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.
“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.”
It was my understanding that the FBI was forbidden by law from recording firearm transactions. However, the distribution chain from manufacturer to initial buyer (via FFL) is required to record those transactions, enabling traces.
Or am I misinformed again?
More or less.
At the federal level, if a gun comes across their desk to trace, they first go to the manufacturer and say “who did you distribute Model X serial #YYYYY to?” Then they go to the distributor and say what “FFL did this gun go to?” Then they go the FFL and say “who did you sell this gun to (via the 4473)?” Then they find the individual and say “may we see gun model X serial #YYYYY?” or “we have a warrant to see if you have this gun.” After that, the investigation will go according to what that person says (sold, stolen, lost in an unfortunate boating accident, etc.)
This does not account for states/cities that have their own registry (which I am sure are quite worthless in solving crime).
And they absolutely, 100% follow the law to the letter, I’m sure.
I don’t believe they follow that law, either. It is still a good thing to know, when they tell you that you own such-and-such gun and where is it?, that the first thing out of your mouth should be something like “what makes you think I own that gun?”, since you are asking them if they would like to confess to a felony (keeping a registry) or GTFO of your face.
Nice! I’ll have to remember that.
The denials are kept unless cleared on appeal.
Number 2 is NOT A LOOPHOLE.
Its intentionally in there to force the the people who run the process to be accountable for their response times. It also is there to prevent any back door gun bans. “I’m sorry sir, its been 6 weeks and we still don’t have an answer, sorry you can’t get your gun.
When I was an FFL if four days passed after a “delay” and I was comfortable with the sale, I did it. A right delayed is a right denied. (Although the law says 3 business days, the current ATF guidance makes it really a 4 day hold. for example, if the delay is received at 9 am on friday, they say you can not transfer until 12:01 AM Thursday. 4 days.
“Tucson City Council Goes Full You-Know-What On Gun Control”
The term is *Da derp dee derp da teetly derpee derpee dumb.*
The Tucson City Council is “A Carrot!” Rated PG-13
Skinned Knuckles.
You are mostly right. The FBI must flush the results of the NICS check after a certain number of days. They are forbidden from keeping that data. Even still, they don’t get much data. Simply the person’s PII. There’s no entry as to the kind of gun or its SN.
The dealer holds the retail firearms transfer records. The ATF gets nothing at the time of sale.
If a gun is found at a crime scene, they go to the manufacturer and find what distributor it was sent to. The distributor checks their Acquisition and Disposition “book” and tells them what dealer it went to.
The dealer checks his book and tells them who it was sold to. They will follow the trail until they either find the owner or the trail goes cold. Typically because of a face to face sale between two non-FFLs in a state that doesn’t require any records for this kind of transaction.
You are mostly right. The FBI must flush the results of the NICS check after a certain number of days. They are forbidden from keeping that data
MUST Sure if you want to get all technical about it that is the law. The “problem” is that the Obumer administration is not following any regulation, law or Constitution they disagree with or find to be inconvenient. On what basis would you believe ANYTHING this group of thugs would say? (Have they even been asked or have yet stated that the are following NICS requirements?) Can you demonstrate that NICS data is not being archieved?
It appears that every Fed data channel and database/repository has been or can been hacked and/or monitored by foreign gov’t and private agencies. So the domestic enemies of the Constitution are not as capable? Show us that the chicoms or Bloomberg are not sucking in the NCIS data. You can’t? Then quit preaching BS theories. It’s 2015 not 1990.
If the data is digitized, then it is never truly “flushed” unless they perform a full wipe on EVERYTHING that the information passed through.
Wipe? Like with a cloth?
Well played sir…I lol’d at that one.
During the initial NICS BGC the dealer provides Full Name, SSN, Firearm Make/Model/SN, therefore your comment that they only get personal info and no entry about the firearm is invalid
Egad-first the 10 moms for gun control in Phoenix and now this in Tuscon-what is happening to my state? I realize it’s just in the cities this shit plays ( I live in the sticks) but it makes me a little nervous to see.
Those seven are just showing what they are……….. impotent!!!
The State and people have them surrounded. So they are acting like they are trying to do something.
Also shows how unholy ignorant they are of existing laws already enforced daily on the books.
Just shameful.
When I read about things like this it makes me think these people must have been dropped on their heads as children. Repeatedly.
Retard. The word is retard.
Politically incorrect. But what isn’t these days?
The best thing about Trump is you can “quote him.
“PC is dead” Call ’em like you see ’em. It’s a garbage truck driver (doing an honest days work) not a sanitation engineer.
Funny thing about that. I was just reading about that the other day.
Apparently NYC called them “sanitation engineers” and issued white uniforms when the garbage collection system was just getting started. They did it to help instill a sense of pride, esprit de corps if you will, in people who otherwise had a pretty nasty and thankless job.
And frankly, having lived for a time in a city where the trashmen went on strike … I’ll say any given trashman does more to prop up civilization in one day than most politicians do in a year. Those guys, I have no problem showing some respect to.
Around here, the garbage man is just one guy who sits in a comfy, cozy climate controlled cabin, drives the truck, and operates the big claw that grabs the standardized trash can from the curb and dumps it into the truck. If you trash can is not in the exact correct spot, not facing the right way, and not even slightly overfilled such that the lid isn’t sitting perfectly flush with the base, then they’ll just pass you up.
I guess all the stop and go from one house to the next might make you a little car sick when you first start the job. Other than that it’s a pretty easy gig and not particularly worthy of above-and-beyond respect more than any other guy who gets up in the morning and goes to work to make an honest living.
Now, in fairness, the “Heavy Trash” guys that come around on the third Friday of the month and pick up whatever big trash you have (appliances, tree limbs, whatever you cleaned out of your garage, etc.) right off the ground, those guys are showing me something.
I have great respect for garbage collectors. But if you’re going to call yourself an engineer, I’m going to ask where you got your engineering degree.
Curtis! How unfeeling of you! What if I drive a choo-choo?
Wow. Most of that stuff (spotting and dealing with straw purchasers, for instance) is what the NSSF has been working on. I’d build up with “there’s a group that’s doing x, y, z. How about joining them?”. And when they protest when they find out the name? “but if it saves only one life…. Why don’t you do it for the children”.
There is one Council member in particular, Steve Kozachik (Ward 6) who considers himself to be THE genius who is here to save Tucson. He pulls most of his ‘geniosity’ out of his ass but seems to have an audience with the locals. I’ll bet Kozachik was the driving force behind this idea, as he does this type of thing all of the time. The rest of the Council sits there with drool running down their chins because they can’t assimilate anything more than finger painting.
Unfortunately, there’s not much of a possibility that the Tucson City Clowncil will mend its errant ways. Thanks to the presence of the University and a large Hispanic population, Tucson will vote overwhelmingly Democrat. The only Republican on the City Clowncil, Steve Kozachik, was voted in as a Republican, but shortly afterward had an allegation-change operation, and is now a (anti-gun) Democrat.
“Asking dealers to train their workers to spot risky buyers”
Define “risky buyers.”
What would constitute credentials for the “trainers” here?
Would the requirements for an FFL then include a degree in psychiatry? Unfortunately, not even a good shrink can reliably predict who will become violent… and a good psychiatrist would be the first one to tell you that.
And, setting yourself and your shop up as experts, beyond the capabilities of NICS, sets you up for the lawsuit from Hell when you fail. And you’ll deserve it!
I’m in California and even I am impressed with how stupid the Tucson City Council is.
University town with large and growing low-income welfare dependency culture = long-term Left-progtard stupidity in action.
So, Tucson is out as a relocation on retirement cadidate. Any place where sanity still rules in AZ, since Phoenix has become the cartels kidnapping capital in the US?
I’ve lived here in Northern Mexico…I mean Tucson…since 1970. (I also lived here for two years in the mid-1960s.) I am waiting on $omething to finish up soon and then I am OUT. I suggest you look at Chandler, Gilbert, Surprise…basically the Phoenix suburbs with newer growth and strong economies. I could never recommend Tucson to anyone except sanctuary city-loving lesbians and effiminate hipsters. Just wonder how they’ll get into the city with the condition of the roads here.
I’ve been in Arizona many times, I’m familiar with the flora and fauna there and I have a question — where do these pansies grow?
Not from the desert, Ralph. These pansies are imported, and cultivated in gardens. The desert would dry these pansies up, and turn them to dust if left unprotected in the wilderness.
“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.”
That is my chuckle for the day.
Tucson is by far the bluest part of AZ, but that’s still not very blue as blue goes. These councilmen know better than to try and actually *infringe* on gun rights in one of the most supportive states in the union – this “position statement” allows them to pretend they’re working on the platform to the party faithful and will go essentially unnoticed by everyone else not paying attention, allowing them to hold on to a council seat for another cycle.
Nothing new here…just politics in action.
I’d just be embarrassed to sit on that City Council. Passing deceptive, ineffective sentimental resolutions is a piss poor way to pass the day. Go produce something of value, you leeches.
Washington’s preemption law is ironclad as well, but since when does a law deter a scofflaw? Seattle is a repeat offender, and purposely so, even though they know better, just like the meth head down the street is a repeat offender. Neither has any respect for the law, and will do what they want no matter how clear or detailed it is.
First of all, can someone please explain to anti-gunners what a “loophole” is?
Sure, a loophole is when someone complies with a law fully and you realize they’re still doing things you don’t like.
For a reasonable person the key point is that they are fully complying with the law, for an anti the key point is people are doing things antis disprove of that doesn’t affect them.
Wow, that looks like these fine folks just voted to “support” independent citizens, legally involved with guns who act autonomously, use their judgment, and do what makes sense. Exactly as if these were responsible, reasonable people, as opposed to, say, mouth-breathing “gun-toters” hauling around their testosterone-expression devices. Or similar.
Good of the council of whatever to do that. Question: If these folks being supported are so prone to doing what makes sense when on their own (as in not constrained or required by legislation), why are the the problem, again?
Sadly for the “every gun not compulsory is forbidden” folks, this council “supporting” sensible people involved with guns doing sensible things is just a few steps from flat out saying that the problem isn’t guns themselves but knuckleheads(*), doing knuckleheaded things, who happen to use guns. Maybe we should focus efforts about gun violence on that, and more generally pay attention to knuckleheads run amok, but whatever means.
(*) Somebody please come up with one word that wraps up thuggery, predation, violence as a strategy (organized crime), violence as a tactic (sociopaths convinced they won’t get caught), and dummies showing off by spraying ordinance as some kind of macho display.
The Socialist want to disarm us, prior to ISIS arriving. Boat loads of these so called “immigrants” choke choke, are arriving shortly. American Citizens being armed will prevent the Agenda from moving forward at the pace the Globalist wish it to happen. NOTE: I said “prevent it from moving forward at the pace they wish for it to move forward.” Their Agenda will move forward and we lack the spine to prevent it. Time for you ladies to go purchase your veil. Even our Jewish leaders are pushing for this Agenda.
Background Checks are Unconstitutional-and Ineffective..
http://www.themoralliberal.com/2015/08/14/flurry-of-gun-bills-in-wake-of-shootings/
Robert why don’t you run for mayor? You could do it as a second job to prove that there is no need for a “full” time mayor. Politicians make it a full time job when in reality they do nothing or BS to justify their job. As President I will get done what I have set forth and then let the country run itself with as little interference from the federal government as possible. mrpresident2016.com
If the City Council wants background checks — Then, shouldn’t they sponsor Concealed Carry Permits for everyone that is qualified? — That serves the background check function.
Mr. Scott, thanks. As a NRA member I already knew the points you listed. I agree with you, those elected officials are ninnies. Maybe most of the general public could be fooled thinking those elected officials are making statements against “real” problems, but I think those of us who are active know there are not problems as described by those statements. … As we approach the ballot referendum in Nevada for so-called universal background checks, I pray the people get informed and vote it down. These so-called universal background checks are nothing but registration for later confiscation as recent & foregone history show.
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