Does NBC New York Reporter Believe in Checking Facts?

There is a role in the media called a “fact checker” but strangely it seems many firearms related stories in the mainstream media just accept anything said by anti-gun types as a “fact.” Case in point, this week NBC New York offered a story on how this weekend a commercial will run featuring Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City and Mayor Thomas Menino of Boston – who happen to be the founders of Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

Here is what we are talking about:

Bloomberg asserted the (recent) shooting (in New York City) made clear the importance of gun control. He added: “We had too close a brush with death tonight due to illegal guns.”

And the figures prove he’s right. Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne told me that about 85 percent of the gun crimes committed in New York City result from gun purchases made in Pennsylvania, Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, “states with comparatively lax gun laws.”

First question, where does Paul Browne get his information? And more to the point, how do the figures prove Bloomberg is right? This number is widely cited, but without a source. Second, what numbers of those are legal vs. illegal gun purchases? In other words, are these even legal purchases that take advantage of “lax gun laws” in the first place? This point is never made clear and is often very vague. Not exactly the facts now are they?

But the facts get even more twisted:

John Feinblatt, the Mayor’s chief policy adviser, told me that states with tough gun laws are unlikely to be the source of illegal guns. He noted that, in fighting gun crimes, two measures are vital: having universal background checks for gun sales and putting all such data in the FBI files. In the case of the Virginia Tech massacre, in which 33 people were killed, the gunman, Seung-hui Cho, had a mental history that indicated he was dangerous but , Feinblatt said, that was never passed on to the FBI. Some state laws on gun sales, he added “have loopholes like swiss [sic] cheese.”

Again, this is twisting the message and points. Seung-hui Cho’s ability to get a gun wasn’t because of lax gun laws, but rather a failing in the mental health system. But what “loopholes” are like “Swiss cheese” exactly? Would this be private sales? Even in New York private sales are legal, provided both parties have licenses to own the firearms.

But another point we’d like to make on facts. States with tough gun laws may not be the source of illegal guns, but it is hard to know for sure. Illegal guns aren’t exactly tracked the way commercial sales are tracked, so this is somewhat a vague point. It is clear that guns do change hands in New York and Illinois – as there is gun violence. Clearly an illegal black market operates and no amount of gun bans or gun control is going to destroy this black market. But that’s a fact that really pushes the issue – is it Mayors Against Illegal Guns or just Mayors Against Guns, because the way these guys talk it sounds like the latter.

Gun Rights Policies with John Snyder: Obama Wars Against Religion and Gun Ownership

AP and WaPo See End of “One-Gun-A-Month” as Opening Haven for Gun Runners

Review the Second Amendment of the Constitution and it says nothing along the lines of “The Right to Keep and Bear Arms and Buy Just One Gun A Month,” and yet that law has been on the books in Virginia for a while. Now that it is on the verge of being repealed, The Associated Press via The Washington Post noted this week:

A law Virginia passed a generation ago to end the states’ reputation as a haven for gun runners is on the verge of being repealed.

The story later offered this passage:

The bills to abolish the one-handgun-per-month law would end one of the legacy laws of former Gov. Doug Wilder. The Democratic governor pushed for it after Virginia became a prime supplier of guns used in crimes in major East Coast cities.

What isn’t noted is whether this was ever actually proven to be true, or did the story note that gun crime had not fallen as a result of the one-gun-per-month restriction, which only seemed to effect law-abiding citizens in Virginia –but of course those are facts that get in the way of anti-gun bias in reporting.

NRA News: Arizona Lawmaker Proposes New Version of Bill to Allow Guns on College, University Campuses

Cam Edwards talks to State Sen. Ron Gould (R-AZ) - NRA News

Holder in the Hot Seat – Blames Lack of Gun Control

So let’s get this straight, ATF ran an operation that saw a border control agent killed, and thousands of guns were let to walk to Mexico. And how does the Attorney General see it? It is a fault of lack of gun control in the United States, reports The Washington Examiner:

“ATF’s ability to stem the flow of guns from the United States into Mexico suffers from a lack of effective enforcement tools,” Holder told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee today. “Unfortunately, in 2011, a majority of House Members – including all members of the majority on this Committee – voted to keep law enforcement in the dark when individuals purchase multiple semi-automatic rifles, shotguns, and long guns – like AK-47s – in gun shops in four southwest-border states.”

No one this guy won’t step down, he seems to actually believe the things that come out of his mouth!

NJ Assembly Committee Puts Hold on Ammo Ban Legislation

NRA – ILA:

Thanks to the overwhelming number of phone calls and e-mails from dedicated NRA members, the New Jersey Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee decided to hold Assembly Bill 588 for further study.

While this fight is not over, this is a big win for gun owners in the Garden State. During Monday’s hearing, Assembly Bill 1013 passed in the Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee with amendments that attempt to address gun owner concerns and has been referred to the Assembly Appropriations Committee where further amendments may occur.

Law-abiding gun owners can breathe a sigh of relief due to A588 being held for further study by the Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee. Sponsored by Assemblyman L. Grace Spencer (D-29), A588 has been confused for police safety legislation aimed at armor-piercing ammunition (which is already prohibited under federal and state law). Read more

BBC News Notes: Colombia experiments with Bogota gun ban

Gun control say anti-gun types will make a safer world. So maybe we have a test subject in Bogota, Colombia, which is banning firearms reports the BBC this week. But what’s this… some are already saying that it won’t reduce crime? The BBC noted:

And critics of Mr (Mayor Gustavo) Petro’s ban have pointed out that most homicides involving firearms are committed with non-registered weapons, most likely smuggled into the country by left-wing guerrillas and the criminal bands that control drug trafficking.

So let’s see if we understand. The city is going to ban guns, keeping guns out of the hands of law-abiding citizens, but critics note that guns are smuggled into the country and are used by criminals.

This should be required reading by groups such as Mayors Against Illegal Guns and The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

Orlando Sentinel Editorial Misses the Point on “Guns rule”

This week writing for the Orlando Sentinel, Leonard Pitts offered his thoughts, “For worse or worst, guns rule.” He writes:

In a democracy, nothing is supposed to matter more than the will of the people.

So it was painful to watch last week as the will of the people was overturned and one of Arizona’s duly elected representatives was forced from office. It wasn’t a recall vote or scandal that did it. No, the people’s will was overturned by a gun.

Here we go, another anti-gun type who somehow thinks the “will of the people” must be for gun control, but somehow the gun lobby has too much power. The irony here is that he even says, “In a democracy, nothing is supposed to matter more than the will of the people,” so why doesn’t he accept that the will of the people is for their Second Amendment rights?

And normally we don’t respond to editorials, but Pitts is ripe with errors, half-truths and utter misunderstandings. So much so we’ll take them one at a time. He notes:

This episode (in Tucson) joins a long list of elections overturned and social movements derailed by men with guns, as in the shootings of Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley, Huey Long, Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, the Kennedy brothers, George Wallace, George Moscone, Harvey Milk andMartin Luther King Jr. Somehow, people who should never have guns never have trouble getting them. John Kennedy’s assassin, a disaffected former Marine who had once defected to the Soviet Union, bought his by mail order. King’s assassin, a wanted fugitive, bought his over the counter.

Today, you cannot easily buy a gun mail order without a Federal Firearms License. Either Pitt doesn’t know this or chose to ignore this fact, but it does deflate his argument. Likewise, background checks are now done when buying a “gun over the counter.” The vast majority of crimes are committed with “illegal guns,” so how does changing the laws as they have been changed really going to stop gun violence?

Likewise, Pitt doesn’t note the cases where guns have been used in self defense? He chooses to ignore such examples as well. Not exactly the fairest argument but we’ll move on. Pitts adds:

After all, the solution here is not rocket science.

We need meaningful background checks on all gun purchases — no loopholes. A mentally unstable man should not have legal access to a gun, period.

Actually we have these background checks in place, with a few exceptions. But it wasn’t actually a loophole that allowed Jared Lee Loughner to obtain a gun. It was a failure in the mental health system, not the background check system. So here we agree, a mentally unstable man should not have access to a gun, but why blame gun laws when he did everything legally?

Pitts also adds:

We need to ban fully automatic weapons from private use. The hunter who needs a gun that fires hundreds of rounds a minute isn’t much of a hunter. Read more

New Jersey Second Amendment Society Supports Starbucks on February 14th

Manahawkin, NJ – The New Jersey Second Amendment Society announced it will be joining many national freedom and rights groups in supporting Starbucks on February 14th.

“While some organizations have chosen to boycott Starbucks for their policies,” says Frank Jack Fiamingo, President of the NJ2AS, “we choose to support those businesses that support freedom and individual choice rather than yielding to the desires of the few who would strip law abiding citizens of rights under the guise of safety.”

Fiamingo continues, “Unlike a number of large restaurant entities Starbucks has chosen to defer to local laws regarding the right to keep and bear arms on their premises. This support of the rights of the law abiding people patronizing Starbucks is to be commended. We are pleased to see Starbucks take this common sense approach rather than cowering to the whims of the many anti freedom groups that choose to focus on the Second Amendment as their avenue for more intrusive and nanny state government and corporate policies.”

The New Jersey Second Amendment Society (http://www.NJ2AS.com) is a no compromise defender of the right to keep and bear arms formed to promote those rights protected under the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States within the legislature and the community.

NRA News: The Gun Store’s Chris Irwin Expresses His Disappointment with the UFC and Fox

Cam Edwards talks to Chris Irwin from The Gun Store in Las Vegas

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