law, how can they ever prosecute a straw purchase violation again?