Corruption Run Amok Within Anti-Gun Ranks

Friday, September 07, 2007

A recent spate of contemptible allegations has shaken up some prominent players within the ranks of the anti-gun community.

Earlier this week, anti-gun Broward County, Florida Sheriff Ken Jenne resigned after agreeing to plead guilty to federal tax evasion and mail fraud charges stemming from a federal corruption investigation.

You may recall Sheriff Jenne?s involvement in the controversial 2003 CNN report where he and reporter John Zarella blatantly and deliberately misled viewers in a staged ?demonstration? of semi-automatic ?firepower,? and were called to task for their misrepresentation by NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre, forcing CNN to apologize.

The plea deal came as Jenne faced a possible grand jury indictment on more serious money-laundering charges. The plea will likely mean at least a year in prison for the longtime force in Florida politics.

The George Soros saga continued this week, as the Federal Election Commission (FEC) fined one of the largest liberal political action committees $775,000.00 for using unregulated soft money to support John Kerry and other candidates during the 2004 elections.

Bankrolled largely by the vehemently anti-gun Soros, ?America Coming Together? (ACT) raised $137 million for its Get-Out-The-Vote effort in 2004, but the FEC found most of that cash came through contributions that violated federal limits.

The settlement, which was unanimously approved by the FEC, represents the third largest enforcement penalty in the commission?s 33-year history.

Finally, this week, CNN and other media outlets reported that two mayors and two state legislators were among 11 public officials arrested in New Jersey as part of a large-scale corruption sting.

The state officials allegedly accepted cash bribes from sham FBI insurance brokerage and roofing companies, and in return awarded the companies with public contracts.

Anti-gun State Assemblymen Mims Hackett Jr. (D) and Alfred E. Steele (D), and Passaic Mayor Samuel Rivera, (a member of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg?s (R) Anti-Gun Mayors Coalition) were among those arrested.

If convicted, they could be sentenced to up to 20 years in federal prison.

Rather than calling for additional restrictions on law-abiding gun owners, perhaps these individuals should have focused their efforts on policing themselves.

Copyright 2007, National Rifle Association of America, Institute for Legislative Action.
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