Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agents have been visiting gun shops in Alaska and asking for records of firearms sales, stoking fears that the federal agency is building a list of gun owners in the state.

According to the Alaska Dispatch, earlier this year two gun shops in Alaska “reported that ATF agents had asked for their books, and both turned down the requests. The one shop that went on the record, Great Northern Guns in Anchorage, said the ATF agent asked politely for the books, and when store manager Frank Caiazza refused, the agent just as politely accepted the refusal.”

It is illegal for the ATF to remove any material from a gun shop unless it is part of a criminal investigation. The requests for records have lead some to question whether the “ATF will create some sort of list or database of gun owners,” states the report.

Alaska Rep. Don Young requested a meeting with ATF officials after receiving reports that ATF agents were visiting gun shops and asking to see record books.

During the meeting with Young, which took place last week, ATF Deputy Director Tom Brandon attempted to assure him that the, “ATF has never maintained a database of lawful firearms owners; is not permitted by law to create and maintain such a database; and has no intention whatsoever of collecting any information for such a database.”

Read More at prisonplanet.com. By Paul Joseph Watson.

In March and April, MSNBC’s primetime hosts ran with nearly wall-to-wall coverage of the killing of Florida teen Trayvon Martin. They regularly suggested that the lack of national interest in the case was worthy of outrage. Last week, when an avalanche of new evidence favorable to George Zimmerman came to light, MSNBC’s primetime lineup didn’t just bury the story, they didn’t mention Martin or Zimmerman once the week that news broke according to media monitoring service TV Eyes.

On May 15, ABC’s World News broke new information that showed a more nuanced picture of how the altercation between Zimmerman and Martin unfolded. Their documents describe Zimmerman as having received “two black eyes” as well as a “broken nose.” They also outlined how Zimmerman was offered but refused hospitalization on the night of the incident.

MSNBC’s 8 p.m. anchor Ed Schultz led with the news that J.P. Morgan chairman Jamie Dimon would retain his chairmanship. “The big bank casino is still open and Republicans want to keep it that way,” said Schultz.

On May 17, Prosecutor Angela Cory’s office released hundreds of pages of information that further shed light on the murky events that led to the killing of Martin. Also released on that day was footage from the 7-Eleven where Martin was last caught on tape just minutes before his altercation with Zimmerman. New photos of Zimmerman’s wounds were also released on the 17th.

The new documents included an assessment that charges were actively considered from the beginning. “44th page of the documents released is that Christopher Serino, the lead investigator at the scene concluded that there was “probable cause” to charge Zimmerman with manslaughter,” writes Mediaite’s Jon Bershad. “ It isn’t immediately clear why this didn’t happen.”

Read More at meditate.com. By Noah Rothman.

Photo Credit: By Corpsman.com (Creative Commons)

Attendees complained the underground venue “stank”, with perspiration “dripping off the walls” and the rooms too crowded to even see the former president.

One, who called it the “worst party ever” described how “angry people” were waiting in the queue outside while high-profile guests were admitted, and another condemned the event as “unpleasant”.

The evening had been intended as a fundraising event for the Clinton Foundation Millennium Network, which was set up to “encourage the next generation to address global challenges”.

Hosted by Bill Clinton and his daughter Chelsea, the night was attended by actress Gwyneth Paltrow, model Lily Cole, performer Will.I.Am and Princess Beatrice.

Glamorous photographs of the event document Clinton’s short speech addressing the issue of climate change, as well smartly-dressed attendees enjoying themselves.

Read More at telegraph.co.uk. By Hannah Furness.

Appearing as a guest on Tuesday’s The O’Reilly Factor to promote his book, Exit Interview, former ABC News president David Westin denied seeing a liberal bias among his colleagues when he was head of ABC News, and, when confronted by a recent study by the MRC’s Business and Media Institute, rationalized the greater attention the media have paid to Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s wealth this year as opposed to Democratic nominee John Kerry’s wealth in 2004.

Host Bill O’Reilly began by recounting the recent MRC study documenting the imbalance in media treatment of Kerry versus Romney, giving Westin – who was head of ABC News in 2004 but has since retired – a chance to respond. Westin argued that the economy is a bigger issue this year than it was in 2004:

And my recollection in 2004 is the big issue the country was facing was the war. It was Iraq. That’s what everybody was talking about. And interestingly – you remember this well – what happened during that election was really they turned around Kerry’s war record with the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth – I talk about this in the book – and made it all sort of a referendum on his claim to be a hero.

He soon added:

I’m not saying that they shouldn’t have – they shouldn’t cover this less than they are. I’m not trying to defend that, Bill. But what I am saying is right now I think many Americans are worried about their economic situation. They’re worried about their jobs, their houses, their children, their 401(k)s, things like that. That was not true in 2004.

He ended up suggesting that the media had followed an example supposedly set by the Bush campaign to make Kerry’s war record an issue, and that the media are currently following a similar lead from the Obama campaign’s attempts to make Romney’s wealth an issue. Westin:

It’s also driven by the opponent. I mean, the Obama campaign is pushing this story very, very hard. Bush was pushing the “let’s challenge Kerry’s war record hard, too.”

But Westin’s analysis ignored the fact that the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth – rather than the Bush campaign – were mostly ignored when the right-leaning group emerged in May 2004 until August when Kerry himself started attacking the group because their ad campaign challenging his Vietnam War record was hurting his poll numbers. The media came to Kerry’s defense by trying to undermine the anti-Kerry Swift Boat group.

Read More at Media Research Center. By Brad Wilmouth.

Photo credit: davelawrence8 (Creative Commons)