And people wonder why gun owners usually view the ATF as an adversary

This one came in via email from the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. I’ve verified the quotes on the Houston Chronicle’s website.

Prepare to be PO’d.

“If it wasn’t for criminals, there wouldn’t be a gun industry in this country,” Nunziato said, adding that the claims of the NRA and other gun-rights groups that they are protecting law-abiding citizens with their policies are false.

“The only people it’s protecting are criminals.”

Nunziatio is Gerald Nunziato, the former head of ATF’s National Tracing Center. Since he left government employ, he’s become a partner in Crime Gun Solutions, which is a private concern that seems to specialize in hiring ex-AFT agents.

The entire article is full of this sort of nonsense. If you’re a concerned gun owner, you should read it no matter how angry it makes you. Some more jewels:

…the NRA is obstructing the ability of law enforcement to crack down on the dealers who sell weapons to criminals.

…
Also troubling, said Ron Schuman, another former ATF official who works for Crime Gun Solutions, is the NRA’s attempt to protect the gun industry from lawsuits that could help shut down gun dealers whose firearms routinely make their way to criminals.

…

But the former ATF officials say the NRA’s policies actually protect criminal gun purchases because they are the bread and butter of the U.S. gun industry. Since a gun lasts about 100 years, most law-abiding gun owners buy only one or a few in their lifetime, Nunziato said.Criminals, on the other hand, buy new firearms every few years, he said.Remember, this is what “they” think of us. We’re equated with criminals in their minds. Don’t ever forget it.