Justice Dept. Memo

The DoJ Memo is titled ‘Summary of Select Firearm Violence Prevention Strategies’ and it presents an unbiased look at the actual and anticipated results of various gun control proposals currently being used or being debated as pending bills and laws. Originally thought a forgery due to its unfinished appearance, a report by Newsmax quotes a DoJ official confirming the document’s authenticity, ‘A Justice Department official called the memo an unfinished review of gun violence research and said it does not represent administration policy.’

Once confirmed as legitimate, the National Rifle Association wasted no time in warning its members, and the rest of America, of the shocking revelations coming from federal officials. “Still think President Obama’s proposals sound reasonable?” a quickly produced NRA advertisement asks. The ad goes on to warn America that the memo confirms what many gun owners already suspect, that the Obama administration, “believes that a gun ban will not work without mandatory gun confiscation.”

Actual and suggested laws to reduce gun violence

Make no mistake, most attempts to reduce the number of accidental or criminal acts of gun violence are motivated by sincere desires to save innocent lives, not take away Constitutional rights. Much of this controversial memo is data-driven and appears to have those same sincere motivations. But the final conclusion – that only a complete gun ban and confiscation will reduce gun violence – suggests a possible motivation bordering between politics and social engineering.

The tactics and proposals for reducing gun violence that the DoJ critique include:

• Gun buybacks

• Large capacity magazine restrictions

• Ammunition logs

• Universal background checks

• Target straw purchasers

• Assault weapon ban

• Smart guns

The truth about gun control

The DoJ Memo includes a number of warnings about the ineffectiveness of most of the above programs. On ‘gun buybacks’, the memo states, ‘Gun buybacks are ineffective as generally implemented.’ Regarding ‘large capacity magazine restrictions’, the document warns, ‘An exemption for previously owned magazines would nearly eliminate any impact.’

Commenting on one of the most popular proposals, ‘universal background checks’, the DoJ analysis suggests its success depends in large part on the success of other tactics, such as, ‘the ability to reduce straw purchasing.’ In fact, it’s this portion of the Justice Dept. memo that corrects a common public misconception – that guns used in big city crimes are trafficked in from rural southern or western states with little or no firearm regulation. The report looked at firearms confiscated from Los Angeles crime scenes. While inner city advocates insist the guns come from Arizona or Nevada due to their less stringent purchasing requirements, the DoJ reports, ‘We found that a majority of the guns used in crimes were purchased in Los Angeles County.’

Probably the most damaging information contained in the leaked DoJ memo is the warning to President Obama and Congressional Democrats that a ban on assault weapons, ‘is unlikely to have an impact on gun violence.’ The reason given being that, ‘Assault weapons are not a major contributor to US gun homicide and the existing stock of guns is large.’ In fact, that’s the overall takeaway from the Memo itself – gun control doesn’t work and the only way to stop gun violence is a complete ban and the universal confiscation of all firearms.

Memo author, Acting Director of the National Institute of Justice (DoJ)

The controversial DoJ Memo is written by Dr. Greg Ridgeway, listed on the document as the ‘Deputy Director, National Institute of Justice’. The memo is dated January 4, 2013. That’s a curious date for an official memo written by Greg Ridgeway and mysteriously leaked to the National Rifle Association.

A quick trip to the Justice Department’s website shows that Greg Ridgeway is no longer the ‘Deputy Director’ of the federal agency. Instead, the agency’s biography on Dr. Ridgeway states, ‘With the departure of Director John H. Laub on January 4, 2013, Deputy Director Greg Ridgeway was named Acting Director.’

If all information can be taken at its face value, it appears Dr. Ridgeway wrote the controversial gun confiscation memo prior to, but the same day, that he was promoted to the top spot in the DoJ division. That in itself is quite curious. But add to it the fact that the extremely inflammatory memo, embarrassing to President Obama and his fellow Democrats, was almost immediately leaked. Someone in the Department of Justice appears to be trying to warn the American people.

The only question – was it the outgoing team of former Director John Laub, or the incoming team of newly appointed Acting Director Greg Ridgeway? That answer could very well determine whether American gun owners just lost a secret friend inside the highest levels of the Justice Department, or gained one.

Related Articles:

2013 Assault Weapons Ban and its Sponsors

List of People and Corporations pushing Gun Control

Fight over UN Gun Control Treaty moves onto Round 2

Founding Fathers Quotes on Gun Control and Firearms

Gun Group fears domestic Death Squads back