ATF seizes 30 toy guns, infuriating local business owner

From koinlocal6.com:

CORNELIUS, Ore. – A local business owner is flabbergasted after a shipment of 30 toy guns for his store was confiscated by ATF agents in Tacoma.

Brad Martin and his son, Ben, sell the Airsoft BB guns from their store in Cornelius where they’ve been in business for seven years.

The Martins said they buy their stock from Taiwan because the merchandise is less expensive. But the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives seized a shipment of 30 in October. That shipment is worth around $12,000 and the ATF is promising to destroy the entire shipment.

Special Agent Kelvin Crenshaw said the toys can be easily retro-fitted into dangerous weapons.

“With minimal work it could be converted to a machine gun,” Crenshaw said.

Brad Martin is furious about the loss of money, for sure, but also in what he now thinks as a loss of his time and the use of government agents to seize toy guns.

“All this manpower, all this time, all this taxpayer money, [it is] wasting my time and my profitability,” Martin said. “[Just] to seize 30 toy guns!”

Ben Martin disagrees that the toy guns could ever be considered dangerous.

“To say these are readily convertible to machine guns is absolutely preposterous,” he said. “The round wouldn’t go into the firing chamber and even if the firing pin did strike the primer the gun would basically blow up in your face.”

ATF said it also seized the toys because they are missing the blaze orange tips required on all imported toy guns.

The Martins said they’ve received shipments before from Taiwan that were missing the orange tips and were simply asked by customs agents to drive up to Tacoma and paint the tips orange themselves. They are wondering why it is an issue now.

Even guns made of Lego can look real

We’ve all been taught to be so afraid of guns that you can’t even possess a toy gun made of Legos without having some neutered brainwashed neighbor rat you out for possibly possessing one. And the cops, after throwing him against the wall and cuffing him, blow it off by saying “Hey, at least you got a good story.” WTF!!

From CBC.ca:

A Toronto man learned a hard lesson this week about the real danger of fake guns. Jeremy Bell found himself staring down the barrel of a police assault rifle after a neighbour spotted Bell in his office handling what looked like a genuine semi-automatic pistol.

It turns out Bell was putting the finishing touches on a handgun made entirely of black Lego bricks.

After showing his creation to a co-worker, Bell put the toy away.  But the neighbour had already sounded the alarm, and a short time later the Emergency Task Force arrived with weapons drawn.

Bell was thrown up against the wall and slapped with handcuffs.  After a quick investigation, police set him free.

The 29-year-old Bell says he’s a lifelong fan of Lego and that won’t change.  And there’s no bad blood with the neighbour, either, who tweeted an apology to Bell and posted a note in his apartment window.

U.S. reverses stance on treaty to regulate arms trade

Here comes gun control, through the back door.

From Reuters:

The United States reversed policy on Wednesday and said it would back launching talks on a treaty to regulate arms sales as long as the talks operated by consensus, a stance critics said gave every nation a veto.

The decision, announced in a statement released by the U.S. State Department, overturns the position of former President George W. Bush’s administration, which had opposed such a treaty on the grounds that national controls were better.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States would support the talks as long as the negotiating forum, the so-called Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty, “operates under the rules of consensus decision-making.”

“Consensus is needed to ensure the widest possible support for the Treaty and to avoid loopholes in the Treaty that can be exploited by those wishing to export arms irresponsibly,” Clinton said in a written statement.

Guns Will Be OK in Arizona Bars Starting Wednesday

From CNSNews:

Phoenix (AP) – A new Arizona law allowing people with concealed weapons permits to carry their guns into bars takes effect Wednesday. But many bars are pulling in the welcome mat.

The law allows bar and restaurant owners to post signs barring guns.

There’s no official tally on how many of the 5,800 establishments that sell alcohol have posted signs, but the state says it has provided at least 1,300 laminated placards so far, and the signs are also available over the Internet.

The law was backed by the National Rifle Association, which argued that licensed gun owners shouldn’t be forced to leave their protection behind.

The law, however, prohibits gun-carriers from drinking alcohol in the establishments.

The NRA says Arizona is the 41st state with such a law.

White House Backs Right to Arms Outside Obama Events

So if the White House and Secret Service have no real problem with it, why this then?

From The Washington Post:

 

By Alexi Mostrous

Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 19, 2009

 Armed men seen mixing with protesters outside recent events held by President Obama acted within the law, the White House said Tuesday, attempting to allay fears of a security threat.

Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, said people are entitled to carry weapons outside such events if local laws allow it. “There are laws that govern firearms that are done state or locally,” he said. “Those laws don’t change when the president comes to your state or locality.”

Anti-gun campaigners disagreed with Gibbs’s comments, voicing fears that volatile debates over health-care reform are more likely to turn violent if gun control is not enforced.

Read the rest:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/18/AR2009081803416.html

D.C. delegate calls for ban on guns near Obama

What do they consider “in the vicinity of?” Is it the same building, the same parking lot, same city block, same city, county or state? This quote from Secret Service spokesman Malcolm Wiley sums it up nicely:

“In both instances, those guys were outside of the outer-most perimeter of security, so what would apply is state law,” said Wiley. “They never had any proximity to the president at any time. They weren’t trying to gain access to the event and they weren’t in a position outside the event where they could have affected the president.”

So, basically if the Secret Service isn’t worried, why is some D.C. delegate?

From TheHill.com:

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) called on the Homeland Security Department and the U.S. Secret Service on Wednesday to provide tighter restrictions on citizens carrying weapons, openly or concealed, while in the vicinity of President Barack Obama.

Norton, who sits on the Homeland Security Committee, made the request after numerous news reports have shown groups of people brandishing firearms while outside of events held by Obama over the past several weeks.

“It is clear that if the Secret Service can temporarily clear all aircraft from air space when the president is in the vicinity, the agency has the authority to clear guns on the ground that are even closer to the President,” Norton said.

Read the rest:

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/d.c.-delegate-calls-for-ban-on-guns-near-obama-2009-08-19.html

Man Carrying An Assault Rifle And Pistol Outside Obama Event

I fully understand that these people are just making a statement about our Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. However, the MSM is using events such as this one to suggest that Obama’s life is in danger because of them. I doubt that any of these people are a threat to Obama, but still, I do wish that they would leave the hardware at home, as it just gives the media a way to marginalize them and paint them (and by association, their beliefs in things like the Constitution) as dangerous.

Judging from this picture, they’re going to have a hard time painting this guy as a right-wing racist, since he appears to be black. More here (with video).
From TPM:

(Late update: CNN now reports that there were two men carrying assault rifles, reportedly AR-15s, outside President Obama’s event in Phoenix.)

(Late late update: The Associated Press reports that there were about 12 people with guns outside the event.)

A man was seen carrying an assault rifle and a pistol outside the VFW Convention in Phoenix where President Obama spoke today, a local newspaper reports. (Click through for a photo.)

Local police said it’s legal under Arizona law, but two officers kept close by him.

“If we need to intervene, we will intervene at that time,” said Detective J. Oliver.

Read the rest:

http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2009/08/17/20090817obama-scene.html

Senate Democrats Battle Concealed Weapons Amendment

From FoxNews:

A controversial amendment to the Senate defense planning bill that would allow people to carry concealed weapons across state lines has set off a firestorm on both sides of the gun control debate.

Democrats were scrambling to defeat the proposal by Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., ahead of a Wednesday vote on the measure. Thune argues the amendment, which has 21 Senate co-sponsors, will help reduce crime.

Read the rest:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/07/21/senate-democrats-battle-concealed-weapons-amendment/

Feds Declare Tennessee Gun Law Invalid

From Infowars:

It is yet another example of the federal government running roughshod over the states.

Last month, the state of Tennessee’s General Assembly passed House Bill 1796, the “Tennessee Firearms Freedom Act,” which states that any firearms or ammunition manufactured within the state and legally owned and kept within the state by citizens are “not subject to federal law or federal regulation, including registration” due to provisions in the Second, Ninth, and Tenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.

But according to Assistant Director Carson W. Carroll of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the U.S. Constitution is little more than a g.d. piece of paper, as George W. Bush so infamously deemed it during his reign as the decider-in-chief.

On July 16, Carroll dispatched his agency’s official response to the law passed in Tennessee — the BATFE asserts that “Federal law supersedes the Act, and all provisions of the Gun Control Act and the National Firearms Act, and their corresponding regulations, continue to apply.”

It will be interesting to see how Tennessee reacts to this official proclamation.

Click to see the original letter:

http://www.infowars.com/images/firearms-letter.png