Local CBS news crew goes to gun show to catch gun owners breaking the law, and the only one breaking the law is CBS

Local CBS news crew goes to gun show to catch gun owners breaking the law, and the only one breaking the law is CBS

assaultweaponsban GunShowRegulations mediabias

This is a pretty funny story, though I can only assume that no one is going to prosecute CBS for breaking the law.

CBS 5 went undercover in a California gun show to look for guns that violated the state's strict gun laws, but the only people breaking any rules were the CBS investigators.
The investigation centers on the bullet button, a small button that allows users of semi-automatic rifles to quickly change magazines using a cartridge or similar tool. Under California law, assault rifles that have detachable magazines are illegal in conjunction with other parts. The bullet button allows gun owners to quickly reload and change magazines, but without using an illegal detachable magazine. 
At it's core, it's a simple matter. California made something illegal, so gun owners complied and found a different method to enjoy their rifles with the convenience of a quick reload. Things got a bit ironic, however, when CBS took a camera into a gun show. They didn't find any guns with illegal detachable cartridges, but the news crew was breaking rules left and right.
As it turns out, there are "No Camera" signs all throughout the gun show, and gun show representatives announced "No picture taking during the show" frequently throughout the day. "Hypocrisy" is the word that we're looking for, here . . .

Media Matters incompetently discusses a posting of mine

Media Matters incompetently discusses a posting of mine

GunShowRegulations mediabias mediamatters

Media Matters rarely allows me to post responses on their website to attacks that they make on my work. They have attacked me again today for a post from this website on gun show regulations that was transcribed with a few changes and without the links over at Newsmax.

Since the substance of this is the same as a piece that I recently wrote for Fox News, I will just discuss it briefly here:

-- "Virtually no criminal guns are obtained from gun shows." The BJS report "Firearms Use by Offenders" provides a survey of criminals convicted of gun offenses and it shows that 0.7 percent of criminals obtained their guns from gun shows. If one adds in flea markets it still leaves the probability below 2 percent.
-- "Background checks do not stop criminals from getting guns." These guys at Media Matters are pretty dense because they seem to believe that these initial denials are stops that involve criminals when in fact they are almost all false positives. About 99.9 percent of those purchases initially flagged as being illegal under the law were later determined to be misidentified. Take the numbers for 2008 (http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/bjs/231052.pdf), the latest year for which data are available. The 78,906 initial denials resulted in only 147 cases involving banned individuals trying to purchase guns. This is before the stage where prosecutors look at the case to see if there is enough evidence to bring a case. Of those 147 cases, prosecutors thought the evidence was strong enough to proceed on only 105, and they won convictions in just 43. But few of these 43 cases stopped career criminals or those who posed real threats. The typical case was someone who had misdemeanor convictions for an offense he didn't realize prevented him from buying a gun.
-- As to delays, 8 percent of the background checks are delayed. Five percentage points of those checks take up to 3 business days, and 3 percentage points take even longer, though these further delays can't stop one from obtaining a gun at that point. http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/nics/reports/2008-operations-report/ops_report2008.pdf (p. 11) I am traveling and I don't have the reference for the 5 and 3 percent numbers handy.

UPDATE on this discussion and a response to further Media Matters attacks is available here. For some reason I doubt that they will be responding to that post.

Another gun control bill introduced in the Congress

Another gun control bill introduced in the Congress

GunControl GunShowRegulations

1) Virtually no criminal guns are obtained from gun shows.
2) Background checks do not stop criminals from getting guns. But the rules do harm law-abiding citizens.
3) With all the delays found in background checks, this imposes a real cost on law-abiding citizens who need guns quickly for protection and a one, two or three day delay can take the prevent a sale from even taking place at a gun show.

From The Hill newspaper:

The measure, says the New Jersey Democrat, will go a long way toward keeping firearms from the hands of the mentally ill and drug abusers — a topic that’s returned to national prominence this month following the shooting of an Arizona congresswoman.

“While the tragedy in Tucson weighs heavily on the national conscience, it’s business as usual for gun show dealers who continue to peddle dangerous guns without a background check,” Lautenberg said Monday in a statement. “The gun show loophole remains in place today because the special interest gun lobby has scared off legislators from enacting responsible reform. It’s time to put aside business as usual in Washington and start considering the safety of our families over special interests.”

Under current law, licensed gun dealers are required to run background checks to ensure buyers are legally eligible to buy firearms. Felons, illegal immigrants, habitual drug abusers and the mentally ill are among those banned from owning guns. The guidelines apply to licensed dealers in all venues, including gun shows. But unlicensed dealers are exempt wherever they sell, unless they “know” or have “reason to believe” the buyer fits one of the prohibited categories. . . .

"Obama Administration Shuts Down Oldest Gun Show in Central Texas"

"Obama Administration Shuts Down Oldest Gun Show in Central Texas"

GunControl GunShowRegulations

I need to look into this more.

Darwin Boedeker of Texas Gun Shows provided details of the criminal conspiracy by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (abbreviated ATF) and the Austin police to shut down the show last week.
On Thursday, January 14, Mr. Boedeker was asked to meet with representatives of the ATF and Austin police at a building in Austin used for police interviews and interrogations. In addition to Boedeker, the two hour meeting included the participation of HEB, an Austin grocery retailer. HEB holds the lease on the building where the Texas Gun Shows events are held on the third week of every month.
Police, under the direction of ATF, told Boedeker he would be required to follow their “recommendations” or they would close down his event. Boedeker said he was told “you do what we say or we shut you down.” He said the ultimatum was recorded by the police and ATF.
Mr. Boedeker indicated enforcing the ATF recommendations would destroy his business. He said he would not issue a public notice unless it indicated the so-called recommendations were issued by the Austin Police and the ATF.
In order to make their case, the ATF and APD cited numerous alleged criminal cases associated with a previous gun show organizer. Mr. Boedeker said the ATF and APD did not seem aware that he is not associated with previous gun show events at the location. . . .

Mayor Bloomberg invades Virginia

Mayor Bloomberg invades Virginia

GunShowRegulations

The Washington Times has this:

An ad campaign is being launched today to try to force New York City's gun-control laws on Virginians. The ads running in the commonwealth are funded by New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. The mayor should keep his big-government politics north of the Mason-Dixon Line where they belong.

Mr. Bloomberg donated $500,000 last year to a gun-control lobbying outfit called Americans United for Safe Streets, which is running the campaign. The mayor's largesse accounts for 99.5 percent of all money raised by the group. The ads are pegged to the second anniversary of the Virginia Tech shootings and link that carnage to the so-called gun-show loophole. This is part of a broader media campaign. On Friday night, ABC aired a heavily promoted, hourlong special that tied gun shows to the Virginia Tech murders and advocated clamping down on gun shows.

Despite constant media references to an insidious-sounding gun-show loophole, there is no legal loophole for buying firearms at gun shows. . . . .

Peter Bronson with the Cincinnati Enquirer has a nice piece about visiting a gun show

Peter Bronson with the Cincinnati Enquirer has a nice piece about visiting a gun show

GunFreeZone GunShowRegulations

Peter piece can be read here:

As I waited in the parking lot for the doors to open at 9 a.m., two guys pulled up next to me in a black Chevy pickup. They wore camo ball caps, jeans and sweat shirts. Nothing unusual there - until one slung a rifle over his shoulder as they headed for the door.

Anywhere else, people would grab their cell phones and dial 911. But this was the Pro Gun Show at the Roberts Centre in Wilmington. Dozens of guys were toting shotguns, rifles and handguns, not to mention swords and knives.

It looked like a not-very-well regulated militia from Red Dawn, reporting for duty.

As the line spilled out the door, each gun was carefully inspected and tagged to certify that it was unloaded, and safe to sell or swap.

"No cameras," said a sign. It occurred to me that I could get kicked out for carrying a Kodak, but nobody would blink if I flashed a Glock. Apparently, gun owners and dealers value their privacy. . . .

Setting the record right, Coalition to Stop Gun Violence gets corrected

Setting the record right, Coalition to Stop Gun Violence gets corrected

Crime GunControl GunShowRegulations

The Executive director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence had this thoughtful little note last week in the Washington Times. I had written a letter responding to the statement in the Washington Times that cited state Sen. Jeannemarie Devolites Davis as claiming that "the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has reported that gun shows are the second-leading source of guns used in crimes, behind only unscrupulous licensed dealers." The point that I made was that "The ATF doesn't make the claim that its investigations are representative of the distribution of sources of illegal guns" and then I pointed to the Bureau of Justice Statistics survey of 18,000 state prison inmates in 1997 that showed 0.7 percent of those inmates who had weapons got them from gun shows and 1 percent from flea markets.

Follow the gun trails
Once again, researcher John R. Lott Jr. is revealing the ideology behind his misrepresented statistics in claiming that gun shows are not a major source of crime guns (Letters to the Editor, "Gun scruples," Sunday).

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) report in question, "Following the Gun: Enforcing Federal Laws Against Firearms Traffickers" (http://www.atf.gov/pub/fire-explo_pub/pdf/followingthegun_internet.pdf) analyzed crime-gun trace data compiled from 1,530 firearms-trafficking investigations over a 2½-year period.

The report found that "gun shows were a major trafficking channel, involving the second highest number of trafficked guns per investigation (more than 130), and associated with approximately 26,000 illegally diverted firearms."
ATF further stated that "prohibited persons, such as convicted felons and juveniles, do personally buy firearms at gun shows and gun shows are sources of firearms that are trafficked to such prohibited persons."

The National Rifle Association and its allies in Congress were so alarmed at the results of this report and others that they acted in 2004 to prohibit the ATF by law from releasing any further trace information to the American public under Freedom of Information Act. One would be hard-pressed to imagine a more anti-democratic measure outside of book burning.

The Department of Justice study mentioned by Mr. Lott (http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/guns.htm) involved a survey of inmates in state prisons, 2 percent of whom said that they purchased the gun used in their crime at a flea market or gun show.

An additional 80 percent indicated they got their gun from "family, friends, a street buy or an illegal source." No effort was made to trace the crime guns involved in the study to find out where they were originally bought and how they were subsequently trafficked.

It is likely that many of these guns were originally purchased at gun shows. The only thing the study hinted at was how the last illegal transfer of a firearm had taken place, and we know from ATF that guns often change hands several times before being used in crimes.

The Virginia State Police report that background checks prevented 2,668 illegal transactions by criminals and other prohibited purchasers in Virginia in 2005 alone. If this type of activity is taking place in regulated gun sales that are overseen by the ATF, then what type of individuals are buying guns when the rules are: "No paperwork, cash and carry"? It's a question that the citizens of Virginia should be asking their legislators.

Here is my response.

Gun trails
The executive director of theCoalition to Stop Gun Violence's response to my letter was extremely misleading ("Follow the gun trails," Letters, Feb. 3).

First, simply repeating the number of transfers investigated by the Clinton administration ignores the issue that I raised: theBureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms investigations were not representative of how the typical criminal got their guns.
It really just shows where the Clinton administration decided to put its investigative resources. For example, if the Clinton administration had decided to only investigate gun shows, they could have said the percentage of investigations involving gun shows was 100 percent. What would that prove?

Second, the possibility that a third party might have gotten a gun from a gun show and then transferred it to someone who used it in a crime will not be prevented by regulations on how guns are sold at gun shows.

Regulations at gun shows could theoretically stop the 0.7 percent of armed criminals who obtained their guns at gun shows, but the regulations will not stop someone who can buy a gun at a gun show from transferring a gun outside the show and the regulatory costs will significantly reduce the number of gun shows by about 14 percent.

Finally, not only is there no academic journal study by economists or criminologists showing that regulations such as the Brady Act reduce violent crime, but even island nations, such as Australia, England and Ireland, with easy borders to defend have seen increases in murder and violent crime after complete or partial gun bans were adopted.

The notion that past gun control failures can be fixed with yet more laws should at some point give pause to even someone from the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence.