USA –-(Ammoland.com)- “‘Bullet Button’ Used To Get Around California Gun Laws,” CBS 5 San Francisco reported Tuesday.
“CBS 5 went undercover to a recent gun show at the Cow Palace in Daly City and found ‘California legal’ assault rifles throughout,” they claim.
It’s a non-story, really, as their undercover team found nothing illegal—they weren’t even looking for that—or that couldn’t have been obtained openly. The entire purpose of the “investigation” appears to be to gin up public frenzy about a legal device that allows for changing magazines on semi-automatic firearms that comply with California’s specific model and cosmetic features bans.
“I’ve emailed the gun show proprietors and asked them if they post signs prohibiting unauthorized photographs and recording of patrons and dealers,” this columnist noted on The War on Guns blog. “I also note the covert video includes audio, and California appears to be a two-party consent state, which raises the question of whether or not our intrepid ‘undercover reporters’ were the only lawbreakers in the room–funny, though, how they choose not to do covert ops against the population causing all the ‘gun’ problems. “
That is, no doubt, because criminal populations actually are breaking laws, and they’re dangerous people to be around, which indicates there’s a real story to be had, as opposed to a manufactured one exploiting peaceable people minding their own business. Had CBS 5 wished to discuss bullet buttons or any other fallout from California’s ridiculous and ineffective anti-gun edicts, there would have been no shortage of resources ready and willing to meet them face-to-face and provide their audience with informed guidance. The entire “undercover” rationale was unjustified from the beginning, designed to create the illusion that viewers were being provided a straight news exposé by hard-boiled reporters, instead of by mob-inciting “Authorized Journalist” hacks with plenty of agenda but not much in the way of respect for traditional ethics and canons of journalism.
Crossroads Gun Shows responded to Gun Rights Examiner’s inquiry yesterday by email.
“Yes we have a no camera’s sign in show, and no picture taking. We announce ‘no picture taking in the show’ several times during the day,” their spokesperson replied.
Not that the privacy rights of patrons and dealers to conduct transactions without being snooped on by those who disapprove of their freedom matters to self-styled “crusaders.” Their scarcely-concealed intent is obviously to manipulate the public into tightening gun ban restrictions even more in a state deemed to “hold the top spot with the nation’s strongest gun laws” by none other than the Brady Campaign.
It will never be enough for those who ridicule the “slippery slope” as gun owner paranoia, and CBS 5 is there to make sure they get their way—even if they have to sneak and agitate to create hysteria where none was before.
About David Codrea
David Codrea is a long-time gun rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He is a field editor for GUNS Magazine, and a blogger at The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance. Read more at www.DavidCodrea.com.
