Bloomberg Bits
The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) is calling on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to prosecute New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg for obstruction of justice, for failing to turn over evidence of allegedly illegal firearms transactions to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
In his letter to Gonzales, SAF founder Alan Gottlieb noted reports in a New York newspaper that Mayor Bloomberg has been stonewalling the information his maverick investigation allegedly uncovered during a sting operation earlier this year. That so- called “investigation” was highly criticized by law enforcement when it was first announced more than three months ago.
“Bloomberg’s vigilante operation may have compromised genuine on-going BATFE investigations,” Gottlieb said. “The city’s refusal to turn over so-called ‘evidence’ in this rogue investigation is very suspicious.
“Allegations of criminal wrong-doing,” Gottlieb noted in his letter, “do not necessarily mean the retailers victimized by the mayor’s self-generated publicity have actually committed any crime, yet Bloomberg’s grandstanding has literally convicted them on television and in news columns.”
The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the trade association for the firearms industry, said today that the failure of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to turn over evidence of alleged illegal firearm sales to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is telling.
“If these firearms dealers violated federal law there needs to be a full investigation,” said Lawrence G. Keane, senior vice president and general counsel of NSSF. “The fact that Mr. Bloomberg is so afraid to turn over ‘evidence’ to the ATF speaks volumes as to the veracity of his claims.”
Or, you know, he has something to hide. More:
ATF is the appropriate and legally authorized regulatory agency in charge of overseeing enforcement of firearms laws and regulations.
NSSF called upon the mayor to come clean with the “proof” he and his private investigators accumulated in their attempts to circumvent federal law protecting law- abiding firearms dealers from baseless civil suits.
August 29th, 2006 at 2:17 pm
Or, as you’ve pointed out, obstruction of justice in the investigation of Bloomberg’s investigators for giving false statements on the 4473s.
I think he’s covering their asses on that, and his own, for criminal facilitation and conspiracy to violate federal firearms laws.