Holder feels 'frustration and anger' over gun bill defeat

Attorney General Eric Holder expressed frustration and anger Thursday over the Senate's defeat of gun control legislation this week, but vowed he will continue to fight for measures to prevent gun violence. 

“Despite my disappointment and, quite frankly, my frustration and anger at the filibuster in the Senate yesterday that led to the failure to adopt some of those changes, despite the fact that a majority voted for them, I and my colleagues throughout the administration remain committed to standing with the families of Newtown,” said Holder in testimony before the House Appropriations Committee on Thursday. 

In pursuing the administration’s gun control agenda, Holder told lawmakers that the Justice Department could stand to increase the number of cases it prosecutes against people who have been denied federal permission to purchase a gun because they failed to pass a criminal background check.

Many Republicans, such as committee member Rep. Andy Harris (Md.), have long criticized that the Justice Department prosecutes a small fraction of the more than 83,000 people it denies the right to buy a gun. 

Republicans argue that no new background check laws should be implemented until the department steps up its prosecutions of those who are barred from buying guns but attempt to do so anyway.

Holder defended the department’s actions, saying it prioritizes prosecutions based on who it feels would do the most harm to society if left unpunished.

“What we try to do is focus on those people who are most dangerous, who, if they did get a weapon inappropriately, are most likely to do something bad [or] harmful with it,” said Holder.

“With those people who try to get guns and then are not prosecuted, yeah, the number perhaps ought to be a little higher, I don’t know.”

“Not everybody who was denied a gun was in fact dangerous. There are a whole bunch of reasons why,” he said. “There were a host of people who, if they had gotten guns, undoubtedly would have done things that were harmful to their fellow citizens.”

Harris shot back, “But not bad enough to prosecute.” He then switched topics in his line of questioning. 

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Senate Judiciary Chair Declares Defeat In War On Drugs

The Senate’s most senior member lamented the utter failure of the so-called “War on Drugs” and other draconian criminal justice policies Wednesday morning. During an address on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s 2013 agenda, Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) expressed alarm over high rates of imprisonment, harsh mandatory minimum sentences and federal crackdowns of marijuana laws legal under state law. “We have imprisoned people who should not be there and we have wasted money that should be spent on other things,” he said.

There are too many people, too many young people, too many minorities, too many from the inner city who are serving time in jail for people who might have done the same thing but have the money to stay out and are not there. What I say is if you have a youngster in the inner city buying $100 worth of cocaine for example could end up going to prison for years. If you have somebody on Wall Street buying the same 100 dollars from their local dealer, if they’re caught, they’ll be reprimanded and they may even have to do on Park Avenue a week of public service. That’s not right.

Responding to a question on the acclaimed War on Drugs documentary The House I Live In, he added:

[T]he fact that so many people, especially young people, go to prison for a relatively minor thing, a drug offense. And then you ask, why can’t they get jobs afterward? Why do they have problems from then on?

I think we have spent tens of billions, hundreds of billions of dollars on the so-called War on Drugs. Well, we’ve lost.

After laying out Judiciary Committee plans to effectively protect public safety by prioritizing the immediate reauthorization of the Republican-obstructed Violence Against Women Act and holding hearings on gun violence prevention, Leahy focused on those elements of the criminal justice system that send the wrong people to jail – and for too long.

“I say this as a former prosecutor … I think the reliance at the state and federal level on mandatory minimums has been a great mistake,” he said. “I’m not convinced that it has lowered crime, but I know it has imprisoned people who should not be there.”

He also advocated for national standards and oversight of forensics testing, saying, “If you have labs that do not give you right results, and you think you can close a case by sending the wrong person to prison, you’ve done nothing for the safety of people” and “you have tragedy of having an innocent person in prison.”

Responding to a question about federal enforcement of marijuana laws, Leahy reiterated his concern that federal resources are misallocated to marijuana crackdowns while murders and robberies go unsolved. “It was also my feeling as a prosecutor,” he said. “I found more important things to do.” President Obama expressed a similar sentiment recently when he told Barbara Walters the administration has “bigger fish to fry” than target marijuana users, but that has not stopped prosecutors from cracking down on medical marijuana distributors in seeming compliance with state law.

Leahy joins a number of world leaders, including Bill Clinton, who have recently blasted the failed War on Drugs approach. Mandatory minimum sentences, discriminatory crackdowns and criminalization of public health issues are all a part of the tough-on-crime system that has sent more of our own to prison than any other country, under the guise of improved public safety.

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Snatching Defeat From The Jaws of Victory: Texas Primary Update

My first introduction to politics was at 10 years old, volunteering with my parents on a State House campaign. What hooked me on political involvement was that we lost by 12 votes on a re-count and I knew that even at 10 years old I could have found 13 more votes if I’d have worked harder. 

The promise I’ve made myself in every election cycle since is that no matter what capacity I was working in, I would give everything I’ve got and that win or lose, I would know there wasn’t anything else I could have done to send my candidate to victory.

For the last three years I’ve been working full-time in conservative grassroots politics, training activists, identifying and equipping candidates. That’s been my universe and Texas has been at the center of it. During that time I’ve had the privilege of training and interacting with thousands of TEA Partiers and conservative activists who wan’t to move our state and country in the right direction.

Hundreds of thousands of conservatives across Texas have dedicated millions of man hours to get conservative candidates on the ballot for state office and volunteering for conservative causes during that time. All of this work now stands in peril.

After three years of preparation for this battle, the volunteer showing, financial contributions and effort from Texans for these state level races is frankly pathetic.

I’ve discussed this problem with TEA Party leaders, candidates and outside observers and it’s clear that the perception isn’t some figment of my imagination. The fact is that after three years of demanding conservative candidates and promising that they’d charge into fire to get them elected, Texas conservatives are on the verge of wasting a unprecedented opportunity.

Some of this is due to behind the scenes disputes and friction between big egos. Resurgent apathy and frustration with Federal level politics also plays a role. Neither of these are acceptable reasons to stand on the side lines.

We can argue about hurt feelings after we win. Until then, nobody on the left cares and we’ll accomplish nothing.

The Texas Primary Election is less than 2 months away. May 29 is D-day. There will only be about 10 competitive state house races in November but there are more than 60 state house primary elections in play on May 29! In some we’re playing defense (as with James White and David Simpson) but in most races we’re playing offense and have got strong conservatives on the ballot who have stepped up to our call of the last three years.

In the face of these incredible opportunities, we’re about to do what establishmentarians have said would happen all along!

If Texans don’t step up and make a statement on May 29th then much of the last three years will have been wasted effort. The preconceived notions of liberals within the Republican party will have been confirmed and we will have sent a generation of conservative candidates to be used as cannon fodder.

The primary election is really the only time that the vote of conservative Texans matters. We will vote in November for a Republican President & Senator, only a few US House seats will be competitive (if that) and the state legislatures will only have a handful of seats in play.

I’m confident that if I asked any group of conservatives or TEA partiers whether they would give their life for their country that every hand would raise. However, if I followed that up by asking for commitments to spend two hours block-walking or phone banking for conservative candidates, the hands would rapidly fall.

We’re not being asked to die for our country, risk our sacred honor, or even give up much of our modest fortunes. What we’re being asked to do, and what we must do to win, is commit to dedicating a few hours of our time between now and May 29th for a conservative candidate near us.

No number of hours spent in October will make up for a missed opportunity this May. There will be no chance for redemption.

The beauty of our situation is that it doesn’t require some Herculean effort to make a difference. A few hours of your time spent volunteering for a campaign, talking to your friends, registering voters or driving people to the polls could determine the outcome of these state and local races.

If you’re a conservative who wants to impact Texas’ future then now is your chance. It’s time to take action!

For a list of State House and Senate campaigns you can volunteer for, go to the Texas Action candidate database. 

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