From the Las-Vegas Review Journal

2 Las Vegas men charged with stealing guns from SHOT Show

You have to be a deal dumb son-of-a-bitch to steal from SHOT Show.  Everything serialized that comes in is tracked, and tracked, and tracked some more.  I am familiar with the process of sending stuff to SHOT and boy-howdy, it is all traced when it goes out, when it is met at receiving, when the booths are set up.  If something disappears, people will know, and fast.

Also, every manufacture has a hotline straight to the ATF for exactly this kid of thing.  Something disappears and the ATF gets the bat-signal.

A pair of Las Vegas men were charged Wednesday with stealing dozens of firearms from the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show in January.

Jamikko Foster, 27, and Eduardo Limon, 28, worked as forklift operators during the trade show at the Sands Expo and Convention Center, according to a criminal complaint.

The two appeared in court to face federal charges of possession of a stolen firearm and possession of an unregistered firearm after authorities said they had stolen at least 65 firearms, including machine guns and rifles, from four companies — Remington Arms, LKCI, Blaser USA and Legacy Sports International — Jan. 20-29.

So what did they do, hoist a shipping pallet and put it in their truck?

Assistant U.S. Attorney Phillip Smith told the judge that their jobs helped facilitate the thefts, though ATF agents “solved the crime in a near record-breaking period of time.” He added that the two men — who were part of Teamsters Local 631 — apparently had plans to sell the weapons. The prosecutor said Foster had a criminal history dating to 2010.

Like I said, ATF hotline.

Also, who in the holy hell at the Sands Expo Center didn’t background check the employees handling boxed guns at the shipping and receiving dock?  Somebody is getting fired for that.

Lastly, sell guns stolen from SHOT?  Really?  if you do manage so somehow get a gun out of SHOT, first of all, it’s been deactivated, so its not going to work without some tinkering.  More importantly, it’s God-damn radioactive.  You might as well melt it down like the Terminator at the end of T2 to get rid of it, it will haunt you forever.

The list of weapons and accessories takes up two pages of a spreadsheet in a criminal complaint: Remington machine guns, rifles and pistols; Denel Land Systems machine guns; Mauser rifles, Glock pistols; Sauer & Sohn rifles; and Advanced Armament silencers.

The Las Vegas office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was notified of the thefts last week and launched an investigation with the Metropolitan Police Department’s Crime Gun Intelligence Center, the complaint stated.

Silencers and machine guns must be registered with the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record, according to the complaint.

Oh so they stole machine guns and suppressors too?  Yikes.

SHOT Show organizers require licensees to remove firing pins from all displayed weapons before the firearms enter the convention center, the complaint stated, meaning the guns would need to be modified before they could shoot.

The ATF issued an alert on Friday asking gun store owners to “be attentive for any individuals seeking gunsmithing services or, more specifically, firing pins.”

The next day, the owner of Gun Shop Las Vegas on St. Rose Parkway in Henderson reached out to the ATF, saying Limon, Foster and a woman had purchased a 12-gauge shotgun and magazines and asked about a firing pin for an AR-style firearm.

The men said “they were told by an associate that the firing pin needed to be replaced when it was cleaned,” according to the complaint. The owner concluded “the individuals were unfamiliar and/or new to firearms.” Limon told the owner that he worked at SHOT show.

On Monday, an ATF special agent spotted Foster’s black Chevrolet Impala, which had been seen at the Henderson store, parked at The Pearl at St. Rose apartments on Spencer Street near the gun store.

Authorities later found the weapons inside the apartments of Foster and Limon, noting in the complaint that neither had any weapons registered.

God these guys are dumb.  They should just confess to everything and beg for mercy.  Steal 65 NFA items and you go to jail forever.

Both men were released on their own recognizance, though U.S. Magistrate Judge Nancy Koppe restricted them from possessing weapons while out of custody.

Oh fuck it.  Sure, there was only an orgy of evidence that they broke every Federal gun law ever, and one of them had a long criminal history already, why not just let them walk away ROR.

According to the District Court web page:

Nancy J. Koppe was appointed as a United States Magistrate Judge on January 1, 2013. Prior to her appointment, Judge Koppe served as an Assistant United States Attorney with the United States Attorney’s Office in Las Vegas since 2000. Judge Koppe received her B.A. in 1989 from the University of Pennsylvania and her J.D. in 1992 from Cornell Law School. After graduation from law school, Judge Koppe spent eight years as an Assistant District Attorney with the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office.

Before taking the bench, Judge Koppe served as a lawyer representative to the District of Nevada; Chair of the Ninth Circuit’s Lawyer Representatives Coordinating Committee; and a member of the Ninth Circuit’s Conference Executive Committee. In 2006, Judge Koppe received the Department of Justice’s Director’s Award for Superior Performance as an Assistant United States Attorney and, in 2011, she received an Exemplary Public Service Award from Cornell Law School.

So… Liberal Democrat?

Let me see if I get this correctly, the Democrats say we need more gun laws and gun bans to criminalize law abiding citizens stop gun violence, but the second two union members who stole machine guns to sell to gang members, some Democrat gives them a walk?

Are they even pretending anymore that what they want to do is reduce gun violence instead of just oppressing gun owners?

Be a gun owners who has always obeyed the law and have one bump stock that you didn’t know that you needed to destroy and you will be treated like El Chapo.

Be a career criminal and rip off an FFL for 65 NFA items and you get a walk.

I’ll keep an eye on this but I’ll be surprised if these guys don’t disappear before trial.

Anti-Gunner: “You don’t need an AR-15 and high-capacity magazines to hunt deer”
Me: [Hands newspaper]
Anti-Gunner:” Wait….what?….  Motherfu**er you have to be kidding me!”

Being in South Florida where you have a heavy population of immigrants who English is not their native language, you will see plenty of public facilities offering classes very cheap and sometimes for free.
I got this oversized postcard in the mail.

Now, remember, this is for people to learn English, people who do not know the language. Yet it came printed in English rather than Spanish or Creole, the two most popular non-native languages in South Florida.
Kinda dumb, right?
Then again, if you care to look at the sender, you will understand.

News from the Democratic People’s Republic of New York City and Long Island.  

Four persons, three gender confirmed men and one gender confirmed woman swam across the Hudson River to the United States.  Interdiction was attempted by the Committee for New York Security, but being unable to verify that the four individuals were persons of privilege at the time, were hesitant to fire upon them.  

Commissar of the Bronx Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, denounced these individuals as” traitors” and “greedy, privileged, able-bodied white people,” reminding her constituents that their families will be forced to pay their fair share for the suffering caused by these people depriving the community of their labor.  

This has been the third group to swim the Hudson since Commissar Ocasio-Cortez began an increased crackdown on contraband black-market rat burgers after all meat had been banned for non-government official consumption as a way of fighting greenhouse gas emissions.  

While I was locked out of the system, Miguel has done good work covering the Henry Pratt shooting in Aurora, Illinois.

I lived in Aurora from 2012 to 2015, so I know the area well.

I know Henry Pratt, I had done some metallurgical analysis for them, but I don’t know any of the victims.

I had both a FOID and IL CCL.  I have bought a gun in Aurora.  All of that was a bear.

I have a good idea what gun store he bought the gun from, if the news is correct that be bought the gun in Aurora.  There is one gun store in the city, it is run by a complete asshole.  Seriously.  I bought one gun from him and had such an awful experience I never went back.

When you buy a gun in Illinois, first you have to have a FOID which is like a 4473 but run by the ISP and requires a passport photo.

When you buy the gun, you still have to do the federal NICS check with the 4473, AND the ISP runs your FOID again.

The IL CCL has its own background check system through the ISP and FBI, like the Florida CCW.

So far I have not seen this reported on in the News, but this is my theory* as to what happened that allowed this guy to get his gun.

* Like I said, this is my theory, I am not reporting it as fact, if I am proven wrong, then I’m wrong.

I think the screw up happened in Mississippi.

Remember the Church shooting where the guy who shot up the church was dishonorably discharged but the Air Force didn’t properly report it so that it ended up in NICS.

My theory is that is what happened here.   It was an old conviction, taking place in 1995, which is 19 years before he bought the gun. My guess is that somewhere along the lines, that old conviction didn’t go into the right database so it showed up in NICS.

What is really interesting about this is that Mississippi is one of four states that can get out of state IL CCL permits (Texas, Virginia, and Arkansas are the other three).  This is because IL requires mandatory reporting of mental illness adjudication as part of their reciprocity agreement.  If this turns out to be a screw-up with Mississippi’s reporting, I wonder what IL will do with CCL reciprocity.

Also, if your FOID becomes suspended, they mail you a letter telling you to turn in your gun.  There is no process by which the ISP tells your local PD to check to see if you are still in possession.  I suspect that might be the next gun law passed in IL, i.e., if your FOID gets revoked, the ISP lets your local PD know so they get a warrant and search your place.

Also, it should be noted that Aurora, as the second largest city in Illinois had a murder free year in 2012 when Chicago had 500.  Usually Aurora has one or two, so this mass shooting is way beyond the usual number of murders in the city.

This are just some thoughts I’ve had on this outside of what Miguel has already done a good job covering.

I had found out that Gary Martin was a felon and therefore any firearm possession was against the law, both in Illinois and at a Federal level. What came as a surprise was that he had passed the much celebrated (and held as standard by Anti Gunners) Illinois Firearms Owner Identification process with a felony conviction on him plus many other arrests.

The excuses fabrications began to fly.

Now, she ain’t your typical ignorant Liberal bimbo, she is a lawyer that used to work for the government.

Illinois FOID does run a background check and even continues to run more after the issuance of the card according to the Chicago Tribune.

Before issuing a FOID card, the Illinois State Police runs the name through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System or NICS, an electronic database maintained by the FBI, to determine if an applicant has a criminal record or other violations that make him ineligible to own a firearm.

Once the card is issued, the State Police reruns each cardholder through the FBI system every 24 hours and revokes the card of anyone who has incurred a recent infraction.

Background checks for guns are the norm in Illinois

The interesting part is that when Gary (asshole) Martin went to get his concealed carry license after he bought a gun, the background check was performed and it was denied because his previous conviction popped up. I might be wrong but the FOID section and te CCL section although different departments are both run by the Illinois State Police. How come one found the felony conviction and the other one did not? His CCL application was denied, his FOID card was suspended and he was ordered to surrender his weapon.
He never did.
And the best part: All of this happened in 2014.

This is a low-hanging-fruit-type of arrest. felon in possession of a gun and applying for a CCL? I wish I could get a scratch-off ticket that assured of a win. But yet, the Illinois State Police did not go after Martin, why? Big speculation on my part, but maybe face needed to be saved? The much touted as example FOID needed to be protected from besmirching?   Or maybe whomever ran the failed BG check or gave approval to the FOID cashed in a big ass favor? All of the above?  No idea, but the inaction came back to kill 5 innocent people.

Democrats in Congress are trying to sell the idea that Universal Background Checks as the new panacea, the “This time is for sure” will be able to end Gun Violence and Illinois’s FOID was a big part of examples they always use.  That is no good and we need to keep reminding people of its tragic failure.

And before I go, I do call your attention to the irony of Illinois fighting for so many years against Concealed Carry and it was the reason Martin was found to be a Felon. Sad that they did not act upon it.