The Campaign to Stop People Thinking Rationally About Guns Gun Violence posted the above graphic on their Facebook page. They captioned the screen grab as follows: “The gun used by the Boston Bombers was–you guessed it–trafficked through multiple private transfers. A universal background check in Maine very well could have stopped this gun from making its way to Portland, Maine and then the Tsarnaev Brothers. The brothers also honed their shooting skills at Manchester Firing Line Range, LLC.” When I posted this on TTAG’s Facebook page, our followers issued an enormous SMH. Here’s a small sampling of some of the best comments from the 253 (and counting) offered . . .
Gustav Sandborg Should we blame the company that made the pressure cooker that was used as a bomb by these sick individuals, we always see and hear the blame on the NRA or even the gun industry for the evil acts of PEOPLE, people with twisted minds came up with this atrocious event, I’ve never seen ONE ad, one saying, one single shred of evidence that the NRA or any pro 2nd amendment organization call for open murder of citizens. Just like I never seen Martha Stewart advocate for making homemade bombs to kill either. This only shows that sick people who want to commit disgusting acts of violence can use any store bought items to carry out their evil deeds.
Kevin Goodwin “Passed it to a Portland gang leader”… Yeah, I’m sure the Bloods, Crips, whomever, register all their firearms.
Conor Wallace Yeah I’m with everyone else here: how does a universal background check law prevent an unscrupulous individual from selling to anyone they want to? By their logic, there would be no murders, rapes, and drug deals if we only had laws against those things.
Jim Browne It MAY have stopped the use of THAT gun, but they’d find another….and don’t forget they were BOMBERS. Quit going off script and forgetting the point…they were fanatical terrorists! Quit throwing law abiding citizens in the same group as criminals….THEY ARE NOT THE SAME.
Justin H Teague So let me get this straight, they’re saying it should be illegal to do something that’s already illegal? And because that they want to infringe on my rights to create new restrictions for criminals to ignore?
John Steele Are the people who propose this crap REALLY that STUPID? The answer of course is no, they are not that stupid, they know it won’t make any difference but it will lay the groundwork for their next proposal, national registration. Which they also know won’t work whicvh leads the, to their next step, confiscation. Which they ARE stupid enough to think will work.
Steve Ackerman The concept of a database to hold information related to law-abiding citizens is completely asinine. Throughout history, criminal governments have abused the lists to oppress and murder its citizenry. Why not a database of criminals that should not own a gun? Use a little common sense. There is your background check! Any other option has nothing to do with the fake reasoning and everything to do with governmental control!
James Corbally They’re calling a P95 “compact”?
What makes CSGV think that whoever passed the gun to the first gang member would have gone through with the UBC in the first place?
Mandatory doesnt really mean anything out in the real world excluding the physical laws of nature.
Like telling your teenage kid he’s grounded. Doesn’t mean shit.
It wouldn’t have. It’s already a felony to sell or loan a firearm to a gang member or any other party prohibited from firearm ownership, and it’s a felony for that person to be in possession of a firearm. Some sort of universal background check wouldn’t change anything, as both parties were already willfully committing felonies in the act of transferring ownership.
Their endgame is pretty brilliant in an insanely totalitarian/fascist sort of way.
All guns (and/or exchanges of such) between people are illegal, which means that everyone who has one is a criminal, and everyone who wants one is bad and wrong and wants to be a criminal.
Isn’t that simple?
Of course there must also be a nod to reality — the state will give its trusted protectors the sole privilege of gun possession, which is sadly necessary, because society will need to be protected from the occasional unruly free thinkers (who are obviously proto-criminal insurrectionists, because what other reason could there be to oppose this utopia?).
Again, so simple. I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t agree.
Once the law is passed that requires UBC, if a gun is passed from one person to another with out a check, police agents will fast rope down and arrest everyone involved, right?
And then what? Whom will they find at the end of that “fast rope”? A single mother in the inner-city with a long list of ardent admirers whose flattery she responds to with gifts of Glocks.
And then what?
– Plea agreement?
– Short prison sentence?
– Long prison sentence?
Once she has learned her lesson will that be the end of straw-buying? As long as boy-meets-girl prevails there will be no shortage of straw-buyers.
it is irrelevant that he possessed a firearm, he used a bomb. completely useless article.
I think he killed a cop with a handgun, right? It’s still a stupid piece, but tracking the gun (like, REALLY tracking it) would be illustrative. From a sporting goods store to a gang? Kinda sounds stolen. Did either of the brothers have a disqualification which would have prevented their purchase under a UBC situation? I think the kid was too young, but I know of no reason the elder couldn’t buy a gun anywhere. In which case background checks would have been a waste of money, as usual.
Yeah I’m with Jim. Weren’t they bombers using legal pressure cookers? Aren’t we getting really off topic trying to prove a narrative through ridiculous and moot rhetoric?
Re the headline: I don’t think you can really say the CSGV “stops” making sense, since they never “started” making sense to begin with.
A smell checker / corrector error, I think.
They certainly do make cents. Well, they call it “getting donations” and it’s traditional to express in dollars, but yes: they are still getting paid to produce this puerile sniveling drivel.
It’s a play on the Talking Heads watershed concert movie ‘Stop Making Sense (1984).
It’s been released in Blu-Ray and is drop-dead gorgeous.
“This ain’t no party, this ain’t no disco, this ain’t no fooling around…”
The guy who wrote about a P95 being called a compact made me LOL. Nice.
If I remember correctly, Ruger did refer to the P95 as a “compact” model. The original P93 (dimensionally similar) was the “compact” version of the P89 (that replaced the P85). The P95 was a polymer version of the P93.
It’s amazing how compact has really changed these days! 😀
Yeah it is.
The only 9mm in my collection was the Ruger P95. I like it, but I decided a
few weeks back to get something a little easier to carry with my CPL,
and bought a Sig P938.
Same round, and surprisingly similar felt recoil.
Much better’n the old beast for EDC.
As to the article, WTH difference does it make what kind of pistol was carried in a bombing?
One of my early guns that I had was a P89 (long before I got into LE). I still have that thing. It was never an EDC. They were by no means “pretty” or “beautiful,” but they will digest anything thrown at it. Excellent product that I always felt was underrated (just like a lot of the Ruger line in the past). Fortunately, for them, pistols like the LC9s, LCP, and others have really been great sellers. I feel like they are now getting the revenue they always deserved as a fine American manufacturer.
“As to the article, WTH difference does it make what kind of pistol was carried in a bombing?”
It makes ALL the difference in the world! In this case it was a “black evil gun.” If it had been the SS slide version, it would have been a totally different story! 🙄
@Jeff in Colorado,
Too bad someone didn’t come out with a better trigger for the P89. I liked my early version of it a lot. I don’t think they look that bad either (at least compared to a Glock).
@BlueBronco. I would agree! I have fired a P95 as well as a P345, and I think they continued to improve the trigger over time. I always thought the P89 looked like a tool you would find in your tool box. It wasn’t something you would throw on your fireplace mantle. Instead, it is that item that when you open your toolbox, people say, “You have some really sharp-looking tools in your shop!” It’s kind of the same feeling when someone sees Snap-On tools in the box.
Had a Ruger P95, sold on consignment at local gun shop, spent the money on vintage Colt Detective Revolver 6 round .38 1978 Now need to find to buy another P95, really miss that 4″ of steel barrel 15 capacity tank of a gun!
That whole case in Boston is a total mess; it’s been lied about, mis-handled, and we’ll probably never find out the actual truth about it.
http://whowhatwhy.org/category/boston-bombing-investigation-threats-to-democracy/
But naturally the anti-gun imbeciles will wave the bloody flag again now it’s back in the news. Life in the United States of Amnesia.
If Derp was worth as much as gold, CSGV’s FB page would make King Midas envious.
Handguns are a fungible commodity from the criminal’s perspective. If this particular handgun was not available, another one would have sufficed.
The logical fallacy of this gun control genre.
We ( meaning rational Americans) know that sooner or later some of these peaceful Muslims are going to build an actual car bomb and or bomb vests and really do it up big time, to deny it won’t stop it from happening, I’m simply blown away that they haven’t already.
If their brown brethren south of the border can ship tons of dope across it could just as well be tons of C-4 and the Muslims can pay a lot more for a few hundred pounds of that then the going rate for the same weight in Coke or pot or whatever the hit of the day may be.
If you are a CC good, carry all the time, if not get your paper work done, “WE” may be the last best chance a lot of innocent people have someday. Dial 911 and wait….and wait ……and ..die
Don’t take this the wrong way, but what good will having a CC pistol do against your hypothetical car bomb?
Its all about selling their stupidity to the masses. The leaders of anti-gun groups are very smart in that they know that their followers are very stupid and therefore, gullible. Followers are not bright enough to realize that their propaganda is all lies and fear mongering so they keep shoveling.
I just called the exec dir of CSGV–the number is right on their site. Ext 1001 is the Exec cir’s extension.
I got the voicemail for the executive director. I said: “I just saw your Trail of the gun post on your Facebook page. I am started a new group that is demanding Universal Background Checks on pressure cookers. Please call me back and let me know if we can count on your support.”
Do you realize that you can buy a pressure cooker on line? You pressure cooker nuts are insane! The National Pressure Cooker Association is pure evil!
Online? You must not live in Kalifornia. I’m 3 days into my 10 day wait for the FCL7 (Federal Cooker License) to release my Kitchenaid. Can’t wait for some pressurized chicken! It’s a Kali model tho, no “pressure thing that goes up” and has a LCI of course, but I can live with that.
What a surprise, crooks using P95s.
I had a P95 for a while. Good gun, especially for the price. If criminals like them it’s probably because they’re inexpensive (and they’re too lazy to get a job).
I’m kind of hoping they ditched it to redesign and retool for a new version.
They just have to say it. With the still large number of Americans who no longer or never did think for themselves, just saying it is enough! The mainstream worthless media climbs on board and away we go. Hell, god walks on water, at least I heard it, so it must be true!
You do know that the book of Isaiah (9:6) predicts the birth of Jesus, right? Hundreds of years before it happened?
The Bible has accurately predicted a lot of events (e.g. the birth and conquests of Alexander the Great). You might consider taking a look at it, it might change your life…for the better.
THIS is the NRA they should be blaming:
http://www.restaurant.org/Home
Are you going to attend this meeting to discuss these issues (http://www.restaurant.org/paconference)???? 😀 😛
Only if they’re willing to compromise on pressure cooker background checks. That’s just common sense cookware control.
I’m also planning on attending and will help you lobby for this! I’ve also been trying to introduce legislation for ball bearing micro-stamping. I’m with the group CSPCBBCFCARS (Common Sense Pressure Cooker Ball Bearing Coalition For Child And Racer Safety). We are also pushing this year for remote access and GPS tracking of pressure cookers. Crock-Pot took a reasonable step last year with their “WEMO” enabled Crock-Pot slow cookers (http://www.crock-pot.com/wemo-landing-page.html). Our organization believes that this “smart” technology should be mandatory on pressure cookers as it is good “Common Sense” prevention. The GPS implementation will be the ultimate way to stop these crimes in the future! If we can only save one child or one police officer!
This year, we want to close the background check, “pressure cooker show” loophole. It would have prevented these pressure cookers from getting in the hands of the two Tsarnaev brothers. This is just another “Common Sense” measure that should already be in place.
We are also pushing to outlaw the importation of “hardened steel” ball bearings. Any US production of these bearings will need to be obtained through the standard Form 4 process and properly registered. During a blast, they have been known to penetrate standard level II and level IIIA (NIJ Standard 0101.06) body armor. This is the most common body armor worn by police officers. These “armor piercing” ball bearings have no place in our current society and instead belong in the hands of ISIS (http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2014/10/01/Iraqi-pilots-mistakenly-drop-aid-to-ISIS-.html). Between the ban of “hardened steel” ball bearings and the new micro-stamping process, we can “stamp out” this type of crime! People will “feel safe!”
Will you join our cause? I hope to see you there! 😀
I love to hear people say “Universal Background Checks.” I immediately ask them to prove I haven’t always owned this gun. They can’t no matter how much you let them twist the logic. And even when you steer them towards admitting the National Registry that goes along with the UBC idea they still try and say its OK because OMG! Guns!
How does CSGV know that gangs used that firearm in Maine?
Good question. The bomber lawyered up before speaking to anyone, so it did not come from him. I am sure the gangbanger didn’t produce an invoice or receipt for a paper trail. The other brother is worm food, so he isn’t talking.
You know how crazy gun grabbers are? They are so crazy that even when a god damned TERRORIST blows people up in the name of allah, they will refuse to call him a muslim and blame the NRA for it.
There seem to be some gaps in the chain of custody:
1. Purchased (presumably legally) at a FFL
2. ???
3. Possessed by a gang member
4. ???
5. “ended up” possessed by a terrorist
Yes, I can totally see how “universal” background checks would have short-circuited that chain of custody…
It reminds me of the South Park underwear gnome episode:
Step 1: steal underwear
Step 2:
Step 3: Profit!
ABC has done a better job tracking the gun:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/boston-marathon-bombing-tale-gun/story?id=29898790
Arguably it originally was a straw-man purchase of more then one gun. The “gang leader” was identified as a drug dealer. The gun with through four people the last being the bomber. Thing is, the gun was “taken car of” by one transaction then “loaned” to the bomber. The person was trying to get his loaned gun back when the bombings took place.
Just how a universal gun check would have helped isn’t clear. I suppose the original buyer could be made to produce the gun or show where he disposed of it. However, tracking it after that? The only reason it was done here is due to the nature of the crime.
Because when I think of a place where hardcore gang bangers bang, I think of Portland. Give me a fvcking break.
You probably should, actually:
http://www.insideprison.com/regional_gang_activity_county.asp?ID=1196
Too bad they’ve either disabled comments, or (more likely) blocked comments or questions from anyone who doesn’t already agree with them.
Maybe we should ask: Why didn’t the over-pressure valve on the pressure-cooker prevent the explosion? Maybe the question would get people to start questioning the efficacy of mandates to overcome deliberate violence.
Pre-ban cookers still had “high capacity” buckets and are able to cook without reading a magazine.
It was probably removed and the hole capped. Even if not, it wouldn’t have made a difference. They’re designed for a slow release of stored energy, and more pressure inside won’t build fast enough from boiling water to outpace the slow release. Gunpowder on the other hand produces a massive pressure spike in less than a second (and at a pressure that is orders of magnitude larger), far too fast for it to vent.
Anybody catch the part where the original purchase was a straw purchase? No amount of laws on private sales will keep criminals from breaking them… Go figure!
It may have been, but it wasn’t clear to me, with what was presented, that that’s what happened.
For all I know the legal original buyer may have thought he was selling it to his father’s brother’s cousin’s nephew’s former roommate, by all accounts a good citizen.
Or I bet that’s his story, at least.
Couldn’t be a straw purchase, those are illegal!
These idiots seem to miss the part where these punk thugs killed a police officer in an attempt to get more guns.
“Hi Mr. Gangmember. One illegal pistol, please.” “Sure, just fill out this form and wait for your background check to pass.” Said no black marketeer ever.
Kind of unrelated, but I love the Ruger P95. My first (and favorite) handgun.
I am founding the Coalition to Stop Pressure Cooker Violence. My goal is to bring to light the soul purpose of this devices is to be filthy vehicle of pressure based violence and not to deliver tasty food. Please help my kickstarter campaign to get this off the ground…..
Or maybe realize evil people do evil things and will use whatever means necessary to do it. Just like those who would take our freedoms.
Steve Ackerman
“The concept of a database to hold information related to law-abiding citizens is completely asinine. Throughout history, criminal governments have abused the lists to oppress and murder its citizenry. Why not a database of criminals that should not own a gun? Use a little common sense. There is your background check!”
Be careful what you ask for Steve.
There should be no lists of any type whatsoever.
It’s an abuse of power waiting to happen.
You need look no further than the “no fly list” and all its erroneous entries and a lack of due process to correct it and get off the list
So basically they did the research that proved how ineffective background checks are and published it for everyone to see. Then they advocated for more background checks. Typical progressives.
This is ludicrous. Why would criminals be stopped by background checks? If I’m a criminal with guns, and some gang members want to buy them from me, I’m going to ask them to go through a background check? Get real, folks.