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WASHINGTON
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
OREGON
Ranchers at center of issue report to prison Authorities make no attempt to retake wildlife preserve
AP
David Foley (left) holds a handgun as Mike Howse helps him while shopping Monday at the Spring Guns and Amo store in Spring, Texas. President Barack Obama defended his plans to tighten the nation’s gun-control restrictions on his own, insisting Monday that the steps he’ll announce fall within his legal authority and uphold the constitutional right to own a gun.
Obama seeks background checks for more gun sales FBI will hire 230 more examiners to process paperwork
Gun stocks jump as President Obama seeks new limits. More on A10
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama moved Monday to require all gun sellers to register as dealers – even those who sell at gun shows and online – and to run background checks on all prospective purchasers, aiming to curb a scourge of gun violence despite unyielding opposition to new gun laws in Congress. In a bid to narrow the so-called gun show loophole, the Justice Department’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will issue updated guidance that says the government can consider someone a gun dealer regardless of where he or she sells the guns, officials said. Only federally licensed
gun dealers must conduct background checks on buyers, and gun control advocates say people who sell guns outside of gun stores exploit that provision to skirt the background check requirement. Obama’s executive actions on gun control fall short of what some gun control advocates have called for, but were nevertheless sure to spark a confrontation with Republicans and gun rights groups that oppose new impediments to buying guns. “We’re very comfortable that the president can legally take these actions now,” said Attorney General Loretta Lynch. In an attempt to prevent gun purchases from falling through the cracks, the FBI
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will hire 230 more examiners to process background checks, the White House said. The FBI has a computerized system that can process background checks for many in seconds. But in instances where the FBI needs more time, the government only has 3 days before prospective buyers can return and buy the gun without being cleared. Obama defended the measures even before they were announced, insisting they fall within his legal authority and uphold the Second Amendment right to own a gun. He plans to announce the new measures today at an event at the White House. “This is not going to solve every violent crime in this country,” Obama said. Still, he added, “It will potentially save lives and spare families the pain of these extraordinary losses.”
WASHINGTON
Military kids sexually abused hundreds of times each year Data: Abuse committed most often by male enlisted troops WASHINGTON (AP) – The children of service members are sexually assaulted hundreds of times each year, according to data the Defense Department provided exclusively to The Associated Press. The abuse of military dependents is committed most often by male enlisted troops, the data show, followed by family members. The figures offer greater insight into the sexual abuse of children committed by service members, a problem of uncertain scale due to a lack of transparency into the military’s legal proceedings. With more than 1 million military dependents, the number of cases appears statistically small. But for a profession that prides itself on honor and discipline, any episodes of abuse cast a pall. Those numbers fall wellshort of a full picture. Ages of the offenders and victims, locations of the incidents and the branch of service that received the report of sexual abuse were omitted. The Defense Department said in a statement that “information that could unintentionally uniquely identify victims was withheld from release to eliminate possible ‘re-victimization’ of the innocent.” It’s also unclear how many of the incidents resulted in legal action. The cases represent sub-
stantiated occurrences of child sexual abuse reported to the Defense Department’s Family Advocacy Program, which does not track judicial proceedings, the department said. An AP investigation published in November found more inmates are in military prisons for child sex crimes than for any other offense. But the military’s opaque justice system keeps the public from knowing the full extent of their crimes or how much time they spend behind bars. Responding to AP’s findings, three Democratic senators have urged Defense Secretary Ash Carter to lift what they called the military justice system’s “cloak of secrecy” and make records from sex crimes trials readily accessible. The senators also raised another concern. Cases involving children are not included in the Defense Department’s annual report to Congress on sexual assaults, which focuses primarily on adult-on-adult incidents, they said. The senators – Barbara Boxer of California, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii – told Carter in a Dec. 8 letter they are concerned the department might be underestimating how many sexual assaults are occurring in the military. There were at least 1,584 substantiated cases
of military dependents being sexually abused between fiscal years 2010 and 2014, according to the data. Enlisted service members sexually abused children in 840 cases. Family members of the victims accounted for the second largest category with 332 cases. Most of the enlisted offenders were males whose ranks ranged between E-4 and E-6. In the Marine Corps and Army, for example, those troops are corporals, sergeants and staff sergeants. Officers were involved in 49 of the cases. The victims were overwhelmingly female. Kathy Robertson, manager of the Family Advocacy Program, said in an emailed response to questions that the incident rates reflect the U.S. military’s demographics. Most of the cases involve the E-4 and E-6 ranks because they are the largest number of active-duty personnel and the largest number of parents in the military, she said. Duplications in the data indicate as many as 160 additional cases of sexual abuse could have occurred during the 2010 to 2014 period, involving a child who was victimized multiple times or a repeat abuser. The figures also account only for cases involving military dependents, which are the only child victims the department tracks.
BURNS, Ore. (AP) – Father-and-son ranchers convicted of setting fire to federal grazing land reported to prison Monday as the armed anti-government activists who have taken up their cause maintained the occupation of a remote Oregon wildlife preserve. Federal authorities made no immediate attempt to retake the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in the remote high desert of eastern Oregon, which about two dozen activists seized over the weekend as part of a decades-long fight over public lands in the West. There appeared to be no urgent reason for federal officials to move in. No one has been hurt. No one is being held hostage. And because the refuge is a bleak and forbidding stretch of wilderness about 300 miles from Portland, and it’s the middle of winter, the standoff is causing few if any disruptions. Meanwhile, the armed group said it wants an inquiry into whether the government is forcing ranchers off their land after the father and son were ordered back to prison for arson on federal grazing lands. The group calling itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom demanded a government response within 5 days related to the ranchers’ extended sentences. Ammon Bundy – one of the sons of rancher
AP
Ammon Bundy, one of the sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, speaks with reporters during a news conference Monday at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters near Burns, Oregon. Bundy, who was involved in a 2014 standoff with the government over grazing rights, told reporters that two local ranchers who face long prison sentences for setting fire to land have been treated unfairly. Cliven Bundy, who was involved in a 2014 Nevada standoff with the government over grazing rights – told reporters that Dwight Hammond and his son, Steven Hammond, were treated unfairly. The Hammonds were convicted of arson 3 years ago for fires on federal land in 2001 and 2006, one of which was set to cover up deer poaching, according to prosecutors. They said they lit the fires to reduce the growth of invasive plants and protect their property from wildfires. The men served their original sentences – 3 months for Dwight and 1 year for Steven. But an appeals court judge ruled the terms fell short of minimum sentences that require them to serve about 4 more years. Their sentences have been a rallying cry for the group, whose mostly male members said they want federal lands turned over to local
authorities so people can use them free of U.S. oversight. The father and son reported to a federal prison Monday in California, said Harney County, Oregon, Sheriff David Ward. He provided no other details. The Hammonds have distanced themselves from the protest group and many locals, including people who want to see federal lands made more accessible, don’t want the activists here, fearing they might bring trouble. Schools in the small town of Burns, about 30 miles from the refuge, were closed for the week out of concern for student safety. For the moment, the federal government was doing nothing to remove them, but the FBI said it was monitoring the situation. The White House said President Obama was aware of the situation and hopes it can be resolved peacefully.
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