Gun Shows & More Lies from Mayor Bloomberg

[shadowrider]

New York, NY --(AmmoLand.com)- This week, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s gun control advocacy group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG), began running television ads urging Congress to “close the gun show loophole.”

Page 34 of MAIG’s Blueprint for Federal Action on guns (My comment - For a synopsis on this document, go to this link http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/02/AR2009100205150.html) says that the group supports H.R. 2324 and S. 843 — bills that would require NICS checks on private sales of firearms at gun shows, and which also contain provisions designed to drive gun shows out of business.

MAIG’s ads claim “The Columbine school massacre … killers got their guns because of a gap in the law, called the ‘gun show loophole.’” And in a related press release, MAIG claims “All four guns used in the Columbine shootings were bought from private sellers at gun shows.”

The claims are lies, of course.
For starters, one of the Columbine criminals’ four firearms was not acquired at a gun show. More to the point, however, the other three firearms, while bought at a gun show, were bought for the criminals by a straw purchaser — a woman who was not prohibited from possessing or acquiring firearms, and who therefore would have passed a NICS check, if she had bought the firearms from a licensed dealer.

About:
Established in 1871, the National Rifle Association is America’s oldest civil rights and sportsmen’s group. Four million members strong, NRA continues its mission to uphold Second Amendment rights and to advocate enforcement of existing laws against violent offenders to reduce crime. The Association remains the nation’s leader in firearm education and training for law-abiding gun owners, law enforcement and the military. Visit: www.nra.org

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[Katya Mullethov]

1. And they let her go

Kick , recommend , and the requisite dig at catch and release corrections .

[Hoopla Phil]

2. K and R and Thank you!

[Biker13]

3. K&R

nt

[Callisto32]

4. I love the prohibitionist mindset.

Anything that happens to not be prohibited becomes a "loophole" or "gap in the law." They are terrified that there may be some aspect of life where they aren't imposing their will on everybody else.

It's sick, really.

[russ1943]

5. The annual Robyn didn't commit any crime, post.

Actually all four of the firearms possessed and used by the shooters at the Columbine school massacre were acquired at a gun show.
One (TEC DC-9 9mm semiautomatic pistol) was purchased by Marc Manes at a gun show. Three (two shotguns and a carbine) were purchased by Robyn Anderson, at a gun show.
Which one of the four firearms was not acquired at a gun show?

This can be a teachable moment/occasion.


Now we’re all familiar with the oft repeated “Special Report”
Bureau of Justice Statistics, Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional Facilities
Firearm Use by Offenders which spells out that; “In 1997 among State inmates possessing a gun, fewer than 2%
bought their firearm at a flea market or gun show”. http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/fuo.pdf

That fewer than 2% (1.7% actually) is spewed out in this forum as if it means something. Now what does it really mean?
Let’s use those two assholes that massacred so many at Columbine. Just suppose (pretend) they hadn’t killed themselves and were
Interviewed in a Survey of Inmates as to how they acquired the firearms they used in the crime that resulted in their imprisonment (before they were executed).
Many would say, of the four firearms, three were from the friends or family category, (Robyn Anderson) and the one bought from Marc Manes could be categorized as Street/illegal source since Manes did time for selling the handgun to minors. The gun show category wouldn’t even register. Yet the fact is, “All four guns used in the Columbine shootings were bought from private sellers at gun shows” just as you noted MAIG’s ad claims. Now eleven years later it is well known and common knowledge that all four firearms were sold at gun shows.
The obvious point is, that all or any part of the percentage of guns used by inmates could have come thru gun shows and still show up in the 78.8% categorized as from family, friends, a street buy, or an illegal source, just like those used at Columbine.

As to the term straw purchase your post contains a description of the elements involved in what is commonly referred to as a straw purchase. The Federal Law however, requires a component necessary for prosecution which Robyn Anderson did not commit, she did not deal with an FFL and did not fill out a form 4473. Robyn Anderson (not in any generic sense but very specifically) did not commit the Federal crime ATF calls a “straw purchase” and did not commit any crime much less a felony, when she bought firearms at a gun show which were used by the perpetrators of the Columbine school massacre. Think about it. Do you really think that if there was any Federal, State or local law they could possibly have prosecuted her for they wouldn’t have? Of course they would have. At the time law enforcement community was out for blood, they would have hung her from the town square if they could have found any violation.