SPRINGFIELD, VA-(Ammoland.com)- When the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) told Representative Michael Cloud’s (R-TX) office that it held nearly one billion out of business records, Gun Owners of America (GOA) called it an illegal gun registry. The legacy media newspaper, USA Today, issued a “fact check” stating that the claim was false. Now thanks to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by GOA and Gun Owners Foundation (GOF), we know how much of a role the ATF played in determining the rating.
Last January, the ATF answered an inquire by Rep Cloud’s office stating that it held nearly one billion records in its Out of Business Office in Martinsburg, West Virginia. The vast majority of the records were digitized, and the ATF’s Firearms Trace Center had access to the documents. Although the ATF claims the records are not searchable by anything other than the former federal firearms licensee (FFL) name, by just selecting a few options in the software, those records could be usable by using optical character recognition (OCR).
A new FOIA request by GOA and GOF shows the communication between the USA Today fact checker, ATF’s former Chief of the Public Affairs Division, April Langwell, and former ATF Associate Deputy Director Thomas Chittum. Mr. Chittum has left the ATF to work for ShotSpotter. Ms. Langwell also recently left the ATF to work as the Director of Communications for the United States Marine Corp (USMC).
In the exchange, the unnamed fact-checker asked about the alleged registry. Ms. Langwell and Mr. Chittum denied the existence of the gun registry. Mr. Chittum replied that there was no firearms registry and handed off the conversation to Ms. Langwell. Ms. Langwell repeated the claim that the database is only searchable by FFL name. She stated that the ATF doesn’t consider the digitally scanned records to be a gun registry. The fact checker did not follow up on how easy it would be to turn on optical character recognition. The fact checker seemed to accept Ms. Langwell’s claims at face value.
The issue the fact checker overlooked is that according to the email exchange, the records are stored in PDF format. The PDF file format is the product of Adobe. Adobe Acrobat is needed to read the documents in the file format. The ability to OCR documents is built into Adobe Acrobat and can be applied to a PDF in as little as two clicks.
The ATF also told USA Today that all records had been digitized as of 2017. This claim contradicts what the ATF told Congressman Michael Cloud (R-TX). The fact checker did ask Ms. Langwell about the discrepancy. The ATF repeated the claim to the fact checker that the ATF completed the move to a digital format in 2017. The fact checker never followed up on why the ATF told USA Today something different than what the Bureau told Congress. Someone received the wrong information from the ATF, and it is unclear who has the incorrect information.
GOF and GOA were deeply troubled by USA Today’s “fact checking” methods. They point out that the paper discounted the mountains of evidence and the ATF’s own statements on the matter.
“ATF openly admitted to USA Today that ‘scanning out of business records began in 2005’ and now ATF ‘processes an average of 5.5 million’ records containing private gun and owner information into its database per month,” said Aidan Johnston, Director of Federal Affairs, Gun Owners of America. “We are disappointed that this ‘journalist’ simply reported ATF’s denial of an illegal gun registry as truth, without any critical thinking whatsoever.”
USA Today did not respond to AmmoLand’s request for comment.
About John Crump
John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.
Man exchanges 3D printed guns for $21,000 at New York gun buyback program
At an event held in Utica, NY in August, one man allegedly gamed the system, walking away with thousands of dollars after turning in over 100 guns he made using his 3D printer.
Since 2019, New York Attorney General Letitia James has been encouraging residents of her state to participate in her office’s gun buyback program, wherein the government offers money for firearms, “no questions asked.”
At an event held in Utica, NY in August, one man allegedly gamed the system, walking away with thousands of dollars after turning in over 100 guns he made using his 3D printer.
According to WKTV, the man, known only as “Kem,” had seen posts online about people pulling off such stunts, and decided to try it for himself.
Using his $200 3D printer, Kem quickly birthed a battery of plastic firearms, and drove six hours from his home to Utica, where the buyback program was holding an event.
“I 3D-printed a bunch of lower receivers and frames for different kinds of firearms,” said Kem.
Kem explained that upon arriving in Utica, he was asked how many guns he wished to turn in, to which he replied, “110.”
After spending the rest of the day negotiating with staff, Kem was presented with 42 gift cards, each worth $500, making the total payout $21,000.
“I’m sure handing over $21,000 in gift cards to some punk kid after getting a bunch of plastic junk was a rousing success,” Kem told WKTV, adding that, “gun buybacks are a fantastic way of showing, number one, that your policies don’t work, and, number two, you’re creating perverse demand.”
He argued that programs such as James’ “don’t actually reduce crime whatsoever.”
According to James’ office, the August 27 buyback event “resulted in the collection of 296 guns, including 177 ghost guns, 42 long guns, 41 handguns, 33 non-working guns, and 3 assault rifles.”
Ghost guns are firearms that are unregistered and unregulated, often built by users themselves. Kem’s 3D-printed weapons would fit into this category.
Since 2019, James’ program has resulted in the buyback of 3,500 guns, and she has no intention of stopping any time soon.
In a statement to KWTV, her office slammed Kem for his actions, and explained that they have “adjusted [their] policies to ensure that no one can exploit this program again for personal gain.”
Buying a gun in California isn’t a simple or fast process thanks to the numerous gun control measures that anti-gun politicians have put in place over the past few decades, but thankfully the state’s draconian restrictions on the right to keep and bear arms didn’t interfere with one woman’s ability to use a firearm to defend herself and her husband from a stranger who tried to come inside their home.
According to authorities, the woman in question had just picked up her pistol the day before, after waiting the 10 days required under California law between the time of purchase and when gun owners can actually take possession of their newly-bought firearm. Little did she realize that she would soon end up using the gun to fend off an attack on her husband in their own home.
A Patterson woman who had gotten a handgun just the previous day fatally shot a stranger who was grappling with her husband Saturday night at the door of their home, the Stanislaus County sheriff’s office said.
In a 911 call at 10:20 p.m., a resident of the Wilding Ranch subdivision on the city’s east edge reported that a neighbor had called and said she had just shot an intruder at her house.
When deputies arrived, they found a dead man near the home’s front entry. The residents — a 50-year-old woman and her 45-year-old husband — said that the apparently intoxicated stranger had tried to force his way into their home.
According to the sheriff’s report, as the husband fought with the intruder near the front door, his wife ran to the bedroom to get a revolver, which she said she had brought home on Friday. Returning to the entry, she fired all its rounds into the intruder.
According to authorities, 22-year old Angelo Santana tried to force entry into the home while he was “heavily intoxicated,” leading to him fighting with the 45-year old resident. Police say that, according to interviews with those who knew him, Santana had a history of alcohol abuse and would “regularly show-up unannounced trying to find friends and acquaintances of his in the same neighborhood.”
In a Facebook post, the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office announced that a preliminary investigation indicates the shooting was “strictly self-defense,” and while the investigation continues the details that the sheriff has released publicly appear to back up the woman’s claim that she was acting to protect her husband and herself from a combative stranger.
The house belonged to 50-year-old Yuhui Zheng and her husband, 45-year-old Yang Luan. The husband attempted to physically restrain Santana and was involved in a significant fight near the threshold of the front-door.
Luan sustained minimal physical injuries, to include abrasions and scratches to the back, while fighting with Santana and trying to defend his home. Yuhui Zheng retrieved a revolver from the upstairs bedroom, which she had acquired only one-day prior, and in self-defense of her husband, fired all rounds into Angelo Santana.
Santana wasn’t armed, but neither Zheng nor Luan knew that at the time. All they knew for sure is that a strange man was trying to get inside their home and began attacking Luan as he tried to keep the would-be intruder at bay. I’d say that they had a reasonable fear that the stranger was trying to do them harm, but we’ll have to wait and see what the D.A. in Stanislaus County decides to do with the case.
Real superheroes don’t wear spandex. On November 5, 2017, the real superhero was taking a nap.
In November of 2017, Stephen Willeford worked as a plumber at the children’s hospital in San Antonio, Texas. He lived in Sutherland Springs, population 600, about an hour away. The commute was onerous, but Stephen was a small-town sort of guy.
Trained as a plumber, Stephen Willeford was just a regular guy.
Stephen was, like many of us, just a responsible American who enjoyed shooting. He was an NRA certified firearms instructor and member of the nearby Church of Christ. On Sunday morning November 5, 2017, however, he was facing a long week on call at the University Hospital. As a result, he played hooky from his own church to take a nap. He lived with his family across the street from the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs.
The Monster Among Us
Something about Devin Kelley just wasn’t wired correctly. Trouble followed him everywhere.
Devin Patrick Kelley was the antithesis of Stephen Willeford. Devin Kelley was a card-carrying professional loser. Raised in New Braunfels some 35 miles away, Kelley was suspended seven times during high school for infractions ranging from insubordination and profanity to drug offenses.
Kelley spent time in an inpatient behavioral health facility due to his persistent criminal and antisocial behavior.
Kelley enlisted in the Air Force in 2009 upon graduation from high school. Three years later he was charged with assaulting his wife and fracturing his toddler stepson’s skull. He threatened the charging officer with physical violence and was admitted to an inpatient behavioral health treatment facility.
Tessa Brennaman, Kelley’s first wife, lived in constant fear of him.
His wife later reported that he had held a loaded handgun to her head and waterboarded her over stuff like speeding tickets. They divorced in short order. In 2014 after a fairly long trek through the military justice system, Kelley was separated from the Air Force with a bad conduct discharge.
Danielle was Devin’s second wife. They married after he returned home from the Air Force. Danielle’s family was a regular part of FBC Sutherland Springs. Devin had a fulminant relationship with his mother-in-law.
Leaving the military did little to improve Kelley’s rancid disposition. He was investigated for assault and rape within months of his arrival back in Texas. In 2014 Kelley married a high school friend whose family attended the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs.
Arming the Animal
Kelley was not legally authorized to own firearms, yet he easily acquired them due to the systemic failure of a variety of flawed gun control mechanisms.
The nature of Kelley’s discharge from the military and his domestic violence history should have prevented his passing the background check required to buy a gun, but this information was not entered into the NICS system. As a result, Kelley lied on a variety of official forms and bought weapons through legal channels. He even landed a job as a security guard.
Kelley bought an EAA revolver (like this one) legally at Holloman Air Force Base.
Kelley bought a SIG SAUER P250 and European American Armory Windicator .38 revolver at the Base Exchange at Holloman Air Force Base. In April of 2016, he falsified his 4473 at an Academy Sports store in San Antonio and purchased a Ruger AR-556 rifle. Along the way, he also accumulated a Glock 19 9mm, a Ruger SR22 pistol, and a Ruger GP100 .357 Magnum revolver.
The Massacre
At some point, darkness took complete control of this man. Family members said later it was as though he was possessed.
At 11:20 am Kelley exited his Ford Explorer outside FBC Sutherland Springs wearing black fatigues and body armor as well as a facemask adorned with a skull. He shot two parishioners outside the church before pushing his way into the sanctuary. Over the next 11 minutes, Kelley expended about 700 rounds. Police later found fifteen empty rifle magazines.
Stephen Willeford’s daughter, Stephanie, alerted her father to the noise across the street.
Stephen Willeford’s oldest daughter, Stephanie, woke him up to tell him she thought she heard gunshots. Stephen’s first thought was that somebody was tapping on his bedroom window. When he went into the living room he recognized the sound.
Like many of us, Stephen did not keep loaded magazines for his weapons. He had to snap a few rounds into a mag on the fly.
Rushing to his gun safe, Willeford thumbed a few cartridges into a magazine and grabbed his favorite AR15, a homebuilt parts gun he had customized himself. Stephen ran out of the house and headed for the church, the sounds of gunfire growing louder. He directed his daughter to go back and load magazines. He admitted later that this was just to keep her out of danger. Stephen Willeford was barefoot.
Stephen’s wife, Pam, begged him not to go to the church.
As Stephen crossed the 150 yards to the church he called his wife. She was on the other side of town helping another daughter drywall their house. He told them to stay put and avoid the church. As he hung up the phone his wife was shouting, “Don’t go over there!”
The Firefight
Stephen Willeford wasn’t a cop or a soldier. He asserts that God guided his actions that fateful day.
As he approached the church Stephen heard the carnage inside. He involuntarily screamed, “Hey!” as loud as he could, violating every tactical dictum about what to do when approaching a violent crime in progress. He tells people now that, “It was the Holy Spirit calling the demon out of the church.” This was the precise moment the slaughter inside FBC Sutherland Springs stopped.
Willeford responded as he had trained, shooting Kelley twice in the chest with his customized AR15 rifle.
Devin Kelley somehow heard Willeford’s shout and left the church to investigate. Upon seeing Stephen with a gun he fired three rounds, striking a Dodge Challenger, a nearby house, and the Dodge Ram Willeford was using for cover. Stephen steadied his holographic reticle on the man’s chest and stroked the trigger twice. Kelley dropped his rifle but was not otherwise inconvenienced.
Willeford realized that he was going to have to shoot around Kelley’s plates.
On a certain primal level, Stephen now recognized that Kelley was wearing body armor. As the shooter made for his vehicle, Willeford got his angle and shot the monster once underneath his arm and again in the thigh. As Kelley roared away in his Explorer, Willeford estimated where his head should be and blew out the vehicle’s windows.
The Chase
Johnnie Langendorff was at the right place at the right time to help bring Devin Kelley’s rampage to an end.
27-year-old Johnnie Langendorff had driven down from Seguin, 30 minutes away, to visit his girlfriend. Willeford, a stranger to him, ran up to his truck carrying a rifle and said, “That guy just shot up the church. We need to stop him.” Langendorff unlocked his doors.
Willeford and Langendorff had never met before they joined forces to run Devin Kelley down.
The two men chased Kelley for about six miles, passing several cars and topping 90 miles per hour. They kept the 911 dispatcher on the phone updating their location. Willeford had two rounds remaining.
Willeford and Langendorff’s pursuit drove Kelley away from inhabited areas and into a farmer’s field where he ultimately took his own wretched miserable life.
Kelley stopped his truck and Willeford moved to exit the vehicle. Kelley then sped off again, this time swerving erratically from blood loss before tearing through a fence and coming to a stop in a nearby field. The cops arrived soon thereafter. Devin Kelley called his parents expressing extreme remorse and then shot himself in the head.
The Guns
The Ruger AR-556 is a rack grade direct gas AR rifle.
The Ruger AR-556 is an entry-level direct gas impingement version of Gene Stoner’s classic black rifle introduced in 2014. The AR-556 followed on the heels of Ruger’s previous piston-driven SR-556. The SR-556 was an exceptional firearm, but it cost nearly $2000.
Kelley had customized his AR-556 with Magpul furniture and a red dot sight.
The AR-556 is a no-frills AR designed to compete with similar weapons such as the S&W M&P15 Sport.
Devin Kelley bought his Glock 19 through commercial sources after lying on his Form 4473. To presuppose that criminals will obey the administrative rules concerning gun ownership borders upon insanity.
The Glock 19 is a mid-size 9mm combat pistol that has seen widespread distribution. Sporting the familiar Glock Safe Action striker-fired trigger system and a 15-round magazine, the G19 is employed by the military, civilian, and Law Enforcement users pretty much anyplace folks wield guns. The G19 offers a chassis that is small enough to conceal yet large enough to control.
The Ruger GP100 revolver was introduced in 1985.
The Ruger GP100 is a rugged double-action magnum revolver. Available in a variety of chamberings with barrels between three and six inches long, the GP100 employs a transfer bar ignition system.
I presume this is the rifle Willeford used to stop Devin Kelley’s murderous rampage.
I couldn’t ascertain any definitive specifics about Stephen’s gun. The most probable photograph I could find showed a direct gas impingement AR sporting Magpul furniture, an EOTech Holosight, and a tactical light along with a magwell adaptor. As the AR15 is the most modular firearm ever created it lends itself to customization.
Ruminations
To imagine that some law or rule was going to miraculously transform this genuine piece of work into a model citizen represents magical thinking.
Much hay has been made over the fact that Devin Kelley was able to buy his guns through commercial sources. Really? Does any rational person actually believe that his failing a NICS check could have somehow stopped this perennial loser psychopath from shooting up that church?
The Sutherland Springs massacre was the fifth deadliest mass shooting in American history. It all appeared to be Devin Kelley’s failed attempt to get back at his mother-in-law. She was not at the church at the time and was otherwise physically unharmed.
It appeared that Kelley’s sole motivation was to settle a squabble with his wife’s family. Among the 26 dead were 9 children, one of whom was unborn. Another 20 worshippers were wounded. Sutherland Springs was the worst church shooting in American history.
Pastor Frank Pomeroy was not present that Sunday but tragically lost his daughter in the attack. He announced as I was putting this article together that he was running for the Texas State Senate.
The pastor at FBC Sutherland Springs was Frank Pomeroy. Frank typically carried a firearm during services. However, he was away with his wife on November 7th. His 14-year-old daughter was among the victims. Visiting pastor Bryan Holcombe died along with eight of his family members.
True heroism is ordinary people doing extraordinary things. These guys were thrown together by fate to thwart a madman.
Stephen Willeford and Johnnie Langendorff are archetypal American heroes. Quiet, humble, and selfless, these guys did whatever it took to stop a monster rampaging through their little Texas town. Willeford had no military or LEO experience yet said he had trained all his life for that moment.
It’s not hard to perceive spiritual forces behind the horrible events at FBC Sutherland Springs. Willeford sees himself as God’s instrument to stop the carnage.
A committed Christian, Stephen attributes his success to God’s Providence. Given the inevitable state of Devin Kelley’s ears after firing 700 rounds inside an enclosed building, it does make one wonder how he could have otherwise heard Willeford’s shout outside the church.
Out of tragedy pours grace. The man who stopped the massacre and the killer’s widow both worship together among the body of believers so traumatized by Devin Kelley’s actions.
Stephen Willeford moved his church membership to FBC Sutherland Springs. Danielle Kelley, Devin Kelley’s widow, worships with them as well. This ravaged church has welcomed her with open arms.
Stephen Willeford put his years of experience on the range to use when he stopped a psychopath. This sordid tale is fraught with lessons to be learned by responsible American gun owners.
When I finished typing this piece I went downstairs and stuffed two PMAGs with sixty rounds of M855 62-grain ammo. Those two magazines will still work long after I don’t. I also stashed a spare pair of shoes nearby.
Stephen Willeford is an American gun enthusiast who risked everything to save his friends and neighbors.Law Enforcement investigators seized Willeford’s rifle for a time during the subsequent investigation. A prominent black rifle manufacturer gave him this one as a replacement.
The building is located across from Piney Point Elementary, but it is unclear if the school has had to evacuate.
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Federal authorities are trying to figure out how at least a dozen fully-automatic M16s ended up among military surplus equipment sold to a Houston couple.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) executed a search warrant in a Richmond-area storage facility on Monday afternoon. However, that only came after the couple voluntarily notified authorities of their highly-unusual find.
Last week, the couple, who run a side hustle of buying surplus lots, dividing up the products, and reselling them on eBay, received delivery of 108 storage cases sold by a government surplus website. Over the weekend, a friend helped the couple stack and store the cases. As a thank you, they gave one of the cases to the friend.
When that friend opened the case, he realized it was not empty. Inside were 12 fully-automatic M-16s, all of them still with various tags designating the military branch and name of service members who handled the weapons.
“We just purchased these cases. We never expected anything in there,” said the husband, who did not want to be identified. “Supposedly, the sender should check every single box to make sure there’s nothing dangerous or anything.”
“It’s just a case, everybody can buy it online,” the wife said.
Unsure of what to do, the couple reported the M-16s to authorities. Within hours, ATF and FBI agents seized the one open box with the 12 weapons. Shortly thereafter, the ATF obtained a search warrant for the couple’s storage unit. They spent most of Monday on location, going through the boxes.
ABC13 was the only news outlet on scene. We observed agents opening, closing, and stacking multiple gun cases.
“It’s incredible. It’s surreal,” said Greg Fremin, a one-time Houston police captain and Marine.
ABC13 reached out to Fremin, who is now a faculty member at Sam Houston State University, about how dangerous it is to have random military equipment floating around.
“It’s unbelievable to think military-grade weapons would be shipped in containers across state lines. It’s pretty shocking,” Fremin said. “One of the strictest things we have in the military is weapons accountability. So these weapons are missing somewhere from a U.S. armory, and somebody doesn’t know it. That’s the scary thing about that for the U.S. military right now.”
He continued, “For these boxes to have M16s in them and be shipped to a public destination, not only is it shocking it’s a federal crime.”
Exactly who’s legally responsible for the gross mistake is uncertain. ABC13 contacted the online website that sold the gun cases. The company has since pulled all the other cases that were also for sale offline as it conducts an internal investigation. A representative from the company told ABC13 that it directly contracts with the Department of Defense to sell surplus equipment, which would not include any weapons.
The ATF confirms it’s investigating along with the FBI but will not say how many weapons were recovered. ABC13 can confirm the number is at least a dozen, but unknown how many other boxes also contained M16s.
“We are good citizens” the wife said, adding she’s now reluctant to buy military surplus equipment and fearful to run afoul of the law.
The shooter was 4.4 miles away, a distance so great, the Earth’s rotation came into play.
It was a new world record for a rifle shot, set by the Jackson-based Nomad Rifleman team led by Schott Austin and Shepard Humphries. The shot was made with a custom-built rifle chambered for the .416 Barrett cartridge.
The .416 Barrett cartridge is made by “necking down” a .50 Browning Machine Gun (BMG) round to accommodate the roughly .40-caliber bullet. It’s a relatively short, stout bullet that proved ideal for its purpose, Humphries said.
“Traditionally in extreme long-range shooting, we wanted long, skinny bullets,” he said. “However, we discovered that as a bullet crosses over into subsonic velocity, it flies better if it’s shorter and fatter.”
The .416 Barret bullets were leaving the rifle’s muzzle at a velocity of roughly 3,300 feet per second, Humphries said. They dropped into subsonic velocity at about 1,100 feet per second and were traveling at a downward angle and about 600 feet per second as they reached the target zone.
Several historical reenactments in New York have been canceled in recent weeks over concerns that participants could be violating the state’s restrictive gun laws.
A law that took effect Sept. 1 prohibits carrying weapons in “sensitive locations,” including public parks, sport fields and museums.
In Allegany County, a Civil War reenactment weekend for Sept. 23-25 was nixed after participants consulted with local law enforcement about the new law. A War of 1812 Battle of Plattsburgh reenactment was postponed. A separate Living History Weekend in German Flatts, which included a Civil War reenactment, was canceled after law enforcement consulted their attorneys, the Observer-Dispatch reported.
“Our attorneys advised us that there is no exemption in the law for civil war reenactments,” Herkimer County Sheriff Scott Scherrer told the Dispatch. “It would be illegal according to the letter of the governor’s law.”
The Observer-Dispatch noted that in each of the events, the use of a black powder musket “seems to violate” the law’s restrictions. However, a statement sent to USA TODAY Network New York claimed that the law allows historical reenactments to occur.
“These laws allow historical re-enactments to occur,” Hochul’s statement read, “and we will work with legislators and local law enforcement to ensure these events can legally and safely proceed.”
Terry Parker, who runs the historical reenactment events in Allegany County, told the Observer-Dispatch that there are “no plans” to revive the Civil War reenactment weekend.
“All it would take is a citizen complaint,” he said, adding that “and the whole thing will become a mess.”
Last week, Townhall covered how Mayor Eric Adams has taken to scapegoating gun manufacturers for New York City’s rise in violent crime. In remarks he made at the National Press Club, he claimed that gun violence has stemmed from “greedy” gun manufacturers who employ “aggressive” marketing tactics to sell guns.
When a gun crime is committed, we need the name of the gun and how that gun was obtained by the shooter. Who looked the other way. Where it was bought and who profited from that sale. Following the money is how you get to the heart of the story.
Gun violence is no exception.
Guns don’t magically appear in the hands of shooters. They don’t fall from the sky or grow on trees. Guns are made and marketed with the express purpose of generating profit.
Over the summer, President and CEO Mark Smith of Smith & Wesson fired back at politicians like Adams and Hochul. A report from the New York Daily News found that Glock, Taurus, Smith & Wesson, Ruger and Polymer8o produced more than half of the guns used in crimes in New York and 11 other major U.S. cities.
A number of politicians and their lobbying partners in the media have recently sought to disparage Smith & Wesson. Some have had the audacity to suggest that after they have vilified, undermined and defunded law enforcement for years, supported prosecutors who refuse to hold criminals accountable for their actions, overseen the decay of our country’s mental health infrastructure, and generally promoted a culture of lawlessness, Smith & Wesson and other firearm manufacturers are somehow responsible for the crime wave that has predictably resulted from these destructive policies…
But they are the ones to blame for the surge in violence and lawlessness, and they seek to avoid any responsibility for the crisis of violence they have created by attempting to shift the blame to Smith & Wesson, other firearm manufacturers and law abiding gun owners…To be clear, a Smith & Wesson firearm has never broken into a home; a Smith & Wesson firearm has never assaulted a woman out for a late-night run in the city; a Smith & Wesson firearm has never carjacked an unsuspecting driver stopped at a traffic light. Instead, Smith & Wesson provides these citizens with the means to protect themselves and their families…
We will continue to work alongside law enforcement, community leaders and lawmakers who are genuinely interested in creating safe neighborhoods. We will engage those who genuinely seek productive discussions, not a means of scoring political points. We will continue informing law-abiding citizens that they have a Constitutionally-protected right to defend themselves and their families. We will never back down in our defense of the 2nd Amendment.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is moving forward this week with plans to enact various gun control measures that will chill the 2A rights of law-abiding gun owners and place an undue burden on responsible gun dealers.
Among the ordinances included in the motion authored by Supervisor Janice Hahn are:
A ban on the sale of .50 caliber handguns and .50 caliber ammunition
The creation of “buffer zones” between gun stores and “sensitive areas” (schools, daycares, parks, etc.)
To make all Los Angeles County property a gun-free zone
Require gun stores to keep a fingerprint log, submit sales reports and inventory reports in real-time to the county board, install security cameras, limit minors’ access and provide gun owners with information about the local laws.
Deny sales to individuals on the federal government’s no-fly list
“When I was in Congress, we responded to horrific mass shootings with little more than moments of silence and thoughts and prayers,” said Supervisor Hahn in a press release.
“I will not sit idly by when there is action that we can take to save lives,” she continued. “These gun violence prevention measures are commonsense and are under our authority at the County level to implement.”
Attorneys will be drafting up the details for each ordinance over the next three months. Once finished, the completed drafts will come before the board for a final vote.
Hahn told Fox11LA that these “common sense gun regulations” are “just one piece of the puzzle.”
“If we move forward with implementing these “four common-sense gun regulations”, I hope others in our county will follow suit,” Hahn said.
