The Market Ticker - More 2nd Amendment Lies

In short, put a sock in it Bloomberg — this is a knowing and intentional fraud your “news organization” is running upon the public:

Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s name on a U.S. government travel-watch list should have kept him from boarding an airplane without some scrutiny, yet he could purchase semi-automatic handguns with none.

Local and federal law enforcement officials either don’t know or aren’t yet saying how Tsarnaev and his brother, accused of bombing the Boston Marathon, obtained the guns they later used to kill a university police officer and critically injure a mass-transit officer. They didn’t apply for Massachusetts gun permits, as required by state law.

The reson they’re not saying how they got the guns is that there was no legal way for them to do so.

Here’s the reality folks — while it is legal for a resident of one state to cross a state line and buy a rifle in another, provided the laws of both states are complied with, it is not legal for a person to obtain a handgun in any state other than the one in which one resides.

In addition “person-to-person” transfers are already illegal between states.

This has been true since the Gun Control Act of 1968.

That is, if you and I both live in Florida, and I do not know (or have reason to know) that you’re a prohibited person and I am not a prohibited person, I can legally sell you one of my (lawfully-owned) guns in a face-to-face transaction, provided that I am not doing so in commerce – that is, I am disposing of my personal property.  

If I am operating a business dealing in firearms then I require a BATFE license and you must undergo a background check.

But — this assumes we both are legal Florida residents.  

If you live in Alabama I cannot sell you one of my guns regardless of what sort of gun it is.  If I do so I’ve committed a crime; that transfer must go through a licensed FFL.

Worse, if you live in Alabama you cannot buy a handgun anywhere other than in Alabama, no matter how you do it.  Likewise, since I live in Florida, I cannot legally buy a handgun anywhere other than in Florida.

In fact, I cannot give someone who resides in another state a handgun!   If I knowingly, or with reason to know, do that I’ve committed a federal crime and if you take possession of a handgun in other than your state of residence you have committed a federal crime as well.

Some states prohibit person-to-person transfers of some sorts of guns, and others do not.  But federal law, specifically the Gun Control Act of 1968, prohibits interstate transfer of a handgun except through (or if you are) a licensed FFL — period.

From the ATF:

Q: To whom may an unlicensed person transfer firearms under the GCA?
A person may sell a firearm to an unlicensed resident of his State, if he does not know or have reasonable cause to believe the person is prohibited from receiving or possessing firearms under Federal law. A person may loan or rent a firearm to a resident of any State for temporary use for lawful sporting purposes, if he does not know or have reasonable cause to believe the person is prohibited from receiving or possessing firearms under Federal law. A person may sell or transfer a firearm to a licensee in any State. However, a firearm other than a curio or relic may not be transferred interstate to a licensed collector.
[18 U.S.C. 922(a)(3) and (5), 922(d), 27 CFR 478.29 and 478.30]

Q: From whom may an unlicensed person acquire a firearm under the GCA?
A person may only acquire a firearm within the person’s own State, except that he or she may purchase or otherwise acquire a rifle or shotgun, in person, at a licensee’s premises in any State, provided the sale complies with State laws applicable in the State of sale and the State where the purchaser resides. A person may borrow or rent a firearm in any State for temporary use for lawful sporting purposes.
[18 U.S.C. 922(a)(3) and (5), 922(b)(3), 27 CFR 478.29 and 478.30]

Q: May an unlicensed person obtain a firearm from an out-of-State source if the person arranges to obtain the firearm through a licensed dealer in the purchaser’s own State?
A person not licensed under the GCA and not prohibited from acquiring firearms may purchase a firearm from an out-of-State source and obtain the firearm if an arrangement is made with a licensed dealer in the purchaser’s State of residence for the purchaser to obtain the firearm from the dealer.
[18 U.S.C. 922(a)(3) and 922(b)(3)]

The reason the question hasn’t been answered is that there was no lawful way for a person to sell or otherwise transfer to these people the handguns, as they required a license to acquire them in Massachusetts and it is flatly unlawful to transfer a handgun, whether by a dealer or private party, where the buyer and seller do not reside in the same state.

As such there was no lawful means by which anyone could have transferred the handguns to these two and there was also no lawful means by which they could have bought them, since they didn’t have the required permits.

Exposition of this fact in the mainstream media destroys any pretense that “gun control” is effective or could have stopped these two from acquiring the guns, since there is no “loophole” that could have been used to acquire the guns — everyone involved in any such transfer violated either State or Federal law.

The only thing “gun control” did in this case was disarm the people who these two jackasses assaulted, including but not limited to the guy who was carjacked.

THAT is why you’re not seeing disclosure of these FACTS.