Illegal gun purchase bill signed

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RICHMOND -- New York City officials may have a harder time targeting Virginia gun dealers under legislation signed Friday by Gov. Tim Kaine.

Kaine signed House Bill 2653, which restricts "straw sales" of guns such as those some Virginia dealers allegedly made to undercover private investigators hired by New York City. The transactions were cited in lawsuits the city filed last year against gun dealers in Virginia and four other states alleging they sold firearms illegally. City officials have accused the gun dealers of selling weapons that later were used to commit crimes in New York.

The bill, sponsored by Del. Scott Lingamfelter, R-Prince William County, prohibits anyone but law enforcement officers from trying to make an illegal gun purchase from a firearms dealer. A violation of the law would be a felony with a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

This is good news. The second paragraph makes no sense at all unfortunately. The last one explains it fairly well. Virginia doesn't want the City of New York sending down private investigators to trap gun dealers into allegedly selling 'illegal guns', and then suing them out of business.

The 'illegal gun' mantra is a common term used by the gun-grabbers. God knows we don't want no illegal guns around! Of course they fail to mention that illegal gun means pretty much any gun in places like NYC.

For those that don't know the heart of the issue is what is known as a "straw purchase". They are in fact quite illegal. The basic scenario is simple. Thug with a record brings someone else with them to the gun store. Said thug finds a gun he wants and then gets the other person, with a clean record, to fill out the paperwork. This is a judgment call on the gun dealer's part. The form requires the person buying the gun to affirm they are not buying it for someone else. So the criminal in this situation is logically the person lying on the form, and after they turn the gun over to the thug, the thug possessing a weapon even though he is not allowed to. Of course the truth is the gun dealer is held responsible. Makes no sense at all does it?

Gun dealers are however generally very good at sniffing this situation out. I have seen it myself before, and I have seen the potential offenders thrown out of the gun store. The situation is applicable to NYC because some people buy these guns in states like Virginia legally, and then illegally give them to people in the city. Bloomberg and his ilk decide that is the gun dealer's fault, not the criminal that transferred the gun, and sue the gun dealer. The small business owner gun dealers end up folding, because they can't afford the legal fees.

There is a difference between a random gangster getting his old lady to buy a gun for him, and a legal person buying a gun directly from a dealer. The first, as I said can sometimes be seen by the dealer. The latter, and the exact situation Bloomberg is so upset about, is not detectable by the dealer. How is he to know that the person that legally filled out his form, and passed a background check, is going to sell the gun to someone else? The obvious answer is he wouldn't know, and he shouldn't be held responsible.

As I mentioned several dealers have caved to Bloomberg's demands. They either closed up shop or agreed to be monitored by NYC, even though they are in a different state. This is where the federal government has stepped in and said, "No you don't." A federal judge dropped Bloomberg's pending suits because he rightly said that he was acting outside of his jurisdictive parameters. This legislation is a simple reaffirmation of this principle. Virginia is not going to put up with a city outside it's borders hassling it's people and small business owners.

The real goal of people like Bloomberg is to outlaw all guns. They know the country will currently not allow that so they do the next best thing. They tie up manufacturers with bogus court cases, and now they are doing it to the little guy gun dealers as well. Legislation such as this, and the feds putting a stop to it are good signs. These gun-grabbers will be exposed for what they really are. Leftist pigs that would leave us defenseless.