Caught 60 Minutes nonsensical scare piece on the 50 caliber rifle last night. The gist is that some dude buys guns in the states and sends them to help some Albanians fight a revolution. They interview him and he outlines what he does. I TiVoed it and may have more later. But here are the lies that leapt out at me immediately.

The guy said (and reporter agreed) that exporting rifles and weapons was perfectly legal. It is legal, if you are a licensed exporter of firearms which this guy was not. This was a lie. Additionally, they even pointed out in the story that they set up a dummy hunting reserve so they could justify exporting to authorities while in Switzerland for a layover. Seems the Swiss became suspicious that this guy had a few 50 calibers in the cargo hold. The guy can leave the country with guns for legitimate sporting purposes (such as going on a hunting trip) but he was exporting without a license. So, would you set up a dummy hunting reserve if what you were doing was perfectly legal? A source said he exported several hundred 50 caliber rifles out of the country by hiding them in humanitarian aid shipments.

The guy also said that in the US every gun in use by the military is available at a gun shop. That is also a lie. I challenge anyone here to obtain legally (and without the use of a Special Occupational Tax) a Colt M4 Carbine. You cannot because they have never been available to the public as they were made after the 1986 Hughes Amendment banning the transfer of new machine guns to civilians.

Per the transcript, here’s the quote:

“Anything you need to run a small guerrilla army, you can buy here in America,” says Krasniqi. “You have all the guns you need here to fight a war. M-16s. That’s what the U.S. soldiers carry in Iraq. All the rifles which U.S. soldiers use in every war, you can buy them in a gun store or a gun show.”

Additionally, the guy said that the 50 was the most popular rifle for these rebels. I tend to doubt that as they weigh 30 pounds and are not real easy to lug around in a firefight. It’s more like a support weapon.

And they repeated the lie that these weapons could shoot down airplanes. Amazingly, Ed Bradley (looking particularly dated with his gold earring) was shocked and amazed that people could actually, you know, buy guns and ammunition in this country.

Now, most of these lies were being told by the guy being interviewed and not 60 Minutes. However, doesn’t journalism require that you check facts or something?

Coincidentally, if you Google the name of the guy featured in the story (Florin Krasniqi), you get interesting results:

TriggerFinger:

There’s a FrontPage Magazine article that talks about Kerry’s position on the war in Kosovo, and how we were misled into military intervention under Clinton by false claims of genocide. Combine that with this account from House of Wheels reporting on a Dutch documentary that has film of KLA terrrorists (sic), allegedly associated with Al-Qaeda, donating to the Kerry campaign. The primary name associated with this is Florin Krasniqi, who is reported as having donated to the Kerry campaign by independent sources.

House of Wheels:

But back to the documentary – 11:08 into the video, we see KLA recruiter and illegal immigrant Florin Krasniqi at a John Kerry fundraiser with a few other KLA members. Then the defining moment – the KLA terrorists are shown, on video, financially contributing to the John Kerry campaign. Shortly afterwards, the video shows Democrats Wesley Clark and Richard Holbrooke having a nice laugh with the terrorists.

A quick check of Fundrace.org found that Florin Krasniqi has donated to the Kerry campaign, and that Florin Krasniqi has raised 30 million for KLA, who we have already established is a terrorist organisation.

Also noted is that he has been given credit for sucking Americans into the Kosovo war.

So far, it’s looking like 60 Minutes interviewed someone who allegedly has ties with known terrorists. Of course, he is a gunrunner so that’s not surprising. He has been in the news before yet 60 Minutes doesn’t disclose that?

Oh, and he’s trying to sell a book.

Here’s the transcript.

Update: And I forgot to mention that an ATF agent was interviewed who advocated gun registration. The logic being that tracking gun sales based on a pattern could lead to identifying and prosecuting potential gunrunners. And some more kitten-stomping.

Update 2: More allegations:

The KLA is currently smuggling weapons into Kosovo as part of a plot to attack American and other UN peacekeepers, should the UN Security Counsel refuse their demand for Kosovo’s secession from Serbia and Montenegro.

Posted in uncategorized on March 21st, 2005 by SayUncle | RSS 2.0 |