What are the odds that the United States government has a computerized list of all Americans who own guns, which guns they own and where the owners live? In these post-Patriot Act times, with the NSA building data monitoring computers that require their own power plant, with ARGOS-equipped Hummingbirds watching over us, with the ATF’s history of doing as they please, I’d be surprised if Uncle Sam didn’t know who you are and what (generally) you have in the gun safe. I’m not saying it’s time to give up on the fight against gun registration. Far from it. No compromise. No surrender. I’m simply wondering if we’ve lost that battle. And if so, what does that mean?
My take is that the ridiculously awkward way he is holding it indicates that the photo is genuine. An overzealous PR flack who didn’t understand how guns work may have photoshopped the near side gas plume out, but other than that I doubt it is altered.
I have filled out a number of 4473s and had to get fingerprinted for my first CCW. I would put the odds north of 99:1
If Target can “out” a pregnant teen to her dad through her shopping habits, I would bet that the government has similar formulas afloat.
Anyone who would purchase alcohol knowing the numbers it kills when improperly used, has no soul.
Anyone who drives a car knowing the numbers it kills when improperly used, has no soul.
Anyone who eats ocean fish (and crustaceans) knowing the fatality rate of fishermen, has no soul.
Anyone who thinks life is not a series of calculated risks and random chances, has no idea what real life is.
Is Jim Carrey still relevant? Is it 1993? Who cares what another hollywood nobody says on twitter.
“Hummingbirds”, not “Hummingbird’s”.
And in the seventies, it was widely said that NSA had satellite cams that could read license plates from space, or newspaper headlines. If they’re telling you a similar thing NOW, there’s no telling what they can do. What they admit to having is usually 25-30 years behind what they actually HAVE, as witnessed by the U-2 and SR-71 Blackbird, which had been flying missions a quarter century when admitted to. (AND flying nearly congruently with the U-2 program!)
I don’t think they have ab exact list of every fun you own, no. But I believe they know down to a pretty small margin who owns the guns out there. We buy guns and all the support items that go with them. We engage in interwebz purchases and conversations about our guns. Even when we go into brick and mortar store there are cameras getting us from all angles.
And I believe this actually works to our advantage. The G knows how many we are and that must chill any ambition on their part to make an actual door to door grab. And as we’ve seen here, they must also know that quite a few local officials and military people are against any such grab.
We live in the info age. Just as with guns, there’s no putting the cork back in that bottle. We may as well benefit from the tech.
” after their legal guns”
What’s this talk of legal and illegal guns?
All my AKs were DROS’ed…..
I soooo need a tin hat filter on my web browser.
Just remember Watergate, bombing Cambodia, GM’s involvement in Opel leading up to and during WWII.
More recently (and germane) warrantless wiretaps, domestic surveillance,
even room 641 at ATT SF – all were tinhat conspiracy nonsense.
Until they weren’t.
it’s all about what they do with it:
an open national/state registry is an overt step down the proverbial slippery slope. it will most likely be supported by millions of people, and it will set up the foundation for the next step. this is a cultural and political war, and registration, openly implemented, is a major battle lost.
a stealth registry maintained by a murky government agency that is operationalized in any way, be it night-time raids or whatnot, is an act of war. Won’t sit well with many folks I imagine. I assume the NSA dweebs can find out whatever they want if they work on it, and track every interaction you’ve had with The System.
If they know where they are, and they want them, they should come get them.
A complete list? Not hardly. A working list? Absolutely, by default if not exactly by design…yet.
• There are still gun owners who have owned firearms through private transfer and family ownership that haven’t made it into the ATF’s bound books.
• There are criminals who have black market firearms that aren’t being tracked.
• There have to have been errors in the transfer process over the years that have left a small population of guns off the grid.
• There are some guns in private hands under the umbrella of trusts and companies that haven’t exactly tracked back to the individual…yet.
All that being said, there’s enough paperwork filed whenever a person buys a gun that locating a person’s potential inventory isn’t that hard. I worked for eight years in collections and I can tell you that without access to dedicated databases you can find out all kinds of crap on people that you wouldn’t think would be possible. Throw a few bucks at the problem and it doesn’t take any effort at all. That’s in the private sector where information sharing is somewhat protected by privacy laws. In the public sector, where big brother is required to track everything, the data is out there for anyone with the right access and a desire to put it together.
Then again, thanks to the frankly rather terrible quality of the photo, I can’t say for sure that it wasn’t doctored.
Yes you can. There are always artifacts. For example, upload the photo to a website like http://fotoforensics.com/
And honestly, the photo’s not even THAT bad. The only real “blur” is the gun…which is moving…because it is recoiling. I seriously doubt the photographer thought “hey, I’d better dial in the highest shutter speed so the internet gun nuts don’t think the photo is doctored”
You sir, are one of the “good guys.” Thanks for speaking out in support of your wife, and gun rights!
This from the guy who directly was responsible for the deaths of children by telling their parents not to vaccinate them, even after all the anti-vax science was FULLY discredited.
What a fucking joke.
Yes.
Time to press back.
And time for Remington to move on south…come to Florida! We love gun manufacturers here! No income tax. Right to Work State. Good weather…you can leave those snow shovels there!
And orange juice..fresh from the tree. Riding that motorcycle 12 months a year instead of just 3 (and then polishing chrome 9) months.
Yeah…we even let people carry concealed. Or on the way or back from camping, hunting or fishing. We’re working on getting open carry restored too!
I’m assuming “this is my gun” pictures will not be accepted?
We already had a Peter North subreference in the Coonan blurb…
Confession: I checked the IMFDb profile of a handgun I was cross-shopping before pulling the trigger.
he should make his new background the constitution or maybe just the second and or first amendment.
Las Cruces, “we’re a little like El Paso!” is a victim of its own growth rate, formerly the fastest-growing city in the state (an “honor” with now belongs to Rio Rancho, last time I looked). That, and all that other silly stuff.
truer words were never spoken. Good on her. I hope the gentleman that stole her firearm got a background check, registered it, and claimed it on his taxes…
Where can I go buy one of these “Assault Rifles”????
I stuck a wanted ad on Craigslist for a 10-22 birch stock and it was flagged and removed so fast. I did not mention its was for a Ruger as I figured those who had one would know what it was…… I did include a picture of a wood stock.
So it must have been offensive .
Too bad I’m way to old to get suspended from school.
Two more examples of why disarmed victim zones need to be abolished:
http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/man-shot-near-martin-luther-king-jr-high-school-in-detroit
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/01/31/armed-guard-stops-school-shooter-after-he-opened-fire-at-atlanta-middle-school/
Someone please tell me again how an armed presence on school premises is useless……
On a side note since there appears to be small gamer population here any way interested in a gun owners gamer…match?
This reminds me of how Pink Floyd provided me a theme song in high school. Flash forward several years, and I became the guy at the front of the room. I promised myself that I wasn’t going to give cause to my students to sing, “We don’t need no education.” I think most of them would say that I didn’t.
They would have said she need to grab a pair of scissors.
“universal magazine”
Especially for pistols. Whenever I go to the range I always wish my magazines would fit in more than just a a single weapon. I can understand the want of each manufacturer to create a completely innovative design and feel, but I end up carrying a shopping bag full of mags.
Interesting Kirk,
In researching exactly what you proposed, I found this:
This is a brief energy chart of 5.56 77gr Nato alongside the 300blk 110gr Barnes:
100yds 1070/1094 — 200yds 880/920—- 300yds 715/770
Perhaps the 556 catches up with the 300blk in a couple hundred yards. I’m not sure… the Barnes chart I found only went up to 300 yards.
However, even from a cursory glance, it would appear that the “bullshit” is flying from your corner as much as anyones. To be honest, you made the best case for the 300 blk of anyone on this board. The 556 sux as a SBR, and the 300blk is barely affected by cutting the barrel down from 16 to 7 inches.
Consequently:
I can carry a “single” SBR weapon with a suppressor… I can load a mag of 208gr or 220gr and run “silenced” OR… IN THE VERY SAME WEAPON… pop in a mag of 110gr and and shoot as accurately AND with as much (or more) energy (at least up to 300 yards according to the charts) as your beloved Nato round. And I won’t even mention the whole barrier debate ….
The 5.56 Nato does great in a few circumstances and absolutely sux in most others. The 300 blk is (as I said before) the Swiss Army Knife of combat rounds. And we are in the infancy of the round. Look at how the 6.8 has come along in just the past year.
If you don’t like what the charts say, then you should take Barnes, Hornady, Nosler to task and prove them wrong. I’ve seen enough ballistics testing from reloaders on 300blackoutforum to give me confidence that the data is indeed accurate, and not some fearful and emotional ranting and raving.
I have the same problem with this article that I have with the antis when they say the same thing. A denial on the background check does not mean the potential buyer did not get a gun. It only means that particular sale did not go through. It does not mean that the person did not then go somehwere else and buy a gun. Otherwise, good article. It goes to why I say the background check is a feel good system that serves no real purpose. Until or unless the number of prosecutions match (or come close to matching) the number of confirmed denials (meaning someone was prohibited, and it wasn’t a clerical error), the check is nothing more than security theater.