By Larry Keane
NEWTOWN, Conn – -(Ammoland.com)- Not surprisingly, ISIS is wrong about another aspect of how things work in the United States.
According to the Washington Post, terrorist propaganda materials argue it is easy to obtain a firearm in the U.S. with no ID and no background check. While the materials make it clear that one cannot walk into a federally licensed firearm retailer (FFL) and expect to walk out with a firearm without undergoing a background check, there are, not surprisingly, plenty of other facts that ISIS gets wrong.
Unfortunately, the Washington Post does not seek to set the record straight about the facts.
To assist on that front, below we will debunk the assertions published by the terrorist group and reprinted by the Washington Post.
The materials suggest that gun shows are an “easier means of arming oneself for an attack.” However, every time a firearm is purchased from an FFL, a background check is required by federal law. Most of the vendors selling firearms at gun shows, about 75 percent, are FFLs, who are required to run background checks at gun shows just as if the transaction were taking place in their store. In practice, federal law is just the floor of restrictions on gun shows. Many gun show promoters require that all vendors leasing space at a show, including private parties, must agree to run background checks, regardless of whether they hold federal licenses or not.
The vast majority of guns sold at gun shows go through federal background checks.
This is why so few criminals obtain firearms at gun shows. According to the Justice Department, less than one percent (0.7) of state and federal prison inmates that possessed a firearm during their current offense acquired their guns from gun shows. By contrast, nearly 40 percent reported acquiring their guns illegally, such as by theft.
ISIS goes so far as to suggest ambushing and robbing an FFL if it’s not possible to obtain a firearm legally. If it were as easy to get a firearm illegally as the article suggests, why would they need to steal guns?
The Washington Post proceeds to note that gun control groups call for banning people on the terrorist watch list from purchasing firearms. We’ve tackled this issue before on the NSSF blog. Suffice it to say, the list is huge, secret and deeply flawed, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
What we do know is that when an individual attempts to purchase a firearm, his or her name is bounced against the watch list and if there is a match, the FBI NICS notifies federal law enforcement and the transaction automatically goes into a delayed status for three business days (meaning the gun is not transferred during a gun show) while federal law enforcement is given an opportunity to determine if there is a lawful basis to deny someone and if not, to take appropriate law enforcement actions they deem appropriate.
And as far as the suggestion that “you can go down to a gun show at the local convention center and come away with a fully automatic assault rifle, without a background check…” the terrorists are wrong again. Even in a private party transaction, it is illegal to purchase an automatic firearm without a special ATF license and plenty of red tape.
One would think that the Washington Post would be more concerned about the sources it uses for its reporting. We wonder if ISIS has written about how to fool the mainstream media.
About NSSF The National Shooting Sports Foundation is the trade association for the firearms industry. Its mission is to promote, protect and preserve hunting and the shooting sports. Formed in 1961, NSSF has a membership of more than 6,000 manufacturers, distributors, firearms retailers, shooting ranges, sportsmen’s organizations and publishers. For more information, log on to www.nssf.org.
@Vanns40 @wildbill et al. Gentleman this is your admin speaking. We at the office of Ammoland are in receipt of a complaint that you boys have been feeding the trolls. I want you boys to be nice and treat people fairly especially “Jamie” as he feels the need to get admin assistance to ban your comments because you have been “razzel dazzling” him with your facts and rational arguments and “Jamie” needs a safe space now. So please boys show everyone here at Ammoland that you can play nice in the sandbox regardless of others political views, nevermind how they… Read more »
The WaPo is not even fit to be a stinking dead fish wrapper or a doggy poop scooper.
FACT IS that very very few if ANY thugs buy their forearms at a “Gun Show” and the same applies to terrorists; the liberal anti-gun, anti SECOND AMENDMENT morons have yet to present ANY evidence to the contrary.
How about not
Linking to terror propaganda actually against terms on most comment sections like this
And how about you get CIA give up thier sources so might beleive what they say
If you want it not hard to find on search engines
FYI – It is already a federal legal requirement, that any private seller engage in “due diligence’ to the best of his ability, to verify that the buyer he to whom he sells is not a “prohibited person,” and that (s)he is a legal resident of the state in which the sale takes place, etc. No background check, per se, is required, probably largely because such a check could not be performed by a citizen without an FFL anyhow. The NICS system is not open to the public at large. Is it possible for someone who is a prohibited person,… Read more »
I normally don’t comment. But two things strike me here, and the half truths are as bad as out and out lying. 1. Liberals think that a AR-15 is a fully automatic weapon, and can’t understand why anyone would need one. I have tried to explain to my liberal relatives that those are not automatic weapons, but rather semi-automatic, etc. etc.. So the press you talk about works to those who are inclined to listen to it. 2. The author here states, most gun shows require individuals to require background checks, but who checks that? In my local shows, I… Read more »
So what is it people don’t understand about liberals like the WaPo telling lies and doing whatever dishonest thing they can think of to persuade the ignorant? The only problem with most gun control laws is they only work with the law-abiding. Assault, robbery and murder are and have been against the law for a long time. That does not seem to prevent criminals from repeated offenses – so how are gun control laws going to prevent criminals from using firearms illegally? Background checks and gun-free zones for example? If guns are bad, why to wealthy people and politicians (potentially… Read more »
Just saw an outlandish recital of liberal anti-gun talking points that go along with the absurdity of this newspaper article. It was on the network crime drama “Training Day”. The premise was that you can easily go into a licensed gun shop and buy gobs of automatic weapons, military-grade armament, grenades and explosives. Bloomberg’s shills could not have done a better job lying to viewers. Needless to say, that will be the last time I watch this propaganda show.
Every seller of weapons registered at EVERY gun show, that go BANG, in the State of Maryland – – – MUST run a back ground check.
this writer and washington post misses the point of what isis was saying — actually do get copies of their stuff every month and if read whole thing it was about finding a private person not doing checks and buy from them
the actual terror planning article from isis has things both washington post and this writer not includes making me think they never bothered reading from original source