A newswriter of the gungrabber persuasion* visits a big gun show for the purpose of viewing it with alarm – and in the end there are no nazis!
Where the hell is Pathetic Nazi Guy? Is he okay? Did he have an aneurysm or something? How could CNN go to a gun show and Pathetic Nazi Guy didn’t even show up in the resulting article? Now I’m worried.
Of course the writer does seem to have been a trifle preoccupied with pushing his agenda, which was the ‘gun show loophole’ and ‘universal background checks.’ Unfortunately the exhibitors weren’t a lot of help there, either, which makes the article kind of limp fare…
At the Harrisburg show, CNNMoney spotted only five unlicensed sellers. They didn’t have tables; instead they wore or carried handwritten placards advertising guns.
Alex Pierce was one of those mobile sellers. He walked the floor, an NRA cap on his head and two 19th century guns — a rifle and a shotgun — slung over his shoulders. He had “for sale” signs in the barrels like pennants.
I’m quite certain blood ran in the streets of Chicago the following weekend, and all thanks to NRA-Cap Guy. The bastard.
Still, our writer wishes it to be known that this is a terribly important issue…
The thing is, Pennsylvania law doesn’t require unlicensed dealers to ask buyers of rifles or shotguns for identification. So some show purchases in Pennsylvania can be made without the seller knowing whether the buyer is from out of state.
This is important, considering that Pennsylvania is bordered by six states. Four of them — New York, Maryland, New Jersey and Delaware — have more restrictive gun laws than Pennsylvania.
…even if he couldn’t find much evidence that Pennsylvania gun sellers are working very hard to get people in those hapless states killed…
Tables were piled high with T-shirts. Some were serious, with grim slogans and skulls. Some were political; one seller had shirts bearing Donald Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.”
And then there were the not so serious, like the stacks of pink T-shirts with a likeness of Hello Kitty holding an AK-47.
The slogan? “Kalashnikitty.”
You kids today. In my day, antigun writers worked harder than this.
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*Yeah, I know. Go ahead and report me to the Department of Redundancy Department. See if I care. I’m a rebel.
Yeah, I saw that. This comment sticks out like a sore thumb . . .
“The thing is, Pennsylvania law doesn’t require unlicensed dealers to ask buyers of rifles or shotguns for identification.”
You’re either a “dealer” or you’re not. If you are a “dealer” you have an FFL and are bound by all the pertinent rules including the requirement to run background checks. There’s no such thing as an “unlicensed dealer”. Sales between private individuals are bound by the state laws (if any) and the fed “not across state lines” limitations. There is no “gunshow loophole”.
But of course he couldn’t admit that, even if he understood it. Grrrrrr.
So let me see if I understand the loophole. For only a thousand dollars or so, somebody could have bought a gun that was about 120 years old, and without the permission of the government, crossed in to one of the otherwise crime free states and shot an unsuspecting citizen. Clearly gun shows in PA are why they have murders in other states. What else could it be?
Seriously, their seeming befuddlement at things like somebody selling jerky or T-shirts shows their underlying assumption that guns are evil and the people that like them must somehow be evil too. I wonder if they would consider somebody who sold a car to their neighbor an “unlicensed car dealer”?
How many murders have there been this week in Filthydelphia, again, @AaronSmithCNN?
Suddenly I hear crickets chirping. And it’s late in the year for ’em, though this has been a warm October.
Back in the day, we enjoyed the TV show West Wing for its wonderful production and superbly-acted characters. That it was the creator’s fantasized version of how the Clinton administration should have performed was irritating, but still good entertainment.
It wasn’t all 100% lefty/liberal though. There was the occasional right-wing bone thrown to the faithful audience. IMHO the best was when the tiny blonde conservative staffer took on the ultra-lefty staffer over firearms in a brief, but memorable confrontation. Her winning line was . . .
“Sam, it’s not so much that you hate guns as it is that you hate the people who like them!”
And she turned on her tiny foot and marched off, leaving him standing there slack-jawed and suffering the ridicule of his fellow libbies. We were cheering! Take your victories where you find them.
I firmly believe that her comment is the truth of the matter, and always keep it in mind when similar opportunities arise. Never fails to get a ” . . . uh . . . well . . . uh . . . ” response.
🙂