Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Maryland ammo dealer: 'Mafia-style' feds 'starving manufacturers out of business'

A Maryland ammunition business owner who was just denied banking services says she suspects the federal "Operation Choke Point" is at play -- that feds are trying to starve out the gun and ammo makers.

"I believe the failure of Congress to enact strict gun control led to this method of starving manufacturers out of business," Kat O'Conner, owner of TomKat Ammunition in Gaithersburg, said to The Blaze. "I also believe this is an unfortunate abuse of power. Sadly, I don't see how this is any different that a mafia-style shakedown, promising to leave banks and card processors alone if they 'play along' by foregoing money from certain industries, regardless of their legal status."

O'Conner said she has been unable to obtain a credit card gateway for her clients, or an online pay portal. Meanwhile, she also says that she has always abided federal and state laws, The Blaze reported.

"I do not believe this is mere coincidence," she said, The Blaze reported. "It would not make good business sense and is counter-intuitive for banks and card processors to drop or deny legitimate business activity on their own, unless it was somehow in their best interest to do so."

Operation Choke Point is a Department of Justice and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation program that weeds out so-called high risk businesses -- like casinos, payday lenders, pornography shops, debt collection agencies and gun and ammo dealers -- and stops them from conducting financial transactions.

Senate Republicans just this week asked that Attorney General Eric Holder put an end to the program, saying some establishments are being wrongfully swept into the mix and prevented from doing lawful business. 

"This list appears to have been created with no public input, no compliance guidance or metrics for private entities to follow and with disregard for the legality of a merchant's operation," a letter from Republicans to Mr. Holder read, The Blaze reported. "Further, the list has been used as a pretext by DOJ to limit essential banking services for industries out of favor by this administration."

Meanwhile, the U.S. Consumer Coalition has been lobbying to end Operation Choke Point for some time. 

"This is not a popular program whether you're on the left or the right," said Brian Wise, a senior adviser for the Consumer Coalition, to The Blaze. "What you're talking about is harming a lot of consumers across the country."


Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Police skate on charges for blowing up toddler in botched drug raid

A grand jury in Georgia said no -- police will not face charges for mistakenly tossing a flash grenade into a toddler's crib and blowing off his nose and in his chest during a drug raid gone wrong in May.

Then-19-month-old toddler Bounkham "Bou Bou" Phonesavanh was sleeping in his crib when SWAT members initiated a no-knock raid at the home he was visiting with his mother, hoping to catch a reported drug dealer. The suspect, it was later learned, wasn't at the home at the time but was apprehended without incident shortly after. 

The toddler, meanwhile, was taken to the hospital for treatment of several injuries -- his nose was detached and his chest had a massive hole in it, and his body suffered serious burns. His mother, visiting the home from out of state, said he's due to have several more surgeries in the coming years. And an attorney for the family said "Bou Bou" received 60 stitches on his face and another 70 on his chest in a surgery conducted just a few weeks ago, Raw Story reported.

In the end, officers didn't even find any drugs or weapons at the home. 

But a 23-member grand jury panel that heard six days of testimony ultimately ruled that none of the officers involved in the raid should be charged, Raw Story reported. WGCL-TV reported that officials were planning to hold a press conference to give more details about the grand jury's decision sometime this week. And Reason reported that the grand jury did find that the officers had been negligent in the serving of their warrant, and had acted in a "shoddy" manner -- but were nonetheless innocent of any criminal wrongdoing.