Who Guards the Guards: NYPD Officer Pleads Guilty of Gun Smuggling
This past weekend New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg made his case for stricter gun laws, but we ask would they do any good if those trusted to have guns break the law? The Associated Press via The Wall Street Journal noted this week that Brooklyn NYPD officer William Masso could face five to six years in prison for gun smuggling!
He reportedly attempted to a cache of firearms that included “three M-16 rifles, one shotgun, 16 handguns,” as well as slot machines and “thousands of cartons of cigarettes, along with counterfeit merchandise.” But even worse, is the fact that Masso was “recruiting other law enforcement officers to join the scheme.”
This makes us wonder if Mayors Against Illegal Guns shouldn’t look closer to home instead of targeting distant gun shows?
Patch.com Piece Tries to Tie Gun Buybacks and Lower Crime Together
Much of the country has seen a decline in crime, while gun sales continue to soar. And yet this week Patch.com noted that Brooklyn held a gun buyback, in which “over 100 firearms were surrendered to the NYPD,” and noted that crime is down.
The article, titled, “Brooklyn Sees Lowest Murder Rate Since 1963” offered this passage:
The NYPD/Clergy Gun Buy-Back program, which has been running since 2008, has helped remove 7,600 weapons from the streets.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Brooklyn is now safer, and he has statistics to prove it.
We have to ask, does the gun buyback program have anything to do with it? Maybe a tiny small part, but couldn’t it be that many of the neighborhoods in Brooklyn have been transformed by gentrification also in no small part the reason for the drop in crime. There has been a renaissance in many parts of Brooklyn over the past decade.
It is just interesting that this aspect hasn’t been addressed.
Gothamist Notes Crime Guns in NYC From Virginia
Once again the media is giving lip service to the message of Mayors of Illegal Guns head honcho and NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, suggesting that NYC’s problems are because of lax gun laws in other states.
Numerous outlets reported that the NYPD has found caches of guns throughout Harlem, belonging to the so-called “Goodfellas” gang. And without missing a beat some in the media blamed Virginia. Gothamist noted:
“The gang—who allegedly imported, sold and used weapons including semi-automatic pistols, revolvers, assault weapons, a TEC-9 machine pistol and a Chinese SKS military semi-automatic rifle—got the majority of their guns from Virginia, which is where a majority of the city’s illegal guns originate.”
Is this really a lax gun law problem or a crime problem? What is to stop these gangs from just having the guns smuggled from China or other sources? Clearly NYC’s strict gun laws aren’t keeping guns out of the hands of criminals, just the law-abiding citizens.
Al Sharpton: “How to End Violence? Get Guns Off of the Street”
Writing for The Huffington Post this week the Rev. Al Sharpton asked the question and answered it, “How to End Violence? Get Guns Off of the Street.”
In this op-ed, which basically notes a recent shooting in New York City, he notes a few points. Let’s take a look at a few of these:
“The trafficking of guns in this country is it an astronomical level.”
“This week in NY, eight NYPD officers were charged with helping to run a gun-smuggling ring in a city already grappling with unresolved shootings.”
“Gun supporters and advocates always champion the 2nd Amendment and our right to bear arms. But this right doesn’t mean that everyone should possess a weapon. It doesn’t mean guns should be so readily accessible to the least stable among us. And it doesn’t mean that we don’t need stricter gun laws to keep them out of the hands of criminals and those with a complete disregard for human life.”
“Get guns out of the community and stop them from ever finding their way back in.”
We took those points out, because they show the problem with gun control in general. Let’s consider that if we “get guns out of the community,” it is still impossible to “stop them from ever finding their way back in.”
Sharpton defeats his own point when he states “eight NYPD officers were charged with helping to run a gun-smuggling ring.” In other words, as long as there are guns there will be those who will break the law. Perhaps Sharpton should try to address the thug mentality that exists in many of the communities that have this violence and crime. It isn’t a gun issue as much as it is a crime and lifestyle issue.
Violence did not begin with guns and getting rid of guns won’t solve the problem. As long as there is a gang problem, a lifestyle that embraces the gang culture and the criminal element there will be violence.
Finally, is the “trafficking of guns in this country” really as “an astronomical level?” We don’t see it. This is just another way that the blame for local problems is pushed to somewhere else. Typical for those who can’t see that the problems are made at the community level, not the national level.
New York Daily News Calls NYPD Smugglers “Low-rent criminals”
How are the hometown papers responding to the NYPD gun smuggling story? The New York Daily News summed it quite well we think:
“The French Connection this was not. The Dirty 30 this was not. The payoffs and protection that surrounded Serpico this was not. This was a bunch of morons who ventured into low-rent criminality separate and apart from their service in the NYPD.”
Who guards the guards indeed!
The Irony – Bloomberg Businessweek Reports on NYPD Gun Smuggling Debacle
Look up the word “ironic” in the dictionary and there should be at least a mention that Bloomberg Businessweek ran a story titled, “N.Y. Police Officers Charged With $1 Million Gun-Running Scheme.” This is because NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg – who started the business news site – has long maintained that it was states with lax gun laws that were to blame for gun crime in New York City. And now it appears that those who were meant to serve and protect are providing the guns!
The story noted:
“Federal prosecutors charged 12 men, including New York City police officers, in an alleged scheme to transport M-16 rifles and handguns with defaced serial numbers across a state line as part of a $1 million conspiracy.”
So we’ll be curious how Bloomberg (the mayor) responds.
Who Guards the Guards: Gun smuggling sting nabs 5 NYPD cops
New York City has some of the strictest gun laws anywhere in the country, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg likes to cast blame for crime on states with what he calls “lax gun laws.” However, CBS News is reporting that members of the NYPD are now involved in gun smuggling:
“Five New York City police officers are among 12 people arrested in a gun smuggling sting operation, two law enforcement officials told The Associated Press on Tuesday.”
This is certainly a disturbing story to say the least, and again proves that criminals will always have a way to obtain guns if “only the police and military” are allowed to have firearms! That notion that only police and military should be armed simply won’t work. First, it would make all of us citizens of a police state, and second as this shows criminals will have a source for guns while average citizens will not.
Staten Island Holds Gun Buyback – But Are Streets Safer?
This past weekend, a gun buyback was held in New York’s Staten Island, where Gothamist reports that “the NYPD announced that 164 guns were surrendered.” We still maintain that these are “feel good” events and nothing more when it comes to safety.
Gothamist noted the response of DA Daniel Donavan, who commented recent shooting that resulted in the injuring and loss of an eye for a toddler who was hit by a stray bullet. This is a tragedy, but the same post also noted that antique guns were handed in. Are those really being used “on the streets,” and again where is the concern over the loss of historical items?
The news site silive.com also reported the process involved:
“The process was simple and took about 15 minutes, explained the district attorney. Someone would walk in and surrender a weapon. A police officer would safeguard it and unload it if it carried bullets. The person who disposed of the weapon was given a number that coincided with the firearm. That number was then used to match a cash card to be handed to whomever dropped off the weapon.”
As the grammar police we should stress that it should be “whoever” but that’s not the point, what is the point is that this reporter either dumbed down how guns work, or doesn’t know. Can we really trust a sentence that says, “unload it if it carried bullets.”
Finally, one comment to the silive.com story, which we could not verify, noted an interesting fact:
“Not reported in this article was the turning over an SS Officer’s 1939 Luger. I think it’s safe to assume it was worth more than $200.”
This continues to be our major beef with buybacks. These events don’t really get guns off the street while at the same time manage to attract those who might otherwise get more money for their firearms if they sold to collectors or even dealers.
NY Daily News Spews Misinformation
This past weekend the City of New York had another police gun buyback, which was of course covered in detail by the local mainstream media. We were shocked by the sloppy reporting noted in The New York Daily News, which offered this thought:
“The buyback, held Saturday in Brooklyn, netted 71 guns, including a Tec-9 semi-automatic assault weapon – the kind of heavy-duty piece that would make Tony Montana smile.
“Not only was the gun fully loaded when it was turned in for cash, it was also packed with hollow-point bullets – the ammo of choice for hitmen because they are designed to make the emergency room doctor unnecessary.”
First, calling the Tec-9 an assault rifle is nonsense. It isn’t. It fires a 9x19mm Parabellum cartridge, which is hardly worthy of an assault rifle. The truth is that the Tec-9 is really just an oversized handgun, albeit one that resembles a more ominous weapon. But it is also, as we just noted, not heavy-duty.
Second, a true hitman would probably not bother using a gun as inaccurate and unreliable as a Tec-9. It is also misleading to suggest that hollow-point bullets are just used by hitmen. We don’t even know what they are suggesting by stating, “designed to make emergency room doctor unnecessary?” Is this to say that the bullets are so lethal that they kill on impact, because frankly that isn’t the case!
More on New York City Peace Angel
According to reports this week, the artist working on the Peace Angel, a 35-foot statue made of “recycled guns” would need about 100,000 firearms in total!
We can’t imagine where Lin Evola hopes to secure so many guns. Of course last week, NJ.com noted that “about 930 illegal guns were shredded… and the fragments will be melted down to cast a Peace Angel statue.”
The first statue will reportedly be 5 feet tall, but we have some problems. Were all of those 930 guns actually “illegal?” This is simple word play, but if they were handed in as a part of a buyback they may have been legally owned. But the story suggests otherwise – no doubt the intention after all.
We’re also not opposed to art, but we still have a problem that 100,000 guns could include a lot of historic pieces. We doubt that this would be just low value shotguns and old beat up hunting rifles. What about the history that is made to create this statue?
Of course we doubt the media, or those in New York City, to appreciate the art of the gun.
