(AP Photo/Tina Fineberg)
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Anti-gun Mayor Michael Bloomberg is going after private sales of guns by going after gun shows.
From The Huffington Post:
Today, New York City is releasing the results of a multi-state investigation into this activity: "Gun Show Undercover." We sent investigators with hidden cameras to seven gun shows across Ohio, Tennessee and Nevada, and we found out just how easy it is for criminals and the mentally ill to walk in and buy guns -- no questions asked.
There will be time to analyze and discuss this in the coming days. For now, I just wanted to alert Gun Rights Examiner readers so that you can see for yourself what he has to say:
At 2 p.m. today, you can watch our hidden camera videos and learn more about our investigation at www.nyc.gov/gunshow.
It begins literally in minutes from my posting this.
UPDATE: I'm watching as we speak. Since we know Bloomberg has a proclivity to use stuff like this both in lawsuits and to attempt to effect legal change, and since this is being financed by a government entity, the City of New York, I'm wondering about the legality of doing "undercover" videos--how it differs from recording phone calls, etc., and what the various state laws have to say (I'm seeing Tennessee, Ohio and Nevada)...
Of course, I'm also wondering if this is screwing up any current investigations of sellers and dealers by ATF et. al...
UPDATE 2: Assuming the accuracy of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press "Can We Tape?" (A Practical Guide to Taping Phone Calls and In-Person Conversations in the 50 States and D.C.--Fall 2008) website as a source, it appears that Ohio and Tennessee do not require consent for recording "non-electronic communication uttered by a person who does not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in that communication." Nevada, however, may prove interesting, based on the admission in the introductory video clip that "a team of experienced investigators using hidden cameras bought guns at seven gun shows in three states."
Consent of all parties is required to tape a conversation in Nevada.
UPDATE 3: Did Team Bloomberg record themselves committing an illegal "straw purchase," a federal felony?
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"Not Without a Fight" update
We've discussed the documentary before. Two more raw footage segments have been added:
Charlotte Gun Rights Examiner Paul Valone and Virginia Second Amendment March Director Layla Myers.
Click here to get the latest videos, and here to access filmmaker Max Lemus' "Not Without a Fight" website.
Comments
OK, I watched it. I tend to think it was largely staged. With all the scrutiny guns get, with ATFeces goons running around... And Bloomies's people can find all these people who will tell a stranger that he's unlicensed, selling hundreds of guns (clearly an illegal unlicensed _dealer_), and doesn't care that the purchaser can't pass a check?
BS.
Most folks at shows these days know better than to even discuss general theory of full-auto conversion with a stranger, but Mikey's goons could find all these folks willing to incriminate themselves?
This was so obviously staged it's pathetic. Scripted to follow "the felon's" transparent agenda.
Any bets on how long it takes for this to hit the MSM?
"we found out just how easy it is for criminals and the mentally ill to walk in and buy guns"
Is this unlike sending investigators out on the highway to find out how easy it is to exceed the speed limit? To drive drunk?
HuffPost:
"[BATF] has identified gun shows as the source of more than 30% of all illegally trafficked guns in the country."
Quite sure this is close to an outright lie. The BATF "study" counted something completely different than "gun shows as the source of illegally trafficked guns."
Need to check into this.
Hmm... Government hidden video with audio taken without consent of both parties as the NV Supreme Court has decided is required? How about one state mucking around in another's backyard?
I say we do a video like this buying drugs and weapons in NYC and see what Bloomberg has to say about that.
I wonder if this was legit. If so the people who continued a sale after the guy said he couldn't pass a background check should be prosecuted. Bull like this makes legitimate sellers look bad.
I just watched the 'straw sale' video which they claim is 'obviously a straw sale'. To me, it looked like a middle-aged son picking out a small compact pistol for his mother. Given that she filled out the paperwork and didn't just hand the gun over to her son and say "Here's your gun, Johny" doesn't lead me to the conclusion that the pistol wasn't for her in the first place. Maybe I missed something, but just by picking it up and talking about features and requirements, negotiating a price, and having someone else fill out the paperwork in itself doesn't a straw man deal make. It would be like a guy going to help a girl out with buying a used car. Just because I looked under the hood and spoke on her behalf, bec she didn't want to be taken, doesn't mean the car is for me.
There are some pretty 'niave' folks at the shows I've been to that do make stupid misteps such as topics of conversations. Having been a vendor at shows, everyone gets a background check at my table.
Been thinking about those "dealers" some more and remembered a guy I encountered in Memphis maybe six years back. He was a friend of a friend of my mother's friend. They thought I should meet him because we were both interested in guns.
Turns out, he'd been busted by the ATFeces for unlicensed dealing, but strangely there were never any charges. That raised hackles right there, and I said I was in no rush to meet him. But not long after, he turned up at my mother's friend's place, then came to talk to me, and did want to talk guns. Asked if I were in the market for anything. Told him I wasn't, and that I needed to go, things to do. He kept pushing, wanted me to take down his number in case I changed my mind. Said he could get hold of anything I needed, if he didn't already have it on hand. Told him I really wasn't interested and got away from him.
Maybe _Bloomie_ didn't stage all those guys. But someone did.
I just got done updating on that same clip, TAP. Seems to me whether or not a law was broken is something ATF should investigate...or at least would if it were you or I recorded buying a gun like that.
What they did is already illegal. So, what loophole exactly?
Perhaps the loophole whereby people, at the behest of a NYC mayor, travels out-of-state and lies to private sellers in order to purchase firearms? Oops - pretty sure there are some laws against that also.
The "illegal straw purchase" was no such thing. So-called 'straw' purchases are made by an agent for an off-location or non-participating buyer. All that "agent" did was help pick out a gun for a female purchaser. But, of course, the idiot, liberal hoplophobes will be screaming "There! You see? I told you so!"
I just watched the 'straw sale' video which they claim is 'obviously a straw sale'. To me, it looked like a middle-aged son picking out a small compact pistol for his mother. Given that she filled out the paperwork and didn't just hand the gun over to her son and say "Here's your gun, Johny" doesn't lead me to the conclusion that the pistol wasn't for her in the first place. Maybe I missed something, but just by picking it up and talking about features and requirements, negotiating a price, and having someone else fill out the paperwork in itself doesn't a straw man deal make. It would be like a guy going to help a girl out with buying a used car. Just because I looked under the hood and spoke on her behalf, bec she didn't want to be taken, doesn't mean the car is for me.
There are some pretty 'niave' folks at the shows I've been to that do make stupid misteps such as topics of conversations. Having been a vendor at shows, everyone gets a background check at my table.
Now, why would anyone (at least anyone here) have any doubt that this is a false flag... a set up?
Actually, there is only one true law: non-aggression.
Therefore, there's no such thing as an "illegal gun." And there is only one way to obtain a gun "illegally." You'd have to steal it.
Sorry about the double-post, I refreshed my browser and seems to have resubmitted my original post.
Here's where I think the Bloomidiots are going to stumble. Just because the Mayor of a city asked somebody to pull an ACORN-busting stunt does not make up for lack of authorization by a justice official. IMHO, they would have had to have permission by local law enforcement in each state, county, and city to pull this stunt off. IMHO, failure to do so would be them at odds with the Law.
So, who really bought the 'straw' purchases? Who is going to end up with them? If they aren't going to prosecute the offenders & read them their rights, then they did commit a felony by perpetrating a number of felonies. IMHO, they should have tried something like "To catch a Predator" whereby they would lure somebody into a trap, without giving up the bait. In these videos, they claim they had sex w/ a 13yo and filmed it just to say it happened. How many kinds of wrong is that?
Double post not your fault--it's a recurring problem I've brought to tech's attention before.
bagel man said it all.
Since when does a "loophole" consist of someone breaking the law?
Since when have these illegal transactions been exclusively associated with gun shows?
So where's the loophole?
Somewhere in the process of accomplishing their phony purchase are the Bloomies not engaging in a conspiracy to suborn commission of a crime? It appears to me that Bloomberg's slaveys are committing two felonies in pursuit of their despicable goal.
It appears that the Nevada statute only applies to telephone calls but that does not mean that evidence is admissible or that no privacy rights were violated. Research continues.
David with all due respect for the work that you and others do these types of stories are no longer effective enough to over-come the problems we face today.
Our nation is dying!
We are loosing 11,000 jobs/day; true unemployment is over 21%, we already have 1.5 million home foreclosures with 4 million yet to come.
As of June 30, 1882 banks are failing with 1800 banks right behind them.
The only thing left for the USA is the dollar as the worlds’ reserve currency and that is coming to an abrupt end.
The USA will soon be a third world country and stories about Bloomberg and his illegal activities isn’t enough.
Bloomberg thinks NO one can stop him.
If you want to do something write about a campaign of contacting and unseating the mayors in his coalition, we need activism.
“Education without activism is mute”
All we seem to do these days is educate and it’s not getting the job done.
This may be profiling but these investigators sound "white". I'm curious on how these same private party salesmen would react to an African American buying a gun claiming he cannot pass a background check. It would be an interesting social commentary.
Hey Bloomie!
Sic semper tyrannis!
Yes, I do understand and support the historical significance of those words.
You know there are so many violations of state and federal laws. Bloomburg and all his cronies involved in this should be prosecuted. If no charges are filed then again the elite get away with violating the law. Bloomburg should be charged with rackateering to start with and go from there. Has the ATF or US attorneys office got the guts to take him on. Oh no he is a liberal and they are too.
Just
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