ATF to Open new Toronto Office

[The_Falcon]

Just saw this on the Pulse24 news-ticker thing, and then found the like on the ATF site.  

http://www.atf.gov/press/fy05press/063005newtorontooffice.htm

ATF TO OPEN NEW OFFICE IN TORONTO
International Firearms Trafficking Expert Selected as Assistant Attaché


WASHINGTON â “ Director Carl J. Truscott of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives announced today that ATF will increase the assistance and information and intelligence sharing it offers Canadian law enforcement by opening a new office in Toronto.

With the arrival of Special Agent Regina Lombardo at the end of August, ATF will have three special agents and an inspector serving in Canada, at the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa, in Toronto and in Vancouver. Their mission is to enhance cooperation between U.S. and Canadian law enforcement, and to help neutralize the illicit movement of U.S.-sourced firearms, ammunition, explosives, alcohol and tobacco in order to deny their access to international traffickers, narcotics dealers and terrorists.

â Å“ATF's presence in Canada's largest city will provide us with the opportunity to offer expertise, assistance and cooperation to our law enforcement partners in the critical Greater Toronto Area,â ? Truscott said. â Å“Special Agent Lombardo, who has been recognized for her skill in international firearms trafficking investigations, will make an excellent addition to the ATF team in Canada.â ?

Lombardo, 42, won the U.S. Attorney General's Award in 1999 and the ATF Agent of the Year Award in 2000 for her work on a case that sent three men and one woman to prison in the United States for trafficking firearms to the Provisional wing of the Irish Republican Army. Another six suspects face prosecution in Northern Ireland.

An ATF special agent since 1992, Lombardo currently is the group supervisor of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task force in Broward County, Fla.

ATF's Canada Country Office is one of four venues â “ the others are in Colombia, Mexico and with Interpol in Lyon, France â “ where the bureau maintains a permanent international presence. ATF also offers extensive firearms and explosives training, both within the United States and overseas, to international law enforcement agencies.

The activities of the Canada Country Office, opened in 1994, include providing tracing for thousands of U.S.-sourced crime guns recovered in Canada, and coordinating activities relating to firearms and explosives enforcement, international trafficking activities, enforcement strategies, operational practices and specialized firearms and explosives investigative training.

ATF, Ontario's Provincial Weapons Enforcement Unit (PWEU) and the National Weapons Enforcement Support Team (NWEST) collaborate closely on firearms tracing, and have cosponsored workshops and training programs on weapons trafficking and smuggling and investigative techniques and methods. ATF also works with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Canada Border Services Agency and Canada Revenue Agency to reduce the flow of contraband cigarette trafficking.

ATF is one of several U.S. law enforcement agencies that participate in the Cross-Border Crime Forum, a partnership between the United States and Canada to target cross-border criminal activity and promote information and intelligence sharing.

Hmm, The ATF is opening this office in Toronto to help assist local law enforcement in the cross-border trafficking in firearms (mainly).   And to help track weapons that are coming from the US.   Could this be because there are a large number of illegal guns crossing the border from the US into Canada?   Apparently US Politicos and Bureaucrats think so and are trying to do something to help solve the problem.   While our politicians (read   lib-left politicians), punish law abiding citizens, and ignore/downplay the issue hoping it just magically goes away.

 

[wdewitt]

It will help but first we have to clean house in Ottawa to make a clean swept . The biggest problem are the Liberals and The Blockheads.The Liberal had decriminalize poilicies that made it easier for the criminal's to operate in the first place. :threat: :sniper: If you were caught with a weapon you got 20yrs. in jail.
Now its let make a deal?

 

[sm1lodon]

When only the police can have guns, it moves towards a police state.

When you don't have to belong to some group, be it political, ethnic, or religious, to own a gun, people, including the physically weak, are safer.

Banning firearms only makes it so honest people can't have them. Do you think criminals will suddenly put away their guns because they are illegal?

The ATF are here to ASSIST US? Assist us to do what? have the American government control our guns?

I don't think it is all that great.

 

[meni0n]

What the hell are you talking about? You can easily own a firearm in Canada, just have to do a 1 day course for the firearms license and that's it. The ATF will be assisting in the ILLEGAL flow of firearms into Canada.

 

[Old Sweat]

That post is also three-and-a-half years old.

More importantly, in my previous existence I worked with ATF, DEA, US Customs and other agencies in conjunction with the RCMP, Canada Customs, etc in national security issues of mutual concern. There never was any attempt by any American agency to dictate policy or tell us what to do.