Lies from the BATFE? Say it ain't so

I haven't covered the murder of Philadelphia Police Sergeant Stephen Liczbinski, committed by a career violent criminal (whom the "justice" system had unleashed on society), because there has been plenty of good coverage available elsewhere. Something in this article, however, caught my eye, and I can't let it go.

BATFE Assistant Special Agent in Charge Tony Robbins (presumably not that Tony Robbins) had something to say about the rifle used in Liczbinski's murder.

"They are very cheap, selling for $100 to $300," said Tony Robbins, assistant special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives here. "There's a ton of them out there.

It's hardly surprising that a rifle made in the millions, sixty years ago, can be had not very expensively, but now the fact that "they are very cheap" is apparently intended to convey an additional degree of menace.

They can lay some heavy firepower. We see them periodically being used by street gangs and drug organizations. It's a pretty menacing gun."

And we also see them used by hunters, collectors, homeowners, and huge numbers of other folks who have no inclination to use them to cause carnage on the streets. By the way, the "heavy firepower" was five rounds (before the gun jammed) of 7.62 x39mm--a round less powerful than what many deer hunters typically use.

But it's what Robbins says next that I find particularly interesting.

What's more, Robbins noted that the ATF was able to trace the SKS rifle used to gun down Liczbinski to a gun show in Fayettville, N.C. He said that because it had been bought at a gun show, the owner did not have to undergo a background check - another proposal that's been blocked by the gun lobby.

"In Southern states, you can buy and sell guns like a table lamp if you go to a gun show," Robbins added. "I don't think this gun was sold illegally. It was passed down and sold many times."

Now wait a second here--if there had been no background check at the point of purchase (the gun show), how did the BATFE trace the sale to said gun show? Unless I'm missing something, they could not have, and there must have been a background check and a Form 4473 filled out. What those who call for closure of the mythical "gun show loophole" would like folks to forget is that background checks are required at gun shows when the sale is conducted by a dealer--the only sales that do not require the checks are those conducted by private collectors disposing of parts of their collections. I can only conclude that this sale must have been conducted by a dealer, with the all the attendant paperwork. What this has to do with "Southern states" is another mystery.

Still, far be it from the BATFE to let the truth get in the way.