FBI Rejects "Crazy" Gun Buyer, OKs Vegas Sniper - The Bald Truth

FBI Rejects “Crazy” Gun Buyer, OKs Vegas Sniper

By Art Harris, The Bald Truth, (c) art harris, all rights reserved It’s not the FBI’s fault the Las Vegas Sniper bought up an arsenal of AR15s, then legally converted them into machine guns with a cheap part called a Bump Stock he used to murder dozens of innocents from his luxury suite high up at the Mandalay Bay Hotel. His father was a bank robber, but mass murderer Stephen Paddock had no criminal record while on his pre-meditated shopping spree, and sailed through FBI background checks gun dealers are required to complete before a sale. As eager as Tucker, Ga. gun dealer Ron Moon is to make a sale, he does his due diligence. One recent day, he watched a customer survey the wall-to-wall assault rifles and machine guns he’s licensed to sell, before settling on a small “Lady” Glock in a display case of Dirty Harry firepower. “I just need a little gun,” she says, “to feel safe.” “You need to fill this out,” says Moon, handing her the FBI background form. “Only take you 5 minutes.” Date of birth, social, address, etc…” He points out boxes to check to note any felonies, domestic violence arrests, illegal drug use, or court rulings the buyer was ruled “mentally defective<" among other dis-qualifiers. Moon's giant Bull Mastiff snores on the floor next to the .50 Caliber machine gun, displays of sexy ankle holsters and an American flag--reminders that, if you come in his shop, you better be on best behavior--talkin' soft, walkin' tall, and whistling Dixie. or at least believe football players should stand for the national anthem. Naturally, you want self-protection, he’ll do his best to sell you a gun, and make sure you’re aware of safety measures. His prospect checks all the right boxes NO, then Moon forwards her application to the FBI– and waits. Results in hand, he’s more surprised than the customer. Rejected? She’d checked the no box that asked about any court rulings of a mental defect, but apparently the FBI search had found one. “You don’t think it could be the time I asked the judge to send me to a psyche ward, do you?” she asks. “That could well be,” says Moon. “But I ASKED him to send me there. He didn’t do it against my will…” “Don’t matter,” Moon explains, a judge’s order (demanding treatment for emotional distress or “defect”) goes on the court record, makes its way to the FBI computer and “you get flagged. Sorry, can’t sell you a gun today, Ma’am.” A gun buyer with a past…She’s not alone. When the system works, others get rejected, too: wife beaters, felons and illegals. Now had alarms gone off before Columbine, San Bernardino, Orlando…or a some not yet invented killer gene alert machine had gone off, well, with the Vegas Shooter… might have been fingered. The takeaway: if Evil is nursing mass murder dreams, and doesn’t have a record, or makes a side deal in the parking lot…Lucifers can still slip through the cracks; it’s an unwieldy system, where even the FBI, deluged with background checks, and the crossfire of civil liberties and the 2nd Amendment can miss a few. As for criminals, they know it’s easy to buy guns under the table or steal them. Even terrorists like the Uzbek immigrant who mowed down New Yorkers Oct. 31 might have bought one, but decided to bring knives, and a paintball gun on his NYC rampage that killed 8 and injured more than a dozen. How did he elude detection as he was getting radicalized by ISIS videos on his phone? How was he able to rent a truck and scout the bike paths, with a bloodier plan to also attack the Brooklyn Bridge, police learned? (Listen to our interview with Nancy Grace (www.crimeonline.com) at channel 132 on Sirius XM Nov. 1. Podcast Wednesday 11012017 (3).mp3)  <audio class="wp-audio-shortcode" id="audio-5886-1" preload="none" style="width: 100%;" controls="controls"><source type="audio/mpeg" src="https://dfkfj8j276wwv.cloudfront.net/episodes/e38ad0d0-2c04-4226-8807-ff94beb12a1d/ce0b150f47b46daa228ea7c26979903c6c3eec3a2bb5c121feaab78b32bf8741b68d68b2401ca37ebeaa74fe120a10e0d8ed4c2972398ee8d16ee02f82d833b6/Nancy%20Grace%20podcast%20Wednesday%2011012017.mp3?_=1" /><a href="https://dfkfj8j276wwv.cloudfront.net/episodes/e38ad0d0-2c04-4226-8807-ff94beb12a1d/ce0b150f47b46daa228ea7c26979903c6c3eec3a2bb5c121feaab78b32bf8741b68d68b2401ca37ebeaa74fe120a10e0d8ed4c2972398ee8d16ee02f82d833b6/Nancy%20Grace%20podcast%20Wednesday%2011012017.mp3">https://dfkfj8j276wwv.cloudfront.net/episodes/e38ad0d0-2c04-4226-8807-ff94beb12a1d/ce0b150f47b46daa228ea7c26979903c6c3eec3a2bb5c121feaab78b32bf8741b68d68b2401ca37ebeaa74fe120a10e0d8ed4c2972398ee8d16ee02f82d833b6/Nancy%20Grace%20podcast%20Wednesday%2011012017.mp3</a></audio> Nothing illegal about a legal resident buying BB or paintball guns, but there are so many loopholes in the law, there’s little chance of stopping anyone with cash and a checkered past from buying a weapon. In the U.S., there are millions of guns, stolen, sold or diverted, and no way to stop keep them from felons, wife-beaters, or crazies who want one bad enough…much less a squeaky clean CPA like Stephen Paddock. By most accounts, he was a recluse, a retired millionaire in Mesquite, Nev., with a girlfriend, and 2 homes, and such a high roller at Mandalay Bay, the hotel comped the suite he stocked with 23 guns, including semi-automatic assault rifles converted to fire 100s of rounds a minute, fast as a machine gun. Machine gun and thousands of rounds of ammo. A rich nobody some believe wanted to be somebody, a video poker addict, come to the Vegas suburbs to live large, as a retiree…not calling attention to himself, going quietly into the night until suddenly, he decides to go out, not with a whimper, but a murderous bang, bang, bang. With no criminal record, Paddock could waltz into any licensed gun store, and if he had the cash, walk out with enough guns to set up a machine gun nest on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas and unleash Armageddon — 58 killed, hundreds wounded, twisting Sin City into the bloody new frontier of mass murder, still shocked and grieving from the worst massacre the country has ever seen…as police braved the killing fields and moved in fast, gunning him down after a firefight in the hall. Inside the luxury suite, they find weapons on mounts; easy for him to move between them, at first mistaken for fireworks down below in the concert field.. as his luxury suite choked with the acrid smoke of murder–machine guns and no ventilation…Thousands of rounds expended, and thousands of rounds left, as well as weapons police later fins at his home…and ammonium nitrate in his car—ingredients found in the giant fertilizer bomb that brought down the federal building in Oklahoma City I covered for CNN. As a lone wolf with no record, FBI profilers say there’s no way to thwart a mild-mannered future killing machine…Anyone can not only buy assault rifles like he did, but apply for a machine gun license, and buy one from a dealer like Moon–or stock up on semi-automatics and get them converted illegally to full auto, or legally with a bump stock or the right kit. Moon says any gunsmith or hobbyist can do it, with the parts and a little know how…or just buy a $99 Bump Stock like Paddock, and the recoil will keep the gun firing as long as you keep finger on the trigger. As for the Las Vegas shooter, his attack on innocent music lovers once again exposes America the Vulnerable…and the debate rages on over gun rights and how to catch a killer without invading privacy…Why NOT gene testing to weed out future killers for quarantine, maybe treatment… How can we find the walking dead before they find us? At a nearby range, I get to shoot Moon’s machine gun, and it’s a fleeting thrill, lock, and load, then squeeze off short bursts of full auto….At 20 yards, not many bullseyes, hardly a weapon of choice to protect the homefront. From his sniper’s nest, Paddock had a perfect field of fire, a packed crowd of 20,000 country fans he mowed down at 500 yards, no marksmanship required. Indeed, machine guns are made for war, and I count myself among the lucky ones after coming under Iraqi and U.S. machine gun fire as an embedded CNN reporter with the 2nd Marines in Nasyria. But there’s a big difference–we’d signed up for war; the Marines could shoot back. You don’t sign up for a concert and expect to go home in a body bag. A long gun on a tripod aimed at a field packed with 20,000 people at 500 yards doesn’t require great marksmanship, especially for a hunter like Paddock was reported to be, a veteran of Big Game in Alaska. “A machine gun is only accurate at close range,” says Moon, and that’s why burglars don’t steal them.” Moon prefers a pistol or a Mossberg pump for home protection. “Nothing sounds like a Mossberg when you chamber a round,” he says. “Bad guys hear that pump action, ker-chunk, they know it’s saying, ‘Time to leave my house….or die.’”’

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 1st, 2017 at 5:03 am and is filed under ART HARRIS EXCLUSIVES, ART HARRIS REPORTS, artharris.com, Crime, Las Vegas Massacre, LAW & ORDER, Murder, Nancy Grace, WAR. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

FBI Rejects “Crazy” Gun Buyer, OKs Vegas Sniper

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