Bloomberg comes to town – updated again
Mayor Haslam was apparently on Steve Gill’s show (thanks for the mention Steve) and was asked about his membership in an anti-gun group (see here and here). I haven’t heard it. AC says:
My main man, Steve Gill, and I just conversated and he relays that Haslam’s people called into his show today and were emphatic that the Mayor was only looking to enforce existing laws and combating illegal guns. He has no interest in making anymore laws or grabbing anyone’s pistola.
Then the mayor has picked the wrong group to join. For example, they oppose H.R. 5092, the BATFE Modernization and Reform Act. The oppose just about every pro-gun bill coming down the pike.
They support microstamping. They support maintaining a registry of gun offenders. They support suing gun dealers.
And it’s headed by Mayor Bloomberg, who you’ll recall:
[Hired] private investigators to conduct a sting on out of state gun dealers that are the source of crime guns in New York
Trouble for Bloomberg is that if this is how it went down, then it’s not necessarily illegal, assuming that the man was not a prohibited person. If the man was a prohibited person, the investigators broke the law. Also, said private investigators from New York have zero law enforcement authority in the states wherein they committed these supposed investigations. They may have also committed felonies by giving false info on ATF Form 4473
Mayor Bloomberg’s decision to hire private investigators to conduct undercover stings at Southern gun shops has potentially jeopardized several criminal cases, law enforcement sources charged.
Four cases were compromised and an additional 14 were put at risk by the six-week sting aimed at gun stores in Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Virginia, the sources said.
ATF has said they will be investigating every aspect of these “sting” sales (and there were ATF people present who repeated that). This may be bad news for the city, since IF the sales were illegal straw sales, their investigators committed felonies
And the Mayor’s Alliance Against Guns has a nice round up of their anti-gun stuff here.
I’m uncertain if Haslam’s membership in the anti-gun Mayors Against Guns Alliance was intentional or an oversight. However, neither option portrays him in a positive light. He is either against guns or doesn’t have any idea what he did. Haslam is tied pretty heavily to the Bob Corker campaign. This little incident may cost Corker some votes. Maybe someone should ask Corker that in his debate tonight?
October 10th, 2006 at 6:25 pm
[…] SayUncle is calling out his mayor on his involvement in Bloomberg’s PR Stunt Machine for Mayors. It warms my heart. Politics, it’s both personal and local. If your mayor is part of Bloomberg’s crew, call him or her out on it. Tell them you’ll go down to your local gun club and make announcements at the membership meetings. If you’re part of another civic organization, let them know that you’ll pass out details at the next lunch. A presidential candidate could care less if you do that, and, to a lesser extent, the same is true for state officials. However, your local candidates can be booted by a couple of hundred votes or less. Of course since you’re obviously already tech savvy since you’re here, start up a webpage. Document any contact and responses. Update it so it moves up the rankings when people search for your mayor’s name. Don’t think they don’t Google themselves. […]
October 10th, 2006 at 6:48 pm
Would have never thought that the city of Idaho Falls would have been listed as a “member” Thanks for the link and have already emailed/contacted the officials involved looking for answers. So far everyone is pleading dumb.
October 10th, 2006 at 9:06 pm
When you have to have “your people” explain your actions or words, you have really blown it.
And don’t get me started about that “illegal gun” nonsense. It’s a lie.
The Knoxville PD had a billboard near my office recently with some tripe about the need to “Stop Illegal Guns.”
The thing is, it was a Smith and Wesson revolver. What’s illegal about that?
If the KPD thinks that we should crack down on criminals who illegally own guns, they need to look in the mirror.
If they want citizen participation in helping them do their own jobs, they should be handing out Smith and Wesson revolvers, not putting up feel-good billboards thought up by some PR firm.
I don’t even want to think about Bloomberg, and it irritates me that he disingenously places an “R” by his name.
And I don’t want to be lumped in the same category with NYC on much of anything.
October 10th, 2006 at 9:29 pm
Okay, I’ve settled down and decided to channel my angst in a positive direction.
The next time that the KPD or Knox County Sherrif’s Office stages a gun buy-back, I am going to come up with as much cash as I can get my hands on and show up at the buy-back with a fistful of cash (like a ticket scalper) and a sign which says something to the effect that “I pay more $ for choice firearms”.
It can’t hurt, and, for better or worse, one or all of the following will result:
1. I will pick up at least a few pretty decent handguns for $55.00 (I will outbid law enforcement by $5.00);
2. I will get on TV (and get to let news viewers learn that I am trying to get more guns on my street); and
3. I will be harangued by the cops (let them try it is all I say).
I think that this will be a lot of fun.
October 10th, 2006 at 9:34 pm
Chris, that sounds like an excellent idea. We should have folks across the country ready to do just that. Maybe we need a website (hint hint) to announce these buybacks.
October 10th, 2006 at 10:40 pm
[…] The interview pertained to Mayor Haslam’s membership in New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Alliance, “Mayors Against Illegal Guns”. Say Uncle first raised the issue and he has some follow up here. […]
October 11th, 2006 at 5:30 pm
Don’t forget that they are funded by the Joyce Foundation, who gives money to many gun control groups like the VPC and Gun Guys.
October 18th, 2006 at 8:36 am
[…] The NRA has picked up my story about Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam being a member of the anti-gun Mayors Alliance that is funded by Joyce Foundation (See here, here, here, here, here, and here). Wayne LaPierre (yes, that Wayne LaPierre) asks What’s going on in Knoxville: Here’s a suggestion for Mayor Haslam and the citizens of Knoxville. […]