NATION/WORLD
Saturday, January 9, 2016
Guns fact check:
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Associated Press
WASHINGTON
—
President
Barack Obama’s executive actions on
guns have sparked renewed debate
about how far the government should
go in limiting gun sales. Obama took
questions in a televised town hall
meeting Thursday night, while leading
Republican presidential candidate
Donald Trump weighed in on the debate
at a rally in New Hampshire.
A look at some of their comments
and how they compare with the facts:
OBAMA: The Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is “a
law enforcement agency working under
the FBI that is doing enormous work in
going after criminals and drug cartels,
and have a pretty dangerous job, so
it’s not as if doing background checks
or auditing gun sales is all that they’re
doing.”
THE FACTS: Obama got his
own administration’s organizational
chart wrong. The agency is actually a
component of the Justice Department
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general, just like the FBI. Background
checks aren’t done by ATF, but are
conducted by the FBI’s National Instant
Criminal Background Check System.
While ATF agents can inspect
federally licensed gun dealers’ records
once every 12 months, the reality is that
inspections are much rarer. The agen-
cy’s 629 inspectors were only able to
look at 10,429 of the more than 141,000
dealers — roughly 7 percent — in 2014.
OBAMA: “I think it’s useful to keep
in mind, I’ve been, now, president for
over seven years, and gun sales don’t
seem to have suffered during that time.
They’ve, they’ve gone up. I’ve been
very good for gun manufacturers.”
THE FACTS: He’s right on this
point. While gun sales data aren’t
AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster
As tears low from his eyes, President Barack Obama speaks in the East
Room of the White House in Washington on Tuesday about steps his
administration is taking to reduce gun violence.
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production nearly doubled from 2010
through 2013, from 5.4 million weapons
to 10.8 million.
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ground checks has also steadily risen
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2015 set a record for background check
requests in a single day when the agency
processed 185,345 of them.
OBAMA: “One of the most frus-
trating things that I hear is when people
say, who are opposed to any further laws,
why don’t you just enforce the laws that
are on the books? And those very same
members of Congress then cut ... ATF
budgets to make it impossible to enforce
the law.”
THE FACTS: The ATF budget has
actually grown slightly under Obama. In
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had a budget of just under $1 billion.
Since then, the administration has
requested about $1.1 billion annually,
and Congress has generally approved
it. The lone exception was 2013, when
the president asked for $1.15 billion and
Congress trimmed that to $1.07 billion.
TRUMP: “I will get rid of gun-free
zones on schools ... and on military
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THE FACTS: Trump can’t possibly
deliver on that pledge. The Gun-Free
School Zones Act is a federal law that
was passed in 1990 and signed by
then-President George H.W. Bush.
Congress would have to overturn the
25-year-old statute to make the change
he advocates.
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Associated Press
SACRAMENTO,
Calif. — An Iraqi man
bragged about his experi-
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the skills he developed as
a teenage insurgent as he
urged a fellow Iraqi refugee
in the U.S. to join him in
what both hoped would be
martyrdom, according to
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court.
Aws
Mohammed
Younis Al-Jayab, 23, of
Sacramento,
described
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against Syrian government
soldiers in heroic terms and
promised in 2013 he would
train Omar Faraj Saeed Al
Hardan, of Houston, in how
to use weapons and sneak
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unsealed in federal court in
Sacramento.
The
two
Iraqi-born
Palestinians used social
media to discuss their plans,
according to federal author-
ities. The communications
provided the link that led
to terrorism-related charges
against the men this week.
Al-Jayab faces up to eight
years in prison on charges of
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in late 2013 and early 2014
and lying to U.S. authorities
about his travels. Al Hardan
faces up to 25 years in
prison and is charged with
attempting to provide mate-
rial support for terrorists.
Al-Jayab’s attorney on
Friday criticized U.S. poli-
ticians who he said “have
grossly
mischaracterized
the nature and scope of this
case” to tie it to the debate
over whether the United
States is doing enough to
screen refugees.
“There is no threat that
this man poses or no indica-
tion that he’s engaged in any
activity since his return two
years ago. The only activ-
ities that were interrupted
were his studies and his
work,” defense attorney Ben
Galloway said.
U.S. Magistrate Judge
Carolyn Delaney ordered
him held without bail.
It’s not clear how
Al-Jayab and Al Hardan
met online, although the
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least one apparently mutual
acquaintance.
The criminal complaint
against Al-Jayab recounts
a series of communications
with different people, none
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called “Individual I” is Al
Hardan, according to Lauren
Horwood, a spokeswoman
for the U.S. attorney in
Sacramento.
‘O God, grant
us martyrdom
for your sake.”
— Aws Younis Al-Jarab,
alleged terrorist
resources to the group
beginning around May
2014. Court documents did
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the allegations.
Al Hardan told the judge
he lives in a Houston-area
apartment, is married and
has a child. Al Hardan’s
AP Photo/Bob Levey
Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan, left, is escorted by U.S. brother said his sibling told
Marshals from the Bob Casey Federal Courthouse on him Friday in a telephone
Friday in Houston.
call from the Federal Deten-
Federal authorities say although he later described tion Center in Houston that
Al-Jayab emigrated from ¿JKWLQJDORQJVLGHWKHJURXS he is innocent of the charges.
Saeed Faraj Saeed Al
Syria to the United States as
“If it weren’t for the
Hardan
of Houston said
a refugee in October 2012, State’s bloodletting, I would
living in Tucson, Arizona, KDYH EHHQ WKH ¿UVW RQH WR their family had always felt
and
Milwaukee
until join it,” he said, according that “ISIS is no good” and
“ISIS is not Muslim.”
November 2013, when he to the FBI.
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Al Hardan, 24, appeared
of
Al-Jayab’s brothers in
He returned to the United in a Houston federal court
States in January 2014 and Friday. Prosecutors charged Milwaukee and a cousin in
lived in Sacramento. He has him with attempting to California also were arrested
been a computer science support the Islamic State and but those arrests are not
major at a Sacramento accused him of providing related to national security.
college since last fall.
Al-Jayab and Al Hardan
communicated in April
2013, and Al Hardan
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in Syria.
“O God, grant us
martyrdom for your sake
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and not retreating; a
martyrdom that would
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us,” Al-Jayab wrote to Al
Hardan, according to court
documents.
Al-Jayab said he had
The 23rd edition of the Melonville Comedy Festival will
already fought in Syria,
feature three headlining stand up comedians. These
starting when he turned
comics are in demand corporate show entertainers.
16, according to messages
between the two men
quoted in court documents.
He promised to provide
4
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weapons training to Al
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Hardan and advised him on
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how he would be assigned
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arrived in Syria.
Authorities say Al-Jayab
fought twice in Syria,
including with a group later
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between November 2013
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and January 2014. He told
ǁ
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authorities he had traveled
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to Turkey to visit his grand-
mother, which prosecutors
say was a lie that could send
him to prison.
Court documents rely
heavily on Al-Jayab’s social
media
communication,
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much of which is in Arabic,
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travel records and Internet
IP addresses. Prosecutors
did not provide additional
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Show
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In several messages,
Tickets available at
Al-Jayab criticized Islamic
Hermiston Chamber of Commerce
NO REFUNDS • 21 & OVER
for more info: 541-561-7488
State for killing Muslims,
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January 30, 2016
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GREG HAHN
DREW BARTH
TRAVIS NELSON
East Oregonian
Page 9A
REFUGE: Ward said he is
‘keeping all options open’
Continued from 1A
that they have no intention
of honoring the sheriff’s
request to leave. Because
of that, there are no planned
meetings or calls at this
time,” Ward said.
But Ward said he is
“keeping all options open.”
Bundy’s group — calling
itself Citizens for Constitu-
tional Freedom — comes
from as far away as Arizona
and Michigan.
Bundy’s protest at the
refuge is a continuation of
long-running arguments that
federal policies for manage-
ment of public lands in the
West are harming ranchers
and other locals. Bundy is
the son of Cliven Bundy,
a Nevada rancher who in
2014 was at the center of a
tense standoff with federal
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Ammon Bundy has been
demanding that federal land
in Oregon’s Harney County
be turned over to local resi-
dents to be managed.
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Brown on Thursday called
the occupation of the wild-
life refuge “unlawful” and
said it had to end.
“It was instigated by
outsiders whose tactics we
Oregonians don’t agree
with. Those individuals ille-
gally occupying the Malheur
Wildlife Refuge need to
decamp immediately and be
held accountable,” she said.
Federal, state and local
law authorities have been
closely monitoring the
situation at the refuge but
have so far taken no action
against Bundy and his
followers, apparently to
avoid a confrontation. Ward
has been the most visible
law enforcement authority
during the occupation, and
his strategy so far has been
to try to show Bundy that
locals oppose the occupation
and want them to leave.
CARTY: Construction expected to
be back to full strength in few weeks
Corson said they are now
working with those sureties
by Standard & Poor’s earlier to update the construction
that year.
cost and schedule.
Another
agency,
“Part of our job is to
Moody’s Investor Service, mitigate risk by putting in
also downgraded its rating DSSURSULDWH ¿QDQFLDO VDIH-
of Abengoa from B1 to B2, guards, and that’s what we
with a stable outlook.
did,” Corson said.
“It seemed to us there
Construction was already
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said John Stephens, a Port- Carty when Abeinsa began
land lawyer representing turning approximately 500
Calpine.
workers away from the
The PUC ultimately site on Dec. 14. Four days
denied the petition for declar- later, PGE ruled Abeinsa in
atory ruling, and PGE moved default of its contract and
forward with Abengoa. PGE took over the site.
spokesman Steve Corson
Since then, construction
said the company closely has gradually ramped back
evaluated all bids, as well up and Corson said they
as an independent evaluator, expect to be back to full
and decided Abengoa had strength in the next few
provided appropriate assur- weeks.
ances.
“We’re pleased to have
“We felt comfortable, the project back underway,”
the independent evaluator he said. “We remain
felt comfortable, and the convinced this will be a
38& KDG DOVR DI¿UPHG ZH very valuable and reliable
used an appropriate process resource for our customers
in evaluating the bidding,” moving forward.”
Corson said.
Carty was expected to
There is no such thing come online in mid-2016,
as a risk-free project, though that could change.
Corson said, especially PGE says it plans to provide
on a 440-megawatt, $514 an update on the work
million power plant. PGE schedule in February.
did have a performance
———
bond worth $145.6 million
Contact George Plaven
through Liberty Mutual at gplaven@eastoregonian.
and Zurich North America. com or 541-966-0825.
Continued from 1A
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