Sunday, September 16, 2007

Online Gun Sale Opportunity for PMSNBC to Go Into PSH Over RKBA

A Collier County man is having second thoughts about selling his AK-47 online because of the buyers the rifle has attracted this week. He says most of the people that responded to his Craigslist.org posting are convicted felons.

"Jeremy's" story stinks, and I am left wondering about his identity, his sympathies and his motives. I note the quoted dealer runs buyers through NICS, so it looks like this is more PSH from PMSNBC. And I find it curious the denied checks haven't resulted in a BATFU response for a federal felony by prohibited persons--I guess they're just too busy hounding Red's.

But re-reading this, it looks like the dealer was just someone the "reporter" picked to interview--Jeremy says "he does a background check on every person." Without access to NICS, how would he do that? And why does this article deliberately obfuscate the realtionship between "Jeremy" and the dealer?

But aside from that, I just did a cursory search on CraigsList and couldn't find a gun being advertised--albeit I only looked for a few minutes. I wonder why the "authorized journalist" didn't see fit to mention CraigsList's "Prohibited or Restricted Items Policy":
Weapons and related items, including firearms, disguised, undetectable or switchblade knives, martial arts weapons, sniper scopes, silencers, ammunition, large capacity magazines, BB guns, tear gas or stun guns.
I seriously doubt that "Jeremy" had time to remove his listing as he claims. My guess is, it was flagged and deleted before he would have had the chance, and they probably have his IP blocked from further posting. That is, if he really did so in the first place, and thus far, I see no reason to give him any credence.

You don't think a fair and balanced mainstream establishment news outlet might be pushing an agenda disguised as journalism, do you?

6 comments:

Thirdpower said...

Either "Jeremy's" an attention whore or he's a VPC/BC plant.

Anonymous said...

This is called a "pious fraud". Believers come up with "good lies" to support a "good cause".

Phillep

Anonymous said...

I see. It was an actual AK-47 -- selective-fire -- with a machined receiver, weighing in at 4.3 kg, and marked as property of USSR.

Wow, I didn't think that we had a trade agreement with the USSR while the AK-47 was still being manufactured. That guy is apparently sitting on a 50-year-old museum piece.

Or is it that "AK-47" has become part of the disarmer's lexicon, borrowed from the urban criminal subculture, and therefore has the desired emotional impact? It's in the same category as gunviolence, shootings, assault weapon, sniper rifle, streetsweeper, saturday night special, and high-capacity automatic handgun? (The solution being "guncontrol", "gunlaw" and "gunreform", and as you can see, all types of firearms have an emotional buzzword.)

I see that no specific writer is taking credit for this piece.


"...It's completely legal to sell the AK-47 online...."

The author can hardly make such a blanket statement. There are a number of states and municipalities where the sale would be a crime, much less having it shipped into a red-flag citizen disarmament zone. Not that this has made a lick of difference with "public safety".

Sale and possession are two different things. I don't see any mention of FFL transfers or weapon classifications. Agenda or ignorance? Agenda, I think, since federal licensing is mentioned later.


"...An AK-47 is the type of gun thought to have been used to kill a Miami-Dade police officer on Thursday...."

So the reasoning behind this is that some action in the future will effect every criminal's will to do crime in the past? Is there some reason why low-powered rifles like Kalashnikov knock-offs warrant special attention over the thousands of other types, and hundreds of thousands of criminals? I don't understand.


"...The gun's appearance doesn't prevent its sale in pawn shops across Southwest Florida...."

No comment needed.


"...In fact, your right to bear arms means you can walk out with a rifle in minutes - provided you pass a background check...."

Considering that the right to keep and bear is meaningless without the ability to procure and possess, then, yes, that is the expectation. Why should it be controversial that Floridians can purchase a hobbled version of a 60-year-old, low-powered rifle design?


"...We asked [FFL dealer] Forehand what is stopping a felon from going online and getting from a private seller instead of from him. Forehand replied, 'Absolutely nothing.'..."

I'm sure the author and the readers realize that this is the case with every "controlled substance" ever conceived by lawmakers. Restrictions and bans create black markets. Therefore, buyers of such "illegal" items go outside the system to purchase. It is a only a small step from here that we may realize that the system serves no useful purpose. But it does provide us with worthless metrics of progress while the sole vector of criminal activity is largely ignored.


"...Jeremy says he has had several offers for the gun he's desperate to get rid of...."

He could walk into any FFL-licensed dealer and get rid of it in 20 minutes. But "Jeremy" wants a grand for something worth about $350 new. Take it like a man, Jeremy, and lose it for a few hundred at a dealer.


"...Jeremy was hesitant to show his face Thursday night and he swears he'll never risk his family's safety over a gun sale...."

There is hope! Jeremy is realizing that he has put himself and his family in greater danger by allowing himself to be guilted into a dangerous position by disarmer propaganda. It should be taken as an admission of the impotence of "guncontrol" in enhancing public safety or reducing crime. Jeremy would have been better off to have possessed the weapon in secret, and defended his home with it. Let the disarmers deal with the danger of their failed policies; the criminal's activities aren't effected by the symbolic actions of guilt-laden citizens.


"...'That sucker will sit in my attic for the next 10 years. I am not getting rid of it to anybody who is dangerous,' said Jeremy...."

Better to be mounted where he can grab it, with a loaded magazine at the ready.


"...'It's 100-percent in the hands of the person who owns it to take the responsibility and try to be as safe as you can about it,' said Jeremy...."

Absolutely true, Jeremy. This also applies to criminals, even those who would lean a rifle over the counter of a bank.

Anonymous said...

There was a comment box, so I went over each lie in the order it was presented.

Probably a complete waste of time, but I did it anyway.

'Rusty Forehead' ?!? I guess 'Jack Goff' was already taken.

Justin Buist said...

The story says the guy is asking $1,000 for the thing. No wonder he can't find a legit buyer.

Unless this thing is from Kreb's Custom or another shop like it he's just trying to rip people off.

Anonymous said...

The entire story is a fraud. And not a very good one. The sonofabitch that wrote it would starve to death on the con.