Andrew Scott, CEO of A&A Ammunition writes [via AmmoLand.com]:
On September 9th 2015, the members of the Tucson City Council took a vote. It was a very interesting vote in that it could go down in history as one of the dumbest and most pointless votes in the history of my hometown. And it was unanimous. The seven members of the city council (all Democrats), including the Mayor and Vice Mayor, voted to “support gun control legislation.” If you read that carefully, you’ll see why that’s so inherently insane . . .
The City Council is our legislative body. It is their job to pass legislation. Tonight, they took an official vote not to pass gun control legislation, or any legislation at all, but to “support” it. Maybe next they’ll pass a law that says they “support” our failing schools or our crumbling roads, but not actually do anything about it, because they have no spine.
Now I don’t want you to take that analogy as me wanting further gun control legislation; I absolutely do not. However, I feel that if you’re in political office and you want to take a stand for something then you need to do so with some level of conviction, even if it is election season.
But this story gets worse. Perhaps you might be thinking “well maybe this means they’ll try to push for tougher legislation in the future.” Well it’s a possibility, but not a very likely one.
Arizona has firearm pre-emption law, and unlike Washington’s (where the city of Seattle is doing everything they can to subvert the pre-emption law), ours is pretty iron-clad. Which means that even if our legislature did manage to grow something resembling a vertebrate, they couldn’t do anything about it anyway because it’s illegal!
So what exactly did they vote for? Basically the most ninny, whimpering, do-nothing list I’ve ever seen. Let’s take a look at these and tear them apart as viscerally as they deserve.
1) Asking gun dealers to work to prevent straw purchasers, or those buying guns for others.
By now everyone who isn’t a member of the Tucson City Council knows that straw purchases are illegal, and strictly so. In the recent Abramski v. United States Supreme Court case, former police officer Bruce Abramski purchased a firearm for his uncle, who was legally allowed to own a firearm, and received 10 years of probation for it!
Not to mention that Class 01 FFL holders can and will be held liable for knowingly selling to a straw purchaser as it is a federal crime. As such they already take steps to prevent straw purchases because they have to. This legislation “asking gun dealers to work to prevent straw purchases” is soft-handedly asking them to do what they are already required to do.
And what further steps do you want gun sellers to take anyway? The customer already has to fill out the NICS form stating they aren’t a straw purchaser, do you want the FFL to take their customer into an interrogation room, shine a bright light in their eyes, and scream “ARE YOU THE ACTUAL BUYER OF THIS FIREARM?!” until they potentially crack?
2) Asking dealers not to sell guns until results of a background check are back– right now a loophole allows dealers to sell at will if the results come back as delayed.
First of all, can someone please explain to anti-gunners what a “loophole” is? If lawmakers forgot to include methamphetamines in the list of substances that would constitute a DUI, that is a loophole. A 3 day maximum for background checks is not a loophole, it’s an intentional part of the law that prohibits the Executive branch from downsizing the FBI’s NICS department to a single, part-time unpaid college intern in an attempt to backlog the 2nd Amendment into oblivion.
In the digital age, with the resources the Federal government has available to it, there is no reasonable cause for a background check coming back indeterminate after 3 full days. This is not a “loophole”, this is a very intentional, deliberate, and meaningful law that is working exactly as designed. Stop trying to paint it a different color in an attempt to shame businesses into turning away their customers.
3) Asking dealers to train their workers to spot risky buyers
This doesn’t even need to be said, but I’ll say it anyway. Gun dealers were ordered to sell firearms to customers they thought were “risky”, customers they wouldn’t have sold guns to if given the choice, by the ATF during operation Fast and Furious. Gun dealers are better at doing this, simply because they are, by and large, good law abiding citizens who care for their community, than the government will ever be.
4) Working with police to prevent criminal access to firearms by doing things such as recording all transactions.
This is just mind numbing. First of all, you’re asking a business to complete alienate their customers on a voluntary basis. My City Council might as well ask Wal-Mart to start collecting an extra 20% tax on all sales, just because.
Second, all firearm transactions by an FFL are already recorded by the FBI through NICS, information which is readily available to local law enforcement upon request. So that must mean that you’re trying to close the “gun show loophole” (which, like the 3 day rule isn’t a “loophole” at all). If my council had done its research it would know that this supposed “loophole” doesn’t apply to FFLs in the slightest. You’d think they could at least complete one iota of research before they vote on something.
All in all, this vote simply puts on display what Tucsonan’s have known for years. Our council, and anti-gunners in general, are willing to waste the taxpayer’s time and money on nonsensical, do-nothing-but-feel-good idiocy. They continue on their long and proud tradition of using meaningless platitudes in an attempt to push gun-control that would do literally absolutely nothing to curb violence in this country.
The good news is that 4 of the 7 councilmembers are up for re-election, although Mayor Rothschild is unfortunately running unopposed. Perhaps this will debacle will be enough to spur pro-freedom voters to the polls.
Sincerely,
Andrew Scott
CEO
A&A Ammunition
About A&A Ammunition: A&A Ammunition was founded with a single goal in mind: To help shooters be able to train by offering them high quality, affordable ammunition. Click here for more information.
Andrew Scott is the Founder and CEO of A&A Ammunition, an ammunition manufacturing and sales company located in Tucson, AZ that specializes in reloading high quality training ammo. He is also a Veteran currently serving in the Arizona Air National Guard, and has previously worked in numerous industries ranging from food prep to stock trading. For more of his writings, visit the A&A Ammunition website.