FILE - In this Sunday, Sept. 1, 2019, file photo, law enforcement officials process the crime scene from a shooting the day before which ended with the shooter, Seth Ator, being shot dead by police in a stolen mail van, right, in Odessa, Texas. Federal prosecutors are seeking to keep more than two dozen guns and firearm accessories seized from Marcus Anthony Braziel, whose home was searched in 2019 following a mass shooting in West Texas. The search of Braziel's home last September came days after Ator drove through Odessa and Midland, neighboring cities 140 miles (225 kilometers) south of Lubbock, shooting people before being shot dead by police. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)

The 2019 mass shooting in Odessa, Texas was — as usual — used by the victim disarmament bloc to demand universal background checks, among other limits on the right to keep and bear arms. After all, the shooter, a prohibited person, got his gun in a “private sale” which are exempt from such checks.

Except…that wasn’t actually the case.

Although background checks are not required for in-state, private gun sales, [Marcus Anthony] Braziel admitted he was “engaged in the business of selling firearms” and should have been licensed and checking his clients’ backgrounds. He admitted routinely buying firearm firing mechanisms, using milling equipment to build them into guns, then selling them for profits of $100-$200.

In fact, the shooter had earlier tried to buy a gun through a legitimate gun retailer and his background check was denied.

When Braziel’s role in this was mentioned at all by the mainstream media — Gun law loophole allowed Odessa mass shooting suspect to buy AR-type assault rifle — he was painted as just a private individual who happened sell a gun to a mass shooter. In fact, he was manufacturing guns at home, a point that furthered anti-homebuild talking points, too.

This guilty plea makes those arguments easier to deflect. This was an illegal arms manufacturer/dealer breaking the law. He wasn’t going to bring attention to himself by trying to access the NICS system for deliberately unlawful transactions.

Let’s hit all the high points again: A prohibited person who couldn’t buy a gun legally knowingly purchased a firearm from a person who was knowingly, unlawfully in the business of manufacturing and dealing firearms.

But never fear. No doubt one more new gun control law would magically stop this kind of activity. Perhaps we could even make it a felony to commit a felony.

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58 COMMENTS

    • As stated prior to whiner49er….”Yea. Go fuck yourself.”…
      This needs to become the TTAG official response to whiner.
      Trump/Pence 2020 FTW!

      • “All arms should be illegal.”

        Only skinny, puny, pudgy-soft girly arms like yours, loser. Why I’ll bet you can barely lift your skateboard to swing it at someones head while they’re not looking.

    • I have a chainsaw, can I start with your arms first? You can teach yourself to pick your nose with your toes afterword.

      • Ziiiiiiiing! I definitely picked up my sons chainsaw project again the other day when I saw that vid of the guy gettin protesters (commies) off his Porch with one the other day

        Brandish this you filthy Satanic ritual abusers!! (Commies, they’re a death cult, inspired by pit of hell, ya dig??!

    • Having to listen to assholes like you should be illegal but this is the USA where everyone has equal rights (theoretically) .

    • Illegal for everyone except your ANTIFA and BLM comrades. Difficult to have a revolution and expropiating property of kulacks if they are armed and fight back.

      • Not my “your”. I still think releasing wild boar in the streets would solve a lot of violent non violent protest. I’m thinking one hog for every one hundred people should do the trick. At least then when someone said “Oh sht, here come the pigs” they wouldn’t be lieing

        • ” I still think releasing wild boar in the streets would solve a lot of violent non violent protest…”

          I’d rather use wolves, cougar, maybe a big bear or two and the like. Lions/tigers would be great but probably viewed as “invasive species”. I’d be concerned that a lot of the BLM peeps would actually hunt the boar for ribs and such. Not as likely to want to hunt the other predators. Maybe a few of those big Everglades pythons would be a neat touch, too. (They’ve almost gotten rid of all the possums in the Glades- pretty efficient.)

        • Boars would be perfect. Invasive? Yes. Mean, nasty? Yes and Yes. But the upside is after the streets are cleared of the little “FA’s” (Because there is nothing “Anti” about their Fascism) There could be a hog hunt. And we could feed the homeless shelters to boot.

        • What armament can you put on one those up armored possums in Texas and Oklahoma? That would be a sight having a battalion of them loose.

    • Yeah, if your sorry ass didn’t have arms, we wouldn’t be bothered by your typing silliness.

    • This is clearly someone else faking a response. Miner49er doesn’t think all guns should be illegal—just yours.

      • How about those Assault Skateboards?
        Free Kyle and…….wait for it…………
        Trump/Pence 2020!

    • All arms should be illegal. What a stupid thing to say. Then what, outlaw knives, then bats, then rocks?

    • How sad that you continue to utilize my handle and post goofy statements.

      Remember folks, accept no substitutes, only the genuine article can satisfy… Just ask your wife!

      “How come every time I come home, I hear the back door slam,
      Cigarette butts in the ashtray well they ain’t my brand,
      There’s too many dirty dishes for just us two,
      How come my dog he don’t bark at you!

    • “All arms should be illegal.”

      Only puny flabby girly arms like yours. Why I’ll bet you can barely lift your skateboard up to swing it at someones head while they’re not looking.

  2. Didn’t we just have a story about how requiring a license to sell guns is wrong? Or requiring you to get a license, before you can buy a gun is wrong?

    • Actually, I suspect the discussion was whether requiring a license, etc, was CONSTITUTIONAL or not, and it is not. Whether it is *wrong* or not is a different question, which should be addressed extensively before modifying the Constitution to allow it.

  3. All firearms laws and restrictions are infringements. Anyone who has egregiously proven themselves so unworthy of living among us without full exercise of ALL of their rights-to the point that we’ve allowed” investigation eternal” of all the rest of us-should 1) never ever be released or 2) not breathing at all. Full Stop. End of story. Repeal them ALL and go back to Mala In Se vs Malum Prohibidorum.
    And if you are forced to defend yourself or others,self defense-irrespective of your location or your past-is a human right as well as integral to all other civil rights

  4. No, he’s right. If all arms were made illegal I’m sure they would all magically disappear, especially the ones held by criminals.

  5. That’s right some perp uses vehicles and a firearm to cause havoc and the Gun has got to go. Everyone must turn in their guns but keep your car for now. One thing at a time. Ain’t got no gun makes taking everything else much easier.
    When useful idiots demand confiscation they can rely on the democRat Party…Experienced slave masters, jack booted thugs, lynch mobs, etc. Open 7 Days A Week. PHONE 1 800 RAT CRAP.

    • My gut feeling tells me female comments on this site are actually written by some dude looking to catfish guys.

      • I would not dismiss Debbie W. out of hand.

        Those female Trump supporters can be very dangerous, serious business.

        “WILLIAMSON, W.Va. — A Mingo County nurse who spoke at the Republican National Convention in August is a suspect in a Williamson shooting.

        Authorities on Friday reported Amy Thorn allegedly shot Jonda Whitt near 841 Vinson St. on Thursday. Thorn faces a charge of malicious wounding.

        Amy Thorn is also known as Amy Johnson and Amy Ford.

        Thorn, a registered nurse, spent the early months of the coronavirus pandemic working as a relief nurse in New York City and San Antonio.

        Ford spoke at the Republican National Convention in support of President Donald Trump’s handling of the pandemic.

        Police said Whitt underwent surgery and is expected to recover.”

    • Hey I called that number, I really couldn’t understand him, sounded like he said Exto vitamins.

    • Debbie, did you set your auto correct to capitalize the “R” in the word “democrat”? It is just the most clever thing I have ever seen on the internet. Very mature too! By the way, I am still waiting for my stfu from you. Aren’t you going to send me one?

      Truly yours,

      Your friend skippy

  6. Case from last year, buying and reselling within hours, ATF agents “asked” him to stop, they knew what he was doing, yet didn’t arrest him nor did he stop. “ATF agents told Pino not to buy firearms to immediately resell them and that he didn’t listen.
    “Despite repeated warnings by ATF agents, he continued to sell guns without a license, even after telling them that he would stop,” ”

    Why not arrest him first time they contacted him? Why didn’t NCIS deal with him due to reselling firearms purchased from the USMC Exchange? Too lazy to deal with it? An E-4 does not make enough to buy 23 new firearms in a short time without flipping them, the gun counter would only have couple of employees cleared to run it so they would notice a repeat buyer.
    https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/03/04/norfolk-based-sailor-used-military-discount-buy-guns-and-resell-them.html

    • How about they were just giving him a break, told him to tone it down a little before something serious happened and he was too arrogant to listen.

      He’ll have plenty of time to ruminate on the error of his ways, along with three hots and a cot each day

  7. This is hardly unprecedented. My psychopathic, marijuana bootlegging tenant who shot at my son along with his marijuana bootlegging grandson were using my property for a similar, illegal firearms manufacturing and marketing business. The grandson had even been stealing parts, including 80% lower receivers from his which he was then finishing and assembling into completed guns. It would be interesting to know if these bozos sold an AR-15 to Michael Wolfe, aka The Big Bad Wolfe, who is awaiting trial for the abductions and murders of Karissa Fretwell and her three year old son William Fretwell. If this is true, we can all blame Judge Ladd Wiles who brings to his courtroom the same profound discernment that enabled him to remain oblivious to his wife’s spectacularly blatant adulteries until former US Attorney for the State of Oregon Amanda S Marshall, got herself arrested for stalking her boyfriend. (Google it. Amanda even invoked the Bill Clinton defense.) The saga is hilarious.

  8. Killing people is a major felony and a capital offense in Texas. Execute people quickly and publicly and you’ll see some of them think twice before doing shit like this.

    Spent matter whether guns are legal or illegal. The act and the actor is the problem that needs solving.

    • Doubtful. Capital punishment has been around for centuries, including eras when it came quite swiftly. Has never done much to prevent crime.

      Capital Punishment is about revenge, plain and simple. That’s okay with me, makes sense to me.

      Just not going to pretend it prevents crime because the criminal is afraid of the law.

      • Maybe execution doesn’t work as a deterrent as well as we would wish. But it sure as hell reduces recidivism! Execution is justified on that basis alone.

      • Better that 10 innocent men suffer then one guilty man goes free, right?

        I prefer to live in America, thank you.

        “By category, the leading contributing causes of wrongful conviction in the death-row exonerations between 2007 and April 2017 were:

        Official misconduct (28 cases, 82.4%)
        Perjury or false accusation (26 cases, 76.5%)
        False or misleading forensic evidence (11 cases, 32.4%)
        Inadequate legal defense (8 cases, 23.5%)
        False or fabricated confession (6 cases, 17.6%)
        Mistaken eyewitness identification (4 cases, 11.8%)“

    • So, what, you think that someone is reasonable enough to resist committing a crime because they might get the death penalty but unreasonable enough to still commit the crime if they might get life without the possibility of parole?

      No. Criminals don’t think they’re going to get caught. Or they don’t think at all. Capital punishment has been shown again and again to do nothing to decrease homicide rates… although it COULD save money if we actually carried out the sentence quickly.

  10. The conclusion of this article is idiotic. Yes the buyer/shooter was a restricted person. Yes the seller was conducting firearms business w/o FFL nor was he following FFL NICS Requirements: so instead, he was selling firearms JUST AS ANYONE ELSE COULD choose to do as a “Private Sale”. The shooter could just as well bought the firearm from the next private sale ad he found and still followed his heinous plan. The author is trying to negate the fact that the firearm was sold in a private sale without a NICS check. Trying to blaming on a unlicensed “Dealer” who also didn’t comply with NICS is like blaming the bank robbery on the stolen Ford getaway car! If they didn’t steal a Ford they could have stolen a Chevy, Caddy or Prius.

    I’m a staunch 2A Supporting guy and that is what drives my votes and direction of my spending. I do not support Universal Background Checks nor Red Flag Laws among other infringements. You shouldn’t play the deflection Shell Game like this article, your no good at it and its too transparent. Criminals do buy guns through private sales and thats just the nature of the beast. The EXISTING Law is broken by the “Restricted Person” BUYER and not by the Private Seller if they have no knowledge of any Buyer disqualification.

  11. No worries, Trump will win “hugely” in a few weeks.
    Enjoy that TDS when he does.
    Trump/Pence 2020!

  12. I saw a news report that said the gang member that shot the two deputies in California had a “ghost gun.”

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