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IN THE NEWS RISE IN U.S. FIREARM SALES The FBI performed a record number of instant background checks on would-be firearm buyers in 2011 as Americans went on an apparent gun-buying spree, according to new government data. The FBI said it fielded nearly 16.5 million queries from firearms sellers last year, checking that customers buying guns did not have criminal records or other red flags that made them ineligible to purchase weapons. That was up 15 percent from 2010, when the FBI performed 14.4 million screenings using its so-called National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), and the highest number of annual screenings performed since 1998, when the checks went into effect. So the uptick in screenings last year suggests that an increase in gun sales the agency has been tracking for several years was continuing. Purchases of handguns and rifles, which had held steady throughout the early part of the decade, began to surge in 2006 and have nearly doubled since then, FBI data showed. CONCEAL AND CARRY LAWS FUEL FEMALE GUN OWNERSHIP More women are buying handguns, honing accuracy and toting them in their purses in states that have conceal and carry weapon laws. A National Shooting Sports Foundation survey reported an increase in female customers in 2011. American women saying they personally own a firearm is nearly one in four, according to a Gallup poll. That survey indicated the highest gun ownership since the 1990s, with 43 percent of women reporting at least one in their home and 23 percent saying it’s theirs. MORE QUESTIONS FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL HOLDER Newly-released documents show that last February, on an official visit to Mexico, Justice Department official Lanny Breuer suggested fighting arms trafficking by using the tactic of intentionally letting guns flow into Mexico via criminals. According to the documents, Assistant Attorney General Breuer suggested the U.S. and Mexico consider working together to allow arms traffickers for Mexican drug cartels to cross into Mexico, so that Mexican authorities could later prosecute and convict them. The documents indicate Mexico's then-attache spoke against Breuer's idea. He raised the issue that there is an inherent risk in allowing weapons to pass from the US to Mexico; the possibility of the Government of Mexico not seizing the weapons; and the weapons being used to commit a crime in Mexico. The mere suggestion by a high level Justice official that gunwalking should be employed raises eyebrows not only because the tactic is considered dangerous, and has since been officially banned by Attorney General Holder; but also because of the timing. The Justice Department had just drafted a letter to Congress denying it would ever use such a tactic. And Congress had just begun investigating the ATF gunwalking operation Fast and Furious, which had been operating in secret for more than a year. According to law enforcement sources, Mexican officials were not in on the plan, and no arrests of top cartel members ever happened.
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