U.S.A. –-(Ammoland.com)- A Democrat running for the House Seat in the Virginia 10th Congressional District released a video to show how easy it is to buy an “assault rifle” without a background check at a gun show.
Dan Helmer, a U.S. Army veteran, posted a heavily edited video of him at the “Nation’s Gun Show” held at the Dulles Expo Center in Chantilly Virginia. It appears that Helmer used a hidden camera to document the exchange.
The “assault rifle” Helmer purchased was an AR-15. Being military, he should know the difference between a modern sporting rifle and an assault rifle (select fire weapon such as an M4). Helmer claims that the AR-15 is a weapon of war even though no military uses the AR-15 as their battle rifle.
Helmer edited the video in such a way that it makes it look like he purchased the rifle from a dealer. Dealers at gun shows are legally required to perform background checks on all their customers. If Helmer did buy the gun from a dealer without a background check, that dealer would be committing a crime. Ammoland once again reached out to Helmer to see if he purchased the firearm from a dealer or a private seller. Helmer refused to respond.
Another question Ammoland asked Helmer is that if he did purchase the firearm from a dealer why didn’t he report the sale to the Virginia State Police which is on site of the “Nation’s Gun Show.” Helmer once again did not respond to our questions. Ammoland reached out to Virginia State Police, and they were unaware of any illegal sales that took place at the “Nation’s Gun Show.”
Ammoland also requested the raw uncut video from Helmer, but he is not releasing the uncut video to any media outlets. Much like the left’s accusations against “The Veritas Project”, it seems like Helmer could have used deceptive editing techniques in producing the video. Ammoland asked a video editor from Discovery Networks to take a look at the footage for their take on the editing.
The editor wants to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals at their work environment. They stated that the number of jump cuts (a scene with parts cut out) in the video would point to deceptive editing techniques. Using jump cuts in a video allows the video editor to display someone out of context easily. They stated the person who edited the video was not a professional due to the lack of properly using transitions.
The same video editor seems to think that Helmer might have used the term “assault rifle” incorrectly to garner a more significant effect.
“You can see he is making a conscious effort to use the term,” they told Ammoland. “At the end he catches himself saying just ‘rifle’, so he quickly restates it as ‘assault rifle.’ I see that all the time when editing reality shows.”
Helmer claims he rendered the rifle inoperable and will hand it into local law enforcement. He did not respond to any questions on how he made the gun unusable. Earlier the year another politician tried to make a rifle inoperable, but actually turned it into an NFA controlled short barreled rifle. This question is just one of many that he refused to answer for Ammoland.
There are many unanswered questions.
At the time of this writing, Helmer refused to answer anything Ammoland asked him.
About John Crump
John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. He is the former CEO of Veritas Firearms, LLC and is the co-host of The Patriot News Podcast which can be found at www.blogtalkradio.com/patriotnews. John has written extensively on the patriot movement including 3%’ers, Oath Keepers, and Militias. In addition to the Patriot movement, 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 is currently working on a book on the history of the patriot movement and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss or at www.crumpy.com.
I am posting this again even though it was posted before since it seems few people have seen it.
https://www.atf.gov/rules-and-regulations/permanent-brady-permit-chart
The BATFE will allow some states ( you will have to click link ) to bypass NICS background checks if you have a CCW/LTC in that state. Also please be considerate of others when posting, we don’t need to beat each other up, that’s what liberal gun grabbers already do.
Wouldn’t the gun show promoter be willing to contact any vendors at that set of tables to see if they’d like to comment? Seems like they’d be eager to avoid being slimed by this clown, unless this whole thing was a setup. Anybody can pay for a table and sell a couple of guns as a private seller – how do we know who he was? How much do you want to bet that he told everybody standing around in that group of tables that he was a veteran running for Congress to get them to pay attention to him… Read more »
When was the show and which dealer was next to the “Texan Knives” banner? Is there a map of the trade show to see who this vendor would have been? Then an article followup to the truth regarding whether or not a “background check” was performed could be accomplished.
From this old vet:
It’s my wife’s fault, It’s my fault AND It’s YOUR, Oldvet, fault because we are law abiding gun owners UNWILLING TO GIVE UP our 2nd Amendment rights DONCHANO!!!
I did the same thing, not to shabby!
He should be arrested and already be in jail. No questions asked. He was intentionally involved in an illegal firearm transfer. Go to jail, and do not pass go. Idiot!
I own over two dozen rifles and handguns, all purchased WIHTOUT any NICS check,
how did I do it? I have a state issued concealed carry permit, that means no NICS check.
I still fill out the BATF&E #4473 and that is it.
I agree, the entire “sale” was likely staged. If I legally sold a firearm to someone, who then publicly mischaracterized the sale as illegal, I would be calliing them out publicly. Where is the seller? Why has this person not come forward?
I have a Concealed Carry Permit in Iowa and ALL GUNS I have bought from a dealer in his store or at a gun show I FILLED OUT THE GOV’T. FORM and THE DEALER DID THE TELEPHONE BACKGROUND CHECK!!!
Bastard!!! you made me go back and have a look to check out her bum.
Your right, it’s not half bad at all.