Meet Michael Bloomberg, Gun Control Advocate and Undercover Filmmaker

posted at 1:59 pm on February 2, 2011 by Howard Portnoy
[ Enviro-nitwits ]

[I will be a guest on NRA News his evening, February 2, at 10:20 PM EST, to discuss the topic in this article. The show is broadcast on Sirius/XM Satellite Radio's Patriot Channel and at www.nranews.com.]

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg wears many hats. A number of them are ill-fitting and beyond the purview of big city mayor. Two years ago, wearing the hat of global warmist, Bloomberg proclaimed that climate change was a bigger threat than terrorism. Last year, he swapped that hat for one reading amateur cardiologist, as he embarked on a crusade to take salt shakers out of the hands of Americans who like their food with flavor.

His latest, and possibly silliest, headwear is that of undercover documentary maker. To demonstrate an indemonstrable connection between gun control and the shootings that occurred in Tucson several Saturdays back, Bloomberg sent a clandestine film crew to a gun show in Phoenix. One of his self-professed goals was to show

just how easy it is for anyone with a driver’s license to walk into a gun show and buy weapons used in the Tucson shooting.

One might rightly ask who footed the bill for Bloomberg’s “sting” operation, but a more trenchant question is why hizzoner thinks limiting legal access to weapons is the solution to ending crimes involving handguns. Maybe Bloomberg needs to scope out his hat collection again. If he does he will find one that reads co-founder of Mayors Against Illegal Guns. [Emphasis added]

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) reports that the majority of handguns used in crimes are obtained illegally. Most of these guns are not stolen—that’s a popular misconception—but they are acquired by illicit means. The methods used include “straw purchases,” when someone who may not legally acquire a firearm or wants to do so anonymously has a companion buy the gun on his behalf.

Oftentimes these illegal transactions are entered into willingly by unscrupulous gun store owners. If the nation is going to crack down on the sale of handguns to those prone to use them in crimes, this is where the investigation needs to begin. The ATF estimates that of the nation’s 124,000 retail licensed gun sellers, about 8% engage in these criminal practices.

As for Bloomberg, maybe he should focus more on the job he was elected to do than on solving the nation’s ills. Several weeks ago, about a dozen New Yorkers in need of emergency medical treatment died because of Bloomberg’s failure to make sure his sanitation department removed the snow from impassable streets. It would be reassuring to know the next time disaster strikes that the mayor is at home rather than out on some mission to save the planet.

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yeah, Mr P, still need an editor to work, at the very least, on your titles

audiculous on February 2, 2011 at 2:04 PM

The NYPD operates in many places in many parts of the world, Mr Portnoy, and not simply because Mayor Bloomberg irritates you. Most of the less grumpy residents of NYC worry about preventing terrorist attacks here.

audiculous on February 2, 2011 at 2:07 PM

and of course, Mr Portnoy, you’re wrong about Bloomberg being co-founder of Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

that honorific goes to a previous mayor.

one that doesn’t get you all twitchy in the way Bloomberg does.

The Joint Firearms Task Force is a partnership between the NYPD and the ATF to reduce interstate gun trafficking into New York City by identifying out-of-state gun purchases destined for New York and apprehending the people responsible before the guns hit the city’s streets. Teams from the ATF work with police officers to trace all illegal guns recovered in New York City. Using a gun’s serial number, agents trace each gun to its original place of purchase. If the gun was purchased out of state, ATF agents use sales records to track the original purchaser. ATF agents interview the original purchaser to find out what he or she did with the gun. The agents then interview the next owner, as reported by the first one, and so on. They continue to do this until they have traced the gun to its recovery.
Officers have found that traffickers frequently pay people (referred to as “straw purchasers”) a small fee to purchase large numbers of guns in states with lax gun laws. Then the traffickers drive the guns to cities with more restrictive gun laws and sell them to people on the street. Once ATF agents have traced a gun’s pathway, they prosecute the trafficker in federal court, using the straw purchasers as witnesses. In 2000, the states that were the largest sources of illegal guns in New York City were Florida, Virginia, Georgia, and Pennsylvania.
In one case, dubbed the “Iron Pipeline Case,” the Task Force traced several guns purchased by the Firearms Investigation Unit in undercover operations to gun dealers in Georgia and South Carolina. Through investigations in those states, the Task Force identified eight “straw purchasers,” most of whom were young women. They learned that a New York-based trafficker had paid the women to buy guns, which the trafficker then drove to New York City and sold. Eventually, this NYPD-ATF collaboration allowed law enforcement to build a solid case against this man, arrest him, and prosecute him in federal court.

audiculous on February 2, 2011 at 3:04 PM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayors_Against_Illegal_Guns:

Mayors Against Illegal Guns was founded by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino.[9] Bloomberg is the largest funder of the group, having contributed $3 million.[10] Eli Broad contributed $750,000 and the Joyce Foundation contributed $1.1 million.[11]

Howard Portnoy on February 2, 2011 at 3:38 PM

Good read. I’m amazed he would spend all the money and time in Arizona while allowing people to die due to snow. The snow is something he could have made happen had he looked into why it wasn’t being taken care of. He’s not doing the job he is being paid for.

Ps Howard… it seems you have a fan in audiculous. Keep up the good work!

Joy on February 2, 2011 at 7:34 PM

The snow is something he could have made happen….

Joy

that’s a little too paranoid even for the Green Room, Joy.

audiculous on February 2, 2011 at 9:06 PM

Audiculous, doesn’t it strike you as more than a little contrived to point the finger of blame at all those guns coming from outside the state, as if that were the problem in NYC?

The problem really–for Bloomie and for you–is that those guns come from outside the state BECAUSE THERE IS A MARKET FOR THEM IN NYC.

How easily Bloomie can distract you with his shiny object!

mountainaires on February 3, 2011 at 10:12 AM

mountainaires

it has nothing to do with Bloomberg. before he was the mayor, the previous mayors were sending cops to stop the guns that were being run up from the South.

and no one says the problem is the guns alone. we simply prefer that the gangs and the other criminals not how more firepower than the police. we prefer that the criminals not have any guns.
we’ve found that criminals with guns shoot more innocent people than do criminals without guns.

audiculous on February 3, 2011 at 11:07 AM

BECAUSE THERE IS A MARKET FOR THEM IN NYC.

there’s a market for them all right as well as a market for bombs, kiddie porn, slaves, heroin, and crack.

we like to keep those markets closed.

audiculous on February 3, 2011 at 11:10 AM

we’ve found that criminals with guns shoot more innocent people than do criminals without guns.

audiculous on February 3, 2011 at 11:07 AM

And we’ve also found that armed citizens shoot more criminals engaging in crime, than citizens who are unarmed.

The FACT is… criminals will always find a way to get firearms. Gun control laws disarm law abiding citizens, making them easy targets for criminals. Prolific gun ownership discourages crime.

dominigan on February 3, 2011 at 12:49 PM