Gun Ban Groups Hold "Fast and Furious" Forum

(AuctionArms.com) -- Working with the nation's top anti-gun activists to divert attention from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' "Fast and Furious" scandal, U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), held a "forum" to address the ongoing investigation by the committee's chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.).

Cummings is ranking member on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The anti-gun propaganda op was held on Thursday, June 30.

"This is a predictable maneuver from a minority that has sought to obstruct the investigation into Justice Department sanctioned gun walking," Issa spokeswoman Becca Glover Watkins told FoxNews.com. "It will not affect the committee's continued focus on a reckless operation that has been linked to deaths on both sides of the border."

Not surprisingly, Rep. Cummings and his allies contend that Mexico's violent crime problem is due to the supposed lack of gun control laws in the U.S. NRA and others have refuted this ridiculous claim on numerous occasions, the NRA-ILA reports.

The forum comes just weeks after Chairman Issa held a series of hearings on the reckless operation that pushed Arizona gun stores to sell thousands of guns to suspicious buyers, despite objections from dealers and BATFE field agents alike.

Among those participating in the forum were anti-gun stalwarts Kristen Rand, legislative director of the Violence Policy Center, and Paul Helmke, the soon-to-be-ex-president of the Brady Campaign.

The Brady Campaign's Helmke blamed America's gun laws for the illegal flow of U.S. guns into Mexico, saying, "As the six-month anniversary of Tucson approaches, we have still seen no change in our nation's weak or non-existent gun laws. We still have no federal law criminalizing gun trafficking, banning assault weapons and magazines or closing the loopholes in our Brady Background Check system that help arm dangerous killers and supply gun traffickers."

Perhaps most absurdly, during the forum's question and answer session, VPC's Rand claimed that "No one wants to ban 'standard' rifles, shotguns or handguns." VPC itself, of course, has long supported a ban on handguns, and the group's director, Josh Sugarmann, is a former staff member of another handgun ban group.