Maybe the criminal grapevine has been broken for years.  Maybe criminals are the stupid sort who just don’t know a good thing when they see it.  Maybe they’re just stupid.  Because there’s apparently an untapped fount of guns available for them to buy without those cumbersome background checks that could preclude them from legally purchasing firearms.  That’s right, folks!  Gun shows are back on the radar.  I guess New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been languishing without media attention lately, so he’s staged another “sting” to prove how evil gun sellers at gun shows are contributing to the festering, crime-ridden shitholedness that is his city.



Undercover investigators working on behalf of the New York City mayor’s
office repeatedly bought guns from unlicensed dealers at gun shows even
though they disclosed they probably couldn’t pass a background check.


That finding is among those outlined in a 36-page report
released Wednesday by Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office that documents
alleged illegal gun sales by private and licensed dealers earlier this
year at seven gun shows in three states.

The investigation tested private, unlicensed dealers at the shows in
Nevada, Ohio and Tennessee to see whether they would sell weapons to
someone who said he or she probably could not pass a background check.
It also tested licensed dealers at the same shows to see if they would
sell to a gun to a person who was buying the weapon for someone else,
or what is called a “straw purchase.” Combined, 74 percent of the
sellers failed the integrity tests, the mayor’s office said.

You know what I wonder?  I wonder why it is that criminals haven’t found and put this veritable cornucopia for illegal guns to use!  After all, if I was a self-respecting thug, and I had a chance to purchase a firearm without undergoing a background check, I’d be all over that like Oprah on a baked ham!  But apparently, less than 1 percent of guns used in criminal activity were actually purchased at a gun show.  I wonder if someone ought to tell the criminals about this stellar opportunity!

Bloomberg’s report cites ATF figures from 1999 that found 30 percent of
the guns involved in trafficking investigations were linked somehow to
gun shows. “By closing the gun show loophole and enhancing enforcement,
the federal government can dramatically reduce the criminal activity at
gun shows,” the report says.

Now you know… if I ever used language such as this in a report at work, I’d be laughed out of the office!  They were linked “somehow” to gun shows.  They were “involved” in trafficking investigations.  Involvement in an investigation is not an indication of guilt or innocence of the bearer.  Being “somehow” linked to gun shows could mean anything from a firearm having been sold legitimately and stolen, then resold on the black market, to being purchased illegally from a private seller.

But that doesn’t matter, because the “damning” evidence sounds so damn good!

This little sting operation cost NYC taxpayers $1.5 million.  That’s right.  In the middle of a recession, when New York City’s unemployment rate reached 10.3 percent, in August, and with the budget deficit for the city projected to grow to $5 billion for FY11, the mayor spent $1.5 million in taxpayer funds to pay private investigators to make illegal gun purchases – all for a supposed “problem” that isn’t really a problem, since the majority of criminals are apparently unaware of this fabulous opportunity to get guns without a background check.

The report claims that 19 of the 30 private sellers failed the integrity test and sold guns to those who claimed they wouldn’t pass a background check, while 16
out of 17 licensed dealers “willingly sold to an apparent straw
purchaser.”  Every gun show I’ve attended, I’ve seen an active ATF presence, which I would be willing to bet would lead to swift legal action and a quick revocation of the FFL.  But besides that, I really do have a problem with observational data such as this.  It’s not quantifiable.  What is an “apparent” straw purchaser?  Garen Wintemute, who tried this little trick a year ago, didn’t pass the smell test either.  The “research” he performed is unscientific, and is inconsistent with Bureau of Justice Statistics research that shows less than 1 percent of convicts bought their firearms at gun shows.

So are criminals just stupid and unaware of their options when purchasing their tools, or is the “gun show loophole” a non-problem touted by an attention seeking politician whore who hasn’t grabbed headlines in a while and just needed a bit more publicity for his tyrannical cause?