The Trace tried to make Turner’s Outdoorsman the bad guy in the latest attempt on President Donald Trump’s life. There’s no evidence they did anything wrong, and ample evidence that they’re very careful in following the law, but the would-be assassin’s purchase, coupled with the fact that as the major retailer in the state selling guns, many of them end up in criminal hands, was enough for them to become a target.
I called it stupid at the time, and the only reason I haven’t called it worse is that there are certain words I’m not really supposed to use in my work, as it’s supposed to be family-friendly.
And the NSSF blasted The Trace over it.
Antigun billionaire Michael Bloomberg’s gun control propaganda arm, The Trace, is at it again. They’re re-running the false flag “name-and-shame” playbook. That’s the attempt to have media pin the criminal misuse of a firearm on a firearm retailer instead of the criminals breaking the law.
The latest accusation is that Turner’s Outdoorsman in Torrance, Calif., is somehow to blame for the alleged attempted assassin who targeted President Donald Trump and his Cabinet members at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in Washington, D.C.
Bloomberg’s disinformation-disguised-as-journalism outlet, The Trace, told NewsBreak, that the accusation “shows that Turner’s is connected to more crime guns than any other California dealer or chain.”
NewsBreak, citing The Trace, admits that Turner’s is one of the largest California firearm retailers. NewsBreak also laid the data on thick to boost their narrative that the firearm retailer was somehow responsible for criminals misusing firearms. Then, NewsBreak offered this disclaimer.
“It’s not clear why Turner’s is overrepresented in the data, but there are several potential reasons some dealers are tied to high numbers of crime guns,” Newsbreak reported.
“Factors such as store location, lax sales practices, the types of guns sold, and low prices can contribute to higher numbers of traces, according to academics and former law enforcement.”
Accusations Without Evidence
There’s no proof that the firearm retailer did anything illegal.
Exactly.
The Trace was even forced to admit that the ATF reported that Turner’s is “meticulous” with its record keeping, and current and past employees state that the store exceeds requirements to make sure all sales are on the up-and-up.
In other words, there’s not just that no proof they did anything wrong; there’s a lot of evidence showing that they do it all right. They don’t even sell guns on an undetermined NICS check. It’s either a pass or there’s no sale, which is not a requirement mandated by any government. They go beyond the requirements, which is annoying for anyone who gets caught up in it, but it also means that this attack is beyond ridiculous.
And then there are the recriminations that, despite the evidence, it’s still on the retailer to figure out things that are, in fact, beyond their ability to discern.
The Trace, run by Bloomberg’s longtime gun control associate from his days as the New York City mayor, John Feinblatt, doesn’t question Cal DOJ on why firearms it approved for transfer end up at crime scenes and law enforcement requests a trace.
Neither did Steve Lindley, the former head of the Bureau of Firearms at CADOJ, who now works at the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
He was quoted by NewsBreak saying the firearm retailer has a responsibility to figure out why criminals misuse firearms they sold, even though those firearms might have been later stolen or illegally transferred to the black market.
Let’s understand that while Turner’s Outdoorsman might look at their internal processes to see why something like this is happening, that can only go so far. If they’re doing everything right, but guns they sell keep turning up at crime scenes–and let’s remember that they sell about 20 percent of the guns in California, and about 25 percent of the guns recovered come from them originally, so it’s not some massive discrepancy–then there’s something else going on.
Turner’s doesn’t get to interview people caught with guns they sold about how they obtained them. They can’t grill gun traffickers or straw buyers under the hot lights of a police interrogation room. They simply have no way of actually determining what’s going on beyond what their internal processes are.
And let’s be honest, straw buyers and gun traffickers know good and well that they can’t walk in with the person they’re going to buy a gun for, let them pick it out, handle it, and all that stuff, then step in and say the gun is for them. That’s obvious, and no lawful gun dealer is going to conduct that transaction in this day and age.
What they do is know what they want to buy when they go in, act in every way like the gun is for them, purchase it, and then walk out. They just hit places like Turner’s because it’s a big retail chain that likely has what they want in stock, plus with a larger presence, they can likely escape notice as repeat customers.
That’s probably all it is, but we can’t tell for certain because, again, Turner’s can’t investigate anything beyond their own actions.
The reality is that The Trace wants to dismantle the entire firearm industry because, if you can’t buy a gun, they don’t have to restrict owning one.
Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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