I have no doubt that New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg genuinely believes that gun control is a good thing, not a bad thing. In his mind, less guns equals less tragedy. Statistician and gun rights advocate John Lott would argue (and argue and argue) that the Mayor’s firearms equation indicates that he’s incapable of rational though and scientific analysis. Roger that. I reckon any man who depends on armed guards for his safety whilst denying others (other than his pals) the same right to armed self-defense is prone to muddled thinking. At best. But Mayor Bloomberg isn’t just confused. He’s nuts . . .
Like the previous mentally challenged gun guy outed by this website, Bloomberg believes that violating basic rules is OK. At least for him. I speak here of Bloomberg’s decision to send his anti-gun goons to Arizona to expose the “gun show loophole.” As The New York Times reports with glee (the attitude, not the TV program, although this would certainly make an interesting episode) . . .
Weeks after a shooting left six dead and 13 injured in Tucson, New York City sent undercover investigators to an Arizona gun show and found instances in which private sellers sold semiautomatic pistols even after buyers said they probably could not pass background checks, city officials said.
The investigation, part of an effort by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s administration to crack down on illegal gun sales nationwide, took place Jan. 23 at the Crossroads of the West Gun Show in Phoenix, officials said.
“The background check system failed in Arizona, it failed in Virginia and it fails in states around the country,” said John Feinblatt, an adviser to Mr. Bloomberg. “If we don’t fix it now, the question is not whether another massacre will occur, but when.”
I’d like to know exactly how many “weeks” expired between the Safeway Massacre and Mayor Bloomberg’s decision to green-light this black bag job. The passion with which Bloomberg’s pals pursue this issue is friggin’ ghoulish; remembering that spree killer Jared Lee Loughner bought his gun from a gun dealer, not a gun show.
Watch the video from today’s press conference [above]. They’ve got . . . bupkis. “It isn’t illegal but it should be”? That’s it? The fact that buying a nine millimeter Glock requires the same temporal commitment as buying a hamburger and fries at McDonald’s says more about McDonald’s slow service and eternally burgeoning menu than this [heavily edited] video says about gun show loopholes.
Oh, exactly how long did the gun purchase require? And where is that gun now, pray tell? Did Bloomberg’s operatives keep it as a thank you, along with a permit to carry in the Big Apple? Who paid for this junket?
Anyway, there’s no “gotcha.” This despite a repetition of the tactics Hizzoner’s boyz used to “sting” gun shows in Tennessee, Ohio, Virginia and Nevada. That undercover program pissed off Virginia so much they changed the law to prevent a repeat. And for good reason. Here’s a blog post on the operation from mypetjawa.mu.nu in October 2009.
The private investigators who conducted these stings violated federal law by traveling to other states to purchase handguns and transporting them over state lines. Some states allow purchases for residents of contiguous states, but last time I checked Barack Obama’s 57 state map of America, Ohio, Tennessee and Nevada are not contiguous to New York. Oops!
They also violated federal and state laws prohibiting “straw man” transfers by asking (or pretending, doesn’t matter) their accomplice to make such purchase for them (the law works both ways, folks!). Also interesting that they didn’t try this in Virginia, where Bloomberg tried this a few years ago, which specifically prohibits these kinds of entrapment operations. Bloomberg also got a nasty note from the DOJ last time he tried this.
Oh, they also violated Nevada law by videorecording the transactions without all the parties’ consent (NV is one of 12 states that requires such). And at least one of the gunshows they attended in Ohio specifically prohibits any pictures or recordings, video or audio.
Even more basically, who the fuck does Bloomberg think he is? The ATF? And while we’re at it, who the f do they think they are?
Ahem. When the Mayor of a major metropolitan city decides to spy on a state that’s some 2400 miles away, trying to show the hicks how to enforce their laws, he’s got some serious boundary issues. The sanctity of states’ rights is one of America’s most profound protections from crusading nut jobs like . . . Mayor Bloomberg.
My take: Bloomberg wants to be President. He can’t wait. Literally. So he acts like the President. Either that or Mayor Bloomberg knows he’ll never be President. Faced with implacable opposition, he’s gone rogue. Bloomberg no longer cares about logic or political expediency or whom or what he steamrolls in his Quixotic attempts to close loopholes of entirely questionable relevance. If he ever did.
Fanaticism indicates mental instability. I rest my case.