About Chris Cox:
Chris W. Cox is executive director of the National Rifle Association's Institute for Legislative Action and serves as the organization's chief lobbyist.
Attorney General Eric Holder's contempt of Congress is surpassed only by his contempt for the Second Amendment. With Holder as its primary spokesman, the Obama administration perpetuated the lie that "90 percent" of firearms used in Mexican crime come from the United States, for no other reason than to promote its agenda of banning commonly owned firearms.
In Operation Fast and Furious, agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives pressured reluctant federally-licensed firearms dealers to make sales to known straw purchasers with the intention of allowing those firearms to be trafficked to Mexican drug cartels. The Obama administration used this program to require reporting of multiple rifle sales by firearm dealers in Southwest border states—which is not allowed under federal law.
As a result of this ill-fated operation financed by our tax dollars, Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was murdered. Thus far, victims of Fast & Furious also include hundreds of Mexican citizens. And by Attorney General Holder's own admission, untold numbers of innocent American and Mexican citizens will be victimized in the future by members of drug cartels armed by the policies of this Justice Department.
[Read the U.S. News Debate: Should the United States Build a Fence on Its Southern Border?]
The administration knows what happened—they've got the documents and E-mails. What is being asked of them is to tell the truth and bring those responsible to justice. Rather than coming clean in the quest for truth, President Obama and Eric Holder have thumbed their noses at our American system of justice.
That's why on June 20, the National Rifle Association sent a letter wholeheartedly supporting the resolution finding the Attorney General in contempt of Congress. We take no pleasure in this vote. Indeed, it is a sad day for our country when America's top law enforcement official purposely hides information from the American people.
Operation Fast and Furious is a story of betrayal, deceit, and cover up. The overwhelming, bipartisan majority vote to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress is not the end of this story. Rather, it is a continuing effort to seek the truth and justice the American people and, specifically, Brian Terry's family deserve. The U.S. House of Representatives did the right thing in holding Attorney General Holder in contempt for refusing to comply with a lawfully issued subpoena. Hopefully the House's principled action will make the Obama-Holder Justice Department finally come clean with the American people.
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- Other Arguments
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#1
Yes — The attorney general thinks he is above the law
JUDSON PHILLIPS, Founder of Tea Party Nation
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#1
No — The House should be focusing on stopping illegal arms sales in Mexico, not Eric Holder
ADAM SCHIFF, Democratic U.S. Representative from California
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#1
No — Congress is trying to distract the Department of Justice from enforcing civil and labor rights
HILARY O. SHELTON, Vice President of Policy and Advocacy for the NAACP
