Eric Holder, the first sitting U.S. Attorney General ever found in criminal contempt of Congress, regrets that he was unable to strip Americans of the firearms that the citizens would find most useful in defending themselves from tyrannical government officials such as himself:

If there’s one thing that Eric Holder regrets during his time as attorney general for the United States, it’s his failure to press through a Second Amendment crackdown on the heels of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that left 20 children and six adults dead, he said.

“I think the inability to pass reasonable gun safety laws after the Newtown massacre is something that weighs heavily on my mind,” Mr. Holder said during an interview with CNN.

He was speaking of the White House push to pass a federal background check mandate for all commercial gun sales, as well as an outright ban on so-called assault weapons and large-capacity ammunition magazines, in the wake of the December 2012 school tragedy.

Curiously, Mr. Holder had very little to say about Operation Fast and Furious,  Operation Gangwalker, or any of the other alleged ATF gun-walking plots that sent tens of thousands of weapons to foreign narco-terrorists and domestic gang members in an apparent scheme to manufacture violent crime to justify the gun control laws he so desperately championed.

Holder announced his plans to retire as Attorney General after watchdog organization Judicial Watch sued and won access to a list of documents related to Operation Fast & Furious (the best know of an estimated ten gun-walking operations) between the Obama White House and Department of Justice.  The Administration attempted to block access to the list using Executive Privilege.

Holder’s focus on semi-automatic rifles had very little to do with keeping American citizens safe. Long guns of any kind are very rarely used in crimes. Likewise, standard capacity magazines (“high capacity” is entirely a political term, typically and arbitrarily set at 7-10 rounds depending upon the whims of lawmakers) do not typically play a role in criminal acts.

These very popular firearms—AR-15 pattern rifles are the most popular rifles sold in the United States year after year—are highly prized by citizens for being highly accurate, low-recoiling, user configurable, and adaptable for a wide range of activities with relatively simple parts swaps.

Mr. Holder and his allies on the progressive far left have long desired to outlaw this popular firearms because their characteristics make them extremely useful for self defense not just against criminals (most experts regard the AR-15 platform in .223 Remington/5.56 NATO as one of the best home defense weapons made), but also against a bloated federal government that is becoming increasingly lawless, tyrannical and overbearing under his blatantly partisan and possibly criminal leadership.