There are a bunch of anti-gun tropes that don’t even hold up to a moment of scrutiny. Like my last “Images of the Antis”, grandstanding against Stand Your Ground laws, while the person they’re vilifying is going away to prison for the rest of his life for murder. Like their attempts to justify using suicide numbers as a reason to ban guns, when places where guns are nearly impossible to acquire have higher suicide rates than us.
The idea is to just make a lot of noise and hope their compatriots join in the cult-like chant before anybody can think. They really just want laws to be passed on knee-jerk reactions, because the facts will always prove them wrong. Hell it’s in their playbook!
Here’s the latest campaign being pushed hard by what’s left of the Brady Campaign.
OK well first up, they aren’t admitting to it, but they’re showing that the number of “Bad Apple” transfers (their metric, not mine) is only a little over 4,000 transfers per year. Let’s be kind to the poor folks at Brady and round that up to 5,000. The latest FBI data shows in 2012:
Of the 19,592,303 background checks processed through the NICS in 2012, a total of 8,725,425 transactions were processed by the NICS Section and 10,866,878 were processed by state users.
So of 19,592,303 they are talking about approximately 5,000. That 0.025% of all transactions the Brady Campaign is calling “Bad Apple”. Of course the Brady Campaign has NEVER been interested in any subtle approaches, instead being more interested in sweeping laws that effect all gun owners. Still even taking them at their word, and rounding up in their favor, we’re looking at numbers so small, the only logical solution is sending out law enforcement to target the “Bad Apples”.
Still as we dig deeper what they are targeting is “Bad Apple Dealers”, of which they claim Ten (10!). Note they don’t LIST those 10 dealers. I went digging through their site and I found this even more cryptic infographic. Again, no businesses named, but they claim vastly more then 10, further they give a “Percentage of Crime Guns”, but I have no idea what this is a percentage of. Also I found this strange report:
As a result of the landmark Brady Law, federally-licensed gun dealers must check the buyer’s background to make sure that he or she is not prohibited from possessing guns. Brady background checks have stopped more than 2.1 million gun sales to prohibited purchasers including convicted felons, domestic abusers, fugitives from justice, and other dangerous individuals. Gun dealers should therefore do all they reasonably can to ensure that background checks are as effective as possible, including, but not limited to:
Refuse to transfer a firearm until a background check has been completed and the purchaser is cleared to purchase the firearm.
Search state court and criminal government databases that may provide information on whether the potential purchaser is prohibited.
Refuse to sell a firearm to a potential purchaser if the dealer has information that the purchaser may be a danger to themselves or others.
Refuse to sell firearms at gun shows unless all firearm sales at such shows are conducted only upon completion of a background check.
Perform background checks for private sellers for a reasonable fee.
…Electronically record the make, model, caliber or gauge, and serial number of all firearms that are acquired no later than one business day after their acquisition and electronically record their purchaser no later than one business day after their disposition. Monthly backups of these records shall be maintained in a secure container. All firearms acquired but not yet disposed of must be accounted for through a daily electronic inventory check that is maintained at a secure location.
Provide immediate notification of any and all loss or theft of any firearms to local and federal law enforcement authorities.
Huh? Did the person writing this even read, or was aware of the GCA. If you are an FFL this is the LAW. The only quoted exception is their mandate that all transfers be kept electronically. The law currently states that transfers and inventory must be logged in the dealers bound book, many also use electronic systems as well.
So I get the impression that they are claiming these 10 (or 80 in the infographic) are directly violating the law with how they sell and transfer guns? Now I’m starting to see why they aren’t naming names, that would be a REALLY easy lawsuit if a specific dealer was to be named in a report that claims that they are not keeping records of the guns that pass through their shops, or are making transfers in the store, or at gun shows without conducting background checks.
In reality, if this was even remotely true, it wouldn’t be hard for the BATFE to conduct audits or stings on those dealers and revoke their licenses and prosecute the violations. This REALLY doesn’t pass the smell test when you look at all the man-power and money wasted on Mickey Mouse operations like this.
The reality is that there are gun shops in places with high-crime and gang activity. High Crime areas are called that for a reason, you are more likely to get your stuff stolen, be that a TV, your game system, or your guns. Many criminals borrow or steal guns from friends and relatives. Also where there’s incentive, there will be straw buyers. These people are criminals, and they get caught and go to prison. Still there isn’t much the dealer can do about it. If the straw is an amateur, it might be detectable, but really there is no true way to know if somebody is lying when they buy a gun. Certainly gun shops can’t act like vigilantes and declare patrons liars because they are the wrong race, gender, or experience level to buy a gun.
Of course all this hand-waving can easily point to one direction, shutting down gun shops for doing nothing wrong. Now couple that with the calls for “Universal Background Checks”, which would force all gun owners to sell their guns through FFLs. Shut down huge amounts of gun dealers simply because a crime gun was traced back to their shop, but no protocaul violations could be found, and now you have a situation like Mexico or Washington DC, where people are forced to travel, possibly huge distances, to gun shops with zero competition. Zero competition means they can charge whatever they want for transfers and merchandise (and they might be pressured to do this by ATF as a way to avoid THEIR shop becoming the next target), and you have a way to choke out lawful gun ownership.
Which is their end-goal, anyway, it’s not like they care a wit about the criminals.
