CNBC reports that the gunman used a silencer. Wtf?
Suppressors/Silencers are federally regulated by the National Firearms Act (NFA) and are treated similarly to machine guns and sawed-off shotguns (the import/manufacture of those are further regulated by later legislation).
From Wikipedia[1]: Private owners wishing to purchase an NFA item must obtain approval from the ATF, pass an extensive background check to include submitting a photograph and fingerprints, fully register the firearm, receive ATF written permission before moving the firearm across state lines, and pay a tax.
And I think you may have understated the ease of manufacturing. Especially if someone only needs to use it once and don't care about the legality.
1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Firearms_Act#Registra...
[1] https://www.npr.org/2023/04/29/1172775448/people-murder-unso...
(these stats are grim, I admit, but important to contextualize my perspective and thesis about the risk)
The only private sales that happen are among criminals and within families. Regular people aren't going to risk the kind of charges that stem from misuse after a private sale. Certainly nobody with a legitimate business and livelihood to protect.
https://www.fdle.state.fl.us/FPP/FAQs2.aspx ("Florida does not require a permit to purchase a firearm nor is there a permit that exempts any person from the background check requirement.")
It is a simple page and I did not spot any inaccurate facts.
> There are almost no situations where you will not be buying your firearm from an FFL and you will have to fill out a permit.
I own 14 firearms and only 3 went through an FFL. Used firearms retain their value more than almost any other consumer good.
This varies from state-to-state. Some states allow private sale of individual firearms with no background check.
(... I wish I didn't have a reason to know this fact).
Edit: Especially the kind that would post about it on the internet and snitch on themselves and attract undue attention from the ATF.
But yeah, some very small percentage of people are stupid and/or criminal. 99.99% of gun purchases in the US happen through an FFL with a background check and everything.
This trope is so tired, but since you did it, tell me you don't keep up with gun regulatory news without telling me.. The ATF has been on a rogue rampage the last 4 years.
https://trac.syr.edu/reports/733/include/figure1.png
"Rogue rampage" indeed.. almost 10% higher than pre-covid Trump convictions and about the same level as we saw under GWB! Then again, the average person convicted in 2023 had >2 prior convictions and over 7 prior arrests so maybe these are actually just criminals? Wish everyone would decide if we should enforce laws or not.
https://www.atf.gov/resource-center/fact-sheet/fact-sheet-fa...
https://www.gunowners.org/new-atf-rule-you-can-go-to-jail-fo...
https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF12679
https://myjrpaper.com/node/7745
They killed this guy over it.
https://saf.org/atf-swat-raid-that-killed-arkansas-man-raise...
All this was legal a few years ago. ATF decided to change the rules.
Also, they wanted to completely ban private sales, but a whistleblower blew the whistle and hopefully stopped them.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/atf-whistleblowers-sound-al...
So there's all that.
They did widen the definition of dealers, but it's still "a person who devotes time, attention, and labor to dealing in firearms as a regular course of trade or business to predominantly earn a profit through the repetitive purchase and resale of firearms."
So casually selling guns to friends and family is fine and doesn't require a license or a background check unless your state requires it.
> They killed this guy over it. https://saf.org/atf-swat-raid-that-killed-arkansas-man-raise...
He had bought over 150 guns in the past 3 years, signed forms for each of them that he was buying them for his own use, and then immediately turned around and sold them, several to undercover Feds. He'd post up at gun shows with a table full of guns and then sell them for cash without paperwork. 6 of the guns he sold were found at crime scenes.. the result of the raid was unfortunate but the dude was exactly who should be targeted by laws like this.
Seriously, read the search affidavit if you think it was somehow inappropriate to target him: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Vjer4Tr0SJhe6ZzkUDgkjaho4PH...
After reading the affidavit, it was written before the final rule. The affidavit was written 3/6/24 and the final rule didn't take effect until 30 days after 4/10/24. How do you square that?
https://www.atf.gov/firearms/final-rule-definition-engaged-b...
From the affidavit:
"9. Your Affiant knows the term "dealer", as defined in Title i8 USC 921(a)(11) of the GCA, means (A) any person engaged in the business of selling firearms at wholesale or retail; or (B) any person engaged in the business of repairing firearrns or ofmaking or fitting special ba:rels, stocks, or trigger mechanisms to firearms; or (C) any person who is a pawnbroker"
Change of the rule:
"Section 12002 of the BSCA broadened the definition of “engaged in the business” under 18 U.S.C. 921(a)(21)(C) to all persons who intend to “predominantly earn a profit” from wholesale or retail dealing in firearms by eliminating the requirement that a person's “principal objective” of purchasing and reselling firearms must include both “livelihood and profit.” The statute now provides that, as applied to a dealer in firearms, the term
“engaged in the business” means “a person who devotes time, attention, and labor to dealing in firearms as a regular course of trade or business to predominantly earn a profit through the repetitive purchase and resale of firearms.” However, the BSCA definition does not include “a person who makes occasional sales, exchanges, or purchases of firearms for the enhancement of a personal collection or for a hobby, or who sells all or part of his personal collection of firearms.” 18 U.S.C. 921(a)(21)(C)."
This matters because his firearm sales weren't his livelihood and could be argued it was a hobby. He made, I believe, $250,000 working for the state of Arkansas as his livelihood.
Apparently the lie, was that he stated on the forms was he answered yes on the question regarding if the firearms were for himself.
Here's another botched incident, not sure what they were thinking here. This certainly seems extra-legal.
In a similar raid last year, more than a dozen ATF agents wearing tactical gear and armed with AR-15s stormed the rural Oklahoma home of Russell Fincher, a high school history teacher, a Baptist pastor and a parttime gun dealer. Fincher now believes their goal was to scare him into relinquishing his Federal Firearm License.
“It was like the Trump raid. They called me out onto my deck and handcuffed me. My son was there and saw the whole thing. He’s 13 years old,” Fincher told the Second Amendment Foundation last year. “They held me on the porch for about an hour. I was surrounded by agents. One by one, they yelled at me about what I was doing. In my mind, I decided if they were going to beat me up over every little thing, I’m done. As soon as I said, ‘If you want my FFL, you can have it,’ one of the agents pulled out a piece of paper and said, ‘Well then sign here.’ He had made three copies in case I screwed one up. It was exactly what they wanted. I was shocked.”
Bottom half of this article.
https://saf.org/atf-swat-raid-that-killed-arkansas-man-raise...
Either way, I'm glad you pointed out the "personal collection," part.
I looked into the Fincher case, and it's another case that SAF is basically just lying about. They can run these insane headlines and then don't follow up...
Fincher had a FFL but no store, so he'd sell primarily at gun shows. He'd buy guns from other dealers or from manufacturers with his FFL, and then sell them in "private" sales at gun shows with no background check. It looks like the Feds caught onto that and then had a CI do a controlled buy where Fincher was told the purchaser was a felon, and Fincher didn't give a shit and illegally sold him ammo anyways.
Call me crazy, but a FFL doing straw purchases for AR lowers so he can sell them under the table at gun shows is exactly the kind of thing that the ATF should be shutting down.
Fincher indictment: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.oked.35...
Fincher guilty plea (he got probation with no jail time - and the FFL who was holding all of the guns Fincher had purchased but not yet sold was ordered to sell them and give the proceeds to Fincher): https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.oked.35...
Looks like he sold him ammunition, not firearms. I'll look into it more.
I agree though, the propaganda machines are going full bore.
Alot of states have classified pages where you can buy/sell firearms. Many states don't require background checks for private sales. People aren't paying a gun shop a FFL transfer/background check fee to hand over the gun to the buyer. Source: have seen many of these transactions at rod and gun clubs.
So is certainly not as easy as some states requirements for firearms.
I am making observations of an operating environment, and don't hold strong opinions on gun rights and similar. More, "What am I dealing with as someone who has to live here?"
Indiana is a bike ride away and has some of the loosest gun laws in America. I shoot suppressed there all the time.
I believe that manufactured suppressors actually are hard to get in the US in a way that is untraceable to the original purchaser, which makes them hard to get in illegal jurisdictions.
Guns are much more broadly sold and less restricted so I agree that they tend to be very available.
The ebike was used to get into central park to somewhere without cameras and change clothing etc.
The video is somewhat consistent with a how a professional might appear, calm with reload/jam, back to camera then flee down alley.
If I were approaching this professionally I'd be waiting near the check-in desk or elevators.
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/12/04/unitedhealth-cancels-investo...
Crazy, if true. Perpetrator knew many people in the area. Had to reduce the chance of raising suspicion. Although “silencers” (suppressors is the better term) are not very silent as depicted in films and tv, but do suppress the muzzle flash and suppress generated sound.
I guess in a crowded NYC, that’s just enough needed to escape the scene.
If you have complaints about how language has evolved, you may contact Richard Stallman and ask him for advice.
the guy who eats his toenails? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I25UeVXrEHQ&rco=1
But it's extremely incorrect-- suppressors don't silence guns. Suppressed firearms are still loud.
In the US where there are around 100 million gun owners, you can't say much about the group collectively other than they own at least one gun.
Lots of gun owners (including me) call them silencers.
That puts it well beyond the reach of the vast majority of NYC residents.
You can't carry in like 90% of Manhattan even with the permit. Even carrying in your own apartment is prohibited without an additional permit.
It's no different than how states used "Poll Taxes" and "Tests" to circumvent the 15th Amendment before the Civil Rights Movement. NYC thinks they are above the law and does everything they can to circumvent it.
Handguns have to be transferred across state lines to a FFL in the state where the transferee resides.
The way straw purchases work for handguns is mostly that a family member who can legally purchase the firearm does.
But if you are talking cross state border sales, which are not the majority even though it’s an oft quoted trope, a resident of Indiana buys a lot of guns, then sells them illegally in Illinois. Precisely because you can’t easily buy a handgun in a state you don’t reside in.