Posted on 12/14/2011 7:29:53 PM PST by neverdem
Listings websites "really needs to clean up its act," sez Hizzoner
The notorious “gun show loophole” that gives criminals and maniacs easy access to firearms has gone online.
Undercover investigators for the city found thousands of guns - including one just like the 9mm Ruger that killed Officer Peter Figoski on Monday - being sold online by private peddlers who don’t have to perform background checks on buyers.
Not only did investigators
find it a breeze to buy pistols and assault rifles with no questions asked, but 77 of 125 sellers in 14 states agreed to complete the sale even after the buyer said he couldn’t pass a background check.
At a City Hall press conference, Mayor Bloomberg played tape after tape of drawling Southern gun dealers laughing - a few nervously, most with amusement - when the undercover buyer said he couldn’t have passed a background check.
“I probably couldn’t either!” said a cackling seller in Arizona who was hawking the 9mm Ruger handgun for $500.
Background checks are designed to keep felons and the mentally ill from buying guns.
“Unscrupulous online gun sales pose a significant threat to public safety,” Mayor Bloomberg said Wednesday as he unveiled a report titled ‘Point, Click, Fire: An Investigation of Illegal Online Gun Sales.’
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said, “I-95 is a very effective way of getting guns into the city. We don’t need an electronic highway to make it easier.”
The city report said a significant portion of American weapons sales have moved from parking lot gun shows to the Internet.
Private sellers are often presumed to be hobbyists making only occasional sales, but they actually carry out about 40% of all U.S. gun sales, the report said.
City investigators found more than 25,000 guns for sale on 10 websites alone.
“It is clear that the market is significant – and that many of these sales are largely unregulated and undocumented,” the report concluded.
Opponents of gun control have successfully kept private sellers exempt from federal laws governing licensed firearms dealers: they don’t have to keep sales records, report multiple purchases or perform background checks.
But they are legally barred from selling to anyone they “have reasonable cause to believe” is a felon, fugitive or fruitcake.
The city found the shadiest gun sellers on Craigslist, where 14 of 17 failed the “integrity test” and agreed to sell to someone who said he couldn’t buy a gun from a licensed dealer.
“Craigslist really needs to clean up its act,” Bloomberg said.
The lightly-moderated listings site officially prohibits firearms listings but investigators found 1,792 guns for sale over three months, the report said.
Armslist.com had 13,660.
“This investigation for the first time takes a snapshot of this new online gun market, and unfortunately it's not a pretty picture,” said John Feinblatt, the mayor’s chief policy adviser.
Bloomberg called on Congress to pass legislation introduced after the January Tucson massacre that would close the loophole.
“Federal law should require a background check for every gun sale - not just those involving licensed dealers,” Bloomberg said.
Kelly said the 1963 revelation that Lee Harvey Oswald bought his rifle through the mail, an outcry led to the banning of gun sales through the mail.
“We shouldn't have to wait for the assassination of a president or the killing of a police officer to dismantle a conduit bringing illicit guns into the city,” he said.
There are so many lies and mischaracterizations presented, it’s hard to know where to start:
“City investigators found more than 25,000 guns for sale on 10 websites alone.”
They pretend these are all private sales without background checks.
I searched for manufacturer names, plus calibers.
I have never seen guns listed on CL, but there is a gun auction site that Tom Gresham recommends.
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Thanks for the ping!
I'd really like to learn more about these “shady” gun-selling websites...mostly because I believe the only valid gun law in the country begins “A well-regulated militia...”.
Have used craigslist since its start. It has never allowed or condoned gun sales, not even euphemistic references under sporting goods. They’s a bunch of hippie dips, they don’t “do” guns. Which is too bad, on some levels since FFL holders could utilize (not that they aren’t burning up the cash register tape these days). Armslist.com is a commercial site, clearly labeled.
Bloomberg quite simply is an ass. First its trans fats in NY restaurants, then salt, then butter, then he allows OCCUPY cause he supports them (through his lib pals and kickbacks to him from the property owner—true story), and now this. Imagine this self hating Jew trying to peddle this crap in Israel, where a license to possess guns is available on demand to every law-abiding adult, and guns are easily obtainable. The man is a complete lying crook, and ineffective at best- the darling of the libs.
I've seen Thunder Ranch DVD's get flagged on one of the TX craigslists (and no, it wasn't Austin).
Another: http://www.gunauction.com/
The perfect example of socialist government, wanting control of everything.
“Repeat a lie often enough...”
Well...no!
Intrastate face to face sales/transfers do not require the background check.
Of course this could vary depending on which state you live in, but feds don't require it.
Background checks are designed to keep felons and the mentally ill from buying guns.Ah-ha! So this is why Bloomie can't get his own gun.
But 'series'. There's *something* about Felons that should be addressed as all felonies are not equal:
Back in 2000-2002 I worked with one of the nicest, honest, kindest guys you could find. BUT he couldn't legally buy a gun. As in his yute he did something dumb and got caught.That is all.I only found out about 'his problem' when he had to beg off from going through an FBI Background / Fingerprint Check for work at a gubmint 'place'. He never told me exactly what it was but through our talking my guess it was like getting busted in a hot car (a very-very low class Felony at most in IL) when he was about 17-18 as he did say he was 'Never in jail' (except for when initially busted).
So guys, or girls, like him need some way to get this 'Felon issue' resolved fairly. OH, very important side note: He grew up and lived in THE MOST corrupt little Burb around Chicago where this occurred. The entire PD was on the Chi Mobs payroll and the Chief was a Mob Hit Man (eventually busted). And if the town's residents didn't 'pay to play' you were screwed with you first encounter.
My statement was about the sentence I quoted where it said that sales were moving to the Internet.
My statement was specific to Internet sales.
Federal background check law still doesn't apply unless the site is a licensed dealer.
From Armslist.com: "I understand that ARMSLIST DOES NOT become involved in transactions between parties and does not certify, investigate, or in any way guarantee the legal capacity of any party to transact."
I see an ad on Armslist, contact the seller, agree on a price and arrange to transfer at the local Walmart parking lot.
All is perfectly legal. If the seller has reason to believe that I am a felon or from out of state, the face to face sale is not legal, however, the seller has no requirement to inspect my identity or ask about my background much less run a BG check.
At least that's how it works in my state. I suspect this applies in many other states as well.
No federal laws are violated in this transaction.
Some states have a waiver process in place to address these types of issues.
“...amazingly stupid statements from Bloomberg and Company. ...” and “..I think they know better....”
Nah, they’re not stupid at all.
They’re using carefully worded soundbites, with a current familiar situation (Craig’s List), to create a straw man argument.
It’s calculated, intentionally misleading for the ignorant, and designed to arouse public outcry for something that the majority of people who aren’t “gunnies” have absolutely ZERO knowledge about, and even less inclination to find out the facts about.
Little Fascist asswipe Bloomberg and his gun control buddies know exactly what they’re doing. This is, after all, how subversives work.
The thing that keeps them up at night is this: folks can, and always WILL, have firearms, and know where to get them under the radar, if necessary - REGARDLESS of whatever laws they try to pass.
F*** ‘em.
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