April 29, 2011 12:40 PM

NRA's Wayne LaPierre to call for Attorney General Eric Holder's resignation

By
CBS News Investigates
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Law and Order

Wayne LaPierre and Eric Holder

(Credit: CBS/Getty Images)

The National Rifle Association has Attorney General Eric Holder in its sights.

Sources tell CBS News that NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre is expected to call for Holder's resignation in a speech Saturday morning at the Association's annual meeting in Pittsburgh.

NRA reacts to CBS News investigation on ATF "gunwalking"

LaPierre has accused Holder of trying to "destroy the Second Amendment" and has been critical of the Department of Justice handling of "Project Gunrunner," a program intended to stop the flow of weapons to Mexican drug cartels.

But as CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reported last month, ATF agents charge the program actually helped get thousands of guns into the hands of criminals.

"When does it stop being law enforcement and start being a criminal enterprise? Innocent people are dying. It makes no sense at all." LaPierre told CBS News last month.

Agent: I was ordered to let U.S. guns into Mexico

Attorney General Holder has asked the Inspector General to investigate the allegations.

In a statement today the Department of Justice told CBS News "We have invited the NRA to join us and other stakeholders from across the spectrum in working to find common sense solutions to keep guns out of the hands of people who are not legally allowed to possess them. They have yet to come to the table with any productive suggestions, but we hope they will reconsider."

(Watch LaPierre's "gunwalking" comments from last month below.)


Add a Comment See all 105 Comments
by exHM2USN May 6, 2011 9:33 AM EDT
Fellow Americans: The blatant arrogance and total disregard of law by the Obama regime HAS TO END!! This end around game, is designed to take away our 1st amend rights, by first taking away our 2nd amend rights. Look at England/Canada/Australia, besides being subjects to the Queen (Common-Wealth) nations, they took away the peoples rights to own guns. What happened?, now only the criminal elements in these nations are toting guns. England had to arm their own bobbies(police) because they were literally being blown away in the streets. The Brady Foundation deserves a closer look, they also advocate dis-arming Americans. It's time Obama is EXPOSED for who HE IS: A liberal/socialist who believes in total govt control of economic/social/moral views of this country. He is anti-capitalism/Free market/Democratic in his attempt to circumvent the U.S. Constitution and other Federal laws. I proudly served in the USN from 1979/98 protecting democracy, now I want to practise it.
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by heybone111 May 2, 2011 11:28 AM EDT
Eric Holder, did not come up with this treasonous plan on his own. Janet Napolitano, Hilliary Clinton, and Obama's finger prints are all over this, and blood is on their hands!

Mexico releases gang body count: April 29, 2011 -

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/chronicle/7542227.html

Thousands have died
Gangland violence has killed more than 35,000 people in little more than four years. Officials say most of the victims appear to have been murdered by gangland rivals. But a growing number have been killed in clashes with the military, especially in the region of south Texas. Hundreds of innocent civilians have also been killed, both by gangsters and the military.

Thank goodness someone with political weight is demanding a head for the Obama administrations anarchy. I find it shocking that not even acts of treason by this regime, entice our representatives on either side of the isle to demand justice. Shame on you all!!
Reply to this comment
by heybone111 May 2, 2011 10:32 AM EDT
Thank goodness someone with political weight is demanding a head for this administrations anarchy. I find it shocking that not even acts of treason by this regime, entice representatives on either side of the isle to demand justice. Shame on you all!!

It's clear Holder did not come up with this plan on his own. When the treason was uncovered, this regime did not seek to expose under who's authority, gave the order to arm the criminals. They chose to avert attention in other directions, and are still trying to do so. Their MO is - if they turn aside and ignore the issue, so will the media, and the public.

I say it's time to get off this crazy train, and demand justice!
Reply to this comment
by Boston_Paul May 2, 2011 9:31 AM EDT
Obama's is on record as being anti-gun. Anyone who wants to dispute that should first look at his voting record while in public office not just what he says. We all know he will say anything to anyone to get support. It is the actual votes that matter. Even then he has voted present many times in order to hide his views. Obama is an arrogant pompous a$s. The sooner he leaves office the better.
Reply to this comment
by atomant59 May 1, 2011 8:25 PM EDT
WHAT???? Wayne LaPierre against the sale of weapons? This is not my GW Bush's NRA!!! The NRA stand's behind the 2nd amendment. This operation opened up opportunities for additional sales of assault rifles. It spreads the idea of gun ownership across national borders. Now in addition to the thousands of deaths caused by cartel members, average Mexican families can loose beloved members to accidental shootings and family violence. Let's spread the word Wayne, there should be a weapon in every home around the world, kind of like Afghanistan and Iraq. "An Armed Nation is a Polite Nation". Come on Wayne, spread the news....
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by DanParker75243 May 6, 2011 6:43 PM EDT
This is the kind of stupidity we've come to expect from your kind when the facts have you painted into a corner.
by Ole76er May 1, 2011 10:59 AM EDT
A lot of posts here getting completely off subject. I suggest that Obama's record in the Illinois Senate be scanned and you'll learn just how much of a gun hater he is. AG Holder, VP Biden, State's Clinton, Sen. Kerry, to mention just a few are known gun haters and would legislate guns out of existence if it weren't for the NRA and those of us who are responsible gun owners. Fact it, the FBI tracking statistics show crime is DOWN across the USA because of increased gun ownership. More pro-gun Bills are being passed in GOP controlled States while some Democratic States are proving to be anti-gun (anti-American?) and crime filled. More Guns, Less Crime works for me!
Reply to this comment
by malcolmkyle May 1, 2011 10:34 AM EDT
Prohibitionists often express the belief that the resulting, suffering, mayhem and corruption that their policy engenders is in no way connected to the basic and erroneous mechanism being used, but simply that they haven't been granted sufficient governmental powers (the removal of even more basic individual rights and freedoms) to do their work properly.

It's quite possible, that many of the early Prohibitionists did not intend to kill hundreds of thousands worldwide, or put 1 in 32 Americans under supervision of the correctional system with their ill-thought-out-actions. Nevertheless, it's now reasonably safe to claim, that our Latter-Day Sadomoralist Prison-for-Profit Prohibitionists don't care. They don't care that, historically, the prohibition of any mind altering substance has never succeeded. They don't care that America has the highest percentage of it's citizens incarcerated of any country in the history of the planet. They don't care about spawning far worse conditions than those they claim to be alleviating. These despotic imbeciles are actually quite happy to create as much mayhem as possible. After all, it's what fills their prisons and gets them elected.

Here's what the UK Economist Magazine thinks of us: "Never in the civilised world have so many been locked up for so little" http://www.economist.com/node/16636027

According to Paul Craig Roberts, a former editor of the Wall Street Journal and former assistant secretary to the treasury under Ronald Reagan, "Police in the US now rival criminals, and exceed terrorists as the greatest threat to the American public."
http://www.newstatesman.com/north-america/2011/04/orleans-city-jail-police


It's time for us all to stop being ignorant hypocrites and start being TRUE conservatives!

Pragmatic libertarians (minimal-statists) and "true" Conservatives agree that many, if not most, of society's problems are caused by government usurping choices that could better be made by individuals and that government is just about the worst way of doing almost anything. Where libertarianism normally parts company with "fake" conservatism is over moral issues. But a true conservative would have no problem with agreeing, that what people do with their own bodies, and especially in the privacy of their own home, should be supremely their business, and that anything else would entail ignoring the basic tenet of limited government.

Fake-Conservatism on the other hand has much in common with socialism; Both Leftists and Fake-Conservatives appear to harbor the belief that nature does not exist and that any human can be anything he wants to be, or can for the "greater good", be "re-educated" into being. Leftists therefore think little boys can be conditioned into preferring dolls over toy soldiers, and similarly Fake-conservatives believe that adults can be coerced into choosing alcohol over marijuana. A true conservative, just like a pragmatic libertarian, would immediately reject both ideas as nonsense.

If you support prohibition then you are NOT a conservative.
Conservative principles, quite clearly, ARE:

1) Limited, locally controlled government.
2) Individual liberty coupled with personal responsibility.
3) Free enterprise.
4) A strong national defense.
5) Fiscal responsibility.

Prohibition is actually an authoritarian War on the economy, the Constitution and all civic institutions of our great nation.
Reply to this comment
by Karl_Magnus April 30, 2011 9:42 AM EDT
Allow me to weigh in? Thanks.
It's about time that LaPierre demonstrated that he actually has a pair. Being a "Bitter Clinger" meself, the NRA hasn't done enough for me.
Let's hope that THIS time the NRA (LaPierre) doesn't back down. This blatant lawlessness on the part of OUR government MUST be prosecuted.
~(Ä)~
Reply to this comment
by bluejeans1 April 30, 2011 8:30 AM EDT
Hey Lib's I might not be a great writer, but I sure know money. Obama has made to many wrong moves for our country. The first one was not drilling ASAP. Energy is everything.
If he was so into helping our country. Why isn't he pushing the Bloom Energy? Why is he talking solar, and wind when we've put billions into it, and it only give's us 2% of the energy we use? We are heading for a double dip recession now, and if he doesn't stop spending, and start cutting the debt, it's gone to be a depression of the likes you've never seen before. If this happens, you don't think your gone to want a gun? Your the one who will have to just stand there, and watch a drug addict do horrible things to the people you love, not me. If you think this government has it all under control, your sadly mistaken. I'll feel bad for you people, but when the time comes, I sure won't waste a bullet to protect you, I have my own family to worry about.
Reply to this comment
by alphaa10000 April 30, 2011 3:07 AM EDT
DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE DEATH TOLL-- THEY'RE ONLY MEXICANS

kenhamlett said, "It is pretty obvious that one of the main goals of the ATF was to avoid letting the truth be known so they could use the murders as a reason to do away with our right to have weapons... we would lose our rights to defend ourselves against criminals and corrupt government...
---

1. GUN TRAFFICKERS DO NOT INCREASE SAFETY OR DEFEND RIGHTS

American guns are not used by Mexican citizens to protect themselves against criminals. American guns are used by Mexican criminals to kill civilians. In the overwhelming number of cases, civilians lose, gangsters win.

Putting American guns in the hands of Mexican criminals makes some American gun dealers very rich, and they want to keep their cash flow intact. Because of NRA lobbying and certain pliant congressmen, the ATF for years bent over backwards to ignore US gun dealers along the Mexican border, and the role they played in the crime wave and carnage in Mexico.

After more than a decade of such official ignorance, northern Mexico turned into not only a war zone but a humming market for American guns of all description.

Incongruously, the NRA claims Mexican gun traffic is NOT from the border. To test that claim, the ATF actually let the trade run for a while without interdiction to trace where shipments of US-sold guns turned up. To no one's great surprise, guns sold along the Texas border and other border locations went directly to drug gangsters.

While American gun dealers talk about their view of "rights", even conservatives admit every society has the right to defend itself. Gun sales have left northern Mexico a gangland graveyard, with some parts more dangerous than Iraq at its peak of violence against civilians. Total killed since Mexican President Calderon declared war on the drug cartel, four years ago, 34, 612. Total Mexican nationals killed last year, 15, 273-- undeniably a trend to the worse.

Gun trafficking to Mexico not only promotes violence, gun trafficking to Mexico also promotes the breakdown of civil authority. Ironically, many of those protesting stronger regulation of gun trafficking also support the American effort in Afghanistan to cut off the flow of weaponry to the Taliban. With Afghanistan, at least, these gun owners understand the role of interdiction in a rogue area without law-- they know unregulated arms traffic serves only criminal elements, and blocks establishment of civil authority.

Likewise, American guns in northern Mexico do not give rights, they take them away. In every Latin American country besieged by drug wars, it is the country's law enforcement and court system which is attacked first. In Mexico, police stations are wiped out, and judiary is threatened, kidnapped or assassinated.


2. GUN TRAFFICKERS ARE A THREAT TO BOTH MEXICO, AND TO AMERICAN NATIONAL SECURITY

Mexico has endured disorders for decades. But in 2007, after a steady series of gang-directed assassinations of public officials, Calderon nearly lost control of civil order, itself. Calderon loudly declared "war" on drug gangs, predicting success by 2012.

In strong mutual security interest, American federal agencies under Bush sent substantial support to Mexican federal authorities. American agents already have been killed while rendering this support.

But the Calderon war has been a series of reverses for Mexican authorities. According to Mexico-based pollster Jorge Buendia, public impatience with the Calderon war led to a spontaneous protest movement, "No Mas Sangre!" ("No More Blood!") http://mexfiles.net/2011/03/09/%C2%A1no-mas-sangre/

According to Buendia, none in Mexico believe guns stabilize Mexico, but most believe guns threaten society. In fact, Mexicans believe halting the flow of American arms is more important than even halting the flow of drugs.


3. WHAT WE MUST DO

Gun trafficking between Mexico and the US is a clear and present danger, threatening life, property and national security for both countries. Clearly, we cannot allow Mexico fall into civil chaos.

Nor is it an effective argument that cutting off American arms trafficking simply moves the market elsewhere-- we Americans do have control over the situation. We must take responsibility for what we are doing now to damage Mexico and its people.

Our security agencies dread the possibility terror groups might exploit the situation in northern Mexico, and bring "peace" like an Afghan drug lord, enjoying the support and protection of locals. Across the world, al Qaeda has wasted no time in reaching out to disaffected, impoverished and crime-ridden regions.

Yet, within our own borders, for the sake of profit, a few Americans are responsible for the death of thousands, and daily increase the risk to their own country. These are not American patriots, but criminal co-conspirators, and should be shut down and prosecuted accordingly.
Reply to this comment
by SFC_Swede April 30, 2011 3:20 AM EDT
WHAT??? Refer you to the same website I did suds: http://cleanupatf.org/forums/ The "gun traffickers" as you put it absolutely objected in the vast, vast majority of cases, and even came forward when suspicious of buyers. They were told.....BY THE ATF...to let the sale go through. You dont have to believe me, go to the site which is run by ATF agents and read for yourself. Theres an entire thread on gunwalker.

As for your Afghanistan comment. Are you here? Because I am, and we are not stopping the common Afghan from owning a firearm, and we couldnt even if we wanted to.
by Russ_in_OR April 30, 2011 9:55 AM EDT
The few Americans responsible for the death of thousands is better known as the BATF. If you'd read the reports, you would know that these gun dealers reported the attempted transactions to the BATF and were told to allow the sale.
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