Townhall.com Gives Peak of Obama Feature Story
Chris Field previewed this month’s issue of TownHall on the magazine’s website, offering a peak at the expose on President Obama and the ATF’s Fast and Furious. Field writes:
“Thousands of guns have been sold to Mexican drug cartels under orders from the Obama Justice Department. Now that Americans have been killed by the department’s failed operation, the White House is blaming law-abiding gun shops for its deadly scandal. But was that the administration’s plan all along?”
This will be one article we think every gun owner should read.
Who Guards the Guards: Former Officer Accused of Selling Illegal Guns
Seattle PI noted this week that a former Bremerton police officer has been accused of illegally selling guns, while his lawyer maintains, “it’s largely a paperwork problem.”
Roy Alloway retired last year and was indicted by a federal grand jury after agents raided his house and he was charged with “unlawfully dealing in firearms at gun shows.”
This one is just an example of a worst of both worlds cases. Either we have an innocent man who was charged for selling guns, and faced a raid on his home by federal agents, or we have a bad cop who sold guns illegally. Either way it is a lose for law-abiding citizens and gun owners.
Wall Street Journal: “Gun Shows Don’t Increase Crime”
This week The Wall Street Journal ran a story titled, “Gun Shows Don’t Increase Crime, Study Finds.” The paper noted:
“Researchers looked at data involving 3,400 gun shows in California and Texas, from 1994 to 2004. Those states were chosen not only for their size—they account for nearly 20% of all gun deaths in the United States—but also because they take opposite approaches to regulating gun shows: California demands background checks and a 10-day waiting period while Texas is essentially regulation-free.”
Interesting numbers to be sure. The paper added:
“Previous studies have come to conflicting conclusions about the link between gun shows and guns used in crimes. Very few criminals acquire their guns at gun shows, surveys have found; on the other hand, a substantial number of guns that wind up on the black market (14%, in one study) were first sold at gun shows.”
Here is a point seldom mentioned in the mainstream media: “very few criminals acquire their guns at gun shows.” To hear those clamoring for background checks and speaking of the nefarious so-called “gun show loophole,” you’d think that gun shows were frequented by sinister criminals and gangsters.
Even the number of 14 percent of guns that end up on the black market – and only was cited in one study – seems fairly small. The vast majority of guns remain in the legal market. Let’s see if the anti-gun groups respond to these findings.
Study: The Short-Term and Localized Effect of Gun Shows: Evident from California and Texas
Media Only Tells One Third of the Story
The tragic killing of a federal agent in Mexico last month is being used by the media to advocate new gun control laws. One of the weapons used in the ambush murder of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jaime Zapata and the wounding of his co-worker was a Romanian made Draco 7-62, legally bought at a Fort Worth gun show. The buyer, Otillo Osorio then allegedly resold the weapon illegally to drug dealers.
What we aren’t hearing from the media is that two other firearms were used in the ambush and have yet been traced. It is possible that these firearms may have come from a source outside the United States.
Osorio and his brother Ranferi were caught with dozens of guns with the serial numbers filed off, so the other two weapons may have been purchased in the United States but this hasn’t been verified yet. The F.B.I. is good at tracing firearms sold in the U.S. and has excellent techniques that can lift a serial number, even after it appears to have been filed off.
Most of the media hasn’t mentioned that two weapons were used in the crime but haven’t been traced. If one or both are traced to a gun show sale it is almost certain that the media will jump on this to advocate closing down gun shows. But if they can’t be traced, or are traced to another country, it is almost certain we won’t hear about it.
HutchNews.com: Gaps in guns checks
Writing for HutchNews.com, Davina Jamison of the Hutchinson News Editorial Board noted that there are gaps in gun checks. She states:
“Without mandatory background checks, gun shows attract buyers who could not otherwise purchase a gun.”
Is this true? One point that is often missed in this argument is that it is already illegal for convicted felons to go to gun shows and even handle guns. It is illegal for them to attempt to buy the guns. Yet, requiring background checks would put the burden on the law-abiding sellers. Is that even fair?
But then she notes:
“This is not going to end the problem of guns getting into the wrong hands. Gun owners can sell firearms without a check, and the criminal element of guns that are stolen or purchased illegally on the street remains.”
That’s not all, gun shows allow for private sellers – but in fact many are dealers and background checks are done. However, if there were suddenly background checks at all guns show, criminals could still make deals in the parking lots or from other individuals. So here she is right. A background check won’t end the problem of guns getting into wrong hands.
But what it will do is make private sales at gun shows harder. It will provide another level of bureaucracy that will increase costs to gun owners. Maybe that is the point after all from the anti-gun zealots.
Firing Back: Bloomberg Blames Congress – Where Does New York City End?
Where does New York City end? Isn’t the border on the Hudson River? Apparently, the honorable Mayor Michael Bloomberg seems to think he knows what is best for the rest of the country. Not only did he send a team out to Arizona gun shows, post videos (heavily edited mind you) online and even draft a post for the Huffington Post, but he is even blaming Congress for gun sale loophole.
In an article for the good old Huff and Puff, Bloomberg’s actions were described:
“Citing findings from a recent investigation of Arizona gun-show sales, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg offered a harsh indictment Monday of Congress’ failure to close gun-control loopholes that allow individuals to buy weapons from private sellers without a background check.”
“Gun control loopholes” – could that be a new statement we hear? We’re also seeing “gun sale loopholes.” In other words, Bloomberg isn’t looking to just close the nefarious “gun show loophole,” but we think he’ll aim at all private sales of firearms – something that could prove difficult.
But what is so bothersome is that Bloomberg is over reaching his authority. He’s mayor of a city, albeit the nation’s largest, and that’s it. He’s not in Congress and he doesn’t even represent the people of the State of New York, just the people of the City of New York. And yet, he’d like to change the laws not only for the 20 million in the New York area but for the 350 million throughout the country. So where does he think New York ends? More importantly, where does he think his power ends?
Is NPR Doing the Pushing?
In a piece for NPR it is noted that there are renewed calls for gun control. But is the story titled “Obama Pushed to Address Gun Control” part of the pushing? It offers this insight:
“President Obama has been under increasing pressure to say something — anything — about whether he intends to push for stricter gun control measures in the wake of the Jan. 8 massacre in Tucson.”
The story goes on to reference New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s so-called “gun show sting” in Arizona and notes coverage in The Washington Post. But are real American really pushing for gun control? Or is part of the push from NPR and the media?
NY1 Says Gun Shows Still Selling Guns
In a news story for NY1 (the local news channel available to cable subscribers in the Big Apple), it was reported that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s group Mayors Against Illegal Guns attended some gun shows in Arizona. To everyone’s surprise gun dealers are selling guns. The story adds:
“An undercover sting by Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s coalition against illegal guns revealed that gun dealers in Arizona are still selling high-powered semi-automatics to buyers who said they probably could not pass a background check.”
We have several problems with this story. First, what is meant by “high-powered?” Once again, the media uses this term blindly, never defining and never explaining what it means. Second, they use it inaccurately as this passage indicates:
“They were able to buy nine-millimeter semi automatics with high-capacity magazines – similar to what was used in the Tucson shooting that left six dead and more than a dozen injured.”
A 9mm is not “high powered.” Are we nitpicking? Absolutely we are, because if the story gets these facts wrong it loses all credibility. But let’s look at the very nature of this “sting.”
The story says, “probably could not pass a background check.” Well, could they or would they not pass a background check? In a court of law you are either guilty or not guilty. It is beyond a reasonable doubt. What we know for a fact is that the authors of the story got the details wrong, notably that a 9mm is not “high-powered.” There is no probably wrong, they were wrong.
So how do we trust the reporting or the sting?
CSM: Vast Majority Support Background Checks?
In an editorial this week titled “Obama’s small step to slow the flow of assault weapons to Mexico,” The Christian Science Monitor called for again closing the so-called “gun show loophole.” The paper offered this thought:
“And might not gun shows also finally be brought into the criminal background-check system, to close down that loophole – which gunrunners lope through? The vast majority of Americans support background checks on the sale of all guns, even those at gun shows.”
But what is “vast majority” that CSM – or anyone in the mainstream media – talks about? A “vast majority” would imply over 66 percent of Americans want the loophole – if there is any such thing in fact – closed. The truth is that more Americans are against more gun control according to a recent Gallup.com poll that came out just before the Thanksgiving holiday. Few in the MSM, including CSM, picked up on those findings.
So instead outlets such as CSM think they know what the majority really wants. They don’t.
The Baltimore Sun Questions “Private Sales”
In an editorial titled “Awash in illicit guns – Our view: Only Congress can stanch the flow of illegal weapons into Maryland,” the editors at The Baltimore Sun note come to the conclusion that private sales, including those at gun shows, are the source of illegal guns. The paper also calls for the reinstatement of the so-called “assault weapons ban.”
The editorial offers this choice conclusion:
“Although the gun show loophole which serves no legitimate interest and needlessly endangers communities and law-abiding citizens is the most obvious opportunity for the federal government to play a constructive role in reducing criminals’ access to guns, there is no reason it should not also be able to reach a consensus on reviving the assault weapon ban and limiting the number of handguns that can be sold at one time, which would help reduce gun trafficking. The only bill presently before Congress would actually weaken rather than strengthen the federal government’s ability to monitor illegal gun sales. When Congress returns to Washington, we hope it will summon the courage to begin reducing the flood of illegal weapons into states like Maryland that have tough gun laws on the books but still find themselves at the mercy of neighboring states where lax regulation allows criminals to buy all the weapons they want with impunity.”
