Well this will make the anti-gun crowd happy.From NYC.gov:
The undercover investigation sent professional investigators to seven gun shows in Nevada, Ohio, and Tennessee to determine whether sellers would engage in two types of illegal transactions. The first involves private sellers selling guns to people who they thought could not pass a federal background check. The second involves licensed dealers conducting illegal straw sales, which are sales made to accomplices posing as buyers in order to help the real buyer avoid a criminal background check.
“The gun show loophole is a deadly serious problem – and this undercover operation exposes just how pervasive and serious it is,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “We are sending a copy of our detailed report Gun Show Undercover to every member of the United States Congress. We’ll work with Congressional leaders to pass legislation closing the gun show loophole. This is an issue that has nothing to do with the Second Amendment; it’s about keeping guns from criminals, plain and simple.”
Now the folks at Crooks and Liars are comparing this to the ACORN video sting, because, you know, importing underage girls to use for prostitution is okay and the whole undercover video thing was so unfair.Most sensible people would agree that criminals shouldn't be allowed to purchase guns at gun shows and that any loophole should be closed. No argument here. In this day and age we ought to be able to do instant background checks which would solve the problem, no? There are a lot of legitimate collectors and dealers at gun shows and such events offer an opportunity for collectors and aficionados to meet.
Bloomberg writes:
Congress should pass legislation requiring that all sales at gun shows be subject to criminal background checks -- a measure that has the support of Sen. John McCain, President Obama and 83% of gun owners. It is also time for Congress to support the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) with the resources it needs to crack down on illegal sales at gun shows.
The vast majority of gun buyers at gun shows are law abiding citizens. Closing the gun show loophole and increasing resources to help ATF enforce the laws will not detract from anyone's Second Amendment rights. What it will do is send the message that criminals are not welcome at gun shows.
But what you will see now is the paranoid left calling for the shut down of all gun shows. Case in point. You want to enter crazyville, just get into a discussion on gun rights with someone. Especially someone on the internet.
No, Bloomberg isn't calling for an end to gun shows, but the moonbats will. Just close the loophole, folks.
I am a firearms collector, and I do shoot firearm. Some people play golf, some people hug trees, I collect and shoot firearms.
ReplyDeleteMy victim is piece of paper that I place anywhere for 15 to 300 yards away (depending on what type of firearm I'm shooting).
As a collector I have attended gun shows and have made purchases at them. I have yet to have seen a criminal coming in to buy a gun at a gun show.
I'm going to use some logic here, so I know I will lose some liberals at this point.
Why would a guy on crack go to a gun show and spend is crack money on a gun. He breaks into someone's car or house to get the gun he needs to commit his crime, so he can buy crack.
I'm calling B.S. on this whole thing and am saying that it's a red herring to spark another gun grab. It won't work.
ReplyDeleteMy first engagement in the gun control debate was shortly after Columbine... and what discourages me is the same arguments from both sides being presented over and over and over again.
ReplyDeleteFrankly... I'm bored with the debate now. But I feel guilty being bored because I do support the 2nd Amendment in all respects -- personal and national defense -- but DADGUMMIT, can't either side come up with something new???
I'm a shooter myself, and have made several of my buys at gun shows. I've seen kids there that shouldn't have been; I've seen them turned away time and again by the sellers.
ReplyDeleteI know plenty of gang members; some were childhood friends, some are blood, some I just grew up around. Product of living in certain neighborhoods. I can tell you with a great deal of certainty that gun shows are not the source of 99% of the weapons gangs use. Most of the time, they get them through the same distributor they get their coke or heroin from. Those guys, the Mexicans, Colombians, Chinese, Russians, Nigerians, Jamaicans, all have access to cheap surplus firearms that have little to nothing to do with gun shows. They'll follow cops home, the Latin Kings once jacked a National Guard armory in the mid-eighties, point being, I'm sure that *some* criminals buy guns at gun shows. But organized crime? No. And in that sense, any gun buyer *could* become a criminal, but a little bit of uncertainty is a fair price for freedom.
G.R.
DEAD ON. The little Sur Califas and Maravilla punks from where I grew up get old Mexico-made Colts from the Cartels or Eme for $50 a pop, because the major drug organizations have plenty of modern tech and just sell off the old pieces to keep their storehouses clear. The FBI has said Russians and Chinese like to sell AK's manufactured back home right off the boats at the docks, LA and NY. Gangs buy 'em by the box.