Eric Holder, Contempt, and the NRA
In the cacophony surrounding Thursday’s healthcare decision, the day’s other political event went largely unnoticed. The Republican House of Representatives voted Eric Holder in contempt of congress over the investigation of the Fast and Furious debacle.
There’s one detail I want to make sure you didn’t miss. Specifically:
[T]he NRA notified members of Congress that Thursday’s vote on the House floor will be used in candidate evaluations going into the November elections.
So why is the NRA flexing its muscles on this? The contempt vote has no direct bearing on gun policy. And nobody is defending the gun running operation.
Except that the whole goal of the operation was to enforce existing gun laws against people who were trafficking weapons to drug cartels. Fast and Furious tried to investigate and prosecute straw buyers for illegal weapons sales. These sales are hugely profitable to U.S. gun manufacturers. The NRA didn’t like that.
Fast and Furious lost track of something like 1,500 guns. Compare that to a little over 20,000 guns used by Mexican drug gangs that were traced back to the U.S. in 2009 and 2010 alone. Somebody is making a lot of money off those weapons.
Fast and Furious was a disaster—but that’s not what the NRA is upset about. The NRA is upset that the Justice Department is investigating illegal gun sales in the U.S.. The NRA wants to keep that market healthy.
(via other-stuff)
