Who Guards the Guards: Former NYC Transit Officer Faces Federal Weapons Charges
A police officer turned furniture store owner faces federal weapons charges for allegedly attempting to sell a handgun and semi-automatic rifle to a convicted felon. The Albany Times Union reports the Stephen Dorfman was arrested after reportedly selling the firearms to Lance Potter, a convicted felon. Read more
Bronx Borough President Calls for Stricter Gun Laws
In a nearly level headed editorial titled “Continuing Our Fight Against Illegal Guns” for The Huffington Post, Ruben Diaz Jr., Bronx Borough President in New York City, called for efforts to take illegal guns off the street and to reduce crime. He cited the problem of gangs violence, but then made one really bold statement that truly shows how naïve these calls from politicians really are. Read more
NYC Police Commissioner Comments Following Harlem Shootout
As a former resident of South Harlem this reporter lived only about 30 blocks from this past weekend’s shootout that occurred early Sunday morning. During this confrontation police officers fired 46 shots, with five people hit and one killed. This is a disturbing fact of life in some parts of the country, and while an isolated event, the words spoken by New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly make us actually question the gun laws in the Big Apple once again. Read more
Liberal Celebrity Site Gawker Has Problem with “Hidden Guns”
Celebrity news website Gawker posted a story, which picked up news reports, that among the individuals listed on a newly released New York City gun permit-holder list include Roger Ailes and Sean Hannity. Both reportedly have “concealed carry permits,” something that isn’t exactly the easiest thing to get. As we’ve reported there does seem to be a double standard in New York City when it comes to issuing permits. Read more
Gun Collecting: Machine Guns That Don’t Fire
- A non-firing MG-34 still looks very cool.
It might seem like a strange thing to buy; a machine gun that doesn’t actually shoot. But for collectors this really isn’t such an odd thing. Consider that military airplanes in museums don’t exactly fly, and those tanks you’ll see outside National Guard posts aren’t going to be doing any fighting any time soon. So while it may seem like heresy to the faithful gun collector, one alternative when it comes to machine guns is actually getting one that is “non-gun” or “dummy gun.” But there is a lot more to it. Read more
NY Daily News Thinks Buybacks Could Solve Chicago’s Crime
In responding to the SCOTUS ruling, Errol Louis of The New York Daily News offered an editorial that looked at both sides of the issue. Louis also looks at the roots of Chicago’s crime problem, noting that the city’s efforts to break up the major drug-gangs have left a free-for-all scenario in its place. This is seldom understood by the media, and hardly reported.
However, Louis believes that churches can help solve the problem, in part by offering gun buybacks:
“New York has seen churches play a key role in anti-violence initiatives. An NYPD/district attorney gun buyback program at four Bronx churches this year netted 1,200 weapons in a single weekend, and a group of Brooklyn churches this month will serve as sanctuaries for people with outstanding arrest warrants who want to surrender peacefully.”
While we don’t see any problems with church groups providing moral and even spiritual support to these communities, the idea that gun buybacks will do anything is nonsense. There is little proof that any of those 1,200 weapons netted in New York City were ever on the streets. This part of the argument is just wrong, and it is a shame because many of Louis’s other arguments were really that far off base.
Huff and Puff Plays Loose With the Facts
We don’t expect The Huffington Post to be unbiased on the issue of firearms, nor do we expect them to be completely factual on the issue either. They didn’t let us down. In responding to the Supreme Court ruling, Josh Sugarmann offers the commentary: “McDonald Gun Case: More Deaths, Unending Litigation.”
OK, so much for anything but an editorial. But we should add that Sugarmann is also executive director of the Violence Policy Center in Washington, D.C. so we shouldn’t expect anything but anti-gun rhetoric.He offers the usual anti-gun rant, and that’s fine. But he also plays loose with the facts, noting the situation in D.C.:
“And contrary to the claims of the gun lobby, America’s cities are not waiting expectantly to exercise this newfound right offered by the Court. According to DC Police Chief Cathy Lanier, in the two years since the 2008 Heller decision overturning DC’s handgun ban, only 900 firearms have been registered in the District that otherwise could not have been registered before the ruling. The citizens of DC have thus far rejected the wrong-headed notion that more guns make us safer.”
What Sugarmann fails to note is that D.C. requires gun owners to take training courses (which cost money), spend time on the firing range (more money) and spend at least four hours in a classroom for course on gun safety (even still more money). On top of that the city has a weapons registry program that requires everyone to go through multiple background checks and get fingerprinted. Imagine if the process to be fingerprinted was required for anything beyond guns?
Civil libertarians would be up in arms, and liberals would call it an invasion of privacy. But this is what D.C. requires. And… all of the above, as in New York City, costs money. Now in fairness, the D.C. fees are less than New York City fees, but it costs about $60 in fees for handguns and $48 in fees for rifles and shotguns. Now this doesn’t include the costs you’ll have to pay to a certified range instructor.
Whether or not you agree with this being necessary to obtain a gun is not the issue, but what is the issue is that Sugarmann never notes these requirements. Could this be why only 900 firearms have been registered? And finally, do you ever think criminals will ever bother? We don’t believe they would.
Numbers Not Reported by MSM
The mainstream media certainly appears to have an anti-gun bias. How else can you explain the fact that the findings of a Harris Interactive poll aren’t getting much coverage? According to Personal Liberty Digest, the poll was conducted last month and found that only 45 percent of respondents actually want stricter gun control, down from 49 percent in 2008.
For those who like to pay attention to such things, 45 percent is a minority number, as in less than half of those responding favor more gun control. This is in contrast to what politicians and liberals in the media often try to imply when they say, “most Americans want stricter gun laws.” In other words they’re lying because 45 percent doesn’t constitute most.
But here are some other numbers that folks like Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York City, or Richard Daley, mayor of Chicago, probably don’t want you to hear:
“Moreover, slightly more than 30 percent of Americans say they have a gun at home today, for an estimated 42 million households. Furthermore, a staggering 80 percent believe people should have access to rifles or shotguns as well as handguns (74 percent).”
Aren’t politicians supposed to represent what the people want? Apparently to anti-gun zealots that doesn’t seem to matter.
Who Guards the Guards: Soldier Ships Guns From Iraq
While the media continually notes the “iron pipeline” to Mexico, where American guns supposedly end up in the hands of the drug cartels, or the other “iron pipeline” in which guns from the south end up in New York City, there is another “iron pipeline” that gets far less attention. This is the importation of illegal guns into the United States from Iraq. This week GoErie.com reported that James Lewis Bindeman, a sergeant in the Army National Guard, had been shipping guns home while serving overseas.
According to the report this included 11 weapons in total. The story noted that the weapons were in a crate with a false bottom:
“The cache contained an AK-47, a rifle with a 50-round drum, five 9 mm pistols and four other handguns, according to court records.”
What is interesting is that Assistant U.S. Attorney Christine Sanner was quoted as saying the secret compartment was “pretty clearly the wrong way to bring firearms back to the United States.” In fact, we can’t agree more… but to add that special permits are required for the importation of guns! So it comes as a shock that Bindeman has plead guity to one felony count of entry goods by means of false statements! The news posted added this choice bit too:
“With the plea, Bindeman, a sergeant in the Army National Guard, admitted that while he was deployed in Iraq, he hid the guns in the crate and shipped them from Iraq to the Readiness Center in Cambridge Springs.
“Why he shipped the guns and what he intended to do with them was not explained at the hearing.”
We’ll be watching closely to see what fines or penalties Bindeman faces, but this clearly is another example of how illegal guns do come into this country.
Bloomberg’s New Proposal on Guns Won’t Affect Rich and Famous
Does Michael Bloomberg, New York City’s controversial mayor, really hate guns? Well, it sounds more and more like he hates the idea of the “little people” owning guns. This is made quite clear in an article from The World Journal Institute Times Observer, which notes that Bloomberg hopes to streamline the gun registration process. The changes would supposedly make it “easier” to get a gun, but is this really the case. According the story it sounds like someone with more money or fame might find this to be an easier process:
“Westside Pistol and Rifle Range on 20th Street, boasts one of very few gun ranges in the five boroughs of New York City. Westside’s rules and regulations are strict and first-time members must pass through numerous checks and safety tutorials before they are allowed to fire a weapon on the range. For Westside, an establishment frequented by police officers and occasionally celebrity personalities, following the current rules makes Mayor Bloomberg’s proposed changes irrelevant.
“It’s a similar story for Holland and Holland (H&H), a high-end rifle and shotgun manufacturer on 40th street in Mid-town Manhattan. Enclosed within a finely polished wood-panel suite on the 19th floor, H&H isn’t worried about the new proposal. One of H&H’s sales associates informed the WJI Times that their high quality firearms are very different from the sort of guns New York’s gun law changes will affect, noting that: “Our cheapest second-hand shotgun goes for $6000 at minimum.’”
So this does sound to us that the wealthy can buy guns because they can afford the high-end stuff. But the average Joe will probably still be left facing a bureacratic nightmare.
